#I like to think if a ton of stuff started happening in the tiny town we live in

[nerdy-stilinski]

The fact that the sheriff seriously considers that Stiles is out killing people shows how broken their relationship is. He knows Stiles is hiding stuff, knows that Stiles is loitering around crime scenes. Does he take Stiles to therapy?? Or talk to him about what is going on? NO. He is like "my son is a serial killer."

Like, come on!! He barely knows Stiles at that point.

Exactly!!! So much of the parents’ involvement, with the sheriff being the most obvious example, feels like blatantly ignoring the 37 other factors of the situation and how they might be impacting their kids’ behavior, and instead jump straight to INSANE conclusions. At no point is anyone talking about how they’re worried about their kids, or what else might be going on, they just assume they’re little high school criminals???? be so fr

[gatorbites-imagines]

Mermaid Conquest. Mermaid Conquest. Mermaid Conquest. Need the Conqussy. I just know that old man fish is tipping the boat of his favourite fisherman and leaving dead whales on the beach outside his home like a cat.

Mer!Conquest x male reader

I went on a bit of another tangent, so....

Do we know who won eurovision yet?

Im stuck on if he would be an orca, a giant manta ray, or like a whole coelacanth or smth just as ancient cuz hes old...  

Imagine reader being an older man, maybe hes a veteran, or maybe hes just worked his whole life and wants peace and quiet. Buying a home near the beach, far enough away from everything to be isolated, but close enough that he could drive to town once or twice a month. 

Reader wants to just spend his days fishing, fishing enough to feed himself and his three dogs and seven cats. The cats and one of the dogs showed up on the property when he moved in and he can't just kick them out, you know? The cats are all named after days of the week. The dogs are named after alcohol brands. 

Just happens that reader moved into Conquest's territory, which is said to be pretty peaceful, because no one else dares move in or cause trouble, but no one dares sail there either.  

Reader setting out in his personal boat, just chugging along, throwing a line out, and just chilling in silence. Poor guy doesn't notice the massive shadow under his boat every time he goes out. 

Conquest is a hunter, so he doesn't attack the first many times, instead he just observes, and like Ariel, he falls in love with this older rugged human. Shit happens, you two meet, you almost leave cuz that's... a massive mer, who doesn't even shy away from mentioning all the humans and other mers he's eaten. 

Insert Conquest figuring out he can tip your boat because he wants a kiss, so he tries to lean on the side of your boat to get to you, only for it to flip like a tiny piece of wood. Everything goes overboard, but hey, Conquest gets to hold you and swim you back to shore.  

You will end up covered in bites, love bites, but bites. Rumors spread around town when you show up covered in bondages, the ones on your hands bloody because Conquest likes nibbling on your hands as foreplay. 

The dogs fear him and stay very far away from the shore. The cats have no fear whatsoever, you have caught them laying on top of his fish half when he's sunbathing on the beach. 

When he starts bringing you dead stuff you have to be like “hey babe, thank you, but you can't keep doing that, it's affecting the local ecosystem”. Conquest is all grumbly and growly about it, but he starts bringing you rocks or other stuff instead, mainly to keep you happy.  

You two fucking would be almost comical because of the size different. His human half is already big, but his fish half is MASSIVE, no matter what kinda fish he is. Theres no way for Conquest to lay on top of you, because you will die, as he has to weigh tons. And him lying on his back with you on top, rutting, is kinda goofy looking. But hey, it works. 

I don't think Conquest has ever really gotten off or mated with anybody in the past, he can't really reach where his slit is right, and sure you may be smaller than him, but it feels really good. It feels so good that Conquest doesn't want to stop, for a long time, so you end up having to run further on to land so he can't get you. Cons of being so damn big means he can't get very far, but he is lurking. 

Conquest gets even more possessive and territorial, no mer dares approach the very area he is, and his territory grows because he's prowling and chasing off anyone who gets close. It gets around in the mer community that old Conquest has finally found a mate. Most are going “good for him, about damn time”, but they also stay away because he will kill them. 

Imagine Conquest getting you to groom his moustache and different parts of his body as like a romance ritual. With him you can be pretty rough because of his size and resilience, but he has to be so careful with you because you are a weak human. 

