#(granted its because i was sick at the start of the week and want to not catch anything else before flying home)

[fitzrove]

Me currently

blaming @emeraldskulblaka actually

[asliceofzosan]

because i woke up today still thinking of zosan's baby girl, here are some stuff about it that are now my roman empire:

none. i repeat NONE OF THESE STRAW HATS know how to hold a baby. sanji figured it out due to dormant maternal instincts alone. and more than half the time he has to yell at everyone to not hold her up by the calf or the ankles ("i'm looking at you luffy please for the love of the all blue do NOT gum gum whip her around like a toy—")

unlike both her dads, ayari is actually being extremely picky with food in the beginning. she hates certain textures and cries like its the end of the world when her baby food isn't heated to the right temperature. funnily enough, one of the few times she ate something she didn't want is if chopper is next to her eating the same thing and telling her its yummy. dw none of the baby food goes to waste. they're all re-used somehow in the week's menu. or zoro just ends up eating it.

ussop made a lil wrap around cloth for ayari so that sanji could cook while carrying her hands free. or zoro could have her strapped onto his back and nap while he does pushups.

robin could be seen reading books to ayari when both zoro and sanji are out cold and exhausted from being first time parents. one or both of them would wake up to find robin telling little ayari histories of the islands they visit, or the countries they've saved. she tones down some of the darker elements until she's old enough to grasp it. ayari grows up with auntie robin's love of wanting to know the world.

nami started doing her makeup with ayari on her lap. she shows all the different little products to her, letting her touch her brushes and everything. nami even "does ayari's makeup" too aka she just tickles her face with the brushes and pretends to put makeup on her so she feels like she's doing it too. when she's a little older, ayari asks sanji to join them and more often than not, sanji is making lunch with a full face of makeup done by ayari.

ayari's teething toy is a little plastic mouth sword. zoro is infinitely happy about it.

in the beginning, sanji tried to take up most of the parental responsibilities up until the point that he got too sick to even stand. he was stressed and exhausted beyond belief, actually pushing zoro away a lot. but when he collapses one day sporting a fever that was highly too reminiscent of when nami was sick after little garden, it scares him enough to finally seek zoro out for help.

and its not like zoro has not Tried to take the load off. its just that sanji was still fighting all his repressed feelings for zoro and this undue pressure hes put on himself to become a better parent than judge ever was to him. that he could raise this child with love and attention and devotion, completely forgetting that hes not the only parent.

zoro and sanji have a heartfelt talk about how the wish that was granted on that island was a blessing beyond belief. that theres a reason ayari looks like both of them. that she takes after both of them.

they both wished for this child in the deepest depths of their hearts. they wanted not just to be together but to have someone that grows up loved by them. cared for by them. not a restart or a replacement for a lost loved one like they first thought it was. but a child who sees them — zoro and sanji — and will one day wish to have a love like theirs.

oh also "luffy" is ayari's first word because zoro and sanji say it so often to stop their captain from doing dangerous shit while he's holding her. in line with that, her second word is "stop" so the first sentence she ever says is "luffy stop!"

the crew are hysterical over it. sanji stares into the void bc he wished for ayari's first word to be "dada"

he settles with the little joy of her fourth word being "marimo"

because her third word was "curly" (something he nearly strangled zoro for)

[roseykat]

TITLE: Foul Play

PAIRING: Seungmin x f!reader

SUMMARY: A couple of weeks after hooking up with your professor's tutor Seungmin, the repercussions from that evening start to take its effect.

WC: 6716

PART 1 - Don't bite the hand that feeds you

MASTERLIST

TAGLIST: @princejisung @yakosobaboba 🩷

SPOILER TAGS BELOW THE CUT

swearing, unexpected pregnancy, suggestive content but not smut based at all.

“…hence why I am positive that you will all submit your assignments on time by this Friday. Extensions will only be granted should you provide damning evidence that you’re either dying or sick. Until then, I’ll see you on Wednesday,” the lecturer’s voice booms throughout her large class, filled to capacity. 

‘Sick’ was a lesser form of a word to sum up how you had been feeling this entire week. The stress of navigating your studies began to douse the dwindling embers of motivation you had left in the tank to keep persevering towards the end of this semester. Yet, above all else, there was a looming nervousness in your stomach. 

One that could only arise from the prospect of heading to your tutorial straight after your lecture. A tutorial taught by a person who you had learned to despise with the way he treats you - or at least treated you since the last class with him was to leave a permanent mark etched in your memory forever. Even thinking about it zaps you with an interesting feeling as you revisit what occurred on that desk he sits behind.  

However, you haven’t been back since, but not because you didn’t want to. But because there had been no tutorials in the past two weeks, leaving you with some time to pick your energy back up and pull yourself over the line for the next upcoming load of work.

With a solid amount of time to head across campus and directly to the room, you took pride in adopting the pace of a snail and walking slowly. There was no need to rush and the impending awkwardness waiting for you to face didn’t need to arrive any sooner until it was time to actually be seated and ready for the two hour session. 

As he usually is, Seungmin was inside first to greet his students that stroll through his door with a dry tone. His trendy black glasses sit perched on the bridge of his nose as he flicks through the pages of handouts, counting to make sure he has enough for the numbers in his class. Taking advantage of the fact that he was distracted, you find a group of students to tag behind so as to not walk in alone. That way he wouldn’t notice you as much, even though he very much did. 

No eye contact, pretending as if he didn’t exist, trying to appear busy, and look as if you were in a hurry. All the signs you showed of trying to ignore him were so obvious that the corner of his mouth quirked up when he watched you sit down. His eyes remain on you completely, waiting for you to glance up at him even in the slightest. But you keep your cool from start to finish, throughout the entire duration of his tutorial that he stands up to run. 

For the whole of the class however, you couldn’t help but wonder if he thought about the other week too. Did he reminisce on how he bent you over the desk he teaches from in front of his students? Did he think about how hasty he was in trying to rip your panties off to eat you out? Did he think about the fact that he wanted to fuck you? 

Did he think twice about saying to you that he had waited a long time to do this…

“You can go now,” a voice calls out, making you jolt in your own seat. It was like waking up from a dream where you were falling from the sky, only you weren’t asleep and were very much awake with no sense of time that had passed. 

You look up towards the sound of the person that so rudely uproots you from your own thoughts, Seungmin. The person you didn’t want to take notice of you or make eye contact with for fear that he was going to approach you. At that point you wished he would just go back to ignoring you rather than hear him speak directly to you. 

“Right,” you reply, incredibly flustered while you scramble to grab your belongings and make haste to get to the door. 

“Y/N,” Seungmin calls out. 

Your stomach flips. 

Similar to what it’s been like first thing in the morning every now and then. It’s patently obvious who he’s talking to as you try and rush out behind the herd of students that are eager to head home. You could’ve played it off as if you didn’t hear him, but the fact that you were planted to the ground before the doorframe gave away the fact that you did.

“Yeah?”

“This is yours,” he stands up from the desk and walks over with some papers in a clear file pocket, handing it over to you. 

You look down at the title and the date printed on the first page. It was the assignment you so desperately needed him to check for weeks but never would for whatever stubborn reason. But that wasn’t the problem, given that the practice assignment he held was from over a week ago now had absolutely no relevance to you whatsoever. Because of him, you had to submit the work unchecked by a tutor which isn’t required per se, but lecturers have always stressed that it should be. 

However, the level of his audacity to hand it back now shoved every fear of awkwardness you thought was going to happen from the past few hours, right out of your brain. 

You scoff, snatching it rudely from his possession, “thanks. It would’ve been so much more useful had you marked it before I had to hand it in a week ago.” 

“Just doing what I do best apparently,” Seungmin shrugs, completely unbothered by the venom in your voice.

“Which is also apparently your worst,” you sigh. 

He raises his eyebrows as he watches you scrunch your assignment up and throw it in the bin beside the door, “I did tell you how stubborn you can be right?”

“Don’t recall that sorry.”

“Okay,” he responds sarcastically, rolling his eyes and just about laughing. “Suppose you don’t recall moaning out my name on that desk over there but here we are.”

Your cheeks heat up furiously, just as much as your anger starts to boil, “is that all you wanted to say?” 

“If you’re not going to continue acting the way you are to me, then no, that’s not all I wanted to say. In fact I have a question for you,” Seungmin responds before pausing and looking past you towards the door frame. “But I might have to ask you about it next time.”

Standing underneath it was someone he hadn’t seen before. He’s not one of his students, nor is he the next tutor to come in and take over the room for a different course. It left one very obvious answer. 

You pursue Seungmin’s eye line to see Felix smiling back at you, “sorry, usually we finish ten minutes early…”

“That’s okay,” he says kindly. “Just came to collect you. Lunch?”

The saving grace that Felix bestows allows you to leave Seungmin’s presence without another foul word to come out of his mouth. The pair of you walk to one of the many fields that the University has to offer to sit down and hang out together.

“What was he talking to you about?” Felix starts. 

You lie back on the fresh grass, absorbing the rays of the warm sun that has the ability to make your eyelids droopy, “he gave me back my practice assignment for him to check that was due last week.”

“Really?” Felix replies, gobsmacked as he takes a bite out of his sandwich. “What an idiot.”

You roll your eyes just thinking about him, “very much so.”

“Why aren’t you eating?” Lix grumbles with a mouthful of food. 

“Can’t,” you respond with a note of solemn in your voice. “Been pretty sick lately” 

“What, like ‘throwing up’ type of ‘sick’?” He mumbles. 

“That type of ‘sick’,” you confirm. 

“Might be stress from Uni. Jeongin said the other day that he’s been unwell lately because of exams next week but I don’t think he’s been throwing up.”

“Seriously?” You ask, feeling a bit concerned when he tells you that bit of information. “Maybe it’s also food poisoning, but I don’t have any other symptoms that come with it.”

“Could be,” Felix responds then readies his soundproof advice. “What you need to do is go to the student health services for a doctor's appointment. Or even the student nurse. Because you don’t want to leave it to the last minute come crunch time for handing stuff in and you’re still ill.”

He had a point. You could already imagine what the final week of the first semester was going to be like. Just visualising the due dates for work, papers and essays that needed to be submitted is already putting a hamper on your mood. 

For once however, you made your well being the first priority instead of the mountain of tasks you needed to complete. ‘University can wait, but your health cannot’ as Felix said who made sure you at least called into the chemist on your way back home to grab some medicine until you were able to get in and see a doctor. He would’ve forced you through their doors himself if he didn’t have a test to sit but nonetheless did his best by walking you nearby and heading off when he needed to. 

Greeted by one of the chemists in the store, you begin to explain everything that’s happened over the past two weeks in regard to your body. The headaches, stress, nausea, the lot, all in the hopes to find some type of relief or remedy. 

“And these symptoms have persisted for how long?” She asks.

“Just over a week now,” you reply. 

“Okay, and are you currently pregnant or is there any chance you could be?” She questions while leading you down an aisle of medicine. 

Before replying ‘no’ your mouth and brain stall at the same time. Pregnant? Is there a chance? No. There shouldn’t be. Yes you had sex two weeks ago, but there wasn’t in any way or any universe that you were currently carrying a child. There was no reason to go anywhere near along those lines of an assumption or put in any thought to it. 

“Uh - I…no. Don’t think so,” you stammer. 

The chemist eyes you for a second, trying to gauge her best answer from you and picks up a small packaged bottle, “this is safe to use even if you are pregnant since the prescribed millilitres are the same for that of someone who isn’t. We get a lot of students coming in around this time with the same issues when it’s close to the end of the semester so there could be a number of things going on.”

“I’d imagine,” you respond. “Thank you for this, I’ll have another browse for some other things and come back soon.”

She smiles back as you depart from the aisle with the medicine in hand. From there, it’s impossible not to start freaking out. Your mind speeds through so many different avenues and possibilities of why you were sick. The very one that springs up is pregnancy. It was torment enough that you had to pull out your phone and google its symptoms. There can’t be any way. 

Nausea and vomiting that usually occur in mornings,

Missed period,

Fatigue,

Headaches…

The list was short but nonetheless went on to describe everything that you had been dealing with for the past two weeks. It had to be a coincidence. Maybe it’s something else that you might have like these other students who’ve been dealing with the same thing? It’s just the stress. Only the stress. Yet, you find yourself reaching for a pregnancy test from the shelf and bringing it back with you in the hopes that the money you’re about to spend is going to give you a negative result when you return to your dorm.

The chemist says nothing else to you as you make your purchases which you appreciate. The last thing you need right now is for someone to say ‘all the best’ or ‘must’ve been a good time,’ whenever they look at someone buying a pregnancy test. You just wanted to go home and rule everything out straight away so the nerves could stop eating you alive. 

As you walked back to the student accommodation, it felt like you were wearing a clown mask and everyone was looking at you. Even though you didn’t know that they didn’t take any notice of you whatsoever, that’s what it felt like. 

Straight through the doors to the building you go and right to your floor. You key in your code to get into your room and shut the door behind you. Finally you were able to feel like you could breathe a little better, just before the four walls enclosing you began caving in. 

Everything seemed hazy and uncertain as the question of whether you are pregnant kept popping up in your head. What would happen then? There was no plan other than to finish the year and graduate with your degree, go on to work and hopefully live a fulfilling life with kids somewhere along the way - not now. Not even in the next three years was that an option. 

But out of all the mangled and mixed thoughts that have sent your brain on a spin, not once did you ever think of the culprit who without, wouldn’t have you currently spiralling into an abyss of anxiety. 

Fucking Seungmin. 

Even when he’s not here he’s still an insufferable asshole that has landed you in this position. If you are pregnant, you know it’s him. There wasn’t anyone else you had slept with in the past four months other than him. It made matters even worse tenfold - the fact that he’s practically a stranger to you. All you know is his name and how shitty of an attitude he has. 

But that wasn’t something you could afford to think about. Not right now. Giving yourself one thing else extra to worry about would make you feel even more sick. All you needed to do was get through this pregnancy test and figure out the rest later. 

After making sure you were well hydrated, you waited for the right time to use the bathroom and the test. You made absolutely sure to follow every single instruction on the box so as to not produce an inconclusive result. There was no room to make a mistake at the moment. 

For fifteen minutes you abandon the test on the counter of your bathroom, trying to distract yourself with something else. Within that space of time, Felix sent through a couple of messages to check in on you, an indication that he had also finished his in-class tests. 

From Lix: did you manage to get anything? I’ll bring over some wonton noodle soup for dinner later and some other stuff. You need to eat. 

From Lix: AND HYDRATE keep filling your water bottle up and drink as much as you can. I can get some electrolytes drinks off of Changbin. He won’t mind, he has too much of it anyway. 

You smile down at your phone. Life would be miserable without Felix. You don’t only appreciate him because he’ll go out of his way to do things for you, but you appreciate him because he’s such a good friend. Never is there a dull moment, no bitterness, no jealousy. It’s a peaceful and sometimes chaotic friendship that you cherish whenever you can.

Mulling over your connection with him wasn’t going to kidnap you from reality however, as the pregnancy test remains on the counter, waiting for you to step over and check the results.

