#He's just my favourite :) And it's fun to imagine him acting differently from the same source/different reasons hehe

[i-cant-sing]

We wants more todoroki clan one shots

Hmmm okay but imagine reader being Fuyumi's daughter and you are obviously adored by everyone in the Todoroki fam but one person in particular just has that special bond with you-

Dabi.

It's that uncle-niece bond that he holds so close to his heart, absolutely spoils the hell out of you and is ALWAYS in competition with his brothers for "favourite uncle" ever. Like Fuyumi may have given birth to you but you were Dabi's baby 1000000%.

In his eyes, you can do no wrong. You had him wrapped around your little pinky the moment you opened your eyes and stared at him, your eyes wide and animated as they stared into his very soul (and then at Fuyumi, looking at her like "mom? Who is this man wrapped around my finger?").

Casually drops in by Fuyumi's House (she never gave him a key, and she's stopped changing locks over and over because Dabi just breaks in anyways) and steals you from the crib. If he's in a good mood, he might leave a note that he took you and not a kidnapper.

I think Dad Dabi and Uncle Dabi are pretty much the same except Uncle Dabi is a lot more lenient with tge rules than Dad Dabi, like unless you're doing something that would actively result in your death or harm, Uncle Dabi would allow you to do whatever you want. Like Dad Dabi wouldn't ever allow you to date, but Uncle Dabi....

Are you allowed to date? NEVER. Will he kill your s/o if you do find one? Not unless he hurts you or upsets you even slightly, then it's game over for him.

I also think that Uncle Dabi would act more like a sassy mother at times, especially if its like the principal told you to bring your parents and you called Dabi instead of Fuyumi, and Dabi is immediately slamming the door in as he struts in and starts lying on his ancestors that you are the most innocent child ever who's never done anything wrong in her life, might as well call you little miss Virgin Mary because that's just how pure and naive and kind you are and that he'll be suing the principal- NOT THE SCHOOL, but the principal personally and the principal just pulls up a tape of you punching a kid in the throat and Dabi just looks at back you like-

"Should've went with an uppercut like I taught you last week-"

"Mr Dabi!"

Dabi just sighs. "Right. I'll talk to her, but can I get a copy of that?"

And then there's just Fuyumi who is scolding both of you, directed mostly towards Dabi than you because Dabi likes to take blame for a lot of things on your behalf and also because Fuyumi knows that Dabi's been teaching you to do stupid shit.

If you think about it, Uncle Dabi acts a lot like fun wine aunts, like he's drunk before any formal family dinner and he's always bringing the best gifts and jokes and makes the whole situation lighter with dark comedy while the rest of his family sit in uncomfortable, painful silence. But you? Oh you couldn't tell the difference for YEARS because Uncle Dabi was just that good at distracting you from his dysfunctional family to give you the happy childhood he never had🥰

[ar-cadez]

Count Duckula Fan Rewrite!!

Recently I’ve been working on a Count Duckula rewrite that aims to give it a slightly more serious tone and semi-serialized story like many modern cartoons! It took some time, but I made redesigns of the main cast. I had fun making this project and I REALLY hope you do too! Because I’m extremely nervous that the small fan base Count Duckula does have will hate this

I haven’t actually finished the show btw so if there’s an antagonist or smth that shows up later I should’ve redesigned.. lmk! I’m open to suggestions I really like this show..

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Basic Concept

Practically the same as the original show! There is a long line of reincarnations of a wicked vampire duck named Count Duckula, the most recent reincarnation went wrong and now the current Count is a vegetarian and much more interested in becoming famous than being evil.

Some major differences include the tone and story structure, being semi-serialized and having more serious arcs mixed in with the antics, along with a lot of changes in characterization. A big story change is also that Nanny was not hired until AFTER Duckula was reincarnated so Igor was the one who screwed up the ritual.

Tone wise I’d also like to slightly age up the target audience so it could get away with a bit more dark humour. My favourite part of the original show was moments that were just so morbid and completely brushed past. 13+ would be fine methinks.

Basic plot of the average episode would be about the count’s hyperfixation of the week and trying to get famous or profit from it. Not every episode would follow this structure though.

The grander themes of the series would be all about expectations from family and strangers and how those expectations can be completely false.

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Characters

^^ Final lineup! ^^

Sketches (less interesting poses but shows off some things better)

Count Duckula!

What I wanted to change

I feel like Duckula from the original spin-off was already a really strong character! There is a lot to him and really all I would want from a more emotional reboot is to dive into what’s already there. I did kinda project on him a bit in this rewrite though… gotta write what’cha know!

I also changed his design quite a bit. I never thought the suit fit his personality and I wanted to go with something a little more bright. If I go back again I might saturate his shirt a bit more. I also wanted all the residents of castle Duckula to have purple in their designs and for duckula and Towser to share similar colour’s inversed

Character Traits

Hatred of his legacy

Duckula is the first member of his lineage to not be an evil vampire and he hates that role that is expected of him. This is partially what drives him to be the nicest duck he can be, in hopes of shaking off his legacy. This also causes him to reject anything that's “spooky” or has to do with vampires. He physically can't eat meat or blood due to his botched resurrection, but even the sight of either distresses him.

Attention Drive

Due to his infamy, all Duckula wants is to be liked by the general public. Everyone in his town is automatically scared of him and he tries really hard to change their opinions on him whether that be through attempting to bea good samaritan or by performing in town. (Both tend to end poorly for him)

ADHD and Theatre Kid Behaviour

Duckula is constantly picking up and putting down new forms of art and performance. This can be anything from oil painting to American football. He does tend to get frustrated or distracted and abandon projects or crafts entirely. His favourite artform is acting and music so as you can imagine he's very into musicals. His musical talents are decent but his acting is awful. He’s also known to loud and overly excited over his interests

Ego and Cowardice

Being given a position of power the day you came into existence does have the tendency to make you… immature to say the least. When in danger, if he even realises there is any, Duckula’s first move is to use his title as leverage. If that doesn't work, his second is to beg, grovel, and lie his way out of the situation. That, or hide behind his much more intimidating companions.

Rich Kid Syndrome

Having the majority of people you know be your house staff really messes with your sense of responsibility. Duckula can hardly do many basic life skills on his own because of this. It's not like he is completely lazy but he does have executive dysfunction and has yet to realise that fact, causing him to procrastinate on many things and completely forget or just get someone else to do it.

Not Naturally kind

Being his father’s reincarnation, it only makes sense that Duckula would inherit many traits from his past lives. Many of the other Counts were ego-driven cowards with desires for fame. They just went about it differently. Duckula actively tries to be kind and polite but a lot of passive aggression and snark slips through the cracks of that veneer. He would never want to admit that he has ANYTHING in common with his ancestors and he hates that being nice doesn't just come naturally to him. Being an immortal, Duckula also has a skewed sense of mortality and often doesn't understand the severity of certain injuries and situations.

This Duckula has ADHD and Autism in this rewrite and he struggles most with executive dysfunction, restricted interests, memory issues, atypical empathy (not specifically low or high), sensory issues (mostly with eating and some sound), and social cues. He also stims.

Towser!

What I Wanted to Change

Towser isn’t even really a character in the original. Just a running gag without a face. I wanted to balance out the main cast by adding another female character since I have feelings on Nanny as a character and i didn’t know if i would even be able to salvage that.

I really like what I came up with! She’s fun to me and I’ll probably flesh her out more later.

Character Traits

Family drive

Towser has little interest in birds that aren't close to her and it usually takes awhile for her to get used to new people. However, she’ll protect those that she does care about with her life. She is the castle’s guard dog and will do whatever’s necessary to protect it. This often comes at the cost of her sleep, because she feels like she always needs to be awake to protect them.

Tag Along

Following Duckula around like a puppy is what Towser does best! She might not fully understand his enthusiasm on certain subjects, but she's always up to backing him up on his newest fame seeking endeavours (though she herself prefers physical activity over creative works). She never expects anything to come of it, but hey, at least it's something to do. She also likes to hear Duckula rant to her about his interests.

Big Sister

Towser is of a much more stable mental state than Duckula, and as his only friend around his age, he trusts her more to be someone to talk to about his identity issues and issues in general. The two are a lot warmer towards each other than they are anyone else, and can also get away with messing with the other a lot more.

Big ol Lap dog

When in werewolf form, Towser tends to forget her size and often crushes them with her size. This usually wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that she's always a lot more cuddly and energetic in wolf form than bird form. This is because, as a werewolf, she's only in wolf form at night and being a fully nocturnal bird that should only be awake at night, this messes with her sleep rhythm a lot.

Igor!

What I wanted to Change

Personality wise Igor is already really strong and I didn’t change much of that. You’ll probably notice from the sketches that Igor has a skeleton hand, that’s because I made him undead in this version just to give a reason to how he’s been able to live this long since the original doesn’t really have one (which is fine)

Character Traits

Devotion to the role

Igor has been the Count’s butler since the first incarnation. He was assigned to keep the Duckula legacy alive by reincarnating his master every time he meets his fate and helping him readjust every time. Helping each new reincarnation bring misery and fear to the town they reside by with a smile… Until the most recent incarnation of course. He’ll stick it out though, because he still has hope for him.

Taste for the macabre

Whether it be killing innocents behind the back of his new master, decorating the castle with cobwebs and bones, or using his undead nature to scare and torture those around him, Igor certainly has an interesting idea of fun. Igor gets a sick enjoyment out of causing others distress and despises all things kind and cute, something which definitely frustrates Duckula, who's desperately trying to fix his own image.

Bitter Traditionalist

Having lived through the centuries in castle Duckula, Igor has gained an appreciation for the history of the place and the vampire ducks that have resided there over the years. He’s rather invested in the lives of his previous masters and is extremely cross with the newest incarnation for not only not caring about that past, but also completely disowning it. Igor tries desperately to get Duckula to be a normal vampire, truly believing it could work with enough effort. Less he spend the next few centuries with a vegetarian for a master… Igor would not have a problem with Duckula pursuing fame if it weren't for the fact that he thinks it's distracting him from true vampirism.

Tired old man

Igor has lived for many centuries and he does not feel as if he should have to babysit for an immature man child like Duckula. He would rather ignore or snark the young count rather than actually talk to him. When the two argue its a constant back and forth of passive aggression and personal jobs that they almost always forget what they're actually arguing over. Duckula is physically and mentally very young (17-early 20s) compared to Igor’s other masters due to the botched revival and he doesn't know how to, or want to, deal with it.

Nanny!

What I Wanted to Change

I’m sorry to any hardcore Nanny fans out there but this is practically a whole new character. I find Nanny to be frustrating and annoying in the original and who I personally feel is a very sexist and mean spirited character. There’s absolutely nothing I would want to write with a character who’s just “big stupid fat woman inconveniences everyone around her” it’s just uncomfortable after a certain point.

My idea for a new take was just an extremely kind older woman who’s a little airheaded but is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. This sets her up as a foil to Igor. She’s also the only non-monster resident of the castle in this version which I personally think is really interesting.

Character Traits

Only good influence

While Igor actively sets out to make Duckula a bad person and Towser couldn't care less about how Duckula acts, Nanny is the only direct influence in Duckula’s life who pushes him to do better. Nanny believes Duckula is a good person at heart and pushes him to take more responsibility in his life. She wants him to learn a good work ethic and is fully supportive of him trying to better himself.

Good Christian Woman

Nanny is, in fact, a christian. She is fully aware of the demonic nature of her companions but believes that everyone can better themselves no matter their circumstances and attempts to better those around her. Igor hates her for it but she’s totally ignorant to that fact.

Assertive Mother Figure

Though Nanny is a very kind woman, she is also not a pushover. She will assert authority over Duckula and anyone else if necessary, and most are compliant once she puts her foot down, if they aren't, however, Nanny does pack a punch and won't hesitate to use her strength to protect her family.

Smarter than she seems

Nanny is an airheaded optimist with a big heart and those traits make her come off a lot more clueless than she actually is. She may seem like she has no idea what’s going on but she’s actually very observant and is fantastic at assessing a situation and finding the best course of action.

Dr. Von Goosewing

What I Wanted to Change

I really liked the idea of the antagonist to Duckula was in a liniage of vampire slayers and that their ancestors have been fighting for generations. It gave me the perfect set up for a ✨SHADOW ANTAGONIST✨ I wanted to make this rewrite have the two reflect each other a lot more. To do that I wanted Goosewing to still be a really cooky guy but I didn’t want the public to know that.

Also I have no idea why he’s dressed like Sherlock Holmes in the original if he’s a Van Helsing parody and also an inventor. You could’ve leaned into either of those ideas but for some reason he’s dressed like a detective? so I tried giving him a more fitting outfit but keeping his colours for recognisablity.

Character Traits

Playing Village hero

Goosewing is considered a big deal in town because of his family of vampire hunters. He’s prepared his whole life to kill Count Duckula the moment he comes back and to protect the common folk from the paranormal. Despite this, Goosewing isn't actually particularly skilled at his job and usually ends up failing his assassinations due to his own incompetence. He feels like he has to play the role as a hero to continue his family’s legacy despite not particularly enjoying it or being good at it.

Overestimating the enemy

With how cunning and malevolent the past Duckula incarnations were, Goosewing expects the same from this one. Goosewing believes that Duckula is a dangerous and clever foe completely focused on causing others pain. In reality, Duckula is the most incompetent bird in all of Transylvania, aside fromGoosewing himself, of course. Goosewing also comes to believe that Duckula is only acting nice to later betray the public, a belief he is not quiet about and that keeps the public from trusting Duckula.

Mad Scientist

Goosewing definitely falls into the eccentric scientist trope with his innovative but scatterbrained nature. He would much rather be working on an invention than actually doing his job. The public sees him as a hero but while hunting vampires or when hes alone he comes off as more of a mad scientist than the hero character he plays. His intentions are ultimately good but are completely based on the assumption that he’s the wholly good protector of the people and that Duckula is a cunning villain who's out to get him and everyone else.

Shadow

Goosewing and Duckula reflect each other in a lot of ways. They both have a legacy they are expected to uphold despite not wanting to or even being able to, they both care deeply about the public’s opinion on them while the public has an incredibly incorrect view of the both of them, and they both have creative interests outside of the roles expected of them that they'd rather be persuing. Duckula fully rejects anything to do with his ancestry, while Goosewing is actively trying to fulfil despite not enjoying it.

The Murder Brothers!

What I Wanted to Change

Haha I called them the murder brothers bc they’re crows and criminals Im actually so funny… anyway. I don’t know if I should’ve even done these guys but I really like them as antagonists so!!

I gave the younger two names and a personality. The wiki said they didn’t have names but if they do lmk and I’ll just fix that. Other than that I didn’t change much except try to give ‘em a bit more depth and changing their physical designs a ton for fun.

Character Traits

The Murder Brothers, as a whole, are a tight knit family of con men crows who pull any grift they can to get their hands on some cash. Though they may act like their only loyalty in life is to money, they do genuinely care about each other's well being

Ruffles

Ruffles is the short tempered and eldest leader of the group. He’s constantly frustrated with his brothers’ incompetence and isn't quiet about it. He believes that if it weren't for them he'd probably be a lot further in life by now (which isn't true) and he’ll say he doesn't care about them, but he actually does.

Burt

If he didn't insist on helping his brothers, Burt would be the most likely to be living an honest life. As the second oldest sibling, Burt holds a position as right hand man. He’s a naturally kind and enthusiastic bird who, while a bit dumb, does openly express his love for his brothers. He takes on a lot of the abuse from his older brother and is often used by the group to talk to others, because he's so naturally trustworthy.

Reggie

Reggie is the second youngest of the brothers and the most relaxed out of all of them. He has an impeccable sleight of hand and is the go to for lockpicking and such. He’s a decent smooth talker and is often the one to break up fights, though he's not above getting angry at the others himself.

Leroy

Leroy is the youngest of the brothers and by far the least skilled. His speech is incomprehensible from under his mask (although he can see through it for the most part) and he’s often left with the worst jobs during their cons because of that. He’s the most timid out of all of them but I’m sure if you took that mask off of him he’d be really talkative.

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Ending Words

Well that’s all I got! I spent way too long on this project that maybe two people will care about and one of them is me 💔 Anyway if I make anything else for this rewrite/au I’ll tag it with #wbcd . I wouldn’t count on it because I mighttt get burn out from this but im just so glad I finished it! I’ve thought about writing a pilot script just for fun but idk. I’d like to do more long format au stuff, I was going to make a YouTube video about this but I almost cried trying to record myself so I gave up 💔

[gatorbites-imagines]

Hey you said in a post you were looking for requests for invincible don't know if your still wanting requests for it or not but I was really hoping for a wholesome damien darkblood x reader story. he and Robot are so far my favourites I just started the show though, not done with season 1 yet.

Damien Darkblood x male reader

Headcanons

I love robot too, hes really grown on me the more episodes I’ve watched.