Crack thought, researchers somehow catching a whiff of your romance and wanting to research Conquest, or maybe shoot a documentary. You have to run to them and be like “no, you can't, he will kill all of you, I'm so serious right now.”, and you just see Conquest laying on the beach in the background, glaring bloody murder at the researchers for being near his mate. 

Another crack thought, your family coming to your place for like the holidays. One of your nieces or nephews recording a tiktok of you and Conquest with some kinda caption like “pov: you're visiting your reclusive uncle” or “and they say love is dead” and its massive mer Conquest laying on the beach, with his head in your lap, cut to a clip of you sitting on his back in the water, etc. The caption has “Wtf is my uncle on” and all the comments are being going “smash” “I get it” “until the wallpaper is peeling” 

[starlos-soulmate]

Surface shenanigans!!! Keep in mind there's a LOT. Gonna put most of this under a cut.

Starlo wanting to know Pancake's surface friends better so ge tags along with her when she visits them. And now its his turn to get her interests shoved down his throat.

She found out that her friends have new friends and a couple of them are married, Jerry has a husband, Gwen is dating someone who rarely visits (long distance), and Grunge (her nickname) is still single (cuz aroace).

Stars finds out that they all used to be in a band. He could join if he wanted to. They all used to hang out in this empty parking lot at dusk and have fun while chilling. There's spots where they go exploring in the mountains and caves and even the forest a ways off. He geeks out at the genuine Western ghost town that Pancake and her friends hung out at. There's band practice, damaging lights and doing crimes, exploring abandoned buildings that are said to be haunted.

He learns a lot about her just by being around her friends. Like no wonder she's more calm. This is how she acts. Like wao

I'm still thinking about like. This time for Starcake, cuz I have to relate things to Starcake, Pancake grew up in a small desert town. It's nothing much. Mostly a checkpoint for truckers going from one major city to another. Despite this, there's attempts at making it an actual like, tourist trap or town. There's a rodeo that happens every year in the summer. There's Halloween and Christmas pagents. There's activities and shops. There's an abandoned western town, a genuine ghost town, a few miles off. (Surprise that Pancake knows a lot about cowboys w/o getting into Westerns fjsjdn). There's a 7-11 at the edge of town that people love to hang out at. Rock croppings nearby where teens hang out and parties are sometimes located. There's a couple schools, stores, and yet it's such a tiny town.

Pancake left this town for over a decade. Mostly accidentally, she was planning on camping out on this mountain that people supposedly disappear on. Even though there's like, six or seven records of such and they were all kids. The Appalachians lose so many people per year and that's always open, but this one mountain loses six kids and it's permanently closed off? Especially since one of the kids disappeared a couple years prior.

She's curious, planning on staying there a couple months, just to see the hullabaloo. Her parents and friends know about this, it's common for her to disappear into the mountains for a while and come back with a crazed smile, scratches and bandages, and a ton of stories about the encounters there. So yeah. They don't think too much of it when she's gone for a few months. When those few months turn into a year and a half, thats when they worry. And soon, another year later, they want a search. But it's a forbidden mountain, people are gonna get in trouble, and so one friend goes and hikes it alone. Just to see the remains of Pancake's stuff: a tattered tent, her old camera, some notebooks long since damaged, heck even some clothes and such. They play the recording on the camera when they get home and it just shows Pancake driving up the mountain, being all excited about the adventure, showing the campsite she set up, this massive hole not too far away. It all goes smoothly until she sets the camera up for something and wanders off. And. Doesn't come back. Camera is rolling for days. She doesn't come back. A storm hits and knocks the camera over. Nothing. It keeps rolling till it runs out of space. And there's. Nothing left.

So for a good chunk when Pancake was Underground, her friends and family thought she either fully returned to the wild, got kidnapped, or just straight-up died. Like where did she go, what happened to her. And they can't tell authorities much because she went onto a very illegal mountain

Missing posters went up that soon weathered away, and soon they all thought she died. All while the town changed.

One shop closed, another started up, soon the town grows a bit bigger. Abandoned places get bought, and bought places get abandoned. A couple stores stay but others disappear. The church stays too. Somehow.

All this while Pancake is having a rivalry with a cowboy whom she soon marries and considers having a family with.

When the Underground is freed, the first thing that shows up on the news are the monsters that are released. So her friends and family know about the monsters. It takes Pancake a couple days to get back to the town.

