#unfortunately our apartment is sized and shaped in a way that we had to get an extender so i could get wifi *at all* in my room

[echthr0s]

@yloiseconeillants replied to your post “something is fucking wrong here and I don't know...”:

wifi is a curse and a joke. i'll be browsing tumblr on my phone and my partner's lag will SPIKE when they're on overwatch and it is so funny every time and by funny i mean annoying af (and a little funny)

​I feel like tumblr itself doesn't help either, this place is about as well-optimised as [name any recent AAA game here]

but fr wifi is 100% a fucking racket. payin all this money and you can only get half the speed you paid for if you park your ass directly on top of the router and bounce on it

[lizardsfromspace]

Unfortunately Fearsome #2 will come out tomorrow night at this time instead of tonight due to unforeseen circumstances (I had a headache and took a nap which fixed my headache but meant I ran out of time 2day)

This one will be much more rewritten compared to #1, which really only had a few new scenes, some minor changes here and there (namely delaying some character intros until #2), and I deleted the prologue, which I thought was a fun subversion of the "horror story starts with a doomed character" cliche, but which I cut because, well, it was still a horror story starting with a minor character we never see again. It also created timeline confusion bc the prologue takes place during Chapters Three, Four, and Five, but isn't obviously a in-media-res thing (once upon a time, Fearsome started with an in-media-res cut to the final scene before flashing back; I don't know why, given I hate those kinds of opening and think they're cheap). One detail in it also made it obvious a certain character was a werewolf too early

Here's the original prologue for reference

The only noises in the forest were the howls of the creature, echoing up through the dense, dark thicket of trees.

“I’ve got it,” Garrett said, his beard catching in the moonlight. “You thought you were real big, calling my trail cam pics fake, but I’ve got it.”

“Like I told you, I’ll believe it when I’ve got it in front of me,” Jack let Garrett lead the way, holding his rifle low; Garrett held his up, ready for…something.

“Right around the corner,” and Jack could barely hear Garrett over its moans and whimpers; bestial, but like not quite any beast he’d heard before, and with a strange, affecting edge to it…

There was some kind of canid in Garrett’s trap – coyote or wolf, Jack couldn’t say; as he got closer, he could see -

“Get a load of the size of this thing,” Garrett said.

It was canine, but bigger than any coyote Jack had ever seen. “Wolf?”

“No, Einstein, it’s a little old lady’s poodle.” He snorted. “They shouldn’t be comin’ this far south. They’ve gotta be the ones eating our deer.”

“That’s what wolves do, last time I checked.”

“That’s what wolves did before we killed ‘em all. As for this one -” Garrett checked his gun.

“H-hey, what d’you think you’re doing? It’s not wolf-hunting season. The state will be all over -”

“The state wouldn’t do a damn thing if that thing was tearing you apart.” He swung his rifle over, aimed, twitched his finger -

In one motion the wolf rose up on two legs -

“The hell?”

- howled, wrestled for the gun, swiped a paw through the air, claws shining in the moonlight -

- the pieces of the gun flew around Garrett -

- screamed, ran -

“Garr? GARRETT!?” Jack yelled, but he was already gone. “Oh, god, oh -” He turned back around.

The wolf was free.

And its jaws, its sharp, wet, fangs, hovered inches from his face.

He glanced around, at anything, anything but that. There were now dark shapes between the trees. Dark shapes that growled and hissed.

He cowered, burying himself in his arms. Closed his eyes, and heard twigs break under approaching paws. He dared to open his eyes. Looked up at…

Several wolves. The one in front of him stood upright, the fur on its head streaked with green. It reached out a claw...he whimpered. Tears ran down his face. Please, no, I don’t want to -

It flicked his nose and…laughed. A guttural, throaty laugh. All the wolves joined in.

He kept cowering as they vanished into the trees, the only sounds his sobs and a distant, high howling.

[keldamuzik-weartamz]

Body Shaming and its Effects on Today’s Society

In today’s society, peer influence, people’s thoughts, and their judgment of how we should look, and behave, have always had an impact on many of us. These judgments have led to making adjustments to everything that makes us who we are, which has led to body shaming.  Due to the standards set by people on what is beautiful and what is not, what is best and what is not, we have made regrettable decisions and might’ve never known about it. Standards like hair color, weight, clothing, fashion style, age, attractiveness, and body hair have all been weighed on us to become perfect. In the long run, we tend to forget that this little detail is what sets us apart from others and makes us unique and one of a kind.

What is body shaming?

Body shaming is the act of criticizing your or someone’s physical appearance. This is a form of bullying mostly done on social media which contributes to bad self-image, low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and more mental issues. Unfortunately, it is an act that is very noticeable on today’s social media. Body shaming leads to a lot of image humiliation and mental degrading, it is usually, but not limited to fat and height shaming. Some acts of body shaming include shaming tattoos and piercing, boy shape, height, muscularity, and thinness.

Body shaming is of many kinds and types which has been affecting our society at large. Nowadays, social media and tv have set a lot of standards before viewing yourself as beautiful or close to it. Beauty standards like being slim, with blue eyes, tall, straight hair, and smooth pale skin have been set as the image of perfection in our minds. So, we tend to spend a lot of time hating ourselves for our shortcomings. Most people tend to be ashamed of their body either due to their height, age weight, and more, always wishing they could fit in and be like everyone else, or like social media models or celebrities. Unfortunately, today’s society's beliefs are mainly targeted at one’s appearance and attractiveness and have been made a very crucial detail to relationships and interpersonal interaction. 

Back in the days, body shaming had no value, due to the fact that being fat meant you were wealthy and well fed, and nobody cared about body shape or body size. Everyone was happy with what they got and always found ways to live with it. But nowadays, social media has been a medium in which image perfection has gained popularity, and widespread. With older women wanting to look young and beautiful again, younger women wanting to fit in, and trying to fit in the beauty size created by brands, celebrities, and media. Men want to look attractive and perfect, all genders dieting and willing to go an extra mile to get perfection and beauty standards.

Body shaming begins when one is not sure of their self and has a distorted perception of one’s body which leads to low self-esteem and one’s aim to accomplish body perfection. Body shaming leads to wrong decisions like extreme strict diets, emotional distress, self-harming, rigid exercises, cosmetic procedures, and mental disorders.  There are many ways and measures to counter body shaming and make society more about body image promotion and one’s uniqueness which have been put to action by the appropriate health and mental officials.

Overcoming body shaming

Overcoming the impact of body shaming is a plan that requires time and effort, but the outcome of these efforts is sure to be helpful on your journey

A few ways to overcome body shaming include:

stop evaluating or talking about people’s bodies. Everyone is unique in their own way.

Learn more about yourself, and know more about your strengths.

Disengage negative body talks, and try to look at the positives of your body

Love yourself more.

Learn to compliment body shapes and types.

Be compassionate and speak up.

Go for therapy.

That would be all from us.

Get yourself a mood-changing beret here.

Learn more about the creator of our berets here.

[bukkum]

How To Choose Women's Sport T Shirt For Comfort, Style, And Performance?

Many individuals all around the globe consider a high-quality t-shirt an essential piece of apparel. T-shirts may seem similar, but they are all made differently. Who can stand-alone - Exactly how do you tell them apart? What should you look for while purchasing a T-shirt? Checking a tee's knit structure is essential to ensure it can be comfortably relaxed without stretching out of shape. Uneven knitting may also indicate that the cloth needed to be better made.

Price

When shopping for the perfect womens t shirts, cost should be a primary consideration. Unfortunately, it is frequently overlooked by the public. The first and most crucial step is to set a buying limit for you. Ensure the clothing you purchase does not make you feel like you are paying too much. High-quality garments are often more expensive.

Take A Good Look At The Edges And Stitching

Always check for loose threads or stitching in high-wear areas, such as the collar, sleeves, and hems. Do not scrimp here; excellent stitching and seams ultimately hold a garment together, so invest in them accordingly. 

Run your hand down the shirt's side, shoulder, and sleeve to check the seams.

The stitching around the shirt's zipper is loose. Ensure there is none, or zipping will be difficult, if possible. Be sure the zip is smooth and that it lays flat.

Examine the pockets for any sloppy stitching or holes. Some manufacturers utilize scraps and low-quality fabric to build bags, so it is a good idea to give them a little pull to test their durability.

If the sports t shirt for women you want contains buttons, check the buttonholes to ensure they are sewn securely. Ensure there is an extra button in the shirt (typically on the inside seam).

Be Careful To Look For Defects

Online shopping might be convenient, but the quality of the clothing you get could be better, which leaves you frustrated and uninterested in making future purchases on that website. You should return or exchange your top until you are pleased with your purchase.

Keep The T-Shirts Clean

Taking excellent care of your clothes is the cornerstone of a polished look. Always follow the care instructions on the tag when washing your gym t shirts for women. Properly folding and storing your clothes is equally crucial. In this way, you may prevent unsightly wrinkles from ruining your outfit.

Do not assume that vintage means damaged. Get rid of your old shirts that are stretched out of shape, or are stained if you want to replace them with something in better condition.

Look at the Trends

As the years go by, fads come and go, and so do the designs and styles of t-shirts. The way people dress in their t-shirts also evolves with time. Rather than being tied to a specific plan or manufacturing shift, these alterations reflect broader changes in how we value certain aesthetic qualities in our society.

Tight tees were commonplace in the past, during the height of rock culture. To complete your look, add accessories that complement your taste.

Additional Useful Advice

Cotton mixes are preferable since they do not shrink or wrinkle as much in the wash, but if you get an excellent quality pre-washed cotton half sleeve t shirt, you should be fine. It would help if you had your favorite tee to retain its shape after several washes.

Try on a shirt before you buy it since sizing may vary significantly from one brand to the next. Spending more money may obtain a higher quality cloth that washes well, retains its form and color, and lasts longer. It will feel better on your skin and be easier for you to maintain, and that is vital since taking care of your skin is just as crucial as maintaining your t-shirt.

Brand Name and Cost

Many women shop by brand not just to boost their style but also because they know it will be high quality. Therefore, choose companies who stand behind their products regarding performance, quality, and ecological responsibility.

Reviews

It is a good idea to check customer evaluations before making an online purchase to buy a t-shirt. You will be able to choose women's shirts that look great, feel great, and are a good match for your lifestyle by considering these criteria. Whether buying in a store or online, taking the time to think and investigate these matters before purchasing is essential.

How To Dress Up A Simple T-Shirt-Style Outfit In Exciting Ways?

For maximum effect, consider wearing the shirt with one of the many available jacket types, such as a longline jacket, bomber jacket, or plain old blazer. Try pairing a bomber jacket with a pair of casual shoes if you want to dress with an edge. If you want a more feminine appearance, wear your t-shirt with a blazer or a longline jacket and choose chic shoes or flats to complete the outfit. Embroidery, glitter, solid hues, and flowers are now in style; consider combining them into your business.

Choose a pair of high-waisted blue, black, or boyfriend jeans, tuck your t-shirt inside, and accessorize with your favorite heels or slouchy white sneakers for a refined and stylish appearance. You need to do that. A simple and efficient approach to appear seductive without going overboard while saving time. These days, the Indo-Western aesthetic is a big trend. You may also give it a shot by wearing this outfit with your jhumkis or juttis. We promise you'll radiate glamour.

Conclusion

Printed t shirts for women at Bukkum Athleisurewear come in a dizzying array of colors, colors, textures, and patterns, allowing you to confidently flaunt your sense of style. You can be sure that you will purchase a high quality, properly fitted, and aesthetically pleasing T-shirt for women if you keep the considerations mentioned above in mind.

source link

[blooming-violets]

HI KATIEEE HOW ARE YOU, MY LOVE, my Andrew hyper fixation came back so I'm going to try to interact again, ALSO I MISSED U AND YOUR WRITING KSBFWKNGLDNGSLFNSKNFNFSL

ALSO GUESS WHO'S BIRTHDAY IS TODAY (obviously mine but it already started in the worst way, my friends forgot my birthday)

-🌸

Your friends are trash and rude and undeserving of your amazingness. I think about you all the time and anytime you pop up in my inbox my heart does a happy dance. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVELY. I WILL SEND YOU ALL THE KISSES.

Here is a birthday present in the shape of a 2am tiny fluff piece of Peter Parker entitled:

The Birthday Girl

You had been ordered to sit alone in your bedroom with the door closed while Peter fiddled around with something on the other side. You could hear the sound of pots and pans clanging together followed by the occasional curse of anger. Judging from the smell, he was the process of cooking your breakfast and burning it. He couldn't hide the obvious smoke smell filling up your small apartment. You were pretty sure you also heard the fire alarm go off once for a brief second before he quickly silenced it.

You stood at the bedroom door and yelled through, "Can I come out yet? I'm bored! It's been almost an hour! You can't keep me prisoner forever!"

Another string of curses hit your ears and you chuckled quietly to yourself at his frustration.

"No!" Peter snapped back. "Shut up and stay put, dammit! I'm almost done!"

You rolled your eyes with a smile, not taking his annoyance seriously, and taking a seat back on the edge of the bed. Along with being told that you must stay locked in the bedroom, he also ordered you to stay in your pajamas. You were not allowed to get dressed under any circumstances. He wanted you to be comfy and cozy.

Finally the door knob jiggled and the door was kicked opened more violently than you would have appreciated. Peter stood in the hallway, his arms full of a large tray covered in various breakfast items, and balancing two full glasses of drinks on his finger tips. In his mouth he held a single red rose. Any ordinary person would not have been able to carry all that in trip but Peter was not ordinary. Your eyes widened at display in front of you.

"You were su'osed to stay in 'ed, dummy." He mumbled around the rose stem, trying to carefully avoid the thorns.

You knew there was one other rule you had forgotten, "Breakfast in bed, right, right. I get it." You giggled. "Let me help you."

You jumped up to grab the tray of food but he shooed you away with his foot. Instead, he placed the tray nicely on the foot of the bed and the glasses on the side table. He ushered you back into the bed but not before dropping the rose in your hand and pecking your lips with a smile.

Peter quickly straightened up and got into character as the dotting waiter.

"Good morning, miss. On today's menu we have the birthday girl's favorite chocolate chip pancakes topped with homemade whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. On the side, I've got scrambled eggs. They were meant to be sunny side up but the chef struggled this morning and they turned into a lovely scramble instead. There's also some bacon. Charred to a crisp, once again, due to our chef's inability to multitask. Fresh fruit, cut up in perfectly bite sized pieces for that refreshing burst of fruity flavor in the morning. Unfortunately the toast is no longer on the menu as there was an incident where the toaster may have flew out the window in a fit of frustrated rage after burning the fifth piece of toast attempted to be made. But, alas, the meal was made with nothing but love and served to perfection. Please, enjoy."

Your mouth dropped, "Peter...you did not throw our toaster out the window, did you? Not again."

He cleared his throat and shot you a guilty smile, "Not me, miss. That would be something you should take up with the chef."

"Oh my god." You shook your head in disbelief. You'd never met someone who got into more fights with household appliances than Peter Parker did. You sighed, accepting your poor toasters fate. "Well, what made it out of the kitchen looks delicious. Will the waiter and/or chef be joining me this morning to eat?"

"Don't you have a handsome, sexy, beautiful, wonderful, amazing boyfriend who might care to join you instead?"

You pulled the tray of food closer to you and scooped up a big bite of pancakes, "Nope. Just me. And you. My sexy waiter chef man."

"Then I suppose I'll have to join you. I can't have the birthday girl sitting alone on her birthday!" Peter ran to other side of the bed and rolled on, causing some of the scrambled eggs to spill off the plate and onto the sheets. He quickly plucked them up and popped them in his mouth. "I'll wash the sheets later. Also, don't eat the eggs. These are terrible. And crunchy. Did I leave shells in the pan?" He made a face of disgust at the eggs he was chewing in his mouth.

You laughed, "The pancakes are wonderful. Have some of those instead. I can't eat six pancakes, Pete. I'm assuming most of these are actually meant for you?" You scooped some onto your fork and stuck them in Peter's mouth.

His eyes widened in happiness at the taste, "Oh yeah. These are the shit. I did good on those because I knew you liked them most. Then I just kept making them and couldn't stop. There's about twenty more still out in the kitchen."

"You're insane. And I'm sure your crunchy eggs and burned bacon aren't that bad either." You leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Thank you. This is wonderful. I love it. No one's ever made me breakfast in bed before."

