#ARM PLACEMENT NICO

[corvidae666]

"the hands that cradled your face were covered in your own blood. but they cradled me yes?" or however that post goes

[jonasiegenthaler]

© Minas Panagiotakis

[mediumgayitalian]

Nico slinks in at the end of the day.

It is dark. Dark enough, he's hoping, that he can cling to the shadowy walls and slip right onto the cot in the back corner. He gave his word -- he intends to keep it -- but how serious was Solace, really? The infirmary is crowded enough as it is, and he already got several looks on his way over. The less fuss he makes, the better, and then the healer, with all his strange, stubborn ideas, can't knock him for trying.

He almost makes it.

"Nico, hey! I was just thinking about you."

Nico shrinks back, narrowly avoiding the impulse to hiss. Will is loud -- it seems to be his default -- and he is quite literally glowing, yellow light shimmering from every freckle. Anyone awake on the cots or on the crowded chairs visiting looks towards them, eyes wide, whispering to friends the second Nico looks away.

"Hi," says Nico, stiffly. "I'm -- here."

Will smiles. It brightens some of the bags under his eyes, teasing, sparkling blue helping some of the glow look less yellowed and defeated.

"I noticed. Thank you, by the way, for coming."

Nico nods. He stands there, for a moment, squirming under Will's scrutiny, twisting at his skull ring.

"Pick a spot," Will says, at the same time Nico says: "What do you need me to do?"

Will's smile turns wry. "You shadow-travelled across the world." He reaches out and brushes his fingers against Nico's hand; he jumps, but, heart pounding, he stays where he is, meeting Will's soft look with wide eyes. "You are still not quite up to safety, Nico. Hell, you're still a little translucent. I want you to curl up and knock out for a minute."

Nico stares. "You said you needed my help," he protests. Will must read the tension in his body, because his thumb soothes over Nico's twitching wrists.

"I do," he says emphatically. He glances around the crowded room, pausing as he looks over at his sister, his brother, and their new Roman cousins. "Short-staffed does not begin to cover it. I needed to be subbed out two days ago."

"So let me help! Let me -- cut bandages, or something!"

Will laughs, softly, and Nico's face burns -- what does he care, about helping. Where has this come from? He doesn't want people to -- die, obviously. But that's all the more reason for him to have stayed the hell away.

"What am I doing here, Will," he says, out loud. He lets an edge of frustration bleed into his voice, tugging his arms free. Will doesn't stop him. "I mean -- look." He gestures to the rows of cots, where dozens of people look hastily away. "I am a child of Death and destruction. I don't belong here. I don't --" He raises his hands, and then drops them, staring at Will helplessly. Will meets his gaze head-on, those blue eyes almost black in the low light. "Nobody wants an omen in a place like this."

Will doesn't reach for his hands again. He does stand, though, close; close enough to crowd, close enough that Nico can feel the heat throwing off of him, can hear the quiet uptick of every inhale.

"Tell me," Will says, quietly, "What kind of place is this?"

"A place of healing," Nico says automatically. He gestures to Will -- his scrubs, his stethoscope. "Obviously."

Will nods. "That's definitely part of it." He stares at Nico, expectantly. His gaze is, honestly, a little like Chiron's -- Nico has to tamp down a slightly bewildered giggle at the comparison. Will even has the old-man hand placement down, held gently behind his back. "What else?"

Nico manages a shrug.

The cot squeaks as Will's moves it, nudging it further into a corner under the window. He reaches for one of the curtain covers and slides it around the bed, turning down the covers; he smooths the sheets, once, absentmindedly, and Nico is startled to remember his mother doing the same thing. He blinks to focus again on Will's scarred hands, rather than thin, gloved ones.

"This place," he says, a great deal lower than the mixed snores and whispering, "is a place for the dying to be comfortable." He slides a medical chart with Nico's name on it onto a hook at the end of the bed, then holds something out -- a strip of paper with a loop on the end. Nico extends his wrist, letting him tie the bracelet on. His hands are desert-hot, and when he speaks again, it sounds like wind. "You are not an omen, Nico. You're a person. You're a person in need of rest, for starters, and when you are feeling better, you will be welcome back -- not because you're my friend, or because I need an extra set of hands." He glances up and Nico holds his breath, jaw locked at the intensity in his eyes. His heart stutters over the word 'friend'. He hardly remembers to scold it. "There is no one I trust more to guide the dead gently to Hades more than his own son. Especially one who has saved us all so many times."

Will's hand, still on Nico's wrist, squeezes. Nico exhales, all at once, and all but scrambles into the cot, face burning. Will huffs a laugh, kind and teasing.

"Sleep well, Zombie Boy. I'll check on you in the morning."

"Don't call me that," Nico snaps, but there is no heat behind it. His mind teeters and veers with a billion different pulses: the whispering still zapping from cot to cot around him, the curve of Will's smile, the intensity of his huge, bright eyes. The exhaustion pulling at his own frame, even, and the pull of the shadows -- all of it gathers, and pushes, like a tidal wave, or a warning rumble of thunder. Will pulls the curtain closed, still smiling, and Nico lays flat on the cot, heart pounding, pupils dilated to adjust to the darkness as Will shushes the patients, flicks off the lights.

He falls asleep to tired humming.

[ahockeywrites]

quick - nico hischier

pairing: fem!reader x nico hischier word count: 1.4k warnings: unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it), no foreplay apologies, this is a quickie. thanks to the anon who requested this

You rounded the corner, the skirt of your sundress riding dangerously high on your thigh. Your arms were covered with a black blazer and around your neck hung your credentials. Social Media Manager for the New Jersey Devils. 

You had started the job following your graduation from Rutgers and loved every minute of it. From taking photos of the players during warm ups, to subjecting them to silly TikTok videos. It was something you could never take for granted.

It was game day and you were running around making sure that all the right information was with the right people. You had become friends with some of the broadcasters and knew who to give little bits of random information to, so they could drop things in during the show. 

You continued walking down the corridor to your office, heels clicking against the floor making your presence known. Everyone who worked for the Devils was incredibly nice and you were so thankful because when you did a Summer Placement, it was anything but.

The door to your office opened with a groan, reminding you that you needed to grease up the hinges soon because it would drive you insane if you didn’t. You sat down in your chair, logging into your computer so you could quickly tweet out some pre game graphics and interact with the fans.

A knock on the door of your office took your attention away from the tweet you were composing, one about the NJ Devil running around Prudential Center with a drum, terrorising different members of the team.

“Come in,” you called out and Nico Hischier entered your office. You didn’t usually do the walk in videos so seeing him in a suit was a completely different side of him that you hadn’t seen before. His hair was well styled and his suit fit around his muscles perfectly, accentuating them in the best way.

“How can I help,” you asked, undoing the button of your jacket and taking it off. Nico’s gaze remained on your face, no matter how much he wanted to look down. The captain had a crush on you from the first time you walked in the door. At first he thought it was just a harmless crush, one that would go away after a few nights between the sheets with someone. 

It didn’t. It made him want to spend more time with you. So every time you needed someone to take part in a TikTok challenge, or an interview for the YouTube channel, he’d volunteer. It didn’t stop the other players on the team teasing him. They all knew that he had a crush on you and it was something they wanted to try and facilitate. 

Then there was the night out. The one time you had gone out with the team after a game, rather than with your friends as usual. He watched as you took shots with Jack and downed a beer faster than he had ever seen. The way you looked into his eyes as you drank your pornstar Martini, licking your lips after each sip. Nico’s cock hardened just thinking about it.

“Just wondering if you’d be sitting on the bench during warm ups,” he asked innocently, batting his eyelashes. You refrained from rolling your eyes because he already knew the answer.

“Yes cap,” you saluted him in response. “I will be there, as I always am.” You pushed your chair behind yourself,  stood up and walked around to the front of your desk to stand face to face with the Swiss man. Even in your heels, Nico was still taller than you. 

“Anything else?” You asked as you cocked your head to the side. There must be another reason for him stopping by. He wouldn’t just stop by your office for no reason. Would he?

“You look really good today,” he complimented as he looked you up and down, taking in the flowery dress you had chosen to wear for the matinee game. “You always look good.”

“Thank you,” you replied not really knowing what else to say. 

“Ever since you walked into the press room the first time, I’ve thought you were beautiful. This dress really brings out your eyes,” Nico continued. “And your lips.”

He inched closer to you, not wanting to encroach on your space too quickly, giving you the opportunity to turn him down. 

“And then that night at the bar, your cheetah print skirt,” he wrapped his hand around the back of your neck as he spoke. “You looked so happy.”

You craned your neck up to look Nico in the eyes. “I was happy,” you told him. “Because you were there.”

“Fuck,” he cursed. “You don’t know how you make me feel princess.”

“I think I can see,” your gaze dropped to his pants and the bulge that you could see.

“We have 20 minutes until I need to be downstairs getting ready,” he told you as the hand that was around your neck made its way down your back to rest on the curve of your ass.

“I need to be down in 10,” you replied, leaning in so your lips were millimetres apart. All it would take is one move, from either of you, and you would be kissing.

Nico took the initiative and pressed his lips to yours, starting with a few gentle kisses that turned passionate quickly. His hands didn’t know where to go, all he wanted to do was touch you, feel you.

“Wait,” you pulled away. Nico pouted, lips red from your lipstick. “Let me lock the door.” 

Ah, Nico thought, that made sense. Neither of you would want someone walking in on what was about to happen. 

As soon as you locked the door and turned back around, his lips were back on yours, tongue poking past your lips and into your mouth. Your hands found his hair, tugging, wanting more.

Nico pushed you against the wall, starting a trail of kisses down your neck to the tops of your breasts. “Been thinking about these for months,” he admitted.

“Fuck, we have to make this quick,” Nico groaned as he yanked down his slacks and boxers in one go, the red tip of his cock leaking pre-cum. Your lips attacked his neck with kisses, you couldn’t leave a mark on him, someone would notice.

“I got tested last week, all negative, have the coil,” you got out between kisses.

“Mine was two days ago, all negative too,” he replied. “You want this?” You nodded faster than you ever had in your life.

“Jump princess,” he whispered into your ear and you obeyed. Your legs wrapped around him and with a little shuffling, he sunk himself inside you fully. Your lips found his once more. 

His hands settled on your hips and he slowly started to thrust up into you, keeping you pinned in place. You kicked off your shoes which allowed you to dig your heels into Nico’s firm ass. 

One of his large hands found their way under the skirt of your dress, in search of your clit. He found it faster than anyone else other than yourself had and Nico almost came when he heard your sweet moans of please as he rubbed the bud. 

“C’mon baby,” he continued the strategic rubbing of your clit with the pounding of your pussy and your mind started to become fuzzy as you felt yourself getting closer and closer to your release.

“Fuck, I’m gonna,” you gasped as Nico started sinking his teeth into your neck, not even thinking about the marks he was making. 

“Come for me princess,” he groaned, holding back his release that was imminent.

You listened and your head threw itself back whilst your eyes rolled back. Stars filled your vision as you reached your climax, hands pulling at Nico’s hair which was certain to be a mess.

You could feel your heart beating hard but it was nothing compared to the force of Nico’s final few thrusts and the feeling of his release coating your walls. Sweat graced both of your foreheads but that didn’t stop you leaning in and pressing some more kisses to his lips.

“Fuck princess,” he moaned, voice low and deep. “Let me clean you up.” He pulled himself out of you, still holding you up against the wall with his arms, and you whined at the loss of him.

He carried you over and placed you on your desk before grabbing some tissues that were in a box on the wooden surface. Nico quickly wiped between your legs before pressing a kiss to your lips.

“Sweets, you need to head downstairs,” he informed you. All you could do is shake your head.

“I can barely walk, I’ll be Bambi in my shoes,” you groaned.

“Should have thought about that before you let me fuck you silly.”

[goodbuckcharlie]

Captain’s keeper | Nico Hischier

Summary: Nico surprises his girlfriend at her work much to her and her students’ excitement.

Warnings : I didn’t proof read this and I wrote it fast. Also no use of Y/N instead I use the name Baylee.

Notes : I don’t know how Nico or the devils act irl but this is how I imagine him. Also I know the devils didn’t play tonight ,but let’s say they did.

February 29th, the day that only happens every four years. It also just so happened to be the birthday of Nico Hischier’s lover. Baylee was turning 24 ,well technically 6, but that’s all a technicality. Unfortunately, she still had to teach, and Nico had a game, so the two couldn’t spend a lot of the day together. Nico tried to convince her to take the day off , but she insisted she had to be there for her speech and debate team who had a competition coming up. So, this forced Nico to get a little creative.

The morning started pretty early as normal, with Nico getting ready for practice, and Baylee doing her morning grading, since she refuses to spend her nights grading ,cause that time was reserved for Nico. But this morning, instead of Baylee waking up while Nico was in the shower, she was surprisingly woken up with her handsome boyfriend making breakfast.

“Good morning schatz.” Baylee hugs her boyfriend from behind. She is obviously much shorter than he is, so she has to wiggle her head under his arm to see what he was making. The girl can’t help , but smile like the Cheshire Cat when she sees that Nico had made two instagram worthy, smoothie bowls. Baylee was never a fan of traditional breakfast food like eggs, pancakes, or waffles ,so to see her lover put the extra time and effort into to her breakfast melts her heart. “Happy birthday my love.”

“Awe Neeks, it’s perfect.” Their eyes meet for the first time this morning, and they share a smile, before sharing a quick kiss. Baylee lets go of her hold on Nico, so the two can enjoy their breakfast.

“So, birthday girl, what do you have planned for today?” Nico asks with genuine curiosity.

“Well the first 5 periods are my ap Euro classes , so I was just planning on giving them a free day to catch up on work, and study for the ap exams.” It was only her second year teaching, and the school had already trusted her to teach an ap (advanced placement) class. This was mainly because the past teacher had retired, and she was the only person who was willing to take on this responsibility. “And then a few of the other teachers had planned a mini birthday party during 6th period cause that’s my lunch time. Nothing big. Then of course 7th period, I have to work with the debaters to add the finishing touches to their debates. They are so close to getting it, but they just barely miss the mark.”

“Well, good thing for them. They have the best coach money can buy.” Baylee rolls her eyes and chuckles. It was only her first year as the debate team coach, but the team had already won a few awards at local tournaments. But, in Baylee’s opinion she had nothing to do with the team’s success. It was purely her team’s natural talent.

“Neeks, I love the support, but I am few years out from being the best.”

The two continue to have a conversation as they eat their breakfast as a normal couple does. But sadly they both have to get ready for their day and go to work. Normally they carpool to work, with Nico dropping her off and picking her up, but on game days and during roadies, Nico gets a ride with Jack. They both adore their morning rides together, soft music playing and the loving embrace of the lover before dealing with the reality of work. Sadly, today was not one of those days.

Baylee leaves before Jack gets there (much to Jack’s disapproval) so she can work on some class prep for next week. This way she has more time to spend with Nico on Saturday.

During the school day, Baylee’s students and staff had showered her with love and gifts. They all tried to make this day very special for her. Baylee was over the moon to spend her birthday with her students, she just wishes Nico could be here too.

“Okay students settle down. Nicole please sit down. You can talk to your friends in one moment, if you give me just three minutes of your time.” Luckily, the teenager doesn’t give Baylee any hassle ,and she goes straight to her seat. The best part about being an ap teacher is that the students are more well behaved than normal teenagers. Don’t get me wrong they have their day too, they are still teenagers, but not nearly as bad as normal classes. “For my birthday I decided to give you guys a present, for today and tomorrow, you guys get to have a free day. I do encourage you to study for test next week, I am allowing you guys to do what you like. As long as it’s safe ,not too loud, and you don’t leave the classroom. One last thing, all late penalties have been suspended for the next two days, this means you guys can turn in any late work without a late penalty until the end of the day tomorrow.”

The classroom fills with excitement, which Baylee has to gesture for every one to settle down. This was her last class of the day before her break period and then it was time for debate. Luckily, Baylee only had a few more lesson plans and then she would have a whole weekend of free time to spend with Nico.

Little did she know, Nico was able to convince the team to end practice early and so he could surprise Baylee at work. Not only was he able to end practice early, he also was able to drag along a few of the guys to help surprise his girl.