She knows it's changed. It's been over a decade. Almost a decade and a half. Maybe. It's been a LONG time. And she knows just how much would have changed. Is the town still there? If it is, what is still there? Are her parents still alive? Who died while she was gone? Do they think she's dead?

It's daunting. She doesn't like daunting. And it takes a lot before she heads back

And yeah. STUFF CHANGED. The 7-11 and a video store are still somehow there, but one shop was shut down for another shop across the town. The school was rebuilt, there's apartments up. Things have gotten more modern and more retro together. She knew stuff would change. But it didn't stop the whiplash.

One of her best friends was at the 7-11 when she rolled into the parking lot, and holy crap, the two of them were stunned. And news quickly spread when she left that she was back home.

With a husband.

Shocker that she was one of the few people who fell into the Underground with monsters. And married one of them. Cuz yeah that is a Pancake thing to do

Her parents were also shocked she was still alive. She came up to that door, hesitant, and when someone answered it. Yeah.

It was a kid she hadn't seen before. Her brother's kid. Who's heard of the aunt that went missing. And now she's standing in the doorway with some Monsters behind her. And nervously asking where her parents were.

It was just. It wasn't a tearful reunion, as it was shell shocking. And "Oh yeah ofc you'd fall into a society of monsters"

Her mom was both surprised and unsurpised that she got married Underground. It's been over ten years, why would she not. It's just. Wow she married a really good lookin guy. Until he took his hat off and then it made more sense. Yeah. Of course Pancake would marry him pfft

And Pancake has to get used to this new town she grew up in. It's both familiar and not. It's both the same and not. There's still rodeos. But there's apartments where the fields used to be. And the town would get bigger because of the influx of monsters. Lots of people follow the sheriff. And if the sheriff is settling down in this tiny town, then so be it

So yeah.

[blade-that-was-broken]

half life & something to remember r my fave aus ✨

AHHHH THANK YOU!!

I LOVE both of them. I’d like to give a series name for Something to Remember but idk at this point. It makes me LAUGH and I love that.

Amnesiac JD and Branch become the most functionally chaotic duo ever. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to write Branch the way I want to very well for this au but I love the concept. Amnesiac JD doesn’t have the pressure or guilt or the other stuff that canon does in his head so it’s like he’s starting fresh. Instead of being a child trying to raise children in the looms of certain death and manage the band, he’s just an adult hiker dude that finds out he has a brother and goes cool I’ll take care of him.

JD cannot and will not escape the big brother instincts. Ever.

But it’s so funny to see how much they deviate from canon cause they are really different. Still survivalist and JD is still funny and ready to try anything. Branch is still prepared and super smart but not nearly as fearful and cautious as canon. They CAN and will do some pretty crazy stuff and are good at it too.

I hope the ideas and brain rot for that come up again soon.

Half Life was like… idk what it was. It started as a tiny snippet. Almost like a blurb of thy beginning part with JD getting a phone call from CPS. And then I started and couldn’t quite stop. There isn’t a ton of rhyme or reason to anything, it’s just kind of been going and stuff and I’m totally okay with that.

The brain rot is real man.

I was a little nervous to do a human au but like whatever. I’m trying to deal with some of my own catastrophic thinking, worry and perfectionism so I’m hoping this helps in the writing aspect kind of getting over that. I really enjoy writing it too.

I figure I’ll probably keep the series to about the first week and after that, maybe just one shots and scenes/like mini arcs of them after that. It’s mostly fluff and it’s safe to spoil that John Dory does get custody of his brothers.

I have PAGES of thoughts of the characters, a couple of ideas etc. like there’s quite a bit of notes on things. I have a soft spot for JD and Delta friendship and since right now John doesn’t have any real associates or friends in canon to bank off of, he got Delta instead so I guess some things are kind of different in that aspect.

And I kind of use my own experiences a little. Not with JD specifically but just little things. A lady at my church is letting a family of 5 live in her house or the fact my dad sold his parents house to a guy for lower than market value cause it was his first house. Big families that encompass around lots of small towns and help each other, accidentally unofficially adopting friends and such. It’s easier to write small towns when that’s all you’ve ever known. And it’s kind of nice.

