#though the upbeat ones on dice are so good too but

[ner5y]

Some music idea's for tadc Carnival au

So in each of the guardian's themes from BOTW you can faintly hear the morse code for S.O.S at different points in their songs, right? (along with other morse code messages that I don't know the meaning of)

(It's a lot clearer in the soundtrack, especially for vah ruta but hopefully you can still hear it)

Listen closely, you can hear beeping in the background:

So what if WHAT IF Different songs in the Carnival au game's soundtrack had something like that? Like you open it up and the title screen's song has a catchy beat, but little do you know, IT'S THE GAME CALLING FOR HELP.

That was just a random thought I had, this post is mostly to headcanon what video game osts would fit what character, so here:

Pomni's Room:

Glitzville (Paper Mario: The Thousand year Door)

Does. Does anyone actually remember some of the weird (and sometimes racially insensitive) writing in this game? I still have a pretty fresh memory, because I first played it about two years ago (VERY LEGALLY). But did anyone clock those as a kid, or was it just a normal 2000s thing?

Pomni's Boss Battle

I think the choice is obvious...

THE WORLD REVOLVING (Deltarune)

Ragatha's Room

Petalburg (Paper Mario and the Thousand year Door)

(But if you wanted it to be more elegant, "The Night of The Ball" from Fire Emblem 3 Houses would also fit I think. Oo, OR" Lily's theme" from Pokemon: Sun and Moon might fit better.)

Ragatha's boss Battle

Battle! (Lusamine) (Pokemon Sun and Moon)

(I couldn't really think of a good one for her)

Kinger's Room

Soul Sanctum (Hollow Knight)

(Could also be "Victory Road" from Pokemon: X and Y, Or if you're looking for something more upbeat, Merlee's mansion from Super Paper Mario! that one might sound too evile, though [Fun fact: I was so scared of Mimi's spider form as a kid, that I didn't end up getting past the second door and finishing the game until I was FOURTEEN])

(It could also be a whole host of other Hollow Knight songs)

Kinger's Boss Battle

Mantis Lords (Hollow Knight)

(OR "Twilight of the Gods" from Shadows of Valentia, or maybe even "Time to Fight!" From Xenoblade Chronicles (*cough* Dunban is the goat *cough*))

OKAY, for Jax, since he's so fucked up, I think his themes would be DRASTICLY different when comparing sentitience and none-sentience:

Jax's Room (sentient)

Hellfire Follies (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Jax's Room (Non Sentient)

Inkwell Isle One (Cuphead)

Jax's Boss Battle (Sentient)

Colossal Wonders (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Jax's Boss Battle (Non-sentient)

Fiery Frolic (Cuphead)

Another fun fact, King Dice's song is sung by a woman named Alana Bridgewater!

Gangle's Room

Shopping (Pokemon: X and Y)

Again, struggled with this one. Not sure if it fits too well.

(A general theme for Gangle could be Dimentio, Charming Magician from Super Paper Mario)

Gangle's Boss Battle

I've Had Enough Of You (Billie Bust Up)

And would you look at that, Michael's at it again.

Here's a female cover cus y'know Gangle's a girl

(For ones without vocals, maybe "Battle Team Flare" from Pokemon X and Y, "Fracktail Battle" or "It's Showtime" both from Super Paper Mario)

Zooble's Room

Spirit of Hospitality (Celeste)

(Could also be Crystal Peak from Hollow Knight!)

Zooble Boss Battle

Confronting myself (Celeste)

(I was struggling to decide between Heartache, Metal crusher (Undertale) and Battle Elite Four (Pokemon: Sun and Moon) but as soon I heard this, I KNEW)

Bonus:

Caine Boss Fight

BIG SHOT (Deltarune: Chapter 2)

I think that's all of them!

@sm-baby

[married-2-the-music]

K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Onew

Onew is one of the five members of 2nd generation group SHINee, and debuted with them in 2008 before debuting as a soloist ten years later with Blue. Here are my credentials: If you’ve ever read my blog before, you’ll know I’m a huge ShaWol (SHINee fan), and so I’m slowly making my way through their solo discographies before eventually tackling their huge discography as a group. I’ve done Taemin, Jonghyun, Key, and now Onew, but Onew’s actually the one I know the least well, so I’m excited to get to know more! (Also shoutout to @fallsouthwinter, who knows his work like the back of their hand).

Blue is a ballad if ever there was one, and usually ballads take a lot to win me over…but this one managed! I love dancing and beautiful production, but I’m a singer at heart, and so I couldn’t help but be won over by Onew’s absolutely stunning voice mixed with such light strings. I don’t know exactly which life experiences the song is about, but the way he sings it, it’s like he’s pouring his heart into every note, and it’s quite an affecting performance, even without a translation. The MV too is gorgeous, all in shades of blue, gray, and white, swirling around him in a vortex.

Voice is quite a melancholy EP on the whole, but I still enjoyed the gentle pull-back and rush-forward of Your Scent, the catharsis in the slow-building Illusion, and especially the sweetness and warmth in the lyrics and acoustic guitar of Shine On You (my hidden gem); I go “aww” at the “I love you” every time.

Dice is a song that, somehow, I hadn’t actually heard before? It seems kind of shocking, considering it’s his most popular song. It goes the precise opposite way from Blue, being much cuter, poppier, and stranger (the last mostly in terms of music video), and overall reminded me a little of Jonghyun’s laid-back R & B style, just with a peppier edge. Though the song itself is nothing incredible, Onew’s voice makes everything more enjoyable, and the music video had me very amused (especially when they run away together, lol). I also like the bridge a lot. From the EP, also called Dice, I enjoyed the building synths in the dancy, appropriately sunny Sunshine (my hidden gem), the vintage background beat in On The Way, and the vulnerability expressed in Love Phobia.

Kirakira, of course, is a Japanese release, and returns to the orchestral style of Blue, but with a far more upbeat feeling that I think works quite well with his voice. It has an excellent driving beat from its underlying guitar (which actually gets a solo, here), and a brightness that feels like it comes from deep within. And, that music video is adorable; I can never resist a cat! This is actually my favorite single so far, which is a surprise. Apparently it’s a cover of an older J-pop song by Odu Kazumasa, and “Kirakira” literally means “shiny”, which I hope was a choice made on purpose, because if so, that’s very sweet.

From the EP, Who Sings?, I loved the jazzier direction taken with the building strings in the slowly burning (seven-minute-long!) Everything, which feels like more of an epic or opera than just a song, so I couldn’t pick anything else as my hidden gem. But, I also enjoyed the feel-good orchestral pop of Uroko.

Life Goes On is also a Japanese title, and like Kirakira, features the story of someone other than Onew in its music video (though he does appear in this one). It’s peppier from the outset, and feels like the OST of a drama set by the beach, which makes sense for a summer track. I especially enjoy its central message of joy and its encouragement for the little trials that life puts us through, and I admit that, though I expected to be bored at first, it won me over. From the EP, Life Goes On, my hidden gem was made by the 60’s indie-soft-rock vibes of Yoake No Sekai and the pathos and comfort in his voice in Lighthouse.

Circle is the first single I ever really saw from Onew, and it made me fall in love with his voice, for good reason. It’s so light and airy, but holds so much warmth and inner strength in it, which makes it quite unique. Circle is at times peaceful and soothing, and at others a little haunting with how high his voice goes. As a Wiccan, of course I appreciate the idea of life going on in cycles of seasons, years, and elements, and the ending with the full choir behind him mixed with the gentle strings and slow beat gave me goosebumps.

From the album, Circle, I had so many highlights: the coffee-shop vibeyness and percussive guitar of Rain On Me, the easy charm of Caramel (which reminded me of IU’s Bbibbi with its bubbly beat), the spacey synths of Anywhere, the soaring vocals and bright acoustic guitar of Paradise, the tongue-in-cheek vocalizing in the groovy No Parachute, and the cozy warmth of Walk With You. I completely understand why Billboard named it their top k-pop album of the year. Well deserved.

Inspiration and Knock On My Door are Japanese singles, and I won’t spend too much time on them. Inspiration combines a very classic K-pop winter sound (those twinkling sound effects!) with a peppy underlying beat, and is pretty enjoyable, as holiday-sounding songs go. Knock On My Door is slower and more stripped-back, opting once more for an acoustic guitar and the strength of Onew’s vocals to create what’s quite a pleasant song, but a bit forgettable.

I’m glad I did this! Looking through Onew’s discography is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. I gained a brand new respect for Onew’s beautiful voice and how well it fits with strings. I don’t have the same emotional connection to his work that I do with Taemin’s, Key’s, and Jonghyun’s, but I think it could really grow on me in time.

My Top 5 songs are Kirakira, Circle, Everything, Life Goes On, and Shine On You, with No Parachute as an honorable mention. Onew gets an 8.25 out of 10 from me, which is about what I expected. Like with Kim Sejeong’s work, I’m not a fan of an overwhelming amount of ballads, but I found that besides that, it had a pretty decent balance. The genres he delves into aren’t always among my favorites, but when he nails it, he nails it.

Next time, we’ll be doing part 2 of the SHINHWA deep dive and a girl group supplemental. Tschüss!

[apathyandmischief]

I haven't seen this done and it might be too niche, but I don't care and I want to do it so I am.

Burlesque Ask Game!

What's your stage name? What does it mean?

Lizzie Blaze. My middle name is Elizabeth and my partner's stage name ends with Blaze as well (based on his native name, Blazing Path) so I stole it lmao.

When did you make your debut?

October of 2019! I can't believe I'm headed up on five years doing this :')

Why do you do it?

For the rush, honestly. I grew up loving burlesque and old school pin up and always wanted to try it. It's such a heady, powerful feeling to command a stage. Also for all the shy girls who come up to me after my shows!! They're the best and like my reason to live!!!

Do you ever get stage fright?

I do! Nearly five years in and I still wonder what the fuck I'm doing every time I get on stage.

What's your pre-show ritual?

Panic, run through everything in my head, overthink, and if my sweet angel of a con bestie is there, get fed drinks 😭

First routine?

This is so fucking basic and everyone does this, but Jessica Rabbit 🥲

Last routine?

The last one I did was Miss Frizzle to Hot For Teacher. I loved it, the audience loved it, but my partner did not and kinda got upset with me over it (I went too far, in his opinion. He's a cishet man, so we've grappled with jealousy and internalized toxic masculinity. We both prefer I perform to a queer audience bc he's okay with me interacting with women and I prefer that anyway, but it's not always possible. We've worked it out though). Had a mini crisis and took a brief hiatus after that, but I'm back in it now.

Favorite routine?

That's such a toss up! I think either my Vegas showgirl inspired Vulpix routine to a custom mix of Bumps & Grinds by Sonny Lester and Fast Girls by Atom Smith, or my gay ass Daphne Blake routine to Crimson and Clover by Joan Jett (featuring Velma's sweater).

Dream routine?

God what I wouldn't give you have a femme partner to do gay routines with. I would LOVE to do a Loki and Mobius to Casual Affair by P!atD (I already have it choreographed) or a deeply dramatic and skillful Freddy and Nancy routine to the VCTRYS cover of Come To My Window. I also want to do a badass showgirl Oogie Boogie with a burlap blacklight costume that has a big ass bustle, break away corset with bugs, snake eye dice pasties, and a fuck all huge witch hat that has a roulette table underneath.

Favorite costume?

Definitely my Vulpix. I've already said it so much but it's just so showgirl! It's a gold corset, puff sleeve wrap top, open front bustle skirt, boa "tail", gold gloves, black stockings, red garter, and red strappy lingerie. After the aforementioned crisis though, I threw half of it away and I hate myself for it

Favorite prop?

I don't typically use props, but we have this magic act cane that like pops out (I'm so bad at explaining things jfc) that's super fun

Favorite reveal?

When I did a Grinch routine a while back, I had a pair of panties that said "I kissed Santa" 😈

Plain pasties or tassels?

I am not skilled with tassels 🥲

Upbeat or slow burn?

Usually I go for upbeat! But I do love a good slow burn sometimes

What's your style?

Definitely neo-burlesque, because I primarily do cosplay burlesque. But I love adding classic influence with big band jazz and sparkly outfits and classic inspired moves

Do you still/did you ever kitten?

I actually skipped that step in my burlesque journey? But I host and produce now, so I'll happily jump up and kitten for my cast whenever needed

Inspirations?

I really love Lavendelle, Ginger Valentine, and the Les Vixens troupe!

Best performer you know personally?

Her name is Peachy Sweets and she's the biggest sweetheart and worthy of so much love, she's just the best 🥲💖

Do you have a stage mom? Are you a stage mom?

I don't have one, but I've dragged so many people into my world and now I love playing stage mom behind the scenes!

Plug your next show! (If you're comfy sharing location based details)

I don't have specifics for the next one yet, but I run the burlesque shows at my local comic con and can always be found there!

[chessere]

Music that reminds me of wintershur :')

To preface. I am a little bit tipsy and sleepy. What am I rambling about? Fucking guess baby. I don't know either.

Also this post is about songs that remind me of them. Not what they'd listen to. I mean. I think they would listen to this too. But there'd be a lot more britney spears involved. I have a very particular image of them in mind.

Anyways first of all ethan is a swingrowers guy and miles is a bear ghost guy no i do not take criticisms actually

He's trying to call out her name

But his love is still too far away

That part alone. That hits like a bitch. Mia winters you will always be famous.

Also because canon ethan is a jazz guy. Probably more of a frank sinatra person but something upbeat is nice!!! So electro swing it is!!!!!!

.......Yeah this is what happens when you let a guy who only listens to weeb music and electro swing make a playlist lmao

Now. Miles. My second favorite man with 8 fingers.

Both of these. It's the vibes for me and not much with the lyrics. You know which ones are about the lyrics though? both versions of the hound and the fox. They're SO miles upshur. The most upshur to ever upshured, even.

I can't catch my breath! Been working to the bone Dottin' on all the "i's" And crossin' every "t" I own This ain't pullin' thread No, baby this is war! I'll be the card to end their cash machine They'll rue the day the hound came to their door

The real crooks ain't wearin' ski masks No, they're walkin' around in suits They feed us lies in American wrapping They're just acting

It's so hard to choose which part fits the best because the entire song goes crazy. Good god i am so obsessed with it.

