#*checks notes* future projects…sort of…

[quinn-pop]

i like to think the master crown messed magolor up pretty bad. dark matter possession is very rough on the body, and wearing something that cursed…yea. that’ll do it

[doggyspeakart]

✩ Make your own Kyrii Plushie ✩

Thank you @free-sewing-patterns and @jestersneopia for asking so kindly for me to release my pattern dupe! :3 These guys are very intricate little plushies so I did my best to make something comprehensive. I also made detailed instructions which I will include after the readmore, so long post ahead!

McD's Plush Kyrii

What you will need:

•The two included images printed on 8.5"x11" (A4/Letter) paper.

•Enough of your desired Fabrics (reference the pattern size on your paper, you don't really need much at all)

✩ I recommend a short pile faux fur or other nonstretch fabric for the two body colors, and a long pile (1-4cm) faux fur for the mane and tail.

✩ You can also make the mane and tail using yarn or doll hair wefts by attaching them (sewn or glued) to a backing fabric like cotton or felt.

•Scissors or precision knife to cut fabric.

•Sewing implements (needle, pins, thimble, thread scissors, etc.)

•Thread matching one or both of your body color fabrics.

•black thread or embroidery floss for the mouth embroidery.

✩embroidery floss or thread in your desired eye colors (recommended a white for sclera, an iris color, and a black for outlines)✩OR✩buttons or safety eyes in your desired size and color.

•Stuffing (two or three handfuls of polyfill will do the job)

✩ribbon or cord to use as arm tension band and/or a loop to clip hardware like keychains and backpack hangers.

((✩ optional ))

General note: default suggested stitch length is 3mm apart unless stated otherwise.

Step 1

Print out the pattern, making sure to format your printer to use the full page with no margins. Check print preview to be sure nothing is cut off. (I made the piece inventory sheet to sort of offset any default margin weirdness but I'm new to this so let me know if it messes up.)

Step 2

Conceptualize your design and gather your materials. Are you cloning one of the plushies already out there, or making your own design? It is always good to keep reference on hand during any art project!

What special design elements are you translating to plush form? Keep in mind this pattern is small and intricate and it might be easier to omit or simplify certain design elements if you are working from something more detailed.

The cutting guide assumes 1 base color, 1 accent color, and 1 fur color with no significant shape, size, or design difference to the original McD's plushie. (Only a few fixes for symmetry and fur direction.)

Step 3

Prepare your base material for cutting. If you are doing embroidery or applique designs this may be easier while the fabric is flat and whole. Same with fur wefting, do anything like that while you have one big piece of fabric to work with. Trace the pattern pieces using chalk, heat erase pen, or some other washable marking tool using the cut guide provided. (I recommend cutting out any shape you need to add details to from the pieces inventory page, then trace those pieces on your fabric in roughly the same positions as the cut guide page.) Then do any embroidery or details you need to do while the pattern is flat.

Embroidery tips:

• Use a stiff backing piece like interfacing or felt behind your fabric to make the embroidery more durable and stiff.

•Use a back stitch or chain for lines, line in color for crisp color-changes.

•Parallel vertical lines close together catch the light and read as blocks of color best.

•Don't use stitches that are too long or loose, build stitches up diagonally like a brick pattern instead, the key is to attempt to stay parallel.

•If you are using sewing thread instead of embroidery thread, use two or three strands at once to save time.

•When you are done, cut away your backing fabric/interfacing a little outside where your embroidery stops so as not to interfere with future seams.

Step 4

Cut out your materials. If you didn't need to trace from the pieces inventory for pre-cut details, then you can just pin the cut guide paper to your fabric and cut it directly. Otherwise simply follow your trace and cut out your pieces. Be sure to keep track of which pieces go on the left and right of your plushie.

Step 5

Begin assembly by sewing all your darts first, those will be on each side of your face, inner leg, arm bottom, belly, and back pieces. Follow the blue lines that appear anywhere that says "dart" and any sew lines that create a V-like dip in the perimeter of the piece (like the arm bottom and belly pieces). Fold the seam allowance inside your seam so that the right sides of the fabric end up with a clean, unnoticeable seam. I recommend a tight, short straight-stitch about 2mm apart on darts.

Step 6

Make the loose body parts.

Sew together ears, arms, and tail by placing right sides together and sewing around based on the solid black lines in the pattern.

•Each ear will have a base color piece and an accent color piece. Make sure their shape lines up so that right sides of the fabric are together. The ear pieces are fairly flat and their sew lines should line up perfectly. Use any stitch you are comfortable with, straight stitch about 3mm apart works just fine.

•Sew one top arm piece and one bottom arm piece together for each arm. The discrepancy in their shapes creates a slight twist that gives the arm part a tube-like shape. I recommend pinning the pieces at the ends and wrist first to get the tension/gathering correct on the arm part. Any stitch works but a straight stitch will probably be easier to keep track of tension with or to rip if you make a mistake and need to retry. Keep it tight, about 2mm apart.

•For the tail, sandwich your pieces right sides together so that all the fur is tucked inside and you can sew the edges with a secure stitch like a whip or back stitch.(about 3-4mm apart) You might need to pick or brush out the fibers if they get caught in the seam.

Once you finish each piece, flip it inside out, wrong sides should remain inside while the right sides of the fabric show and all seam allowance remains inside. If any edges are having trouble flipping inside out, use a thin tool like a crochet hook or chopstick to prod them from the inside.

Stuff the 2 arms until they hold a 3D shape, firm fill recommended. Leave the other pieces in this step unstuffed.

You should have two ears, two arms, and one fluffy tail.

Step 7

Shape the face.

With the dart now sewn into the cheek, the two seams with the || registration marks should be much closer in length. Line the seam up according to the marks and fudge the rest of the length using tension. I recommend  using a ladder stitch on the right sides while keeping in mind the general size of the seam allowance.

Repeat on the other side.

When you are done, your face piece should have curvy cheeks.

Step 8

Build up the head.

Connect the forehead piece to the face piece, the curve's center goes right above the nose.

Sew in the chin piece along lower jaw.

There is a bit of leeway into how long the ears will be and which angle they stick out. For best results, give it a test right side out and pin where you like the ears to stay.

The ears go into the notches on the top of the face piece, about half of the ear should fit into that notch. Sew it into that notch, any remaining ear folds around that top seam towards the forehead and is stitched down to give the ear a slight curve that helps it remain upright.

When you're finished you should have the (bald) head.

Step 9

Construct the body.

Sew the two inner leg pieces onto the sides of the belly piece.

Sew the back pieces onto the belly and inner leg piece, leaving the arm notches alone to make the arm holes. Sew all the way around the inner leg and to the center line on the belly where the dart seam sits. There may be some overlap/extra on the back piece.

Sandwich the tail between the two back pieces and sew them together. You can adjust the angle of the tail before you sew it in, the original plushie has its tail sticking up behind the back. (Tip: if you fully close the tail seam you can use a loose couple of stitches to attach it to the body to make a hanging tail that wags when you pick up and shake the plushie.)

Your current parts should be a head, a body, two arms, and the hair piece.

Step 10

Attaching the hair piece to the head.

(OPTIONAL): First, if you want to add a keychain loop like the original plushies, snip two tiny holes into the backing of your hair piece about 6mm apart and feed a small length of cord or ribbon inside to create a loop on the outside.

Leave plenty of slack on the ends of the loop for a more sturdy hold.

Secure the loop and holes with a lot of sewing and/or glue to keep the fur fabric from fraying. Stitch down the ends of the cord/ribbon to the backing of your hair piece.

Start sewing the hair piece to the head beginning with the hairline along the forehead to get it nice and clean. Next sew across the ears and down the face piece on both sides.

Your head should now have hair, with the rest of the mane hanging down behind.

Step 11

Sew head to body.

Make sure the chin piece lines up to the belly piece, the bottom of the head should line up with the rest of the back piece on either side.

Next, sew down one side of the hair piece to the back piece, connecting the bottom edge to the seam near the tail and stopping.

Leave the other side seam of the hair piece open for arm adjustment and stuffing.

Step 12

Attach the arms.

Tension Band Explanation:

The original plushies have an arm tension band inside to keep the plushie's shape and seams intact when pulling on the arms. Generally I think this can be skipped without much issue, but could be a good idea if you plan to use this as a bag hanger or keychain plush, as the arms are the extremities most susceptible to getting caught on things, and when they are secured more comprehensibly they are less likely to rip the plush apart when yanked. Not a big deal if you just plan to keep them around the house.

(OPTIONAL): If you want to install your own arm tension band, start with the plushie right-sides-out. Sew the band to one arm and pull it taught through the chest to the other arm, securing the tension band before sewing the arms into the body piece.

To sew the arms, be sure to pose them and pin them in place right-side out first. (originals usually have one arm down and the other up on their chins/waving, though they vary a lot and there are plenty of ways to position them for different expressions.)

Then, either turn insideout again or ladder stitch the arms into place.

Almost there! You should have all your pattern pieces together at this point.

Step 13

Stuffing the plushie.

Make sure your plushie is right side out, with no incorrect seams or holes other than one of the seams between the hair piece and back piece. If you need to, gently prod a crochet hook or chopstick along the backs of seams to turn them out.

OPTIONAL: To make a weighted plush, add a small mesh bag of plastic pellets or weight of your choice to the bottom of the plushie before stuffing.

Add in your polyfill, pillow fluff, yarn fibers, scraps, or whatever you decide to stuff the plushie with, paying attention to the density of the stuffing.

I recommend keeping the head and feet more densely stuffed to keep their shape while leaving the body a bit more loose for a squishable belly.

Step 14

Close up the last seam.

Using a ladder stitch, close up your last seam, pulling tight and tying off your thread at the end for a clean, invisible seam.

Now that all the seams are in, you can now brush or pick any long fibers from the hair and tail out of the seams.

The plushie is whole! You can keep it like it is, or do some thread sculpting for a more finished look!

Step 15

Thread Sculpting.

(OPTIONAL):

Using thread in the color of your body fabrics, you can pull tension at various points to create a more sculpted shape. The original had two through the face (vertically through the chin up behind the forehead, and horizontally between the corners of the eyes), and two over top of each hand and foot to look like the separation of the toes. See the original pattern pieces for precise placement.

And that's it! You should have a finished plush kyrii!

If you have any questions or concerns please contact doggyspeak. Feel free to use this pattern, share it, or edit it with or without credit.

PLEASE DO NOT SELL THIS PATTERN OR INSTRUCTIONS! IT IS BOTH NOT ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY ME AND ALSO SOMETHING I'VE WORKED VERY HARD ON!

If you would like to see more pattern reconstructions from me, show me your finished plushies and provide feedback and suggestions to me. I would love to see what you have made and hear what you'd like to see next! ^o^

[illbegottenfaith]

hey!! i loved ur handwritten fic with the notes it was absolutely amazing, do u think u could make a pt 2 of that or just another fic with that format? thank u!! <3

handwritten pt 2 - theo nott x reader

yours and theo's story as told through notes passed in class

Part 1 | Part 2

a/n - thank you so much for this lovely!! it gave me the motivation I needed to clean up the dribs and drabs I had drafted out so here it is <3 I have plans/ideas for future chapters too (similar format but might not be restricted to just notes 👀) but I'm not sure how long of a series it'll actually end up being. enjoy!

tropes/warnings - fluff, a little more angst than the last chapter, newstudent!theo, estranged friends to lovers

word count - 1.9k

Saturday, 9.48 pm, The Three Broomsticks, Hogsmeade

You okay?

Yeah, why?

You’re awfully quiet. And you’ve been staring into your empty butterbeer for the past ten minutes, so either it was terrible or you’re plotting something.

Ha-ha.

You hate this, don’t you?

They’re just not the kind of people I hang out with.

Let’s get out of here.

Are you kidding? This party is for you, Theo.

Look at them. They’re drunk off their tits. No one’s going to mind.

No, stay. I might call it a night soon, though.

Are you sure?

Yeah. Don't worry about me, I’m just not used to hanging out with these kinds of people.

What kind?

I don’t know. Quidditch players. Hooligans. It’s not really my scene.

I didn’t know you felt that way.

I didn’t want to spoil your night.

Listen, it’s getting late. I should probably head back.

Okay. Get your coat, I'll settle the bill.

No, it’s fine, I can pay for my drink. Besides, you should stay.

At least let me walk you back.

Stay. I mean it.

Fine, but I’m paying for your drink. And before you say anything, it’s one lousy butterbeer. Consider it compensation for ruining your evening.

You didn’t ruin my evening. I liked the part when we walked here together. I don’t mind this too much either - scribbling on napkins.

Let me walk you back. Please.

Saturday, 10.19 pm, Ravenclaw Dormitories, Hogwarts

What's with the notebook?

Sorry, Ivan's finally passed out and I don't want to wake him. He hasn't been able to sleep all week, can you imagine? It's that stupid Herbology project - y'know, the one that Katie's been simmering those mandrakes for - I swear, he's so tense in the shoulders. I finally got him to nod off after dinner and it just seems cruel to wake him up and make him go allll the way down to his dorm :(

Fine, but Merlin help you when Katie wakes up and finds him still here. I still can't wrap my head around how much he lets you baby him. He's a Slytherin, for God's sake.

Please, he knew what he was getting himself into. If anything, I think the babying might have been a motivating factor. Anyway, how was the party?

Okay, I think. I kissed him. On the cheek.

YOU'RE going to wake Ivan. Have some goddamn self-control.

OH I KNEW ITTT I knew it the moment he walked into Charms class and you looked up and your eyes met and you lost your tongue and when you looked back he had that shy sort of smile I just KNEW he was going to be so good for you. Because he is, Y/N. He might be the best thing that's happened to you.

Gosh, relax. It's not like it meant anything. What's a little friendly peck between friends here and there? I just did it so he wouldn't follow me back to the castle like a lost puppy. Besides, he's not that perfect.