Nico along with Jack, Luke, Jasper, and Dawson, got into the school with the help of Baylee’s coworkers. The boys had brought a raspberry cheesecake from her favorite cafe, which Luke almost dropped walking up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Baylee was talking to one of her speech and debate students the just so happened to also be in her 5th period class.

“You see that line you wrote right there? I really like how you wrote it down, but your delivery sounds fake,” She was currently coaching over the speech the student had wrote for the next tournament, “You can say the most ridiculous thing in the world with a mountain of confidence, and you would sound more believable than if you said something intelligent with 0 confidence.”

“Thanks Miss. Buck that helps a lot.” The student grabs her things with a smile and head back to her seat. Suddenly there is a knock at the door.

“Micheal can you grab that bud?” The student closest to the door, stands up and opens the door. Just as luck has it, Micheal was on the school’s varsity hockey team and was a huge devils fan. So imagine the boy’s surprise when he sees not one, not two, but five players from his favorite team.

Baylee’s heart drops when she hears Micheal shout “Oh my god, no way.”

With fear and curiosity for her student, she rushes to the door ready to protect the child, but what she was greeted with was no threat. It was her loving boyfriend and his teammates. This also makes Micheal’s reaction make more sense.

“Neeks what are you doing here?!” She pulls her boyfriend into a hug, but not without hearing Luke’s audible scoff.

“What are we? Chopped liver?” Baylee laughs off his sassiness and gives each one of the guys their own hugs. She invites the guys to come into her classroom, which of course causes chaos to consume the teens. Teenage girls giggling about how hot the hockey players were, and other students who were starstruck by the players.

Luke places the cheesecake on her desk where he sees a picture of Baylee and Nico after a game with Jack and him photo bombing in the back.

“I can’t believe you are here!” Baylee pulls Nico into another hug , just to make sure he was really there, and not a figure of her imagination.

“Of course, I have to make sure my girl is having an amazing birthday.”

“You mean our girl.” Jack says while peaking his head out from behind Nico.

“Yeah our girl.” Dawson adds with a teasing smirk.

“Next time you two wait in the car.”

“Miss Buck?” Baylee’s attention is moved to her student. “I hate to interrupt ,but can you help me direct me to the pages in the text book where we will be going over for next week’s test.”

She quickly excuses herself before helping her students quickly before going back to the hockey players. During the 10 minutes she was gone, some of the students had the players hockey related questions.

Nico watches Baylee and basically gawks at her as she teachers with such care and devotion. Of course this doesn’t go unnoticed by the guys, but they decide to chirp their captain later rather than doing it around a bunch of teens.

Suddenly, three students come up to Nico with very serious expressions.

“So Mr Hischier, what are your intentions with our teacher?” Nico is taken back by the teens’ abrupt tone. But his teammates all start laughing to themselves. “Miss. Buck is one of the realest of Jersey and yet you haven’t put a ring on that finger? Ain’t no way.”

“Damn cap, even the kids are wondering.” The team has always chirped Nico for waiting so long to propose to Baylee.

“Miss Baylee deserves, the biggest most beautiful wedding in the world and yet here she is weddingless.” The teenage girl at the end of the group points at Baylee who is distracted helping another student. “Tell me that she wouldn’t absolutely slay in a white wedding dress..”

Despite not fully understanding the students “hip lingo” ,Nico looks at Baylee and all he sees is her in a floor length dress, nothing too fancy since Baylee wasn’t a flashy girl, with her hair all done and her looking absolutely breathtaking. (An image he has thought of way too often) And he can’t help, but fall in love again.

“Jessie, Tony, and Angela leave Nico alone. You look like you broke the poor boy.” Baylee’s voice broke him from his gaze.

“We’re just standing on business Miss B.” The three kids take their seats.

“Don’t mind them babe, those are some of my debate students, I told them I wanted them to be more intimidating in their speech and clearly that worked too well.” Baylee guides the five men back out to the hallway , so they can have more privacy. “Thank you guys so much.”

“Anything for our captain’s keeper.” Nico groans in annoyance at his teammates nickname for Baylee. The other four guys bid their goodbyes to Baylee before leaving the lovers alone for a second.

“I know it wasn’t much Schatz, but given the circumstances, I hope you enjoyed your surprise.”

“Oh I definitely enjoyed it.” Baylee gives Nico a small kiss while still staying work appropriate since anyone can see her in the hallway. “I mean not as much as Micheal did, you guys totally made his day.”

The two laugh share a laugh for a second. When their laughter died down, their eyes locked again.

“I’ll see you after the game tonight okay Schatz?”

“Of course captain, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The two share one more kiss before she sends Nico away knowing that the bells is about the ring and that will cause the hallways to fill with students.

When she renters her classroom, her students all look at her blushing face. The students can’t help, but feel happy seeing the teacher that brings them so much joy, be so happy.

End note: so this was just a small little blurb I wrote real quickly just to test the waters on here and see how I feel about posting on here. This is the first ever post I am making on tumblr so feel free to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism only please :) and also let me know if you guys would be interested in reading more about Baylee and Nico in more detailed stories that I put more effort into.

[mechazushi]

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT, IT TURNED INTO A THING!!!!!

Haaa... Kafka x Dante Love Children AU + lore/story beats. Amateur art warning under the cut. Also long post warning. Like... REALLY long post.

Before you get into this, might I recommend my two Dmc x Kn8 Crossover Fics for context?

25 Minutes

Another Fucking Idea

{I am NOT coming up with the full devil trigger forms, ya'll got imagination, do it yourself. That shit is too damn detailed oriented for my hands to deal with.}

Francesca "Rimi" Rimini Hibino-Sparda. (Kafka insisted on the hyphenated name, but Dante insisted that takes the back seat in placement because Kafka was the one to give birth to them)

The older sister... Technically. By seven minutes.

Definitely takes after both of her fathers in humor. They like to joke that she stole all of her sister's energy in the womb.

Real big into music. Likes to study music theory and make beats in her spare time.

Wields two axes named Bass and Treble (Bass is pictured here.) Bass had the meat mallet end designed for breaking exoskeletons while Treble has a Kaiju uni-organ socket for elemental damage. She gave Nico a look at it and now can put demonic energy into the ax as well.

Currently works with the Defense Force style of Fighting, but has been considering trying out the Devil Arms system as a way to connect with Dante.

The jacket she's wearing was originally Kafka's from the time he was stuck in Dante's dimension. Dante worked with Nico to make something for Kafka so his Kaiju energy could convert into demonic so Kafka could wield the Beowulf Gauntlets and cut down on his time spent in Kaiju form.

Now the jacket makes limited hard-light copies of her weapons and can project them short ranges away from her. (I like to think they make the M-1 Garand ping noise when they do.)

Has an ABNORMALLY high healing factor. Like, faster than Kafka. (Think almost on par with Andy from Undead Unluck but not to the point she can make clones.)

Loves pizza as much as the rest of her family, but is a die-hard for Kentucky Fried Chicken. (Convinced Dante to drive her to Kentucky for a bucket on her birthday.)

Wears heels and can full sprint in them. Partially because she's one of those people that has incredibly tight tendons in her ankles so heels are actually better for her, but also because she's mildly irritated that her sister is taller than her by three inches, even though their both 7ft. (She's 7ft 1in specifically.)

Author's Note: Personally, her Devil Trigger form (the middle face) looks like one of those Chinese Lion Dogs to me but I don't hate it. I aimed to make her look more like a Kaiju to show how she's more on the Kaiju side genetically and to also separate her from her sister which you'll see in just a second. And since I know no one is going to be able to tell but in her Sin Devil Form (the top face) her mouth and eyes are just constantly on fire. Have been debating on what to call their Devil Trigger forms since they're not fully demons. Been leaning towards Kaiju Trigger but I don't really like the sound of Sin Kaiju trigger.

Malatesta "Mal" Paula Hibino-Sparda

The Younger Fraternal Twin sister who stands at a whopping 7ft 4in.

When she was a toddler, she walked right into a cabinet door so hard, it caused a permanent scar over her nose, which technically shouldn't be there because she also had an abnormal healing factor (albeit not as fast as her sister.). It was the first time Rimi and her father ever heard her cry, let alone scream in pain, so it took them a few minutes to react when it happened. It's thought that its still there because she's somehow subconsciously keeping it there.

Acts very cold and unenthusiastic, but don't let that fool you. She is just as full with love and care for her sister as her sister does for her. (although it may not look like it when they fight.)

When Kafka was stuck in Dante's dimension, he got to listen to all the shit that happened to him and his brother so when Kafka got back home and found out he had twins, he became dedicated to make sure that all that shit didn't happen to his kids. (God only knows the damage that would happen if one of them became traumatized.)

She's incredibly shy and socially awkward which doesn't help her outward personality, but once she opens up you'll quickly find out she's a MASSIVE Star Wars nerd.

Goes to all the conventions, has several OC cosplays, and makes a new one every year as a way to showcase her personal growth to herself.

She also pays out the nose for a new custom lightsaber for each of her OC cosplays. Again, this is Every. YEAR.

Built her own Lightsaber Display Wall. Which unintentionally gateway-drugged her into loving DIY projects.

While she doesn't use conventional Defense Force weaponry, she did eventually find out that she has the ability to use the Meraki Kaiju Explosion runes for some reason. No one had any idea how this is possible considering that's not something Kafka can do. It's theorized that her demon half has something to do with it.

Had to create her own system of Defense Force fighting style. Consists of:

Cleansing Ties: An augmented version of the Meraki bands that can produce healing energy. Baneful Bindings: Strings of Meraki bands that trap and restrains enemies and inflicts a Burn status. Sadistic Symphony: An Explosive 4-piece slash attack.

(There's others, but I can't really come up with anything else that sounds interesting.)

After Meeting Vergil, Something came up and it was decided that He should train her in using the Yamato, He had to COMPLETELY rewire her train of thought when it came to sword wielding because it conflicted with all her knowledge on lightsaber stances.

Something happened to the Yamato and caused the tip of it to break off. Vergil converted the broken tip into a small, pocket dimension opening dagger. It's called the Ya-Mini and Mal pretty much only uses it to store snacks. (I should say that the pocket dimensions aren't that big)

Author's Note: Okay, so I didn't really have any idea what her character was going to look like outside of the bolero jacket and the weird corset-tailcoat looking thing I gave her. Once I decided on giving her puff shoulders on the bolero, the princess vibes just kinda fell in. Her color scheme is black, white and yellow, but the second I knew that there was going to be yellow in the outfit, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to color it because I don't know how to color something without it turning piss yellow. If you've followed my page at all, I made an idea that Kafka should get wings and it should look like there's ghost faces in it to represent the souls of those that became the Parasite Kaiju. I absolutely reused that design here. All I knew when I was coming up with her Devil trigger faces that she needed to look more human because I've noticed that in later evolutions of Dante's devil trigger designs (Not including the dmc5 Sin Devil form) he starts retaining a more human face, I'm guessing to represent how he's accepting of his human lineage. Her horns are inspired by Albedo, so I think that helped keep up with the princess theme that I have no idea where it comes from. (I mean that in the sense that I have no In-game/lore reason as to why she looks like this... outside of personal aesthetic I guess?) Do not ask where the snake fangs come from, I think I literally gave up on design cohesion toward the end of the sketch. I should also mention that her hair is on fire.

☆*:..｡. .｡.:*☆ Alright, onto the Story. (Abbreviated)

Okay, so if you've read the tags at the end of Another Fucking Idea, I should say that some of that had been retconned a little

Dante does end up in Kafka world and does meet his first daughter, but the rest of the dmc group doesn't end up in Kafka's world as well.

What happens is that another, different colored portal opens up and sends Dante back to his world but traps him in hell. This happens right as Kafka and Mal just step down in Japan.

Rimi saw what happened and tells her father to which he goes "Fuuuuck, another one?"

Kafka then asked for the Defense Force to look out for another portal activity (they know what to look for because they had a hand in fixing the portal problem the first time). Once they do find one, Kafka tries to give his kids a run down of what their about to find on the other side.

He keeps the details of how he knows Dante vague and instead hammers home who to find and where as well as how they had to fix the portal problem the first time.

Once a portal was found, all three of them head over to it. Something happens and only the twins make it through, leaving Kafka on the other side.

Now trapped in a clearly demon infested America, Rimi and Mal decide to hunt down the Devil may cry building. (This is in the rain btw)

They find the building but only find Lady and Trish inside. The twins give them a rundown of what's going on at their end and ask where Dante is.

Trish and Lady tell them that Dante hasn't been seen in three months and they have no idea where he went. They talk for a bit and decide that they should hunt down Vergil because if anyone could get a hold of Dante, it's the man with a portal opening sword.

But before they can get a hold of Vergil, they have to get a hold of Nero because no one knows where the hell Vergil went recently.

So the four of them head out and of course in true Hero's journey fashion they have to fight off a few demons along the way. At first Trish and Lady thought the twins were normal for the most part (excluding the 7ft tall bit) but they very quickly find out about the "I can heal faster than I'm injured" and the "I don't care how big the room is, I cast fireball" parts of the twins. (There was also a discussion about how similar they look to Dante but the twins shut that down by saying that they already know who their dad is {which is Kafka} but they never knew their mom and would like to keep it that way)

They get to Nero and Nico and they ask them where Vergil is and Nero is like "How the fuck should I know? I haven't seen him since that one time a few months after the Qliphoth fell."

So discussions are had, Nero brings up a problem they're dealing with and say that they'll help if everyone chips in and fixes that problem before they tackle the other stuff. (Nero also brings up the "How are the two of you NOT related to Dante" issue but brings up how Rimi's hands on her wings look like his)

Everyone helps wrap up Nero's problem and it consequently reveals where Vergil's been cooped up this whole time. They head on over and ask what's going on with his neck of the woods and he reveals that, for some fucking reason, The Yamato can't open a portal to hell anymore. He's reasonably pissed about this. (oh, at some point between this bullet point and the next it's revealed to the girls that Kafka is in fact their mom biologically and Dante is their dad)

Everyone talks about what's been going on with them and its one of those "Everything is Connected" moments.

They come up with a plan and its that they should teach one of the twins to wield the Yamato because the barrier between earth and hell is being reinforced with dimensional energy from Kafka's dimension and they think that if someone came at it with both types of energies that it should -hopefully- break open just enough to let everyone in.

It ends up taking a lot more than just the Yamato to break it open (This is where the Yamato breaks and Vergil holds on to the broken pieces for later.) They make it into Hell and suddenly Nero, Mal, and Vergil are hit with the WORST pressure migraine they think they could ever feel. (Rimi is immune due to the healing factor.)

They poke around and eventually find Dante who is dealing with a similar migraine and quickly recount what's been going on with them. (After an emotional moment where Dante realizes that not only his kids from another world came to save him but his brother of all people came willingly to help.) {Keep in mind only Dante here knows it's his kids and he's not saying anything}

They all pool their brains together and figure out what's the problem: (So I don't really have an clear picture of what the "Villain" is here but I do know its an original character. The best idea for a plot so far is this->) The guy that made the portal problem the last time in an attempt to resurrect his ?wife? by utilizing transdimentional time warp wasn't as dead as they thought he was and is now trying to destroy all three universes by reinforcing the barrier around hell and stuffing Hell with so much extra-dimensional energy from Kafka's world that once the barrier finally breaks, it will break with enough force that it will wipe out all three universes in one go because they guy got really pissed that he failed the first time.

So obviously that gets fixed, but that's only half of the problem. Dante and Vergil figure that the only way for people to stop fucking around with the dimensional barriers is for them to recreate the ritual that Sparda did with their blood and have the new twin's blood act as a sealant between Kafka's world and their world, which does mean that the twins will never be able to come back to Dante's world.

Now, if it was up to me and I had the power to make this into a video game, this would have two endings. One where you play normally and one where you 100% the game. The first ending is where they make the portal and there is a tearful goodbye where neither Dante or the twins mention that they're related. The portal closes and as Dante turns to leave, Vergil says "Did you know?" and Dante responds with "I don't want to talk about it." aaaaaand credits roll.