"This is just the start of your birthday adventure. First it's breakfast in bed in your pajamas. There's also mimosas. I forget that part. I may have already tried a few glasses to make sure they were up to your standards. They're really good. I think you will approve. Then you get to take a shower with yours truly." He wiggled his eyebrows at you with a devilish smile as you rolled your eyes with a laugh. "Then we are going out. It's a surprise. I'm not telling you where. I'm not going to ruin it no matter how hard you try to interrogate me. These lips are sealed tight. I will surprise you this time."

"I'll get it out of you in the shower," you replied, having no doubt that Peter would spill the beans the second you got him naked. He was terrible at keep secrets from you.

"That's not playing fair," he whined, knowing you were right. He leaned over to attack your neck with kisses. "I'm going to spoil you all day long. You wait, it's going to be the best birthday you've ever had. You're going to be so impressed with me by the time the day is over. Best birthday ever, a Peter Parker promise."

[comfortwriting]

Diamond Flower - F.W

Masterlist, Requesting Rules, Writing Prompts

Fred Weasley x Fem Reader

Prompts 25, 28 & 30. 

25: “Do you think she’ll like the ring?” He asked sounding nervous. 

28: You held the letter close to your heart and blushed, giggling like a little girl.

30: Tiptoeing into your room, admiring you dreaming away, he placed your presents at the end of the bed and left. 

About: The reader hates her birthday and Fred wants to change that. 

Warnings: food and eating, death of y/n’s mother during birth.

Sitting down at the dinner table with the rest of your boyfriends family, you looked around the kitchen to see where he and his twin were, Molly muttered under her breath in annoyance and you couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“Where are they! those two would be late to their own bloody wedding!” she huffed, passing you the dish of mashed potatoes. 

“I’m sure they just got carried away, you know what they’re like” you reassured her, putting the mash on your plate “they’ll be home any minute”

Fred and George went to Diagon Alley for the day, they said they had business plans to handle with the shop being so successful but instead, George was helping his twin look for an engagement ring. 

“bit naff proposing on her birthday though, isn’t it?” he asked, looking at different rings. 

Fred shook his head walking over to the next cabinet “she hates her birthday and we already talked about this years ago, it would give her a reason to be happy and to celebrate it.”

George spotted a ring with a sparkling ruby, pointing at it “so that's the only reason why you’re proposing then?” 

Fred rolled his eyes and slapped his brothers arm, looking at the ring and shaking his head, focusing on the other ones.

“is it fuck, you’re starting to sound like Ron, Georgie.”

Fred stopped in his tracks, picking up the perfect ring, the diamond shaped like a flower. “I’m marrying Y/N because I love her, George.”

Fred tapped on the glass and called out to the saleswoman behind the counter “Can I get this ring please?”

Fred turned to face his brother “I just want the most depressing day of the year for her to be one of the happiest, something for her to be happy about, you know?”

The saleswoman took out her wand and unlocked the cabinet, picking up the ring. “the ring size?”

Fred took out his square piece of paper and handed it to her, the lady smiled and tapped the ring with her wand, changing its size. 

All three of them walked back over to the counter, the saleswoman putting it inside a sleek dark blue box. 

“but why is she so against her birthday?” George asked, focusing on the ring box.

Fred focused on the ring box too “because her mother died whilst giving birth to her, Y/N blames herself.”

The saleswoman took the gold from Fred and handed him the ring box, him and George walking out back into the evening cold.

“Do you think she’ll like the ring?” He asked sounding nervous. 

George nodded “she’ll love it, mate.”

Ron took the dish from you, his mouth full of Yorkshire pudding “there’ll be none left by the time they bet back” 

Hermione scowled at him “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Ronald!”

“None of what?” You boyfriend, Fred chimed in, sitting next to you and placing a kiss on your temple. 

George followed behind and sat next to Ginny, flashing his mum an apologetic look, muttering that he would explain later. 

You loved Sunday roast dinners at the burrow, surrounded by the Weasley family, Angelina, Hermione and Harry, all of you one big family - you missed the presence of Bill and Fleur but the new baby meant they had to take advantage of any shut eye they could get. 

Casual talk went across the table, work, work, more work, and you were thankful - at this rate your upcoming birthday would go unnoticed and not mentioned. Unfortunately, a glint of excitement flashed in Molly’s eyes when her focus landed on you. 

“Oh Y/N! How could I forget dear!” she beamed, getting out of her seat, swishing her wand collecting all of the empty plates “your birthday in four days, do you have any plans?” 

Fred and George shared a nervous glance, Fred’s hands now under the table, playing with his fingers. 

Hermione went quiet and flashed you a sympathetic look, she knew how much you hated celebrating your birthday and she felt guilty for not telling Mrs Weasley that you preferred to spend the day alone. 

You shook your head, moving back whilst your plate hovered in the air, flying towards the other pile of plates on the worktop “no” you replied, smiling slightly “just going to stay home and catch up on some reading”

Molly waved her hand and shook her head “that's no way to celebrate your birthday! Ginny and I will bake you something special, won’t we?” 

Molly walked over to her daughter and stood behind her seat, placing her motherly hands on Ginny’s shoulders. Ginny smiled widely and nodded “of course! been wanting to get more practice for ages!” 

You knew if you were to back out now Molly would take it personally, and you didn’t want to hurt her feelings after everything she has done for you since Fred welcomed you into his home five years ago. 

You smiled and looked at Fred, his expression slightly sad with a splash of worry “is that okay with you?” 

Fred nodded and smiled “it’s your special day, darling.” 

You pulled back your quilt and got into bed, pulling the sheets back over your cold legs, Fred leant against the door frame and stared at you for a moment, he walked into the bedroom and got undressed, climbing into bed next to you. 

“I’m sorry love, you know what my mum is like” he murmured through a yawn, spooning you. 

You nodded and dimed the lights “it’s okay Freddie, she doesn’t know”

The two of you were silent for a moment, Fred slowly placing loving kisses on the back of your neck. You remembered the looks he and George were giving each other over dinner, the low muttering and whispers. 

“what were you and George up to?” you asked quietly “you were late to dinner and kept giving each other odd looks.”

Fred didn’t answer, his breath hitched in his throat “uh, we... a trial for one of our new products didn’t go to well” he lied, shuffling slightly.

You knew Fred wasn’t telling the truth, you could always tell when he was lying - but you were too tired to push his buttons and you just wanted the next four days over and done with. 

“okay” you yawned, sinking into the mattress, drowning in Fred’s arms and covers “goodnight Freddie”

“goodnight love”

The morning of your birthday, Fred got up bright and early, the shop hours today were altered so he could be home earlier to support you, but with that he needed to be up and out the house earlier too. 

Fred put on his coat, nearly ready to set off for work, he got out your presents and a special card in a deep blue envelope that matched the colour of the ring box which he hid behind the photo frame of the two of you at the Yule Ball. 

Tiptoeing into your room, admiring you dreaming away, he placed your presents at the end of the bed and left.

Fred couldn’t stop his nerves, between serving customers and stocking the shelves with products he couldn’t help but chew George’s other ear off with his worries. 

“what if Y/N says no?”

George shook his head and rolled his eyes “don’t be a plonker, she isn't going to say no, now get those bloody skiving Snackboxes out!”

Once you were able to roll out of bed, you took a bath and tried to stop the guilt from taking over you, opening your presents you were so touched by the beautiful gifts Fred had got you - feeling very grateful and slightly better than you were expecting. 

As the day went by, like Fred, you felt more and more nervous, your stomach doing flips and your hands shaking like a tree in the wind - you didn’t know how ready you were for a big cake, all the singing, blowing out the candles, and cheering; but you couldn’t back out, not now.

Dragging yourself into your room, you put on your best dress which sparkled different shades of purple in different lights, and you put on your favourite earrings - a present from Freddie for you first year together. 

Hearing a cracking noise, you turned around and gripped your dresser, trying to catch your breath. Fred apparated in front of you with a cheerful expression on his face, he pulled you into a tight embrace.

“you look gorgeous, Y/N.” he kissed your head, pulling away from the embrace. 

Fred was already dressed in his smart suit, he kept turning his head and looking over the the living room. 

“do you hear that?” he asked you, walking out of the bedroom.

You shook your head “no, what is it?” and followed him into the living room.

Fred stood in front of the same picture frame on the wall, staring at the two of you smiling in your best outfits on Christmas Day. 

“you shook see what's behind it, love.”

You looked into Fred’s eyes and knitted your eyebrows together, a rare smirk spreading across your face. “no funny business” you warned him, chuckling slightly. 

Walking over to the picture frame and pulling it out from the wall, the dark blue envelope hiding behind it swiftly fell to the floor, landing on your feet. Bending over and picking it up, your name was written across it in silver. 

You looked at Fred for a moment, he looked back at you with a nervous look on his face. 

“Open it, sweetheart.”

Opening the envelope, you pulled out the letter inside. 

You held the letter close to your heart and blushed, giggling like a little girl.

Fred knew how much you loved his love letters, the two of you used to write back and forth whenever you were apart. 

You pulled the letter away from your heart and started to read:

Dear Y/N,

Words can’t ever explain or describe how much I love you, how much I adore you, what you and your smile does to me and my heart. You are perfect, you are my sunshine on a cloudy day, you’re my liquid luck.

I know this day is never easy for you, but please know it wasn’t and never will be your fault. 

I feel so blessed to have you in my life and I don’t ever want to experience a life without you - I know I’m stupid sometimes with all the pranks and being the hilarious one in the relationship, but you are my everything and you keep me grounded, you make this house feel like a home. 

Please put down the letter and say yes.

- Freddie.

Moving the letter out of your view, your jaw dropped and tears of happiness instantly pricked your eyes and filling them. In front of you, Fred got down on one knee and looked up at you, holding out a beautiful engagement ring, the diamond in the shape of your favourite flower. 

“Miss Y/N Y/L/N, my liquid luck, my everything - will you marry me?”

Putting your hands over your mouth you nodded your head, blinking away the tears “yes! I will Freddie!”

Fred got up, tears in his eyes too and placed the stunning ring on your finger, pulling you into his arms and sharing a long and special kiss. 

Blowing out the candles on your toffee cake, everyone in the burrow cheered, George flashing Fred a huge smile once he saw the ring on your finger. 

Cutting the cake into slices and putting each slice on the duck egg blue plates, you handed Molly her slice of cake, her eyes widening when she spotted the ring. Leaping out of her chair, she pulled you into a tight hug, tears in her eyes matching yours and Fred's. 

“Oh everyone, look!” she gabbed your hand, making you show off the beautiful ring “Fred and Y/N are engaged!” 

Looking into the eyes of your future husband, you smiled and mouthed “best birthday ever”

Taglist: @reeophidian @amourtentiaa @inglourious-imagines

[mashiraostail]

Can I get Present Mic, Vlad King, Midnight and Aizawa when their S/O wakes up with a bad migraine and is hiding their face because it's too bright? Please and Thank you!!!!!

me 🤝this anon       having terrible migraines 

Hizashi Yamada: A Sunday off for the pair of you was rare, and rather than spending the whole day out and busy you both elected to catch up on some much-needed sleep and various other chores around your apartment. After a much needed deep cleaning of your microwave (you seriously had never even considered looking at the ceiling of it...humiliating) you announce that you’re taking a midday nap, you could feel the annoying prickles of a migraine starting right behind your eyes, hopefully popping a few aspirins and taking an hour or two nap would nip it before it could really get started.  Hizashi nods you off but after about 15 minutes he joins you in bed and welcomes you into his chest as you roll over to him with a thankful groan. After that, you fall asleep fast enough. When you wake up again you realize instantly that you did not nip the migraine. Your skull felt like it’d shrunk 10 sizes in just an hour. Hizashi seemed to still be awake, even the gentle rustling of papers over your shoulder as he read them behind your back was enough to make the muscles in your forehead twitch. Your face was still buried in Hizashi’s chest so the offending light of your bedroom hadn’t fully reached your poor retinas yet.  “Babe?” You love your boyfriend's voice normally, but right now anything beside absolute silence was deafening, “sorry, did I wake you up?”  You just hum and lightly shake your head, hoping he’ll get the message and kindly, lovingly, please shut up.  He hums back and leans his lips down into your hair, kissing you absently, “Feel alright?” That prompts you to look up at him, all you’d wanted was a kiss, not the head-splitting pain that came with the slight movement of your neck paired with the light in the room. Before he can kiss you you’ve retreated back into the darkness of his shirt.  “My head.” You groan and he lets out a knowing sigh, “yeah I had a feeling.”  His voice is quiet, you were sure plenty of people wouldn’t even recognize it.  “Is it the light?” You nod. “Thought so...think you roll over and I’ll get up and shut them off. Plus get you another aspirin and some water? Maybe a compress, you can put your head on my lap and I’ll hold it for you.”   You groan again as you roll over and he can’t help but laugh a little, “no dying on our day off, come on, I’ll fix it in no time babe, just keep your eyes closed.”  Sekijiro Kan Being a teacher was honestly a lot of fun, he’d say it was his calling, but grading things was less of his calling, actually, he’d say it was the opposite of his calling, whatever that word would be. The Bane Of His Existance? Maybe. So when you round the corner to spot him on the couch he figures you’ll be a great distraction. Though you look more exhausted than usual. “Can I lay down here?” You point directly to him, specifically his chest. He sighs good-naturedly, “yeah, come on.” He readjusts himself to allow you in, your body slotting comfortably between his legs as it had so many times before. His arms come easily around you as you coil your own around his ribcage.  “Better?” He asks, resting his chin against your head.  “Much.” You know you should have done a little more in the ways of preparing for the headache you’d felt starting to throb at the base of your skull, but you prayed a little sleep would rectify it before it became an issue.  “Go to sleep if you want.” He reassures you, seeing your eyelids droop as you try to hold them open. “I can grade this stuff like this, it’s no big deal.”  “Thanks Seki..” You murmur, already starting to doze off.  When you wake again you know you’d sorely miscalculated. What was once a dull throbbing turned into a fully stabbing pain radiating through the base of your skull. Sekijiro still seemed to be awake, one hand snuck into the back of your top, running long strokes up your back and the other holding whatever papers he’d been working on before you accosted him with your need for rest.  You kept your eyes closed, you knew the light would only serve to make your head literally explode, unfortunately, the only con of the tank top he was wearing was the fact that it gave you little in the ways of excess fabric to hide your eyes in.  “Seki-” You croak it out and he hums, surprised,  “I didn’t even notice you were awake. I didn’t wake you up, did I? Sorry, I couldn’t help wanting to put my hand here-” The flat of his palm glides between your shoulder blades to emphasize his point. You just shake your head. “No, no you’re okay.” Even talking was unpleasant, “Can you pull my hood up?” “Oh?” he does as you ask, “don’t feel good?”  You just shake your head again as you recess into the hood of your sweatshirt.  “Let me get up for a minute, I bet you didn’t even take any aspirin before laying down” You groan in protest and he holds the back of your head, his hand separated from your hair by your hood. “You’ll barely notice I’m gone, and when I come back I’ll start helping you feel better, come on.”