Your heart is in your throat, pounding and begging to jump right out. Whatever those lines read on the pregnancy stick didn’t fail to make you feel any more nervous than you already were prior. Almost like it just kept getting worse. At that moment, you thought about ringing Felix or texting him to see if he could help. 

You’ve seen videos of women who’ve taken pregnancy tests in the presence of their friends for support. There was nothing else you wanted more other than that. Just to have someone nearby if the worst approaches. Yet, at the same time, you never reached for your phone to contact him. Instead, you reach for that plastic stick on the counter. A small yet seemingly significant item that had the potential to change your entire life. 

With one large breath in and out, you lean over to the surface to see two clear blue lines present on the stick.

There was no fucking way.  

You snatch the test immediately. Holding it up to the bathroom light to make sure you weren’t seeing things, then holding it away to see it again. To double check once more, you swipe the instructions from the box to see whether or not two blue lines were an affirmative pregnancy or a negative test. 

But, to your disbelief, shock, and defeat, there was no other result other than a positive reading. 

Everything comes crashing down. You can even hear it on top of your own racing heartbeat in your ears. The tips of your fingers go numb when you bring them up for your hand to cover your mouth. The millions of questions firing throughout every corner of your brain cannot be slowed for the faultless truth to be right there in front of you.

It explains every symptom you’ve had to date for the past couple of weeks that you had foolishly mistaken for immense stress. As of now, it was impossible to articulate a clear thought. What are your options? What will you do? Who do you even tell? When it comes to the latter, the first person that pops into view is the same one who landed you in this predicament, and to think that you’re carrying his child. 

It’s not hard for you to retrace back to the afternoon where it all unfolded. The afternoon where you can now unfortunately say was the date of conception, wishing that it never happened. All of it sends a very strong reminder of how fucked everything now appears to be. As you struggle to come to terms with a new future, one that requires careful and cautious thoughts, you keep the secret to yourself for the time being, unable to even bring yourself to tell Felix who would grow sceptical of you not responding to his texts. You couldn’t answer him when he said he wanted to bring dinner around for fear that he would automatically sniff out that you’re not acting your usual self. 

The Monday that followed, Felix texted you to see if you were okay and if you needed him to drop anything around. Tuesday came around for him to remind you to keep drinking as much water and eat if you were able to stomach food. When Wednesday dawned, Felix never received a reply back from you when he asked if you wanted to have a talk. Thursday then arrived, as he held himself back from contacting you entirely, but wasn’t offended by the fact that you weren’t responding to his messages. 

Friday then approached where Felix found that it was absolutely necessary to actually pay you a visit. The buildup of texts and missed calls he sent you were almost a sign for a welfare check. Although, he didn’t want to jump ahead that far despite his suspicions about your strange and absent behaviour. 

The first location where he was hoping to catch you was at student accommodation, where he was to stand for a few minutes at your door, knocking to see if you were there. After checking the time on his phone, he realised that you were probably in your tutorial, so bolted over to the other side of the campus, and waited patiently outside. 

Rustling and chatter sounded from behind the door before students began pouring out into the corridor once it had ended. Each unfamiliar face that caught his eye led him to more disappointment to find that you’re not there. He steps across the threshold of the classroom to see empty tables, chairs, and desks, all except for the one up the front that was occupied by the tutor. The same person Felix saw last week when he came to get you for lunch. The same person you told him about who you despised greatly. 

If only he knew the latest reason why you hated him so much. 

Seungmin’s pen stalls over the pages of student assignments that he was marking, looking at Felix with curiosity, “can I help you?” 

“Just looking for someone,” Felix answers. “Thought they were here.”

“Y/N, you mean?” Seungmin assumes straight away.

“Yeah.”

“I take it she’s your friend?” He asks. 

“Yes,” Felix answered, thinking about how that’s a strange question to ask. “Did she leave already?”

“Leave?” He retorts. “She needs to show up first in order to leave. I haven’t seen her this entire week.” 

Felix gives him the benefit of the doubt for being a conceited asshole and not knowing your circumstances at the moment. But he’s in no place to tell him anything. Either way, the fact that he now knows you had been missing from tutorials and most likely lectures too, wasn’t good news.

“Know when she’s coming back?” Seungmin questions.

Felix sighs, his eyes squaring up the man across from him, “not really, no.”

“Well, if you could try to get a hold of her that would be good. Some of her professors have sent emails to her and copied me into them since attendance for lectures and tutorials are compulsory and count towards her grade.” 

Felix sighs and nods, appearing so suddenly distant while he thinks about something. Whatever it was, Seungmin was able to observe his reaction, sensing a tinge of worry from the person in front of him. He wouldn’t have stepped foot in his class if he didn’t have a reason to look for you which made him more curious. 

“I’ll let her know,” Felix replies and retraces his steps back outside the faculty and into the courtyard. 

From an objective perspective, for someone who has seemed to have dropped off the grid is a massive cause for concern. As your best friend, Felix can’t overlook it. Immediately his mind starts zapping to different conclusions without thinking rationally at all. What if someone had hurt you - is hurting you? What if you were dead and had been for a while? 

There was no harm in trying your dorm one more time just in case, regardless of how suspicious he looked to the receptionist at student accommodation when he walked past once more to your room. For a minute straight, Felix knocks on your door, unbothered by the students that popped their heads out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was about. To them it was almost as if Felix was trying to break into your dorm and to save himself from potentially being reported or chucked out, you open the door, grab onto his arm to yank him inside.

“Geez why didn’t you open the door like a minute ago?” Felix questions when he realises that he’s now standing in your room . “I’ve been…I’ve been trying to contact you for a week - I was starting to think you were dead!” 

“Close to it,” you respond.

The silence without all of Felix’s knocking is palpable. The pair of you stand quietly as he tries to think about where to start. 

“You know, you really freaked me out when you stopped replying to me the other week. Are you still feeling ill?” 

The guilt plummets on top of your shoulders so suddenly, “I know. I’m sorry for being flaky, and yes occasionally I am.”

“And?” He continues, standing there as if he were waiting for a presentation from you on your diagnosis. “Anything contagious? Still throwing up? Losing your vision? Infected? Did someone bite you and now you’ve only got twenty four hours until you turn into a zombie-“

“This isn’t The Last of Us, Lix,” you sigh. “Also you need to stop playing that game too.”

“What? The plot’s fuckin’ sick,” he emphasises, happily taking a seat on the edge of your bed. “Alright, if you’re not any of that, what are you? What did the chemist reckon?” 

“She said there are a lot of students who are sick at the moment - stress from exams and stuff like that.” 

Felix smiles and sighs with relief for you, “that’s good then, right? It’s not anything complex, all you have to do is take care of yourself properly. Which I’m trying to assume that you have been doing, right?”

You didn’t have the energy to play games with him at the moment. All of it has been depleted by putting thought into your options about this pregnancy which still remains an unknown aspect to Felix about your current absence. That and the morning sickness which has been kicking your ass every day and trying to keep up with coursework from a distance. You already feel terrible for not being able to show up to class and tutorials. 

“I’ve been getting as much rest as I can,” you assure him. 

“Good. Have you seen-”

“I have not seen the doctor yet Felix,” you interrupt, already knowing what his question was going to be. “All I know is that I will at some stage. I have medicine, food and water, I’m covered.” 

He heaves a great sigh, “I saw that tutor of yours by the way.” 

Your stomach sinks. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I went to go check if you were in your tutorial and he said you hadn’t been since last week,” he answers. “I know what you mean when you say that he’s a dickhead. He talks to you as if he owns the fuckin’ world.” 

You nearly laugh. It had been a while since you last felt that airy, humorous sensation in your stomach, “yeah. He’s a nasty piece of work.” 

The same nasty piece of work that put a baby in you, which thinking that thought deflates your entire morale and brings you right back down to earth once more. Felix observantly picks up on the sudden shift in atmosphere, like he’s watching the rawest version of yourself unravel. 

“What’s wrong Y/N?” Felix questions you softly, almost as if he can see through that thin exterior of a wall you’re trying to build between you and him to keep him from finding out the truth. 

“Yes I’ve been sick lately, but not because of stress or anything like that,” you give a wave of dismissal. 

“Let me guess, you’re pregnant,” he says jokingly with an innocent grin and light laugh. 

That grin quickly falls off his face when he sees how serious and unmoving your expression is. For a moment or two, Felix doesn’t say anything. Instead, he grapples with the possibility that you, despite not confirming with him yet, that it isn’t actually a joke. 

“You - you are pregnant…” 

“I found out the other day,” you finally break the news to him. “Hence why I’ve been sort of…distant.”

“That’s…”

It was a surprise to you that Felix stayed this long. You weren’t expecting him to remain in the same room as you for more than three minutes after telling him what the real situation is. All those horrendous stories you had heard of mothers-to-be getting shunned by their family or friends for being pregnant had done a serious number on you. It was impossible to think of anything more lonely. 

Unaware of the fact that you were holding your breath, you sigh immensely. 

Felix doesn’t say another word. He stands up from your bed and opens his arms to embrace your body, “that’s amazing Y/N - you couldn’t have told me any sooner?” 

You stiffen, suddenly doused in cold shock when you realise that this situation could’ve been flipped on its head, “I-I was trying to figure things out. But…I don’t know if I wanted to…”

He pulls you away gently, “don’t know if this is the right option for you right now?” 

Felix always knows what to say in every situation. 

“That.” 

“Well, whatever you choose, you still have me to support you right?” He reminds you. “How are you really feeling about it?” 

“Conflicted,” you sum up quickly. “I don’t know how many pregnancy forums I’ve joined to talk to women who’ve had unexpected pregnancies and watched billions of videos of babies learning to walk and all that stuff.” 

“What have those women said?” 

“They said it was hard to make a decision based on their circumstances or beliefs at the time, but the one thing they mentioned that they all had in common, is that none of them regretted their decision to continue full term to pregnancy,” you explain. 

Felix doesn’t obviously know firsthand, but he can empathise. He knows why people want children, and why others don’t. In this day and age especially since living has turned into surviving instead. It’s difficult to rent, to buy food, to pay bills - and that’s all for one person. 

To have someone who is dependent on you in every capacity is a lifelong thankless job. It’s then when something else strikes Felix’s curiosity as he goes to ask you another question. 

“Who’s the father?” 

“It…doesn’t matter, the point is that I’m pregnant and even though I can change that fact, I won’t.” 

Felix doesn’t ask you about it again, not even two weeks after exam week ends and the study break starts. Unfortunately for some students such as yourself, required catch up tutorials to make up for a percentage of their grades that they missed out on from being absent. Unlike some, your excuse was extremely valid. But it was only twice a week. Something very manageable and a good method of distracting your mind from reality for a little bit. 

Another pluside is that a different tutor was running the classes, making you feel so much more at ease that it wasn’t Seungmin - but only until it was. Only until one class where he shows up five minutes later after the tutorial was meant to commence. It sent you spiralling into a hole of panic. 

You’re suddenly reminded that it’s been one whole month since you found out you were pregnant and suddenly, everything becomes very real again. 

“Apologies, I was told to come in this morning because one of your tutors had an emergency,” he announced to the fifteen people sitting inside the class. “I won’t take up too much of your time today. We just have some information to get through and that’s it.” 

Thank god. One more second spent in his proximity feels like a year being taken off your lifespan. But Seungmin wastes no time in getting things sorted for everyone such as handing out some slides he printed off for everyone to examine. As he crosses over to you, it is in your best interest not to appear suspicious such as not making eye contact with him. That didn’t work out for you last time and only drew more attention to yourself. 

“Thanks,” you reply as he places the sheets down in front of you. 

“No worries.”

He returns back to the front of the class and begins explaining the tasks for the session, all of which were relatively easy and mainly involved reading with a couple of multi choice questions. It took around twenty minutes to complete, and by then you were up out of your seat and ready to hand your answers and papers in. You follow some of the students towards the door, passing Seungmin on their way by. Hoping to not have another awkward encounter with him, you set your focus on just leaving as fast as you could.

“I met your friend the other week,” Seungmin says to you, standing by the door as you attempt to head out. 

You briefly stall in place, intrigued as to why he would suddenly bring that up, “which one?”

“Brown hair, heaps of freckles,” he answers. Felix. “He was worried when I told him that you hadn’t been showing up to classes.” 

“Right,” you respond awkwardly. All of that’s in the past now considering what your future is. 

“Anyway, I guess you have me to thank for getting you into these catchup classes,” he sighs. 

Your eyebrows knit together, “what?”

Seungmin nods and hums, “you didn’t get the emails your Professors sent you?”

Emails? You had other things to worry about and other uses for the internet that were far more preoccupying than whatever it was your Professors had to say. 

“I wasn’t able to check them,” you tell him. 

“Right,” he adds before changing the topic. “Also, the other week, I was meant to ask you a question before you left.”

By the tone of his voice, you had an inkling as to where this was going. He had already talked to you about Uni, and there’s nothing else either of you have in common, so the other thing you could possibly think of was-

“Were you skipping classes because we slept together?” 

There it was. 

If you weren’t carrying his child right now, you would’ve said no because the sex was good, really good that you couldn’t deny the fact. Not even to him. But it wasn’t necessarily the entire reason that triggered your absence for an entire week.  

“Not in the way you might think,” you say to him.

His eyes train onto you, trying to unravel the hidden meaning behind your words, “what do you mean by that?”

You could just come out and say it. The door is right there, providing a speedy getaway to just drop the news and bolt. Then again, you had to think of whether it was mature or not to do that. Yes, Seungmin got you pregnant but the decision afterwards to keep the baby, in the eyes of some, refutes all of that and could bring back his right to know about it. 

Again, it was all too conflicting and required more thought about it. But you also had to be realistic. One month into pregnancy isn’t a long time, but it also isn’t short. Every day for the next eight months would need to be spent carefully. Spending too much time worrying about what Seungmin will think surely will do more harm than good when you need to focus your time and energy on yourself. 

Then again, what is there to lose right now? What harm is there being done to you by telling him? When those thoughts make it past your thinking process, it makes it easier to export the truth.

“I didn’t go to my classes not because I was avoiding you for that particular reason, since I don’t actually regret having sex with you.”

Seungmin’s interest spikes, “what other reason is there then?” 

You sigh heavily and suck it up, “I didn’t go to my classes because I wanted to avoid you for the fact that I’m pregnant.”

As if someone just tipped a cold bucket of water over Seungmin’s head, a tether of shock twists tightly inside his upper body. Almost as if his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. You haven’t seen very many emotions on his face and a blank yet shocked expression was now one of them.

Seungmin reaches up to his glasses and takes them off, “pregnant? As in…you’re pregnant?”

You look around the empty classroom to help prove a point, “who else?”

He pauses while his brain recalibrates, “I caught onto that when you said you were, I’m just trying to-“

“Don’t say ‘figure out ‘how’ because you know exactly ‘how’ it works,” you cut him off before taking a deep breath and exhaling as calmly as you can. “I’m telling you this because I felt that you were obligated to know. I don’t want you to or expect you to do or saying anything-“

“Are you saying I got you pregnant,” he interrupts you this time.