Speaking of I the mighty. Playing catch with .22 is such peak wintershur it's insane (delusional)

I've been thinking back to when we used to share a drink on midnight walks When you'd pretend your winter breath was cigarette smoke in your lungs I'd fight the urge to give you all the worst advice about the ones you liked (You called it chemistry, I called it earning bragging rights) Knowing damn well if I told you how I felt, I'd crack the ice Roll the dice

Oughghhhfhhhh...... Oghhufhhughuhhf........ No one said it'd be healthy yknow. I'm not very known to like ships where the people involved are happy without any conditions. Wintershur in particular is big on the side of being a situationship more than a relationship jfjdjHFJDJDJDJ

[marcspectorsbooty]

Like Real People Do

(Jake Lockley x f!Reader)

Angst/Fluff

TW: mentions of Marc and Steven, slight mentions of Jake's previous trauma, domestic!Jake

Description: You help show Jake that he is worthy of love and having a good life.

A/N: not gonna lie, I cried a bit when writing this. I love my boy so much

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask you, neither should you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do

The music played through your headphones as you walked home from work. It had been a long day at the bookstore, but still you felt accomplished and happy knowing that you could help so many people find what they were looking for. Some days it felt hectic and like there was no peace, but not that day. You were feeling good about everything and in an even more upbeat mood than you usually were.

You thought about Jake for a moment, curious to how his day was going and if there were any hiccups along the way. One of the things you had learned throughout your time dating Jake was that the less questions you asked about his day, the better. There were many nights where he would be stumbling in at ungodly hours, bloody and beaten to a pulp. But you didn’t ask what happened or get frustrated, you got up and helped him safely get to the bathroom to patch his wounds. And for that, Jake was grateful.

Still, it was always difficult when Marc or Steven woke up fronting and asked what had happened to the body while Jake was in control. There was always a lack of answers there. You always felt guilty for not having all of the information. 

But still, Jake was a good boyfriend.  He treated you well, but you couldn’t help but wish that he was more open with you about the Moon Knight stuff. There was little explanation to why he would have to leave in the middle of the night or at the dinner you had been planning for weeks. You could only assume that Khonshu was giving out orders and he had to abide by them, even if it meant leaving you in the dust. 

You tried to shake off the thoughts and get back into your good mood as you approached the apartment door. Hopefully Jake was home and ready to see you. Hopefully work wasn’t too rough on him and there were no broken bones to reset tonight. You took your keys out of your pocket and unlocked the door, stepping inside and shutting it after you. 

Dumping your things on the floor with a sigh, you looked around to find your boyfriend. To your surprise, he was nowhere to be found.

You maneuvered through the apartment, making sure that he wasn’t passed out on the floor or draped over any furniture. A feeling of relief washed over you when you found him in bed, sleeping peacefully.

“Thank the gods.” You whispered to yourself. 

Your eyes scanned him over, making sure he wasn’t bleeding out or bruised too badly. All of the cuts and bruises on his bare torso were old, thankfully. 

“He will rise soon.” Khonshu said, appearing in the corner of the room. “I need my Moon Knight to carry out my vengeance.”

“Let him sleep, please.” You requested in a low tone not to wake him. “It’s rare for him to look this peaceful.”

You made your way to the kitchen, deciding that dinner was your next priority now that Jake didn’t need tending to. Khonshu followed you, watching curiously as you began taking out pans and rummaging through the fridge to see what you were working with for ingredients. You pulled raw chicken out as well as a few vegetables and started preparing things.

“Why not take his place?” Khonshu asked, tilting his head at you.

“What?” You replied, focused on dicing tomatoes. 

“If you’re so worried about him, little worm, why don’t you take his place as my avatar?”

“No thanks, I’d rather not start coming home bloody and broken like he does. Besides, I don’t do the bidding of gods, it’s not my thing.” You hummed.

“Here I thought you loved him. It seems as though your love does not go as far as freeing him.” Khonshu scoffed.

You paused for a moment, feeling the emotions rush through you. Parts of you wanted to say yes to Khonshu just to prove him wrong, but you knew what that trap entailed. The old bird was manipulative. He knew all the right ways to get under your skin and wanted to use your vulnerability as a way in.

“That was Jake’s decision to be your avatar, not mine. It’s not my job to take on his karma.” You said quietly, trying to hold back tears. 

“But he could have his life back, his life with you.” Khonshu reminded you. 

You took a moment to process his words, feeling guilty for not taking his offer. As much as you wanted your life with Jake back and for things to feel normal again, you knew Khonshu’s tricks. Just because Jake would be free didn’t mean that you would be. You would still be running around on rampages in the sake of vengeance, always tired and sore. That wasn’t a life you wanted.

“I’m sorry, old bird, but the answer is still no.” You stated and went back to cooking.

“Baby?” A low, grumbly voice called out.

Jake stepped into the kitchen looking exhausted. He ran a hand through his hair and yawned, clearly being half awake. You smiled at him and admired him for a moment, loving the fact that he looked so good shirtless with a pair of sweatpants on. He barely even noticed Khonshu in the corner; hell, he probably wanted to ignore the god at all costs after just getting some sleep in. Jake stepped behind you, slinging his arms around your waist and burying his face into the crook of your neck.

“Hi, love.” You hummed. “You were passed out when I came in, I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Mmmm, it’s okay.” Jake muttered against your skin.

“How did you sleep?” 

He lifted his head up and sighed. “Slept okay. Still really tired though.”

“Well, I’m making tuscan chicken for dinner so hopefully that will wake you up a bit.” You smiled. 

“Mmm, a woman of my heart. Thank you.” He pressed a kiss to your cheek. “I’m gonna make some coffee, you want any?”

“It’s six P.M Jake, you shouldn’t be drinking coffee.���

“We aren’t married, you can’t tell me how to live my life.” He joked and made his way over to the coffee pot.

“Oh so I can only care about your health when we’re married?” You chuckled.

“Precisely. Those are the rules, doll, I don’t make them.” Jake shrugged and grabbed the ground coffee bag out of the cabinet. 

“You’re full of shit, Lockley. Now I’m going to have to marry you.”

You both smiled and shook your heads, loving each other’s ridiculousness. Jake was goofy and lovable when he didn’t have to be serious, which is why you adored him. He had to look tough and fight off his emotions when he went out into the world, but he was soft when he was around you. Jake made you feel like you were safe, like there was no evil in the world when he was around you. He couldn’t even think about hurting you and wanted to do nothing but protect you. That was Jake. 

Yes, he hurt people for a living. There was probably more blood on his hands than you knew, but that wasn’t the core of who Jake Lockley was. It hurt to think that the man who brought you breakfast in bed most mornings and cut out time in his day so that he could wake up and fall asleep with you was capable of such horrific things. But when those sweet, doughy eyes looked into yours, that’s not what you thought of. Not in the slightest. 

“What’s on that pretty little mind of yours?” Jake asked, breaking you out of your daze. “I can see the gears turning just by the look on your face.”

“Nothing.” You muttered, focused on the task of cooking.

“That’s a lie and we both know it.” 

Damn his ability to read you so well. Why did he have to know you like that? 

“Can I ask a stupid question to answer your not stupid question?” You chimed.

“Ask away.” Jake replied, pouring coffee into his cup and immediately taking a sip. Black coffee with no cream or sugar, the Jake Lockley way. 

“Where do you see yourself in five years, Jake?” You asked seriously, not meeting his gaze.

“Ideally still with you, doll.” He smiled shyly. “I’m not entirely sure what you mean though.”

“Do you want to settle down? Get married, have kids, buy a house? What is on your radar for the future?”

Jake paused for a moment, letting the question sink in. What did he want? Was there a future without Khonshu, without Moon Knight? You wanted to pick his brain so badly. What did Jake Lockley want? 

“I don’t know.” He whispered. “I really don’t.”

You stopped what you were doing and turned to face him. Jake looked puzzled and was deep in thought. It was possible that he hadn’t really planned for any of those things to happen in his lifetime. He rarely did things for himself as it was; a lot of his actions were based on the protection and safety of the body as well as Marc and Steven. You were the only real thing he had for himself.

“I’m not saying this stuff to be mean, love, I just…” You sighed and took his hand in yours. “I want to settle down with you and build our life together but I want to know what you want.”

Jake bit his lip in contemplation and then let out a heavy sigh. “When you spend your entire life running and thinking you won’t live past a certain age, you don’t really get to plan ahead.”

Oh. 

You could feel the hurt radiate through him. It had never occurred to you that he thought that way. Why did he have to be so broken that he thought he couldn’t make a nice life for himself? The poor man had been through hell and back, he deserved to leave everything behind and settle down. 

“Oh, sweetheart.” You cooed, the tears forming in the corners of your eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry, doll.” Jake set his mug down and pulled you in for a hug. “It’s just something I haven’t really thought about.”

“Please know that you’re worthy of love, Jake. You deserve to build a good life for yourself.” The tears were streaming down your cheeks as you looked up at him.

“I know, baby, I know.” He whispered.

You held each other in silence for a moment, letting your bodies sway in tune with each other. Every part of you loved Jake and wanted to support him no matter what he wanted, but there was a piece of you that wanted him to wake up and take control of his life. To leave Khonshu and Moon Knight in the dust and to begin living for himself. To love every day like it’s his last and to see the opportunities that are in front of him.

“When I was younger I always thought that I’d get married and have a kid.” Jake broke the silence. “I had this image in my head of a nice house to come home to. And a beautiful wife and little one to be waiting there for me. It all just feels so out of reach now.”

“It’s not.” Your hands reached up and cupped his cheeks. “I would love to have that life with you if you want me in it.”

“I want to have you in it, babydoll.” He smiled down at you. “I think I have to quit the Moon Knight stuff first though. Can’t be gettin’ all beat up every night if I’m gonna have a kiddo running around.” 

You pressed a soft kiss to his lips, overjoyed with his words. “We can start living like real people do.”

“We can.”

“I love you, Jake Lockley.” You hummed and kissed him again. “And if you do decide to marry me, I can’t wait to ban you from drinking coffee after four P.M.”

“Not happening, but I’ll still marry you.” Jake chuckled. “As long as you don’t keep burning our dinner like you’re doing now.”

“Oh shit!”

[amayawolfe]

Itsy Bitsy Spider (Chrollo x Fem.Reader)

A/N: fluff, spiders, angst, some harsh language

Word Count: 5262

Summary: Having been born in Meteor City, the majority of your life has been nothing but hardships. Looking back on it, you often wondered how you even made it to adulthood let alone become the treasured partner and wife of eight years to the head of the Phantom Troupe and mother to yours and Chrollo's son.

In the middle of prepping dinner, Chrollo and some of the troupe return from a successful mission. Your husband fills you in on the details as he and a couple of the members begin to help in the kitchen. The peace is suddenly shattered when your six year old comes running into the kitchen terrified, screaming, and claiming there is a monster in his room!

taglist: @to-move-on-means-to-grow @daisies-write

   The menu music to the DVD you were watching gently woke you from your unintentional nap. You blinked your eyes a few times to bring them into focus and stretched your curled up body along the large, overstuffed couch. This particular spot on the couch was often your place of rest unless your husband was home; in which case the couch was hardly ever used.

   Using the remote you turned off the tv and player then pushed yourself up into a sitting position. You snatched up your phone from it's place on the coffee table and checked the time. It was nearly early evening.

   "Guess I should start thinking about what to make for dinner," you said to yourself as you swipe through your phone to check for messages.

   Down in this underground hideout beneath Meteor City, phone signal alone was nearly impossible to receive. Thankfully, one of the family was able to figure out how to set up a computer that would broadcast Wi-Fi into the hideout from a line that went to the surface where a receiver was carefully hidden. This way, you could at least send and receive messages between the family and yourself.

   Your eyebrows rose and a smile touched your lips when you saw that you had a message from your husband, Chrollo.

Luci: Shopping run was successful, we should be home in the evening.

   You smirked a little at the cryptic message. The "shopping run" Chrollo was talking about was actually a heist during a gem and jewelry show. A heist in which you had helped plan out with your husband and three other family members.

   You glowered down at your phone when you realized the message had been sent a little over an hour ago while you were asleep.

   "I really need to get a louder phone," you muttered to yourself as you began to type a response.

You: I just woke up...

You: I haven't started dinner yet, is there anything you or the others would like?

   Phone still in hand you got to your feet and head in the direction of your son's room. As you walk through the hideout your sock covered foot falls are silent from a lifetime of practice. You pass a collection of pictures hanging along the walls. There are photos of you, Chrollo, your son, as well as the rest of the family doing random things a family would do.

 There were a couple from around the holidays and you and Chrollo are watching your son open gifts. Another was on Chrollo's birthday and two of the members had sandwiched his face between two pieces of vanilla cake with strawberry frosting. The look of shock and horror on Chrollo's face had been perfectly captured. While it was one of your favorite photos, he despised it. Chrollo's favorite picture on the wall was of you and him stretched out on the day bed in the library reading a book together while his head was resting on your nearly full term pregnant belly. You had to admit, it was a very cute picture.

   The home was enormous, consisting of s/n's room and his own bathroom, yours and Chrollo's large master bedroom with a large bathroom, a gourmet kitchen, library, study, massive living room, dining hall, training area along with a gym and a pool, a giant vault for looted treasures, multiple guests rooms with their own bathrooms, there was even a "war room" where missions and strategies were discussed.

   All the rooms in the place were lavishly decorated and furnished for maximal comfort. Any electronics and appliances were always top of line. Your husband always insisted on the best of the best for you and the family.

   Upon reaching your son's open door way you peeked in on him and found him laying on his belly on the floor reading a book aloud softly. He had his collection of stuffed animals surrounding him as though they were an audience listening to the story he was telling. A majority of them were a variety of teddy bears of all shapes, colors, and sizes. Ever since he saw a picture of a tiny teddy bear defending a sleeping child from a large monster he had taken a great liking to them.

   S/n's favorite teddy bear was one that Chrollo had asked Machi to make for him during a difficult time for s/n where he was greatly missing his father whenever he went on missions. It was of average size for a teddy bear and had medium brown fur. The button eyes were the same shade of grey blue as Chrollo's and it even had a dark long coat with white fur lining. But how Machi really outdid herself were the little details of a tiny book with a felt cover sewn to the teddy bears paw, the same mark on it's forehead as Chrollo's, and giving the bear little blue green glass bead earrings.