 Nemuri Kayama: When she happens upon you passed out on the couch she takes it upon herself to join you, pulling you into her side and wrapping two arms around you, you just looked so comfortable she couldn't help it. You weren’t usually one to take midday naps so this was a pleasant surprise to happen upon. You’d only done it because the light was hitting your eyes all wrong, you curled up in the corner of the couch to rest them for a bit but ended up dozing off. You’d put some aspirin on by the lamp on the other side of the couch if you needed it but neglected to take it when you started feeling drowsy. As you started to wake up you really regretted that serious misstep.  Though Nemuri suddenly being with you wasn’t so bad.  “Oh, look who’s awake.” She perks up as you shuffle into her side a bit more.  “Uh-oh,” She laughs a little at the sound of your groan, “that’s not a good sound.”  “My head feels like it’s about to fall off and roll across the room.” You wrap both arms around her, “save me Muri I think I’m gonna die here.”  You feel her smile into your forehead as she kisses it, “I don’t know about dying. But I’ll get you the aspirin you put over there.” She nods down the couch, “and maybe some cold water?” Her hand massages the nape of your neck, “and I’ll shut the windows and curtains, nice and dark and quiet, just how you like.”  You warble at that, “don’t get up-”  “The sooner I get up the sooner I’ll come back.” She assures you, “and the sooner you’ll start feeling better. Come to think of it, when’s the last time you ate, I bet getting some food in you would help too wouldn’t it.” You just bemoan it, “I couldn’t eat anything with my head feeling like this.” You headbutt into her a bit and she hums, wrapping her far arm around you and patting your back, “maybe just a few crackers, for my own peace of mind, hm?”  She untangles your bodies and gets up, “just wait for me right here, eyes closed okay? I’ll shut everything first. Then I’ll get you everything else you need.”  Aizawa Shouta: He was lounging back on the couch, you were pretty sure he was asleep. The subtle twinge of pain between your eyes was more than enough to convince you to drop down on top of him. He huffs at the added weight.  “Okay, sure.” He says it indifferently as you press your nose into his neck his arms, once behind his head drop onto your back.  “Sorry to interrupt.” You apologize, mostly halfheartedly.  “Then go to sleep and be quiet so I can too.”  His tone of voice says mildly annoyed but the way he leans his cheek and face into your hair and slides his hands into the back of your shirt says decently pleased to have you.  When you come to again the subtle twinge had become a full 1000 volt shock. You could practically feel it tingling in the bones of your skull. Aizawa seemed to be awake now, you could feel his slightly rough palms rubbing out shapes on your back. “Did you get back to sleep, I didn’t mean to-”  “Yeah, I did.” He cuts you off, “I’d been asleep for a while before you showed up don’t worry about it.” You’d given yourself away with how quietly you spoke.  “Feel okay?” The way he picks his head up off of your’s says he wants you to look at up him, maybe make some eye contact, but your whole body is vehemently against this idea.  So you shake your head, “Migraine.”  “I see.” He nods, “think you can stand?” You just whine. “Well we should get you into bed, with some aspirin, something to drink, and away from all this light.” His hands slide comfortingly up your back, “don’t you think so?”  “Yeah..” You mutter, nudging further into his neck despite his words.  “So let’s get up.” He sits up and the sudden intrusion of light on your poor brain is enough to make you hiss.  “Sorry.” He covers your eyes with his hand, “let’s get you in bed first, I’ll keep the lights off in there for you, get you some aspirin and water.”  “I’ll be all by myself-” You lament and he sighs. “I’ll come to lay down with you too. I’ve got some stuff to grade but I’m sure I’ll find more time for it if I can’t get to it while I take care of you.” 

[zippers-flowers-and-wine]

I have a request! another mer short- reader mer gets separated from their pod and meets/get adopted into a jojo pod

👀👀👀 I am Looking...

(I was so conflicted on what JoJo to write for, but I eventually just rolled a d8 lmao.)

(Also, this is what I imagine mermaid/man tails to be shaped like except with two long spines growing from were the dorsal meets the rest of the tail:

Orcas were awful beasts.

They way they clicked was terrifying, they were coloured in a freaky way, and they were just so damn big. Your pod's fighters always said that it wasn't that scary to be chased by them, that orcas were slow enough that a mer could outpace them as long as they kept going in a straight line...

But you wanted to call bullshit on that.

Because you were going top speed, putting all of your body into swimming away from these damned things and they were keeping up.

They'd ambushed your pod in open waters on one of your annual migrations, interrupting all of you as you'd travelled along the shore, following it down towards the cooler waters were you all lived until breeding time.

Usually, the migration path would have kept your pod over one large coral reef. It made it nearly impossible for large whales, be they False Dolphins, or Orcas, to hunt you. But the presence of human fishing nets in the area made the elders worried about the newborn mers, and it was decided that the pod would go cut across to the other path of coral reefs.

Halfway across, chaos had broken out. One particularly large orca had cut directly into the middle of the pod from below. It sent the mothers racing back towards the Coloured Path - the name bestowed upon the coral your pod usually travelled - while most of the larger mers of your pod immediately went defensive, hissing and snapping at the 3 others that started circling.

You were one of the unfortunate ones, caught up in the whirlwind of panicking gups and scared mothers. With the force of them shoving, and kicking out, you were thrown downwards; a lone mermaid, thrown out as an accidental sacrifice.

Naturally, the orcas locked onto you and here you were.

Swimming for your life as a whole pod chased after you.

You were too scared to look over your shoulder, unwilling to see the teeth that would be a few scant inches behind you, probably excited to tear into your- oh fuck!

Another orca, a younger one based one his size, lurched closer on your right, managing to land a punishing nip on your shoulder. It jerks you to a halt, ripping the wound open wider so you whip around, scratching just beneath it's eye. It squeals in pain, and you veer left squealing and ducking under another that had been waiting on you.

It's teeth snap around nothing, slick belly brushing against your flared spine, and you felt like crying out for your bearer. It was huge, easily 3x your width, and 4x as long as you.

The one that had injured you slammed into its friend with a mighty crash. Glancing back, you can see the two floating in place, clearly dazed from the impact. In your moment of distraction, another orca - also young - darts up from below, its dark body upon you before you can stop. It's teeth lock around your hips, pinning your fins down as it breaches and flings its weight back.

You screech, flailing as you're thrown into a wild somersault, launched out of the water several feet upwards as if you were a simple plaything. While airborne, your tail thrashes in some vain attempt to right you, unfortunately only succeeding in flipping you on your back mere milliseconds before you slam back into the water.

It stuns you, leaving you frozen and unable to pull in a breath as your own weight slowly pulls you down.

The anticipation hits you all at once, and you wait for the teeth. The pain of being torn apart and snapped in half by a whole pod yet...

It doesn't happen.

You can feel them around you: your earfins were designed to feel minor shifts in the water, feel how it gets warmer as bodies brush pass, and how it gets disrupted with every flick of a tail... But the pain never happens.

Peeling open your eye, you look around.

The orcas are a little farther away now, and there's more of them.

Two, no... Three adults, with four adolescents and their clicking makes your head hurt. Two of the adults are circling your still body, the final one - the one that had disrupted your pod in the first place - swimming around one of the unmoving adolescents.

The other three seem anxious, nudging and bumping against their sibling. The adult clicks, swims around him again, then makes a louder squeal that brings over one of the circling adults. They all start making sounds, the adult pulling away from the body with a neon tipped spine in its mouth. It wiggles side to side with it, almost as if...

Your tail fin twitches, and you have to clench your teeth to not cry out in agony.

That was your spine...

Beginning to shake, you've come to a chilling conclusion: They were using you for practice. Your venom spine had just killed the one that threw you out of the water, and the adult was using it to teach a fucking lesson.

Flexing a little, you realize your muscles have relaxed, no longer stiff from impact induced paralysis. Without really thinking - you bolt.

The orca that had been circling you squeals, but it - along with the others - isn't fast enough to react. You've already got several tail lengths ahead of them, and it would be unwise to expend their energy chasing you down, especially now that they were down one podmate.

Keeping up the breakneck pace, you don't stop until you feel well and truly alone.

Slowing, you pant for several long seconds, drifting with the currents.

Your gills are flared as much as possible, the pink slits sucking in water and jetting it out as you slowly turn on the spot.

Dark blue, dark blue, dark blue, dark blue...

Darkness stretched for miles in every direction.

Endless.

Directionless.

Thick, viscous tears well up in your eyes, floating towards surface.

For the first time since you were a guppy, you were alone. The currents pull at your body, pulling at your fins in a taunting manner, giggling and dancing about. All alone, they sang. Little mermaid, all alone, such easy prey.

Wrapping your arms loosely around your belly, feeling too exposed, you look up and sob brokenly. It's dusk, meaning you had been chased by those... Beasts for nearly two hours.

More tears gather in your eyes, floating away like the physical embodiment of your hopes and dreams, drifting out of reach.

You were fucked.

At the speed you'd been swimming, it was very likely that you were miles away from your pod, so all you could do now was pick a direction and start swimming.

You had to eventually run into something... Right?

___

It was completely black when you spotted somewhere to sleep for the night.

A cave, the bottom of which was covered in sand and rotting sea vegetation. Not the most glamorous place you've slept, but it was rather hidden from a distance, and deep enough that your bright colours would be muted to anyone passing by. The mouth of it was also surprisingly small, so anything larger than a shark would have some trouble wiggling in.

You, luckily, were smaller than a shark.

Pressing in head first, you wiggle your tail through, hissing when the sensitive flesh where your missing spine was rubs against the rocky cave mouth. Sliding through, you take a mental note of another entrance opposite of where you're settled as you curl up against the soft sand of the floor, folding all of your fins in tight and staring out into the blackened water beyond.

The stress of the day presses onto your shoulders, more tears well up, and you sob.

This loneliness, the separation... This was your new reality.

___

"Dude!" Okuyasu hisses, reaching out to snag his larger podmate by his shoulder. With a careful flick of his tail, he's leaning over Josuke, ears strained forward with a confused crease to his eyebrows.

Josuke flicks an ear, grumbling as he's used as a lookout post. "What dude? I'm too tired for-"

"Hush, Hishigataka." The young leader bares his teeth over his shoulder, immediately puffing up. Rohan doesn't look over, also staring intently at the neatly hidden entrance to their den. Josuke pauses, immediately losing all fight when he takes note of how restless the cecealia is. His arms are writhing around on another, bristling into various shades of darker green, and sickly yellows as his fins flare slowly.

"Someone is in our den."

Rohan's voice was deadly calm, yet it had an exciting effect on the others of his pod.

Okuyasu shivered, his spinal fin flexing excitedly as a near maniac grin started to twitch across his face. The large mer practically lived to brawl, all too happy to jump headfirst into a fight so he coiled his tail in close, ready pounce down the hidden entrance.

Mikitaka began pacing along side Koichi, the new cecealia anxious about the possible confrontation. Miki didn't exactly like any sort of violent interactions, and would always be the first of his podmates to shy away from any situations that looked like they may end badly, which was odd considering that his new form was well adapted to physical combat. Koichi was much the same, though his siren status made it a bit more understandable, since he wasn't physically capable of becoming as bulky as the other three. It also made him slower moving than them, his tail was really only meant to be flashy to attract any unsuspecting humans closer to him.

Josuke clicks, forcefully pulling their sudden excited agitation onto himself. The young leader keeps an eye on the small, seaweed covered entrance, but motions for them to all gather around him. "Alright, here's the plan. Me and Rohan will check it out, see if it's a pod we should really be worried ab-"

Rohan snorts, interjecting sharply, "I highly doubt it." Josuke sputters in outrage, but Koichi swiftly questions him before the larger pastel merman can freak out.

"W-what's that supposed to mean, Rohan - sensei?"

Smirking haughtily with that all too familiar look of "I know something you don't~", the cecealia points back towards the entrance with one of his thinnest arms. The tendril flicks lazily, matching his falsely carefree attitude s he drawls, "The main entrance hasn't been shoved around." He swims a little closer, with Josuke nearly right on top of him, to point at the thick vegetation growing around the well hidden entrance. "None of the seaweed has been pulled up, or ripped, and the rocks are perfectly in place. There's no scales that got caught on the opening, and the sand still has the faint imprint of the shells that Koichi brought last time."

Mikitaka clicks softly, coiling his limbs in close. "Forgive my ignorance, but what does all of that mean exactly?"

Koichi smiles at him, trying not to be too amused by his bewilderment. The guy had been turned into a cecealia by a particularly mean spirited siren a few months ago, and was still learning how to figure out life underwater.

Also seeming to take some kind of pity on him, Rohan explains, albeit with a rather haughty look. "What that means s that, while yes there is a mer in there, we don't need to be concerned about a pod." Josuke nods, a little more relaxed now that he knows Rohan isn't just disagreeing to get a rise out of him.

"Yeah. If anything, it may be a maid." Now it's Rohan's turn to look surprised, flicking his limbs as he sharply asks how Josuke figures that one. Koichi raises a brow, startled by how nonchalant he is about making that little inference. "Well, you said it yourself. There's no scales caught on the entrance, and even Koichi manages to snag some on the way in. That means it has to be either a cecealia, a guppy, or a mer smaller than Koichi."

Rohan snorts dismissively. "That's a moronic conclusion, Hishigataka."

"Eh!? How so!?"

"Because that doesn't explain how they didn't mess up the imprints of the shells, or how they managed-" Koichi's panicled wheeze cut their arguing short.

Wheeling around in unison, they follow the direction Koichi's outstretched hand. At first they don't see much, the rapidly deepening darkness impairing their vision, but eventually they do see and they want to tell various curses. Okuyasu had, at some point in their back and forth, wandered over to the entrance, slowly picking his way through the forest of green in front of it.

They could just barely see the glowing, golden tips of his venom spines weaving up and down. Josuke launches himself forward, his own bright pink and blue tail snapping as hard as possible to catch him up to his air headed friend, internally cursing his own negligence.

___

Peering into their home, Okuyasu doesn't immediately see anything.

It's dark, and the soft, sandy floor of the cave looks inviting, so he slips in. It takes a small wiggle for his hips to fit through, the fins having to lie flat as he works his tail left to right before sliding smoothly in. Glancing backwards, he wrinkles his nose at his small, dark blue and golden scales that he can see hanging off of the entrance, plucked free of his toughened hide thanks to how loose they were. "Yeesh, we gotta get a bigger den, man..."

Shhhfff...

His fins snap upright, flaring out as he twists in the dark. His pupils, having been dilated in his relaxation, immediately contract into dangerous slits.

That sounded like sand being shuffled around.

Josuke suddenly appears at the mouth of the cave, his bright blue eyes nearly glowing as he hisses, "What the hell are you doing, Okuyasu!?" He shushes him, holding a hand up while carefully swimming closer to the suspicious sound with his fins flared out. Josuke wiggles in after him, fins folded down as he slowly follows after him.

Sucking down water, Okuyasu jets out water and darts around the corner with his claws out, much to Josuke's yowling horror.

He slams into another body, very clearly a mer judging by the scaled tail that thrashes between his claws as he clamps down and sinks his teeth into their side. Another set of claws - smaller and more dainty than his own talons - rake across his back, making him hiss and flick sideways, slamming the smaller mer against the rockwall. They squeal, whipping their fluke at him as they twist. Okuyasu jerks back, twisting out of range of a poisonous spine that makes a lunge for his face. Josuke hisses somewhere to his left, but Okuyasu ignores him, reaching out for the intruder again. Startled, the mer ducks away from his talons, bolting towards the back. Josuke misses, just barely grazing the retreating fluke. The near miss makes him run, full force, against Okuyasu who had been about to give chase.

They both tumble to the sandy floor, sand flying up in great plumes that choke their gills, making both cough wildly. "G- Fuckin'- get off dude!" Okuyasu barks, shoving Josuke to the side. The small mer is frantically wiggling their way through the entrance, their panic making it harder for them to actually wiggle free.

Then they screech, tail flailing differently, now attempting to pull them back into the cave.

___

Oh go oh god oh god oh fUCK!

You're panicking, and you know it, and you know it's going to get you killed.

Being woken up by massive talons sinking into your flank wasn't the best thing to happen to you in your life, which was saying something considering the fact that you'd been chased hundreds of miles away from your pod by killer whales that only wanted some practice.

The mer that attacked you was big, scarily so, and he drove you downwards with his shoulder buried against your chest, and his teeth locked into the flesh just under your armpit. In a blind panic, you clawed at him, scratching at his back with your own, significantly smaller claws. The blood was billowing around the both of you, only barely blurring the outline of another mer pacing nearby. You couldn't see, nor register much of that one because the one attacking you didn't seem to apperciate having claws jammed into its spine. Apparently, it only served to piss it off because the bigger mer immediately used you like a battering ram, slamming your back against the nearby stone wall and stunning you for a beat.

When it backed of for a spilt second, slightly winded, you twisted away. Subconsciously, you thrashed your fluke at your assailant, momentarily forgetting about your missing spine as you made a break for an entrance opposite of where you had wiggled your way in.

The forgotten mer, a pretty streak of pink and blue, lunged for you, and you twitched just barely out of their range. They rocketed past you, ramming into the already wounded met and sending both of them to the floor.

Using that distraction, you started to attempt to wiggle free, cursing all of the inwards facing rocks that were hooking into your scales.

That's when you looked out into the ocean.

A small flicker of green movement.

Initially, you thought your mind was playing tricks on you, so you brushed it off, wincing as you made some progress.

Looking back up revealed two, very distressing details:

1. Your mind had not been fucking with you, that really was sometjing moving.

2. That moving thing turned out to be two moving things, and they were two, very large cecealia.

Freezing for a spilt second, you make eye contact with the shorter male.