“Yes,” you answer clearly, realising that it was a crucial piece to the puzzle that Seungmin was trying to stitch all together which you hadn’t clearly mentioned. “I haven’t slept with anyone else for months before you.” 

It was a lot to consider, as you predicted. It’s not every day do you get to announce that you’re pregnant and in the most unconventional way possible. Again however, you expected nothing less and expected nothing in return from Seungmin. 

“What are your thoughts?” He asks you. “What do you want to do?”

Surprised was less of a word to describe how taken aback you were by his words as you feel your eyebrows raise on their own. It was a slight relief to hear someone ask you for your own opinion about the journey ahead of you. 

“I’m seeing this to the end,” you answer honestly. “I’m not asking you to do anything for me, in fact I wouldn’t mind if you forgot about this all even though it’d be hard. But I know that you’re obligated to know this.”

He gives a silent nod, “how long have you known?”

“Just over a month now,” you reply. “I honestly didn’t want to tell you. I was planning on keeping it a secret from you entirely.”

Seungmin’s eyes narrow right at you, as if he couldn’t believe what you just said, “and what, become a single parent?”

“Yeah, I guess,” you shrug. 

“Without me?” He looks up. 

You stare right back at him in an equal amount of shock, “Seungmin to be quite honest, I don’t even know you. We hooked up once and that was it.”

“I know that,” he ignores that very important factor. “But do you think I’m abstained from the responsibility that holds when I could’ve just - just-“ 

“Pulled out?” You cut him off, watching the concern on his face remain in place. “Guess it’s also my fault for telling you I was into it.”

“Again, that’s besides the point. Can you at least let me help you?” Seungmin pleads. “We don’t necessarily have to get along. We could co-parent.”

It was the first emotion of desperation that you’ve ever seen him wear. Almost like he was borderline terrified. You didn’t suspect that he had any underlying malicious motives, like one of those crazy co-parents who help you out at first then try and take custody of the baby in the future - claiming that they were present throughout their childhood just to seek some type of revenge. 

That’s how far ahead you were thinking, showing that you were afraid too. 

“Are you implying that we should try to make this work?” You clarify with him. 

“I’m not implying it, I’m asking it,” he emphasises. “Sure we don’t know each other, but we could…at least try?”

“You don’t sound so sure of yourself.”

“Well I’m sorry for not being well versed in the parenting realm since I’ve never had a child before, but it was the first option that came to mind,” he says. “Have you told anyone else?” 

You nod, “just my friend, the one you met.”

He exhales, still swimming in his own thoughts on the facts that he got you pregnant and is now potentially about to be a father. That part was still in the air. However, it was an irrefutable fact that his maturity really shone through. For the first time, you saw him hop off his high horse and set aside his largely inflated ego. He actually seemed to be pretty rational.

“Have a think about it,” Seungmin tells you. “I’d understand either way whatever you decide. I won’t pressure you into anything you don’t want to do.”

I strictly forbid and do not permit ANYONE or any user on any platform to copy, re-upload, translate, remake, or pass off any of my work here on Tumblr or to any other online platform whatsoever. Doing so will result in having your account suspended, deleted, taken down, and or permanently banned.

[orphicrose]

The co-host (Alastor x femreader) II

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Summary: You are Alastors Co host in life, perhaps more. But are separated by a sudden death. When you are finally reunited in the under world, it is up to Alastor to figure out why you don’t remember him.

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Alastor had arrived in hell a few years after you, completely unaware that you ended up in the same place. You both saw each other as saints, i guess that's what love does to you.  If only you had more time to truly know each other. His last years weren't as dignified as yours. And neither was his death. 

All through your sickness, he was by your side. Cooking for you, entertaining you, helping out with rent. Your mother would have, but she lived in another state, and had very little money to come visit you or support you. So Alastor did.  But when your body decided enough was enough, you took a toll for the worse. You were gone within days, with him still by your side. Willing to do anything to see your eyes full of life just one more time. It truly broke him as a person. But no one would ever know. 

He sent out a broadcast to honor your name, all of your frequent listeners shedding a tear over the loss. Because it truly was a loss. Spreading kind words like "she's in a better place now", if only they knew. 

Then there was Alastor. In the end, everyone was glad the world had ridded such a monster. No one knew it when he died, but they did when the remains of those who had gone missing was uncovered. Some argue they deserved it, some argue it was an act of evil. 

It had been a few weeks since the encounter with Satan. Y/N didn't have much of a choice, her soul was his. Now she had to do his dirty work. You see, Satan's a busy man. Being the keeper of the wraith ring, and having the people of earth call on him frequently for deals. He couldn't keep up with all of it. So, he gave some of that responsibility to Y/n. Someone who can claim souls and grant wishes from the desperate and needy. Of course the souls still belonged to him, she was just the messenger. With this comes the ability to travel to the mortal realm, and fear of other sinners when you are being called the sacrificer. Within days, Y/n rose the ranks as an overlord who owned a large territory. Unspeakable amounts of power being given to this singular soul was a lot to take in, but she didn't have a choice.

The business was now up and running, "The slaughter house". Satan being the CEO, of course. Y/N being the manager, and other souls of Satan being his laborers who dealt with mundane things like paper work. The pay wasn't too bad though. This operation being set up in hell also gave other sinners the opportunity to sell their soul to Satan in return for a high paying job. Its a bit extreme, but it gets very desperate in hell. I'm sure you can imagine. 

Y/n's name was lost, now being called the demon of sacrifice. It was incredibly de-humanizing, and she hated it. Only using her power when absolutely necessary or when business required it. But it wasn't all bad, she had a better accommodation, a steady cash flow, a lot of useful contacts and very little conflict with other demons. It was also incredibly lonely. Because of the fear around her name, very few people were willing to befriend her. 

Then, on top of that, was the pain of her memories from life. Knowing that all if this is ultimately her fault. All because she just wanted power. How was she to carry on. Then it hit her, she has the power to do what she pleases. She can be whoever she wants to be down here, and to start this she needed to forget everything that haunted her.

Alastor landed in hell four years after y/n, after being shot in between the eyes. Not many know how his rise to power happened, but it was merely overnight. Tormenting the citizens of hell, kidnapping powerful overlords that few would dare to mess with, and giving a new reason for sinners to fear for their lives. The radio demon was born, and it didn't take long before his radio broadcasts displayed what had happened to his unfortunate victims. No one was safe.

"Miss l/n! Todays demand for Satan is big today, I don't think we will be able to get through all of them" a small, fishlike demon ran up to her, struggling to keep up with her pace through the corridors. 

"Its late, imp. I will deal with them tomorrow. Prioritize the simpler requests, none of that fame or millionaire shit." Y/n bit back, eager to leave.

"But ma'am, The sin of wraith isn't very happy with how the number of souls are dropping"

"uh huh, uh huh. I'll see you tomorrow, imp" The door slammed in his face, and the handle was too high for him to reach. 

"I'm not an imp" He mumbles under his breath, watching the overlord walk away in the windows of the door. 

Y/n had a coffee date with one of her closest friends, Zestial. One of the few overlords who still had his head attached to him. They had arranged to talk about the affects of the new tormentor, needing a plan to put their people at ease and to protect the skin on the bac of their necks. Usually, she'd have someone accompany her. But this occasion was far too private.

The night had progressed fast, the crimson sky darkened and street lamps struggled to do their job and lighten the streets. Y/n was almost at her destination when she noted a faint buzzing sound in the back of her head. It definitely wasn't there before. She stopped at the end of an alley she had just walked through, and assessed her surroundings. No one, not a soul in sight. Behind her, again no one. A strange feeling made its way into her throat, as if her body sensed danger. The sound getting louder, louder. Street lights seemingly struggling even more, and eventually going out. One by one. The street was pitch black within seconds. Y/n couldn't do anything but remain in their position, against the wall of the alley. 

A small, voodoo doll like creature ran passed the entrance of the alley. Paying her no attention, and laughing as he went. He was barely audible as the static became more insufferable in her ears. But she knew something was after her, she just prayed to lucifer that it wasn't who she thought it was.

"Not even going to try and run, dear?" The static stopped, the voice sounding like it was in the air. Having no body attached to it. Then he materialized seemingly from the shadows. His slim body accompanied by a tailored red suit, and an eerie smile refraining his face from showing any sort of emotion. The radio demon. He was here. Her face was barely visible in the darkness he had created, only the glowing from her eyes was an indication of life. 

"Come on, give me a chase. Make this interesting. I'll give you a head start" He taunted, slowly getting closer. Leaning his cane at his side, making it hard for y/n to get out. 

"No? I guess this will be the easiest kill yet" His smile widened a the seams of his mouth, being pulled by an invisible string like a doll. His form followed in lead, being hoisted up and enlarged to intimidate his prey. 

"Don't touch me freak." Y/N finally spoke, kicking his cane over and materializing into the ground. Becoming nothing more than a shadow that cant be touched. He watched at she disappeared into the night, almost in disbelief. He's heard that voice before. But it can't be, there's no way she is down here. She can't be. His smile never faltered, and he decided to leave this chase for another day. Street light finally flickered back on, and everything remained as it was before. Other than Alastor's new knowledge. Their story wasn't over yet.

[mmani-e]

And in this week's post for DR: Demix, I'm finally sharing a concept I've had stewing in my head for a while now. A tale of not one, not two, but THREE JUNKOS! Yay!

In DR: Demix, there are 3 Junkos, the reason why is that I wanted Ibuki to have her own little Izuru form, and I thought the perfect equivalent of that was Junko. But to make it work, I needed to retroactively change a lot of stuff, and it was a really fun process ngl. And things got complicated regarding whether or not Junko in DR1 even is Junko at all, so I thought I'd add a little fun tidbit to that too.

"Junko Enoshima" in Demix 1 is Ryoko Otonashi, and the name is just a nickname people gave her in reference to the founder of HP. She takes up the name when Mukuro dies and she goes ballistic, like Mondo becoming Kiyondo.

Junko Enoshima in Demix 2 is the founder of Hope's Peak. An anarchist revolutionary who was granted the opportunity to make a better world and kinda flubbed it because she was a teenager.

The "Junko" Project in Demix 2 is also the hyperactive and insane Mastermind" of the killing game, created in a secret project by disgruntled student geniuses, Ibuki was transformed into a sick reflection of HP's founder and manipulated to becoming a pawn of Taka's... but not really.

Junko 1, the Titleholder - The first Junko is the one we know and love from THH, but that is not her real name. Ryoko Otonashi - the Ultimate Moral Compass - is her real name, and "Junko Enoshima" is just a nickname given to her by the hopeful youth that see her as the successor of the revolutionary woman who founded the school of Hope's Peak itself.

In reality, this "Junko" is no more than an opportunistic teenager, who thinks the name is... weird, at best. Reveling in the popularity and opportunities she's given as the so-called "reborn Junko" to cause chaos, even if beneficial chaos, to every school she is shipped off to after setting the last one ablaze with riots and protest in the name of her vision of a right and just world.

It's not until she experiences an unimaginable loss in the events of Demix 1 that she fully embraces that nickname in a bout of insanity. Swearing to burn the school down to its foundations with everyone inside, promising through running tears that she would accomplish it, any means necessary to avenge her sister.

Junko 2, the Founder - The second Junko is seen in an old busted portrait taken about thirteen years prior to the events of the despair, and she is the revolutionary founder of Hope's Peak. An anarchist leader, she was the first truly identified ultimate. A revolutionary, quite literally, Junko used her incredible talents to bring Imperial Japan to heel in the second world war, starting a prolonged anarchist revolt that would only be quelled when offered to change the system from within, the government granting amnesty, infinite travel funds, and most importantly an institution made in her name where she could support the youth: Hope's Peak Academy.

Ultimately, it was a mistake to take the government's deal, as her efforts to spread revolution worldwide were quashed and Japan restricted her freedoms until she was an old woman who had hardly the energy to walk around the school she founded herself.

Junko 3, the Mastermind - Not forgetting the dream of their founder, many students united clandestinely to discuss the future of their school despite neverending scandals and reports of corruption. With their founder missing, they created a project to rejuvenate the school under a perfect vessel: an ultimate revolutionary of their own. One with every talent under the sun needed to retake the school for themselves.

A council of sixteen students at the head of the project did their best to transform reserve course student "Ibuki Mioda" into their savior... only for her to end up a completely out-of-control maniac.

"Junko" is a hyperactive monster, her only limitation being what her genius mind can come up with. She is constantly in a state of bliss as whatever desire Ibuki once had in that mind of hers was accomplished, even if she doesn't remember who she was anymore. And she lives to revel in that fact, to enjoy her talents now and forevermore, as it is the only thing she has of her old self to cling onto that makes her feel whole.

[rascalentertainments]

Wish Granted AU: Star: 🌟

Yeah, I finally got to the boy! Took long enough, huh? 😂 So I dud make a short character inspiration from a reblog chain a few weeks ago, so I'll go more into Star's character here:

So, much like the film itself, Star comes to Earth because of Asha's wish was so powerful, and aids her save Rosas. However, for "Wish Granted", he has no idea how to actually grant her wish. She basically fills him in on what's going on, and agrees to help. But he doesn't really understand why they need help. From his point of view, most of the humans on this part of Earth, and especially in Rosas look happy enough. He's just utterly fascinated with the animals, the trees, Asha, and just experiencing what humans see everyday.

But then he visits the Hamlet (in an animal disguise) when Asha wants to say goodbye to her Saba and mother. Star sees how sick Sabino has gotten, and the fear Sakina has for her daughter going back into danger. The Starboy sees that Asha's wish is entirely to help her family and community. (Its greatly emphasized once he gets to Rosas itself too) He partially understands and gladly accepts the task to help her. Asha can't believe this magical boy is a Star, it should be impossible. But just as her father said, the stars are there to believe in possibility. Star here is the impossible, made possible! Its no wonder his loveable and joyous personality leads her to falling for him! 😆

I took inspiration from this segment of the concept art book where they attempted to give plushie Star some kind of depth and character arc leftover from Starboy. They really tried to give Star something more than just being a toy, and Disney said "nah, a toy is good enough. Kids will love it." So Star's arc will be he starts off naive about the world and thinks everything is perfect. But once he starts seeing more of the people having other emotions other than happiness, he's processing how a human feels this. It hits harder when he actually feels a wish get destroyed, he feels their pain for a while after he connects with them. This is all going to connect to "At All Costs" when finally get that love confession scene! 😉

Now, my favorite part: POWERS!!! Star can shapeshift into different animals he sees, with his telltale sign of him being gold with white fur/hair. (Example image below) He's got a white six pointed star on his parts of his body that glow slightly, even in a human form, its just covered up by his black caped outfit.

I still kind of hate that Disney actually thought Star was too similar Genie just because he changes into animals. Like, what are you talking about? (I actually thought of MK or Beast Boy more than Genie.) Yeah, Genie could do that too, but he also changed costumes, size, shape, face, broke the 4th wall and did impersonations of movie actors of the time. Star didn't do all that. Besides, YOU MADE MAUI CHANGE INTO ANIMALS AND APPROVED OF IT!

