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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years ago

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Topsy Turvy Days in Savanaclaw

Father and son, in the same dorm once again… Oh yeah, and Floyd’s also there 😂

The King of Beasts, and his Spirit of Persistence.

Lilia Vanrouge...

... looks so out of place within a group of muscular Savanaclaw students, both in stature and in bulk. He relishes in the almost comedic difference in the proportions between himself and his dorm mates, thinking it greatly amusing to be surrounded by intimidating looking men. "It was the very same back in my days in the military or in Diasomnia," he chuckles. "I provide all the charm that is necessary, no matter the group I am in." Lilia gets a real kick out of acting overly cutesy while he’s surrounded by big, buff guys—it always catches passerbys off guard (“Tee hee! You’d better watch out, or we’ll punish you ⭐️”)

No one took Lilia all that seriously to begin with. The Savanaclaw kids constantly jeered at him, unaware that they were actually provoking a great fairy general! Lilia isn’t really bothered by it, but he had to teach them to properly respect their elders—and before long, he’s become one of the most popular people in the dorm?! The students he beat up especially gain a sense of admiration for him. (“You’re so cool, aniki!! You’re small, but you pack a punch!!”)

Oddly enough, the Savanaclaw students also come to respect the knowledge Lilia has to impart. Some of the boys come off as perhaps too gruff or quick to anger, but you can always count on Lilia-chan to be there with some good advice or his own experiences to relate to them. He doesn’t see them as violent or troubled kids; he wants to hear them out and see where they’re coming from. Not only does he give tips on how to be better fighters, but he also dishes out the wisdom they need for the most existential of crises—who are they, and what is their purpose in this world? How can someone seemingly so young possess wisdom that rivals that of the great kings of the past? It’s a mystery to the entire dorm.

In spite of all that he knows, Lilia wants to learn even more!! He asks the various beastmen that inhabit Savanaclaw about their own cultures and customs, as they vary from subspecies to subspecies. They’ll pal around and get rowdy as they tell their tales and spin their histories for him, and the more that Lilia hears, the more he appreciates that he is able to peacefully coexist with such interesting people.

Lilia rises bright and early with a spring in his step! He has lots of things to do before the school day even starts, and that includes liberally applying sunscreen and sneaking over to Silver’s room and dragging his son up for rigorous morning training!! They exercise and stretch together just like old times. Due to Lilia’s sun sensitivity, he has to cover up a lot of his skin (meaning he sweats more easily) and they have to take frequent water breaks.

Lilia’s sun protection game in the savanna is on point!! He’s packed his extra strength sunblock, his parasol, a sun visor, gloves, long sleeve clothes and pants, and an assortment of silly sunglasses. He has glittery heart-shaped frames, one that comes with a honking clown nose, and even a pair that has a twirly little mustache—all souvenirs he’s collected over the years.

The beastmen are particularly sensitive to the racket (practicing his music/singing for Pop Music Club) coming from Lilia’s room, as well as the smells/tastes of whatever weird UFOs (unidentified food objects) he has whipped up. Heightened senses are a detriment when the hazard known as Lilia is in the immediate vicinity!! Most recently, Lilia found a fascinatingly rotund grub which he tossed into a pasta dish that gave off an already ominous aura. (He claims it “tastes like chicken, slimy yet satisfying!”, but no one touched it… except Floyd, who ate it on a dare and laid in bed for the next two days with terrible cramps.)

Lilia casually hangs out upside down on the rope bridge runways. Since they’re located so close to the dorm rooms, sometimes the students get spooked finding Lilia staring at them dead in the face when they exit. He’ll just laugh and swing down, wishing them a good morning or sweet dreams—when, surely, he knows that his sudden appearance is sure to give some of them startles and mild nightmares.

“Kufufu, I’m quite enjoying my time here in Savanaclaw. Certainly, its fledgling prince and I may not see eye-to-eye on leadership matters, but that has no bearing on the strength of those he serves. This dormitory is strong not only in terms of physical attributes, but in character and heart. And truly, that is the strongest muscle there is. Without these welcoming lads, I wouldn’t have had nearly half as much fun as I did~

Floyd Leech...

… doesn’t really feel one way or another about the matter. He thought it would be cool to be a part of Savanaclaw when he was asked about it, but that was then, and this is now! He doesn’t linger on any one opinion for all too long. The thing he’s most excited for is just to be away from work for a bit, a trip where he can go and squeeze the daylights out of new targets sounds good in his book!

… Well, Floyd intended on treating this dorm swap thing like a vacation getaway but Azul and Jade still contact him about “business”. Azul thinks of this as a golden opportunity to sneak around for clues of Leona’s weaknesses. Meanwhile, Jade just wants his brother to collect samples of various savanna-exclusive fungi for his personal research. Floyd leaves them both on read because he can’t be bothered with them right now.

Floyd immediately hits everyone up to brawl. No reason for it is really needed, he just wants to fight strong opponents and to face real challenges to come out on top! … Anyway, Floyd decimates each and every challenger with ease (and, in venting some of his frustration over Leona refusing to entertain him in combat, sent some students to the nurse’s office). He’s bored out of his miiind!!

Of course, the dry savanna biome will wreak havoc on a merperson’s natural need to remain moisture sooo… Say good-bye to the waterfall and pool area in the Savanaclaw lounge. Floyd has monopolized it for himself, and he doesn’t need to pitch up a “Beware of Sharks” sign for everyone and their dads to know it. The instant you see his tail or head slowly rising up from the water, that’s when you start running.

Floyd picks up a pretty useful saying he hears a lot around the dorm (originating in the Afterglow Savanna). “Hakuna matata”, which means no worries for the rest of your days. It’s meant to be a saying that reassures others, but Floyd uses it to justify acting on his own whims. For example, he’ll punch someone in the arm a little too forcefully (to the point where it seems like a provocation rather than being playful), then follow it up with “hakuna matata” (it’s his ironic equivalent of, “don’t worry about it, bro”).

Floyd adapts extremely well to the more “wild” ways of Savanaclaw, letting more of his own animalistic nature come out. His sharp teeth sink in a little too easily into that leg of… zebra meat. He gets a little too rough when he wants to show affection or just hang out. Whatever Floyd does, it’s somehow magnified by a factor of ten—it must be the environment that’s bringing out the most of his inner wild child. (“Goodness, he’s really cutting loose,” Lilia observes. “It’s nice to see the youth so full of energy.”)

The wide open spaces of Savanaclaw’s lounge means there’s plenty of room for Floyd to monkey around without worrying about breaking expensive furniture. He launches himself all over the place in complex and increasingly dangerous parkour moves, his raspy, hyena-like cackling ringing out in the lounge and rippling across the waters. It’s a wonder how he comes out of those intense sessions totally unscathed, yet still manages to somehow tear up his surroundings.

No one knows where the heck Floyd found them, but he rummaged around and collected enough bones to make a working drum set??? He has a grand old time banging on it using two long arm bones as drumsticks. It’s a little eerie and odd to watch and to listen to, but it’s very “Floyd” of him to march to the beat of his own drum. Before long, he attracts a bit of an audience, participate with their own percussion or offer up lyrics. Even Lilia and Silver join in the impromptu song number (although Silver’s animal friends need some soothing to be comfortable around the bony instruments).

“Eeeh, I thought this place would have more interesting things. There’s no one here as strong as me, so there’s not a real challenge. Azul and Jade have been blowing up my phone for favors too… Maaan, they’re really tickin’ me off today. At least Savanclaw’s got alllll this space and no one can tell me what to do. Losers don’t get the right to boss me around. Ehehehe~ Survival of the fittest’s the name of the game, and I’m killin’ it!!”

Silver...

… is relieved that he can be by his father’s side in this unfamiliar new environment. He doesn’t doubt that Lilia can look after himself just fine, but his tendency to fret for Lilia’s wellbeing never totally goes away. It’s been a while since they’ve had some quality father-son time, just the two of them—and now is as good of as time as any to catch up.

Sebek bombards Silver’s phone with a wall of texts, each loudly (all caps) expressing his jealousy that Silver gets to spend one-on-one time with their mentor (while weeping about how he and Malleus aren’t in the same dorm, OH WOE IS HE). Silver’s able to calm his junior down by sharing nice little anecdotes and pictures of his surroundings—shards of sunlight piercing the sky, the distant call of unique birds. They’re memories he will treasure forever, and precious moments he wants to share with the others in Diasomnia when he returns.

Knowing that his father is not good with sunlight, Silver becomes Lilia’s personal shield whenever possible. He’ll literally walk in front of Lilia or contort himself into weird shapes just to let his father be a little cooler in his shadow (even though Lilia will tug on his arm and insist that they’re equals, so they should walk side-by-side instead)! “… What if I just held your parasol for you, father? Would that be acceptable? Please, let me assist you.”