His head tilts slowly, a small, razor thin smile playing at the edges of his lips.

With a shrill cry, you start thrashing backwards, deciding you'd much rather try and fight the two mers inside than the two cecealia outside. You're so busy panicking that you don't even notice that another creature has approached until he gasps, gently touching your cheek and making you flinch.

Your head turns, and you meet two big, dark blue eyes. Silvery hair wisps around his soft, childlike face, wild and untamed, just like the hammering of your heart. He seems worried about something, gently brushing your tussled, ungroomed hair back and away from your face as his eyes carefully search yours.

You hardly even notice the clawed hands that gently touch the raw flesh were your venom spine used to be, or the pasty white cecealia that glides up to your side, carefully pulling you free of the entrance, or even the hushed words shared back and forth, whispered over the badly injured flesh of your tail.

All you register are those dark blue eyes that are getting darker...and darker, and you can't...

___

Mikitaka hums when the mermaid falls limp against him, his limbs pulling her tighter to himself in an effort to keep her from harming herself upon collapsing. His eyes flick over to Koichi, who's coughing into his elbow, the younger siren unused to singing for such a long period of time. "Good thinking, Koichi."

"A-ah, yeah... Thanks!" He's grinning from ear to ear, flowy fins fluttering from flustered delight. He's so unused to such positive reinforcements from people that aren't Josuke, Okuyasu, Jotaro, or Rohan that the poor thing practically drinks up any and all positivity.

Miki smiles, mouth opening-

"You. Utter. FOOLS!"

Then closing in a small grimace.

It seems Rohan isn't quite as pleased.

(Okay.... Okay okay, I promise I'll finish it in the next installment, I just like?? Got really carried away 😞)

[First: You're here!] [Next: Right Here]

[echoghost1]

Ectober Day 03 - Cryptid

Summary: Vlad wakes up in pain and in the dark. He is not alone.

Word count: 2,393

This is part of my Carnival Mythika AU verse, but you don't need to have read that to enjoy this (hopefully)

Also TW: A character is part-spider

and TW for Body horror of finding out that they are no longer human

And if I need to add more warnings please just let me know and I will totally add them!

I spent like all day today (10/3) working on this fic 😩 I hope at least one person like it

Anywho, you can also read it below the cut if you prefer

Vlad opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. His head was pounding and everything hurt.

Worse still was he didn’t remember falling asleep.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. It was hard to tell where he was because it was so dark, but also it looked like he was looking at the world through a kaleidoscope.

He felt his face just to be sure he didn’t have weird goggles or something attached to his face. He didn’t, but something was definitely different.

He had more eyes.

“What?” he cut off his own question because his teeth hurt. He hadn’t really noticed until he moved his mouth to speak.

He gently reached past his lips and felt his canines much sooner than he used to be able to.

Fangs?

What was he?

He couldn’t be human. Not anymore.

How did he even get here? Where was here?

Why was it so cold?

He hugged himself only to find his shirt had gone missing. No wonder he was freezing.

It was getting too late in the year to be running around without a shirt on. Not that he did much of that outside of swimming.

He knew he hadn’t been swimming today.

What had he been doing again?

That’s right, the circus had come to town.

He’d gone with his two friends. He had meant to just invite Maddie, but Jack was right there.

So the attempted date turned into a friendly hangout instead.

Jack was like a brother to him, so he didn’t want to be rude, but really wished Jack understood subtext a little better.

It wasn’t all bad though. He figured if he could just get some alone time with her, he could ask her out then.

Unfortunately, he never got the chance.

Not that it mattered anymore. He could never bear to let her see him like this.

If he merely had fangs he might be able to hide that, but the extra eyes? He must look like a monster. A freak.

No, it would be better if she never knew.

His body shook from the cold and the hard truth that nothing would ever be the same.

Something in the corner of the room got his full attention.

All this self-pity and he never bother to check if he was actually alone or not.

It was too dark to see what was there, but he knew he saw something move.

Whatever it was, it went still again.

Could it see him?

He hadn’t made any noise when he looked.

Or maybe it was because he hadn’t made a sound. Going quiet might have been as much of a tip-off as making too much noise.

It moved again and he backed away.

Tried to anyway.

His legs flared up in pain and he bit his lip to keep from crying out.

His newly sharpened teeth easily broke the flesh of his thin lips and the warm blood flooded his senses.

It was delicious.

He spat out his own blood in horror of his own thoughts.

“Oh geez, you’re bleeding. Are you okay? No that was a dumb question, sorry.”

Vlad turned his attention back to the other in the room. It could speak English okay, but it definitely wasn’t person-shaped.

It was too tall and had extra parts.

Vlad wasn’t sure if he was able to see it better because it was closer or if his eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness.

He wasn’t sure he liked being able to see it.

It reached out for him but since he couldn’t move without hurting himself he just braced himself for what was to come.

Only nothing bad happened.

“You’re freezing! Come here,” the being pulled Vlad into a hug, its long arms easily wrapped around his skinny body. Its clawed hand rubbed his back soothingly, but never scratched him, “there, there.”

The relief was instant. Vlad practically melted into the body heat of the other. Whatever this thing was, it was warm.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come over sooner. I thought you were shaking because you were scared of me.”

“I think I’m more scared of myself right now,” Vlad admitted as he carefully felt the areas of the creature he was currently clinging to for warmth.

Every part he could reach seemed to be covered in a soft short fur. It reminded him of a petting zoo and he wasn’t quite sure why.

“That’s right, this is all new for you,” it said as its warm breath ghosting across the top of his head.

He just hummed in agreement.

Then he started to feel bad for never asking for this friendly creature’s name. He may as well change that now.

“I’m Vlad by the way,” he introduced without moving from his current incredibly comfortable position.

“Hello, Vlad,” it replied.

And then proceeded to not say anything else.

Vlad leaned back so he could look them in the eye and he could see their reaction, “This is the part where you say you’re name?”

“Oh? Sorry, I’ve never done this before.”

“You’ve never introduced yourself before?”

“No.”

While Vlad was busy trying to understand how that had happened, because it was obvious that they weren’t lying, they kept talking.

“How do you get a name anyway?”

“From you’re parents, usually?” Vlad answered unable to keep the waver of confusion out of his voice.

He had a feeling that this was only going to get worse.

“That makes sense. I don’t have those.”

Yup, that was worse. That was so much worse.

And to be that caviler about not having parents means that they must have lost them when they were so young. Maybe even as a baby.

“How long have you been here? Where even is here?” Vlad asked looking around the dark metal room they were in.

“The train,” they answered.

Vlad wasn’t sure if they were ignoring the first question or simply forgot about it. Jack did that whenever he got asked too many questions at once.

“Who’s train is it?”

“It’s the Master’s train.”

“Where are we going?”

“To the next festival. Until it gets too cold and then we go to the Winter Place.”

“Winter Place?”

“Yeah, it’s all sandy and there’s a show every day.”

“A show?”

Now that he was really looking, maybe he had seen them before.

Before Vlad thought of stepping into that fortune teller’s booth to get advice on something that meant nothing now.

Before he had grown fangs and extra eyes.

Before his body had gotten so heavy and his center of gravity had moved.

Before all that, he had gone to the show at the circus.

There was a part where they dimmed all the lights real low and rolled a large box into the center ring. It was tall and narrow, like those crates that were in classic monster movies where there’s an ancient relic being shipped to an unsuspecting museum.

After plenty of pomp and circumstance, the box fell apart to reveal a creature.

It was almost human but not. It was too tall and had extra parts.

The ringmaster told them all it was evil. A monster. Something to hate.

Something to take their anger out on.

He had encouraged everyone to yell at it. To boo the creature. To shout their frustrations at it.

Vlad had participated.

He had screamed awful things because he knew it would be drowned out by the crowd.

He had been so cruel.

This creature wasn’t evil.

He wondered if it had ever done anything wrong at all.

“You’re the Jersey Devil, aren’t you?”

“You went to the show?”

“Yes.”

Perhaps this was punishment for all the awful things he’d done.

Vlad knew he wasn’t a very good person. Even if he never outright did bad things on purpose, it didn’t take much convincing to get him to do them.

“Sorry I didn’t notice,” The Jersey Devil apologized, “The lights are really bright, so it’s hard to really see into the crowds.”

“It’s alright. There were a lot of people. Doubt you would have recognized me anyway.”

“That’s true. You probably looked different before.”

“Speaking of that,” Vlad carefully segued, “what do I look like now?”

“You’ve got red eyes like me. Except you have more than I do.”

“How many do I have?”

Then, just as a child might, The Jersey Devil counted his eyes, one by one. The first two were Vlad’s original eyes, just in the same spot they had always been. Then on either side were three more.

No wonder he felt like he had been looking through a kaleidoscope. In a way, he was.

“Your skin is pale, like your hands, but only until your waist. Everything below that is dark and hairy like the top of your head.”

Vlad just nodded along at the news. He had a feeling that even if his friends or family could see him now that they wouldn’t even recognize him at all.

“Can you stand? I want to count your legs.”

Vlad decided to just do it and not think too hard about it.

He wobbled a bit at first, but The Jersey Devil held him upright.

“Oh hey! You have the same number of legs as you do eyes!”

“I have eight legs?”

“Yup!”

What sort of creature has eight eyes and eight legs? Eight hairy legs.

“Spider.”

“What?” The Jersey Devil asked.

“I’m a spider?”

“Do you not like spiders?”

“It’s not about liking spiders! I don’t really care one way or the other! I didn’t want to be one!”

The Jersey Devil backed away from Vlad during his outburst and if it wasn’t for the fact that it was twice his size, he would have sworn it was cowering away from him.

No. They were afraid of him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.” Vlad sat back down and could already feel the cool steel of the train leech away what little warmth he had retained from being close to The Jersey Devil. “This isn’t your fault. You’re a victim just as much as I am.”

The two sat side by side in silence while Vlad tried to rain his temper back in.

As they sat there Vlad couldn’t help but wonder just how long The Jersey Devil had been trapped here. How long had it been since they had been human? Did they even remember it?

“Where did you live before all this?”

“Before?”

“Yeah, before they took you away and made you be a part of their horror show.”

“I,” The Jersey Devil hesitated, “I don’t think there was a before.”

“What about before they changed you?”

“No one changed me, I’ve always been this way. All I did was get bigger.” The Jersey Devil smiled and flexed its wings for emphasis.

Vlad wasn’t sure how he missed the large leathery wings before, so he did his best not to react.

Instead, he asked his next question, “Do you mean to say that you were born like this? You were never human?”

“Yes.”

Vlad had a feeling The Jersey Devil wouldn’t actually know the answer to this but he asked anyway, “How old are you?”

They shrugged, “I don’t know exactly. I never had a birthday so I’m not quite sure how to keep track of it.”

“You go to the Winter Place once a year, right? Every winter?”

“Yeah, why?”

“How many times have you been there?”

“Oh, lots of times.”

“Can you take a guess at how many?”

“It’s more times than I have fingers.”

“You’ve been there more than ten times?”

That was a lot.

“All I know for sure is that I’ve had three masters.”

“Three?”

“Yeah. The first Master always reminded me that if he hadn’t found me in the woods when he did I would have died. I don’t really remember the forest, but I was very little then. I could hardly flap my wings let alone stand.”

The Jersey Devil seemed lost in thought for a moment before it continued.

“Then there was my Mistress. She’s the one who taught me to speak. She was the kindest person I ever met. I watched her grow up and have a child of her own.”

They were a little more nostalgic about her than Vlad thought she deserved. If she was truly kind, wouldn’t she have given them a name? Or set them free?

“And now I’m on Master number three. He’s got a son of his own now so he’ll probably be the next Master.”

Vlad had to take a moment to think about what The Jersey Devil had just gone over. It sounded like they had outlived at least one person’s entire life? And if that was true they were a lot older than he had previously thought.

“You really need a name.”

When The Jersey Devil merely blinked in response Vlad continued. “We’re going to come up with a name for you. Right now.”

“We are!?”

“Yes. What kind of name do you want?”

“What kind can I have?”

Oh boy.

“Do you want a long one or a short one?”

“Short, so it’s easy for me to remember it.”

“Okay. Do you want it to start with any particular letter?”

“D? Or maybe J?”

Vlad listed off as many names as he could think of but none of them seemed quite right.

“Jude! That’s got a J and a D in it.”

“Jude?” The Jersey Devil took a few moments quietly repeating the name.

They did this every once in a while to test the names out but seemed to be doing it more with this one.

“Hey Jude?” Vlad said partly as a joke in reference to the classic song.

The Jersey Devil perked up in response.

The pair were equally surprised by that outcome.

“That’s it! It’s perfect! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” The Jersey Devil, no, Jude, said as they wrapped Vlad up in a big hug using both their arms and wings to fully engulf the pair. “Jude! Jude! My name is Jude!”

The reason Vlad ended up here might not have been anything he would have ever wanted, but he was glad at least he could make someone else feel better for once.

Maybe it wouldn’t be all bad here after all.

[theonceoverthinker]

Oh Gods, They ARE Roommates! (Fair Game Week Day 1 Submission)

Summary: When a leak springs in Qrow’s bedroom, Clover offers to share his room in the Ace Ops’ suite while the repairs are being done. Follow the shenanigans they and their friends get into as they navigate a scenario that just about everybody but Qrow and Clover themselves swear is straight out of a romcom and see if Qrow and Clover have such an ending in store for them. 

AO3

A/N: Here it is! My Day 1 Submission for @fairgameweek2021!!!! I figure a roommates story gels pretty well with the dual themes of sun and moon so here we go!

Shoutout to @drbtinglecannon who I’ve been screaming about this fic with for months now and who requested it as her gift for her 400 HC sweepstake prize!!!! I know it took nearly 100 days, but here you go!!!!

()()()()()()()()()()

CHAPTER 1

A leak.

A gods damned leak.

And a leak that he’d later learn only hit his room on top of it all.

Bad luck semblance or no bad luck semblance, that just wasn’t fair.

But regardless of whether or not it was fair, what it was was real and Qrow needed to do something about it.

From what Qrow gathered as he simultaneously observed the situation, got dressed, and tried to salvage anything previously left on the floor, the leak likely started last night while he was sleeping. Qrow slept right through its start and only realized it the next morning upon rising from his bed and feeling the very odd sensation of cold water greeting the heels and balls of his feet on the now wet ground.

Qrow was fortunate that most of his personal belongings had been spared the unwanted water’s wrath and those that were hit could be salvaged easily enough with some towels and just good old-fashioned sunlight. It still didn’t make the matter of his room flooding good though, just a bit more tolerable.

He couldn’t live like this.

Well, he probably could, but he sure as hell didn’t want to.

Qrow had slept in damp or even flat-out wet beds before under worse circumstances, and the smells of mold and mildew were not ones he ever wanted to make repeat appearances in his nostrils again.

Besides, it took forever to get the grime out of his hair.

No, Qrow needed a new living arrangement, and he needed it fast.

There was only one man he could go to to get that particular job done -- or at least get it done quickly -- and Qrow had no reservations whatsoever about paying that man a visit.

What a day this was shaping up to be...

It was a shame -- Qrow was actually getting used to his personal little corner of Atlas Academy. It was a comfortable enough space, not to mention private. He actually had a bit of space from the kids and while he enjoyed their company to some extent -- or at least, that was all he was willing to admit to anyone apart from himself -- after traveling side-by-side with them for weeks on end, the privacy that he gained from having a room to himself a little ways away from them was more appreciated than it wasn’t.

Well, maybe he’d get lucky and get a similar living situation again.

Of course, he often knew better than to hope for such things, but hey, he was trying to embrace optimism.

His nieces must have been rubbing off on him.

Perhaps someone else was, too.

Qrow found a custodian down the hall from his room and informed him of the leak on his way up to one of the academy’s elevators. An almost imperceptible movement jostled below Qrow’s feet as the elevator made its way up to Atlas Academy’s top floor.

Faces of varying degrees of familiarity met Qrow as he left the elevator and approached the likely location of his intended target. Qrow did what he could to starve off his own grouchiness, but by the time he had just one corner left to pass, the desire to do so had eroded away like footprints in a sandstorm.

And just in time to meet that grouchiness, James Ironwood was exactly where Qrow figured he would be.