Rant aside, He can change into any animal, but only has one human form. That's not only because there's way too many variations of people for him to adapt and he's not at that level of power yet. He mainly choose this particular human form because.... he thought Asha would like it. (He even gets the cape idea after he sees a picture of Magnifico. He just LOVED how that looked) Think of it as a boy trying make himself look better for the girl he has a crush on. 😂 His design is inspired by these three pieces of concept art combined with a dash of a superhero vibe. (Superheroes are hardwired into my brain, I tried my best NOT to do that! 😂)

Star can make animals talk, at least for a limited time, like when be has his big introduction song and the forest animals are his band. Animals are naturally attracted to Star, because he literally radiates pure joy and love. Those little critters just adore him! Think of this scene here:

One last thing to add is that once he's on Earth, and gets into Rosas, thus is when he gets the most attached to the planet. He has a big family with the stars, but he really wanted to be where the people are. He wants to see them dancing, ect...Meeting great people didn't just end with Asha, but also meeting the 7 Teens. He learns about their wishes as one desires, while confused on Simon's sleepiness/sadness. He actually attempts to heal Simon and can gain a new power. Star is not sure on how to react to Dahlia, who doesn't seem to have a wish. She seems happy cooking for the king (whom she has a crush on) and queen, no questions asked. Although, Dahlia does seem particularly curious about Star, even before finding out his magical side. She even tries to tell him to give up on granting Asha's wish, but he's definitely not doing that. 😂

When he meets the King and Queen, let's just say there's going to be a lot of angst/comedy with that. But when he has the mini stand off with Amaya. OH BOY, he's going to understand way more heavy emotions after meeting her...

(Star in this version is voiced by Jeremy Jordan, because he's a musical and VA legend! Plus he sounds so fun in every role he's in!)

Aaaand, that does it for Star! I mentioned in another post how when you look into his eyes, you can see microscopic galaxies or mini stars in eyes, like you can see the universe in his eyes! (When it gets to the At All Costs song, Asha can be seen in his eyes like she becomes part his universe) Any other bits will be revealed later, but I wanted to flesh the guy out here! He's a lot of fun to write and draw!

Now next up are the King, Queen and their ferocious yet spoiled pet Lynx! 😉

@signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @chillwildwave @lazytitans-world @emillyverse @annymation @kstarsarts @uva124

[everythingblreview]

Laughter Land Review

Long time no see, dear readers.

I feel quite ashamed for sharing this so late, but I was sick and then busy with real life and couldn’t finish this review. (I even had to replay some parts to write this) But I still hope you enjoy reading my review of Laughter Land. This game was recommended by my friend, and first, I didn’t want to play it because, let’s say I don’t like shota much, but she promised me its good and that it doesn’t have much sexual content. She was right with both, so here we are.

Warning for 18 content (spoiler are seperated)

Description:

Dick is a young boy living in a village who is bored with schoolwork and his everyday life. One day, he attends the village fair and meets a mysterious boy dressed like a court jester called Guillered who offers to bring him to a world called Laughter Land where one’s every wish is granted and there is no work, only play and no one ever grows up. Dick agrees and is brought to Laughter Land.

Story:

For a game that came out in 2006 I was honestly impressed how good the game was, not to say older games always have to be bad, but they usually not as well developed and lack in pacing and writing, so it’s hard to compare them with newer games, but this one stands the test of time quite well. I finished it in one week and the game is not near as short as one might think. The story kept me glued to the screen because once you finished a route you would unlock new parts that continued the story. I really liked the pacing in the game, it didn’t feel rushed at all, and everything felt well developed. Despite most of the characters being very young, it didn’t feel like you were playing a game aimed at children, it still had a good share of mature and serious content. The game felt like a modern Peter Pan story and revolves around the topic of growing up, which is why in that context it makes sense for the characters to be as young as they are. As for the routes, the game has normal routes (which continue the story) and character routes (where the romance parts take place). You need to finish the normal routes to unlock new routes. Once you finish the first normal route you start the game at a different place. There is a also true route in the game. The quality of the routes depends on the one you play, some are really good some are not so good. The normal routes are better in comparison to the character routes but this is to be expected.

Characters

Dick

We have the main character “Dick” (yes that’s his name) who is taken to Laughter Land (by force btw, Guillered didn’t bother asking much). Dick is funny, cheeky and despite his young age rather mature. He has his childish moments but is quite smart and I had a good time with him. Oh, and he tops 90% of the times.

Roddy

The free spirit boy, who lives in the forest in Laughter Land. He loves to go on adventure, is very kind and a good boy and he loves to fly. He was the first route I played and the one I liked the most.

Ioan

He is the apprentice of the greatest wizard of Laughter land, Mater Northbrook. Ioan is very childish, very clumsy, and way too criminal looking for my taste. I didn’t like neither his route nor his character (he sounds kind of annoying, too).

Sergi

He lives in the Forbidden Zone, a place where children who lose their permission to stay in Laughter Land have to live, which is basically just a slum. He is looking for his family that is still in Laughter Land. Sergi is rather calm but can have his sassy moments and he’s slightly tsundere. His route is connected to the plot of the game and therefore was interesting to play.

Cornel

He and his older brother are living together in a mansion in Laughter Land and hunt the “blue” people (the one who lost their permission to stay in Laughter Land, like Sergi), and bring them to the Forbidden Zone. His route was something…. Truly something… not bad just something.

Greg

Greg also lives in the Forbidden Zone and is friends with Sergi, he is the “womanizer” in the game and his other hobby is to pick up poor children off the street and animals (He had a crocodile names “Stephanie” living in his bathroom. Despite his womanizer ways, I actually really like Greg a lot. He is very motherly and very funny.

Dag

The criminal ossan of the game. His route was terrible and honestly, I didn’t expect anything to be worse than Ioan and no I’m not saying that only because of the FBI worth calling- age gap. Despite that I thought his personality was actually quite nice. He works as an inventor and Dicks works for him in every route where he lives in the Forbidden Zone. He also likes alcohol, a LOT, so Dick has to go full mother mode on him sometimes.

Guillered

The “mastermind” behind Laughter Land, he brings all the children to laughter land. To be honest, this shota needs 3000h of therapy before he is ready to be released at humanity again. Although he has his reason to be the way he is, I just thought that he was absolutely bonkers. And he is also one of the more criminal looking characters.

Music &Art

The art is really cute and has this soft childlike feature (which makes sense in the setting of course) and no yaoi face syndrome because you know shotas and all. Music was also really good, I really loved the ending song.

Conclusion

My personal order from best to worst was Roddy/Greg/Sergi/Cornel/Guillered/Ioan/Dag. I didn’t want to go far into spoiler here because I want to engage people to play it because this game is too good to not to play so I fully recommend it, please try even if you aren’t into Shota.

Spoiler Part

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Now let’s talk about the spoilery part about the game. Like said the game is a Modern peter Pan story. Laughter Land is completely controlled by children. And for it to stay that way the characters have to remain a child inside their mind (well and outside too because they don’t age), meaning any mature behaviour can lead to you being kicked out and put into the Forbidden Zone, where you have to live in poverty (and grow old) Children sent to the forbidden Zone can grow up to adults because the rules in Laughter Land don’t apply there, but how do they know that a character is too mature and needs to be send to the forbidden Zone, well when children are taken to Laughter Land, they all get a red gems implanted inside their bodies by Guillered, this gem can grand any wish. If they characters begin to make mature choices, their gem slowly begins to turn purple until it’s blue, once its blue it’s impossible to turn it back to red (apparently). That’s why the people from the forbidden Zone are often called “the blue”. Blue crystal can’t grant wishes anymore and are practically useless. And that’s how the choice system in this game works, you basically make childish/mature choices, which lead to Dick either staying in Laughter Land and ending up with one of its residence or him being put in the Forbidden Zone where he ends up with one of its characters. Since growing up is a part of live, it’s only to be expected that the Forbidden Zone is full of people.

And now let’s go through the different route.

Normal Route

The first route I played was the normal route, which has no romantic partner for Dick but needs to be played to unlock more routes and is important for the plot. It begin with Dick going to the village fair where he meets Guillered who brings him to Laughter Lan. There he gets his gem an meets Roddy and Ioan (and Ioan fucking Onee-san broom who can speak and makes really weird sexual comments, A FUCKING BROOM jesus I’m not over that broom…. Oh and also a speaking plush toy dog who also can speak. Both of these are made for Ioan by his Master Northbrook). Ioan agrees to let Dick stay with him until he builds his own house. So, the next few days/weeks (idk how long it took) are spent with Dick building his home and meeting people in Laughter Land. Once he finishes his house, he meets Cornel and his big bro who are looking for “the blue” with an army of iron soldiers, who are made specifically to hunt for “blue”. Following an adventure with Roddy in the forest at night, Dick actually gets to meet one of the “blues”, Sergi. This encounter leads him to wonder why blues are even being hunted, despite them being the same as the people from Laugher Land. But sadly, Dick doesn’t have much time to think about it, because his own gem has turned blue after making too many mature choices. This is soon discovered by Ioan and Dick is brought to the Forbidden Zone. (Boys barely had time to life in the house he spent weeks on building)

There he gets immediately robbed by a young boy named Aby, and is picked up by (Mother) Greg, he also gets to meet with Sergi again and gets to know Dag. Greg also picks up Aby up after the poor boy’s brother is killed and he is sold into prostitution by a fucking asshole name Zachariah who also drugs him (god I want to stab this man so bad). Dick later gets a job at Dag who helps him with his inventor job and plays the mother role because Dag is a mess. One day Dag asks him if he want to return home and Dick says he does, so Dag gets the crazy idea to build a machine to bring him back to the real world. This plan has to stay secret because if the organization name Serpent, who basically controls the area finds out about it they will be in big trouble. Like you expect they do find out because a girl name Leesha, tricks Aby into telling her about his plan, by promising him to let him take revenge for his brother’s death, which only leads to Aby dying by fucking Zachariah (who killed his brother btw). While Aby is having a not great time, Dick is put in the machine and before they can use the magic of their gems (yes, I know in normal case it shouldn’t work but Dag promised it will work) they are killed by fucking Zachariah soldier army. With Dick still stuck in the machine, he can only hear how his friends get murdered, but for some reason their gems actually manage to work, and Dick is brought back to the real world again. His first goal back at home, is to give the letter, to the person Dag asked him to deliver it. And here is where the first part of the story ends.

Important to note is also that when you get your gem in the beginning you also get a list with people’s name on it. These names get crossed out with every wish you make because they represent people in the real world, who forgot about you. Oh, and Dag also mentions that Laughter Land is actually call “Slaughter Land” (yeah fun times)

Being the first route, I played, I was really glued to my scream especially when a “to be continued” appeared on the screen after the route ended.

Roddy

Now let’s talk about the character’s routes. Roddy’s route hurt me on a physical and emotional level. Like I mentioned Roddy is a good boy who lives in the forest and loves to go on adventure where he takes his friends with. He also loves to fly (which he can do because of his gem and all) and take Dick (by force) with him on his flying adventure. If Dick stays a good (childish) boy he can continue living in his house in Laughter Land and becomes friends with Roddy and together they go on adventure like in the forest, where time stands still. There they find a random machine and are curious what it’s for, but can’t figure it out, so they decide to ask around. They look in the library at Ioans place and ask people, but just can’t to find the answer, so they come up with the idea for Ioan to ask his Master to make the machine talk by itself.

While this is all happening it also becomes really clear that Dick and Roddy both developing romantic feeling for each other, but Roddy is very pure so he doesn’t understand his feelings. At some point he also tells Dick that he likes him, with Dick questioning what kind of “like” his like is and tells Roddy to figure it out.

Meanwhile Ioan calls Dick to have a private conversation with him over this machine. Ioan then tells him that he should not tell Roddy about it because the machine is actually something from the real world and was inside Roddy to help keep his heart beating.

So, while all of this is happening Roddy begins to have weird dream in which he sees a boy in a hospital. Well as you can guess, Roddy was actually heart sick in the real world and the machine was there to keep him alive, but it turns out that he was supposed to die, which is why he was brought to Laughter Land, where he could finally fulfil his dream of living a normal life and flying in the sky. But Roddy doesn’t remember his life at this point yet.

At some point he urges Dick to continue searching for answers about the machine, but Dick tell him he wants him to stop. After some arguing, Roddy then promised him not to look for it anymore. Then they have the whole conversation about liking each other with Dick showing him what kind of like he has for Roddy (yes, I mean they have sex).

To be honest I was a little scared of the H-scene in this game and wanted to skip them in the beginning, but it wasn’t too bad actually and more bearable because they are around the same age. Generally, the H-scene in this game fall into 3 categories: Criminal underage, young but bearable and criminal age gap (aka Dag).

The next day, after their love play Roddy falls asleep and doesn’t wake up anymore, so Dick calls Guillered, seeking for help. Guillered tells him that normally children don’t dream in Laughter Land and that Roddy does because of Dick’s special power he has in his hand that makes people remember their forgotten memories, which is currently happening to Roddy. The only way to save him is either to delete all memory of Dick and for Dick not get close to Roddy anymore or to let Roddy die, because as it turns out Roddy is already supposed to be dead, the only reason he is alive in Laughter Land is because his special power. With his power he can stop time, like in the forest he lives in and in himself.

Dick has a hard time deciding and ask for more time, which he does but after a few days it’s already too late and Roddy wakes up with all his memories restored. He thanks Dick for all the time they spent together AND FUCKING DIES *credit role*…… I was sobbing in my pillow at this point wtf this is so sad TT_TT

But luckily, we get an after-credit scene and as it turns out Dick actually erased all his memories, so Roddy is alive and doing well but Dick can’t be with him anymore, and yet Roddy wants to get to know him and take him on adventure (more crying into my pillow)

The route was so good but so terrible sad TT_TT and the worst part is that it’s the only pairing in the game, that has no happy end like WHY. My friend also told me there is a drama CD and apparently, they keep falling in love, with Roddy having his memories erased every time…. My heart is hurting. 10/10 tears for that route.

Ioan

So if you get to know not very legal Ioan you learn that he’s struggling with something. And that something is trauma of killing a child (like wtf?). Apparently like 20 years ago (how old are these shota again?) Laughter Land fell in disaster with monster like things attacking the residence and the only way to stop it was to kill a child, which Ioan dropped from a building or something. And that must have been very disturbing for him because he now takes fucking drugs to deal with his trauma and he is pretty addicted to it (ah yes, the classic drug bl plot that I so much can’t stand. At least it’s with a character I dislike)

At this point, I don’t even remember how the route played out, that’s how uninteresting it was. But yeah, Dick wants of course to help Ioan but Guillered asks him if he is ready to accept the truth Ioan is hiding, which Dick says he does. The truth is that his Master Northbrook is actually he himself (I don’t know why it’s even such a big deal? Probably the lying part but still) so yeah Northbrook, who is said to be the only adult in Laughter Land isn’t actually an adult, but adults don’t actually exist in Laughter Land, and that’s how Dick found out that something was must be wrong.