Damien Darkblood is a pretty blunt and dry witted person, or rather, demon. He takes his job as a detective very seriously, wanting to find the truth and bring forth justice. This also means your demon lover would be working way into the night, and would be gone for longer periods of time to do cases.

In the beginning this would have unnerved you, mainly because the cases he takes are dangerous and could put him in danger. Your lover does his best to reassure you though, even with his flat and dry tone, since the different tones in human language confuse him.

You two would have likely met during one of these cases, since Damien doesn’t really go out to look for a date or partner. This would either mean you were a victim, a witness, a suspect, or maybe a hero or detective. But for the funs of it, lets imagine you are another detective.

You wouldn’t be doing cases to the same level as Damien, seeing as he can sense crimes that happened through touch, giving him a different view than what you, a normal human can spot.

Damien tends to see things from his own perspective, meaning he doesn’t see the full picture at times, but being his lover means you have an easier time getting him to broaden his horizons compared to everyone else your lover works with.

You both being detectives also means your apartment or home looks like something out of those detective shows, with different corkboards on the walls, with hundreds of pictures or notes, and different colored strings connecting it in patterns only you two understand.

When it comes to detective work, there are times you’ll tag along on Damien’s cases, mainly when he has to interact with others like Cecil or the guardians of the globe, seeing as his dry and cut tone tends to annoy people. You won’t take them insulting him as casually as they do though, so it’s a bit of a give and take for other people involved.

After long days of little sleep and nonstop work, you always end up dragging Damien to rest somewhere. As a demon, Damien wouldn’t need to rest, eat, drink or sleep like a human does, but seeing as he loves you, Damien would go along if you just wanted to cuddle.

He will act tough, but you always catch his tail wagging a little when you cuddle, and you scratch the back of his neck or under his chin. Hes nice and cold as well to your surprise, so there’s no need to worry about cuddling in the summer.

Because I said so, Damien purrs, but only around you and only when you are alone. There are always cases hanging over the both of you, but you two decided to take days where you put off the work and spend it together. This is when Damien is most likely to purr.

Hes your personal weighted blanket, since hes got a stocky build. Him laying on top of you is the best if you like that kind of stuff, plus, his tail somehow always ends up wrapped around some part of you. This also goes when you are laying on top of him though.

Damiens big hands are also great at giving massages. Your demon lover always jokes in his dry tone that you humans are so frail, since you get sore muscles from all the walking or running you guys do. But he always ends up massaging your legs and feet if you need it.

His claws are very nice as well, as he runs them through your hair when you cuddle. He would never scratch you, your lover never wanting to hurt you, but he will go out of his way to put just enough pressure for it to feel good.

If it follows canon and Damien gets sent back to hell by Cecil, you know the ritual to bring him back. You also rub it in Cecils face when it turns out Damien was right, and what little respect you had for the guy will be gone. You wont save him from your lover bluntness again after that.

[slimyalienfreak]

Just wanted to put this in your head..

Imagine this video:

But instead of Xenophanes simping for Needlemouse he's simping for demon reader.  😏

Xenophanes simping over demon reader

Hey there! Thanks for the ask!

Thanks for feeding into my delusions lol. Really appreciate it. I already like Xeno enough and like to think he does this even though I know damn well he’ll probably do some stuff to me.

Also for now requests are closed. Mostly because it’s almost Christmas and I want to spend the time between now and then with my family. Anyways all aside hope you enjoy it reading this. ~Blaze/Dawn

Pronouns: Not Mentioned

Warning: ⚠️ Obsessive/Possessive behaviour + Murder⚠️

Requested: Yes/No

Characters: Xenophanes + Mentions of the EXE’s (Mostly Lord X and Fleetway)

Proofread: ❌

Credits: Art by komiplier on Twitter + Banner by 5macc13 (Edited By Me) on Pinterest

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- Let me tell you when this man simps for you, he simps for you hard. Although he doesn’t admit it, he really likes you. He likes having your company, he likes it when you join him in whatever he is doing it gives him more joy than doing the thing by himself. He’s kind of gotten attached to you. Both emotionally and quite literally. He’s always seen around you, kind of like a bodyguard constantly keeping you to himself. Not letting anyone near you and if someone needs to speak to you he’ll be there standing right next to you.

- He definitely gets made fun of due to how much he likes you, mostly Lord x and Fleetway though. Lord X is a smug little shit once he finds out about Xeno’s little obsession over you he’s teasing the hell out of him. Making slight passive aggressive comments about his love for you at him and when he calls him out on it Lord X acts like he didn’t say anything wrong. Fleetway on the other hand oh he’s not even trying to hide that he’s teasing Xeno. In fact he indulges in the reactions that Xeno gives off, seeing him act like a child denying their crush makes him laugh. Fleetway may have hinted that Xeno simps for you directly but quickly gets shut down.

- He can get a little possessive around you. Well a little is an understatement for someone like him but regardless possessive. He has to be around you regardless of the situation. Yes he’s fully aware that you are a demon yourself and that you can and have dealt with some disturbing shit as well as causing some disturbing shit but is that going to stop him from acting like this? Nope it won’t. I’d suggest getting comfortable with his possessiveness because it really is something.

- With him being possessive he’s also very obsessed over you and sometimes fawns over you. Not in public though he’s not getting more embarrassed by the others than he already does. Don’t get me wrong he does show his appreciation in his own way just don’t expect to see like an exaggerated reaction. In private though, he’s completely different. If you so much as give him a compliment as soon as he’s alone and he knows that he is alone he could feel himself becoming slightly giddy. It’s like a fan who got recognised by their favourite artist. He does tell himself to not get too into his emotions but at the same time he can’t help but feel this way you do or say anything positive towards him. A simple praise like ‘good job’ is enough to make him feel like this.

- That’s just the tame stuff he does, don’t even get me started on what else he might do. Considering what and who he is I doubt that he won’t murder someone who gets close to you. If someone even dares to look at you or show interest in you he’ll make sure that they learn something and leave you alone. If he’s feeling nice enough he might let them live, not fully intact but being able to recover but most of the time he isn’t. It’s even worse if the person talks shit about you. He’ll make it worse for them.

- You’ve got him wrapped around your finger, congrats. You can basically make him do anything you want. No matter how extreme it might seem or see if you tell him to do it he will. Everyone definitely notices this because he doesn’t do the same to them. If they need something from him or need him to do something they immediately go to you and ask him to do it. Some of them only do this when they have to because they understand that it can be annoying when you're constantly being told to do something for them but for some of the others they tell you to ask him to do some embarrassing stuff and he’ll do it no doubt.

- Overall, for some reason you don’t question his behaviour. You know that sometimes Xeno can have some moments and despite things listed above he can be fun to hang around so you don’t really pay much attention to what he does.

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[dufferpuffer]

Finally watched Fantastic Beasts while waiting for new years and I am full of thoughts... here are my initial thoughts B^)

+ I like the super-strict direction of American wizarding society - since it was the same puritans that caused the Statue of Secrecy to be written that colonized America, I doubt many Wizards went there initially - so western Wizarding society is a newer frontier over there... and puritan ideals are stronger in no-maj society. Like real America All the wizards being constantly in no-maj clothing because they have to mingle with them to get anywhere - they have no standard clothing culture or infrastructure that allows for hidden travel like an old Floo network - that's awesome. Muggles built the (colonized) country; not a combined Muggle-Wizard history like in England.

+ I like most of the major characters. Newt was a fun 'polite trickster' who nods his head to anything people say... but then goes and does whatever the hell he wants. I like him more than movie Harry (but not book Harry). Jacob is adorable, its hard to hate the wide-eyed, overwhelmed, brave and sweet sidekick. I love him. I wanted him to be happy and full of wonder and to get his bakery. He and Newt had good chemistry tbh. All the 'fat jokes' were fucked up though, what the hell Queenie... frightens me. She's a bad bitch when she dropped her creepy cutsey flapper act and became dangerous, and her genuine desire to understand people when her powers push them away was sweet. Being deeply uncomfortable was icing on the cake. Credence is sorta cheating. His character is 'confused and abused, turns to shifty sources for help' - and then 'has lived a life of CONSTANT suffering and is freaking out in immense pain'. He's a tragic boy. You're meant to want to give him a hug and tell him it's okay... and they hit that nail on the head. Success.

- I DIDN'T like ex Auror much. Whats her name...? She wasn't very compelling. I liked that she peeked around corners and tried her best - she's cutsey in an 'anime girl' way and had a nice hat - but she seemed wasted. No chemistry with Newt, either. At least Queenie and Jacob had the decency to be weirdo's...

+ I like most of the beasts. I typically prefer when HP leans to more 'grounded' designs rather than trying to be super colourful and whimsical - I prefer Erumpants to Mooncalf - but it's all cool. I was a little disappointed by Occamy, it was my favourite creature in the book and the movie had different ideas - how DARE they not consult me >:^( Newt actually feels like he LIKES animals and is trying to do well by them with what he has, in a world that's otherwise cruel to them... that's rare for a HP thing. I like how Niffler are like... if there was another monotreme. Something between a platypus and an echidna... and yet FEELS British somehow? I could imagine that thing in The Wind in the Willows

+ I LOVED Newt's suitcase. So full of character. It seems like a very special, powerful magical item many people would want to get their hands on... yet didn't feel too overpowered? I suppose because the downside of 'can be easily closed and carried away while you're inside' is actually a steep downside - It was just cool and I liked it. I think it would have been fun if it had a bit of a mind of its own. It unclipped its own locks, but if it had a bit more of its own personality that would have been cool. :^)

But that's kinda the limit of what I liked. There was more that didn't really work, or only sorta-worked...

- What was the point of the rich Muggle guy and his politician son who was killed first, and the younger brother...? Why were they there other than to waste time that could have been spent on the anti-witch group? The Bitch, red-herring Girl and Credence worked. But all of them barely did anything. I wish they did something.

- Sometimes shit just... happened. Why did the tight-ass Muggle banker walk down to see Jacob and Newt 'steal' from the vault? How did ex-auror find them after the Erumpant? Why is the American execution system so... weird? An oddly modern looking chair that spins around over a molten metal pool, they tempt you with nice memories and then you go in the chair instead of walking in the pool... why don't they killing curse? A Potion? What was the point of their execution...? Why did Newt think to cast a revealing spell on Graves at the end?

- All the elements of the story felt disjointed. I get it, Newt's Beasts are being blamed for the destruction of the city - which is actually being fostered by Gellert's pet Obscural... it just doesn't feel like the story flows like that? Newt doesn't feel especially blamed, the beast hunt doesn't feel important beyond Newt simply caring for them... the stakes are weirdly low. The beast hunt felt like key-jangling.

- All the elements lacked punch. Breaking into a bank, being caught covered in jewels, chasing down beasts for their own safety, dodging being caught, being sold out by sleazy weird-finger guy, almost being executed - none of it felt weighty. No tension aside from when Newt's trunk was taken away and Queenie stepped the fuck up - and Credence had a big wobbly near the end.

- I have very mixed feelings about Graves. He was dull most of the time but intense when interacting with Credence. I LOVED his manipulation - the sweet-soothing, the knowing exactly what that boy needed to hear, hugging and kissing him like a father but sharply punching him in the face when he was overwhelmed - not stopping all the fatherly sweet talk for it! That barely contained violence under a perfectly acted mask - and you can see how confused Credence is by it. Graves heals his injuries, soothes him with affection he has never had - but then dishes out sharp, sudden pain... he is SCARY!

Most of the movie he wasn't much of a player in events, didn't stand out much, wasn't interesting... I just figured he was one of Gellert's followers. In a way I liked that for him. He was a small-fry trying to help by doing small-fry things.

But then at the end it is revealed he was Grindelwald. Yippee...? It never felt like there was any mystery about him. Graves was a man-in-the-shadows, using his power in America-Ministry to his advantage... and his goal seemed to be using an obscurial as a type of weapon and propaganda to Gellert's goals. I feel like that would have been a good way to set up Gellert for the next movie: arrest Graves and have him be like 'Don't you see how we suffer??? Grindelwald is right-!!!'

But no. Graves WAS Gellert. Suddenly Gellert seems... small-fry and pathetic. BUT. BUT - I definitely get why the FB Albus/Gellert ship is popular: Gellerts manipulation of Credence as an example opens SO many doors to how he and Albus' romance could have played out-!!! From the darkest abuses and control to the monster being tamed. When 'Graves' was like 'so Newt... what does this 'albus dumbledore' teacher see in you...?' man just wanted to talk about his ex lol

- My main takeaway is like... this movie was BEGGING on its hands and knees to be an 8ish episode series. An episode per beast - so re-capturing them feels like an important achievement and we fall in love with them as much as Newt does. Make sure the American-Ministry is applying constant pressure. No-Maj cult sub-plot every episode - try to build the mystery. Get us really used to Graves as a player in the story that seems both reasonable and shifty.

Episode 3: Teddy the Niffler A plot: After checking inside the wonderful case the previous episode, Jacob and Newt escape the apartment to track down the missing beasts - running into the elusive Niffler rampaging a jewelry store. As Newt doesn't know much about Muggles and their police - they are surrounded and then chased. Having learned previously that magic around Muggles is more trouble than its worth in America, Newt tries to escape with non-magical means... for the most part. While previously unsure of magic, Jacob now trusts in it - urging Newt to 'be more magical!' in their escape. (A temporary role reversal - Newt going 'I don't want to draw attention!' and Jacob going 'for gods sake man, they have GUNS!') Jacob is starting to feel his lack of magic keenly. Miraculously they are saved by mundane creatures Newt finds just as wondrous - but Jacob knows it can only mean something is very wrong... the hook for the next episode. B plot: First real look at the anti-magic house since meeting them briefly on the stairs in episode 1. It is the end of a long day making pamphlets, and the kids are being checked and ushered to bed. All the kids are creepy - especially red-herring girl - but are treated with at least some care by The Bitch... until Credence. He tries to slip into his room but is stopped. He is blamed for going out when he shouldn't, and he tries to deny it - but seems to know he will be punished, anyway. Next time we see him he is housing injuries, curled up in bed... but in the middle of the night, we see he is a liar: he HAS been sneaking out. He gets out of bed as the clock reaches midnight and goes out to meet... Graves. He seeks affection, shows his injuries, cries and is treated with comfort and care - it seems like Graves is using him to get information, but does genuinely care for the boy. (for now the viewer trusts him enough as a tough wizard cop who isn't afraid to break the law a little and has a soft heart, even to no-maj.) C plot: Ex-Auror is pissed (Queenie heartbroken) that their pet boys have escaped. Bugger. On her way out to find them again she runs into other Aurors. Graves is there. There's been ANOTHER Statue of Secrecy breach - a bunch of Muggle police. It's odd for him to be out for such a small event - but he seems worried this string of cases will get worse unless the perpetrators are caught quickly, so he is investigating. He tells ex-Auror to not get in the way and heads off in a different direction... (to see Credence) Ex-Auror almost turns around to leave the real Auror's to it... but as she discovers Newt and Jacob scurrying to their next destination she gets a burst of confidence - if she catches them it might impress Graves and might give her back her job-!

...Something like that.

It's not quite that the movie didn't have enough time. I mainly feel like it chopped itself up poorly - a different structure would have suited it better. A little more time wouldn't hurt either, though.

[skull-fvcker]

my heart, my heart wants to hold you

❥ Leon Kennedy x Gender Neutral! Reader

A/N: posted this months ago on ao3 but finally worked up the courage to post it here—this was honestly just my exploration of his character since it's the first time I've written him. Hi

Summary: In which you, a friend of Leon's, track him down and try to put an end—quite badly—to his alcohol issues

warnings: 4340 words, implied alcoholism, unrequited love, general angst and swearing, awkward as hell, written with no Leon in mind so you can imagine whichever one you want, no use of y/n

PT 2

The pub was warm, but not yet bustling. It lacked the social atmosphere in which it would once have. The only people that remained were that of single drunkards and sardonic businessmen who knew nothing more than to drown their sorrows in shitty whiskey as if that would numb the pain of their failing marriage. They knew it would not, yet the urge to drown overcame the rational thinking.

Leon thought that way, too. You knew he did. With every paid vacation that he had, he would escape to some undisclosed location and drown away his sorrows in expensive alcohol—his alcohol of choice is Jack Daniel's. God, it hurts that you know that—until he would lose all sense of clarity and become a babbling mess of a man. Lord knows he becomes even more of a sarcastic prick, those clever quips of his leaving no weight to them and making even less sense than they usually do. He doesn't necessarily become a separate person, but, an exaggerated version of himself. Truth be told, he made you feel like you should get into alcoholism. But you never told him that.

The warm air of the pub waved through your hair, the heavy scent of alcohol and overpriced cologne invading your sense of smell, making you nearly vomit as you stepped through the doorway. The men and women who lost their inhibitions and allowed themselves to verbalize their true beliefs, thoughts, and emotions were filled with each side of the pub, most of them likely accumulating on the second floor to avoid making eye contact with any poor soul that would dare to enter at this time of night. That person just had to be you, didn't it? Always chasing after the people you care for but never getting the reciprocation for your acts. Fate indeed was an unfair mistress.