The warm weather of the savanna is dangerous for Silver. He’s usually sleepy, but it’s sooo much easier for him to faceplant into the dirt in such cozy conditions! Luckily for him, Lilia’s nearby to swoop in and haul Silver off to bed, be it at the base of a tree or in a hammock. Lilia stays by his side all the while, sometimes humming a soft, vaguely familiar lullaby as he strokes his son’s hair, sending him off safely into the world of dreams.

He’s… kind of dense sometimes. Silver likes to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and think the best of them, even when the other party is clearly being an aggressor. Whenever he so much as accidentally brushes shoulders with a Savannaclaw student in the halls, they get all up in his face and Silver just stares back, bows, and offers an apology. Somehow he interprets every fight or provocation as a genuine mistake or an attempt to make friends. Just how much of a space cadet is he?! the Savanaclaw kids wonder.

Like with Lilia, fhe Savanaclaw students aren’t initially very friendly to Silver. Something about his aura just pisses them off (maybe because he reminds them of “those goody two shoes RSA chumps”, especially with that parade of cute woodland creatures following him wherever he goes). They do whatever they can to intimidate and pick on him, but it never seems to faze Silver. Their fruitless efforts eventually wear down over time. In the aftermath, it’s as though Silver’s “zen” attitude has somehow rubbed off on them… or, rather, they’ve gotten so fed up with him that they just turn the other way and tell themselves he’s not worth the effort. All’s well that ends well…?

Silver is the only soul willing to approach Floyd and attempt to negotiate terms with him to open up the waterfall and pool area to all again. (After all, he was taught that peace and understanding between the races is entirely possible!) He reasons that it’s not fair to their dorm mates snd surely doesn’t Floyd realize they would all be happier holding hands and basking under the waterfall together? Floyd only listens for a few minutes before groaning and diving below the water, drenching Silver in the process. “Do whatever, Jellyfish!! Just shut your trap, will ya? I’m about to fall asleep listening to you myself.”

He volunteers as tribute! In place of his dad, Silver will fight Floyd to keep him amused. It somehow blows up to a spectacle, hoards of Savanaclaw students cheering and taking bets for who will come out on top (Lilia is in the front row, all decked out in Silver merch). As soon as the battle starts, Floyd charges in full force… and Silver flings his arms out to receive him with an aggressive hug?! “I understand, Floyd!” Silver declares, his eyes burning with seriousness. “You were just lonely and wanted a friend, so you sought out attention. Don’t worry, I’ll happily be your friend.” (��HAAAH?! Are you CRAZY, Jellyfish?!” It kills Floyd’s combative mood, and ends in a draw.)

“I think this experience has been very valuable. I was able to spend time with not only my father, but with people of many different races. Humans, fairies, merpeople, beastmen… It gives me hope that, someday, we can create a society in which all of us can live together in harmony. A world where everyone understands the balance and respects all creatures… That is the kind of future that I dream of, and I will do everything in my power to make it a reality.”

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aparticularbandit · 6 days ago

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You Better Watch Out

Summary: "Why don't you tell me what you're doing, and then I'll decide if I'm coming or not." Junko glances over Haruhi's shoulder. "You don't have anyone else with you, so this can't be official Brigade business."

Haruhi's brow sets. "I'm going to catch Santa," she spits out, "or maybe one of his elves, if I'm lucky. And I want you to help me!"

OR: Haruhi wants to catch Santa and tries to drag Junko into her schemes.

Brought to you by a discussion @tobiasdrake and I had about what it would look like if Junko and Haruhi ever met.

Rating: G.

AO3

“You’re coming out with me. Right now!”

Junko rubs one eye and then stares blearily at Haruhi. Unlike her, Haruhi looks pert and alert. Her hair’s held back out of her face not with her traditional yellow ribbons, but instead with a beanie topped with a yellow ball of fluff. Thin black straps of some sort of bag hang over her shoulder, and while her breath puffs out in soft white puffs, she’s clearly not cold. If anything, she’s wrapped in so many layers that cold should be impossible – whatever she’s wearing underneath is topped with a burnt orange peacoat with golden buttons, and her legs are covered in deep brown leggings.

Haruhi looks like autumn on the coldest time of the year so fall, like she can’t let go of the color in a world that’s all white and black and grey.

Contrasted completely with Junko, whose hair is down and fluffed out and probably tangled at this point (it gets tangled so easily), and who is in nothing more than crimson lounge pants covered with the faces of Junk Co.’s various Kuma mascots and a black tank-top – one that doesn’t really fit, seeing as she’d stolen it from Mukuro’s closet, but it’s comfortable and it smells a bit like—

“What if I say no?” Junko asks, pushing a hand through her frazzled hair.

It’s the early hours of the morning – way earlier than any sane person would be up (and equally later than any sane person would stay awake) – but neither of them can quite be called sane. Junko’s long had a problem with sleeping; often she needs to wear herself out until her body literally drops. She’d been nearly to that point when Haruhi knocked, wrapped in a thick fluffy blanket and sketching out her summer designs while she waited for the exhaustion to overcome her.

And then Haruhi….

Well, Haruhi’s Haruhi. She would probably be asleep if she hadn’t thought of something better to do, and odds are, Haruhi can always think of something better to do than sleep. (Unless she’s trying to catch the sheep you count to fall asleep, but even Haruhi doesn’t sink that low.)

Haruhi’s excited expression drops immediately, replaced by one of frustrated annoyance. “I came all the way out here – in the snow!”

“Uphill both ways?” Junko asks, gaze flitting at the cloud-covered sky above them. She pokes her head out just enough to catch sight of the snowflakes trickling down one at a time and hrms. When Haruhi doesn’t continue, she looks back at her – only for Haruhi to have crossed her arms and to give her a huff. “What? That’s the phrase, Haru-chan. Uphill both ways in the snow.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, you don’t.” Junko yawns and leans up against her doorframe. “Why don’t you tell me what we’re doing, and then I’ll decide if I’m coming or not.” She glances over Haruhi’s shoulder. “You don’t have anyone else with you, so this can’t be official Brigade business.”

Haruhi’s brow sets. “I’m going to catch Santa,” she spits out, “or maybe one of his elves, if I’m lucky. And I want you to help me!”

Junko hands Haruhi a mug of hot chocolate.

“We need to go,” Haruhi says, even as she accepts the mug. It’s almost too big for her hands, somewhere between a mug and a thermos, and it has a UFO on it with I WANT TO BELIEVE under it in bold white print. She doesn’t drink the cocoa.

But Junko settles onto the couch across from her with her own thermos – similar print to her lounge pants, but on a baby blue background. She’d gotten it for Yasuke a while back, right when it was first made – the first of its kind, the first of anything Junk Co. made that wasn’t clothes, something that had to be outsourced (through a reputable creator, of course). As opposed to her lounge pants, it only has Kuma-chan, Shiro-chan, and Kuro-chan’s faces, but they’re similar enough. Even used, this mug would go for money nowadays. Yasuke left it here when he moved.

“How, exactly, did you plan to catch Santa Claus?” Junko asks as she leans back against the arm of the sofa and stretches her left arm across its back. Then she takes a sip of her cocoa with a soft humming sound and lifts it towards Haruhi in a half toast. “Drink your cocoa. You’ll like it.”

“You drugged it.”

“I’m not you, and you’re not Mikuru, and we’re not filming anything, so—”

“That was one time.” Haruhi crosses her arms, tilting the mug so that it’s dangerously close to spilling the cocoa.

Junko doesn’t say anything about that. Instead, she takes another sip of her cocoa and meets Haruhi’s eyes. When Haruhi isn’t forthcoming, she presses. “I’m waiting.”

“You didn’t deny it!”

“Haru-chan, if you really thought I would drug your cocoa, you wouldn’t be asking me to chase down Santa with you.” Junko holds a hand out. “I’ll drink some first, if you want.”

Haruhi glares at Junko’s hand. Then she sniffs and turns up her nose. “You’re probably immune.”

“Mmhm. Totally immune to whatever I put in your drink—”

“So you admit it!”

“—Totally spent the past few months building up an immunity to something just so I could drug you and keep you from hunting Santa for sport.”

“Not just that!” Haruhi slams her free hand down on Junko’s coffee table, and her cocoa splashes out of the mug onto the various designs and magazines she has scattered on the tabletop. “You could have been holding onto this just to stop me from…from….”

Junko glances down to the now stained pages. None of them really matter. She can remake designs, and the magazines are just there for show. “I’m not Mukuro.”

Haruhi’s eyes narrow. “My hand hurts.”

“Because you splashed hot cocoa on it.”

“It would have burned my tongue!”