The SECOND ending is after 100% the game and you hit the end, the Portal opens back up and the girls jump back through, tackle their dad, and excitedly explain that, just before they did the ritual, Japan figured out a way to let the three of them hop back and forth across their dimensions so Dante can keep his visitation rights. Dante says "The THREE of you?" to which you start to see Kafka's monster frame lumber through the portal. He stands straight, looks Dante dead in the eye (as best he could with the height difference) and says in a tired voice ". . . Hey babe."

And NOW credits roll :D.

The only reason this is achievable after 100% the game is because the in-lore reason is that means you spent THAT long, in in-game hours, that it gave Japan enough time to figure out a way to leave enough space in the fabric of reality that it lets them make a two way portal just for Kafka and his kids to visit Dante. Will this irrevocably change the course of the future for both realities for better or worse? Most definitely. Do I care? Absolutely not. That and we're talking about Half Demon/ Half Kaiju Mutant Children here that wish to visit their dad in a different reality, We've lost the plot when we started.

[thewritingofspencerrose]

13 Ways Masterlist | Masterlist

all these 13 Ways are going to be short little blurbs, simply insights into Win & Nico's relationship

"Your coach is going to kill me," I can't help but remark, glancing hesitantly at the box of leftover pasta that Nico is carrying from my dinner, his own plate cleaned. "Or worse, ban me from going to games."

The laugh that leaves him as he links our fingers is my favorite sound, even after just a couple months of dating.

"Being banned from games is worse than death? In what reality?" He's quick to ask, and while he knows I'm joking, he seems genuinely upset by my suggestion.

"Don't worry, Neeks," I assure, stepping onto my tiptoes and kissing his cheek, "Neither my banning or death will be coming any time soon."

Although clearly karma laughing at me, because as I finish commenting my dress gets tangled around my wedges, causing a stumbling motion that I can barely control.

Until warm hands are on my waist, thick fingers digging into my sides to prevent me from the crash that previously seemed so destined.

"I really would rather you walk on the inside of the sidewalk," his words draw me from my mind. "So when your clumsy nature kicks in I don't have to worry about you tumbling into the road."

I can hear the joking tone to his voice, but that doesn't stop him from using his hands new placement on my hips to move me to his other side, arm snaking around to hold me in place.

Or up right.

The answer could be both if I'm being honest with myself.

The Sidewalk Rule.

"Nico Hischier, I am not going to tumble into the road," There's a laugh to it when I say it, not the reassuring sound of a promise I was going for but it brings a smile to his face.

"For my peace of mind and your safety, can you please just stay on this side of me?"

The smirk that grows on my face is cheeky, I'm well aware, but the thought that came to mind was too good not to say aloud.

"If I stand closest to the road, will Captain Nico come out?"

He smirks, no real heat to my question or his response, and simply continues us on our path, not before placing a kiss to the top of my head.

"You're something else, you know that Win?"

[nicocastillo]

closed starter for @cantfightmoonlight (jasmine)

·✥·

He winced, gingerly pulling a borrowed shirt back on over his bruised shoulder. The bones had reset when he'd shifted, but the healing would take days, and the doc had warned that even with his werewolf physiology, his face would likely scar. Nico had nodded, not quite hearing or feeling any of it, and let his feet take him back out to the waiting room. When he got there, Jasmine was waiting, back from her own examination. He paused at the desk, to make sure the exhaustion was all they had to worry about with her, and then headed over to her. "Car's waiting outside to take us home," he offered softly. "Figured we probably shouldn't drive, so—" He'd tried his best to clean off some of the blood from his face and arms, with only limited success, and half his face was currently dressed so the worst was hidden from view, but all he really cared about was the bandage on Jasmine's arm, all too familiar in its placement. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her temple as he picked up his coat, the only thing he'd had to wear when he'd shifted and gotten them into the ambulance. (Us, the living. And her, the body. So small. Too empty.) There was dried blood on one of the coat's sleeves, but the scent of it still clogged his nostrils, the taste of it clinging to the back of his throat. He stared down at the coat, dazed. It blurred and he distantly realized there were tears on his cheeks, before inhaling sharply and rubbing them away with a slight cough. "Uh, right. Home. Let's... go home." He couldn't fall apart. Someone had to take care of things.

[accirax]

Alright, Part 2 of the initial reactions! I would surely hope that two parts is enough to contain the rest of the thoughts I have on this episode. If I somehow needed more than 60 images... no, I could hardly imagine.

CW for depictions of hanging in this part.

I already got through 2/3 of the episode before, I'll be fine with only 1/3 left now!

Okay so like, to be fair to me personally (as I argued that you didn't need incredible strength to launch the ball that high)... I have really weak arms. Over the summer I attempted to bank a pool ball across a pool table hard enough that it would come back to the other side and I never succeeded :( Even if I didn't think that I had the strength to accomplish it, I figured that anyone with normal arm strength would. So, uh, my bad! Guess I should have looked into the strength of throwing more.

I definitely think that this part was a message to us in a sense. To clarify, no, I don't think that DRDTdev is mad at theorists, nor do I think that he thinks that we're as annoying as Ace often is.

What I do think is that this is a heads up. With more long hiatuses in DRDT's future, it's possible that, whenever Chapter 3 comes out, we'll wind up with a long hiatus in between parts of solving the murder again. And then, again, we'll have ample time to investigate every little detail down to the molecular level, and squabble over details that would feel fully insignificant if they were solved within a month.

To me, this is an admission and a reminder from DRDTdev that, even if their murders are generally impeccably well-researched and include lots of fine detail work, in a work of fiction, it's near impossible to create a suspenseful murder mystery that doesn't contain any plot holes or loose threads at all. Especially a work of fiction that needs to be written on a time crunch. If DRDTdev wants to complete DRDT at all quickly-- which I'm not saying he needs to, but, if he wants to-- then he doesn't have time to comb over every aspect of the crime scene to make sure it all makes sense. Sometimes a rack of weights is just knocked over for the visual drama of it all, even if it should weigh 200 lbs.

Please don't interpret that as me (or DRDTdev) saying that it's useless to theorize about anything in DRDT, because we have no idea what evidence is real or what's not. First of all, there are very clear pieces of evidence that will certainly be relevant to the case (something like the rope or the fish in this case), so we can speculate about those. And, in this case, there were plenty of smaller details and callbacks, like the swinging body or the fitness band, that were relevant to the case, and fun to theorize about!

I'm just saying that, in more ways than one, we need to remember that this is a fictional story. It's fiction in the sense that this didn't happen in real life, and therefore you may have to suspend your disbelief a little bit when it comes to some details, because DRDTdev doesn't know everything. And, it's fiction in the sense that this is a story lovingly created by a very human author, who we should treat with respect and understand the limitations of. Got it?

Love Teruko's new sprites, btw.

Uh oh, "nothing will change mention." What the fuck is a David foil.

I like how we sorta have a "own up to your mistakes" sub-theme that's popped up at the end of the chapter here. Teruko did it, Levi did it, Rose did it, and Nico too. I wonder how much more prominent it would be if I went back and watched part 1 again. Arei does, and Charles does.

Does make me wonder about Nico's hidden quote, though. I wonder if someone will start trying to blame them for inspiring Ace to murder, and then they'll say it here in the post-Trial.

Is There Any Way to Say the Culprit is Anyone Other Than Ace?

You, uh, may have surmised by my placement of where to put this argument that my answer is, "no." Although it is possible for a killer to change after the Closing Argument is held, it's very uncommon, and I believe has only been used in canon as a super big overarching plot thing. The fact that the case has already been summed up with Ace as the perpetrator leaves an infinitesimally small amount of doubt that anyone else could have done it. I don't really know how you'd get around his literal confession as we've seen here-- unless he was someone's accomplice, I guess? That really makes no sense at this point, given that Ace's whole argument is that he's afraid of dying.

I was going to say that the only possible other option was if Eden had done essentially the same thing so that you could more or less sub her out, but, like, they spent that whole argument saying that only Ace had the fitness band? And disproving that Eden could have done it without so?

Yeah, I understand the appeal from Ace fans to say that there's still a chance that something could happen before the vote, but I really don't think it'll swing that way. Instead, you'll just have to be delusional and pretend that Ace just straight up didn't die or get executed. Like Min fans! (/j)

And here's how we can justify right now what Eden is saying in the context of her being the blackened-- (/j)

Okay, I didn't catch before that Veronika was the one to say this after Ace said, "I was just afraid of dying, that's all." That's not a leading question, that's a genuine mark of confusion. Subtle, but excellent.

I wonder how much of this is also wishing that, in that case, Nico would have (theoretically) been the other person to die instead of Arei. What a crazy AU that would be. Obviously hard to tell its impact when we don't know what follows this, but it would shake things up for sure.

It is interesting that this is the second time that Ace has specifically brought up "dying young" in this chapter. He probably just means it as a shortcut for dying now, but it does give off the implication that Ace wanted to live until he was old. It's an interesting contrast, given how much he hates his life, and the disorder that's making it less likely that he'd ever get to see that point. Maybe he was hoping that, with some more years on him, he would be able to change, or at least retire from jockeying to enjoy his later years as a free man? Maybe some possibly-older siblings could have inspired him to want to age well? Questions for Ace psychoanalysts to ask themselves.

Okay, this has to be going somewhere, with the number of times she's brought it up and been the one to say it. Could it be the "killers will pay for their crimes" rule? Perhaps. At the very least, I'm quite curious to see how J will treat Nico next chapter, now that their murder has been confirmed. Same with Levi, who had murder as a part of his secret.

J: Your problems might be awful, and they might be the worst in the world, but they're still not so bad that killing 13 people is acceptable.

And David, given this seemingly direct reference. Are we about to see Sheriff J come to town?

Fascinating way to sorta loop Ace in to the "good person" theme at the eleventh hour.

Like... in a mastermind-y way?

Okay, probably more in a "confronting your mistakes and growing is a part of life" way. Although, once again, "choose to participate" is a weird choice of words. Teruko, I'm pretty sure that there's a rule that says that not participating in the Trial is something that can get you killed, so it's not really a choice assuming you value your life.

... Unless? ',:/

This adorable panel reminded me that AREDEN IS BACK ON, BABY! ... Probably. In my opinion.

Just wanted to point out that Arei very consistently does not have her glove on in this part of the Closing Argument. This is what I said to uncertaindestinies229 about the glove as we were discussing it in the comments section of one of my other posts:

at this point, i think [the glove being missing] was either 1) a genuine mistake or 2) an example of a piece of evidence that we didn't have to completely figure out, as Teruko said. for instance, it could just be that it got wet and would've taken too long to dry (as some people speculated), or that Ace was worried that Arei could wake up and slide her hand out of the glove if it was the glove that was taped.

i'd be more inclined to think that maybe [the glove could open up other culprit possibilities] if Ace hadn't confessed in such thematic detail already. plus, i don't think many culprit theories really had a better explanation for the glove, other than Nico/Hu turpentine stuff. for instance, i don't think Team Eden did 😅 not impossible, but unlikely that it'll be the key to saving Ace. maybe they're saving it for a post-trial cg moment?

okay, on second thought(?) i will point out that Arei very consistently does not have her glove on for the entire closing argument. that could be a sign that it's still something to talk about in the future. however, it could also be drdtdev deciding to run with the timeline he created and stay consistent with Arei not having the glove at the Playground.

I haven't really thought of anything further beyond that, so those are my (admittedly less well-typed-out than my usual Theorist Cadence) thoughts on the glove.

I agree with everyone else that this panel of Ace is weirdly adorable.

What Are My Thoughts On All Of This?

Personally, when it comes to Ace being declared the official culprit of DRDT Chapter 2, I am quite satisfied. Would it have been more fun if I were 100% correct and Eden was the blackened in the exact way and for the exact reasons that I personally believed? Yeah, probably. But overall, I'm happy that I wound up aligning with a murder explanation that got most of the mechanics right, even if we pinned which of the potential tape-grabbers could be the culprit incorrectly. Plus, I love to be surprised in mysteries (as long as it's done in a sensible way that's not just for shock value), and this definitely fit that description.

For me, it really is true what Teruko said about, "the more I think about it, the more the evidence has to point to Ace." I started doubting that Eden would be the killer once the Levi!Accomplice theory seemed dead and buried, because we really had no other workarounds for the fish alibi or the strength required, and heading into this episode, it was clear we didn't have time to dig into 4D chess ideas such as Eden intentionally leaving behind the note to imply that Arei and her were closer, or nitpicks such as at what second count Eden last mentioned that Arturo had a sister. Plus, things like the fitness band and Ace trying to target Nico specifically feel like no-brainers looking back on them.

With an ending that took a lot of people off guard, you could argue that it was surprising either because it was set up so well that Ace perfectly flew under the radar, or set up poorly enough that DRDTdev either didn't properly explain the character motivations or "wasted potential." I'm definitely of the former camp, especially hearing about how there was initially backlash against Min being revealed as the Chapter 1 killer as well. I think that this was a really well-made Trial, and I'm super grateful that I got to experience it as it came out with the rest of you.

Of course, I am really sad that Ace is going to die. He was probably my, like... fifth? Sixth? Favorite character? (Even if I didn't necessarily show it all the time), and his particular brand of humor is one that will be missed in future chapters. Plus everything I said about all of the relationships he had with various other students-- although, that likely means that, even if he isn't around, we won't be through with hearing about Ace for a while yet.

I'm also very delighted and surprised that Eden now gets to survive into the next chapter, even if I have no clue what she'll be doing! I never actually wanted Eden to die (other than to prove myself right), I just thought that the evidence stacked against her in such a way that I've been convincing myself that she's already dead for the past year. And now you're telling me she's alive again? That's so exciting! I can't wait to factor it into my theories.

The only sad part is that now every time I remember being happy that Eden is alive, I remember being sad that it means that Ace is going to die instead. Aww :(

On an incredibly self-serving note, Ace being the blackened also makes a lot of sense to me because I was really struggling to see how we were going to have a male blackened in Chapter 3. To explain, if Eden were the culprit here, it means we would have had 1 male death and 3 female deaths, with both of the blackeneds being girls. Statistically, it would therefore be very likely that one of the guys would wind up being the blackened of the chapter, and possibly some of the victims as well.

Boy victims I can certainly believe, but on a personal vibe sense check, I don't get the vibes that any of the guys will be the Chapter 3 killer. All of my current vibe checks for the Chapter 3 killer-- Hu, J, Rose, Veronika-- all of them women. And all of the guys... I struggle to see them as killers (Charles is too inhibited and I think he'll be a victim, Levi seems disinclined and too obvious, Arturo seems too obvious, David would probably live longer, Whit will also live longer please let me have this). Not that Ace being the Chapter 2 killer proves me right in any sense, but at least my brain won't be frantically spinning its gears trying to figure out which dude would kill in Chapter 3. (Venus says I worry too much about highly specific gender balancing, anyways.)

So, I had some more stuff I was going to say about info from prior episodes being recontextualized, but it's getting late for me and I'm tired enough that I actually. Don't remember all of what I was going to say. So I'm signing off for now!

Stay cool, take care of yourself, and please remember to be kind and respectful with all of the comments you leave online, both to the DRDT creative team and to others you meet online. See you next week for... the execution? Oh god, we should've known that the fight against the blackened was the fight to animate a horse! Those things are fucking nightmares to draw!

(... Good night :) )

Danganronpa: Despair Time Chapter 2 Episode 15 Dissection

FINALLY, I have a Friday night with few enough plans that I can watch and give my initial thoughts on the episode on the day that it aired >:D

... why am I celebrating being all alone on a Friday night? (/j)

Dissection time! This will be a Part 1 because I finally actually ran out of images. Please check the reblogs to see my further thoughts on the episode!

SPOILERS for Danganronpa: Despair Time Chapter 2 Episode 14. Brief mentions of eating disorders and suicide.

Of course, it's also the first week where I probably won't have as much to say, not because there isn't stuff to comment on about the episode, but because the main thing that ate up my time/word count was assessing all of the evidence to talk about who the killer might be. Now that the killer has seemingly been revealed, there isn't really any "Chapter 2 murder" left to theorize about... that's insane.

Starting the episode off with Teruko saying that accusing Ace was her "judgment" was wild. She made it very clear that it wasn't just that she was humoring Eden or haphazardly starting with Ace first, but that she thought it over and decided that Ace was the more-likely-to-be-guilty party because of seeing Eden break down like that. She paid attention to Eden's emotions and let Eden into her heart! That's awesome!!!