So Dick accepts Ioan and Ioan is like yay let’s get close which Dicks, for some reason sees as an invitation for sex (yeah I don’t know either) so they do it, which probably has to be the most illegal and uncomfortable H-scene I have ever seen and I ended up skipping most of it *shudders*. And they live happy ever after. Coming fresh from Roddy’s route I was pissed why this shitty shota gets a happy end and Roddy not????? Fuck him.

Also, I need to talk about Ioan’s fucking broom, so like mentioned his Master aka he himself made him some friends by giving life to a fucking broom and a dog stuff animal but this beside. The fucking broom is not only an onee san (aka a feminine gay man) but also in love with basically every boy who gives him attention, with his favourite being Ioan of course…I just couldn’t deal with this broom.

Sergi

For Sergi you have to finish the normal end because this route starts in the Forbidden Zone, which is interesting because according to the others Dick came to the forbidden Zone 10 years ago, so when he was a small child, but Dick remembers all what happened in the route before (the normal one when everyone died, and he returned to the real world).

Like before Dick is living with Greg and Aby and working for Dag. So, one time they decide to visit the casino because Greg wants to spend (Dick’s) money (lmao) which they end up doing, they also take Sergi and Aby with them. Dick tried poker for the first time while Greg cheats on some games, with Aby getting some drinks for him. At the end of the day, they can’t find Aby anymore and decide to return home. Few days later Aby is still missing because as it turns out fucking Zachariah took him (again) and his bitch of a helper (the only girl you ever see in the game) and made him their play toy to sell to customers (and I warn here if you don’t want to see 5-7 year old be raped on screen better not play this, even I had to skip it)

After few weeks they throw Aby out on the street like trash after he got addicted to drugs (AGAIN, oh yeah this is the same drug Ioan is taking, which is apparently popular). The others luckily find Aby and take him home. Greg the good mother he is angry and wants to take revenge. Sergi say he is crazy, and they have a small fight with Greg running out of the house. Sergi tells Dick that he will probably leave the city to go over to Laughter Land to find the family he has been looking for, which is still living there, or so he has heard and if Dick wants, he can come with him.

This is where the routes start to separate. If you decided to go with Sergi you can play either his or Cornel’s route, if you stay, you’ll be playing Greg or Dag. But since this is about Sergi we’re going with him.

Dick meets with Sergi at night where the latter had gotten them a carriage to pass the border. After being chased by enemies and some shooting, they reach it, but unfortunate for them as they’re about to pass the bother they met Cornel and his big bro. Cornel says he wants to see if their gems are red, which of course they aren’t but at he is about to check, their gems suddenly shine in red so they are allowed to pass. Dick’s gem turned red again and we learn later that Sergi can actually change the colour of his gem himself.

The first day they just wander around Laughter Land trying to find some clues. They go meet Ioan, where Sergi gets sexually harassed by the gaze of the onee san broom, but they don’t find anything. Later they meet Cornel (and his bro) again, who lets them stay at his super fancy mansion.  Cornel says they can stay there while looking for Sergi’s mother (is who Sergi is actually looking for). Dick asks Guillered for help, who tells him that Laughter Land doesn’t have many girls so it should be easy to find her. They manage to steal a book from Ioan with the help of their gem, that has notes about a girl and take turns reading it over the following days. In short, the notebook is about a girl and her friend who live in laughter land and are told by Guillered to get along with a newbie named Zach. The girl starts taking an interest in the new guy, who seems to be a little weird and apparently it leads to a romantic relationship because she later gets pregnant from him and gives birth a child which throws the world into a chaos. The Zach guy gets than banned to the Forbidden Zone as well as the friend who also like the girl. But since they took the baby away from the girl, she gets depressed and tries to commit suicide, so Guillered erases her memory and put her into a room, that she can’t leave. And that girl is name Leesha, who was actually shown before in the route because Dick visited her before with Roddy. And the child is actually Sergi himself but not only that, it’s also the child Ioan supposedly killed. The friend is Greg and Zach is the fucking Zachariah (but this part is never really explained because he is such a douche suddenly?) So, after they find out who Segi’s mother is they visit her and spent some time with her (of couse she doesn’t recognise Sergi) before Sergi decided to go back to the Forbidden Zone where he lived all his life. Dick goes with him. After return they start dating basically and also Sergi is the bottom (nice). They also learn that Greg, Dag and Aby are missing but in the very end its hinted on that they are still alive. The lore reveal was really good here and how it connected to the previous routes. You can tell the writer put a lot of thoughts in this.

Cornel

Cornel’s route basically starts the same as Sergi’s and separates after Sergi and Dick start chilling at his mention. One night at the mansion Dick hears some weird sounds and it turns out its coming from Cornel because HE IS FUCKING HIS OWN BROTHER WHAT. So, brother-fucker Cornel has some kind of onii-san kink (should have seen this coming) and it all goes back to his life in the real world where he apparently really loved his brother and always wanted to spend time with him. But with Dicks magic hand (why does that sounds so weird?) abilities Cornel remembers at some point that his real brother was actual an asshole who abused him and the “perfect” brother of his was only living in his fantasies. (forget daddy issues, here we have onii-san issues) and his brother in laughter land is basically a personification of that fantasy, also the brother is actually one of the iron soldiers. The route ends with the brother gets destroyed in the end and cornel can live happy together with Dick after they start their relationship and Sergi returns back home. Yeah…. The brother thing was weird.

Normal route 2.0

Same as with Cornel and Sergi it follows the same start and basically almost goes up to the end of Cornels route, only difference is that Guillered shows up and STABS dick before Dick can help Cornel, saying that he fucked up, so yeah Guillered is responsible for these time travel things. Honestly, I recommend playing Cornel first before doing this route because it basically almost spoils everything of his route and I was just skipping most of it when I finally reached it.

Greg

Gregs route has the same start as Sergi’s, so everything with the Casino and the abuse of Aby happens and it goes until the part Greg wants to take revenge and runs away, with Dick following and talking to him, this time. Dick also talks with Dag who gives him a special weapon to kill the iron soldiers. Before Dick and Greg set their plan into action they have a last talk, which end up with Greg almost sneaking out at night and Dick is (of course) not happy with that, so Dick gets Greg to  take him with him, but before they leave Greg kisses him as vow of this promise (he also says that this kind of kiss you can only give a true man xD). They sneak into the organisation, take out a bunch of enemies and reach the room where fucking Zachariah is. Once they enter it and Greg confronts him, his bitch of a helper girl (who btw is Leesha or should I rather say looks like her) is all like “wah don’t kill him” but of course it’s only to trick Greg, which she manages, steals the gun from him and uses against him. Greg is confused why she would do that because, as said before, they were friends once. Then Dick goes all hero mode on him and first shoots the girl who turns out to be an iron soldier and then fucking Zachariah. Oh yeah Greg also gets shot and then died dramatically on the floor- as if lol he is just a drama queen, he survives of course. A while later when we actually get confirmed that Greg is really just dramatic and still alive, Dick asks him why he is not playing around with woman anymore and Greg says that he has someone he like and lets Dick guess. Dick then asks him if he likes him which Greg confirms. Then he says that he fell in love with Dick because Dick had been so cool during their attack on fucking Zachariah that he couldn’t help himself not to fall in love (awww that’s so sweets), then he asks if Dicks feels the same and Dick says he doesn’t mind, which Gregs basically takes as mutual feeling and happily screams how Dick likes him too, after he kisses Dick and they have happy sexy times (with Dick being bottom for the first time, how exiting). But that’s not all, once they start dating the apparently fuck every night and Dick is sick of it and decides to take revenge while Greg is asleep and gives him a blowjob first and then decides he is daddy now and goes top mode on him AHAHAHAHAHA. The CGs looks so stupid, because despite Greg’s face looking young, his body is clearly one of an adult, while Dick is still baby, and it just looks ridiculous. I had some serious fangirl moments in this route, Greg is such a good boy and a very caring mother, him falling for Dick because of how cool he was, is so funny but also so cute. I really enjoyed this route.

.... Part 2

[emilylawsons]

I don’t know who I am anymore…

I got pink slipped yesterday. They made the decision to eliminate an English position, and it was apparently me, another far more qualified teacher, or a nepo baby. I was the obvious choice to go. The state my classroom was in when the principals came to tell me didn’t help either—rough week, I’d given up, the kids had given up; I got sick of being the controlling hard ass all year and let my guard down after a week of testing with only a few days left of school. It was a terrible look, and they were understandably pissed. The words I was told were, “This just confirms it.”

And honestly, I get it. I have to agree with them. I’ve been incredibly unhappy all year, and it’s made me exhausted and complacent. I don’t need to be doing this. But I attached myself to this identity, to this idea of “look at me finally getting my shit together and solidifying a career and getting a Master’s degree!” I did it because a job I loved and could have done forever was reaching the end of its five years of funding. I went back to school and applied for this teaching job because I felt like I had no other future if I didn’t push myself into it. Because everyone around me kept pushing me, and I couldn’t be without work. Just like I fell into education almost a decade ago when my stupid fucking theatre degree didn’t do shit for me.

But I know for certain that I don’t want to teach. I love being in the classroom and working with students and contributing to the school betterment, but I don’t want to teach. I’m not built for it like my husband is—he loves it, he’s a natural, and they want him. So, in a way, this is my release from that.

But I still feel so fucked. I’m scared if I don’t have this I’ll just drift forever. A new grant is starting like the one I did previously, and I applied, but that’s going to have an expiration date too. Should I get a call and an interview and they take me, I’ll be just a few years shy of 40 looking for a job again. But it’s that or work in a fucking office for the rest of my life making barely enough to scrape by on. And I’m so close to having that degree—over a year of effort and a lot of money put into Praxis tests. What the hell do I do with that?

So, right now, I’m angry, ashamed, and lost. Back to square fucking one. And unfortunately, hiding in a hole or taking so much as a break to get my heart and mind sorted isn’t an option.

I just want somewhere to feel like I belong.

[hmshermitcraft]

Enemies to lovers don’t mind if I do!

Gem hated Pearl she hated everything about her from the fact her family took over the grimm lands, outlawed obsidian magic, and worst of all turned her kind Wither Hybrids into supposed “demons” it. Made. Her. Sick! Her home was turned into a bastardized version of what it was while she was barely surviving on the streets high and mighty Pearl was eating out of the lap of luxury.

Pearl hates her family she stays in the castle ninety percent of the time never getting the chance to leave to actually see the kingdom she’s supposed to rule one day. Hell it wasn’t even originally their kingdom they took it over! Not to mention that was before she was even born. And now she’s being taught that her family were right and just rulers when Pearl knew in reality they were maniacal and egotistical she never understood why they outlawed so many of the kingdoms naturally occurring forms of magic or labeled an entire native group of people as demons it made no sense and she was gonna get to the bottom of it!

Today was the day Gem was gonna end the supposed “royal line” once and for all magic loaded, obsidian knives ready, hungry for souls and ready to devour some. The plan was simple go in kill the queen, king, and princess then pin the blame on some other noble asshole…at least that was the plan until she was caught and thrown into the dungeon. She was shackled and hungry she needed to eat something anything but nope these people called her a demon and we’re gonna treat her like one.

When Pearl heard they had a new prisoner in the dungeons a Wither hybrid no less she immediately rushed down there after the guards were gone for the night to see frankly the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life. Gorgeous sunset orange hair, emerald green eyes, tanned freckled skin, twice her height by all accounts , a rack of antlers made of crying obsidian with beads and jewels hanging from them, and beautiful wither roses growing from her neck in a bush safe to say Pearl had fallen for this woman…now if only gem could say the same.

Right in front of her was the bane of her existence the person who caused her family, her people, her home to suffer! And she was just standing there like she was some sorta animal in a zoo growling before saying “so what do you want wanna see me beg? Because if so then screw off!” Gem didn’t care if this was the end of the line but she didn’t expect for her hands to suddenly be free via the pull of a lever as she looked up to see Pearl crying saying “I’m so sorry what my family has done…” and from there things only got more interesting and complicated

Over the months of Gem’s imprisonment Pearl visited every single day bringing food, water, and even a few pillows and blankets for Gem granted the first few weeks gem nearly tried to gore Pearl with her antlers or claw her. But eventually Gem realized she was just trying to help and the two started talking…and talking…and talking. Both learning things about the others life and culture that both were hooked on. Gem was legitimately surprised at how Pearl hanged onto every word of her explaining the intricacies of obsidian magic and its ties to the grimmlands. And Pearl didn’t expect Gem to cry when she described what’s normally a very boring royal ball.

And one thing led to another and a very passionate night one evening…*ahem* that made Gem realize she loved Pearl with all her heart. With the following day Pearl freeing her and the two of them throwing a Coupe against her parents with a bright future in mind for the kingdom. Well after the wedding of course.

They discovered they had... A lot more in common than they first thought. Gem, like Pearl, was born after the Grimmlands was overthrown by Pearl's family. And, if it hadn't happened, Gem would have been second in line to rule.

Instead, she and her people are demonised and live in poverty all because some assholes decided they wanted to take over the kingdom and then not even use the resources the kingdom offers! Not even try to understand its people. Then her attempt at freedom immediately fails, and she's left only with the pity of somebody she hates.

It took her a long time to come around to Pearl. She'd lived in a castle she had no rights to her entire life. It was hard for Gem to feel like she wasn't looking at her like a curiosity. Maybe it was her own prejudice, but she thinks it's a fair assumption to make.

Pearl was the one to realise Gem's links to the original royal family, though. It was by complete accident! Talking to Gem made Pearl want to learn more about the Grimmlands in its prime. This led to her researching the royal family and... Gem's name was scribbled onto the page with red ink, alongside a name Pearl didn't recognise. She asked Gem about it. Though reluctant to answer, Gem eventually tells her that's her brother.

The coup wasn't easy to accomplish. Pearl's parents have ruled with an iron fist, including their children. She isn't sad to see them lose their power. With Gem by her side, it's easy to gain the support of the people. Gaining their respect is harder, but with a plan ahead to integrate those of Pearl's people that remain whilst bringing the Grimmlands back to its technological glory - they think they've got a pretty good chance.

[eclecticopposition]

its your guys so idk if it counts as headcanons but tell me about the au where veto is light yagami and blitz is misa. it's up to you who is L. my first thought was casey but if someone else would fit better then by all means

hey anon you have a bigger brain than the entire sun

(This got long. into the readmore it goes.)

Veto as Light is interesting because Veto definitely likes L more. Is not the type to just start killing people out of nowhere, but would still for sure pick up the death note and be like "I could totally get some CEOs with this." Thinks about it for like a week and then commits.

Has a code. Uses the power sparingly. Starts out very much as an "only when necessary" guy. Cooler head than Light Yagami. To them, this is pure pragmatism. They are a fine instrument.

Catch this guy using it to make this AUs equivalent of Jeff Bezos liquify all his assets, spend it all on climate change funding and police abolitionist groups, make a surprise public statement and dab on stage, and then die instantly.

The very picture of low key.

People lose their minds about this. Some people love it. Some people hate it. Veto is doing the finger steeple in front of the computer watching the internet discourse and going "yes..... all according to keikaku. (translator's note: keikaku means plan)."

Veto also continues posting online like usual and alternates arguing about this and about cartoons. Posts a long argument on why killing billionaires is fine but Kira's a dumbass and should have spent the money on something else.