A real human being with real human flaws? You don't say.

It's hard to explain. He's only being this nice because he knows what he's done.

What has he done?

Some pretty hard-to-forgive stuff. I don't want to get into it right now.

Have you?

Have I what?

Forgiven him.

I don't know. I mean, I see him trying to reach out, but every time, even now, with the party - something stops me from...fully connecting. Something holds me back.

I don't think I have.

Monday, 9.13 am, Charms

Did you get back alright?

Yup.

I wanted to come check, but the guys...

I told you they weren't going to let their guest of honour run off. So how was the rest of the night?

Middling. They started up a game of strip poker when we got back.

Oh.

Allegedly, normal poker was too ordinary for a night as special as that.

You're kidding, right?

Oh my fucking god, you gamble??

Who said the poker had anything to do with gambling?

So you don’t gamble?

I didn’t say that.

Theo.

OUCH enough with the pinching! I've already had ten years too many of it.

I can't help that it's the only way to get you to behave.

I don’t see what the problem is. It’s my money to use as I see fit. Plus, I'm very careful about the people I play with. Merlin knows we have too much anyway.

Unbelievable. Gambling, really? Why not just drop out of Hogwarts and live slot machine to slot machine, huh? Why don't you just set up shop at some casino in Las Vegas?

I'm very confused. Do you want to go to Vegas?

You have the attention span of a fruit fly.

Because that's not a half-bad idea. We could make a whole trip out of it over the summer.

Your friends need to introduce you to more legal forms of recreation. What are you doing Wednesday night?

Nothing yet.

Good. I'm teaching you Exploding Snap.

Isn't that a kid's game?

FUCK I'm SORRY but DO NOT pinch me in the same place twice.

Oh, quit whining. You'll live.

Barely. If you keep this up, I'm going to start sitting far far away from you and those PINCERS you call fingers.

Wednesday, 1.02 pm, Potions

I ran into Katie on the way here and Merlin, she was in hysterics. I'm out of the room for one night and I miss you making out with Loverboy in our dorm??? Geez, at least put a sock on the door.

We were not making out!!! Katie just walked in at an unfortunate time.

Uh-huh.

Look, he was the one who showed up at the window on his broom, drunk out of his mind.

Drunk??

I know! What was he thinking, risking his neck all the way up there at the Ravenclaw dorms?? It was like he didn't even notice too. I thought I was hallucinating at first, but then I opened the window and nope, that was him, and then I screamed and he nearly fell off his broom so I hauled him inside. He practically faceplanted on the floor. I was terrified - I thought he was poisoned or something, but then I tried to prop him up and he had this dopey look on his face and he reeked of firewhiskey. Ugh, it was so annoying. I don’t want to talk about it.

You know what he said to me? After all that?

I thought you didn’t want to talk about this?

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh?

Uh-oh. Like a goddamn Looney Tunes character.

Looney Tunes?

Never mind. He was all ‘uh-oh, you’re mad at me’ while I was trying to get him to drink some coffee and I was like yeah, no shit, you look like you’re seconds away from puking all over my dorm. And then he started…he started talking about the party, and me leaving, and how sorry he was he brought me in the first place.

Aww.

I know, right? I felt like crap. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal to him.

Of course it was a big deal. That was him introducing you to his new friends.

Exactly, new friends. What does he want with me?

Y/N, are you daft? Do you not see the way he looks at you? He so clearly cares what you think about his friends.

What on earth are you talking about?

Ivan's on the team so they hang out together sometimes and he says Theo's a lot different around you. He doesn't swear as much, he drops his voice a little and he's extra attentive. Hell, he nearly got into a fight with some dunce in our year over the way that guy was talking about you. Y/N, he obviously cares about you so, so much. Please tell me you didn’t say anything too harsh.

I called the whole lot of them hooligans.

NOOOOO

But t's true!! Have you seen their matches? How they don't rip each other to shreds is beyond me. But I didn't mean that he was like that. Theo could never be like them. He'd play a good, fair, clean game.

Yeah. Sure.

What's that supposed to mean?

You haven't watched a single one of his practices, have you?

No. Should I?

Never mind. What happened next?

That's when things started going downhill. He started trying to remove his shirt because it was so hot from Katie’s blasted simmering pot of mandrakes. I was trying to stop him, only he wasn’t listening, and apparently he gets rather clingy and touchy when he’s, y’know, tipsy, and then…Katie walked in.

Damn.

Of course that's when he decides to sober up, so I look like an idiot while everyone in the room - yes! even him!!! - wants to know what I’m doing in his lap. He was sooooo polite too, as if he hadn’t just rudely breaking-and-entering’d his way into my room. ‘Oh, hello, Y/N. What a tastefully decorated room you have, Y/N. Is there a reason we’re sitting so close, Y/N?’ As if I want to be sitting in his lap!

Right.

Because I don’t.

Okay.

‘Cause that would be so weird.

Mhm.

Like…ew.

Okay, okay. I get it. I believe you.

He wouldn’t even let me get up or anything. Just kept talking to Katie about the weather with his hand on my thigh, casual as ever. I swear, if that teammate of his - what's his name, Mattheo? - hadn't come looking for him, I don't know how I would have gotten him down to his dorm.

What a thriller of a story, from start to finish.

Yeah, well, I could do it with a little less thrill in my life.

Aw, I think it was sweet. That disaster of a party was clearly eating at him.

Yeah. I mean, we're friends. It should bother him if I've had a shitty night, right? But also...we're just friends.

For the record, you're a different person around him too.

Psh. Yeah right.

Different how?

Ivyyyy

Thursday, 3.07 pm, Defence Against the Dark Arts

How’s your hand?

Doing very badly, thank you very much.

I have to say, I didn’t take you to be this sore of a loser.

My fingertips have been singed off. Forgive me if I seem a little sulky.

Aww. Was the kid's game a little too hard for the big, manly, Quidditch player?

You tricked me. You didn't even tell me all of the rules before we started playing.

Oh, come on. You knew enough to play.

But not to win!

Yes, well, I wasn't about to hand you a victory on a silver platter. I thought Slytherins were supposed to be clever, or something. Maybe you're the 'something.'

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. We'll see who's laughing after next week's chess match.

Does it hurt a lot? Your fingers?

For a lesser man? Perhaps. I think I'm dealing with the pain quite well, actually.

So if we didn't have class, you'd be -?

Writhing on the floor of my dorm.

Ah, I see. Poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?

Promises, promises.

But you still had fun, didn’t you?

It is quite the adrenaline rush.

I knew it.

Alas, my fingertips…

Oh, sod off. You always were the biggest drama queen.

[dietplant1]

THE IDOL'S ASSISTANT AU IS HERE!

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

Welcome to the Idol's Assistant AU, or SMG4:IA-AU for short! Here, all basic information will be shared, and the post is put under its own tag for easy access. If you wanna learn about my silly little AU, check out the QnA below!

Q: What IS the Idol's Assistant AU?

A: The IA-AU is my own take on a possible redemption arc for Mr. Puzzles as well as speculation for what the future holds, taking place in the aftermath of Mr. Puzzles being released from the facility and finding a job as an assistant. He's a bit of a shell of who he used to be-- drowning in guilt, on probation indefinitely, and awkwardly maneuvering social situations with his coworkers-- But he has the support of his bubbly employer to keep him going. If only he didn't have that pesky plumber bothering him each step of the way...

-

Q: Who are all the other characters on the poster?

A: Those are all of Mr. Puzzles' coworkers and his boss! We have--

Kotone: The TV head in the background, Puzzles' boss, and the idol in the title! Kotone is a fun and hyper jpop idol heavily based off of popular characters like Hatsune Miku. She was originally created by an inventor to entertain rich nobles, but after many years she has made it her goal to make as many smiles as she can. Sure, she's a bit naive and seen as crazy for hiring a 'lunatic' like Puzzles, but she bets her wires that he is full of potential!

Passionfruit: The girl with the space buns, and the designer behind all of Kotone's costumes! She's a bit clumsy and awkward and doesn't really know how to feel about Puzzles, however she is willing to give him a chance thanks to Kotone's confidence in him. Passion and Puzzles have to work together often, anyways, since Passion has to tell him whenever she needs more supplies.

Raven: The yellow-eyed cat and the security guard of the studio! Raven acts as the protector of all employees present and, while being the biggest skeptic of Mr. Puzzles initially, soon puts him under her scope as well and ensures he doesn't overwork himself too much. She's also Kotone's bodyguard at all events and is her wife. Lesbians ✨

Nimbus Cloud: The cloud guy on the far left, and Kotone's choreographer! He's sort of in the middle between Raven and Passionfruit on the skepticism scale, and also acts a sassy voice of reason that brings Mr. Puzzles back to reality. The two men clash at times due to similar yet different attitudes, however their bond becomes one of the strongest within the music studio. Kotone's official social medias are a two person project between them.

-

Q: Are SMG4 and his friends involved at all?

A: Yes! Mr. Puzzles is forced to encounter them both individually and as a group multiple times. Whether it be when he's out running errands or accompanying Kotone to an event, he simply can't seem to avoid the crew for more than a week or two. It only gets worse whenever he notices that Mario has begun to follow him and attempt to strike conversations with him. Mr. Puzzles has no idea why he's being so friendly when it used to be an on sight brawl before, with his frustrations building further as he begins to enjoy their run-ins with each other.

Another important thing to note is that Kotone eventually gets a gig at the Showgrounds for a small music festival SMG4 decided to host. That is when the crew learns about Mr. Puzzles' job, and it is the first time he has entered the Showgrounds in years. He hates every single second of it and yet he bites his tongue because Kotone is a huge SMG4 fangirl, meaning her dreams are coming true. He will gladly allow the pointed stares of SMG4 and Co. if it means that the first person to truly give him a chance is happy.

-

Q: Do I smell Marware?

A: Yes. Yes you do. This bad boy has Marware and Bowuigi and SMG34 all in one neat n' gay package.

-

Q: What if I have a question and it isn't on here?

A: You can ask questions in my ask box, or comment here! I'd love to answer any questions anyone may have!

[000marie198]

Are there any sonic au’s you would recommend? I am trying to find more to get into so would love to know if you have any favourites out there :D

Hello! Oh there are so many! :D I definitely have some favorites and some which aren't favs but are pretty great.

Putting these under the cut because there are so many! And there's definitely more cool AUs that I haven't seen or haven't saved.

Anyways, please enjoy my personal selection:

Seven Years Too Soon by NightFuchia. Basically what if a much younger Sonic accidentally set Shadow free from Prison Island. It has awesome characterization and happens to be one of my favorite stories. The rest of Team Sonic is also present

Brotherhood's Twist by @/drawloverlala even though I don't think it counts entirely as Au but it still sort of does. Unbreakable Bond ageswitch due to Zeti's meddling.

Passion's @sonic-tangled-au . I love it! So very much. The lore and backstories are so good.

Noonui's World Restored in Imbalanced Chaos au. Extremely engaging and good. Has a bunch of world building and fun concepts and lore.

Sonic's Super Totally Awesome Mixtape, though it seems to be discontinued, I'm not sure. It's pretty good so far! Takes place in the movie verse.

@brainworms-all-night-long is working on a Dreamtale Au which I'm hyped for. The tag in use is 'dreamtale and sonic tomfoolery'.

@/the-starlight-project comic is pretty good too. Mystery! And emotions. So many emotions ough.

And there's @the-emerald-isle-au by @0vergrowngraveyard . Very intriguing. 👀

Please do check out the Pandora Au by @/starrjoy. It's great!

The Fair Folk by Irritable_Fabulamancer, this fic is one of my favorites! Team Sonic as Fae my beloved! I love fae AUs.

On that note, if you're alright wanting to read a Fae!AU which is pretty much a sonadow fic, there is also I don't believe in fairy tales [but I believe in you and me]. Fantasy and Fae! Satbk inspired, another one that had me hooked.

My Arms Are Blue by thekyuubivixen and its unofficial, fan-continuation (My Arms Are Blue! Final Four Edition) by PlaystationPassenger. The story doesn't completely count as an AU but I'm recommending them anyway cuz they're really really good and has that watching your own show from different dimension trope. It's also hilarious and fun.

Burning Arrow, Wildfire Heart by Taranea is SatSR novelisation AU with Sonic's other friends present too, it's pretty fun. Not very accurate regarding the desert but it's a good read and I come back to reread it often. Must read in my opinion. Just don't dare use it as guide for desert travel or you'll be shriveled up in the sand somewhere

This fic. Read it, I will not elaborate this one. Just trust me :]

And don't miss out on @shadofiredragon's Legends Never Die fic. It's a future fic! And an awesome one. I won't spoil much but it is so good. She also has lots of fun AUs in the works.

Down the Foxhole series by MoonlitNightin. Sonic Prime AU series which is great! Tails' pov. The Shatterverses have their own Sonics. Engaging and great.

Feel free to check out @/Son1c's 10verse and other AUs. Those are some pretty great ones. Love the different lore and variants given to the Shatterverses in 10verse.

Spirit of the Wind by TrenchCoatGecko. Satbk inspired fantasy au. Sonamy, has focus on magic and lore and other characters as well.

If you'd like some Forces angst with Unbreakable Bond focus, please do read Illusionary are your arms around me by @nixoon-again. The feels will kill you /pos

Chaos Barren by but_why_not. I forgot to add this earlier (this is an edited addition). Takes place in the Blue Devils AU, great story!

Baby Tails shenanigans by @myymi . Tails got turned into itty bitty infant kit. (And also check @0vergrowngraveyard 'baby tails' tag for more little gremlin scenarios)

Myla is also working on @tails-and-the-ink-machine au

Feral au by Oneshot_bravo. Little short stories or drabbles taking place in Unleashed but the werehog is feral yet keeps his memories. Very lighthearted and fun and cute

Three or more foxes form a skulk by @/chiropter36 . Post Prime au fic, loved it! Go read.