(Not to say that you couldn't pay attention to Eden's emotions and still think that she was the culprit-- I'd be a pretty big hypocrite if I tried to argue that. And I just don't think that it's true.)

This is a really random point to bring up, but I remember from drawing my J-to-Xander secret santa exchange that one of J's main complaints about Xander was also that he was loud. I guess J just really hates loud people.

... David, put down the megaphone--

Now this surprised me. It really made sense to me that Arturo would be the one stalking Eden, given that we first heard about the stalking on the day that Arturo and Eden had their chat!

Although, it also makes sense that it wasn't, given that the Arturo/Eden conversation probably happened after the event where J pulled Teruko into that closet (just based on Arturo's vibes). That event was the last thing that Teruko did before the nighttime announcement rang. Thus, Eden talking to Arturo probably happened pretty late in the afternoon, not giving Arturo much time to have been following Eden. To be fair, I deemed that it could still very well be Arturo anyways, because it's not like Eden said anything such as "you've been following me all day" that truly indicated a time period. But it does make sense.

Seems like everyone who thought that the culprit could have been tailing Eden was correct! A round of applause for everyone who put those pieces together 👏 (/gen)

Now, this one, I don't believe I saw ANYONE speculate. Therefore, as an idea I'd never even heard tossed around, this really took me out. It makes sense, though: Eden is small and semi-canonically the weakest character in the killing game. Therefore, if you're looking for someone who you can near-guaranteed overpower, it makes sense if you were to target her.

On one hand, thinking down this line of logic makes me worried for Eden's survival prospects beyond Chapter 2. On the other, now that this has been directly addressed in canon, I find it less likely that someone will use that again down the line. The best place to do so would be at the next Class Trial, so that the logic can be "well, looks like someone tried to execute on Ace's original plan" when it's at its most relevant because Ace's crime would be at its most recent. However, I don't really think that Eden will be a victim at the next Class Trial, so I'm leaning towards saying that she wouldn't become a victim for that reason.

(It feels so unnatural to write out "Ace's crime" and be, like 95% certain that it's canon. This case is just one of the unsolved mysteries of history, the fuck??? (/j))

This was ALSO insane to me. I know that thebadjoe cited Ace claiming to have been in the Gym the day after he nearly died in there as a reason why Ace might have been lying about what day he overheard Arei and David on (the logic is probably somewhere in here), but I think I and many others just figured that he didn't want everyone to think he was a coward, or that his eating disorder would compel him to go back to the Gym anyways.

However, going back to the Gym to sus out how exactly Nico's contraption works makes perfect sense! J was right, if Ace was suffering through being killed when he awoke, he shouldn't have had the presence of mind to figure out the crime then and there. However, if he could combine the flashes he got of what happened while he was swinging from the fan, whatever he was able to make out when he ran out of the room to chase Nico, and being able to inspect the Gym after the fact, I think it's totally reasonable that he could have figured out what happened with enough clarity that he could replicate its essential elements elsewhere.

As it turns out, despite my crack at trying to figure out what happened, the Gym murder method wasn't actually all that complex.

Teruko: One. Given that you were stalking Eden before the Nico incident, you were already planning a murder beforehand. You entered the Gym with the pre-existing intent to take the tape for some different, unspecified murder plan, and changed your mind on the details later. Two. You were pretending to be unconscious for longer than we thought. And three. You took the tape for first aid.

Dammit, fellow "but it wouldn't have made sense for Ace to take the tape right after the attempt" truthers... I think she may have cooked us. (/j)

But hey, we love to see Teruko representing the "let me explain out various theoretical options by listing and discussing them numerically" crowd! It's always great to see yourself represented in media ;P Even if I never came up with any of these theoretical options.

My guess is probably that, of the options, the first is the most likely. I also think that Teruko probably agrees with that, given that it was what she went to first and it had the longest explanation. It's not really important, though, and I don't think there's any way to truly know, so I don't have much else to say about it.

Teruko noooooooooo :(

Whit FINALLY gets a new sprite and THIS is the expression and context?????? I love him.

Speaking of, I think that, thus far, the characters to have received new sprites in Chapter 2 Part 2 are Teruko, Ace, Arei, Hu, David, Veronika, Whit, and Nico? I'm not certain about whether Eden, Levi, or Rose had any, but I don't think they did. If true, I can't believe that Eden got through such a major role in the story without picking up any new sprites. It's probably because she already had a bunch to begin with, but, still.

Oh hey, he got one too. Protag/antag/support/chapter killer, boom.

Teruko: That's why Arei's wrists were bound-- because you didn't want her to wake up mid-murder to claw at her neck.

Definitely not what I was expecting from this piece of evidence, but I guess it tracks? My only question is why it would have been a problem if Arei had scratched at her neck. Like, it's not like both of them having neck scratches would have implicated Ace as the killer, right?

I guess maybe he was afraid that Arei would be able to escape his murder contraption much like he broke Nico's, even though the rope is probably much more sturdy than the wire. Or, maybe he was worried that it would work against the idea to stage it as a suicide? Either way, it's also convenient for just restraining Arei in general, so it's not like the evidence doesn't make any sense at all.

Nico, in audio: (Sorry.)

SO creative to contrast the voice lines and the spoken dialogue to really imply that Nico is saying it under their breath, or so quietly that nobody can hear.

However, let's not forget about the actual content of what Nico says whilst focusing on the cool media-specific presentation. Nico actually apologized to Ace after traumatizing him! Nico is very much characterized as a straight-shooter (or at least, when they're not trying to avoid conflict by saying whatever they think will help accomplish that), so I believe that when they said that they wouldn't say sorry to Ace because they didn't feel sorry for Ace, they meant it. However, that means that at some point between when Nico said that and now, something changed that made Nico feel genuine remorse towards Ace.

I think it's probably just seeing how much of an effect attempting to kill Ace truly had on his psyche and decisions. I don't know at what point Nico started fully believing that Ace was the one to kill Arei, but it's possible that it was around here. Obviously, at least at one point, Nico had no qualms with the idea of Ace dying, so it's not like seeing that their actions will actually manage to kill Ace would probably be that missing piece.

However, making Ace into a blackened is different than Ace just straight up dying as a victim, a difference which Ace acknowledges later in the episode. If Ace had died as the victim, Veronika wouldn't be toying around with him right now and making him humiliate himself. Nico might see that Ace is being bullied, and therefore, have more of a reason to feel sorry for him. Furthermore, Nico was forced to truly grapple with the reality of how hard it must be for the blackened to survive the Class Trial earlier in the chapter. Knowing now that they essentially passed the mantle on to Ace might make them feel bad.

Basically, I think that, for the first time, Nico might actually see a bit of themself in Ace, and that made it easier for Nico to sympathize with his plight.

Speaking of seeing yourself in Ace, Miss Near-Victim-to-Accused-of-Killing Pipeline...

KING

Okay, I do kinda take issue with this line of reasoning, not because Ace isn't strong-- or at least stronger than Eden-- because he absolutely is, but because Arei is also one of the nation's top performing athletes in her sport of choice? I mean, jockeying feels like more of a full-body sport than bowling, so it probably requires more strength training, but looping her in with Eden and Nico feels unfair. Justice for Arei... 's muscles. Anyways, carry on.

I THOUGHT SOMETHING LIKE THIS MIGHT BE POSSIBLE!!! I just never said it because, given that Arturo said that it seemed like there wasn't any other damage to the body, it didn't feel like it was supported by the facts. (Although, obviously, this Trial has proven that Arturo's autopsies are not infallible.)

I've researched before that punching someone in the jaw seems to be the most trustworthy way to knock someone out and have a low chance of killing them then and there. However, that would likely leave a bruise, so I didn't think it would happen. Strangling someone to the point of unconsciousness, however, is possible (it just might be harder/more likely to be lethal), so this totally makes sense!

Yup, unless Eden was trying to frame Ace by "framing" Nico, it really makes much more sense that Ace would have the incentive to copy Nico's crime down so closely.

I mean... this certainly makes it sound like Nico wouldn't attempt to be a blackened ever again...

It's always good to have a frame plan set for your frame plan. Nico wouldn't just do it without thinking about anyone else to blame, so you can't just blame Nico without establishing who Nico would have blamed!

Then again, this plan does require people to think that Nico didn't think about the rules enough to realize that they could easily rule out suicide as a bait. Then again x2, they already said that they didn't think too much about the reality of going to a Class Trial when they initially tried to kill Ace, so it's not so much of a reach as it would have been for other people.

I can't tell if this is somehow suspicious or just an indication that Eden is nice and thinks about others over herself. Ugh, now I have to decide whether I'm being suspicious of Eden as a mastermind candidate or not, and people are going to get mad at me for continuing to suspect her of foul play...! (/lh)

Shoutout to SomniaVA here for doing an excellent job of voicing Veronika. The line read on "too weak, too stupid, and too incompetent" especially was phenomenal. We stan Veronika in this household.

Man, I feel so bad for Ace in this part. Also shoutout to Seth Raffield for voicing Ace this entire time; if you ever read this, you 100% made Ace who he is and overall have some of my favorite voice acting in DRDT. Not being to hear any more voice lines from Ace will honestly be one of the parts of his upcoming death that'll make me the saddest. We haven't heard the very end of it yet, but thanks for all your hard work :)

(Dude I am NOT going to cry before the execution even happens--)

Charles, internally: (FUCK i made Whit sad BACKTRACK BACKTRACK BACKTRACK--)

I love them :,)

Levi: Charles is right. It really is no simple task to control a horse going over 40 miles per hour on a regular basis. It requires physical strength and endurance. Intense training 6 days a week is standard. And the physical tests that jockeys have to go through are grueling, to say the least.

How the fuck do you two know this

Charles: Not what it's called.

Thanks to Charles' comment, I was easily able to determine that this was a reference to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which Wikipedia describes as "a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities." Or, in simpler terms, believing that something is easier than it is either because you don't know enough about the field to know about its intricacies, or because you don't know enough about being talented to realize that there's an entire world of skill above your personal ceiling (ouch).

Sorry if others already explained it or if people just knew this already, but I didn't, so I thought I'd share!

Also, Whit definitely has an interest in science/psychology or something. Or he just gets really, really bored.

Notably, we now know that this is something that DRDTdev will take into account when planning a murder going forward. Therefore, unless the culprit is one of our more athletic folks (of which there are a dwindling number-- mostly just Levi at this point), crimes in the future likely won't require any impressive feats of strength to accomplish. Much to think about.

See, the tragic thing here is that I don't actually think that Levi was trying to say anything ill of Ace by pointing out that he was the more likely of him and Eden to commit murder. After all, he doesn't give a damn about any of the murders he's committed. The worst Ace is probably getting is now being considered as a "bad person" on Levi's list (because "good people" don't kill people), but I don't think that this is the declaration of malice that Ace is taking it as.

Acevi doomed yaoi :,(

DRDTdev never fails to get silly with it and I appreciate that so much.

Just in case anyone is confused about what Teruko's talking about, I actually learned more about clothing starch since I started theorizing about the Chapter 2 murder case, because I worked at a dry cleaner for, like, a week. Suffice it to say, that now makes me an expert B) (/j)

Starch can be added to laundry when it's being washed to make it stiffer and less likely to wrinkle when it comes out to dry. It also makes them easier to iron, and easier to remove stains from. It's often used on dress clothes, just because those are the ones that people more often care about whether they're wrinkled or not. Seemingly, it can come in solid, pre-made liquid, or spray forms. All that is to say, this is absolutely something that could reasonably have been stored in the Dress-Up Room.

And this "evidence" was alluded to ahead of time-- not super far ahead of time, but when Teruko first touches the ball, she says something like, "is that starch?" I think DRDTdev probably included that line so that we wouldn't have to theorize about what could have possibly kept the ball together, but since apparently none of us theorizing last summer (or at least no one I remember talking to) dressed fancily enough to know what clothing starch was, it didn't help out much. As Arturo would say, "how disgusting." (/j)

... DAMMIT!!!

I thought about including the fitness band as a piece of evidence on my A Piece of Evidence That Lines Up With Them Only section, I really did. I just thought that including a minor detail from early in the Daily Life that would clearly only apply if the killer was Ace would be unfair territory, much like if I said, "well, we know that Eden is good at sneaking around because of how she snuck up on Teruko; that could be a killing blow so point to Eden." However, given that the killer is only Ace, it was totally within fair grounds for it to be used as the final piece. Mannnnnn :,(

Fun that he's literally riding a dark horse though. I know he was certainly a dark horse candidate for many of us.

Oh no. 30 images. I'll be back to finish my thoughts in a reblog either later tonight (in my timezone) or tomorrow. Hopefully later tonight. Until then!

[marnerparty]

secrets

Trevor Zegras x Hughes!reader

ynhughes

Liked by edwards.73, elblue6 and 27,888 others

ynhughes guess the song

View all 276 comments

user1 life is a highway

jackhughes we ignoring the elephant in the room?

ynhughes elephant?

jackhughes idk maybe like who’s arms are those?

ynhughes Luke’s?

lhughes_06 not mine, can confirm

ynhughes Luke wtf you’re my least favorite

jackhughes so an answer??

ynhughes no ❤️

nicohischier that’s a nice car I wonder whose it is

ynhughes thanks for letting me borrow it 🤠

jackhughes ARE YOU TWO DATING

ynhughes WHAT!? NO!

nicohischier besties use each other’s cars jack

jackhughes I’ll kill you both, don’t think I will

ynhughes you def won’t

nicohischier all bark no bite

jamie.drysdale is it one I can play on guitar?

ynhughes Jamie, honey, there’s like one song you play

trevorzegras hey he got it up to 3 and a half actually

jamie.drysdale it’s actually just 3. I forgot the half of the other one 😔

trevorzegras knowing you, something country

ynhughes damn right 🤠

_quinnhughes not sure whether to be like Jack or keep my mouth shut

ynhughes I vote second!

_quinnhughes 🤐

ynhughes and this my Quinn is why I love you most

lhughes_06 your other brothers are here yn 🙄

ynhughes then go away!

tysmith_6 anyone guess the song yet

ynhughes no, they’re all worked up about the mystery arms 🤷🏼‍♀️

tysmith_6 okay well was it Last Night by Morgan Wallen

ynhughes HOLY SHIT IT ACTUALLY WAS TY

tysmith_6 SHUT UP

ynhughes ty I swear on everything holy omg

ynhughes we just became best friends

user2 do we think it’s a hockey player?

user3 yes

jackhughes better not be

trevorzegras

Liked by jamie.drysdale, dostyy_2 and 67,552 others

trevorzegras a dub & a date

View all 418 comments

jackhughes Jamie how did you feel about this?

jamie.drysdale bad. I got kicked out of my house for this

trevorzegras don’t act like this wasn’t planned

user1 tell me it’s a joke

tterry19 the kid’s growing up

trevorzegras you’re my inspiration Troy

masonmctavish23 he’s off the market

ynhughes dubs for days

trevorzegras 🤘🏻

user2 I’m sad

jamie.drysdale she better not have used my blanket

trevorzegras def did. it’s her favorite

jamie.drysdale this is why we can’t have nice things

ynhughes t swift 😉

jamie.drysdale leave

simon_benoit11 kiddd

trevorzegras bennyyy

colecaufield you just crushed every teenage girl’s dreams

trevorzegras it’s what I do best

user2 hope she’s worth losing all of your fans

trevorzegras she’s the only fan I need!

Liked by ynhughes

tysmith_6 uh anyone see this liked comment here?

ynhughes no what’s it say?

trevorzegras where?

tysmith_6 kinda sus you two …

jackhughes WHERE WHAT’S SUS

ynhughes 🤷🏼‍♀️

lhughes_06 I think I know who this is

trevorzegras take a guess and text me

lhughes_06 okay I did

trevorzegras you got it right 😳

lhughes_06 STFU

ynhughes you’re lying. first try?

trevorzegras swear

jackhughes MOOSE SPILL

_quinnhughes SERIOUSLY TELL US

lhughes_06 guys I can’t

jackhughes Luke this is so fake what the fuck

ynhughes

Liked by _quinnhughes, colecaufield and 29,006 others

ynhughes for those wondering, I hide him from my overprotective brothers :)

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_quinnhughes we are NOT overprotective

ynhughes 🤨

user1 not surprising they’re like that tbh

nicohischier we can still hang out right

ynhughes ofc Nico. besties before whatever they say

jackhughes maybe if you just told us we’d be fine

ynhughes why do I have to tell you??

jackhughes common courtesy

ynhughes isn’t your best friend hiding a girlfriend from you?

jackhughes it’s different for Z

ynhughes that’s bogus

lhughes_06 fun fact, I know who it is

jackhughes so now you know Trevor’s AND our sister’s secret lovers??

