#AND LIKE THE IDEA ITSELF that she convinced herself that was her Place finally. a first love. dumb and stupid the kind of probably doesn't

[vvanessaives]

i think the Thing that makes vhanya's tragedy so..tragic to me is her youth. but not in a 'omg dying young, she had so much to live :(' which is. well rip to her. but more like every single mistake she does is in a way..normal. like mistakes you do when you're a teen and are sooo dumb but make you learn and they shouldn't weight too much or more like. they shouldn't have you pay a too expensive price. while vhanya's mistakes aren't looked at with kindness, there's no Understanding. she walks around with her rage and tears like she's screaming "i'm still learning!! don't i deserve some kindness?" and instead of a "it's okay that you fucked up, we can fix this" it's mistakes that shape forever her future without any way to rewind and idk it gets me </3

[jinnie-ret]

oddinary house pt 1

cyborg!chan x reader

genre: horror

content warnings: electrocution

word count: 1.7k

summary: a girl approaches oddinary house, no idea of what would be inside

ODDINARY HOUSE MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

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This was a mistake, the young girl thought to herself as she warily approached the dark, abandoned mansion that barely held itself up in front of her. Metal railings that would have once protected this home were bent and twisted in all sorts of different directions, like someone had once fought to escape the place. Or maybe it was to stay inside the grounds that were overwhelmed with weeds and ivy running up the sides of the building. Yet, despite it's unwelcoming aura, there were some signs of life, such as the electricity running through the red neon sign that said 'Oddinary House'. Albeit was flashing, she at least knew she was at the right place.

It was a mysterious predicament she had found herself in, yes. The letter she had received a week ago inviting her over for the week leading up to Halloween had been very convincing. There was promises of permanence her childhood home had never given her. Sentences that enticed her into the feeling of safety, which contrasted with the appearance of the mansion, she must say, but hey, she wasn't going to judge a book by it's cover. Quite frankly, she didn't know why she was here, but there was also something in the back of her mind reminding her that she had nothing to lose. Even if she was to never be seen again, she wouldn't mind that. Anything to be rid of the same four walls she was restricted to the whole of her life.

As she approached the front door, she wondered, should she knock? It was completely see through, offering a transparency to the house the girl hadn't expected. They must be anticipating her entrance, the guests of the house who offered her a cleaning job, to fix and repair the house and help restore it to it's original form. She decided, she should knock, with such big responsibility about to be in her hands, it was only right to treat the place with such respect. Yet, as she rose her hand to tap at the door, it slowly opened on its own accord, like it had a mind of its own. There was no wind to explain what had just happened in front of her very eyes.

"Hello?" she called out timidly, wincing as her boots met the creaks of the rotting wooden floors. She'd have to keep an eye out for that.

"Come. Forward."

The girl jumped as the robotic voice sounded from around her. Where was it coming from? It was like it had been tuned into surround sound speakers, and how could they see her?

"You are finally here," the voice spoke again, words disjointed.

The girl turned again to see a... man? Except it wasn't quite a man, it was more like a half man, half robot. A bolt was screwed into his right ear, and half of his face had been invaded by metal plates. His blue eyes mirrored that of which she could only assume was blue synthetic hair.

"Are you... Mr Yang?" she asked nervously, surprised to say the least. She couldn't remove her gaze from his electric blue ones.

"Mr Yang is, pre, pre, preoccupied with other matters," he began, head suddenly jolting to the side as smoke came out of his ear, until he could eventually get the words out.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked concerned, a frown appearing on her face. This was surely no environment for a robot to be in, the whole reception area of the house was damp, droplets dripping onto some open wires. In fact, she was sure she saw the robot flinch when water met the copper plates of the wires.

"I am OK. I am... Not... me," the robot man said abruptly, hands struggling to lift his glasses back on his face. She noticed the open machinery on his arms, embedded into his fingers and running up his arms, acting as joints and muscles.

"Here let me help," the girl cautiously pushed the man's glasses further up his face.

"Thank you. What is your name?"

"Y/N. Y/N L/N. I was offered a job by Mr Yang to work here, in a letter. What's your name?" Y/N explained to the robot, before returning the favour, unable to hide her curiosity no longer.

"My model is CB97, but they call me Chan," Chan nodded rigidly, his answer seeming to have taken longer to load than his other words, like it was the first time in a while he had been asked this.

"Nice to meet you Chan... ummm, what do I do now? I was told to expect a tour of the place," Y/N retold the words she has read in the letter she had somehow misplaced, but she remembered every word.

Unfortunately, the words seemed to have stirred up a malfunction, what the girl could only assume was Chan's anger.

"No. No tour. Wait. Wait here. Then it will happen," Chan's blue eyes glowed brighter. Then his metallic body shifted to stand, a buzzing sound echoing around the room as he slowly but surely approached her.

"Wait here? Is Mr Yang coming here or not?" Y/N asked, now a bit frightened at the cyborg clanking its way towards her.

"Wait," Chan stopped in his tracks, a few feet away from Y/N, as his feet became planted into the floors, like there were outlets that he generated energy from.

"Chan, what is happening?" Y/N asked again, fear filling her from the unknown of what would happen next.

"Welcome to Oddinary House. Take a seat behind you. My name is CB97. I will send you to your room. Thank you for choosing to stay with Oddinary House. We hope all of your monsterous needs are fulfilled," Chan froze in his robot form, blue sparks flying from his body as his mind went on autopilot and he spoke what seemed like a monologue he was very used to. Or perhaps he was programmed to do so.

Y/N was taken aback when she found herself suddenly strapped into a chair as silver cuffs kept her wrists against the arms of the leather chair, her ankles being strapped in against the legs of it.

"Chan? Chan, what's going on?!" Y/N yelled out terrified as she tried to wiggle out of the chair.

His feet were unplugged from the ground, and he marched behind her chair, resting his hands on the sides of her head with an expressionless face.

"Name."

"Chan what is this?!"

"We cannot find that in our records. Name."

"It's Y/N, you already know that!"

"Y/N. Age 20. You are staying in room 143."

"Chan listen to me! Chan?!" Y/N's tears ran freely down her face and she could her them fizzling against Chan's fingers that framed her face as her head was held still.

"Your stay here will be indefinite. There is no time listed."

"CB97!!!" Y/N desperately shouted, and that's when the buzzing that had filled her ears stopped, and the girl didn't know of it was for the better of for the worse.

The clanking of the metal marched once again, Chan, or CB97 standing in front of her, yet this time, he had a red eye alongside a blue one, instead of both of them remaining the same colour.

It was for the worse.

"CB97. Umm, release. Yeah, release! CB97. Release," Y/N cleared her throat, trying to be firm and hide away her shakiness so that the robot would listen to her and understand what she was saying. The metal cuffs were now beginning to feel really tight and the fact that her stay at this building was indefinite, was making her even more scared. Yet, a sad part of her still felt safer being restrained and unable to move in front of an unpredictable creature, than at home with her family.

"Request. Denied."

"No, no, no! Chan, listen! CB97, explain! What will happen now?" Y/N whimpered after knowing that she wouldn't be freed.

"Y/N. Y-y-you, will, b-b-b-be taken t-to your room. You cannot leave," Chan's voice became deeper yet he seemed to be bugging out, and suddenly wires sprang out from the uncovered workings on his arms and they connected to the metal cuffs. Electricity charged into the metal, and Y/N screamed out in pain as she was electrocuted.

"Ahh! Ahh! Stop! Stop!" her screams rang out around the room.

Chan's body was jolting and nearly bouncing in its place as the electricity ran out from his body and be finally shut down, like he was being restarted. Y/N sighed in relief, body going lax in the chair as her body was exhausted from the electricity having been forced into it.

"CB97. Restarting."

"Chan?" Y/N whispered, seeing his eyes shutter open and close before they turned back on, and thankfully revealed his normal blue eyes.

"Y/N. Extreme body exhaustion detected. Cause: electrocution." Chan reported as his eyes did a scan on Y/N's body. "Explain how this happened."

"Chan, you sort of malfunctioned and then some wires came out and got me. You sort of just went... out of control?" Y/N stared at the robot in front of her, and there was a flash of human emotions in his eyes, an almost furrow of the brows.

"CB97 malfunctioned. We apologise for this mishap. Chan will do better. Next time," Chan's head tilted downwards and he genuinely looked apologetic.

"Chan, I just want to rest now," Y/N said tiredly. She could see her frizzy hair out of the corner of her eyes and her arms nearly felt limp.

"CB97 will send you away now."

And with that, the chair started moving quickly down what seemed like a never ending hallway, and as it slowly started to begin to move, Y/N saw Chan return to his space behind the reception desk. It passed through a long hallway, different patchy wallpapers seen as she sped forwards at what felt like the speed of light.

The motions were too much, to the point where Y/N passed out, slouched in the chair. The only semblance she had of where she was, was when she felt the softness of a bed, a blanket encompassing her body. That slight moment of consciousness allowed her to see the door to her room close, a bat flying through the small gap before it did.

What had she gotten herself into?

taglist: @skz-streamer @kiraisastay @hannahhbahng @backintomykpopphaseagain @sakufilms @hanjiquokkaaa @arloo00 @dunno-wut-to-do @splat00z @cheesemonky

[belit0]

Indra being presented with a line up of girls to thoroughly “inspect” and choose from. Then selecting Y/N as the lucky one to bear his child? 👀

I still find myself unable to express the love I have for this man😩❤️‍🩹

(Y/N) stands nervously but with her head held high, unable to stop playing with her coat sleeve between her fingers. Her mother would scold her, tell her she's wrinkling her clothes, but nothing stopped her parents from surrendering her to the treacherous ideas of a man with more wickedness than soul.

On either side of her, two rows of at least 15 women seem to be even more affected, some even sobbing quietly. Everyone knows who Otsutsuki Indra is, no one with any common sense would want to get in his way, but what can you do when you are literally shoved under the shoe of a giant, ready to be crushed by him and unable to run away?

About 35 women undergo a rigorous inspection, and only 1 of them will make it out alive. The procedure has been going on for days, and so far none have survived.

(Y/N) is not overconfident, no, but dying at the hands of the greatest villain in history is better than dying at the hands of her abusive mother, either good fate if it ends her existence. She must only wait, meet the man's gaze, and feel a slight sting as her throat is slit.

She has watched that sequence play out over the past two days, having arrived with one of the last batches of women and observed as at least 100 spilled their blood in the main hall of the Uchiha palace. Indra is ruthless, killing without a second glance on more than one occasion, ruling out possibilities by standards only he is aware of.

There is no way to survive his inspection, so far no one has succeeded.

The girl next to her faints from fear, and a guardsman drags her body to the back wall. (Y/N) doesn't need to turn around to know where that wet, stabbing noise came from, thought that at least the girl died without being awake to experience it.