Your eyes observed the pub with a heavy heart, the sorrow enveloping each and every individual weighing solemnly on your soul. Due to how late it was, you tossed away the idea that some of the people may be college students seeking to have fun. Still, your eyes anchored on a similar figure which sat at the bar, waving for the bartender to refill their drink. Leon... Of course, you recognise that choppy haircut from anywhere; even from the rear of his head. Speaking of which, his head was hanging low. From—what you guessed, anyhow—his overwhelmingly tricky career, no doubt.

Despite it all, you desired to know more about his employment, though he never would budge nor inform you any more than he deemed necessary. Some things are better left unsaid, you suppose.

Your feet moved on their own, heels dragging with each step that you brought. It was the apprehension, you assumed, that was making your hands so clammy and your ears burn up. You knew Leon so well, yet you didn't at the same time. You barely knew anything about his job. He was like an enigma to you. He knew everything about you, whereas you couldn't say the same about him. Did he have a favourite colour? Did he prefer his clothes to be folded a certain way? What about the way his bacon was cooked? Crispy, or chewy? You didn't know. You probably never would, either. Not with how secretive he was.

Leon had sat, drunk, melancholy, and desolate, handling the weight of the world pushing down on him. He seemed so lost, adrift in a sea of regrets, seeking solace in alcohol but finding none. His ashy hair covered his expression—that haircut, he never gets rid of it—with soft strands parting in many different directions. Sometimes it appeared more delicate than other days, and sometimes it seemed incredibly silky and soft.

"Leon," you abruptly spoke, striding next to Leon and sitting on the stool directly neighbouring to him. "How are you doing? What are you doing here?" Your eyes flicked to his shot glass, which was carried to his dry, cracked lips before you even finished your sentence. His cheeks were flushed slightly, and there was sweat collecting by his brows. His furrowed eyebrows pulled his taut skin near the bridge of his nose. Leon turned to face you, his expression softening, but only a short bit. He seemed a bit tipsy at best. "C'mon, you gotta come home already."

He hummed in response to your words, "I could say the same to you, y'know?" He took another gulp of his shot glass, pressing it down into the counter, his bottom lip suddenly moistened with alcohol. A piece of you wished that you could dab the burning whiskey from his skin. "You're not wrong, though." He says with a sigh, snatching the bottle of Jack Daniel's next to him—you can't believe you were right about that—and refilling his shot glass practically to the brim.

One glimpse at his face and you realised what was happening. His mind was clouded with regrets, haunting memories of the horrors he had witnessed in the past. The world's weight seemed to press down on his shoulders, and he found solace in drowning his sorrows in alcohol, hoping it would numb the ache in his heart. But it wouldn't. You know it wouldn't. He did, too. But he was too deep in his alcoholism to even think otherwise. Your eyes look down to your clammy hands, clasped together as if you were to pray.

"Yes," you breathed through your nose, eyes flicking back to glance at the man before you, "I know... I just haven't heard from you in a while, you know? I messaged you a couple of weeks ago, but you didn't respond. I was worried. What are you doing?"

"Classified information, you know that." He was quick to reply, bringing the shot glass back to his lips, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed, his face pertaining to a certain perplexity that you didn't understand. "If I could, I'd tell you why I'm constantly on and off." he trails off a bit, shaking his head in defeat.

Despite yourself, you shakily reach out a hand and set it on Leon's, ignoring the twitch of his brow when you do so. "You're only human, Leon. Don't forget that."

His thoughts were a chaotic mess, filled with self-doubt and regrets. You never realised the regrets and self-doubt that plagued his psyche. You were never informed, and you never knew how much he wondered if he could have done things differently, saved more lives, or prevented that one catastrophe altogether. He reprimanded himself for not being able to protect those he overlooked and cared about, and for the mistakes he had made. And yet here you were, blissfully unaware and lending him a hand like he was the only friend that you've ever had. The emptiness inside him was palpable, and he yearned for the company of his friends who were now lost or separated from him.

Even him thinking about that when you were right there—was that not irony?

He missed the camaraderie, the laughter, and the sense of purpose they had once shared. But, now, despite all the people he surrounded himself with—you knew. You knew how many associates he had, he spoke of so many people whom of which you know not the name of, that you've lost track—he's drowning his sorrows in alcohol, trying to escape the pain that gnawed at him from within. You wondered, even for just a wee bit, if he felt isolated. Ostracized from the world itself, and that concerned you to your very essence as you showed him that bright, inexperienced smile that he used to have not so long ago.

Leon chuckled, if not for a moment, gently shaking your hand from his own, taking another drink with little to no regret. It was as if he wasn't even listening to you. It was as if you were just another pebble on the road to his alcoholism. He truly was a man that you knew you would never understand. The shot glass stayed on his lips for what seemed like forever, never leaving the pink tissue that never seemed to pull back for a smile. But, the moment didn't last forever. He soon slammed down the glass, startling you to the point of flinching, your breath hitching.

Leon stares you straight in the eyes, his calloused fingers gripping his shot glass so tightly that the tips of the digits begin to turn white.

"You know what's the worst thing about being a federal agent in this goddamn country? You're not allowed to have a bad day. Ever. You're supposed to be the tough guy, the one who can stomach everything and pull through because it's your job to handle it. I'm so tired of being caught in the middle of it. I just want to be left alone for once." He huffed, the furrow of his brow and the flare of his nostrils itching deep inside your brain.

Though you knew he worked with the government, you knew not of the specifics. You knew of Raccoon City, but not the rest. He was secretive, and you respected his privacy, discreetly hoping that he would trust you enough to brief you on the rest. That was wishful thinking, but hope wasn't too far gone. However, his words still shocked you, and you could only stay silent as his eyes gazed down at the empty glass in his fingers. His hands are so large, you loathed yourself to confess that. They were consistently warm and rough. Without much foresight, Leon reached for the half-empty bottle of Jack Daniel's, but you snatched it from his side over to yours before he could grasp it. He stared at the empty space where the bottle had been, his face swirling with a mix of emotions. He looked like he felt a pang of longing, a sense of loss, and a hint of anger all at once.

"Hey," he called out breathlessly, "that's mine. I need it." He reached over, only for you to glide it down the counter, your expression deadpan. Leon's face suddenly became astonished, his eyebrows raising as he blinks in disbelief. He had been savouring the rich, amber liquid, the warmth of the alcohol rushing through his veins, and now it was gone, snatched away without warning. Never in all the years that you've known Leon have you done something like this. And, deep down inside, you wished that you would have done it sooner.

You could tell that he felt a mix of frustration and confusion as if he had just lost a part of himself. The alcohol had been his comfort, his companion during the long nights when he sought solace in its familiar taste and burn, when he had no one else to turn to, not even you. And you had just snatched that away from him. You felt unfair—you did, but... it had to be done. "Leon, listen..."

He interrupted you, "You've got a lot of nerve to come in here and tell me how to live my life." He scoffed, leaning back in his stool. "Don't get me wrong. Love your company. You're a great friend," your name fell from his mouth like a curse, "but did you just come here to condemn my life choices? Is that it?"

"No, Leon, I just..." You sighed regretfully, your right arm gripping your left bicep tightly. "I was worried about you, that's all... And all of this alcohol? It can't be good for you." Your gaze does not meet his own, but you're sure that he's glaring at you. The daggers in his eyes pierce your flesh like teeth. Though he did not speak, you heard a scoff, followed by a grunt, while the words appeared to be caught in his throat.

Eventually, your eyes dart back at him, and those blue hues, his striking blue eyes—such an attractive colour, you think—stare back at you with a sense of normality and vacancy. Leon appears empty but shortly sighs and slumps his head low, bouncing it a tad before looking back at you, both relief and happiness crossing over his features. A stark contrast to the anger and disbelief he had just a moment ago. A part of you couldn't help but feel as if he was prepping you for something - but you didn't know what.

He smacks his lips, suddenly, "You're right," he seems to begrudgingly accept it, "hate to admit it, but, you are right. It's not healthy for me. You know," he paused, a breath hitching in his throat, his face lightening up, "I had been drinking all night before you came in. Thought I was going to stay here all night, honestly." His gruff voice fell to a whisper, harsh laughter wracking his chest as his head shook.

"That can't be healthy," you confessed. "Yeah, that's the point. It isn't," Leon stated matter-a-factly. It had been a long time since someone had shown him genuine care and concern. Leon took a deep breath and let out a sigh, finally feeling a glimmer of hope, though that was just how you saw the situation. It was wishful thinking, as he barely told you anything about his life. Apart from a few colleagues. "Listen, if it would make you feel any better, I can go home."

Your gaze sank to the floor, watching as the cracks in the marble begin to create vivid illustrations that gnawed on the back of your mind. You chewed on the inside of your cheek, and sighed, "Could I drive you home? It's the least I could do... I just want to be certain you get home safely since you've been drinking." You reached out a hand, setting it on Leon's shoulder. And for the first time, in a long while, you saw him genuinely smile. A grin of appreciation.

"I'd like that," your name fell from his lips a second time, though better akin to a prayer rather than a curse. It filled your heart to the brim with joy. It made you feel as if you were doing something right with your life. Especially with such a good friend as Leon.

"You gonna pay?" "It's on my tab." "That's..." "Don't worry about it."

Leon hopped off the stool with a chuckle and waited for you to do the same, which you did, though not as aggressively as he did. You walked him out of the pub, opening the door for him before he could do the same to you, to which he offered you a snarky 'thanks'. A diminutive part of you was concerned that he might make a critique of your automobile or its decorum, but you pushed those thoughts aside for more favourable ones. Leon has ridden in your car plenty of times before—you haven't ridden in his, though. Does he even have a car?—so you were sure he wouldn't say anything too mean. You could never be too sure, nonetheless. He was unpredictable, yet predictable in the worst fashion.

A tap on his shoulder got Leon's attention as soon as your car came into view, he giving a hum in acknowledgement. "You going to ride in the passenger seat like a big boy?" You joked dryly, walking over to the driver's side and unlocking the door. Leon stared at you in surprise for a moment but soon snickered.

"I don't know. You think I'm a big enough boy?" "The biggest boy, I'm sure." He laughed in response to that, a deep, robust laugh from his chest as he climbed into the passenger's side. Your car was relatively small, so the springs in the suspension system bounced slightly when he sat down. It made you wonder if the bedsprings in Leon's bed fell ill to the same fate. But those thoughts were driven away and you let out a loud sigh, pulling out your keys and puncturing them in the ignition. "Do you want to play any music?" Leon buckled up, clicking his tongue, "You think Three Days Grace is playing at this time?" "Probably not, no..." "Then no thanks." He looked outside the window in an almost dejected manner, which compelled you to laugh stiffly, if not shake your head in doubt. Leon really liked dad rock, and you'd never understand why. Maybe he was destined to be a father in another life? You never really asked him if he wanted to settle down. It wasn't your place to ask, either way. As you began to think, you couldn't help but steal glances at him from across the car. He was the epitome of everything that you knew every man wanted to be - enchanting, confident, and with a smile that could melt just about anyone's heart—did that include you, too, you wondered?—Your sentiments, purely platonic are what you told yourself, feelings for him were deep and genuine, though there was always that rat in the back of your head that told you that he would never see you as an equal.

You would always listen attentively to his performances, though he told you not much, laugh at his jokes, and be there for him whenever he needed someone to talk to. But did he feel the same way? You could only wonder if he genuinely wanted to be your friend. You gripped the steering wheel, suddenly recalling the small conversations you had with him about a certain someone. Ada Wong was her name — from the things you heard, she was absolutely gorgeous. Had a heart of steel, and a mouth of venom, but truly cared for Leon. She could've done more for Leon than you ever would have.

"Hey, we're friends, aren't we?" Your voice cracked at the end of the sentence, the lights on the dark streets at each corner blinding your otherwise perfectly fine vision. Ada understood Leon better than you ever would, and that was the unfortunate truth that you ought to face.

Leon side-eyes you, and you can tell by the slow turn of his eye. "Of course, we are. I consider us friends. Close enough to be friends, anyhow. Why?" His voice sounds fatigued.

A thankful sigh escapes you, in both relief and partial malevolence. How many times would you have to come to drag Leon out of random pubs before he actually drinks himself into a drunken stupor that he won't get out of, even with someone by his side to help him? If he didn't want to get better, then there would be nothing for you to do. You could push someone to do something for their health, but the longer it would go on, the more they would resent you because it's not what they honestly want. "Just wondering. We're here, by the way."

There was another hum of acknowledgement that came from Leon, and it made you wonder if it was all his vocal cords wanted him to say at this time. Drawing the key from your car and turning it off, you get out of the vehicle, both the passenger and driver's side doors closing at the same time. Guess Leon had the same idea as you. You watched as Leon strolled up the steps of his apartment, and, biting back your dread, you pursued behind him, locking the car—does Leon even know cars have automatic locks now? Of course, he does. What a stupid thought—behind you.

"Pardon the mess," Leon chides as you walk into what would have to be the cleanest apartment you've ever seen in your entire life. Not only was it clean, but it was absolutely empty. Save for a few knick-knacks and a sofa in the middle of the living area, adorned by a plain mat and a glass table that separated the sofa from a simple television mounted to the wall. A cosy little place; but you guess Leon wasn't the one for sentiments. Another thing you learned about him that he did not and most likely would not tell you.

You watched as he walked over to the sofa and seated himself down, spreading his legs out and groaning when he hit the soft cushions. "Hey, hey, if it's not too much, could you grab me a glass of water?" There was a juncture of stillness before he began to force himself up off the Davenport. "No, that's not fair for you. I'll fetch it myself."

"No, I'll get you a glass." You vocalised, holding your hand out as if that would preserve him from leaving. He let out a sigh but accepted your advances. You took off your shoes at the entrance—Leon didn't even take off those filthy boots of his—and made your way to the kitchen space. In jaw-dropping shock, it was equally as barren. "I have, uh... I have a question," you called out as you pulled a glass from the cabinet, turning on the cold water to the faucet as you did so.

"Shoot." "I probably shouldn't say this, but... It's been eating at me, you know?" You finished filling the glass and strolled back out to the living area. "What's with you and Ada? Ada Wong?" You observed as he gently took the glass from your hand, but sagged his head down low as if you had struck a sore spot. "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have asked." "No, it's fine..." He hissed through clenched teeth, taking a sip of the cold water. "To be honest, I don't fully know myself. There's something inside of me that can't let her go no matter how hard I try, a part of me that will always be yearning for her, but... I don't know," Leon laments, taking another gulp from the glass, "If only things were different, you know? Maybe we would've made it work."

He rubs the bridge of his nose, seemingly about to pass out from fatigue, the eyebags that hung beneath his eyes make him seem at least 5 years older than he truly was. "I guess it wasn't made to be." He leans back on the sofa, a small crack of his lower spine unexpectedly catching your attention. The fat inside your cheek was caught between your teeth to prevent the pitiful whimpers that might escape. She really meant that much to him. Leon surely was a dedicated person, especially when it came to the people he cared about. That was something you were always sure of, right from the beginning.

"I think that her, uhm... the way of her living, makes her seem like she doesn't care about you. I think she cares about you more than she lets on. If the situations were different, I know that she would love to be your friend." You took notice of the yawn that escaped him after you voiced that, followed by a chuckle of disbelief. You didn't know how to comfort someone in this position.

You breathed heavily through your nostrils, "Or even something more, you know?" You crouch down near the end of the sofa, one of your hands setting itself on Leon's thigh, gripping it reassuringly. "Maybe in another life, you and Ada are together." You maintained a smile on your face, but it was beguiling. You would only hope that Leon would merely accept it as it is, and you believe that he did, given the rugged chuckle that jerked his body. "Maybe, in another life, you two are married. That's a funny thought, isn't it? Leon Kennedy, settling down. Little Leon and Ada's running around."

Leon pats your hand with his. His rough fingertips and the palms of his hands set your heart aflutter. "I would've loved that," He pauses for a moment, "I bet they would look just like me." You could see the fond expression on his face, his shoulders drooping as if he was reminiscing or recalling a tender, distant memory. One that didn't include you, apparently. Leon holds a peaceful expression on his face and closes his eyes, humming slightly to himself. He isn't quite asleep, but he seems droopy.

"I'll get you a blanket, Leon. You deserve some sleep." You pat his thigh a final time and stand up fully, staring at him for a moment before blinking and turning around, leaving him seating there as you leave. You would only hope that there was a spare blanket in the hall closet. Leon didn't seem to spend too much time in his apartment either way, so you were sure that there would be extra blankets lying around. Your hand opened the hall closet slowly, and of course, there was a thick, fluffy blanket just lying there, folded haphazardly as if someone was in a hurry. It would've been funny if it wasn't so depressing. Gently, you grasped it and started to shake said covering loosely as you sauntered over to Leon's leaning form. You allowed him to lie down on his flank, before covering him with the blanket.