Also, @donelywell 'roadtrip! sonic au' and 'Casino Nights Au'

Haven't yet started reading The Fox's Burrow by @/space-gutz but I'm planning to. Recommending it either way cuz I feel like it's gonna be good. Unbreakable Bond but ageswaped au.

@/sonicchaoscontrol comic. Another in-progress au which is also quite intriguing. Sonic jumps through a portal and exits in future where the planet is a mess. The mystery of what and how it all happened and what's going on slowly unfolds.

The Buzzsaw Dillemma by redpenship. I haven't personally read it myself but I've heard many good things about it, especially it's world building.

Incomplete and won't be updated anymore but if you haven't read them yet, DO NOT miss out on Ghosts of the Future and The Murder of Me fancomics by Evan Stanley (spiritsonic) and Gigi Deutrix (gigi-D) respectively. They're a must read. Both are available on DeviantArt.

The Heart of a Monster comic, @/the-heart-of-a-monster. It's in progress and updates regularly. Unleashed retelling, really really good with some extra lore and everyone involved.

Sometimes the Picket Fence isn’t Perfect and Sharp Edges (Sonic Prime AU) series by @/skimmingthesurfaces. I'm holding off the first one to read later, like that one book you've been saving so I'm not sure if it completely counts as an AU, still putting it in recs, and the second one is intriguing so far. I have heard a lot of good thing about the Picket Fence series.

Dark Boom by Smash50. The entirety of Team Dark in the Sonic Boom universe. Alongside it, there's also Boomtober by the same author.

It Always Snows by the 24th by Selendred had me hooked even though it's a oneshot. Great au and would love to see it explored more.

No One said I Wish by SylWritesStuff. One of my fav stories from the Sonic Platonic Fairytale Week event. It's really funny.

Sonic Phantom Forces (SPF) au comic. Sonic Forces au, blue boy gets taken away but not in the way you think, pretty cool story so far. It's in-progress and available on both Tumblr and DeviantArt. @/spfau

If Black Doom tried to be a better father by Tirainy. Don't take this one seriously. It's pure comedy and I love every second of it. Shadow is having a time for sure XD.

Silent Talkers by @brainworms-all-night-long. Takes place in the Prime Bros verse, feels intensified, all the good ones. A must read, trust me.

And speaking of the Prime Bros AU (in which all Shatterverse foxes also got adopted by Sonic and are now brothers), feel free to scroll through the 'prime bros' tag here. So many awesome posts for this particular au by everyone!

There's so many more, cool ones, epic ones. I haven't saved all and I'm probably forgetting some great ones too so I'm leaving this open for others to add. If y'all have more cool AUs, plz add to these (I wanna check em out too)

....

And now a few from the Fanfiction.net site because it doesn't have much audience compared to AO3 and there are some actual gems hidden there;

Premonition by thekiyuubivixen (not entirely an au but it feels like one due to the unique ability Sonic gains)

The Sonic Project by SconnieSA. Rated M but it's a pretty awesome AU and the rating is due to more serious themes and uncensored language in some parts. Highly recommending this one

Survivor's Resolve by DC111. Not entirely an AU but I must rec this fic it's so good and doea havs some AU vibes.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law by thedraconicwerewolf. Ace Attorney type AU with Sonic and Tails as main characters. Not too adventurous but very very fun and interesting and still managed to keep Sonic in character. Though it has a sequel started, I only rec the main story, not the sequal as it seems to be abandoned and isn't needed to be read like them cliffhanger stories.

beLIEve by Meow21. I have only read snippets from this, waiting for this story to continue but it seems to be discontinued. Felt like an epic story too and deserves to be recommended.

Sonic and the Golden Journey. Sonic gets thrown in another storybook, this time it's a children's classic fairytale. Short but very comedic and fun. Go read it.

Tales of a Samurai. I am begging you to read this one, please it's so good. Also by Taranea.

Wonderful and it's sequal Sanctuary by Inflamore for some Unbreakable Bond angst. (Kindly ignore the obliviousness of earlier ff.net for not knowing the meaning of certain symbols, there's nothing of the sort in story, trust me.)

Regrets by MazzyBooks. A high school au of sorts. Sonic centric with some heavy angst. I'm not kidding about the angst part, trust me. It had me hooked from the first chapter though and I believe it deserves a rec.

You need the cracks (to let the light shine through) by king.needlemouse. Istg this is the most underrated thing I've ever come across, it's one of my absolute favorite fics which I can never forget. Do read it.

Within this Nightmare by sonicfan1990. Sonic get transported to an alternate universe which has gone post apocalyptic and his counterpart in that universe has been dead. Pretty great story, lots of angst and everything.

And that's all I could remember and have saved for now. I'm leaving this open to more AU recs (yes even self plugs are welcome) so if you know any I missed, plz feel free to add. I hope you enjoy all these great AUs!

Thanks for the ask!

[yukipri]

Some thoughts on Cara

So some of you may have heard about Cara, the new platform that a lot of artists are trying out. It's been around for a while, but there's been a recent huge surge of new users, myself among them. Thought I'd type up a lil thing on my initial thoughts.

First, what is Cara?

From their About Cara page:

Cara is a social media and portfolio platform for artists. With the widespread use of generative AI, we decided to build a place that filters out generative AI images so that people who want to find authentic creatives and artwork can do so easily. Many platforms currently accept AI art when it’s not ethical, while others have promised “no AI forever” policies without consideration for the scenario where adoption of such technologies may happen at the workplace in the coming years. The future of creative industries requires nuanced understanding and support to help artists and companies connect and work together. We want to bridge the gap and build a platform that we would enjoy using as creatives ourselves. Our stance on AI: ・We do not agree with generative AI tools in their current unethical form, and we won’t host AI-generated portfolios unless the rampant ethical and data privacy issues around datasets are resolved via regulation. ・In the event that legislation is passed to clearly protect artists, we believe that AI-generated content should always be clearly labeled, because the public should always be able to search for human-made art and media easily.

Should note that Cara is independently funded, and is made by a core group of artists and engineers and is even collaborating with the Glaze project. It's very much a platform by artists, for artists!

Should also mention that in being a platform for artists, it's more a gallery first, with social media functionalities on the side. The info below will hopefully explain how that works.

Next, my actual initial thoughts using it, and things that set it apart from other platforms I've used:

1) When you post, you can choose to check the portfolio option, or to NOT check it. This is fantastic because it means I can have just my art organized in my gallery, but I can still post random stuff like photos of my cats and it won't clutter things. You can also just ramble/text post and it won't affect the gallery view!

2) You can adjust your crop preview for your images. Such a simple thing, yet so darn nice.

3) When you check that "Add to portfolio," you get a bunch of additional optional fields: Title, Field/Medium, Project Type, Category Tags, and Software Used. It's nice that you can put all this info into organized fields that don't take up text space.

4) Speaking of text, 5000 character limit is niiiiice. If you want to talk, you can.

5) Two separate feeds, a "For You" algorithmic one, and "Following." The "Following" actually appears to be full chronological timeline of just folks you follow (like Tumblr). Amazing.

6) Now usually, "For You" being set to home/default kinda pisses me off because generally I like curating my own experience, but not here, for this handy reason: if you tap the gear symbol, you can ADJUST your algorithm feed!

So you can choose what you see still!!! AMAZING. And, again, you still have your Following timeline too.

7) To repeat the stuff at the top of this post, its creation and intent as a place by artists, for artists. Hopefully you can also see from the points above that it's been designed with artists in mind.

8) No GenAI images!!!! There's a pop up that says it's not allowed, and apparently there's some sort of detector thing too. Not sure how reliable the latter is, but so far, it's just been a breath of fresh air, being able to scroll and see human art art and art!

To be clear, Cara's not perfect and is currently pretty laggy, and you can get errors while posting (so far, I've had more success on desktop than the mobile app), but that's understandable, given the small team. They'll need time to scale. For me though, it's a fair tradeoff for a platform that actually cares about artists.

Currently it also doesn't allow NSFW, not sure if that'll change given app store rules.

As mentioned above, they're independently funded, which means the team is currently paying for Cara itself. They have a kofi set up for folks who want to chip in, but it's optional. Here's the link to the tweet from one of the founders:

And a reminder that no matter that the platform itself isn't selling our data to GenAI, it can still be scraped by third parties. Protect your work with Glaze and Nightshade!

Anyway, I'm still figuring stuff out and have only been on Cara a few days, but I feel hopeful, and I think they're off to a good start.

I hope this post has been informative!

Lastly, here's my own Cara if you want to come say hi! Not sure at all if I'll be active on there, but if you're an artist like me who is keeping an eye out for hopefully nice communities, check it out!

[lov3-lik3-ghosts]

Hiii if your requests are open, may I request Alice Cullen with a gothic s/o? I understand if you can’t and if your requests aren’t open!! Have a good day/night!!!

Alice Cullen x Goth s/o

Pairing: Alice Cullen x gn!reader.

Warnings: Not beta or proofread. Use of Y/n. Mentions of makeup.

Format: Headcanons.

Word Count: 1.7k

Author’s note: Hi, sweetheart! Thank you for the request! You’re so sweet to worry but so you’re not worrying in the future, it will always say in my bio if requests are open or not :) I’ve tried my best with this but I’m not particularly gothic myself so I hope I did the community some justice. I also wasn’t sure what gender you wanted for this, my default is usually fem! but when I checked your account I decided to try for gn! instead, hopefully that’s alright? I hope you have a good day/night too!!!

Inspired heavily by this piece of art by @moonstruckme, the only goth!reader thing I’ve ever read. I hope she doesn’t mind! :)

request guidelines | character request list | mother m-list

~ 𐀔 ~ 𐀔 ~ 𐀔 ~

• Alice likes when things are a little different, a little odd to typical standards. So when her coven moves back to Forks and she’s enrolled back into high school and she sees you, she’s a little bit smitten.

• Her visions hadn’t ever glimpsed you, not even when she purposely tried to focus on Forks and anything it had to throw at them, not even when Bella and Edward frolicked through them.

• She didn’t approach you because of it. Surely, if you were actually meant to be in their lives — her life — you’d have made a reoccurring appearance in her prophetic sight, right?

• But you didn’t. And she still couldn’t stop thinking about you.

• You were so different from her, with your dark makeup and thick boots. Where you liked to linger in the darker, more abandoned corners of Forks, she liked the mall. Where you carried around a weathered copy of gothic literature, she browsed fashion magazines — old and new alike. Where you enjoyed older horror movies, she liked the newer, sweeter films.

Yet she wanted to know you either way.

• But as Edward liked to remind her, you couldn’t be brought into their world. Especially when she hasn’t had any visions foretelling your involvement with them.

• That doesn’t mean she couldn’t pine though, and if she drove Edward mad in the process, good.

• When Bella came along, Alice felt as jealous as she did excited. Finally, Edward would stop moping about being alone and something new would be thrown into their too consistent lives. On the other hand, a human would join them along the line and it wasn’t the human she wanted.

• Bella made odd friends with you. And with Edward and her finally together, Alice had a way in of sorts. She extended all invites she made to Bella to you, all trips to the mall had a bag of clothes she thought you’d have picked dropped off at your door. Laces and leathers and silks in that same black shade that you loved so much.

• Edward ignored her running thoughts of you, you, you as much as he could in turn for her not telling their family about every last thing him and Bella did together. Visions could be a bitch, and good blackmail material.

•You finally began to take notice of the lithe, pixie-like teen with her newfound attention. Smiling at her between classes, following Bella over to their table during lunch when you felt like it, getting her number from Bella to thank her for the pretty gifts — promising to pick up anything you thought she might like, purposely partnering up with her for a science project.

•And finally, finally, she’s struck with a vision.

• You, thick black trench coat and tall platform boots, stood beside her with a sharp-toothed, bloodied grin and an arm looped through hers. Maybe the dripping red would have been off-putting in another life but in this one, god in this one, it’s simultaneously the most attractive and most relieving thing she’s ever seen. Because no, she’s not damned to eternal hell, knowing she could’ve had you and never allowed to; always reaching, reaching, reaching, and never quite grasping — slipping between her fingers like silky water. And yes, you do become immortal, by her side for what’s hopefully eternities to come, never changing, never ageing, stuck in a live stasis.

• Your clothes are still the same, your face hasn’t changed. Your teeth are sharper, cutting through the air as you laugh so hard your head tilts back, but it’s good. A clear show of the vampirism bestowed upon you.

• When she comes to, Edward is glowering at her from across the room. Esme’s by her side, gripping her arm with a deep frown that only loosens when Alice grins.

“You can’t.” Edward scowls. “It’s wrong. You’ll damn them, you’ll ruin them. It’s not fair of you.”

Alice pursues her lips, grin tucked away for later, when she plans to take up your invite to visit the cemetery as the sky darkens. “You don’t get to make these decisions, Edward. It’s not fair of you to judge me for loving a human, especially when you love one too. They’re destined to join us, join me.”

“Your visions aren’t destiny,” He snarls. “They aren’t concise. They change with choices. Make your choice, Alice, don’t turn them into this.”

“Stop projecting!” She defends, shoulders taught. “I wouldn’t do it to them unless they agreed. It’s their choice, not mine and definitely not yours!”

Carlisle steps forward from where he lingered under the arch of the door, his golden eyes flitting between them cautiously, like he was ready for them to surge forward with venom dripping fangs. “Woah, woah,” He placates, hands raised with his palms facing the two of them. “What’s going on? There’s no turning of anyone happening.”

Edward looks at her like she’s the mind reader, and honestly, she does know what he’s thinking. Either you tell him or I do.

“Y/n.” She utters, almost sheepish. “They turn.”

Carlisle smiles. “Destined?” He asks.

