#when they can fuck a dragon or anything equally weird/questionable

[poly-space-nerds]

The concept of homophobia in bnha universe is just so funny to me. like

“Oh that guy with the clothespin head started dating the goo monster girl? good for them! oh wait the goo person is actually a guy? time to commit a hate crime”

you can’t have a world where people look like shouji and kurogiri and still think mlm/sapphics/etc are going to hell or whatever

[dragongutsixofficial]

Thoughts on Byleth (or perhaps Siyn in your case?) being a dragon?

One of my personal favorite AU concepts. I have yet to find a way to fit them into the main body of my work, but I do try to keep some Dragon!Byleth head cannons tucked away for a rainy day. Watching the daily goings-on of the students and villagers from the monastery roof, for example.

I tend to write Byleth as being incredibly watchful over her students, so writing her as being a dragon fits right in for me.

We were robbed.

As someone who has Nabatean blood and who was meant to be the reincarnation of the Goddess herself, any and all flavor of Byleth deserve to have their draconic form. To me, this is due to their very nature: they are both human and Nabatean, both mortal and divine. They are what I affectionately call Byleth interminatum. And philosophical matters aside, it makes sense that they'd at least have a partially draconic form due to genetics, much like Corrin in FE: Fates. To me the question is, when and how would it first manifest ?

First off, I don't think it'd depend on Byleth being fused with Sothis, because whether they might have:

given up their divine powers by rejecting the identity they feel is pushed on them in Crimson Flower, ie being Sothis

not fused with her yet

They are still just as Nabatean! I don't discriminate between Byleth-s, and they are equally beautiful in each and every route. So if Byleth's draconic form doesn't depend on Sothis fusing with them, how does it work ?

My guess is, while they would have always had something going on (let's say, for instance, pupils that look a little too much like reptilian slits or weird acne butons that just won't go away but are really just sparse scales), they would need to experience some big emotional shock, or to be stuck in a seemingly hopeless situation, in order to have that first thing that would make them transform. In which case, they would not have had any time to prepare nor process whatever the fuck is going on. I'm thinking of a few things that could trigger their inner dragon to come out:

Jeralt dying. Byleth just loses it and transforms. They are completely out of control and confused and need their respective house leader, and perhaps their fellow students, to calm them down. Can make for a very emotional bonding moment where they can share their own experiences of grief- for instance, Ashe, who has just lost Lonato. Basically help them through the shock.

A joyous circumstance. The emotional shock they go through doesn't have to stem from a negative emotion ! Since their character development is made through their ability to love, it'd make sense that a feeling of connection and happiness would help them unlock that part of themself. For instance, winning the mock battle of the Eagle and Lion with their newfound family; getting Seteth to open up to them; or simply meeting up with their favorite student at the Goddess' Tower.

Fusing with Sothis. As I said before, I don't think it would be a requirement, but in case they had truly never transformed before, the immense shock to their organism would be preeeeeetty sure to turn the scales on.

So, basically, my guess is their first transformation would be likely to happen pre-timeskip, and since they wouldn't have seen anything coming, they would not know what to do with themself.

That's when Rhea comes in. I think she would have suspected that this was a possibility, albeit a slim one before Sothis took over if her efforts bore fruits. But Byleth isn't Sothis, and this would be their first draconic rodeo: as such, she would be of capital help for them to get the hang of it. I'm not sure how she'd be able to justify how knowledgeable on turning into a giant dragon she is, but she'd probably find a way. She would be the one to help Byleth wind down enough that they can transform back into their human body (if they can turn back) and to start discreetly teaching them how to use this newfound side of themself to the best of their abilities. That would also definitely get her hopes up regarding Sothis' revival.

This means that Byleth would greatly benefit from their fellow Nabateans' guidance in order to get the gist of their draconic form. In SS, AM and VW, Seteth and Flayn's guidance, and later Rhea's, would help them ease into it- and let's be honest here, Flayn would absolutely love to teach her professor stuff. In CF however ? Things would be more complicated (this is going to allow me to talk about Siyn, who is my own version of CF!Byleth, my Bylethsona if you will !).

In CF, Byleth would lose contact with the people most adequate to teach them what they need to know. They would have to essentially figure it out by themself, which would... not always be pretty. There would be a lot of trial and error involved. However. Byleth being a dragon would grant Edelgard the Most Amazing Marketing Opportunity™ (thought of you @ninadove): that of making the people doubt whether Sothis really is on the side of the Church. Sure, the Immaculate One appeared in the battle of Garreg Mach but, isn't this other big *ss dragon a sign that the Goddess favors the Empire ? They would literally become the Wings of the Hegemon.

In the other routes, of course, Byleth being a dragon would definitely sway the religious people of Fodlan over to their respective army's side.

I am now going to make a quick tangent here and talk about Siyn, whom I'm really glad you mentioned ! ^^ When I developed her, I really wanted to dive a little more into what it meant for Byleth to reject the role that Rhea wanted to impose on them in CF. In particular, Siyn struggles a lot with her sense of bodily autonomy: this starts when her physical appearance is altered by Sothis fusing with her and only goes crescendo with what follows. Basically, she doesn't really know how much of her really is her and how much of her is someone else- as such, she starts out by refusing to use her divine powers which she feels might chip away at her individuality. Her character arc revolves around accepting and using all parts of herself equally- stepping into both her mortal and individual self. I kind of feel that if she were a dragon, she would have a psychological block and wouldn't be able to transform until she made peace with herself. This might happen to CF! Byleth in general, although I did dive more into that precise aspect of things than the game does.

As for their physical appearance, I do think that it'd be incredibly cool that after their first transformation, Byleth keeps some draconic characteristics. For instance, white scales on their weak zones like their necks on something. Their nails grow sharper now. Their eyes most definitely look reptilian. If they're fancy, maybe one or two baby horns. Maybe said horns grow bigger as their power grows. Also, you are absolutely right, Byleth as a dragon goes incredibly well with their being protective of their students. They would most definitely keep an eye out for them from the roof of Garreg Mach. Their treasure has always been their class, after all.

I also have a feeling that Byleth being a dragon would drastically help Marianne feel better about her own "curse" ! They would also, obviously, occasionally take Claude on a ride. Just imagine a Claudeleth wedding where Claude rolls in on a giant dragon and then said dragon turns into their spouse-to-be. The ultimate power move. In SS, Byleth displaying their draconic form as the new archbishop would most definitely help Rhea show herself as the Immaculate One a lot more, instead of hiding that part of herself. There would be chivalrous legends of the mystical dragon which lent its support to the Savior King in AM. In Crimson Flower, the tale of the sinner Emperor who convinced the Goddess to come to her aid would help tremendously in pacifying Fodlan, discrediting the central Church, scaring the fuck out of TWSTID and laying the groundwork for the reforms to come.

So, yeah ! Sorry if my answer isn't as complete as it should or if it's just incoherent ramblings- the idea is incredibly cool but I had never dived into it that deep before ! =) Also:

[leannan-sithe]

I have very little faith in spirit adoption services. I think they're mostly unethical, selling either thought forms or empty listings if they're fake, selling mislabeled spirits if they're real, and the rare as-listed which I still find pretty odd (why would an ancient vampire want to be sold access to for $25 if not to feed off you?).

Regardless, there's always a question of ethics and right/wrong when I've considered buying a random etsy listing.

Baby spirits (and this one fucking shop that sells pregnant spirits???) are off limits. Ew, gross. No trafficking for me. Same for elderly spirits.

Not super interested in buying into a pact with a demon, reaper, soul eater, etc etc. If the name seems like it would hurt me, I'm not really that interested in using it for pure entertainment. I'd be safe, I'm not scared, it just seems dicey.

I have no interest in elves and I find it weird how they're fetishized as a super race. Equally in the other direction in how "savage" orcs and goblins are talked about. It's weird fantasy racism I want no part in.

Dragons? I'm less worried about them, but like... I have no interest, honestly. I already have access to a singular dragon. If I want to meet more dragons, I'd just ask Claw, not buy one.

Anything cutesy or tech-y is a ??? for me. Like cyborgs or teacup breeds. Yeah, no thanks.

But last night.... last night I stumbled upon the most ethical, funniest listing that I could have found.

Someone was selling access to a Jester Spirit. Not a singular spirit, but a custom conjure of a jester, picked for me specifically.

How do you traffick jesters? Do you ride a safari cart across the laughing plains with a comically large net? Are you more likely to get clowns that way? What protected class would a jester belong to, if any? Not a baby, not a pregnant person, not the elderly?

And what happens if this is a legitimate spirit? Is it just going to roast me?

I can imagine the astral jobs centre where there's a line of harlequins and jesters signing up to be part of this spirit adoption initiative, because they simply CANNOT find work in their home planes.

I just. I can't wrap my head around the explanation of this.

I succumbed to the curiosity and purchased a customer conjure from a shitty Etsy spirit shop. It's not an unethical listing, just a weird one under $25.

I can live with spending $25 for some wacky spiritual entertainment and sated curiosity. I'll let you know if anything comes from it.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

You know, seeing Lily criticizing creators for lackluster LGBT rep is so weird to me. Its like she's acting like SU wasn't at risk of cancellation over the gay wedding or that Disney didn't tell Alex he couldn't make the cops gay. She acts like everyone should've been creating the owl house level stuff from the start as if there was never anything holding them back. Could LGBT rep be better? Hell yes but why are we blaming creators that are stuck with dealing with the whims of studio executives instead of blaming the studios for making it a freaking minefield just to have LGBT rep

Because Lily fails to understand what its like to be the creator in question. Like, she thinks its so easy to be a show creator, but its really not. With SU like you said, Rebecca had to fight include that wedding, while Alex got censored not once, not twice but THREE TIMES: two times in Love God with two old ladies that Love God helped fall in love and Love God's own necklace being changed from the equality necklace to male and female symbols together, and of course, the cops like you mentioned as closest Alex could get was them saying that love thing while shooting a damn canon. And hey, let's go across to another studio real quick cause Lily isn't a fan of this show either: Legend of Korra was constantly getting fucked over by Nickelodeon to the point the same finale we got representation in??? It was aired online. Not even given a TV airing. Hell, let's bring up how even doll companies deny creators as Mattel would constantly deny the MH creator and his team any representation chances, telling him it wasn't the right time and it got to the point he had to sneak in hints and such into the doll diaries. The same for Ever After High where despite having a glow that you would not get with CPR, they claimed Darling kissing Apple was CPR to the point they made it like that in the novel of Dragon Games. And of course, we go to Owl House who literally got told they didn't suit the Disney Brand suddenly (very rich for the people who now have Family Guy and shit under their belt) and therefore, got screwed over by Disney, who have also censored SVTFOE in reruns with their kissing scene.

Like, Lily fails to understand completely what it's like to deal with ALL these companies who have the power to completely fuck over the show if they go through with the representation or can just deny the representation outright. We should keep demanding representation, but Lily fails to realize its not the creators fault all the time- a-lot of the time its down to the studios, or was Lily not paying attention when Lightyear was only allowed their representation because of backlash to Disney, including Pixar confirming Disney would constantly censor them? Then again, I think Lily should take a look at what she posts. Or does dear Lily not realize by being pro-dubs, she's pro censoring LGBT+ representation??? Because for all the representation she demands from the start of stuff, she oddly seems to ignore that anime, her despised, has a-lot of representation that at least at the start of dubbing, got censored heavily ("We're cousins", anyone?). So whoops to Lily for not realizing this.

[tennessoui]

The divorced fic was so cute i want to scream. Does Obi have any time to be sad or are Anakin and his little demons always there to distract him from his infinite sadness

so i know most everyone wants to know what anakin does about The Kiss but here's a bit of light hearted angst a year before that (because humanity is inherently whatever but i am inherently evil)

aka

the immediate aftermath of the Router Incident (1.4k)

The night of the day of what will come to be known as The Router Incident starts off with a bang.

Obi-Wan gets home a bit later than normal. Not because his work drags on longer than usual, but because he is, on the subject of all things even passably related to his personal life, a coward.

It’s been at least ten hours since he left the house with the goddamn wifi router tucked under his arm because Anakin had said something about finding a new place.

As if this isn’t the twenty-first century. As if Anakin doesn’t have a phone with unlimited data. As if Anakin isn’t the sort of person to walk five miles to the nearest coffeeshop with his kids in their stroller, just to use their wifi to email Obi-Wan a series of italicized question marks.

Obi-Wan’s been practicing his apology ever since he got that email. I’m really sorry, I promise I’m not a controlling megalomaniac. I just panicked because I’m not that good at letting go of things. You’d think I’d have learned by now, but apparently I only know how to dig my heels in whenever I think people are starting to pull away. Apologies again, life is not a game of tug-of-war, and I promise I do know that.

He practices his apology, of course, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t also try to put it off until the last possible moment. When he leaves the building, his car is the only one still in the lot.

I’m really sorry. Here’s the router back. I support your decision. Your kids will be great. I know you probably won’t let them see me, because that’s a bit weird if we don’t all live together, and you also don’t use social media, which is great because I also don’t use social media, but I would have made a Facebook account just to keep up with your family. It’s meant more than I can say to have something to come home to this past year, and I understand that you can’t put your life on hold for a lonely old man like me, and I will endeavor from now on to not impede your search for a new place to live.

No, too needy, he thinks at a red light, dragging his hand over his beard in defeat. He won’t beg Anakin to stay.

He would very much like to beg Anakin to stay, but he hadn’t even begged Satine to stay, and he had been in love with her.

He just enjoys Anakin’s company. His presence. Unwinding next to Anakin after a difficult day teaching is one of the things he looks forward to the most.

And this past holiday season, they’d had a big dinner at his house, filled to the brim with Anakin’s friends and his friends and some people from the local grocery store they’d met when out shopping together, and it had been so loud and so amazing. Nothing had been left untouched, there had been food on the ceiling (Obi-Wan suspects Leia to this day, but Luke had confessed), there had been leftovers for days.

You can’t just give me holidays like that and then take them away, Obi-Wan thinks angrily as he turns into his neighborhood. What will I do next winter, then?

He has to sit in his car for a second after parking, just to calm down. He’s the one in the wrong, he reminds himself. Anakin has all the right in the world to want to leave. It was never Obi-Wan’s family to begin with.

It was never Obi-Wan’s family to begin with.

When he opens the door, he’s met with the sound of children screaming and crying.

Luke rushes at him and jumps on him with enough force that he reels backwards, almost out of the house. He drops his bag on the floor in order to steady the child.

Luke is bawling his head off right next to Obi-Wan’s ear so it’s very, very difficult to hear what a red-faced Anakin is trying to say.

And then Leia runs up to him, tugs at his free hand until he looks down at her, and then stomps her little foot with a scowl. “I hate you!” she declares just as loudly as Luke is crying, before her tiny face breaks into tears and she runs off.

“Oh, for the love of--” Anakin shouts, throwing his hands up in the air and chasing after his daughter.

Obi-Wan, ridiculously hurt beyond measure and without a clue about what’s happening, goes to sit down on the couch, still gently cradling Luke’s body to his as the boy continues to weep.

“Hush,” he says soothingly. “And, ah. Please tell me what’s gotten into the Skywalkers now.”

Luke only sniffles and rubs his snotty nose all over Obi-Wan’s shoulder.

Well. It’s laundry day tomorrow anyway.

“Daddy says you hate us,” Luke mumbles, just as Anakin comes back into the living room, notably sans Leia.

Obi-Wan feels his mouth fall open in shock. “Daddy says what?” he asks, very slowly, making dangerous eye contact with Anakin over the top of Luke’s blond head.

Anakin flushes an even darker shade of red and looks around the room, as if that’ll save him.

“Daddy says we gotta go because this is your house and we don’t wanna stay over our, um. Welcome. We can’t reproach on your space, which means you hate us.”

“Encroach,” Anakin corrects, which Obi-Wan does not think is the thing that really needs to be corrected. When he tries to communicate this with his eyes, Anakin gulps and says quite quickly, “I’m gonna go check on Leia actually.”

Coward.

“Luke,” Obi-Wan says gently. “Your daddy is just being very, very dumb, a trait I pray with all my heart skips a generation.”

Luke blinks at him, his little eyebrows furrowed and his button nose bright red from all of his crying.

“I don’t hate you at all,” Obi-Wan says. “I love both you and your sister very much.”

“Then why do we gotta leave?” Luke complains. “I don’t want to go, we could never play Space Pirates and Lava Dragons at the old place, it was way too small.”

Obi-Wan thinks privately that his house, while certainly big enough, is by no means the proper size for how rambunctious the twins get when they’re playing Space Pirates and Lava Dragons.

“Well,” Obi-Wan hums consideringly. “I don’t want you to leave either.”

“You don’t?” Luke asks, eyes wide and hopeful.

Obi-Wan shakes his head. “I really don’t. But it’s not my decision to make, Luke.”

“It’s Daddy’s,” Luke concludes, head hanging low. “And Daddy wants to go.”

Obi-Wan ignores the way that sentence drives what feels like a knife straight through his heart. “Yes, well,” he coughs. “Your daddy won’t do anything he knows you and your sister really don’t want.”

Luke looks contemplative. Obi-Wan wonders if he should feel really bad or downright awful for manipulating a child in this way. But needs must.

“And he won’t listen to me,” he continues gently, smoothing down the front ends of the boy’s soft hair. “Because your daddy can be very stubborn when he thinks he’s doing something right.”

“He’ll listen to me and Leia though?” Luke asks, head cocked and eyes bright.

Obi-Wan nods very seriously. “I think he would if you both asked very nicely and thought about a lot of good reasons why you should stay here.”

“I can think of loads! And Leia can think of a ton more probably!” Luke exclaims with renewed energy, launching himself off of Obi-Wan’s lap and up the stairs, ostensibly to their shared bedroom.

Obi-Wan leans back against the couch, equal parts amused, exhausted, and hurt. He’ll need to have a serious talk with Anakin soon. He’d thought the man knew that his home was his as well. Yes, Anakin still paid rent, an unfortunate but necessary sort of system, but they’ve never been normal roommates. And Anakin isn’t a guest who could overstay his welcome.

He’s. Well.

Obi-Wan doesn’t know exactly what Anakin is to him, but he had hoped it was obvious to Anakin at least that Obi-Wan would not ever grow tired of his presence in his life.

So they do have some things to talk about.

But hopefully this means that Obi-Wan won’t actually have to apologize for the router incident, seeing as Anakin’s fuck-up caused much larger waves.

[dameronology]

one hell of a mandalorian {din djarin}

summary: actions speak louder than words - which is good for din djarin, because he's not very good at words. (this was a commission for an anon! i hope you enjoy).

warnings: language

enjoy!! if you're interested in commissions, you can find out more here :)

- jazz xx

Din Djarin was a man of few words.

That had become clear not long after you'd met.

It wasn't that he didn't like talking, or that he was rude - he'd just never had the need for it. The Mandalorian could spend days and days in hyperspace, on his own with nothing but a frozen bounty to keep him company. And they were hardly chatty, even before they were thrown away into the trawling depths of carbonite animation. There were a few select geniuses who tried to make conversation with him in a last-ditch attempt to appeal to his humanity and beg for mercy, but so far, they'd had a zero-for-zero success rate. It wasn't that he didn't have any humanity to appeal to it - because he did, and his weird, green surrogate kid was an absolute testament to that - but it just took a little bit for it to come out.

The beskar made him seem a little...robotic. Like a droid, which was ironic, because he wouldn't have gone near the things with a ten-foot-barge pole. Din had just become so used to people seeing his mask and his intimidating posture before him that having human traits, like feelings and thoughts and opinions, had never been any use. Having defining traits and a personality was all well and good, but nothing helped you through the galaxy quite like the ability to put the fear of God in people.

The Mandalorian was something, but Din Djarin was somebody. He was good; not necessarily pure and golden-hearted like a typical comic book hero, but he had a strong moral compass. Sometimes, it pointed in opposite directions, but he helped those who needed it and he paid his dues. That was probably a lot more than anyone in the galaxy could have said for themselves. In the fight of good and bad, in a world that existed entirely and black and white, there was nothing more grey than an honest man. Somebody who refused to pick a side held the power of both. For that, Din could have either been extremely smart, or extremely dumb.

Sometimes, he was extremely dumb. Made the wrong moves in combat, or got too cocky, however out of character it was for him. It was the losing fights that truly brought out the human side of Din, and it took a very, very specific eye to see it, sometimes to the point where even he missed it. It never went over your head, though.

You'd joined the crew on the Razor Crest as a mechanic - then you became a baby sitter, and his partner-in-crime, and the closest thing he'd ever had to a friend. His non-verbal nature meant that most of his emotional cues came in the physical form. It went over the heads of everybody else, but between your intuition, and the time spent in such a cramped space, it quickly became like a second language to you. Helmet tilts when he was confused, and little nods when he was pleased; tensed shoulders when the Mandalorian was nervous and balled fists when he was about to absolutely lose his shit.

Today was one of those days. Even though you were both in one piece and the baby was - by some absolute fucking miracle - asleep, it almost hadn't been that way. Nevarro had been quieter than usual, and Din had let his guard down; finally convinced himself to relax a tiny bit and ever-so-slightly loosen the stick that was firmly up his backside. His sudden lack of awareness for your surroundings had meant that someone managed to track the Crest, however briefly. The kid had barely noticed, and you weren't phased by what had been a simple, human mistake. Din, true to nature, was already beating himself up for it.

