#yep i'm quite late for posting this but anyways

[nalyra-dreaming]

hi nalyra, a couple of days ago i saw you answering something about the possibility of tr*mp being elected and that not being great for iwtv and shows in general i think. i'm not sure i understood what's going to happen now that the nightmare came true. would you mind explaining to me?

Well….

I mean, you heard about Project 2025, maybe?

If you haven't... well, I posted about it months ago, and ... it might be too late now, but the Trump administration and his enablers set up this nice little playbook. It's worth looking into, because that's what they want.

We'll see if they manage, but... remember how fast the environmental websites disappeared last time? The LGBT ones? Yep. I remember. First day. And it's easy to check the shit show that happened because of Trump's first term, and still...

Anyways, what does that mean for IWTV?

Let me be cynical for a moment - what do you think it means?

A show, addressing racial issues, with a color-conscious recast. A show, featuring more or less all queer characters. A show, about to feature non-binary and genderqueer characters. A show, not afraid of putting its fingers into wounds.

It is a good thing they're about to start filming s3 already.

I hope we will get s4.

For more I do not dare to hope for.

I ... don't think it's going to be cancelled immediately. And maybe we'll get lucky and AMC will continue to thrive through the people loving the show. Luckily AMC is situated in New York, too.

But if they implement legislation, like they plan to?

Then that will impact. You probably cannot quite fathom how much - yet.

If the Trump administration manages to implement half of what they're planning it will throw back the US for decades.

And with it the culture, and ... well. TV shows, too. Remember all the porn bans, and - even more benevolently - the cookie popups?? LEGISLATION. The wet dream of these people. And they just scored a major victory.

IWTV is the very antithesis for a lot of their beliefs. Queer, racially sensitive and highly critical.

It will be a thorn in their side, and they will seek to remove it.

It will be up to us to make it lucrative enough for AMC to put up with the backlash btw or even fight back against legislation/censorship. Like, seriously. Should IWTV get 10 seasons? YEP. Does AMC plan to do so? Yes. At this point at least they do.

Will they be able to fight against legislation? Debatable.

So maybe this fandom can fucking stop infighting about fucking fictional characters and maybe actually work to keep this friggin' show.

Hope dies last. -.-

Oh, and while we're at it: It's a good thing Ao3 is in CA, but please don't think that they are absolutely safe there. Four years is a long time, and I don't think Trump is going to hold any election after those four years.... -.-

[ageless-aislynn]

Since it feels like all I've done is complain about stuff lately, how about something more fun? I had these GIFs prepped but not rendered when my computer died and now as I'm reinstalling everything, I thought I'd see if my Vegas survived. So, let me present to you... Halo: Reach - Noble Six's adventures with Mongeese!

I was playing Pillar of Autumn for funsies a while back when I realized that, although I could still hear Emile, he wasn't following me on his Mongoose like he usually would've been. I backtracked and something caught my attention from the corner of my eye...

There's usually a spare Mongoose there but, errrr, what was happening here? 👀 So I went into the Theater to catch it from a different angle because, well, I'll show you what I thought I saw in the last GIF in this post. 😲😉

Another angle shows... umm? 👀

Yeah, for some reason (probably me backtracking and hitting the load zone again or something), a second Mongoose spawned out of the first. 👀 (I poked it to see if it was real or not, lol! Yep, it was solid!)

But, honestly, the whole situation abruptly felt cursed so I abandoned all three and went looking for Emile on foot. I found his Mongoose but no Emile. (Apparently he fell off a cliff or something because he eventually just spawned into the next section out of nowhere. 🤷‍♀️)

Sometimes, Things™ just happen to Emile. 👀👀👀

Anyway, I decided to take his ride and...

But, like I said, I'll show you exactly what I THOUGHT I saw out of the corner of my eye at the start. Yes, I legit made a GIF of this. No, there's no need to thank me. I'm just happy to be able to put this here for your eyeballs to see. Enjoy, friends, as a gift from me to you! 😜

All right, so you've quite possibly seen everything, now that you've seen some frisky Halo Mongeese, lol! 😂

Annnnnnd I'll see myself out...

Goodbye and catch you later, frens! 🤗😁💖

[lowkeyclueless5137]

And ANOTHER P5 x Twst au :3

Oh god this is gonna be a trainwreck :v

But what else is new in here? :'3

Anyhow, I got like... Months ago an ask about another possible p5 x twst au and, of course, this derailed into shaping a whole thing.

Yet it wasn't enough for moi. It had a lot of holes in the plot and if you know me, you know that I gotta fill those up until I'm satisfied. :3c

So here we are✨

We are gonna reflect the whole time-line: top to bottom, explain every lore bit to the best of my pea brain's capacity and see what crawls out :v

How are we gonna do it? Well it's gonna be simple: we will go plot time-line wise and when things that do need explanation will pop out, they will be explained underneath the paragraph in smol text. If the marked section consists of a spoiler, it will be marked AND colored, which means it will be explained later, in a smol text, post the spoiler paragraphs.

Explanations will consist of:

plot irelevant information

games cannon points

the ooc lore that ties in the 2 games

time-line clearance :'3

I'm also gonna refer to the P5 protag as Ren Amamya, so yep. -3-

Fair warning: there will be spoilers for the whole P5 vanilla version along with Twst's latest story chapter. Since we are going cannon time-line wise, you can either go and read it until you don't want to be spoiled or you can simply read it after you saw your spoilers in the cannon games. :3

Now onto the fuckery! :D

We start off with how it all began :v

Ren's school had a letter exchange program, as a way to teach English to kids in a much more engaging and fun way. And what is a more fun way to learn a language than kids making a pen pal? He was in middle school at that time, pretty excited for this thing. They were given a few options as well.

Except that poor lil Ren didn't know how to write a school address from the options given. Instead, because of his excitement, he only wrote 'pen pal :3' in the bracket meant to have the address to send it to.

What Ren was unaware, was that, despite giving it in person to the mailman, the letter got lost among the hundreds of other letters meant to be sorted and sent.

It does get sent anyway.

And the answer is quite over everyone's heads.

You see, a few days later, Riddle was asked to pick up the mail by his mother. He would usually read the address, not expecting for anything to be addressed to anyone but his mother.

Watch his utter surprise when he sees a letter intended for 'pen pal :3'. Riddle was shook, but knowing that all the letters for his mom have her name on it and a fancy adress, the kid's brain makes the connection that HE is the one whom the letter was meant for.

So he hides it and keeps it to himself, until late at night. He uses a small light spell as he excitedly opens the letter. His mother always banned him from seeing her letters, so he believes this is also a very private moment.

And the contents were as follows:

'Hello! My name is Ren. I'm 7 years old. I live in Japan. I lika red and cads! What is your feivoriite color? Do u like cads? I'm exxcitd to be friends! -Ren'

Yes, it was short and yes, the errors were there amongst the sloppy writing, but it was authentic. The doodles did help Riddle understand that Ren liked cats actually. He even drew himself too! Even if it was a stick man with a lot of black for hair. And he even said he wanted to be friends! His very first friend!

Of course, being the very first friend, Riddle was over the moon. He didn't know how to even redact his letter. His mama always wrote hers, again, alone, without Riddle being allowed to see, thus the redhead believes that, again, it's a very personal activity.

And he got a letter. It would be rude to not respond to it!

So next morning, at individual study session, when Riddle is left alone, he pulls out Ren's letter. And uses it as an example. He puts Ren's address at the 'from' as he puts his full adress too, thus completing the destinations rubric completely. He quietly puts it in the mail needed to be picked up by the mailman and then off he was to continue his studies.

A few days later, Ren receives a letter with very nice writing. His parents think for a hot minute that their kid got a letter from a fancy school or smth. But no, it was from Ren's new pen-pal. The boy was so excited that he ran off the stairs and almost smushed on the ground. He left any breakfast he had on the table and almost spilled over a glass of water in his excitement.

Riddle's letter was far more difficult in terms of quality and English, yet Ren did make a big Boi effort to understand it. For the sake of pen-palling!

'Hello, Ren! I am Riddle Rosehearts. I am, as well, 7 years old (my birthday is in August) and I live in the Queendom of Roses. I am very happy that we will be pen-pals from now on! My favourite color is also red. And I do like cats, although I am not very sure what my favourite animal could be. I do want to ask: how is it in Japan? I never heard of such place. Is it nice? I would love to hear more from you and I'm very excited to be friends through the mail. -Riddle'

It took a lot to deschipher the letter itself, which only added more to the time for making another response.

Meanwhile, poor Riddle thought he made a bad impression for not adding doodles. He didn't really have time for such things. Yet, after a week, he gets a letter for him, from Ren and he's absolutely happy when he sees the response. Ren even made an effort to say that his pen-pal has very pretty hand-writing. As such, Riddle gets an idea of how Japan might look like, or at least Ren's little hometown. The redhead tried to research about Japan, but found nothing, thus assuming it was a local name for some country close to the land of the dragon. Meanwhile, Ren said promptly that his pen-pal is from the Queendom of roses, but everyone assumed he was referring to UK. No one questioned it, assuming that it was a thing in between the 2.

-they also believed such thing because in cannon of twst, time is reffered as our normal time

-in here, the time is the same for both worlds. Japan time is sage island time, so there's a small decalation of hour.

This letter routine continued. Ren was a fast learner, thus he had a quick evolution in his English, which gained praise at school. Meanwhile, Riddle was finding a warm and fuzzy spot whenever a new letter would come for him. Both found to grow very close to each other, like a brother you would tell all your Woes to. The letters came from simple things, to much longer ones, about one's week, personal problems or even funny side-stories.

Since Riddle was helping Ren with his studies, the latter found it fit to teach his pen-pal Japanese. This also shifted the contents of the letters, containing small notes in Japanese. Just how Ren's English looked sloppy at first, Riddle's Japanese was the same.

The letters also came more thick at one point. Ren would send small things, trinkets and candy, while Riddle sent in trinkets and pressed flowers. When the small objects were exchanged, Riddle unfortunately already was busted long ago for sneaking out to play with Trey and Che'nya. So imagine that Ren sending him such small trinkets, there was bound to be some sort of reassurance.

And while strawberry tarts were great, Riddle found Mochi to be his comfort food. It was small and was eaten easily. In his mind it was similar to a tart: comes in a big variety and it was given to him by someone he holds dear in his heart. Along with the fact that his first ever taste of one was always the strawberry flavour.

-he told Ren in a letter that he liked strawberries, so the latter made an effort to choose strawberry sweets.

Meanwhile, Ren was very happy with his own lil trinkets and things. He made a small glossary of all the pressed flowers as well, although at first he thought the 'sweet rose' was candy and ate it. Imagine his surprise when he discovered in the next letter that it wasn't supposed to be eaten. But it still tasted nice. :'3

-Riddle sent another 'sweet rose' for Ren's glossary after that, as to have the entire collection

This becomes a routine, that is followed all the way to high-school. Ren started first high-school and had to explain to Riddle how the Japanese sistem worked. Nonetheless, Riddle was expected to start his first year while Ren was around the middle-end of his. So there was that.

-Twst follows the European/American school model, thus it has some decalation with the Japanese school model.

Riddle also expressed his considering of taking on for the dormleader position once he got his acceptance letter. Ren, tho, said that it wouldn't be good to paint a target on his back so early. That maybe, first, he should gain a good reputation and trust of the others so he could be recommended rather than simply taking it by force. It would look far better in this case scenario, which would be easier to gain respect out of others once he does get the position. He makes some good points, which gives Riddle a much rounded idea of how he could raise as a much more respected Dormhead.

Trey inevitably thinks that maybe he managed to talk sum sense into the redhead, whom initially was dead set on taking that position. So for now, he got a bit of credit for this. :'3

Although, for Ren's end of the year, things get a bit messy. Like in the cannon of P5, he gets charged with assault for pushing off the man that tried to force himself on a woman. In his urgent letter, he stated that the man's name, which Riddle takes a note of for future reference.

Still, the redhead was worried sick for his friend. He did change his letters accordingly, in April this whole Tokyo probation would start, so Riddle still didn't finish his first year by then. Ren told him that for the time of the formalities of moving and getting enrolled into the new school, he won't be able to write, so Riddle could let off a worry if he didn't receive the usual letter.

-Ren had to pack things and move to Tokyo, thus, still waiting for the new address, he couldn't have Riddle write accidentally the same address and send the letter to the wrong place.

The night before Ren's first day of school, Riddle wakes up in a theater room. He was chained with ribbons by all limbs and a guy that was painfully similar to Jade, introduced himself as his brand new attendant. This Jade was strikingly different from the real one, mainly by the white hair in an undercut and the more punk appearance, which wasn't fit st all with the theatre's elegant presentation. Unfortunately, the master of this room was not availabile now, as he is tending to the other wildcard.

Despite that, Riddle feels like someone else is watching him. Like there are 3 persons in this theatre and one of them was the redhead himself.

Still... It was wierd af :'3

Imagine being in Ren's shoes. You have your brand new school day after a freaky prison dream. You are in your uniform, meet a kinda nice guy and together you head to the school, only to be found in front of a castle.

To add salt to the wound, they hear a scream from inside and rush in to see 2 guards dragging out a small, struggling guy. Ren recognised him as Riddle and the latter tried to free himself when the guards stopped to 'interrogate' Ryuji and Ren.

-the 2 exchanged photos with themselves at one point, after all they've been mailing to each other since 7.

Guess it's now getting Dormeo-ed and waking up in a dungeon cell. Riddle was freaking out since he was just heading out to PE, while Ryuji and Ren were just getting to school when they found themselves in this freaky place.

The redhead mentions how his magic didn't work out in here, to which the other to swipe it under the rug, in favor of finding a way out and trying to survive this crazy shit. :'3

Cue Kamoshida coming. Riddle is absolutely baffled that this is a PE teach. Like sure, Vargas had an obsession with muscles, but the man had sum decency, ya know?

The situation was overkill for Ren tho. Like this is the first time he meets his pen-pal, his brother in arms if you will, and he is now gonna get killed by his new PE teach who is in just a speedo with a wierd cape.

The first one on the line of execution was supposed to be Ryuji, but Riddle charged in and pushed a guard aside, which got him to be deemed as the first one on the chopping board.

Cue Ren's very epic awakening. Everyone is simply losing their shit atm. :3c

But that, clearly that had to be magic. Using that as a distraction, when the guards turned into your run-of-the-mill Jack-o-lanterns, Riddle spared 0 time in grabbing a sword and cutting one of those lil shits's heads. Ryuji stole the keys and together they closed off Kamoshida in the cell, trying to run away.

Cue realising that they are lost. :'3

So, instead of jumping on the other side of the river, they decided to look some more in here, try to find a sturdier bridge, because it was unclear if their adrenaline was yet to wear off.

They, unfortunately, stumble across a few cells with students that Ryuji recognises. The blonde explains to the 2 that these people are actual students at their school and he wanted to free them. Unfortunately, the keys didn't work and so they had to ditch them. Ren is very collected about this shit, preffering to not act rash in a situation where their very lives are on the line.

Riddle tho? Riddle sees it as unfair. And he's absolutely enraged. He insists to bargain with Kamoshida for the captive students, but, upon returning to the cell, they find no Kamoshida and that the whole door was blown away by smth. And not just anything, but something very powerful, as it left quite horrifying trails and marks. This gets Ryuji on board to finally ditch everyone else for now and try to get out before they get killed.

But, they have a run-in with a red-armoured guard, tasked with taking care of this 'intruders'. By how everything was shaped around, Ren looked drained from his transformation and Ryuji had a small halebard found on the ground to fend himself with. Everything was absolutely wrong and someone had to fix it before their heads get rolling. And Riddle deemed himself as more than fit for the job. He was well versed in the art of magic and his senses simply told him to protect his friends, to protect the people he holds so dear.

Cue epic af awakening.

With this new power, the redhead demands for Ryuji and Ren to run away while he deals with the guard. Because it didn't turn in any shadow, Riddle used that to knock off the guy from the horse and take the animal to ride and catch up with Ren and Ryuji.

Cue meeting Morgana, just as the 2 freed the cat-thing. Morgana introduces himself as a very skilled Phanthom-thief and as such, he sees some potential in the now 2 masked guys. So now they took it by steps towards the exit.

-the horse was also a shadow, so it had to dissappear, plus Morgana insisted to be discret.

Ryuji is lowkey all like: what's with the people burning alive and getting sick outfits????

The cat gives us drugs! (yes, I love that joke for sum reason) :D

Morgana also shows a demonstration of how personas work. Arsene was mainly using curse attacks and physical ones, while Judgement queen was had mainly fire and a tiny bit of bless, thus keeping the distance.

While escaping, the 3 return to Tokyo, which is bad, since Riddle was supposed to be at NRC. Everyone was, rightfully, freaking out about it. Thankfully the new badass outfits didn't come over as well. :'3

Riddle does look around and uses magic to change his uniform into something akin to a more normal school uniform. Cue Ren and Ryuji freaking out since that was actual magic and Riddle was not making shit up in his letters. Ryuji brings up that this is how the redhead dyed his hair so vibrant, to which Riddle replies that no, his hair is natural.

-In P5(not royal) universe, there are no wild hair colors. The dark blue is meant to represent a colder black. By Japan's standards, some would believe that a bright red hair could be either a delinquent or a J-pop idol. :'3

So Riddle does use magic again, to make his hair black, although still it retained a tint of red to it. It was absolutely sick for Ren and Ryuji, while Riddle was more concerned with getting himself back to NRC.

They re-meet Kamoshida and Ryuji with Riddle are immediately ready to square tf up. By sum miracle, the redhead understood perfectly Japanese, as if he was an avid speaker, which wasn't the case at all. No one brings it up, Ren and Ryuji assuming it was sum fancy magic shit.

-Cannon P5 has the group understand Morgana as a cat, so it can be expected that a more human language could be altered to be universally understood.

Riddle has to wait outside, which means the latter gets to explore around a bit. They exchanged phone numbers already and Ren with Ryuji asked the redhead to get them smth to eat post classes. Already they were through more than half of the school period, so it didn't take too long. Along with this, the 2 didn't want to catch the empty school shop, so Riddle was their errand boy for the day. :'3

On the way around, Riddle meets a nice tall guy who tells him where a cheap store is. That was a blessing for his already almost broke buget. :'D

The tall guy goes with Riddle to the store and with the extra given coins, Riddle decided to give them to the guy as a sort of thank-you, so he could complete his price for his food take.