   Your son had been so happy to the point of joyous tears when his father gave him the bear made especially for him. He decided right there and then to name the bear "Sir Brollo." Upon s/n announcing this, you had to bite your tongue so hard it bled to keep yourself from laughing at the bright red look that came over your husband's face.    Sir Brollo had a front row seat sitting right beside s/n as he read. That bear rarely ever left your son's side.

   You rest your head against the door frame as you leaned against it and listened to your son read to his "friends." It saddened you knowing your son had no one to play with except for you and the family when ever they were home. But being the son of the head of the heavily feared and all powerful Phantom Troupe, precautions had to be taken.    There had been a few dangerously close calls of s/n being taken away to be used as revenge or leverage against the Phantom Troupe. Close calls that resulted in a sense of dread and anxiety that never fully went away. Even after Chrollo had gathered the nen techniques needed to build you, your son, and the family this safe place, the possible threat of invasion always weighed heavy in the back of your mind. And poor s/n was never allowed out of the hide out unless he had you or Chrollo and at least three other members of the family with him.

   These constant negative feelings that lingered in the air had taken a toll on your son causing him to become a very nervous and skittish child with a fear of nearly everything. You and the others hoped that, over time, he would be able to shake these fears and stand up to them.

   When your son finished the chapter he was on you lifted your head and gently called his name.    "s/n"

   The child jumped and looked up at you with wide blue grey eyes. His father's eyes. You could feel the sadness in your own eyes form at his frightened expression.

   "I'm sorry kiddo," you said softly and entered his room to kneel down close to him. "I didn't mean to startle you, I just wanted to let you know that your father and some of the family will be home soon."

   "Oh, okay, thank you mommy," s/n replied softly.

   "Is there something special you want for dinner tonight?" you asked.

   "Hmmm, not really. Just, no fish, please," your son wrinkled his nose, "I really don't like fish."

   You couldn't help but laugh aloud at his response. Stroking his soft hair you leaned forward, and kissed him on the forehead.

   "I know, baby, I know. I promise, no fish."

   s/n smiled at your  words and he began to kick his feet in the air just above him.    "Who else will be home?"    "I think your uncles Fei, Phinks, and Shal will be coming in with your dad."

   Right then your phone pinged and vibrated alerting you to a message response. Glancing down at it you saw Chrollo had responded to your previous question.

   "Oh," you said, "speak of the devil."

Luci: I have been asked to put in a request for your famous stew.

   You looked down at s/n, "How does stew sound for dinner?"

   His eyes grew wide and he smiled happily.

   "Yeah!" he cheered as he rolled to one side and pumped a tiny fist into the air. You couldn't help but laugh again and ruffled your son's hair.

   "Alright my silly boy, would you like to help me in the kitchen?"

   "No, I want to keep reading to Sir Brollo and the others," he answered honestly. "I want to finish a few more chapters before time to eat."

   "Okay, I'll come get you when it's time to eat then." You rose to your feet and started to leave the room. At the door way you turned and added, "I love you, sweetie."

   "I love you too, mommy," s/n beamed then returned to his book.

   As you made your way to the kitchen you messaged your husband a reply.

You: I can do that, I'll go ahead and get started. See you soon?

Luci: See you soon, princess.

   You felt the warmth of a blush touch your cheeks. A reaction that always occurred when Chrollo called you by his favorite pet name for you.

   When you entered the massive kitchen you set some upbeat classical music to play from your phone. You loved listening to music while you cooked and baked. You then brought down a large stock pot as well as collected a peeler, knife, mixing bowl, and cutting bored. From the fridge you set out a large chunk of beef, bacon, carrots, and celery. The pantry had the potatoes, flour, beef stock, onions, a bottle of red wine and garlic you needed.

   You really felt like you were getting into the grove as you gave your hands a good scrub. You diced up a few slices of bacon and tossed them into the stock put and turned the stove flame on to a medium high heat. While the bacon started to cook and release the greasy fat you were going to brown the beef cubes in, you cut the beef chunk into bite size pieces with impressive speed and accuracy. Chrollo wasn't the only one good with a knife.

   Once the meat was all cubed you tossed it into the mixing bowl along with some olive oil. Tossing the meat and oil in the bowl until the meat was evenly coated you then added flour, garlic powder, onion powder, season salt, and pepper; stirring it until it the meat was all evenly coated.

   Checking on the bacon and giving it a stir, you decided to let the bacon bits crisp a bit more and started working on dicing up a large yellow onion. Humming along with a playful piece of classical music known as "Thunder and Lightning polka" by Johann Strauss II, you really felt like you had a good rhythm going and was very much engrossed in your work.

   So much so you didn't even notice someone quietly enter the kitchen and walk up behind you. You didn't notice them watching while you worked, waiting for a pause in your actions before placing their hands on your waist.

   You let out a small yelp of surprise as you knocked the persons hands aside and spun around quickly, bringing the sharp edge of the kitchen knife up to your would be assailant's throat. You had expected to see the face of a dangerous stranger. But instead, you where greeted by the warm, familiar face of your husband. There was a small playful smile on his lips and an extra little gleam in his eyes. Chrollo normally wasn't one to sneak up on you like he just did, but he did tend to become mischievously playful after a successful mission. You figured it was most likely from the adrenaline high.

   "Damnit, Chrollo," you hissed as you removed the knife from his neck and leaned back against the counter, "You know better than that. What if I had cut your neck wide open?"    "Mmm, but you didn't," he replied softly.

   You sighed and rolled your eyes, Chrollo was never one to dwell on the "what ifs" of life.

   "I got you a little something, my dear," he stated as he reached into the pocket of his favorite long coat. Your husband was always bringing you little gifts when ever he went on a mission without you.

   From his pocket he with drew a small, dark navy blue velvet box and held it before you. You quickly washed and dried your hands so as to not to get the box all dirty, carefully took the box from his hand and let out a small gasp upon opening it.

   Inside the dainty box was a small rose charm necklace. The piece was masterfully crafted as the delicate petals of the rose were made from chips of rubies while the petals were made of dark green chrome tourmaline chips. Both gems were set in fine gold which also made up the delicate stem of the rose. The chain was made of fine delicate links also in gold.

    "Oh Chrollo," you breathed in awe, "it's absolutely gorgeous."

   Your husband smiled at your reaction, pleased to see you so happy with the piece he had picked out for you. He held up his hand to take back the box.

   "May I?"

   Without a need for question you handed the box back to him. You watched him take the necklace out of the box and he returned the box back to his pocket. You turned around as he held up the necklace and you moved your hair at the way so Chrollo could have unobstructed access to your neck. He stepped closer as undid the delicate little clasp and carefully hung the necklace around your neck.

   After he redid the clasp behind your neck he slid his hands to your shoulders and placed a soft, warm kiss on your neck. Chrollo's breath tickled the fine hairs on the delicate skin causing goosebumps to erupt down your arms.

   "A piece fit for a princess," he whispered against your ear in a low, sultry voice.

   His hands moved down your sides to your waist and pulled you closer to him. Your back flush against his chest, you tilted your head to one side allowing him easy access as his he ran a trail of soft kisses from just below where you neck and shoulder connect to your ear. Chrollo's arms came around your waist and he hugged you tightly as he nuzzled his nose against your ear and breathed against the sensitive flesh. You braced your hands against the counter as your knees started to feel weak.

   Mischievous and playful were not the only moods that overcame Chrollo after a successful job. You looked forward to the private activities that were most likely to take place between you and your husband behind the closed bedroom door later that night.

   "Hey boss, we finished placing all the merchandise into the vault," called a familiar voice, ending the tender moment between you and your husband. As romantic as he could be, Chrollo was never really comfortable showing physical affection in front of the others. Something that both amused and annoyed you the entire eight plus years the two of you had been together.    Your husband gave you one last chaste kiss just below the earlobe before turning to Shalnark walking through the kitchen doorway.

   "Thank you, Shalnark. And what are the others up to?"

   "Oh, they're arguing over what to watch until dinner is done," Shal laughed.

   "Why am I not surprised," you said over your shoulder as you started to scoop the crispy bacon bits out of the stock pot with a slotted spoon. "Say, since you two are here why don't you help me out with peeling and cutting the vegetables? The sooner everything gets into the pot the sooner it'll be done and we can eat."

   "Sure thing!" Shal beamed, causing you to smile. He always seemed so happy to you and reminded you of a little ball of sunshine.

   "I'll go put my coat up and then I'll come back and help," Chrollo replied and strode from the kitchen. Shalnark came over and washed his hands.

   "If you don't mind, could you go ahead and peel and chop up the carrots first?" you asked as you started to add the coated beef cubes to the bacon fat.

   "Yea, I can do that," Shal chirped. He dried his hands and set to work peeling the carrots. "How's everything been here the last few weeks?"

   "Dull and quiet," you said with a sigh as you turned the meat cubes, "it's pretty much the same routine when everyone else is away. Not that I am complaining, really."    "I would hope not," Chrollo entered back into the kitchen without his coat. He was wearing a dark sleeveless shirt with a high collar and some white bands creating a pattern down the front, a dark pair of jeans and white socks. The shirt showed off his toned arms, chest, and shoulders and it enticed you to take a nice, long looks at your beloved.

   "'Dull and quiet' means 'safe' for my two greatest treasures." Chrollo took his turn at washing his hands before asking, "Now, what shall you have me do, dearest?"

   Deciding against speaking aloud the first thing that came to your mind and causing your husband to blush in front of a family member, you set him to work on peeling and cutting potatoes.

   You had removed the meat from the stock pot and added some red whine to deglaze the bottom of the pot when Feitan came in mumbling.

   "Did you lose the coin toss, Feitan?" Shal asked while he was chopping the carrots.

   "Yes," he sighed, then added bitterly" and I would much rather help here than watch another sports game."

   Chrollo smirked and Shalnark chuckled while you bit back a laugh. The three of you knew that Feitan would have greatly prefered watch some documentaries on famous criminals; yet somehow Phinks normally won the coin toss on what they would watch when it came to what those two would watch.

   "Well, Fei, in that case you can get the dinner roll dough out of the fridge, space them out in a greased baking then cover them with a towel so they can start rising."

   You felt the look Feitan shot at you more so than saw it. He had obviously been kidding about wanting to help out on the kitchen. Or, at the very least, he was putting on a show pretending that he actually didn't want to help out when in truth he did.

   When you didn't look back over your shoulder at him after a bit he sighed and went to go do as you had asked. You had made sure to give Feitan an easy enough task where he didn't have to ask someone to help get something down or where he would have to get a chair. You knew he could sometimes be a sensitive and prideful when it came to matters of his height.

   "So tell me, love, how did the mis-" your question to your husband was suddenly interrupted by the terrified screams of your son coming from his bedroom.

   "MONSTER!! MOMMY THERE'S A MONSTER!!!"

   Your heart nearly stopped as you dropped what you were doing and started to turn to run out of the kitchen along with Chrollo and the other two.

   Chrollo was the first to the door but came to an abrupt stop as s/n came around the corner and ran into his father. Your husband grabbed hold of him to keep him from falling backwards then maneuvered your son away from the door towards you so Feitan and Shalnark could pass to go investigate s/n's room.

   Keeping himself between the doorway and you and your son, Chrollo knelt down beside s/n who was now clinging to you and shaking with tears forming in his eyes. He placed a gentle hand on his son's upper back while you stroked his head.

   "Tell me what happened, son," he calmly ordered.

   "I was r-reading my book and a big monster c-came out of the corner of m-my room." s/n stammered.

   "What kind of monster, sweetie?" you asked.

   "We couldn't find anything, boss," Shalnark reported as he and Feitan returned.

   "It looked like a b-big spider!" s/n added.

   Chrollo's eyebrows started to creep up his forehead, "Spider?"

   Your son nodded.

   "PHINKS!" you nearly roared. Phinks had been known to play pranks on s/n in the past. Pranks that didn't go as he had planned and usually scared the poor kid senseless. The Troupe member claimed he was just trying to help s/n get over his fears, you usually ended up beating the crap out of him regardless.

   "It wasn't me!" came Phinks's response as he quickly joined Shalnark and Feitan. "I swear!"

   He shied away and stood behind the other two when you locked a deadly glare onto him.

   "No, mommy, it wasn't Uncle Phinks," s/n sniffled, "I was reading in my book and it got to a part with monster spiders then a huge spider appeared in my room!"

   There was a silent pause before nearly all the adults let out a collective sigh and their guards dropped.

   "See, I told you it wasn't me," Phinks muttered as he went back to watch the game.

   "Another false alarm," Feitan sighed while walking back into the kitchen.    "That's some imagination," Shalnark stated and gave s/n a pat head, "you must have thought the spider was one of those creature right out of your book, huh?"

   S/n nodded his head. His face was starting to turn red as he began to realize he had most likely been afraid of nothing once again.

   "But," he whispered sadly, "there really was a big spider in my room. And, I'm afraid it's going to hurt Sir Brollo."

   "Sir Brollo will be fine, love," you assured gently. "Give me a minute and daddy and I will come help look for the spider, okay?"

   s/n nodded and released his grip from you to stand a little closer to his father who rested a hand atop his sons head in means of comfort.

   You went to the stove, reduced it to medium low heat, added in the beef stock and spices then turned to Feitan and Shalnark.

   "Could you two please finish cutting up the vegetables and add them to the pot? Once that's done add in the meat last, give it a good stir then put the lid on. It should be good on it's own after that."

   "Can do, boss lady," Shalnark beamed.

   You thank them both and join your son and husband and the three of you head towards s/n's room with Chrollo in the lead. Upon entering the room everything seemed normal. S/n held onto you at the doorway and Chrollo walked a few steps further in while looking around carefully.  As he rounded the end of s/n's bed, looking down at a part of the floor you and s/n couldn't see, Chrollo actually jumped a little and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

   "Well, I was not expecting that." He blinked a couple times then began to look around the room for something.

   "What is it?" you asked. Chrollo smiled a little as he took a large clear plastic container and dumped out the contents to one side. He then went back over to the part of the floor you could not see, turned the container sideways and slowly knelt down.