The place, already almost completely silent in itself, falls into a haunting lack of sound when the infamous Uchiha leader enters the room, followed by two assistants, those who help when inspecting.

The man takes a few minutes to get started, perhaps building momentum or simply enjoying dragging out the agony, but when his eyes finally settle on the first lady, it doesn't take long for him to start dismissing them. Standing in the middle and not daring to look in his direction, she hears that deep voice say "no" constantly, followed by the screams of some girl begging for her life and blood hitting the floor. The cries increase, and it seems to escalate Indra's anger as well, for he himself slits each sobbing woman's throat.

A girl away, (Y/N) feels him pause.

He takes his time with the poor lady, circles around her and moves her hair, looks at her face intently, her body. "What is your name?" He asks without any remarkable emotion in his voice, and (Y/N) thinks the moment of truth has finally arrived. The Otsutsuki chose the recipient of his heirs, and all the rest will be condemned like a cow to the slaughter.

"K... Ku-uro." The girl answers, but it is the last sound heard from her. Her throat is mercilessly reamed by those evil hands, as the poor girl falls dead to the ground.

"Ugly."

(Y/N) feels beads of cold sweat roll down her lower back, having convinced herself that it was all over once and for all. She raises her head again to rectify her lack of fear in front of the man, and when he finally stands in front of her, she looks him in the eye.

Not many people can say they lived to tell the tale after facing those black orbs, but Indra seems to approve of her bravery in not killing her instantly.

The man is tall, intimidatingly large and with a reputation to match his frightening physique, needing to hide behind no one and carrying the weight of his actions on his shoulders, imposing. He glares at her intently but unreadably, and she struggles not to lose, not to let herself be won over.

One hand is raised to her face, and a long finger moves hair from the middle, an overly delicate gesture considering the context. Neither of his two assistants speak, but both take notes. "What is your name?"

"(Y/N)." Her voice does not tremble and she is proud of it. She will die with bravery, honor, power.

"Show me your neck." He demands, doesn't ask, and assesses intently as she moves the fullness of her hair upward, exposing a smooth expanse of skin any man would desire.

"Turn around." Again, (Y/N) follows his intrunctions as if a faithful dog, thinking how ridiculous her last moments of life are. Who can say they played the jester for Indra himself before they died? Not many.

Minutes go on forever, and staring at the wall does not allow her to decipher what is going on in her surroundings. If only someone would speak, if only one of the women who are still alive would make a noise, something....

She thinks she is about to be executed from behind when she feels a hand on her shoulder, and instinctively closes her eyes to prevent at least the final displeasure. Her lungs deflate in a nervous exhalation, finishing releasing what will be the last air in her body, when she senses a mouth too close to her ear.

"Are you scared?" Indra asks as if the answer is not obvious, enjoying the terror he creates in his audience. Every move, every action, is one more brick solidifying the terrible reputation he carries with him, and seems to love how people fear him.

(Y/N) doesn't answer, having seen too many women fall into that trap and lend themselves to a quick execution. The Uchiha leader doesn't like to be spoken to without permission. She tries to stay as still as possible, frozen and filled with a new survival instinct that runs through her veins.

Resignation to die slowly washes away, and she begins to think that maybe she should fight, at least try to slap him before perishing.

The world would remember her differently if she managed to sully the man's untouchable reputation, if a woman managed to hit him even once before being destroyed under his hands. People would have reason to stop fearing him with their lives, see that he is reachable, and perhaps even begin to laugh at him. Once he proclaims his hateful "no", once he rejects her, she will jump on him before any of his guards can kill her.

She is ready to listen, to react quickly, but not to what finally reaches her ears. "I want her." Those words echo against the four walls of the great hall, and suddenly the man's two attendants are holding her by the shoulders and arms, forcing her to walk in the opposite direction from the one he takes.

The girl instantly feels blood spilling onto the floor, those women still waiting to be inspected after her being killed mercilessly but at least quickly, body after body falling limp to the floor and staining everything in their path.

(Y/N) can't decide if she was lucky, or if she would rather be dead.

[emberwritesinsight]

The way the over-the-top imagination sequences in Nanami’s Egg reveal how terrified Nanami is of being seen as subhuman retroactively makes the sequence in The Cowbell Of Happiness where Touga treats her like an animal to be slaughtered (as a metaphor for the way he’s grooming her into his own Anthy) even more horrifying.

Or, possibly, Nanami’s oddly specific “being treated like an animal” fears in Nanami’s Egg are because that dream planted in her mind the idea that somebody she loves very much sees her as more of a pet than a person.

Nanami’s fear of being abnormal probably comes from several places, not the least of which being that she’s obviously been demeaned for her oddities before (consider the adults’ disapproval when she shows up to Touga’s party with a stray kitten). But one of the most unsettling reasons is that she’s convinced that her abnormality will give people free reign to consider her subhuman. 

Nanami wants to be loved, that much is obvious. But she also wants to be respected. Being loved like a pet or a toy isn’t enough for her. Above all else, she fears hatred, ostracization, and dehumanization. And that’s why she wants so badly to distance herself from Anthy.

Anthy is a Nanami given much more time to stew in her suffering. She’s escalated beyond just being dehumanized by others, and has started doing it to herself. She’s not an animal, though. That would imply some kind of life or desire or survival instinct, despite lack of sentience. Instead, she is a self-described “doll with no heart”.

It’s all a lie, of course, no matter how much she or anyone else believes it. Anthy is a person. She has desires and fears like anyone else. She can feel pain, even if she’s been steeped in it for so long that it’s become normal for her. She can feel joy, even if she rarely has reasons to. Anthy’s performance in the role of the Rose Bride requires her to cultivate a doll-like image, but she can’t cut herself off from her personhood completely. But still, she’s been so thoroughly stripped of her right to Be A Person that she’s stopped thinking of herself as one.

This was what Touga, and Akio, and the system of Ohtori itself had planned for Nanami. A cow to the slaughter, a doll in the making. And she obviously has a vague understanding that she’s in danger, even if it’s subconcious. But when she finds Anthy sprawled on that couch in the planetarium in the middle of the night, she finally, conciously, gets it. She finally knows why she was so afraid of being dehumanized. She finally sees the sword that she was sensing as it hung above her head. She sees where the road she’s on leads, and that’s all it takes for her to immediately do her level best to sprint in the other direction.

[sophiamarieispinkbunny-chan]

Thoughts on Short Chapter 90.1 (Long Post)

First of all, what in the world just happened? That short chapter was so unexpected for a short chapter.

Endo is really good at messing all of our brains in just four pages. Upon seeing it as an extra chapter, I thought it’s going to be on a lighter side but I don’t expect it to be dark and centered around Anya!

So here are some of my 6 takeaways. (Long post again sorry!)

1.Anya is probably not the real spelling of her name or not even her real full name

-Anya is pretty sure herself that her name is spelled as Ania, she spelled her name the same way in the Eden Entrance Exam.

-And the expression in her face when Loid corrected her tells a lot. (I’m really amazed how Endo conveyed this without the readers letting know what is going on in Anya’s mind. Meaning that he still doesn’t want to reveal that snippet of her thoughts process since it surely would reveal something about her past) Her expression was so subtle but it tells that for her, she's certain that it was really letter I. Then settling with oh, but not like a happy and excited or enlightened ‘Oh!’ But just a simple, Oh, okay... Like she had no choice but to just agree.

And her lying in her bed thinking about the name, saying it aloud as if familiarizing it.

So here are my thoughts about Ania/Anya’s name:

Ania is part of a longer name

Maybe Ania was a nickname given to her because she has a longer one.

I just told my sister days ago that Anya’s name sounds like Ostania and maybe that is where her name came from. So maybe Ania is just what they named her deriving from Ostania itself.

Ania could also be an acronym for something. Like the A could stand for Apple since the experiment is called Project Apple. The rest of the letters however I have no idea.

Ania could also be an experimental name (Like what I saw on some posts here the AN1A one so they decided to call her Ania but it was not a name but a label for her.

2.Why Loid assumes it was Y and not I

In the documents Franky had given him in the first chapter, her name is spelled Anya with a Y. Meaning, the orphanage thought her name is spelled that way but we can understand for Anya it was always spelled with I not Y. (The document is not readable in the manga but it was clear in the anime)

3.Endo has plans for everything, especially for the three main characters and their back stories

Endo often says that he thought things in a spur of a moment in terms of making this manga (Reference: fanbook Endo interview page 176) like how he decided Anya being a telepath on the last moment and called it luck that it worked out lol. But this was clearly planned and the anime creators, directors and writers are aware and is working closely with Endo. What he pulled in this short chapter isn’t something that can be thought for the last minute. It is planned from the very beginning. Probably some of the little details in the manga might mean more that what meets the eyes. (I saw a video before and in that video they showed Endo's studio and they showed miniature models of the designer chairs on the volume and there are chairs there that were just briefly shown that is yet to appear. I saw the video before the release of Volume 11, the one with Emile and Ewen and I saw their chairs in the line up of the models. So you can't convince me that he hasn't planned anything where he wants to take the plot next.)

4. The Anime on Anya's nameplate change

Anya's name changed in her nameplate, from Ania to Anya at exactly end of Season 1 Part 1 episode 12. Anime have been very persistent in showing that nameplate.

(Episode 3, not in the manga)

Then Episode 11, we saw the change of her name spelling on her test. So the short mission 90.5 took place before she got her first stella.

The Season 1 Part 1 Finale, we see this nameplate and I went to check the short mission of this in the manga and no, the manga didn't show the change of nameplate in that particular chapter.

Now I'm rethinking that it was really a well thought decision of Clover and Wit to make the Aquarium episode and this episode in the finale rather than starting the dog arc crisis and it was smart and sneaky of them.

Anime is doing a lot of work to elaborate the manga and I love them for that!

5.Like Father Like Daughter

It would make sense that in this family Loid and Anya would be the one who bears fake names. Yor being the one whose name being real symbolizes how she doesn’t lie about anything besides being an assassin, and there are times when she isn’t even keeping the fact that she is one. She always does things, mainly, because she genuinely cares for Anya and Loid not for her job at all (as the story progress she thought less about them being just a cover for her). Yet Anya and Loid often does things for their own ulterior motives (Anya for wanting a family for herself and Loid for his mission). They’re the ones who actively kept protecting their secret identities. The ones with the most the secrets. Both have names different from their real ones. Really makes sense don’t you think?

6.We could get an Anya backstory arc, if not by the next chapter, sooner than we expect.

We might have snippets of Anya’s backstory but I believe that Endo would not give out the whole thing. It’s too early to reveal it and what could Anya’s trigger be for her to think about everything that happened in her past?

Loid is triggered when he was rendered unconscious by Anya’s tonitrus

Yor is triggered when she’s thinking about Yuri

How about Anya?