That was evidenced by his heavy footsteps, and the way he'd immediately retreated to the cockpit and slammed the door. Common sense would have entailed that he wanted to be left alone, but you'd long surpassed the point of any of that. Common sense didn't exist in a galaxy like this one. Doing the obvious thing was, nine times out of ten, usually the wrong way. Expecting the unexpected was the right way to go.

You'd paced outside the door for the better part of fifteen minutes - to go in, or to not go in, that was the question. You were torn between wanting to give Din space and wanting to be there for him; a cranky Din was often an unbearable one, but you cared deeply for him. Maybe a little too much, but that was a can of worms to open later.

"Din?" You gently called. Nothing. "I know you're brooding, or whatever it is you do under that helmet, but talking is good."

"I'm fine."

You sighed. "The scale goes great, good, bad, awful, world-ending and then fine."

"I've never heard that before in my life."

"Yeah, I just made it up on the spot." You murmured.

Resting your hand against the doorknob, you pondered for a moment. Did you want to risk it by going in? Making him mad when he was literally shutting you out? It was hard to know what to do with Din - it wasn't like he came with an answer key, or even a vague manual that could point you in the right direction. It was all just guess work.

"Is the helmet on?" You softly asked.

"Yeah."

You took that as a sign - with a deep breath, you gently opened the door and stepped inside the cockpit, shutting it quietly behind you. The tense atmosphere inside was almost enough to swallow you whole. The man practically radiated angst.

"Talk to me." You took a seat beside him.

"There's nothing to say."

"Bullshit." You murmured. "You might have a thousand inches of beskar hiding your face but your body language is a dead giveaway."

"I'm meant to protect you and the kid." He replied. It wasn't much, but it was better than silence. "It's my job to catch bad people and outrun them when I need."

"You did outrun them." You reminded him. "I'm safe. You're safe. The kid is safe. Does anything else matter?"

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place." Din said. "I was relaxed-"

"- you allowed to relax." You cut him off. "Despite your best efforts, you're a human being."

Reaching out, you gently placed your hand over Din's ungloved palm. He didn't resist or try to brush you away. His hands were soft and callous in equal measures, which felt like a fitting metaphor for him on the whole. You tangled your fingers in his and held on tightly, perhaps in a sad attempt to remind him that you were there.

But Din knew you were there - he could feel it constantly, and he thought about it just as much. Every day of his life prior to you had been filled with rigidity and angst, then you'd come waltzing in and for the first time in years, he'd untensed his muscles and stopped looking over his shoulder. Learnt to take a breath and enjoy the simple things in life, like Grogu laughing or you accidentally tripping over a tree branch. You'd become so important to him that the prospect of losing you was too much for him to even fathom. He'd come close today - too close - and it had been an eye-opener. The irony was that telling you why he was so fucking scared was more frightening than the entire thing itself.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." The gentle pull of your voice lulled him back to reality. "Please?"

His grip on your hand tightened. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." You breathily smiled. "You don't have to apologise."

"I never thought I'd have someone like you." Din admitted. "Coming so close to losing you was terrifying, even if it wasn't that close at all."

He'd never been so open about his feeling towards you before. Obviously, you knew that he viewed you in a way he didn't see anybody else, but that knowledge had been based entirely on physical cues and mere guesswork. You'd never expected him to vocalise the way he felt, or even acknowledge them. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, or even something you considered to be detrimental. The words came as a nice surprise.

"You mean a lot to me, Din." You said. He'd always loved the way his name sounded when you said it; nobody had used it for years, not since he'd lost his parents. It was something to vulnerable and personal. You were the only one he trusted with it.

"I do?"

You didn't mean to laugh at that - you really didn't, but it just came out. A low snort of disbelief; shock at his absolute inability to read the fucking room. Din was as intuitive as they came, with the ability to read criminals like a bedtime story he'd been rehearsing since he was a kid. Then it came to you, and he knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. To call him clueless would be the understatement of the century.

"Maker." You murmured. "Of course you do - more than anyone or anything."

"You're special to me." Din replied. "It scares me sometimes."

Din was straight forward with everything he said - it was just finding the courage to say it. He'd gone into battle with Imps and Republic Rangers alike; fought krayt dragons and droids and fellow Mandalorians and yet this entire thing shook him to his very core more than anything else.

You didn't know it, but you were perfectly holding his gaze. Staring right through it and looking right into his soul. He forgot he had one sometimes. It was probably a little dusty and covered in cobwebs, but it was there, and you were bringing it right out of him and back to reality.

Din used his grip on your hands to pull you a little closer - a moment later, he gently pressed the cold metal of his helmet to his forehead. It was the closest you'd ever been to him, even if it wasn't that close at all. You could hear his soft breathing through the modulator, the sensation acting as a stunning reminder that there was a person underneath there. There were times when you forgot, or felt a little disconnected from the idea entirely. You'd never felt the need to see his face, though - you hadn't a clue what he might look like, but at the same time, you had an image of him in your head. It was as clear as day; as bright as the suns on Tatooine and as persevering as the kid's insistence that he receive all your attention, all the time.

You knew what the action was; a Keldabe kiss. The Mandalorian had recounted its meaning to you not long after you'd met - he'd finally let his barriers down and let you plague him with questions about his culture and the creed, and you'd stumbled on the subject. Initially, you'd been entertained by the fact that it two such vastly different meanings. On one hand, it could be a headbutt. A beskar punch to knock the daylights out of anyone who particularly annoyed you. On the other hand, it was almost a romantic gesture; a way that Mandalorians could show their affection to one another without having to remove their armour.

Din had the latter meaning in mind, but also so much more. He was giving you a piece of his culture - including you in the very thing that defined him as a person.

"It won't happen again." The Mandalorian gently said. "I'll never let you get hurt again. I promise."

"I know." You softly smiled. Your eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the cool metal against your forehead. "For what it's worth, I have your back too."

He softly chuckled. "Thank you."

You gently pulled back, eyes meeting again (not that you could tell).

"Seriously!" You said. "I can be a bad-ass."

"You can be a lot of things." Din replied. "You're one hell of a girl."

"And you're one hell of a Mandalorian."

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

The Cult Girl (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 10

Cult girl starts feeling the consequences of her actions and Hannibal lets her in on a secret.

Trigger warning: brief discussions of emotional manipulation, violent ideation

You had some trouble getting back to sleep, but eventually, you drifted into a dreamless state of half-consciousness. The sun rose particularly late that morning, even for summer. You didn’t want to open your eyes because the second you left that bed, you’d have to answer for your peculiar behavior the night before. The thought of having to face your psychologist boyfriend after such an objectively strange midnight rendezvous made you want to run for the hills and never return. 

You briefly considered sneaking out. Just, grabbing your shoes and tiptoeing out the back like a teenage runaway. But the more you thought on it, the more you realized it wouldn’t work. You knew deep down that Hannibal would eventually corner you and make you spill the contents of your dark and twisted soul. Might as well save whatever honor you had left. 

“Good morning, love.” Hannibal greeted you with a cup of coffee. He seemed quite pleased. 

You forced a smile. “Hi.” 

“Darling, I must say,” He began, pouring himself a cup. “If I knew killing had that effect on you, I would have slaughtered your cousin sooner.”

You covered your face with your hand. “Any chance we could just forget that happened?” 

“Oh, no, love.” Hannibal shook his head. “I knew you had it in you to take a person’s life, but to enjoy it? That, I’m intrigued by.” 

“It wasn’t a person, it was Theresa.” You groaned and rested your head in your hand. “And, yeah, okay. So I like the fact that you can be my knight in shining armor and slay the dragon.”

“But you were no passive damsel, were you?” Hannibal teased. “I recall you saying you wanted to eat her heart.” 

“I didn’t want to.” You protested. “I said I dreamed that I did.” 

“And aren’t dreams a reflection of subconscious desire?” Hannibal corrected.

“You seem...” You began, feeling confused. “Strangely okay with this?” 

“So there’s a ‘this’, now?” He raised his eyebrows.

“No.” You shook your head. “I mean, shouldn’t it raise some psychological red flags when I start fantasizing about mutilating the corpse of my abuser?”

“You’ve been in school long enough to identify the source of these violent thoughts.” Hannibal said. “You tell me.” 

You dropped your shoulders and looked down into your coffee. “Being orphaned and subsequently blamed for my mother’s violent death, the concept of inflicting violence on others was normalized for me. Growing up the youngest of three, surrounded by emotional abuse, I internalized feelings of powerlessness. I expressed this through a fascination with horror and gore. Violent revenge fantasy was often my only escape from a hostile home environment.” 

“Very good.” He praised, taking a sip of coffee. “And do you remember what you suggested we do with the body last night?” 

You swallowed. “...eat it.” 

“Why did you suggest that, darling?” 

“I mean, just hypothetically speaking,” You took a deep breath in. “It just sounds practical. Like, it gets rid of the body, or at least the biodegradable parts. And you can’t ID a body from just bones, so you could just grind them up into a powder and fling ‘em off a bridge.” 

“You’ve thought about this before, have you?” Hannibal seemed proud. 

“Look, I wasn’t given enough affection as a child.” You laughed uncomfortably. “Sometimes you cope by learning the most efficient ways to get away with murder even if you have no plan to use them. It’s not that weird.” 

“I think it’s just the right amount of weird.” Hannibal took a seat next to you. “However, love, what you know in theory is useless without practice. But practice can be arranged.” 

You considered it for a minute. Then it dawned on you. You briefly shot him a horrified look, realizing that he had the practice but not having the guts to say it out loud. He’d killed before and he’d eaten people before. And you had too. 

No words had to be exchanged because within seconds the understanding was there. If you told anyone, he’d slaughter you without question. You’d be the main course at his next dinner party. 

You broke the silence with a quiet, but nonetheless enthused, “I agree.” 

“Of course, I wouldn’t let my darling just bite into a human heart, no matter how much she wants to.” He said, playing with a stray blade of your hair. “That’s too messy. And it would make her sick.” 

"Right." You agreed, still feeling hesitant to sign on to anything.

"It's only cannibalism if we are equals." Hannibal assured you. "And Theresa has proven time and time again that she is so devastatingly beneath us."

That last word echoed in your ear. 'Us'. He saw you as his equal. He wanted you by his side. You felt a smile grace your lips. "And we could make her into... whatever we want?"

"In due time, love." Hannibal shared your smile. "We haven't gotten away with it quite yet."

Your phone buzzed against the table, your roommate's icon flashing across the screen. You brought the phone to your ear, your hand trembling.

"Stephanie?" You said.

"Shit, [F/N], thank fuck." Stephanie answered, sounding like she was just through running a marathon. "Look, I don't know why, but the police are looking for you."

You felt a pang of terror in your chest and it hit you all at once. You met eyes with Hannibal. "...why?!"

"Said something about a missing person?" Stephanie explained. "I don't know, they came to the apartment looking for you. I didn't want to tell them but goddamn Miranda let it slip that you were at your boyfriend's place."

"God damn it, Randy." You cursed under your breath. "Okay, thanks for the heads-up, Steph."

You ended the call and fought the urge to chuck the phone across the room. Of course, Hannibal was calm as ever.

You started spewing every expletive in your vocabulary in one long string.

"Oh fuck me, I'm going to fucking prison." You said, panic eclipsing the anger.

You were about to throw your hands up when he grabbed you by the shoulders and looked into your eyes.

"You are not going to prison." Hannibal said with seemingly unwarranted certainty. "They have nothing on you."

You nodded along, though you couldn't follow his logic.

"You need to do exactly as I say, got it?" Hannibal's voice dropped to a low whisper. "Then when you get back home, we can make your favorite dinner, okay?"

[wagner-fell]

Spiders Are Ugly And Other Lies Capitalism Has Told Us (part one)

“Dad,” Astrid called out, shutting the coral coloured front door behind her. “Are you home?”

She dumped her cream tote bag spray painted with the words ‘Washing Machine Heart’ in big, rainbow letters onto one of the stools facing the granite countertop. The rest of the Merry Hoes followed suit. It was weird seeing a person as chaotic as Astrid in such a calm environment.

They were all spending the summer in LA with Astrid and her Dad. It had taken a while for Kevin to convince his family it was a good idea. Especially because he and Blessica had finally put years of pinning behind them. Making out on Kit’s bed at Mina’s third birthday party certainly wasn’t the way they had envisioned it but as the longing was over with, they were happy.

The Chu’s didn’t love the idea of their son living in a different country for three months with his girlfriend but we’re on board once Kevin assured them there was no possible way Blessica could get pregnant.

Kit wasn’t officially sleeping at the Yang’s but at the Institute with his boyfriend. Julian wasn’t so thrilled about the situation but Emma was. She was positively ecstatic about having a training partner as skilled as Kit was, courtesy of Jem and Tessa. Though staying a thirty minute drive away (on the wrong side of the road, Mari noted) wouldn’t keep Kit away for long. Even now he was with them instead of having his own reunion make out session.

Speaking of making out…

Mari rested their chin on the top of Astrid’s head and wrapped their arms around her middle. “Why don’t you show us your room while we wait for your dad to get home.”

It was kinda perfect, Mari often remarked, that she realized her feelings for their best friend weren’t so platonic as she previously led herself to believe at the same time they and Kit realized they were better off as just platonic.

Astrid hit her hand playfully. “That’s not fair!” she whined! ”How dare you take advantage of my constant hornyness when my God-fearing Presbyterian father could be in the next room? Shame! Shame on you, shame on your family, shame on your cow.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s ‘dishonor’”, said Kit, who didn’t even look up from his phone when he addressed her, “but go off I guess.”

Astrid looked like she was questioning all her life choices up to this point. “A white boy knows Mulan better than me.” She shook her head in disgust. Mari could feel the loose hairs of her girlfriend’s ponytail ticking her exposed collar bone. “Mulan.”

Mari laughed before softly brushing their lips against Astrid mop of bleached strands of pastel yellow, pink and blue mixed magnificently with her natural inky black.

“Is hornyness even a word?” Kevin wondered aloud as he observed the knickknacks placed at even intervals utop the kitchen cabinets. Blessica was with him. She was gazing at one of a crab steering a ship when she spotted a slim piece of paper taped below it.

“Ast,” she called. The both looked in her direction, despite Blessica needing the attention of one. “Your dad says he won’t be home till seven. Emergency at work.”

“Which leaves us more than enough time to pack and head over to meet Ty, Dru and Thaìs at the arcade,” said Kit. He finally turned his phone off and shoved it into the back pocket of his ripped jeans. “Marstrid can do the ol’ devil’s tango then catch up to us.”

‘Marstrid’ wrinkled their noses. “I thought we agreed on Astari, Christopher.”

“Astari sounds gayer,” confirmed Kevin, his eyes never leaving the miniature decorations.

“Not to be rude but why does Astari sound gayer?” asked a visibly confused Blessica.

“Because,” answered Mari, unraveling herself from Astrid to slide onto one of the bar stools and reaching into the Jolly Rancher jar, blindly searching for a green, “Astari has ‘star’ in it. Star equals astrology. An obsession with astrology is the price you pay for the gay agenda. Besides, Marstrid sounds like an old southern lady.” Then she furrowed her eyebrows and swiveled to face Astrid. “Southern is Texas, right?” Astrid nooded, a smile so big the Cheshire Cat would be jealous.

Without looking, she stuck her hand in the jar and pulled out a green apple flavoured hard candy on her first try. She held it out to Mari, who snatched it out of her hand with an angry huff.

“Hey, Ast, where do you guys keep the crisps?” asked Kevin when he finished inspecting all the knickknacks.

“Uh, under the barbecue sauce, I think.”

Kit’s eyes lit up. “So I’m sitting there”- Astrid understood what was happening in just enough time to quote- “barbecue sauce on my titties” in unison.

Mari put her head into their open palms, still sucking on the pity candy. “Why is this my type?”

“Are you sure this is the right place?” asked Blessica as Kit attempted to parallel park outside the location Ty had texted him to meet at. Key word, attempt. When Tessa had taught him to drive, he’d been such a disaster at parallel parking she had instructed him to ‘take the underground when tight spaces might be a possibility.’ Which he prided himself in doing. But this was America and the underground was called the subway, so, technically, no rules were being broken.

“Yes, Blessie, I’m certain.”

“Okay. Just checking cause a few turns back the GPS said-”

“Blessie!” He nearly crashed into the car in front of him.

“Right. Shutting up.”

When Kit managed to park with minimal damage and the three were about to exit, the voice of Nicki Minaj boomed from his pocket. Ty was calling him. He accepted the call, putting it on speaker.

“Hello Tiberius.” There was giggling from the other end of the line. A groan soon followed it.

“It’s been a year,” came the annoyed voice of Dru. “Get over your British kink already.” Kevin’s laughter echoed from the backseat.

“Hey Ty!

“Hi Kevin.”

”Hey Dru!”

“Fuck off.”

“Ouch. Why do you feel the need to hurt me so?” Blessica laughed.

“Hey…Thaìs?”

“Here,” replied Thaìs cheerfully.

“Are you here yet,” asked Ty.

“Uh, yeah! We were just getting out of the rental car when you called. You didn’t tell me it was going to be crowded. I had to parallel park!”

“What are you talking about?” interrupted Dru. ”There are only four cars in the parking lot.”

“But,” Ty countered, “there are lots of Billy’s Fun Zones’ around here. You guys must have got mixed up and taken a wrong turn. I could have sworn I sent you the correct location on GPS.” Maybe Ty said more on the subject but Kit could hear anything or see anything except the superior smirk Blessica was giving him.

He covered the speaker. “Not. A. Word.” And no word came out of her mouth the entire ride to the correct Billy’s Fun Zone but the ‘I told you so’ look on her face spoke loud enough.

Kit slid back into the booth next to Ty, handing him his pretzel. Ty kissed him on the check in gratitude.

Dru and Ty were right. About this one being empty. He told him he had heard about it from Alyssa. Her pack frequented it often. They were left alone because, well, there was no one else there to bother them.

“Where are Astrid and Mari?” he asked.

“Fucking. I think. Or maybe just making out. I’ll know which one when they finish.” When Ty gave him a puzzled look he continued, “Astrid describes it all to me in full detail. I honestly don’t know whether she doesn’t have a filter or she just needs someone to scream to about how amazing Mari is.”

“Why can’t it be both?”

“True, true.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Ty picked up the conversation again. “When Thaìs first met Astrid, she had a huge crush on her. They got along great. I always thought they would end up together. Or hook up at the very least.”

“Huh, that’s funny,” observed Kit.

“What is?”

“When me and Mari split, I was planning on trying to set them up with Thaìs. But then I caught her ans Astrid making out in a storage closet at school. Which, in hindsight, was pretty stupid cause they were in there so I wouldn’t be sad Mari moved on when I opened the door in the first place avoiding her to call you.”

“Hmmmm.”

The gears in Ty’s head were visibly turning. Kit loved watching this process. An idea was forming in his boyfriend’s genius mind, he could sense it.

“What is their stance on monogamy?” he asked finally.

“Um, fuck, hold on. Mari sent me this whole speech about it.” Kit scrolled through his phone at a rapid rate before he saw what he was looking for. He cleared his throat and began reading aloud.

Mari_da_bisexual_whore, sent 1:52 AM: monogamy is just another lie capitalism has fed us

Mari_da_bisexual_whore, sent 1:55 AM: like, for example, the notion that house spiders are ugly and to be feared

Mari_da_bisexual_whore, sent 1:56 AM: it’s just to sell bug spray

Mari_da_bisexual_whore, sent 1:56 AM: same with monogamy

Mari_da_bisexual_whore, sent 1:56 AM: pointless!!!

Mari_da_bisexual_whore, sent 1:58 AM: in conclusion, if I want to join a polyam cult, who tf is the government to stop me?

Kev-Kev, sent 2:01 AM: mari please go to sleep

Bless-ing_to_the_world, sent 2:04 AM: ^^^^^^^^^^^

Mitski_my_love, sent 2:05 AM: preach!

Mitski_my_love, sent 2:05 AM: go off queen

By the time Kit was finished with his dramatic reading, Ty’s plan was fully formed.

“That settles it! We are going to play matchmakers!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alyssa, Ty’s friend mentioned is @thechangeling OC, not mine.

@the-blackdale @the-wckd-powers @adoravel-fenomeno @thomas-gaypanic-lightwood @illusions-give-reasons-to-live @ithurielkeepsgettingkidnapped @im-not-ruined-im-ruination @sofiatheskeleton @cncnbr @its-taff @noah-herondale-lightwood @maxboythedog @arangiajoan @shelvesofgold @book-dragon-not-worm sorry if I missed anyone LMK if you want to be added or removed from The tag List!!

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #199

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're making the Jotaro Kujo of FGO, Semiramis! (Seriously, how does that cape/hair... thing work? It's wild.) The queen of poisons is a Graviturgy Wizard to make building a floating castle slightly less difficult to make and cooler to live in, plus a Witherbloom Druid for some dove friends and extra poisons. If you've seen our builds for Waver and Edison, you might know already that building things with magic is costly and time-consuming, and for once that is 100% accurate to the character. Get ready, this is gonna be a weird one.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: I'm 40% appendicitis!