Riddle has made a new friend: Yusuke! :D

Unfortunately both of them forgot to exchange phone numbers and only realised this when they parted ways already.

Ren and Ryuji are very happy with the food and together, the 3 discuss about what are they supposed to do. Ren offers for Riddle to sleep with him, but Sojiro might not allow it and Ryuji didn't have any space in his small place. They decide to sneak the redhead in when the latter shows them an invisibility spell he knows.

For the night, Ren and Riddle discuss a bit. The redhead admits that he was a few seconds, at best a minute or 2 before Ren and Ryuji came. Riddle also mentions about his freaky dream with the blue room, to which Ren is all like 'damn, me too'.

The 2 draw a few lines:

both are wildcards, whatever the hell is that

Igor is the master of both rooms

the theatre is not like the prison :'D

Ren got the short stick with the attendants/wardens

So they go to sleep.

And surprise, surprise, Ren is back in the Velvet room. With this opportunity, he asks Igor what is up with his friend and why is he also deemed as a wild-card. Igor says that he was chosen for another motive, but it has nothing to do with Ren's rehabilitation.

On the reverse side, Riddle asks about Ren's velvet room. Again, Igor wasn't here, but Jade says to not question his master's wishes, for they all have a purpose in 'delivering the perfect story' along with shaping Riddle in the 'worthy protagonist' he has to be.

When waking up and everything, Ren makes sure to spare half of his curry for his buddy, while Sojiro wasn't looking. As such, re-meeting with Ryuji, the 3 re-trace their steps post classes. Riddle was again sent through the city for things, meeting again with Yusuke and the 2 hanging out for a bit. This time they did exchange numbers. Yay! :D

They discover the metanav, the freaky app on all 3's phones. Riddle theories that since he came first, he has to also leave first, as to separate the 2 and thus return to their respective worlds.

-it was realised that since magic was common in Riddle's place, the latter was from a different dimension altogether.

This time, they re-meet Morgana, get more things explained and Ryuji promptly has an awakening post facing Kamoshida yet again. Really Riddle was getting impatient and wanted to behead for real the guy. Unfortunately Morgana said that if you kill Kamoshida in here, he has a mental shudown irl and actually dies.

This time, when they return to the real world, Riddle is back in twisted wonderland, while Ren and Ryuji are back in Tokyo. Their phones could still message/call one another, which only was used for them to confirm that indeed, they have to leave separately in order for everyone to go to their respective worlds.

Riddle had to call in sick for yesterday and today, which was plausible. He had a single room due to the Heartslabyul first years not being unable to divide evenly by 4. Trey was the first one to tell Riddle that he was really worried for him, while Cater managed to get him the lost lesson notes, from Jade.

-in cannon twst, the Heartslabyul dorm rooms for the 1st years are split 4 by 4. Riddle is still in his first year as of now.

Now, the redhead stood amongst first years at the one with an absolute perfect score at everything, including attendance, so it was pretty understandable that I'd he was sick he wouldn't come, as such no one really bothered to bring it up.

Still, despite all that, Riddle couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him. He tried to swat it off as being just over dramatic, but the feeling did not dissappear, whatever Riddle would try to force himself to believe.

Meanwhile, Ren makes a Gc, which is titled 'The Bois'. In here, Ryuji makes a list of people he saw in the palace and whom they should interrogate for future reference. They know that Kamoshida is abusing the students, as such they should be careful at how they could address the situation.

Riddle still was doing his best to help Ren and Ryuji with their investigations, via suggesting approach ideas or reminding them of rules and regulations that could be used as a shield for their actions.

Now there is a new routine, which also means that Ren, Ryuji and Riddle sync together when entering into the palace for investigations. Morgana came up with the code-name idea, so everyone was based off a motif from their own costumes, except Joker and Mona. So you have Skull and Rose, with their nice visual themes and then there's Joker and Mona. :'D

It's also time they discover what a wildcard could actually do. Both Riddle and Ren were spooked when their own negociations went a wierd way and gained new personas. Even weirder was the following velvet room trip, where the concept of persona fusions was presented. Ren told his buddy that he had to witness the gulittone execution, while the redhead said that he saw nothing, but heard a chainsaw for some goddamn reason.

Even so, you have Ann joining the group and expulsion hanging over Ren and Ryuji's necks. Now they did have a deadline and it was something that gained the loudest 'what' possible from Riddle.

The redhead tells the 2 that maybe they could avoid expulsion. They had to plead their case, because it wasn't legal to simply expel a kid with no backing motive and a proper investigation. And if there's a proper investigation, then Kamoshida could be shown as the absolute disgusting being that he is.

As such, their dead-line is given a bit more of a stretch, so that everyone could breath a bit in relief. Clearly they were forcing Kamoshida's hand and no doubt that he could find more 'plausible' accusations to give them. But that takes time. And they need that time for sure.

Cue these lil shits making a heist. :v

Ren was deemed as the main leader, while Riddle had to take over in certain situations. It was basically these 2 switching around. Riddle was a no-mercy fighting guy, while Ren was thinking more and stacking power.

Ann also had the brilliant shock of red to black that is Riddle's concealing charm. She brought up that, nonetheless, the guy was adorable and she definitely wanted to take him through the mall sometimes because there were so many pretty outfits he could rock. Riddle did not share the same excitement unfortunately. :'3

Ren and Ryuji realise that their buddy here has that cute charm that makes girls actually approach him.

Back in twst, not a lot of people noticed Riddle's absences. He wasn't that present post classes anyway, even so Cater did bring up that the redhead is pretty absent from the dorm post classes and/or clubs. The dormleader doesn't give it much thought, saying that perhaps he made a buddy and is hanging around. Trey seems to be pretty happy with this more outgoing change after all.

Meanwhile, our lil buddy here is getting traumatized by the horny castle. :'D

Kamoshida is horrible and Panther was more than happy to beat the shit out of him. Mona tried to be reasonable, but Ren said that if they leave the guy alive, then they could still beat him up to a pulp. >:3

Post that and the successful change of heart, the group wanted to celebrate. Ann made the great suggestion to go to this fancy buffet with the pawned money and treat themselves to their heart's content.

Riddle really didn't know how to prepare for such buffet. So he dressed up in smth nice and called it a day. Everyone had the same idea it seems, except Morgana, who is a cat.

Ann had a sweet tooth. And unfortunately she noticed that Riddle also had a sweet tooth, so the 2 indulged in the cakes and sweets, while Ren, Ryuji and Morgana went ham on the meat and other savory foods.

Then it came time to name their group. Upon a vote, it was decided to be named simple: 'The Phanthom Thieves of hearts'. Riddle brings up that it maybe they should lay down low for now, since clearly police would look into it. And Ren was on probation, so any bad light can be a fatal move.

Later on, Riddle hears from Yusuke, who tells him of this art exposition. And him having extra tickets, he was thinking of bringing his friend to see the art of his master, Madarame. The latter couldn't possibly decline the offer, so he gracefully accepted to come by in the weekend.

But before that, Morgana said 'let's go into the mementos' and we get introduced to the Monabus. :'D

The freaky part is when they encounter a stalker, whom, after defeat, accuses Madarame of exploiting them. It brings out a very wierd situation. Riddle offered to properly face the man in an interrogation, for he cannot actually be identified in this place, while the others listen in.

Indeed, the guy accuses again Madarame, saying how he wishes for nothing that he put effort in to be taken from him. Unfortunately, that got out of hand when his ex decided to break-up, thus the stalking. But now, seeing actual reason and realising how horrible his behaviour was, the guy begs of our groups to try and use their miraculous ways to save the children under Madarame's 'care', so they couldn't be exploited anymore.

Post that, Riddle mentions how he has a ticket to the art exposition, courtesy of Yusuke, his friend. There is also this wierd alcoholic reporter, who tries to get a scoop on Madarame, having all kinds of rumors on him. Coincidentally, Yusuke saw Ann and deemed her as the perfect model for his next art piece.

So there are 2 different plans of action:

The exposition one, where Riddle is gathering info about the paintings displayed, along with how Madarame himself acts around. Frankly, the old man was quite humble and kind, addressing to Riddle as Yusuke's friend and being happy about more youth attending a traditional art exposition.

Meanwhile, Ann is refusing far and beyond to pose nude for Yusuke, once the true intention of the painting is. In between us, Ren was pretty down to be a nude model. :'D

Still, our group finds the Madarame palace and BOI is that thing FANCY. All gold, abstract building and whoever decided to put pots on the roof. :'3

-In the P5 game, you can steal art pieces on the roof, who coincidentally look like pots

Riddle had a very familiar, yet foul feeling about this place, but he mostly kept it to himself, in favor of how to deal with this place. The pupil paintings were almost the last straw, but still, Yusuke was loyal to hell and back to Madarame. Simply telling him that this guy is bad won't do anything but to sour their already complicated relationship with the guy.

Still, they couldn't proceed further because of the peacock feather doors. So Ann FINALLY accepts the modeling gig, but with a catch: she took all the closet on her. :'3

Meanwhile, Riddle and Mona were meant to sneak in and open the door itself. Using an invisibility charm, the 2 had to both open the door and have Madarame see it open as well. Morgana wanted to lock pick it, but Riddle said 'nah' and straight up opened it with magic.

Unfortunately, neither was fast enough to catch that hefty thing and so it slammed on the shabby floor, which was heard through all the house. So the 2 knew that now either Madarame reaches them first or Yusuke and Ann.

-Yusuke assumed something bad happened or something got broken and thus wanted to assure for the well-being of his master

In a panic, Riddle and Morgana go and hide in the dark room itself, leaving wide open the door. Yusuke and Ann come first and out of instinct, Ann switches on the light.

Poor Yusuke is in an absolute shock. Hearing the footsteps of someone also coming, Riddle uses his magic to turn off the light along with turning Ann and Yusuke invisible. Yusuke wanted to yell, say smth, but Ann shushed him, just as Madarame entered the room. Yusuke saw first hand how the man actually acted around, quite arrogant, yet panicky that maybe someone actually stole a copy of the Sayuri.

Now that he was invisible, Yusuke also saw Riddle and Morgana, which was far more confusing since, for him, it was wierd that Madarame didn't even notice their presence altogether. Fleeing the place, the group came with the metaverse escape, once Morgana accidentally knocked off a painting and Madarame was convinced someone was truly there.

Cue Yusuke freaking out. He was in this metaverse place. In here, all the charms Riddle initially made were lifted, so cue the briliant shock of red hair again. :'D

Rose decided to got directly to the point: this is how Madarame views this whole art business and himself. As a museum of himself, where his vanity knows no limit.

The 2 had to re-meet with Joker and Skull. Yusuke has just a bad time overall and Riddle could only offer to step back and protect Yusuke, while the others fight shadows upfront.

Yet Yusuke also awakens to a persona! Yay! Now we can kick that grandpa's ass! :D

After the whole escape, Yusuke is very down. Ren tried to comfort him, but ultimately Riddle got to send the message across: just because someone raised you, doesn't necessarily mean that you are allowed to excuse every mistake of theirs. You can admit that the person in question is bad, even if they had you since you were a baby.

-Since Ren talked sense in Riddle prior, the redhead is aware already of his own mother's wrongs and thus, is the best to talk with Yusuke about this

Yusuke is now determined to change Madarame's heart and have him answer for his deeds against all those innocent pupils he exploited.

But, Madarame's wary af and thus asked police to make an investigation of the place. The investigation proves to be futile, as no one could find any evidence, besides the lock being thrown on the floor. Still, they were drawing a few suspects, one of which is Yusuke. This puts on fire the group since if Yusuke is accused of breaking in, it's over.

Yet, Riddle gets his summer holiday now. He had to make sure his mother was out in town while he 'studied' in order to sneak out via metaverse. Even so, it hardly changed the routine, since Yusuke also had very lil time to slip up.

By the middle of June they manage to find the treasure, send in the calling card and have the heist. Yusuke gets even more traumatised by Madarame's greed and the group find out about a black mask roaming around.

The confession, of course, is followed by a lot of uproar from the public. Yusuke now was living the ✨broke✨ life and Ren, Ryuji and Riddle are roped in with Mishima onto investigating the maid service, discovering that Kawakami works it as a side-job.

We also see the fireworks! :D

But, later, Riddle notices smth wierd. They were followed, quite indiscretly, by a girl. Ren explained that she was the student council president and it could only mean bad things for them.

Riddle, being done and over with that feeling of being followed, confronts Makoto upfront about stalking them. Like damn, can't a guy have sum privacy and hang around in peace?!

Makoto confronts them back with them being THE Phanthom thieves. Of course, this puts the group in a tight situation as Makoto wants them to prove their ways by changing the heart of a mafioso boss. They need a name tho, so using the journalist Ren meet previously, they deduce the name of Junya Kaneshiro. Their problem was the need to see Kaneshiro in person and deduce the nature of the palace in question.

Riddle tho, stopped her, saying that he is the guy on the terrain and that Makoto shouldn't get involved with those guys directly. Makoto tho, dismisses him, which almost gets them caught off in trouble with Kaneshiro, but thankfully magic is a godbless in here and Riddle doesn't hesitate to use it in order to confuse the people around and thus avoided an insanely close bullet.

Still, in order to fully escape, they used the metaverse escape, getting yeeted in the fricking bank. Since Kaneshiro knows them now, they gained access oh so much before the 'bank owner' demands cash for their damage done in the club. And a quite exaggerated sum, which could put poor Makoto in a life long debt.

Cue awakening! Heck yeah! We have a motorcycle now! :D

Makoto has many shocks today. Magic, metaverse, personas, the very close escape from ruining situation... Really a lot. Even so, Ren reasons that there is a possibility that the cameras could've caught their faces. It would take a bit more to get the footage and identify them, but when that happens, no doubt that Kaneshiro would want a hefty payment to keep shut.

Still, with sum effort and a very nicely set calling card, the group pull it off. Kaneshiro drops for them sum info about the black mask, but it's not really helping them in this situation.

Cue summer holiday like pros and Riddle starting his 2nd year at NRC. This was marked as special, since last year he was named Dormhead, by the previous one, whom now is in his 4th year. Ren quietly congratulated his buddy, who insisted to be kept on the low.

Still, what Riddle didn't expect was the mountain of tasks that would get dropped on his shoulders. He had to oversee a bunch of things and along that, by sum unspoken rule, he was put in charge of confirming that every Dormhead would come to the entrance ceremony. So he wrote nicely a few notes for the Dormheads, handing them personally to themselves, vices or students who can safely take it to them.

All, well except Idia. Riddle brought this problem to Ren. Like how he could even get that guy out to attend the ceremony. It's not something hard. He could still bring his tablet and speak through it. He wasn't unreasonable. But attendance will be mandatory and to top it off, Ortho, the deemed younger brother of Idia, really wished for him to attend the ceremony. It's not like he was sick or anything. Ortho confirmed that his brother can attend the ceremony with no problems. So it's more of a 'get yo ass out and stay in a corner for 30 minutes' kind of thing.

The rest of the group suggest their own things, but it all boils down to 1 idea: go in person and confront the guy.

Despite Riddle expecting to have a shy guy that maybe needs a bit of a nice word of encouragement to get the things going, Idia was snarky. This guy wanted nothing to do with the 'Resident rule perfectionist' as he put it into words. And that, in turn, railed up Riddle too, which turned into a back and forth with only the closed door preventing Idia from getting his ass whooped into attending.

-being so absent during April and the end of the year, people didn't get to see Riddle as more than just a guy that follows rules to a T

So Riddle, upon Ren's guidance, guilttrips Idia into confirming his attendance for the sake of his brother, who was really looking forward to it. It was a success! :D

Except it wasn't, because Idia didn't show up, despite Ortho saying that he saw his brother in the ceremonial robes, leaving before him even, just how the dormleaders were required to. Add salt on the wound, this wierd magicless peep stumbles in, a cat-raccoon puts on fire the whole goddamn room.

And Azul is his partner in catching that cat. This night couldn't possibly get worse, could it? At least, being used to thief shenanigans, it is far easier to outpace Grim and catch the lil monster, not before collaring him first. It would've been easier if Azul didn't almost blast him off with a missed spell. :'3

Post all this, luckily Ren and him meet up to hang out. In the metaverse to blow off some steam, ofc. Riddle does mention about Yuu, but when Ren suggests to take Yuu himself over to this world, where they belong, Riddle responds that there is a chance that this stranger was brought by the dark mirror. Something was up with this Yuu and he isn't going to risk it until he has evidence that they could be truly sent back safely without them being brought back by accident again.

-Yuu mentioned their home when the mirror asked for them to be sent back, as such it was clear it was a place from Ren's world.

This gets reinforced when Riddle wakes up in the velvet room. He was never summoned there for anything than at first 2 times. He had to ask for different procedures that Ren discovered when he was summoned. So there's that.

But the velvet room this time was more eerie. Far darker around and the bindings were tighter, even hurting when the redhead tried to move. He called for Jade, but he didn't respond, nor was to be seen.

All Riddle knew was that someone had their hands on his seat back, tilting a bit as a way to gain his attention. The person in question spoke very quiet and softly about how this game is rigged and that Riddle should, under no circumstances, mingle in with the magicless human. The redhead is allowed to ask 1 question before their time runs out. And Riddle, naturally, asks who the hell is this person behind him.

The response is: Someone he should've meet much earlier.

Of course, the redhead shared this encounter with Ren. Something definitely was up. He wanted to bring it up with Igor, but Riddle insisted that this stays in between them. Who knows what velvet room shenanigans are truly going on?

First proper day of NRC school and Ren just calls in to check on his buddy, only to be hit with the 'these dumbasses charred a statue, broke an insanely expensive chandelier and almost avoided explosion by trespassing in an abandoned and, possibly, Hazzardous mine'. When Ace allegedly stole a tart, it was the last straw and Riddle collared him. He didn't explicitly kick him out, but the guy left the dorm puffing and huffing so he didn't stop him.

-the way Riddle phrased his nagging made Ace believe that he was kicked out

Ren just suggests that tomorrow he should talk with Ace and Deuce. And just make it clear that he expects the 2 learned their lesson and won't do that absolutely dangerous shit again.