James stood in the hallway right by his offices’ door, presently speaking to a couple of his soldiers. Whatever they were talking about, based on his slightly less rigid than usual posture and tone, it didn't seem like it was very important and probably wouldn’t keep him busy for too long.

That was good for the both of them, because Qrow intended to fill that void of business as soon as he could.

Qrow stayed by a nearby corner of the hallway while they continued talking, but the moment that the soldiers left James’ company, he struck. James gave him a small smile upon taking notice of Qrow, though it didn’t last long once he saw what was likely to Qrow a still very annoyed look on his face.

“Qrow,” James said, hesitantly, yet not without that professional tone he wore like a suit. “Always a pleasure.”

“Speak for yourself,” Qrow grunted. “A leak sprung in my room.”

A beat passed. James’ right brow raised.

“Bad?”

“I wouldn’t be here if it was good.”

“Fair enough,” James said right before releasing a sigh. “Come inside. I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Qrow nodded, and followed James as he led him into his office.

Once inside, James brought up on his projector a cubic holograph-like projection of Atlas Academy. From the other side of the hologram, Qrow could see that each and every room was outlined in a minimalistic way, with letters and numbers along the tops of them and the cube’s top and bottom squares greyed out. Qrow watched as James’ eyes surveyed each visible room on the square of the cube closest to him, muttering things to himself that were too low for Qrow to hear. Once done with the first visible section, James swished his hand so that the hologram would go to the next square of the cube, and then the third not long after it, and then the fourth not long after that. However, James' expressions and the tone of his muttering didn’t change at all across the four sections from what they were during the first one.

Honestly, Qrow couldn’t help but find that just a bit concerning.

When he was at last done, James moved his finger so that the second square on the cube he visited was brought up. While there was a look of unease on his face, Ironwood gave the screen a decisive nod.

Finally, frowning and seemingly just a tiny bit nervous, he turned to Qrow, took a deep breath, and spoke.

“There are no other single rooms right now, unfortunately,” James said. 

Looks like Qrow’s instincts were right again.

He frowned. Qrow had expected as much, but the news was still annoying to hear all the same.

“So what are my options?” he then asked, coming out more as a sigh than a question.

“What I can do is place you in one of the dorms, like where the kids are staying. You won’t be alone though. You’ll be with some of my other Huntsmen, but it’ll only be for a couple of weeks, at most.”

Great.

Two weeks rooming with up to -- and, knowing his luck, likely -- three of Ironwood’s men, hearing them go on and on about Gods knew what, dealing with the small dorm room’s litany of smells, and never getting so much as a moment to himself.

And there was, of course, always the chance that they could figure out the truth of his semblance.

Qrow hadn’t told that particular truth to a lot of people in Atlas, and though those he did hadn’t given him a hard time about it, he frankly was hoping the number of those who knew wouldn’t increase. However, Qrow knew it inevitably would come up sooner than later -- it always did, especially with Huntsmen -- and he was decidedly not looking forward to the reactions from his roommates over it, nor their treatment of him afterwards.

Wasn’t that just the perfect cherry to put on this pain of a sundae?

Still, Qrow reminded himself, it was something, and something was better than nothing. 

Qrow was about to begrudgingly accept the offer, but was interrupted before he could do more than open his mouth by the sudden sound of a man’s clearing cough from behind him. 

There was no need to wonder who it was -- the voice had become to Qrow as distinct as the feeling of the sun in the sky, and honestly, about as welcoming of a sensation.

Qrow turned around and lo and behold, just as he expected, there stood Clover Ebi -- bravado, charm, cheery disposition, and all.

Why did Qrow always seem to find his soul suddenly starting to feel just that smallest bit lighter these days whenever he showed up?

Eh, that was a question for another day.

For now, Qrow just wanted to know what it was he had to say.

If nothing else, it would at least make his day a bit more interesting rather than just the irritating mess it was turning out to be.

“Ah. Good morning, Clover,” James greeted.

“Good morning James, Qrow,” Clover said, walking up to them and shooting Qrow a tiny, yet kind glance as he did. “Sir, if you’ll allow me to interject, I don’t think that a dorm’s the best option for Qrow. Those beds are fine enough for the kids and some of our younger soldiers to be sure, but they’re none too kind on the back after a certain age, and I don’t think I need to tell you that like it or not, that’s an age we’ve all hit as well as surpassed by now.”

James sighed, giving Clover a slight nod. “You’re not wrong. So, what do you suggest we do? I’ve no other rooms to put him in.”

“That’s true, but thankfully, I do.” 

James’ brow furrowed for a second, clearly puzzled, before settling to something of a reserved curiosity. 

Clover gestured towards the holographic model that James visited a few moments ago, as if silently asking permission to use it. James nodded, and Clover took to the model, zooming in on one of the upper floors of the cube’s second square. Finally, he pointed his finger at one of the larger rooms.

“The Ace Ops’ suite has two beds per room,” Clover went on to explain, “and the bed across from mine is empty. They’re better built than those in the dorms, a bit larger in size, and I think Qrow will appreciate the privacy of only having one roommate as opposed to three. So, Qrow can stay there, if he wants, that is.” Clover then turned to Qrow. “What do you think?”

Qrow paused for a second. As Clover posed to Qrow his offer, Qrow heard a small, but unmistakably present twinge of hesitance in Clover’s voice. However, Qrow couldn’t figure out for the life of him why it was there. Whatever was the reason, it definitely wasn’t regret on his part about offering the room to Qrow -- James had clearly either forgotten or never heard of Clover’s extra bed, and Clover was more than smart enough to know that if he didn’t want to share his room, he wouldn’t have had to breathe a word about it, let alone offer it to Qrow, but he did.

So then what was the deal with the hesitance?

Well, there was one way to find out, and that opportunity was presently standing right there in front of him.

Besides, it didn’t take a genius to see that compared to three strangers, rooming with one Clover Ebi was a far better option.

It didn’t hurt that he was a pretty decent guy either.

“Yeah,” Qrow finally said. “That sounds good.”

Clover smiled. That bit of unease was still there, now in his eyes, but Qrow could tell that the smile itself was as genuine as it ever was and hard not to look at because of that.

“Great!” Clover said. “Why don’t I help move your things from your room to mine and we let James get back to some slightly more pressing matters?”

“That would be preferable,” James chimed in, answering for Qrow and smirking back at Clover.

“Always a pleasure,” Qrow snorted, calling back to James’ initial greeting as he followed Clover’s lead out of James’ office.

As they headed towards Qrow’s room, Qrow noticed that as it often happened, by this time of the day, much of the hustle of the morning had settled down, now just a student or a soldier here or there making their ways to their respective classes and drills.

Qrow liked the Academy at this part of the day for that, but always felt the least bit unsettled by the quiet of it. There was this weird echo the hallways had as they carried the sound of just his footsteps for just a second longer than he felt they should have.

Clover’s presence alleviated things somewhat, as if a bit of noise somehow subconsciously radiated off of him like heat off of a fireplace. He turned to Clover who gently met his eyes with his own while sporting an easy smile.

“Thanks, by the way,” Qrow said, “for the offer.”

“Happy to help,” Clover said.

“How’d you hear about it anyway?”

“I was walking by your room to see why you didn’t come down to grab your morning coffee, and saw a custodian working there,” Clover answered. “He told me what had happened and from there, I figured that you’d probably gone to speak with James.”

“And so you came to save your boss from a cranky old Qrow?” 

Qrow smirked, both at his comment as well as its underlying meaning. Maybe one day, he’d tell Clover the truth about his other form, but that would be on a day when he had so much as a single clue as to how to even start that conversation.

Then again, given the very nature of that confession, that might be a long time’s wait, though it was time that Qrow couldn’t help but feel like they had.

“And to save that Qrow himself,” Clover responded. 

Qrow’s smirk melted into a snarky smile as they entered the elevator. 

“Should I be swooning and calling you ‘my hero?’” Qrow nudged his head in Clover’s direction, clasped his hands together, and batted his eyelashes a couple of times just for good measure. 

“If you’d like,” Clover said, punching in Qrow’s floor number just before letting loose another one of his winks, winks Qrow was simultaneously well-used to by now but still caught off guard by. “I certainly wouldn’t object.”

The elevator door closed and the two of them started laughing. 

Clover’s laugh was infectious -- deep, attractive, casual, yet spirited -- and it made Qrow’s last a little bit longer than it otherwise would have for a joke like this.

It also reminded Qrow, as their barks of laughter settled down into rumbling chuckles, of how much Clover’s laughter contrasted that bit of hesitance in his voice he had at James’ office.

Well, Qrow figured that before they started the process of moving him into Clover’s room, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to clear that up.

“Everything okay, Clover?” Qrow asked. “Couldn’t help but notice that you seemed a little strange back up in James’ office.”

Clover's smile receded, not completely, but all the same into something more neutral. “By offering you the bed?”

“No, that was normal for you. I just noticed you just had this weird look in your voice as you were offering it.”

“I see.” Clover snorted. “You’re far too observant for your own good. You know that, right?”

A wicked smirk took over Qrow’s features. “Absolutely.”

Clover sighed. “I just didn’t want you to feel pressured into taking the room because it was me offering it or because James was there. I could only take a guess at what you wanted, but if I was wrong…” Clover seemed unable to continue, but able to tell that Qrow could understand his logic from there.

Qrow smiled at that bit of vulnerability Clover let him have. He’d received fragments of those bits here and there, and they had a way of sticking themselves onto Qrow’s heart like syrup on pancakes and feeling just as pleasant.

“You made a good guess,” Qrow assured, “and I appreciate it -- really, I do. Thanks, again.”

Clover’s smile brightened. “You know, you’re a lot better at giving compliments than you are at receiving them.”

“What can I say?” Qrow shrugged. “That’s just how I work.”

“Then I’ll just have to work that much harder to change that,” Clover challenged.

Qrow was starting to suspect that if anyone could accomplish such a feat, it would be Clover, and as they exited the elevator and continued towards Qrow’s room, Qrow realized that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

[tybalt-tisk]

Hi, Hey, Hello everyone! I have amazing for you all, @meli-writes, @synergetic-prose and myself have decided to come together to bring you all the most cheesiest, trope-heavy, tooth rooting fluuf, cliché ridden, Hallmark Christmas Movie inspired Shallura story ever. It was so much fun coming together to create this story, and we can’t wait to share more with you all. 

Our first chapter was written by the talented and gorgeous, @meli-writes! Enjoy!

..//~

..//Snow Castle Falls

“This is fine,” Allura said through clenched teeth.

She said those words, again and again, to herself up until she reached her car. Maybe if she kept repeating it, she could deceive herself into actually believing that it was true; this was fine. Everything was fine. She paused when she reached out towards the door handle when the light caught sight of the expensive engagement ring that burdened her hand.

Her brows slightly furrowed.

Lotor hadn’t called her this morning, and he probably wouldn’t until well after dinner. It was very likely he wouldn’t even notice her late arrival if she got on the road now. And if he did notice, he would surely understand that a call from the Bolivian Ambassador would take priority over catching her flight. Besides, he made a similar choice that morning when he decided to pursue a work opportunity and go to the ski resort where they were vacationing for the holiday a day early.

Without her.

She took in another deep breath. A mini winter road trip might be exactly what she needed to get her into a proper festive mood for their Christmas vacation.

Yes, this was fine.

This could work.

As she placed her designer bag in the passenger’s seat, a sparkle caught her eye, and she couldn’t help but once again admire the sweet snow globe she had nestled carefully in her bag. Inside stood a beautifully decorated Christmas tree with a red bow on top surrounded by colorful presents of different shapes and sizes. Carefully, she picked it out of her bag before she shook the tiny world. For the first time since this series of unfortunate events began, a genuine smile came to her face as the snow fell slowly around the beautiful scenery. Her secretary said it was on her desk with a note that read, “For Allura” in beautiful script penmanship when she arrived that morning.

Lotor must have left her this gift to make up for leaving early.

It warmed her heart to know that he at least went to the resort with a heavy heart about having to leave without her, and the sweet snow globe was a loving and thoughtful gesture. Most importantly, it meant that their relationship still had hope. They just both needed to put forward the initiative to work on...them. This was a good first step. It was a lovely gift, and while she wished she was on her first-class trip to the resort, this was fine. This beautiful snow globe would be the perfect companion for her impromptu holiday road trip.

This could work.

They could still work.

“This has to work,” she whispered, closing her eyes and touching her forehead against its glass. “Please make this work.” Making a Christmas Wish was something she hadn’t done since she was a child, but now she needed one more than ever. Her relationship was falling apart at the seams and she didn’t have much left to give. She was raised to be a fighter, but now, she wanted to do nothing more than to hang up the gloves.

Another deep breath was all she needed before she strapped in the snow globe with the seat belt to keep it safe. With a nod, she pressed the start button and listened to the white, mini SUV come to life. Now was the time to get into Vacation Allura mode and what better way to do that than with traditional Christmas music.

“Snowy, music please,” she said politely. She could already feel her spirits lifting.

“What station would you like?” Siri, whom she programmed to go by Snowy, asked smoothly in a deceptively human voice through the speakers of her car.

The glittery snow on her copilot’s tree gleamed and twinkled.

“Top Christmas Songs.” She winked back at the snow globe. “That’s what I was thinking, too.”

Festive cheer floated in the air around her and she hummed along as she drove. She didn’t even groan when she hit traffic on the bridge or roll her eyes when yet another car cut her off abruptly. Big Boss Allura might have gotten upset, but this was Vacation Allura with her holiday music, a peppermint mocha drink, and a promising winter getaway with her fiancé.

This was perfectly fine.

~

Read the rest on Ao3!

[fallenfurther]

An old trick

FAB-FIVE-FEB 2021 - Alan

Prompts used: balloon, beach

Finally written this one for @gumnut-logic FabFiveFeb challenge. I had the idea it just took a while to write it down. I’m still pondering over the other ones but I’ll get there eventually, no rush. This is all fluff (on paragraph of minor angst that any parent can relate too) but mainly lots of Alan being a fantastic uncle. Yep, Scott’s cute little boy has wiggled his way into yet another story. Enjoy!

********

Sally flicked through the clothes on the rack, scanning for something new for Gordon and Alan. Both children lived primarily in hand-me-down clothes, but after already being worn by three other boys, those clothes were starting to get threadbare and were falling apart. Most people shopped online these days, but Sally had been dragged out to the shops as a child and it had stayed with her. It was also much easier to get the right size in person.

On the other side of the rail, a red balloon bobbed along, bringing a smile to her face. It was an old trick she had use when Jeff was a child, as he had been prone to wander off, which she had used again with all her grandsons. Alan was still too young for school, so she’d had to bring him with her. Their first stop had been the balloon man, where she had let Alan select a helium balloon, which she had tied around his wrist. Sally could always make an accurate guess at which one her grandson would pick. In the absence of any rocket or space themed balloon, the reddest one would be chosen. Today was no exception, a simple red balloon had been favoured by the boy. That balloon allowed Sally to keep an eye on the wandering toddler. The balloon would bob along at her eye level, occasionally slipping out of view as Alan ducked under something, before appearing again a minute later. Sally hadn’t lost a boy in years using this method, though Gordon had given it his best shot a few times. Thankfully, even he would refuse to lose a fish-shaped balloon. The current red balloon floated around the corner of the rail and appeared to her left along with the blond boy attached to it. Alan was muttering to himself as he pottered along, eyes fixed on the shuttlecraft in his hands.

“Red rocket flies fast to the moon, and lands, and Daddy gets out, and he collects moon rocks….”

Sally knelt down so she was at her grandson’s level, the selected shirt in her hands. Those blue eyes left the toy and met hers.

“I don’t think your Dad’s rocket is red, young man.”

“It should be red.”

His innocence radiated out from his sweet little face and brought a smile to hers. Holding up the navy top, she let the boy judge the picture on the front. His mouth dropped at the sight of the cartoon rocket flying towards the moon.

“How about this one, Alan?”

*******

Alan watched his nephew whiz past on the rollercoaster train. Squeals of glee came from many of the kids and his nephew was one of them. His eyes were large with delight, grin almost reaching his ears as one arm waved enthusiastically at Alan. Alan waved back, a matching smile on his face despite having had both an elbow and bag dig into him in the past five minutes. It wasn’t the fastest coaster on the promenade, but it was the only one that his nephew could go on, and this was his third ride. The boy was so much like Scott. As the ride slowed towards the station, Alan wriggled his way through the mass of parents towards the exit. His nephew ran straight at him with open arms. Alan knelt as best he could in the crowd and gave the boy a hug.