_quinnhughes WAIT WHAT IS THAT HAND PLACEMENT NO

ynhughes remember when you said you weren’t overprotective?

_quinnhughes fair

trevorzegras where to?

ynhughes just canada

_quinnhughes uh why are you going to Canada? I don’t play at home

ynhughes uh my boyfriend quinn

_quinnhughes lives there?

ynhughes playing there . . .

lhughes_06 WHAT

jackhughes DOUBLE WHAT

tysmith_6 are we going to ignore that I’ve been trying to say something all along???

user2 someone help me do some digging

jamie.drysdale thanks for leaving me behind

ynhughes you said, and I quote, “not gonna come with to see you guys constantly eye banging”

jamie.drysdale okay fair

trevorzegras

Liked by masonmctavish23, jackhughes and 71,340 others

trevorzegras I’ll never get used to this 🫶🏻

View all 561 comments

user1 I wish that was me 😭

jackhughes my eyes

jamie.drysdale this is really funny actually

jackhughes 🤨

jamie.drysdale oh you’ll get it eventually

masonmctavish23 Z man 😎

trevorzegras MM 🤘🏻

ynhughes I bet you didn’t even ask her abt posting this

trevorzegras def didn’t

jackhughes I think I know who this is

trevorzegras oh yeah?

jackhughes no I’m actually really lost, just hoping you’d tell me

trevorzegras sorry bud

colecaufield damn Trev this is scandalous

trevorzegras says you ya pimp

user2 imagine waking up to THE Trevor Zegras

jamie.drysdale not as great as you’d think tbh

ynhughes true

jackhughes TRUE!?

_quinnhughes how the fuck would you know miss?

lhughes_06 remember when I figured out yn and Trevor’s secrets? well how do you think I figured them both out at the same time

jackhughes IS YN DATING TREVOR

ynhughes ding ding ding, we have a winner

_quinnhughes I’m speechless

jackhughes WAIT THAT MEANS THAT’S HER IN THE BED

_quinnhughes OH MY GOD

jackhughes Trevor we need to freaking talk

_quinnhughes this is unacceptable

jackhughes we can’t be uncles yet

ynhughes GUYS GET OUT

_quinnhughes MOM WE NEED YOU

trevorzegras don’t get Ellen involved

jackhughes that’s Mrs. Hughes to you, bud

ynhughes

Liked by lhughes_06, yourbestfriend and 35,655 others

ynhughes okay, no more hiding :)

tagged trevorzegras

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trevorzegras

Liked by tterry19, griffinzegras and 99,017 others

trevorzegras my favorite Hughes ❤️

tagged ynhughes

View all 507 comments

masonmctavish23 this broke the internet

anaheimducks now who will yn root for?🤔

ynhughes can’t I root for all 3 teams??

_quinnhughes nope

trevorzegras nope

lhughes_06 nope

jackhughes nope

tysmith_6 I KNEW IT

trevorzegras you really did

_quinnhughes ew

ynhughes you literally love Trevor

_quinnhughes yeah but I don’t need to see you guys being gross

trevorzegras you love me? 😏

_quinnhughes I take it back

trevorzegras too late

_quinnhughes shit

ynhughes I love you 🤍

trevorzegras love you more

jackhughes 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

ynhughes don’t be salty bc you’re not in love

jamie.drysdale I love yn. she can use my blanket whenever she wants

ynhughes do you really mean it 🥹

jamie.drysdale of course

user1 worst couple ever

jackhughes caption?🤨

trevorzegras legally I have to say that (you’ll always be #1) (bros over hoes)

ynhughes what’d you call me?

colecaufield well you are w/ Trevor

trevorzegras HEY NOW

elblue6 officially a part of the family ❤️

trevorzegras oh my gosh really 🥹

ynhughes this means when we get married you have to change your last name

trevorzegras done.

tterry19 Z’s the man

trevorzegras learned from the best

user2 this means Trevor and Jack can be brothers

jackhughes that’s actually amazing

nicohischier love seeing yn so happy 🫶🏻

ynhughes Nic 🥹

nicohischier do anything to her Zegras I’ll hurt you

trevorzegras you scare me so okay 🫡

[scoundrels-in-love]

Something that's neither word vomit nor fic for @frappeflamingo who inspired me with this post and for @cosmixseerart who also wanted essay (and arguably, made far better one in the tags).

Tri-gun Stampede Mashwood agenda prevails.

----

To say all of them are restless sleepers would be an understatement. She can count the times all three of them slept through the night without waking from nightmares (memories) or merely because, on one hand. 

It is often Meryl that wakes up first, if merely by virtue of being temporarily squished by one of the men wrapped around her. One of the many dubious benefits of being ‘pocket sized’ as Wolfwood puts it - if she sleeps between them, they can hold her and each other at the same time. It’s not as if most beds are meant to hold three adults, either. 

Still, occasional ache in her bad shoulder through the day from where Vash or Nico crushed her into their chest is a small price to pay for the quiet, soft mornings like the one she’s coming to. (She’s paid so much more for no other reason than she dared to keep what she loved.)

It can’t be long past the sunrise and it’s been a peaceful week, so there’s no need to wake the men, hurrying to leave the tiny town in early hours before someone has thought too long just where they might’ve seen the blonde’s face before, or the silent telephone reaches far worse people. 

Maybe today, she and Vash will succeed in letting Wolfwood sleep in. Lately, it is as if the sleep debt of years has been catching up to him and he can cycle through several four-five hour blackouts and a few minutes of wakefulness between them. They must fool his sleep-addled senses to believe they’re still asleep, though, or he shakes it off and insists on getting the day started. Vash has her beat with twenty seven to fourteen, but she’s determined to catch up. 

Right now, the cause of their competition is snoring away into the crook of her neck, tickling her just so with his breath. In an attempt to escape the torture, but not wake Nico, she turns her head to the side and makes the tiniest wiggle toward Vash. He sighs softly, snuggling into her chest deeper, and she runs soothing fingers through his hair. It’s a victory of sorts, that they can touch him with intent now and he won’t wake up with a start. 

Yet another sign of domestication, as Wolfwood calls it derisively. 

Like the Punisher leaning against the wall tilted just so, as if almost reaching for the bedside table where her and Vash's guns are resting side by side.  He hasn't fussed over its placement being perfect and in arms reach upon waking in a while. 

Like her earring in Vash's ear that looks so good, swaying and glinting as he moves, laughs (genuinely), that it makes her want to bite. (And sometimes she does: tugs on the silver just so with her teeth, eliciting a breathy sigh underlaid with chest rumble that vibrates under her palm, unique to just him.) In the same way, Nico likes to run his thumb down the shell of her ear, brush over his own earring there. His, even though he bought it specifically for her to wear and he bears Vash’s from the day of piercing his ear. 

Like the way she says, thinks, we so often these days. Meryl's never been good at belonging. Not in her family or community, not even with crowds at University or the average, tired run of the mill news reporters at the agency. She's always been restless, wanting more or something different, as if to pacify the loneliness that has been chasing her, hiding in the sharp midday shadows. 

But here, in this moment, she is content and home in a way that has given genuine definition to it, not just a string of words she's known, but not felt. 

Meryl’s gaze lingers on the guns, a whisper of an ache trickling into her chest, like a string with glass beads slowly curling in pretty lines with more and more weight. She knows enough from Nicholas’ halted stories, from the confession that had clawed its way out of Vash one night, leaving him open and waiting for their damnation. She knows that all of them came at the cost of something severed, a connection broken beyond comprehension and the last vestiges of childhood blown away like smoke. She, too, had lost her last guidance the day that derringer came to her and often, she wonders what would Roberto think of the times she’s fired it. He’d scoff a little, take a sip and, in the end, say “not too bad for a rookie”, maybe.

Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? They’ve all paid the price and, in the end, decided not to pay it forward, best they can. Their individual tactics might fail at times, their work is not perfect and can’t be, with what they’re facing, but they’re damn well trying.

Three guns against the world. Three guns for the world.

Three guns of the Stampede, she thinks sleepily content. It wouldn’t be too bad a title for a book about them, one day.

[iconoclast-infidels]

If anything, not that she knew it yet, but at least after all these years, her son still took after her somehow. She was so worried he could have been corrupted by the system or who knows what.

She narrowed her eyes at him slightly, not in anger, just trying to read him. It was a compliment he said. She'd take it. She didn't know him either, which was her point on her spiel. She didn't even know her damn son at this point. She was only hoping she did if he stuck true to her teachings, but she also it'd been a damn long time. But, he showed up. He fucking showed up. That meant everything. It was a tell of it's own. Dmitry was still pushing his explanation for his need for autonomy without actually explaining it even after her pushing a loud reminder of the position she was in. Another tell. She did not ask more about it now. It didn't feel like the right timing, but she was noting it. It didn't mean she understood the story behind his life. But it did mean she understood something has happened to him to make him be that way. She'd spent too much time in all those group therapies with all those different patients to not catch onto the patterns. So for now, she left it at that.

Instead she was more focused on his declaration. She crossed her arms rather impressed.

"Oh. Oh really? It's like that? We're at love already? With my Nick Knack?" She was grinning too much, too amused at the passion behind his words. She was seeing what she was up against now. Not that they were on opposite side. The night before was a bit of a blur to her truth be told. She couldn't recall much of their introductions. The whole thing was fuzzy and kept being recalled in blips. The meds were so heavy. Hell, years of her life felt that way.

As for the accuracy, "The sigils and symbols are going to need to be the most correct. The stars are more for us to use for mapping. Stars move about 90 degrees every 3 months unless the constellations are cirumpolar so a stationary room is never going to be exact since the rotation is moving 15 degrees per hour in 24 hour day. So it's more like a person trying to use the gravitational pull, like the tides, or the energy of anything astrological is just for us to know where it's going to be in advance if we're ever setting up a ritual in the real world not just the room. So yeah, of course there's room for variations to some degree in stance on star positions. People control the energy aka do the magic from any placement all over the world. But some things can only be done at a certain time, biggest known example, werewolves with the full moon. Back to the point, errors matter most in protection sigils because it's like contract loopholes. That's how they'll find a way to slip in, bend and weaken the block."

Nova was full of ideas for all sorts of circumstances. She was all about having a plan a, b, c, d and so forth ready just in case.

Then she watched him draw freehand, "Oh yeah that's good. But yeah, we can get whatever we might need for cartography, right? We can improvise if not. We'll find a way.

Nicos not good at math. "Okay." She wasn't sure what to make of that. She just took that in and filed it away too. Every kid had their challenges. Another part of her motherness had a way of filing it under what to comb back over in her memories of what she could have done better in his childhood to help. It was how mothers' minds worked even when it might have had nothing to do with them.

Dmitry stated without uncertainty in his voice he did not like Murmur.

That's all it took for Nova to solidify Dmitry.

Until....

He didn't think Murmur would hurt him?

Yeah. She didn't want to talk about geometry anymore.

Before she could say anything he went on about another demon, his mother. It sounded like Dmitry had his own issues that weren't all too different than their own. Whatever the story was it sounded like the infernal had knocked and he never knew if it might knock again either. He also had a mother he was worried about in some manner.

"Hold the phone. No more math and magic. Just-just put on the brakes."

She jumped off the table, sat in a chair, and scooted it up real close. She wasn't mad. She was just trying to take all this in.

"No-no-no-no. I'll get back to your mother in a minute and this other guy. I mean yeah. It's harder to track an entity if you don't already know the equation. It's like finding X. It can be difficult but we can solve it if we can find all his tells. We can go over that later. Right now... just hold up. What in the world makes you think Murmur wouldn't hurt you?"

She missed years of Nico's life. She also had no idea he'd been in contact with him since her lock up. She couldn't be sure what was true from all the different intel she was getting from people or visions alike.

Had it not been for Nico, Nova's little spiel might have been received differently. As it was, though, Dmitry was used to Nico's own no nonsense attitude. Instead of finding it threatening, he found it oddly... endearing. The more he hung out with Nova, the more he saw similarities between her and Nico, and it only seemed to make Nico that much more adorable in Dmitry's eyes. No, this kinda thing he was familiar with. It drew a smile from him, not offense nor discomfort.

"Hey... I love Nico; I'm not about to be a jerk at you. Like I said, I'm willing to answer questions, and you must have plenty. You're careful, I get that. I'm just saying I'm careful too. I'm sharing because I choose to, you matter. But I'm sharing only because I want to." He was quiet for a few moments before adding, "It's a compliment. I don't really know you yet, but I'm choosing to tell you things anyway because I know and respect what you've done for Nico. You just need to know no one can make me do things I don't want to do. That is a decision I made, and no one goes above that one. Not him, not Lisbeth, not anyone."

He realized, of course, that by saying that he was exposing that there was a deeper reason why he'd drawn that boundary so long ago. That, he hoped she would understand not to ask about. If she was as much like Nico as he had gathered, though, he was also half-expecting she would ask anyway, precisely because of the personal nature of the topic. In a way, he was trying to let her in, even if he wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

He was definitely interested in the geometry topic, though. As she spoke, he was visualizing what she was describing, playing with the figures in his mind to try and connectt he dots. She was basically telling him that with these pictures, he could do anything. "Holy shit, it's like... wormholes and quantum entanglement."

Then, a natural follow-up question. "When people mess up... How exact does it have to be drawn? I mean, there's gotta be a point where it's acceptable and beyond that, it's considered an error, right? So, a tolerance. I can get the stars pretty accurate, I measure the distances in ratios when I put them on the ceiling. I can tell Nico to get me a few tools and I can make it even more exact if need be. Circles, lines, it can be done freehand," he drew a few shapes carefully to illustrate his skills, "or there's stuff like stencils, rulers, projectors... Just depends." In another life, he could have been a phycisist or an engineer. He would have wanted the former, but he'd have been just as good at either field, really. What he had was a mind attuned to patterns, mechanisms, tinkering.

"Nico sucks at math. He's real smart, he just doesn't do numbers like I do, I think. Loves asking me about it though," he chuckled. "I'm sure if you or I explain it to him, he'll get it. He just has to want to get it, y'know?"

He was quiet when she asked what was after him, however. He thought about it carefully. What was it that he needed to be protected from? Many things, surely. Some more credible threats than others, too. On one hand, he was almost caught off-guard by the fact that she cared to ask at all. It made sense: she loved Nico, Nico loved him. Therefore, he mattered to Nova too. But some part of him had also always just been accustomed to being ignored, neglected, forgotten and abandoned. It was nice when people cared. It was terrifying when people cared.

Immediately, a few threats came to mind. His father, perpetually occupying first place, was not one he was currently concerned about regardless. The guy was dead, roasting forever. He'd made sure of that, and Nico had gladly confirmed. Chernabog, whose name he didn't actually know, was second. There was just something so deeply unforgivable about Nico having been harmed like that. His own death was something Dmitry could look past, but torturing Nico? No, that was unforgivable. So him, second place. Third...

"I don't like Murmur," he told her, plain and simple. "I don't think he'll hurt me, he has... good reason not to. But I don't trust him and I don't like him. Demons around him, even less. There's also... If I describe one of them to you, do you think you can figure out who it is? I don't have a name." He thought some more. "Not... so much after me, but after my mom. She's safe for now, but I wanna bring her here I think. She'll be safer that way. They're human, though, I don't think it'll take much to stop them from getting here. And... not to keep away, but to allow in, I trust Sammy. He can help, if we need. He's done so before."