Alice takes an unnecessary breath. “To me.” She confirms. Edward storms out, through to the looming woods and doesn’t come back ‘till morning.

• Alice pulled into the parking lot, the loose gravel crunching under the weight of the wheels.

There’s only a hint of day left in the sky, smattering a wave of deep orange through the blanketing dark and weaving through the lowest line of stars.

She listens out for any signs of you — a breath, a rhythmic beat of a heart, and beneath the chittering of a flock of birds, the buzz of a bees nest somewhere close, the low whistle of a light breeze and the hum of electricity from the nearby town, she hears you.

You’re on the far left corner of the building, waiting beside a caved wall with even breaths and she spots you through sharp eyes as she closes the car door behind her and makes her way over.

“Y/n.” She greets happily, voice as soft and whimsy as always.

You smile, nodding politely back. “Alice. Are you ready?”

“As ever.” She nods, grabbing your hand softly to pull you through the jagged wall, ducking under and out. You flinch at the ice of her touch, fingers twitching against hers before your attention is taken by her twinkling giggle, echoing through the emptiness of the hollow church.

She walks straight through the church like the moonlight was bright enough to light the way and you stumble behind her, trying your best to avoid smacking a limb against misplaced furniture. Alice pauses when she reaches the sanctuary, running a pale hand over a rotting podium, collecting dust and cobwebs on the tips of her fingers as she did.

“How many people do you think married in here, right where we’re standing?” She turns to you, too yellow eyes gleaming.

You stop before her. “Thousands,” You swallow, shrugging. “How many do you think stayed together until ‘death due them part’?”

Alice snorts, an ungraceful mannerisms in everyone but her it seems. “You’re a pessimist.” She concludes before answering. “Hundreds, I’d hope.”

“A realist,” You correct, grinning. “But I’d hope so, too.”

• Alice ponders on two questions that night after driving you home, both of your hair painted a silvery grey with cobwebs and dust and your smiles so wide she was sure your cheeks were sore.

What if you didn’t want to turn, her vision an ending to a tragedy? Edward’s words haunt her, planting thoughts of damning you to something much worse in any afterlife you might possibly have. If there was even a possibility that your turning was because she wasn’t cautious enough, too caught up in the fever dream of your eyeliner and your candour, then she doesn’t know she could forgive herself.

And the much sweeter: Did you ever want to marry? A portrayal of her physical stasis, a hint of the nineteen-year-old she really was.

• The answer to her worries comes a week later, when you’ve finally agreed to accompany her to the thrift stores lining the upcoming streets to the main mall.

It’s just you and her, the indirect invite through Bella no longer needed as a guise. You’re acting a grump as you follow behind her, looming like a stalking cat waiting to pounce and glaring at anyone taking a too long look. Alice catches the grin you try to smother as she wraps a black, lacy scarf around your neck and shimmies lightly with it, and decides you secretly like shopping with her.

Her hand brushes yours once, as she passes you the bags from previous buys, and she freezes, thrown into the dissociation of another possible future.

You know in the vision, that things you previously thought to only exist in novels exist in life too, proven by the way you bare your neck to her. Her contacts are out, irises bleeding into a deeper, inhuman golden and fake breaths no longer racking her chest.

Your eyes are hard, darkened with nerves and determined finality as she’s sure Jasper would say you felt, and she gazes back at you softly, like she understands. You nod even as your throat bobs with a gulp, your stuttering heartbeats ringing loud. The venom begins to pool in her mouth, glistening clear against her lips as she licks them, smelling pungent with a bleach-like tang.

She moves closer, her mouth just barely against your throat and stops short just there, waiting. Your hands find her hips, twitching and clenching. You heave an exhale like it’s your last — and really, she thinks, it’s not far off. “Okay,” You mutter, the words holding more weight on your tongue than you ever thought they could. “For forever.” You nod, squeezing her hips one last time.

Her fangs sink into you.

When she comes to, your voice still a fading comfort, you’re shaking her shoulder with wide, worried eyes. There’s a phantom feel of venom watering her tongue and a hint of that same thick smell that she gulps to feel clear of.

“Alice? Alice, are you alright?” You ask, watching her closely.

She hums. There’s a relief she didn’t know she needed loosing her chest and throat, clearing airways she didn’t need to use. You were afraid as you were about to turn — naturally, but you turn willingly and that’s about all that matters. You find out, you don’t run, you’re with her and she turns you and anything after and between that will be done with you together.

Alice grins. “I’m great!”

~ 𐀔 ~ 𐀔 ~ 𐀔 ~

I really hope you all enjoyed this! It’s my first attempt at writing for twilight, so I’m not sure how to feel. Likes, comments and reblogs are extremely appreciated and very encouraging!!

NO REPOSTS!!!

[fandoms-in-law]

The Plant

Summary: Turns out that having been through the Upside Down makes other countries more willing to share their secrets if you specialise in something connected to what they cover up the existence of. Steve finds this out just before Dustin finds a plant that could easily have killed him if he hadn't called his botanist big brother when he did.

Author's Note: Being honest, I scripted the last scene cause for whatever reason a while back amorentia (fuck JK) was in my head, specifically the scent thing. It didn't have a fandom it was connected too but then I thought the professor sounded like Steve might so everything before that was trying to lead to the scene I'd scripted. Sorry if that makes the jumps and description of scenes leading to it feel rushed.

~

Botany had never been part of Steve’s plan when he was young. When he finished high school he’d never have imagined being any kind of scientist at all and was mostly focused on keeping himself and everyone he cared for alive.

It hadn’t left much hope for any kind of future plans, but somehow they got through it, survived and let Erica and Max loose on the government officials trying to cover up how Hawkins was destroyed.

With minimal help from Joyce and Nancy the two girls got full ride college pay outs and a hefty amount of reward money for all involved on top of the already promised medical bills getting sorted.

Even after that, the beginning of Steve’s now illustrious scholarly career started one sleepover where neither he or Robin was managing to sleep much thanks to nightmares.

“I’m not letting you squander that full ride, Steven. Pack your things and lets go learn about late admissions.” She declared, rolling out of his bed to pull the suitcase out from under it.

Steve groaned, watching her, “No, what would I even study?”

“Figure it out there.” She countered pulling faces back at his exaggerated ones refusing.

He groaned again, but tried thinking it through more, knowing she’d probably bring this up later regardless. “Do you think I could find a science nerd able to explain that hive mind including vines?”

“Or figure it out yourself if you study natural sciences.” She offered, following the thought and shivering at a passing worry that thinking about what they’d been through might encourage their nightmares more. “But if you think you can explain the Upside Down without breaking the NDA, be my guest.”

Steve swatter at her as she climbed back on the bed.

That was the night that began his journey, without any specific college in mind, except that Robin would be by his side wherever they ended up.

~

Getting degrees was difficult even being able to work together while studying. Robin hadn’t expected to join Steve in his botany or that she could manage to do so and still keep learning her languages and practising her music.

Technically she would say she hadn’t. Instead, while Steve took the subject and specialist, getting a masters and then a doctorate all in botany, Robin did multiple bachelors degrees and was still considering which masters she wanted to take.

That never stopped her from being on Steve’s research teams and pulling him back to their focus any time he thought he’d found a clue about the vines from their teenage years.

~

Steve had been planning how to explain to Robin that their next research project likely didn’t have many people allowed to work on it, and that he planned to change that risking his entire career when his phone rang.

Dustin still kept in touch after all the years that had passed and still ended up giving Steve moments of terror so he was only hoping it was a normal check in when he answered it. “Hello?”

“Steve, I’ve found the coolest plant! It’s growing out of a deer corpse and smells so good! I want to eat it, because it’s like Ma’s lamb roast.”

“Do NOT eat that plant Dustin!” Chills ran through Steve as the scent was the last comment to make him sure the plant he’d only just learnt about the existence of was the one Dustin had found.

Dustin scoffed, “But-”

“IT WILL KILL YOU!” He yelled, “I read about it last week. Leave the area and warn everyone to stay away and avoid any plants that look like it.”

A disagreeing noise came back, “I didn’t tell you what it looked like.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “And? Do you want to die by plant?”

“Fine, but I’m sending you a picture of it and get to complain if you’re wrong.” Dustin grumbled, although he usually ended up sending Steve photos of the different plants he found when abroad regardless of whether they were wanted or not.

“Thank you.”

~

Robin got back to find suitcases out in their living room, one already filled with equipment to extract plants and other methods of collecting samples and Steve running between another with clothes.

“Where are you going so urgently?” She asked, seeing him pause to check flight tickets she was sure hadn’t been mentioned that morning.

“To Dustin. He found a plant that needs removing and the area nearby surveying for more like it.” He replied, holding out a second ticket to her.

She frowned at it, but turned to started getting her suitcase filled, noticing then that it was also laid out in the living room. “Why?”

“Smells like your favourite food to Alien style escape your stomach and use your corpse as fertiliser. Reports are of towns destroyed by it, but I was only allowed to see them because of Hawkins.” He described the plant as well as he could from what information had been shared, none of those files had included images, but as soon as he called the consulate he was told to go straight to where there was a suspected sighting and the government would ensure he was given a visa and papers enough to be able to make the area safe.

Robin looked at him in concern before frowning, “You’re planning classes on it, aren’t you?”

“Dustin almost ate its fruit. Yes, I’m telling everyone about this plant.”

“Hang on, isn’t Dustin-” She started to ask, actually reading the destination on her ticket now.

Steve nodded, “Yes. Apparently a lot of countries learnt about the Upside Down and how it backfired in America, so we might occasionally have information shared that isn’t shown to most people.”

“Want to try neutralising the plants spread?” Robin wondered. It was usually her or Dustin that attempted genetic experiments, but while Dustin was currently focused on learning about the many human cultures of the world, him being at threat from a plant would get Steve worried enough to attempt it.

He smirked at her, “Didn’t I tell you I’d secured funding for our next research paper?”

~

“Steve? Did you really rush getting travel approval because of a plant?” Dustin scoffed, stopping him as he was lead through town by one of the botanists native to the area.

Seeing his guide move to tell Dustin to leave, Steve held his hand up, “Yes, and we need to you show us exactly where you found it.”

Dustin rolled his eyes “Dude, it’s just a plant. It’s not like-”

“It easily could be like Hawkins, without the separate dimension. Let us confirm that and you can go back to your travels.” Steve interrupted, knowing the patience of his guide was thin and the situation could be dire if there was more than one plant around.

~

Dustin had found the plant. He’d actually almost eaten the fruit of a plant that had found its own way to eat meat, arguably worse than the venus fly traps since it needed to be eaten to eat.

Beyond that, he’d actually found only the closest plant to the city of a colony of them that could have wiped the city out if it hadn’t been caught when it was. The country was thankful to Steve for acting quickly after the phone call and were even discussing sharing their information on the plant more openly now.

That had been why he was able to return to the USA with a carefully contained, slowly dying example of the plant and an approved lesson plan to share with his university’s students. He was only hoping that they would be rational about it.

Steve began his description with the clearest identifying feature excluding the appearance of it, “This plant smells like your favourite thing, so it smells differently to everyone. Does anyone want to share what they can smell?”

“So it smells like the person you’re in love with, right?” A girl near the front of the class called.

“No?” He couldn’t help his expression scrunching up in confusion and distaste at the idea. “Humans aren’t usually identified by scent so why would that be the case for a magical flower?”

The student smirked at him as she replied, “To help us find true love.”

He stared at her, very tempted to order her out of the hall, “What cliché have you been reading? No! It smells like something you love to eat so its seeds can use you as fertiliser and kill you! It’s called Sleeping Beauty’s flower because that’s how people appear in the early days of its growth. No happy endings to that fairytale. It’s decimated towns and is suspected that towns where the perfume industry and use is especially strong neighboured those wiped out by this flower.”

“Why bring it to school then?” A boy further back in the lecture hall called, “I have no sense of smell and hate teaching. Please someone eat it so I can be fired.” Steve stated deadpan. He knew that his classes were generally popular and wasn’t surprised when every face that had looked tempted to try eating the fruit was suddenly resolute not to.

Looking around for a moment more to see if anyone moved or asked something else, Steve changed the display he was showing, “Animals have spread how widely Sleeping Beauty’s flower is found and recently it once again was found near to a city. This one is from that time and is dying because we removed it from the body it was growing from too early, thankfully so far in that area it has only been animals like deer that have been found with the plant growing from them.”

Nobody spoke up for the rest of his lecture, everyone taking notes and paying attention to each display he offered. “Are there any questions?”

“Where is Sleeping Beauties flower from? Has it spread far?” One student asked, noticing something Steve had deliberately omitted from the lecture.

“Information on the plant isn’t widely shared. This is the first month when lessons have been approved to be given on it. That being said, only on the continent of Asia has this plant been sighted so far as I’ve been informed.”

[cenorii]

Suspicious mentions

Today we will focus on something interesting, a little sad, and also squint and pretend to be surprised by something. A little bit of Jake, a little bit of Wesker.

I wrote once before that I find any mention of Wesker in games since his "death" suspicious, but I want to talk about it again because I have something to add. All of this is my personal opinion, seasoned with facts.

Capcom jettisoned Wesker very early on, failing to find a proper\interesting use for the character other than "antagonist who dies at the end of the game". Wesker has too long and complex a history that intertwines with all the games, and dying so early and so stupidly is obviously not a very worthy development for such a character. And they came to that conclusion too, but very late. This is the reason why Jake Muller, a wonderful character, and the whole thing with his mother was invented. Jake is a nice way for Capcom to continue Wesker's idea, but without him, or an attempt to end his story in a more dignified way by giving him a "suitable successor".

But they couldn't achieve the desired result with Jake either, so they continued to get out of the quagmire they got themselves into because of the ending of re5 by adding references to Wesker in Umbrella Corps, where it's gotten to the point where he's probably alive or his clone is now in charge of the Corps. A convenient way to prepare players for his return? Do they really intend to develop him? I'd like to see that happen.