   "An understandably good reason for our son to be scared," he replied softly, "at least at first."

   All you could see your husband do was make some slow, careful arm movements. He was speaking softly, to softly for you to here. You wanted to move forward to see what he was messing with but your son didn't want you to leave nor did he want to go farther into the room.

   You didn't have to wait long though, as Chrollo began to stand you could now see what he had corralled into the plastic container. It was indeed a spider, but not just any spider, this sider was enormous. With it's legs fanned out it was easily larger than your husbands face.

   "It's a snowy tarantula," Chrollo explained as he slowly walked over to the two of you, "it's sort of an ironic name considering it usually lives in hot, arid climates like the desserts around Meteor City."

   Once he was within a couple meters of you and s/n he knelt down and gently set the container on the floor. The creature inside barely moved as it seemed to turn and look up at Chrollo.

   "It's called a 'snowy' tarantula due to the white hairs all over it's body. The hairs actually shimmer and reflect the light just like fresh fallen snow. An evolutionary trait that developed to help reflect the dessert heat away from it's body and keep it cooler. A magnificent specimen to behold when the light hits it just right. Come see, s/n. She's actually quite docile."

   S/n looked up at you and you gave him a warm smile and a nod. He slowly let go of you and took one slow, cautious step after another towards his father and the spider that had frightened him so. You carefully followed behind your son wanting to get a look at the tarantula as well.

   As the two of you came closer, the tarantula daintily turned and looked up at you. You gasped slightly at the beautiful deep blue eyes that now stared up at you.

   "Now watch," your husband instructed and he began to carefully rotate the container in a circular side to side motion causing the light to dance across the hairs of the tarantula.

   "Whhoooaaaa." Your son's eyes grew wide in awe as a rainbow of prismed light moved over the hairs of the tarantula, giving her the effect of a living gem. "She's so pretty. I've never seen anything like it, daddy."

   Chrollo stopped the rotation of the container and carefully set it on the floor. He then reached over, placed his hand on the back of his son's head and gently pulled s/n's head towards his own as he too began to lean forward. The two touched foreheads over the tarantula and looked into each others eyes.

   "There is no shame in having fear, s/n, but do not let that fear keep you from learning and understanding the unknown. What once was scary and ugly could turn out to be something wonderful and beautiful once you find the courage to face it. Do you understand?"

   Your son smiled and nodded slightly, "Yes, daddy, I understand. I'll try harder to be brave, just like you, mommy, and the rest of the family."

   Your husband returned the smiled and closed his eyes, "Very good, my son."

   S/n closed his eyes as well and the two shared an unspoken bonding moment over the snowy tarantula who just looked up at them. You smiled down at the two you held most dear and felt your heart swell with love and emotion.  

   Your son was the first to break the silence.

   "Do you think we could keep her?" he asked as he gently pulled away from his father. "She could be our mascot!"

   "Ah-ha, I don't think so, sweetie," you said firmly. "I'm sure she would be a lot happier on the surface where she has room to find food and make a home."    "Awwww," s/o whined in disappointment, "when is she going back then?"

   "Probably the sooner the better." Chrollo added, backing you up before s/n had a chance to ask him as well.

   "Can I show her to the others before she goes back outside?"

   Chrollo chuckled, "I don't see why not. Just be sure to carry her gently and don't shake her. You don't want to hurt her before we let her back outside."

   "Okay!" s/n said with excitement. He carefully picked up the plastic container and walked with precise hurried steps out of the room, eager to show his uncles that he hadn't been afraid of just nothing.

   As soon as s/n was out of ear shot you turned to your husband who was now standing beside you.

   "I'm not going to lie, had that thing snuck up on me while I was reading I probably would have screamed, too," you admitted with light laughter sounding in your words. Chrollo smiled and wrapped his arms around your waist bringing the two of you close.

   "How did something like that even get in here? The airducts, maybe?"

   "It's possible," Chrollo agreed, "I'll ask Shalnark to run a check on the ventilation system just in case."

   You stood on your tip toes and kissed his nose, "I'd appreciate that. Also, you might want to ask Shal and Fei how the hell they missed such a big spider when they came in here to check for intruders."  

   "When s/n jumped up and ran out of here screaming it probably startled her and she hid among all the stuffed toys," your husband made a gesture with his head to your son's mass collection. You looked down and realized that, even though the spider had been huge, she could have easily hid between some of the bigger plushies blocking her from view.

   "Good point," you chuckled, "Okay, one more question, 'Who's taking the spider top side?'"

   "Once s/n is done showing the others I'll take them all top side to let her go," your husband volunteered, "we won't go far just to release her."

   "He's getting better at recovering from scares like this," you observed. "But still... I worry about him..."

   "Of course you worry about him," Chrollo said softly, bringing his head down to now touch his marked forehead to yours, "you're his mother. I suspect you will worry for him one way or another for the rest of your life."

   "And what about you? Don't you worry about our son?" you asked in the same softness Chrollo was expressing.

   "Of course I do, y/n, he's my son. But, seeing how the two of us are, and what we survived to get here, I feel s/n is going to -"    "AAAHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" Phinks screamed, "WAS THAT IN YOUR ROOM!?!?! NO!! I DO NOT WANT A CLOSER LOOK!"

   Chrollo threw back his head and let out a genuine laugh. A laugh that made you smile and laugh along with him.

   "Hey! I can hear you two! Shut the hell up!" Phinks yelled, his voice cracking in embarrassment.

   His words made the two of you laugh even harder for several minutes.

   By the time you two had settled down and caught your breath there were tears in your eyes from laughing so hard. Chrollo looked down at you with a smile still on his face and gave you a long, warm, soft kiss right on the lips. It gave the moment an almost surreal feel to it.

   He was the first to break away from the kiss. Your husband chuckled as he swept some hair behind you ear with his finger tips.    "As I was saying, I think our son is going to be just fine."

[reddoll123]

Hey, so here’s my lil’ mini review of Onew’s mini-album Dice after listening to the whole thing twice:

Dice: I like the beat, and the chorus is very doo-woppy and SHINee-esque~ Though, I think the song's just okay personally. The verses were okay but I did love the choruses especially the last one.

Sunshine: Wow that beat/bass pierces the ears lol. Now this is a head bopper for me!! Loved this one, especially the chorus. And I started cheesing halfway through just from hearing his voice and being able to hear an uptempo song from him from this and the last song <3. This song gave me chills, like it was so good bruh.

On the way: I love me some good Ooh's like the ones at the start. Love the smooth, silky vibe of this song. And I'm not gonna lie he deadass sounded like Jonghyun during the chorus when he made his voice airy. I said :O and rewinded so fast lol. So yeah, his fucking falsetto bruh <333. And this beat bruh--Cha cha malone did it again.

Love Phobia: This gives me throwback boyband vibes if that makes sense? Like during the chorus, tho I can't even think of the specific song it reminds me of atm. Either way, I liked this one too~

Yeowoobi: Hmm the production of this one was kinda loud compared to his voice imo like during the first verse. Also, "Your love takes me higher than I never been?" I'm wondering why didn't they just say 'than I've ever been'. Overall, was an ehh song to me. Don't care for the guitar (?) in this much. Though, I was vibing more during that last chorus ngl.

In the whale: I like this one a lot~ A nice chiller song to vibe to was the perfect song to end this album with imo.

And so my favs from this album in order are: Sunshine, On the way, In the whale, Love Phobia, Dice, Yeowoobi.

TL;DR: This was a nice follow-up to his first mini Voice. I'd love to see him doing even more upbeat songs like the ones here tbh! Full R&B album, when? Hehe, so yeah I def rec taking a listen if you haven't already! His voice is lovely as always in every song <3.

[scandeniall]

cooking with the boyfriends

With Osamu, Atsumu, Suna, Iwaizumi

notes: I was forced to help cook tonight and thought about cooking with some boys and right now i find drabbles to be very fun to writeso here we are with another disaster by ri :)

Osamu: Can I start this list without putting osamu first. Now y’all may think he’s the perfect bf to cook with? WRONG. Now he’s not the worst (ie his brother or suna) but he’s not the best. Will always be the one to offer to cook and if you be like “let me help” he’ll say yes but end up taking over 90% of the time. Ask him 1 question about the dish and he’s like “ok let me show you how babe,” and you never end up completing the task yourself. If he wants to humor you into thinking you helped he’ll ask you to pass him ingredients. But one good thing is that depending on the thing he’ll be the type to kinda just press his body against yours and guide your hands for a solid 3 minutes before he’s like ok this isn’t comfortable and kinda just lightly moves you to the side to do the task himself. If you offer to cook for him one night he’ll try to not intrude he really will but will probably ask like a million questions. “Did you level the flour?” “Do you have all the ingredients out already?” Please get him OUT of the kitchen so you can do your thing like damn. Criticizes your chopping skills but at least offers to show you how to do it better (not that you ever learn). When it comes to music he either cooks in complete silence or like something smooth and sensual. Overall I’d give him 7/10 because control freak in the kitchen but he tries to be considerate and is still really sweet. Plus food always comes out 1000/10

Atsumu: LMFAO OK. Now I head canon him as not being the worst cook in the world but he isn’t the best by a long shot. Like he can make maybe 3 meals. Pretty useless when it comes to helping you though. Mostly just distracts himself and you. Ask him to prep the meat and like he’ll do it for 2 seconds before mentioning something completely off the wall and before you know it y’all are involved in some dumb ass conversation about what if you created your own food fungi and how would you do it and what if you made cotton candy kombucha with it? Also criticizes your chopping skills but unlike his twin he can NOT do better. “Babe yer supposed to dice those look like blocks” “You do it then” *pause* “I cant right now I’m busy but just know I can do better” he cant. Tries to recreate some dish osamu made for him with you and y’all end up calling the twin like 100 times because Atsumu kept forgetting the steps. Very proud when y’all do make the dish and he literally scarfs it down so fast. Unless it’s gross y’all both looking at each other like 👁👄👁 and blaming the other. Type to eat while cooking. Like as soon as you take one piece of meat off the stove he’s eating it and you gotta swat his hand away. Cooks with the music loud as hell and it’s something very upbeat which can add to y’all getting distracted. I’d give him 6/10 because while it’s lowkey a struggle he’s kinda fun and most of the time the food comes out edible

Suna: now this man is absolutely USELESS. First of all you literally have to beg him to come cook with you “why” “because it’s romantic you jackass.” And eventually he agrees. Does not know how to cook any hot meal. Burns the water because he puts it on then walks away and forgets. Acts like he can’t fucking read when you ask him to go get an ingredient. “Which one is that?” Like baby read the label. Might follow you around the kitchen for a little but does nothing helpful. Just stands to the side leaning against the counter and watches. Occasionally makes some comment like “are you doing that right?” You: points to something and asks him to reach over and get it. Suna: 🤨 lol. He doesn’t move a muscle so you’re like ok annoying and when you reach around him to get it the type to lowkey grab you by your waist to stop you from even doing what you were gonna. “Fine I’ll get it” he really couldn’t have done that from the beginning huh? If he does actually get something for you and it’s on the other side of the kitchen the type to be like: catch. Cooks to trap music lowkey although i use cook lightly. Just bobs his head and raps along occasionally feeling annoying enough to literally come and do it right in your ear. Another that eats off the food before you finish cooking and will lowkey laugh in your face when you glare. Yeah just push his ass out the kitchen not like he was doing anything useful anyways. I can also see him as the type to jokingly cheer when you’re finally like: ok get out. Overall 3/10. Utterly useless but he is appreciative and will thank you for being the best while y’all eating

Iwaizumi: the perfect man really. Takes initiative if you want him to. Also really cool with falling back and just helping. Pretty much does whatever you ask of him. Pretty decent cook. He has a few dishes in his arsenal, but has burnt food more than once. Anyways need him to go get the ingredients out? He’s on it. Ask him what the recipe calls for? Will print out the whole thing and even read it out to you if you want. Cooks in sweats and a tight tank so that’s pretty hot too. Once y'all are comfortable with each other (and obvs if y’all in the kitchen cooking together) gives the back of your shoulder kisses. Puts his hand on your lower back when looking over your shoulder to see what’s going on and it do be 🦋. Makes jokes about “please don’t poison me” He cooks with whatever’s on your playlist really. Has some favs with heavy drums but no real preference. Sometimes he finds himself just standing and watching too but will also be considerate enough to be like “you need anything?” Most likely to just check you out the entire time though. Love him. Perfect man that does what you want and he’s very hot. Arms be OUT so you staring respectfully too 🥵. Anyways meals come out pretty good so overall Iwa 10/10

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

PT: mb some DnD au fluff?

This was the last prompt so I went a little hard on it.

--

Lloyd yelled with laughter as he threw a handful of colorful plastic. Nya threw them right back at him and Kai pelted them both from the side.

“Stop abusing the dice!” Garmadon yelled with a smile.

Kai threw a few pieces at him.

“Make us!” he laughed.

“Fine then.” Garmadon said, picking Kai up and holding him slightly off the ground.

“Save yourselves!!” he called out.

“Don’t worry Kai, we’ll rescue you!” Lloyd yelled.

Nya gave a war cry as she started throwing more dice. She only hot Kai with them though since their loving father was using his oldest as a shield.

“Who’s side are you on!?” Kai was choked on a smile.

“Muhaha! My evil plans are coming to fruition!” Garmadon teased.

“Now look at what you’ve done! Dad’s gone evil again!” Kai giggled

Lloyd barked out a laugh and started to flap his arms in excitement. Kai’s head was thrown back with an uncontrolled laugh while Nya was on the ground with her giggles.

Garmadon swung Kai in a circle before setting him down.

Lloyd took the chance to “rescue” Kai.

“Alright, alright. We do have to clean up now.” Garmadon said after the laughter died down.

All three of his kids were sugar high, loud, and wound up. He was once again grateful he insisted game night not be on a school night, there was no way any of them would be going to bed for a few more hours.

Lloyd moaned, but Nya had already started to collect dice of the carpet.

Kai pulled out his phone and started to play an upbeat song they all knew the words to. Something that had been playing in their house since forever and was tied to the sweet feelings of fun moments with family.