It goes actually well! :D

Ren is also invited to the tea party. The others were a bit busy, hence Ren finally got to visit Riddle's world. There was fun and nice food, so he wasn't complaining. U-Ub

Ren also gets to see firsthand how it truly is in a place where everyone uses magic. The roses were turned red by a flick of a wrist, the dishes were flying off their table on their own, even Trey's Unique magic was amazing for Ren.

Ren also meets Yuu, the magicless hooman in question, along with Grim. Since Morgana also was there, Ren jokingly said that they are kinda the same. Yuu notes how, from Trey's Intel, they didn't expect Riddle to actually have other friends, outside the school. Well Che'nya was an exception, but still! It turns out Yuu was also from Japan, them casually mentioning how in their world, at least, there were those wierd mental shutdowns and sum rumors about Phanthom Thieves. It was very freaky and Yuu was actually glad they weren't there atm.

-Ren lied and said he was a magicless student studying around, coming from the Queendom of Roses as well.

Post that, Ren was pretty glad that Riddle called off the idea of bringing Yuu back home via the metaverse. So far, their idea of the thieves wasn't all pink and sugary, so there was a fair chance they would rat them out.

Post the party, Riddle and Ren talk as the redhead is 'getting back to school' the latter. Riddle does mention about the other Dormheads and how they kinda are in terms of personality. Not the most happy bunch, but NRC was notorious for stuck-up brats after all.

Discussing those matters, Leona's name gets dropped. And what you'd guess, the metanav picks it up. It halts the 2's convo as they realise that 'oh shit, the metaverse is not Tokyo exclusive'.

So until they reach the mirror chamber, they try different things. It does pick up 'coliseum', 'envy' and 'sloth', getting the 2 to come face to face with a more antique place, where gladiator fights were the main attraction. Still, they didn't venture too much. They had to talk with the rest of PTs about this palace.

It comes to a comune accord that this palace was something that needs to be dealt with. At least before inter-dorm magishift season starts. Azul was in charge of organisation so they had to take a leap of faith and get somehow a clue about what Leona might pose a threat to. His palace was cold and straightforward. Shockingly very easy to go through.

Their problem tho, comes with Medjed, back in Tokyo, taking upon a 'duel' with the PTs. For that, Alibaba, a misterious hacker, requested to have a heart change. So Leona's palace had to wait a bit more.

Everyone honestly was thinking that the desert tomb was mocking them with the endless heat, only to have back irl the autumn coldness. Still, they manage to change Futaba's heart, or more like she helps in changing her own heart. This does cause a collapse episode in the real world, something which Riddle can freely use some simple healing magic spells. Still, Sojiro, unaware, called in Takemi to check.

With Medjed dealt with, Riddle is informed of the string of accidents on the school grounds. Yuu, Grim and Adeuce were looking into it, so the redhead assigned Cater to also look a bit in this mess. Clearly, he knew Leona had something to do with this. His palace was straight out outing this thing, but Riddle had to play it right and not raise suspicions.

So he devises a plan to stop the sabotaging, all the while the rest of the thieves group go and steal the treasure. Riddle promised that he will confront Leona face to face, as such they won't need a calling card and make their presence also known in here.

-since Yuu knew about the Phanthom thieves in their world, a calling card would immediately raise suspicions.

Cue busting Leona at the magishift grounds, just as, in the metaverse, Ren was leading the heist.

Except that what wasn't taken in account, was Leona overblotting. This shook up the whole plan and not only did Riddle have to deal with an overBlot, the rest of the thieves got out with the treasure, only for the thing to crumble apart right in their hands.

Instantly, the metanav confirmed that the palace still was standing, so it was clear that now everyone meet in front of it, seeing the now abandoned ruins of the once prestigious looking coliseum. No more shadow readings, treasures or anything that would do with distorted desires. It was like a shell of it's former corrupted glory.

Riddle says that in the real world, Lilia came in between him and Leona and berated him so bad he actually overBlotted. Something like this was absolutely unexpected. And so far Leona was still preparing to play in the exhibition match. He had to return and arrange the Heartslabyul team, so the others decided to come too and keep an eye on the matches.

Magishift was, clearly, something that hyped up the whole group. It was also Futaba's first time outside, at a grand event such as this.

Still, Leona was acting like normal. He was sent to the infirmary to rest after this thing, while Yuu was sent there post getting bonked with the Disk.

For a few days, Riddle kept a close eye on Leona. The palace was in a state of decaying and the guy himself looked like nothing changed. No change of heart was made, but some sort of inner change was done by Leona himself. Something that compromised the whole palace.

After that, there is the Halloween event, where Riddle invited his Tokyo buddies at the open gates event. Magicam monsters like magicam monsters. Still getting a kick outta them. :v

The actual noteworthy thing is post that, when the endless Halloween night starts. In the land of the afterlife, Riddle could feel his personas brimming inside. It felt awfully like some sort of metaverse, but it wasn't his metaverse, more like some sort of extension.

And since WHEN did Lilia need glasses?! They were that hot pink, bedazzled with prints on their rims along with a colorful chain full of beads. Really standing out against his Halloween attire. Still, he said that it was his idea, as to cheer up Malleus for the inevitable end of this big school party. Pepaw, dunno if u have health insurance, but I'm sure af that Riddle doesn't give a damn about it. :'3

Following that, in Tokyo, people didn't really believe that much in the power of heart change. The thieves needed some big target to hit, but that could also be compromising. It does get into a heated argument, with Morgana ditching the group in a rage fit. Everyone is just all over the place. They decide to target Okumura and run into a spaceship palace! :D

Meanwhile, Ren and Riddle decide to solo investigate the mementos of twisted wonderland. They didn't really have a clue how to get to rotten souls, but Riddle suggested to try out students names. This mementos was an extension of the usual mementos, accessed through a cracked mirror and resembling an upside-down tower.

The 2 stumble upon the shadow of none other than Azul. It was surprising, since Riddle knew how greedy and perfectionist this guy was. He expected a more grandiose thing out of him, not a simple shadow.

Still, using the fact that they could easily change his heart and that also there was no trigger for overBlot rn, they do defeat the shadow. It was more as an experiment, to see if a change of heart actually works in twst or it is something else.

Azul had absolutely 0 change in his behaviour. Still he's scheemy and still he has that honey-sweet Demandour, appearing to be friendly and rope u in a deal.

In fact, a lot more people got roped in a deal. Ren wanted to say that they did worse, but Riddle reassured that this was absolutely no surprise: exams were coming up. With Azul as a dormleader now, along with his 'reliability' in the previous year, it was no surprise that the clients would come in more numbers.

So while the whole Octavinelle plot is going on, the PTs are managing the Okumura palace. They have Mona back, along with a new addition: Noir, or by her real name: Haru.

There are 2 things that result in this whole Aftermath: Azul Overblots and Mr Okumura dies live on press. This is pivotal, as the Tokyo public believes that the Phanthom thieves are criminals, while on the twst plan, Azul still is hunting for contracts, although he seemed to lower the actual conditions, to the point is outright too generous. It was a sign of desperation.

Haru needs sum time off to think. With the sudden public death, the voting was postponed at a later date, to firstly let this scandal die down and re-make the whole voting options. It proved as a good time for other prime-minister candidates to make PR moves and capitalise on the death of Okumura for the sympathy of the masses. The ballouts would be hosted in March now, Japan waltzing in the new year with a lack of a prime-minister.

So Haru spends the small winter vacation with Riddle, at NRC. It was away from all this Tokyo Chaos. The others still checked up on her, to make sure she was, at least, able to cope well with the situation. There was a nice atmosphere in the Heartslabyul gardens, nice tea and along those, Haru seemed to enjoy the company of the local small critters and flamingoes.

Of course, due to this, it was no surprise that a certain Floyd Leech would bust the calm, mostly since 'Goldfishie stood over!' and he wants to play with someone else. Esp since Azul and Jade always were with him during the winter break so it was boring. Last year's break was enough for Floyd apparently. :'3

Although Haru found it entertaining the said chase and the chaos Floyd brought, what she didn't quite appreciate was when Yuu and Grim crashed into Octavinelle in the middle of the night and Haru joined, not expecting to be put through a training camp. Still, there was nice food and Kalim seemed very kind at first glance.

Then evening rolled up and Kalim wasn't so nice anymore. Just how Yuu and Grim said, this guy had worse moodswings than Floyd himself. So they split up to investigate: Haru and Jade separate Kalim from the others, while the rest keep Jamil occupied.

On the Kalim side, things were going smoothly once Jade used his unique magic on the latter, now the whole thing boiling down to asking the right questions. Haru was perplexed that Kalim's willpower to keep his promise was so strong, but this is also what outed the whole thing as well if you count in Kalim's connections. It was ironic, really.

Meanwhile, Jamil takes note that Riddle is very precise in the board game, which made him quite the fearsome competition. The redhead doesn't ignore the given compliment, saying that is very simple to advance if you know the rules and don't loiter around thinking of the points, rather consider the penalties. Yuu also notes that the redhead had quite the longer hair, this time being braided around pretty nicely. Riddle says that he didn't really take in account his hair situation at all.

-Haru braided it for him as a sort of relaxing activity for both.

Regrouping back in the guest room, a plan is devised and put in action the very next day. Jamil is exposed and this guy has a breakdown and overblots.

Cue getting yeeted across Scarabia. It came as an absolute surprise, which, to Riddle and Haru's further horror, they discovered that, indeed, Jamil had a palace all along. Who would've suspected such humble guy to turn out like this?!

Haru has now rights to commit extreme violence in the real world. Haru is very happy. :3

Poor lil Kalim... He's devastated, but nothing much could be done about it. Haru has her lil pep-talk with him, which turns out on a nice note, with Kalim declaring that he will do his very best to improve, for the sake of Jamil and everyone else.

Jamil also got a pep-talk, but no one really has an idea if something stuck with the guy or if he's just playing along for the sake of getting out of it faster.

Following that and an oasis hangout, Haru decides that she should come back. She stood for 4, maximum 5 days and deemed that all of this small adventure helped her rewind a bit and clear out her head.

Post her leave, Riddle still had the rest of the holiday to spend with the freshly returned Adeuce. Still, Floyd didn't leave him alone at all. He did inquire to know if he didn't get bored of him post the Scarabia incident. They were put to hang out for days together, so how come Floyd didn't get bored?

-in cannon twst, Yuu called Adeuce before breaking out with the carpet, as such the 2 rushed in here as fast as they could.

The latter responds that he knows Riddle's getting more risks taken and that the redhead is mingling with forces he should fear. It wasn't a nagging, because for the end, Floyd says that he's curious of what would come out of all this and expects Riddle to continue this type of shenanigans.

Riddle wanted to ask what in the world is the latter on, but decided to leave it at that and mind his own business. He went to the velvet room, where the other Jade was patiently waiting for him and any questions he may have. The latter has only 1 question: does this Jade have a twin? The attendant hesitates before giving no response, Riddle taking it as a confirmation.

It verified Riddle's theory that this Jade has a connection with the actual Leech twin in real life.

Despite everything, Jade says that, unfortunately, he cannot disclose information regarding the other attendants or about his own position, which further vexes Riddle. Clearly he knew of the twin wardens from Ren's velvet room. And Riddle now knew that in this theatre are supposed to be another pair of twins. But it was only 1. This had to be some sort of parallel. Things so far seemed way too separated, yet they had to be connected. Riddle has never seen Igor, while Ren always was welcomed by the said misterious man. Riddle had 1 attendant, posing as the one and only, while Ren had 2, split into an equal duty.

With those aside... It takes a bit of time, before our group is blackmailed by Aketchi into clearing Sae's palace. It put this whole thing on fire for everyone. And if for Riddle it wasn't enough, for him, this year, Crowley gave him the duty of overseeing the organisation for the culture festival. Mountains of papers and a lot of places, with little time to even rewind for himself a bit.

Aketchi gets also aquitanted with Riddle, being quite taken aback by the fact that 2 wildcards are in the group. Sure, fancy pants... Sure... -3-

But, with all of those Woes and troubles, Ren suggests that the group should also take a break, in the form of the culture festival. An open gates event where they could take 1 break, preferably to clear their heads before the big heist day and to enjoy themselves. Riddle actually looked very forward to it. He liked when his Tokyo friends would visit him. So he marked down the date and he did everything in his power to clear it. Making sure everything was to a T, so that no unexpected worries appear on the last second.

It adds far more on his plate than Riddle would like to admit. But he had to push it through. He had to make sure everything went swimmingly. It all depended on him, the 3rd party that wouldn't be affected by Sae's change of heart. The palace was investigated in record time and add to it that Ren even offered to help the redhead with sum paperwork, so he could speed up the whole process.

What was a thing Riddle overlooked, was literally the other Heartslabyul students. He overlooked that some might mess up something. And when they did, it resulted in a quick lashing out, a collar taken down seconds after realisation settled in and a profund apology for the scare. Those signs also showed in the palace. The reason they advanced so quick was because Riddle adapted an approach of 'wanna negotiate or taste my gun'.

This problem was brought forth with Trey. Him being the vice, the others decided that he is the best person to snap Riddle out of it. Cater even offered to take some of Trey's duties off his shoulders so he could take some of Riddle's in turn and at least clear up some time. Adeuce were gone, an unbirthday party was planned literally 2 days before the VDC. Time was on fast forward and it seemed Riddle had a hard time keeping in the pace.

-Ace and Deuce were at the VDC camp.

Trey tho, swats off the others, saying that it's simply just a more hectic period. A lot of things need to have Riddle's presence or signature, so it's not far fetched to say that even if they wanted to help, there's very little they could do. Cater tho, insists that even that little help they could offer is better than no help, but Trey shuts down the idea, saying that he'll take care of it, the same way he did on Riddle's first year: have a talk with him.

And that goes as well as one would expect: down in the goddamn gutter.

To start off, Trey postponed the deemed talk, until before the unbirthday party. At This point Riddle was piling even more stress, after a morning call where his mother finally got to nag him about staying at school for the winter and also forgetting to give her the weekly report yesterday. It already put on the down mood for the day and that only added up when his dorm students reported that apparently one of the flamingoes escaped, a hedgehog had a bellyache and the roses will take a few extra hours to be re-painted because some first years accidentally turned them green and got lost in between the leaves.

Add to that the poor sleep schedule and the overall tiredness. He intended at first to stay in the lounge and finish some urgent papers he'll have to send over to the light music club, regarding their performance duration, when he fell asleep.

Trey woke him up a few hours later and told him about his slip, which made Riddle to spiral in a panic, asking why in the fresh hell didn't he wake him up earlier?! He had to send those papers today, because those are meant to confirm the presence of certain club performances and allow for the schedule of the festival to be posted. Those were PIVOTAL for the organisation. And he slept on them! Now he couldn't attend the unbirthday party, so he'll just postpone it post VDC.

Cue Trey telling him that already everything was set and they couldn't possibly postpone it, when only the redhead was missing from there. He tries to tell the latter that he should take a break, but Riddle panics, saying that he took a break just now and he destroyed all of his plans. He won't have enough time, he'll have to work even on the VDC day, thus he couldn't take his friends out through the festival. It was all a mess. His only free day was forfeit because he fell asleep. Everything just came in, crashing and burning.

Cue a breakdown and an overBlot. Surprisingly, a quite weak one, since already Riddle was still tired and it was easier to knock him out.

So while the redhead actually does sleep in the real life, Riddle wakes up in the velvet room, again being dark and eerie. This time tho, the bindings were a bit more loose and his hands were smudged with ink. He knew that behind him was, again, that misterious someone. Fortunately, Riddle had a theory and a name for the one behind him.

So he calls out for Floyd to come forth. The latter does listen and presents himself as Jade's twin and Riddle's initial attendant. He was quite different, with longer hair and an attire fit for an actor on stage more than anything. Floyd explains that he waited for this moment. For things to crumble down and allow him a moment longer in here. Jade was very limited in this situation and he adds that Azul's initial plan of sneaking in was busted by that pesky shrimp.

Riddle doesn't really understand what's truly going on, but draws one conclusion: the velvet room twins and the irl Leech twins are one and the same. And Floyd here says that he's supposed to be Riddle's true attendant. Then what's Jade's role? And what does Azul have to do with this whole ordeal?!

Floyd doesn't explain, saying that time ran out and that someone is waking up Riddle in the reality, thus their time is cut short. Nonetheless, if he has any questions or truly wants to see what was truly hidden from him, then he reccomends Riddle would seek him out in any world he deems fit.

When the redhead really wakes up, Trey was holding him, while Cater and Che'nya were also in sight, both ferreting around like headless chickens. Riddle asks what happened, to which he's told that he overBlotted. Now he's lost even more time with his 'temper tantrum' and the inevitable knockout session he had. It immediately ends with Riddle crying, saying that he cannot handle it anymore, that he wants to simply stop time to do everything.

Trey doesn't know what to say, but he tells the redhead that he needs to take a break and recover, weather he wants or not. It doesn't reassure at all the redhead, so Cater steps in, saying that he will talk with the club representatives that have performances planned and have them come here and pick up the papers, as to cut some shortcuts at least.

This reassures a bit Riddle and he only demands now for a bit of privacy.

And he uses that privacy to go to Ren. Now, the latter was a bit taken aback by the sudden visit, but indulges in and welcomes the latter with an awkward hug. He doesn't ask what happened, he just waits for the latter to explain. Riddle does tell in between sobs what happened. Due to stress and using so much magic to patch up for his shortcomings, he overBlotted. He really just wanted a nice lil hangout day before they pull the big heist, but everything was compromised.

Ren, as a gud friend, does 2 things: 1. Comfort his buddy and offer to come with him and help him out. 2. Plan Crow man's funeral in advance and prepare a bat for Clover.

-Ren is aware Trey is a vice and therefore could've taken some of the duties and papers with no problem from Riddle's intel.

Riddle feels like he's asking too much from the latter, but Ren admits that the redhead did so much for him and the rest of the Phanthom thieves, by covering their traces, prolonging their deadlines and helping out with anything possible. He feels it's only fair that he will be here, with a hug and a helping hand when in need.

What Riddle does add is that something is wrong with the velvet room. At least his velvet room, for apparently he has a wrong attendant and both he and the actual attendant are real life people. There's also a 3rd person roped in this and it's none other than Azul, whom at first Ren and Riddle had under a close eye due to odd behavior.