Race and Background

Semiramis is technically an aasimar, but she doesn't fly around or heal people, so we can just focus on her human side. .... Oooor we can focus on those ears, because we need to nick some stuff from being an Elf. Specifically, we're going with the Vahadar Elf from Plane Shift Kaladesh, since they've got the ears, the proficiencies we'll need later, and their backstory's still about living in general society, unlike wood elves and other Kaladeshian elves. Thanks to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, this gives her +2 Intelligence and +1 Wisdom, as well as Darkvision, Fey Ancestry against being charmed, a Trance instead of sleep so she can't be put to sleep, Keen Senses for proficiency in Perception, the Mending cantrip to piece together the castle later, and most importantly Elf Weapon Training. Normally this would give her proficiency with four weapons, but thanks to Tasha's we can swap this out with four tools instead. Carpenter's, Glassblower's, Mason's, and Smith's Tools proficiency should give us everything we need to build a castle later- we'll go into the why when we get there.

Semiramis is also a Noble- grab History, but swap out Persuasion for Deception. Yeah, not even her background can escape how weird this build is.

Ability Scores

Poisoning skills come from Intelligence (I think. WotC are really nonspecific about how to actually fucking make poison), and it's also your main casting modifier: put that first. Second should be your Charisma, nobody drinks poison on purpose, so you'd better get good at lying. After that is Wisdom. If your poisons aren't made with Intelligence it'll definitely be wisdom. That means your Dexterity isn't great- yeah, you fight in a dress, but if you're fighting and not your lackeys, something's gone wrong. We're not dumping Constitution because we're not stupid, so dump Strength instead. You've got minions to carry rocks around for you.

Class Levels

Wizard 1: Starting as a wizard nets you the weakest hit die in the game, but it also gets you proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, plus the Arcana and Medicine skills. You're half caster, and if you want to ruin someone's bodily functions you have to know what those are first. Starting as a wizard also gets you Spells that you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. You get six at first level and two each level after. That's a lot, so we're just going to over spells that are important for the build here, though there's a full list of what we'd get in the character sheet. For cantrips, grab Infestation and Poison Spray for poison damage. For once infestation is completely kosher as is, since Semiramis can summon any creature as long as its poisonous. Also, grab Message. Castle halls are big and echo-y, and it's probably not a good idea to shout at people to find out which glass they put the poison in. Aside from that, grab Mage Armor so you die less, Magic Missile for Assassin balls, and Tenser's Floating Disk to carry all the raw materials you'll be using later. Finally, you get an Arcane Recovery once per long rest, letting you recover a couple spell slots on a short rest. The total level you recover is equal to half your wizard level, rounded up.

Wizard 2: Going into second level of wizard gives you a school of magic, and it's hard to lift several tons of stone into the air if you're not into Graviturgy. When you take the subclass, you can Adjust Density as an action, doubling or halving a large or smaller creature/object's weight for up to a minute with concentration. If you reduce a creature's weight it'll increase their speed by 10', double their jump distance, and have disadvantage on strength saves and checks, and vice versa if you increase it. I checked, and stone is roughly 1,000 times denser than air, not 2, so we'll have to do some brewing later to make this work out. Make your strong minions stronger, your fast minions faster, or do the opposite for your enemies.

Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells. You won't get any dragons in this build, sad to say, but you can use Dragon's Breath to turn just about anything into a dragon. They can even spit poison breath, which is really good with the poisoner's feat. Speaking of..

Wizard 4: First Ability Score Improvement of the build, so grab the Poisoner's Feat for more poisony goodness. All poison-based damage rolls you make ignore resistance, you can coat weapons as a bonus action, and you get proficiency in the poisoner's kit. You also learn a special poison that'll force a dc 14 constitution save on the creature you use it on, dealing 2d8 poison damage and poisoning them for a round.

Wizard 5: Fifth level wizards get third level spells. Animate Dead will help you make dragontooth warriors, a.k.a. skeletons. You can make one per casting right now, but you can recast the spell to retain control over up to three skeletons at once. Otherwise they'll be uncontrollable monsters, which is probably less of a goal.

Druid 1: Semiramis might be known for her poisons, but she's really a multifaceted person. Well, not really, but if you want poisons, you're going to get them from animals. If you want animals, you're going to get them from druids. First level druids learn Druidic- it's a language! They also get another set of Spellcasting using their Wisdom to cast and prepare spells. Check the multiclassing table to figure out your spell slots. Grab Guidance and Resistance to be a bit better than everyone else. For first level spells, look for Entangle and Snare to summon chains to slow down enemies, and Speak with Animals to make sure your dovey-woveys know their work is appreciated. We haven't gotten dovey-woveys yet? Don't worry, they're coming.

Druid 2: Second level druids join their circle, and you're so goddamn smart you just joined another school. At the college of Witherbloom, you'll learn how to turn the vitality of nature into deadly poisons. Right off the bat you get circle spells, which are always prepared for you and don't count against how many spells you can prepare. Right now you get the Spare the Dying cantrip as well as Cure and Inflict Wounds. Now you don't literally have to summon a whip every time you want to hit someone. You can also tap in creatures' essences with your Essence Tap. As a bonus action, you empower yourself for 1 minute, gaining one of two options. Overgrowth lets you heal yourself with a hit die each turn as a bonus action, adding your wisdom modifier to the amount healed. Withering Strike lets you change your damage to necrotic when you hit someone with any sort of damage, ignoring resistances to make your poisons even deadlier. You can use this proficiency times per long rest. Most importantly, you gain a Wild Shape / Wild Companion. Both features use the same two charges per short rest. You're limited to what you can turn into based on its CR and movement options, but those limits and how long you can transform/summon a creature for grows as you level up. Currently I'd stick with Wild Companion for dove familiars, but some versions of Semiramis' story include her turning into a dove herself at the end, so Wild Shape isn't out of the question. As long as we sink eight levels into druid, at least.

Druid 3: Third level druids get second level spells, like your freebies Lesser Restoration and Ray of Enfeeblement. Look, if you're going to make poisons it only makes sense that you'd have antidotes on hand. You can also grab spells like Animal Messenger to send your doves out for ingredients, and Locate Animals or Plants to find them yourself.

Wizard 6: Sixth level graviturgists can make a Gravity Well when you cast a spell, moving the target 5 feet in any direction if it is willing or you successfully hit it with the spell. Speaking of spells that push people, Pulse Wave does just that, stepping in for the big stompy dragon animation. Creatures in a 30' cone make a constitution save, and if they fail they'll take force damage and get pushed back 15', or 20' with Gravity Well. You can also pull them, but that's not really stompy at that point. You can also Summon Undead to create a stronger skeleton to lead the others.

Druid 4: At fourth level, druids can transform into swimming creatures, and you also get another ASI. Bump up your Intelligence for stronger spells. Also, grab the Control Fire cantrip, it'll be cold in your castle without it.

Druid 5: Fifth level druids get third level spells, like Revivify and Vampiric Touch. Neither of those are in character, but you can also Conjure Animals (as long as they're poisonous) and Dispel Magic to keep your throne room free of nonsense.

Wizard 7: Seventh level wizard get fourth level spells, including the one we've been working our way up to, Fabricate! As long as you have the raw materials, you can turn them into products of the same material. Since you're working with stone, you're limited to creating Medium objects this way. Just line the outside of the medium objects you make with halves of smaller objects, then mend them together, and eventually you'll have a castle. This will take a while. For a decent-sized castle of 300'x400', you'll be looking at roughly 480 medium-sized blocks per floor. At level 20 you'll have 12 spell slots of fourth level or higher, so you can knock out a floor in roughly 40 days, not including things like doors or other furniture. Also worth noting, you can't make fancy things like glass without proficiency in the tools required to make them normally, hence all the tool proficiencies from your racial bonuses.

Wizard 8: Use your next ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better healing and stronger druid spells. You also learn Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, so you can prevent creatures from spying into your hanging gardens. Especially useful is the ability to block creatures from teleporting or plane shifting onto your grounds, as that's probably the only way to approach your gardens safely. Or at least it is after you learn Ice Storm, a long range spell that pelts enemies with ice and turns the area into difficult terrain. Of note, it doesn't say the ground, so the entire cylinder will be difficult to fly through. If you want to build giant arcane cannons instead for authenticity, I salute you. Just remember that'll have to come out of your budget.

Wizard 9: Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, and Wall of Stone will help you speed up construction by making ten 10'x10' panels or ten 10'x20' panels. You can also use this spell to create bridges or the like, and if you hold concentration for 10 minutes the stone remains permanently. If you want to skimp on materials so you can just get this fucking thing in the air already, this'll help with that. You're also learning Geas. If you can't summon a dragon, forcibly controlling a dragon is the next best thing.

Druid 6: Did you think we were done with druid? I said we were stuck here for 8 levels, didn't I? Sixth level witherbloom druids can make a Witherbloom Brew thanks to their new proficiency with Herbalism kits. At the end of a long rest, you can use that kit to make Proficiency brews, which last for 24 hours. A Fortifying brew gives a creature resistance to a damage type chosen at brewing (cold, fire, necrotic, poison, or radiant) for an hour. A Quickening brew heals its drinker, and ends one disease or an effect of charming, frightening, paralyzation, poisoning, or stunning. Again, antidotes might be useful to have on hand, but the real reason we're here is for the Toxifying brew. You can apply the brew to a weapon, and the next time within an hour that weapon hits a creature, they take 2d6 poison damage and have to make a constituiton saving throw (DC 8 + your wisdom modifier + proficiency) or be poisoned for a minute. This is literally so much better than the poisoner feat what the hell.

Druid 7: Seventh level druids get fourth level spells, like Blight and Greater Restoration for stronger poisons and antidotes respectively. You can also Dominate Beast to hold any poisonous critters still while you milk them, or summon Giant Insects instead. They obey you and stay giant until they drop to 0 HP, dismiss the effect, the spell ends.

Druid 8: Our last level of druid finally lets you turn into a dove with a second Wild Shape Improvement. You also get another ASI, so bump up that Wisdom for stronger spells and poisons.

Wizard 10: Tenth level graviturgists can create a Violent Attraction between a creature's face and a weapon, causing a nearby weapon attack to deal an extra 1d10 damage. Alternatively, you can increase the attraction between a creature and the ground, adding 2d10. I doubt your hanging gardens need help making the fall more deadly, but now you can help out of need be. You can do this Intelligence modifier per long rest.

Wizard 11: Eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells, like Guards and Wards. This will make it so much harder for enemies to breach your castle it isn't even funny, if the "hanging out in the stratosphere" thing didn't tip them off already.

Wizard 12: By twentieth level you should have a castle set up, so grab the Lucky feat. Basically, everything that can go right for you does while you're in your castle, so now you get 3 luck points per long rest to make sure that happens, letting you re-roll your attacks, saves, and checks, as well as attacks aimed at you.

So how the fuck do I get a flying castle?

So, admittedly this is up to DM fiat, but let's be real, a flying castle sounds sick as hell and gathering resources is a great reason to go adventuring. If I was your DM, it'd go something like this; After x months of research, you find a way to prepare materials so Adjust Density is permanent on them if you concentrate for the duration. Then you make and fuse together castle chunks as described in level twelve, and eventually you lighten the load on the special rocks so much they're lighter than air. Boom, liftoff, you're fucking awesome now. If you want to go down, just make the float rocks heavier again.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Even if you don't build a giant floating castle in your adventure, that doesn't mean all this prepwork went to waste. You are a master at protecting areas from invasion, so no matter where you lay your head you know it's going to be safe. Not as safe as a floating castle, but still, safe.

By mixing together all your tool proficiencies with Fabricate, you can make pretty much whatever you need from raw materials. No more paying a smithy for fancier armor!

If you do get your castle in the air or you're near a cliff, you are incredibly deadly, with plenty of ways to shove opponents around or otherwise control movement. Slow them down, trip them up, or shove them off a cliff it's so good. Pulse people off the edge of your garden and laugh at them as they fall.

Cons:

There's literally no rules about building your own castles & poisons, so most of this build is entirely dependent on your DM. If you get a cool one, cool! If you don't, this build is pretty much a writeoff.

You need to hide away in your castle and send out minions because you're kind of pathetic in person. With only 14 AC and less than 100 HP, you'll go down faster than Medb if you don't use your Wild Shapes well.

A lot of that can be chalked up to mixing caster classes, meaning we have to spend more ASIs to make both spell modifiers good, and we miss out on higher level spells. Also, spending 8 levels in druid just to turn into a dove isn't that great unless you really want the flavor. I highly recommend skipping out after 6, the last graviturgy effect is great both to knock people out of the sky and make them bow if they get to your throne room.

But, getting to your throne room is 90% of the fight. This build is one that emphasizes patience, and that's what puts you above the common folk. Hang out in the stratosphere, attend social events in style, and let your poisons and skeleton warriors do the fighting for you. Just be glad there aren't any wacky knights riding hippogryphs around.

[nyxocity]

Fic Writer Questions!

Thanks to @redmyeyes for the tag!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

82, although that's not even close to my actual total. There's a bunch on LJ that have never been transferred (all shorter works)

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,780,805 (over 2mil on LJ)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Mostly three, plus a couple dips into a few other pools. X-Men Comic Book fandom, Buffy & Angel fandom (they kinda count as one since it's the same universe), and Supernatural & SPN RPF. Dips have included Dragon Age, Firefly, a tiny bit of TVD, a Sons of Anarchy crossover.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

This is tough if I go by numbering. Homework Verse has the most kudos scattered across all parts, but Stranger Than Fiction has the most as a single story. Anyway...

Homework Verse (J2 RPF, 200k+ words) - My very first RPF fic, Supernatural or otherwise. Two of my online fandom friends basically TOLD me I was going to write Teacher/Student J2, and I kept protesting that I drew the line at RPF. They didn't care. 200k later, here we are. This story was a game changer for me; it made me fandom famous. I still love those boys with my whole heart, and they still talk to me sometimes.

Stranger Than Fiction (Sam/Dean, 50644 words) - This story idea took root immediately following the episode The Monster at the End of This Book. I quit the Big Bang I'd already begun writing for that year (which was Who Watches Over Me, which I finished and posted for BB the following year) to write this story. It just took hold hold of me and took over. I wrote it in 6 weeks and it was easily the most fun I ever had writing anything--I cackled like a madwoman most of the time.

Who Watches Over Me (J2 RPF, 96591 words) - This story was, at the time, the toughest thing I'd ever written. Little did I know that would become the norm and not the exception, as I began to write more complex stories. It was by far the longest story I had ever posted all at once in its entirety (rather than chapter by chapter) and I had no idea if people would like it. Fortunately a lot of people did.

Like Staring Into the Sun (Sam/Dean, 23243 words) - Ah, my very first hardcore Wincest fic. I remember writing the first chapter of the story (meant to be a one shot honestly), and just sitting there, at 5am, being terrified to post it. It was twisted, dark and intense and SO porny I was scared people might think I was weird. There wasn't anything like it out there at the time. As it turns out, people loved it so much I ended up writing eight more parts.

Like a Fish Out of Water (Sam/Dean, 59498 words) - I have a lot of love for this story. It didn't come to me easily, but it was fun to write. I remember smiling a lot and just having a nice, warm cozy feeling the whole time. I had no idea if anyone was interested in reading this many words of what amounted to a dramedy curtain fic

Of course there are other stories that I feel deserve love, but I can't argue with these.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do. And by that, I mean I try. I don't always succeed in answering them all, but I answer as many as I have time and energy for. Life is busy and there is writing to do as well. I read every comment I get (multiple times) and I feel guilty for all the ones I don't answer, because they mean SO MUCH TO ME. Like you took time to leave this beautiful, well thought out comment, or even a keysmash, or a heart, in response to something I wrote. That means the world.

I WISH there was a reaction function for comments on Ao3, so I could heart things, or laugh in response. Replying with emojis without words feels weird. So yeah, a reaction function would be amazing. But in the meantime, I do my best.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. Probably A Touch of Evil. Interestingly, it's also a HAPPY ending, so there you go lol. It's a serial killer love story with a happy ending that comes at an exorbitant price.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm not sure why the OG post skips from 6 to 8 lol . So, yes, I have written a few minors crossovers. Mostly Faith in the SPN verse with the boys, nothing too crazy, because she fits right in. But for long stories, I have written all of ONE crossover. It's Dean Winchester/Jax Teller (SPN / Sons of Anarchy). My crossovers so far have tended to make sense to crossover, so I don't think any of them are crazy.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. I got some hate on a Buffy/Xander fic back in the day. I got really excited and had fun with it. Like yeah, now I'm SOMEBODY! You're no one til someone hates you lol Most of that was people who were haters of the ship, or were like, gross, they're like brother and sister (they weren't, they were FRIENDS). I've gotten nasty comments here and there on some of my SPN fic. My favorite was the person who accused me of having a "Top Dean Agenda". I STILL laugh about that one. I don't respond to that crap.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Have you MET ME? LOL If I ever post a story without smut just put me out to pasture, because I'm done. And all kinds. Het, Gay, PWP, Plotty porn, mostly super kinky but some vanilla (but intense). I used to challenge myself regularly to see if I could up my kink game--like hmm, but could I write THIS? I haven't written really kinky sex in a long time, though. Might be time to do that.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Several times. Who Watches Over me was stolen by someone and converted to One Direction Lourry fic. Literally just did a name change. Someone else stole a bunch of my one shots and passed them off as their own. I know there were a couple other instances but I only vaguely remember. I never got too deep into it, most of the time the people who discovered the theft already told everyone else too, and the plagiarist had been hammered by them so hard that I didn't have to step in before they took it down.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. I used to get requests so often that I just posted my usual response in my profile for people to read instead of replying. Definitely into Russian and Chinese for most of the stories listed with most kudos above.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times on one shot fics. SO MUCH FUN. I love co-writing with people.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Sam/Dean. Easily. Hands down. I just love their unique relationship, bond and love so much.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Well I finally finished A Touch of Evil after posting 3 chapters in 2009 and never touching it again until 2017. And I never thought I'd finish that. So never say never, I say. That said, there's the third and final part of my X-Men comic book epic that remains unfinished by about five (shorter) chapters, and it HAUNTS ME. But I don't think I'll ever finish it.

16) What are your writing strengths?

NOW we get to the hard questions. I'm really good at dialogue, bouncing banter back and forth between characters, and I have a sense for how long a scene should be. I just KNOW when it's going on too long, even if there's more that needs to be said, and I try to tighten it up in that case.

A friend of mine once told me "Porn is my gift". I don't write as much of it as I used to, but yeah, I shine in that area.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

So I always reach a point after writing so many words in an unpublished fic where I'm like, I have no idea if this is even any good/makes sense/hangs together etc. Beyond that, I've been writing for so long that I've had so much practice that I've strengthened a lot of my weaknesses. I'm sure I still have some, but I don't FEEL them like I used to anymore. That said, there are things I simply will not write. Like historical pieces. Because I would research the fuck out of every detail trying to get it perfect and then I would still doubt myself completely.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I mostly try to avoid it, because there's no way I would ever get the language correct. I usually write it in English and then explain that they're saying it in another language. Like, "What are you doing?" the man asks, speaking in Chinese. Then reiterate in the continuing dialogue in various ways that they're speaking in Chinese.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

X-Men Comic Book fandom. I was reading a lot of Remy/Rogue fic back in 1996-1997, and one day I was like, you know what? This person did a pretty good job on this story. It's not great, but it's pretty good, and if they can have the guts to put it out there, then I can do it, too.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

This is a tough question. I don't love all my children equally, but I love them all a lot in different ways lol

Remembering favorite is different than which one I think is BEST... Homework Verse is probably my favorite. I was learning so much about writing then, I was really growing, and discovering, and pushing my limits. Those characters lived and breathed in me, I swear they spoke through me from some alternate universe. They feel so REAL to me. There's so much of what I've learned in life in that story, like really, big, life changing ideas and understandings that happened to me that I put into that story. There's so much of me in that story, and yet there's so much of THEM, too. It's their story, but it's also mine. It's raw and not entirely perfect and it feels like home to me.

--

So that's it, that's my piece. I feel like EVERYONE has been tagged since it took me 3 days to have time to do this, but I'm basically tagging any of you writers out there who haven't done this yet!

[queenofthefullmoon]

An exhaustive list of Dark Souls 3 bosses I would or would not date

Iudex/Champion Gundyr

We’re starting off this list with a strong yes. Our boy Gundyr has had a hard, difficult life, and he deserves some good company. He’s tall, strong, and I trust him to protect us as we set a lovely camp site outside of the fire link shrine.

Vordt of the Boreal Valley

Vordt is big and he is feral which are truly the only two qualities I look for in a man. Together we’d be unstoppable. I mean, think about how easy it would be to go around with him: just climb on his back and let the rodeo begin, baby. This argument alone should be enough to convince you that Vordt is a suitable boyfriend, but here’s another one: if you get too hot in the summer, worry fucking not for your gigantic man can hold his equally gigantic hammer over you and cover you with snow like an italian man covering his pasta with parmesan.

Cursed Rotted Greatwood

Now while I’m certain it would be a perfect partner for some people, the Cursed Rotted Greatwood isn’t for me. For one, I am not fan of curses, or rot, or weird sticky balls, or strange orange acid, or pale white and slightly viscous hands bursting through a living tree. Secondly, I feel like the crowd of Hollows who group up around the tree would be a big impediment to our intimacy, and I’m not ready to be the mother of 20 Hollows.

Crystal Sage

No offense but you’d be an idiot for not wanting to date the Crystal Sage. All wrapped up in one package, you get a super competent sorcerer bf, who wears the coolest hat in the galaxy and an equally cool cape, and who overall looks like the upgraded version of a plague doctor. In addition to that he also has a pretty rapier so you can both engage in some sparring (which we all know is the most romantic couple activity).