"Thank you," you heard him mumble negligibly through the other dazed murmurs you couldn't quite understand as well as the rest. You would've been tired, too, after all that drinking. You gently gave him a pat on the head—despite its soft texture, his hair always appeared greasy—ruffling the short, straight locks of hair that adorned his head. You dared to never ask him the colour; the first time you did, he just plainly stated that it was blonde, despite what you thought at the time.

Leon slowly began to let out snores, to which you started frowning, dragging your hand away from his now-sleeping form. He was peaceful; he deserved it. He deserved a good night's rest. Without the sorrow and angst etched into his skin, Leon looked so at rest and like he had not a care in the world.

"Maybe, in another life, you could've been given the life you desired and deserved."

[true-blue-sonic]

35, 43, 74 :3

35. tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

I think Silver is quite a lot different than me! To the point that I often need to watch out I don't write him too much like me, or how I would respond in a situation compared to him, haha. But maybe he's my favourite character because he's quite different than me, though we also have some similarities. I too feel my emotions really intensely, and I can get caught up in them completely and act without thinking. But where I am pretty good at just ending up in Stuck Mode, Silver does something with himself. Like, he might go ponder and think for a few hours, but he always takes action. And that is something I admire! And he's just incredibly bold and brave; I don't recall if he's ever been afraid of anything in the games and Sonic Channel stories🍀 At most, he feels like he's failed to protect the future, and then I also admire that just a few encouraging words are enough again for him to get right back to it. I usually keep mulling about things for weeks on end, haha! And he's just strong, and good at taking action and fighting all the injustices in the world. So those are all things that I really admire about Silver as a character! <3

43. how did writing change you?

I personally cannot read Belong and New Beginnings anymore. I remember I could at the time of publishing, but the writing style for both positively makes me want to explode these days, haha. What changed is that I got a much better grasp on what reads well, I think. I feel like my sentences (though still long) are a lot more legible. Plus, I'm keeping better track of switching up paragraph lengths and sentence lengths. I don't headhop anymore, at all, nor do I have two different characters speaking in one paragraph unless in highly special situations. That aside, Belong and NB both are just endless blocks of text, and I feel like I currently have a much better grasp on making short paragraphs, haha. In a way that makes me feel like my writing is more pleasant to read... but I do also fear that I've gotten a lot more obsessed with how things are written and come across. As in, for Belong and NB I just... wrote, and I didn't worry so much about whether it'd be IC or logical or if it was good writing. These days a lot of my time is spent on all these points in comparison XD And in a way, that does suck the fun out of writing a little bit, or at least it's more stifling than before. But for me, it's very important that things are IC and logical and that the writing is followable, so I'm glad to pay attention to it all the same! ^-^

74. are you a planner, pantser, or planster?

I want to be planner. I end up being someone who endlessly tries to summarise all the chapter I already have to keep track of what events should be referred back to, and yet just can't. Writing summaries, planning things, imagining where things fit before I write them: I just can't do it XD If I have an idea for a scene it's getting dumped wherever in the document, and only as the story progresses along do I really mold the order of things. As it stands, the multi-chapter fics I write do need clear endings: I know how Run To You is going to end, for example (and then with a bit more detail than "Sonic and Silver have fallen in love", haha). I do need to know what I work towards, and then also kinda what the start is, and anything else we figure out along the way here! XD On the one hand, it makes things incredibly chaotic, and most of all really long: I remember from NB that the document eventually began crashing because it was just so big. Word doesn't like 200k documents much. And I had to endlessly reread and recheck the earlier chapters to see what I could call back to in the finale. But at the same time, it's just so much fun! I wouldn't do well with being restrained by a rigid schedule that has every chapter planned out for me. So all in all, this technique works ^-^ It's just a huge chaos, haha!

[gr1evance]

smiles... I would love to hear about your favourite dynamic(s) or relations between characters in any of your stories. if that makes sense

YES uhhmm. i'll just give a few brief summaries of some different dynamics from different stories:

-nix and ronnie in grievance have maybe one of my favorite.. things? going on that i've ever written. they never really got along (just a difference in personalities, nix is pretty loud and can sometimes be abrasive and ronnie is very quiet and reserved) and were prone to disagreements, which only got worse when ronnie started hanging out with nix's best friend a LOT without any explanation that nix knew of. at this point each of them are pretty vocal about their dislike of each other- nix has a very public drunk outburst at ronnie and ronnie isn't that afraid to be kind of a dick in turn though definitely less so than nix was being. and so when nix starts getting manipulated into thinking murder is a good idea.. im sure you can imagine how that goes. i don't want to spoil everything (its so hard not to bc i love these two so much) but i DO have gay art of them on my art blog already so its not like that part's a secret or anything LOL they're not romantically involved in grievance but they are Later :) do you ever hate a guy so much you get convinced you need to kill him and then like a thousand years later you realize it was all a big misunderstanding and you actually have a lot in common and also you have feelings for each other. maybe you had feelings for each other earlier than that but you'll never know

-similarly in grievance and similarly i can't say much because it's heavy spoilers, but while nix and iridectomy never directly interact im always thinking about the fact that they are subtextually siblings. iridectomy's father (the story's antagonist) becomes nix's (horrible) adoptive (terrible) father way after iridectomy's life is over and nix is. kind of expected to be everything they were while being forced to do terrible things for his father figure? he never knew them but he knew this idea of them that he's meant to live up to but in that regard he's a failure. he's too different and he has too many issues and he's not Easy and he's not a Child. he never knew them but they're the entire reason he even exists and also the entire reason everything goes so wrong for him and Also they were just a kid who never deserved what happened. he never knew them but he's their big brother whether he wants to be or not.

-on a lighter note.. i have to mention my starbtesla. they're my FAVORITE dynamic of all time and i AM biased. teslacoil (@apotheoseity's character if i dont make that clear often enough) is captain starburst's husband and they met when starb got kidnapped by the villain organization that tesla works for??? and then starb got kicked out of being kidnapped for being too gay with the lab assistant. they're in love a sickening amount and i really like the way they are together, starb is this really thoughtful and caring excitable hero and tesla has about 5 thoughts a day and 4 of them are about starb and he talks and acts like a cartoon character from a fever dream. sometime in the future they have two kids named skittles and pudding and they're like. exactly the same as they always have been they're just these two kids' weird gay parents where one of them is a famous superhero and the other one eats metal for fun. i feel like i'm not explaining this well but they're adorable together i promise

-circling back around to nix and ronnie, there's AUs of them in my other setting creature feature where like. i don't even know why i made them the way they are but it's constantly entertaining to me. in that au nix (named pigeon here) was turned into a creature called a mimic which are goo monsters that kill and eat people and underneath his old skin he's That. contrail is the first person he ever killed and he got so mad he came back as a ghost to haunt pigeon. so they're both kind of stuck together and they hate each other but they're? kind of gay? they're kind of really gay and obsessed with each other. pigeon constantly just wants to annoy and insult contrail and contrail literally exists to torture him and somehow they're gay about that. they make any social situation terrible because they're always "arguing" about something (contrail is actually arguing, pigeon is just trying to piss him off) and it's awful they're awful. and so funny to me

i have a lot more than this these are just the ones i find the most interesting at this current moment... this also doesn't include characters that aren't mine other than teslacoil just bc i love him too much. theo if you see this and wanna add character dynamics of ours you enjoy feel free LOL i might come back and add more myself eventually too

[nemo-of-house-hamartia]

Not her canon romance, I know, but Aranea/Mephistopheles, if you're willing to indulge me by talking about Hell's hottest DILF.

II.1, II.7, II.10, II.12, II.14

Hello hello and welcome into my asks!! :D Sorry for the delay, I was rather occupied in the previous day with IRL stuff, but omg I couldn't stop thinking about these questions (because while Aranea/Mephisto are technically not the canonical endgame, they were canonically a couple for around a century or so, so OMG I CANNOT WAIT TO ANSWER THESE). So, without further ado, LET'S GO!

1. Who initiated the relationship, and how did they go about it?

Aranea initiated their Warlock/Patron relationship, when she first started to find a way to summon a demon to gain the power she needed, but Mephistopheles was the one that initiated their tryst, determined to get past her wall of icy contempt and hatred for the world and the people around her and seducing her with murmurs of pure comfort for her damaged soul , alongside the promises of every power she could ever just imagine to possess. Aranea tried to resist for some time, but the more time she spent besides Mephisto, the more her hunger for him and his raw power - the only thing that seemed to quell the unconsolable pain that Halim’s death left behind - grew uncontrollable. It was at that moment that she decided to have her own heart frozen and removed, de facto allowing darkness to fill her entirely, as she lost herself in Mephistopheles and his burning desire.

7. What is their relationship with each other's families like?

PECULIAR, TO SAY THE LEAST. Aranea’s family of origin knows *nothing* of what she has done to become a warlock. Heck, they don’t even know that she is a Warlock, to begin with. So they are not aware that Aranea has spent a good part of a century in Cania, consorting with an Archdevil. On Mephisto’s side, instead, things are a tad different.

Raphael is very much aware of the tryst between his father and his favourite “pet”, so to speak, and because of this, he never misses the chance of trying to cajole her or trick her into pursuing all kinds of debauchery, if anything to get back to Daddy Dearest, since he knows her loyalty to her father is unwavering and corrupting her would just be a way for him to kick Mephisto in the shins, metaphorically speaking. However, in the past century, Aranea has learned to play the game from the Master himself, so she goes along with whatever Raphael is planning on doing just to put a spoke in his wheels for the sake of making things more “intriguing”, so to speak. (Mephisto and Aranea do like to see him squirm whenever he plans to just be a little shithead for the sake of it, especially after learning that he is after Karsus’s Crown). On his end, Raphael gets a kick from calling Aranea his “Step-Mom”, knowing that it miffs her to no end. Aranea does have a good relationship with Azriel, whom she actually considers like a daughter, the constant target of Raphael’s unwanted amorous attention and pursuit (I mean, Raphael resembles Daddy Dearest more than he likes to admit), and she does what she can to keep the Cambion away from her and give the poor Tiefling a bit of respite. She enjoys listening to her spontaneous joyous outburst and all her adventures around Faerun, sometimes even following her outside the Nine Hells and accompanying her around, something she would do even more often even more so after Zaynab, her own daughter, joined the family. 

As for Mephisto’s own relationship with Azriel, he acts very much the same way Raphael acts with Aranea, if anything to get back to his son and just teach him a lesson not to be a little shithead.  He doesn’t care much for her but looks at her as some sort of “fun experiment” to take care of in order to get under his son’s skin. It has happened more than once that Aranea had to intervene to save the poor tiefling by convincing the Archdevil to show mercy to her because Raphael is already torturing her enough.

10.What are their parallels, whether in their personalities or their histories? I think that, for a start, the main difference between Mephistopheles and Aranea lies in the extent to which their cruelty and callousness reach: Aranea, while deciding to deprive herself of her own heart and swearing to do whatever it takes to conquer the power needed to exact her revenge, still maintain certain moral boundaries that she is not willing to cross (albeit not as many), while Mephistopheles, in virtue of being an Archdevil, doesn’t share the same piety nor he feels compelled to discern which souls to spare or which to take based on ethic and morality.

That being said, in the century she spent at Mephisto’s side, Aranea has grown more and more disillusioned with humanity (could also be caused by the fact that she spent longer in Baator than in the Mortal Realm) to the point that her own moral boundaries have started to shift and become less rigid compared to when she first created the pact with Mephisto.

In terms of parallels between the two of them, both are creatures of intense temper, despite their calm and collected appearance, both are extremely prone to intense bursts of emotions, albeit Aranea’s are not nearly as frequent nor as intense as the ones of the mercurial Lord of Hellfire, and both can become cruel if pushed. But what truly connects them in an absolute understanding and motivates Mephisto to keep Aranea at his side, is the obsession they have for their goals: Mephisto in his constant pursuit of knowledge and Aranea with her quest for power to fuel her own vendetta against the people in Huzuz that had weaved the plan to destroy her late husband’s reputation and life. It was that glint of obsession in Aranea’s soul, her willingness to go to extreme lengths to obtain what she needed that had brought her to Mephisto’s attention, and the main reason why he was the one to answer her call when she performed the ritual to become a Warlock.

12.Do they hide anything from each other, big or small? Not as much as they’d like to. While they do not share everything that they plan/think about, Mephisto does trust Aranea, if anything because she has never given him a reason not to (and of course, because of their deal). But, while Mephisto does trust Aranea to do his bidding and bring him the souls he needs he is still very much intrigued with her for the length she would go, and trusts her even to let her counsel him on his plan of overthrowing Asmodeus, he still doesn’t see her as an equal, considering that she is still very much a mortal who has exchanged her soul for power and he an Archdevil. On the other hand, Aranea did never truly care about hiding anything from him, because in one way or another, he would find a way to know what he needs to know. However, that started to change the moment she fell for Gale, and she forced herself to be more secretive, if anything for Gale’s sake.

14.What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?

Lemme grab some songs from my playlist for them!!!

Within You - Labyrinth

Fleurs Du Mal - Sarah Brightman

Daze - Poets of the Fall

Hounds to Hamartia - Poets of the Fall

Break the Ice - Britney Spears

Music of the Night - Phantom of the Opera (Ben Lewis version my beloved)

SO! THERE YOU HAVE THEM! THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE QUESTIONS! I ADORED ANSWERING TO THEM (also, please let me know if you received mine. I know that sometimes I send them and they disappear without being delivered :( )

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

Iorveth, Vernon Roche, his bald spot and Emhyr

Yes, this must sound utterly strange. Yesterday, @fandomwarehouse posted their hc about Iorveth seeking revenge on Emhyr because Vernon Roche is going bald in this post. Then, @she-who-drank-vodka-with-cats fueled my sudden interest in writing a story about this with even more hilarious ideas. Anyway, I know I said I have no time and I asked @valandhirwriter to write something, and she did, but so did I. Meaning here's two (very different) stories about Iorveth's assassination attempts on Emhyr – all because Vernon Roche is going bald. This was fun! It's not going on AO3 so ... do your magic, Tumblr!

Sine Qua Non (by @valandhirwriter)

Belletyne had never quite been Emhyr’s favourite celebration, at least not during his tenure in Nilfgaard. It had always reminded him of what he had lost, of things done and gone. Even now, that Belletyne had become the much happier occasion as the Crown Princess’s birthday, Emhyr was tense as he watched the guests mill about the wide areal of the royal gardens. Cirilla moved among them with ease, smiling and exchanging polite words. She was here and there charming her way through the assembled nobility, breaking a few hearts while she was at it. It allowed Emhyr to watch, observe and keep his distance from the general merrymaking. 

Now and then he cast a glance across the flower rondel to where he could see Geralt. Sir Geralt of Rivia, Chevallier de Corvo Bianco made a better figure on these events than one might expect from a former Witcher. The Duchess of Toussaint had done Emhyr an indirect favour by bestowing estate and title on the man - as it allowed for him to be called to court without arousing suspicion. With Emhyr’s… fondness of the man, that was a boon indeed.

And it was why he watched so nervously. Cirilla had insisted that besides inviting her foster father, she also would invite her foster Uncle, another Witcher by the name of Eskel. Emhyr had of course been aware of the man’s existence. He had extensive files on each and every member of the school of the wolf, that had still been living around the time that Cirilla had come into their care. And the man in question had fought in Undvik. Otherwise, he was of no consequence, except that it seemed his daughter remembered him fondly. 

Or Emhyr wished that this was the only consequence there was, if his daughter had a Witcher on hand, who could occasionally take missions from her or act as a body-guard, he’d not deny her, Emhyr had availed himself of Geralt’s help often enough, after all. But there was another reason Eskel was here. Cirilla had decided that she had it and wanted her Uncle and her foster father to stop avoiding each other. And with that, she had thrown a stone into a hornet’s nest. Emhyr knew that Eskel was highly critical of Geralt’s relationship with Emhyr, or of his acceptance of a noble title in the south. And while Geralt rarely cared what others thought of him, and did as he pleased, this was not just some stranger but a kind of older brother. 

Emhyr peered over nervously, how easy could it be that some stern words of the dark Witcher could make Geralt break it off with Emhyr? Decide that it was dishonourable for his kind to be in an… affair with a ruler? The thought made Emhyr’s stomach churn. The two witchers stood in the shadow of a huge dove tree and the conversation appeared tense. Geralt stood leaning back on his heels, arms crossed in front of his chest, and his brother mirrored that posture, both were ready to argue or fight. From the distance it struck Emhyr how similar those two were - of sure, the colouring was different, Geralt was pale, with white hair, and Eskel was dark, bronze tanned and had dark hair, but otherwise, they were similar, body language, the same cat-like movements, even the same over-sharp reactions to their surroundings. 