Ren admits that it's wierd, but for now, he says that it would be better to take a deep breath and focus on the now. Not on the what they should do next. So he calls in the rest of the group, filling them up ONLY about the overBlot news. Clearly Aketchi had to catch up with the whole magic shit, but Riddle made it clear that overBlot is an external factor and cannot mean that a person necessarily has a palace.

Aketchi suggests that they still have a week or so until their deemed heist day. They said a week, because Sae is out of town, as of now, and on the first day she returns to Tokyo, she'll get the calling card. So, from his perspective, all the previous overBlot cases share a similarity: they were triggered by something. So he asks for Riddle to re-trace his steps of the day, because something doesn't add up.

So the redhead does that. He starts with the usual, but reaches the end, adding that it was just like any other day lately, until he snapped. Ann does ask if by chance he got upset over something, maybe a discussion, a mistake, something that would usually be brushed off easily. Riddle admits that he didn't think much about it, but now that he recalls, he had in the morning a call with his mother, which did make him upset for the rest of the day. It totally flew by him since just so many upsetting things happened lately that he didn't even realise that the call was actually the one who started the string.

Now Ren knows that his buddy's home situation is rather a delicate problem, so when Aketchi proposes to feed Mrs Rosehearts's name to the metanav, Ren intervenes and tells that they will all take action if Riddle deems it fit. This is something very personal and as such, the latter gets to call the shots.

Riddle decides that he has to finally address the flags he kept ignoring. He knew from a long time that something was wrong with his mother. Ren did help him see that. So he hopes to clear everything up one way or another. And if this is the fastest option, so be it.

Still, it came as a heavy hit for Riddle when the metanav confirmed that, indeed, Mrs Rosehearts had a palace. Unfortunately, his hunch was right and Riddle didn't miss a beat on the other words needed for the navigation process.

The group is meet with porcelain towers, over which are engraved different words/scripts, flailing with their colorful velvety flags. They seemed to represent things like 'honesty', 'loyalty', 'kindness', 'wisdom' and the middle one, the tallest, being 'obedience'. The treasure itself was visible from afar, sitting in the place of the top flag of the obedience tower. The towers were way too apart to grapple hook from one another and neither did they have walk-ways or anything interconnecting them at first glance, protected by gigantic spiky walls. Still, they didn't stay much and returned immediately back.

Ren asks again what shall be the call. Riddle stays a bit to think about it, before he demands that the rest of the team take no action regarding this one. Their most pressing issue is the casino heist right now. So everyone leaves it on a heavy note.

Ren tho, wants to have a heart-to-heart with the redhead, asking on why he doesn't want to change his mother's heart. Riddle explains that his mother is a well-respected doctor. It's clear that if her heart gets changed, not only his own living conditions will be revealed to the world, but no doubt suspicious medical records or less than innocent acts could also come to light. He says he fears for the consequences.

Ren tho, begs to different and says that maybe Riddle isn't afraid of the consequences of his mother, rather he fears what he'll discover inside. He offers to assist Riddle in exploring the place itself, promising that they will not change the woman's heart at all.

Riddle tho, admits that if they are going to do this mission together, he wants someone else to tag along too.

As such, one could see the next day the redhead going to Octavinelle. It was a surprise to see him asking for Floyd's presence, not that the latter wouldn't give it in a heartbeat. Floyd was very eager to find out what does goldfishie need so bad out of him. Riddle himself brings up that he wants Floyd to live up to his attendant duty and assist him in a palace.

And while the latter firstly brings up how Jade or Azul would've said a flat no, he wasn't them. And he was still absolved of his position until further action is taken. Clearly he points out what Riddle would even benefit from his presence in there. The redhead does admit that he has little to benefit, but he doesn't doubt that, as an attendant, Floyd would bring on the table something no other persona user could.

Floyd's response still stays yes, although he almost hesitated when he heard a big condition was to not tell anyone about it. Nor Azul or Jade. Still, the answer was yes and that's what truly mattered for Riddle.

Watch Ren's surprise to finally meeting another attendant that wasn't a smol child set on beating him up. We'll... Scrap that, Floyd was tall af compared to the twin wardens. So in his mind, he concluded that if u are tall, you get a shortie attendant, but if u are short, you get a tall attendant. Ah yes... The math is mathing.

Still, Floyd was the same old loose cannon. He had a glossary of personas, able to summon only the ones that Riddle discovered up until now. You could say he was a pelicular flavour of wild card.

Still, first 2 times it was more of sneaking around, seeing the place itself. It was disturbing at best how much everything was in order, nothing amiss, not even a beat or step of a shadow.

A noticeable thing was that Ren also had to drag off the twin wardens to see places they demand to see. So Riddle found it fit to tag along with Floyd as to entertain the guy for a bit and give Riddle peace with the whole 'goldfishie' teasing. One pelicular thing was that Floyd didn't recognise Justine and Caroline, but the 2 knew Floyd as 'Tragedy' and were aware that Floyd had a twin.

Then, you have VDC day. The day that, despite Riddle's initial pesimism, it went well at first. Only some early morning work before the meeting hour. The rest of PTs arrived at the established hour, and St first it was sunshine and rainbows. Going around stalls, talking with each other and having a great time together.

Although, Riddle did passively mention that NRC's VDC representatives are led by Vil Schonenheit, a famous actor and model. The name rings a bell for Makoto, who remembers that while they went in mementos without Joker or Rose, they encountered a shadow of someone named Vil Schonenheit.

-Joker and Rose were investigating the Mrs Rosehearts palace at that time, so the others were allowed to venture through the weaker levels of mementos.

This puts a question mark for Riddle, since Vil didn't overBlot, nor anyone said that he had any change in behaviour. Even the VDC started like normally. Thankfully Riddle managed to smuggle in the rest of the group in order for them to see the performances. Ofc, a vote went to NRC.

Yet RSA still won. Goddamnit Rook. :'3

Everything seemed way too fine. Still they had time until Sae turns back, so the rest of the day was spent goofing around a bit.

At night tho, the 2 wildcards and the attendant are wrapping up their exploration progress. The palace was so in order that it was shockingly easy to reach the treasure, while still seeing every nook and cranny of it. Indeed, as Riddle predicted, faulty medical records, decease notes, organs files, important documents and other medical illegalities were represented towards the bottoms of the towers, where one would find the underground tunnels meant to connect the towers one by one.

Except that in the obedience tower it was someone meant to be kept there: Mrs Rosehearts's cognitive Riddle. A puppet made out of porcelain, just like the towers, representing that just like this palace, Riddle was a product of work in his mother's eyes. The only things truly noticeable were the cracks through which roses would grow out and the strings that were attached to the ceiling, moving via a complicated mechanism over how it was dictated. Some were broken and thus the puppet was left discarded, in a corner of the room, hoped to never be noticed again.

Riddle knew well enough that Crowley had to inform his mother about the overBlot. Clearly she didn't outright tell him, but in her mind, already the redhead was a failure, a defective puppet. The puppet himself seemed to perk at the newcomers and as such he wanted to challenge them, for they aren't allowed to go further.

Rose demanded that this will be a battle in between him and... Well... Himself. So Joker and Floyd will stay on the sidelines as the 2 engaged in battle. Despite the puppet's best efforts, Rose still won and held the cognitive Riddle at rapier's point. He hesitated, which made the puppet mad and demand on why is he spared, why is Rose so weak that he cannot finish a given job.

Rose responds that, fortunately, he learned his wrongs and whatever his mother sees in him as 'obedient' and 'loyal', was truly something that died long ago. Because of this, now the cognitive Riddle is discarded and not wanted anymore. Because he disobeyed. And now is not worth to try and fix anything. The damage already was done and for once, it was a necessary evil.

So he cuts the puppet's head off, making it to shatter in a pile of shards and wilted flowers, who disappeared slowly. Joker does ask if they should go forward, but Riddle says that it's enough. That they won't return here at all. He got what he wanted and there's no more reason to go forward.

Floyd does ask why he is so prompt on not changing his mother's heart. The reply is simple: despite everything, Riddle still loves his mother. And if he makes the change of heart, he'll basically condamn her to jail, to a humiliating punishment. And he he only wants her to at least live in peace. It is no doubt that her actions will catch up with her at one point, but Riddle would rather first cut all the necessary strings in the real life before the punishment will befall her.

And even if he loves her, this was truly a more cruel punishment than simply changing her heart.

So this palace is left alone, to exist on its own and wait until it will destroy itself.

Except that shit cannot be easy at all, because the very next day, Riddle had a club meeting when they get busted by Charons. Despite putting his best fight with magic, the redhead is put down anyway, not after scorching a good chunk of the sports field. :'3

Oh, the other overBlot victims are here, which for some reason has Vil. Riddle asks what happened with Vil, to which the latter responds that he overBlotted, as a consequence of his actions. Not much detail it is given, nor Riddle pushes for more.

-At the end of chapter 5, everyone agreed to keep the overBlot a secret, as Malleus fixed the stage as well.

We are seeing Idia again! Not really the best place to meet your high-school aquitance, but anyway. :'D

Ortho was very happy for the fact that the others are here and they can play video-games together and hang out. Idia explains that they are here only for a few tests, so it won't take long until they'll be back to NRC like nothing happened.

Despite expectations, Idia allows for the others to have their phones, but they didn't have any signal, nor Internet access. Any photo/recording attempt was shut down immediately, rendering these things as absolutely useless.

What was not useless tho, was the metanav. Riddle discovered that since the thing worked with no problem. Neither his messages with the PTs were affected. He could still send them like normal. So it was no surprise that the others were shook at the news that their 2nd wildcard was in the magic FBI rn. :'D

Still, Riddle managed to look over the palaces history. Leona and Jamil still holded their decaying palaces, while Azul and Vil had no more mementos locations, nor a palace.

So with a wild thought, Riddle puts in Idia's name. The guy was pretty apathetic and despite his shy Demandour, he was snarky and mean when provoked. Add to that his high position in STIX.

It's not a hit.

So Riddle puts instead Ortho's name, not expecting much from a robot.

It's a fucking hit. And not just any simple one, but am entire palace.

Of course, Riddle has a hard time guessing what Ortho's distortions would really be. He guessed right that the latter has the entire world as part of his cognition. But what was surprising was that it was distorted as a torture room. He never expected for the kind robot boy who is so happy and cheerful every day to see the world as a horrible place meant for suffering.

Of course, Riddle had a few hours to himself as the results are rounding up post the VR tests. Those were literally the only tests done. As such, Riddle took the liberty to wonder through that palace.

He finds the ruins. A former shell of what it was supposed to be, depicted as a grueling place, where many lost their lives and lie there as decaying corpses. There wasn't any putrid smell, rather it was smelling like Sea-breeze.

This was a sign of overBlot, but something didn't add up at all.

Cue going back to the real world, just as alarms were blaring. This put Riddle on the spot as he firstly found the emergency door and opened it via magic. He did summon his magic pen insanely easy, so changing in his dorm uniform, Riddle got out on the main hall.

Which had him immediately bump into Idia. And not just any bump, the 2 barreled into each other. Of course, Riddle was ready to pin the latter to the ground and almost stab his staff into him, but then he noticed that Idia didn't wear his STIX attire, rather something more similar to his usual school uniform, with a few differences: the hoodie was fully opened and on the left leg it was a holster for a silver revolver. Idia also noticed the redhead holding his phone with the metanav still opened.

Pretty much is that spiderman pointing meme.

Idia insists that he has no time to waste, but Riddle says that he needs to come with him and find the others. Something is going on in the tartarus and currently, the 2 had vastly different priorities.

But, those get put aside when hacked Charons find them and are ready to blast these 2 off. Riddle wanted to use magic, but Idia is more faster in pulling out the gun itself. The redhead expected for Idia to shoot in the Charons, which wasn't that much of a smart move.

Watch his utter horror when Idia puts the said gun to his own temple and shoots with 0 hesitation. Instead of blood, it is heard a glass shattering sound as there is a boom of light and blue flames, before Riddle could clearly see a persona, in real life, which Idia used to put the Charons in their place.

It goes more like:

Idia: look... I know it's wierd, but you'll 100% forget it, so just roll with it for no- Riddle: YOU HAVE A PERSONA?! Idia: Yeah yeah... Detai-... wait... HOW TF DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PERSONAS?!

Screaming 101 with these 2 doofuses. :'3

Still, Riddle insists that they have to find the others, but Idia refutals that it's no doubt futile. Still, while they argue, the others find them, including the group led by the French he-man. Yay! Everyone's in here! :'3

So they bust in the main command room, dragging Idia by the scruff to also follow. Naturally, the whole situation is presented and so everyone has to split up. Idia additionally went with Azul and Riddle.

Upon entering the Tartarus, Riddle immediately was turned into his thief attire, sign that he stepped into a cognitive world. He's so fricking confused and Idia is also losing his shit about it.

Azul's all like: you 2 are done screaming or I'm gonna miss my appointment at 17 too?

The latter clears it up for the 2: they are both wildcards, but they hail from different sources of will. Riddle's persona was manifested because of his rebellion spirit awakened, while Idia hailed from the lineage of death itself, his will manifested as the embrace of inevitable end. As for Azul himself, he's simply an attendant of a 3rd wildcard.

Clearly, Idia and Riddle lose their shit at this new information, but Azul says that mayhaps they should mind their current business, prevent the gate of the underworld from being yanked open and allowing Ortho to crawl out. Riddle, naturally, is very confused, to which Idia explains that the Shroud's curse is a sign of godhood. Except that this godhood is limited by the mortality itself and the sacred duty of guarding the underworld. Ortho was lost long ago to the tartarus, thus his godhood coming in full swing and hence by the real Ortho breaking out without anymore mortality chaining him down, it brings out only calamity. As such, Idia had no other choice but to accept his status as a wildcard and give his own godhood in order to seal his younger brother away. This was the backstory behind Idia building Robo-Ortho, as a way to cope with everything.

Azul, unlike Floyd, doesn't summon any persona, nor shows how his attendant self looks like. He keeps it 'humble' and insists to not give it too much thought about it.

Cue going down and finally facing the true Ortho. The other 2 teams already did do their damage, so it was time for the last 3. Idia had to summon his best persona he had: Hades, which paired with the thunder spear, was enough to knock off Ortho back into the underworld.

Except that he also dragged the robot body and Grim down, which Idia couldn't allow. So you guessed it, the leap of faith. :3

Vil saves them tho. Idia managed to grab Grim, initially saying that he confused him for Ortho. The reason he did that was because grim coughed out Ortho's memory card, which is what Idia felt as his brother.

But old man Vil! Old man Vil! :D

Returning back to NRC, Malleus does one thing right and returns Vil's youth. Lilia was also there, mostly to supervise Malleus, yet he still gave a greeting to Azul, who responded as well before he was bodyslammed by the twins.

For Riddle tho, in a few days, he had to help with the casino heist. Immediately that one goes in the gutter as they are forced to split up and Joker is caught by the police.

But despite that, Riddle still made a slip for 2 days, staying overnight and helping Sojiro with the cafe, while he and Sae got back Ren, via a switcheroo. Get bamboozled, Aketchi. :3

-Post Futaba's palace, Sojiro was made aware of the phanthom thief business along with Riddle's presence and the magic :'3

So the group's new target? Shido! Riddle recognises the name as the name of the man Ren said he got him on probation in the first place, so clearly this makes things personal now.

Usually, the leadership decisions were taken in between Riddle and Ren, but since now it was personal, Ren had full leadership role now.

So they don't waste time. March was just around the corner and so they didn't have much time until the ballout counts will commence. So there was little one could do in this situation. They had a tight deadline and they had to cater to it.

Despite initial expectations, Idia returns after a week, with the brand new Ortho. It seems like, finally, Idia chained Ortho's godhood and real self in the robot body, thus returning his 'mortality' and allowing him to roam the world freely. With that, Idia also offered to repay Riddle for his immense help. And as a fellow wildcard, Idia accepted to join in the Shido operation.

Everyone else in the PTs are losing their shit when they see just how Idia summons his personas. No badass outfit and straight up giving people heart attacks. :'D

Idia and Futaba are now friends tho. :D

Despite expectations, when hanging out in Tokyo, Idia was pretty used to Japanese culture and used a charm to hide his flaming hair and blue lips. When asked about it, Idia admits that it's not his first time in Japan. Although he initially was on Tatsumi Port Island when he was around 8 to 9. That was the time when he sealed originally his brother. And forfeit his godhood for the greater good.

He explains that gods are chained down by the mortality or the cognitive nihilism as a way to prevent them from bringing calamity. The real world would crumble apart along the cognitive world if a god were to fully roam around the normal people, for it couldn't stand an imense power without reprecausions.

Still, the Shido palace has us facing Aketchi again and finally seeing his true look and his real persona: Loki. There's little to do against the cannon so I guess we say bye-bye to the sketchy detective. :v

For the calling card, Idia aided Futaba in hacking on with the video and everything. He wasn't a tech genius for nothing, so finally meeting his match in programming is smth that gets both Idia and Futaba really fired up. Plus they both like animes and can bond over the burden of social anxiety.

So the day of the big heist comes. Shadow Shido is not smth to play around with and everyone realises it when the shadow sees Joker as the deemed leader, so he separates him from the others and takes him on a 1 vs 1.

Joker ofc wins and they have to make a run for it. They think Skull bit the dust, but nah, he's alive! So all is well. :D

Except that once Shido does confess, nothing really changed in the public's opinion. They still wanted Shido to be prime-minister, but with the guy dipping out, clearly it was chaos in the political world.

Meanwhile, back in NRC, Lilia announces his sudden retirement. With things getting so messy back in Tokyo, Riddle didn't pay so much mind to it. Idia did do his part and filled him up on the necessary points, including the bigass farewell party.

So that's going to gutter when Malleus goes delulu and overblots, trapping everyone in their dream worlds. Unfortunately, for Riddle, he finds himself in the Velvet room. Except that Jade wasn't here, but Floyd. The latter admits that he summoned Riddle here as to avoid him falling victim to Malleus's unique magic and get wrapped in a fantasy.

Riddle does ask what is he supposed to do now. He needs to reach Ren somehow, he needs to fight the overBlot and get it over with, but he's bound to this damn chair and Floyd cannot do anything about it.