I’m so much better at taking media’s characters and molding them to what I want in a story, even if it’s wayyyy off canon than I am with my own original character stories (although I have a TON)

And I love doing little things for my own stuff. I’m getting way off topic. This is what happens when I explain stuff. I over explain and over talk LOL

This au has really been a lot about feelings. Right now it’s all in John’s pov I guess but other snippets and shots will probably be in others.

If you have any questions about anyone, anything that happens, the characters etc. feel free to ask. I love answering and it sometimes gives me new ideas!

[magicmindless]

headcanon lists... Let's hear one for Chase, he could use some love

Yeehaw!

A HC list but it’s just Chase

Featuring snek

- Basically the eccentric fun uncle everyone likes. He gets along with pretty much anyone he meets, though his energy can be a bit much for some

- Chase got into reptiles because of his grandfather who also liked them a lot, especially snakes. Because of him Chase often caught snakes which were in his backyard. He did this so much that his parents got him a book to teach him which snakes were ok to catch and which ones weren’t

- He has been bitten by a venomous snake before. It happened when he was a kid, and it hurt like actual hell, though he recovered fine after being taken to the hospital by his grandpa. People are surprised that it didn’t steer him away from his interest in snakes at all, but Chase claims it was his fault since he probably scared the snake (this was the incident which lead his parents to get that snake book for him)

- Despite his risky stunts, he takes great care of his animals. The stunts he pulls are very controlled and there’s always a medical crew on standby just in case things go wrong

- I think Isadora is his daughter. Adopted or not, he loves her to bits even if she does try to get into enclosures she isn’t supposed to. He also promises that when she’s a bit older, she can have her own pet snake

- He’s great with kids and taking care of them. He’s been known to spoil Isadora and any younger nieces and nephews he has whether it’s giving them piggyback rides, snacks, or letting them tackle him when they see him

- He’s pretty level-headed and doesn’t like raising his voice at people when he’s mad, especially at kids, but if he does yell at you, then you seriously messed up (though if it’s at a kid he always feels bad after)

- Has a Southern accent, and can also be a bit loud. Nice for grabbing attention. People joke he might’ve been a town crier in a past life

- Smokie is the only animal Chase owns which lives in his home (the other animals live at the zoo). He’s got a large enclosure all to himself. Smokie is very calm and friendly, which is why Chase lets him cling to him when he goes to places. Though Smokie can also be a curious fellow so he might start licking anyone within shoulder distance

- Chase has quite a few cowboy hats, and has even gotten Smokie his own tiny collection of hats, and not just cowboy hats (like the Santa hat in the advent calendar)

- He’s hosted tons of holiday events, the fan-favorite being his Valentine’s Day event, where he will let people anonymously tell him about their ex’s (or really anyone they hate) and then he’ll name a dead rat after an ex and feed it to one of the reptiles

- Not a hc but I’m still waiting for when we get the other co-owner of the reptile zoo. Like, who are they to Chase? Are they just a friend…? Family member…? A wife…? Husband…? Who knows really (I’m betting on husband, I think he’s gay as hell)

- Though he handles potentially dangerous animals on a daily basis, he does have one fear which is anything bad happening to his loved ones. Cliche fear, but he really doesn’t have any besides that

- He’s savvy when it comes to repairing cars and trucks, though he also likes working with his hands in general

- He likes rock and country music

- Any sport or game which involves a ball he’ll probably like, except if it’s golf, he hates golf because it’s a rich-people sport. Sports/games he does like are soccer, tether ball, and stuff like that

- Likes hiking and rock-climbing. It’s always a good way to him to relax when he needs a break from work, and likes to take Isadora or any buddy of his with him

- Is friends with Budwin. They have an interesting dynamic together, since Budwin sleeps in as we know due to being chronically tired and Chase wakes up at the crack dawn. Honestly, if Budwin does wake up at an earlier time than usual, it’s probably because of Chase

[the-firebird69]

There's a whole bunch of diluted freaks running around saying these trumps are related and they're not they're redheads and they know it when it comes down to it we're going to have to get rid of them and using you and we're going to use it as a threat cuz I can't stand you we do have a couple announcements and not much more and Hera did a great job this morning