They sang badly to each other and ended their clean up with an improv dance party.

-

Jay could hear the shrieks of laughter from next door. He sighed in his only childness, but another look at his expensive game consoles that he didn’t have to share reminded him of the perks. He’d seen all three of the neighbor siblings argue over who owned what and who had the right to use it when.

There was also the fact that his brownies were still on the counter and waiting for him.

“How was the game tonight?” He Mom asked, pouring him a glass of milk before he could even walk to the brownies.

“It was good. Nya got to be queen on the Munce.” Jay explained, grabbing a plate of sweet chocolate treats.

“I’m going to assume that means something in Ninjago.” his Dad said with a laugh.

Jay laughed back.

“Yeah. They’re like orcs pretty much. My character almost married one!”

“Is that good?” his Mom asked.

“Nope. It was bad.” Jay answered, taking a bite of his brownie and taking the glass of milk.

“Then I’m glad it didn’t happen.” his Mom said.

Jay laughed again, careful not to get milk up his nose.

-

“How was it?” Zane’s Dad asked pretty much the moment he walk in the door.

“We split the party.” Zane said ruefully as he hung his coat up and put his shoes away.

“Ouch.” His Dad responded. “How was the traffic? Not to bad?”

Zane’s Pop closed the door behind himself as he walked in.

“No, it was fine. Garmadon is very considerate about rush hour.”

“I know, I just worry.”

The two men hugged.

“Please remember to finished putting your shoes away. I don’t want to trip on them tomorrow!” Zane said

“Of course.” His Pop said.

“Thank you!” Zane said with a smile, pulling himself into hug both his fathers “I love you both.”

They hugged him back warmly for a moment before Zane extracted himself.

“Now, I’m a little overstimulated. So, I’m going to go to my room and calm down.” Zane announced.

“Of of course!” his Pop said “It sounded like you had fun tonight!”

“I did!” Zane smiled.

“Let us know if you need anything.” His Dad said.

“I’ll probably come back out in an hour or two. It was a very exciting session tonight.” Zane explained.

“Love you!” they both said after him as Zane climbed the stairs.

“Love you too!” he said back.

-

Cole was parked crooked and he knew it. Still, he didn’t think his Dad was going to nag him about it tonight.

Cole walked in to his father singing in the kitchen while he finished the dishes. Cole joined in poorly as he walked straight in.

“How are you, Tenor?” He said as he shut the water off.

Cold smiled at the nickname. Part musical, and part mindless parental praise (“Cause you’re a perfect ten Cole!”)

“I’m great Dad. My character is the focus of this campaign so I’ve been having a long of fun with it.” Cole explained.

“That’s good! Are you still hungry? I know you usually eat before and that Garmadon feeds you a lot of junk food, but I know you would eat a nail file if it was offered.” His Dad said. “Plus, I just finished cleaning the kitchen. I think we need to mess it up again!”

“Cake mix?” Cole asked hopefully.

His Dad revealed two chocolate cake mixes.

“YES!” Cole shouted, far too loud for the night time.

–

Everyone gets fluff!!! :D

And yes, Lloyd was happy stimming. I do it, so he can too.

-Ivy

[goodmode]

Which Genshin Impact characters would your OCs vibe best with

oh MAN that’s a question and a half. i’m vibing

spoilers for various genshin characters below the cut ig

getting the cole|venti stuff out of the way first, since you asked on discord!

-cole would absolutely hate venti at first, mainly because he seems so chipper but also probably because venti would take one look at this dishevelled moody asshole and immediately make up a limerick about him to piss him off

-but as soon as venti hits him with his backstory like “yeah i helped lead a major revolution against tyranny in which my best friend died so i took on his physical appearance to make sure his memory lived on” cole would completely change his tune. like oohhhh you’re depressed, got it

-cole starts doing things like blowing dandelion seeds into the wind (the nuns seem to believe Barbatos can hear your prayers that way) just to remind venti that he’s, you know, thinking of him, and available for a chat. whether or not this is a real way to get in touch with the anemo archon is neither here nor there because venti sees him do it from across a field at least once

-venti probably does not come for a chat. this is fine and cole is not offended, but he does live in hope

-cole does sing to himself sometimes when he’s out adventuring and thinks he’s totally alone, and i bet any money venti has heard him before, so i’m imagining him sitting beneath the big tree at Windrise sort of idly singing and then there’s the sound of a harp in the branches overhead and he is absolutely mortified while venti encourages him to keep going.  he’s very persuasive. a little singing sesh happens and it’s wholesome. cole does not normally do wholesome but he figures if it’s the Best Bard In Mondstadt (and literal wind god) trying to get him to sing along then alright, okay, he guesses, sure

-they have a dynamic where both of them are vaguely trying to be a good influence on each other when they have some free time. venti tries to encourage cole because cole may be an outlander but he’s very much into the whole “wind and freedom” thing and venti thinks that’s worth cultivating! he is doing his job :) and cole because, oh man, these people are worshipping a god who is in a really bad way and they just don’t even realise and venti seems to be in denial about it. someone should probably reach out to that bard

-venti hides nearby and attempts to play a lullaby at him once and after like 3 bars cole calls out “good try but no dice.” venti is more peeved that cole figured out his game plan so quickly than he is about it not working

basically:

cole: you’re not “my” god but you’re a nice guy and you’re clearly struggling so i’ll be nice to you venti: i’m not struggling actually. also, i am your god while you’re here in mondstadt! cole: not how it works and you lie like a rug but aight we don’t have to talk about it venti: since you’re being nice to me, can you maybe also be nice to the other people in mondstadt? cole: no [bullies everyone else aggressively]

***

ok here’s some other stuff

-cole would definitely join the Adventurer’s Guild straight away if he was isekai’d to Teyvat. this means he meets Bennett and Fischl. he is not so keen on fischl because he finds her pretentiousness kind of grating but he respects bennett as a total kindred spirit where adventure is concerned. cole probably joins Benny’s Adventure Team as well. then quits after the bad luck becomes too much to deal with. cole is only human. he will physically fight anyone who says anything bad about bennett, fischl, or the guild though, which bennett would hate if he found out

-corvidan would absolutely hit it off with Xiangling. a chef who doesn’t care about other people’s opinions, is constantly upbeat and optimistic about everything, and puts weird as hell ingredients in her food and does it so well that it actually tastes great? please they’re instant best friends. he probably doesn’t go to wanmin restaurant though, he’d hate to ruin their decor :( xiangling is constantly just like “dude i don’t care" which is also how she feels about chongyun

-speaking of chongyun, he and corvidan would probably not get along very well, but not in a bad way, just... 2 dudes awkwardly standing in the same room trying to come up with something to say and failing miserably

”so... we both suppress our emotions and try to remain as unexcited as possible all of the time” “yes that does seem to be something we have in common” “...” “...” ............................ [tumbleweed blows past]

-they do quietly approve of each other though and would gladly drop what they’re doing to give the other a hand with something. just as a show of solidarity

-lavender arrives in teyvat

-lavender hears about Dvalin

-lavender is now riding around on Dvalin having a grand old time and she isn’t coming back any time soon. good luck getting the small child down from the fuckening Sky

-turo.........

-turo is very, very interested in these Visions that people seem to have. this curiosity does not make him very popular, but it does mean he has approached nearly every Vision holder in teyvat

-he also probably got in with the Knights of Favonius once he heard they have a lot of use for cool swords and possess a functioning alchemy department and huge library. jean is just like “i know we all think he’s creepy but he’s very good at crafting and everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt”

-Chief Alchemist Albedo is instantly uncomfortable around Turo for a lot of reasons

-worth noting: there was once an alchemist called Gold who caused a huge cataclysm, and unleashed a corrupted dragon, and a bunch of other stuff. turo has a few very unfortunate parallels there

-albedo is a very reserved person who also lacks social skills. they are destined to misunderstand each other endlessly and albedo is destined to have alarm bells ringing every time he looks at this guy

-turo just thinks albedo would be a really good asset but albedo refuses to work with him any further than teaching him the basics of alchemy. why!!! as always, interpersonal stuff is infuriating

-kaeya is even more suspicious of turo than albedo. like to the point where it keeps him up at night. every day he walks past the alchemy lab where turo is working and inside his head is just playing What’s He Building In There dot mp4 at max volume

-neither kaeya nor albedo communicate to each other that they’re Extremely Sus Of This Man so it results in turo being the one who is constantly getting that watched feeling, which is an interesting turn of events. does it bother him? not really

-what bothers him is teyvat seems to be on the verge of a huge tipping point (read: possible catastrophe) and no one seems to be trying to do anything about it other than that ice lady over in snezhnaya that everyone says is evil. everyone outta the goddamn way he’s learning Khemia (teyvatian alchemy) as fast as he can, even if it means learning from a little blond homunculus in a lab coat who hates him. and once he’s learned enough he is heading straight for snezhnaya to join forces with the Tsaritsa, so there

[abbacchiosbelt]

This is unlike anything else I’ve ever written, just as a warning going in. A good friend commissioned me to write a creepypasta about Mario Party 2, specifically the game ‘Quicksand Cache’ after everyone on their stream was laughing about how weird it was. So, it’s semi-serious and a little edgy, but you you like video game creepypastas, enjoy.

Quicksand Cache | 2370 words, T for spooky themes.

Everyone who has played Mario Party growing up has a favorite minigame – even if you’ve only played the game once or twice, you can usually fondly remember a few of the minigames. There are so many choices that it’s hard to pick a favorite minigame, let alone a favorite Mario Party game! Despite that, my friends and I have always enjoyed playing Mario Party 2 the most.

Mario Party 2 was the pinnacle of Mario Party games to us. Sure, you could argue subsequent games got better and better, but nothing beat MP2 for us. The minigames, the costumes, the boards, and the music all brought us back over and over. It was our favorite.

At least, it was our favorite.

You might be asking yourself why we stopped loving Mario Party 2. It’s been a long time since we played or have even seen each other. The last time we played together was the culmination of something… strange. I might as well tell you what happened since you’re reading this post on my little corner of the internet.

Let me start from the beginning… Mario Party 2 came out in 1999. The game came out when I was just a kid. It was easy enough to play. It didn’t require much reading, and anything we didn’t understand was easy to figure out with the help of a parent. Either way, I loved it! I played it all the time, happily choosing Donkey Kong as my character every time. I remember loving how silly he looked compared to the rest of the cast. As time passed, I began to make friends in school and would often invite them over to play on my N64. Of course, we’d always end up playing a game of Mario Party 2! Luckily for me, no one else wanted to pick DK, so I always got to play as my favorite character.

My favorite minigame, in particular, was one called Quicksand Cache. It was a 3-vs-1 minigame where we could work together, or the odd player out could work against the other three. My friends dreaded it when it came up because I had become a master at it! Nothing was funnier than me than seeing Donkey Kong’s big head on top of a Bowser suit as I made him spin the quicksand in circles to collect the coins falling from the sky while my friends tried to resist being sucked under. I always won, much to the chagrin of my friends.

All was well, at first – we grew up and didn’t have as much time to play games. People moved, new consoles came out, and Mario Party 2 was put into a box filled with other old games and consoles. It wouldn’t be the end for the game, though. Nostalgia called once my friends and I graduated from high school and found ourselves wanting to reconnect. What better to do than hang out and play old videogames that we used to love?

We found free time a couple of times a month (sometimes more if we were lucky) to get together and hang out. This particular evening, our choice was Mario Party 2. After digging it out of storage, I blew on the cartridge – old habits die hard – and put the game in the N64 as my friends and I sat back, watching the silly opening. Nothing was amiss as we pressed start, quickly picking our old favorite characters. As always, I chose Donkey Kong. This time, my friends chose Yoshi, Wario, and Luigi.

Our first game was a little off. We noticed we were getting a lot of 3-vs-1 minigames. While the game works by using RNG, 4-player minigames were the most typical choice. Nearly every turn, I was landing on red spaces and my friends were landing on blue spaces. It was frustrating losing 3 coins every turn, but it was quickly made back up to me by the game choosing Quicksand Cache for every minigame.

Over and over we watched the screen fade and open up to an arena filled with quicksand, Donkey Kong’s head on top of a Bowser suit in the very middle as Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario stood on the outside. The game went as normal, at least, the characters eventually getting sucked into the vortex of sand as DK raised his arms and spun in the middle of the screen.

While the game was frustrating, the sight of DK in the middle was still just as funny to my friends and me as it had been when we were kids. At first, anyways… As the game came up over and over, something about the game felt almost unsettling. Nothing had changed, but the whole room could tell there was something off. We chalked it off to frustration over the game giving us bad RNG and moved on to the next game.

Again, the same issue was bothering us – the game was determined to pick 3-vs-1 minigames, forcing us to play Quicksand Cache repeatedly. We pushed through, but after the second board, my friends were done with Mario Party 2 for the night. I couldn’t blame them, as I was getting annoyed too despite how many coins I was winning from the game. The night went on and eventually, my friends departed for their own homes, leaving me by myself.

Out of curiosity, I decided to boot up Mario Party 2 and see if I got the same results I had earlier. I chose Donkey Kong, of course, and picked the same characters my friends had. The only difference is that they were set to COM. Strangely enough, the game was back to normal. I texted my friends about it, and they agreed it was just a strange fluke.

Months went by where my friends would pick Mario Party 2 for game night and we’d have the same issue. We decided that enough was enough and put the Mario Party 2 cartridge to rest for good. Perhaps its long life had corrupted the game. I couldn’t help but give the game one last try, though. I had loved it for so long that I wanted to play one last game, even if the cartridge was starting to glitch out.

I loaded up the game and went to the character menu, but something was off. The characters, normally cheerful, had blank expressions on their faces. I figured the game must really be messing up, but I was determined to play one more time. I picked Donkey Kong and his model stayed static. Undeterred, I picked the other characters to play as COMs and went into a board.

The game had gone silent except for the rolling of the dice – the mechanical, whirring noise was a stark contrast to the upbeat and cheerful music the boards usually played. I checked the sound settings, but nothing was turned off, so I continued. I thought that maybe blowing on the cartridge so many times had finally caught up to me – I’d had it happen with other games, so this one must simply be on its last legs. I pressed A to hit the dice, and the game officially started.

I landed on a red space.