Who L is here is really really interesting. Because out of the main cast, it probably *would* be Casey, but we don't know which Casey. This one might be more of a Worstcase than canon Casey is. Kind of colder, legitimately more analytical and able to keep their cool, much less in doubt about whether criminals are bad or not. Old enough to have established themself as some sort of prodigy and risen to prominence in law enforcement. Is NOT having some sort of psychosexual duel with Veto. Do not even suggest it.

If it's not Casey, though, then it is absolutely the Witness. Like, come on. She's right there. Is she? No, she's behind a number of proxies that she's lying to you about and a paranoid personality disorder.

The Witness is basically just L already, if L was a legendary whistleblower in the style of Anonymous. Also she's fucking terrifying.

The Witness is L. In canon L used to be around, and she got killed (?) by skeletons. That's just the way it is.

Yeah it's her.

Blitz being Misa is also very interesting, because it means they aren't Ryuk. The dynamic between them and Veto will be pretty different to Light and Misa (if anyone could pull her off, it's probably Nickle). Blitz and Veto absolutely strike up some sort of deal to cover for both of them.

They both already go by fake names of some sort. Blitz because they changed it both when joining and leaving Tesserate's cult, and Veto because they're a bit of an influencer who doesn't want their past dug up (or their ex to find them), so they go by something more in line with their public persona.

Veto asks what Blitz's actual name is. Blitz laughs at them.

Blitz would not have a Death Note, but does know about them. Might have some fucked up Shinigami ability.

Very possible that Tesserate both grants their followers some sick powers and keeps them physically dependent on them. Blitz was trapped there until they saw Veto pick up a new Death Note.

They immediately take the opportunity to get out, switching to being physically dependent on Veto instead.

Veto says they're not really into this fucked up dependency thing. They both know Blitz can't snitch because they need Veto, so if they want to just get like a high five every week or so, that's cool. No forced labor in their house.

Blitz says that is why they don't mind.

Veto is like, so what, you're just gonna help me get away with murder?

Blitz says they certainly seem to need it.

Veto flips them off. So what, they think Veto is like a mildly infuriating video and is just a little bit bad at murder so they want to do it themself?

Blitz says that they're more than happy to let them carry on as they are. They'll go along with what they ask, even. They mostly just want to see what they do.

Murderous Jeeves has joined the party!

Blitz also knows a lot of the other characters from a previous era, including the Witness. A vital source of information and physical/magical protection. Also very good at sharpshooting, of course. You never know when you'll need that.

Tesserate is still doing some sort of thing and wants to hunt Blitz down. Also is trying to hunt down the Witness. This guy is the one with no qualms about just offing everyone in their way. Also has a Death Note.

Mav is a Shinigami and is still the worst.

Casey's actual role in the story is probably a more mundane detective. Like L, but with less information to work with.

This version of Death Note would have a lot more major players and more prominent minor ones. It's a mess.

Casey is at a loss for a lot of things, but has a strong moral code, and is smart enough to put a lot of things together. Legitimately torn about what to do about any of this. Still thinks murder is bad.

Nickle is often seen hanging around Casey! They're the funny little guy. The Maya. A comedy duo doing investigations together. More clever than they seem, but not really one for all the machinations. They don't have the head for it, they say! They just have some ideas sometimes.

Casey absolutely hates magic, and thinks it's absurd. Refuses to acknowledge the supernatural as being proven to be real. Still very good at speculating about it and following logic to make it internally consistent.

Nickle thinks this is very funny and will throw in absurd-but-plausible ideas to trip them up. It's how they talk to each other.

The Witness doesn't show up in person. Casey and Nickle, however, do. At Veto's house. With some questions.

Veto and Nickle still meet at a Tidalform event and do the full rendition of a classic Checkmark/Lockdown confrontation. This is before they both realize that murder investigation brain duels are involved.

Blitz asks if Veto wants them to arrange an accident. Veto is like "nah. I mean, keep it on standby, but I don't really wanna kill these guys. It'll raise suspicion. Plus it's fun to have a challenge" and agrees to let them both into their house.

Most of the murder investigation brain duels are between these four. Casey is the major player here, checking everything for consistency. Nickle is carefree and less informed but scary observant, and will pick up on even tiny discrepancies in people's reactions. They are a very good team.

Veto realizes this immediately. They put on an act of a second, DIY L-figure who is investigating independently to cover their tracks.

Still has many intense conversations in classic death note style.

Blitz is just off to the side bringing people tea. Pleasantly smiling. Also silently scheming.

Casey gets aggravated and gestures a lot, but still thanks Blitz every time they get a cup.

Octave is missing. Nickle hasn't seen them in years.

Octave was actually also doing a Kira thing about five years ago, more clumsily and a lot more aggressively. It went badly enough that they were found out and went on the run. Made a pretty big splash, enough that people remember them as the first Kira, and the public assumes that they're back when Veto starts.

Veto knows the basic details about who Octave is (they were a minor, so it isn't public knowledge, but the forums Veto frequents were one of many places that dug it up anyways). Does know about the first Kira, and once they got one, put together that they must have used a Death Note.

With some digging, they realize that the reason Nickle is allowed to help with this is because they were friends with Octave in the past. Casey might have been involved in it too. Files this away for later and then brings it up to see how much Nickle knows.

It seems like a sore spot, but Nickle doesn't know much. Treats Veto pretty coldly. Insists that Octave isn't really the first Kira. They wouldn't do that.

Casey's opinion of Octave is far lower. They are also cagey about the details, but they are darkly confident that Octave was dangerous, and not up to any good.

Veto presses them and learns that Casey was involved in that investigation. In fact, they were the one who realized it was Octave. That's how they got this position in the first place.

Veto asks them how Nickle took that whole thing. Losing their best friend must have been hard. Were they mad at Casey?

Casey says that it's reasonable to experience intense emotions in that situation. Nickle was erratic for a long while. They don't hold it against them.

"Fucked up to think they were just doing that right under their nose," Veto says. "They didn't notice anything?"

"Nickle didn't have anything to do with it," they snap, immediately.

"Sure, of course," Veto says. "It's just weird that they didn't see it. Like, they're pretty good at picking things up."

Casey looks away a little. "It's hard to admit it when it's someone close to you," they say. "You end up looking for anything else."

Nickle and Veto became friends immediately. Little weirdo attached to their rival. Inviting them over frequently was a handy way to keep an eye on Casey and feed them information to direct their movements. It helps that Nickle is also funny and likes the same cartoon. Veto continued doing their mastermind thing, and Nickle continued being Nickle, but they legitimately did the same fun stuff that they and Nickle usually do.

This was derailed by Nickle cheerfully telling Veto out of nowhere that "You barely even act like a mass murderer!"

ohfuck.png

Veto goes through the many stages of "oh god what the fuck" grief. "oh god oh shit I'm fucked what the fuck" to "I've gotta kill this fucking guy" to "this guy is gonna fucking kill me" to "how the fuck did they figure it out???" to "wait what if they didn't. don't self incriminate this is basic stuff" to "yeah okay this is probably a test be COOL" to "why are they admitting they know to my face??" to "they must have told casey, otherwise they'd never take the risk. what's their insurance" to "oh god this guy is making a play and I don't even know what it is. I am so fucked" to "wait but they didn't just arrest me. what do they want?? are they going to try and blackmail me??" to "oh man this guy is making a PLAY. good for you little man I didn't know you had it in you"

Running through the options as they recover and hit the "Aw, I bet you say that to all the pretty girls."

"Wow, do pretty girls get Death Notes by default? That actually explains a lot."

ohFuck.png

Nickle explains to a very thrown Veto that they haven't told Casey! And if they can be cool about this, they won't. All they want is to make sure that Veto doesn't do anything dumb, like write Casey's name in that notebook or something! Maybe be a little more thoughtful before deciding somebody deserves to die! There's no reason they can't come to some sort of deal here. Everyone wins! What do you say?

Veto doesn't say anything. Just holds a hand out.

Nickle stops. Doesn't seem to know what to so. This caught them off guard. Veto just raises their eyebrows, doesn't say anything, gestures with their chin and makes a "give it here" motion. That makes it click, and Nickle actually looks a little nervous, like they've been caught at something. They start to laugh and speak. Veto just gives them another look. This one is a lot more pointed.

Nickle slowly pulls their phone out of their pocket and hands it over. Veto stops the recording. Deletes it. Quickly checks the most recent calls, emails, and text messages. Finds something that's cued to send in an hour; deletes that. Then tosses it back to Nickle.

"Alright," Veto says. "Let's talk."

They do talk. Veto learns that Nickle was actually involved with Octave's little stint with a Death Note. Knows how they work, knows what to look for. Admits that they agreed to what Octave was doing and helped cover their tracks.

"Aren't you one of those killing is wrong types?" Veto asks.

"Well, yeah," Nickle says.

"So what, you're just fine with letting someone else do it?"

"We didn't just go around killing people," Nickle says. "We talked it over every time. It wasn't a punishment thing, even. I don't think anybody really deserves it."

"You still did it," Veto says.

Nickle shrugs, and doesn't deny it. "We had reasons."

"Sure you did," Veto says. "Does Casey know?"

They just smile, oddly melancholy. "Couldn't tell you if I wanted to! But I do know one thing, and it's that you've got a lot to lose if you tell them."

Octave took the fall for it on purpose and has been missing for several years. Nickle doesn't know where they went. Had to go along with their sudden "betrayal" and act like they didn't know anything about it, or the whole thing would have been for nothing. It was a really tough time.

Nickle is actually the one who received the Death Note. They shared it. Octave took half of it with them, and was the one who used it to kill, but at the end of the day it isn't theirs.

They do not mention this.

Veto and Nickle agree to a truce, at least until they can deal with some of the more dangerous people out there. Tesserate is a threat to everyone, and the Witness is merciless. She's going to take down Tesserate no matter the cost, and she's not going to show mercy to Blitz, Veto, or Octave, either.

Casey thinks she's the good guy in all of this but still has some misgivings about the way she does things. Trusts her, but is starting to hesitate with some of the orders they're being given.

Nickle knows that Octave can't come out of hiding with her around, and while they don't want to kill her over it, they sure are open to helping Veto figure out who she is.

Veto asks what they plan to do about Casey, who is still hunting for anyone involved with Kira. Nickle smiles and reminds Veto that if Casey dies, they're next. Veto smirks and says they would expect nothing less.

The brain duels continue. They're both really into it.

Sometimes they pretend to be having a brain duel and they're actually just quoting Tidalform at each other. Casey hates it.

Octave, when they show up, starts doing their codependent thing with Nickle again. They snap back into having a single agenda and reveal themselves to be a second, more idealistically driven Kira duo. Nickle is thrilled.

Octave states in no uncertain terms that they don't care who dies and that they'd do anything for Nickle. Nickle is taking a break from all that though! They're nonfatal only!

Nickle turns out to have been the actual inspiration behind the first round of killings. They were the one with big dreams about changing the world. They were still unsure about using it when they got the Death Note. Octave was the one who was fully in favor of direct action.

Nickle was hesitant. Octave said that they're the one who knows how the world is supposed to be. They promised they'd love Nickle no matter what they did. They said they could do it together. They knew Nickle was right.

They planned the murders together. Both of them unconsciously let Octave take responsibility for the violence, with Nickle bearing none of the blame. They just kept it working. They just came up with the ideas. They aren't the kind of person who is okay with killing people. They were always the one reasoning in favor of mercy. It's why they made a good team.

Once they left, Nickle was left holding a lot of complicated emotions. They knew Octave was innocent – or just an accomplice – and that they couldn't prove it without condemning themself. They felt guilty about letting this happen, guilty about being the real culprit (although they still don't think of themself as A Murderer. Just because Octave has taken the role of innocence in their mind doesn't mean Nickle then takes on the violence that was done. It's just sort of floating, out there.), guilty about lying to Casey.

They do feel betrayed by Octave going behind their back to take the fall and stuff this way down. The fury in this borders on actual hatred. They blame Octave for leaving them, and it terrifies them.

They are deeply sad and scared of how far this has gone. This was never supposed to happen.

The cut throat mental duels are tense and heart pounding. The life and death nature of it means that if you really beat someone, that's it. They are worried that they are a bad person because they actually enjoy it.

At least Octave will always love them.

Casey is not happy about any of this. They suspect things are going on with Veto, with Nickle, and probably with the Witness too. They don't like Octave and they still don't know if selling them out was right.

They start investigating on their own. Their growing paranoia means they stop talking to anyone about anything, including Nickle.

Nickle tries to reach out and get them to talk. They shouldn't have to do this by themself! Why are they pushing them away?

Casey snaps at them. If they want to know so badly, maybe they should both just tell each other everything.

Nickle, caught, looks away and doesn't answer. They cover it with a nervous laugh, but their discomfort is obvious.

Casey tells them to drop it and walks away.

Tesserate's goons have been coming for various people this whole time. Villain of the week style almost. Everyone gets to look badass kicking their asses.

Vye is around. We don't know what she's doing. She is smarter and more ambitious than Tesserate. Also being weird about it.

Out of all the goons, she's the one who regularly defeats major characters. She's the type of person who could make this be two seasons instead of one.

Killing her is a major turning point in the series, although no one knows it. When you lose this common enemy, you don't lose the things that got you there. You have all the same tools and the same energy, and there's no one to use it on but each other.

Blitz has exactly one poignant moment, and it's sitting with her as she dies.

There is eventually a confrontation between Nickle and Casey. Casey says that they know what is going on (which alarms Nickle very much, who has been trying to work behind their back) and demand both answers and some sort of justification. Nickle tries to calm them down. It doesn't work.

The whole reason Nickle and Casey could work together is that they both wanted to do the right thing. No Killing is very much on that list. Nickle and Casey agreed to hunt down people like Kira! They were good at it! It was one of the reasons people let the suspicions about them slide!

Casey even didn't ask questions about the thing with Octave, even though they knew something was up. They trusted Nickle. It was selfish, and they were guilty about it the whole time, but they didn't want to lose them.

But it's Casey. They can't think one thing and do another for long.

Casey puts their foot down and demands that Nickle either commit to what they agreed to, and to bring in whoever they know is an actual murderer, or let Casey take them into custody. It's the thing they would agree to do, if doing the right thing as they agreed is actually what matters to them.

It will also mean selling out Veto and Blitz, which Casey doesn't know but suspects, and Octave, which Casey knows for sure. They make it clear that if they do, Nickle probably will be punished by the authorities, but Casey will still argue their case.

The alternative, of course, is to just say no. They can run. Octave is still out there. But that will mean Nickle is solidly picking a side.

Nickle is stricken. Casey is emotional but not wavering. Which friend you will lose, likely forever, is a painful thing to have to decide.

Nickle leaves. They don't hurt Casey, but they don't let themself get caught, either. They go back to Octave and cry their eyes out.

Casey tries to stop them. It's possible that they actually succeed. If they do, Octave kicks their ass a little and gets Nickle out before the cops get there. It's a firm statement of where everyone stands.

If Octave kicks their ass, Casey gets a cool scar.