[multi-lefaiye]

climbing into ur ask box

hi hello i am giving u an aeneid excerpt! i've decided to somewhat arbitrarily offer you the first seven or so lines of the first volume. that's a big excerpt, but it's fine it's fine <3

SO i don't have much in the way of Big Reasoning for this, but i associate u a lot with Creation if that makes sense so i thought. oh wait neat idea, i can assign nico the part of the aeneid that's just the author asking the muses for inspiration to create this work of propaganda epic literature!! trust me okay the vibes are important i prommy

Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs

Ītaliam fātō profugus Lāvīniaque vēnit

lītora, multum ille et terrīs iactātus et altō

vī superum, saevae memorem Iūnōnis ob īram,

multa quoque et bellō passus, dum conderet urbem

īnferretque deōs Latiō; genus unde Latīnum

Albānīque patrēs atque altae moenia Rōmae.

--

and the rough translation of these lines:

I sing of arms and the man, who first from the borders of Troy, exiled by fate, came to Italy and the Lavinian shores, he was thrown about much both on land and on sea by the power of the gods, because of the mindful anger of savage Juno, he, having suffered much besides in war, until he would build a city and bring the gods to Latium; from whence came the race of Latins and Alban fathers and the high walls of Rome.

--

so the muses are not specifically addressed in this excerpt, but the beginning of The Aeneid is just virgil explaining the rough plot and asking the muses for inspiration so he can tell the epic mythology surrounding the founding of Rome (that isn't propaganda in the slightest /s)

anyway for commentary, uhhh i'm taking this a little from the Dickinson source i used during college, which is also where i got the full text to grab excerpts from, but i'm not gonna just copy paste and i'm gonna explain in my own words.

so a big thing i want to call attention to for this is the placement of the word 'arma' in the first line.

in latin, word order is generally pretty flexible--not to say it never matters, but it's one of those languages where essentially if all the words are there you can get what's going on, regardless of their order. this is something a lot of poets writing in latin took advantage of, because the placement of specific words can change the connotation.

in this instance, arma (arms, as in weapons) being placed first suggests that this is going to be a story that centers much around war and violence. which, honestly, it does!

for those who aren't familiar with the aeneid, essentially the protagonist, aeneas, is a survivor of the fall of the city of Troy. this epic is, in some ways, a sequel/response to the illiad, following the idea that rome was founded by trojans. (should be noted that the city of troy is fictional, though.)

and this isn't part of the commentaries on the Dickinson site, but i also want to highlight the honestly pretty imperialistic nature of some of these lines, especially in reference to aeneas bringing "the gods" to the people of Italy. because there were already people living in italy before aeneas got there, and the last volumes of this story go over that in great detail.

i will say, in this context, yes, this is referring to specific gods worshipped by the trojans. HOWEVER, the phrasing, imo, places them on the level of importance that they are The gods, and that he is bringing them to the (implied) godless people of italy. while for the most part the aeneid is actually REALLY generous in its depictions of cultures aside from roman culture, i also think it's important to keep in mind the fact that this epic is entirely propaganda (specifically for the emperor augustus), and that does shine through at times like this. the aeneid justifies roman imperialism both subtly and very, very obviously.

finally, i also want to note here that the last line about Rome's 'high' walls is interesting to me, because if i'm remembering right, the word 'alta' is sometimes used in poetry as a euphemism for the gods. i could be wrong, but, well. y'know. this whole thing exists to explain why the romans are the best, so that may have been very intentional.

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, co-written with @darkmagyk [read on ao3]

“I’m in love,” Piper tells her when she shows up for another fitting. “Have you seen the new Beyonce video?”

“I heard the song.” Annabeth says, “isn’t that enough?”

“God, your whole play-acting thing is too far if you’re pretending to not like Beyonce.”

“I never said that.” Annabeth holds up her hands, “I like the song. But I did not see the video.”

“Well, when you see it, you’ll be in love too, but I will fight you.”

Piper could be scrappy in a fight. But Annabeth had been a champion fencer in high school.

“Kidding!” Piper says at her look. “There’s plenty of them to go around.” She didn’t even start to drape fabric over Annabeth, pushing her onto a muslin covered couch, and then pulling the video on the TV. She didn’t have one of those voice control devices. Because she was friends with Leo, and he was pretty firm on them being evil. “But I do call dibs on the main guy. The CALVES. The thighs. He’s unreal.”

“That good?” Piper went all ways, though as of late she gravitated towards women more often than not, so this was some high praise indeed. 

“Unreal, I am telling you. Like, the hand of God came down and sculpted him personally out of marble.”

Already in her recent watch history, the thumbnail of the video greets them, the song title splashed across the TV screen, weaving between  a very, very familiar set of legs. 

Like, intimately familiar. 

In something of detached horror, she watches the camera pan up, lovingly lingering on every inch of bare skin, following the muscles of his calves (which were unreal) to his knees then his thighs (which Annabeth had spent almost too much time between now), up his torso and his chest (which she knew made for an excellent pillow) to Percy’s face, set in a firm, hard stare. 

And that fucking blue lipstick again. 

She can’t even focus on Beyonce herself, too distracted by the way her hand traces the length of Percy’s outstretched thigh held in perfect arabesque as she gracefully drapes herself over him, crooning softly into his ear.

Annabeth should do that next time. That’s her spot, after all. 

Tearing her eyes away from the screen even as Piper watches, enraptured, she slips out her phone, sending a quick, furious text. 

annabeth: BEYONCE???????

A minute, then he responds. 

percy: oh lol i didn’t realize that came out today 😁

percy: what’d you think?

annabeth: i think im going to kill you later

“Just look at him,” Piper says, pausing on Percy’s form, his arms outstretched, fingers placed delicately around a bar. “I mean--look at him!”

“Yeah,” she chuckles, maybe a little uneasy. “He’s alright I guess.”

Incredulous, Piper swivels her head. “Alright? Alright? Do you need your eyes checked?”

She just shrugs. 

Why is she being so weird about this? It’s just Piper. She’s trained to find symmetry and beauty in bodies. They’ve happily shared crushes and fixations plenty of times before, so why is Annabeth being so weird about Percy? It’s not like they’re… you know… dating or anything. Just hooking up a bit. 

Piper squints at her, then shrugs herself. “Fine. I don’t have time to get an answer out of you anyway. Come on.”

“Speaking of time,” Annabeth says, following Piper back into the kitchen studio, “I have to head out by 6:30.”

“Oh yeah?” Piper’s head is buried in her belt box, searching for the perfect accent. “What for?”

“I’ve got a show to catch.”

“Kind of early,” she says, pulling out something thin and silver. “Don’t you usually meet Thalia at the ass crack of midnight?”

“Well I kind of want to eat first.”

“Okay.” She cinches the belt around her waist, tight. “Then you’re going to have to help me with this skirt.”

***

Hands aching from hours of macrame, Annabeth walks up to the box office window at the Koch Theater at 7:46, having a handful of second thoughts. 

Old, uppity white couples keep shooting her some particularly intense passive aggressive glares, some of them even venturing into actually aggressive territory, which usually wouldn’t even register on her very short list of things to care about, except that she is feeling woefully out of place. The lady in front of her has ten pounds of diamonds hanging off of each old, wrinkly ear, and the best Annabeth could do was fish out her least-ripped pair of jeans, pairing it with one of her nicer black shirts, the sleeves long enough to cover most of her tattoos. The macrame kept her longer than she had meant, so she didn’t have time to change before dinner, but fuck it, right?

She did also take out most of her face jewelry on the way. But she left the nose stud, obviously. And the tongue piercing. And the industrial, because Percy really likes those, so she doesn’t feel that bad about it. And he hadn’t even told her about this until after she had already given herself the half-undercut, so it’s not like she could do anything about that either.

“Can I help you?” At least this box office worker isn’t giving her the stink-eye. 

“I’m here to pick up a ticket? Should be under ‘Jackson.’” He’d offered to leave it under her name, but this was safer. She doesn’t think her mom is a big ballet person, but she isn’t about to risk it, either.

She slides the ticket towards Annabeth beneath the glass plane. “Enjoy the show,” she says, with a quirk of her mouth that is surprisingly sincere for someone in customer service. 

She’s pretty sure she’d enjoy the show more if she weren’t panicking thinking about getting dirt on their fancy carpets. Her boots are clean, of course, and she doesn’t really care, but she doesn’t want to, like, embarrass Percy or whatever. She’d asked him if she should dress up, but he’d assured her otherwise. “No one’s going to care, I promise,” he’d told her the night before, her lounging in his bed while he did some pushups. “And if anyone says something, let me know and we can kick their ass after the show together.”

“Great. Guess I don’t have to break out the Chanel, then.”

He’d paused, frowned, then huffed a laugh, shaking his head. Like the idea of Annabeth wearing Chanel was hilarious. Like what she’s wearing tonight really is the best that she can do.

Self-consciousness isn’t really a feeling that Annabeth has anymore. She’s spent so many years chafing against expectations, shucking them off when she inevitably failed to meet them, desperate for a place, a crowd where she could just be. In her scene, she doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, and when Percy is out with her, he doesn’t need any convincing. He likes her. He likes her a lot, she thinks. He likes her enough to let himself be dragged out to every shitty dive bar and shittier rock show in New York City, laughing and cheering and holding her close the whole time. He likes her enough to cart her to his apartment at 4 AM, inevitably waking Nico up from his undead slumber, and leave her with nothing but a glass of water and a kiss on the forehead. And she likes him, too--a lot. Annabeth likes Percy enough to ditch her band t-shirts for a night and track mud on the carpet of the Koch Theater and willingly sit through a performance of fucking Swan goddamn Lake of all things, and it’s only a little scary how much she is willing to do for him after only a few months of fucking him. Because this really isn’t her scene, not anymore. 

The weight of everyone’s stares bears down on her, threatening to crush her beneath them, a feeling she was so sure she’d left behind. 

At least Percy had been thoughtful enough to get her a ticket out of the way in the back of one of the balcony sections. It’s a bit of a hike, but the audience members aren’t dressed quite as nicely as the ones downstairs, and she feels like she can breathe a little easier.

She pulls out her phone, checking her text messages on instinct. There’s a selfie from Percy in his stage makeup (and she’s not going to lie… he looks fucking pretty), with his standard accompanying three blue heart emojis. She can’t help it, her heart skips a beat and she can’t help but smile, even as she rolls her eyes. She’s just about to send him something appropriately sarcastic when another text notification slides in. It’s from her father. 

Hi Annabeth… I was talking to a friend in Boston who said he's looking for a new 

prospective in his architecture firm. Passed your information along. 

Love you, dear

She swipes it away. Deletes the whole text conversation, for good measure. 

Forget about him. This night is about Percy.

A few minutes later, so engrossed in Percy’s program bio (it’s about all she can focus on right now), she doesn’t even notice everyone around her leaning forward in breathless anticipation, until the warm, honey-like sound of the oboe draws her head up. 

Roughly two minutes in, she’s really wishing she had attempted the synopsis. The extent of her knowledge of Swan Lake is a few half-remembered orchestra rehearsals in her teens and reading the Wikipedia article on that Natalie Portman movie a few months ago, and she definitely doesn’t recall there being anything about any Men-in-Tights looking motherfuckers prancing around. They’re sort of bobbing, back and forth, elegantly stepping from one side of the stage to another. Even from back here, she can see the delicate, precise placement of their hands, fingers curved just so, moving through space as though they aren’t bound by the laws of physics.

The fingers, she remembers. She could never get the hang of the fingers. Her old ballet teacher had given up on them after a week, and that had been the beginning of the end for that particular extracurricular. 

Now her fingers tap on her jeans, impatient, far faster than the easy going music on stage. She’s just about to give in to the millennial instinct and pull out her phone, maybe play a round of sudoku, when the dancers motion as one to the back corner, and Percy comes stepping out. His hair is perfectly slicked back, gelled down, any hint of curl beaten into submission, and his smile is small, but white, gleaming against the tanned brown of his skin. She can’t help but smile back, like he could somehow see her. Finally, she thinks, relaxing a little more into her seat. Something to watch.

On his off days, her off days, any day when she would spent the night at his (always at his, never at hers) and wake up wrapped in his comforter and the smell of seawater, she would take the blanket with her and steal into his living room, curl up on his couch with her feet tucked under her legs, and watch him dance. She’s seen him drill these sequences over, and over, and over again, counting furious sequences of sixes and eights beneath his breath in duet with the thuds of his feet on his floor. Most times he would notice her and shoot her a grin, granting her permission to observe the artist at work. Sometimes, though, he would be so caught up in his body, the shifting of his feet and the music in his head, that it was like he couldn’t see her at all. Seemingly alone, he would dance, uninhibited, and she would be struck by a feeling that she usually reserves for specific monuments. Watching Percy dance in his apartment, in his brown tights and black tank top, lost in his own world, is like looking at pictures of the Gateway Arch, or the Hoover Dam, or the Parthenon.

She searches for that feeling now, leaning forward in her seat, eyes hungrily raving his form, but she just doesn’t see it. It’s… honestly, it’s a little boring. She won’t lie. He had warned her it would be something of a slow start, but this isn’t exactly an ADHD friendly medium, and she is losing her patience, just a bit. He’s so reserved, like he’s holding something close to his chest, impersonal as he takes the hands of the female dancers and lets them twirl around him. 

Personally, Annabeth thinks that he looks kind of lost. Maybe he’s just nervous--it’s a big role and he’s a young guy. But he had seemed fine when he’d kissed her goodbye just after lunch. 

The court jester is killing it though. Feeling just the slightest bit guilty, she lets her eyes drift over to him, deciding to watch him for a while instead.

On some level, she does appreciate the skill on display here. Percy can raise his back leg in a perfect ninety degree angle that would make her architecture professors sweat. The girls drift back and forth across the stage on the tips of their toes, weightless and ethereal. It’s mesmerizing, and she lets herself be mesmerized.

Time must slip away from her, because she blinks and all of a sudden the stage has gone from sunny yellow to cool blue, the crowds of dancers having vanished. He is alone on stage. Percy kneels in a deep lunge that makes her thighs ache just looking at him (and for… other reasons), his arms and his attention pointed to the wings, with a… Annabeth squints. When the hell did he get a crossbow?

But everything is swept to the sides when the White Swan tiptoes her way on stage, impossibly graceful, and all of a sudden, Annabeth gets it. 

It feels a little cliche to say, but the way that woman moves on the floor really does remind her of those old, vintage jewelry boxes, suspended in animation, moved by some otherworldly force. It’s amazing. It’s a little terrifying. Sublime is the word that comes to mind as Annabeth watches her. Her arms move with fluidity, perfect curves, her fingers trailing behind her like wings. 

And Percy is just as mesmerized as Annabeth is. As the audience is. 

A few things hit her, in rapid succession. First, that Percy is, actually, a really good actor. His reticence before--he’d been playing a character. He’d been playing aloof and reserved and unmoored, because Percy--Siegfried--whatever--has been waiting his whole life for something to fulfill him, until this singular moment, the moment he laid eyes on this beautiful creature. Second, that she doesn’t need words to understand what’s going on. It’s all there, in every look and gesture and step, as the two characters circle each other, slowly but irrevocably falling in love. And third, that she recognizes the look on his face. It’s the look that Percy gives her when she has been talking for too long and he can’t get a word in edgewise, or when she screams along to the god awful underground bands, three beers in and missing every single fuck she’d ever had, or when she wakes up after him to Percy’s arms around her waist, her hair in his mouth and her head resting against his collarbone. She recognizes it, because that’s the look that Siegfried has for Odette. Because that’s the look that Percy has for Annabeth. Because he loves her.

And fourth, that that doesn’t make her as happy as she wishes it would. 

There’s a cold pit in her stomach for the rest of the show, a turning screw that twists in deeper, minute by minute, with every turn of the dancers. She wastes the next hour trying to puzzle this out, not even pretending to watch the drama unfolding on stage, because it makes no goddamn sense. (Her situation, not the ballet--she managed to skim the synopsis during intermission, her foot tapping incessantly against the blessedly empty seat in front of her.) Things are great between them. It’s been a heady, intoxicating four months, full of bubbles and butterflies, sweet, soft mornings, and some really, really phenomenal sex. This should make her happy. This should put her over the fucking moon, and she cannot, for the life of her, figure out why it doesn’t.