The COMs landed on blue spaces, and to no surprise, we were brought back to Quicksand Cache. This time, though, the COMs were still. They did nothing as I made DK spin, which meant they were sucked under almost immediately. The game quickly ended, confusing me. I knew the COMs did weird things sometimes, but they hadn’t moved at all. Still, I wasn’t convinced it was anything other than the game glitching out.

As I looked at the screen, though, I noticed the character portraits were frowning. It was the same portrait the characters got when they were in last place on the results screen. Their sad faces were unnerving, and even Donkey Kong was frowning. There was no way I was going to stop, though, especially not when the game was acting so weird.

I hit the dice again, and by the time the turn had ended, we were back in Quicksand Cache. This time, instead of standing still, the characters went into their losing animation. They even exclaimed out in defeat like they were supposed to when they lost – but they hadn’t lost. The game had just started. I put the controller down and watched as DK sat still in the middle, the other characters still quickly succumbing to the quicksand before the minigame ended.

By this point, I was creeped out. Other things could be passed off as glitches, but this was more than that. My heart was pounding. As much as I wanted to shut off the N64, I couldn’t make myself move other than to pick my controller back up. The rumble pack vibrated at full force as soon as my hands wrapped around it, forcing me to drop it in surprise.

I watched in shock as the game began to play itself. I hadn’t set the game to all COMs. Even if I wanted to, I hadn’t checked the menu since I started. When I looked at DK, he suddenly had COM under his name. The whirring of the dice filled my ears again as the characters moved around the board by themselves, but even the game itself could do nothing against the pull of Quicksand Cache.

The game opened up for the third time. This time, Donkey Kong was frowning as he sat in the middle of the screen. The other characters still had their sad expression plastered on their face. When the game started this time, the COMs ran desperately to the edge of the map while DK seemed to move uncontrollably. He spun faster and faster, faster than should be allowed, until once again Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario were sucked underneath the sand. There was no happiness when the game ended. Donkey Kong’s expression remained sad, almost pained looking.

The game continued as I sat frozen, watching as the character’s expressions became sadder as each turn was played. Quicksand Cache was played over and over as the COMs tried desperately to escape their fate, occasionally giving up again and remaining still while DK was forced to spin.

The final turn loaded up and I gasped as the only character that remained was Donkey Kong. The other profiles were completely gone, and the board was empty – neither Toad nor Boo nor any of the other NPCs were present. Even the dice was silent, the only sound remaining the step of DK’s feet as he moved for his final turn.

There was no final minigame, the game abruptly cutting to the final ‘battle’ with Bowser on each board. There was no Bowser, though – the only thing there was DK’s Quicksand Cache sprite, his head resting atop what was allegedly a Bowser suit. He stared straight ahead, and it’s then that I noticed the rust-colored edges around the neck of the suit.

There was no way – this was a kid’s game. I scramble to shut the console off but DK’s screech from the screen stops me, his cry pitched up so high that it almost wasn’t identifiable anymore. I look back up and DK’s face is fully taking up the screen, his frown turned back into his emotionless smile. The victory music starts to play, but this time, it’s slow and somber. I can’t handle it anymore - this time when I go for the power button, nothing stops me and the game blinks out as I press it.

I pull out the cartridge as fast as I can and run downstairs to throw it into the trash, not even taking a moment to give it a second thought as I throw away what I thought was one of my favorite games. I even take the trash out despite the bag not being full, desperate to get as far away from the game as possible.

When I walk back in the house, I feel sudden exhaustion that forces me to sit on the couch. I pull out of my phone and consider talking to my friends about it, but where would I even start? Even though the game was acting weird when we played together, they’d never believe this. I sigh and put my phone back in my pocket. I decide that I don’t want to sleep in my room tonight because of the N64’s presence. Even though it hadn’t been the console itself, there was no denying the negative aura that had been present in my room ever since we started playing the game again.

For now, I decide to rest. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play again after that. Maybe one day, just to reassure myself that what I experienced wasn’t the game… I know I’m not dreaming, but surely something was off with my copy.

I can only hope no one else had to go through what I did.

-

Donkey Kong squeezes his eyes shut as the screams of his dying friends fill his ears again – he can’t keep count of how many times they’ve been forced to do this… He was forced to be the catalyst of death as he pulled his friends into the pit of sand, their final words lost to the sand filling their mouths as they suffocated to death. The other games were not like this, but this one was different.

It was real. The body he wore was Bowser’s skin, the Koopa King having died long ago once Donkey Kong was forced into the suit. His friends were no longer themselves, but copies, just like everyone else in the game.

Except for him. Only he remained as the original, the one who had been programmed to have fun with his friends. This, though, was not what he wanted. He was forced to smile as his friends die over and over again, his unending spinning in the sandpit the cause.

Maybe one day it would stop if he could convince the copies to break from their part. While he wouldn’t be free, at least it could end.

Donkey Kong would wait.

One day, he would get his wish.

[mister-lady]

Hiii!!! I've been wanting to do a headcannons post and so I was asking for ideas (of course im always open for ideas whether i say so or not- 👀) fmdmdk but!!!! My lovely darling of a boyfriend @remusmainblog suggested that I could do one about my f/os reacting to my favorite movie!!! And as usual he gave out a terrific idea (if you need ideas 11/10 suggest going to him he's great at this stuff) and I loved it!!!! So thank you lots bby for this idea and I had tons of fun writing it, truly!!!🥰🥰🥰💖🌟💖🌟💖🌟🌟💖💖💖💖💖🌟✨✨✨✨

Now, I have a few several favorite movies but I can never remember them when I'm asked the question kfkdkdgjir so I did a little hunting for the movies and I went witthh: Wall-E

Look I know it's a kids movie and all the good stuff but it's such a good mooviieee!!!!! Jvdmmd its honestly one of my favorite movies and you can fight me ckfkdk

Also my opinion on how I wrote these headcannons certianky and totally weren't biased at alll... and also also I might miss or get some things wrong just cause I havent seen the movie since like.... 3ish years ago-

Also Alsoo!!!!! Spoilers. Yea,, just thought I'd put a spoilers warning hear :3. I'll try not to do any major spoilers but no promises.,,

Warnings(apply for the movies too incase it interests you at all kdkgm): mention of bugs, stuff about humanity crumbling, stuff about earth ending up with little to no life,

-------------------------------

Patton: is one of the guys that cried at some parts of the movie. Not that it was a sad movie, it's actually fairly upbeat and humorous! But just some of the parts were so impactful and seeing how the characters care for eachother and such is just a bit tear-jerking.

Logan: likes the message that the movie kinda sends out about needing to take care of the planet and such. Though he can and will argue on the fact that robots can't have feelings unless programmed otherwise, and even then it's not real feelings its just coding!(Eve and Wall-E weren't programmed to have feelings) But other than that he doesn't mind the movie too much.

Roman: He does that thing where he points out everything wrong with the movie but he actually enjoys the movie. Like theres no way fire-extinguishers can propel you through space, and theres no way Wall-E hung onto a rocketship that was moving at that speed, and theres no way you can tame a cockroach to sit!!! Lowkey is a sucker for how Wall-E is clearly in love with Eve and it takes about the whole movie for Eve to actually realise it likes Wall-E back. Peak romance arc.

Virgil: he likes the movie a fair amount. He wouldn't say it's his particular taste in movies but he doesn't mind it either. He likes the whole robot thing and how they're such well-rounded characters even just for being, well, robots.

Janus: Also enjoys the overall message the movie sends. He likes the characters a fair amount too and just how it all plays out. He also finds it entertaining to how Wall-E tries to reenact human stuff like dancing and collects different items that he really doesn't understand like rubix cubes and spoons and such.

Remus: Wall-E gets a pet cockroach??? Wheres his pet cockroach?? Why doesn't he have one yet??? He definitely wants one now that is. And he's probably going to get one too. Barely paid attention to the movie becuase he was too busy asking to get a pet roach.

Emile: Also may or may not have teared up during certain parts of the movie. He wishes it was one of those movies that got a cartoon version of it or at least some form of short-series. He likes the characters a lot in general and even though it's not crazy helpful in the movie, he likes that Wall-E can sorta turn into a box whenever he feels like it.

Remy: He isn't too big on movies in general, but he doesn't mind this one too much either. He likes the differnet functions from the side-character robots and how they almost come back in a sense. Since it's one of those movies that have a hpou ending and aren't too freaky it's nice to sleep too.

Dice: Has the typical kinda critic-y opinion on movies. Was it good in general? Well rounded characters? How was the plot? He likes to critique the whole thing the whole time even if it is a movie he likes. It just seems to be a habit he does.

[kewltie]

contains: predator/prey dynamic, animal characteristic, uh cannibalism (??), unhealthy relationship dynamic 

The day after an UA’s staff had discovered the mangled and half eaten carcass of one of their students, a weasel third year, the campus was in a shutdown for an entire week as they tried to uncover which one of the carni had broken the Accords and became a headhunter.

Every single herb students was warned once, twice, and too many times to never walk the dark street alone after sunset because while the age of active predation had gone in Para-Dice, behind the stone walls of the Savagelands, they still participate in the Hunt.

No herbivore is safe.

Even in one of the most prestigious colleges in the city, where every vores live seemingly in harmony. There’s always an undercurrent of danger between the two very distinct classes because all it take is a swipe of carni’s claw sinking into someone’s flesh and they’re done. The ravenous hunger will take them, turning a friendly lion who one had shared classes and jokes with previously into a famished beast set out to consume your very flesh.

Their society is built on this precarious balancing act. Danger lives in the heart their closest friend.

"Izuku, are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Ochako asks for the fifth time already, her white wings contracting anxiously behind her.

Izuku waves her off. "I'm fine," he insists, "my dorm isn't that far from here and if you take me home, who will take you back anyway?"

"I'll get Tenya to walk with us!" Ochako persists. She’s a crane; large wings, a noble and beautiful feature, but they’re mainly omnivore and a gentle soul.

He shakes his head, his long ears swinging with it. "He just fell asleep from cramming for his ochem exam, I really don't want to bother him," he argues. "It's okay. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Ochako bites down on her lower lip. "I just want you to be careful because," she leans in and lowers her voice as though telling a secret, "of the headhunter. It's dangerous right now since they haven't found the vore yet. It'll break my heart if you become another statistic."

"I don't know why anyone would want to eat me, when I don't even taste that good.” Izuku frowns, brows furrowing as he pinches the skin on his arm. "If they were to eat me, they'll just spit me out or maybe they just like the taste of horrible rabbit meat."

Reeling back, Ochako cries out, "Izuku!"

He cracks a smile. "Sorry, sorry!" He laughs, tugging one of his ears down. "I don't mean to joke about it, but you know how I'd lived in the Savagelands before coming here? Well, I'm used to this kind of imminent danger."

Ochako frowns, wings still flapping wildly with every slight movement. "Okay," she says, letting out a long tired sigh, "if you're that sure then." Like, she still isn't used to Izuku's reckless nature that had created such a stir even among their more colorful student populations. Because despite Izuku's herb status and the skittish nature of rabbits overall, Izuku acts like one of the apex predators on their campus—in the likes of wolves and lions, where he moves easily and freely among them as though he was always a part of their class.

He’s bunny herbivore, bred and raised in the curtains of the Savageland, where fear was his constant companion and threat of being eaten had hung over his head every waking second. To live was privilege given only to the strong, powerful, and the ones who hungered. Compare to that, this is easy.

Izuku gives her a thumb up and he quickly grabs his bags and books, making a dash out of her dorm room before she can change her mind. He climbs down the stairs to the first floor and heads toward the exit of Green Leaf Dormitory, one of the only herbivore dorms on campus. Outside the sky is completely blackened with only the full moon and the streetlights to guide him back to his dorm. It's only 9PM on a Thursday but the campus is eerily quiet. The looming danger of a headhunter still running amok keeps most vores locked in their dorm, but Izuku marches on.

On a full moon like this, they say it's when all the wild ones come out. The ominous sounds and shadows that dogged Izuku's steps could be anything from a fallen trashcan, a rustling of the leaves or something else, something dangerous, but Izuku isn't faze by any of it. Strolling his way across a darkened path that isn't as well lit as the more main routes but it cuts his time in half, Izuku hums a familiar song he'd heard in Ochako's dorm room earlier.

It's a love song, light and upbeat in contrasts to the grim setting that surrounds him. Oh, darling we love, love, so tonight we feast like beasts—

Large hands suddenly appear from the shadow to grabs him from behind, causing him to drop his books to the ground. A palm is pressed over his mouth to suppress his scream as the other hand rips his backpack away from him, before latching onto his waist in a forceful grip.

Left defenseless and no direct line of sight to his attacker, Izuku's heart races just for a second before a large sturdy body enveloped his back, head poking over Izuku's shoulder as his breath ghosts Izuku's cheek. He shivers against the familiar warmth and breathes, "K-Kacchan!"

Katsuki spins him around so that they're facing each other properly, his hands never leaving Izuku's waist as green eyes collides with red. "Deku," he says, and it's an entire world in a single word. "You goddamn idiot." His chest rumbles in a low threatening growl.

With the tip of his right ear folding over unhappily at the scolding, Izuku pouts. "I was fine," he insists.

Katsuki glares at him. "There's a wild headhunter on the loose and you're wandering around after dusk like a dumbass with a sign 'eat me' over his fucking head." He grabs one of Izuku's furry ears and tugs it down purposefully. "They said rabbit meat is delicious, you wanna test that out personally?"

Izuku frowns. "You would know that wouldn't you?" he says impishly, meeting Katsuki’s glare with his own. "Taste any bunny boy lately?"

Katsuki's teeth bares, fangs protrudes pass his lips in a snarl that both sends Izuku's heart racing and ears twitching in excitement. He tightens his hold around Izuku's waist but the way his claws dig in, piercing Izuku's shirt but careful enough not to draw blood says enough.

Izuku throws his arm over Katsuki's shoulder, wrapping them around his neck as he pull him down and butts their head against each other. A purr stirs from him as he tries to smooth over Katsuki's aggressive stance. "Sorry, that was mean of me," he offers quietly in chagrin. "You're not like that." He pauses, and shakes his head meaningfully. "Not like them at all. I know you've been abstaining from eating red meat for my sake and—" he looks up, green eyes meet piercing red ones, "even if that wasn't the case, I'm not afraid of you, Kacchan."