The latter admits to it, but also adds that these bindings were set for him by a fake god, who wanted ultimate control. And it all dials back to the first wildcard who defied fate: Idia.

Idia's attendant is Jade, the supposed macabre Comedy that Idia has to deal with. With Ortho falling into tartarus and thus being freed from his mortality, Idia had to forfeit his godhood. But that wasn't the entire story. Idia worked with Igor, the master of the velvet room. An entity that lives in between dream and reality. It was a loophole where gods could retreat and live peacefully, yet in solitude. Clearly, not a lot of deities liked the idea, so they either confined themselves by mortality, roaming among normal people or went into the cognitive world, seeking to have their control in there.

One such instance was a rogue entity that created the TV world. Azul was the interlude in between comedy and tragedy, as such he was the deemed attendant for that wild card: Lilia. Being such an old wildcard, Azul had time to shine as an attendant, as such, Igor deemed him to take over the twisted wonderland's velvet room. As powerful as Igor was, he knew that when it came Floyd's turn, there was going to be a tragedy. And it truly did when the fake God of control proposed a game, locking away Igor and denying Azul's soul from entering the velvet room. Jade was forcefully put to be an attendant, as such Floyd had access inside only when Riddle would start to crack from his expected evolution. As such, when tragedy truly struck Riddle, Floyd was able to freely go in and out of the velvet room, releasing his twin from his forced place as an attendant.

-Azul used the contracts to cover his soul with multiple ones as to try and by-pass the said ban condition

The magicless world was meant to have same fates as twisted wonderland. It was a reflection of fates and circumstances that was broken with Idia, maintained by Lilia and now it was Riddle's turn to either maintain the streak or do something else. And Floyd advises that he wants to see what Riddle truly thinks of this binds for now.

And Riddle, trying to break out of his seat, he manages to rip off the ribbons. They still left some nasty marks, but Riddle was free and he felt liberated. Still, he has to warn Ren about it, so he demands for Floyd to lead him up to Ren's velvet room.

The latter says that he currently cannot do this. Something is blocking him. The best he could do is reunite with his twin and Azul and get free from Malleus's dream spell before doing something more rash.

Meanwhile, with Idia and Ortho managing to find Silver and Co after promptly getting trauma dump by the war, Azul also manges to find the group, snapping Lilia out of it (via roundhouse slapping the Mcshit out of him).

-the dream version of Lilia was the general Lilia, henceforth he had to be shook awake from this.

We also finally see Azul's attendant look for the first time. He was more or so resembling some pirate mixed with mafia aesthetics if one wants to pinpoint. But maybe it's because of the frilly blouse. Unlike the twins's hetercromia, which allowed for 1 gold eye, he kept his blue eyes, them changing to gold whenever he summoned a persona or got extremely mad.

So we get to fight Malleus via different dream planes thanks to Silver's Unique magic! :D

Still, once Malleus was snapped out of it, there was one problem: back in the real world, Riddle still was in his thief attire, sign that something was wrong. Lilia admits that he never saw such thing, but Idia says it's akin to the dark hour, which wasn't supposed to happen. The dark hour was abolished, thus separating the cognitive and real planes for good.

Riddle concludes that he needs to go to Tokyo ASAP. But Grim ate Malleus's blot stone and went ravenous, into a gigantic beast.

So Idia and Lilia reassure that they could handle this. Riddle should go and hunt down that pesky god of control that made this mess of their worlds. And for their sake, to beat it up extra hard. >:3

Azul is the one that opens the velvet room prison door, telling Floyd to go as well and tell Igor that he did everything in his power to stop this. The latter doesn't want to go, but Jade and Azul insist that Floyd pulls to the end with his job as an attendant. This is what all of their siblings want.

Idia be all like 'wait you 3 are ACTUAL SIBLINGS?!' Sure... That's what's bothering u rn?

Nonetheless, thankfully Riddle comes into the prison at the time the fake Igor already left and Ren fused the twins into Lavenza. Now that's someone that Floyd recognised as 'his youngest sister'. Lavenza was also happy to be back, yet the threat of the false god hung over everyone's necks right now. Now free in Ren's world, it made the metaverse and the real world to crash into one another. Riddle confirms it by saying that in his world, already this is happening as well. Idia and Lilia are taking care of the overBlot Grim that is causing havoc.

So with finding all of PTs and roaming the new reality/palace of masses, we get to fight the false God.

Now, for the grand finale, imagine a double awakening. Both Arsene and judgement queen evolve into Satanel and Chernaborg respectively, ending with 2 bullets shot. One is through the false God's head, while the other goes through the chest, both killing it and making it to desintegrate as everything crumbles back to normal.

The Aftermath consists of Yuu coming back to their world as the false god originated from twisted wonderland thus by swapping places with Yuu, it allowed for them to defy fate and tip it in their favor of starting that ruin chain. Grim was merely created as a product of that magic exchanged as Idia explained later.

Speaking of Idia, he doesn't have many plans for his 4th year, but he said that Ortho kept insisting to visit around, so he guesses he'll comply to the wish and maybe travel in between his internship and work.

Lilia is still retiring, although he said he'll just go to his favorite town, Inaba, and live in there quietly. He promises he'll visit the Briar Valley from time to time tho. At least Malleus, Sebek and Silver get reassured that in the end it will be alright.

For our Octa trio, the 3 still have to finish their given lives in here before they will fully go back to the velvet room. Doesn't mean they won't stay over at their other siblings more often than not.

As for Riddle and Ren? Well, Ren was bailed out of juvi and will go back to his hometown. And Riddle is settling himself to move out on his own and simply cut ties with his mother for good. Now the 2 do visit each other, via the shells of the palaces that had their rulers ob irl. Those are pieces of metaverse that cannot dissappear and thus are their gateway in between the 2 worlds. Still sometimes the 2 also plan to visit Tokyo and see their friends too.

In the end, everyone was free!

And that's it! :D

It was fun to make a plot line where you don't only include a different take on the usual elements you keep using, but also add sprinkles of lore that tie in much more stories and hint at the other persona games.

Other than that, I'm pretty proud of how everything flowed out.

And a smol tag of @grandstrangerwhispers ! Thanks for permission to use your ask idea for this! Hope you enjoyed this extremely long trainwreck. :'3

Welp! Until next time! Buh bye!

[felice-jaganshi]

Alastor's Leash

Chapter 3

Zariah was being princess carried by Alastor, pouting like an upset child with her arms crossed over her chest. 

“Now, what did you say to set off Mimzy? I've never seen her get that angry without good reason. If not for our deal, I'd be more than half tempted to pretend I didn't notice and let you two fight it out.”

Zariah huffed out a fox whine. “She called you heartless! And I argued you had the biggest heart I've ever met, and made me feel loved everyday. I don't understand how or why she sees you as so ‘heartless’ specifically, but she got really pissed off, and then I used us cuddling in my bed as an example and she launched herself at me! Like, who reacts like that?!”

“Sinners, my dear. That's who.” He groaned, now understanding the situation she'd gotten into. 

“The exact reason is, back when we were alive, she and I would party together. Early on in our friendship, she'd tried to make sexual advances, which I always turned down. And then, when she stated she'd fallen in love with me one day, and I still did not reciprocate, she called me heartless. Our relationship took a nosedive for a bit until she caught me hiding a body. It certainly improved after that, as she realized it wasn't ‘her’, I just had no interest in women in general. My work was just too important to me. So, your comment about us cuddling in bed , she might have misunderstood or more likely chose to misinterpret, as sex. So, now she feels insulted. And to be fair, she's not wrong about me being heartless, I am incapable of the type of love she always wanted from me.”

 

“Oh, well I didn't mean to hurt her… but you're not heartless, I can hear it beating right now.” She rest her head on his chest. “Bum bum, bum bum. Yep, it's still there. Just because you love differently, doesn't mean you don't love in your own way.” She smiled sweetly, and he returned the gesture, eyes half lidded.

 

“Such a wise pet I have.”

 

“Oh, idea! Charlie was able to visit heaven once with Lucifer's help right? Maybe we can get you a day pass to see our moms!” 

Alastor groaned and set her on her feet, “I take back what I said about you being wise. That's the worst idea I've ever heard. Heaven is no place for a demon like me.”

 

“But why not? Especially if it's just for a day. She'd love it!” Zariah looked confused. She couldn't understand why heaven scared him so much.

 

“Zariah, we're dropping it there.” His tone was stern, “No more discussion of getting me to heaven, I'm quite happy here in hell, where I belong .” He paused to let his words sink in before continuing, “Now, we need to get ready for your broadcast. What are you going to read for our listeners today?”

 

“Hm… I'm thinking of hooking everyone in with one of my favorite book series. After book one, if they want the other books, they'll have to give me their souls to hear the rest! Does that sound like a plan that might work?”

 

He hummed, “Make it book 2 and I think it might.” He pet her head and she purred, wrapping one of her tails around his waist.

 

_______

 

Vox paced around his tower while Velvette worked on their social media posts for the day, scheduling a few for later.

“Argh! Fuck! I miss Val!” He yelled.

“Oh get over it you big baby! You two fought more than you fucked anyways!” She was being cold, because he needed it. Suddenly an alarm went off, letting Vox know a radio broadcast was about to begin.

“Oh fuck! Alastor's back on!” He ran to the radio to listen to his “hated rival's” broadcast. It was all he could think about these days.

 

“Hello sinners! It's time for our newest, and most popular weekly broadcast, the Radio Angel's story hour. Everyone get tucked in with your snacks and blankets, I've been told this one is a personal favorite of hers. How exciting!”

Vox growled, that damn angel had taken up all of Alastor's attention lately! He'd even given her credit for his latest attack on Vox's dignity! 

 

“That's right Al! As our listeners will soon discover, the main character has a lot of parallels with Lucifer that are very exciting! And if they can make it to act four, they're in for a world of emotional pain and torment unlike anything they've ever felt. I will also change a few of the terms to make it easier for our listeners to understand the story.”

“Well isn't that exciting, and so generous. Let's get started then….”

 

“Among all the angels in heaven, there was one famous laughingstock of the three realms…”

 

Vox listened intently, her voice truly was suited for this sort of thing. She didn't sound like her usual energetic obnoxious self that he'd heard from the few interactions he'd had with her. It was soothing and calm when she read. He was jealous to the extreme! She was going to get so many followers from this shit!

 

After a bit, Alastor's voice cut back in, interrupting her with his own commentary on the story.

“Hah! What a fool he is, quite like our king indeed. Challenging heaven itself over a single child's life. I'm quite interested to see the pain and suffering of such a kind heart as he will go through.” He sounded so pleased with himself, and she couldn't help but giggle. 

“Hey now! No spoilers!”

Once she finished reading the Prolog, Alastor put on a “commercial break”, to give her time to breath, collect herself, and drink water. 

 

“Oh my god! This was so much more fun than I thought it'd be! It reminds me of when I was alive and I'd read to my friends over the headsets at work. Hah… that job was a literal nightmare worse than hell itself, but my coworkers made it worth every moment. I loved them all so much.” She smiled fondly with her eyes shut, picturing her old friends. 

 

“After this, I want to help with Becca's wedding. You should too. She's like a sister to me, so that will make Luci your brother soon. So try to get along a little, yeah? No more plotting to kill him and take the throne of hell. It's Charlie's to own.” She kept her tone soft.

He whined a little, like a child. “But darling~.” He gave her a sweet, syrupy look.

“Nooo! Don't even, it won't work. You're cute, and I love you, but the throne of hell is a headache you don't need. Just trust me…”

[lemonduckisnowawake]

Against my better judgment, I'm posting a concept short story of vampire-christian (2.6k words. Gloriously unedited) I wrote literally yesterday because I think I'm hilarious. Here it is on WordPress if that's easier for some of you.

Actually, while I'm here, as I put on WordPress, ShamelessPlugin time of this kofi. NOT to give me money, by the way, but because I want to support a friend going on a short term missions trip (once that goal is reached, I'll refund the kofi, unless you specify not to). You can help them by sending me a kofi with a prompt or, if you prefer, donating directly to them here or reblogging the donation post I made here.

Anyway! What do I mean by concept short? It means probably not gonna remain canon-canon but it's something I write as basically an exposition dump to establish setting and possible dynamic with minimal narrative meat. So here you go. I love the attention but why must you kill my notes whenever I log on?

The problem with grabbing your blood in the hours no one else did—which is to say, in the burning daylight of afternoon, first day of the week—was that, sometimes, you would run into unexpected difficulties.

It wasn’t anything new to Armaros that the day’s fresh shipment of blood hadn’t arrived yet when he graced the building with his presence. After all, most humans and a good number of supernaturals did their work in the day, so there was no reason to deliver the shipment of fresh blood to the Vida en Bolsa building too early. Especially when most of the creatures who needed it came in after the sun set.

What was new, however, was that this was the time he’d had to wait with the only other person being the new receptionist.

Right now, she was scratching away at a notebook and typing something on the computer behind the reception desk in the small waiting room. It was what she was doing every time he came to Vida en Bolsa, which was every week.

Usually, their interaction would go something like:

“Hello…I’m here to receive my donation…”

“Good afternoon! Good to see you again, Armaros! Yep, your shipment of blood should be here, maybe being unloaded into the fridge, but name and DNI number?”

Short response here.

“Perfect! Just wait here and I’ll go grab it for you!”

He would mutter a thanks, give her the bag where he could carry his blood subtly, and watch as she skirted around the half-circle reception desk and ran to the door opposite far left of the entrance. Then, she’d come back and hand him the bag now heavy with a week’s worth of blood bags.

She’d mutter a cheery, “God bless you!” like it didn’t make Armaros flinch every time, and that would be it.

That was a good routine. Armaros wished that routine could always be kept.

But alas, this was Spain. And even after five-hundred years, the virtue of punctuality was one that they still sorely failed to improve on—maybe it had been a more punctual culture when he was still technically alive, but years in the present had made the far past fade somewhat.

Nevertheless, typical Spanish lateness had been the cause of the apologetic, “Looks like they’ll be late again with today’s shipment” from the receptionist.

Speaking of, actually, Armaros assumed that Chae-ryeong was a receptionist. Or maybe distributer to the beneficiaries would be the right word for it? She seemed to do quite a few other things, if the forms on her computer were anything to go by.

The problem was, every time he walked past the building—which was often, even when not stopping for blood—he would see her form sat at the desk. Daylight or twilight, she was just…there.

Armaros wondered if she ever slept or ate or took breaks. The woman had bags under her eyes as permanent as her half-smile. The hair Armaros assumed was supposedly to be the typical straight, black, and strong East Asian hair was always in a frizzy (and more often than not, greasy) mess. And truth be told, whenever he spoke with her, the scent of her blood seemed to sometimes lack the distinct iron quality that most healthy blood should possess, which wouldn’t be that alarming—anemia signs otherwise—except that she was specifically working at Vida en Bolsa.

Personality wise, Chae-ryeong was the perfect receptionist. Appearance wise, she looked like she’d been run over by one of the delivery trucks he sometimes spotted in the parking lot.

“Hm…” Chae-ryeong suddenly broke the silence.

Five-hundredish years of life had still not trained Armaros to not flinch at the sound of another human voice. Especially when the owner of the voice was looking at him looking at her.

He blinked back, fighting not to break his stare.

“Sorry, did you say something?” Armaros questioned her.

…why did I start a conversation? he yelled internally. Curse me…no. I’m already cursed. I can’t bless me either—wait, she’s saying something.

He could have just pretended to be asleep or something.

Chae-ryeong, still wearing her usual half-smile, shook her head. “No, not technically,” he caught her saying. “I was just wondering at you staring at me, but maybe you were just bored like I was?”

Well, yes. He was bored. But boring was good. Boring was silent and peaceful and—wait, why was she bored?

“…aren’t you working on something though?” he asked her, briefly eyeing the laptop next to her covered in a weird assortment of stickers.

“Well, yes…but it is rather boring,” Chae-ryeong easily replied, the picture of nonchalance. “It’s just some work for another thing I’m doing, anyway. So why were you staring at me? Or were you just bored?”

“I, uh…” Armaros stammered, trying to follow the gunshots of conversation. “I’m not bored? I was just…wondering if you ever slept, since I walk around the neighbourhood a lot and always see you at your desk.”

…that wasn’t rude to say, right?

“Ha! Come on. I’m twenty-four!” Chae-ryeong scoffed, grinning at Armaros. “Uh. I think. BUT ANYWAY! I still have, like, a year left before my brain starts deteriorating. Who needs sleep when you’re young!?”

Armaros wanted to argue that he was five centuries old and still very much needed sleep. But he was the vampire awake in broad daylight—the time he should be sleeping in. Plus, he didn’t know much about human biology now, so…

His mouth didn’t seem to agree with his brain, as he found himself muttering, “Uh…I don’t think that’s how it—never mind.”

“Nah, it’ll be great,” Chae-ryeong assured him. “But yeah…come to think about it, I do work an absurd amount of hours here, don’t I?”

The expectant eye she was giving Armaros withered him a little bit as he felt himself forced to continue the conversation. “Um…how come you work that long?”

Chae-ryeong huffed. “Well, my parents are friends of the managers of this branch of Vida en Bolsa. And after their last few receptionists quit on them, I offered to take the positions until they found someone...s new. It’s great. I can do my master’s homework, be surrounded by blood, talk with vampires that sometimes want to eat me, serve God in some form of ministry, and earn money. Lots of it, too, given how I’m working almost all the shifts.”

“That sounds…unhealthy,” Armaros commented, at loss at what to say.

Was that rude? Judging someone he barely knew?

“Oh, it absolutely is! But if I ever need a blood transfusion, at least I’ll be in good hands with the medics here!” was her cheerful reply.

It was then when Chae-ryeong shut her laptop.

Armaros wanted to die, except he was already dead. Her shutting her laptop means she’s invested in this conversation. Send help, he cried internally.

“That’s…not really what I meant—hey, are you anemic?” he suddenly asked, catching a whiff of her scent with his enhanced senses. “Oh, uh. I ask because you always smell slightly less…metallic than most people.”

The woman rested her arms on the desk, tapping her fingers and wheeling her chair slightly back and forth, attention all on him. “Ooh…so vampires can smell that. Some of the others who come in the night shift tell me that too, but yeah, I am.”