The prima ballerina comes back out as the Black Swan, just as poised and precise as her counterpart, but she’s a great actress as well, because there is something undeniably different about her. Her arms move like rubber, like joints are just an afterthought, wrapping themselves around Percy’s neck and shoulders. She misdirects his attention, drawing his eyes to her wrists, her clavicle, the curve of a leg or the point of her toe. Seducing him. Tricking him. 

Like Annabeth. 

Because try as she might to run from it, Annabeth isn’t who she says she is. She wants so desperately to be this fuck-the-rules, fight-the-power, punk rock princess that she took every part of her that didn’t fit that image and tried to rip it out of her, bloody and struggling. Her trust fund, her two (two!) Harvard degrees, her enriched childhood and her bright and shining future; she took it all out back and shot it, and prayed that would be the end of it. She’s a phony, just like that goddamn Black Swan. Percy is in love with a phony. 

Her sweet, wonderful, devastatingly kind and handsome Percy--she tricked him and made him fall in love with a mishmash of archetypes and aesthetics, distracting him with nose piercings and ripped t-shirts and ugly, deafening noise. 

She’s not surprised that she’s crying when the curtain falls. She’d never known that Siegfried and Odette both died at the end. 

When the cast reunites for curtain call, Percy is given a standing ovation, and Annabeth enthusiastically joins in, wiping the tears from her eyes, smearing her makeup. 

She doesn’t wait for him at the stage door, but sits on the steps of the theater, plucking at her sleeves, aching for a drink and wishing she had had the presence of mind to wear something a little nicer. Percy finds her there almost an hour after the show ended. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

In the dark of night, illuminated only by streetlamps, she can’t read his face--but she can read exhaustion, in every part of his body. “I was waiting for you by the stage door.”

Something in her stomach goes cold. “I… wasn’t sure if I was allowed,” she offers, weakly. 

He smiles, a light in the dark. “Of course you’re allowed,” he says, offering her a hand. “Shall we?”

She knows what will happen next. She’ll take his hand, and they’ll walk to the subway together, fingers intertwined. They’ll get on the 1 train headed north, and Percy will let her rest her head against him, tilting his head back against the window, eyes closed, almost asleep. The doorman will nod at them as they walk up to Nico’s apartment, barely batting an eye at his sweats and her ripped jeans, the two of them sticking out like a sore thumb in a sea of impeccably dressed rich New Yorkers. Nico will wave at them distractedly from his office, gulping down his sixth coffee of the night, and they’ll tiptoe into his room, falling asleep in each other’s arms with little more than a good night kiss. 

Which, of course, is exactly what does end up happening.

Almost. 

Annabeth crawls on top of him in his bed, kissing him soft and senseless. She doesn’t know where he’s getting this energy from, but she is not complaining as he slips up inside of her, the two of them rocking each other gently to orgasm, their foreheads pressed together. Shuddering as he comes, he captures her mouth in another kiss, pouring every ounce of love he has in him into her.

A waste, honestly. 

But as far as goodbye sex, it’s pretty damn great. 

She needs to end this, before either of them get hurt. It’s the least of what he deserves, after all. To put yourself out there, to offer yourself up like that, that might be the bravest thing Annabeth’s ever heard of, and surely, Annabeth can find the courage to do what needs to be done.

[1moreff-creator]

#WHY IS THERE ANOTHER NONSENSICAL CHARACTER ORDER.#I ALREADY PULLED CHARACTER CREATION ORDER OUT OF THIN AIR I GOT NOTHING HERE (<- prev tags)

Alright before you freak out I don't think this order is as nonsensical as the cast list lol. I think it's just to build a narrative when you read the quotes in order, so I hope you don't mind if I ramble about it a bit because I love being a nerd about writing and DRDT!

So you start with Teruko because:

Teruko: Some years ago, she was searching for someone named ‘Teruko Tawaki.’

It's the one line that talks about Mai's past, and also you want to inflict as much psychological damage as early as possible!

This line haunts me.

But also protag privilege. Of course she's first.

After that, you have a bunch of quotes that establish who Mai is as a person, an introduction basically.

Charles: A girl who loves her family. Rose: She remembers everything that is important to others. Arturo: A girl who sees the beauty in everyone. Levi: A girl with a floral tattoo on her arm.

The exact order is probably unimportant, but it's nice the recap duos of Charles & Teruko and Levi & Arturo stick together, as well as the Memory Duo of Charles and Rose.

From there you have a few lines explaining her relationship with the rest of the cast.

Whit: A girl with many friends.

Here's the man of the hour, establishing first and foremost that Mai had friends, which works as a set up for the following lines:

Eden: She kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up. J: She kept it a secret, and told no one. Hu: A girl who wanted to keep everyone safe. Nico: Everyone confided in her.

Eden's line is still as confusing as ever-

what the fuck does that mean eden please i am begging you on my hands and knees what the fuck are you talking about

-but it can be read as "she's very patient with her friends." J and Nico bring up her tendency to keep secrets, and Hu establishes she wanted to keep everyone safe. You might notice they're starting to get a bit more ominous as they go on, starting to talk in the past tense. Building up to:

Ace: A girl who had a bright future.

Apart from the recap duo of Nico & Ace staying together, we reach the point where we start seeing something went deeply wrong. We started with one line about her past, then moved on to talking about how she was during Hope's Peak time, and now in theory we talk about what happens in the last stage of her life (not confirmed dead but come on).

Arei: She doesn’t like it when her friends fight. Min: An average girl with nothing special at all about her. Xander: She couldn’t stand to do nothing. Veronika: A girl who didn’t foresee the consequences.

I say we talk about her last moments in theory because Arei's and Min's placements have always confused me a bit. Xander is very clearly talking about whatever he and Mai were doing together, and Veronika can thus be inferred to be talking about the consequences of said thing. So are Arei's and Min's lines also related?

I've always had the mini-theory that Min pushed against the HPA Operation Xander and Mai had going on, and that's why she seems so insistent Mai didn't have anything special at all about her. She angy at her girlfriend. If that's the case, then Arei is referencing Min and Mai/Xander's disagreement on this. Also Min & Xander recap duo.

But again, that's a pretty out there theory based on very little except this, and my hope that we'll get a flashback at the end which will heavily feature Min. Please?

In any case, this all leads to the climax:

David: She forgives everyone. MonoTV: It’s all your fault.

Naturally Protag Foilman David gets to be the last of the participants, opposite of Teruko and giving out a horrendously ominous line given the placement. The idea that Mai forgives everyone also serves as nice contrast to MonoTV blaming Teruko someone for Mai's death something.

Hope that made some sense! I've wanted to ramble about that for a while now, you just gave me an excuse lol.

Okay I noticed this recently and it's been bugging me. It's nothing important, but it's slightly inconveniencing me.

So you know the list of favorite and least favorite colors the dev gave us in the latest Q&A?

(Order: Teruko - Charles - Whit - Rose - Arturo - Levi - Eden - J - Hu - Nico - Ace - Arei - Min - Xander - Veronika - David)

Well, turns out the characters are actually listed in the order their quotes appear in the source code of Mai's page (and allow me to momentarily ignore the implication that this order has not been forgotten and is therefore important to an extent):

(The order I'm referring to is Teruko - Charles - Rose - Arturo - Levi - Whit - Eden - J - Hu - Nico - Ace - Arei - Min - Xander - Veronika - David - MonoTV)

Except, for some ungodly reason, Whit. Who has moved from in between Levi and Eden, all the way to right after Charles.

Why? Why would dev do this? To annoy me, personally?

Am I supposed to assume Whit has the power to change text from beyond the fourth wall, and he uses this universe-shattering power just so his name can be closer to Charles? Cause he likes him? Is this the power of the Ultimate Matchmaker at play? Is he a Monika DDLC kinnie? What is this?

This also happens for the ice cream flavors btw, except here Ace is also somewhere else. But at least he has the excuse that he didn't say an ice cream, so it's at the bottom for comedic effect.

This implies the Mai Akasaki order can be broken for at least two reasons:

To further the Charwhit agenda.

To dunk on Ace Markey.

Why though.

[the-sympathetic-villain]

You Belong With Me - Chapter 38

AO3 | First | Previous | Next | Masterpost  

Description: Much to his surprise, after being released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Logan has been appointed as a the prince’s new advisor.  

Word Count: 5024

Chapter Warnings: Anger, Lashing out, Mentions of criminal activity, Crying, Self-Esteem issues, Mild suicidal ideation, mentions of loss (Let me know if I missed anything!)

---

    “Remy,” Virgil hissed as the fae slipped through the trees ahead of them, nearly losing them yet again. “Where the hell are you going?”

    “Just keep up.” Remy muttered, dodging out of the dense trees as he swept gracefully out of the woods as he turned onto the narrow road in front of them. His shadows curled around his feet as he stalked forward along his path. He could feel their agitation building as they twisted and clawed at his calves for his attention as he ignored them.

    “Hey, stop.”

    Virgil's hand caught his arm, spinning him around as he let out a threatening hiss, to which the kid responded by hissing back at him just as threateningly. Remy stopped, taken aback as he stared blankly at Virgil.

    “Listen, Rem. I know you’re upset, but it's the middle of the day. What if there are hunters around?”

    “I'm not upset.” Remy yanked his arm from his friend's grip. His eyes flared a bright pink as he glared at his friend. “I am pissed and I pity any hunter who has the nerve to stand in my way today.”

    Virgil stood with his mouth agape as Remy swept around down the road, leaving a trail of menacing trail of darkness in his. Glancing back at Roman and Patton, Virgil swallowed back his nervousness at their helpless expressions as he turned to chase Remy through the slick mud.

    “Remy—”

    “Relax, kid.” Remy muttered, casting an exasperated glance over his shoulder at Virgil. “Hunters ain’t stupid enough to travel this road.”

    Virgil nearly stopped in his tracks as he glanced around the suddenly ominous woods. He let out a long groan as he rushed after Remy. “I'm sure I don’t want to know what that means.”

    “Means only the worst kind of criminal dares this far into this part of the woods.” Remy replied dryly. “A slow, painful death awaits anyone who enters here when they are unwelcome.”

    “And we're here because?”

    “The defenses are down, Virgil.” Remy deadpanned, not even glancing back at him. “Not to mention, these fools value their miserable lives. They wouldn’t dare cross me.”

    Virgil grumbled at Remy's apparent disinterest and was nearly about to make a sarcastic retort when a small, log cabin seemed to come out of nowhere on the road ahead. Virgil choked in a breath as the silence suddenly hung heavy over them. Hs friends slowed as they approached the aged, single-story building and Virgil shivered as the apothecary sign creaked over their heads, swaying with the breeze as the rain fell on their heads.

    “Rem—”

    Virgil lifted his head just in time to catch sight of Remy’s shadows as they seeped into the frame of the door. His eyes widened and he flinched. On pure instinct, he stepped in front of Patton and Roman as the door blew clear off its hinges into the shop with a loud crash.

    Remy disappeared through the door before Virgil had a chance to react. Virgil swore under his breath as he turned to charge after Remy, but a hand caught his arm. He turned to see his other friends looking wide-eyed at him.

    “Are you sure about this guy, Virge?” Roman asked, eyeing the building in front of them with suspicion in his eyes.

    “I trust him, princey.” Virgil muttered, glancing nervously at the door.

    “We've only got one shot on this.” Roman prompted gently. “If he doesn't know where Logan is, we're not going to get another chance. Just please tell me you’re sure about this.”

    “I am, princey. If anyone can get us there, Remy can.”

    “Okay.” Roman nodded hesitantly looking back at Patton. “Then, go.”

    Virgil nodded back before quickly darting up the steps and swinging around the corner. He rushed in, expecting enemies, but as he crossed the threshold, the sight of Remy standing silently alone in the room stopped him in his tracks. Cautiously, he stepped forward, ducking through the doorway of the seemingly empty building as he approached Remy.

    The floor creaked underneath Virgil as he moved across the old wooden floor. Herbs lay abandoned on the counter as if someone had given up on preparing them midway through the process and Virgil could tell by the layers of dust collecting on the shelves that no one had been here in weeks.

    “Rem,” Virgil asked, taking a timid step forward. “Why are we here?”

    “Bastards.” Remy muttered under his breath, eyes glowing as his shadows crept over the counter. Bottles and jars surrounded his hands, but as he approached, Virgil could just make out a note clutched tightly in his grip. “As if skipping this realm is going to stop me from peeling the skin from their bones when I get my hands on them—”

    “Remy—” Virgil ducked as one of the bottles of oil went flying across the room, shattering against the wall. “—Stop!”

    Remy glanced over his shoulder, faltering as he stared back at Virgil with a blank expression. His eyes flickered back to their usual soft brown as he seemed to register Virgil standing across the room from him. The powerful fae’s shoulders slumped as a numb shock settled across his face. Virgil hesitated, unsure of what to do until a flash of red sent him rushing forward.

    “You’re bleeding.”

    “Am I?”

    “Yes, you idiot.” Virgil sighed at Remy’s dazed expression as he took his arm. He started to roll Remy's sleeve up, examining the narrow cut as he continued to mutter under his breath. “A piece of that glass probably came flying back at you.”

    “Whatever. Doesn’t matter.” Remy grunted, pulling his arm out of Virgil’s grip as he swayed toward the door. “Let's go.”

    Virgil groaned, jumping back as be held out an arm to block Remy from leaving. “Hold on for one minute—”

    Remy growled in exasperation as he glared at Virgil. “We don’t have a minute to spare, Virgil. The kid's fucking gone.”

    “Then make it quick, because you’re not taking a step out of that door until you tell me what's going on.” Virgil shot back, growing irritated as he gestured to Roman and Patton in the doorway. “Our friend is missing and I need to know if you're wasting my time.”

    Remy's agitation faltered as he took in their faces staring back at him. He gritted his teeth holding a finger up to Virgil. “Listen, babes. The only way any of us get to the kid in time is if we move quickly—”

    “Remy—”

    “The kid spent the better part of a century as the crown’s prized possession, and suddenly one day, he's nowhere to be found. Didn't that ever sound a little too convenient to be true?”

    Remy slowed his words as he flashed Virgil a meaningful look. “Except you know what happened to him, Virgil. He ended up in the countryside with a family that could take care of him. Now, it wasn't wasn't the most accommodating placement given the kid had to stay hidden, but girl if you haven’t put the rest of the story, I can’t help you.”

    Virgil felt a lump in his throat as realization swept over him. “He was one of Emile’s kids.”

    “There we go.” A gentle smile spread across Remy’s face as he took in the shocked faces staring back at him. “Admittedly, he was a bit more complicated than most of the kids I sent to Emile, but the concept was the same. Kid needed a home after I took him from that tower, so we brought him here—”

    “Took him?” Roman's voice trembled with anger as he stepped out of the shadows. “You kidnapped him?”

    Remy raised an eyebrow, amused at the accusation. “You might have been able to say that if it weren’t your daddy who put the kid in my hands, hun. However, seeing as that’s what happened I will be accepting zero blame for that whole affair.”

    “My father—” Roman stared at him dumbfounded, glancing back at Patton. “What does he have to do with this?”

    “Girl, it was your father who sent Logan with me.” Remy stated impatiently before catching sight of shocked disappointment on Roman's face. His anger quickly faded to sympathy as the prince stared up at him.

    “Where was I?” Roman whispered breathlessly, suddenly feeling unsteady on his feet.

    “This was a few months before you and your brother were born.” Remy leaned back against the counter, running a hand through his hair.

    “He never said anything."

    “Don’t take it personally, kid.” Remy muttered, softening his tone. “That part wasn't exactly his choice.”

    Roman’s eyes narrowed. His gaze danced suspiciously between Remy and Virgil as he took in Remy's quiet response. “And why is that?”

    “King Thomas agreed to give up a portion of his memories to keep Logan safe.” Remy shrugged, watching the prince with softness in his eyes. “Well technically, both of your fathers did, but Thomas is the only one who remembers when I come to visit. Nico never really had a hand in the kid's life.”

    “You visit my father?” Roman spat in disbelief as he took a threatening step towards Remy. “Why would he consort with a criminal like you?”

    “Back off, princey.” Virgil puffed up, stepping to cut Roman off from Remy with a defensive growl.

    “Really, Virgil?” Roman's voice dropped as he glared at Virgil. “You’re going to side with that bastard over me.”