"Stupid fool," Katsuki scolds, a familiar refrain that Izuku had heard a thousand times before since the day Izuku was brought into the Forest to be part of the Hunt, where elite carni in the Savageland can get their bloodlust and hunger met like the true beasts of burden that they are.

The Hunt has been long banned and consider barbaric practice within the walls of Para-Dice, but in the Savagelands the tradition not only lived on but thrive in the bosom of the elite carnivores who bred and raised helpless bunnies like him so he can be feast upon later in a game to meet their bloodlust; a lamb reared to be slaughter.

Katsuki was —is— apart of it and he was furiously hunted Izuku’s kind down and was about to rip his flesh apart that day in the Forest, but Izuku had went to him on trembled knees and begged to be eaten first so others can live. Katsuki had rightfully called him a stupid fool and kept him instead.

Izuku still doesn't know what had made Katsuki stop, taking him by the arm instead of a taking a bite out of him. Katsuki had thought him foolish and mad to offer himself up as food, while Izuku thought Katsuki was foolish and mad to not eat the food left out for him, but Katsuki swore to the next red meat he’ll eat it’ll be Izuku’s and Izuku’s only.

Quite frankly, they're both a little foolish and mad, choosing each other despite the hunger and fear that permeate their entire relationship. "Ah, but you adore me," Izuku says confidently, spoken like someone who had escaped the jaw of death many times over and reveled in it. He had been cheating death long enough now.

Katsuki growls, his chest rumbling in annoyance as he opens that dangerous jaw of his to reveal sharp canine teeth that had cut the flesh of many herb like him down in the past. Dangerous teeth from a dangerous beast, and Izuku's goes breathless as it descends upon him.

Katsuki presses those menacing jaw against his cheek, grazing his flesh like pinprick nail beds then he bites down — razor, soft nibble that make Izuku's cheek stings and his body arches up in response, hands clawing at the back of Katsuki's neck to push for more. Always pushing, wanting, and teasing.

Izuku’s the dangerous one. He had brought to heel this wild beast and made Katsuki his as much as he is Katsuki’s.

With eyes dilating with a throbbing desire and breath heavy, Katsuki draws back a bit reluctantly even if his face retains it frowny feature as though Izuku is his trials to bear. "I'll take you back to your dorm," he grunts out, carefully putting Izuku back in place.

Now, it's Izuku turn to frown, because really. "I'm fine," he says. “It’s not even that far off anymore.”

"Don't be stupid," Katsuki snaps, then pauses, before correcting himself, "Don't be even more stupid. Some dumbass is out there hunting dumber asses like you, so I'm not taking any fucking chances. You’re not going to become rabbit meat for someone else."

"I wouldn't let a rogue headhunter have me," Izuku argues, because if he's going to be eaten it would be Katsuki who do it. His body, his heart, and everything he could offer, he wants Katsuki to be the only one to have him like that so even if he die, he'll forever be bound to him. Tied together as one. Carni and herb’s mating aren’t frowned upon but they aren’t encouraged either, because it often results in either death or someone getting eaten. Or both.

Instinct is hard to fight off even with fabricated white meat to tame the carnivore’s aptitude, but for high aspect apex predator like Katsuki food and love is often the exact same thing. Sometimes, when Katsuki look at him Izuku can see hunger and want wars within him, and he doesn’t know if he wants to eat or fuck Izuku.

It’s all very confusing and, quite frankly, delightful at times. The fact that Izuku has lived this long while Katsuki hadn’t managed to sink his fangs completely into him said enough about Katsuki’s feelings and self-control for Izuku. He got this wild untamed wolf leashed and properly collar, but sometimes Izuku like to toe the line and see where Katsuki’s draw his boundary, just to get a taste of what it’s like to this close to death and come out alive every time.

Katsuki's eyes narrow, like he knows exactly what horrible thoughts are brewing in his head because Izuku had confessed all his twisted up desire under the cloak of darkness of their bed — eat him, rip him apart, and oh, how he wants to those teeth to sink into him one day. Death is inevitable for all vores, but to choose how one could die is a special privilege. And Izuku had already chosen.

Katsuki’s flashes those exact impeccably white teeth at him. "No, you wouldn't," he agrees gruffly, pulling Izuku along. Because he, too, wants him in that same twisted way, but not yet. Not now. They still have an entire lifetime ahead of them. There's plenty of chance for that in their future.

It's not that Izuku is fearless in the face of predation of his own kind and the hunger that keep vores like Katsuki chained to their most primal instinct. It's because Katsuki had promised him when the time is right, Izuku would be the only to offer up his heart to him and he’ll devour it like the rest of Izuku’s body.

[hypnosis-micrpohone-things]

Welcome back! May I ask for a match up? I'm 24, long black haired and typical Asian looks. ENFP. My hobbies are writing, cosplay, Sewing and designing. I'm usually cheerful yet mature and I'm the person everyone asks for help and I love helping everyone.

Good to see you again! Thank you so much for sticking around! Alright, based on what you’ve told me, I would match you with...

Ramuda!

You were probably expecting Ichiro (he would be my second choice), but nope! The reason I wouldn’t put him first is because you may be too similar to him. Generally, people who get along the best together are not too similar and not too different. Ramuda fits that description perfectly here!

Both of you have cheerful, upbeat personalities. The difference lies in how you present yourselves. Ramuda likes to put out a more childish, immature personality (which we know isn’t true, but still...) whereas you have a more mature outward personality. You two would balance each other out in terms of childishness and maturity!

You two also have a strong connection in sewing and designing, though obviously in very different ways. I think he would be really interested and impressed with your cosplay work and designs. He is always ready to help and give you extra tips as well! You could also help him with some of his own sewing and designs. The two of you would certainly be the most fashionable couple in all of Shibuya! Plus, he feels that your looks suit any outfit, so prepare to be dressed up all the time.

Ramuda wouldn’t have as much interest in your writing, though he wouldn’t mind having you read it to him while he works. He’s not shy about his opinion, though, so just be aware of that. Your writing would help you connect with Gentaro, and Dice would love your personality, so you’d be a fit with the whole group right away! Just give Ramuda a little time to open up fully. We know he’s got a lot going on.

Runner Ups

Ichiro (Of course)

You two are very similar in terms of personality. Plus cosplay? Yeah, he loves you already!

Hifumi

Another one that needs your more mature personality. Loves your hobbies and would ask you to make some suits for him!

Kuko

Kind of a combo of the others. Cheerful as well, but would benefit from a more mature person around (and not always Hitoya, please give him a break).

[corescorner]

Charmberry Cove Chapter Five.

Chapter Title: Funerals and Forging Friendships.

Wordcount: 4,645

AO3

Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4.

Taglist: @unsocialchapeau @aularei @softest-emo

Today is the funeral.

His grandmother’s funeral, his grandmother who he doesn't really know. He's not sure how to feel about it, he's sad that he didn't know her and he's sad that he won't be able to anymore.

He doesn't really know what's going to happen at the funeral, it was planned three days ago so he's not really expecting anyone but his family to be there, who would know about it in such short notice?

Maybe he should have invited Patton, they seemed close.

Great, now he feels like a jackass for not thinking of that sooner.

He's in his room with the lights off except the fairy lights, he’s slumped in his computer chair with his head resting on the back of it; staring into the ceiling rafters.

Hex is sleeping on top of the computer monitor; never too far away from Virgil.

He lolls his head to look at his alarm clock to check how much time he has before they have to leave, not too long it seems.

He hasn't changed from his sleep clothes all day, hasn't really felt like it.

But, he should probably get ready so he trudges his way to his dresser to find some suitable clothing. Dad said he didn't need to dress for a funeral, to just dress regularly cause it was supposed to be more of a celebration of life and not the mourning of death.

But he thinks that's kind of a moot point considering all his clothes are dark anyway.

He does have some colours, purples, reds, dark blues. But he chooses all black anyway it just seems like he should, he feels it matches his feelings right now with everything going on.

So a simple black t-shirt with a spider web pattern and a baggy hoodie should be fine with jeans. Dad did say it didn't matter he doesn't need to be fancy.

He makes his way upstairs (Hex shadows him) to not be bored in his room anymore, he'll just be bored in the living room instead. It makes logical sense, shush.

Flopping on to his chair, he waits in silence. Hex joins him on his chest and curls up; her purrs start immediately.

It's quiet here with Dad gone.

He wonders what Dad and Uncle Dice are doing and if they're still arguing over whatever they were the other day.

It's quiet...

“Hey there sleepy head” Pops softly shakes Virgil awake, he didn't even realize he fell asleep. “We need to head out soon, are ya ready?” He's crouched in front of Virgil's chair to be eye level with him and smiling softy.

Virgil slowly nods.

“Alrighty then, let’s get our shoes on them hm?” Pops has been talking to him with soft tones and in question form since Monday, which okay sure, Virgil hasn't uttered a word since then, but that isn't really anything new or different.

It's not uncommon for him to not be able to talk for multiple days. Though, then Virgil usually just signs at that point and Pops always tries to help him through whatever is bothering him. Virgil hasn't even signed anything to him, how could he? He can't just bring up what he heard, what Dad and Uncle Dice were talking about! And he defiantly can't just tell him that he doesn't know what’s bothering him, Pops always knows when he's lying. Not that he lies to his parents often.

So he just stays silent. Silent is safe, no room for messing up what you wanna say.

No wonder Pops is worried. Damn it Virgil, why do you have to be this way?

They head to the car. Virgil has his hands in his hoodie pockets with the hood up, he’s trailing behind his father as they walk down the walkway to the driveway.

They head to the only funeral home in town, which is at the other side of town and in twenty minutes they're there.

Virgil is floored looking over the expanse of the property.

The cemetery is huge. The wide field of tombstones end with forest baring it on all sides, like wherever you go in this town you'll eventually be stopped by a forest barrier.

The cemetery is overwhelming in and of itself, but the large Gothic house that is practically a mansion looms just in front of the cemetery gates.

The sign in the front of the pathway leading up to the house reads:

                                            Ainsworth Cemetery.

                                               Funeral Home.

                                               Crematorium.

                                                   Mortuary.

                                                   Open 24/7

                                                   Est. 1766

 He was so distracted by everything that he didn't notice how many cars were situated in the parking lot and all around the property.

And there are a lot of cars, it looks like most of the town is attending.

They walk up the path and up the stairs to the porch.

Right beside the large double doors a poster board with a picture of his grandmother in her twenties-ish is propped up. Her wild mane of red curls frames her freckled face, she has a bright toothy smile in place and a very familiar pair of sun glasses perched on her forehead.

The poster board simply reads:

 Clementine Tempest.

Loved by all.

1853 – 2012

 1853? That, that must be some kind of typo right? It can't be right cause according to that she would have to have been about a hundred and fifty years old.

He turns to Emile confused, and is about to tap the board in question, but Pops just slips his hand into Virgil's.

“There's gonna be an overwhelming amount of people in there, you wanna stay by my side?” He asks gently.

Virgil's eyes go wide, an overwhelming amount? How do they all know it was today the funeral was just planned!

His hold on Pops tightens and they walk through the ornate doors, down some hallways towards the back of the mansion.

They step through another pair of ornate doors, and holy wow. It is like half the town is here, there are way too many people.

The room is large enough to hold all of them and then some, like a ball room. There are large ceiling length windows lining the back walls that look over into the cemetery and the almost set sun. Under the middle window the casket stands on a pedestal surrounded by an abundance of different colourful flowers.

The left side of the room is situated with tables a myriad of food items on the long ones and smaller tables scattered around for you to eat at. The right side of the room holds what looks like an open bar.

It was more of a party than a funeral, some people wore black but not in a mourning type way, more like that's what their style is anyway, there’s a lot of colour to be seen in the crowd.

People are chatting light heartedly and laughing, children are running around and dancing to the soft upbeat music playing and everyone seems to be having a great time despite the circumstances.

Pops still holding onto Virgil's hand, tugs him lightly “let’s go find your father yea?”

Virgil doesn't answer him, he just points to Dad who is already on his way over to them.

When he reaches them he slumps against Pops, his head resting on Emile's shoulder.

“Uugh, I am so glad that you guys are here my brother is driving me freakin insane, like stop please for two seconds.” He whines into Pops’ neck, Emile pets Remy's head. “I'm coming home tonight, I just can't deal with him anymore” he mumbles.

Pops hugs him he drags Virgil into it as well and they stay like that for about half a minute as the party continues around them, that's fine though.

Dad is the one who breaks the embrace with a tired sigh, he looks at Virgil “how you holdin' up Pumpkin?”

Virgil shrugs one shoulder, looking up at him behind his bangs.

Dad looks tired.

“I think I saw your friend Patton over by the bar, why don't you go chill with him?” Remy suggests.

Pops squeezes his hand encouragingly then loosens his grip, but still holding on to let Virgil make the decision.

He lets go and makes a not so convincing smile, heart thudding in his chest as he walks out of his fathers grasp and into the throng of people he heads towards the bar.

He hears loud light laughter the closer he gets and he sees Patton perched on a bar stool, hand on the shoulder of the kid next to him who seems exasperated at the antics of the kid that is next to him.

As he gets closer he can hear their conversation.

“Do you think I can steal some booze when the bartender isn't looking?”

“Remus no!”

“Remus yes!”

“Please don't” Patton says.

The boy on the far side puts his hand on Remus'? Shoulder, he sighs dramatically.

“You guys are no fuuun” He whines.

Patton shakes his head but there's a smile on his face. That’s when he notices Virgil heading there and his face brightens even more, waving at him gesturing him over like that's not exactly what he was doing.

“Virgil! I was wondering when you'd get here! Guys this is who I was talking about the other day!” He gestures to Virgil.

They all swivel around in their stools to look at him.

No pressure or anything, everyone is just staring at him. He two finger salutes the group, not being able to talk at the moment, not that in this particular situation he'd be able to anyway. He's not going to be able to handle this, they're all gonna hate him, he can't speak for gods sake!

A small sense of calm suddenly pokes at him.

Patton gestures to his friends. “Guys this is Virgil!”