He wished he could listen in, hear how the conversation went. And yet, he did not want to know. He could imagine how that would go. He is the Emperor of Nilfgaard, the man who had you almost executed, a conqueror with more blood on his hands than any other before him, a coward, a liar, an overall cruel man. He is not worthy of you, Geralt. That’s what his older brother would say, before reminding Geralt of his duties to the school of the wolf and the world as a whole. 

A loud gong announced noon - the hour of the sun - and Cirilla approached Emhyr, casting her foster father a sharp glance. Geralt dutifully left his place and followed her over, Eskel in tow. There as a short gaggle of servants to prepare the goblets for the semi-private blessing of the reborn child - in this case, Cirilla, before the servant approached with a tray of glasses. Emhyr was handed his glass, of course, before the tray was presented to the others. 

“Kaer Morhen toast, dearest Crown Princess?” Eskel suddenly asked, he had a deep, hard voice. “To celebrate your twenty-fifth year and your ascension?”

Emhyr was startled, Ascension was not a concept of Nilfgaard, but familiar. Why was he bringing it up? To his surprise Cirilla beamed at Eskel, taking a glass, and gesturing the two witchers to follow suit. “Trade with me first, Eskel?” She asked, extending the hand with the glass.

Now Emhyr was confused, as he saw his daughter and the foreign Witcher reach around one another’s hand and exchange the glasses. Then Cirilla beamed at Emhyr. “Come, father, it is an old tradition and brings luck,” She said extending her hand.

Emhyr wanted to tell her that an Emperor did not trade glasses, but gave in, what was the harm? They traded glasses, and Cirilla turned to Geralt, while Eskel turned to Emhyr and the ritual was completed before Geralt offered the same trade to Emhyr, and then another time. Emhyr shook his head when the round ended with laughter. “Am I allowed to drink now?” he asked Cirilla a bit tersely. 

She smiled at him. “Of course, father. May the sun illuminate your path.” They all drank. It was a Toussaint Pearl Wine, La Chaire de diable, a very intense vintage. Emhyr frowned, that should not have been served. Why had the cellarer brought this up?

He saw Geralt throw his head back, like in shock, and when he looked at him again, Geralt’s eyes were bleeding black, the same as Eskel’s. The two Witchers did not waste time, moving past Emhyr. At the same moment, a young man in a velvet doublet panicked and raced towards the next exit from the area, only to be caught by one of the soldiers stationed there, grabbing his neck, and quickly restraining him.

The full sequence of events hit Emhyr, the Witchers - and maybe Cirilla - must have detected the poison in the wine, and their inane glass exchanging had made sure the wine ended with the Witchers who were immune against most poisons. His heart skipped. Most poisons. Not all. What if Geralt had imbibed something even more dangerous for a Witcher? “What is the meaning of this?” he asked, his own worry covered by the additional harshness of the voice. 

Cirilla looked to Eskel. “You spotted him,” she said softly.

Eskel pointed to the man in velvet and to another fat noble. “Fat one passed the vial to velvet, velvet dipped the contents into the crystal pitcher from which your Highness and her Imperial father are served,” he said firmly. “By the taste, it is a mix of Ashbloom, foxglove, winter lily, and snow-root. An old elven recipe.” 

And slow acting, Emhyr added in his mind. Very slow acting. It would have meant a tortuous death for him and Cirilla. He cast a worried glance at Geralt, but his lover stood there, watchful, strong, with no signs of discomfort. “Eskel, can you get the name of their employer from them? My Axii never was that strong,” Geralt rasped.

Emhyr wanted to remind him that a confession under mind control was not a confession at all, but Eskel shrugged. “There are better ways,” he said, taking a glass of wine from a shell-shocked servant and adding something - where he got it, Emhyr could not say - to it. The wine became greenish, and after a finger gesture of Eskel, glittered with strange sparks. He went over to the man in velvet, opening his mouth with a hard grip around the jaw and forced the glass’s contents down his throat. He struggled, screamed and then slumped on a bench. Eskel - his eyes still black as the night - looked at him. “They tell you all the time about Witchers and how we breed us little monsters,” he said gravely, “now, there is a taste. You can feel it burn in your already, do you? The pain along the spine, and in your bones. They will start to grow first… to transform you…”

The man gasped. “You cannot do this. I… I am a baron…” 

Eskel shrugged. “Barons, Beggars the substance knows no difference, you are meat and meat changes…”

The man’s hands were shaking, and there were swellings forming at his knuckles. “It begins,” Eskel said softly. “The pain is only moderate now, when the bone spikes break through your flesh, it will be agony… and you will not be able to pass out. More will come out of your spine… your shoulders…” He reached for his side, tossing a small vial up in the air. “It is reversible… but only before the first spike breaks through. You know what can save your life.”

Emhyr watched in a sick fascination, as the man’s fingers swelled further, and his eyes went from fear to anger… to capitulation. “I was hired by an elf…” he rambled, “a former Scoia’tel, Esthelin, he had a compromising letter, that would have incriminated me… I had no choice. He… he waits, for confirmation of the Emperor’s death… at the Three Coroner’s Tavern in the city…” He raised his swollen hands pleadingly. “Now… please… don’t make me a monster.” 

Eskel took the vial and dumped it down the man’s throat, he passed out immediately and the guards took him away. They also had cleared out the shocked guests, to ask further questions to all of them, de Rideaux had taken over there. 

“What did you do to him?” Emhyr asked sharply. “I will not have a baron, not even a guilty one, changed into a monster,” he remembered the quills all too well.

The dark Witcher scoffed. “I added some of your flowering elf-root seeds to the wine, it creates a strong allergic reaction, which leads to swelling and bulges at the joints. Uncomfortable, but essentially harmless. The rest was a sign, a useless one that produces nothing but sparkles.”

The entire threatening house of cards collapsed as Emhyr realised it had been a trick. A menacing trick, underlined by poison-black eyes and legends about the monsters from the North. And the Baron had spilt it all. Emhyr had already gestured to several guards. “Have de Rideaux apprehend the elf immediately.” 

With the celebration cut short, Emhyr returned inside and used the short span in between to speak to Geralt. His eyes were slowly fading back to the familiar gold, and he was tense. “We need to find out what is behind this,” Geralt growled, “that dose could have killed you thrice over,” He stepped closer and touched Emhyr’s shoulders. “This was too close.”

While Emhyr agreed with the principle, he was more worried about Geralt. “What about you? You took the entire dose meant for me?” He wanted to fuss about his Witcher, just a little, to make sure he was alright.

“There never was danger for me,  Ashbloom, foxglove, winter lily, and snow-root are all plants Witchers will use for food.”

Relief, sweet, painful relief exploded in Emhyr’s chest. Of course, that was why Eskel had recognized the taste, he was used to eating these plants. Eating poisonous plants. Without thinking he reached for Geralt, pulling him close into a chaste, but warm, kiss. “You will refrain from shocking me like that,” he added, trying to not show how relieved he was. 

Geralt arched an eyebrow at him quizzically, maybe the strongest way it showed he was worried about the assassination attempt. They were disrupted by the news that the elf in question had been caught and brought to the palace dungeons. “Any hope the same trick will work on him?” Emhyr asked.

His lover shook his head. “No one beats an elf at botany. I need a word with Eskel… Vesemir taught him some mean trick, and I say: mean as in brutal, on how to get the truth from an elf. Takes a lot of control in sign magic,” 

Emhyr chose to accompany Geralt, much as he did not fancy getting told he was not worthy of a certain white-haired witcher, he wanted to stay close to Geralt. Eskel listened to what Geralt had to say and shrugged. “I can do it - be warned while bloodless it is cruel. Very cruel. I can try words to soften him up before going all in, but if he is committed it will mean breaking him down.”

“And still bloodless?” Emhyr asked, he had seen enough interrogations to know how it looked, and where it led.

“Bloodless, there won’t be a mark on him,” Eskel cast him a sharp glance. And the glance said that he was doing this for Geralt, not for Emhyr. 

The elf had been secured in the dungeon, tied to an iron bar. He had been stripped of weapons and armour and spat at them when they came in. Emhyr remained in the shadows, just willing to watch. “I’d usually be merciful with you,” he drawled, “put a few pins under fingernails and get the truth. Even the mages swear that five pins inserted under the nails break the strongest compulsion to keep silent. Works directly into the subconscious or something… would be much less messy.” He seemingly cleaned his hand with a rag.

“But as you committed a crime against his majesty, someone wants to do this the hard way.” He walked up to the elf, fingers lightly touching the ear tips.

Emhyr could see the elf freeze, the touch was so light, it could barely be felt, but suddenly there was fear in the elf’s eyes. “Awww,” Eskel mockingly cooed. “Now you see… all it takes is your anatomy. Even a human, knowing how your eartips work, could do some things to you, but a witcher, controlling the vibrations of aard… there is no limit.” 

He did not move, Emhyr could not even see something, there was no visible touch, but the elf began to spasm, winding in a fierce wave of… lust? His body convulsing. Eskel held him there for less than a minute before removing his fingers. “Just a light one, for starters…” he said, “pain, pleasure, happiness… there is no feeling that cannot be stimulated in those ears of yours, even love. Where shall I take you? So much pain, that you curse your own mother for ever giving your father that first kiss? Or maybe lust? Make you want until you beg all the guards in this hellhole to take you? Love maybe… make you overwhelmingly set on this dungeon’s chief interrogator. He is even good looking for a d’hoine….” 

The elf panted and spat on the ground. “You can kill me, like your master is killing Ivoreth’s d’hoine. Go on, Witcher…”

Emhyr cast a confused glance at Geralt. “Which lover?” he asked softly. 

Eskel must have picked up on it. “Whom is my master killing?” he asked, almost caressing the elf’s ear tips. Emhyr saw the elf shudder in fear. How much control could be gained over an elf via this method? How much had they to fear being manipulated through their own anatomy? He had never heard of the secret before, but the demonstration had been clear. 

“Ivoreth’s d’hoine… Vernon. Your Emperor had him poisoned with some sickness.” The elf growled. “Just like him, use the man first and then dispose of him when he finds a little happiness.”

“Being happy is never advisable in Nilfgaard,” Eskel replied, and Emhyr saw the elf’s shudder, not knowing what feeling Eskel had just incited him. “But what sickness is this… what is happening to Roche?”

“He… he is sick. His hair falls out, it changes colour…” 

Eskel let go of the elf and walked around him. “Changes like this?” he pulled a few pale streaks from his own hair. 

The elf nodded. “But it falls out, it gets thinner and thinner and…”

“He is getting grey and losing his hair?” Eskel shook his head. “And because of that, you wanted to assassinate the Emperor of Nilfgaard? Why?”

“This is his doing, and if he kills Ivoreth’s love, then he will not live to either.” 

Eskel ran his hand through his dark hair. “In the kingdom of fools, you squirrels are all Emperors,” he growled, leaving the cell. 

Outside the dungeon, Geralt looked at Emhyr. “You didn’t poison Roche, did you?”

“Why would I?” Emhyer was still slightly shaken by the revelation. “It would be damaging and put Temeria into needless unrest. Though why Ivoreth would overreact like that…”

“Sine qua non,” Eskel said. “That without not - the one thing we cannot be without. And Ivoreth now comes face to face with the pain of loving a human. He will watch him grow old and die, while he lives on almost unchanged. When he realises what happens it will get worse.” 

Geralt had gone pale, the words might hit closer to home than he liked. “But… there is no need to kill the elves for this. Give them the information and maybe something to restore Roche’s hair a little…”

Eskel scoffed. “And the next time Roche shows frailty, the same will happen again. Humans are frail and short-lived. Ivoreth never considered that, much like you, brother. Wailia’s tears might be a solution, though Vesemir would turn in his grave if we resurrected that knowledge.”

Emhyr cast the witcher a sharp glare. “I should prefer you not take up the snake oil trade, Wailia’s tears are as much a myth, as Amritsar or the golden Elixir of dreams.”

“They exist,” Eskel and Geralt exchanged a glance. “They need some unusual ingredients - drowner spit, dragon teeth, piss of a royal gryphon - the good stuff. We might not even have to tell Ivoreth, brew it up, send it to him with his elf here as a “cure”, with a warning. The Empire retains its nasty image, Roche will be around a while longer, and all is well that ends well.”

Emhyr was about to answer when Geralt left his side and walked up to his brother. “What about the blood? You are just so beyond the line…” 

Eskel shrugged. “If it doesn’t work, I know where to find someone who still is strong enough, brother,” he replied. “But that’s not what you want to ask, is it? You want me to make more.”

It was a strange dynamic between them, a mix of disapproval and worry, and a mix of misunderstanding and care. Emhyr could not truly translate it. “Sine qua non,” Geralt said softly. “I never understood what Vesemir or you meant by that… now I do. And…”

“You don’t want to lose him,” Eskel ran his hand through his dark hair. “Alright, you give me a week, and you make sure that Emperor survives all other elven heroics. And there will be more. Then we talk.” He stepped past his brother and cast a sharp glance at Emhyr. “I’ll say it only once - you hurt my little brother, you harm him, and it’s my blades that you need to worry about.” 

It was a strange moment, usually, Emhyr would have rebuked such bluntness, but suddenly he felt elated. Because whatever else it may mean, it also meant acceptance for what he and Geralt were and might become. It was a chance and one he would grasp with both hands.

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

The Thing About Iorveth, Vernon Roche and Emhyr (by me, @do-androids-dream-ao3acc, yes I have no title for this)

Geralt became suspicious at the second assassination attempt, Emhyr only at the third. As far as that was concerned, Vizima turned out to be a real viper's nest – no pun intended, because witchers, especially vipers, had nothing to do with it. Geralt quipped, however, that they also had a reason for such attacks. Emhyr did not find that funny. 

This whole situation was quite surreal. Geralt came to Vizima more often; Emhyr had not yet left the north, as if he still had to mend fences, including with his own daughter. The latter had agreed to take up her inheritance, but she had set a peculiar condition: until the emperor would retreat to Nilfgaard, Geralt was to act as her advisor. It was a rather absurd proposal, which Geralt flatly rejected, saying that his dislike of politics was common knowledge. Whereupon Emhyr, of all people, had reminded him of his involvement in the death of Radovid. 

In general, Emhyr. Where was this strict guy, who had once demanded that Geralt be bathed and dressed in black clothes before he had forbidden him to speak, yet now… Now he was still impatient, bossy, and quite demanding, but there was Ciri, and for some reason he had nothing, absolutely nothing to counter her with. Ciri was a force of nature, and Geralt found it quite appropriate that Emhyr was quite helpless in the face of it. 

So Geralt was now somehow a member of Vizima’s court, feeling like an exotic exhibit in the showcase of an auction house. At least until the assassination attempts occured. The first one was almost ridiculous, a small explosive box smuggled among the cargo – whoever had placed it there only revealed they had no idea Emhyr did not even get to see such things. Emhyr claimed assassination attempts occurred almost daily in Nilfgaard, and that this one neither surprised him nor did he think it was original. Geralt thought he sounded almost proud. Perhaps the man had to keep convincing himself of his worth by withstanding attacks on his life, what did he know. 

The second time was about a delivery to the kitchen. This time it was more sophisticated – Geralt later learned that the local supplier had taken a bribe. In this way, poisonous plants had found their way into the kitchen. Something must have gone wrong here, because the cook had recognized them immediately. Geralt found the composition strange: psilocybe mushroom, banewart and a branch of bohun upas, a tree with poisonous sap. All these plants resembled non-poisonous ones, but were easy to recognize for the trained eye. Incidentally, they grew in dense forests, which Geralt also told Emhyr, who did not care much.

"I leave the art of botany to those who know more about it," he had said, and he had not even let Ciri interfere, who had already reacted to the first assassination attempt with concern. 

The third time, however, Emhyr's cool facade crumbled, as Geralt noticed, not without satisfaction. Emhyr had introduced a (in Geralt's eyes superfluous, insecure and somehow silly) gesture in Vizima, which consisted of him and Ciri conducting public negotiations, weather permitting, in the palace's spacious courtyard. Much later, Geralt learned that this had come about mainly because Emhyr found the palace ugly, dark and kind of creepy, which in turn was somehow cute. Ciri seemed to prefer being outdoors anyway, and so did he, of course. So there Geralt stood, one step behind the old and the new ruler, always trying to stifle a yawn and at the same time keeping an eye out for danger. 

On that particular day, an arrow made it very close to Emhyr, an arrow from a bow that was later discovered near the outer wall. However, no trace of the archer was found. Emhyr had the bow shown to him, and he remarked, "This looks familiar."

Geralt was surprised, but also somehow pleased. He had now had many weeks of forced study with Emhyr, and had learned much in the process. Emhyr was extremely well-informed on certain subjects (though mostly politics, military matters, and espionage), and on some things he was a walking encyclopedia. He could quote Ciri's origin up to Lara Dorren by heart, had peculiar knowledge about the viper-witchers and knew very well about magic, despite an understandable aversion to it. 