But no one would be surprised that Wesker isn't dead, knowing his regeneration abilities and so on. So Capcom is forced to write in every note mentioning him that he's dead, reminding everyone that the volcano is his end. But… as we can see, this certainty of his death is the delusion they're trying to make us believe. All those notes, all those mentions… they are unreliable, because no one has ever answered the question "did anyone check out that volcano?". Can anyone in RE at this point be 100% certain that Wesker is dead? I don't think so, since no one has checked his "place of death".

In re7 Capcom decided to remind players of Wesker again, stating that BSAA is now, all of a sudden, partnered with Blue Umbrella, and using Wesker's weapons recovered from his designs. Why bring up Umbrella again? Why give them the same logo as the Corps but in blue colors? Why make Chris use Wesker's weapon? These details were chosen by Capcom for a reason, because games aren't developed in 5 minutes, they are created over years and all these small details are discussed repeatedly. Wesker's weapon also appeared in Umbrella Corps, which kind of hints that Capcom had some development planned for him as early as 2015. Empty references and a sudden clone? No, it's all for a reason. It all carries some sort of meaning and will lead to something in the end.

The note Jake's mother left him before she died reads:

«My beloved son, Jake. Please forgive your mother for leaving you alone so soon. And please don't hate your father. Your father surely still loves you from the bottom of his heart. Stay strong and know that you will meet him one day»

(Project Umbrella Translation)

I'd like to talk about Ms. Muller's assurance that Jake will one day meet Wesker. This, of course, could be a dramatic element, telling the viewer that Jake will not meet him, since his father is dead and he is now all alone. However, now, knowing all the facts telling us otherwise, Jake's mother's words sound different. They sound like a prophecy. Why was she sure that Jake and Wesker would meet? How deep is this iceberg?

There are no answers to these questions, we can only hope Capcom continues to pursue this line in future games. Given the presence of a picture of the old Wesker in re8 - they're really determined to develop this subtle storyline. And that's a great thing.

It's about time they stopped killing off "negative" characters at the end of games if they are "negative", because sometimes some of them have great potential for a second life. A character like Wesker, with a background that can only be compared to the deepest iceberg, is capable of something more than just antagonism. And I'm really enjoying the fact that he still hasn't been brought back, only tossing us small details that only slightly hint at his continuing life. After all, this is how a character like this should be revealed, he's perfectly at home in the background, behind the scenes, as someone who doesn't like to get personally involved. He's a head, but not a leader.

And if that's exactly what they're leading us to, they don't want to surprise us with Wesker's return at all. That would be too easy, don't you think?

[urlocalnctstan]

Chapter 5 - Morning, Yours

Masterlist | Prev | Next

Warning: Explicit content (18+). Mature themes. Consent-focused. Age Gap.

The fifth floor of Hansang Corporate was unusually loud today. Laughter echoed from the CEO’s side of the office, a clear contrast to his usual quiet, quiet mornings. You tried not to pay it any mind as you balanced a small stack of freshly printed scripts in one hand and your iced americano in the other.

“Just drop the files and leave,” you muttered under your breath. You had made it through the entire day without a single charged encounter. A clean streak. No pinky grazes. No mic check disasters. No accidental sniffing of his cologne like a lunatic.

You turned the corner toward his corner desk—and paused.

There he was.

Not Ji-hoon. The man sitting casually across from him, lounging in Ji-hoon’s chair like he owned the place, was devastatingly handsome. Tousled dark hair, bright amused eyes, and an obnoxiously charming grin that looked like it had ruined many people before you. He was wearing an expensive leather jacket and some sort of watch that screamed "not a nine-to-five guy."

Ji-hoon sat beside him, expression unreadable. One arm draped over the chair’s backrest, thumb lazily tapping against the leather, eyes trained—on you.

“Sorry to interrupt, sir.” You didn’t dare to look up. “Mr. Daehyun asked me to drop these files for you to look over and consider future projects,” you said blandly, placing the file on Ji-hoon’s table.

The stranger sat up straight, brightening. “And who might you be?” he asked smoothly. “His secretary? PR team? Or just someone criminally pretty roaming around?”

You blinked. Oh. Oh no.

Ji-hoon didn’t say a word.

“None of the above, sir.” You replied, eyebrows raised. “Just a random someone who tries to manage and organize things in order for our company's convenience.”

“Oooh,” the stranger leaned forward, extending a hand. “Then I’m speaking to a very important woman. I’m Joon-seok, by the way. Long-suffering friend of Mr. Doberman over here.” How fitting.

“Y/N,” you replied hesitantly, shaking his hand. He held it just a second too long.

Ji-hoon still said nothing. Just sipped from his coffee, gaze never leaving the two of you.

“You know,” Joon-seok continued, “it’s shocking no one’s ever mentioned you before. Ji-hoon always talks about work, but leaves out the part where someone like you is in the building.”

You gave a polite laugh, unsure how to navigate this. “Well. I’m usually hiding behind mood boards and production schedules.”

Joon-seok leaned even closer. “Well, maybe I’ll start attending collaboration meetings more often.”

Your smile was strained now. Before you could retreat with dignity intact, Ji-hoon finally spoke.

“She doesn’t have time for distractions,” he said, voice cool. “She’s got a double conference coordination tomorrow and three briefs to finish.”

Something about the way Joon-seok’s eyes tracked your every expression was both flattering and exhausting. You shifted your weight from one foot to another, clutching the edge of the file folder like it might deflect the intensity of his gaze.

“Do you have lunch plans tomorrow?” he asked, his voice casual but unmistakably suggestive. Completely ignoring his friend's comment.

You blinked. “I am sorry?” You looked at Ji-hoon for help. Unfortunately he was looking at his coffee cup with strange fascination.

He grinned. “Yeah. I know a place near Cheongdam-dong. Great bulgogi. Even better company.”

From the corner of your eye, you saw Ji-hoon’s fingers still on his coffee cup. Not moving. Not sipping. Just... gripped.

You gave a tight smile. “I usually eat at my desk.”

“Tragic. Beautiful women shouldn’t have to dine beside keyboards.” Joon-seok’s voice lowered just a bit. “You deserve better.”

You let out a breathy laugh, more out of nerves than anything else. “I should get back. These briefing notes won’t revise themselves.”

“Pity,” Joon-seok said, leaning back. “Don’t disappear too fast.”

You gave Ji-hoon another brief glance—still unreadable. No help there.

With a polite nod, you turned and walked away, heels echoing against the tile floor. “Enjoy your coffee,” you muttered, briskly walking back to your desk, heart pounding for all the wrong reasons.

The moment your figure disappeared around the corner, Joon-seok let out a low chuckle and turned to Ji-hoon. “Seriously, hyung. Where the hell have your agency been hiding her?”

Ji-hoon didn’t respond. His jaw was tight.

Joon-seok nudged him with an elbow. “She’s got this... understated kind of hot. Like, she doesn’t even realize how pretty she is.”

Ji-hoon said nothing. Just stared at the untouched file on his desk.

Another nudge. “Come on. I’m serious. Set me up. She single?”

A flicker of something dangerous moved through Ji-hoon’s eyes, but his voice remained even.

“I don’t know.”

“Pfft. Liar.” Joon-seok grinned. “You always know everything. Give me her number.”

Still nothing.

Ji-hoon slowly turned his head to look at his friend, the kind of slow, measured turn that in drama scripts usually meant something would get broken soon.

Joon-seok laughed nervously, lifting his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. Damn. Calm down.”

But Ji-hoon wasn’t calm. Not inside.

She laughed at his stupid lines.

He touched her hand—did she even notice?

Why didn’t you say anything, idiot? Why didn’t you tell him to back off?

He stared at the place you’d just been standing, feeling the dull throb of a headache behind his temples. Not because of Joon-seok’s flirting. That was expected. The guy flirted with plants if they looked at him funny.

It was your reaction.

The shy smile. The way your fingers curled slightly when you laughed. The way you didn’t pull away.

He closed his eyes briefly. Let out a slow breath.

You were allowed to talk to people. Of course you were. You weren’t his. Not technically. Not publicly.

But still—

The idea of you sitting across from Joon-seok in some dimly lit restaurant made his stomach twist. You’d laugh like that again. Lean forward on your elbows. Maybe tell him things you hadn't even told Ji-hoon.

That thought? Unacceptable.

But he didn’t show it. He never did. Instead, he turned back to his monitor and clicked the mouse once. Twice. Didn’t even see what he was opening.

He didn’t even blink.

He’d already made up his mind.

Everyone had clocked out. Even Daehyun had finished his fourth round of goodbyes. The office lights dimmed one by one, and you were the last to head toward the elevator, bag slung over your shoulder, phone buzzing in your hand.

A new message.

CEO Mr. Ju Ji Hoon Get in the car. Now.

You froze.

Another message popped in right after:

Basement. Black SUV. Don’t make me text again.

Your stomach flipped.

You walked into the garage cautiously. It was dimly lit, the concrete walls echoing every footstep and every engine hum heading toward the exit. Your heels clicked steadily toward the stairwell, phone still in hand from the text that stopped you cold just a moment ago.

There it was. A sleek black SUV sat idling just a few steps ahead, dark and waiting like a predator in plain sight. Through the tinted glass, you could see him—Ju Ji-hoon. Driver’s seat. One hand draped lazily over the steering wheel, the other tapping against his thigh. Sunglasses off. Jaw tight. That unreadable expression of his in full view.

He didn’t wave. Just unlocked the door with a click.

You paused. Just for a second. Long enough for your heart to trip over itself.

Then, without a word, you opened the passenger door and got in.

The door shut with a muted thud. Inside the car, silence. No music. No words. Just the thick, heady mix of leather and his cologne—sharp, clean, infuriatingly familiar.

He didn’t start the car. He just sat there, staring out the windshield, jaw tense.

“You texted, sir, ” you finally said.

“I did.”

“Is this about the files?”

“No.”

You looked at him. He wasn’t meeting your eyes. His knuckles were tight around the steering wheel. His profile was sharp, unreadable, just like earlier.

“Joon-seok’s cute,” he said suddenly.

You blinked. “What?”

“Charming. Funny. Knows how to hold a conversation. You looked like you were enjoying it.”

You narrowed your eyes. “Pardon me. But, are you… jealous?”

That made him look at you. A sharp turn of his head, eyes flashing dark and unreadable.

“I don’t get jealous,” he said flatly. “I get… territorial.”

Your breath caught.

He didn’t look at you. Just spoke, low and clear.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

You blinked. “No, I—”

“Don’t lie.” Calm, almost casual—but each word cut like a blade. “You’ve been dodging me since that night.”

You exhaled shakily. “I just… I didn’t think it was appropriate. I thought it was a one-time thing. I didn’t want to be a bother.”

Ji-hoon let out a sharp laugh. Bitter. “A bother? That’s what you think this is?”

You shifted awkwardly, eyes down, fingers nervously playing with the strap of your bag. “You didn’t say anything afterward. I didn’t know what you wanted. I figured it’d be easier if we just—”

“You literally act like a ghost in the office when you see me,” he interrupted. “You don’t just disappear. You run. Don’t even look back.”

Your mouth opened, but nothing came out. A silent beat passed between you.

“I thought keeping my distance would help us keep things… professional,” you said finally.

Before you could reply, he leaned closer, one hand resting on the headrest behind you, voice low and steady.

“Don’t flirt with people in front of me,” he said. “Even if it’s by accident. Even if you think I don’t care.”

Your heartbeat was a full-blown drumline in your chest. You tried to form words, but your brain short-circuited somewhere between territorial and the way his voice dipped on the word me.

“I didn’t flirt,” you finally said, your voice embarrassingly small.

He tilted his head. “Didn’t look like it.”

Silence hung in the car like a held breath.

“You done?” you asked, lips dry.

He stared at you for a beat longer.

“No,” he said. "Far from it."

He leaned across the console so fast you barely registered it. A firm hand cradled the back of your neck. His lips crashed onto yours, hot and demanding, stealing the breath from your lungs. There was no hesitation. No question. Just weeks’ worth of pent-up tension exploding in one sudden, searing kiss.

You gasped, hands grabbing at his shirt, your body reacting before your brain could.

His mouth was relentless, bruising, possessive, tasting like frustration and something far deeper than either of you could name. His other hand gripped your waist, pulling you closer across the console as if to erase the space between you entirely.

When he pulled back, his voice was hoarse, wrecked. “You think I forgot that night? You think I could touch you like that and walk away like nothing happened?”

Your only response was to kiss him again—this time slower, but just as desperate. Like it hurt to breathe otherwise.

He groaned low against your lips, then pressed kisses along your jawline and down the soft curve of your neck. Your head tipped back, mouth parted, a shaky breath escaping you.

“Say it,” he murmured against your skin.

“Say what?” you whispered, barely coherent.

“That you haven’t stopped thinking about me. About how I touched you.”

You closed your eyes, his breath making you tremble.

“I haven’t,” you confessed.

His hand slid under your blouse, fingers tracing the skin at your waist, grazing just enough to make your pulse spike. “Good,” he said darkly. “Because neither have I.”

His mouth was back on yours—hotter, hungrier.

You were vaguely aware of the windows fogging up, the cool garage air nowhere near enough to cut through the heat blooming inside the car. His touch was demanding, purposeful, fingers pressing into the softness of your thigh as you straddled the blurred line between reason and raw want.

And just before your brain could scream we shouldn't, his voice rasped into your ear—

“This wasn’t a one-time thing. It never was. It won’t be.”

You believed him.

And you kissed him again.

Back at Ji-hoon’s apartment, the city sprawled behind floor-to-ceiling windows, aglow in amber and steel blue. Rain streaked faintly across the glass, a quiet rhythm behind the storm you both brought in with you.

The car ride was torturous. None of you spoke. Heavy tension keeping you both company throughout the journey.