“Doesn’t that make working here…unsafe? Hungry vampires can be…” he trailed off, forgetting the word he wanted to use to express the state of hungry vampires. He sunk deeper in his chair, knowing he should just stand and make the short trek to one of the chairs nearer to the reception desk but…not wanting to.

Well, Chae-ryeong seemed comfortable where she was as well, atrocious posture and all. And she didn’t seem to mind their distance either as she bobbed her head. “Yep! But who ever said ministry was safe?”

“Erm…”

Armaros didn’t really get it, but Christians—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, whatever other thing there was these days that believed in the triune God and the cross and resurrection thing—they were a weird lot. After all, they were the first group to establish a blood donation system for the supernaturals who needed it despite their entire nature being lethal to his kind.

“Well…if it works for you, I guess,” he passively answered back.

“It does! I usually can take short naps during the slow hours. Most of the vampires already know me now and are nice enough to wake me up if I oversleep,” Chae-ryeong blissfully blabbered on.

“Can you even oversleep in your current lifestyle?” Armaros asked doubtfully.

“Yep! I usually get four good hours, but sometimes I overshoot to seven or eight from morning till afternoon!”

“…I see.”

“What about you? You’re pretty much the only Monday daylight regular,” Chae-ryeong offered him a question, something Armaros really hadn’t needed. “I mean, you say you see me when you stroll around, but I also see you a lot out in the sun. Isn’t that unsafe?”

“Yes…it is,” Armaros said, struggling to explain. “But…I enjoy taking walks…especially to stores. They’re never open in the night.”

“Ah…right. Why don’t you move to the nearby city, then?” Chae-ryeong suggested. Armaros noticed her head still bobbing slightly from earlier. “Places like Valencia have most of their establishments open at night for the nocturnal supernaturals. Smaller cities like ours don’t have lots of those, though I think we have a good number of them! I know the center has almost all the stores and the major groceries open in the twilight hours, at least.”

“…well, it’s not something that appealed to me.”

“Makes sense to me!” Chae-ryeong accepted easily.

They lapsed into silence, with Armaros aware that Chae-ryeong was looking at him, as if desperately wanting to ask a question. Sometimes, he wished he hadn’t become more aware of social cues…

“Sorry. I’m not great with conversations,” he said. “But…do you want to ask something?”

Chae-ryeong perked up, at least as much as one could without changing the permanent expression on their face. “Actually, yeah! But it might be rude…most of the vampires I’ve asked weren’t really willing to answer…or even let me ask when I mentioned it pertained to Christianity. Can I ask it anyway?”

No???

“Sure…this is a mission, after all.”

Why was he this way?

Well, she seemed happy at the allowance? Maybe? Again. Hard to tell.

 “To be honest, I just kind of am curious about how the whole Christianity thing and vampires works. I know vampires stay away from churches and the whole lot because, well, it literally hurts their very being. But like…I don’t know. A vampire classmate and friend of mine were talking and she’s always wondered how things would have gone if she’d lived during the time of Christ and had bit Him, capital H.”

…I’m having hearing issues, right? Armaros told himself. There was no way the receptionist had just—

He straightened, if only to lean forward and ask the woman, “Sorry?”

“…it’s a weird question, isn’t it?” Chae-ryeong acknowledged. And if she wasn’t wearing her polite half-smile, it would have sounded apologetic, but she was wearing it and the acknowledgment sounded too…nonchalant?

“I, uh…no. I’m really asking,” Armaros said, just to save himself the trouble of trying to admit anything.

“Oh, then my question was about—well, I don’t know if you believe in God, actually. But Christian items still hurt you, right? So…say you do. What would have happened if you had bitten Jesus Christ while He lived and drunk His holy blood.”

…huh.

This was a bit of a belated observation, but the new receptionist—new being relative given that she’d already been here for nearly two months—was insane, wasn’t she?

“I, uh…well.”

Chae-ryeong nodded in understanding. “Yeah. That’s about the response of the other vampires willing to consider the question.”

She didn’t seem disappointed, either. If anything, she looked resigned. And Armaros dearly wanted to ask, “Resigned to what?! What are you resigned to?! What kind of crazy question is that, woman? I just want my week’s worth of blood, please! Please don’t make me change to a 42-days shipment order!”

But he didn’t say any of that because he knew better.

Rather, Armaros did his best to sit back properly and meet Chae-ryeong’s curious dark eyes, glinting in the summer evening sunlight with…something expectant, maybe? With that, he found his mouth opening without his permission again.

“Well, most vampires believe in God. The ones who don’t, uh…don’t really end up living that long, to be honest. Some out of spite, others because they don’t really…take precautions for their safety. Some are still alive, I mean,” Armaros explained, feeling more and more self-conscious and doing his best not to pray (lethal idea) for the blood delivery truck to come already.

“The thing is, we don’t have…faith in God, you know? That might kill us, after all,” Armaros explained. His smile wasn’t too strained, was it? “So we just…I mean. I’ve never thought of that question? Maybe it would have killed us? I mean, I’m pretty sure a true Christian’s blood is lethal to us, so—”

“Wait, what?” Chae-ryeong interrupted him, her smile dropping for the first time in the conversation.

The change in expression was enough to throw Armaros into silence.

She didn’t seem to mind, as she continued. “What was that about Christians’ blood being lethal to a vampire?”

The question was enough to prompt the vampire to speak again, stammering out, “Uh…oh. Um. Yeah. Cause…I think it’s some theological principle?” He honestly knew even less about it.

A lightbulb seemed to light up over Chae-ryeong’s head, or maybe that was the setting sun—hang on, didn’t that mean it was nearly 9PM?

Armaros subtly tried to glance at the big owl-shaped clock on the wall in the reception area, which did confirm his suspicion that he’d been here almost an hour and a half.

“Well, huh…I guess now I know why that threat worked,” he thought he heard Chae-ryeong mutter to herself.

That…definitely didn’t sound like it was meant to be said aloud, so he simply decided to let it go.

“Hello?” another voice startled them out of their musings.

They both turned to the speaker, a woman who looked to be in her late thirties—brown hair, Mediterranean complexion, healthy blood, maybe recently sick, also carrying a clipboard.

Chae-ryeong’s smile immediately returned as she waved out her greeting. “Hi, Sandra! How are you?”

The woman smiled at Chae-ryeong, slightly false but not unkindly. “Very tired. Sorry about the delivery being so late today. Do you want some help unloading it?”

“Oh, sorry to hear that. I hope you can go home to rest.”

“I know I will!”

“And now, don’t worry about unloading. Carla, Leo, and Adele are already taking care of it, see?”

Three pairs of gazes turned outside to see an older woman and two youths in their twenties starting to unload crates from the white and red truck parked just in front of the entrance. One of the women—Adele, Armaros recognized from her dirty blonde hair—waved when she spotted their gazes.

Armaros just stared ahead, like he hadn’t seen them.

Honestly, he didn’t think he could take any more interaction at this point. Thank…not God. But thank goodness that he could now move on from this evening.

“Armaros, do you want your blood delivery now?” Chae-ryeong’s voice interrupted his relief.

He tensed again and nodded. “Thanks, yes.”

[jerzwriter]

OTP asks 33, 53, 57, 60 for any or all of your pairings ;)

Hey Tif! Thanks so much for the asks! :)

35. Who’s more artistic?

Tobias / Casey - At least musically, I HC that he has a beautiful singing voice, and he's not afraid to use it on Casey. lol He's also an art collector, which makes sense since his mother, Vivian, is an artist and an art broker. Casey wishes she was more talented artistically, but she's not lol

Ethan / Kaycee - For the longest time, the answer was neither. But when Ethan is instructed to find a hobby to reduce stress, he takes up painting and comes to learn he's quite good at it. Once he retires, he does it quite a bit, even sells some in a little shop by their beach home in Sandwich.

Trystan / Carolina - Hmm. No clue? Never gave this a lot of thought, but I'm going to say, Carolina solely because I HC her being a photographer. It started to assist with her work, but she ended up doing it as a hobby as well.

Eli / Zoe - Per canon, she's an excellent drawer, and that worked right into my world. I HC Eli's late brother, David, was an artist, and it's sort of a nice little connection.

53. Would they ever go skinny dipping?

Tobias & Casey: I mean... come on? lol Do I have to answer this? Yes, they have and they will again. lol

Ethan & Kaycee: He'd fuss and protest, but eventually, she'd wear him down. lol They'd only do it on occasion when he's 100% sure no one is around.

Trystan & Carolina: Absofreakinglutely.

Eli & Zoe: Yep, I'm sure they already have. lol I mean, what else can you do post-apocalypse?

57. Whose the serious one when grocery shopping, and who likes to toss random things in the cart?

Tobias & Casey: OMG, neither is serious. They are like 2 kids when they go grocery shopping. Tossing things around, pushing each other around in the cart, being total idiots, and enjoying life. I love them for it! (I mean, I've written about what they do in the produce department! lol)

Ethan & Kaycee: He's serious. She's more playful.

Trystan & Carolina: See Tobias & Casey's answer... the same... only in NYC lol

Eli & Zoe: Welp - no grocery stores by them - so - but if there were, Zoe would be a total child - Eli would be all frustrated and telling her to stop - but he'd be just as bad by the time they left. :)

60. Who pulls the other closer when they're sleeping?

Tobias & Casey: They both do. He does it more... but they're really not separated much anyway.

Ethan & Kaycee: He does. :)

Trystan & Carolina: He does. :)

Eli & Zoe: They both do :)

Thanks so much for answering, Tif! :)

[90363462]

It's Time To Break 'Outercourse' All The Way Down

Outercourse has its benefits...

Shellie R. WarrenOct. 29, 2021 04:51PM EST

A few weeks ago, KevOnStage posted a video that reminded me a lot of what fascinates me about many "church folks." OK, so if you're not familiar with what Mormon soaking is, oh, it's a trip alright. I'll let Kev break it down for you:

Have y\u2019all heard of \u201csoaking\u201d? pic.twitter.com/MgHivzbCYr— Kev\u00edn (@Kev\u00edn)1632942302

Somewhere, someone, came up with the notion that so long as a man doesn't — and yes, I'm gonna go grade school on this — put "it" all the way in or move around when he's partially in, he and his partner aren't actually having sex. Chile. CHILE. Now, before you roll your eyes over how ridiculous that sounds, do you know how many Christians who strive for some sort of sexual purity think that oral sex isn't "really sex" or that they can preserve their virginity by having anal sex? Yep. Also ridiculous. Denying something doesn't make it not so — across the board. Yet let me stay on topic.

As I thought about all of this stuff, something else that came to mind is a topic that I've been noticing on these here internets, more and more, as of late (although I'm still not quite sure why) — outercourse. I'm pretty sure you can tell, off the rip, that it's in the neighborhood of intercourse. Still, if you're not exactly sure what it is and how it's even in the realm of soaking and oral and anal sex, give me a few moments to explain.

Just What Is Outercourse?

Uh-huh. I know how some of y'all are — you like to skim, so, for you, the short definition of outercourse is it's the kind of sexual activity that doesn't include actual penetration. Although some Mormons and Christians have found a (delusional) workaround, some people consider it to be anything that doesn't include penis-in-vagina penetration. OK, so for the classic meaning of the word, outercourse is doing things like fondling, dry humping (do folks still say that, en masse?), kissing, mutual masturbation, and giving each other massages. For the "remix", oral sex, anal sex, hand jobs, fingering, and sex toys come into play.

Since there isn't any eggplant-in-the-taco (if you know what I mean) transpiring, does this mean that outercourse can qualify as abstinence? Eh. I guess it all depends on how you see abstinence. Since literal definitions include terms like self-restraint and self-denial, I'm not sure how much abstinence applies if you're somehow able to find ways to get your rocks off even without, again, putting it in. And, if you're approaching matters from a spiritual purity standpoint, lust is what the Bible frowns upon and how do you not do that when you're humping or oral-ing? Hmph. Speaking of, it's no secret that I've been abstinent for what seems like FOR-E-VER and one of my male friends once said, "Girl, if you're masturbating, you ain't abstinent. You just ain't got no n — a." He said that to me my first three years in. Ouch.

Anyway, if you've never heard the word "outercourse" before or you have yet it always sounded so — let's go with the word "unique" — that you never officially looked it up, now when it comes up online or in conversation, you know exactly what it's all about. And just why would someone find outercourse to be the lick (no pun intended)? Personally, five reasons come to mind (if you can think of more, please leave your comments underneath this post). I'll share them with you.

5 Benefits That Come from Engaging in Outercourse

1. No Pregnancy or STDs (If You’re Really Careful).

OK, so to give you some perspective, back in 2014, there were reportedly 1.9 million new STD cases. In 2019, there were 2.6 million. That's quite the leap, y'all. So, if you're looking for a way to engage in the "friction of sex" or to have an alternative to experiencing orgasm without running the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease or pregnant, the classic definition of outercourse has your back. Now, as far as the remix goes, you can most definitely get an STD from oral and anal sex (I actually know a guy who got one from receiving fellatio; again, be careful out here!). On the pregnancy tip, you need to be using a condom when "backdoor sex" is going down, period, but you definitely need to in order to be on the safe side. Because spillage is spillage, right? And your rectum and vagina are pretty damn close together. Too close to risk it.

2. You and/or Your Partner Want to “Ease into” Sex.

One day soon, I'm gonna write an article about how love happens in layers. For many, so does sex. That said, once you've passed the kissing stage and you want more but you're not sure if it needs to be intercourse (yet), outercourse can be a good option. It can help you both to explore an intense level of foreplay, encourage you to learn each other's bodies, and still find ways to cultivate pleasure without putting the "p" into the "v."

3. You and Your Partner Don’t Have Any Protection.

Or, say that he forgot his condoms or you haven't been regular with taking your pills or you need to get a new diaphragm or you just started a new form of birth control and you're not confident enough that it's as close to foolproof as birth control can be (because NOTHING is 100 percent besides abstinence). For all of these situations, classic outercourse could be the jam because you can still climax (here's hoping anyway) without worrying about what the next week or following month could have in store.

4. You Want to “Perfect” Before-Intercourse-Activities.

OK, so here's where the classic and remix versions of outercourse can be really bomb. Whether you want you and/or your partner to get better at foreplay, you want to slow down intercourse sessions or you want to perfect a particular sexual act, this can also be where outercourse works like a charm.

For instance, say that you and your partner decide that you won't copulate until there are 30 minutes of outercourse and the focus is going to be oral sex. Then you can apply articles like "12 Things You Should Do During Oral Sex (That You Probably Aren't)", "Are You Ready To Amp Up Your Oral Sex Game? Try This." and "Want To Have Hotter Oral Sex? STOP Doing These 8 Things." to boost your technique and that knowledge added to a set amount of time can take all-things-sex to an entirely new level!

5. You’re not Enjoying Intercourse — Just Yet.

And finally, another benefit of outercourse is, I've worked with some married couples who…let's just say that they didn't see any fireworks during their wedding night or even the weeks and months that followed. Outercourse can be good for them because it's taking intercourse off the table so that there's less pressure while still encouraging them to learn what works and what doesn't…in other ways.

So, there you have it — enough info on outercourse to where at least you know what's going on and you can bring it up to your partner if any of the perks seem like a win to you. Just remember that the classic comes with the least risk, the remix is getting really close to the actual act and Mormon soaking is pretty ludicrous — and definitely qualifies as intercourse. Not outercourse.

Featured image by Getty Images

[ajaxhearts]

chapters, c. tartaglia

what's up bestays !!!!!! so i'm posting this because i had a little out-of-the-blue-writing-sesh at 3 in the morning since i was bored. i was so tired i couldnt bare another page saurrrr.... ANYWAYZ! hope you enjoy, love u guys <3

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

Chapter 1 Page 1: Without A Crush

Hellaur, it’s me. Writing this again… 

Day idontevenwannaknowanymore without a crush, and boy it still is as boring as it was before. Sure I have some fun occasionally, but that’s only when I’m doing random stuff or if I’m out with my friends. Besides that, basically my life is boring. All my friends seem to have someone they admire or like. Makes me feel like I’m the boring one in my group. Anyway, I hope someday I’ll find someone like that.

Signed, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 2: Cutie?

Hi, BIG NEWS!

OMG! I'm finally in the Fatui Harbingers.. took me way too long and a lot of effort.. BUT BESIDES THAT, I saw someone at HQ and he was admittedly, kinda handsome.

I never paid much attention to this guy but after I focused on him for like, a few seconds; I realized how this guy was sorta attractive… in a sense. BUT! I wouldn’t say it’s a crush… not for long, probs. Maybe it’ll just pass.

Sincerely, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 3: In Denial

HI SO UHM, IT’S ME, AGAIN!!!!!

I can’t stop looking at him during training or when I'm in meetings. We just got partnered up for missions, too! I don’t honestly know what I’m feeling right now but it definitely can’t and won’t be a crush...

Stressed, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 4: No Longer In Denial…?

How do I even begin?

I can’t stop thinking about him and lately, I was called to stay after a meeting to talk with Signora about… my attention span during our meetings. She mentioned how I always seem like I have something on my mind; or someone. I OBVIOUSLY didn’t tell her ANYTHING but I think she's onto me, god. So that made me assess myself.. and I’m 50% sure this is a crush now… when I thought it could have never been.

Confused, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 5: Acceptance Stage

Okay, well hi. 

I think I have to accept the fact that I have a crush. My friends mentioned to me a few hours ago that I would always talk about him. No matter where we are, anytime, and what we would be doing. Even when we were just talking, APPARENTLY I’d always find a way to bring the topic back to him. GOD WHEN WILL THIS BE OVER. But yep, I think your beloved Y/N has a crush now.

Unbelievably, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 6: Friends?

HEY UHM HI HELLO.

HE WALKED UP TO ME EARLIER AND SAID IF HE WANTED TO BE MORE THAN JUST ACQUAINTANCES AND I FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I obviously said yes…….. So now we're friends, hopefully we'll grow closer?

SCREAMING, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 7: More..

HeYYyyyYYyy!!!

So I learned more about what he likes, what he dislikes, his hobbies, and more. I learned that his favorite color was blue, which is cute BTW!!!!!! because I like blue too.. hehe. Moving on, I found out he was a new Harbinger while I was still under training. He mentioned that he’s met me before but I had a hard trouble remembering. Now, I’m slowly getting to know the guy here and there.