Deacons of the Deep

Probably one of the worst options on the list, they’re all crusty, rotting men moaning around a biggass coffin. There are many technical questions. If I dated a deacon, would I have to date all of them? Can we go out on dates or are they obligated to stay next to the coffin at all times? Can I even date them at all?? Not that I would, because I have standards. The only pro to entering this relationship(s?) would be that I’d probably get one of their robes for free, but the cons are so numerous that I’d rather buy it myself.

Abyss Watchers

Let’s be real and honest even if it hurts. Would I date an Abyss Watcher? Yes. Maybe I’d even date two. However, would an Abyss Watcher date me? No, because they’re all in love with Artorias, and I can’t blame them for that.

Old Demon King

At first I considered dating the Old Demon King like a Russian Instagram model dates an old, rich American man: with a great deal of fake love but above all great patience in order to be the only person on the will. But then I thought about it more, and what does the Old Demon King have to offer, really? A big firework show that will leave him exhausted like the old creature he is, and maybe some pyromancies. Truly, it is not worth it, especially since I’d have to take residence where he lives, in a big old room filled with the corpses of his kin.

High Lord Wolnir

I’ve got nothing against Wolnir personally, but I have no interest in skeletons, nor in his army of skeleton children. As stated above I’m not ready to be a mother. I feel like if we got in an argument and he sighed, he would poison me with his awful breath and I would die a horrible death. Also, living on the brink of the Abyss doesn’t appeal to me that much. However I would like Wolnir to be a good friend I can talk jewelry with because let’s be honest, the man (skeleton?) is blinged the fuck out even in death and I respect that.

Yhorm the Giant

Yes, I would date Yhorm. He was nothing but a sweet, misunderstood giant who always tried to get people to trust him and he convinced me. I would put my life in his big hands. Think of the possibilities. Just like with Vordt he could carry you everywhere but in a less reckless way if you prefer proper manners. You’d never have to worry about not seeing anything at a concert. Also, may I add that waiting for you to show up while sitting on his biggass throne is an absolute power move? Yhorm is a Lord of Cinder, but above all, a Lord of this heart.

Pontiff Sulyvahn

Would I date him because of his appealing aesthetic? Yes. Would I date him for anything else? No. Sulyvahn is absolutely terrifying, completely unhinged in the most frightening way, which is that he doesn’t look bat shit crazy. I could be thinking that everything is going well in our relationship then suddenly he’d lock me in a dungeon then would feed me to his weird friend because I put a fork in the knife drawer. He could pretend to propose and give me a weird fucked up ring with his eye in it and the next thing I know I’d be running in a field on all fours. I don’t trust like that.

Aldritch, Devourer of Gods

I’m so sad about Aldritch because literally everything about him is completely unappealing, unacceptable, unnatural, unholy, abhorrent, but he has the delicate and beautiful face of Gwyndolin. While our lovely Gwyndolin looks gorgeous as ever it doesn’t make up for the fact that Aldritch devoured people and probably wouldn’t find love to be a good reason to not eat his partner. The only reason I can find to have a friendship (not even a romantic relationship) with him is if you really like experimenting with cooking and you really, really need someone to taste your inventions.

Dancer of the Boreal Valley

I feel attraction, which means that just like any other being who feels attraction, I would date the Dancer. She is beautiful, graceful, a bit feral, and would not hesitate to put a flaming knife to my throat, which is the description of my dream woman. Imagine walking the streets with her, trying to hold her hand while it dangles 3 feet above you and she insists on holding her sword, actually, so she might slay anyone who tries to approach you, which she communicates through icy breaths and murmurs. The date of a lifetime.

Oceiros, the Consumed King

Another awful choice on this list, Oceiros is RABID and also, as far as we know, still a married man. You really want to date a man that hasn’t even gone through his divorce but already looks like this? Me neither. I’m already not big on dragon fucking but the fact that he’s all viscous and has weird growths all over him is not helping. Also, he has children, and we know how I feel about that — although, given how he treats them, he probably won’t have kids very soon (too far?).

Ancient Wyvern

So I’ve stated that I’m not very big on dragon fucking. With that said, do I think the wyvern is sexy and beautiful? Absolutely so. You’re probably like « Blue you’re sending mixed signals, are you gonna date the lizard or not? » and to that I say, date? Perhaps not. I would however like to form a lifelong bond with this wonderful force of nature and fight by its side, live a long and fulfilling life travelling along with it, only to die at the same time atop the tallest mountain in the world, where our skeletons will be discovers hundreds of years in the future by brave explorers, who will confirm that the legendary songs that were written about us were in fact not just a myth.

Nameless King

You’ve just read what I said about the wyvern. I feel like the Nameless King really understands me and would respect me for that. We could bond over our love of dragons and other flying scaly beasts and perhaps share some chaste kisses while soaring the sky on our companions. It’s nice to date someone who loves pets as much as you. I feel like he would be a fun guy to hang around in general, maybe he’d let you braid his hair or try on his crown. He can arrange personalized fireworks shows for you with his lightning powers. I don’t think you’d ever be bored around him.  

Dragonslayer Armor

Dating an empty suit of armor has never bothered me (see: ds2 Ruin Sentinels), however I have beef with the dragonslayer armor. Is it a beautiful armor? Perhaps a bit worn off, but the reply remains affirmative. However, it is controlled by Pilgrim Butterflies, which basically means I’m dating one to multiple of these things in the shape of an armor, and I’ve gotta confess that I’m not down for that.

Lorian Older Prince and Lothric Younger Prince

Here comes the delicate moment where we have to make a choice without offending anyone. I personally, speaking for myself, in my own opinion, would rather date Lorian. Reason: he is big, strong, and a bit rabid, which I’ve made very clear is my type. I don’t dislike Lothric, but I feel like we’d be better off as best friends who have a really snarky group chat where we shit talk the entire kingdom. That’s pretty good because if I even just slightly disliked Lothric I’m pretty sure Lorian would sense it and would not hesitate to murder me on sight.

Champion’s Gravetender and Champion Greatwolf

Well the full name is just a formality here, I’m not completely insane so I don’t want to date this rabid wolf. I feel like the Champion’s Gravetender is just a normal dude who’s a bit in over his head and it’s not his fault but he just seems a bit boring compared to all my other options. Instead of a date I think he’d be more of an awkward flirt I had when I was bored and then I came to my senses but didn’t know how to disengage, but in the end it worked out because he was more interested in his work anyway.

Sister Friede and Father Ariandel

Again a choice has to be made and I will have to be predictable and say I’d date Elfriede. Just like Dancer she’s what the woman of my dreams is made of. She’s graceful and could easily take my life and I think it’s awfully sexy of her to be like that. I think I’d be accepted into the family pretty easily, which is important since Father Ariandel cares about Friede so much. I’d go visit him sometimes, play chess with him, bring him his flail, normal interactions with your girlfriend’s dad.

Soul of Cinder

I’m gonna be a tiny bit freaky here and say I’d date the Soul of Cinder. Dating it is just like opening a Kinder Surprise egg, you never know what you’re gonna get (sorry Americans for excluding you here). That makes life exciting and doesn’t let routine stall your relationship. Every day you can wake up with the question « What weapon will my darling walk around with today? The flaming sword, or the sorcery staff? » and be surprised by the answer. Truly ideal, but I understand it’s not for the faint of heart.

Demon Prince

I’m gonna go with a maaaaaaybeeeee? leaning towards no. I mean yes, the Demon Prince is a weird fleshy flaming demon, and that may be a bit gross, but I’ve gotta admit I admire his style, the drama of it all. The care he puts into his entrance, the attitude in his moves. If we don’t date I’d at least want to be friends so he can teach me his ways.

Darkeater Midir

I have very intense and contradictory feelings towards Midir. In one hand, holy shit, absolutely epic dragon, the spirit of companionship is growing in me. On the other hand, this beast is RABID and pretending I could tame him is foolish, and pretentious. I guess in the end the answer remains that I don’t date dragons, I just want to adopt them as my extremely exotic pets.

Halflight, Spear of the Church

Yeah I’d date Halflight, I know it’s the easy answer but look at him. I mean shit he’s walking around like a little thotty with his shirt open and you mean to tell me I’m not supposed to wanna date him because he looks pretty much like a regular dude? My boy Halflight WANTS me to date him or else he would not show up with his tiddies out to a sword fight, which as an activity already has enough erotic implications on its own.

Slave Knight Gael

I’m gonna say it unashamedly and I’ll say it again: I would date Gael. He’s been nothing but helpful and when he tries to attack you it’s to help his little lady that he’s adopted as his niece. We love a chaotic parental figure. Maybe he’s a tad bit old and dirty but there’s nothing a good bath can’t fix and I’m sure he’d appreciate having someone taking care of him for once. Again, he’s got that slightly unhinged quality to him that makes him delightful. When I walk around with my partner I want us to instill both fear and fascination in people which we would be able to accomplish perfectly well.

Dark Souls 1: Remastered date list // Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin date list

[captains-writing-desk]

Chapter Two: The Beast

Universe: The Mandalorian

Character: Din Djarin

Type: Reader insert (female)

Words: 2,610

Warnings: Swearing

Notes: Chapter two lads! Genuine question, is it weird that I’m just adding you to the story. Like I legitimately can’t tell if I’m just writing out the Mandalorian or if I’m actually adding anything of value to it...

-

Desert planets really were the worst, at least in your mind and the Mandalorian seemed to agree with you. Upon arrival on Tatooine, you were greeted with an old acquaintance of his who didn’t even know if Mos Pelgo was still standing until her droid pointed the way.

“Who’s your friend?” She asked him and gestured over his shoulder to where you were stood leaning against the the foot of the razor crest with your arms folded, listening to their discussion. He was hesitant in his response as in that moment he realised he didn’t even know your name. Thus far, he had never had to refer to you to anyone nor did he need to grab your attention for anything. He rarely asked for names, he would always find out in some way, much less was he inclined to give out his own name but he felt shameful at that momemt for not knowing yours.

“A passenger.” He eventually responded after glancing back at you.

“Another faceless stranger like you, huh?” She rocked the kid on her hip before handing him back over. He did not respond to her remark and simply thanked her before taking his leave, so you grabbed your new batons you’d gotten on the last stop off the floor and slid them into the holsters on your back where they lay crossed over one another.

-

“You sure there’s Mandalorian here?” You asked once you reached the town of Mos Pelgo, eyeing up the folk that resided there.

“I had word from Gor Koresh there had been a sighting here.” He seemed to be equally on edge as you were. So that’s what he had gotten up to when he went for a little walk into town the other day.

It was in a bar that you’d finally caught sight of this Mandalorian that was said to be here but much to the disappointment of your companion, he was not the real deal and subsequently he was to return his armour to be brought back to its own people which brought a tense situation about and surprisingly a Krayt Dragon straight through the village. A deal was eventually struck but something still felt a little bit iffy to you, so you kept your guard up. That armour was not his, yes but it was haunted.

-

Tusken raiders. This was going to be a fun team up, especially if this Cobb Vanth guy was going to get pissy about working with them at every opportune moment. You were getting pretty annoyed watching him refuse to drink with them and almost gave him a piece of your mind until he finally relented. Unfortunately for you however, he felt the need to come and sit with you away from the rest, probably in a state of embarassment.

“Well that was nasty..” He commented as he sat on the rock you’d perched yourself on but you made no comment and simply pulled out your blaster to inspect and keep yourself occupied.

“You’re not much of a talker either huh? “ You declined to comment once again, “Well just be grateful you didn’t have to drink whatever that shit was.” He drawled.

“Be grateful they even agreed to help after you refused to have one simple drink.” You finally piped up but kept your voice low and unwavering. He looked at you for a moment with his mouth slightly ajar then smiled a little.

“So you do have a voice.. and a ladies voice at that.” You felt the shift in his mood.

“I ain’t no lady, I can tell you that.” You remained fairly neutral with your annoyance subsiding ever so slightly.

“Oh I don’t doubt that..” He raised his brows and kicked his legs out in front of him then crossed one over the other. You stopped your blaster inspection and turned your head slightly to see him leaning back rather casually now and resting on his elbows. So he was getting flirty was he? You rather enjoyed taking someone’s ego down a peg or two sometimes.

“What do you mean by that?” Your tone gave nothing away but you mirrored his position.

“Well..” He was slightly taken back but he adjusted once he saw you lean back as he did, “I simply meant I can’t see you being particularly lady-like, maybe even fairly brazen..” He almost whispered the last word as he glanced around casually, his eyes briefly registering the Mandalorian who was almost certainly watching and listening in despite being preoccupied with the kid, so he turned in his side to keep a more intimate conversation going. You remained as you were and also noticed your companion’s attention running your way.

“Are you trying to flirt with me?” You asked, keeping your eyes on the Mandalorian.

“Is it not working?” He chuckled as he spoke softly, trying to maintain the intimacy.

“Do you see me trying to fuck you?” You looked at him now, briefly seeing your companion choke on his own saliva presumably.

“Well I wouldn’t expect you to try here.” He shrugged. This man was relentless.

“I would tear you apart before I even thought about trying.” You were so nonchalant he was almost disturbed by it.

Your eyes went to the Mandalorian again who seemed more relaxed than he had been the last time you looked. Truthfully he was grateful you had refused Vanth’s advances and was now finding it highly amusing.

“Alright, I get the hint,” Cobb laughed after finally speaking up, “However. I could probably get into that.” He hinted and you paused for a moment before finding the humour in what he had said.

“Well if I change my mind you can fuck around and find out.” You laughed under your breath.

“Deal.” He agreed with a hearty chuckle and then left you in peace to think about how maybe the company of others wasn’t entirely terrible and not everyone was out to get you. That last part was yet to be proved however.

-

You were stood just in front of the villagers and sand people, wanting front row seating on what was about to go down with the krayt beastie. You watched as the raiders took a bantha as an offering to what you assumed to be the front door of the great beast’s hideout. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel a little excited but moments later that all changed. Everything went to shit, it was too clever and it needed to be lured further out. Grappling hooks had been shot into its hide and there was a collective effort to hold them down but there was nowhere near enough man power to do anything against the strength of that thing. You shot one in an attempt to help keep the beast down but once it reared its head back, launching anyone attached into the air, you let go and let yourself come crashing down to the floor, winding yourself. You tucked your limbs in as raiders flew past you being dragged along by the ropes, you lifted your head and watched the last one blow past you, grabbing its rifle in the process then leapt to your feet and sprinted off to the side to keep the collective target off your back. You aimed your weapon and watched as it spewed some sort of acidic goo from its mouth, You didn’t know that could happen... Nor did you expect it to survive the ensuing blast.

You fired as soon as it reared its ugly head from the top of the cave and spewed more of that nasty green stuff. You liked a challenge but this was getting a little frustrating and required new tactics which were thin on the ground with this thing. Just as your mind went to the Mandalorians and their jetpacks, they took off up to the beast.

“Keep going!” You yelled to the crowd and joined them, fronting a heavy assault on the beast to keep its attention but it didn’t hold for long when the other two started firing and it retreated once more. God this thing was annoying...

There was a brief silence waiting for the next attack and locating where it would come from. You focussed yourself and felt for where it was coming from, whilst watching through your scope. ‘Behind.’ Something in you told you it was behind and you swing your body around to scan the dunes behind you but your vantage was poor so you moved closer to the group where the Mandalorians turned to follow your sight. Sure enough you were right and it came thundering down the dunes. Now what? All you could really do was shoot. Unless.. the bantha.

“Hey!” You got their attention and nodded to the bantha that was strapped with explosives.

“Get its attention.” The mandalorian instructed Vanth and that he did but the bantha was restless. Next thing you saw was Vanth being jetted off against his will and the Mandalorian holding tight to the bantha. You focussed your sight on the bantha but he was in the way.

“Move!” You called and he glanced at you but remained unmoved. You felt your blood boil and and your breathing slow down but before anything else could happen, he had been taken down with the dragon and you were left in a deafening silence, only briefly registering the kids concerned garbles.

‘Move.’ You repeated your last words to yourself and they echoed around your head, growing from a whisper to a frantic wail. You shook your head and snapped out of your daze a little too late to pay heed to your own warning. You started running but the ground beneath you broke and the dragon resurfaced, flicking you into the air at enough of an angle to let you land safely into a roll and back to your feet. You turned sharply, rifle at the ready but the Mandalorian hovered above it with the detenator in hand.

‘Fuck.’ You thought and lowered the rifle just in time to witness the explosion through your own eyes and your rifle being torn from your hands. You were however several feet in the air, watching the sand riple around you. The force of the explosion left you no room to right yourself in the air for a comfortable landing and it felt like forever that you were flying. You heard the kid in that moment again, his concerned little cry urging you to be alright. You took a deep breath and willed yourself to arch backwards until you saw the floor slowly getting closer. You pulled the batons from their place on your back and prayed they were a good investment then stretched your arms out above your head until they made contact with the sand. You kicked your foot and swung your body around to plant your feet on the ground too in s crouching position. You pressed down hard until you came to a stop next to Vanth who took his helmet off to make a point of looking at you, confusion plastered across his face for a moment.

You stood to your feet and he joined you in watching the beast, making sure it really was dead this time and given that it was practically torn apart you’d say it was. The job was done. The raiders and the villagers cheered at the sight of the fallen beast so you let your guard down and your legs gave way, letting you sink to your knees and catch your breath.

“You alright?” Vanth appeared beside you and knelt down to your level.

“Fucking A.” You panted as you stared at your hands, willing them to loosen their grip on the batons. Vanth disappeared and the kid appeared in his place next to you and rested his little hand on your thigh, you looked at him and felt your body relax itself.

“Thanks kid.” You sighed and touched the palm of your hand to his head before attempting to will yourself to your feet again but you felt the burn in your thighs as you shifted your weight forwards, making you groan in frustration and question why you pulled that stunt in the first place. Your life wasn’t in mortal danger so what was the point.

“Fuck sake.” You whispered to yourself and sighed again.

“You okay?” The Mandalorian stood before you now. ‘Great. More attention.’ You thought as you drew your gaze from his feet up to his helmet. You took in the little bits of slime that clung to the beskar and watched him extend his hand out to you. You felt anger again then and begrudgingly slapped your palm into his, letting him help you up because truthfully you needed it.

The Mandalorian wanted to ask you a million questions in that moment. They had all built up over the past few months but his stubbornness to remain withdrawn always got the better of him, especially since you were built the same way. You never asked him questions but then again, he didn’t seem to have an air about him. He was a damn good bounty hunter, he was great at his job and the best there was but he had the odd bit of technology on his side. There was nothing technological built into you, he knew this because he had scanned you once out of curiosity so the questions remained. How did you sense things so early? How were you so skilled in combat? And HOW did you twist your way out of a blast like that and kick your leg off of something that wasn’t there?

He was staring at you and you could almost hear the cogs grinding around in that bucket of his.

“You fucking idiot.” You finally broke the silence and jabbed a baton into his chest plate. You were short tempered, he knew that much but you seemed genuinely angry and he was surprised by such an oddly personal interaction. “Move out of the fucking way next time.” That definitely felt like a threat. He watched you walk past him and over to the carcass of the beast then he followed suit wordlessly.

-

Vanth stuck to his word and handed the armour over to the Mandalorian wishing him luck with the child then he stepped over to you.

“Any chance you fancy staying here?” That was an odd question you thought.

“Why on earth would I do that?” Truly you had no intention of sticking it out here.

“Just wondering if you’d changed your mind..” He grinned and you snorted.

“It’s far too hot for me here to even attempt that sort of business.” You put your hand on your hip.

“Well, you could fuck around and find out. On your next visit maybe.” He added with a smirk and you shook your head.

“Maybe.” You both knew you were lying but it was all harmless either way.

You bid your farewell as did the Mandalorian then you both started heading back to the ship. You took the armour from him to help distribut the load but it still felt haunted. You touched your palm to the helmet and paused for a moment then jerked your torso around to scan the horizons.

“What’s wrong?” The Mandalorian stopped just ahead of you and saw you looking back. You were too tired to deal with whatever business was going on, you felt no immediate threat so you shook it off and hooked the bundle over your back and proceeded in front of the Mandalorian.

“Nothing.” You mumbled on your way past as he stood watching where you had been looking then he sighed and followed suit.

[muertawrites]

The Lovers of Ba Sing Se - Part 1 (Zuko x Reader) [Modern Au]

Summary: Zuko isn’t used to being around people who aren’t afraid to share their every emotion. Meeting you during his time in Ba Sing Se changes that, and changes him for the better.

Word Count: 4,000

Author’s Note: Lmao the only person I’m writing this for is myself. Sorry not sorry. I usually try really hard to keep specifics to a minimum in my self-insert works, but this time I didn’t; I wrote about myself because, honestly, this fic is my love letter to me. I relate to Zuko so much and a huge part of the reason I love him is because he reminds me of myself - this fic is about me learning to love myself again after the people I loved and trusted most betrayed me, and saying a gigantic “fuck you” everyone who ever did anything to destroy my self worth. Part 2 is when I finally live out my fantasy of curb stomping Mai - tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-channel. 