Ji-hoon wasted no time. He closed the door with a soft click—no words, no polite pretense. The polished stoic facade vanished. What remained was the man who had kissed you breathless, who had just stared at you in the garage like you were the only thing tethering him to earth.

His eyes found yours in the dim light. You were still catching your breath, your lips a little swollen from everything that had just happened.

“All this time, you've avoided me. It's fine.” he said quietly, approaching. “Don’t do that again.”

You nodded before you could speak. You didn’t trust your voice yet.

“Come here.”

He reached for your hand and brought you into his bedroom with that same quiet certainty that had made you melt in his car. His movements were unhurried, but charged. Like he’d waited weeks for this and wasn’t going to waste a second.

The bed behind you was neatly made—dark gray sheets, immaculate, like everything else in his home. But that restraint didn’t reach his eyes.

“You looked incredible today,” he murmured, brushing a thumb across your cheek. “That blouse drove me insane.”

You blinked, breath catching as he reached for the silk ties folded neatly on the dresser. They weren’t there by accident. He had wanted this.

“Tonight, I want you to surrender. No pretending. Nothing. Just trust me.”

You inhaled shakily. Then nodded.

With reverent precision, Ji-hoon guided you to sit on the bed and wrapped your wrists with the silk—soft, firm, the knots tied like he’d done this before. But his touch was careful, always checking your eyes.

“Too tight?”

“No,” you whispered. “It’s perfect.”

“Look at me,” he said.

You lifted your chin. Your dark doe eyes found his—and stayed there.

“Tell me you’re mine.”

Your lips parted. “I’m yours.”

A low growl caught in his throat as he kissed you—slow, deep, claiming. His hand traced your jawline, then lower, fingers moving down the elegant tie of your blouse. He toyed with the bow, fingers brushing the curve of your breast through the fabric, eyes drinking you in.

“You know I felt like a goddamn animal when you walked into my office earlier,” he muttered. “This little knot keeping you covered like a tease—”

And with one swift tug, the bow unraveled. The blouse fell open. You were bare to him.

His hands slid up your sides, thumbs grazing the curves of your breasts before his mouth followed. His tongue circled your nipple, slow, sensual. You arched into him, restrained wrists tightening slightly as your breath caught.

“You like when I suck your breasts,” he murmured against your skin. "Don't you?"

You nodded, barely able to speak. Your whines were more than enough for confirmation.

He flicked his tongue again, teasing, then sucked harder, making you whimper.

“Beg for more.”

You squirmed. You were too dazed to listen to anything.

And he stopped. You opened your eyes to meet icy stern glare staring right back at you.

"Beg." He was firm and clear.

“Please… Ji-hoon, don’t stop.” Your eyes were barely open, it seemed crazy to you how much you wanted this.

“Good girl.”

You’d never heard those words sound like that—like a reward and a warning.

He kissed his way down your torso, then back up again, never letting your gaze stray from his. Every touch was deliberate. Every command was soft, but undeniable. The silk restraints gave you no room to hide—and you didn’t want to.

It was overwhelming: his hands, his mouth, the low groans he made when you moaned for him.

Your body felt like silk drawn taut—every nerve tuned to him, every breath thick with anticipation.

Ji-hoon didn’t rush. His hands moved with a reverence that undid you more than anything else—fingertips ghosting over your waist, the dip of your hips, the curve beneath your ribs. You gasped when he lowered his mouth again, teasing a trail of heat and hunger, pressing kisses like confessions down your skin.

“You’re trembling,” he murmured, voice gravel low. His thumb brushed just above your navel as if testing your restraint. “Still so shy, even now?”

You shook your head, but he caught your chin gently between his fingers, forcing your eyes to meet his. "Don't look away."

There was no teasing this time. Only command. Worship. Possession.

His mouth was warm and relentless as he worshipped every inch of your skin. You arched instinctively, wrists still soft-bound above your head, unable to control how much you wanted him—how badly you ached. And he knew. Every moan, every shift of your hips, only deepened the tension between your bodies.

Ji-hoon hovered over you, his body powerful and steady. His breath mingled with yours. You felt his restraint unraveling as much as your own.

“Tell me what you want,” he whispered. “I want to hear it from you.”

“I want you,” you breathed, chest heaving, back arched. “All of you.”

His eyes darkened, and then—finally—he moved against you. You were no longer sure where his body ended and yours began. Every thrust of pressure, every friction and pull, ignited fireworks under your skin. You cried out, helpless, and he silenced it with his mouth—hungry, claiming, unrelenting.

He guided the rhythm between you with his hands and voice, never letting you drift too far, always pulling you back to him with words like:

“Good girl.”

“Right there.”

“Mine.”

And you were. Entirely.

The tension built and built, a tide you couldn’t escape even if you wanted to. Your body tightened, arched, reached for something just beyond—and when you found it, it felt like surrender, like freedom, like everything you'd held back pouring out in one trembling wave.

Ji-hoon was close behind, voice rasping your name like a prayer. He gripped you through it, holding your wrists, your waist, his forehead pressed to yours as he came undone—quietly, fiercely, beautifully.

Afterward, there was only breath. The hum of skin on skin. His lips on your temple. Your wrists finally unbound, held in his hands like they were fragile things.

Before you could process the surge of emotions and pleasure you just experienced, you felt a warm cloth between your legs; his hand steady as he cleaned you gently, then pulled the blankets up, curling around you protectively. You didn’t know where your body ended and his began, and you didn’t want to.

Ji-hoon didn’t leave you alone for a second. He eased you back into the pillows, kissed your forehead, and brushed the damp strands of hair from your face. His body pressed beside yours, warm and real.

His hand never stopped tracing circles against your spine.

From the nightstand, he picked up a plate of chilled mango slices—sweet, perfectly ripe. He fed you a piece gently, letting you chew slowly as he rubbed your back with lazy affection.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered. “You’re mine. You always were.” he murmured. You could feel the sincerity in his voice. It was different this time.

You nodded, dazed.

“I’m yours,” you said again, quieter this time. More real.

His gaze held yours. “Forever.”

And for once, you didn’t flinch at the word.

You believed him.

[liveontelevision]

The Truth | Slow-burn Lucifer x Reader

Ok, i'm high, and it's late, so im posting this here without an ending just to let some people see this. Im wondering if anyone would be interested in a multi part series with this premise? It'll have its romance and fluff and smut, but i feel like theres alot to disect from this.

Unedited.

Heaven has been, and will continue to be, difficult with this redemption project. It took years for them to set up any sort of communication system with Charlie to even tell her when Sinners were redeemed. And even then, the best they could offer was a large counter hanging across the marquee outside the hotel. It simply said Redeemed Souls scribbled across the top and essientally would *ding!* every time a soul would ascend. There was no warning. Residents would simply disappear; all their belongings were left behind, and it happened while asleep or when demons died. Instead of resurrecting like all wayward sinners do, they would simply.. not. It would get gruesome at times, seeing a demon die and simply not get back up.

Still, the numbers grew. After the hotel was proven to work, sinners were essientally packing the rooms. And when more demons were redeemed, Charlie would take notes on their progess and apply it to future excersises. It was finally a thriving business! Charlie did it.

You had heard of the hotel's success a few months after the counter was installed and would occasionally walk by to see the number go up. It felt like you were trying to convince yourself to just go in, but something, maybe doubt, would always stop you. Your life was similar to an average sinner (drugs, sex, alcohol), but even those who have done worse were going to Heaven.

What was stopping you?

For once, the streets actually looked barren. Of course, it still had enough flow for regular business. Not everyone was buying into the redemption thing, but it definitely couldn't compare to the bustling streets you were used to. This made you uneasy. Friends and local business owners, you became aquintances with disappeared suddenly. It was deathly quiet. Discomfort aside, how could you possibly be upset about sinners becoming sparce?

You gave in. Almost all your hellbound friends were gone. If they could do it, so could you. Maybe that was another reason sinners attended the hotel; sheer loneliness.

You packed up the little belongings you had and approached the hotel after avoiding it for the past few months. The number was in the thousands at this point. Why did that make you so uneasy? Pushing those feelings aside, you entered the hotel and were met with dozens of friendly faces. The lobby had become a giant bustling hub with a bar, and there were some classroom type areas down a hall, you assumed for activities. Lively jazz music was playing softly throughout the area, echoeing against the ivory walls adorning red banners. It seemed like some kind of conference was being held here, but this was just how the hotel looked at its peak.

You were quickly ushered to a front desk, an imp checking you in and handing you a folder filled with paperwork and pamphlets.

After being shown to your room on one of the higher floors, assuming the rooms below were all filled, you were met with the sweet aroma of freshly baked apples. It seemed to come directly from your room, but peeking inside, you noticed there was no sign of even a personal kitchen. Before you could even ask, the imp who led you to your room ran through their scripted introduction.

"Your room number is 5 and is located on the 67th floor if you missed it. If you get lost, just make sure you head as far as you can go down the corridor to the left. It's closer to Lucifer's office than Alastor's studio, so keep that in mind as well. The room was personalized to your liking the moment you checked in, so all you need to do is unpack your belongings."

The imp droaned on, clearly exhuasted from saying these directions to every sinner that comes through.

"Any questions -"

"Well, I-"

"Can be answered in the lobby."

Your quizzative appearance drooped to an irrated one. You barely processed anything they said as you stepped into the room, feeling such a nostalgic warmth. The apple scent from before had dulled to a more comfortable level, and the room was filled to the brim with an aesethic that you would dream of having when you were alive. Suns and moons decorated the walls through hanging pieces, tapestries, and beaded artwork. The lights were always dimmed, and your bed was plush with an absurd amount of decorative pillows. Your desk doubled as a vanity with adjustable lights just in case, and your bathroom was large. Already stocked with your favorite soaps, oils, and washes, you suddenly had the urge to take a bath. You decided against it, just taking in the heavenly room. Maybe that was a part of the whole process, pure comfort.

You had so many questions about the redemption process. After plopping down at your smooth wood desk, you began to look through the thick pile of paperwork that you'd been holding this whole time. Inside, it held your room key, 67th Floor, Room #5. You pocketed that in the meantime, flipping through a pamphlet provided. "Wayward sinners, welcome! Explore the history of Hell and the redemption process! Keep in touch with demonic friends as you ascend! Be Better!" The bright text made your eyes squint, quickly scanning it before setting that aside. It's something you've seen on the streets before, nothing new. You finally look at some of the paperwork. There were rules, like no weapons or drugs, avoiding flings, etc. Then there were policies.. your room was searched on occasion with consent. If you were found to be a frequent drug user, you had a daily limit for drinks at the bar. Those made you cringe. It's a bit controlling, but for a greater cause, I guess.

Then, you reached the bolded text Redemption.

It had almost no details about what Heaven was actually like, but there were rules. Lots of rules. These papers were almost glowing, and it looked like they were written in golden ink. These must have been provided by Heaven. They warned that "the divine light will choose you when it finds you worthy" and "you won't need any belongings in Heaven" and a specific section that made you shiver.

"Heaven is a place for winners. Once you've joined the angels, all memories from Hell will become void. Memories from Hell could bring distraught and discomfort to previously residing angels."

Who would want this? What have you gotten yourself into?

•••••

There were mandatory meetings you would begrudgingly go to. There were other demons in a similar state and others who were running to attend every activity possible. They must not have read the paperwork, too frantic to be saved. Or were they okay with it? You shake your head, honestly trying to forget those readings any chance you get. A lot of the New Resident meetings were basically warnings that this is a place of rehabilitation. You'll be put through scenarios similar to A.A. or interventions. You'll have control over your privacy, but "we at the hotel are determined to get you to heaven!" So, they'll occasionally do random check ins and such.

After one of your beginner trust exercises, you roamed the halls, peaking in occasionally to see what others were doing. There were activities like yoga, crafts, therapy sessions, it was.. great..

You'd see the founders around. They were speakers at larger conferences, Charlie, Vaggie, and Alastor were far too busy to attend every exercise with this number of residents. There were optional lecture areas, one of them being The History of Hazbin Hotel. After attending from pure curiousity and boredom, you got a good understanding of who all the founders were and their role in the system. There was a nice section on the first 2 souls accepted to heaven. Sir Pentious, previously a murderous death machine inventor and operator, and Angel Dust, previously a drug addicted, porn star.

They wrote it to make them seem worse than they were when they first arrived, probably to make redemption seem more achievable. It made you cringe. You listened on, hearing about Charlie's uprising and her childhood. And her father.

You read the same storybook that Charlie would use to ease her nerves in the past. Lucifer, who was banished to hell, forced to see the wicked and evil outcome of free will. Lucifer, who lost the will the dream. Why would this man want to send his people to such a horrid place? Thinking back on it, you did notice that he wasn't really involved in any activities or was even seen around the hotel. Even Charlie, you'd cross on rare occasions in the halls. She had truly become a beautiful and powerful demon, you'd think, reminiscing on the choatic news broadcast she was on that you watched years ago.

You developed a sort of dissonance for Lucifer. Sure, he was the most powerful being in Hell and physically rebuilt this hotel and its success, but he didn't make sense. It seemed like he hated heaven. How could he not? He was banished from his home by his own brothers, just for loving and dreaming. And he wants to send people right to their door? It just baffled you. Very slowly, it became an obsession. What was his deal? You learned about his life through meetings and lectures, pamphlets, and even material from the infinite library they provided. Your desk was quick to become a mess of books and notepads you'd use. You rarely left your room, making sure to avoid any activities that involved "making friends." That sounded so stupid to you. You'll make friends with demons, then assend just to forget them? You couldn't have been the only demon questioning this whole situation, so why were sinners even here? You spiraled. This whole operation was beginning to make your head spin.