Better than ever, Y/N.

–

Chapter 1 Page 8: Fallen?

Where do I start..?

For Morax's sake, he's so handsome. I can't even over exaggerate that! His hair looks absolutely perfect and soft.. His eyes are so endearing! He's got the humor that one needs in a guy. He's even better in battle but holy mama, when I see him battle, he looks so focused. His hair falls so freely and his face has utter determination. Ugh! I've been admiring him too much lately..

With love, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 9: Drew My Attention.

Getting to know the guy, he's very interesting.

We've talked about a few things while on missions, from how we came to wanting to be a Harbinger, to the reason why we decided to pursue our wants. He's quite the guy, there's a lot to him. More than I thought he'd have.

Intrigued, Y/N.

-

Chapter 1 Page 10: Close Call

So, right now, I'm being risky and writing while I'm on a mission with him.

Honestly, after working with him for a while, I've really seen how dedicated he is to accomplishing missions assigned to him. Though, it's a different story when he's in battle. He's so into it, like it's the only thing he lives for, he loves the heat of the battle, his eyes somehow.. sparkle. Yes, he's good at fighting but he always comes back to camp with wounds all over him. It sucks seeing him like that but it's what he's used to. Some part of me really wants to help him and pro-

-

Chapter 1 Page 11: Phew!

Sorry, almost got caught by the very guy himself.

He came rushing into camp asking for me to come with him. We went off to investigate the other camps present around us. Of course, he had wounds all over him; but there was nothing I could do. So, I followed him and our investigation went on. Were back at camp and he's fast asleep. Anyway, today was a long day.

Tired, Y/N.

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

semi-part 2 here.

[angel-inked]

Silenced Fire, Chapter 24 "Inferior"

This was supposed to go up on Wednesday but I'm posting it now cuz due to Thanksgiving malarkey and moving a shit ton of furniture I've been pretty tired as of late

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the read

Taglist: @vvkingofgaybisciutsvv @thequeenofthewinter

"When's Howard gonna get here?" Jack asked, leaning his elbows on the back of the couch, his eyes glued to the driveway. "Soon Jack, soon" Forrest explained. He'd taken to calling his little brother Jack after he wondered why people didn't call him by his middle name like they did Forrest. Finally a truck pulled into the drive, Jack gasped and ran outside, Forrest shook his head with a sigh but followed the eager boy. Howard stepped out and hugged Jack "You've grown since I last saw ya" Howard grinned, patting Jack on the shoulder. "Yep" Jack beamed at his brother's praise. Forrest grunted disapprovingly as he walked down the steps to join the pair, he could see a bandage warped arm protruding out if Howard's sleeve. "What happened to you?" He asked, coming to a stop in front of his brothers. "His platoon drowned and he's the only one who made it out" a uniformed man explained, stepping out of the truck. "Hmm" Forrest hummed, wondering what this could mean for the coming days. "You're little brother is lucky to be alive" the man remarked, gaining Forrest' attention quite quickly. Howard narrowed his eyes "Forrest is a few years younger than me" Howard explained. "Oh, I'm sorry" the man exclaimed, turning to Forrest. "It's alright" he assured him. "Maybe I'll still be around when you join us" the man remarked. Forrest sighed, "can't. heart murmur" Forrest explained, placing a hand over his chest. "Oh, I see. It was nice meeting you all the same" he replied, shaking Forrest hand "take good care of your brothers" the man explained as he climbed in his truck and took off.

Forrest lips upturned slightly at this memory, for both good and bad reasons. This was the first time someone mistook him for the oldest and he was happy to have Howard home in mostly one piece, not just for Jack's sake but his own. The bad part about it was remembering how a benign heart murmur when he was a child made him feel inferior to Howard, he wanted to make something out of himself not live in his big brother's shadow. He had been running shine for a few years at that point, leaving a young Jack with his older cousins while he made and ran liquor, when the prohibition hit, Forrest figured this was how he could make his name known. Almost everyone in Franklin County was bootlegging but most of the small town agreed there was nothing quite like a jar of moonshine of Bondurant make.

"Forrest" Maggie's voice pulled him out of his thoughts as he finished getting dressed, "you almost done? dinners ready". Forrest didn't respond, instead opening the door to face the older Beaufort sister. "Don't you clean up nice" Maggie smiled, admiring his all black attire. "Have I mentioned Rose likes a man who knows how to dress" she explained. Forrest nodded with a groan, following his brother's suitor down stairs. "Ooo, don't you look handsome" Rose smiled, as Forrest and Maggie walked into the kitchen. Forrest resisted rolling his eyes to the back of his skull when Maggie gave him an "I told you so" look. Forrest moved toward Rose and reached for his sweater pocket, Rose had the warm gray knit garment hanging off her shoulders over her nearly floor length dress. Despite the hot weather, she didn't feel comfortable in a dress shorter than the one she had on around rowdy patterns understandably. Forrest connected their lips as he pulled his brass knuckles from his sweater pocket and pulled away from Rose, repocketing them in his slacks.

"You don't go two feet from your bed without those knuckles" Howard smiled, as Forrest sat next to him at the table. Forrest turned to his brother with a flat expression, his expression was always flat but this was somehow.. flatter. Howard couldn't even read his eyes, so he just looked down at the table and started playing with the tablecloth between his rough fingers. Rose placed plates in front of the Bondurant brothers and Maggie placed two down for the Pate boys. "You two sure make a good team" Jack smiled at the girls. "Siblings make the best teammates" Rose grinned. "Really?" Forrest asked. "Oh come on, we're not that bad" Howard exclaimed. The girls laughed, for a mere second Howard saw a smile tug at Forrest' lips but it was quickly suppressed.

Forrest cleared his throat, "Remember when I ran shine by myself?" He said turning to Howard. Howard looked at his little brother and scoffed "boy, do I ever". "I mostly just remember you coming home covered in everybody's blood but you're own" Jack chuckled. Forrest hummed and nodded, "yep, I'd leave early in the morning and come back well into the night" Forrest mumbled. "You did it by yourself?" Rose asked. "Yeah he did, started the whole thing himself, he's the boss for a reason" Howard explained through a mouthful of food. "Damn it Howard, use your manners" Forrest softly scolded. "Sorry" Howard said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Besides it was about the only thing I could do, stupid heart murmur my ass" Forrest grumbled, leaning an elbow on the back of his chair. "Heart murmur?" Maggie questioned. "It's the only reason I never got drafted like Howard, Jack was too young at the time" Forrest muttered. "Ya know I never meant to make you feel inferior" Howard explained. "I know" Forrest replied.

Rose glanced at her sister as the brothers talked, she turned back to Forrest. "I don't think you're inferior to Howard" Rose murmured. Forrest turned to her, his eyes held a longing look "Thank you" he uttered just barely loud enough to be heard, finally shifting his burning gaze away. "I concur, this place couldn't even exist without you Forrest" Jack explained. Forrest grunted and nodded, and that was the only answer to any questions from that point forward. "You done talkin' for the day?" Howard chuckled. "Shut up jackass" Forrest murmured. Most people didn't hear what little Forrest spoke, his brothers caught every little murmur that passed between his lips. They're ears were tuned in to him, he didn't have to raise his voice to be heard, but when he did it sent people running for the hills.

[m3r1m4r5u333]

The silly new series: Earworms on a plane

An announcement to my unfortunate followers! To change it up a bit from always posting about my latest hyperfixation, the tv show 9-1-1, I'll start a new series of posts. (No worries anyone who followed me to see my unhinged 9-1-1 posts! I'll still post that stuff, too. You can't make me stop.) Anyway. I figured, I love music, I am ancient compared to many of you, I am from Finland, my taste in music reflects my ADHD brain (= it's quite random) ... So I feel like it would be fun to share my favorite music with you all! I'll tag and call these song recs Earworms on a plane... Because in my private inner world, the 'earworms' are more like snakes. They're intense. Often I can't hear myself over their hissing.

The reason why I want to share this stuff with you is that so much of the music, of what I love, and find inspiring... is something many of you may never have even heard. So I'd like to educate you all 😉, you know, to fight this common mindset that the Swifts of this world, the super popular artists, are all there is, and that music has "best before" dates. No, there's so much cool stuff in the world of music, and modern pop in english is just the surface ☝️🧐 Hear the roar of this dinosaur 🦖!

So I'll try to focus on reccing the music that I feel is these days forgotten, undiscovered, not that mainstream... You know, the stuff which is likely to slip the spotlights, or maybe already had it's moment, and is now kinda lost. Maybe because it's just too quirky, or old, or foreign or rough to be mainstream. Yep, I'll try to rec some awkward stuff, too. There may not be any autotune 😳 You get the gist. The idea is provide variety, to inspire curiosity, and hopefully... discovery!

I may translate some of it, if it's in finnish - but not always, because I'm lazy and also... because I'm a firm believer in the idea that the language of music is universal. Sometimes it's fun and interesting to not understand the lyrics! Really, trust me if you haven't already explored foreign music - there's a strange magic to be found in listening to music in a language which is totally incomprehensible to you.

And some of the songs I like and share may already be outrageously popular, maybe you're already tired of the stuff, we'll see! I may just share it because I'm hypnotized by it, too. I don't like setting too many limits on myself, so who knows where all of this goes.

My goal, btw, is to rec one random song daily. I don't know what you guys like, who knows, you may not like any of these song recs! But I hope you're curious anyway and check them out, even if it's to promptly cringe away. Let's get started. The song I've been listening to a lot lately has been this song, so I'll just share it.

CMX - Sivu paholaisen päiväkirjasta

The reason why I adore this song... is that it sounds dangerous and that tickles my brain! How cool is that mood! The title of the song, Sivu Paholaisen Päiväkirjasta, translated from finnish, is "A page out of the Devil's diary" and I feel like this really fits the mood of this song rec series 😉 After all, I want to seduce you guys, to check out something new, alien, sometimes maybe even a bit scary! 🤪 So here be dragons!

[violetsiren90]

The reason why I never rush people into replying to messages back... Is because I know everyone would have their own lives away from social media. People have their family, friends, jobs and anything else I'm able to think of at the moment. So that's my reason.

Yes! At least I'm gonna attempt to.. One reason why I stopped was because I'm way too perfectionistic, I am too critical of my own work. So I'm attempting it again. Hopefully try to be less critical of my works.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not trying to be rude. And.. I know. It seems like I'm being rude, but I am trying, in my own way, to not be seemingly rude if it comes across that way. I'm just trying to explain this to any person who might be curious about this topic, is all.

Like I know people prefer inclusive characters when reading stories. Though, sometimes, there could be certain details in the descriptions that won't always the person reading about that character. No fault to the writers. So I don't want you to think that I blame readers for some things they have no knowledge of.

Which might be all the more reasons to write about characters that aren't always written, especially any characters that aren't written well too. Because that tends to happen a lot when it comes to characters.

Ranging from appearances, traits, even disabilities.. Some people may be curious to read those types of characters. Or even have more representations too.

And I wasn't trying to sexualize my explanation! I've just tried explaining in a way where it is much easier to visual? Like if I really stood near men that tall, my full height does reach around to their stomach (and abdomen for some). I'm just basically half their size.

I'm not invalidated about myself. Because I actually know the differences between asking the questions about my height that people are curious about, and the vulgar comments they'd make about my height. Usually the guys who make vulgar comments about my size, well, they stop thinking it's funny whenever I hit them in the balls. I think it's a fair trade. At least in my opinion anyway. And the children, children do love being taller than an adult for once in their lives.

Exactly! If I ever see more duality pictures and even videos of the BTS guys, I'll definitely send the links.

Yes. I have a lot of stories to read (or reread), and I'll have to search your masterlist for more stories too.

I've been neglecting way too many hobbies lately.

Which reminds me... Obviously these ideas aren't all that original, not that I'd complain. What's your own opinion about mafia alternate universes? And also a supernatural universe? Like the seven deadly sins is another possible concept. Definitely have to write a mafia story, or many stories in general, because I've always enjoyed the mafia concept in media. Stories to shows and movies. So I'm attached to that idea.

Maybe? I should.. I should have some alias as anon, at least until I'm comfortable to reveal myself. Not a huge reveal, not like that. I'm just socially awkward.

Ah, I completely understand the woes of perfectionism! When I first started publishing my work, I had to just press the post button at times, before even conducting more in-depth edits for fear that I would chicken out due to self-criticism. So, I understand the struggle. It helped me to remember that what I'm doing is for fun and for free!

No, you weren't being rude at all! And you didn't come off that way either. 😊💕

Yep, bringing your own perspective and experiences to characters can be one of the great joys of writing.

Your explanation made perfect sense! Obviously, the dynamic of height and size is going to affect lots of aspects of physical interactions between characters, in smut scenes too!

Well, I'm certainly glad that you don't let those kinds of remarks get to you. Whatever those guys got, they had coming! 😂

I don't have very much on my masterlist quite yet, as I'm still a budding writer here on Tumblr, but I would be honored if you chose to read any of my stories!

I like mafia AU's! Though I've only read a couple. I'm pretty open to any type of AU. If it's well written, chances are I'm going to enjoy it! Writing a mafia story would probably be a lot of fun, especially getting into the weeds of that kind of world and reimagining members as different kinds of character types within it!

You're welcome to choose any emoji or alias you'd like! It will be helpful in keeping track to remember who I'm chatting with. 😊 And this is a safe space, you're free to remain anon for as long as you like, or introduce yourself more personally if you decided to! Either way, I'm happy to have you here. 💜

[theoracleofgiana]

A Family of Friends

(Lampa Cafe, Amora)

A snort escapes me before I can stop it. It wasn't like anyone could hear it anyway, with how loud Camillia and Brooklynn were being. Brooklynn currently has Camillia on her stomach pinned to the floor. "BROOKIE! PLEASE! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS!!!" Cam, Camillia's nickname I use almost religiously, squeals from under Brooklynn. Brook, Brooklynn's unique nickname, shakes her head. "You should have known this would happen," Marcie says with a grin. I give her a glare from behind the counter. She returns it with a gentle smile and takes a sip of her drink. "MAR!!!" Cam calls out to her desperately. "PLEASE HELP ME! I'LL DO ANYTHING!!" Mar gives her a look and sips her drink. "No can do. This is karma," She says after thinking for a moment. I break out into laughter again. "OH, COME ON! NOT YOU TOO!" Cam's indignant tone makes me laugh harder. I hold onto the bar counter as I try to control myself. Marcie seems to be right there with me. Her cup lays nearby as she has her hand to her mouth, unable to hide the wide grin behind it. We both would have stepped in if Cam was actually in danger. This was just Cam getting her comeuppance. It was also hilarious to see the tough tomboy demon helpless sometimes. "CAMY! QUIT SWIRMING! YOU DESERVE THIS!" Brook growls out as she attempts to tie the girl under her up. Cam just cries out more and tries to escape once again. Yesterday, Cam had knocked over one of Brook's potions in her lab. In response, Brook told her if she broke another, Brook would tie her up. This brings us to the present where Brook had chased Cam to the cafe and was now tying her up. I can't help but smile at the scene. Somehow, this fits our little group. We're very chaotic and loud, but we also care for one another. Brook didn't want Cam to break a potion because it might be dangerous and she might accidentally hurt herself. Tying Cam up is a bit excessive, but it does the job. I sigh happily and refill Marcie's cup. She looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "It's on the house," I tell her putting away the rest of the pot. "What's got you in such a giving mood?" She asks giving me a curious look. "Just thinking of how lucky I am to have you guys as family," I say dismissing her look with a wave of my hand. "Aw," She coos at me with a smirk. "That's sweet," Brook says in her normal monotone voice. "We're lucky to have you too," Cam says from where she's tied to a chair. And then I'm laughing again. Yep, this is my perfect family. A group of dummies. 

(A/n: I want this friend group so badly! Cold scientist, "Hot-headed" tomboy who is really more of a puppy, a writer who is more than happy to observe but also has excellent oneliners, and a friend who teases everyone and lives on sarcasm. Of course, they are all more complex than that. I love all of them. (Don't tell them, but Camillia might be my favorite lol). Species time! Camillia is a demon, and Marcie is an Aufero Fabula (She doesn't have illusions, instead she doesn't have pupils. People can't see her when she takes a story. The theory is that Auferos take stories by looking into the eyes of the target. Eyes are known as windows to the soul, meaning the person may see an Aufero's true form in the process. Since Marcie has pure white, the person feels like they're in a white boxed room and have no idea what's happening.), Emil is a secret because of lore, and Brooklynn is a humanoid who can levitate things and make objects come to her. Sorry for the late post! Hope you enjoyed and bye!)

[purring-tiefling]

I’m glad my anon didn’t offend you! I was in a similar situation, not in the relationship but I was the friend listening and honestly there’s absolutely no reason why you should be walking on eggshells or exhausted from a relationship that’s going on for years. You should already be at the stage where you can communicate without her getting defensive. I’ve gotta say, my mental health isn’t being treated either but she has no excuse to give you the bare minimum. Asking her to tell you when she’s going to rest is the least she could do so you’re not worried about her safety. She knows you well enough to know what kind of reactions she’ll get to certain situations she does yet she tells you anyway and decides to be sensitive? Hm ): her mental health shouldn’t be spiraling that easily over things you say. She’s making it your responsibility for how she reacts.

was there anything to be offended by? ^^" oh, i could've like, get real defensive cause I'm her gf and stuff, i guess. but it's good to hear other people's opinions. n stuff. i wasn't offended by anything <3

but i gotta bring some clarity (because it's hard to fit every relevant piece of info in the first post, yes):

- 1st of all, sorry about your experience! i like listening to other people and trying to help them but YEA it can get so tough sometimes

- "you should already be at the stage where you can communicate without her getting defensive" yep, but i think that stage came and left 😔 I'm sure there was a period when i felt more freedom and voiced my issues with her quickly, but maybe it's because i didn't quite know or understand her mental state, so i wasn't holding back and she was unused to such behavior.