Also, shameless plug, but I’m about 100 followers away from 1k, and I have some really fun stuff planned for when we get there so if you like this fic or any of my others, please follow! I love doing this and my goal is to devote as much effort as possible to it as I can, and I truly wouldn’t be able to do it without your support. Thank you so much for all of it. I’m so excited for the future of this blog and everyone who makes it possible ♥

~ Muerta

Of all the things Zuko thought might kill him, falling dishware was the last thing he would have ever considered a possibility.

He was sitting in the alley behind the Jasmine Dragon, making the most of his smoke break, when a ceramic cooking pot rained onto the pavement in front of him, shattering into trillions of pieces. Startled, he jumped back, dropping his cigarette as he craned his neck upwards; he spotted a head of brightly dyed hair staring down at him from the third floor balcony above.

“Oh shit,” you cried.

Within a minute, you burst through the back door of the neighboring building, panting and looking just as terrified as the young man you'd almost killed. Zuko stared at you, mouth slightly agape.

“Oh my god I'm so sorry,” you gushed. “Are you okay?? I didn't see you standing there, oh my god, oh my fucking god please tell me you're okay.”

Zuko was taken aback, unable to do anything for a moment but gaze at you in confusion, almost wonder. People in the Fire Nation were never this publicly expressive, even when barely avoiding manslaughter - he didn't quite know what to do with you, other than mutter that he was alright.

“I'm so, so sorry,” you blurted again. “You're sure you're okay? You don't have any glass on you or anything? Or need to be treated for shock?”

“No, I'm fine,” Zuko flatly replied. He nodded towards the trash bins across the alley. “You do know your building has those, though. You don't need to throw your old stuff off your balcony.���

You blushed, smiling sheepishly.

“It wasn't old,” you confessed. “It was a birthday gift from my best friend. Well… ex-best friend.”

Zuko huffed, pulling another cigarette from the pocket of his jeans and lighting it, looking down at his hands.

“Never had a breakup, huh?” he guessed.

“Oh, I've had plenty,” you told him. “They just don't get any easier.”

Zuko looked up at you, taking a long drag from his smoke. Your eyes were cast into the middle of the alley, settled on the shards of what once had been a reasonably nice piece of cookware. The shock and terror had faded from your expression, falling into one that was pained, anger and despair shadowing your features; you may as well have roundhouse kicked him in the chest, the look on your face mirroring the ache between his ribs. You hadn't revealed anything to him, but he knew instantly that your pain was the same as his.

He slid another cigarette from the box, offering it to you. You shook your head, lowering yourself onto the back stoop of the Jasmine Dragon; he found himself doing the same without thinking.

“I'm sorry about your pot,” he said, clumsily attempting to lighten the atmosphere. “It looked nice.”

You smiled faintly, pulling your knees to your chest and letting your chin rest atop them.

“I don't cook much, so it wasn't a huge loss,” you replied. “It was kind of cathartic, actually. I feel better.”

Zuko chuckled, tapping a bit of ash onto the ground between his feet.

“Good. Maybe feeling better will keep you from accidentally killing someone.”

You laughed, covering your face in embarrassment.

“Have I mentioned I'm sorry about that?” you winced.

“Hey, no sweat,” Zuko assured you. “It's not the first time. I've had people try to kill me on purpose before.”

He stood, stubbing out his half-smoked cigarette and pocketing it. He offered a hand to help you up, which you took, finding comfort in the strength of his palm as it wrapped around your forearm.

“I've gotta get back to work,” he told you. “You don't have any other gifts from your ex-best friend laying around, do you?”

You giggled, shaking your head.

“No,” you promised, “just that one. Thank you. For not threatening to press charges.”

Zuko laughed, realizing he was doing so for the first time in what had probably been years. The light feeling in his chest got even lighter when he noticed he was still holding your arm.

“Will I see you around?” he asked, the words escaping before they were even fully formed in his head.

You nodded, finally letting go of his hand.

“Yeah,” you said. “I'll see you around …?”

“Lee,” he told you. “I'm Lee.”

You smiled.

“Cool. I'll see you around, Lee.”

You saw Lee again a few days later, but not in a way you really wanted to. You were at work, standing outside the bar on the district high street with a coworker, attempting to attract some business during the weeknight lull; Lee spotted you while on his way to the nearby market, seeing you from a block or two away but doing his best to approach you as if he was bumping into you completely by accident.

Of course, this would be perfectly normal and not at all a weird way to run into a new acquaintance, if only the bar you worked in wasn’t catered towards men with a lolita fetish. You were dressed head to toe in pink and white, corseted in a risque bustier and frocked with a poofy, frilly mini skirt that was purposely too short, revealing the bum of your equally as ruffled panties; when you turned around and came face to face with the cute guy from the tea shop next door, you hoped someone would throw a cooking pot on top of you, death seeming like a much better option than attempting to explain yourself to someone who’d already had the privilege of meeting you during an emotional breakdown.

Lee blushed as pink as your costume, smiling coyly.

“We did say we’d see each other around,” he greeted you.

You grinned, relaxing a little.

“You’re not here to have a drink, are you?” you teased him. He laughed, his face turning redder as he reached up to rub the back of his neck.

“No,” he assured you, “I’m actually on my way to get some groceries. Figured I’d say hey.”

“Oh!” you exclaimed, “My break is in about fifteen minutes! If you don’t mind waiting I could go with you? I’ll buy you dinner to make up for almost killing you the other day.”

Lee chuckled, nodding.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that,” he agreed. “... I don’t have to wait inside though, do I?”

“I mean, my boss would like it,” you told him, “but it’s so dead in there I don’t think she’d let you leave if you did.”

“Noted,” Lee replied. “I’ll wait in the coffee shop across the street, then.”

Not long after, you tossed a hoodie and a pair of jeans over your bustier and undies, meeting him outside the cafe he was stationed at and making your way to the market. You bustled alongside each other in a fray of other people, rubbing shoulders or hips as you were jostled along with the current.

“So,” Lee blurted, attempting to break the silence between you (although it wasn’t nearly as awkward as it probably should have been), “how’d you end up working in a fetish bar?”

Your simpered, cheeks going ever so slightly rosy.

“How do you think?” you jabbed sarcastically. “I needed money and they pay really well. It’s nice knowing I’ll be able to afford rent every month. What about you? How’d you end up at the tea shop?”

“My uncle owns it,” Lee explained. “We’re the only family we have left, so… we stick together.”

You nodded, understanding and not pushing the question any further.

“It’s not so bad,” he went on. “At least I don’t have to wear pigtails to work.”

You huffed with laughter, leaning over so that your shoulder purposely, playfully shoved his.

“Honestly, my job isn’t awful,” you admitted. “My coworkers are cool, and my boss is really kind. It’s also pretty fun getting to dress up in costume every day; it's like Halloween, except I get to do it whenever I want to.”

Suddenly, you paused, gasping.

“Look!”

You grabbed hold of his arm, startling him a bit but too excited to care. You pointed towards a nearby stand, in which an elderly man was frying pieces of dough. He twisted each in an elaborate knot, every order getting a different design. They were like miniature sculptures, too ornate to even think about eating, but the smell of rich spices and molten sugar was too tempting to ignore.

“I love this stand!” you cried. “He isn't always here, but I get something every time he is. Come on, I'll get us some to split!”

With your hand still curled around his elbow, you dragged Lee through the market throng. As he watched you order, making friendly conversation with the old man, he found himself feeling perplexed; he'd never met someone so comfortable with their emotions, so willing to let every part of them be seen. He wondered how you got so fearless, or if you even had to put effort into being so candid.

He found himself thinking about Mai, how cold and empty she was. He was reminded of the chill he felt around her, the bitter sting she often left in his chest, even during tender moments. Being around you was different; even having just met you, you made him feel invigorated but at ease, the tension in his muscles loosening naturally just from the energy of your presence. It was strange, but refreshing - he found himself grinning along with you as you left the stand, finding a place to sit and enjoy your pastry.

“I got us one with curry, and one with cream filling,” you told him, ripping each serving in half to share. “This guy is an artist, I swear. You're not going to be the same person after this.”

You looked up as you took a bite of the savory half of your meal, halting when you noticed the strange look Lee was giving you.

“What?” you asked him.

He shrugged, fixing his eyes on the pastry in his hand.

“You're just different,” he answered. “Where I'm from, people aren't open like you are. You're really… yourself. It's nice.”

You smiled, unable to help but blush. Bubbles fizzed in your chest, making you feel lightheaded and giddy.

“I think it's because so many people told me not to be when I was a kid,” you mused. “They tried to make me hide the parts of myself I really liked, so I made them show even more, just to show them that they couldn't change me. That I was stronger than their cruelty.”

Zuko felt as if he'd been hit by lightning. He didn't know what it was, but something about you terrified him - it was the same thing that made him want to latch onto you and not let go. Despite having met you just days ago, he already felt as if he'd known you a lifetime - unbeknownst to him, you felt exactly the same way.

“Do you want to hang out tomorrow night?” he asked, stuttering the words.

“Yeah,” you replied, so excited you felt like shrieking so the whole market could hear. “I have the day off tomorrow. Think your uncle would let you swing that?”

“Yeah,” Lee assured you. “I think he would.”

You finished your meal together, sharing your favorite things about the neighborhood you lived in and simply enjoying each other’s company, as comfortable as if you were old friends. Instead of parting with you, Lee walked you back to the bar at the end of your break, stating that it was no trouble going back to the market to get the groceries he skipped to spend time with you.

When he left, you hugged him, and for the first time in a long time, you felt as if you'd truly made a friend.

On your date the next day, Lee took you to the local art museum - he remembered you expressing an interest in art history, and per his uncle’s suggestion, decided it would be the perfect place to take you. He loved seeing the awe on your face when met with a piece that captivated you, was drawn in by the impassioned way you spoke about cultures and myths from ages so long passed they felt as if they came from different worlds entirely. You spent the whole day together, ending the evening crashed on your couch with a pizza and a marathon of true crime documentaries.

From that day onward, you and Lee were connected at the hip. You spent every available moment you had either in the alley behind your building with him or having a cup of tea at the Jasmine Dragon, often staying long after closing with him and his uncle, Mushi, and feeling as if you'd finally found a family in your adopted city.

You learned that Lee was a skilled martial artist, asking him to teach you a little of what he knew and amazed at just how good he really was. He moved more like a dancer than a fighter, his comfort and ability with his body and a weapon captivating you. You learned that he also had an affinity for theater and had grown up completely cut off from modern music and pop culture, spending many of your nights together at local play houses and bars, introducing him to your favorite bands and shows. He learned that you were fascinated by literature and history - anything that had significant, profound meaning and beauty - and often found himself wandering museums and historic neighborhoods with you, loving nothing more than to listen to you talk about what inspired you. You also made him laugh, your sense of humor at times dark, but set into a personality that saw the world with childlike wonder, able to find immense beauty and value in things that seemed frivolous to the naked eye. You were kind, unwavering - everything his family and past lover weren't.

Zuko loved being around you because of how free you made him feel. The unbridled way you expressed your emotions encouraged him to face his own, following your lead in being unafraid of just how intensely the heart within his chest was prone to beat. You loved being with him because he made you feel safe, never judging you for anything and understanding the trauma of your past in a way nobody else had done before. You opened up to him about how the ones you loved did you the most harm, never giving themselves as fully to you as you did them, treating you as a means to take out their own pain and insecurities and convincing you that that was just the way love worked. Eventually, he confided in you the truth about his identity, confessing the horrors he fled in coming to Ba Sing Se. You never once blamed him for anything he'd done, knowing exactly what it felt like to have to read between the lines and give everything for those who gave you little in return. You fit together easily, never having to guess what the other was thinking; for once you both felt content, secure in the safety of your heart within the other’s hands.

One of your favorite places to go with Zuko was a cat cafe a few blocks over from where you worked, spending many a slow weekday off shift with fresh lattes, croissants, and cuddles from friendly, adoptable kitties. At first, Zuko was unsure, having never spent much time with cats, but after one visit he was enamored, gushing to you every single time you went how badly he wanted a cat and spouting multiple reasons why you should adopt one together. On a free Wednesday afternoon he showed up at your apartment unannounced (as he had made a habit of doing) and suggested you go together, an invitation you were more than happy to accept.

As you left the cafe, a couple walking on the other side of the street caught your eye - the man who stood nearest to you was horrifyingly familiar. You recognized him immediately, the shock of his sudden appearance shattering and hollowing out your insides.

It was your ex boyfriend, the man who broke your heart so far beyond repair, walking hand in hand with someone else.

“Zuko,” you mumbled, not even noticing that you used his real name in public, “I want to go home.”

Zuko furrowed his brow, taking you by the shoulders and gently turning you to face him, concerned with the sudden shift in your tone.

“What's wrong?” he asked softly.

All you could do was shake your head. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder, leading you to the nearby subway station and back to your apartment.

Once safe inside the confines of your home, you changed into a baggy sweater and the softest sweatpants you owned, curling up under the kotatsu in your living room with Zuko, arms wrapped tight around his waist as you drifted in the tide of blood that poured from your newly reopened wounds. He didn't have to ask what you'd seen - he could tell from the vacant, glassy look in your eyes exactly which ghost haunted you.

“I can't believe he'd be with someone else,” you whimpered. “After everything he did to me… always giving me mixed signals and never telling me exactly how he felt… how could he be able to do it with another person? What was so wrong about me that he hid all of it from me, when all I needed was to hear it?”

You sniffed as Zuko pressed a thumb to your cheek, wiping away a tear that had fallen. He hugged you tightly, pressing you close as if to remind you that he was there - he was your present, and there was nothing your past could do to harm you.

“There's nothing wrong with you,” he promised. “He's taken enough from you. Don't give him any more.”

For a long while, you sat together in silence, cradled in Zuko’s arms while he rocked you slowly back and forth, the tenderness of his touch sucking the poison from your veins. After what felt like ages, he finally spoke, giving you the piece of his past he'd been too heartbroken to offer until that moment.

“My girlfriend, Mai,” he told you, “she was like him. Everything she felt, she forced herself not to. We were together for a long time, but… I never really felt like she actually cared for me. If she did, she never let me see it. I gave her everything for nothing.”

“Why did you stay with her?” you wondered, voice meek and quivering with tears.

Zuko sighed, letting his chin fall so he could bury his face in your hair.

“Because she was the first person who ever accepted what I offered her,” he explained. “I was so used to everything I did being unwanted, it was just nice to not be pushed away for once. But she didn't love me like I needed it. I wish I was strong enough to see that and walk away, like you did.”

You propped yourself upright, leveling yourself so you could look him in the eye. You rested your hands at either side of his neck, your thumbs grazing delicately over his hot skin as you hooked your legs around his hips, your body nestled in the gap between his crossed legs.

“Zuko,” you breathed, “I love you. Those aren't even the right words to tell you how I feel about you, but it's the closest I have. You're so passionate and kind, and you love so fiercely… I truly don't know how to tell you how beautiful I think you are, or how much you mean to me. You deserve so much more than how the people you loved have treated you.”

Zuko curled his arms around your back, pressing his chest to yours and burying his face in the crook of your neck, embracing you as closely as he'd ever done. Tears soaked the collar of your sweater, and in return you cried into the exposed skin revealed by his t-shirt as you tugged on the fabric, gripping him as if letting go meant losing him forever.

“I love you, too,” Zuko murmured. “You make me feel strong enough to show it.”

When Zuko left Ba Sing Se, it crushed you. You were furious, at first unable to understand why he'd throw everything away to return to the place and the people that destroyed so much of him. Most of all, you missed him like mad - you missed how easy it was being with him, how you understood each other as if you were another part of yourselves. You missed his laughter and his warmth, the side of your mattress he often slept in feeling colder than ever without him there.

You were relieved when Mushi - who you now knew to be the infamously disgraced General Iroh - returned, showing up at your door out of the blue with tea and baked goods from the shop. You hugged him tightly, crying like a child as he settled you at your table and told you about his escape from prison, as well as his conversations with Zuko the few times he'd visited him. Your heart ached, but it finally felt clear just how lost and confused he was; you were still angry, but you knew you could forgive him.

“His heart is lost,” Iroh explained, “but because of you, he knows how to listen to it.”

For the next month and a half, you took Zuko’s place at the Jasmine Dragon, spending your days off helping Iroh wherever he needed you. He became as much a part of you as his nephew did, and started to consider you as much a daughter as he did Zuko a son. Iroh’s presence soothed the burns left on your soul not only by those you loved, but by your own ferocity towards them.

Everything changed again the morning you woke to and find that Zuko had left the Fire Nation a third time, his face plastered across the news as a missing person with a bounty on his head. You knew based on everything Iroh told you what he planned to do, and immediately set to packing your bags. Travel into and out of the Fire Nation was difficult, but a few of your coworkers had connections to smugglers in the seedier parts of the district - they’d be able to get you onto a ship or a plane that could get you where you needed to go.

Before you left, you went to the Jasmine Dragon and told Iroh of your plans, asking him to keep watch over your apartment so that you could return if need be. You expected him to try and stop you - instead he pulled you into a strong, affectionate hug, telling you to be careful and call him whenever you were able.

“Go to him,” he hummed into your ear. “He needs you.”

Later that night, you met a group of other refugees at the docks, piling into the hull of a cargo ship bound for the Fire Nation’s imperial city. For the entirety of the journey, you wore one of Zuko’s necklace’s around your neck - one of the few things he’d kept from his life before his banishment and subsequent disappearance - keeping it tucked under your shirt and pressed to your chest for good luck.

[ Part 2 ]

📚 table of contents 📚

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[sinkix]

《What your fav Haikyuu!! Character says about you│Nekoma Edition》

Yo-hoo! Here’s another part to this potential(?) series! I hope you enjoy the possible call-outs in some of these lmao. Writers block been kicking my ass recently but I had a lot of fun writing these. Enjoy <3

You can find the Karasuno ver. here 

✧✧✧✧✧ ✧✧✧✧✧ ✧✧✧✧✧ ✧✧✧✧✧

Kuroo:

Have a hand fetish and will not say no to choking.

Daddy kink™

Will not accept anything below 6 inches.

More of a dog person but would love to own a black cat.

You drool over tattoos.

Your grades are mostly B’s but you know in your heart you deserve that A, and tbh you probably do. Chase ur goals bby.

Halloween is likely your favourite holiday.

You have to resist not to carve a dick into the pumpkin EvEry GodDAmN YeAr.

You either study for 6 hours consecutively or cannot study at all and you get very frustrated at this.

Have the potential to be a good leader and command the room but probably don’t put it to use as much as you should.

Your playlist parkours from sad 3am crying into your pillow songs to aggressive punk music you could rob a store to.

You like bad boys who hang around bars and look like they would put out a cigarette on your forearm and call you a slut. Just stating facts sweaty xoxo.

Either dress very feminine and girly with a ‘smol girl uwu’ aesthetic or a hardass punk who would kick your ass for a can of beer no in between and tbh both are equally hot.

You’re a big softie at heart either way and just want to be held and told everything will be okay.

Ur a hoe for when people stroke your hair or caress your chin it’s your ultimate weakness.

Watched Rick & Morty.

Twice.

Sleeves rolled up veiny forearms and donning a silver watch are your muse and something you fantasise about frequently.

Most of your memes are shitty top text bottom texts that are somehow funny and I don’t understand why lmao.

You call someone ‘bro’ even if it’s someone you’re immensely attracted to.

Did someone say ties? No it’s just ur dirty ass thoughts thinking about that hot business dudes attire from across the street and how you wish they were tied around ur wrists.

Probably had a crush on Jeff the Killer as a tween and are relentlessly haunted by your old Wattpad library. 

Tbh any dark-haired dude with bedhead that screams rugged and probably not good for you is something that draws you like a moth to a flame.

You often question why every person you’ve fallen for has been a Scorpio and curse that tendency of yours.

Dw man they’re hot so I feel u.

Kenma:

Went through a ‘I’m not like other __’ phase and it’s something that you think about a lot and wish you didn’t.

Watched dan & phil as a kid.

Any mention of Pokemon has you turning into a rabid beast you get way too excited.

It’s cute though dw bby.

Pretty antisocial but interesting to talk to.

Your family often question how you’re able to sleep in till 3pm and judge you heavily for it.

Nocturnal night owl gang rise up.

Frequently have bags under your eyes but somehow manage to pull it off.

Listen to ASMR on the down-low and will never admit it to a single soul.

Frequently go on BL binges and have many related book marks.

You pray that someone will never find your laptop bc holy fuck the amount of smut on that.

You wear scarves & beanies even when it isn’t that cold outside.

100% went through a scene hair phase/attempted to.

You dye your hair a lot or REALLY want to.

You have a voice kink low-key so anyone with a pleasant/soothing sounding voice just gets u goin’.

Cats are your favourite animal and you either do or want to own several.

Would name them after video game/anime characters u fuckin nerd lol.

Speaking of cats ,you fantasise heavily about cat-boys and have a folder dedicated to them.

Oversized hoodies are your vibe and always ball the sleeve hems in your fist as a comfort mechanism.

Shopping centres are your worst nightmare and trigger your claustrophobia or social anxiety and honestly I feel that spiritually.

Have a cute sticky note collection.

You like a lot of music consisting of guitar and slow/soothing beats.

You also fw EDM/ techno on occasions.

Honestly wouldn’t wanna anger you since you have a seething temper when pushed far enough.

It’s the kinda temper that’s eerily quiet but no less terrifying, like the other person can tell you are graphically plotting their demise.

You love sleeping to the sound of rainfall and often play those nature ambience videos while you sleep.