“Again, Alan, again!”

“No more. I said it was the last time.”

The child’s lip puckered slightly, and Alan knew what was coming, though this time he had a plan. Before the situation deteriorated, Alan bargained.

“No more rollercoaster, however I did spot the teacups earlier. How about we go spin around really fast on them?”

“Really fast together?”

“Exactly, we can do it together.”

An enthusiastic nod was his nephew’s response as a small hand slipped into his. Alan gazed at the boy with a proud smile, gripping the hand tightly as he led them into the crowd. It had been Penelope’s idea to come to the beach with the boy and Alan agreed it was a great idea. Grandma and Penelope were enjoying one of Weston-super-Mare’s finest tearooms, while the boys had fun exploring all the old-fashioned attractions. Weston-super-Mare had once been a popular seaside resort and had been restored and embellished to reflect its heyday. It was now considered a fantastic family vacation destination. Alan hadn’t expected it to be this busy though. Rare, good weather had coincided with the school holidays leading to an increased number of visitors.

They continued forward gallantly, people jostling Alan’s shoulder as the rushed past the slower pair. When his nephew was once again knocked into him by another unapologetic patron, Alan knew he had to act. Slipping his hands underneath the boy’s arms, Alan lifted him into the air and onto his shoulder. Fists clenched clumps of Alan’s hair as happy feet banged against his chest.

“I can see lots.”

“Can you see the teacups?”

Alan gripped the boy’s ankles and started weaving at a faster pace. He tried not to bump against others and paid particular attention to the ground, so he didn’t hurt any children.

“No.”

It didn’t surprise Alan, the teacups were around the corner out of sight, but it got his nephew glancing around. Despite him being a little young for a lot of the rides, they were still having a great day. As they turned a bend a small hand waved and pointed in the top of Alan’s vision.

“Alan, horses.”

Following the outstretched arm, Alan could see a horseracing game. With no time limit, and his own curiosity piqued Alan headed over to the stall. An enthusiastic host was commentating on the progress of the nine metal horses as they jolted towards the finish line. Before them, nine people frantically rolled balls up stages towards coloured holes. The person at position five pocketed his ball in a blue ringed hole and horse number five moved forward. It was second in the race and almost at the end. Unfortunately, number three crossed the line to the sound of a ringing bell.

“Yay!”

Clapping came from the bouncing boy on Alan’s shoulders. People started to leave their seats as the horses reset to the start and Alan twisted to look up at his nephew.

“Want to give it a go?”

“Yes.”

Alan grinned as he took a seat at stage four. Number three was still occupied by the previous winner. Carefully, he lifted the child from his shoulder and settled him in his lap, shifting so the boy could reach the balls at the bottom of their run.

“Alright you lovely ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, all you gotta do is roll your balls up the run, so they fall in the coloured hole….”

The attendant came along as he spoke, and Alan tapped his watch to the card reader. Glancing down at his nephew, who had a ball in his hands, he braced his legs against the wood and slipped an arm firmly around the child’s waist. The ball was raised up into Alan’s face, making him twist away.

“See the coloured holes?” Alan pointed up the run, “when the bell rings, we have to get the balls into those holes. That will make our horse move. Our horse is the green one with the four on its side. We have to try get it to the finish line.”

Those blue eyes were locked on his as the child nodded, before wriggling as he reached forward with the ball. Alan picked up a ball with his free hand and held it at the bottom of their stage, ready to roll it at the holes. The bell sounded and they rolled their balls up the green felt. They both missed; Alans going too far and his nephew’s falling short.

“Grab another and try again,” Alan encouraged, holding out the third ball for his nephew. It was taken and rolled, tapping the side of the yellow ring before coming straight back to them. Alan grabbed another ball and rolled it up, pocketing it into a yellow hole. This nephew had another go, but this time Alan rolled another ball just after. When his nephew’s ball started rolling backwards Alan’s banged into it, bouncing it forward again and making it fall down a yellow hole. The boy bounced, clapped and giggled at the same time.

“Keep going. We can do it.”

Alan grinned as he rolled a ball up the stage and it went into a red hole, bring a cheer from his lap. They started to get into the swing of it, his nephew occasionally rolling a ball hard enough for it to teeter on the edge of the yellow rings. They were both having fun when the bell rang to signal a winner. Alan was a little sad it was over. Lifting his head, he could see their horse was in last place, but he’d learnt long ago it wasn’t always about winning. Their horse had moved. Pointing at it, he made sure his nephew knew how well they had done.

“Look how far our horse got!”

There was a gasp before those blue eyes were sparkling up at him with pure joy and longing.

“Again. Again.”

Alan laughed, holding out his watch to the attendant. Half the seats around them changed hands. Grabbing the balls, the pair were ready when the bell sounded. All Alan could hear were the giggles of his nephew as they rolled balls up the felt together. When the bell tolled, their horse was once again last, but it had moved further.

“Again. Again.”

“Last time, buddy. We still need to go find the teacups.”

“Yes!”

The toddler was already focused on the holes, ball in a poised hand. Alan had managed to get the feel of it, as well as getting into a rhythm, so was over the moon when their horse was third from last this time.

“Again.”

Alan shifted backwards, pulling the child away from the stage and prepared to stand.

“No. It’s time for the teacups.”

The pout came, as it always did. Apparently, it made the child resemble a younger version of himself, which explained why strangers often mistook Alan for the boy’s father. Before they could leave the attendant lent over the stage and held out a small cuddly bear to the boy.

“For being a good sport.”

“What do you say?”

His nephew had the bear in his clutches, the pout having been replaced with a smile.

“Thank you.”

A large, dimpled grin was projected at the attendant, who chuckled and waved goodbye as they left. Heading into the ever-bustling crowd was much less fun. Alan was elbowed almost immediately but he could just about see the teacups between the people. As they made their way through a crossroads in the stalls, a bag was thrust into Alan and he instantly let go of his nephew’s hand to push it away.

“Hey, watch it.”

“Sorry mate,” was grumbled back, the owner walking away without a second thought.

Alan glanced down, hoping to grab his nephew’s hand, only for his heart to stop. He twisted left and right, eyes searching for the boy. It had only been a second, yet he was gone. People continued to push past as panic started to build. He couldn’t lose him. Alan called out the boy’s name, moving here and there around the streams of people. There were so many children, so many small faces he had to scan to find the one he wanted. As the seconds ticked by, worry descended over Alan. He called out again, straining his ears against the noise around him.

“Alan!”

It was a quiet cry, but it was all Alan needed. He headed towards it, and sure enough, there was his nephew, tears streaking his cheeks and falling into the fur of the teddy clutched to his chest. Alan grabbed him, pulling the boy into a fierce hug as relief flooded him. Alan fought the tears that threated to fall from his own eyes.

“It’s okay, buddy. I got you.”

Scanning around, he tried to get his bearing and let himself calm down. His eyes caught a glint of sunlight and his gaze settled on its source. A memory came to mind. Carrying his nephew, he headed back into the fray.

******

A lovely girly afternoon tea with Lady Penelope was just what Sally had needed after being on the island for so long. Penelope was always good company, and it made a welcome change from her grandsons. Refreshed and relaxed, the pair headed down to the seafront with Parker in toe, to find the boys. Alan had messaged her their location, thankfully with enough unique details for them to easily find their way. He had become a fine young man.

Sally’s eyes scoured the seafront as they neared the stated location. She smiled when she spotted them, her heart melting at the picture. Alan was sitting on a bench with his nephew in his lap, both eating ice cream as they looked out over the sand. Matching smiles on their faces confirmed they had had a good time too. What surprised her most was the two balloons floating above them, gently tapping each other in the light breeze. The silver rocket attached to her great grandson made perfect sense, what child didn’t love a helium balloon? But the simple red one attached to Alan’s wrist puzzled her slightly. It sent her back in time to the young boy who always chosen red. Maybe he remembered it too.

[kayparker20]

To Honor Sensei Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - A Visit and Some Advice

FFN | AO3

Naruto screamed and wailed. It was three in the morning, what could possibly be wrong? Kakashi hopped out of bed and ran over to the crib and easily picked up Naruto and cradled him in his arms.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you…” Kakashi cooed softly. He went back to sit on his bed. He gently rocked himself back and forth like Kurenai had guided him to do. 

Kakashi seemed to have gained a never ending headache ever since he adopted Naruto. Sometimes he wondered how parents dealt with this so… Easily. He knew just as well as anyone that all babies cried. In fact, Naruto wasn’t the only baby in town. There was a whole new generation. Every clan had a baby and they were all around the same age, give or take a couple of months now. 

He remembered a few weeks ago now, he had asked the Third what Naruto’s last name would be. Namikaze or Uzumaki? Hatake…? Kakashi frowned when one of his friends suggested that he never wanted to take credit for that. Names were important, and Naruto was not of the Hatake clan, and he never wanted to burden the shame he lived with to Naruto. They had decided that Uzumaki would have been the best bet, for his safety, and to keep the knowledge that he was Minato's son secret.

He thought Naruto Uzumaki had a nice ring to it, he supposed. At least he actually was from that clan, right?

Naruto’s cries had finally stopped, but he was beginning to realize a pattern that if he put him back in the crib at this point, he would just start again.

The teen laid back on his bed against his pillows and cradled Naruto in one arm against his side. He picked his book back, unfortunately it was a parenting help book, not a novel.

He continued reading it, finding that babies require physical comfort and affection often. 

Maybe that’s why he cries so much, because I only hold him when it is necessary…

He set the book down and curled on his side and held Naruto close, before falling asleep himself. This time, he didn’t get woken up until morning.

A thudding sounded on his door that roused him instantly. No one ever showed up at his apartment besides Kurenai, and that was only recently to help him with Naruto. He made sure Naruto was secure in the middle of his mattress, laying a pillow on either side of him. 

He went over to the door and opened it. “You’re definitely not Kuren-” His eyes widened in surprise.

A man who was twice his size stood in his doorway and his long, white, uneven hair pulled back in a ponytail that went down his back. He looked so much like Kakashi’s father. 

He knew he had seen this man before, the red markings down his face were so distinct, but he couldn’t place him at first.

“Yeah, you’re the ANBU kid that Minato trained, that for sure!” The man said cheerily and smiled. 

Then his eyes widened as he remembered. “Jiraiya-sensei…?” 

“That’s me!” He chuckled. “I wondered if you would have remembered me or not, it’s been awhile.” 

Kakashi nodded. “I do now. The Hokage said you’d be here soon a couple weeks ago.”

Jiraiya nodded before his smile faded. “I tried to be here for the funeral, but…”

Kakashi shook his head. “Please, don’t…” The copy nin ground his jaw together. “I don’t want to talk about funerals…” He turned into the apartment to hide the tears trying to form. “You can come in, Naruto is over here.”

He walked over and changed the infant’s diaper, unphased by the process now as he had done it so many times at this point. He cleaned Naruto up before redressing him in clothes he had tailored, bearing the Uzumaki emblems.

Jiraiya nodded softly and followed.

He watched as Kakashi gently lifted the infant, about four months old now, into his arms so carefully. He couldn’t believe someone so young had been willing to take care of an infant, even more shocking to see the kid give up ANBU for it.

He watched how caring he looked at Naruto, how much love he held for the little boy. He silently wondered if Naruto is what kept him from becoming jaded and cold. He knew what the kid had been through. Ninja often had tragic lives, but not one quite as tragic as his for as young he still was.

“There’s something calming about children, isn’t there?”

Kakashi scoffed lightly. “Maybe when they aren’t wailing at ungodly hours of the night.” He gave a pointed look at Naruto. “Kurenai got me all these books to read, and one of them said last night that babies need physical comfort.” 

Jiraiya’s heart felt for the boy as he watched the insecurity build up in his expression. “Kakashi, it’s not anything special or to stress about. They just want to be held.” 

He walked over and gently took Naruto from him. “How are you making money right now?”

Kakashi shrugged. “The Third is giving me a small sum to care for him. I can’t go on missions anymore because…”

I don’t have family to watch him…

“I know, don’t pain yourself, kid.” Jiraiya said softly as he stared at Naruto. “He’s a spitting image of Minato…”

Kakashi nodded. “I… thought that I’d be able to ask people to watch over him but…” An angry flare flashed in the boy's eyes. “The villagers are terrified of him. They steer clear of me and my friends whenever we come around. Even the traders give him odd looks…” 

“I see…” Jiraiya frowned. 

“They call him a demon…” Kakashi said, the anger clear in his voice now. 

“People fear what they don’t understand…”

Kakashi nodded. “My friend’s have helped here and there, and that’s when the hokage started the sum. I had lots of money put back, but…”

“Children are expensive, you don’t have to tell me. You don’t know her, but one of my teammates took care of her little brother, and she always spent her money on him.”

Jiraiya watched the boy as he moved around the apartment, going to the kitchen and preparing a bottle. He walked it over to Jiraiya. “If he doesn’t eat soon, he may start that incessant sobbing again…”

Jiraiya nodded. “I’m here for a short time. I wanted to ensure the child was safe, and meet him. You’re very brave to take on his care, and Minato would be so proud of you…” Jiraiya ruffled the boy’s head before handing him back to the infant. “Whatever money comes from my books, will be sent to you from now on.”

Jiraiya went to the door, but looked back at them once more. “If you need help watching him down the road, I would suggest asking people who are in the clans. They may still fear him, but they have an obligation to keep clans within the village safe, and maybe someone should remind them that includes the Uzumaki, and the son of our beloved Fourth Hokage.” He smirked softly. “Learn to use your advantages to your will, and not just in battle. You’d make a good intimidating big brother.” 

And then he walked out of Kakashi’s apartment.

He sat at the table in his kitchen as he bottle fed Naruto.

The young infant ate silently. His eyes were wide with wonder. Kakashi wondered if the child had been excited to see a new face. He usually only ever saw himself, or his few friends and the hokage.

“I hope Minato-sensei and Kushina think I’m doing a good job…” Kakashi mumbled softly before taking the now-empty bottle from the boy’s mouth. 

He proceeded to burp Naruto after grabbing one of the cloths Kurenai brought over, explaining he should wear it over his shoulder in the case he threw up.

The whole idea grossed Kakashi out, but he’d rather have to clean a towel rather than himself. He also supposed there were worse thing he could be covered in…

As if on cue he heard it before it even came out of Naruto’s mouth.

“Gross…” Kakashi sighed before grabbing a wipe and cleaning his face, walking him over to the crib and laying him down in there.

His nose twitched from the smell of vomit and he went to the bathroom to rinse off the cloth with hot water before throwing it in the bin of dirty clothes.

Big brother…

The words Jiraiya had said came back to him once more. He constantly thought of how he should explain what he was to Naruto when he got older. It wouldn’t make sense to act like some random kid took him in. He had planned to tell Naruto all about how the Fourth Hokage was his sensei and how great he was, but he couldn’t tell him that Naruto was his son, so where did he come in?

He realized he had already seen Naruto as family, because he was Minato-sensei's son. And him and Kushina really did treat them as if  his squad were their kids on some occasions…

All the memories that flooded back then made his heart ache. 

He missed so many things, like Kushina cooking breakfast or dinner, sometimes both, for the whole squad. Sometimes even just himself, because he had no one else. It seemed very possible that if they had all lived, Naruto would have been raised to think of them elder siblings, and they certainly would have treated him that way.

Especially Rin… 

Kakashi sighed before going back to the crib. “How’s a walk sound, Naruto? Maybe we’ll see the third again.”

He quickly and now efficiently dressed Naruto for the cold outside, being mid January. They had very mild winters here, being such a warm part of the world. It’s not like they weren’t called Fire Country for a reason.

He packed up his blankets and held Naruto in one arm, the stroller in the other. He lazily strolled out of their home and onto the sidewalk, setting the stroller down. He arranged Naruto in it and made sure he was covered properly. He then pushed the stroller along after handing Naruto one of the many teethers he had found.

He liked this one in particular because it was shaped like a shuriken. However, when Guy brought it to him, he was concerned he would teach Naruto that you could chew on the real weapons. Kurenai assured him he could explain the difference later.

It was comical to Kakashi to watch the baby chewing on a plastic ninja star. He sometimes wondered if he had similar things when he was child.