Junko shrugs. “You would have to drink it first, and you’re not drinking it, so I guess you don’t have to worry about that, do you?” She lifts her gaze to meet Haruhi’s. “Maybe I just knew you were going to have this whole drugging thing to avoid giving me your scheme to catch Santa, so I made sure that when I gave you your hot cocoa, I made it a little hotter so that it would still be warm by the time you finally took a sip.” She nods to the mug. “It should be fine now. If you drink it.”

Haruhi stares at Junko. She glances down at her mug. Then she lifts it and takes a small sip. “It’s good.”

“Told you.”

“Is there….”�� Haruhi takes another sip. “Nutmeg? Cinnamon? Isn’t it Christmas?”

“Nearly.”

“There should be peppermint!”

“I don’t like peppermint.”

“But it’s Christmas!”

“Nearly.”

Haruhi takes a third sip, but she doesn’t settle, and she doesn’t relax. Then she sets her mug on the coffee table, just atop the papers she’s already stained. “I’m going to leave a message for him in the snow,” she says finally. “I’m going to leave a message in a secret language that only Santa or his elves or maybe his reindeer! will understand, and I’m going to stay up all night, and when he stops for me, I’ll snatch him!”

“Mmhm.” Junko nods slowly over the lip of her cocoa.

A few seconds pass.

Haruhi stares at her. “We need to hurry—”

“Not that I have a problem with your plan, or anything,” Junko starts, “but wouldn’t it be easier to catch Santa the normal way?”

Haruhi’s expression doesn’t change. If anything, it gets darker. More intense. “What normal way? If there was a normal way, someone would have caught him by now, and the fact that no one has means they aren’t doing it right!”

“Mmhm.” Junko nods again. She slowly sets her thermos in her lap. “Consider – we stay here, and you go to sleep, and I stay up and catch him for you.” When Haruhi opens her mouth, full of all sorts of counter-arguments, she continues, “Santa only comes to the houses of good children. I’ve no doubt you’ve been good this year.” She pretends to ignore the way Haruhi shuts her mouth and crosses her arms. “Santa only comes when the good boys and girls are asleep—”

“When he’s coming to their house to leave their presents,” Haruhi interrupts. “If it’s outside, with a message, he’ll stop even when I’m awake! He’ll come to see whoever leaves the message!”

Junko waits for Haruhi to finish her counter before continuing, “But I have been a very bad girl, Haruhi.”

Haruhi sniffs. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Santa will come to deliver presents while you’re asleep because you have been good.”

“Sure.”

“But he won’t care that I’m awake because I have been bad.”

Never mind that Haruhi automatically accepts the premise both that she’s been good and that Junko has been bad. It certainly isn’t meant to be personal. Most things aren’t, with Haruhi.

Junko lets Haruhi set with that for a moment. It’s better to let Haruhi come to her own conclusions. She shifts her hand along her thermos, letting it warm her skin.

“So you’ll stay awake,” Haruhi starts, “and he’ll come to deliver my presents, but when he does, you’ll catch him.” She pauses. “This sounds like a trap.”

“If you say so.” Junko takes another sip of her cocoa. It’s alright. Not her best, but the best she could do on such short notice. “Look, if it doesn’t work, then next year we can try your thing. But this year, let’s lay a trap where we know he’ll stop.”

And where it’s inside. And warm. And doesn’t require staying up in the freezing cold. Probably in a tent.

(Probably not in a tent, if she knows Haruhi.)

Haruhi’s brow furrows. “Fine.” She finally starts to shed her coat. “But if you don’t catch him, it’s your fault. You’ll have to take responsibility!”

“Sure.”

In all honesty, Junko thinks Haruhi just wanted to come up with some sort of idea for a sleepover.

And sure, it would be nice to sleep out under the stars with Haruhi. She wouldn’t really have a problem with that.

But not in the snow.

It’s too cold for that shit.

When Haruhi wakes the next morning, she stretches and yawns. Junko’s bed is surprisingly comfortable. More than she’d expected. Junko wouldn’t let her take the couch, which would be a prime spot for catching Santa – or for being woken up once Junko caught him – because she thought that would give Santa an idea that they were laying a trap. She’d said that she would pretend to nap on the couch, and then when Santa came through to leave Haruhi’s presents, she’d jump up and catch him!

It’s not a great plan, but it’s not a bad plan.

Haruhi’s plan was better.

But she’s a good Brigade Leader, and she lets her underlings shoot their shot every now and again.

This isn’t the best time for that, because it means she’ll have to wait a whole entire year to try again, but that’s fine. They have another year before college. They’ll catch him then!

….

Haruhi cranes her ears. She doesn’t hear any sounds of merry unfortune or any children crying because Santa hadn’t delivered their presents. Junko’s apartment walls aren’t that thick. She should be hearing something.

Which means—

Haruhi jumps out of Junko’s bed and sprints to the living room.

Junko sits, bleary-eyed, on the couch with that same stupid thermos in her hands. She glances up and meets Haruhi’s eyes before offering her a smug smile. “Tough luck, Haru-chan. Seems like you’ve been a very, very bad girl.”

Haruhi’s cheeks puff out and grow a deep, deep red. She stamps her foot. “I haven’t!”

“Well, I’ve been awake this entire time, and Santa didn’t stop by at all.” Junko’s head tilts to one side, and her eyes get a faraway look. “Maybe he left your presents at your house.”

“You idiot!”

Junko sighs and lifts her hand in a huge shrug. “Guess I didn’t think it through. Sorry, Haruhi.”

Haruhi’s eyes narrow. “You don’t sound sorry.”

“I’m too tired to sound—” Junko yawns and covers her mouth with her free hand. “Sorry. I didn’t get any sleep.” Then she pats the spot next to her on the couch with one hand. “I’ve got something for you, though. Even if Santa didn’t show up.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not good enough. You’ll still have to catch him with me next year.”

“Sure, sure.” Junko just pats the seat next to her again.

Haruhi stares at the seat. This feels like a trap, too. This entire thing feels like a trap, even though she was the one who came here. She steps carefully to the spot the same way a skittish kitten might and then finally sets on it, her arms still crossed. “What is it?”

Junko reaches behind her and pulls out a small box wrapped in Junk Co. wrapping paper – Kuma-chan’s face all over it, with a green Christmas hat with a red fluff ball on it atop his head – and a big yellow ribbon. “Merry Christmas.”

“I didn’t get you anything.”

“That’s fine.”

Haruhi takes the present. “This would have been better if it came from Santa.” She waits for Junko to quip something, but when she doesn’t, she unties the ribbon. “This isn’t going to bite me, right?”

“It’s not a dog, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I know that.” Haruhi rips through the wrapping paper and finds a small black velvet box. She blinks twice and then looks up at Junko. “You’re not proposing, are you? Because that’s really weird.”

“We’re not dating.”

“That’s why it’s weird!”

Junko sighs and rolls her eyes. “I’m not proposing.”

Haruhi pops the box open. A necklace lies inside – a thin golden chain with a tiny Monokuma in a Santa outfit, complete with the fluffy white beard and floppy hat. She knows it’s Monokuma and not Kuma-chan because right there, the swooping red eye that marks the difference between them. His eyes sparkle in the light - onyx and ruby, probably – and a diamond in the shape of a star hangs on a separate charm next to him. She blinks twice. “You gave me merch for Christmas, you loser.”

“There’s only one of these in the whole world,” Junko says, tapping the box with one long red fingernail, “which means it’s not merch.”

“It’s got Monokuma on it.”

“As Santa,” Junko says. “To remember trying to catch him together.”

“Then what’s the star for?”

“Because next year,” Junko murmurs, “you’re going to make me sit out in the freezing cold to catch him, and I’m gonna spend the whole time staring at the sky to see if he shows up, and that means looking at stars, Haru-chan.”

“Oh.” Haruhi stares at the necklace. “I still think it’s stupid.”

Junko reaches out a hand. “Then I’ll take it back.”

“No.”

It would be nice to say that Haruhi realizes later that there’s no way Junko should have known about the capturing Santa idea before she stormed down Junko’s door, but she doesn’t. If she did, it would be with the understanding that maybe Junko can see into the future a little bit. But she doesn’t think about it.

That wouldn’t be Haruhi.

And, despite her complaints, she’s wearing the necklace when school starts after break.

(And fights anyone who says she shouldn’t be wearing Christmas jewelry this early in the year. Why should she care what they think?)