Never tidy your sheets and it’s just a big scrunched up heap of fabric in the centre of your mattress most of the time.

Make your fucking bed.

Lev:

Your ships are chaotic and shamelessly controversial.

Would do something just for the sake of creating mayhem lmao.

You were the fucker who stuck their chewing gum under the desk, I see you.

Your brain never stops whirring it’s a constant hurricane of crackhead energy and you have no idea how to turn it off. 

Would eat a stick of pencil lead for $2

You don’t help your situation with the amount of coffee/energy drinks you consume.

The class clown who cries themselves to sleep.

Such a wholesome dumbass but somehow kinda intimidating??? 

Even if you’re not confident you can do something you’ll try anyway and honestly I respect that about you.

You !! use!!! a lot??!! of!! random punctuation!!! so you always??!?!? seem!!111!! excited!!!!!11!?

Every time you’ve ever tried to make a sandcastle it has failed.

You tried to eat the sand once but we don’t talk bout that.

You would  also pick up slugs and snails and chase your friends around with them.

Can never tell whether people are laughing with you or at you and while you don’t let it show it high-key bothers you when you’re laying alone in your room at night.

Not one to hold grudges, you carry a ‘shit happens’ mentality which is v good but it sometimes leads to people taking advantage of it or walking all over you.

Your meme collection is both questionable and horrifying.

Like how many cursed images and heavily distorted pictures does one person need.

Never organise the files on your PC/laptop so it looks like a complete dumpster fire.

The one at sleepovers who persistently woke everyone else up with their snickering and refusal to sleep till dawn.

For the love of Asahi charge your damn phone.

I see that red bar and ‘12%’

Charge it now.

Bought a plant one time, gave it a name and talked to it frequently.

It died not long after bc u forgot to fucking water it.

No one better ever make you responsible for a pet.

Type of person that when someone asks you to tag along on an endeavour no matter how stupid it is you will agree.

2am skydiving in france? hell yeah.

Midnight shopping spree and spending over half your pay check? count you in.

Exploring an abandoned hospital and performing an Ouija board to summon the demons of hell? you’re damn right you’ll be there.

I hope you have a mum friend by your side bc if not how are you still alive.

You sometimes put the milk in before the cereal and it’s something I’ll never forgive you for.

Yaku:

Very responsible and usually make the right decisions.

You do have moments where you act like a complete dumbass though.

Like u go from 50 year old to 5 year old in the blink of an eye.

A hopeless romantic but it’s a side you don’t often reveal.

Prefer strawberry milk over any other flavour.

You’re the type of person to shower twice a day w/o fail.

Where that stank smell coming from? Not you clearly bc your skin is basically 90% The Body Shop’s rose scented soap at this point.

You get stomach aches a lot and you can’t figure out why.

Probably an allergy to everyone’s bs.

Really good at dirty talk even though you don’t seem the type so people are always taken aback.

You have to be really in the mood though otherwise it falls flatter than Oikawa’s ass, use your skill wisely.

You often call people clowns when you know you’re secretly the biggest one going.

Honk honk, hoe.

You send messages in one paragraph rather than multiple texts unless you are REALLY excited.

People underestimate you at times then are shocked when they realise you are capable of being a fire-breathing dragon from the flaming pits of hell.

You like spicy chicken wings.

Such a petty little shit at times lmao.

Enjoy the view from the top of mountains so you either hike a lot or really want to.

Way more of a cat person since it’s just much more convenient for you.

Usually pretty cheerful or calm and people are drawn to your stable/friendly aura.

Went through a phase of drinking mountain dew and your body still feels the awful effects

Fav element is probably air.

You’re 5′6″ or shorter.

Box dyed your hair brunette several times and can never get the pigment out to this day.

Yamamoto:

Whenever you smell something weird in the room you always internally freak out and think it’s you.

Head-butting walls is your hobby.

You fell off your bike as a kid and still have the scar on your knee.

Probably have tons of ear piercings.

Would tame a pigeon and call it Larry.

You get frequent nosebleeds and can never tell if it’s a medical issue or your extreme simping for fictional men/women.

Hopefully the latter.

You constantly chew your pen/pencil in class so you never lend them to anyone out of embarrassment.

I really hope no one ever lends you stationery bc 30 minutes later it’ll look like it was mauled by a rabid rottweiler.

You really want to own a dog and would call it something intimidating like Banshee or Diablo.

You bleached your hair that one time and it almost fell out so now you’re forced to stay at least 10 metres away from all at-home hair dye products.

You tried your best though bby so A for effort, even if it did look like dehydrated ramen afterwards.

Your grades are mostly C’s and you’re barely passing bc you just don’t care about your classes lol.

Still though you’re actually pretty smart so put it to good use you lazy oaf, channel that crackhead energy into something good.

Your phone screen has several cracks in it from when you dropped it on the bathroom floor while shitting and you’ll always be angry at yourself for that.

You have some really weird quirks but you make it work.

Actually a v chill person but you just kinda attract chaos/trouble wherever you go.

Carry a lighter with you even when you don’t need one.

Shy texter but once people see you irl you are the complete opposite, you just dk how to text without coming across as awkward.

One of those people that’s unintentionally funny and always get confused when you make someone laugh but it makes you feel good regardless.

Have a cool necklace collection and own at least one dog-tag/army style pendant.

Should really consider buying a rabbit you would look so cute w/ one.

You have really nice legs and people should compliment them more.

Either severely dehydrated or overly hydrated to the point you are peeing pure tap water so for the love of god please learn moderation, your kidneys and bladder will thank you for it.

Inuoka:

Your favourite character would be Hinata but you like people taller than you so your love for Inuoka spawned.

You really enjoy using the double spiderman meme.

Cannot correctly verbalise your feelings without creating a minimum of 10 misunderstandings but once people are used to it it’s kinda endearing.

You usually wake up in a good mood and people can never fathom how or why.

You either stay up till 5am or you wake up at that time no in between.

A morning person bc you love the sunrise.

Change your lock-screen very regularly bc you get bored.

Your humour consists solely of poop jokes.

When you don’t understand a joke you laugh anyway and hope they don’t ask you if you actually get it.

Happened once and you’re still traumatised from the cricket silence that fell upon the room.

Really like the taste of lemonade and drink it more often than you should.

Often think about what you would look like with a shaved head.

More of an extrovert but def have occasional introvert tendencies where you wanna be left tf alone.

Never allowed to pick up anything in stores bc the last time you did you sniffed a scented candle and it shattered to the floor.

Constantly have spontaneous ideas of what to change about your appearance.

You use a lot of hand gestures like thumbs up and peace signs.

‘Dude’ and ‘lmao’ is 90% of your vernacular.

Your nails are a disaster, some are down to the nub while others are pretty grown out bc you only bite a select few please sort it out.

Look really good in red.

Your laptop has way too many tabs open from random google searches of words you didn’t know the meaning to.

You read a lot of books but for like 10 minutes at a time bc you have the attention span of a walnut.

You are the type of person to nuke your AO3 tags with things that aren’t even relevant purely bc you found them funny.

Your Tumblr drafts are a nightmare, you have like 100+ in the works yet keep starting new projects why do you do this.

Happy sunshine but you have a LOT of mood swings like that shit comes out of nowhere.

Cry pretty often but no one ever sees and it’s usually because of said mood swings.

You always smile and pick yourself up again though which I commend you for.

TYPES IN CAPITALS IN SITUATIONS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE SAID PUNCTUATION SO YOU SEEM LIKE YOU’RE YELLING ALL THE TIME.

[seizethecarpe]

Shift Happens || Nicole and Dave

Timing: Current Parties: @nicsalazar @seizethecarpe Summary: Dave and Nicole narrowly escape a mauling from a “wolf” Warnings: some gore/body horror

The sun was almost set, dim light filtering through dense trees as Nicole ventured deeper into unknown territory. The night was upon her and she hadn’t been able to spot a hiking trail for almost an hour. Getting lost in the woods wasn’t a common occurrence for her. Exploring the vast forest White Crest had to offer was only possible if she strayed from the established limits set for humans. But she always found her way back to civilization. There was no need to panic yet, despite the night threatening to fall soon. She’d find her way back, she always did. Her steps halted, an exasperated breath escaping her lips. She stood and listened to what the forest had to say. The ominous whispers of the wind, the light, scurrying steps of small creatures looking for shelter from night predators, the chirping of insects. And then, at the distance, the faint splash of a waterfall. Possibly a creek, somewhere. With that knowledge she carried on,  sharp eyes darting in the shadows. She was buried in the heart of the woods when she found unexpected company. Down the field and partly hidden, was a couple. Not the smartest of dating spots, she mused. Blush crept in her cheeks at the thought of interrupting and asking for directions, but before she could walk down to them, a branch cracked behind her. She held her breath at that, moving stealthily for cover. Her nostrils flared, confused at everything she was picking up. She had to be wrong. Why did it smell like the sea so deep in the woods? And there was something else, too— something she didn't have time to process, because the shiny eyes she caught across from where she stood sent her heart racing. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had found the couple’s sanctuary.

Dave had found himself favouring the shadows the last few days. It was his impulse to sneak around, like it would be better to ambush everyone, even the old lady with dragon’s breath who worked at the convenience store. Already tolerant of the cold, Dave had begun to seek out more cold in even in the dead of winter, his shoulders bare as he walked through the forest. He could smell so much, the decaying wood under the trees, squirrels cache’s deep under the dirt, rotting flesh up in a tree from a pixie that had been hit by hail wrong. He smelled everything, but what he really wanted was to feel everything. Thick fog let him feel everything, but he still kept pressing his cheek against trees and walls because of how much he wanted to feel. He could smell folks nearby, and before he even understood why his mind began to consider how to flank the, like they were penguins for him to ambush. Dave had never even eaten a penguin, making everything weirder. Still, as he wandered closer and closer to the sound of water, he became acutely aware of others there. Dave wrinkled his nose as he looked at the couple. There was something weird about the smell of the man, but he didn’t know what. The man was possessive in his touches, nuzzling his face into her neck. Pursing his lips, Dave began to look for a way around them. He sure as hell didn’t want any part in that. 

In a beat, Nicole hid her body behind a tree, looking over her shoulder. The couple still were unaware of the company. She breathed in deeply, as quiet as possible. She could go around the trees and investigate what was on the other side. Confirm it was only an animal. Then, go down the clearing and ask for directions. Great plan, she decided, carefully stepping down from the edge and venturing in the trees again. Part of her begged her to turn the other way, find another path, do the sensible thing for once. She was possibly walking straight into danger with nothing but a bottle of water and some snacks in her backpack. Her eyes fixed on a passing shadow at the distance, heart jumping to her throat. And for a brief second her control slipped. Amber eyes flashed and her vision was nitid in the dark, making out what her brain processed as a shoulder. Eyes shot to the ground, until she was sure her vision returned to normal. She kept her head down, afraid she might have scared whatever she was chasing. Her steps were cautious as she continued to approach, quietly stalking, waiting to be perfectly sure she had the upper hand. Then, she did something equally stupid and brave. “I...I can hear you” despite the statement, her tone was laced with uncertainty. Could be an animal. More often than not, it was the case. It didn't explain the shadow, or the bare shoulder she believed she had seen. She was being paranoid. The forest was known for its deceptive shapes. “I’m not— I’m not dangerous” she spoke aimlessly, knowing it was unlikely to have the effect she wanted.

There was the smell of some kind of cat or fox or something that Dave picked up as she watched the couple, his cheek still pressed against rough bark even though it served little purpose for working out more about them. He tilted his head curiously, trying to work out what he was picking up on, whether it was a local predator or just the scent of their tabby’s fur clinging to their clothes. But he realised after a moment that it wasn’t them, that it was something bigger and far closer, but it was downwind from him, he’d caught it too late, so as he turned he heard a human voice. Dave rubbed his face in frustration, straightening up because he knew it looked like he’d been trying to sneak around. Well, he had been, but that was just because-! Dave didn’t know why he was doing it. “Well, I can barely hear you, so come out where I can see you,” Dave replied eventually, looking around. “Nor am I.” Having turned his attention away from the couple, he heard the crack of twigs as one of them began to move, but not the accompanying noise of complaint. 

Nicole waited, her jaw set until the other voice came. Her judgement wasn’t the best, but at least the voice did not twist her stomach with dread. Small victories. Now what? She didn’t like it when she had to share space with other hikers, but she exhaled sharply at the request, navigating through bushes and trees until she reached the source of the voice. She wasn’t wrong, it had been a shoulder she had spotted before. And while she had more pressing questions to ask, they took the backseat to judge his appearance instead. “Jesus, aren’t you fucking cold?”. She shook her head, hoping to gain back some focus, but in the time she looked away from the couple, something went down. A scream filled the air, and the stranger in front of her was forgotten. Her head whipped down to the field. The screams continued, growing desperate, pleading. The couple was gone. It was just a woman, and a massive dark figure hovering over her. “What…” An animal? It didn’t look like a bear, and she doubted she could find any other beast as big as that in the forest.  Unless— the hair on the back of her neck stood. It was all too much to process in two seconds. “What the...fuck is—” her words died, eyes widening in horror.  

Dave frowned at her question, before looking down at his exposed arms and calves before shrugging with a wry smile. “Cold doesn’t bother me,” he replied, his words cut off by the scream behind him. He immediately tensed, crouching behind the tree as he smelled thick blood in the air, clogging up his nose. For a brief second, he saw the man staring at the woman in guilt, flesh dangling between his  human teeth. The next, he saw a terrifying beast, It’s jaw cracking as it extended and narrowed into a maw. If Dave had had any intentions to try and save the woman they quickly faded as he realised that they weren’t dealing with any monster but a werewolf. His breath caught in his throat. He knew he had his foolhardy moments, but Dave didn’t fuck with werewolves, not ever. Considering their impressive hearing and sense of smell Dave suspected that the werewolf knew where they were already but for right now it was distracted, tearing the woman apart. If he couldn’t do anything to intervene, then Dave could at least give her the dignity of not looking away. The moment her scream ended was the loudest, but the wolf did not stop tearing into her. “We’ve got to go,” he growled at Nicole. “Now.”

 Nicole closed her eyes, hoping that would erase the image etched in her brain. The blood, the screams, the horrifying beast that shouldn’t be real. She was about to be sick and the stench under her nose didn’t help. She knew werewolves existed. She heard countless stories from other rangers. It was likely she had been near some at any point in the woods, evading them by sheer luck. She knew of them, but nothing had prepared her for the viciousness of their behavior. She vaguely registered the stranger speaking to her, but it took seconds for the words to finally find its meaning. She blinked her tear filled eyes, willing herself to turn away from the gory scene. The words rushed out of her mouth, all jumbled together. “Wha— what do you mean...what do you mean go, she’s—” she stepped forward, but hesitated to jump to the clearing. Why was he talking about leaving, when there was a person dying in their proximity. Looking back to her didn’t help. Anger burned in her chest. Were they supposed to let that beast tear into her like she was nothing? Like some meaningless chew toy? No, she was somebody. Someone had to be waiting for her to come home. People who loved her. She didn't deserve to be ravaged by a monster to never be found again. She froze on the spot, the adrenaline clouding her thoughts. “N-No. We— I have...there’s gotta be a way to stop that thing”. 

“Ain’t nothing we can do for her,” Dave said harshly, shifting the weight on his injured leg. “Look at me, look at me. Neither of us have a rifle with us, neither of us are equipped. Animals like that, we can’t stop them.” His eyes slid past her to the wolf tearing through the woman’s thigh, her leg jolting and jerking about as the tendons clung futilely to her bones. Skin hung off the back of the looming werewolf, dripping blood down its fur. “We gotta go.” Pointedly, he began moving himself, gesturing pointedly for her to follow. 

She knew —of course— that his words were true. Nicole couldn’t fool herself. The woman had stopped screaming, and the only sounds coming from the field belonged to the wolf. She was gone. Frustration brought tears to her eyes, and she stubbornly refused to follow the man’s command.  He could go if he pleased. She had to wonder why she was still considering running down and trying to stop it. Stop what? she’d only end up being the second course. His words dawned on her. Animals. Beasts. Monsters. That’s what the werewolf was. What she was too, if she were to lose control. She flinched, but forced herself to watch the beast tear the woman’s leg off. Had she done that too, when the jaguar took over? Did she have bodies count too? She clenched her jaw, angry eyes fixing on the stranger. Fuck off.  An unfamiliar urge to take on him burned in her chest. But logic prevailed, and she relented from the edge of the trees. If they were lucky, the wolf was still too busy with his meal to hear her shuffling between branches. “You’re too fucking calm— too fucking calm... for someone who just watched a person get fucking—” she shook her head, furiously wiping the tear rolling down her cheek.

Once she started moving, Dave didn’t fuck around, hurriedly leading them both through the thicket. Fortunately in winter there wasn’t quite so much greenery obscuring the forest floor, following a river route, but the wet, rotten leaves left much to be desired underfoot. He saw her tears and didn’t care, couldn’t care, until he couldn’t smell blood and bone and canine in the air. She still smelled like the dozen or so cats she must have in her home, though. “I ain’t calm,” he growled, turning back on her, suddenly as angry at her as he was at the fucking nerve of the kind of werewolf that delighted in tearing people apart. Dave’s lips curled into a sneer, unable to shake the image of her skin dangling in the man’s mouth before he’d twisted into his other form. “You don’t get to accuse me of anything when you were prepared to stand there and get eaten!” He breathed in deeply, catching the hint of wolf on the wind, and gestured sharply for them to keep moving. 

Nicole dragged her feet behind him, letting out shaky breaths through her mouth. An attempt to control the urge to cry harder. She only grew more frustrated when the branches kept poking at her clothes and hair as they moved closer to safety. Her reaction as he turned was swift. She stepped back out of reach, hands rising. Part apology, part defense. She swallowed the angry reply, but kept her hardened gaze on him. She would never win a verbal fight. Not without bursting into tears in the process. And would that even count as a win? She had already embarrassed herself enough. And he wasn’t wrong. Guilt sat in the pit of her stomach. She had done fuck all to help the woman. Just yell that she needed help. What good did that do? She was thankful he continued to move. The scent of the beast grew stronger, and judging the by its paws against the grass, it was headed in same direction as them. “It’s coming this way” she warned softly, eyes darting around searching for a solution. Hiding from a werewolf wouldn’t work. Taking a detour maybe, if he hadn’t sniffed them yet. Climbing? She could, but was unsure on her companion. “Any good at running?” she regretted it as soon as it left her mouth, glancing at his injured leg.

  They’d followed a nearby river for as they trudged on, Dave kicking the thicket underneat out of the way as he impatiently lead Nicole through. Recent snowfall and freezes meant the river was threatening to flood its banks. The rushing of the river might just be enough to hide the sound of her sniffling as they trudged along. But he wasn’t angry at her, not even as she glared at him. Considering everything, she was doing a damn fine job of keeping herself together. Dave smelled it, thick wolf fur soaked with blood. It had delighted in its first meal, and it was plunging through the forest, still uncertain on its legs with a strange gate, searching for them. “Shit, shit.” He looked at Nicole, caught her question, and nodded, he’d deal with his pain later. “When need’s must,” Dave said, but as the gangling monstrosity thundered through the trees before them, skin dangling off its back, sinew dripping blood from between its teeth, he knew they would not be fast enough. Dave looked once at Nicole, once at the river, slung his arm around her middle, and plunged backwards into the icy river, letting the water sweep them away as he held her head above the freezing current. 

 They had agreed to run, and though Nicole couldn’t form any words, only managing a nod to confirm they were on the same page. Until the wolf surged among the trees. Too fast to even sense it. Although delayed, the real threat of the beast made her survival instincts finally kick in. She had to run, leave the injured behind. Maybe the man would even agree, as he’d wanted to do that with the first victim. It only remained a passing thought, as one moment later an arm wrapped around her and pulled her into the river.  It seemed to happen in slow motion, sinking in the water.  But it still didn’t prepare her for the cold shock response. She gasped sharply, limbs kicking in a panicked state. Something was keeping her head afloat so she wouldn't take water into her lungs. Someone, she vaguely registered. She kept fighting to release herself from the hold, her brain unable to process what was happening. She began to hyperventilate when the spasm in her leg sent another wave of panic. She was going to drown. With her heart at her throat, it was all she could think of. She had to relax, then. She knew this. She was good in water. She had to let the river take them. It was that or drowning. It felt like ages until the shock passed and she stopped resisting, the current carrying them river down, out of the wolf’s grasp. When the land seemed to narrow enough, she held onto anything she could find to push herself out of the water. 

Dave let her go as they reached a river bank, heaving himself out of the water with practiced ease before offering his hand for her. Despite the frigid temperatures, he didn’t even have a shiver yet, but he was worried about her. Twice fold, considering the number of bruises she’d managed to give him while they were in the river. Dave rubbed one such bruise on his jaw ruefully, looking her over with concern. “Sorry ‘bout that, didn’t see we had much of a choice. Pretty damn sure we lost it. God help us if we didn’t. You alright?”