- "she has no excuse of giving you the bare minimum" well here I'm not too sure what to feel, you know? because, like, im getting more and more emotionally exhausted and, as a result, unavailable. and i can't give her the support she needs sometimes because of it. so here, is that support - the bare minimum? cause i barely am able to provide, and therefore im not too far from her in this regard

- the whole "warning about rest" situation - thank youuuu.. god.. this is something i fight with myself over. it can be seen as controlling, and im very worried about my influence on people close to me - my mom is a manipulator and I've unfortunately learned a lot of techniques, so basically I'm double checking myself every time i think i could be doing something wrong. and this is one of those things. so im glad someone doesn't see it as manipulative, and gets my worries ;_; tldr this is very important for me to hear

but also - she hasn't been falling asleep without warning lately, a year or two i think. but it's probably because one of the stress factors in her life has disappeared, so she's less prone to suddenly wanting to sleep. while this is obv good - i get what i need and she can provide it with relative ease - it means she didn't get to the ability to warn me from. trying to do so. so if that stress factor returns, we'll most probably return to the beginning. (and i think training the ability to get tasks done and delaying naps by 2-3 seconds would do her good, strengthen her a bit)

- AND YEAH ACTUALLY. how did she THINK i would react when one of my biggest anxieties is "what if [thing] will get stolen????" but im betting she didn't think (im saying this with love)

- "she's making it your responsibility for how she reacts" this one i need to think about, it's very late and i need to go to sleep, so I'll think about it later!

sorry if it's too much text, not all of it is for you to answer, once again i was relieved to have an opportunity to voice this. thank you kind anon <3

[booyouimcrazy]

A letter to my man: Post-Dated

Hehe, post-dated. yep, that's there like that for a reason.

You're only going to see this post dating me.

But it's 20.11.22 and we just had a chat about you going to Copenhagen tomorrow or well, Monday.

but me?

Im dreaming of the day i first get to surprise you.

It's the scene of a rom-com for me.

It has to be.

It's you.

You're my rom-com.

Obviously, you don't know this,

But there's a lot riding on you.

I want you forever.

But i also don't know if we're right at allllll together.

So my brain just does somersaults around you and the thought of you.

While my gut flexes in turned on,

Because you do things to me.

I dream of flying to London and taking a late train to show up at your street.

In the evening.

With a flower.

I think I'm always going to bring you a flower.

Or try to, atleast.

Only because you deserve one,

I've felt love twice in my life,

And of the two, a lot's riding on you.

But to call you, maybe for the first time ever, idk, we'll see,

On WhatsApp,

and ask you if you want to step out for a walk.

And be out in the street waiting for you.

Obviously if it's raining, big bonus.

Cause i imagine two sentences of conversation post hugging you, before our faces are inches apart and i have to ask if i can finally kiss you?

Im not sure it gives me butterflies but it definitely has me excited.

And to take you for a walk,

So you can hold me and kiss me and talk to me,

Before i return you home for dinner.

But i wonder.

How are you going to get the flower in?

Odd to come back from a walk with a flower, no?

Which is also why i downgraded to bouquet btw. (Yep, i actively thought about it)

I hope you're the kind of man that's sentimental and will keep the flowers i give him,

Idk to maybe write me poems at some point.

Yes i did just put you and poems in the same sentence, because i adore your words.

You're British, i was bound to adore you from the get-go anyway.

Buuuuut but but but, i want to then text you the whole trainride home,

because i want you to pack your bags and come live with me in London for a couple days.

So i FINALLY get to have sex with this sexy, sexy, sexy man,

and bring his glorious kinks to life.

Me with only an apron on?

Oh honey, i will MAKE me a special apron for exactly this purpose.

Because i hope this time that I've got the craving of your touch right,

the last time i fell for someone first over text then everything else, ended horribly.

This time,

We really went from 0-100 in 6 hours.

So noooowwww,

tall orders.

Hehe, tall orders, cause you're mine.

I cannot WAIT to flirt with you,

and turn you red in the face,

and convince you to come back and touch my body back in India.

Max,

I hope you're mine,

Because i really want you to be.

You're a soft, pillowy bundle of gentleness.

You feel things and read things, the way I've always wanted a man to.

Well, most things other than me, so i guess we'll figure how that goes.

I had to close my eyes to daydream about how i was going to kiss you the first time i kissed you.

Hug, then have faces really close to each other and stare deeply into each other's eyes when I say,

"Got a lot riding on this".

Before i bring the inside of my lips in contact with yours,

Giving you free entry into my mouth if youd like it.

Yours is quite inviting actually,

thankyou for asking.

[lumingi]

CHANGMIN ☆ Breaking Dawn M/V

[julemmaes]

Robyn

Rowaelin Month, Day Ten

A/N: I'd planned on posting them in order, but you get what you get. Idk when the other prompts will come tbf. I hope soon. Anyway, I managed to write over 6k words today and I'm pretty fucking proud.

This is just fluff over fluff, so yep enjoy!!

Word count: 3,047

Rowan was unbelievably late as he sped through the streets of Orynth.

So late that the school had called not only him, but also the front desk of the place where he worked when he hadn't answered the call on his personal phone. Sorscha, his assistant, had entered his office with an embarrassed smile on her lips, as if she didn't want to tell him that he had forgotten for the umpteenth time to pick up his daughter from school.

Lorcan had joined him, for some strange reason, but Rowan had stopped bothering when it came to his best friend. He'd been trying to figure out how he reasoned for years and had come to the conclusion that there was no logical sense in the actions of the man sitting next to him, who was currently singing at the top of his lungs to one of the songs on the Frozen CD - which much to the chagrin of both of them, had gotten stuck in his car radio months before, forcing them into hours of torture.

He would never deny that the songs were all quite catchy, but after the sixteenth time Rowan had had to listen to Let It Go at maximum volume, his positive opinion of the film had begun to waver.

As they pulled into the school parking lot, Rowan noticed with deep regret that the only cars still there were those of the teachers and school staff.

They both got out of the car, Rowan walking quickly towards the entrance while Lorcan dragged behind him.

He greeted the caretakers sitting at the entrance, who returned a big smile. A smile that grew even wider when his large, imposing friend entered a few moments later. He stopped to talk to the old ladies and Rowan walked down the corridor he knew led to Robyn's classroom.

He could hear muffled voices from inside the teachers' room on the left and the one he knew belonged to Miss Galathynius coming from the right. He looked out over the classroom, spotting the two people sitting at a desk.

As soon as his daughter saw him, her eyes widened and a huge smile flashed across her face.

No words. No "hello, daddy!" or "I missed you!" from the little girl.

Her teacher turned as she leapt out of her chair and ran towards him, hugging his legs and looking up at him. Rowan smiled at her in turn, running a hand over her hair that was shot in every direction.

"Hello, little bird," he murmured to her. The child's smile widened even more if that was possible.

The woman a few feet away from them pulled herself upright, crossing her arms over her chest and offering a sincere smile to the child, who hid behind his thighs.

Rowan was about to tell her that Robyn was shy with everyone like this, ready to defend his daughter's behaviour as he was used to doing in front of every adult, but he was beaten to the punch.

"It's good to see you, Mr Whitethorn," she said, extending a hand. Rowan shook it without hesitation. "Actually, I just wanted to write you a letter regarding Robyn," she continued, never taking her eyes off the little girl. "Nothing serious," she hastened to reassure him when Rowan grimaced, "quite the contrary. Robyn is remarkably good. One of the best in the class, though I shouldn't offer that information so bluntly."

Miss Galathynius winked at him, but he couldn't process what he'd just been told.

"Sorry, could you-"

The little hands clamped around his trousers tightened a fraction more and Rowan looked down, trying to figure out what was bothering his daughter, but then something happened that he hadn't even dared to dream about in recent times.

"You're here!"

The little girl broke off and ran away from him in less than the blink of an eye.

Rowan turned just in time to see Lorcan grab Robyn in mid-air, spinning her around as he brought her to his chest and showered her with kisses. The loud, incessant laughter that erupted from her seemed too much coming from that fragile little body, but he never tired of hearing it.

"Why hello baby!" said Lorcan laughing in turn, starting to tickle her until she begun to rebel and he was forced to let her slide to the floor. Robyn was still laughing at the top of her lungs and nearly fell to the ground as she squealed left and right, letting herself be pushed around by the closest thing to an uncle she had ever had.

When Rowan turned back to the woman, she was wide-eyed and her lips slightly parted as she watched the massive man dressed completely in black and the menacing face turn into a completely different person the second he had seen Robyn.

He chuckled, "I know, it's not every day you get to see a little girl be so comfortable with a brute like that."

Lorcan, who was listening to everything, looked him straight in the eye and without stopping smiling and playing with the little girl, mouthed to him to fuck off.

"Well, yeah. You caught me a little off guard." she confessed, still shocked to hear how Robyn was having a full conversation with Lorcan. They couldn't hear anything of what she was actually saying, but even just the fact she was talking to someone seemed to have Aelin unsettled.

She returned her attention to Rowan and let out a breath that sounded more like a giggle, "I've never heard her laugh before."

He nodded, blushing a little at the teacher's surprised but relieved tone.

"I'm sure the dean warned you about the problem she has," he said in a low voice. He grimaced at her poor choice of words, "I mean, not problem, but the difficulty she finds in interacting with people she doesn't know."

Liar, he told himself. Robyn hadn't spoken to anyone but him and Lorcan since the day Lyria had died. It wasn't a difficulty, but a response to the trauma that prevented her from speaking to anyone who wasn't part of her immediate family.

"I know, I know. We've been looking for solutions together." she informed him. "I give her a white board every morning. Come on, I'll show you." she turned to the desk they were sitting at earlier and raised the magnetic board, on which a few words were scribbled on. "I'll write here what she might need. Yes. No. I need to go to the bathroom. I'm thirsty. I'm hungry." she read, listing the various options. Rowan gaped. "We've only just started going over the alphabet for a second time, so she can't really read or write yet, as I imagine you know, but the little drawings next to each sentence help her."

She continued talking, but he couldn't quite follow.

The woman in front of him - aside from being breathtakingly beautiful - had done as much as she could to help her child with communication.

"Mr. Whitethorn-"

"Rowan. Please, call me Rowan." he said, clearing his throat once he realized how hoarse it sounded to his ears. Lorcan walked up to them at that point, still holding Robyn in his arms and positioned himself next to him, letting their shoulders touch in a comforting way.

"Call me Aelin, then," she smiled at them both. Then she made a small grimace, turning to Rowan, "I wanted to ask if it bothered you, that I sought a solution like that. Maybe I put her in distress, embarrassed her. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I wanted to solve this on my own. I really wanted to discuss it with you, with your husband too, to avoid misunderstandings. Maybe we could arrange a meeting."

He was about to tell her that she had given him the exact opposite of annoyance, that he had been more than pleased that she had helped Robyn this way, when her words finally registered.

Lorcan, beside him, had opened his mouth wide and his lips were slowly bending into a mischievous smile.

Rowan furrowed his brow, "I'm sorry, what?"

Aelin's smile seemed to falter. "A meeting? With you? To talk about how to handle the situation," then she shifted her gaze to Lorcan, "You're more than welcome to join as well. I didn't know Robyn had two dads, I apologise for assuming Robyn had a mum and dad. That was very rude of me-"

"I love this," Lorcan whispered, laughing in shock. He turned to Rowan with eyes that sparkled with amusement, "I would definitely be the top."

Rowan looked at him with an expression of complete shock on his face, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Robyn gasped, opening her eyes wide and bringing a hand to her mouth, pointing then to Rowan's.

"Yeah, sorry, love. I shouldn't have said the bad word." he apologised, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He turned back to Miss Galathynius, "I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, but we're not married."

"No need to lie, sweetie. I'm sure Aelin," he gave her a knowing look, "doesn't mind at all about our relationship status."

Aelin nodded, "Well, yes. That doesn't change anything. Mr..." she turned to Lorcan, searching for a name.

"Salvaterre."

"Mr. Salvaterre can still attend. The fact that you are not yet married is no reason why you cannot both be present at the meeting. You don't have to worry, we are a very tolerant school and if anyone bothers you, you can come directly to me."

A sound of sheer glee escaped Lorcan.

Aelin continued, "I mean it. I was pleased to see both of you today. I was also pleased to see Robyn smiling so much." she concluded, looking the little one in the face.

Rowan took a deep breath, bracing himself, "No, I meant, we're not a couple. We're not gay. He's her uncle."

The woman's blonde eyebrows shot up and a second later she turned almost as red as the dress Robyn was wearing as Lorcan shook his head muttering something very much like 'you're no fun', which made Robyn giggle.

"Why did you even get off the car?" he asked him exasperated.

Lorcan shrugged, "Because I missed my little bean, you monster." he replied, clutching Robyn to his chest. The little girl clutched Lorcan's shirt in her chubby little hands and Rowan huffed, shaking his head.

Aelin brought her hands to her face, leaning against the desk behind her. She shook her head, her face still hidden, "Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

Lorcan let out a dry laugh, "Don't worry about it. It was fun while it lasted." then he turned to Rowan again, who was still trying to recover from the idea of being involved in a relationship with his friend, "You're really no fun."

"Yeah, no fun dad." repeated Robyn.

Silence fell over the class. Rowan looked at her with wide eyes and blinked once, twice. Robyn was staring at him with a sweet scowl that mimicked so much that of the man who was still holding her, but Rowan couldn't get over the fact that his daughter had spoken while Aelin was still beside them.

He was about to talk, noticing how Robyn had started squirming in Lorcan's arms, when there was a knock at the door.

They both turned, Aelin peering over Rowan's shoulder, and saw the figure of a petite girl with black hair and eyes standing in the doorway, watching them with her head slightly bent to the side. She had a tag on her t-shirt that was too colourful to belong to someone who didn't work in a school with children, so he guessed she was a teacher herself. Besides, Rowan felt like he'd seen her elsewhere. Probably every day when he picked Robyn up from school, he said to himself.

"I know you're not supposed to eavesdrop but I stopped by earlier and heard you were a couple of dads," she said by way of introduction. "I just wanted to reassure you that the school is an extremely safe place. I'm the one who did most of the interviews with the parents," that's where they had met then, "and one of the questions that is asked is just about the tolerance of the people who will be attending the school."

Aelin watched her, remaining silent the whole time and putting on an amused smile, nodded, "That's what I was telling them. How tolerant the school is. They make such a cute couple, don't you think, Elide?"

Rowan turned to her, arching an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was doing. The woman, as if she could truly understand what he was trying to convey to her, nodded her head towards Lorcan, who Rowan only then noticed was standing weirdly, his eyes fixed on the woman in the doorway.

He grinned, deciding to take his revenge right away. "Oh, yes. Thank you so much for the reassurance," Rowan began to play along as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lorcan turn towards him, dropping Robyn to the floor, who made a disapproving noise at being dumped so suddenly. "We are happy to know that this school is a safe place for our daughter. And for us."

Elide offered him a blinding smile, "Good. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased so far. And I am happy that Aelin is the one who is taking your daughter's class. She's the best one here."

Rowan didn't know her yet, but he knew the thing Elide had just said could only be true.

"Well," she said again, giving them an apologetic smile, "I really must go now, but if you need anything, you can find all my contact details on the website. Have a nice day!"

Aelin and Rowan said their goodbyes, thanking her. Lorcan took a while to recover, but when he realised he was staring into empty space he ran towards the door, almost stepping on little Robyn, who was moved by Aelin.

"We are very much not gay, miss!" he shouted into the hallway. Aelin, now beside him and with a hand on Robyn's shoulder, cackled. With Lorcan's infinite luck, someone walked by just then and gave him a stern look. "Oh, shut up ma'am. I'm an ally. The best ally."

Rowan shook his head as Lorcan launched himself in pursuit of the poor teacher and burst out laughing when he heard him shout, "I'm not homophobic! I'm willing to suck someone's cock if I have to prove it to you!"

Aelin opened her mouth wide before bursting out laughing in turn.

Robyn, seeing both adults so happy, giggled too and Rowan bent down to pick her up. The little girl laid her full head of white-light hair on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

She was tired and Rowan really needed to get her home to sleep.

He glanced at Aelin and reduced his lips to a thin line, "I'm sorry about the commotion, I'll try not to bring him into the building again. Even if it means tying him to the seat."

The soft laugh she gave made something tighten in his chest. He frowned.

Aelin didn't seem to notice the effect she had on him, "Don't worry, Elide is crazy about fools like him. If he says the right things, we might start seeing each other outside of school too."

Rowan nodded, now too caught up in the thought of having to take Robyn home to focus on anything else.

They agreed on when to hold the parent-teacher meeting and then he grabbed Robyn's backpack, walking towards the exit.

He was thoughtless as he reached into his pocket for his keys and balanced everything else - including the girl - on his other arm, but when Robyn's hand brushed his cheek, he looked down and his eyes met their twins. Green against green.

"What is it?"

The little girl's voice never stopped making him smile. Each time was like the first time she had said dada.

"I really like her."

Rowan frowned, "Who?"

"Miss Aelin." she whispered, almost as if she was afraid they might hear her.

He smiled at her, "Yeah? You like her?"

"She's nice to me."

Rowan had to put her down as he opened the door and let her get into the back seats by herself.

"I'm glad she's treating you well, love," he let her know, buckling her in.

He hoped she'd tell him more about her new teacher, but like any kid her age, the topic of conversation couldn't last for more than four lines apiece, "Where's Uncle Lorcan?"

Rowan snorted, "No idea, little bird."

Robyn nodded, "Elide is pretty too."

And as if those words had summoned him, Lorcan appeared beside the car, making them both scream. He entered the car in a heartbeat and turned to his daughter, who was still settling into the seat. "Do you know Miss Lochan?"

But before she could answer him, Rowan had entered the car in turn and smacked the back of his head, which made the Robyn giggle, "You're not using my daughter as your wingman. Now stop it and buckle up."

Lorcan gave him a gentle push, before doing as he was told and for once he was happy he'd convinced him to do something.

Or at least, Rowan thought he had convinced him.

"What if I left you a note to deliver to Miss Lochan, Rob? Would you be up for it?"

Rowan knew, even without looking at her, that she was nodding emphatically.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he murmured, "Could you stop calling my daughter Rob, please? You'll give her an existential crisis."

Lorcan clicked his tongue against his palate, "Rowan, I'm not giving her a damn thing. We live in this new world, okay? Your daughter could be called Simon and still be a beautiful princess. Grow up and educate yourself before you talk shit."

"Aaaah!" shouted Robyn, "Bad word!"

Rowan sighed and shook his head, but still he was smiling.

This was his life. Had been for the past two years.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

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