#bandit fic #that faint green light with junko and haruhi #danganronpa #the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya #junko enoshima #haruhi suzumiya #enoshimiya #because the haruhi gif yesterday #i know this is technically set on junko's birthday #OH WELL YOU GET IT TODAY

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majimasleftasscheek · 8 months ago

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Howdy, I hope you are having a wonderful day! For your plushies, where did you get the laying down ones and bun chan? Are those proxies or dyt amiami might get them eventually? Are there any proxies you especially reccomend for such merch?

got those 3 all via third party sellers with proxy 👍

I'm not sure if amiami will get them tbh. just speculating but it's been some time since those plushies released and you would think they would have got them by now like all other merch but they're still UFO catcher exclusive. and usually if amiami gets something, the same item goes up on ebten (where sega sells all their merch crap) first but they've yet to appear so unless something changes with their UFO plushies, I doubt amiami will get them unfort 😩

luckily tho finding them via proxy isn't too hard and be sure to take a good look around @ listings, especially for majima if you want him as he tends to be higher in price cuz popularity. but there's plenty who are selling him for the same amount as the others. if anyone needs a term to search for plushies you can use ぬいぐるみ

the proxies I use are buyee (most often cuz they got a lotta merch coupons lol) and fromjapan!

#idk why they're not putting them up for regular sale and I weep #it's not hard to get em at all but hhhhh wish you didn't have to rely on other people to get em first like bruh pls #also buyee's coupons are very sexy cuz one time they dropped a fat 25% off anime fig merch and I went to town dsfkjlkfds #I also used it on a majima fig too cuz he just happened to be listed in that category so like 😏#rgg merch

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housano · 2 months ago

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Housano's LIVE-A-HALF-ASSED Summaries Presents Pubraseer and the Infinite Radness Part 2: 🎶Crash Into Me🎶

We start off this part in an open field area where a moderator is announcing the public special exam has begun, we meet a new Oaks character who is nervous, clenching his exam card, and the last to be transformed by the operator. He is determined to become a hero to meet his goal. Before the operator can transform him the terminal begins to act up, so our future playable character closes his eyes to calm himself down and phase out the noise. When the noise stops, he opens his eyes, ready to switch into his hero outfit.

Only to find that the operator is nowhere to be found and gets upset that if he can't transform, he won't be able to take the exam.

Jumping to the Tycoons tower, we have a Virtual Festa reuinion with our beloved Pubra-Chan, Writer Subaru and Scaly Tsundere Hydoor. It's been a while since they worked together though they wished Ryekie could be with them. The operator explains that they will be evaluating the heroes. Subaru and Hydoor will play the role of villains and Pubraseer will get to be a civilian that needs to be rescued by the Heroes. The operator says there's a Locker room where Pubraseer can get changed while the others go an take position. Before we get to the fanservice, Pubraseer notices a person sized UFO flying through the air and decides to alert the operator outside the locker room, only to find them gone.

We then circle back to MC being ported to the field from earlier to immediately be bombarded by the future character from earlier desperate to transform. He said they he prepared for this exam only to trip on the steps and be attacked by animals on his way here and when he was ready the operator disappeared. MC realized that they were transported into the exam area and we find out (after thrusting their admission ticket) that this is Denebora. He states he has a lot on the line with this examination and we agree to transform him since this is an emergency situation.

Only to be transformed into an unconscious state by Orbiter falling on him. Orbiter is shocked as he thought no one was there and will apologize to Denebora when he wakes up. He said he tried to leave by a small space ship he build but apparently there's a ceiling that he hit, causing his space ship to fall apart and hands us a part, asking us if we've seen something similar. Before we can anwer our terminal starts beeping and we are yeeted off to Broker knows where.

Denebora wakes up and Orbiter profusely apologizes. He asks where MC is and Orbiter says they just disappeared. It's then that Denebora and Orbiter realize MC has both their admission ticket and ship parts respectively. They agree, since this is isn't a horror movie, to split up to cover more ground and exchange contact information.

This time we are transported to my happy place: right into Pubra-chan's embrace, which, thank you Lifewonders is giving the fans exactly what we want. Unfortunately, Pubra-chan requests for us to move so he can get changed and apologizes for us seeing something unsightly. Love, unsightly are 99% of my gacha pulls in this game. We have gazed upon perfection. Back to the story, we say that we were transported without warning and Pubra said his ooperator disappeared as well. Since he is an examiner, it would be best to report this to the management office and suggest to go to the warp point near his meetup point.

Elsewhere, Gaisei is itching for a fight and the is reminding him of the purpose is for him to take the hero exam so they can get him a license which Gaisei ran off to us. Pubra asks if we managed to get in contact with Huckle but to no avail. Gaisei finds us and immediately wants to engage in a fight with Pubraseer, which perplexes him. Though he is a self-proclaimed villain, he isn't causing trouble for the exam thus far so he can't really do much but oblige.

Unfortunatley we are interrupted by Hydoor and Subaru as villains with Hydoor being in his old pirate outfit. He is flattered if we compliment his outfit, but says he's at work right now and will show it off to us later. Pubraseer tries to get them to stop and explain our predicament, but they are not listening because as Rupaul once said "You're going off script, darling." So Pubra relents and says we have to finish the battle to complete the scenario with Gaisei giddily joining us for battle.

Pubraseer and the Infinite Radness Part 2: Crash into me- END

#live a hero #liveahero #ラブヒロ #live a hero spoilers #lahspoilers

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siplick · 1 year ago

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Some new Yakuza charms featuring some of my favourite UFO catcher prizes! Kara Kappa, Bun-chan and Woo-kun ⭐

#kara kappa #bun-chan #woo-kun #yakuza kiwami #yakuza 0 #yakuza merch #yakuza fanart #merch artist #acrylic charms #phone straps

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yakuzacanons · 1 year ago

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Hello! I've been reading your writings for a while already and I really love them! Happy to finally request something, if I can of course? Playing ufo catcher machine to get a Bun-chan plushie for the boys. But instead of one, winning and gifting a bunch of them. Thank you in advance!

Last one for today, also BUN CHAN MY BELOVED. Those things are my nemesis in the arcades lol they're so shaped it's hard to pick em up. Headcanons below, thanks for waiting and have a good one.

Would Ask How On Earth You Managed To Get So Many (Impressed)

Tanimura Masayoshi, Nishikiyama Akira, Ichiban Kasuga, Koichi Adachi

Would Ask How On Earth You Managed To Get So Many (Concerned)

Mine Yoshitaka, Akiyama Shun

Is Already Constructing A Fort Out Of Them

Yu Nanba, Majima Goro, Tatsuo Shinada

Neatly Stacks Them, Organized By Size And Color

Saejima Taiga, Ryuji Goda, Tianyou Zhao

Just Stares At Them, Shocked

Daigo Dojima, Kiryu Kazuma, Joon-Gi Han

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retrosofa · 1 year ago

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To commemorate Cutie Honey's 50th anniversary, I wanted to post trivia for all 25 episodes. We'll start this week with the first episode: "The Black Claw Grips The Heart."

Screenwriter: Masaki Tsuji

Art Director: Mataharu Urata

Animation Director: Shingo Araki

Director: Tomoharu Katsumata

In the early drafts Honey Kisaragi was originally Honey Tachibana. Honey’s finalized surname name, “Kisaragi” (如月) is a traditional name for February in the Japanese calendar. It refers to the seasonal “changing of clothes.” The name "Honey" comes from the American TV series Honey West.

Honey was voiced by Eiko Masuyama, who would reprise this role a few times over the years, notably in the Re: Cutie Honey audio drama and the Playstation game, Little Witching Mischiefs. She also had a guest spot in Cutey Honey Flash as Dr. Kisaragi’s old friend, Dr. Mitsuko Kanzaki.

St. Chapel Academy is located in Okutama, a mountainous area that’s about an hour and a half away from central Tokyo. St. Chapel itself was most likely inspired or at least named after the real life royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France. The hymn the students sing during Mass in these early episodes is “Come, Thou Almighty King.”

The freckle-faced girl who stands next to Honey during Mass is her best friend and roommate, Natsuko Aki. Although she’s almost never referred to by her full name but rather “Nat-chan.” Her first name is in reference to natsu or “summer” while aki means “autumn.” In the original manga she is depicted as having pigtails rather than a bob cut and doesn’t have freckles. Natsuko’s anime design was based on an unnamed girl who appeared briefly in the Devilman manga.

Natsuko was voiced by Rihoko Yoshida, who’s best known for voicing the titular character in Majokko Megu-chan, Maria Grace Fried in UFO Robo Grendizer, and Michiru Saotome in Getter Robo. Yoshida would also voice Panther Zora in the 1995 PC-FX video game, Cutey Honey FX. Noriko Watanabe (Sister Jill, Mami) also voiced Natsuko occasionally for whenever Rihoko Yoshida was unavailable.

Honey’s goofy teacher Ms. Alphonne Louis Steinbeck III is based on a male character from Go Nagai’s Kikkai-kun manga. That same Alphonne also served as the basis for Akira Fudo’s teacher in the Devilman TV series.

Ms. Alphonne was voiced by the late Noriko Tsukase, who had previously voiced Mr. Alphonne’s wife and son in Devilman. Although Ms. Alphonne appears in every other animated Honey series, this is the only version where she is voiced by a woman.