He thought about how Naruto should grow up with friends. He really wanted him to have people in his life. Even if it were just a select few, like how he had Kurenai, Guy and Asuma. 

The Akimichi clan were always kind. He hadn’t noticed Choza giving any odd looks, and he used to be Guy’s sensei. 

He smiled before heading in the direction of the Akimichi compound. He knocked softly on the door. It wasn’t long before Choza answered.

“Kakashi..? Now that’s quite the surprise. Are you and Guy still rivalling?” He chuckled softly.

“He tries.” Kakashi said plainly. He scratched the back of his head. “I uh… I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you? I-If it’s not too much trouble…”

Choza gazed down at Kakashi a moment, seeing something different in him than before. He glanced over at the infant in the stroller beside Kakashi, a smile grazing his lips. “Wow… He looks so much like him.”

“Huh…?” Kakashi followed his gaze before realizing that Choza was gazing at Naruto. He gave an eye crease. “Oh, yes. He takes after Minato-sensei… A lot.” 

Kakashi realized he never asked anyone for anything, and suddenly felt stupid. He just randomly appeared on a ninja’s door he barely spoke to in his life. This looks so… Pathetic. And who's to say he doesn’t feel the same? What if Choza feels the same contempt towards Naruto as everyone else.

Then he felt even more stupid as he realized there was no way. He watched the way Choza looked down at Naruto, with kindness and admiration. No hatred, and he didn’t think he saw fear in those eyes.

“What brought you here today, Kakashi?” Choza looked back at the young jounin. “You’re not one to just show up unannounced and without a purpose… Or well, at all in my case.”

Kakashi laughed nervously. “Uh, well…” He watched as Choza turned his gaze back to Naruto as the child squealed with delight at something. “You know… You’re one of the only people who haven’t looked at with-”

“Fear? Hatred? Anger?” Choza cut in, suggesting all the ways he had seen the village look at the boy. 

Kakashi’s eyes widened, but he nodded. 

“Kakashi, I know just as well as you, that this village was saved by that child. I have no reason to hate him. And as for fear, that’s quite a powerful seal, and he is not the first jinchuriki in this village, as our village seems to forget.” 

Kakashi stared at him, not sure what he was supposed to say. “Th-Thank you, Choza-sensei…” He looked at Naruto, happiness glimmering in his eyes. “I… I actually was here to ask something, a favour.” 

Choza smiled. “You have no need to be nervous, what do you need?”

Kakashi took a deep breath. “I thought I’d be able to do occasional missions, and someone would watch him, but then I realized that wasn’t going to happen.” He sighed. “Lord Third gives me a sum to take care of him, but it's not quite enough, and also, I hate feeling like I’m being paid to take care of… my little brother.”

Choza smiled wide. “Well, why didn’t you just say so. I only go on missions with my squad. I’d gladly watch him, and my wife would as well in my absence.” He laughed and picked Naruto up. “Choji could use more friends anyway, even. He could play with Shikaku and Inoichi’s children too as he grows up.”

Kakashi's eyes widened as he watched how Choza picked Naruto up, just as open and welcoming as Jiraiya had. “I won’t be doing anything super dangerous. I was relieved from ANBU before the war, and Minato-sensei didn’t want me to go back and then… It was just me left.”

Choza turned his kind eyes to Kakashi, understanding. “Kakashi, it has never, nor will it ever be just you. You have more people in your life than just your… beloved team.”

“Dad!” A young, chubby toddler with red hair came crawled into the doorway, looking up at the elder Akimichi.

“Ah, Kakashi, this is my son, Choji. He’s about five months older than Naruto.”

Kakashi waved slightly.

Choza knelt down and picked up Choji, a baby in each arm. “Choji, this is Naruto. He’s gonna be around every so often now. I think you’ll make good friends now.” He looked to Kakashi. “Why don’t you go get a mission now? I’ll keep Naruto and get him acquainted with the rest, hm?”

“Uh…” Kakashi stammered. “Y-Yes, sensei.”  He smiled, his eyes creasing. “Thank you, so much.” 

He had known the man was kind, but he still expected at least some apprehension from him. He just seemed shocked that Kakashi had approached him. He walked away from the house, back to his home. He packed some of Naruto’s things, his favourite toys and clothes to take back over to Akimichi's home. 

He then gathered up his old mission bag and filled it with his weapons and scrolls alike. He would pick up food rations on his way out if he did end up with a mission.

He was so happy to see how easily Naruto was accepted by Choza, he was just a child, like any other child. Just like he wanted for Naruto to have a family. He would always be there for him, but if Naruto was anything like Minato-sensei, he would have many friends and be liked, if people could see past the circumstances of his birth.

[wreathedinscales]

shoutout to @grogusdads for their 100% accurate headcanon about Din Djarin being Ultimate Dad as Mand’alor. we’ve never talked, but you share many headcanons with me :D

anyway here’s din realizing, oh wait, he’s actually a??? ruler???? :O

()

1. Guards?

Without Grogu, Din makes it his purpose to help reclaim Mandalore. And attempt to provoke Bo-Katan into challenging him.

This time, he thinks, he's got her.

"Do you know anything about ruling?" Bo-Katan snaps.

Din once again holds out the Darksaber. "You're welcome to do it yourself."

But no. She just rolls her eyes and tries once again to fix his posture. Because apparently just standing straight does not a ruler make.

Mandalorians answer the call. Not all of them, but enough to start rebuilding. Din doesn't know about ruling, but he can organize a few supply runs and a roster. He takes mental notes of names, strengths and weaknesses. Nothing he hasn't done before.

About two weeks into this, Din notices two Mandalorians following him. Both have predominantly red armor with identical wing-shaped markings on their helmets. Kai and Kol, Din's inner records supply, sisters who grew up in a covert not quite as traditional as Din's, but their background is similar enough that Din's found common ground with them. They're some of the best at stealth, great for off-planet supply runs.

Din looks around at the small crowd. It's still somewhat staggering, seeing so many Mandalorians in broad daylight. He still catches himself scanning for Imps.

"Inventory's still scattered, and you're light on your feet," he says, "See what you can find in the palace."

For once, the sisters don't nod and walk off. Instead, they glance at each other, then look back at din with helmets tilted.

"We already have a task," Kai says slowly.

"Then why are you following me?"

They share another glance.

"We are your guard," Kol says, matching her sister's voice.

Din's so surprised he says, "What?" Then he shakes his head and adds, "Did Bo-Katan put you up to this?"

"She approached candidates," Kai says, "We volunteered first."

Din puts his hands on his hips. He's genuinely at a loss. "Why?"

They're attracting a small audience. The sisters' stunned silence doesn't help.

"You are Mand'alor," Kol replies blankly, "Our planet is not without dangers. We must protect you."

...oh.

Hm.

"Your efforts are best suited helping rebuild," Din tries, "I don't see any danger getting past all of us." He gestures to the rubble that was once the capital. "Help our people first."

More silence. For the first time in years, Din actively stops himself from fidgeting.

It becomes quickly apparent that they are not moving. But guards not listening to him is something he's used to.

"Okay, how about one of you stays with me?"

Kol and Kai stare a bit more. Then they bow, and Kai heads to the city.

"Okay," Din says again, "I guess if you're staying close, you might as well help me look over our supplies. We're still short on materials."

He turns on his heel and hopes everyone will stop staring. Fortunately, inventory takes focus. After some hesitation, Kol shoulders her staff and joins him.

Two hours later, Din is satisfied he's done all he can. He passes the datapad to Hrush, who's unofficially record-keeper with how quick they are at it. Their brain's the size of Mandalore, and their fingers fly over the screen.

Next batch.

Din looks over his shoulder. With any luck, Kol will have caught the hint and gone back to work.

He finds another Mandalorian walking beside her. Jaz, fought in the Purge, follows Bo-Katan's version of the Way, Fennec-level shot with her two blasters. Her muscles make her tower over Kol.

Din stops. They stop with him.

He sighs. "Fine. Jaz, you can lift two crates at a time, yes?"

Jaz balks a bit. After a moment, she says, "Yes, Mand'alor."

"Good. Kol, get those open while Jaz and I get the rest. You can. Multitask."

Din would really, really like everyone to stop staring.

2. Palace?

"What?"

Bo-Katan raises an eyebrow. "The Mand'alor needs his throne."

They're standing outside the palace ruin, Bo-Katan's helmet under her arm and Din glad his own hides his no doubt stupid expression. Kai and Kol are, unfortunately, still following him.

"Why the hell would I want a palace?" Din asks. "We're almost done the compound. There's plenty of room."

"Yours isn't ready yet."

"I don't need a suite, Kryze. As long as I can fit, a bunk and a door will be fine."

"You are Mand'alor."

"I am Mandalorian." It's taken a bit for him to come to terms with that, after the light cruiser. But everyone else sure sees him as one, which has helped. "A door and a bunk. No. Palace."

Hrush is quiet when Din approaches them with dimensions for his bunk. He's been sleeping with various clans and families so far, and it's worked out alright. Those who don't follow the Watch's Way respect his helmet. But a bit a privacy would be nice, and if Bo-Katan insists on him having his own room, well.

"I know materials are low," Din says, "Prioritize others first. This can wait."

Hrush is a small spitfire. They are still quiet.

Din waits a beat before nodding. The training yards still need a lot of attention. He heads there next.

That night, he checks the compound's roster. There are still two groups he hasn't imposed on yet. Their community is growing. It makes him smile.

"Mand'alor?" Kai says.

Din turns and waves his hand. "You can, uh, bunk down. I'll see if Clan Gon has floor space."

Even though, for some reason, people keep insisting Din take a cot, he's won through stubbornness so far. His back hates him, but it's not the first time they've been at odds.

A familiar huff joins them. "Mand'alor," Hrush says, "your room is ready. All the way down, to the left."

"...oh."

Well, at least they've finally given up on the suite.

"Thank you," Din says.

Hrush's helmet tilts, like they're about to say something. Din waits, but whatever they had wanted to say turns into, "Good night, Mand'alor."

Din inclines his head. "Same to you."

"What the hell."

This is not a bunk. This is. This is a full on apartment.

"I said no suite."

"It isn't a suite, Mand'alor," Kai says. She actually sounds amused. "It meets your specifications."

Din turns to her and crosses his arms. The room is huge, with a damn kitchenette, table, and private fresher. The cot isn't a cot, but a full on double bed. Din doesn't even know where all this stuff came from.

"You asked for a door," Kol says.

"I asked. For. A. Bunk. This is a waste of supplies we haven't got."

"Mand'alor, we provided the bare necessities." Kai seems seconds away from laughing.

"A double bed is not a necessity. Switch it with," Din thinks a second, "Clan To. The alors need support for those limps, and their Foundlings can use the extra cot."

The sisters look at each other. Din wishes they'd stop doing that.

"As you wish," they say.

"But it's too late now," Kai adds, "Clan To retired before you."

"Tomorrow, then."

"When would you like us to do it?"

Din shakes his head. "I'll do it myself. I can lift this."

"...certainly, Mand'alor."

3. Personal Space?

Since the fresher isn't going anywhere, Din figures, fuck it, he might as well use it. It's been a pain getting up extra early for the communal space anyway. Even if the space is working just fine, Bo-Katan.

When he's freshly dressed, he reenters the main room to find Jaz setting down one of Clan To's cots.

"Your time is better spent elsewhere," Din says firmly.

"Of course, Mand'alor," Jaz replies.

Well, Din's used to a bit of mocking. What's done is done. "Then help me move the rest of this to the communal space. I just need the caf."

"Mand'alor, with respect, I will not remove necessities from your room." Jaz shifts her weight. "This will make it easier for you to follow your Way. We wish to respect your helmet."

It's reasonable. Din would be lying if he said he didn't miss his privacy. But he'd rather sacrifice some personal bubble for a Foundling's future than have this.

"Would you not do the same for another?" Jaz asks quietly.

Din sighs. "Fine. If any who follow my Creed want to use this room, let them know it's open. I'll put a lock on the door."

"A lock will be installed in an hour," Jaz says.

"Okay. We'll spread the word."

"...as you wish, Mand'alor. I'll leave you to your first meal."

Quiet follows Jaz. Complete, utter quiet.

Wow. Din...has really missed this.

He looks around. There are no windows. People won't barge in. He can trust fellow Mandalorians.

Cautiously, Din removes his helmet. The quiet is still there.

He did sleep better last night. Maybe he can let himself have this.

4. Respect?

Din whirls around, spear out, just in time for Kol and Kai to take the attacker down.

Having guards is weird, but convenient.

Din studies the Mandalorian. Armor similar to Fett's, not enough for the resemblance to be startling, as it is painted blue and yellow. Goboz, young, cocky but well-meaning, best at hand-to-hand, needs more gun training.

Caju and Vadde of Clan To are in front of Din in a second, blasters raised. It makes Din warm.

"What business have you, attacking our Mand'alor?" Kai demands coldly.

"The Darksaber," Goboz says.

Din gently pushes Caju and Vadde aside. "You're barely 23, kid. Why do you want to rule?"

Goboz starts. "How do you know how old I am?"

Din cocks his head. "You told me when we met. If you can't remember that, what makes you think you're fit to lead?"

He's not angry. But Goboz did not issue an honorable challenge. He clearly has not studied the Way enough. Din will have to have a word with his buir. No matter how old they get, a child deserves guidance.

(Child. No, not the time. Not the place.)

Din puts his hands on his hips and says calmly, "If you wish to challenge me to the Darksaber, do so honorably. This is the Way."

Voices echo, "This is the Way."

Goboz averts his helmet. "...this is the Way."

Din nods. "Let him up."

Kai and Kol step back. They keep their spears level in warning.

"Now," Din says, "do you want to challenge me?"

Goboz nods.

"As challenger, choose your weapon."

As expected, Goboz replies, "Hand-to-hand."

"Fine. I accept." Din scans the crowd. "Kryze. Since you won't challenge me, you can oversee this."

Bo-Katan's lip quirks. "Certainly, Mand'alor."

"Meet me in the training yard in ten," Din says, "I need to finalize the Foundlings' training rosters."

Goboz looks cowed. Din waits for him to walk off before turning back to Hrush.

They meet without weapons in the center. Goboz bounces lightly on his feet. Din finds himself looking forward to this. It's been too long since he's had a good fight.

Bo-Katan widens her stance. "Begin."

Goboz swings first. Din parries and goes for his blind spot. He's blocked and pushed, but he stands his ground. It soon becomes apparent that Goboz doesn't mind his legs nearly as much as he should. He's good, very good. Just not good enough.

Din trips him, shoving a knee on his chest and pinning his arms. Goboz nearly throws him off. Nearly.

"Do you yield?" Din hisses.

Goboz struggles valiantly. But he sees he's beaten. He goes limp. "I yield."

"The Mand'alor is the winner," Bo-Katan announces. The crowd cheers.

Din helps Goboz up. Goboz says, "I thought you'd be more aggressive. I did you a dishonor."

"You did yourself and your clan a dishonor," Din retorts, "You clearly know better, Goboz."

Goboz's shoulders hunch slightly. "Yes, Mand'alor." He puts a fist to his chest and bows. "I will accept whatever punishment you deem fit."

Din tilts his head. "You learned from your mistake. I hold no grudge against you. Go to your buir for punishment."

Goboz makes himself even smaller, showing his age. The next "Yes, Mand'alor" is more of a grumble.

Din revels in the buzzing of his muscles and gets back to work.

Goboz's buir, Imni, approaches him later that afternoon.

"I apologize for Goboz's behavior," she says, "I thought I taught him better."

Din shrugs. "He's young. Kids don't always listen."

Imni huffs. "You are wise, Mand'alor."

"Just experienced. My." Din swallows. "My own Foundling liked to get his paws into trouble."

Imni inclines her head. "I heard you returned him to his kind."

"I did. Now I have other Foundlings to look after."

"You honor us, Mand'alor."

Din shakes his head. "This is the Way."

"This is the Way." Imni sounds like she's smiling.

5. Children?

"They're a bounty hunter," Din explains for the umpteenth time.

"They tried to assassinate you," Bo-Katan replies for the umpteenth time.

"I've done worse in their shoes."

"But you're not in their shoes anymore. You are Mand'alor."

"I'm still a hunter."

"You are Mand'alor."