What could trigger her to remember everything she went through?

-Will she perhaps see something or someone that will make her remember her past? (I read a fanfiction about her meeting a man who used to adopt her, it’s from coloredice I think and I can’t help but seeing it happen in canon)

Yet this is a short chapter, maybe Endo will continue this with another short chapter or give us a full chapter in the next two weeks centering around Anya. But it could also be not, since it could also just a way for Endo to add additional details to the narrative. But why bring this up now? for sure, it was a reminder, maybe a preparation on what the future ten chapters to the 100th holds.

Now it’s time for you to tell me what you think? Let’s be Twilight and overthink this four chapter short because our man's too attached to even care about knowing Anya’s background.

[leahrintarou]

can you please please please please pretty please with a cherry on top write a smut fic with a mean dom kita, but he still showers you in touches and fulfills your needs ? just like …… please make him so dirty, filthy mouth mean, and depraveddddd i NEED himmmmm (oh and breeding kink might fit in here too oops :D)

🎃 Kita Shinsuke - Hard Dom

Warnings: hard!dom kita x fem reader, jealousy, fem bodied reader, mentions of kita looking at other women, penetration/stimulation, barely noticeable breeding kink lol, im not used to writing hard dom guys so um i hope i did a lil sum sum with this lmao

Word Count: 1.9k

kita's hand increasingly squeezed the plush of her thigh, daunting her with her inability to focus solely on the screen. tighter it got, as every jumpscare played out. their living room was dim, the television sharply breaking the lack of light with warm and gray-scaled radiance. flashes of images spouting from its glint. her legs were enclosed around her boyfriend’s infiltrating digits with what she thought was an innocent gesture; though, unbeknownst, it soon came to be much more.

their night started off rather uneventfully, as their exhaustion made itself apparent from their long day out with friends. walking around aimlessly was the one thing that fuelled the drag, but not without feelings of isolation. With the pairing of cold shoulders accompanied by prolonged silent treatments, y/n didn’t dare confront kita with her mindfulness of when his gaze lingered on the faces of some of the women in their friend group. 'It's just basic manners of eye contact; he’s not doing anything wrong' is what she would relentlessly repeat to herself.

even though she'd try to convince herself that her boyfriend was never the type to do such a thing, his friendliness would counteract her ideas of hope with doubtfulness. kita noticed how she'd loosen the grip between their interlocked fingers whenever he'd share a laugh with one of the girls. how her smile would falter when he turned his head to converse with them. though this detail was small, he still picked up on how y/n would have him repeat his sentences because she 'didn't hear' him, even though they were within a finger’s reach of each other. all she craved was his attention, even if it were to be extended by a second.

tensions clouded their drive back home. in an attempt to swat away the fog, they mutually agreed to watch a newly released horror movie in the silent hopes of easing their obvious discomfort. kita began to develop the trait of learning to hide his emotions, which would prove beneficial to his volleyball team as it kept the opposing side guessing what course of action he’d take. Though, as they say, opposites attract. Someone could tell how y/n was feeling from miles away due to her expressive body language. nevertheless, as they sat together on the couch, whether or not y/n relished it, the way she leaned in closer to kita's person as his digits danced against her skin, kita had no trouble being able to read her true, undisclosed feelings.

y/n finally turned her head, breaking the session of excruciating silence and giving kita a lustful glare before placing eager kisses on the crook of his neck. despite the shower that he'd taken just minutes prior, the now-faint scent of his cologne still lingered within the pores of his skin, which she so desperately wanted to bury herself in.

one thing, of course, led to another, and that's what brought them here. kita's hands made restless motions of pleasure with the inserting motions of his digits in and out of her sex. y/n was already becoming a breathless mess at his lack of mercy with her. already coming to her high at least twice already; however, kita was seemingly unpleased. his eyes lingered on the screen of the tv while y/n hugged his arm to try and ground herself to reality while next to him. he forced her to keep her legs spread because if she were to do otherwise...

"i'll stop everything completely."

he said, his eyes still on the TV as he seemed dazed. y/n let out moans as his palm would slightly graze over her bud every once in a while. was he doing this on purpose? of course. did y/n have to know that? absolutely not. and even if she did, it would be the least of her worries since now the movie was coming to an end, which means that kita's attention was now fully focused on y/n. this might've sounded like a good thing a bit earlier in her day, but right now she knew that kita would observe the entirety of her while putting every damn thing on either of their bodies to good use. 

"shin, 'm s-sensetive. slow down for a sec-" her voice faltered with every other word. it was a sight to see, to say the least, and while kita knew he had the ability to follow through with her request, what was the fun in that? he smiled, leaning closer to her ear before placing a kiss on her temple. "why should I? my sweet angel was just complaining about how I gave my attention to other girls, and now she can't handle what she asked for." y/n let out a whine when he fixed his wrist to reach even further inside her. "you're being ungrateful, sweetheart."

kita used his thumb to now give her aching bud more of the attention that he spoke of prior. y/n was immediately sent over the edge at the overwhelming feeling, and the heavy moan that fell along with it was music to kita's ears. his lips wore a smirk of satisfaction when her legs shivered, desperately trying to stay in place as his previous warning was in the back of her mind. "those thoughts of yours can be really stupid sometimes, y/n." he says, his fingers slowing to a pace that would be bearable for her in her state of sensitivity. y/n noticed and was grateful for this gesture of his.

kita used her freehand to sturdily grip y/n's jaw, forcing her to lock eyes with him. "say it, y/n." he started, his eyes flickering down to her sex as he spoke his next words. "say that you're a stupid girl who lets this aching hole think for her." his fingers entered her sex a bit roughly, making y/n wince from the sensitivity. y/n's eyes glossed with unrecognizable and uncontrollable emotion. kita smiled slightly when her legs fluttered closely around his hand. he watched intently, looking back up at y/n with daring eyes that silently said, "close them and you'll realize that I meant what I said, earlier." even despite her many releases, she didn't feel all that satisfied, so she forced herself to think of something else. well, tried to at least.

all she could mutter was, "you're so mean, shin.." y/n whined with a slightly visible pout on her lips. kita released y/n's jaw from his hold as he watched her let out a breath from the action. he quirked an eyebrow, watching y/n's sex as he slowly removed his fingers from her at a slow pace. her arousal coated his digits and leaked down the back of his hand and palm as he held it up in front of both of their opposing faces. "am I, sweetheart?"

y/n was reluctant to give an audible answer, so she sufficed with a nod. "i just don't want that thought crossing this empty head of yours again." he laughed, his tongue skillfully catching the traveling arousal that'd made its way to his wrist. "i'll give you what you asked for, and you're going to take every ounce, got it?" he said, using the pads of his middle and ring finger to swipe a bit of her own arousal onto her bottom lip. he leaned in for a sloppily shared kiss, and as he pulled back, his freehand ran down her abdomen before stopping just barely under her belly button. he pressed into the area slightly, y/n shivering at the bitter temperature of his finger tips.

"is this where you wanna feel me, sweetheart?"

he asked, gently trailing his fingers further up, now stopping above her belly button and below her sternum. "or do you wanna feel me here?" y/n let out a whimper when he pressed into the area with much more force this time. "can you take all of me, angel?" y/n nodded eagerly at his words. kita wasted no time pulling his bottoms down to his thighs, revealing his erected member. y/n knew kita wasn't the type to come apart as quickly as his endurance allowed him to go on for hours.

he quickly placed his hands on her hips, lifting her to straddle his lap instead. he knew y/n was still sensitive, but that made it all the better for his chance of pushing her over the edge. y/n felt tears prick her eyes with a sting as he shifted her to swifly allow her to slide down onto the entirety of his member. kita let out a low groan that almost made y/n tip over the edge.

he found the whole situation pleasing, and as he admired her pleasure-filled features, he lifted her hips slowly before allowing her to fall back down, her thighs meeting with his own bare lap. he continued these motions, seemingly getting off from the friction, of course, but the way y/n reacted to every touch was just as arousing as ever. her whines met with the crook of his neck, and even as she tried to kiss him to muffle her sounds, he pulled back so he'd be able to hear every indication of her climax approaching once more. y/n was obviously displeased by his teasing, but she couldn’t worry anymore about that when he spoke, startling her just a bit.

"if you wanna cum, you gotta do it yourself, sweetheart," he smiled, and with that, he let go of her hips and instead rested his hands on the sides of her thighs. y/n's legs were practically burning, and she knew that he was dead serious, so she mustered up the limited amount of energy that was only being fueled by her pure desire to push herself away from his member, only to meet with his lap once again. kita watched intently, admiring where their bodies connected, letting out a stringy moan at the sight of his girl. y/n was nearing her high, and it was obvious when she gripped the fabric of his shirt with force. "do you want it inside of you, angel?" he questioned, following her lolling head as the energy was being drawn from her being with every movement of hers.

her eyes widened as kita hurriedly awaited an answer. she honestly didn't know whether to say yes or no. ultimately, though, it was never her choice. her body agreed with the first option. "speak up, y/n. i need you to talk to me." his voice was comforting and calm, and y/n knew this was his way of easing any pressure that she might've felt. Momentarily after, she nodded, kita quirking his brow, unsatisfied with her lack of audibility. "with your voice, sweetheart."

she let out a whine of his name before following out with his request. kita gave into his pity felt for y/n, once again firmly gripping her hips to aid her in riding out her approaching climax. they let out synchronized sounds of pleasure as their highs finally approached one another. y/n panted heavily, breath fanning kita's cheek as he admired the slight jolts of pleasure that continued to coarse throughout her body. his warm arousal settled in her sex as kita pulled her to his chest, placing a kiss on her shoulder.

"was i too mean for you, angel?" he teased, letting out a small laugh as she nodded to his words. "then how should I receive your forgiveness?" with that, she lifted her head, already knowing the intentions behind his words. "shinsuke, I'm tired-" she mumbled with a groan.

"how about a two-minute break then?"

"just...TWO MINUTES?" 

I HOPE U ENJOYED THIS, IT WAS A LAST RESORT CHAPTER FOR KINKTOBER THIS YEAR :) !!

Taglist: @meowmeowmau @jiwooahae @sunaemoby @diana7was7here @msbyomimi @chocoweird0 @riiceandsoup @issllaaa

[blueepink07]

In search for warmth

I'm too impatient to get my invitation link from ao3, so I will post it here until I receive it! I should get it around 4 January... It's a Yuno centered fic with a wholesome interaction with Amane! I hope their interaction is spot on!

"Cold. Too cold"

The blanket that should have kept her warm was now half on the floor, standing lifeless, like a puppet in the strings, waiting for its owner to pick it up. Tired eyes are trying to get used to the dim light, a deep sigh resounding in the cell at the apprehension of the mocking blanket.

Did she have a nightmare again? That's why she moved so much in her sleep? Whatever the motive was, Yuno can't answer, her mind being too fuzzy.