-there's a few other things happening my son is beleaguered and needs people to stop harassing him and we need to use caution in the amount of berating of these idiots when you're talking to him he says it himself we don't need to say it again it's life then was full of negative stuff and they want that it's a fight he says but that's kind of what they want and you're asking for it and we're going to beat him up to stop them any of them I'm putting the orders out now they are approved

-the sitting here watching him dilapidate and yesterday was horrible and we're going to go to town on these idiots and there are reasons to say it and the reasons to do it and we have our cover and ample cover today whole bunch of pseudo empire came down very soon the two groups of scoundrels and losers will be out and foreigners will come in in the minority morlock want to move him and they're stupid too I need to sit here doing the same dumb s*** when they get burned up yesterday is proof mushrooms and no Pepto and the enemy a couple and didn't want to and they said it and it started fighting and a bunch of jackasses so now we're after those people too and we're going to put the word out but right now there's something happening in town and yeah it's Sunday

-there's about five people they have active warrants on they don't want to see them driving around our son or riding or popping up five times in 10 minutes and they are trying to stop them and they're going out there today with that in mind and it changes and convolutes and all this talk and we see that but really still going to actually help out and we need to he's buried with rude comments and gestures and people standing in his way trying to touch a spike with him standing right there and I'll tell you what I'm fed up with people checking on what he did it's none of their freaking business and we're going to come in there and we're starting forcing the law and yeah when people who are breaking it for real there's tiny and tons of you that need to pay so we're doing that today

-but also calling on people to stop people who are doing things to ruin this place and to call people when they're doing it you just illegal behavior and it's not to be tolerated for any reason is breaking federal law and it was issued this morning by the feds that they are going to seek people who are doing that p Diddy and all his aliases and accomplices are being sought on special warrant and they leave and they go to Africa again and get really messed up Jason sucks to get really hammered up there in Tallahassee and it is by the pseudo empire mostly other people do it too and he's complaining all day buddy today later on I'm saying your rabbit on me we'll sell the other things that are happening and yeah someone's going to the hospital and it is most likely John remillard he's always going there and people say it is him and they say a bunch of stuff in there hideous so we have a lot of stuff to do and a lot of things to consider but we need to try and focus on this area a little and see what's wrong there's too many people complaining and there's too many complaints and those big ships of and they're not trying to remove them and I think they have the math right? But they're getting rid of themselves as opposed to working as a team and we can't have can't have that this is a disgusting place now and they're all repulsive and the empire loves it these think it's a job and they're all dying and the crime so they're going to start fighting today they're going to start fighting over the small ships all over Florida and the tunnels on the ocean and pretty hard pretty hard should be removing them recently you can see them in the sky and they're outfitting them and they see how fast they are and they see what they've been missing and they are hitting and we mean it too they're moving on getting that done and they are gallery momentum to start doing it on a wider scale and that stuff is happening okay nothing is going to stop it and we need to be involved more these ships are dangerous and these people are very stupid and a rank on the zombie scale and we need them to get out of here it's a whole bunch of things going on that's a major one and it is a little bit of a war and it's between the pseudo empire and the morlock and also between them and Trump and it's going to push things along they're fighting very hard they're losing a lot of people already and Hera has some numbers and I will return later for more announcements

Thor Freya

We have some numbers and they are pretty big and they are going to make an impact on what's happening here and he's paying attention is just trying to do things wait now these things are pretty big and it's getting bigger a lot of people are filtering in and going to the ships and fighting the siphon effect is being used and used a lot there's something out fuel did they pump into the ships that are first in line and then it goes in next order they siphon it down the line to the ships that are next in line and they continue and they found out that they can start the next roll before they get to the end and started to pump out in a in a big row and the shift and the shift started coming out very quickly and the speed is intense they are pumping these things out faster than you can imagine and it is probably a rates of 2 or 3,000 ships an hour each tunnel then they have a fight it's two or three thousand more and by late afternoon several tunnels will be empty and it's a good thing and it's a good technique and it pushes the plan along and we were really stagnated we needed that break though and that break was created by the empire to their very detriment and a lot of them deceased because of it they died in the tunnels trying to defend their bunkers and caverns but they did delay it and they should not have it was a huge error oops but they're not valid