Somehow, Geralt liked that. Apart from insane rulers like Radovid, he had known those who were downright stupid, those who farted half the day into their throne’s pillow and seemed to have more straw in their heads than the farmers on the fields those king’s and queens owned. Emhyr was indeed literate, and interesting beyond that, which admittedly made Geralt a little uncomfortable. He found that bad deeds were not to be outweighed by aristocratic features, a mysterious nature, and a pleasant smell. 

And yet he liked it, which of course he kept to himself. He also liked that Emhyr had been able to identify the carvings on the bow – it was clearly an elven weapon. 

"Maybe even Scoia'tael," he thoughtfully added, whereupon Emhyr became pensive. 

The fourth attack plunged the court into great chaos. A perfectly normal and hitherto quiet (i.e. boring) day of audiences was nearing its end, when a great roar sounded and finally the doors to the throne room were pushed open with force. Something – one could not describe it otherwise because of the confusion and its speed – flitted through the room, a tangle from which arrows occasionally escaped. In the end, it turned out to be a band of elves, Scoia'tael in fact, who made a lot of noise, but were basically only five men. 

Emhyr's soldiers easily put down the small uprising, and yet one managed to get within a hair's breadth of Emhyr. Had it not been for Geralt, who had kept track in all the chaos and noticed that one man of this group had broken away. However, he was not the only one: the equally striving and attentive Impera captain had almost caught the elf when Geralt hastily shouted, "Stop! Let him live!"

After a bit of a scuffle, they actually managed to pin the elf down, and Geralt and Emhyr both shouted at the same time, "Iorveth?"

Indeed. They had captured the famous elf leader, whom neither Emhyr nor Geralt had ever believed they would see again – albeit for different reasons and with different feelings. The mess had somehow ruffled Emhyr’s hair; a curl had stolen from what was actually a well coiffed, severe hairstyle and hung down into his forehead. Geralt found this very inappropriate, because it reminded him of earlier times and caused a feeling in his stomach as if he had just drunk a good liquor – only without the intoxication, and that was somehow strange. In any case, Emhyr claimed that he needed to recover from this mess, although Geralt believed that the man was meeting with his intelligence chief in the background to exchange information. Some time later, Emhyr – again, quite odd – came to Geralt personally and asked him to be present at Iorveth's interrogation. 

"You have a history together," he said. "Maybe he'll be more likely to tell you what this is all about than my torturers."

"I would think that’s clear even without torture," Geralt returned, "he's obviously not well disposed towards you, after all, you took advantage of him and then tried to have him executed."

"No man can undo his past," Emhyr replied cryptically, "and what was logical at an earlier time will seem cruel in many a history book. Be that as it may, it doesn't explain why he shows up years later to exact his revenge."

That was true, though. Admittedly, the Scoia'tael had not benefited much from peacetime so far. Emhyr had abolished all reprisals against otherlings in the North, but the execution of his orders still left much to be desired. It might be that Iorveth simply wanted to finally act out his deep resentment against Emhyr. However, it turned out that Geralt was quite wrong with this thought. After they had exchanged some typical rudeness, which in the case of Iorveth had been combined with much shouting, clamoring and fidgeting, Geralt demanded to know what the problem was. 

"Emhyr is the problem, isn't that obvious?" spat the elf. 

"Well," Geralt returned calmly, "I'm the last one who wants to play the diplomat here, but why are you coming up with this now? The war is over, and while conditions are certainly not ideal..."

"What?" Iorveth interrupted him, confused, "Who said it was about that?"

"It isn’t? Well, why then, if not out of a grudge against Emhyr?"

"Oh, you bet your ass I have a grudge," Iorveth scoffed. "Are you familiar with the concept of blood ties, Geralt?"

Geralt nodded, and then – maybe for old times' sake, or maybe because he finally had to get this off his chest, Iorveth told him everything. 

Later, Geralt met with Emhyr, who had insisted on a private parley, without Ciri, without his curious valet, and without his soldiers. He was really acting strangely lately. 

"We need a sorceress," Geralt said, "or a Ban Ard mage for all I care, if you have one handy."

"As it happens, I don't," Emhyr grumbled, uncomfortable with the thought of magic. "Why? Did the elves get involved with magic? Do they possess an artifact that could harm me or Cirilla? Do they have a mage at their service?"

"Nothing like that," Geralt said, and then he started laughing. 

For a while he enjoyed Emhyr's wry look. Somehow the man had really changed. In the past, he would have had him thrown out right away; after all, laughter was not a pastime that was particularly popular at this court. Emhyr had become more patient, even with Geralt.

"If you would have the kindness to explain this to me?"

"We need a strong hair restorer, and it must work quickly, preferably immediately. An ordinary one could be prepared by any alchemist, of course, but I have told Iorveth that only magic can help here. He believed it."

"A... hair restorer."

Emhyr's brows seemed to creep into his hairline. Geralt had never seen the man so confused. It was kind of touching. 

"Yes. What I'm about to tell you absolutely has to stay between us, because if this thing is going to work, nobody can learn about this. Watch out. Iorveth thinks you're causing Vernon Roche undue stress and discomfort."

"Vernon Roche?"

Emhyr pushed his lower lip forward as if he were an offended child. 

"The thought of me making this creep uncomfortable pleases me, frankly. I am surprised, however, that Iorveth does not feel the same way. If I remember correctly, the man pursued him mercilessly, and for a long time."

"That's right. But you see, sometimes old enemies can discover commonalities they weren't aware of before."

He looked at Emhyr, and somehow that warm feeling in his stomach was back. It felt like he had eaten something very good, or watched a particularly beautiful sunset. His own words echoed in him, and he thought, good heavens. Is this really true?

"You mean, people who previously rejected each other can see that their reasons no longer hold water?"

It was a strange formulation, Geralt thought. But he also thought that Emhyr was looking at him with great interest, at least if he interpreted the glint of those honey eyes correctly. 

"Yes," Geralt replied slowly, as something inside of him tugged at his heartstrings, "or even a human and an elf. Anyway... I hardly dare say it, but apparently Vernon Roche and Iorveth have grown closer."

"Oh," went Emhyr. "Do you think that's bad?"

Geralt looked at him in surprise. The question was unusual. Did Emhyr really want to know his opinion on such a delicate question? Well, he had actually done his homework – as far as Geralt knew, same-sex relationships were not particularly uncommon in Nilfgaard and nowhere near as frowned upon as in the North. 

"Well, I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that Vernon Roche and Iorveth, of all people.... But basically, no."

Their eyes met, and Geralt wondered if Emhyr had ever had the same feeling in his stomach that he had now. Whether he had ever given this feeling space or a name, like Vernon Roche and his Scoia’tael leader, who apparently were a thing now.

Emhyr cleared his throat noisily and continued, "All right, so the two are a pair. I’ve heard stranger things in my life. Now what do I have to do with that?"

"Well," Geralt said with relish, "you're obviously the cause of Vernon Roche's distress. I mean, of course Roche is not happy with the developments. His dream of Temeria – well, it was almost manic, and as for resentment, he probably has an even bigger one than Iorveth. In any case, Iorveth describes him as stressed. Because... the man loses hair. And the ones he has left would be white, Iorveth says."

Geralt grinned broadly, but Emhyr grimaced.

"Just the thought of that guy taking off his chaperon to show off his lice-ridden mane to anyone... wait. Let me do the math... That sounds like a natural progression."

"Exactly. Vernon Roche is in his prime, and apparently he's going bald. But you know what? Elves don't get bald heads. They never lose their hair, and it doesn't turn white until they're very, very old."

"Most Scoia'tael don't live that long," Emhyr followed, and Geralt nodded.

"Exactly. That means Iorveth doesn't know what this hair loss means for Roche. He thinks it's due to stress, he must have heard once that it can be a reason for all kinds of symptoms in humans. I've essentially confirmed it."

"But why?"

"Very simple. He wouldn't have believed the real explanation. The guy is obviously crazy about Vernon Roche, although I don't understand why, but to each his own. Furthermore, Iorveth now considers the man his blood brother, which is an important concept among the Scoia'tael – it means preserving the other's honor at all costs, protecting and caring for him. And one thing is clear: these assassinations will never stop, because in his opinion it's your fault, and there are still a lot of Scoia'tael out there who follow Iorveth. So I made him a peace offering."

"Which is?"

"Well, I've maintained that you can't officially make reparations to the Blue Stripes or the Scoia'tael, but would be quite willing, in order to keep the peace, to recognize past services."

"You did what?"

Emhyr's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. 

"Emhyr, listen to me. This is an ingenious and simple solution. You've been siccing your advisors on me for weeks to teach me the basics of diplomacy. Can't you see I'm doing just that?"

Emhyr swallowed. Even his Adam's apple looked elegant. Was that what Vernon Roche saw in Iorveth, and vice versa? A person, not an enemy image? What a thought. 

"What exactly did you promise him?" he asked cautiously. 

"Nothing but a hair restorer," Geralt grinned. "I told him you were willing to invest considerable cost in an experienced sorceress or mage to restore Vernon Roche. In return, Iorveth agrees to refrain from further attacks."

"Surely Vernon Roche will see through this nonsense."

"He would. But we will, of course, instruct the sorceress or mage to keep it secretive – which also means that Iorveth will have to try to administer the stuff to Vernon in secret. Roche mustn't know about it, because otherwise it won't work, I've told him that."

"It's a devious plan," Emhyr admitted after a moment's thought.

"Love drives people to do strange things," Geralt replied, lowering his eyes.

"All right, I agree," Emhyr finally said. "I'll have a sorceress come and make a hair restorer for Vernon Roche. I can't believe I just said that."

"Of course," Geralt said slowly, "as long as you have Iorveth in your power, there could be more attacks, after all, the Scoia'tael will miss their leader."

"You're not seriously suggesting I release the man after half the court witnessed him pounce on me," Emhyr protested. "It will already seem like a strange act of mercy if I pardon him later, all without anyone knowing anything about a hair restorer."

"That's not what I'm saying at all. But... I should probably stay close to your side for the time being. I know the Impera are capable guys and all, but I’m a witcher, and I may know some more tricks… I mean, if it's all right with you."

Geralt felt like he was stammering. Emhyr, however, fixed his eyes on him, honey and amber and a hint of hazelnut, and he nodded.

"I think I would like that."

[desertfangs]

For some reason you feel like the right person to ask about this (probably because of your fic where Daniel volunteers to manage Lestat'smusical comeback lol), but if the Armand bed pile (plus anyone else you have thoughts on) was a band, who would be in each role?

Lestat as lead singer, obviously. I feel like Louis has broody, 'bass guitarist who seems ready to drop out the band at any point but is a fan favourite for his mysterious and dark looks' vibes

But should Daniel be drums or keyboard 🤔 and I'm really unsure about where Armand himself should be

Also, not a traditional bed pile member, but I do want to suggest Bianca as another possible band member, either guitar or drums maybe?

Idk, I've just been imagining all the touring drama (imagine locking this lot up in a tour bus for months on end!), the dramatic and theatrical performances, how completely unmanageable they would be. The Vampire Lestat turned up to 11

Oh this is a fun question! I think you could ask everyone to build their own The Vampire Lestat reunion tour band from the vampire cast and everyone's answers would be different but I'll do my best. I'm just gonna use whoever might be at Trinity Gate when Lestat has this wild idea.

As you said, Lestat is the lead singer. That's his thing. He's the front man and he does the vocals.

I think you're right that Louis would be the bassist. He has dark, quietly brooding bassist energy especially with his hair long so it could drape over face. Louis would have his own groupies after a single show.

Armand would do lead guitar, because he'd refuse to take a backseat and he'd often try to steal the show with long solos. He and Lestat would probably fight backstage over him trying to take over certain songs, which would lead to them disappearing into a dressing room "to work things out" and coming out with their clothes all rumpled.

This means Daniel can do drums. I think he'd be good at them, even if though he might get excited sometimes and do a little "ba-dum-cha!" after Lestat says something that could be taken as a joke but maybe isn't meant to be. (Lestat will glare at him and Daniel will promise not to do it again, but he will.)

I'm also going to veer left here and add Sybelle on keyboard. The original band didn't have a keyboard I think it would add something and she'd be that keyboardist who doesn't speak but answers only in music if addressed.

Since Sybelle is there, Benji can work the merch table. He's probably not a bad sales person. And Marius can bounce between the merch table and backstage, acting as the haggard over-worked manager who's trying to keep everything in check and make sure the show goes on even when Lestat refuses to do a soundcheck (he can sub Daniel in for that!) or Louis refuses to come out of his dressing room in the sequined outfit Lestat is insisting he wear. A lot of this will be Marius solving problems, I imagine, but they'll play a few solid shows.

People will ask for autographs and think it's a fun tribute to Lestat's music and books, and never think these are the real actual vampires since of course the vampire are not real, and obviously this isn't the original Lestat. Except for one or two true believers who post videos on TikTok comparing their cell phone photos of Lestat at the show to footage of him from MTV and insisting it's the same guy and he hasn't aged a day.

Oh and Bianca is going to play the tambourine.

[kimbappykidding]

Part One Here

Tagged: @iwillgotoheavenforyou

You and Sehun fell into a pattern of hooking up whenever you were over and it was a lot of fun! Neither of you had defined the relationship meaning you didn't have to think about it too much but one thing was for sure, now you'd pretty much be found in Sehun's bed not Chanyeol's. You figured this was just a physical thing that would fade with time but it didn't. As Sehun didn't grow tired of you, you realised he really must've wanted you for a while. He could be so passionate with you and you often had to force him to wait until you reached his room before starting anything because otherwise he got too caught up in it and claimed he didn't care who saw. You liked how beautiful and desired he made you feel and couldn't believe a guy that looked like him was weak for you.

You were also surprised by how your feelings for him grew too. Afterwards, the two of you would talk for hours just tangled up in one another. You learned not only was Sehun hot, but he was also sweet, funny and rather endearing. His looks were really deceiving and he actually had a great personality under that god-like physique. He was one of the funniest people you’d ever met and the way he told stories was one of your favourite things. So it was safe to say it wasn't just physical for you anymore and Sehun seemed to feel that way too. You'd go out for meals after work or go to the cinema, bowling etc. He'd even been to yours a few times and said how much he liked it because it was just the two of you. You spent a whole weekend there together just captivated by one another the whole time. Still, neither of you asked what this was but the way Sehun would look at you sometimes made you feel so special. You realised you were falling for him and that worried you for two reasons.

One. all the time you'd known Sehun he'd never had a steady relationship. What was different now?

Two. Chanyeol.

Throughout all of this Chanyeol had been quieter than usual. From the very first morning after you hooked up you felt something shift and things were never quite the same. You still saw him often but now split the time evenly between him and Sehun. You even noticed that if you mentioned Sehun when you were with Chanyeol he'd go all quiet and change the subject. You had no idea what was wrong and getting nowhere when you asked Chanyeol, you turned to Sehun instead. But would Sehun tell you the truth? That your best friend was acting this way because he was in love with you?

You explained how Chanyeol had been acting to Sehun one night and when you finished Sehun was looking at you with a funny expression on his face. You frowned "what's that look for?". Sehun laughed "you seriously don't know?". "Don't know what?" you asked and he shook his head. "Okay I only didn't tell you because I thought you knew but Y/n Chanyeol has feelings for you". You blinked taking it in before you laughed "no he doesn't! We're just friends". Sehun shook his head "that doesn't mean he doesn't want to be more with you". "But why would he never ask me out then?" you asked. "Maybe because you tell everyone you meet that you're just friends" Sehun said "or how it's quite clear there's nothing romantic between you, at least from your side?". "From my side?" you asked and Sehun paused. You noticed the way his eyes widened slightly before he looked at you "well are you attracted to him?". "He's a very good-looking man" you said and Sehun smirked "that didn't answer my question. Do you want him? Could you imagine doing with him what we just did?". You paused and shook your head. Sehun nodded "he knows that and that's why he never told you. It's like how I never approached you until I knew you liked me. You're an expressive person Y/n and it's quite obvious what you do or don't want". You went quiet thinking "that must be horrible for him". Sehun shrugged "well he appreciates your friendship so it's better than not having you in his life at all". You frowned turning to Sehun "but does he ever seem upset? Why hasn't he tried to move on with someone else?'. Sehun shrugged "well he never discusses you with any of us, trust me we've tried but he shuts it down immediately. So we really have no idea if he pines after you or not. As for dating someone else I'm not sure either. I always figured he was just waiting to see if you changed your mind about him but maybe now he'll see that's not going to happen". You nodded "yeah hopefully...". Sehun frowned watching you "are you okay?". You nodded "yeah I just feel bad for him". Sehun shook his head "you're too kind. It's not your fault you don't like him back". You nodded "I know" but you couldn't help but wonder...did you like Chanyeol that way?

He didn't make you feel weak at the knees like Sehun did. When Sehun asked if you could picture yourself being with Chanyeol the answer was no...but a few months ago you might've answered that about Sehun. You and Chanyeol got on so well, if you could have that emotional connection with a partner it would be amazing. However, you and Sehun had the physical part nailed and the emotional part was growing more and more every day. You just couldn't work out who was the bigger risk Chanyeol or Sehun.