“Yea, no duh” the one next to Patton murmurs, Patton looks at him with a cute scowl/pout but otherwise ignores him.

He gestures next to him, the boy in a white shirt with red accents and a little crown on the breast pocket. “This is Roman! And next to him is his twin brother Remus!” He announces.

Remus is wearing a dark green shirt that hangs low on one shoulder, the shirt reads 'good mourning' and there's a picture of a skeleton waking up in a coffin. How appropriate. Remus waves madly his smile wide.

“And on the end there is Logan!” Patton says.

Logan, in a simple black polo and a shiny dark blue tie nods his head in Virgil's direction.

“Come sit with us!” Patton says excitedly patting the stool next to himself.

Virgil hopes the smile he wears is welcoming and nice but he has a feeling it's more strained than anything.

He climbs on to the stool and the others swirl theirs back towards the bar.

Roman leans forwards on the bar to look at Virgil “so, what's your deal?”

His deal? What does he mean by that?

Virgil narrows his eyes, a scowl in place and tries to answer but no sound comes out only a scoff, well this is going to be a disaster isn't it? And he actually liked being around Patton too.

“Patton gave us the impression that you could speak, was that false or are you just really shy?” Roman says.

“He's just nervous around new people! I had to push a little emotion into our first conversation before he was comfortable” Patton says brightly but pointedly.

Roman doesn't look impressed, Virgil gets the feeling he doesn't like him too much...

“Why would you say it like that Pat? If he's living here he's going to know sooner rather than later.”

Know what?

Patton swerves his head towards Roman “well maybe I'm not ready to tell him yet” he says a little uneasily, a little scared.

More people not telling him things.

“Okay! Enough of your petty bullshit Ro!” Remus says smacking the bar top.

Roman lets out an offended noise, hand at his chest. “Ugh, petty bullshit? excuse you!”

Remus ignores his brother “Virgil, why the fuck are you here?”

“Remus!” Patton scolds.

Logan clears his throat “I am sorry about that Virgil, we do not meet many new people, if at all any. It’s a very small town and we don't usually leave for long periods of time.”

“Kay, sure yea but it was a serious question! He just moved here, how does he know the dead person?” Remus defends.

“She was my grandmother” he whispers. Finally, words.

“And he speaks” Roman says waving a hand.

Patton sends Virgil a soft smile, Logan looks down at the bar uncomfortably, Remus is staring at him. 

“I am... Sorry” Roman says quietly.

“Eeeyea, me too I didn't know” Remus says.

Virgil shrugs, whatever it's not like he expected them to know.

Patton is the one to lift the mood.

“Whadda want to drink Virge?”

Drink? At the bar? What. They're twelve.

He cocks his head to the side to see what everyone else is drinking.

Patton has a root beer float, alright then. Roman’s drink looks like a sunset, he has no idea what that could be. Remus has a dark red, syrupy looking drink and Logan has a tea cup.

Okay so, they're presumably not drinking alcohol, good he wouldn't know what to do if they were. What even is the drinking age around here? Probably not anywhere near twelve that's for sure.

“Uh, I don't know... It's okay I'm good” he murmurs.

The bartender sets a glass in front of him, it looks like an iced latte of some sort whipped cream and raspberries topping it.

What? Looking at it he realizes that, yea this is actually what he really wanted, how did she know that before he did?

Patton smiles up at her “thanks Kate!”

She salutes him and moves on to the other end of the bar.

No one questions this behaviour, no one even seems confused by it.  

Virgil sips at his drink, pumpkin spiced. Nice. The raspberries are a nice touch too, he loves raspberries.

The four other boys continue to talk amongst themselves, Virgil is content to just listen in on the conversation at hand.

He can get used to this whole, group thing, he’s used to having only one friend so being in a group is going to be a weird difference

A bell chimes all around the large room and everyone turns towards the casket where the sound originated.

A man and a woman in very nice clothing are standing there in front of the casket, the woman speaks.

“Good evening, I would like to inform everyone that all the guests who is coming has arrived, we will start the ceremony shortly so please when the seats raise be seated.”

She claps her hands and everyone moves to the sides as the floor slowly splits down the middle and a platform of pews rise.

No one seems surprised, they all moved like it was the norm for a room to transform itself with the clap of the hands.

What is up with this town?

As the pews platform clicks into place people start taking their seats.

The man at the front stands next to the bench right at the front and announces.

“Would the family of the deceased sit in the front please.”

And although he said 'please' Virgil doesn't think he meant it as a question or request.

He fidgets in his seat, being in the front? That's too much. He'd much rather spectate in the back than everyone watch him even walk to the front, nonetheless be seated in front of all of them. He wishes he knew where his fathers were, it'd be easier to walk down that aisle with someone.

Patton lays a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, more comforting than it really should have been, but it does relax him enough for him to get up.

He takes a deep breath, eyes closed and releases it, okay he’s ready.

As much as he says that he'd be fine to himself, he's still kind of nervous but he does it anyway. He walks down the aisles of people, trying to ignore them, and when he gets to the front there sits his two favourite people in the world and his anxieties lessen.

He sits in between them, they both put their arms around him on the back of the bench and scooting their bodies closer together in a comforting shelter.

The ceremony like everything else lately is weird and confusing.

There’s a lot of burning strong smelling things and sing chanting in another language.

His family is sprayed with some type of  light purple mist that smells good and then when it’s all over people are allowed to go up to the front to speak.

There are many people who spoke of the cafe fondly and how his grandmother always made them feel welcomed and secure.

There are people who, to Virgil were spouting absolute nonsense, stuff he didn't understand and couldn't decipher the meanings of.

Some things were hard to keep track of, but he listened anyway.

Patton went up, teary eyed and said how much he was going to miss her, they were pretty close, Clem taught him a lot of things but he couldn't seem to continue everything he wanted to say cause he just began crying through his words, Roman escorted him away from the podium, arms around his shoulders.

Both his fathers went up at the same time, regaling the great times that they shared and reminiscing about their lives with her, how supportive she was. Pops cried when he was talking about how much she changed his life and how he'll never be able to repay her.

She was, is and forever will be loved it seems.

Surprisingly, Uncle Dice didn't go up, he just sat there uncharacteristically quiet.

After the ceremony the sky was black and the stars were shining brightly with the full moon hanging proudly in the sky.

The view from the windows on looking the cemetery was breathtaking.

People started to leave the hall and he noticed when most of them were gone, Patton and his group stayed. They were the only other people there, besides some other kid who looked like they were cleaning up.

The group started to walk towards him so he met them in the middle, Patton put his arms around him and squeezed.

Remy sauntered up to them.

“Damn, okay so who here wants some freakin milkshakes?” He says.

“That'd be great” Patton chirps.

“Fuuuck yess” Remus hollers.

“Wonderful!” Roman lilts out.

“That would be satisfactory” Logan replies.

Well, they're quite the group huh, he guesses he's part of that now?

Remy smiles at the young teens, turning to address Virgil he says “She left you something, though you can't use it till you're like sixteen so, like we'll just use it till you can, and right now with this entourage it's gonna be useful, come it's outside.”

They all follow him outside to the parking lot and they stop in front of a hippy looking van, kinda like the Mystery Machine, but painted in different shades of purples and blues with the odd reds and yellows swirling through.

Pops is sitting in the passenger seat already, looking nostalgic.

Dad opens the side door for the boys to get in, there are no back seats just a bunch of comfortable looking pillows with cushy flooring and fairy lights strung up.

They all climb in and settle themselves before Dad starts the van.

Virgil sits in the middle of the two front seats facing his, friends?

“Hey Dad, why'd she give me this van?” he whispers.

“Well, she gave your uncle and I the cafe, that he thank Goood signed over to me. But this van was also a big part of her life, she lived in this van for quite a while, she probably just wanted to give you a piece of herself.”

He doesn't know how to feel about that, it's great, it's unexpected and he wishes not for the first time that he actually knew his grandmother.

Virgil sits there on the floor of his van (weird) his head is leaning on Pops’ chair, he scratches at Virgil’s scalp soothingly, his eyes close as he listens to the soft chatter the others.

His friends.

 ~0~

Patton hasn't been in the cafe since Clem died, even before Remy closed it and they were still open and running despite its owner dying.

He just didn't feel right going in anymore without her there, it hurt too much.

And now here he is standing in front of it with his friends like it was a normal Friday night for them.

All the lights inside were obviously off, it being closed and all, but the lights in the apartment upstairs were on shining lightly and slightly cutting the darkness.

He hasn’t seen those lights on since, well it’s occupant died.

Remy unlocks the doors and keeps it open for them and gestures for them to go in.

Virgil fidgets but goes in first, leading the rest of them in.

The swirl of emotions he feels from everyone as they all stand in the darkened cafe almost makes him cry again. He pushes against the sad feelings but doesn't push it out into the air, he doesn’t think now is a good time to shift the rooms emotion.

Doesn't mean he can't do it to himself.

Their usual spot is at the largest bay window with a round table nestled up to the windows seat and two comfortable chairs sitting on the other side of it.

They take their seats like they always do, Roman on one side of the window with Patton next to him, his legs are usually stretched out on the window seat with him leaning his back against the wall but not this time as Virgil sits next to Patton. Logan and Remus each takes one of the chairs.

Remy walks up to them, Emile right behind him and they stop in front of their table, Emile snakes his arms around his husband and lays his chin on Remy’s shoulder, eyes closing.

“So, like what do you guys want?” He addresses them.

“Is the menu still the same?” Logan asks.

Remy taps his chin thinking “hmm, well for the sake of this being easy, yea sure. But like I don't care, ask for anything and I'll conjure it up for you.”

Remus gasps loudly, Remy raises an eyebrow.

“Oh god, don't tell him that!” Roman protests.

Patton giggles.

“Why not?” Virgil asks slowly his eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Well, Remus has a very unique set of taste buds” Patton explains.

“That's a nice way of saying the stuff he likes is disgusting” Roman says.

“Pshh, bitch please” is all Remus responds with.

“Do you wanna know what some of his favourite snacks are?” Roman prompts but continues speaking without waiting for an answer “frozen fish sticks that are still frozen!” he throws his hands up in the air.

Virgil's head does a weird little head jiggle of confusion and he looks at Remus.

“What, I... What? Those are frozen, you don't eat those frozen” he says baffled.

“Maybe you don't” Remus rolls his eyes.

“Another one” Roman pipes up “is Nutella and tater tots!”

“That one is actually quite good” Logan says everyone looks to him, Remus is beaming. “What? The crispy, savoury, saltiness of the tater tots complement the sweet, chocolate nuttiness of the Nutella, I highly suggest you try it before dismissing it” he says fixing his glasses.

“I keep telling him that! As someone who prefers sweet and salty mixtures you'd think he would try it too!” Remus throws his hands up.

“Sounds like a new menu item” Remy says, that makes Remus whirl in his direction making his chair rock a bit, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Really?” He shouts.

“Totes kid” he says, Patton giggles

“Don'tcha mean 'tots'?” he says giggling even more.

Logan closes his eyes and breathes deeply, Remus looks amused, Roman lets out a soft 'oof' but he's smiling and Virgil is looking like he doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or scowl.

“Anyway, what the heck do you guys want, milkshake wise cause that's what I'm feelin like experimenting with right now. Nothing is off the table go wild.”

“Fuuuuck yes!” Remus shouts again.

Roman groans, Virgil and Logan snicker.

“I dunno how adventurous I am” Patton says.

Remy shrugs. “It's whatever, if you want something on the menu I won't like stop you.”

“Mm, okay I want birthday cake then.”

“Do you have any Crofters on hand?” Logan asks.

“Sure kid.”

Logan's eyes widen a bit, surprise comes off of him, it probably went against his probability.

“Would you perhaps be able to make a milkshake with it?”

“Don't see why not, and hey if it's good I'll so put it on the menu too.”

“I, I. Yes okay, that is”- he clears his throat and adjusts his tie -“acceptable.”  

“Okay me now!” Remus grabs their attention “I've been thinking on this” he says.

“Oh that's always a good sign” Roman groans.

Remus kicks him from under the table making Roman squawk but continues like he didn't just do that. “I want something with pickles!”

“Ew, you are disgusting, how are we twins?” Roman says flailing his arms up, almost hitting Patton in the face he knocks his glasses slightly, Patton puts a hand on Roman's hand gently lowering it and keeping it there. Roman looks at him apologetically.

Remy hums “so like pickle juice incorporated into it or?”

“Yea! But also some chunks I want a crunch!”

“Alrighty you funky little weirdo” he says affectionately.

“I cannot believe you are humouring this... Well, whatever. I'll have peanut butter and chocolate one please” Roman says.

“Pumpkin spiced” Virgil says, Remy hums knowingly.

“I'll be back with those. Have fuun” he says turning towards the kitchen with Emile, who looks really tired.

Things are unusually quiet for a few seconds until Virgil jerks upwards, looking from him to Logan.

“Hey, you have the same glasses!”

Remus and Roman both burst out laughing, Patton snickers.

Logan looks at him and nods slightly while fixing his glasses “yep” is all he says to that.

Virgil is becoming a part of the group, slowly but it's happening he can feel it. He smiles at the fact that Virgil won’t have to be the new kid who's alone at school.

School starts pretty soon, which means this weekend is...

“Oh!” Patton smacks his hands onto the table top startling everyone. “School is starting soon! This weekend, guys guys, this weekend!” he says jumping in place with excitement looking around at everyone then pointedly nudging his head in Virgil's direction.

“Yes Patton, I think that's a wonderful idea” Logan says.

Roman sighs but agrees “of course he can join.”

“Yea! One more for an orgy!” Remus declares.

“You did not have to say it like that, that's gross.” Roman whines.

Remus just shrugs, laughing.

“Anyway...” Patton begins, turning to Virgil he explains. “Okay so we have this tradition we started when we were around eight where the last weekend of the summer we have a weekend long slumber party starting on Friday! We always change who's house it's at, and since you're new we're not gonna make you play host, but do you wanna start coming to them? You're our friend after all!”

Everyone looks at Virgil, anxiety rolls off of him, he's looking around at everyone panicked, trying to find something and apparently doesn't find anything malicious on any of their faces.

“Uh, yea sure. Sounds like fun.”

Patton claps “This is going to be great Virge, you'll see!”