Din looks to Senator Organa, who's trying not to laugh. She resembles the Jedi strongly; it had been a shock to know the Huttslayer is Grogu's teacher's twin sister. He now knows the Jedi is called Luke Skywalker. He'd been about to find out more when a sniper got him right between the beskar.

He'll be fine, especially with the fancy tech on Coruscant. It's practically a five star treatment compared to Din's usual experience. Only now Bo-Katan is insisting the hunter be put on trial or something.

Din tries again. "Let's just talk. Find out who hired them."

"They won't leave without their reward," Bo-Katan says.

"They might be Guild. I can get in touch with Karga, get them another job."

Bo-Katan looks at him with the slightly narrowed eyes of a person who's looking at an absolute moron. Din doesn't feel like he deserves that, thank you.

"You want," she says, "to get your would-be assassin another job."

"Might not be as high, but they seem like they can take on more than one. They're capable."

Bo-Katan mouths capable. She looks to Organa as if pleading for patience.

Organa clears her throat. "Mand'alor. Would you feel the same if one of your people was shot?"

The anger is sharp and sudden. Din breathes through it. "I'm supposed to protect them. It's not the same."

Bo-Katan gestures to him. "You see what I have to deal with?"

Din balks. Organa stops fighting her grin.

"I think we should take this to the conference room," Organa says, "If the Mand'alor feels able."

Din stands without wobbling and motions for her to lead the way. He waves to a stiff Kai and Kol, and they settle behind him.

The conference room is full of seething Mandalorians.

"You guaranteed our Mand'alor's safety!" Jaz bellows, hands flat on the table. "You go back on your word so easily?"

Caju is coiled to strike. "It was a mistake to come here. We should have known better."

These are but two voices among the throng. The other senators are various shades of pale and flushed, some trying to calm the situation while others are yelling back.

"Don't suppose you can help?" Organa asks sardonically.

Din sighs. He draws his spear and hits it against his vambrace. The room cuts off mid-shout.

"Have we found out who hired them?" Din asks.

One of the senators, a human male whose hair is mussed from running his fingers through it, says, "Yes."

"And where is the hunter?"

"Captured," Vadde replies tightly, "Alive."

Din nods and heads for the nearest seat. He pauses when the Mandalorians part for him, showing the head of the table. He awkwardly changes course.

"Tell me about the employer."

"You're what."

Din punches the code for the cell. "I got you some new pucks. Together, it should be close to what this job would've paid." The door opens. "I'll go with you to your ship, make sure they let you pass."

The hunter's frog eyes stare widely. Din wonders if their species ever blink.

"You are a world leader," the hunter says, "I tried to kill you."

"So I've been told."

"You realize you should be executing me, right? Or at least sending me to max prison?"

Din huffs. "I've been told that too. I've also been a bounty hunter. You don't seem like you have close ties with your employer, which means you're only in it for the money. You're not a threat to my people."

"I could be."

"Then I'll kill you." Simple, matter-of-fact. "Do you want me to? I can think of at least a dozen ways right now."

The bounty hunter finally blinks. "...no."

"Then let's go. Sooner we get you going, the sooner I can get back to getting coordinates for my kid."

The hunter takes a few hesitant steps. Kai and Kol are pillars of ice, but they don't attack. Din starts walking.

"So, uh. The rumors about your Foundling are true?" the hunter says.

"Yep."

"Huh. You're, uh. I mean, you seem like a good dad, then."

Din's throat goes tight. "He's with his kind now. I am no longer as his father."

"...oh," the hunter croaks.

A beat.

"He is father to his people," Kol snaps.

Din whips around so fast his neck nearly cracks. Kol raises her chin, as if daring him to argue.

"We..." Din slowly starts walking again, "we take care of each other."

"You take care of us, Mand'alor," Kai says firmly.

After a few more paces, the hunter says, "I actually feel a little bad for trying to kill you."

Din huffs a laugh, still reeling. "Thanks."

As he watches the hunter take off, Din murmurs, "You honor me."

Softly, Kai says, "It is what you deserve, Mand'alor."

"And," Kol adds, "it's fun to watch when people realize you're not angry, just disappointed."

Kai shoulders her spear to put her hands on her hips, bending slightly at the waist and cocking her head. Din realizes as Kol laughs that she's imitating him. His cheeks burn when he also realizes he's halfway to putting his hands on his hips too.

When she's calmed down, Kol puts a hand on Din's shoulder. "You are as our father, Mand'alor. Let us care for you in turn."

Din has to take at least half a minute to steady himself. He's still hoarse when he says, "You can't shoot the ship."

The sisters sigh.

[red-the-dragon-writes]

Today's post is not on the usual "writer blog fare" side. Instead I am going to introduce you to several fun facts about various animals on our planet and then talk about worldbuilding.

1. Lampreys are a kind of "living fossil"- a not-really-so-scientific term for a creature that has lived unchanged for a very long time, so long that we have fossils of them looking the same way they do now. They don't have proper jaws, just a circular sucking mouth with teeth set into it and a tongue designed to strip flesh off of what it touches. They're finless fish, look quite a bit like eels, and have this really alien, uncanny vibe to them.

[id: a long, slender bluish-silver lamprey sitting among rocks. It has a long snout, an eye, and then six small perforations in its side arranged at an even interval sitting behind the eye. The environment it is sitting in is very yellow and green in comparison. end id]

[id: an image of a lamprey from below. The snout ends in a round, flat mouth which is studded with teeth in four concentric circles. The teeth are smallest near the outer edge and largest in the middle, and look like very sharp round points. In the center of this ring is another, smaller circle, where the pointed, tooth-like tongue can be seen, as well as a hole for the lamprey to actually ingest food with. Its eye is visible, as are some of the perforations on its side. This one is a more mottled gray than the first one was, and less shiny. end id]

Sea lampreys, which are the kind i've sort of not really kinda researched, are a major pest in the Great Lakes, where they regularly attack fish. They can get up to two feet in length. Despite this, they are not particularly dangerous towards humans.

2. Horseshoe crabs are also "living fossils." They've been around and virtually unchanged for millions of years. They're not true crabs, and are more closely related to chelicerata species, like spiders and scorpions (and many more). There are a lot of cool features of horseshoe crabs, but one of their most extremely cool, to me, is their blood.

I'm not going to post any images of what I consider to be animal cruelty, so you'll have to take me at my word here, but this is a bottle of horseshoe crab blood. If you're sensitive to images of animal cruelty, I don't recommend looking for proof, but if you aren't, there are plenty of images of the blood coming out of the creature for you to verify this with.

E[id: a bottle of slightly frothy, opaque blue liquid. It is sitting in a row with several other bottles of the same material. end id]

I am a sucker for blue blood, I just think it's neat, so that's all I'd need as an excuse to slam some horseshoe-crab-inspired nonsense in my exceptionally gory and fucked up wips, and if you've been reading along with WiB you may have noticed that blue blood does come into play at some point! But that's not all that's neat about horseshoe crab blood. Unfortunately for the horseshoe crabs, but fortunately for us, their blood is literally the only source of an important compound used for detecting the presence of dangerous bacteria in certain pharmaceutical drugs. (Fortunately, there are replacements that will hopefully become more popular in coming years.)

Now that we've gone over all that, onto the worldbuilding!

I worldbuild by Rule of Cool. Let's just get that out of the way. Every so often people will ask me how my worlds get so expansive (not WiB, WiB i made up on the fly by cribbing from fanfic and like... BBC Merlin. Assume very little of this holds true for WiB) and the answer is largely that I take every interest I have ever had in anything and smash it all together and throw it at my wip to see what sticks. and then I just... like... reasonably attempt to figure out what the natural conclusions will be.

So: we have lampreys. We have blue-blooded ancient sea creatures with spectacularly important and valueable blood. We are writing this into a story that takes place on land, somehow.

- The first option, and the one I'm going to talk about most because I did it, is just to rule-of-cool it into a character. (Or a place, or an item, or whatever, but largely I do rule-of-cool on living creatures and think harder about the world around them.) If you've been keeping up with WiB, you may have noticed that (spoilers) Zero Point is some kind of fucked up magician with a lamprey mouth in their hand who shapeshifts and bleeds blue. This is where I got those inspirations from (along with, like, some other stuff. I promise there are no lamprey assassins, but- continuing in the trend of stealing from sea creatures- the bobbin worm is a spectacularly beautiful, spectacularly deadly creature if you're within its weight range. which is like, goldfish size, but. And cuttlefish are known to disguise themselves as other animals, and can change sexes if the male:female ratio where they are isn't ideal.)

So you can take the elements you like, and just kind of slam them together haphazardly, which is what I did with Zero Point. The trick to this kind of worldbuilding is just to avoid looking too closely at it. The magical assassin has a fucked up mouth in their hand? Yeah, okay, that seems kind of fucked up and creepy. What do they do at all times? They hide it under a glove. So the protags Just Straight Up Never Ask. And voila; it never gets explained, and it never has to.

Same with the blue blood. It shows up, it functions as a plot device because only Zero Point has blue blood; it is never explained or even delved into with much detail. And if it were, it would fall apart instantly, because the justification is literally just "i thought it was neat. No, no one else is like that. I don't even know why they are. i just felt like it"

- The second option is to consider the effects of the things that you're working with, and then work off of that.

Let's take Zero Point again. Strip them of their context (weird assassin with magical powers) and just like, consider the fact that this is a creature with blood that regularly retails for over $10,000 USD, is intelligent as fuck, shapeshifts, has a mouth in their hand that may or may not be their actual mouth, and can exist on land so long as they have suitable access to water. What does that mean for our setting? Surely they're not the only person like that; so you have a whole species of people who are sort of but not really amphibious, shapeshift, and maybe have magical powers, who knows. They can't shapeshift their fucked up lamprey mouths, maybe. That seems like a reasonable limit. So their blood is highly valuable- what does that mean for their relations with other people, or their culture? What kind of foods do they eat? How do they create a sense of culture as shapeshifters; is there even a way that they represent themselves in art? How do they interact with the world? Do they have a "true form" or not? Every one of these questions will spawn new questions. If you answer all of them you'll lose your mind, but if you answer at least ten you'll spawn a much more background-heavy world that can help to shape your story much more effectively than trying to just craft a narrative will. Sometimes it works very well for a story. Sometimes it gets you lost in the weeds.

- The third option is to reference something else, and build off that. Again, let's use Zero Point as the example.

In the original story that the WiB ensemble is from, Closerverse, which may have some mentions on this blog but honestly I have no idea, there is a city that I've done quite a bit of worldbuilding on. This city is called Hudson, and one of the major important features of it is that it is partially underground. (This is a reference to the DFZ of Rachel Aaron's Heartstrikers series). Hudson is intentionally run to be the worst, most unpleasant city in the world, and one of its features are its wildly intelligent, dangerous forms of aquatic life. The lowest level of this city is partially submerged, and all of these creatures plague the people who live down there.

Closerverse was also set during a period of early industrialization, and Hudson heavily referenced US history, especially 1900s-1920s labor history. Tenements, pollution, zero protections for workers, et cetera. Hudson is a nasty, miserable place, and everyone who lives there can feel the jaws closing in on them.

Anyway, in Closerverse you got these fucked up massive eel-like creatures (lampreys, but with extra features) that due to some rather significant meddling wound up growing legs and then got really massive and started eating people. They have blue blood, glow in the dark, and make fairly decent eating as long as they aren't eating you. And they're intelligent. Given the whole "mutual eating each other" thing, the eels and the people of Hudson have some pretty major animosity going on.

Most of Zero Point's stuff is really just me referencing the Hudson Eels, because I fucking love those. They're some of my favorite worldbuilding elements ever. But given that no one else in WiB has ever seen a Hudson Eel, let alone seen their blood get dry on things, or whatever, everything about Zero Point is wildly out of context. And that almost makes it better, because the whole deal with them is that they're mysterious and weird, and having them be a mysterious and weird reference to something no one but I know about most likely is like, fun and neat.

There are, of course, other modes of worldbuilding as well, but I typically aim to stick to the first two as much as possible. The cooler you make something, the more possible questions it raises; the more questions something raises, the deeper your world gets.

Although, a word of advice: sometimes animals just do things. Sometimes bodies just have features. Who would invent fingernails? But having them is mighty convenient, isn't it? For that matter, who would come up with a deeply logical and reasoned explanation for eyebrows- but not having those would be very strange, to us. You can get away with doing a lot by just having that be how it is, and not having the characters comment on it.

Also, the more "shaped" a thing should be, the more you'll want to take the second approach. For house design, something intentionally built, you'll want to know why it was built, and what purpose is this and that room, and why is it painted such and such colors. But if you're talking about adding a second moon, like... fuck dude, who needs to know why there's a second moon? Maybe if you have sailors you have to know what it'll do to your oceans, but that's the kind of thing you can kind of just say exists and move on. You'll figure it out; it gets pretty intuitive.

Anyway, happy worldbuilding!

[ff-darkshininglight]

“Selfie” - For Nalu Week 2020

Summary: Lucy wants to take a selfie with her boyfriend but he’s a vampire, which means he won’t appear in the damn photo!

Disclaimer: I do NOT Own Fairy Tail in any way, shape or form.

Notes: I’m on mobile so I’m sorry if the format looks weird.

———————————————————

Lucy frowned as she stared at the photo of herself on her cellphone.

She looked good but that wasn’t the issue. There was supposed to be one more person next to her in the photograph but unfortunately he wasn’t appearing no matter how many times she clicked the “capture’ button on the screen.

“Maybe if you wore make-up the camera-”

“That won’t work.” Natsu sighed as he leaned against his girlfriend’s bedroom wall. Both college students sat on the queen sized bed; Lucy had her back towards the male as she sat between his legs. She continued to stare at the cellular device in her hands, trying to come up with a solution. They had been trying for the last 30 minutes, using lots of lights and moving from area to area in the apartment but nothing worked.

“But why-”

“I already told you Luce. I’m a vampire so I don’t have a reflection, and mirrors and cameras only work on those who do.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest.

“It’s one of the cons of being part of the undead.”

The blonde pouted. “But that’s not fair! Ghosts aren’t even alive and they can still have their picture taken.”

Natsu laughed. “Barely. They end up looking like a bad photoshop project when that happens.”

Lucy let out a low chuckle but remained silent after that. She had really hoped to get a photo of the two of them.

Up until now, she didn’t realize how existing in photos was a gift. Yes, awful photos existed: photos that ruined lives, praised disgusting individuals, and captured disturbing events. Nothing was perfect, and there were huge drawbacks in photography.

What she meant was the ability to have your picture taken was a gift.

Photography was amazing because it not only captured the images of people as proof that they existed, but it also captured moments in time that would never return. Moments that pass too quickly for a painting to be made or for an accurate story to be written in that exact minute.

And right now she wanted a photo to commemorate the moment she and her boyfriend were currently sharing: this simple event of being together and cuddling on a Friday night.

Too lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice that one of Natsu’s arms had released her and a black smart phone was in front of her. She snapped out of it when she heard “click.”

The pink haired student quickly looked at the photo as Lucy tried to turn around.

“Why did you-”

“Bwhahaha!” Natsu roared in laugher. “You look so funny Luce! You look like you’re in a trance.”

Her face quickly went red in embarrassment. “Shut up! Delete that right now!”

“Nah, I’m think of putting it on display.” He teased.

After successfully turning over to face him, she thought she had him but unfortunately she wasn’t expecting him to toss them both to their sides. They were still on the bed but with this new position, Natsu was able to drop a leg on top of hers and still trap her in his arms.

“Wallpaper it is.” He breathed, smiling when he saw the bright hue on her cheeks.

“No way. It’s not fair.” She sulked. “I can’t have a photo of you as my wallpaper.”

His smile switched from teasing to gentle. He used the hand that was currently not under his girlfriend to move strands of hair that had fallen onto her face.

The pink hue on her cheeks only brightened. How could such a simple gesture make her blush so easily?

“Look Lucy, I might not be able to take photos with ya but one photo wasn’t going to capture all my love for ya anyways. Not even a million pics can do that!

“So maybe instead of worrying and wasting time on the pics, we should enjoy our Friday night!”

A two seconds passed before Lucy smiled, and leaned her face closer to Natsu’s.

He was right. As much as Lucy would love a selfie, living in the moment was more important.

Photographs can capture moments in under a second but they aren’t always necessary. Like right now; no photo would be able to capture the love this human and vampire were sharing.

There was only so much a selfie could do.