When you woke up the next morning you felt just as confused and decided to take some time away from them both to think. You told Sehun work would be crazy soon so you couldn't see him for the next week or so. Sehun nodded but you weren't sure if he believed your excuse.

A week later still things weren't any clearer and you were at a loss for what to do. "I noticed you haven't been round to Sehun or Chanyeol's recently" your friend said sensing you were anxious about something and you nodded. "Taking a break from them?" she asked and you frowned "kind of choosing between them actually". "Really?" she asked "I thought you were happy with Sehun?". You nodded "I was but then Sehun told me Chanyeol has feelings for me and it got me wondering if I do feel anything for him". "And do you?" she asked and you frowned "I'm still working on that". "Working on it, isn't it something that's there or not?". You frowned "well I feel like I owe it to Chanyeol to really make sure there's nothing there after all our years of friendship". Your friend frowned "Y/n you don't owe Chanyeol anything and if you don't feel anything for him that way there's nothing you can do". You sighed "but I feel bad...I had no idea all this time and now with Sehun...". "How do you feel about Sehun?" she asked and you blushed. She smiled "well that answers the question for me. You like him so go for him". You blushed "I do like Sehun and it's just so unexpected. I never thought I'd actually fall for him and I didn't mean for it to happen or to hurt Chanyeol". "Of course not" your friend agreed "you can't help how you feel and Chanyeol gets that. You owe it to yourself to be happy so go get Sehun". "Even if it's a big risk?" you asked "he's never had a full-time relationship in his whole life". "There's a first for everything, maybe he was just waiting for you this whole time?" she asked and you smiled "maybe". "There's only one way to find out" she replied and threw your car keys to you.

____

Tonight the guys were actually throwing a party to mark their debut as luck would have it. You'd told Sehun you couldn't come but thought it'd be a nice surprise if you just arrived. So you parked up and walked inside. The door was wide open and you looked around for anyone you recognised and spotted Kai. "Y/n!" he said stopping abruptly. "Hi Kai" you said and he nodded to you "hey Y/n...D.O. look it’s Y/n" and he pulled the older boy next to him. Hey D.O., is Sehun here?" you asked "I need to speak to him". Kai and D.O. paused looking between one another "erm he's pretty drunk" Kai said and you smiled "that's fine". The two exchanged another look and you began to get confused when you spotted Sehun inside behind them. He was in the living room dancing and had a huge smile on his face. You called Sehun's name but he didn't hear you. You moved forwards and got a proper view of him. He was dancing with some girl, his hands low on her waist. You froze mid-shout and saw him lean into her and whisper something before kissing her neck. The kiss was slow and lingering and when he looked up he saw you. "Oh shit..." you saw him mutter and the girl followed his gaze. "Who is she?" she asked but you were already storming away.

D.O. and Kai went after you but you fell into Chanyeol of all people who'd been coming the other way. "Y/n...are you okay?” he asked spotting immediately you weren't. "Sehun..." you said crying and Chanyeol nodded "come on" and took you to his room for some privacy.

Once there you explained what happened and Chanyeol tried to comfort you but your brain was spinning. You felt so stupid for thinking a playboy like Sehun would be loyal. You supposed he must've been sleeping with other girls the entire time you'd been falling for him and felt so humiliated. You had a perfect guy like Chanyeol under your nose this entire time and never noticed? What was wrong with you? "Y/n?" Chanyeol said calling your name and you turned to him deciding Sehum meant nothing to you now.

"Sehun told me about your feelings for me" you said and Chanyeol paused "what?". "Sehun told me you like me. Is it true?". Chanyeol blushed "y/n I don't think this is the best time...". "Is it true?" you asked and Chanyeol paused "I don't know what he said exactly but yes I have feelings for you". You looked at him for a few seconds before kissing him. Chanyeol was surprised and pulled away "Y/n you don't want this". "Yes I do" you argued and Chanyeol shook his head "no you're just upset with Sehun, you don't want me". "Yes I do" you said "I want to forget. I want someone to make me feel loved and to never make me think of him ever again. I want you to be that person" you said. Chanyeol sighed "Y/n are you sure?". "I'm sure" you nodded "I want you". Chanyeol had been waiting years to hear you say those words for ages, so after checking once more he kissed you back. Things started progressing quickly but not because you were passionate, more because you were in a rush. You quickly started removing clothing and pulling Chanyeol towards the bed. You were getting more and more manic and when you could get Chanyeol's shirt off you began to groan in frustration, tearing up. Chanyeol caught your hands and held them "Y/n stop" he said and you sighed so annoyed at everything. "I'm so sorry" you said and burst into tears. Chanyeol nodded and hugged you to his chest. "It's okay Y/n" and hugged you as you cried.

Meanwhile, Sehun was in a heavy drunken sleep dead to the world. After he'd seen you he tried to follow but was too drunk. He stumbled and fell and Lay and Chen caught him. They'd seen everything and comforted Sehun who was very emotional and a little hurt from the fall. He wanted to talk to you but he was a mess so they got him cleaned up and into bed. He eventually fell asleep once he stopped crying.

Suho watched over him anxiously and when Sehun woke up in the morning to find Suho asleep he chuckled. He couldn't remember anything and supposed he must've got pretty wild last night if Suho had to sleep beside him. He knocked the older boy, waking Suho up. Sehun smiled "I feel like shit what happened?". Suho paused "You don't remember?". Sehun felt his stomach drop at the way he said that "what happened?".

Moments later Sehun burst into Chanyeol's room despite Suho's protest. "Where is she?" he asked seeing you weren't in the room. "She went home" Chanyeol said and Sehun went to leave when something caught his eye. He walked closer to the bed and found your bra tangled in his quilt. "Then why is her underwear here?" he asked "did you sleep with her?" Sehun asked angrily his voice rising. "Who cares if I did?" Chanyeol asked just as angrily "you cheated on her and clearly don't care for her as I do!". "Yes I do and I actually had the guts to do something about it. She was only with you because she was mad at me. She doesn't want you" Sehun said and Chanyeol erupted "don't you think I know that?" he yelled silencing everything.

I know she only kissed me because you hurt her. I know she only did it because she wanted to get back at you. Does that make you feel better about what you did?". Sehun stared, anxiously waiting for Chanyeol to explain how far things had gone between you and with a sigh Chanyeol told him. "...and she stopped because of you. Because I wasn't you" Chanyeol said and Sehun looked down feeling guilty. "Come on let's go" D.O. said to Sehun and he nodded leaving. Suho lingered in the doorway with Baekhyun who came closer "Chanyeol are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?". He shook his head and Baekhyun went to speak when he shook his head "I just want to be left alone". Baekhyun nodded and left the room.

Once Sehun reached his room he rang you but you didn't pick up "okay" he said and grabbed his car keys. "There's no way you're driving" D.O. said and Sehun tossed him his keys "well you take me then because I'm seeing Y/n as soon as possible so I can explain what happened". "No offence but what are you going to say?" Xiumin asked "I know you weren't official but she's clearly upset" and Sehun signed. "You know Y/n's not been around recently? The night before she left I told her Chanyeol liked her. She didn't know and her reaction was...weird. I could tell it affected her and the next day she told me she would be busy with work for a while. I thought she dumped me and was just waiting an appropriate amount of time to date Chanyeol. Everything I'd always feared was coming true and I need a way to forget... but apparently, I was wrong. She hadn't ended things and she came to see me" he said his voice trailing off "so I know it's hopeless but I have to try to get her back. I really like her and I've never felt this strongly before so I have to get her back I just have to!". D.O. nodded "come on let's go" and Sehun sighed in relief and rushed after him.

15 minutes later Sehun was outside your house. His head was pounding and he felt crap but he knew it'd all be better if he got you back. You opened the door after a few knocks looking pretty tired too. Your eyes were red and Sehun felt so guilty "Y/n please let me explain everything" he said and you shook your head "I clearly thought we were something we weren't and found out the hard way. I don't know what else there is to say". "Everything and I'm not giving up on this until I do so please let me". You let Sehun inside and he launched into it immediately.

"Y/n I thought you dumped me" Sehun said and you frowned "what? How? Why?". "I saw your face when I told you about Chanyeol. The shocked expression and the curiosity" Sehun explained and you couldn't deny that. "Then when you asked for space I thought that must be your way of telling me. I thought I'd screwed up telling you Chanyeol wanted you and now you wanted him and were just waiting an appropriate amount of time to move on. I was distraught because I've fallen for you Y/n. I didn't know what to do and so I decided to throw myself into my old life. I was such an idiot and I'm so sorry please believe me".

You blinked and tried to think. You did believe Sehun but couldn't tell if that was you just wanting to believe him. Hearing him say he'd fallen for you warmed your heart but it all felt too good to be true, especially after everything that had happened. "Y/n?" Sehun asked and you sighed "I kissed Chanyeol. To try and get back at you. Last night". Sehun nodded "I know but he told me you stopped. That you didn't go through with it". You nodded "I couldn't" and Sehun paused "does that mean I can still save this? That there's a chance?". You blinked back tears "yes" and Sehun cried out in relief. "Y/n thank you so much!" he said hugging you and you hugged him back both of you crying. "Also I hope this is implied but I want to officially date" Sehun said and you nodded "let's do it". Sehun grinned and hugged you again.

Chanyeol gathered through everyone else and the huge smile on Sehun's face when he returned home that the two of you were back together and he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a small pang in his chest. He instantly felt guilty but he couldn't help it. Chanyeol got a text from you not long after asking if you were free today to discuss last night and you agreed to meet at your favourite coffee shop nearby.

When Chanyeol walked in he saw you already sat there in a corner booth. You looked pale and tired which made sense considering the night you'd had but smiled nervously when you saw him. Chanyeol returned your smile and sunk into the seat opposite you "hey..." he said and you smiled "hi, thanks for coming". "No problem" Chanyeol nodded and there was an awkward silence before you burst "Chanyeol I'm so sorry!" at the same time Chanyeol said "Y/n I'm sorry". "What are you sorry for?" you asked and Chanyeol paused "for letting you kiss me and not stopping it sooner". "But if I'd never involved you in this in the first place we wouldn't be in this mess". "Yeah but I have agency over my actions and I didn't think rationally or responsibly". You shook your head "I shouldn't have used your feelings for me though, that was so horrible and cruel". Chanyeol shook his head "it's okay..." but you shook your head "no it's not. Do you think you can ever forgive me?". Chanyeol nodded "yeah if you can forgive me". "I feel like there's nothing to forgive but of course". Chanyeol nodded "friends then?" extending a hand and you nodded taking it "friends".

"So have you and Sehun made up?" he asked and you paused "we don't have to talk about that if it's uncomfortable" but Chanyeol shook his head. "No, I don't want it to be how it was before. Where we shied away from mentioning his name and it was weird. Y/n you're my best friend and our friendship matters more than any attraction I feel to you. I'm not a slave to my feelings, I will get over this and the only way I will is if we talk about Sehun. That way I can recognise him as a part of your life and move on". You nodded still not sure "okay well yeah we're back together. Sehun explained he thought I'd dumped him and it was basically just a huge miscommunication. We're official now". Chanyeol smiled "I'm happy for you both truly, all I want is for you both to be happy and I know you can do that for each other". You smiled "thanks Chanyeol and I want things to be different this time too. Sehun doesn't outrank all our years of friendship. He might be my partner but you're important to me too and I'm going to make more time for us". Chanyeol smiled "I'd like that" and you nodded "then that's what I'll do".

Almost losing both boys scared you and so you made sure to keep your commitments to both Sehun and Chanyeol. You and Sehun had a healthy loving relationship meaning you had lots of fun together and also argued and made mistakes and had more miscommunications but you always worked at your weaknesses as partners should.

Chanyeol, with time, got over you and once he started seeing you and Sehun as a stable fixture that got a lot easier. The two of you were still best friends and came to each other with all your secrets and drama. He became your and Sehun's biggest supporter and years later all the pain and upset caused on that fatal night was long forgotten.

Both boys were harmoniously in your life and all three of you couldn't be happier. They meant the world to you and you never came close to losing either of them again.

I really wanted a series where the boys aren’t actually in the wrong and it’s the reader who does something bad just to shake it up a bit. We all make mistakes sometimes and we’re allowed to be messy! It how we respond to those situations that matters the most...which is ironically very apparent to kpop too! 

I wrote two endings to this story so if you would like to read the Chanyeol one then click here. 

[anjumbai]

Remembering: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Director: Hideaki Anno

I must not run away.

Another one of those anime that I watched Gigguk make loads of videos on. There's an almost persuasion quality to his videos, where he doesn't directly try to persuade you into watching an anime. Instead he makes love letters in the form of video essays on different anime, which sound so artistic and funny that you want to watch the anime just so you can grasp all of what he's saying. Sure, you can talk about anything passionately and people will find it beautiful. But it's a totally different thing when you love somebody's work so much that you wanna pick it up yourself and try it. Just so you can experience a fraction of what they did. I picked up journaling like that once. It really is beautiful what somebody's passion can make you do.

So NGE, another anime that I watched during Covid lockdown. I've loved this anime for how simply it tore apart all of it's narrative just so the depressed middle aged man known is Hideaki Anno could grasp the world's attention and deliver his message. His message was as simple as -"I don't like life. I'm no good and this world has no place for me. Somebody please, see me." As Gen Z, nothing beat a sweet glass of milk with depression back then.

What do I remember about NGE? Well-

Never skipped the damn intro. ZANKOKU WA TENSHI- *head beat intensifies*

Shinji was a pu*sy. It seemed that most of the viewers agreed that Shinji was a coward when it came to facing his life head on. While his behavior has always been memed, the same viewers were as sympathetic to him as they were critical. It was easy to make fun of him, but imagining myself in his shoes was really tough as well.

Rei was nice.

The adults were as hopeless as the teenage cast. None of the adults managed to act as adults where they should have. That resulted in a different kind of fucked up-ness. Shinji's father was a menace to him, burdening him with responsibilities totally not appropriate for a teenager of 14. I don't remember the age but yeah. You could see adults making moves on kids so that they could suffice for their loneliness; and you would think that how can that pass in a show? Well, it all seemed so subtle that you'd have to read some analysis on the characters. It was all pretty fucked up.

I read at least 2 reddit posts for analysis on each episode. At first, I thought I should do it because it's a mecha anime with loads of robots and prophetic terms. But soon you will come to realize that these religious terms and extremely cool robots were just for show, just to look cool. You didn't need to analyze any of it nor did you need to know what angels were, what was the spear of longinus or anything of that sort. As the story unfolds, you could see it was a deep revealing of Hideaki Anno, the director's troubled and disturbed mental state.

FLY ME TO THE MOON.

The studio lost it's budget before it could even end the show properly. You would have one shot of animation running for 10 minutes to end an episode, accompanied only by the dialogue. The last episodes used colorless panels of animation- even a regular viewer could see this as a budget cut rather than an artistic choice. But just because of this- they put some extra care on the only panels they could draw. You couldn't help but smile at a studio's budget constraints.

These are actual frames from the final episodes.

The anime finished with me gaining some deep knowledge on human emotions and that is what made NGE memorable to me. I still remember most of the lessons I learned and happen to instinctively follow now.

Evangelion is divided in 3 parts imo. The first is the original anime, then the follow up artistic movie called End Of Evangelion- my favourite movie this day, and the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. I loved Gigguk's explanation on how part 1 was an insight on the troubled mental state of Hideaki Anno. It showed how he failed to deal with emotions, how human interaction can leave you so hurt and how pointless all the pain seemed. End of Eva seemed like an acceptance stage of the pain, the woe and the inabilities. And the rebuild showed full acceptance of life and gratefulness. It was literally the most artistic and different way to get therapy in my opinion. And I love that about Eva.

I love Evangelion for all it has presented. It's an anime I hold close to me and I often run to Reflections of Despair in youtube just to remind myself of what I learned through this show.

You never understand anything. Nothing ever changes. Is that wrong? I don't wanna be alone. I'm no good. Nobody wants me. You betrayed my feelings. Somebody help me. Somebody care about me. All lines from the ASMV. I don't remember whether these are lines from NGE but they seem connected. There's so much to uncover through this lines, so much to live with. Nobody will truly understand you- and maybe that's the beauty of it. You have some feelings to yourself and you keep them with you. Nothing really changes, people stay the same. Not particularly true but maybe all of it is a part of life. We can't beg people to be with us so we can look at them instead of looking at our loneliness. And when they won't look at us, when they can't be the crutch we use to walk on, we focus on the rage of betrayal instead of learning why we actually feel all that rage. For whom is all that rage for? The betrayal? Or the pain you're gonna feel? Is it another crutch? Why let somebody care about you when you can do that for yourself?

10/10. Would watch with my kids. When they are 18 and mentally unstable.

End of Evangelion is much different than this. There's so much to talk about this anime- but I never have the proper words at any given time.