During the early production stages Seiji Hayami was known as Shun Kazami and was described as "falling in love with Honey, despite knowing she’s an android." He would also have a goofy little sister named Zuuko, who would question whether she was really related to her handsome older brother. When the series details were finalized, Seiji became more of a comic relief character and his romantic chemistry with Honey was downplayed.

Seiji was voiced by Katsuji Mori, who would go on to voice Dr. Kisaragi in Cutie Honey Universe.

Katsuji Mori revealed he had ad-libbed Seiji's lines during Honey's first transformation. Originally, Seiji had no dialogue in that scene.

Honey's motorcyclist form is called "Hurricane Honey" which is possibly an homage to Shotaro Ishinomori's Cyborg 009. The lead character, Joe Shimamura, is sometimes a professional car racer who goes by the nickname "Hurricane Joe."

Seiji refers to Hurricane Honey as kaminari musume (カミナリ娘) which translates to something like “thunder girl.” He’s actually referring to the kaminari zoku (カミナリ族) or “thunder tribes”, Japanese motorcycle gangs who were known for their loud and rowdy modified motorcycles.

Sister Jill is the manager of Panther Claw's Japanese branch and Panther Zora's younger sister. The "Sister" part of her name is likely a reference to a religious sister, circling back to Honey attending a Catholic school. In the original series pitch, she was known as Sister Zora.

Jill is voiced by the late Noriko Watanabe, who also voiced Junpei's girlfriend, Mami.

Black Claw’s name comes from the original series proposal, which described Panther Claw’s soldiers as being color coded. Potential opponents for Honey would’ve included Black Claw, Scarlet Claw, Cobalt Claw and Gold Claw. Each would have possessed a specific skill or element, for example, “Scarlet Claw” would’ve possessed fire powers. For whatever reason the whole color coded aspect was dropped but “Black Claw” was still used as the name for Honey’s first real adversary.

According to Cutey Honey Roman Album published by Tokuma Shoten in 1981, Honey's childhood memories are artificial. They were produced by Dr. Kisaragi because he wanted Honey to have childhood memories like any other human girl.

Dr. Takeshi Kisaragi was originally known as Dr. Seiji Tachibana in the original series proposal. In the original manga Dr. Kisaragi looks noticeably younger, has black hair, no glasses and a goatee instead of a mustache.

Originally, Honey was only going to transform once or twice during the first episode. Tomoharu Katsumata (director for episode one) requested that Honey use all of her main seven forms.

Some of the choreography from Honey and Black Claw’s fight is based on sequences from the Abashiri Family manga, specifically when the lead character Kikunosuke battles against teachers from Paradise Academy.

Junpei is based on Kichiza Abashiri from Go Nagai's The Abashiri Family manga. Kichiza is the youngest son of the Abashiri family and is a master of explosives. Junpei was voiced by Kazuko Sawada.

It’s probably worth noting Honey and Junpei are the only two characters to appear in every episode of Cutie Honey.

We'll take a look at episode two next week!

#cutie honey #cutey honey #go nagai #trivia

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itfitsitshipsart · 5 months ago

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My favorite toy in the UFO crane games in the series are the Bun-Chan, such cute little birbs! Perfect present to have won for me on a date!

Not exactly Kashiwagi's specialty, but he had to win it for me.

Bonus art:

Majima heard I liked them and figured a gift as a sign of friendship is perfect to win the best friend title.

#self shipping #self ship #self ship art #Bartender🍷⚘️#plus an extra platonic #Send noods 🍜 🌹

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cookies-over-yonder · 1 year ago

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Fun and Games

CO-WRITTEN BY @silverlistenstothings

Taylor takes Hermie to the arcade! ... Things don't go as planned.

Part 15 of The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Roommates

ao3

When Taylor insists on going to the arcade, Hermie reluctantly agrees. They’re really not that interested in doing anything that involves being around people other than Taylor and maybe the rest of the Leading Cast—not that they showed any interest in being around them, though they suppose that’s only fair—but Taylor is incredibly enthusiastic about some newly imported game cabinets straight from Japan and Hermie is, at their core, a pushover. They arrive soon after it opens, with Taylor’s hand wrapped around Hermie’s as he eagerly leads them inside.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Hermie asks, skeptically glancing around the arcade. It already smells sticky-sweet and sweaty, the air stiff and just barely cooler than it is outside.

But Taylor is practically bouncing as he leads the way over to a claw machine and presses his face to the glass.

“Look! Hermie!” Taylor points out a round pink plush bird wearing a green hat, half buried amongst the other plushies. “Bun-chan…”

“Who?” Hermie asks, circling around to the other side of the machine.

“It’s a plush bird from the UFO Catchers in Yakuza ! It looks just like that!” Taylor says, tapping his claws against the glass. “I need it.”

“… I assumed, from the title, that that was a game about organized crime?”

“Uh-huh! But it’s also about playing baseball and card games and crane machines!” Taylor explains, before glancing at Hermie and giving them a look. “You should play Kiwami sometime, I think you’d like Majima.”

“… alright,” Hermie says, helpless to dispute it one way or another. “I don’t have any money on me, so you’ll have to get your own token card.”

Taylor gives one last longing look to the plush bird, before trotting off towards the card machine. Hermie remains by the crane game, glaring at the little plush bird. It seems entirely unrepentant in its position.

Taylor returns, pressing a card into Hermie’s hand and pushing them out of the way in one movement.

“I’m gonna get that bird,” Taylor vows, sliding his own card into the reader.

Hermie looks down at the card in their hand, quietly baffled. The bright logo of the arcade shines up at them.

“You didn’t need to—“ Hermie starts, and their voice comes out sounding so pathetic that they give up on the sentence altogether. “You know these things are rigged, right?”

“Not to me! I’m great at crane games!” The machine beeps, and Taylor maneuvers the claw over the bird.

Hermie circles over to the other side, where they can see that the positioning is way off from this angle. Before they can say anything—not that they were planning on saying anything anyways—Taylor slaps the button and the claw descends. It pokes uselessly at the top of the next plush over, before it moves over to deposit a whole lot of nothing in the prize slot.

Hermie claps mockingly. Taylor glares at them.

“You have a go if you’re so good at it!”

“I’m not,” Hermie says, though they circle around the machine to take over the joystick anyways. “Nobody is, that’s the whole point.”

They move the claw over top of the bird, checking from all angles and carefully nudging it into place, before reluctantly tapping the button to descend. The claw lowers around the bird, wrapping around the little green hat and tipping the plush to the side, before ascending with nothing to show for it. Taylor gasps.

“Told you it was rigged,” Hermie hisses, glaring at the claw as it deposits its empty bounty into the receptacle.

“But you were so close! Try again!”

“I’m not going to get any closer,” Hermie scoffs, even as they position the claw for another try.

And then another. And then another, and another, and another, swiping their card again and again and hissing at anyone who tries to form a line behind them. They will get that stupid bird. It’s a matter of pride. It, of course, had nothing to do with the way Taylor’s eyes lit up when he first saw it.

Speaking of Taylor, he’d wandered off at some point to play any number of games that were better than this one. If he’d told Hermie where he was going in the first place, it’s long since been forgotten, because Hermie is incredibly focused on this damn crane game. Nothing else matters.

Hermie isn’t sure how long they’ve spent nudging the joystick and slamming a fist against the button before the claw finally closes around the body of the bird and holds firm all the way until it drops it into the receptacle. Nearly in disbelief, Hermie scrambles to retrieve their prize.

“Fucking finally!” Hermie shouts, lifting the bird above their head.

Their exclamation earns a few disapproving looks from the surrounding parents, because there’s a lot of parents, and a lot of kids, and a lot of people. Taylor was right to get here before it got crowded, because it’s crowded now and it sucks.

Hermie holds the bird to their chest as they suck in a sharp breath. The sweet-and-sweat scent of the air has only gotten stronger and it’s nauseating now that they’ve noticed it. It’s also fucking loud , people yelling to be heard over the noise of the arcade cabinets. Lights flash and people move around, an endless blur of sights and sounds. It’s not so crowded that it would be hard for Hermie to move, but they will risk running into people, and the very thought of touching anyone, especially a stranger, makes their skin prickle.

They check their reflection in the glass of the claw machine to ensure that it’s not literally prickling. The shade of the left side of their face is midway between that of their scars and their unblemished skin. Something bulges beneath the skin just before their hairline.

They tap the horn back into place with the heel of their hand, harder and harder until it sticks, then a few more times for good measure. It’s hot in the arcade but suddenly they're wearing a hoodie anyways, pockets to hide their claws in and sleeves to cover their arms. It’s so fucking hot but it’s better than anyone noticing just how much of a freak they are, and it’s better than letting their bare skin touch another person’s.

Hermie throws the hood up over their head, and glances longingly at the door.