She stays in silence as she is watching the gray and monotonous walls. Maybe she should have decorated them, when she had got the chance. Mahiru told her, when they first arrived here, that decorating would definitely have a greater impact on her mental state and she would feel more energized every time she wakes up. She even offered herself to help Yuno with ideas inspired from her favorite magazine. At that time, the high school girl declined as she had never considered that the interest she had for the Milgram prison would ever disperse. But, oh how wrong she was…

Sometimes, during the rougher days, she can't even manage to get up. Everything is so dull, without color… How much she wishes that she could turn back in time, before the voting results, to decorate her walls together with Mahiru, to have a girl talk with the other prisoners, maybe Kotoko too. Yuno is sure she would have many interesting stories to tell.

The girl moves over, watching again the blanket that is now entirely on the floor. Alone, cold and lifeless, that’s how she would describe the blanket. Awfully familiar descriptions… When was the last time she felt herself, lately…?

Yuno is still watching the blanket. It feels like a war between her lazy consciousness, she should really wash it before covering herself with it again, and her wish to sleep more.

But she knows it's futile, she can't sleep when her body is cold. With a tired sight, the girl stretches out her limbs and picks up the blanket.

She carefully opens the door from her cell, not being in the mood to talk, if there is someone still not sleeping at this late hour. She slowly walks to the washroom, her pink irises desperately shoving off the eyelids. How annoying, only if the blanket could wash itself…

When she finally arrives, after lots and lots of yawns, Yuno takes the laundry detergent, a faint sweet smell of tuberose reaching her nostrils as she is pouring the contents in the washing machine. Then, she swiftly places the blanket and sets the time for a 15 minute wash.

"That should be enough…! "

What Yuno had to do now was to wait for the timer to finish, so she can finally go to sleep! How hard can it be?

"Poor Yuno, why is she even in prison?"

"It's not even a crime what she did…"

"She is so innocent!!"

The voices. How she would sometimes wish to have a button to turn her brain off. She knows that she should be thankful. Yuno often stays with Mahiru, after all, and knows that her older friend is haunted by them. At first, it was hard to convince Mahiru to not let herself be swayed by the voices and to distance herself from her own beliefs… From being herself… But with some time spent together, Yuno put her back on the right path. She would never change, because of Es's judgment, and neither should Mahiru.

"Poor Yuno…"

"I'm sure that in that prison it is so cold…!"

For once, the voices aren't wrong, it really is cold in here. She makes an attempt at hugging herself tightly, but she knows it's pointless. It's still cold.

*Stomp!*

"…!" Is she so lonely that she starts imagining noises…?

*Stomp!*

No, there is someone awake. Should she really check…? After all, her mission here will be done in 10 minutes and she really wants to sleep.

*Stomp!*

Curiosity kills the cat, that’s what she has heard and has been told many times, when she was a child. But the noises feel almost…desperate. Maybe she should really check.

It wasn't hard to pinpoint from where it came from as Yuno quickly could register the stomping gradually becoming louder as she was approaching the kitchen.

What she wasn't prepared for was seeing Amane jumping, if she could call that, as the green haired girl was hardly propeling herself, due to her restraints. Yuno followed Amane's hand, who was trying to reach a… box of soy milk?

Now that she thinks about it, she remembers, a few months ago, Amane's mug not being placed in the kitchen cabins, instead sitting neatly in the support for drying dishes. So, it's not the first time Amane has woken up in the middle of the night.

Yuno moves carefully, not wanting to scare the concentrated girl. She slowly raises her hand and takes the box of soy milk, placing it on the table.

"Kashiki Yuno… what are you doing?"

"Giving you the box of soy milk…?"

"... Your eyes… If it's pity, I don't need it. I can manage on my own without help."

"... It's not pity. I just thought you needed help. You didn’t seem to have done much progress, and since I was awake and heard the stomping, I decided to prevent you from tormenting yourself like this."

"I was actually very close… Just one more jump and I could have reached the box!"

"Is that so? Then ~ I guess I should treat myself from time to time! After all, you can easily get another box, right? ~"

"Yes… Of course I can."

Yuno carefully opens the box, watching with anticipation at the green haired girl. Amane has turned her back to Yuno, contemplating if she should jump again. She already feels embarrassed that the older prisoner has seen her like this, but, at the same time, she really does want to prove her point.

Yuno starts to hum as she is heating up the soy milk. The sound does nothing more but to annoy the younger girl. Amane doesn't want to jump again, so, in order to show that she's capable, she needs to find another solution. She tilts her head, so she can have a good view of the kitchen, trying to search for something that could help her. Next to the table, there is a small chair, which has fur…? Since it's already dirty, then it would be no problem to use it, so she can reach the kitchen cabin. Her younger self four minutes ago, would have found this idea a disgrace. However, considering that she has been already spotted by the older prisoner in such a childish stance, this is no more an option to be embarrassed about.

Yuno watches with a small amused smile as Amane is dragging the chair below the kitchen cabin. The high school girl looks at the time and decides that the milk is warm enough. The moment she turns around to take a mug, a desperate yell comes from the green haired girl, who is struggling to maintain her balance.

Right when she was going to fall, Yuno quickly holds Amane by her left hand and stabilizes her on the chair.

"... That was unexpected… Are you okay?"

"I'm… Fine! ...Can you please take your hands off me? I'm fine, Yuno, it's not like I'm going to break at any moment…"

"Considering your distaste towards Shidou, you would have never accepted medical care, if you would have been injured. That's why, I was holding you like this…" That’s what Yuno would have wanted to say, but decided against it, in order to not inflict more rage to the younger prisoner."Wait…when was the last time she had been called Yuno by Amane?"

"... The box… "

" Hm~?"

"I couldn't take it. I… Disappointed… I-I…!"

"Let’s take a seat!"

"..."

"I just wanted to mess with you, I don't want to drink it. Take it~"

"... Thank you… "

While Amane was drinking the liquid, Yuno decided to break the silence:

"I wanted to ask you something, actually. Why are you awake at this hour?"

"The same question, I could ask you too, Kashiki Yuno. But… Since you helped me… The reason it's simple, I just couldn't sleep. That's why I decided to drink warm soy milk. It usually works… "

"I see… But, me too. I woke up suddenly and I couldn't sleep anymore. My blanket was on the floor, so I went out of my cell to wash it."

"... You said that you don't want to drink it, however, warm milk usually helps you sleep. I suggest drinking some."

"No, no, It's for you, I don't need it!"

"It's too much… I can't drink it all, I apologize for the waste. Unless…somebody helps me finish it."

"It will not work with me! I'm an older sister immune to such tricks!"

*Beep* *Beep*

"Seems that my blanket is ready! Good night, Amane, it was a nice talk!"

"Good night to you too…"

Yuno stands up from her chair and goes to the washing room. Despite, initially, not wanting to have a conversation with someone at midnight, Amane was really a good company. It was nice seeing a glimpse of her older self, before the verdicts….

She swiftly takes the blanket and starts walking, as carefully as before, to her cell. Right when she was going to enter, in the dim light she saw an object shining at her door. A glass? Has Amane…?

"It would be impolite of me to not accept it, wouldn’t it…?" Smiling, she goes into her cell, places the blanket on the bed, not forgetting to take with her the small gift. She finally sits on the edge of her bed, slowly drinking the liquid, a warm sensation spreading in her body.

"Warmth…"

Yuno feels so warm, so cozy… A yawn splits her lips in two, a sensation of lightheadedness slowly taking over her body. She crawls on the bed, covering herself with the washed blanket. With the smell of tuberose reaching her nostrils, Yuno can finally sleep.

[idswolf]

THE VOTES HAVE SPOKEN, EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR MORE ABOUT MY AU, but first more art like I promised!

This au doesn’t really have a name atm cuz it was just a fun silly idea I had and had no reason to expand on but that might change if enough ppl want more of it

Anyway, basically in this au Cassie ends up teaming with Mxes and glam Bon and they survive the horrors of the decrepit pizzaplex together now the more in-depth explanation will be down below :D

So before Cass gets to Bonnie bowl Mxes finds a way to communicate with her so the they can finally get her to stop taking apart the nodes and say why they’re up in the first place around the plex, feeling bad about being in the wrong Cassie offers to help set them back up but also asks Mxes for help in finding Gregory cuz that’s why she’s there in the first place. Mxes agrees to help and the two decide go to the last couple of nodes that cas hasn’t turned off yet and find a new place to hide them better. Cassie looks around the bowling alley and stumbles across the entrance to the hidden Bonnie room so she calls Mxes over to ask if this hidden room is a good spot without going into the room itself. Mxes agrees so Cassie starts to move the items into the room by herself cuz Mxes can’t physically interact with them and that’s when the two discover broken glam Bonnie. Cass suggest that Mxes try to control the broken animatronic so they can help her out physically and tada they’re able to control the body but they somehow kickstart Bon’s AI so now they’re back online and the control over the body is split between the two and Mxes can’t force full control so they jump out but without them in there Bon’s AI deactivates. Cassie tells mxes to go back in but they say no until Cassie convinces them by saying that having 3 heads to deal with everything is better than 2 plus she wants to try and fix bonnie like how she did with Eclipse. So they jump back in and the two explain to Bon what happened and Bon agrees to help them and to start off he suggests that they find a security office to look through the old camera footage to see if there any sign of Gregory on them.

And that’s just about everything I have for this au, sorry for the giant wall of text I just copied and pasted this explanation from my discord DM when I explained it to my friend, but uh if y’all want me to make more of this au just let me know by like sending me asks or something 

[cookiesupplier]

A Friend Down In Hell - Part Eleven

pairing: Nick Folio x ofc (Ishtar)

warnings/tropes: slow burn, pining, idiot in love, language, drinking, mentions of violence, mentions of torture, mentions of religious mythology.

summary: Folio can't quite tell you how long he's been dead, but it doesn't matter when he has friends like his, and Ishtar. Ishtar, with whom he fell in love the moment he met her. The problem? She doesn't know it. How does he convince a demon, who is practically immortal, to date him when he's dead? How did Ellie do it so easily?

author’s note: Unbetaed.. Enjoy!