It's about fifty-fifty on the odds that someone kills Casey before the night is out.

It could be many people. Veto could see this confrontation and do it. Blitz is the same thing. Octave could comfort Nickle and then go do it later that night. Tesserate could absolutely do it. Would also try to kill Nickle while they are in the same place, and only Octave would save their life.

Mav is a surprisingly likely candidate. It is probably not the Witness. Nickle is the only one it definitely isn't.

If Tesserate does it, Nickle comes out of it with a cool scar.

If they live, Casey and Nickle split off from each other, and Casey becomes a solo operator from now on. They will become increasingly erratic and focused on the task at hand, trying not to let losing Nickle bother them. Their plans become more extreme and reckless, and their pursuit of answers more intense. They are no longer playing around but are still in over their head.

When they begin actually uncovering the truth behind the situation, and their investigation leads to things not even the people with Death Notes know, the Witness kills them.

Casey dies. The end of the second act. They leave behind little evidence for their own murder, and a massive, very detailed tangle of journal entries and encrypted investigation notes for everything else.

When Casey dies, Nickle's primary motivation changes to finding and killing the one who did it. They have no intention of showing mercy. Not only will they die, but Nickle will make sure they lose everything before they do it.

If Octave is the one who killed them, they don't swear revenge, but it does drive a wedge between them that will never go away.

If Veto is the one who killed them, Nickle does not know for sure and is determined to get proof. Veto, knowing their life is on the line, is determined to hide it. If Blitz did it, Nickle already knows, but won't reveal this until they can kill them.

If Tesserate did it, Nickle swears revenge. A plot is hatched. Will kill them like it is nothing.

If the Witness did it, Nickle swears revenge, and is furious that it was the person Casey trusted. A plot is hatched. She is the most difficult person to bring down and Nickle is determined to make her suffer.

Octave is quietly watching. They don't try to talk them out of it. They just say that they'll make it happen.

Nickle shakes their head. They need to do this one themself.

Octave kisses their knuckles and promises that they'll bring them right to the doorstep.

Meanwhile, Veto's watched this whole thing spiral out of control and has doubled down on their own mastermind thing. No more games. They're in it to win it now. They've gotten into the groove of it, and are making some ruthless calls that are on the same level as Tesserate or the Witness. Light Yagami has arrived and been outclassed.

Blitz is watching them quietly, too.

Veto knows. Blitz is not interested in being chained down to anyone and if Veto goes too far, or gets to be too similar to Tesserate, they'll likely just kill them and take the Death Note for themself. It's something they need to keep an eye on.

Blitz knows that Veto knows that if they can figure out their actual name, they can kill them. Veto knows that if Blitz can figure out for sure if they can live without Veto, they can kill them. Neither of them has explicitly betrayed the other yet, and if they do, there's no going back.

Neither of them do anything. They keep being a weird guy and their butler. They still really only have each other.

Nickle shows up with an unreadable look on their face. They tell Veto that they'll help them. It is not an act of friendship. The undertone of impending betrayal from both parties is very much there.

Veto, now fully filling the role of Light Yagami, agrees. They begin working together to take both Tesserate and the Witness down. It's a beautiful sight. They are both also doing a silent, calculating mind duel about who is going to kill the other once it's over. This one is less exuberant than usual.

It becomes clear that they need to untangle the information Casey left behind. It's a confusing, encrypted mess.

There's a chess game visual. They're doing stuff like smiling and giving each other staplers and then it cuts back to the chess board and they're staring each other down across the table and monologuing about what it all means. Cut back to them saying thank you for the stapler. Cut back to the chess board as one of them puts down their rook.

If Casey hunted down the Witness and then was killed by her, there is a real race against time, because she is also trying to destroy the evidence. And she's very good at it. This is why Casey was killed in the first place.

Casey's growing paranoia is a saving grace. It means that they were also obsessively covering their tracks, following in the footsteps of the person who would kill them. Everything is scattered, hidden and encoded, duplicated who knows how many times. They were trying to make sure that if they were killed, someone could still pick up the investigation.

Casey journaled everything. Half of what they find are personal entries, with little bearing on the case. The only thing that isn't recorded is the thing they never had the chance to write down, which is the final revelation that would eventually kill them.

Nickle knows Casey very well. They and Veto untangle this web together, learning things that Casey never said outright and that people would rather keep hidden. The Witness is much better at this than either of them, but there are some things that only a very old friend would know to check.

Some of the messages were explicitly intended for Nickle. At least one was written in that style, even after they separated. Habits don't go that easily.

The final confrontation draws near. If they can crack this final thing, the person they're after will have no escape. Veto and Nickle are in complete sync as they set up the trap.

It's possible that they won't immediately turn on each other once they kill them. Not likely, though.

They crack it. Casey's mystery is solved.

The trap is armed.

It works. Casey's murderer is not dead yet, but the final piece is put in place. They might as well be. The chess game reaches its final tense moments. They're

Blitz shoots Nickle in the head.

Veto, to their credit, looks genuinely distressed about it.

Of course, this is assuming Octave isn't also on their bullshit, which they absolutely are. Unless they also died previously which is not likely. So Blitz just *tries* to shoot Nickle in the head out of nowhere, and Octave shuts that right down. And then there's a fight to the death.

You thought this was anime? You haven't seen anything yet. Octave and Blitz are going for it.

The fight to the death happens at the same time as another fight to the death, which is just Veto and Nickle huddling behind cover with their Death Notes and trying to figure out the other's true name. Nickle, after all, was the one who gave all three of the trio their nicknames.

Nickle is trying to figure out Blitz's to end the fight, Blitz is trying to figure out Octave's for the same reason, and Veto is trying to figure out everyone's because they are pretty sure they're done for no matter who wins.

We have no idea who gets who. It could go a lot of ways. Maybe they all die and it's terrible. It's Death Note.

We also don't know what Vye has been up to this whole time, but she's *asbolutely* on some bullshit. You know the psychosexual brain duels? She's the one doing them. She's doing a weird thing with Blitz *and* Veto *and* Octave *and* the Witness and she's also waiting for her chance to kill Tesserate. Nickle hates her. She makes overtures of bullshit towards Casey, who does not reciprocate and hates this whole thing.

She doesn't have a Death Note, but she does figure out Blitz's real name, which is massive leverage. Thinks she's hot shit. Is correct, to be fair.

Hubble is also around. Hates Tesserate, hates Blitz, likes Octave and won't admit it, and deeply respects the Witness. The Witness sees them as a valuable ally and would absolutely still kill them if necessary. Hubble knows this and approves of this attitude.

Knight has a very sad subplot where he's the only guy the Witness is willing to confide in. He's her man on the outside. The Witness is deeply suspicious of him because of this. She goes back and forth on trusting him and eventually sends him to his death, convinced he'll reveal his betrayal. He dies having been loyal the whole time. She dies soon after.

TL;DR:

Veto is Light. Blitz is kind of like Misa.

The Witness is L.

Casey is kind of also L, narratively speaking. They're an investigator and a main rival but don't have the same "two steps ahead" thing that L has happening.

Nickle is like if L had a Maya.

Actually Casey is just like if regular fucking Miles Edgeworth got into Death Note and Nickle is like if Kay went with him. This is the Investigations games to them.

Octave tried some Kira shit with Nickle years in the past. When it went bad, they took the fall for it, and Nickle was left behind. Casey was the one who told the authorities that Octave was behind the murders and the one who insisted that Nickle knew nothing about it.

It's uncommon knowledge that Octave was the first Kira. No one knows that Nickle is the original recipient of the Death Note.

Tesserate is running some sort of Shinigami cult. Blitz ditched it. Anyone in the cult can be given sickass Shinigami abilities, but is physically dependent on Tesserate to live. When Veto got the Death Note, Blitz ran and switched to being dependent on Veto to live instead.

The factions here are nuts. People are backstabbing each other and teaming up. The Witness, Veto and Tesserate are in some weird three way duel. Blitz works for Veto, used to work for Tesserate, and now has to deal with a jealous ex. Casey works for the Witness (kind of) and Nickle works for Casey. Nickle also teams up with Veto behind Casey's back and has been on Octave's team the whole time. Octave's team is actually just Nickle's team and Casey is NOT on that team.

Summing up the people with Death Notes: Veto, Tesserate, Octave/Nickle. Blitz and other cult members don't have one but do have weird Shinigami powers.

Octave knows about Death Notes and took Nickle's with them when they fled. They may or may not also have a Shinigami power.

The Witness doesn't know about Death Notes, but has enough information to know that something like them is out there. Her guesses are not always correct, but they are always dangerously brilliant.

Casey doesn't know about Death Notes, but is familiar with the rules of them. They solved the first Kira case and knew something unnatural was behind it. They just assumed Octave was haunted.

Mav is the actual worst.

[mbrainspaz]

I can't tell if I'm misunderstanding local culture or if my coworkers are just the rudest people on earth: A sort of tumblr AITA.

Any other south Texans out there, care to add your two cents?

I've lived in several cultures with wildly different gift giving practices so I'm pretty adaptable but since starting my current job in south Texas I'm at a loss for the first time. Having been a person who's struggled to afford food in recent years the best way I know to show gratitude and camaraderie is by gifting and sharing necessities like food, clothing, and shelter. I've always loved cooking for other people. Granted I do cook some weird stuff like curry and gluten free snacks so I don't expect people to want everything I make. I have a pretty stellar track record though. At my old office my deserts were legendary. Still, I'm not offended when someone turns down gifts of any kind. I wouldn't want anyone to feel obligated to give me anything in return.

Well... I wouldn't have been offended a few rejected gifts, but these people have accepted literally NOTHING I've tried to give them all year—usually just by tossing it aside on a dusty shelf or leaving it sitting out so that I find it later, spoiled. The muffins I made? Left on the counter for 3 days until I finally threw them out. The pumpkin pie with cool whip on thanksgiving? Left sitting on a workbench overnight. The nice warm waterproof coat I made available for the kid who only has a hoodie? Shoved in a dusty sink full of spiders. The spare room in my company house: always open, but they've told me they slept in their cars instead. I've even offered them full access to my kitchen (on the worksite) in case they ever need a snack or a sandwich and NOT ONCE—not even during severe storms—have they ever asked for so much as a breath mint.

I can't wrap my head around it! If someone had offered me any of these things while I was struggling or even just as a kind gesture I would've done everything in my power to show them how grateful I was even if I didn't want whatever they were sharing. The one coworker has literally come up to me at work and talked about how they couldn't afford anything but canned beans for a week—BESTIE, you could've helped yourself to a whole steak I had in the fridge! Or a vegan burger! Have I not told you so a dozen times?! I know what you're thinking: "They clearly hate you!" Not particularly. At least, I try not to let the paranoia get to me. We get along well enough on most other fronts. But wait—there's more!

They also rudely reject all gifts from our boss and clients. A client gave us special cooling scarves in the heat of the summer and I made sure to thank her and be seen wearing mine (it was super nice), and what did my coworkers do with theirs? They're still in the box in the back of a dusty bin. A coffee maker? Also left in its box for 9 months. A mug of hot chocolate? Left to mold. Leftovers of fried chicken and pizza from work meetings goes bad in the break room fridge every time (if I don't eat it). The candy and snacks our boss brings 'round on holidays ends up sitting in the feed room unopened for months (until I finally take it). Sometimes clients bring leftover desserts or donuts, and if I don't take those and put them away they will also sit out until they calcify.

It's no wonder I'm the only one who gets gifts from clients most of the time—I know how to at least ACT grateful. Even if you don't want the thing it's about basic manners.

My two coworkers come from different cultural backgrounds in the sense that one has a rich family and the other has always lived in poverty. Both still own land, horses, and big trucks (because Texas). Both are from south Texas and haven't spent a lot of time in other cultures. My best guess is that this is some kind of sick hyper-individualist mentality bullshit in action. I just don't get it.

No matter what culture you're from I'm pretty sure it's always downright rude to reject gifts the way they do. I'm to the point where I've decided to stop trying to give them anything and I just hope that doesn't make me the bad guy. I'm tired of being insulted for no reason and I hate to see food go to waste. Really at a loss here.

[wheeboo]

new ask from : dizzy anon ! xe says...

i was!! supposed to add in the idea alongside the original ask but i thought it'd be a little much, so i decided to just send that in instead. while i have the text copied on my laptop, i still remember it in my head. so here it is!!

ironically for the hanahaki mingyu fic, this one has flowers involved as well. but thankfully no sickness! i'd been seeing a few good omens stuff and it's only faintly inspired.

sins and virtues. yn as envy and mingyu as kindness. yn probably lived a life of jealousy of people's appearances, very very unsatisfied with themselves. they had always wished to change into something people would love to look at, but never truly achieved it. mingyu had a heart of gold and the softest of smiles that could make anybody melt, but some people took his kindness for granted sometimes; gave him nothing when he did everything. and in death, they were chosen to be the very things that lead to their downfall in life; envy and kindness respectively.

with that out of the way (over-explaining has apparently helped people understand me more so i hope it does its job rn huhu), inspired by something a friend and i's oc ship does in their own version of this au- what if yn likes to try and satisfy themselves just a little bit, flatter themselves and all that, by ordering flowers for themselves? even a place with a bunch of demons probably has a good flower shop. they place it on a date far enough that they'll forget about it, and when they receive it, it's just. "oooooh, for me? of course it's for me hahahah" nagco-cope lang si pre, omsim HAHAHAHA

and then mingyu takes notice of this,,, i mean. who wouldn't, because yn's room had started to fill up with bouquets of the same flowers every two weeks or so. he sorta picks up on why, and one day decides to be the one to give them flowers,,,, like imagine that. holy shit. this doesn't even need to be romance, just somebody who wants to make somebody smile somehow. i'm so upset abt this im so down bad for stuff like this lowkeyyyy????