  Refusing his helpful hand, Nicole dug into wet soil and rocks to get out of the water. She scrambled to her knees first, only to lie on her back soon after it was clear she didn’t have energy left to hold herself up. She panted, shivers rippling through her body. Teeth clattering, she held her backpack close to her chest, weakly patting her arms to create any sense of warmth. “F-fu...fuck” she let out a long, shaky groan. Her eyelids were heavy. The man’s voice came, and she craned her neck searching for him. She clenched her jaw, exhaling sharply through her nose. She couldn’t stop shaking, but breathing wasn’t so painful anymore. She reckoned she was only alive by the sheer determination to fight him once they made it to land. A fire that burned through the icy current. His words, however, subdued her almost instantly. She was too tired. A warning would’ve been nice, sure. But he acted quickly and led them to safety. If she had energy to feel, she would’ve been thankful. “Don— N-no” she tilted her head to the side, that was as much as a negative as she could offer. Her body jolted again, and she rolled to her side. Why didn’t he look terrible? It was like he took a dip at the beach. Not a shiver, not even a— “Wh- happ’n…” eyes fixed on his bruise, confused. “You ‘kay?” 

“You hit me,” Dave replied wrily, looking at her on the ground critically. “Jesus, girl, you’re freezing.” But he was just as soaked as she was, his clothes wouldn’t help warm her up. “C’mon, let’s get going. Not letting you catch your death like this.” She was still shivering, which was good, but they’d need to move fast. Hell, they were a ways from his van, but maybe there was somewhere else nearby that he could help her get warm. “Need to move fast, alright? Can you do that or do I gotta call someone out here?” If it was the latter, that would be an issue. He didn’t not know where they were, but like hell could he give directions over the phone easily. He bent over to help her to her feet, his hands unusually warm. “Are you hurt?”

“Oh” The slight twitch in her eyebrows was the only clear sign of surprise in Nicole’s face. She didn’t apologize. He was ready to keep going, and she let out a grunt. How was he still in good shape? Maybe he made the habit out of jumping into cold water. He looked too adjusted to the temperature even before that. “N-no. No” at the suggestion, she managed to move her head with more energy. She’d rather be dead than call for help. Just like that, she began to warm up. “I can” she swallowed, a shiver running down her spine. She sat up. Taking his hand to help herself up, she shook her head. Trying to save energy by talking as less as possible “F-fine...just—” freezing. They could walk until they hit the road, then she could call an uber. Decent plan. She took a couple tentative steps, gauging the state she was in. Okay enough. She removed her jacket, letting more water drip. In the meantime, she took in the surrounding scents and sounds to orient herself. She dragged her feet down the path she believed would lead them to the road. “How...are you fine?” she huffed, shuddering again. It wasn’t the most pressing issue, but she couldn’t let it go.

“Alright,” Dave replied, not one to argue with someone so determined to be alright. “I’m a sailor, taken plenty of tips out of the boat. Guess I’ve built a resistance to it. Not as much practice getting away from wolves.” Dave waved his hand, walking a little unsteadily, his leg stinging like a jellyfish cloud. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, forever grateful he’d invested in such a water tight cover. “Thank fuck,” he said soon as he smelled tarmac and rubber burn - a surefire indication they were near a road. “We’re gonna have to call the police or something to let them know about that feral beast attacking that couple. I know it must’a been scary to see that.”

“Guess that explains the—” Nicole stopped, as her foot almost got caught on a protruding tree root. He did smell so much like the sea. At least that part of the puzzle was solved. She forgot where she was heading with that sentence, distracted by the mention of wolves. In the commotion and the shock, she didn’t stop to think about how fast he was to figure they were in the presence of a werewolf. She shot him a quick glance, debating her next words. It was always strange to meet people who knew of the supernatural but being unable to discuss it. Because he knew didn’t he? He did. Was he one of them too? She bit her tongue, it wasn’t the time. “Sure”. What were the police going to do about a beast like that? Just serve as the next meals. But she kept her mouth shut, unsure if she kept shaking her head because she didn’t agree with him or due to the cold. “Right” she nodded, and it took all her mental strength to not blow up over his lack of reaction again. He might as well be the reason she lived to tell the tale, she reminded herself. “More used to finding bodies already dead in the woods than—” her throat tightened again. She wasn’t sure she’d get the image off her mind any time soon. Better to move on from the topic. “Can hear the road close, no?” 

 “Sure isn’t the kind of thing you wanna get used to,” Dave agreed quietly, almost as an apology for how calm he’d been before, unflinching at the sight of the woman’s brutal demise. “Don’t go feeling guilty now, there was nothing you could have done for her, alright?” He wasn’t sure any of that was helping, he’d never been all too good at the comforting thing, but it needed saying, He nodded at her question, hopping over a fallen log and pushing through a bushy thicket and onto the main road.

 “Yeah. If you call a car, I’ll stay with you until it gets here. Wouldn’t want that animal coming back for you without back up.” In the meantime, he’d debate back and forth, over and over, like he had for much of his life, whether this was the kind of wolf it was better to call a hunter on, or whether it was better to leave well enough alone. 

 Looking over at Nicole shivering, Dave had no doubt he knew what her answer would be. 

 No. It wasn’t. But if Nicole had to choose between finding someone already dead or watching them die, the choice couldn’t be easier. “Guess it happens when you live here”. As usual, curiosity struck in the worst moment, wondering if the man had seen it happen before. It explained his lack of reaction. While his words rang true, it didn’t ease the guilt. The pressure extending from her stomach to her chest was hard to ignore. It wasn’t just her inability to take action, but she couldn’t wrap her brain around other reasons yet. Maybe she was upset because she couldn’t get the image of the beast tearing into a human off her head. Maybe she was just hungry and tired. She thought of the human within the beast, and the breathing she had managed to steady turned erratic again. It worked as a reminder that she could never lose control over herself and risk the same thing happening. 

 It didn’t look like either of them were particularly good at conversations, but for once Nicole preferred that way. She didn’t think she would remember much of the night besides the wolf and the icy river anyway. When the car arrived, she glanced at him one last time. If anything, to remember his face. The ‘thank you’ was left unsaid. She wondered briefly what would happen to him, but the most pressing thoughts were those of her warm bed. She did wish for him to find his way home safely, at least. 

[cosmic-affinities]

Fantasy Meets Reality Ch.1

This is the first chapter of my take on the BNHA Fantasy AU, I posted a snippet of this fic earlier this week, let me know if you are eager for more! Also huge huge huge shoutout to @we-stanjirou for being my motivation and feedback machine for this! This would have taken a lot longer without their help!

Read chapter 1 on AO3 Here.

Of fucking course it had to be Katsuki Bakugou.

Who else would have a weirdo clone from some kind of ‘Alternate Dimension’ show up to mess up their life. Obviously no one.

Of fucking course Bakugou just had to be the one who temporarily imprinted on the random ass third year who had a dimension summoning quirk.

Because why wouldn’t he?

It started with Bakugou being in the direct line of sight of a sick third year who was having trouble keeping his quirk under control. Next thing he knew there was a small pop and deceivingly large tear in the middle of the room.

Before anyone could react a second Katsuki could be seen, luckily Mr. Aizawa had been nearby and witnessed the ordeal. The teacher ushered the third year out of the room and sent him to Recovery Girl to relay the events in hopes of reversing them. He was lucky enough to have had him as a student and understood how his quirk worked. As he turned to face most of his homeroom class, an eruption of noise came over the room.

“WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!” Was the most prominent question in the room.

“Everyone quiet down IMMEDIATELY.” Mr. Aizawa was quick to rein in his problem children.

“That student's quirk has the ability to pull a different version of anyone that is in close enough range from a different reality. In this case Bakugou happened to be in close enough range when the student lost control of his quirk due to him being sick, to have summoned a different version of him. Everyone is to remain silent as I talk to this alternate version of Bakugou.” The class was too stunned to speak, and those who weren’t took Aizawa’s words to heart.

“Now, I am Shouta Aizawa-”

“The mage?”

“No I am not a mage, you have been brought to an alternate reality than that of your own, we are going to get you back to your own realm as quickly as possible, but for the time being you will have to remain here.”

“How would anyone but a mage know of these things?” The skepticism was evident in his tone and expression.

“In this reality we do not have mages, many people are born with special abilities unique to them and your presence here happens to be because of one of those abilities.”

“If that is the case then why are there many people here that I recognise? That one with the dark blue hair is a knight, and the red and white haired one is the son of the insolent so-called King of the surrounding lands.”

“You must have been pulled from a dimension with similar people around you.”

“Are we just going to dismiss the fact that this fucking extra is wearing my face?!” Bakugou finally snapped.

“Bakugou, language, as I said we will resolve this as soon as possible but in the meantime you all must stay here, we can’t afford to disrupt two separate dimensions if the student’s quirk usage was faulty due to being ill, I want all of you to stay here until I get back, acquaint yourselves, I still can’t be sure as to how long there will be two of you.” The teacher left no room for complaints as he swiftly walked towards Recovery Girl’s office.

As soon as everyone was composed, the questions came flooding in.

“Did you say Iida was a knight?”

“Do you know who I am?”

“My father is insolent in more than one realm, who would've guessed.”

“Do you recognise me?”

“Who are you?”

The questions were all coming far too quickly for any of them to be answered, the ruckus did seem to alert another student though. As Midoriya walked in everyone became quiet.

“Hey Kaccha- You’re not Kacchan.” Midoriya stopped abruptly in front of the newcomer, obviously confused.

“Um guys what’s happening?” Before anyone could respond, though, the second Bakugou spoke.

“Izuku?” Any words the students had died on their tongues, they had never heard that voice call Midoriya anything but Deku.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? What’s going on?”

“I am Katsuki Bakugou.”

“No-no you definitely are not, would someone please tell me what’s happening?” The only one who surprisingly held their composure through all this spoke up.

“Some idiot third year who couldn’t control their fucking quirk brought this here from another dimension, and apparently you  happen to make an appearance there too.”

“Kacchan! Finally someone who will answer me, this is all because of a quirk? What are we supposed to do?’

“Aizawa just told us to stay here until he gets back from talking to the idiot that got us into this fucking mess.”

“Izuku.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“That’s your name, is it not?”

“Well yeah but I don’t know you!”

“Well allow me to reintroduce myself, I am Katsuki Bakugou, Dragon Master. Although, you usually call me Kit.”

“Okay... Kit?  How do you know me, and anyone else here that you might recognise?”

“Well Izuku, you, a Knight in training, came to find me to join you on your quest to rid our kingdom of its biggest threat, a giant demonic beast determined to destroy everything we have built over thousands of years.”

“Okay… and everyone else?”

“Well there is,” he pointed around the room, gesturing to everyone as he spoke “Prince Todoroki, the witch Uraraka, the knight Iida, Martial Artist and aspiring Dragon Master Kirishima, Soldier Kaminari, the Musical Mage Jirou, Ashido and Asui are the Innkeepers of our favorite inn, and finally potion master Yaoyorozu.” He had gone around the room completely only skipping the other version of him.

“Alright, Kit, thank you. I guess we'll just have to wait for Mr. Aizawa, like Kacchan said.” At this his classmates began quietly discussing the new information, curious about their alternate personalities.

“Who is this… Kacchan?”

“Me, the one whose face you stole.” There was a certain edge to his voice that no one could place.

“Yes, I’m guessing the other version of me calls you Kit in a similar way that I call him Kacchan.” Midoriya said in a placating maner.

“I doubt that, based on the way Kacchan acts, I would say it is different from the way my Izuku calls me Kit.”

“Don’t call me that, my name is Bakugou, I don’t care if it's yours too.” Neither version of the fiery blonde took notice of the flush on Midoriya’s face at the usage of ‘my Izuku’ and newfound protectiveness over a nickname.

At this point the rest of their classmates became interested in the newcomer, curious to find out more about the alternate reality.

“Wait, bro can you tell us more about where you are from? I kinda want to know more about becoming a Dragon Master like you said I am becoming!” From there Kit moved towards the middle of Class A’s common room to answer their questions, now coming at a reasonable pace.

“Tch.”

“What’s wrong Kacchan?”

“Huh, nothing! I don’t care about that shitty version of me.” Although his voice radiated with confidence, he wore a look of distrust, waiting for something to go wrong.

“It’s all a little too weird for me, I guess everyone is really curious about what the other versions of them would be doing, I really would rather not.”

“I figured a nerd like you would be all over this, trying to figure out the formula to replicate the quirk that started it all or something equally as stupid.”

“Yeah no, it's kinda weird talking to not-you, although the way he talks about not-me makes me wonder…” Midoriya trailed off, not wanting to admit to wondering about Kit’s relationship with not-him.

“No one else seems to really care, even half and half is using an actual facial expression.”

“You two are so different though, it would be super easy to tell you two apart.”

“You really think so Midobro? They are pretty much identical.” Kirishima cut in, apparently satisfied with the answers from Kit.

“O-oh yeah I’m pretty sure it would be super easy.”

“Wanna try?”

“What do you mean shitty hair, it’s literally wearing a cape with no shirt, obviously he could tell us apart right now.”

“Why don’t you guys just change clothes? You are literally the exact same size, and I want to see if Mido could actually do it,” Kirishima quickly faced the rest of the room “Do you guys think Midoriya could tell these two apart?”

There were varying murmurs of agreement before Mina spoke up.

“Well yeah, but right now it is super obvious! They would need to change.”

“I never fucking agreed to this Shitty Hair!” Before anyone could respond, the door opened and revealed a tired looking Aizawa,

“Listen up everyone, Recovery Girl told me that the safest way to get Bakugou into his own reality would be to wait until the third year is no longer ill and just have him reverse his quirk. She also said that his recovery would not be for three to four days because she cannot heal the flu.”

Everyone looked at their teacher expectantly, they were waiting for him to continue. With a sigh Aizawa continued.

“He will stay in the extra dorm room on the second floor, and I just need to ask Bakugou to lend him some clothing while he is here, seeing as you would be the same size.” The teacher looked at the original Bakugou and nodded at his vague grunt in response.

“I will take that as a yes, and if I see him in the exact same clothes tomorrow, you will serve a detention.” With his words he walked out of the common room and left the students to their previous conversation.

“See Bakubro, if you just give him something now and then you go change, we can see if Midoriya can actually tell you two apart!” The only response Kirishima got was an eyeroll.

“I don’t think he could, they’re identical!” Kaminari spoke from his position across the room.

“I don’t think so either, sorry Midoriya.” Todoroki’s words caused Midoriya to flush. The rest of the class came to the consensus that, if wearing different clothes, they didn’t think Midoriya could tell the two apart.

“Do you think they’ll let this go?” Bakugou leaned in and whispered to Midoriya while everyone was distracted.

“I don’t think so Kacchan, you know how everyone can get.”

With an audible sigh and an eye roll Bakugou spoke up again, this time to the whole class.

“Fine whatever, none of you will ever let this go so let’s just get it fucking over with.”

Everyone looked shocked, no one expected him to agree so quickly, if at all. Their eyes soon drifted to Kit, who seemed slightly confused.

“Really?”

“Did I fucking stutter Shitty Hair? I don’t want to deal with this shit for three days, might as well get it over with now.”

“Wow, ok um Kit, are you o-”

“Um I would actually prefer if you didn’t call me Kit, thank you.” Mina and Uraraka shared a look at this information.

“Oh right sorry, how about Katsuki-kun?”

‘Yes that’s fine.”

“Alright Katsuki-kun, are you alright with doing this little test?”

“Um sure I guess, although I don’t understand what enjoyment could come of it.”

“Perfect! Bakubro, why don’t you take Katsuki-kun to get some clothes and we can set up here with Midoriya?”

“Tch whatever, let's go.” The blondes walked out of the room towards Bakugou’s dorm and the common room quickly got to work.

“I say we have them sit next to each other on this big couch and make Midoriya stand on the other side of the table. And we can have them put their hands behind their backs against the couch so he can’t tell by quirk usage.” Kirishima said, seemingly having put in a lot of thought.

“And we will just check to make sure there are no obvious identification marks on them.” Uraraka added.

“We also can’t let Midoriya see them walk in, what if they walk differently!” Tsu had a point.

“I can take Midoriya into the corner while they walk in and get settled then he can stand behind the table.” Mina suggested.

This seemed to appease everyone, Mina quickly whisked Midoriya into the corner and everyone waited for the two to return.

“So Midoriya, what’s got you so confident?”

“W-well I guess there's just something distinct about Kacchan that Kit doesn’t have, I honestly couldn’t tell you Mina” The pink girl took a moment to process what was being said to her.

“Just a distinct quality or..?” She hoped to get a little more information,’something distinct’ didn’t help her at all.

“Not a quality exactly, maybe a distinct presence? Like I said I’m not too sure, but I am confident that I’ll be able to tell them apart.”

“Well they do say confidence is key, maybe that’s all you need!”

“Alright I hear them walking this way, Mido turn around!” Mina gently grabbed his shoulders and faced him towards the wall and they listened to the instructions being told to the two as they came in.

“I don’t know Deku, they look pretty identical to me!” Uraraka slid in next to him and Mina, the two girls sharing a glance behind his back.

“Alright! They are in place! Sitting the exact same way and making the exact same face! Good luck Midobro.” Kirishima said before he motioned to Mina to move him towards the table.

He was right too, Midoriya saw the two from across the room and they could’ve been carbon copies of each other, but once he got into place he stood for about three seconds before he turned around and spoke up.

“So, when I get this right what happens?” The question created a small silence.

“Well what do you want IF you get this right.” Kaminari was first to speak up.

“Honestly? For Kacchan to make katsudon, but to ask him would defeat the purpose. OH! Actually I do know what I want,” He faced Uraraka directly “and that is for Uraraka to get off my back for that thing we talked about a few days ago, for at least a week.”

Everyone looked confused as Uraraka thought over the proposition.

“You really expect me to lay off after this?” Her eyebrow raise sent a note of challenge.

“Fine let's make a deal, I’m right and you lay off for a week. I’m wrong and I won’t complain for a week AND I’ll take one of your suggestions! You definitely have the better end of this.”

Uraraka had been on board when he mentioned taking one of her suggestions and didn’t hesitate to say yes.

“Now I really want to know what they talked about.”

“Well, you won’t be able to figure it out for at least a week Kirishima, because I know who is who.”

“There is no possible way you know already, you looked at them for like five seconds from ten feet away!” Kaminari seemed taken aback by the mere suggestion that Midoriya knew already.

“Well let me prove it then.” Midoriya faced the couch once again and pointed to the figure sitting to the right “To the right is Kit and to the left is Kacchan.” The air of confidence Midoriya possessed had rarely been seen.

The left figure spoke up first.

“Well shit, nerd, how did you manage that?”

Then the figure on the right.

“He’s right Izuku, that was quite impressive.” They were the only two to speak up for the moment. Then Midoriya responded.

“Kacchan, I could say your name before I could say my own, actually no, I couldn't say your name so I called you Kacchan instead before I said my own name, I’m pretty sure I can tell you apart from someone I just met like fifteen minutes ago.” This statement seemed to have gotten their class out of their stupor.

“Wait, that’s why you call him Kacchan? No wonder he won’t let m-”

“Pikachu I’ll kill you!” Bakugou made a move to stand up but Mdoriya stood in front of him.

“Kacchan really? Not worth the detention I promise, especially not one with Aizawa.” Bakugou slowly lowered his hands, resigning to the fact that the nerd was right.

Once his hands were lowered Midoriya turned away from him and faced Ochako.

“Now, you have to lay off for a whole week!” Everyone saw the smug look on Midoriya’s face, one they never expected to be pointed at another person.

“Izuku, would you come here for a minute?” The common room quieted down for a moment when they heard Kit speak up. Midoriya walked towards him in response and they both moved just out of earshot of the others, and they continued their shocked conversations.

“Can I ask you something? Will you promise to not be offended?”

“Uh sure Kit, go ahead, I won’t be offended.”

Kit dropped his voice even lower, making sure no one would over hear them.

“You love him?”

Even though he didn’t say who, the red of Midoriya’s cheeks gave away his answer.

“Seeing as you are only going to be here for a few more days, I’m not going to lie to you. Yes, I’m pretty sure I always have.” The simplicity of his words and the sincerity in his eyes were almost incapacitating, he had never even been that honest with himself, let alone to someone else. Even more so than to someone who had the same face as the one he was talking about.

“Thank you for your honesty, it is very noble of you. I have one other thing to admit to you.”

“Go ahead Kit, I’m listening.”

“I feel a very similar way about my Izuku, that's why I was in such a state when you came in, you see my Izuku became angry with me around a week ago after a nasty argument, I haven't had his gaze upon me since so the shocking green of your eyes momentarily disarmed me.” His honesty urged Midoriya’s primal need to please people to kick in.

“Hey Kit?”

“Yes?”

“If he's anything like me, then a little bit of time will go a long way. Once he realises you're gone he won’t want to lose you again, but if you want a piece of advice. Go after him, don’t let him think that you are willing to let him go. Trust me if you go after him, even just once, it will mean the world to him.” Midoriya disconnected their eye contact and looked towards his own hands.

“He’s watching us you know. Has been this whole time.” Midoriya’s eyes snapped up and over, he saw Bakugou huff and face the ground. “Do you trust me?”

“Depends on what for.”

“Will you follow my lead? If I can’t be with my ‘Zuku, maybe you can be with your Kacchan.”

“Yes, I trust you.”

“Good, act as if everything is normal.”

“Ok.” The two faced the rest of the class and stopped whispering, Kit quickly turned to Midoriya and spoke in a normal voice.

“It’s remarkable how similar you two are, and here I thought My Izuku was one in a million, or maybe I am just lucky enough to have met two of you in one lifetime.” As he spoke Kit ran his thumb over Midoriya’s cheekbone softly before letting his hand drop.