    “Don’t you dare put that on me, Roman.” Virgil hissed back. “If it weren't for him, I wouldn’t even have been alive long enough to even meet you—”

    Remy rested a hand on Virgil’s shoulder as he huffed. Virgil turned to look at him, confused at gentle look on Remy's face as he looked toward Roman. ““Virgil, he's fine. You deserve to know the truth about what your father and I were doing, Prince Roman."

    Roman's eyes darted from Remy to Virgil defensively as Remy stepped toward him, but he held his ground as the fae approached. “Then, enlighten me.”

    “I see him in you, babes. You've got that same fire in your eyes that he does.” Remy smiled, raising a hand as he gestured to Roman’s face. “In fact, he reacted to the idea of working with me in about the same way as you just now.”

    “And yet, you’re expecting me to believe he that he just handed a child over to you.” Roman retorted with a huff, stepping out of Remy’s reach. “I won't believe that he's the kind of villain that would play politics with a child's life.”

    “No one was playing games with Logan's life.” Remy stated plainly, dropping his hand. “He was trying to send Logan home.”

    “What?”

    “Being locked away in a tower was no life for that kid—”

    “My father wouldn’t do that.” Roman spat, leering at Remy. “He'd never mistreat a child.”

    “Now that you’re right about.” Remy met Roman's gaze. “The kid was definitely mistreated before Thomas, but the king treated him like his own child. He loved that kid and he gave Logan the best life he could, but nothing changes the fact that he was stuck in that tower.”

    Roman's eyes filled with skepticism as he met Remy’s gaze. “So, you took him to work among criminals?”

    “Babes, you’re awfully judgmental for a guy whose best mate was the best pickpocket I ever trained.” Remy’s gaze danced to Virgil who shifted nervously beside him as the prince’s eyes flashed with guilt. He paused, resting a reassuring hand on Virgil’s shoulder as he stared at Roman seriously. “People do what they have to in order to survive. Not everyone was born with the privilege you were.”

    “I know.” Roman hung his head as Remy chastised him. “I didn't mean to belittle anyone for doing what they need to.”

    Remy stared for a long moment before relaxing into a subtle smile. “You’re okay, kid. You just need a little direction to your passion.”

    Roman scoffed, glancing subtly at Virgil's cheeky grin. “That's something I'm reminded of every day.”

    “Good.” Remy stepped forward. “Listen, your family tree has had its share or rotten apples, but your father wasn’t one of them. He treated Logan like his own son and it devastated him to have to give him up, but Logan wasn’t safe there anymore.”

    “Okay.” Roman sighed, tension releasing from his shoulders as Remy smiled at him.

    Remy nodded with a sad smile. “The night I took Logan—There was nothing political about what happened. Thomas and I made a deal. Your father agreed to keep the law off me and I spent whatever time I could trying to find a way to spare Logan from the curse.”

    “You what?” Roman straightened upright. The tension in his shoulders eased though his gaze remained skeptical.

    “I love that kid, Roman. He’s the kindest soul I've ever met and there’s no limit to what I would do for him.” Remy smiled, almost shy at the admission. “Normally, I would have been checking in on him every couple weeks, but this last trip into the Other Realm looking for answers nearly did me in for good.”

    “You've been trying to save Lo?”

    Remy tipped his head up as Patton’s small voice broke the silence. His shoulders were shaking as he wrapped his arms around Roman.

    “I have.” Remy bit his lip, quelling back his worry as he playfully wrapped an arm around Virgil’s neck, grinning into his ear. “I care about every child I've helped, but this one and Logan have a special place in my cold, black heart.”

    “Shut up.” Virgil grumbled as heat rose in his cheeks.

    “—or perhaps I can’t resist a kid who can’t keep out of trouble.”

    Virgil bit his lip, groaning at the knowing grin on Remy’s face. “I don't get into that much trouble."

    “Girl, please.” Remy cooed as Virgil pushed away from him. “If I had a silver piece for every time I pulled your ass out of the fire, I could bathe in my riches.”

   “Can you save Logan?”

    Virgil lifted his head at Roman's weary voice. His stomach sunk with guilt at the exhaustion in the prince’s eyes. He frowned, turning to Remy as the fae's expression turned serious once more.

    Remy straightened up, slowly slipping his hands down in his pockets as he stared at Roman. “There’s nothing that I can do.”

    Virgil sucked in a sharp breath as the air seemed to deflate from his friends. He clenched a fist as he took a step towards Remy. “There has to be a—”

    “We’ve wasted too much time here.” Remy muttered, stepping towards the door. “If we move through part of the night, we may be able to make it to the entrance to the Other Realm by morning. They still have a half day' travel on us, but if we’re lucky—”

    Virgil blinked, his mouth hanging agape. “I thought you said—”

    “I said I can't help him, Virgil,” Remy smirked as he tipped his head toward the exit, indicating for them to follow him out the door into the pouring rain. “but fortunately, he happens to be with the one person in the world who might have a chance at saving him.”

---

    Logan blinked his eyes open gently. The chill of the morning air rushed over his face and he shivered as he raised a hand to his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes. He breathed in a soft gasp as he felt wetness on his cheek, bringing back memories of night before.

    He rose up slowly, careful not to wake Janus as he pushed himself to his feet. The full chill of the morning air swept over his body as the thick blanket dropped to the ground and he could almost feel his teeth chattering as he glanced down at the man who'd been lying next to him.

    Janus was almost peaceful as he slept, curled loosely in the corner of the blanket. Gratefully, it seemed that he'd at least taken a portion of the dense covers as the fire had died down, though Logan could guess by the fae's blue lips that it was not nearly enough to keep him warm.

    Logan let out a long breath as he knelt down to pull the blanket over Janus' legs before turning back to the dimly glowing embers from the fire from the night before. Silently, he rose to his feet and glanced around nervously as he headed deeper into the cave. The hair on the back of his neck started to raise as he nervously started to move away from the dim twilight of the morning as he searched the dark reached of the cave for Janus' stash of kindling.

    Thankfully, his search for suitable kindling was quicker than anticipated. Logan had assumed they had burned through the majority of Janus' stock, but to his surprise, the walls of the cave were stocked nearly to the ceiling with extra wood and dried underbrush.

    Janus said this is a portal to the Other Realm.

    Logan swallowed timidly as he squatted to gather a suitable amount of fuel for their fired. The thought bounced around in his head for a few minutes as he gathered a few logs into his arms.

    This place was the last point of rest before the Other Realm. It made sense that fae would rest here for the night before moving on. He couldn’t help but wonder how many of his own kind had passed through these walls. The thought should have been exciting. He would have loved to learn more about his ancestry at any other time, but in that moment, the though rested like a weight on Logan’s chest. Melancholy settled over him as he gathered the last of the kindling and followed the light back the dwindling fire, lost in thought.

    Fortunately, the embers were still glowing when he returned and it didn't take him long to have the fire roaring to life in front of him. The heat swept over him, chasing the heat from his bones but still he felt restless. He let out a long sigh, glancing up at Janus. The man was still sound asleep, and thankfully he seemed to have stopped shivering as the fire's heat filled the cave. A sad smile twitched at Logan’s lips as he stared at the sleeping fae. At least one of them was resting well this morning.

    Logan’s gaze dipped to the ground as he fidgeted with his cloak. He glanced at Janus for a moment longer before ducking out of the cave into the twilight of the morning. His mind slowed as the bright light filled his vision, giving him a brief moment of reprieve from the loud, echoing thoughts in his mind.

    Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be meant to last. His eyes slowly adjusted to the light, bringing with them a feeling of emptiness that filled his chest. He glanced around the damp foliage of the forest as his breath caught in his throat, feeling heavy as he turned the corner  outside of the cave. His body suddenly ached with desperation as he rushed around the side of the cave.

    A silent sob was ripped from his throat as he spun around leaning into the trunk of a tree. The bark was mostly dry as he slid down, trying to catch his breath as he rested back on his ankles. The events of the past few days washed over him as his emotions came rushed to the forefront of his mind.

    Minutes felt like hours as his chest heaved and tears streaked down his face. Images of his friends’ faces played in his hand as he imagined how Virgil felt waking up to find he'd snuck out without him. He imagined how hurt Patton would be that he hadn't even gotten the chance to talk to him on the day he left. Worst of all, he knew the guilt that Roman would feel that their last conversation was that where he told Logan of the destruction of the Fair Folk. Logan sucked in a sharp breath as his throat ached with regret.

    Gods. Why did I waste the last three days I had with him?

    It seemed so petty now as he curled against the tree in the middle of the woods as his silent cries pulled painfully at his chest. After what seemed like hours, his tension started to ease as he finally felt the cathartic release of the emotions he'd been suppressing for the last few weeks. His cries eventually quieted and a numbness began to settle over him as he listened to the quiet sounds of the forest. He was still for a moment before a familiar voice filled the air.

    “Logan?”

     Janus' voice shattered the silence, sending a wave of panic straight to Logan's heart. His shoulders stiffened as he wiped away the wetness on his cheeks, trying to hide his moment of weakness.

    “I'm here.” Logan called, swallowing with distaste as his voice cracked. “Just give me a mom—”

    His plea came a moment too late as Janus turned around the tree next to him. Logan ducked his head as he caught sight of Janus’ scales glittering above him.

    “You’re up.” Logan muttered as he tipped his head down, allowing his hair to fall over his eyes as he pushed himself to his feet. “Good. Let's go.”

    “Go where?” Janus voice was soft as he put up an arm to block Logan’s way.

    “Wherever you’re taking me.”

    Janus seemed to pause as Logan stopped in front of him, head tucked to his chest as he avoided Janus' gaze.  “I told you last night. I'm not taking you.”

    “You have to—” Logan’s heart sank as he crossed his arms across his chest. “—I appreciate the comfort you afforded me last night, but I know what has to happen. You don't have to sugarcoat anything for my benefit.”

    “My words last night weren’t empty promises, Logan.” Janus took a step forward, hesitating as Logan tensed. “You’re going home. I promise there’s no tricks this time.”

    “You said there wasn’t much time left to reach our destination.” Logan whispered, shifting his feet anxiously. “We should go.”

    “Even if we rushed, I'm not sure we could make it before the Dark Moon tonight. The hunters put us behind at least half a day.” Janus whispered, leaning against the tree as Logan’s eyes darkened. “There will be another. We'll figure something out before the next—”

    “Someone could get hurt if I don't do it now.” Logan interrupted quietly. His eyes were bloodshot as he finally looked up at Janus staring at him in sympathetic shock.

    “You will get hurt if you do this.” Janus pressed, resting a hand on Logan’s shoulder.

    “I've been living on borrowed time for long enough—” Logan’s voice cracked as tears threatened to fall from his eyes again.

    “Is that what you think this is?”

    Logan glanced up at Janus’ sharp tone with a weak glare, stopped by the look of concern in the man's eyes.

    “I should have died in that dungeon.” Logan whispered hoarsely. “Everything since has been too much. I don't deserve what I've been given, especially if others must die for me to keep it.”

    “Your time was stolen from you. By Remus, by this curse and even by me.” Janus’ grip tightened on his shoulder as he reached up to push Logan's hair out of his face. His expression softened as Logan’s reddened eyes tipped up toward him. “Go home to your friends, kid. You've given more than enough to this war that wasn't yours to begin with.”

    “My friends—” Logan’s gaze faltered and dropped to Janus' chest and then to the ground as he looked around frantically for glowing yellow piece of amber. “Your gem—It's gone. D-did you drop it?”

    “Hold on, kid. Just relax.” Janus held up a hand in gentle reassurance, forcing Logan to take a breath as he pulled the luminous piece of crystal from his pocket. “It's here.”

    “Oh.” Logan bit his lip, staring anxiously at the gem as it glowed in Janus hand.

    “I didn't want my captors to catch sight of the amulet, so I stashed it away when I got a chance. Luckily, they seemed content enough to catch me and didn't search my person while I was out.” Janus whispered as guilt wavered in his voice. “Listen, you don't have to worry anyway. Remus won't hurt your prince.”

    Logan's stare at the small crystal faltered as he glanced cautiously up at the sudden timidity in the man's demeanor. “What?”

    “What I said yesterday about the gem yesterday was…intentionally misleading.” Janus paused as he ran his thumb over the smooth surface of the gem. His eyes flicked up to Logan as he eyed him suspiciously. “The amber is a signal gem, and it is true that if it were broken, Remus would know something was amiss on my end. But even if the gem were broken, he would only collect your friends and return them to the castle. He’s under strict orders not to harm them in any way.”

    Logan furrowed his brow and the suspicion in his gaze intensified as his eyed danced between the gem and the apologetic look on Janus' face. “But you said—”

    “I said, if the gem was broken, Remus would know he could do as he liked.” Janus sighed as he held the necklace between his hands, running a finger along the black fabric that he had used to tie it around his neck. “Remus would no doubt love the opportunity have the prince under his control, so the statement wasn’t entirely false, but he will not harm them. You have my word.”

    “Why?”

    Janus tipped his head up at Logan soft question. The suspicion in the kid's eyes made his stomach twist, but he forced himself to continue. “I needed a way to force your hand if you resisted—”

    “No.” Logan interrupted stiffly. “Why did you tell Remus not to hurt them?”

    Janus stared blankly at the distrust in the kid's eyes for a moment before his resolve weakened. “I never wanted to hurt anyone—”

    “You let him hurt me.”

    Janus froze as Logan took a step back, looking away from him. A pit of sadness settled in his stomach as Logan’s fingers reached up to the cut still healing on his face.

    “I know." Janus whispered. “I am sorry, Logan. There’s truly no excuse for the way I've treated you.”

    Logan winced as he felt Janus take his wrist, relaxing slightly as he looked down to see Janus’ wrapping the black ribbon of the amber amulet around his wrist. After a second wrap around Logan’s wrist, he secured the amulet with a sturdy knot. Janus dropped his wrist as Logan continued to stare at him uneasily.

    “I wish you'd met me when I was a better person.” Janus hung his head. “When I lost your mother, I didn't just lose my best friend. Everything else seemed to go with it. My friendships, my relationships—Gone, and all I was left with was a task to finally end this war for good. It's consumed parts of me in a way I don't think I'll ever recover from.”

    “I'm going to end it. I just—” Logan started quietly.

    “No, you’re not.” Janus raised a hand to interrupt him. “You’re going home. You’re going to go home to the life you deserve to have, because I'm not letting this curse take any more good out of this world.”

    Logan ran his thumb over the glowing piece of amber secured around his wrist. “Janus—”

    “I never reported your presence to the courts. They still think you disappeared with your mother.” Janus whispered.  “Even if your prince arrests me when we return, that should give you some time to figure something else out—”

    Janus' grunted as Logan rushed forward and his arms curled around his chest. His stoicism melted away as he let his arms drop around Logan as emotion welled in his throat. “I'm so sorry, kid.”

    “Thank you, Janus. I appreciate what you’re doing, but—” Logan sucked in a breath as tears rolled down his face once more. “but I can't—I can't be responsible for the loss of an entire generation of fae and do nothing. I can't—"

    “An entire generation?” Janus leaned away. “What are you—”

    Janus' statement was cut off as he glanced at the ground. Shadows curled at his feet as he stared, tracing the curling darkness back into to the forest. His body tensed as he pushed Logan away, snarling at the shadows. “Logan, run—”

    Logan yelped as Janus was swept of off his feet and dragged into the forest. He stared blankly at the empty space before him before his reflexes kicked in and he quickly ducked under the branches, taking off in the direction Janus had been dragged. Having sight of Janus, Logan’s heart dropped as he heard a pained groan ahead of him. He ducked down, sprinting forward as the trees opened up to a clearing to reveal the last person he expected to see.

    “Where's the kid, Deceit?”

    “What kid?”

    Janus lay pinned on the ground by the man's knees. A dagger rested precariously on his throat as the man glared down at him with glowing pink eyes. Shadows twisted around the man's body, sending shivers down his spine as he felt the anger emanating off of him as he stared down at Janus.

    Remy.

    “Don't play with me, love." Remy’s voice radiated with power as he growled down at Janus. “I know you have him.”

    Logan stepped forward hesitantly overwhelmed with emotion as he skirted the edge of the clearing to get a better view. The sight stopped him in his tracks as he stepped out of the forest to the man he thought he knew.

    “R-Remy?”