; 💫

i mean to answer this the other day after reading thru it but kinda forgot dsfds;lksfd';; but!!! can i just say how i was like WOWED reading this it sounds genuinely truly interesting n something i would definitely read or even write?? like i love the contrasting symbols of sins and virtues and how it was basically their purpose in life perse?? poor mingyu tho he def does not deserve to be treated that way ugh 😭 yet the whole idea of mingyu discovering the reason why yn has been doing this/treating themselves like this because of envy n jealousy (and that its basically an inevitable feeling) is just ang sobrang cute lang,, can imagine all the kilig feelings in this because all mingyu wants is make yn smile n make them feel better abt themselves :((. its like such a simple concept w beautiful symbolism!! i love your mind po omg <3

[mallowmaenad]

my new political ideaology is that I get a device called the dipshit detector that removes self-important white people’s ability to use cellphones for 1 month and I don’t fucking care if this is a fascist dictatorshit i actually would turn joe biden into joe woke and donald trump into pronoun trump if i see one more loud mouthed straighty act like their opinion fucking matters im introducing their shy 9 year old son to my little pony i cant fucking take this shit yes fuck it throw republicans in concentration camps they’re practically begging for it they wont shut the fuck up about how theyre gonna be hunted down and killed wish granted bitch blam blam its wabbit season bitch im sick of liberals im sick of voting im sick of norway if youre even slightly uncomfortable around gay people you should be set on fire black power asian power jewish power latino power and i fucking mean it im not just buying the stupid 30$ tshirt on fckhate.com the worst thing to ever happen in american history is abraham lincoln not publicly executing every confederate general and outlawing slavery full stop we literally live in starship troopers we are trapped in a shitty gmod half life dark rp server yeah I do think you’re basically a terrorist if you go to disney land and i also think that if the first words out of your mouth when the rustbelt gets set on fire is “those dirty rednecks deserve it” ill show you a fucking redneck you fucking yank prick you fucking racist i wish hilary clinton would explode on live tv charitys are fucking fake theyre as fake as those cardboard towns in north korea oppenheimer was a limpdick pussy and fallout is becoming a game franchise that fetishizes the mass genocide of asians and i want todd howard pinned under a large rock for it spec ops the line wasn’t ugly enough there is a conspiracy started by the cosmetics, nutrition and fashion industry in collaboration with the upper class descendants of fucking typhoid “moneybags” marys to fool the masses that fat people aren’t hot as fuck. My body and mind and soul degrade with the week because of yhe shit ass menial labor yhey made me do and the fucking lead in gasoline and world war 1 started a chain reaction of fathers beating their kids and wives because it’s cheaper to buy a gun than go to therapy because we’re fucking warhammer orks without any of the endearing mental stupidity we live in mordor. we live in fucking mordor. it literally does not matter who is president our two political parties are Nazis and Neo-Nazis bernie sanders was the closest thing to a centrist this country has ever seen. capitalism grinds up joy into a paste to divvy out on 500$ gucci toothpicks public urination should be legal rent is theft corporations are agents of satan who is jesus christ who is not jesus of nazareth jesus christ is the poster boy of white supremacy i fucking hate Hamilton white people should listen to MORE rap i want to get my dick sucked at a death grips concert. Laundromats and burger joints where you can get a meal for 5$ are far more important than police stations and walmart. pop anarchists want to personally confiscate your wheelchair uou fuckers treat yhis like a game fuckin e girls with hammers and sickles in their icons arguing about what form of communism or socialism or whateverism is right when bitch that is a pipe dream you are going to die in captivity arguing about which dragon ball z character is the strongest (girl broly) at least go punch a hole in your wall and fuck it to prove you’re human you facebook fetishist jesus christ every other day i want a biblical death just so my fucked up thouhhts mean something i need a fuckingjason vorhees bitch wheres the yandere tea party this is all so fucked up its not fucking real the christian god hates you whoever says otherwise is trying to make you a fucking slave. Mormonism and scientology should be wiped off the map any religion formed after the invention of the gun is a fucking pyramid scheme i wish i was a 9 foot toll shark lady with hugebrealssta so i could fucking knock over thechrystler building

DO 9/11 AGAIN

[zaewriteshere]

Guardian of the Protocol

Worry

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A few weeks have passed since that outing with Ryo, and while you thought that everything would go back to normal, it became… Something regular, a routine, where you would go out with him and explore this world, its food and its beautiful view. 

This new development surprised most, if not all, the agents, including your friend group. Granted, the banter still happened, but it was less aggressive and more… Friendly ? As if he wanted your attention, but not in a way to rile you up like before. 

Your friends started to also accept his presence when he wanted to join in for whatever activity you were doing.

Since he usually did so without asking, anyways.

Or at least never explicitly.

You seemed to be the only one who could somewhat decipher what he wanted to say, which was a feat, because he couldn’t communicate for shit. 

You were about to go into your room to do some meditating, but stopped when you passed the training area.

Yoru was in there, going against M.A.X bot.

You took interest.

Klara and Tayane’s creation was notoriously hard to go against. From what you heard, it took most of the agent’s coordinated effort to manage to win against it.

The fact that he wanted to do it alone…

Was Ryo okay ?

You decided to stay, putting off your meditation for now.

He seemed to fare fairly well against it, though.

Until he took a massive hit which propulsed him a few metres back, violently making him slam against the window. You were about to go help, when your eyes met, Yoru doing a double take.

“I’m coming in-” You started, but he interrupted you. 

“Don’t,” He said as he got up. He seemingly tore the air apart, letting you see an oni mask. “I’ll handle this.”

And he disappeared.

The robot seemed confused as to where he Yoru could be, as were you.

That reminded you of your own ability, but way more advanced and longer… 

A tearing noise was heard, and the robot turned to the sound, ready to destroy its enemy. 

When he peaked back, it was via jumping over the cover, shooting at it as soon as his feets touched the ground.

It wasn’t enough damage, though.

Ryo was gonna be struck again by the same swing, you could tell. 

And there it was, you called it.

He had trouble getting up.

Before you could intervene however, the robot fell offline, the scoreboard now showed Yoru as defeated.

You entered the battlefield and offered your hand to him once you got near enough.

With some hesitation, he took it, and you helped him get back up.

“Are you okay ?” You worried, turning around him, searching for any external injuries. Seeing none didn’t make you feel better.

“I’m fine,” He tried reassuringly, but you wouldn’t believe him.

You saw him being thrown against a wall numerous times.

He couldn’t be fine.

Getting close to him, you summoned your healing well.

You noticed his shoulders relaxing and his features soften. 

“Please don’t worry me like that again…” You said, putting your face in your hands.

“I was handling it just fine,” You looked at him through the gap of your fingers. He glanced away shyly. “Maybe not…” He admitted after a while.

You sighed.

“Why did you want to take it on your own, anyways ?” You asked, in disbelief. He mumbled something that you didn’t quite catch. “Huh ? Can you repeat that please ?” He cleared his throat before repeating himself.

“It’s good training,” He explained, not looking at you. You sighed, shaking your head.

It was a fair answer, but you still wondered why not train with someone else rather than the M.A.X bot.

Then, it clicked.

“If you want someone to train with, hit me up,” You finally said with a gentle smile. He seemed surprised by the offer, but nodded. “Let’s get you to the sick bay, I want to make sure that you’re okay.” 

Ryo groaned, but followed you nonetheless.

However, you could tell you were starting to not be feeling well yourself, your thoughts starting to race in your mind, your anxiety slowly spiking as you started to be more aware of your surroundings.

Your friend came first, however.

You knocked, then entered the med bay, stepping aside to let him come in. 

You fidgeted with your hands, your fingers slightly shaking. You took shaky deep breaths to calm yourself down, hoping that neither would notice your current state.

Yoru noticed as he sat down however, and sent you a questioning glance, studying you. 

You avoided his gaze and tried your best to appear normal.

You stayed there in silence as Ling did a check up on him, but he didn’t tear his eyes off of you. 

You were starting to be highly uncomfortable.

When he was given the green light, you smiled at the both of you and excused yourself, dashing out of the room and immediately going to yours.

Once inside, you closed the door as gently as you could, then rushed to the centre of it.

You sat down on your knees, centering yourself, trying to establish a connection with the Traveller.

Once you did, the sensations around you seemed to fade, the noises getting muffled. You felt like you were floating. 

You could feel your body and mind relax, the shaking of your limbs lessening before coming to a full stop. 

You felt at ease, as if you were home and meditating right before a strike. 

You decided to strengthen your connection to your current and favourite element, void. So you tried feeling and sensing the elements, or lack of thereof, in your room.

This empty space in the air. 

You were about to sense it when a loud knock interrupted you, making you abruptly fall on the floor, knocking a few things down as well.

“Ow…” You muttered to yourself, getting a grasp of your bearings. Your room which was previously neatly organised was now a mess, as if someone has been rummaging it in search of something. 

You sighed.

Getting interrupted mid meditation would do that to your environment.

The person knocked again, and you groggily got up to open the door.

As you opened the wooden frame, you spoke pretty aggressively : 

“What do you…” You were face to face with Yoru. “... Want,” You finished, more softly, mostly because you didn’t expect him out of all people to be here.

“What were you doing in that room, weirdo ?”

He still used that nickname for you, you noticed. However, it was more… Gentle, almost affectionate, now ? That is, if you didn’t know any better.

You sighed.

“If I told you the truth you wouldn’t believe me… Let’s say I was searching for something,” You answered, slightly annoyed by getting interrupted. 

He studied you, brows slightly furrowed, as if worried. 

“What’s up ?” You asked, leaning against the doorframe, and that rendered you a bit too close for your comfort to Yoru.

He didn’t seem to mind however, locking into your eyes.

“You were extra weird,” He answered, and it was your turn to examine him.

For once, he was looking right back at you, his eyes all over the place, searching for any signs that you weren’t okay.

“I just needed some peace,” You explained after a long moment of just observing each other. He didn’t seem convinced.

You wanted to change the subject, not feeling like explaining how meditation worked for you when you were interrupted already once.

Lynn came to your rescue. 

“What happened to your hair anyways ? We’ve always been wondering that,” They expressed, trying to change the topic.

It took him enough off guard for him to answer without even thinking.

“I dye my hair,”

“You “die” it ? You mean you kill it ?? Why ?” You continued, confused. He seemed very taken aback by your genuine confusion.

“Uhm, no. It’s, ah… Let me show you.”

Once again, Yoru seemed to struggle with his words.

He led you into his room, opening the door to it and closing it after you both entered. 

You looked around, taking in your new environment. 

The walls were either black or a saturated dark blue, and you noticed a couple of posters from what you assumed were either movies or bands, maybe even both. 

He also had numerous shelves, as well. One had numerous types of knives, for different uses and of different materials. He also had a bookshelf, but you recognised none of the titles. 

Maybe it was because you were from a different world set millenia after this era.

When you turned around, you saw a desk which was relatively neatly arranged and small shelves with things you weren’t familiar with. 

You must’ve stared at it for too long, because Ryo spoke, as if embarrassed.

“Guys can wear makeup and paint their nails too…” He muttered, more to himself than anything. You blinked at him.

“Makeup ? Nail paint ?” You repeated, not really understanding.

“You don’t have that in your world ?” He asked incredulously, and you shook your head. “Oh.”

You felt like you still had a lot to learn about this Earth’s culture. 

[onlyswan]

Jungkook is so comforting for us, and his recent lives show that he feels comfortable with us too. i mean he shows us his recipes, washes dishes with us, sings with us he also said in his recent live that he comes to us when he has a lot of thoughts in his mind. that made me so emotional for some reason I'm not sure if it's pregnancy hormones acting up already but the fact that he trusts us so much he's so domestic with us makes me feel _______ I don't know the words. But you know what I mean. Ive been crying non stop about it 🥲

Anyways I had a question, what does oc do when jungkook is doing his lives does oc sit in the bedroom and watch his lives or is just dozing off because his live timings god 😭😭

also I'm dying dying dying of the fucking morning sickness, it's not morning sickness, it's literally all day everyday sickness. im nauseous 24/7 on bed its SAD. like i havent even gotten up from my bed because im too scared ill puke...ive also developed this liking for pineapple pizza now (pls don't judge) and I cannot stand the smell of my dog, I love him to death but his smell oh my god it does not matter how many times I give him a bath his smell makes me puke 🤨

I've also gotten unusually emotional for no reason, i cried seeing tae going live with his bed head because it was adorable and i wanted to run my hands through his hair and smoothen it down but i couuldnt because we live half a world apart 🥲

I'm so sorry if I'm all over the place it's ridiculous... I know I'm still like 9 weeks and it's impossible to feel anything down there but i swear i can feel something going on. i cant wait to meet baby piggy 🤸🏻‍♀️

okay I'll go now, I hope you're okay art :))

i loveeee youuuu

- 🐽

yeah no honestly i cried so much about that too and not even long before that when namgi said that just like how armys live through them and their music, it’s the same for them as well 🥲 everything the tannies do these days makes me feel emotional since last year’s festa arghshdjfjf our connection only grows stronger and deeper everyday and i do not ever want to take any moment for granted. they love us so much.

both honestly 😭😭😭 or sometimes they’re just not home

i def won’t judge lmao i love pineapples on pizza it’s so yummy 🫢 and omg noooo it’s starting and not the dog that makes me sad :((( you must be having a hard time :( but i hope seven ? more months fly by soon so you can meet baby piggy already i’m so excited for you <3 stay healthyyy and take care! <3

[sapphic-courtship-for-dummies]

I'm so down bad for uhh lets call them Mx. L, they're the president of the sga at my college and I've gotten to know them a little bit over this semester. I'm always jumping to help with club stuff like bringing down/ putting away meeting supplies and things of that nature just so I can spend a little extra time with them. The thing, the thing is, right now there's a 3 week gap between meetings (spring break + every other week meeting schedule) and its going to kill me. I honestly miss seeing them, and I want to text them and I dunno, see if they wanna get lunch or just fuck around in our town. But I still don't know them that well and I've never texted them before and they are so far above my league its completely insane. I don't want to say they're perfect, cause no one is, but damn they're close. They're so much better than me and it just paralyzes me every time I get close to texting them cause ya'know why the fuck would they want to talk to me? I'm literally a nobody compared to them, they deserve so much more, far far better than me. But that hurts so much cause I like them so much. My friends have been encouraging me to text them and start things but I just feel like I can't. Rant aside, any advice for a love sick fool?

Oh honey,

I do have some advice for you actually, and it's this:

Listen to your friends.

This rant just breaks my heart, because I know what it feels like to just be so incredibly insecure and believe that you're lesser than someone because you've put them on a pedestal. You've idealized them and probably made them out to seem like something perfect when they're not. The only reason you think of yourself so poorly and them so highly is because you can see your flaws, and maybe that's all you can focus on. But I promise you, that once you get to know them for real, you will get to know their imperfections as well.

No one is perfect, they are no exception. No one is "literally a nobody," you are no exception. No one is better or worse than anyone else! Everyone is a mishmash of wonders and mistakes, of good and bad and ugly. And the sooner you realize that everyone is on the same playing field as you, the sooner you take them down off of that pedestal and climb your way up out of that ditch you've put yourself in: the sooner you can meet them face to face, eye to eye. Because everyone, no matter how flawed, or broken, or undeserving you think you are, is worthy of love and being loved! Just because you may not be able to see your own value, your own worth, does not mean it's not there. Your friends seem to be able to see it. Your friends believe in you. And I do too.

You will never know happiness unless you take the chance to let it in. And for that you need to take that first step. Believe in yourself. Be brave. Send that text. The worst they can say is no. And even if you do get rejected, 1) your value is not dependent on anyone else or anyone else's opinion of you, and 2) at least you tried! you put yourself out there! you took a chance! And that in itself is something to be proud of.

We're all love sick fools in the end, my friend. We've all stumbled over our words trying to impress someone, or smacked ourselves in the face with our locker door when trying to open it (or is that just me?), or tried to block our most embarrassing moments from our memory. So the next time you're worried that you're not as cool as somebody else, remember that even Beyoncé farts. It's cringe, but it's the truth! And isn't it better to fall in love with the ugly, messy, wonderfully authentic truth than some unattainable dream? I think it is.

So go get 'em! What are you waiting for? Permission? Only you can grant yourself that. Only you can take your own fate into your hands. I trust that they're good hands to be in, and I trust that in time, you'll believe that too.

Sincerely,

Your biggest cheerleader,

Sappho 💓