They could leave. They couldn’t get home on their own, obviously, but they could leave, just until they calm down, just until the arcade clears out a bit.

They hold the plush bird closer to their chest, take a deep breath, and delve deeper into the arcade. They need to find Taylor. They don’t give a shit what he’s doing, they just need to get out of here before Hermie kills someone.

Their legs hurt, now that they’re forcing them to move. Their shapeshifting had returned their ability to bend half the joints below the hip after they were sealed in place by scar tissue, but they seemed to have locked back up. It happens sometimes, but they sure wish it wouldn’t happen now.

They limp through the arcade, hissing and snapping their teeth at anyone who bumps into them. None of them notice, none of them move out of the way, and each time Hermie brushes up against another person they feel their scarred skin writhe , trying to create an additional barrier between them and the rest of the world.

They pass the food court with no sign of Taylor. The overwhelming scent of grease and sugar makes them sick, a nausea that follows them even once they leave the scent behind. Their tail coils tightly around their leg, hidden beneath their pants. They’re glad they ditched the sweatpants in favor of something lighter, but it’s still so fucking hot. They shouldn’t be able to feel the sweat collecting along the back of their legs through all the scar tissue, but they swear that they can .

God, they wish they were dead.

Everything is so loud, but they can hear their wheezing breaths and the pounding of their heart over it all. They’re sure everyone around them can hear it too, can hear just how pathetic they are.

They’re staring. Nobody ever pays attention to Hermie until they don’t want them to. Everyone is staring. Of course they are, they’re disgusting.

They run a hand down their face. They feel the way the left side of it shifts beneath the pressure. The sensation makes them gag, and they snap their mouth shut against it. Their fangs catch on their lower lip and they bite down until they taste blood. They had hoped that the pain and familiar taste would give them something to focus on, but it’s just another sickening addition to the sensory onslaught they’re already subjecting themself to.

God, they’re gonna fucking kill Taylor when they find him—

As soon as the thought crosses their mind, their eye catches on the familiar colors of Taylor’s cane. It’s laid across the floor between two arcade cabinets, and Hermie feels their stomach drop before they stumble a step closer and their eye lands on the tip of Taylor’s shoe, peeking out from between the cabinets.

They take a deep breath to prepare to voice the rant they’ve been writing in their head, but the words die on their tongue the moment they see Taylor in his entirety.

He’s pressed against the wall in the narrow space between two arcade cabinets, entirely ignored by the people around them. His knees are curled up to his chest with his head buried in them, hands pressed over his ears. His breathing is sharp and shallow, and he’s shaking badly.

Oh.

Alright, Taylor’s off the hook this time.

Fuck.

Okay.

Hermie kneels down to match his height.

"Taylor, hey," they say, in a voice soft but hopefully loud enough for him to hear it over all the other various overstimulating sounds.

"Mmmnnn," is all Taylor replies with, a mix between a groan and a whine.

"Taylor, come with me, it's quieter outside."

Another whine.

It's at this moment that Hermie remembers that Taylor likes touch when he's panicking. But this is sensory overload… so it would make the most sense for him to be averse to it, no?

Well, he's barely responsive right now, and despite every fibre of Hermie's being telling them to not, not, not touch anyone right now, the state Taylor's in and the opportunity to do something about it is all overpowering.

Hermie puts a hand on Taylor's… head. It's hot and his hair is so sweaty and oh, god, touch makes Hermie feel sick to their stomach, but this is Taylor .

Somehow, it kind of works? Taylor is lifting his head, opening his eyes, and looking at Hermie, and Hermie is moving Taylor's hair out of his eyes, and his forehead is so sweaty and gross—

And Taylor has clearly been crying. There's a fresh set of tears in his eyes. And he's still covering his ears. And he's squinting, which makes sense, because everything in this place is too fucking bright.

"Taylor, can you come outside with me?"

Taylor's head tilts in the smallest, tiniest fraction of a nod. Hermie pulls their hand away from Taylor's hair in favour of passing him his cane.

Taylor hesitates, but then he slowly pulls one hand away from his ear—wincing at the noise—to grab it. Then he pulls the other hand away, just as slowly, and puts it flat on the ground in an attempt to lift himself up. He's shaking from head to toe, so Hermie isn't surprised when that doesn't work, and he crumples back to the ground.

And starts sobbing.

"Okay, here, take my hand."

Taylor grabs it, and Hermie pulls him up, keeps a tight grip, and guides them to the exit. Taylor's sobbing the entire time. The sound of it is somehow even more grating than the beeps and shouting children. The sensation of Taylor’s sweaty hand in their own, even more sweaty hand makes their stomach roll, but Hermie is sure that if they release him he’ll crumple back down to the floor.

The arcade is even more difficult to navigate with Taylor trailing after them. They don’t want to pass the food court again- they’re fairly certain they won’t be able to keep themself from throwing up this time- so they alter their course to avoid it. This, of course, means that they have no idea where they are and how to get out. And they need to get out.

Something touches their shoulder and Hermie jumps. It retreats as they whip around to find the source, which is probably for the best because Hermie was moments away from sinking their teeth into it.

An arcade employee stands behind them, hands held up placatingly. They’re saying something, and their face reads as concerned, but Hermie can’t catch the words. Something about ‘okay’ and ‘brother’ and ‘help’. Objectively, Hermie knows that they probably could help, but they can’t get their mouth to form anything other than a wordless snarl. The employee reaches out again, and Hermie snaps their teeth at their approaching hand. They’re already suffering through Taylor’s touch, they can’t stand a stranger’s.

The employee pulls away, face dropping from concern to something like fear or disgust, but Hermie has no interest in dissecting the intricacies of their expression. They turn on their heel and continue towards what they believe to be the exit. It feels like an eternity before they finally see sunlight and manage to escape the arcade.

They expected everything to be better as soon as they got out, but it’s just as loud and bright and stinky outside as it was inside, just in a different way. The sunlight is overwhelmingly bright and the cars rushing by are overwhelmingly loud and the scent of gasoline and hot asphalt is… well, overwhelming.

There’s no way either of them can get on the bus right now. They need to find someplace quiet to calm down. Hermie’s brain scrambles uselessly for a solution for far too long until they remember the library they passed on the way over.

“Close your eyes,” they tell Taylor, linking their arms together to pull him closer even as the increased contact makes them want to tear their own skin off. “I won’t let you bump into anything.”

“‘s loud,” Taylor sobs, squeezing his eyes shut. It’s an undeserved show of trust given the last time Hermie navigated the Leading Cast blind, but they’re not really in any mood for mischief at the moment.

“I know it is,” Hermie agrees as softly as they can while still being audible over the sound of cars. “We’re going to the library, it’ll be quiet there.”

“Wanna go home,” Taylor whines, burying his face in Hermie’s shoulder as he clings to them. Hermie tries very hard not to flinch.

"I know," Hermie says, turning them in the direction of the library, walking slowly but with a steady pace so Taylor can follow, and they can get there quickly.

As soon as they enter the sliding doors to the library, Taylor shudders. There's strong air conditioning in here, and they both run hot, so they're bound to get cold faster.

Fucking hell, the library is bright too, and Hermie scans the area before their gaze finally lands on a spot in a corner where the light doesn't quite hit it. Hermie starts toward it, guiding Taylor along.

The library is nowhere near as crowded as the arcade was, but there are still a few looks shot their way. Hermie's glares seem to make them avert their gazes, and whether or not it has anything to do with their figure becoming less uniform and more grotesque is the least of their worries right now.

After what feels like an eternity, they reach the darkest corner in the library.

"Taylor, let's sit down, okay?"

"Okay," he mumbles, opening his eyes the tiniest bit to see where he's going, and then he crumbles against the ground, leaning his back against a bookshelf and drawing his knees up to his chest once more.

He's breathing fast, and breathing loudly, and then it's muffled by a hand in his mouth that he's biting, and he's definitely piercing the skin with his fangs, but Hermie would be a hypocrite to make him stop that.

Hermie sits across from him, holding their hands up, but not quite sure what to do.

And then he says something, but it's muffled by his hand, and Hermie has no idea what it is.

"What's that?"

Taylor seems to realize this, and pulls his hand out of his mouth in favour of burying his head in it, covering his eyes. "It—it… loud."

It's significantly quieter in here than outside, though Hermie can hear the low chatter of people scattered about, and the AC running, and yeah, it is a little loud.

"Okay, I'm going to cover your ears," Hermie says, and when Taylor nods, they bring their hands around to cup his ears.

Hermie feels the shift as their hands morph to close the little gaps left after they cup Taylor's ears, and they get a little thicker. The odd sensation of their hands shifting does nothing to ease the nausea still roiling in Hermie’s gut, nor does it protect them from the unpleasant prickle of contact.

While he's still very much panicking, Taylor seems to loosen up ever so slightly, and it reassures Hermie that their somewhat noise-isolating hands are helping a bit. They can suffer through.