To read from the beginning: A Friend Down In Hell Masterlist

And for those that missed Noah & Ellie's Story previously, all Hell-Verse stories will be included here: Combined Hell-Verse Masterlist

tags: @spicywhenspeaking @tearfallpixie @cncohshit @nyxthedestroyerofworlds @lyschko666 @bngurngheart @lacktoesandtoddlerants @sorrowsofsilence @collapsedglasshouses @vinyardmauro @dsireland86 @4rtificialfolio @emmmm127 @badomensls @agravemisstake @sunsshinesunny @blackveilomens

Tag lists are open, please let me know if you'd like to be added to this story, the Hell-Verse as a whole, or Everything

As far as Ishtar was concerned, that fact that she had lunch with Nick to look forward to today, was the only saving grace that Tony had last night when she was at work at the bar. She had had the most wonderful morning with him at the café, even if their meeting had started just a little bit jarring as it were. Sitting laughing over breakfast, with Nick telling her about how he loved to come here for breakfast ever morning, but their special wraps were perfect for hangovers. He even told her about how he had started trading his hangover cure, for Ellie’s hangover cure, and it was no surprise to Ishtar that Ellie’s cure was likely a lot healthier for the body. She laughed at the cutest face he’d made talking about the horrible shake he’d had to drink the day after the last shot challenge. 

Ishtar couldn’t entirely say she blamed Ellie. Those girls always trying to sink their claws into Sebastian all the time lately, and what that one in particular had been saying that night… if she wasn’t certain that the little wench would report her for it, she’d have given her what for herself when she’d thrown her out on her ass that night. However, she was glad she didn’t, especially when her surprise visit later, to be so called reprimanded by Lord Sebastian, turned out to be nothing but a girl's days with Ellie. 

A girl's day of sorts that started with lunch and ended with a plan hatching. A plan that had, of course, taken place yesterday. Admittedly, it didn’t go quite to plan, obviously, but in the end, gone splendidly just the same. Ellie had given her the name for the café that Nick, sorry, Folio, liked to grab his breakfast from every day. The idea had been simple enough anyway. A manufactured chance meeting for her to meet him away from the bar. They’d agreed since her hints over the years to him of all the ways he could meet up with her had led no where, that this would be the best way to go about it, and now here they were. She’d finally gotten to spend time with Nick, and had a proper conversation with him outside of him chatting her up while ordering drinks.

By the time she’d gone into work that night, she had been feeling great, even if she was having to work the bar itself right alongside Tony in person. It was easier when he was out the back, and she didn’t have to deal with his jibes and comments right in her face. She was however thankful that Nick didn’t come by tonight, she didn’t think she could handle dealing with Tony without knocking him out now.. It felt different now, Nick wasn’t just a customer anymore, it would seem she was going to have to find a medium between customer and, so much more.

Yes, so much more. As to putting a label on what they actually were, that remained to be seen. Though, she wondered how long it would take Nick to ask her, Ellie seemed to think not too long. Ishtar had been sceptical when they talked this morning, after all, look how long it had taken them to get this far, maybe she should just ask herself.. But Ellie insisted that this one Nick would do. Ishtar had made the move to meet him, let him ask. After all, wasn’t that the idea she had suggested, make him work for it? Besides, Ellie had told her she was sure that with how excited he had been yesterday about their lunch date, he would not take long, not long at all. Hearing that this morning had made her smile.

Today, she’d even gotten a little dressed up, wanting to look nice for Nick, and not just look the same as she always did at the bar, with the all black attire, and the bar icon on the shirt.. While she’d been all kinds of casual not wanting to seem anything out of the ordinary when she went to the café, chance meeting and all, whether she’d fooled Nick or not she didn’t know, this time, they’d planned together, it was different. It was an actual date. They’d agreed to it. Admittedly, they called the café their first date, do to remove the first date jitters, but this was planned, on both their parts, so it was a bit different. So Ishtar only hoped that Nick liked how she looked, it had been a long time since she had gone on a proper date.

Yes, even a lunch date at the diner was a proper date to her, she didn’t need to be wined and dined, while a fancy night was wonderful for a special occasion, she was a simple girl, who liked simple pleasures. Hopefully Nick would understand that.

Folio was so, so, nervous now, he’d been bummed all day yesterday, that he knew he was going to have to wait a whole day to see Ishtar. He had been tempted to go to the bar, but Ellie had talked him out of it, reasoning that he had already felt awkward before about being what he thought of as a barfly, wouldn’t it be worse now if how he felt was amped up even stronger at the bar? Jolly had just snickered and pointed out how much he was already simping for her, how much more could his feelings have amped up after one teensy little breakfast date?

They’d both just looked at him across the desks, and he’d just smiled a little, thinking about said breakfast, especially at the way Jolly had called it a breakfast date. He didn’t think anything about his feelings for Ishtar could ever be considered negative, or be called worse, so what did he have to lose, right? However, Ellie had taken one look at whatever she’d seen on his face, and then looked right back at Jolly and without skipping a beat just said, 

"Are you kidding me? Look at that face!"

Folio looking between two of his best friends as Jolly was nodding resigned, before shaking his head, almost as if he was just so horribly disappointed in him for some reason.. What.. what was the problem here.. Folio didn’t see a problem here! Ishtar was the most amazing creature to walk the planet, dammit, he was not going to consider her any other way! 

Jolly sighing… glancing back to Ellie with his.. 

"I don’t know what I was thinking."

Either way, Ellie had managed to talk him from going to the bar in the end, instead the guys came over to his place just like old times, for a card game, munchies, basically just hanging out and shooting the shit.. If they also teased the hell out of him about everything going on with Ishtar as well, he wasn’t going to tell Ellie. It was what they did, she’d just get defensive, and while he loved that about her, sometimes they just joked around, and just wait until Nicholas and Jolly met someone.. They won’t be able to hold him back, for sure!

Today though, he was running a bit late as he climbed off his motorbike, the souls had been a tiny bit chaotic this morning, and he’d been helping Jolly deal with the last one before he had gotten out of there to head off to lunch. He hadn’t wanted to leave them high and dry just because he wanted to rush off to have lunch with his girl.. Ah.. well.. The girl he liked. He couldn’t really call her his girl yet, now, could he? Rushing into the diner after, he took his helmet off, quickly brushing his fingers through his hair to get it as neat as he could, well, less insane biker looking at least.

He glanced along the tables, thankfully they weren’t that busy today, and only half of them were decently full, it meant that they would have enough space, and the noise level wouldn’t be too loud to talk. Really though, he was just trying to find where she was sitting, and Folio smiled when he finally spotted her, there she was. Walking along the tables, he loved this place, it was very, quaint, fifties retro diner, but had quite a few modern amenities behind the scenes so you could happily enjoy the atmosphere around as it stood.

When Folio came up along the table where Ishtar was sitting, oh, she took his breath away.. There she was looking absolutely divine, making him feel like a ruddy ant considering he’d rushed over from work on his bike so probably looked all hot and sweaty right now. He certainly felt it despite the blast of the air conditioner doing its fair share attempting to cool him down since he’d walked in the door. Compared to her, he might as well be a swamp monster, and her an absolute angel of a goddess. Knowing her mother was an actual goddess from what Noah and Nicholas had told him, should he really be surprised? Finding out last night that this was a story that apparently most demons already knew about, the Goddess coming down to hell, and ended up as a corpse on the wall, he’d been shocked.. Wow..

On one hand, that that was how her parents met.. On the other hand, that her mother was a literal Goddess. Looking to her, in her beautiful white sundress, and the way her hair curled so beautifully around her horns, they sat framing her face as she smiled when he slid across from her in the buckets seats of the diner table. While he was a sweaty, messy, disaster.. Had he thought about how absolutely perfect she was? Because she was.. He needed to again, there was just, not enough..

“You look amazing.”

Seeing her eyes shimmer like that.. It had taken him months to tell the way she flushed, the warmth of her skin wasn’t as easy to tell with the plum hue not changing colour quite the same.. But it was in her eyes. Her eyes were the most beautiful amethyst the way they shone in the light, they matched the colour of her horns, but when they shimmer as she blushed, it was something oh so delightful. Then there was when she got angry. Folio never wanted to be in her way when she got angry, he thought Noah got scary when he got angry, he never wanted to be anywhere near Ishtar when those eyes lit up with crystalline fire.

Laughing softly,

“And you look…”

He could see her trying to find a positive adjective for it, he could,

“Like a disaster I know, I just got off my bike, please don’t judge me.”

Trying to brush his fingers through his hair again, which was probably sticking up every which way like he had gone crazy somewhere along the way. He was sure the guys could vouch for the fact he absolutely had. 

“I was in my old Motorcycle Club when I was alive, and I had this nickname when I was riding, they called me Animal, said it was because I always looked so wild when I got off my bike, so it fits.”

Hearing her laugh louder then, sounded absolutely wonderful, and he couldn’t help but want to make her laugh every single day, somehow, anyway he could, no matter the reason.

“You have such a beautiful laugh.”

“Why thank you, Animal.”

That got a chuckle out of him too now, sitting back in his chair, figuring his hair was as tame as it was going to get now. Next time he was going to plan a date, so he actually had at least a little bit of time to go home, get changed and look at least a tiny bit nice. He wanted to look and feel what he thought Ishtar deserved, and that was so much more than the swamp monster that could shift into an animal just in a blink.

Reaching for the menu,

“So, Nick, what do you like from here?”

Smiling, his grin bright, it was not lost on him that she liked calling him by his first name. He hadn’t had anyone call him that in so long, it was such a surprise. The first few times she’d called him that, he hadn’t even really responded right away, not entirely sure excepted she was looking at him.

“Everything, everything, is good here, Princess.”

His cheeks flushed warm when he realised what he said,

“I mean, how about this, I could choose something I like for you to try, and you choose something you like for me to try, and if like them both, we share?”

He'd make sure it was vegetarian, of course.

Ishtar just smiled across the table towards him, her eyes lifting from the menu, watching him after he fumbled with his words as he called her such a sweet endearment.. Only her sweet Nick would call her that. She’d been called all manner of things at the bar, and most of them all involved some form of sexual implications from drunken revellers, but Nick, he was sweet. Hopefully, he wasn’t always sweet.. That there really was an animal in there somewhere… please. “I like the sound of that.

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

[redsandspirit]

What is the devil's nature anyway?

Let's talk about what the so-called "devil's nature" is and what traits are inherent in devils. We know from the manga that devils usually have some sort of instinct to dislike humans. That's all by now. The problem is that devils are just as intelligent beings as humans (perhaps more intelligent, considering that Darkness Devil has gained some great wisdom over his long life, I don't know). They are capable of learning and drawing conclusions based on their experiences and knowledge, and they are not animals following their instincts, because if that were the case, Chainsaw Man would be a completely different manga. In general, devils here have the same free will as humans.

I've seen a lot of people convinced that devils are some kind of plain evil, devoid of any kind of virtues simply because that's what they are, despite the fact that this is completely contrary to what is shown in the manga. Compassion, remorse, selflessness and love are called by many as something alien to them.