•••

Time went on, and while your mental state was improving, it still didn't break your hyperfixation on where this hotel could've gone wrong. It used to be small and friendly, some sinners would stay, some would give up, and some ascended without them even knowing. But now, it was a bonified operation. Something had to happen in the meantime to change its course so drastically. And you wanted to find out.

On average, sinners were in the hotel anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. A year has passed since you arrived, and while you kicked any addictioms you had, you weren't one to participate in many activities. This obsession drove you mad, clouding any thoughts of redemption you might've had. You had even been appointed a therapist for one on one sessions, which you would go to begrudgingly. You'd spin tails about your life and make it seem like a nostalgic bliss that you wanted to return to, buttering it up for this stranger in front of you. That gave them enough of a distraction to keep them from questioning your research. After this painfully long year, seeing hundreds come and go, you realized you had to go to the top. It seemed like the King of Hell may be the only one who might understand you. In a desperate attempt to get any comfort in your overthinking, you'd talk to other sinners about your thoughts, but they rarely gave you the time of day, like you were a babbling maniac. Because you were a babbling maniac.

But Lucifer? He has to understand. There has to be a reason he's not openly participating in the hotel. But he's here, right down your hall even. It was never as easy as walking up to his office and just questioning him, no matter how often you tried. It was either locked, or you could hear voices from inside. When the door was open, the office was spotless, and no one was inside. This was around meal times, breakfast most often and late into the night. Sometimes, you go inside to snoop and hope that maybe he'd walk in on you and you'd be forced into a conversation before he'd eventually kicked you out. That never happened.

It was a late night for you. There was a gala going on in the lobby, celebrating the 10th reunion of the hotel's renovation or something like that. Of course you didn't go, you were too busy hunched over the paperwork sprawled across your bed. It was a compilation of policies from the papers you got on your first day, random notebook pages and scribbles, and some photos collected from a variety of magazines. You'd essentially given up trying to look presentable. Your hair always tied sloppily out of your face and mainly wearing oversized sweatshirts and shorts that would disappear under the flow of your sweaters. You paced across your room. Every time you stopped to look at your work, you'd become riled up and continued to walk in circles.

"None of it makes sense! What the actual Fuck is wrong with Hell??" You spoke out loud, stopping in your tracks to look at your weakened state in the mirror on your vanity. Suddenly, tears began to run down your cheeks before you could even feel yourself choke up.

"What's wrong with me..?"

You looked back down to your bed and let out a growl, swiping all the papers off your bed in a frenzy. Random papers floated around you, frustration collecting in your body as a headache. You rubbed your temples with a sigh before taking a walk outside the room. You went to a vending machine that was provided on each floor, that had essientally anything you could want as a midnight snack. Along with some other necessities, you used some cash to get painkillers and a bag of gummy candy. Sauntering back to your room, you noticed a trail of your research peaking out your open door. You must've left it open in a hurry. You followed those papers that definitely weren't there before, to see a figure standing in front of your bed, some of the papers in hand. Your stomach dropped, just the sight of someone seeing your vulnerability made you flush.

"H-Hey! I left my door open, but that doesn't mean you can.. just -" your voice trailed off, catching red glowing eyes in your dimly lit room. It was fucking Lucifer. He blinked, his demon red eyes returning to a soft yellow. You had no idea how to react to this sudden encounter, scanning anything in the room to change the subject.

"Your Highness! Right, uh.. Good evening.. sir..? Erm.. How can I help you..?" You attempted to talk to him like you hadnt been secretly wanting this for months. After you managed to finally make eye contact with him, you noticed it; he was crying. Both of you squint at the sudden brightness hitting you, as you turn on your overhead light.

Thick, wet tears fell from his incredibly tired eyes. He looked like a mess. He wore what would've been an incredibly formal and modern tuxedo get up, but was soiled by his stature. His blazer had fallen off his shoulders, revealing a half tucked, wrinkled, black dress shirt that clashed with his porcelain skin. His shirt was unbottoned a good deal, and the tie loosely dangled undone. His face was worse. His eyes were incredibly heavy, those tears still trailing from his eyes to the bottom of his chin. The golden locks that looked so quaffed on magazine covers were a mess as well, strands falling loosely across his eye line. You noticed a soft pink across his entire face and a slight sway to his stance. Once you approached him a little closer, the smell of alcohol immediately hit you. This angel was plastered.

You look at the papers in his hand. One held a very aggressively scribbled picture of his face from a magazine, and the other held an antonized page from the handbook you received on day one. Just from those papers alone, you could understand your motivations. The redemption policy was scrutinized and scribbled over with phrases, "What does this have to do with redemption?" "What happens to your memories?" "Who's really running things?"

On the picture of Lucifer, a large red phrase across the front;

"How could he let this happen?"

You wince, immediately recognizing what information he's taken in.

"You're right.. Fuck, you're right. How did i let things get this far? What would Charlie think if she- Damn it!" He was muttering under his breath, not understanding his intentions.

"I'm sorry, it's such a mess in here, i wasnt expecting guests." You stop yourself, using defensive sarcasm probably wasnt the best move here. "Uh.. you can- um.. here.. " you fumble around your things and finally clear off your desk chair, beckoning the king to sit. He stumbles, his bottom hitting the seat with a thud as it begins to roll back from the force. You let out a nervous chuckle, beginning to neatly pile up the papers on your bed until you had a place to sit, facing him from the edge of your bed." I'm.. sorry, that you saw all this.. it's just crazy.. shit.. I'll get rid of it." You apologized like a kid who got caught stealing. Lucifer slowly blinked his eyes before wiping his tears with the cuff of his shirt, sniffling quietly.

You quickly reached past him to take a nearby tissue box and plop it in his lap. You sat silently, his ragging breath and sniffles filling the quietness of the room. He collected himself enough to process what you had said. "Oh! No, nono need to. Not any of my business what you do in.. your own.. room.." he looked around and cleared his throat before realizing the irony in his words. "I apologize, i shouldnt be in a random sinners room at this hour. I'll be on my way." He spoke as clearly as he could, being drunk and sobbing only moments ago. He stumbled to stand as he attempts to dust off his already askewed suit. He turns his back to you, beginning to leave.

"No! Shit- I - excuse me.. Mr.. Lucifer.. Sir..." You quickly stand and reach your arm out in his direction. He turns on his heels, acting as regal as he could, considering the situation. "This.. mess... this is.. all I've been thinking about since i came here... this hotel..? Is a fucking prison! How can heaven be so stubborn that they have to bring their rules and policies down to Hell? I dont understand how you could -" Your voice became increasingly aggressive as you realize you were about to scold him for your theories. You begin to shrink into yourself, believing this powerful being would kill you on the spot for such disobedience.

Lucifer was looking at you, dumbfound, at the intense passion you were imitting from your words. He realized how much you were cowering in his presence, and the feeling was extra reminiscent of his time in heaven. People above him, glaring upon his dreams with disgust and him not having anything to say. He shook his head and placed a hand on your shoulder. He did his best to send a smile your way, but he wasn't sure how that worked out in his state. "You're right. This hotel has become a god damn nightmare. I wish i could say more, but it's been a looong night." He drawls out his words before using the hand on your shoulder to keep his balance. You took his arm and hesitantly wrapped it around your shoulder, attempting to brace him up as you walk towards his office. It wasnt that far, just right down the hall, it shouldnt be an issue as long as no one sees you." Mmy name is Lucifer- oh, oh! This here, this is my room." He eargly pokes his finger at his obviously labeled door. "Okay Lucifer, think you'll be okay from here?" You try to talk with confidence, while you process that the king of hell is using you to stay on his feet. He nods and opens the door, stepping in with a sigh of relief. He spins around on his feet to face you from the doorframe.

"Be here tomorrow. At lunch. I'll tell you everything." His voice was stern and clear, and you couldn't tell if that was from the alcohol or not. He sways away and grins his toothy grin, saying, "Good night!" He shuts the door before you have a chance to respond. Could that have been drunken babbling? If it wasn't.. what does he know?

[abidethetempest]

Eliksni Conditional Mood

This post is part of my ongoing project to create a language for the Eliksni! For more information check out my masterpost linked here.

Recently, I added a new mood to my verb system: the conditional. It somewhat overlaps with the hypothetical but, it expresses the fact that an event is possible/likely, IF another event happens first.

This post got pretty long, so look for the deets under the readmore!

The most obvious case of this would be in statements containing the word "if". "If x happens, y will happen." In English, the use of "will/would" is how the conditional mood is often marked. In Eliksni, you use the particle kas.

Examples

Thal kas biir klii, kas priistun klii. "If you look, you will find."

Thal kas biirem klii, kas priistem klii. "if you looked, you would find."

NOTE:

This is a different meaning from the simple future tense statement, Priistun klii, which in English also translates to "You will find it." The difference is that that statement is not dependent on another event to cause it to happen. In both statements, "priistis" is conjugated for the future tense, because the act of finding is happening in the future.

Conditionality can also be expressed about the past, as in example 2. It also is not restricted to simple verbs, continuous and perfect aspects can be applied to verbs in the conditional mood, the tenses and aspects just need to match across both statements. This use of the conditional cannot be applied to present-tense statements.

Also, both verbs in a conditional statement such as this need to be accompanied by the particle. The best way to remember this is that the conjunction thal, "if", always causes the conditional particle to appear.

There are another use for the conditional mood besides plain "if-statements" like the above, which is polite expressions of wanting.

It is perfectly valid to say:

Nuls neh empuursis, "I want to sleep."

But a more polite, formal way of saying you want something is to use the conditional mood:

Nuls neh, giire kas empuursun. "I want, that I would sleep."

The reason it's considered polite is, well. Not based in anything super logical to be honest, but it originated from some thoughts I had that the thing you want being conditional on your wanting it makes it more of a request than a demand. Sort of like the difference between "want" and "would like".

It's also a way to soften a request when you want someone else to do something.

Instead of:

Nuls neh aklii anen amyksis. "I want you to follow me." or Niidreh amyks anen. "Please follow me."

You would say:

Nuls neh, giire aklii anen kas amyksun. "I want, that you would follow me."

Nulsis is not the only verb you can use in these statements either. Freyis "to need", griiris "to hope/wish", and even liidravis could also be valid.

Notes about "future-in-the-past": In English, the auxiliary verb "would" is used sometimes to express things that happen in the future relative to an event that happened in the past. You see this in statements like "I said I would sleep." The would there is expressing that the "sleep" happened after the "said", so in the future..... but also in the past. In an effort to help anyone doing translations who runs across this sort of construction, I am saying here and now: MY ELIKSNI CONLANG DOES NOT USE THE CONDITIONAL MOOD TO EXPRESS FUTURE-IN-THE-PAST.

"But Indee," I hear you ask, "how do you say things like "I said I would sleep", then?"

Like this: Ehlanem neh, giire neh empuursun. Literally, "I said, that I will sleep."

Technically, the second part of this statement being in simple future tense means it could happen anytime in the future, including after the present moment. However, without a word specifiying which time in the future the sleep part will happen in, such as "now, soon, tonight, tomorrow, later", etc., this statement is interpreted as future-in-the-past.

Sorry if things got a little confusing at the end there! Time stuff can be such a hassle to try and explain. As always feel free to reach out to me directly if you need clarification on something :)

[shotanzz]

RIIZE ENERGY CHECK ~ based on tarot

reminder this is based off of my interpretations of the energy and cards I receive and is not exact fact unless said so by the members themselves; energy is subject to change or manifest differently so my reading may differ from others

Note: Are they allowing me to do this reading ? (Temperance) that is a confirmed yes. The only member who was more private and didn’t share specific details was Seunghan, which is understandable !

Shotaro: alrrrrr it seems like as of late Shotaro has been putting more effort into taking care of himself and his wellbeing (KoP, QoC, The Empress) he may have recently recognize that he falls into intermediate work cycles that aren’t balanced (The Devil, 2oP Rx) of him working himself thin and pretty hard and then having a rest period but not really fully rejuvenating himself during the resting periods. (8oP, 4oS, QoP Rx, Temperance) also recently social life wise he may have a mature individual that he holds respect for and wants to better solidify their dynamic or add them into his social life (could be an earth sign) (4oW, KnoP, Strength) [channeled song Self Care Mac Miller]

Eunseok: hm so the energy is pretty chill here. Eunseok recently is still more comfortable and optimistic about his future with being in the kpop industry than he was during December. (3oW, 9oC, AoP) but he lowkey feels like other aspects of his life especially his social life is being lowkey hindered by it (3oC Rx, The Hermit.) he also might feel like he’s not pushing himself to his full potential (The Magician Rx) so recently he might be exploring or learning other talents and skills so he can be more satisfied with his abilities (7oC, PoS) the phrase “I’m good but I can always be better” is coming up, the energy doesn’t seem like he’s degrading himself so there’s no need to worry.

Sungchan: SO ! in my last energy check sungchan was excited for an upcoming project or event of sorts that was exciting for the members and briize this was before their recent promotions and after boomboombass promotions so maybe it was referring to their japanese release lucky ? for the recent reading he doesn’t have much to share (energy seems hectic or busy) . I do however think he’s planning or has a specific goal of sorts that he wants to execute after all of their traveling is over (The World Rx, 2oW, 7oP). He also might be feeling nostalgic lately or comparing how different his earlier days within the industry were vs how things are currently; it’s a more positive comparative energy however (6oC, 2oP, The Lovers) he also might be trying to befriend, hang out or collab with his seniors currently (KnoC, The Emperor, 3oP)

Wonbin: This reading’s energy was a bit strange because the energy doesn’t seem super fresh and might be more of an older thought or situation. There was a mental conflict he’s had (AoS Rx, 5oW, 2oS) he has a very particular opinion about how briize views his interactions with them, and he’s for some reason very concerned about whether or not he appears genuine or sincere it seems like he’s worried about being seen as fake or being misjudged (Judgment, 7oS Rx, KnoC Rx) However I do think he’s aware that this is essentially in his head and doesn’t reflect his actual connection with fans (The Moon, 2oC) It’s lowkey ironic that this theme came up around the time they do fancalls and the fancalls being reposted, maybe he’s focusing how he’s perceived .