[localplaguenurse]

do you know what’s been stuck in my mind… the gingko being mama’s boy/girl. do you have anything like headcanons/drabbles to feed my mind🙏 ofc only if you have time for it!!!

I'm technically on a "no posting until new years break" BUT I did say that I was gonna be answering my asks like normal. Plus it's ginkgo! I can't not talk about ginkgo! I'm just gonna do short headcanons per kid because I'm writing for five of them rip-

Yánjiāng

Mama's boy through and through

However, Yánjiāng likes to show his affection for people he loves by teasing and lightly bullying them and unfortunately his mom gets it the worst (affectionate)

It's mostly because they're short compared to all their children and husband, and Yánjiāng is the tallest of the ginkgo kids.

A lot of putting things out of reach and pretending to use his mom's head as an armrest, and he gets the dumbest shit eating grin whenever they scold him.

He also does it so he can be the one to help his mom when they need something.

Wifey knows it's all in good fun so they don't actually scold him when he does it, but man when they do scold him for real, the shame is so palpable. He looks like a kicked puppy.

If anyone hurts his mom, he might not be the first to attack but he's definitely leading the other ginkgo kids and he's hitting the hardest. He gets that from his father.

Lihua

I'd say she's a daddy's girl

I think she's equally close with both parents and in different ways, but it's her father's validation she wants more

It's not that she doesn't want to impress her mom, but more that she doesn't worry about disappointing Wifey the same way she worries about disappointing Morax

When she was still a little boy I imagine the two of them would have done a lot of typically masculine activities, namely a lot of play fighting and training, but as she grew up and was figuring things out, she hung out with her mom more and enjoyed "feminine" activities

She was pretty confident he would support her transition, but was worried they weren't going to have the same bond as before she came out

Was SUPER relieved when he was not only super supportive of her coming out, but actively took interest in her new hobbies/interests

She lets him braid her hair or do her makeup

She's also a little cocky like Yánjiāng so she likes to say she's the favourite child/daughter, and she still calls him "baba"

Zhusha

She's actually closer to her mother than father

I not only imagine her looking the most like Wifey, but also acting the most like them too

She's not as rowdy as her siblings, so it's more natural that while they're roughhousing and what not, Zhusha sticks with the other family introvert

She happens to control sedimentary rocks, and you know what's in sedimentary rocks? Sand and clay

You get glass from sand and pottery from clay, so as such I think she would have naturally drifted more towards art and specifically sculpting, so that's how her and Wifey bond

I just really like the mental image I have in my head of Zhusha making the bowls and vases while Wifey paints them

In my head Wifey's always preferred drawing and painting over sculpting, but that's my own bias towards drawing

I don't get to talk about her as much as the others and I should do that more

Yaling

Absolute daddy's girl

All the ginkgo kids have pointier canines but only her and Feng have big ol fangs like baba (Feng's are bigger though, he's got CHOMPERS)

Unlike her siblings though she did NOT get his height and she WILL stay mad about that

She's still taller than mom but STILL

Loves listening to her baba's rambling, especially about geology

Literally them

Also she's the type that presents herself as very Mature and Serious, but is actually not just very silly but also an absolute menace

Whenever her older siblings would go to tell on her she'd put on the waterworks and run to Morax like "baba they're bullying me!!!"

Nothing is more infuriating than seeing the evil smirk of a four year old girl while your father scolds you for something you didn't even do

That only worked a few times when she was very little, it stops working once you're older than like six and your parents have figured it out, or when you reach the age that your siblings can dish back to you without mercy

Feng

He's a big ole mama's boy

He's a golden retriever himbo with a great big heart of gold, and because Wifey is still a "mortal" he wants to make sure they're safe and happy and all that good stuff

He and his sister also share the most resemblance with Wifey

When Feng lost his leg, Wifey was the only member of the family he could be comforted by, he didn't want to be around his siblings and couldn't handle being around Morax

Tldr: Feng had a forge and the rule was that he could only go in if Morax was there, Feng went in and ended up pouring metal on his leg which ended in him getting it amputted

He already felt awful because he felt like those were the consequences of his actions, but felt worse when Morax suggested he lose forge privileges for a while because he broke the rules

That sparked a whole argument between him and Wifey because Feng lost his leg, that's punishment enough, which also made him feel bad because he'd never seen his parents argue before and it was about him

He was too ashamed and upset to be around Morax until Wifey put them in the same room and made them talk it out

This story does have a happy ending, I promise. Feng loves his dad, they get along really well, but who knows what would have become of them if not for Wifey.

Anything my beta reader adds onto this in regards to the twins is also canon fyi, she basically yoinked them and we have joint custody

[leffee]

So once I read that question you had about where Blythe would fit I had to talk about this scenario I’ve had.

What if she didn’t fit imagine Blythe being Blythe gets herself into a situation where she and possibly one of her friends gets transported to that other dimension either with the pets as human/animal mix or full animal Arthro.

Humans could also be considered their Bigfoot or aliens or myths so no one really thinks they exist except for few that are called crazy and they are used in scary stories and scary movies ect.

So when Blythe and friend show up they’re obviously confused and scared and eventually figure out what happened where they are at and that they stick out so badly so they hide that is until they hear a familiar voice and keep in mind I switch who they meet first lol but Vinnie’s is funny because they are hiding behind some trees and keep whispering “Vinnie come here” and they try to explain that they need help and Vinnie just panicks and runs off yelling for Sunil and when Vinnie tries to tell them what he saw they don’t believe him and just tell him to stay close to them and walk off with him.

“Sunil there was something over by the trees calling my name. I don’t know what it was. I’m scared.” 

“Vinnie i’m sure whatever it was was just in your imagination. Come on let’s get you inside. I think you might need a nap.”

Something like that lol and so Blythe and friend try to make a plan B to talk to someone else one on to explain themselves and get help to go home but Blythe is at least happy that the pets exist here so she feels like it might not be to hard to convince them that she’s harmless or something like that..

So they end up finding Zoe and talking to her and she takes them to her apartment where pepper finds out and they all make a plan to tell Russell and get his help to send her back but in the mean time they just keep her and friend safe with them where they answer all their questions about this dimension and Blythe tells them about theirs and the friend is just like “this is how you hear them all the time back home?”

So they try to go to Russell’s apartment and he is so fascinated and says he can try to fix the device that got them here but he’ll need time

And after that the scenarios end up changing near the end with different outcomes and different ways that they meet the rest of the gang.

 And in another version, the pets come along with her and meet the other versions of themselves, which is when they end up, calling the little versions of themselves, baby or mini me’s sorts thing and they all hang while Blythe panics that she’ll never get home everyone else is having the time of their lives bonding and hanging out.

This was some thing that has so many different versions, but it’s one of my favorite scenarios, but I’d like to imagine that herself would be some sort of animal in a dimension like that and whoever is writing it could just make her whatever they wanted, but my favorite is when two different dimensions mix making it a super fun time. Let me know what you think of this kind of thing.

But also, I’d like to mention because I forgot above that this whole time Blythe is just in shock about what these versions look like and how they act and how different they are and that they just have whole lives here just as humans would, but the fact that their food is their way of life is different. They’re in different different things. I have more friends. It’s just the whole shock tour in when she first saw Vinnie she was like “it can’t be I mean, look at him, but that voice” you know that sort of thing and then the rest of them kind of sort of the same reaction.





Ok, so first of all, I wanted to say that their versions meeting their other versions from an alternative unvierse is one of my favourite scenarios to think about. Liiike, Blythe and the pets from the universe like in the show meeting them as humans. Or human au meeting their swap versions. Or even just human au meeting a more or less altered human au - like one where everyone went missing and was found horribly mangled, or one where Sunil is dead and Vinnie is blaming himself etc etc, there are many possbilities.

And let me tell you, Blythe meeting Vinnie first is also something I thought about before and it can be so funny cause Vinnie is not exactly the best first person to meet in such situation, is he? Logically Russell would be the best. Let's just say that I have a lot of thoughts how such scenario can go.

I too like it when two dimensions mix ^^

I think Vinnie should meet other Vinnies but like, I don't think they would like each other, know what I mean? On the bright side, where there's another Vinnie there has to be another Sunil, right? Give him :D. Aaaand if he kills all those other Vinnies he will have so many Sunils just to himself.

See, the way I see it if Vinnie met another him after a while he'd be just "Is that really what I act like? Damn, I'm annoying :///." Cause even he is annoyed by himself.

[restlessmaknae]

What's sweeter than a sweet boyfriend? Having ice cream on a hot day with a sweet boyfriend, and realising just how lovely and fun it is to live with him despite little mishaps.

➳ Characters: boyfriend!Yonghee x female reader/you

➳ Genre: fluff, comedy, established relationship au, domestic au

➳ Words: 1.8k

➳ Warning: mentions of food

➳ A/N: This story is part of my '5 words, 5 stories' series for which I wrote 5 totally different stories with 5 different band members featuring the same 5 words "I'm sorry, I love you". If you're interested in the other stories, check out this link! Otherwise, they can totally be read on their own. ❤️

Also, I imagine Yonghee and reader's first meeting like this. Sorry not sorry Yonghee. 😂

➳ CIX masterlist: click here!

➳ CIX taglist: @wccycc, @dat-town, @tsunchani

“I’m home,” you exclaimed as soon as you stepped inside the flat, the elegant fragrance of the lavender diffuser immediately hitting your nostrils.

“Hi!” You heard Yonghee calling from his room. A smile blossomed on your lips hearing his gentle voice, and you put the groceries into the fridge in a good mood while waiting for him to greet you face-to-face.

It didn’t take him long to do so, though he was working from home today, so you couldn’t know whether he was still working or he had already finished, so you never interrupted him, but waited for him to come out of the room instead. That was one of the things you had learned to adapt to while managing hybrid work because one could never know when the other would walk into their meeting without a shirt on (that had happened once when Yonghee had been working out in the morning and had already discarded his shirt when he had come into your room to ask where the new laundry detergent had been) or with wet hair (that had been you when you had wanted to come in for the hair dryer because Yonghee’s workstation had been built inside the closet/storage room, cons of having only a small apartment to the two of you).

In hindsight, you just laughed these incidents off because they happened to everyone these days, so it’s not like your colleagues made fun of you for your little cameos. If anything, they kept bringing up how muscular your innocent-looking boyfriend was, and you couldn’t argue with that. You had seen Yonghee grow from this lanky, shy boy into this broad shouldered, strong and confident young man as you two had gone to the same high school and had become a couple in senior year, and now you were both working adults.

“Hi~” Yonghee singsonged cutely as he stepped beside you, and planted a chaste kiss on your cheeks. Yonghee was a man of small, quiet acts: his fingers playing with yours when you were travelling by plane for the first time; him putting his hands on sharp corners, so you wouldn’t bump your head into them; your favourite type of candy already on the kitchen counter when that time of the month was nearing; doing the laundry instead of you when you fell asleep before you could get around to do it (without you asking him to do so); and attempting to bake your favourite cake year after year when it was your anniversary date (and gradually becoming better at it).

You liked it that way, you liked him that way. You weren’t big on PDA anyway, and it was as if no words were needed between you two because you could understand each other without words, merely from each other’s body language. That didn’t mean you never ran into communication problems because you didn’t talk about stuff, you actually did talk very candidly with each other. Yonghee was very open and straightforward when it came to boundaries, and he would ask about topics even though they might seem awkward at first because he wanted you to avoid miscommunication and overstepping each other’s boundaries.

In the beginning, that had seemed odd to you, especially knowing that you were his first love, but as time had gone by, you had realised that he was very mature and responsible for his age, and he had the same attitude when it came to friendships, work and even his hobbies. He asked when something was unclear or appeared weird to him, and he was very disciplined (that definitely helped when it came to household chores, splitting up meal preps and finances), but also had a playful, almost childish side to him (that definitely showed when it was just the two of you, and he could be his silly self or when you were on dates and he willingly put on cute headbands at amusement parks or when he played cute for you to buy him his favourite ice cream flavour at 2 am when he was a bit tipsy).

So for you that small, chaste cheek kiss was equivalent to a full-on makeout, in the most positive way possible.

“Hi! I’ve got some ice cream. Mint choco as always and very berry strawberry,” you held up the box of ice cream, and Yonghee’s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of his favourite mint choco Baskin Robbins flavour. By now, such things - each other’s favourites - were natural, but your boyfriend still seemed like the happiest person on Earth whenever you got him some of his favourite stuff (not like it wasn’t the same vice versa).

“Thank you. I was about to text you if you could get some ice cream on your way home, but I forgot about it in the afternoon,” Yonghee giggled cutely, and you gave him a wide, radiant smile in return.

“I wish I could say I’m a mindreader, but sadly, I’m not. I just thought that on a hot day like today, we definitely need some ice cream.”

“Yes, definitely. Was it okay at the office? Had they fixed the AC?” Yonghee asked casually as he helped you put the other groceries into the cupboards (his area of expertise since he was taller, thus he could reach the higher shelves). He always picked up on these little pieces of information - such as the AC breaking down at the office yesterday -, he was considerate and attentive like that.

“Oh yeah. It was worse at the metro, to be honest. Rush hour was crazy as always, and I was already sweaty when I got there, and the amount of people there… insane.”

“Take a shower before you catch anything. I’ll make dinner in the meantime,” he suggested gently, and honestly, you had nothing against it since you were so sweaty (and probably smelly).

“Thanks. You’re the best,” you hollered excitedly, and swiftly put a kiss on his cheek before making your way to the bedroom to pick up your stuff before jumping into the shower.

You smiled to yourself the whole time. It was hard to imagine your days without Yonghee, but it was actually due to a mere coincidence that you two had met. You had gone to the same high school, but you had been in different classes, and your schedules had overlapped only scarcely. You had seen him a few times at the canteen and had heard about him whenever the midterm and year-end results had come in since he had always been one of the top students in Maths, but you hadn’t really talked.

That had changed when he had managed to fall down while passing by you at the school’s annual sports event, and you had immediately rushed to squat beside him, asking if he had been okay. Yonghee had smiled at you, coy as usual, but embarrassment had tinted his cheeks pink, and you had thought to yourself that you would not forget this sight for a long time. You had ended up talking afterwards as you had both headed towards the vending machine, and you had met once again that day, after the matches had been over, you had congratulated him and his football team for winning (yes, you couldn’t have not watched his match after his little fall).

It had been history since then. You had kept meeting each other (or rather, you had noticed each other more frequently), and you had fallen in love along the way. It hadn’t been the ideal time, but you had realised that nothing was ever ideal when it came to love, so you had fought through thick and thin - through senior year exams, college applications, university exam stress, internship struggles, thesis nerves and first full-time adult workplace experiences -, but you wouldn’t have changed anything for the world.

Besides, it was almost easy living together with Yonghee, you didn’t even get why you were so nervous about it. He was very adaptive, and after you had set rules and split household chores, everything had gone well. Even if one of you forgot to do something when it was your turn, you didn’t make a big deal out of it. You worked it out as always, just like days like this one when you were going into the office and he was working from home. Nothing was better than coming home and spending time with him after a day in the office.

After taking a shower, you sat down to have dinner together. Yonghee had gotten a knack for cooking since living together, so you could honestly say that you had a blast having the food he made. However, the highlight had to be the ice cream afterwards, especially on such a hot day. Yonghee insisted on preparing the ice cream for you, so you didn’t even have to stand up from the dining table.

Though when he put down your bowl of ice cream (with caramel swirls on top because that was your favourite), and he started eating his own, you quirked an eyebrow.

“What happened to that spoon?” You inquired as you caught sight of a very oddly bent spoon in his hand.

“Oh, this?” The boy looked down at the spoon in his hand that seemed so unnatural that it was almost like in one of those mentalist shows where people try to show you how to bend a spoon with mind control. “Uhm… I managed to bend it while scooping out the ice cream,” he admitted, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

“But I bought it just last week.”

“I’m sorry,” he pouted sadly, and he was honestly so sorry, you felt bad for bringing up the fact that it was from the new set you had bought not too long ago. “I love you~” He singsonged cutely as he did finger guns with his hands, and you couldn’t even keep a straight face. You broke into little fists of laughter, honestly both endeared and amused by the whole situation.

“Yah, that’s why you shouldn’t spend so much time in the gym!”

“It could have been because of the ice cream as well, it might have been too icy,” he pondered like the science-lover he was, and you just shook your head, still in disbelief at the oddly-angled spoon in his hand.

“I love you too though,” you responded belatedly, directing a smile at him, so he would know that you weren’t at all mad at him. He smiled a relieved smile at you, then continued to eat his ice cream in a good mood. This would be a story you would tell everyone in the following weeks, but you just couldn’t get enough of talking about it.

You knew it didn’t matter how the spoon ended up looking, because as long as he bent or broke spoons instead of your heart, it was all good.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed my sweet little fic! As always, you can let me know what you thought through asks/DMs/reblogs.

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Hope you have a lovely day/night! Take care! ❤️