As they fight to get their own breathing under control, they reflect on the day’s events and try to determine where it all went wrong. Getting out of bed was probably their first mistake, followed by agreeing to go to the arcade. They probably shouldn’t have let themself get quite so enraptured by the crane game either, so they could have noticed their own signs of overstimulation, found Taylor, and left before things got this bad. But then, Taylor should have done the same.

… but who's to say he hadn’t? If they hadn’t noticed how overwhelmingly crowded and bright and loud the arcade was in the depths of their hyperfocus, who’s to say they would have noticed Taylor? Had Taylor come to them and asked to leave, only for Hermie to brush him off? He didn’t seem like the type to give up that easily, but what if he was already shaken and struggling at that point, enough that he couldn’t force Hermie to focus on him? It was easy to blame Taylor for bringing them here in the first place, but this all could very well have been Hermie’s fault.

The familiar weight of guilt settles in Hermie’s chest. Even if Taylor hadn’t come to them, they still could have— should have prevented this. The realization has their eye stinging, but they can’t break down, not when Taylor’s busy doing it already. It’s fine. They can—and will—beat themself up over it later. For now, they can perform their greatest role yet: a pair of noise-canceling headphones that can touch people without wanting to remove their flesh from their body. Not that most noise canceling headphones have flesh, an attribute Hermie very much envies at the moment.

… they wonder if they could shapeshift their flesh away entirely. Now probably isn’t a great time to test that out, though. They put the thought out of their mind before their body can get any ideas.

They’re not sure how long it takes, but eventually Taylor’s shoulders stop hitching with muffled sobs and hiccups, and his breathing starts making an attempt at evening out. Hermie still isn’t sure if they’re allowed to move away yet, but Taylor’s hands slowly begin to lower from his eyes, and that’s probably a good sign.

Hermie looks away from Taylor to scan the area once more, and they spot an array of headphones on a rack nearby.

Slowly, Hermie pulls their hands away from Taylor's ears, feeling the instant relief of no contact at the expense of Taylor's exposure to the noise.

Another pang of guilt.

They slip their hand into their pocket and pull out the plush they won earlier—something once so rewarding, and now so, so insignificant compared to every horrible thing that obtaining it has caused.

Taylor's hands are further away from his face now, and he's lifted his head up slightly. His eyes are still closed, but when Hermie places the plush in his hands, they open.

He looks at it with a half-lidded gaze, says nothing, and holds it tighter.

"I'll be back in a second."

Taylor nods, still not tearing his eyes away from the plush.

Hermie grabs the headphones as swiftly as possible, returns to their spot kneeling in front of Taylor, and slides them on his head.

Taylor lets out a little sigh, and closes his eyes again. That thought in the back of Hermie's mind creeps up again: the thought that Taylor trusts them enough to give up his sense of sight. It’s so entirely undeserved that it makes them sick.

But it’s fine. Hermie’s not gonna worry about it right now. With Taylor reasonably comfortable, or at the very least not getting worse, they need to figure out how to get home. The bus still isn’t an option. They really don’t want to call a Lyft, considering it would be on Taylor’s dime and they’d have to interact with a stranger. According to the clock across the library, it’s about an hour past when Ms. Swift said she’d be home, so that’s… an option. It’s not one they like, at all, but it is an option.

They hate asking Ms. Swift for anything. It calls to mind all the times their adoptive parents refused, all the times Hermie had asked, then pleaded for them to go to his performances, to come and see the one thing he’s good at, only for them to sneer and turn up their nose. Besides, they know they don’t have any right to. She’s given them too much already.

But this is for Taylor, not for them. Hermie could suffer through the long bus ride back to the house, but Taylor probably couldn’t without another meltdown. They can call Ms. Swift if it’s for Taylor’s sake.

They stare at her name in their contact list for far too long. She gave it to them when they first moved in, and it has since gone entirely untouched. They’re pretty sure she has their own number registered as well, which means their stupid fucking name would show up on her phone if they called.

She’d probably ignore it, if she knew it was them. Luckily, they know what pocket Taylor keeps his phone in, and they can grab it from him easily enough. He doesn’t even notice, distracted as he is by… everything else that’s going on.

They know his passcode, no shapeshifting for the sake of Face ID required, which is probably for the best considering they still don’t feel like they’re entirely in control of that part of themself.

Most of the recent calls are to his mom, so it’s easy for Hermie to find her number. They don’t let themself think about it for too long before dialing and bringing the phone up to their ear.

“ Hey honey !” Ms. Swift answers after the second ring. “ You at the arcade with Hermie ?”

Hermie swallows, and then in their best approximation of Taylor’s voice, “um, we’re at the library now, actually. It got kinda… loud and overwhelming at the arcade, so we’re hiding out here until… I was wondering if you could pick me up?”

“ Yeah, of course, baby ,” Ms. Swift says immediately, voice going soft. “ Is Hermie with you ?”

“Mmhmm.”

“ He’s okay ?”

What? What ?

“Uh—yeah, yeah he’s fine.”

“ Alright, you two stick together alright? I’ll be there in fifteen. ”

Oh. That makes sense. She just wanted to make sure Hermie was there to look after him. Why she trusts them to do so is a mystery, but it makes more sense then her being worried about them .

“Okay. Thanks Mom,” they say, glancing at Taylor. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to them at all.

“Of course. See you soon. I love you .”

“… Love you too.”

Ms. Swift hangs up. Hermie breathes out a sigh of relief, and slips Taylor’s phone into their pocket. They slide to the floor beside him, and Taylor immediately leans into their shoulder. Hermie just barely manages not to flinch. It’s a little less sickening than it was at the arcade, but it still makes their skin roll. They wonder if Taylor can feel it through the fabric separating them. If he can, it doesn’t seem to bother him. They can’t force themself to lean back into Taylor the way they usually would, but they tolerate the contact.

They tap their claws against Taylor’s knee. He slides the headphones off one ear, looking at them.

“Your mom’s coming to pick us up. She’ll be here in fifteen.”

“M’kay. Thanks, Herm.” Taylor mumbles, hugging the plush bird a bit closer to his chest as he cuddles nauseatingly close to Hermie’s side, using Hermie’s shoulder to nudge the headphones back over his ear.

Hermie continues to bite at their lip. The pain is much more pleasant to focus on than the contact. The coppery taste of blood only makes their nausea worse, but it’s fine. Hermie’s fine. They’ll have to be until Taylor’s safely on the way home.

They wish they could close their eyes too, but people keep trying to enter Hermie’s little section of the library, so they have to be on guard. Luckily, they’re fairly easily dissuaded by Hermie’s one-eyed glare and, perhaps, Taylor’s pitiful aura. The fact that Hermie’s horns have grown out enough to distort the shape of their hood and that half of their face looks more like hot wax then human skin might also serve as a deterrent.

Fifteen minutes is a remarkably long time when you and your companion are sitting, overstimulated, in a corner of a library. Hermie tries to spend the time forcing their skin back into human form, but every time they try to focus on shifting their burns into something more regular, they’re forced to acknowledge the weight and warmth of Taylor against them and they end up not making any progress at all. They can’t even force their horns back beneath their skin, and even if Hermie can pull the hood up far enough to hide what they are, they still form a strange shape on top of his head.

There’s no hiding them. They’ll just have to find a way home that doesn’t involve Ms. Swift. They can take the bus on their own. Sure, it’s about 4 and it’ll be stupid crowded from people trying to get home from school or work, but it’s better than letting Ms. Swift see them like this. They’ve already failed to carry their own weight like they promised, finding out just what her tenant is would surely be the last straw. It’s a miracle that she hasn’t found out so far, but Hermie is a very good actor. Still, even the best have their limits, and this will be theirs.

“Taylor?” Ms. Swift’s voice.

Hermie hunches in on themself, raising their unscarred hand in a feeble wave. They jostle their shoulder to get Taylor’s attention. He perks up immediately upon seeing Ms. Swift, jumping to his feet and stumbling into her arms. She catches him, wrapping her arm around him and peppering kisses onto the top of his head.

“Hey, baby, hi, let’s get you home, okay?” She runs her hand soothingly through his hair, pushing it back so she can kiss his forehead when he pulls away enough to let her. He moves to her side, clinging to her arm with both hands and burying his head in her side.

For a moment, Hermie thinks that they’ve been forgotten about entirely, and they’re very glad that they won’t have to explain themself. That hope is immediately dashed when Ms. Swift looks up and meets their eye. She looks startled for a moment, before she schools her expression.

Well. They’ve certainly been caught.

“I um—“ their voice comes out strained and weak, trembling like they’re about to cry. Fuck. Goddamnit.

“Can you grab Taylor’s cane for me?”