We have Angel Devil, who blamed himself so much for the deaths of people that they appeared in his nightmares, and who formed strong bonds first with the villagers and then with Aki. Then we have Power, who we were able to fully watch go from the point where she didn't care about anyone, including herself, to the point where she desperately does everything she can to save the person she cares about. Nayuta was also willing to sacrifice himself to ensure the safety of a human she loved. Makima shows some degree of remorse, despite the fact that her environment wasn't even dispositioned to develop such feelings (I don't think she could have been insincere in the beach scene, since Aki and Angel Devil were already under her control and it didn't make sense for her to manipulate them). In fact, it's in regards to Makima that I most often come across nonsense like "well, they're devils, obviously they're inherently bad" as fandom struggles with the idea of her not being universally evil, but that would also mean that characters like Power and Angel Devil are no different, and I don't think the same people would like that. Now that we've got that out of the way, how can all these traits not be an integral part of the "devil's nature" if devils have the natural potential to develop them?

It's also a common idea that devils are killing machines obsessed with genocide, but in Nayuta's example, we see, we see that devils may not even like killing at all. The manga often shows that even unfriendly devils' first reaction to humans isn't always to kill them.

Finally, we come to the individual devil's nature. Like I said, disliking humans is literally the only known thing the devils can share with each other, according to the manga. So I roll my eyes every time I read something along the lines of "wow, Nayuta chose Denji's happiness above her own, she defeated her Control Devil nature". I mean, what do we even know about the "Control Devil nature"? Some attribute Nayuta's innate tendency toward dictatorial behavior or possessiveness, but I don't see the point in considering it anything more than fanfiction until the manga itself points out that such things take place. What then is Famine Devil nature? Eating sweets for five? It's more like people jump to premature conclusions on their own, and then when they don't match reality run to write nonsense about "nature vs nurture", an idea that has already been horribly twisted by fandoms.

Yes, of course, devils in general are very dangerous for humans, and in the war with them (part two calls it that), countless numbers become victims. Still, devil characters in manga are just as complex as human characters, and I find it very reductive to try to simplify them in this way. The author has already humanized the devils enough for us to ignore it.

[marrondrawsalot]

I refuse to give a father any fucking peace. Let’s just traumatize Dire more with Darling overblotting and literally making sure she was a new overblot with a tank/shield. I blame the audio “she was convinced you were coming to save her, but she gave up on you.” So yeah. Let’s fucking make Dire debate overblotting which is a bad idea because he is gonna give Darling more power to fuse into. Keep in mind. SHE IS IN HER THIRD OVERBLOT BATTLE PHASE, SHE FUSED WITH HER PHANTOM

Inside a darkened casing, the walls curling upwards to an inky ceiling. Drenched with blot as it seeps to the ground. It was a cage, more like. The inside of what should’ve been a dress. But a messed up cage, sealing him inside with blot dripping. Dire was panicking, today became a whirlwind of events spiraling. His daughter broke free, overblotted, and fused with her phantom thus caging him inside. He could hear his students slashing at his child, he wanted to beg them to stop. He was filled with excuses to overlook the entire thing, but he couldn’t be heard. No matter what, no student could hear the cries of a man begging people to stop throwing attacks at his daughter.

Just as he was mumbling this, something was crawling out. Dripping down as a body fall flat to the ground, twitching like a ran over corpse. The body picked itself up, bending their body to place and finally. Facing to the man. What Dire didn’t see was a monster, but. His precious little daughter, whom he raised by himself. The cutest doll he raised to a fine young lady whom he dreams to have the happiest life. Staring at him with sunken eyes, the eeriest smile. But all he saw, was his little girl. Reaching her arms to him. He wasn’t thinking straight, no. He was never thinking to wisely his arms tremble, reaching out for the girl as they embraced each other. While one sobs, wailing in pain and relief for the other safety. One, that one is relishing on the negative energy being poured out. As Dire tears were pitch black. Darling wanted to drain the pain out, end it there. But she wouldn’t dare, she needs him.

- outside -

No matter how hard the students try to fight the wicked form of a girl of a caged dress. Throwing attacks and shielding themselves from each hit. It was all but a miss. What they were witnessing was a monster who dragged herself from the pits. To show everyone. What happens when you push a girl to the blink of madness, only to see the results of it to be a overblot. Who fused her body to a phantom to be the worse kind of monster, who will shield their own. To spread more pain into the world. But they could hear the wails of someone in pain, worse then just the sounds of someone. It felt like they were hearing the wrath of someone vow, promising to plunge the world into chaos when they gain more power.

—————————————————————————

And no the Yuu’s didn’t lose. They had to get Malleus to nerf the shit outta Darling. And she managed to survive a giant Carter with a pool of blot like it was no huge deal. That bitch looked at death and walked away unharmed.

@adrianasunderworld @mangacupcake @writing-heiress @the-weirdos-mind @skboba-stars @nproduction626 @rose-tea-and-strawberries @anxious-twisted-vampire @yukii0nna @achy-boo @abyssthing198 @zexal-club @liviavanrouge

Extra: to the new guests who never look into overblot Darling concept. You missed a lot of juicy shit I did. Darling has 3 stages of overblot. Pre-overblot, current, and fucking fused overblot. The third is gonna be a huge issue because reminder. I made her third stag form, BE THE SIZE OF NIGHT RAVEN IT SELF! SHE COULD’VE DESTROYED NIGHT RAVEN IN A HEARTBEAT IF SHE THINKS ABOUT IT

[coraniaid]

I Only Have Eyes For You isn’t a perfect episode – for one thing, there are a couple of incidental lines of dialogue which I really don’t think should have made it past the first draft – but it is certainly a very very good one.

It’s also, I think, the first episode of the show that’s made me care about Buffy and Angel as an actual couple.  Before this point it’s been … well, I’d certainly argue that Buffy’s relationship with Angel is pretty fundamental to understanding who Buffy is as a person after this season and why she acts the way she does (when it comes to Faith and Parker and Riley and Spike, yes, but also more generally her reluctance to open herself up emotionally to her mother and her sister and her friends all goes back to that whispered and rejected ‘I love you’ in Angel’s bedroom in Innocence).  

But I’d not been invested in it at all before now.  The relationship is important, yes, but I don’t think it’s particularly interesting in its own right before this episode.  (Obviously there are people who find the idea of a vampire slayer in love with a vampire inherently interesting – “rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way” – but I am not one of them.)  I’m never convinced by how the relationship itself develops, and this rewatch was no different.  It’s established as early as Angel that Buffy might be in love with him, but I’ve never really understood why, based on the little screen time they have together.  They’re not even properly dating until the end of Reptile Boy and then they only have a handful of episodes of actually being a couple before the events of Surprise.  It does not feel that the relationship develops so much as it is suddenly something that has always existed.

And I know a lot of people don’t like this ship because of the age and power imbalance and how unthinkingly condescending and paternalistic Angel can often be, but I think that misses the point a bit. Episodes like this one demonstrate that the writers are very aware of how messed up this relationship is, in ways that will be discussed again next season in The Prom (also written by Marti Noxon).  The Becoming flashbacks coming up will also (I think intentionally) do a good job of deconstructing the love-at-first-sight thing that the show’s been relying on up to now.  (I’m not convinced, honestly, that Season 3 consistently deals with things with quite the same level of awareness, but I guess that’s something to discuss when I get there in this rewatch.)

I don’t know that I’d have necessarily given David Boreanaz his own five season long spin-off show on the back of it, but the final scene between Buffy-as-James and Angel-as-Grace is really strong.  That repeated last confrontation between James and Grace almost feels like it’s being overdone, right up until the pay-off of James/Buffy shouting “don’t walk away from me, bitch” to a departing Grace/Angel.  For all that the show’s attempt at feminism is often laughably shallow (even for network television in the 1990s), I think the gender reversal here is a surprisingly clever touch. 

Other thoughts:

The anachronism around the song the episode is named after (the version by The Flamingos that plays in the flashbacks was released in 1959, four years after the flashbacks are supposed to be happening) is a little weird, largely because I’m not sure why the original murder-suicide had to take place in 1955 at all.  (I could understand if it was 1958, say, making the episode’s original air date the forty year anniversary of the deaths, but what is important about 1955 specifically?)  Did the writers just pick a year at random and not check when the song was from until it was too late to change it?

(It’s a nice version of the song though.)

I’m also not sure what I feel about Giles's whole “to forgive is an act of compassion.  It’s not done because people deserve it” speech. People online seem to really like it, but I’m not sure whether it really means anything, or – if it is meaningful – whether it’s actually something I agree with.  

On the one hand, the episode is not actually subtle about the fact that in this episode James is Buffy: so Buffy is really being asked to forgive herself – in fact she’s being told that she needs to forgive herself – for her role in Angel’s death (having been the trigger for him losing his soul in Surprise and now, after Passion, having announced her intention to kill Angelus too). It’s hard to argue against that, given that Buffy (despite her protests) obviously didn’t do anything wrong. But then, the fact that she didn’t do anything wrong means that Buffy obviously does “deserve” to be forgiven, so what’s the relevance of Giles's quote here?  Who is it that’s being forgiven who doesn’t deserve forgiveness? (OK, James, literally, but we don’t actually care about James: he’s just a plot device.)

“People who have done bad things need to be forgiven whether they deserve it or not” does not seem like a particularly good take.  Presumably this is not what Giles is actually saying.  But how else are we to interpret these lines?  What does this quote actually mean?

[jtl07]

jt (finally) watches warrior nun - s1 e3 (pt 1)

Y'all didn't even warn me that this was gonna be that episode?! I near fell out of my chair when I realized this episode had not only the cafeteria/meal scene but also the hug and the hallway scene. Again, strange to know the scenes from fanvids and clips and only now see them in context lol

Anyway it should come to no surprise that I have SO MANY THOUGHTS. So many that I'm going to have to split this episode into either 2 or 3 posts just to talk about Avatrice because the cafeteria scene alone has me feral. Why? Because I'm convinced that it's this scene that builds the foundation for Avatrice.

Everyone points to s1 ep8 as being formative - and rightly so, what with all the face touching lol - but that wasn't the cause, it was an effect, a "symptom" of something that had been building before that. I think s1 ep8 is when they start being aware of their connection, their attraction - I think the cafeteria scene is when that connection begins.

By itself, the cafeteria scene isn't much - tbh, the only thing I'd taken from it before sitting down to watch the series properly was the "not everything is about you" line because of the callback in s2 finale. But taken in context, it's quite a vulnerable scene.

Side note: Many years ago, when I was seriously preparing to go into acting, I was recommended the book "Audition" by Michael Shurtleff. One of the things that stuck with me - in both writing fiction and life in general - is this idea that you have to constantly answer this question: "Why is your character here?" Like, even if the script has them being mean to the other character on stage with them or even outright saying that they want to leave, there's got to be a reason that they're still there - why else would they even be there in the first place? (and it's the actor's job to develop what that reason is, even if it’s never said outright)

So if we look at the cafeteria scene, it very well could not have happened. Ava could have noped out of that room the moment she'd laid eyes on Lilith or when the sisters started leaving. Beatrice herself could have also left. At any point in the conversation, one or both of them could have ended it.