The flush on his face was evident, no one had ever spoken so poetically about him before. The silence that surrounded them was quickly broken by a small crackling that stopped just as suddenly as it started but not before Midorya caught a glimpse of an orange glow around Bakugou. Kit shot him a knowing glance.

“Wow Kit, uh, thank you. That was very nice of you, I’m sure your Izuku would love to hear it from you.”

“I’m quite afraid that I may have ruined my chances with him. I did and said some pretty harmful things.” Kit glanced towards the floor.

“I don’t think that’s possible Kit, some things are worth fighting for, you just have to choose what those things are.” Midoriya chanced a glance at Bakugou then directed his gaze back down to the floor. Once he looked back up he saw Kit looking at him.

“Thank you Izuku.” Midoriya had no time to prepare for the hug Kit enveloped him in, he stood shocked for a moment before he returned the gesture.

“Of course Kit.”

A whisper reached his ear from slightly above him.

“That was great, you should see his face.” Midoriya flushed at the implication and their arms dropped.

Midoriya was now fully aware of all the people staring at them, he quickly walked towards Uraraka to try and avoid their eyes. The reprieve he was searching for was not found with his friend, however.

“Deku what was that?!” Uraraka whispered to him, he should have expected this.

“What was what? He wanted to talk to me, is there a problem?” He tried very hard to give off an air of confidence, it seemed like he was succeeding.

Until he felt all the eyes on him. His facade wavered momentarily but that’s all it took.

“Deku, come over here now.” It was not a request, although if it was there was no way he would have denied it, he couldn’t say no to Kacchan.

“Alright I’ll be there in a sec Kacchan, I’ll come back as soon as I’m done, Ura, ok?”

Without waiting for a response Midoriya made his way to Kacchan, hoping maybe he would offer him a reprieve. As he moved across the room, eyes flicked between him and Kit, then eventually to Bakugou.

“Hey Kacchan! What’s up?”

“You’re helping me make katsudon for dinner.”

“Oh am I now?” Midoriya responded with a playful tone, both of them knew he couldn’t pass up katsudon.

“Unless you want one of these shitty extras to try and make some half assed dinner then yeah you are.”

“How could I say no to Kacchan’s katsudon? Oh right I can’t.”

“Damn straight, I make the best fucking katsudon.”

“Don’t ever tell my mom I said this but, yeah you do.” The two, so engrossed in their conversation didn’t notice the proud smile on Kit’s face, or the sea of eyes looking between the three of them.

“I don’t think Auntie Inko would ever forgive you.”

“Wait, who is Auntie Inko?” The first voice to interrupt their conversation spoke up.

“To you? Ms Midoriya-san, but I have privilege ‘cause she likes me more than her own son most of the time.”

“Kacchan! Hey! Mean! But yeah he’s talking about my mom, Kirishima. Ever since Kacchan was allowed near a stove he has competed with my mom to make the best katsudon and soba, and with Auntie Mitsuki to make the best desserts.”

“And you said I make the best katsudon so I win!”

“Wait, you guys call each other’s moms Auntie? That's freaking cute!”

“Can it, pinky!”

“No way! I need to hear everything about your collective childhood immediately!”

“Oh Ashido, it really isn’t that interesting! Plus if you all want to eat we should probably get started.” Midoriya didn’t want to get into every complicated aspect of his childhood so he decided to turn and walk to the kitchen without waiting for a response.

Bakugou followed soon after him and they were both glad to have a room between them and the rest of their class. Bakugou quickly got to work and started to cook. Midoriya had done this plenty of times before, even if he could never do it by himself he knew his way around the recipe. Their companionable silence was fleeting.

“So, what's with you and my shitty clone? I thought you said talking to him was weird?” Anyone else would have assumed his tone was passive, conversational even, but Midoriya knew better, this must have been the reason he was called in the first place.

“Oh it is, trust me.” Midoriya could’ve continued, probably would have if he was talking to anyone else. He wanted to see where Kacchan would take it.

“Then why’d you talk to him, you do have the ability to say no. It’s really not that hard.”

“He sounded so serious, I wanted to see what he had to say. Plus it's a little less weird now that I can see how different you are.” Again he cut himself off early, determined to not give everything away in an unfocused ramble.

“So… what was so serious that he had to pull you all the way into the corner for, seems kinda dramatic to me.”

“Really Kacchan? You are going to call him dramatic?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“Kacchan I have literally seen you blow up a pillow that you tripped over because, and I quote, ‘mother fucker was out to get me’ I was calling you dramatic.”

“Watch your fucking language Deku! If round face or four eyes hears you, they’ll get on my ass and I do not need that.”

“No one should ever hear me while I play video games, I think everyone would have a minor melt down.”

“Well you own damn fault for setting high expectations. Anyway, you were about to tell me the idiot’s sob story that lured you into a corner.” He had a signature smirk on his face but the fact that he asked four times gave Midoriya the impression that the smirk was nothing more than a facade.

“Well he asked me a question about our class, and then he started to tell me about the other Izuku, the one he knows.” He stopped there, hoping he could get away without lying about what Kit asked him. One look up from the vegetables he was cutting told him he would have no such luck. Bakugou was looking at him with an expectant look, waiting for him to continue.

“Apparently the other Izuku got mad at him around a week ago, to the point where he won’t even look at Kit, so when he saw me look at him and willingly interact with him he was caught off guard I guess.”

“And…?”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s not something he would hide from everyone else, in fact he told everyone right after you finished talking, so I’m asking what else he told you.”

Thinking quickly, Midoriya didn’t have very many options, he couldn’t lie to Kacchan, he would be the only one that would be able to see right through it, he would just have to think of something.

“Oh well, um he may have asked for some advice as to how to stop the other me from being upset with him, I’m guessing that's why he mentioned the two of us being so similar, although I wonder how true that can actually be given that a lot of me has been shaped by you and All Might, two people that the other me could not have had the same experiences with. It seems like the two of us from there had only met fairly recently so I wonder how different that makes us.”

“Damn nerd now you want to mumble?” Although Izuku could hear him, it was almost as if Bakugou was talking to himself.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t even realise!”

“Yeah no shit, are you finished chopping? I finished prepping the pork already.”

“Oh yeah, here. I made the onion thinner like you said last time, and I grabbed the stuff to fry the pork.”

“Great, now I know you actually listen to what I say.”

The two returned to a companionable silence as they continued to cook, working together like a well oiled machine, an impressive sight to anyone. They had been in the kitchen for about a half hour when Kit and Mina came in, luckily the pair had finished talking out the earlier occurrences with Kit.

“Hey guys! I wanted Katsuki-kun here to see the kitchen, he said he had a knack for cooking!”

“Although I am more accustomed to working over an open flame rather than a controlled heating box.”

“What the hell do you want pinky? Is there a reason you’re distracting us?”

“Actually yes there is! Katsuki-kun, Uraraka, and I need to steal Midoriya here for a few, isn’t that right Katsuki-kun?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Midoriya looked at Bakugou who was resolutely staring at the food in front of him, Midoriya switched his gaze over to Kit and saw him look at Bakugou then at Midoriya trying to convey some kind of message. Apparently he had taken too long to respond.

“Tch, just go you damn nerd, I’ll be fine and I know you can’t say no to anyone.” The remark was punctuated with an eye roll, but there was a sincerity in Bakugou’s voice that Midoriya did not miss.

“Thanks Kacchan I’ll come back as soon as I’m done and I’ll help you finish up.”

“Yeah yeah whatever just go already.” Bakugou continued to methodically fry the pieces of pork, now moving slightly slower because he had to prep them himself.

The three walked out to the common room and immediately walked over to the corner Uraraka was sitting in.

“Ok so what did you guys need me for? I was in the middle of making dinner.”

“We know about your… thing with Bakugou.”

“Uraraka what are you talking about? What thing? And who are you talking about Kacchan or Kit?”

“Not me Izuku, what we discussed earlier, like what I have with my ‘Zuku.”

This was met with a blush covering Izuku’s face, he hoped that Kit hadn’t said anything.

“Hey Midoriya? I don’t think you should be worried all that much, I think you have a good chance with Bakubro!”

“Thanks Ashido, but I don’t really think I’m going to chance that, I’d rather be friends than nothing at all. So if that’s everything I’m going to help him finish dinner before he gets upset about me ditching him.”

Izuku left with no room for argument, he really didn’t want any of them interfering, it would only make the inevitable failure worse. He quickly made his way back to the kitchen happy to see that his spot wasn’t immediately taken by Kacchan, he went back to where he was and continued prepping the pork like he was before.

“Oh back so soon?” Izuku could hear the slight apprehension in his voice, he wanted to soothe it immediately.

“Yeah, they were just being dumb, not important enough for me to ditch you to make the rest of the katsudon alone.”

“So what the fuck did they want?”

“Oh they were just trying to um get me to tell them how I could tell you two apart, they seemed set on the fact that it was somehow rigged I guess.”

“Tch, what’d you tell them?”

“The same thing I told Mina before you guys came in.”

“Which was…”

“Oh right you weren’t there to hear it, I told her that you just have a distinct presence that Kit doesn’t I guess.” Maybe if Izuku said it enough it would be true, it was better than admitting the real reason to anyone.

“That’s bullshit, how did you actually tell us apart?” Shit, had Kacchan noticed? He couldn’t just say that his heart rate picked up when he looked at him or that Kacchan felt like a hero while Kit didn’t, that would be hard to explain. Hell it was hard to explain to himself.

“I really don’t know, I guess I just do.”  It was weak at best, a blatant lie at worst. Maybe he could get by being vague.

“I’m just saying maybe if you figure it out you can tell the extras, I don’t want to be mistaken for him until he can go back to wherever they hell he came from.”

“Ha maybe. Hopefully this gets sorted out soon, I know neither of you want him here.”

The conversation drifted off, neither feeling uncomfortable with the silence, it was a comfort neither took for granted.

Small requests for ingredients and tools passed between the two until they finally finished cooking and plating everyone’s food, Izuku quickly called for everyone to get a bowl and the class congregated at a long table, Izuku and Bakugou sitting down last, next to each other at the end of the table.

“Wow Bakubro, Mido wasn’t kidding when he said you make the best katsudon! This is delicious!”  At Kirishima’s words many murmurs and nods of agreement followed, even Kit had a positive word to say.

“Damn straight I’ve been perfecting this for years!” No one argued with him, many were surprised that he would put so much effort into such a random dish yet no one felt inclined to mention it.

“Hey, didn’t you say katsudon was your favorite Deku?” Uraraka seemed to randomly have an epiphany.

“Uh, yeah, it always has been. At least according to my mom.”

“Do you know why?” Deku blushed at the words, he did but he didn’t really want to tell that embarrassing story. He decided to stay quiet.

“You do know why! Come on tell us, I’m always curious as to why people’s favorite food is their favorite!”

“Oh well um, it’s all I would order when we went out to eat, because I was dead set on ordering for myself.” He continued to blush, the story was incomplete.

“Why is that all you ordered?” Uraraka really was not letting him out of this one. He huffed out a sigh and collected himself, preparing to be severely embarrassed by everyone in the room.

“Fine if you must know, apparently it started when I was about four. I was just learning how to read and I wanted to order for myself because I thought I could read the whole menu by myself which I couldn’t at that point. I could really only read my name and… Kacchan’s name. According to my mom I recognised katsudon on the menu and very excitedly told the waitress that, for dinner, I wanted… Katsuki. She thankfully realised I meant katsudon and that's what she put in. And then I repeatedly ordered it everytime we went out for food. Only realising when I was like seven that it was katsudon.” Izuku quickly buried his face in his hands feeling his entire face grow warm.

There was a chorus of ‘awws’ and other similar noises, apparently everyone was very amused and delighted at Izuku’s expense. There was also an undertone of laughter very quickly taking over.

Kaminari quickly began to speak, only pausing to wheeze out more laughter. “So you mean to tell me for years... hah you ordered a bowl of…. Katsuki… whenever you went out to eat anywhere?!” More laughter fell from the electric boy’s mouth punctuating his amusement with the situation.

Izuku only hid his face more, effectively answering the blond’s question.

“I was four!!” Izuku’s indignation only fueled more laughter. He chanced a glance at Bakugou and found the boy slightly flushed, he nudged him and shot him a pleading look, all he got in response was a whisper.

“It’s ironic that I’m the reason you love katsudon so much, especially since you are the reason I was set on making the best katsudon.” He quickly leaned away determined to keep the attention off of him.

“Really? I guess it all worked out then.” Izuku whispered back, not meeting his eyes. The two were oblivious to the two girls keeping a close eye on them from across the table.

Eventually everyone recovered from their varying fits of laughter and cute-overload imagining a small Izuku excitedly ordering Katsuki everywhere he went. The rest of dinner went relatively smoothly, save for Kirishima accidentally drinking from Kaminari’s water only to be minorly electrocuted and slightly dazed due to the residual electric current.

Once the dishes were cleared and washed (no thanks to Bakugou or Midoriya ‘Hey we fucking cooked you shits can clean!’) many went their separate ways into dorms to study or to the showers. Izuku looked around and noticed only Kacchan, Kit, Uraraka, and Ashido were left in the common room with him.

“Hey Kacchan? Do you want to spar tomorrow morning? I’m trying to perfect my new aerial attack and you’re the only one that still blocks it like it’s nothing.”

“Tch you practically fucking annouce when you’re about to do it, you need to work on the build up, make sure no can tell where you’re about to go.”

“So… will you?”

“Training arena two at 7:30, don’t be fucking late.”

“Thanks Kacchan!”

“Yeah whatever. I’m going to sleep don’t be loud down here or I’ll come and whoop some ass.”

“Good night Kacchan!” As Katsuki left Izuku turned towards the other three left in the room with him. He looked to find them watching him conspiratorially.

“Ok Deku, you have nowhere to be. Just hear us out, please.”

“Uraraka there is nothing to talk about, I went along with Kit earlier and Kacchan didn’t even act any differently. I got my answer and I’m happy enough being friends.”

“I know Bakubro, he never loses control of his quirk and yet his hands popped today when it looked like you were about to kiss Katsuki-kun here.”

“Well I know Kacchan, he was probably just surprised to see someone with his face that close to me, we haven’t been that close in… well let’s just say he had me pinned to the ground both of us exhausted and covered in dust.” Izuku thought about their fight, it was their unusual start to what everyone would call mutual pining, Izuku would call friendship, and Bakugou would call not hatred.

“Izuku, will you at least agree to sticking with me until I can go back? I’m still very confused as to how all of this happened and you are someone I have come to trust the most, maybe it’s the way you remind me of my ‘Zuku or maybe it’s just your personality but it’s all a little overwhelming.”

‘Of course Kit, I won’t leave you if I make this easier on you. Maybe tomorrow you can come watch me spar with Kacchan, so you can see our quirks. It's amazing to see Kacchan for the first time!”

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. I hope I don’t get in anyone’s way.” Izuku merely shook his head, denying the thought entirely, the four stood, quiet for a moment.

“Deku? Can I ask you something? You totally don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“Uh sure Uraraka, go ahead.” He had a feeling he knew what she was going to ask.

“How long have you, uh you know…”

He was right.

“I’ve um, been in…  love with him for years. Practically my entire life.” His voice was small, severely lacking his trademarked positivity.

“Wow, Midoriya we had no idea-”

“That’s kind of the point Ashido, that’s why I’m ok with the way things are, better than any alternative.”  Everyone could see the wistful look on his face, he had thought all of this through before and everytime he did he came to the same conclusion.

“Midoriya? Will you hear me out for a second?”

“Sure Ashido, what is it?”

“I think you should give it a shot. Bakugou has never shown interest in anyone but he has always been different with you, almost like any emotion he has is amplified just by you being there. That should count for something.”

“I don’t know Ashido. There is just so much between us, I’m not sure if there is room for any of this. Even if there was, Kacchan is so focused that he probably won’t think of it as anything more than a distraction and a waste of his time.”

The three figures in front of Izuku looked at him sadly, he had felt enough sadness already and wanted to alleviate theirs.

“But look guys! Just today we made dinner together and no one was blown up! I told an embarrassing story from my childhood and he didn’t make fun of me! He even made me feel better.” It was his last few words that shook them out of their saddened state, Uraraka even seemed to remember something.

“Oh yeah! I was going to ask you what he had said to you. You two were leaning towards each other, but not looking at each other. Almost resolutely keeping your eyes off of each other.” Izuku flushed at the mention of their seemingly private conversation, he knew Kacchan wouldn’t want him to share what he had said.

“Oh! That, right um I wanted him to help me! Everyone was laughing and I was embarrassed!”

“That didn’t answer my question! What did he say to you?”

“Oh you know just something about irony I guess.” The confusion on everyone’s face was nearly comical.

“What do you mean ‘ironic’? How was a story about you ordering katsudon ‘ironic’?” Uraraka was unfailingly persistent today, Izuku would have to think quickly.

“Oh um you know how I got the nickname Deku right?”

“Um yeah you said and I quote ‘That’s what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me.” when we first met. What does that have to do with irony? That’s completely off topic!”

“Well not really, you see the Kanji for my name can be read as Izuku all together but the first half can be read as Deku, and well he was one of the first ones to start reading in our class, go figure am I right? But yeah he read my name as Deku and just said how it was ironic that I had read katsudon as his name and he read my name as Deku and I guess we weren’t looking at each other so we didn’t draw attention to ourselves, but I guess that didn’t really work did it?” Izuku finally let out a big breath, filling his lungs with much needed air.

They all stared, taking a moment to process everything that came out of Izuku’s mouth, desperately wishing for Bakugou’s ability to understand everything Izuku says within mere moments of him speaking. Kit seemed to comprehend everything full first.

“Wow, I didn’t think both of you would do that, I was not fully prepared as I usually am.”

Izuku reddened at his words, although he had done it on purpose, having someone point out his rambling never failed to leave him embarrassed.

“Wow, that was a lot of information. Wait did you say that the other Izuku does that too?” Uraraka was next, having gone through her fair share of Izuku’s atics.

“Well yes he does, although he usually talks about dragons which is significantly easier for me to comprehend at higher speeds, and I can’t help but to be enthralled by everything he says.”

The two girls fawned over the admission, still not used to seeing ‘Bakugou’ being so open, neither of them being able to tell the two apart.

“Can we train Bakugou to be like this? He would literally never just say something like that, he probably wouldn’t even think it!”

“Uraraka! I don’t think that's true! He wouldn’t necessarily say that exactly but you just have to learn to translate slightly. Like for example instead of saying what Kit just said he would probably say something more like ‘ugh I hate that I can understand you and I swear if you distract me from something one more time I’ll kill you!’”

The two girls could only stare in shock at the startilingy good impression he did of Bakugou, even if he didn’t curse at all.

“Ok yes you have a point but oh my gosh how long have you been able to do such a good Bakugou impression?!” Ashido seemed genuinely affronted by this new information, as if it was offensive to have hidden it from her.

“Oh I don’t really know? I guess always? I’ve never seriously done one before, although I guess I do know him well enough.” Izuku seriously contemplated the information, allowing himself to briefly forget about his situation, he was brought back to shocking reality when Ashido spoke up again.

“I wonder if Bakugou could do that good of an impression of you?” Everyone pondered the question, genuinely curious in the answer.

“I mean if Deku can act like him why couldn’t he act like Deku?” Although the subject matter was weird, Izuku was grateful for the conversation shift.

The two girls quietly went back and forth as to why or why not the brash boy could emulate Deku convincingly, allowing Izuku to turn his focus to Kit, who had stood quietly since his last comment.

“Hey Kit? Are you alright?”

“Oh yes I’m fine, I guess everything is hitting me now, I really am stuck in some random world where I don’t belong.”

“Oh Kit, we’ll get you back soon. Hopefully tomorrow after a good night’s sleep we can ask Aizawa for an update, and tomorrow after I spar with Kacchan I will explain our quirks to you, it’ll be easier to understand once you see us use them.”

“Is it bad of me to say that I hope I wake up tomorrow and never see you again?”

Izuku couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, it was entirely inappropriate but completely necessary at the same time.

“You know what Kit, I don’t think it is bad at all.” The two boys turned to look at the girls in their company, still animatedly debating.

“Hey guys? I’m heading to bed for the night. Unless of course there was something else you wanted to question me about?” Anyone could hear the sarcasm dripping from Izuku’s voice as he spoke, he knew his friends meant well.

“You know what Deku? I think you’re off the hook for tonight. Try to get some sleep would ya? You know even if you're sleep deprived Bakugou won’t go easy on you.” There were small huffs of laughter at Uraraka’s words, amusing as they were accurate.

“Goodnight guys, Kit do you want me to walk you to your room?”

“I’m alright Izuku, I saw where it was earlier today and I can manage to make my way back. Goodnight.” With a swift nod to the three in front of him Kit turned away and walked out the door.

“Wow, just as aloof as Kacchan, don’t even know why I offered help.” He was talking mostly to himself.

“Night Deku, Mina do you want to walk up together?”

“Sure! Night Midoriya!”

“Goodnight you guys.”

The girls left quickly, walking up a floor to their dorms. Izuku paused for a moment, for the first time seriously contemplating their words throughout the night, did they see something he didn’t?

Not allowing himself any false hope, Izuku turned and made his way into his dorm, double checking the alarms on his phone on the way, turning his mind to perfecting his aerial attack. Izuku hadn’t realised the toll the day had on him until his pajama clad body hit the bed and instantly melted into the soft embrace, before he knew it he was asleep.