Hermie’s mouth clicks shut. They nod helplessly, unsure of what else to do, and grab Taylor’s discarded cane. They shakily rise to their feet, and follow Ms. Swift as she leads the way out of the library. Once the entrance is in sight, they stumble to a stop.

“Ah, um—wait, the headphones—" they gesture over to the rack they snagged them from.

“I was wondering where those came from,” Ms. Swift muses, pulling Taylor out of her side enough to take the headphones and whisper reassurances all the while.

Taylor immediately melts back into her side once she’s done, and she offers Hermie the headphones. They return them to their place, and hesitate beside it. Maybe they can still slip away, to avoid the worst of Ms. Swift’s scrutiny. Unfortunately, she remains where they left her, looking at Hermie expectantly. A furrow has formed between her brows, but Hermie can’t read into it before they’re ducking their own head and following like a scolded dog.

“I—I can take the bus,” Hermie says, worrying their claws over the handle of Taylor’s cane. “I know that I—"

“Hermie,” she says, sharp enough for them to flinch. “You don’t have to do that.”

“… okay,” Hermie agrees, voice quivering. They’re so pathetic. They should be a better actor than this.

She leads the way to her car parked illegally outside, one tire run up partially on the curb. Taylor takes shotgun, leaving Hermie to tuck his cane under the seat and crawl into the back. They sit behind Taylor, curling up against the door as soon as their seatbelt is clicked into place.

Ms. Swift starts the car, turns the music all the way down, and flicks the AC off. There’s the rumble of the car, but beyond that it’s so quiet. It’s almost unnerving after the constant background buzz of everything happening outside. She pulls away from the curb, and Taylor whines as it drops off it—a sentiment Hermie shares, but doesn’t voice. They need to be quiet. They can’t attract attention to themself, not right now.

Which is what makes the tears building in their eyes so inconvenient. Hermie isn’t great at crying quietly.

They continue to chew at their lip. The pain just makes them want to cry more. Hermie recognizes the post-adrenaline desire to break down, but they’re not safe yet. They can’t give into it.

A tear trickles its way down Hermie’s cheek, searing hot and embarrassing . They wipe their face on their inner hood against their shoulder, but it’s followed by another, and another, until their shoulders are hitching with it. They sniffle and struggle fruitlessly to keep their breathing even, teeth grit against any pathetic noises they might make. Their lips aren’t enough to muffle it, so they raise their scarred hand to their mouth and bite.

They wonder if it’s a demon thing, to bite at your hands like that, considering it’s a trait they share with Taylor. It would make sense as some kind of teething instinct, given that Taylor’s fangs seem to still be growing in, but Hermie’s teeth are probably as big and sharp as they’ll get. At least, they hope they won’t get any sharper, considering the damage they can do now.

It’s a fair amount of damage. They’ll have a lot of blood to clean up later. They’re not really worried about that now, though. For now, it’s doing a passable job at muffling their sobs while also giving them something to focus on.

“Hey, Hermie?” Ms. Swift says from the front seat. Hermie flinches hard, releasing their hand and hiding it in their pocket. They quickly wipe the blood from their mouth, before glancing up to meet her eyes in the rearview mirror. She doesn’t meet theirs, eyes still fixed on the road. “It’s okay. This doesn’t change anything, you know that, right?”

How can it not? They’re more hot wax than human at this point, complete with demon horns and animal ears and a stupid fucking tail that looks just like their dad’s. They don’t understand how Ms. Swift can just take that with little more than a raised eyebrow.

Perhaps she just doesn’t want to show how disgusted she is in front of her son? That would make sense, Taylor is already so stressed out. Surely there’s something worse waiting for them when they get home, once Taylor is tucked away safely in his room. The anticipation is just making their anxiety worse, but their muffled sobs have tapered off into just hiccups and silent tears, and it stays that way for now.

The Swift household is a comforting sight, despite everything. Hermie knows they’re just an intruder there, but even a mouse makes its home within the walls.

Ms. Swift pulls into the driveway. Hermie retrieves Taylor’s cane from beneath the seat. They step out of the car on shaky legs, prepared to hand it over, but Ms. Swift beats them to the car door. Hermie shies away, only glancing at her face before ducking their head.

“Hermie, honey,” Ms. Swift says, reaching to place a hand on Hermie’s shoulder. Hermie manages to fight down a flinch. “It’s fine. You’re okay. Thank you for taking care of Taylor today.”

Oh. That’s not what they expected at all. If they weren’t already so exhausted, they might start sobbing again. It still might be in the cards, actually.

Ms. Swift gives them her best attempt at a comforting smile, before opening the passenger door for Taylor.

"Taylor, sweetie, let's go inside," she says, leaning inside, and Hermie hears the clicking of the car buckle.

Taylor whines.

"What is it, baby?"

"Can you carry me?" he mumbles in a tear-laced, wobbly way.

Ms. Swift hesitates. "I can try," she says, and she doesn't sound sure at all. She's adapted to many other activities with only one arm, but Hermie suspects that carrying Taylor isn't one she's practiced.

Taylor throws his arms over her shoulders, and she scoops him up, with her arm wrapped around his back, and her hand reaches under his knees to hold them up.

"Mommy…" he mumbles, burying his head in her shoulder.

"I know, baby, it's okay," she hums, pressing a kiss against the top of his head.

The familiar feeling of envy rears its ugly head at the sight.

Why does Taylor get a loving mother and decent father when you get four parents who all hate you ? it growls, but Hermie knows the answer to that. For all the differences between the King of Hell and a trickster deity and two completely average upper-middle-class human doctors, there’s a single common factor, and that’s Hermie. Skill issue , as Normal might say. They’re not entirely sure what they’ve done, but they’re certain it’s their own fault.

Hermie watches Ms. Swift carry Taylor toward the entrance and notices his breathing pick up again.

"Taylor, honey, breathe," she hushes him, to no avail. In fact, Taylor gets dangerously close to hyperventilation. Again.

Hermie, trailing behind them, notices that Taylor's hands are shaking. It looks like he's grasping for something.

And then Hermie's gaze lands on the plush, left behind to face the elements on the concrete driveway. They’re a bit bitter about how easily their gift was discarded—not that they expected anything different—before they put two and two together.

They pick it up with their unbloodied hand and catch up to Ms. Swift and Taylor.

"Here," they say with a voice quiet, rough, and most prominent of all, weak .

Ms. Swift turns to face them, and her eyes cross theirs before they land on the plush.

"Taylor, look," she says softly, and he pulls himself away from her chest, and once he spots the plushie, he's reaching for it.

Hermie hands it to him, and once it's safely in his grasp, his breathing starts to slow.

Ms. Swift shoots Hermie a small smile, one that is so incredibly undeserved.

“Keys are in the front pocket of my purse,” Ms. Swift says, pivoting so the purse resting against her hip faces Hermie. “Could you unlock and open the door for us?”

Hermie nods, a bit too eager to have a task. They carefully unzip the front pocket and fish out the keys, fighting against the urge to root through the bag for anything else. Ms. Swift isn’t even looking at them, still focused on Taylor. They could swipe her wallet, no problem.

But they don’t. They’d probably be the first suspect anyways. They just take the keys and unlock the door, holding it open for Ms. Swift to enter through. They don’t even do the facetious little bow they usually do when holding the door open for people. That would require an amount of energy that they don’t possess at the moment.

“I’m gonna take Taylor upstairs, but we can talk afterwards. If you want, I mean. Whenever you want. Just know that I don’t care about…” She turns back to tilt her head at them meaningfully. “I’m not gonna kick you out or anything like that.”

Why not , Hermie wants to ask, but it’s a kindness they can’t bring themself to question. Instead, they follow Ms. Swift up the stairs, darting ahead to open Taylor’s room for her, before they duck away and go to their own room. Their legs feel weak the moment they cross the threshold, and they barely have the presence of mind to close the door before they’re stumbling over to their bed and collapsing on it. They feel like they’re in desperate need of a shower, and they definitely should clean up their hand before they make a mess, but they grab a pillow with their unbloodied hand and bring it up over their face instead.

Finally, they’re free to wail into their sobs, loud and ugly and exhausting. They have a headache that they won’t be able to sleep through without medication, and they really need to wrap their hand before it stains something, but going into the bathroom means getting far too close to Taylor and Ms. Swift, and they can’t risk being heard when they’re finally letting themself sob.

It feels so stupid to be breaking down over a bit of overstimulation and undeserved kindness after everything they’ve been through, but there’s some comfort in the fact that Taylor’s doing the same on the other side of the bathroom. After everything, it almost feels good to cry over something any other teenager might.

#angst #hurt/comfort #taylor swift dndads #hermie unworthy #cassandra swift #dndads #dndads au #fic #arcades #the mortifying ordeal of being roommates #cookies writes and cookies wrongs #autistic taylor and autistic hermie so real ♡

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