But they didn't. They wanted to believe in people's kindness, wanted a bit of kindness, period. What's beautiful is the arc of the interaction: It starts out rough but slowly they both bend, just a little, give just a little bit of themselves - it's a seed planted, this scene, and I love so much of it.

Okay let's take it from the top. The thing is, most clips (e.g. this one) I've found start with Ava already sitting down next to Beatrice with that infamous voiceover - but I want to actually start before that. Remember: The scene directly before this was Mother Superion and Lilith's first "test" (let's be real, that wasn't a test, it was bullying), and while Ava laughs it off, we know that that's her way of coping - which she says outright during this scene. Coming into the cafeteria at all is incredibly brave after having been faced with such meanness, and then have to face even more meanness in the form of "middle school" style shunning. But she still keeps going, she still chooses to try again, with Beatrice.

Speaking of Beatrice: Her first choice is to stay. Look here - she takes note of Ava setting down her tray and the others whispering and leaving. Sure, she puts her head down and it kinda looks like she's just trying to ignore Ava but still - she doesn't leave.

When Ava makes that middle school comment, Beatrice starts out cold, a bit scolding when she advises Ava to "not treat everything like a joke" and how the halo wasn't just hanging around. But the delivery here is brilliant - KTY could've gone harsher here, tapped into the anger that seems to always be just under the surface with Bea (more on that when I write up my thoughts on s1 ep4), but there's a softness, a grief that she allows to come through. And see, it's that moment of vulnerability, that bending, that hope for kindness that allows Ava also to bend and actually apologize.

And then we have Ava trying again to connect - either because of guilt or because she's desperate for a friend or just to understand in general - and she gives Beatrice the space to share.

Beatrice could have refused. She could have rebuffed her, could have walked away. KTY's choices here are fantastic, how she pauses, how she takes this little breath (00:50 here). The question has unsettled Bea, taken her surprise maybe, but she pushes through, answers Ava honestly. She starts off so matter-of-fact, then slowly starts to thaw. There's beautiful support musically by the bgm piano: a repeated note, akin to the monotone of Beatrice's voice. Then Bea's face changes - and there's a quiet arpeggio that's timed perfectly with it (1:00 here). It's a beautiful touch.

I couldn't help but get this sense of this being cathartic for Beatrice, as if she'd been waiting for a chance to share this, I mean, look at how her face brightens in memory.

What's interesting with Ava is that we don't get a voice over for the rest of this scene - the only sense we get of her discomfort is when she says, "I'm not her, you know." It's the closest we get to her admitting that she's scared shitless - and visually, it's symbolized with her pushing back the hood and allows herself to be seen, to be vulnerable.

And what does Bea do? She immediately comforts, reassures, with such wide eyes and steadiness: "No one expects you to be."

It's a very brief moment, but so, so important: whereas everyone else has been pressuring Ava, trying to get her to do something they want, here is someone who is telling her it's okay to just be who she is.

And yknow, now that I think about it, a lot of this is probably Bea seeing some of herself in Ava. She directly says it with that "It was wasn't me either" line, but I wonder if it's also in the "no one expects you to be" line too - how her parents had expected her to be a certain way, to "fall in line" etc. And probably why she has that small smile when Ava says "It just isn't me"

I don't know if this was a conscious choice by KTY but there's also a moment in the hallway scene where she does a similar small smile - idk I feel like it tends to be moments when she's reassuring Ava. In any case, it's a nice touch.

And then Bea's famous lines, "We all have a past, Ava..." What's interesting here is that in the beginning of the interaction, Bea was hardly meeting Ava's eyes. When she starts talking about Shannon, there are some brief moments when she meets Ava's gaze, but she mostly shies away from Ava's stare. Once she moves into a more reassuring mode, she starts to hold Ava's gaze longer, trying to convince, trying to give comfort.

Can we just talk about how Bea delivers that last line? Taken at face value, "Not everything is about you" can come off really harsh. But Beatrice says it so gently, as if it's not meant as an admonition - part apology maybe (that everyone has their own pain to deal with), part plea (echoing maybe Vincent's direct ask for patience later on), and part encouragement (something like "you'll get through this").

And we end with Ava thoughtful but we're not privy to her thoughts, we're without voice over and just Alba's incredible ability to express so many emotions with just her face.

idk the majority of this is probably just nonsense but whatever, I'm having fun with this lol - I'll write up thoughts about the hug and the hallway scene probably next week, unless I get a lull during my travels this weekend.

[baby-girl-e]

Cherry Wine

Tag List

Part 2

Characters - Phoenix x F!Reader

Summary - reader realizes her feelings for her childhood but convinces herself she’s out of her league. 

Word Count - 1.7k

Warnings -  Fluff, Kissing

A/N - As most of my fics happen, this idea came to me in the middle of the night! If you like this, keep an eye out for a potential part two. Even if this crashes and burns and nobody likes it I’ll still probably write more because I write because I want to and it’s incredibly Therapeutic!

Growing up nothing made sense without Natasha around. You never had as much fun when she wasn’t there, always leaving early from the parties she didn’t attend. You had known each other since you were in elementary school, clicking the minute she moved in. She made you laugh more than any of your other friends, and you just seemed to get each other. For the longest time you thought that was all she was to you, a good friend. A good friend that you never wanted to part with. It wasn’t until she told you she was joining the navy that you finally realized how you really felt. Shit. You loved her, and she was leaving. You were obviously enthusiastically supportive of her decision, this was the perfect job for her. She was always destined to escape this small town, figuring she would outgrow it at some point.

 If you were being honest you had outgrown the town yourself, just didn’t quite have an out at the same time she did. That is until you got an offer to apprentice with a famous painter that had agreed to take you under his wing and teach you more than you could’ve learned going to art school. Painting has always been a comfort to you, being able to express how you felt without needing to use words. You could even channel your feelings about Natasha into them as well. One of your most successful paintings was actually inspired by her. It was an oil piece that depicted a faceless dark haired woman looking up into the sky. You had decided on a whim to enter it into a competition at a festival and ended up winning first place. You had a couple of offers to sell the painting (more than a couple honestly) but you just couldn’t bring yourself to sell a piece that meant so much to you. 

The painter who offered you an apprenticeship was actually one of the people who wanted to buy the painting, but when you refused his astounding amount of money solely for the fact that this painting meant so much to you, he knew he had found a true artist. That was how you found yourself with your bags packed and a one way ticket to San Diego. You got lucky when your now boss had told you where his studio was, heart warming at being so close to where Natasha was currently stationed. The two of you kept in touch and she said that after an extremely dangerous mission that almost took her life they offered her a choice of either staying or going somewhere else. She loved San Diego too much to leave it, and wanted to finally put some roots somewhere after years of traveling. 

Boarding your flight, your hands were shaking with anticipation. You were finally getting to live the life you’ve always wanted, close to the woman you loved and painting with a famous artist. The painting part was going to be the easy part. What about when you saw Natasha again? How were you supposed to act around her? Like you weren’t enthralled by every little thing she did? You liked to think positively, but you also liked to think logically. She was so far out of your league that it was almost ridiculous that you’d even be friends. She was always traveling, seeing new places, and she was a god damned navy aviator. She was the full package, beautiful, smart, and dangerously talented. You couldn’t help but feel highly inadequate speaking to her, let alone fantasize the idea that you two could ever be lovers. You shook the thoughts from your head and carried on boarding. 

The flight itself was short, given you lived only a few states away. Your new boss had set you up in one of the apartments he owned claiming he needed you to focus on your work and getting another job to pay for living expenses would be a distraction. After you argued with him for a minute, it was settled that he would let you live in the apartment and pay for your living expenses. You were never much of a negotiator and he seemed hellbent on supporting you. God knew he could afford it and never knew the difference. To put it into perspective, just one of his paintings could go for at least a year's worth of living expenses, and that’s being conservative.

 The rest of your things were being driven out by your sister and her husband in a week, so you made do with what you brought with you. After you unpacked the small amount of things you did have, you decided you wanted to go to the beach with your camera. It was nearing sunset and you were near giddy to get some good reference shots for a landscape piece that your boss wanted to work on with you. You threw on a light yellow sundress, sandals and a white cardigan thrown over the crossbody bag you always had. Once you felt confident about your outfit choice you headed out to the nearest beach. The walk there was pleasant and fairly quiet, save for the hustle and bustle of the city around you. It gave you time to think over how you would tell Natasha that you were here. You had been meaning to every time you talked, but the words always escaped you. It was almost like you wanted to live in your bubble of fantasy, fearing that reality might pop it. 

When you snapped out of your reverie you realized you had definitely made it to the beach, people scattered here and there, the day obviously winding down. You immediately pulled out your camera and started snapping shots of the ocean and the sunset above it. You made your way closer to the ocean, taking off your shoes to be more comfortable. Feeling like you had enough pictures of this particular part of the ocean, you let the camera hang from the strap around your neck. You walk a little further before you come across a rowdy bunch of friends that seem to be playing some game of football. They looked so happy and carefree in the sunset so you snapped a few shots of the group. It wasn’t until you put the camera down once more that you realized that you recognized one of the players. How could you ever not recognize someone that beautiful. She looked different here, more carefree, more sure of herself. You were about to make your quick exit, not wanting to disturb her or the fantasy you had built, when you heard your name being called by the Pilot in question. She was now actively running towards you at a speed you didn’t know was possible in the sand, so you made a quick choice to cap your lens and carefully set your stuff down before she all but tackled you. Your heart was soaring at being at the receiving end of one of her hugs again. Her hands were gripping your back like she was afraid you’d float away if she let go for even a second. “What are you doing here Y/N?” She was breathless and you blamed it on the fact that she had just stopped playing a game to sprint towards you. “I live here now, just got in today.” She pulls back just slightly to see your face and oh. You forgot how easy it was to get lost in her eyes. All this time you thought you were painting a picture of her in your head. You thought you had amplified everything to put her on a pedestal, but clearly you were wrong. “Like permanently?” You try to form a word but all of your energy is being put into not looking at her lips, knowing if you did your heart would take over and you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from tasting them, so you just nod. She smiles at that and it looks like she’s considering something. She always had that look when she was trying to decide if a risky move was worth it. 

One time when you were in elementary school the two of you had found a tall dirt hill and you just so happened to be on your bikes, so you both ran your bikes up the hill and stopped at the top. You weren’t sure but when you looked over to Natasha she had that same look, like she really wanted to do something but was weighing out her options. You’re brought back to the present by Natasha apparently making her decision because her lips were on yours. You were shocked to say the least but the second your brain caught up with what was happening you were kissing her back. Everytime you imagined what this would feel like you never actually got it right apparently. You never imagined the way she takes your bottom lip between hers like she wanted to keep it. You never imagined the way she shyly slipped her tongue past your lips to explore your mouth further. Your arms ended up around her neck as hers pulled you impossibly closer by your waist. Eventually the need to breathe became apparent and you pulled away to be slightly chased by her lips having a mind of their own. You pressed your forehead against hers and closed your eyes tightly. “Nat, that was..” You weren’t sure what you were going to say honestly. How can you describe a kiss that nearly stopped your heart? “A long time coming?” You let out a breathless laugh and grin. 