Seunghan: This reading will be short and sweet because only 4 cards came out (Death, 8oP, 4oC, The High Priestess) hes in a state of contemplation and transition. He’s realizing that he needs to have better discernment and needs to build his prospects from the ground up, the phrase “if you keep carrying the same bricks you’ll build the same house again.” is coming up. With this realization and acceptance he can finally have an easier transition to the next phase he’s trying to reach, he may have a specific plan he’s following. He also could be being lead by a person (or multiple) who has the knowledge and discernment to guide him to a new prospect for his own benefit.

Sohee: He’s opened up recently and is giving more of his internal self to others (4oP Rx, 6oP, 8oS Rx, PoW, PoS, PoC) SOO MANY PAGE CARDS 😭. an event possibly around the winter time made him feel a need to wall himself up or to be more careful with how close he gets to people or how much of himself he should share (5oW, 5oP, 9oW) he isn’t secretive in a sneaky sense he just wanted to be more intuitive and selective of who he got close to. He also has a desire to be able to separate and divide between coworkers that he just works with and genuine friends and peers (The Lovers Rx, 7oW, 6oW) he possibly has realized that due to being an idol in itself can be a tumultuous journey he doesn’t have to endure it without support from outside the group (8oC Rx, 2oC)

Anton: He currently feels like he’s getting the full scope of benefits and struggles that comes with being an idol, he’s always essentially knew or had an understanding but now he’s beginning to fully see the dichotomies within the industry (The Sun, The Devil). hes very aware of how he’s being viewed in the media/online, the phrases “if you think I know, I most likely do” and “gotta be in the know to know.” he for sure has a general idea of how he’s perceived (KoS, PoS, 7oP, The Heirophant) However it doesn’t seem to be shaking the confidence he’s recently gained and some of it may even be adding to it (The Emperor, KoW). He might have a personal project or something that he’s working on solo that he may have to show or get reviewed by a higher up or someone with more experience (KnoP, KoP)

[snowyaika]

Lol, huge Washington fan here. Was wondering if we could have a fic or just some head cannons for him. He's literally my favorite and I would really appreciate just anything for him.

pairing: project freelancer!agent washington x gn!doctor!reader

word count: ~600 summary: he can't get you, the doctor always patching him up, out of his head.

warnings: unidentified plot, secret mutual pining, mention of nightmares, mention of prescription drugs, slight angst if you see it that way, unedited writing, headcanon that wash has blue eyes, i overuse commas, making this while watching a violent asmr video, open ending

notes: Hi.... are you all still here? I've finally gotten back into the grove of writing... kind of! <3 something short but I find it pretty sweet, I'll probably do a continuation of this one later in the future! i've been wanting to do a doctor reader x wash for awhile now, thank you anon for giving me the chance to ^o^ let me know what you guys think!!

---

The sound of a quiet machine humming fills the empty space of the medical bay, everyone out on missions or enjoying a day off in the dining hall. 

Agent Washington, however, was spending his evening staring up at the dark ceiling, inspecting the details and structure that made the room while he lay on the less than pleasant infirmary bed. 

Stripped of his usual armor, he felt vulnerable— uneasy, but the sound of the automatic door opening with a pair of footsteps he’ll never forget the pattern of instantly puts his mind at ease. 

“Wash?” You call out, startled but not surprised to see him on the small cot. He had developed a habit coming to the infirmary when his mind got too crowded, when nightmares chased away his sleep and left him  with nothing but panic. 

Another reason was to simply see you. 

You, a doctor who helps patch up clumsy people like him after a rough mission. So soft spoken and understanding compared to the constant teasing he receives from his team. And your gentle touch, as if afraid to break him more than he already feels he is. 

“Hey, Doc.” 

A classic nickname he chose for you, using it only so he can see your eyes glint with a playful glare, lips trying to resist a smirk.

He was your most frequent patient, but you never had an issue with that. 

Throwing away an orange peel (you just came from dinner, he realized), you make your way to the bed. 

Standing at the side, you take in his appearance. 

He’s still sporting the bruise from his latest mission, small enough on his jaw to look like a measly bug bite. 

His eyes are cloudy, bags deeper than last time he was here. 

Nothing too out of the ordinary, you conclude. 

“You don’t have a check up until next week. Is something the matter?” 

Finally he sits up, legs sliding to rest over the edge of the bed as he stares up at you.

The small pout on your lips makes him want to kiss it away. 

“No, I just…”

wanted to see you.

He bites his tongue before the words get out, heart skipping a beat at the idea of speaking his mind. How would you react? Reject him with such a soft tone he can't even be heartbroken? Or maybe, he'll watch your eyes widen as you share the same sentiments, leaning down and brushing your soft lips against his--

He doesn’t realize he gave no response, earning a small sigh from you.

With gentle hands you cup his jaw, tilting his head to examine if there are any sort of external wounds bothering him. Eyes meeting pale blue ones, you quickly advert your gaze. 

You had forgotten how beautiful his eyes were. If it wasn't for your self control, you would have told him how they reminded you of the blue skies back at home.

Seeing no issue with his body, you release his head and turn, heading to the locked cabinet on the other wall. A poor excuse to hide your heated face.

You don’t notice him leaning forward after your hands leave his face, seeking more of your warmth, before catching himself. 

“Did you have another nightmare?” Softly asking as you rummage through the medicine capsules, waiting for his response before picking. 

The simple answer should have been yes. He has nightmares every night, ones that wrack his body in tremors and make him wake in a cold sweat. But lately, they’ve been different. 

Instead of moments of war or unbearable pain, it has changed to soft moments with you, a life in the impossible future at each other’s side. Dancing with you under the soft golden haze of the sunset, sharing a cup of coffee in a small house far away from this life, waking up in your arms with no more fears lingering in the back of his mind.

Moments that haven’t happened plague his head, wounding his heart and cursing his brain for giving him hopes for the unattainable. He almost prefers the other nightmares compared to these.

“Something like that,” is his simple response. Giving you a small smile when you turn your gaze back to him, he watches as you come back with the medicine you always prescribe.  

[wings-of-ink]

Hear ye, hear ye!

All of you who have been anxiously awaiting Chapter 4 can send a big thank you to the Microsoft mayhem that happened on Friday. Because of it, I have had two entire, unprecedented, days off of work during which all I did was write and edit chapter 4! Stuff like this never happens to me either, so I ate it up. My work computer is still super broken too, so who knows what will happen tomorrow, lol.

So, chapter 4, barring anything disastrous that I do not yet foresee – is coming very soon. Like, any day this week soon. For now, I am looking for bugs and other errors until I feel comfortable getting the update loaded. I will also be updating the warning list and some things on the itch page. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something I wanted to do, and am having a hell of a time remembering what it was…

Anyway, if it interests you, more details below!

In going through some of the Google Error Reports, I had a couple that I either could not resolve or find.

It was reported that checking player stats in chapter 1 would not work – that it would flash only for a moment. I could not recreate this. If anyone else has seen this, please let me know.

In the end of chapter 2 where there are multiple ways to spend your time there seems to be some issues with how choices become unselectable after certain clicks and it just doesn't seem to function correctly. I have fixed the issues I have found, but could not recreate all of the instances that were reported. This section may get an overhaul in the future since I understand the coding a bit more now.

It was also reported that fonts are not changing. There is definitely a weird issue with this and it will take some time for me to sit down and hammer out. The fonts do change for me, but notably, I don't think they are switching to the correct font types. They don't even appear to be the same fonts from when I first starting this project, lol. This issue is on hold for now.

The last 2 bonus segments for the end of chapter 3 are being pushed aside for the time being. I kept finding myself feeling like I was hammering them into the chapter and it was a little exhausting. If I force it, it will be less enjoyable to read. The segments that are missing are the ones for hanging out with Zahn and Nathanael. Zahn's is easy to wiggle in elsewhere at least, but I'm not sure if Nathan's will make it in or not. We'll see, my motivation was purely for chapter 4, so now that it is ready to go, I'll have another crack at it before I drop or move them completely. They aren't super important to the story, but are just for fun (and if Oswin got his, it's only fair that Zahn gets theirs too). That last section of chapter 3 ended up way too long, so it may get adjusted later anyway.

As with any work in progress, I can't guarantee that your old saves will work. That's probably how we are going to have to roll for a bit until I really get things nice and smooth. Eventually, I will add an option to start from a later chapter and go through and make the (MANY) relevant choices to skip ahead. This may be implemented when Chapter 6 is ready to go since all the ROs will be available.

I also want to figure out how to implement named saves to make it easier for you to sort. I appreciate IFs that feature this, but I do not yet know how to do it, but I'm going to research. I like to play through with several MCs, and I'd like to offer enough info in the saves and/or Stats Menu that you can do this and easily know who you are playing as. Let me know what you would like most in the Player Stats Menu too. Note, that some options do not appear here until you choose them in the story.

Coming up…

Since Chapter 4 is down, I will soon be posting a big poll about future IFs. I've been compiling info for it here and there for a couple weeks on possible options for me to write in conjunction with God-Cursed. So, stay tuned for that in the coming days.

I will FINALLY get to my inbox in earnest as well! I will keep reaction asks paused until further notice since they take me the longest to answer. Feel free to still send in comments or quicker questions. If your question is too spoilery to answer, I will not be able to post about it.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well! I can't wait to see what you think of chapter 4. I hope you enjoy it. I'll get it out just as soon as I feel comfortable enough with it. ^_^

[askapex-alfa01]

“I don’t think we should make these recordings public, sir. We made these as an experiment before cutting them out for so many years.”

“It might allow us to see what we’re dealing with. As you said, we did cut them off. I want to understand why they forced themselves to interact with the other species, and to do that, I have to look at every trace and clip we have of them.”

“I think you should go with his suggestion, my Spade. This was merely an experiment. If we reactivate it, there’s a chance something could break and cause everything to restart.”

“I also don’t trust what other beings in the universe would do if they realized we were broadcasting this. They might try to sabotage everything… maybe even your asset.”

“...Very well. I will take your word for it… Keep these clips guarded in the meantime, though, I might come back to it later to double-check.”

“Yes, my Spade.”

“Yes, my Spade.”

.

.

.

{Hello everyone and welcome to Ask Apex! :D}

{This is a project that I have been hoping to make for a while, due to school and personal issues irl, it had to be put on a wishlist. Thanks to the rest of my summer being free, I will be able to work on this!}

{This is a general AU ask blog. It fits the majority of the alternate universes that you see on my main ( @cartooncadet666 ), as it is based on background lore.}

{However, there are some things I need you all to know before I open the inbox that will be listed below}:

Rules/Major Notes:

1. This takes place in the past, most likely when Pac World War I was starting. Most of the interactions in the canon-show timeline have not happened. (Meaning at this time, Apex, Tip, Pointybrains, and everyone else do not know anyone from Pac-World yet.)

2. Apex is currently not the leader of the Pointyheads; he is being trained and will be known as “Muse.”

3. You, unfortunately, cannot “warn” any of the characters that something is going to happen (if you had read any of my posts about some of the disasters the Pointyheads had) Think of it as the Overlords re-recording some of these clips, if you try to warn them, they will censor you.

4. None of the characters will act “canonically.” Because it is the past, they don’t feel the need to keep up an act or a defensive personality.

5. You can ask silly questions and interact with them physically (like, for example, taping them to the ceiling), just as long as it wouldn’t greatly affect any future event.

6. If you would like to ask questions to another Pointyhead, you might have to introduce them to Apex first if he doesn’t already know them; this is his ask blog after all.

7. Finally, this is a really big one. Please, no NSFW asks. If you have a mini-crush on a character and want to express your love for them in a friendly way, that’s fine, but please keep it to a minimum, and don’t go into the “freaky” area. It makes me uncomfortable.

↑ Another note, please don’t try to pressure a ship or something of the sort onto any of the characters. Most of the relationship dynamics are built that way for a reason. I am accepting of many ships, but this project doesn’t go too much into any romance category aside from the dynamic between two characters at the moment.

↑ And to add to this, no “donation” asks either. I am a minor, and I cannot donate any money for any current global situation, so do not send any asks regarding the situation, please; it makes me feel bad enough that I am legally unable to donate. Spamming = block!!!

{Also.... }

❗❗DNI to PRO/DARKSHIPPERS, INC3STIES, AND ZOOPHILES!!! FUCK OFF, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME!!!! Hate comments or derogatory asks/generally bashing is not allowed. You will be blocked. If I block you on my main, you will be blocked on this blog. ❗❗

❗❗Do NOT steal any artwork done on this blog. I have a lot of socials, so I will find out if you do. I don’t like reposts, either. If you want to repost, ask permission and give credits or @ me on the post you are making. If you don't, we're going to have a problem.❗❗

❗❗Please don’t reblog any posts on NSFW or 18+ blogs. If you want to reblog, please do it on your main or make an alt.❗❗

❗❗Lastly, I do not want any of my versions of these characters to be on any chatbots. I hate those dude. Don’t do it.❗❗

{Guidelines/Information}:

{I will close the inbox if something happens irl or if I am finishing other asks.}

{Most drawings will be digital or traditional, depending on the day, the event that will happen, and what materials I have around me.}

{Due to school and current circumstances, posts may not be consistent, I do not have a schedule planned out.}

{Most posts will be little side panels I want to make based on some events. If you want to send an ask while this event is happening, you can. But you can’t stop the event, only push it forward.}

{Most concept art will be made on my main! Official pages/canvases about the Pointyheads will be posted on this blog.}

{I greatly appreciate interaction and/or fan art! I love these little squid guys, and I encourage the fandom to have as much interaction as they can with this little side-project!}

{Have fun guys!}