God how long had it been since you were this happy? Never? “I promised myself Y/N, up in that cockpit when I had escaped the dogfight with my life, that the minute I saw you I would tell you how I felt. That I’ve loved you for a really long time, I just didn’t notice until it was too late.” Your unfocused and dazed eyes caught hers at that, “It was never too late Nat, I’ve loved you for a really long time too.” Her eyes started to water and you realized just how much time you’ve wasted thinking that she just saw you as a friend. Suddenly you were kissing again. This time it was mixed with tears and smiles but you could care less because it still tasted sweeter than cherry wine.

[adenei]

Look What You Made Me Do

Back at it for Era #4 for the @cruelsummer-ficfest

Ship: Romione

Song: Look What You Made Me Do (Reputation)

*When you really wanted Fearless, but got Rep instead and had to roll with it*

Read on Ao3

I don’t like your little games

Don’t like your tilted stage

The role you made me play of the fool

No, I don’t like you

I don’t like your perfect crime

How you laugh when you lie

You said the gun was mine

Isn’t cool, no, I don’t like you

The past few days are the same old, same old for Hermione. She keeps her head down, focuses on her school work, and does everything she can to avoid her former best friend and his girlfriend, who just so happens to be her dorm mate. Wash, rinse, repeat.

When they first got together, she was angry, sad, and heartbroken over the whole thing. She thought Ron was going to Slughorn’s party with her, that it was a date. Only to have her fantasy bubble rudely popped by Lavender’s bubble gum lips attacking her man.

It’s not attacking if he kissed her back.

True, but Hermione’s not convinced he did it because he wanted to. She sees the way he still looks at her when he doesn’t think anyone else is looking. Lavender’s not who he wants, she’s sure of it.

Hermione thrashes around in her bed as she recalls the conversation she had with Lavender the night before the match. She told Lav that she and Ron were going to a party together. She’d staked her claim. And Lavender had laughed with a joyous little squeal, saying how happy she was for Hermione. That Hermione deserved happiness and Ron was hers for the taking. 

Lavender played Hermione as a fool, and swooped in when she let her guard down, stealing Ron for herself. It was the perfect crime.

As much as Hermione was ready to throw in the towel and let her win, but then she comes up with a plan. It’s diabolical, maniacal even, but if she pulls it off, it just might be the perfect revenge.

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time

Honey, I rose up from the dead I do it all the time

I got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined

I check it once, then I check it twice, oh

Ooh, look what you made me do

look what you made me do

look what you just made me do

look what you made me…

It’s a month later and the scene is set. The concealed note was placed on Ron’s pillow during her free period this morning, charmed to reveal itself once he retired to his bed that evening. She fills the Transfigured flask with the potion she’s been brewing secretly at the Out of Order stall in the girls’ second floor bathroom and heads to Gryffindor Tower.

She goes about the rest of her evening, pretending to wallow while she’s shut behind the curtains of her four-poster bed. Instead of spending the hours doing her homework, she meticulously paints each nail a vibrant shade of fuschia and applies the same amount of makeup Lavender does each morning. 

When Lavender finally enters the dorm for the night, Hermione waits with bated breath for her to fall asleep. The minutes tick closer to midnight, and with ten minutes to spare, Hermione silently retreats to the bathroom to steal a strand of hair from Lavender’s hairbrush.

The transformation is quick, though Hermione doubts she’ll get the taste of daisies and bubblegum out her mouth any time soon. With a deep breath, she exits the bathroom stall and checks her appearance in the mirror. If she didn’t know it was herself behind the blonde waves and heavy makeup, she’d have no idea. 

She places one last swipe of pink lip gloss over her lips and throws her cloak over her body, concealing her identity. After one last check that Lavender is indeed sleeping soundly in her bed, Hermione heads down the stairs, shedding the cloak before she emerges into the common room.

Her heart nearly beats out of her chest when she realizes her plan worked. There’s Ron, sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace, waiting for Lav. Little does he know, it’s really her.

I don’t like your kingdom keys 

They once belonged to me 

You asked me for a place to sleep 

Locked me out and threw a feast

Ron offers a weak smile as he rubs his hands over his pajama-clad legs. Hermione’s suspicions about his eagerness—or lack thereof—for the relationship are confirmed when the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. She wonders if he only met ‘Lav’ here because he’s a good person who doesn’t like to let people down.

“Didn’t get enough earlier?” he asks with a soft, uneasy chuckle.

Hermione’s lips curl into a coy smile. “Never.”

She sashays to him, closing the distance before straddling his lap. The old Hermione would have never done this, even as someone else. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Her hands cradle Ron’s head and her fingers comb through his soft red locks. The ginger shade clashes with the vibrant pink, but it’s okay, it won’t be for long—at least she hopes.

Despite her lack of experience, her lips automatically find his, and though it’s stickier than she’d prefer, it’s everything she ever hoped for. The kiss quickly becomes deeper, and Ron’s hands find their home on her hips. She grinds into him and feels him hardening beneath her.

It’s everything she ever dreamed of until the realization sinks in and nausea threatens to take over. He thinks she’s Lav, and apparently Lav’s body does this to him. But that only stems more anger, and she pushes forward. Until he suddenly breaks away.

Breathless, she forces her mind to focus. “W-what?”

“You’re not using—er, you—you usually use tongue.” His cheeks turn pink and his eyes crinkle in confusion.

Shit. 

She should have known. Needing to act fast, she says the first thing she thinks of. “Oh, um, I guess I wanted to try something new.”

“Why?” Ron’s gaze hardens and Hermione thinks he might be onto her.

She shrugs, trying to play it off. “Because I wanted to make sure I checked all of the boxes.”

“What boxes? Wait, does this have to do with the thing you wanted to ‘talk’ about?”

Talk about what? I didn’t specify that I wanted to talk about anything in that letter…

But it doesn’t matter. With more quick thinking, Hermione jumps at the opportunity.

“Yes, as a matter of fact it does.”

“Okay…”

Time to take back what’s rightfully mine.

“Well, you see, I just wanted one more good snog before—” Hermione cuts herself off, nibbles on her bottom lip, and gives the best sympathetic ‘Lavender’ look she can muster.

“Before what?”

“Look, I’m really sorry, Ron, but it’s not working out. Kissing you after the match was a heat of the moment thing, and you’re just not doing it for me. I just needed to make absolutely sure with one last snog.” Hermione scrambles off his lap and plays with a lock of blonde hair that’s characteristic of Lavender. “I just figured I’d do you the favor of making our break-up a bit more private than how we got together.”

She waits for him to say something, anything, but he simply stares at her with wide eyes. They remain in this stalemate for another minute before Hermione checks the clock and realizes her time is almost up. She needs to get out of there.

“So, um, I guess I’ll see you around?” She takes a few steps backward before turning to bolt up the stairs. 

As her foot hits the first step of the girls’ staircase, she hears a faint, “Er, yeah, alright, I guess.”

Ripples flow through her body as she transforms back to herself, and she can’t help but smile as she retrieves her abandoned cloak and heads to bed. 

He didn’t even fight it.

The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama

But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma

And then the world moves on but one thing’s for sure

Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours

The next morning, Hermione waits a little longer than usual to get ready before breakfast. Lavender and Parvati are already up and heading down the stairs when she emerges from the bathroom.

When she heads down for breakfast a few minutes later, she’s met with a raucous in the common room. Lavender is lighting into a thunder-struck Ron. She’s screaming and insisting she never broke up with him and if he wants to end things he should just say so, and it takes everything in Hermione to keep a straight face. 

But as she walks by the scene, she grabs the strap of her messenger bag, her still-pink nails in plain view. And when she catches Ron’s eye during the onslaught, she knows he sees it, and a little smirk escapes as she clambers through the portrait hole.

Ooh, look what you made me do

look what you made me do

look what you just made me do

look what you made me do

[afterglowofcalamity]

no right answer

— serval boards the express.

she'll be back, of course. for birthdays and anniversaries and maintenance checks, whenever the fancy strikes and her new partners are willing to oblige. she'll convince pompom, she promises. gets promises in return of her arrivals being made holidays, concerts by the workshop left in her devoted disciple's hands, all of their time in exchange for all that she can give.

she'll be back.

it's welt that cracks the code, after many long back-and-forths with an ipc salesman still trying to market to a presumed-dead planet. march whisks her phone away while she's not looking and welt presents it back to her with grim flourish. you can contact them, he says. a mostly permanent line between belobog and the astral express! march cheers, an excitement she feels in herself, smile building on her lips, thank you's and promises of repayment and how did you do it? spilling out.

she can contact them.

she can. it's possible.

... she can, but...

space is limitless, the vast sea of stars dwarfing even the shadow of cocolia that hangs over her every step. and it houses ever more giants. the very first planet she visits with the crew isn't a planet at all, yet it is so, so, so much larger than her own home. a mechanical creature much like the express, yet multiplied in size. she loves it.

himeko lets her accompany the trailblazing team, because after all, it's her first mission. and what better place than such a fascinating ship, even more curious than the express itself? such a stunning visage she is.

she slots right in with the kids, just as they had back in belobog (back home), although this time it's welt as tired passenger to their shenanigans. it's love at first sight when they come across the xianzhou's native automatons.

she thinks of her often.

she rarely thinks of her.

her voice fading into the eternal dusk, echoing quietly, painedly - why must you always get in my way, serval?

why was it so hard to say farewell, when cocolia herself had used her last moments to reject the very idea? her ghost did not give her the relief of an ending. it drags with her, lingers over the shoulders. why, serval?

she's not in her way, anymore. she's not even on the same fucking planet where her soul melted into the everfrozen ice. she haunts her still. she haunts her always.

why, serval?

she does not come home; bites her lip shut when the next destination is chosen. and the next, and the next, and the next. her friends (family, now; this is home) worry, but it does not last. or at least, she thinks it doesn't. she finally managed to send little gepard a message, and an apology to lynx for not saying goodbye. casual conversation with pela, a cautious hello for bronya. the response is explosive, phone buzzing nonstop even with the cosmic delay. they're so far away, she thinks, watching the messages come in, swallowing tears she didn't think she had left.

she's fine. even if she is haunted, still - it eases.

she will go home, someday. maybe even soon. she promised that was not their last farewell, and serval keeps her promises. even to people who don't.

she carries cocolia with her forever, even though she had cast serval aside long ago.

she promised.

why, serval?

i loved you.