-as for numbers they're very high there's a lot of people who are going up there from from here and Jason himself is taking a severe beating he is upset all the time and angry and blames my husband often and keep saying it too if you say good and all this s*** and he says good and when I see is terrific and we started doing it and we're taking over local governments everywhere because we found out what they're up to and it is Jason's fault and his big mouth and we openly blame him because it's his fault and we like to this guy is a huge imp and an a****** and wants to start real fights with my husband and sits there blabbing his heinous and he's spent little a****** and his people are dying and yeah we like to get rid of you you're a piece of s*** and you don't understand what your role is here and you are not a higher up anywhere not a winner and you're not leading you're getting your ass kicked so he starts blabbing right away and he won't leave it alone so we are going to go after him right now it's not very hard there's a lot of people up there killing him to try and take over government positions that he pushed them out of excusing his Little squirts and the other stuff he knows people are useless but he did use them as a front and that's my husband and it was necessary and it works and it's nice because we really really needed it without it we'd be an actual trouble we're moving on to another topic it is that of people being halfway decent instead of pure animal and we're finding this person to be a huge animal and we are going to excalpate him that means to remove him from the crowd forever he's going to die on Titan and he's going to be killed by his own child and brother for crimes against them and against the plan and Dan well then for murdering his own people who are trying to assist and he is a moronic pig and up there the reason why they kill him and they kill cheeseman is because the robots are attacking them and you can see it in the films and cinematics and those robots are Trump and they have a lot of different varieties they have a whole bunch of them in the bunkers and they're waiting for people to take the stashes and caches to take the robots out last so we're going to publish

Hera Zues

Olympus and Dave's computers are alive and well and their place to take over your stuff Joel Watts and you're a fool and we told you about it yesterday

[loregoddess]

unorganized Octo2 con't thoughts bc I powered through a ton of chapters recently:

Osvald and Hikari have a banter where Hikari talks about his mother's philosophy of vengeance being a path that leads to darkness, and Osvald's like, "Oh, yeah my wife said the exact same thing" and I'm like huh, interesting (I have this small theory brewing about Kura and Rita being descendants from the same group of people bc of the geographical region they lived in and this other theory about the four flames and their protectors)

Apparently I was half-asleep the first time I played and read through the Mercantile Manuscripts bc they are a goldmine of random exposition (what do you mean the Pit of D'arqest is IN the wall at Stormhail? are you telling me the Infernal Castle and the Pit are related or? why doesn't the game let me go to the Pit...)

Also, in the Toto'haha documents, the beastlings are described as "a petite people" so now I don't feel so bad about the idea of Ochette being like, 3-4' tall in all the official artworks bc like, she is tiny, all her people are apparently canonically short compared to humans, good to know.

Likewise if I ever wanna try and draw up a timeline, the Manuscripts are good at giving some...vague time frames for stuff and things.

I'm also starting to notice that a lot of the Blacksnakes have...I dunno, abilities beyond what one might expect which I had brushed off as "Throne's entire route is basically just Fantasy John Wick and all the assassins fall into the weird assassin superpowers trope" but given what I know now, I think it might just be a thing for them bc of the shared parentage and stuff, and I'll definitely have to take a closer look at that eventually...

Also I wish there was a map or something in the game that designated the borders of all the different kingdoms and stuff bc like, Ku decimated U twenty-ish years before the events of the game, but Sai, which is apparently populated by "immigrants" who moved into the ruins of U seems to be part of the Kingdom of Timberain which definitely seems separate and independent from Ku, but Ku also has territory on the eastern continent in Stormhail bc of Clan Mei, but this is unique to literally just that one town and ??? girl (gender neutral) what the fresh hell is going on w/ Solistia's politics...

Likewise, trying to make any sense of the theological worldbuilding is still a headache and a half, but the theme of "the true flame burns in a person's heart" actually shows up in a lot of places regardless of whether the church of the flame is present or not, and I'm surprised I didn't notice them before (although given what happens during the endgame chapter, it could just be I'm paying more attention to see how everything connects).

[teeterarting]

here's a list of things i love about PSMD for no reason other than i think it deserves appreciation (spoilers)

the hero gets adopted by a nuzleaf. Hero, a young child that doesn't know why they were brought into this world, attacked by beheeyem, scared and alone, finds someone that takes them under his wing and gives them a home. it's really sweet that once Nuzleaf brings them to the Village, Hero's not alone anymore.

yes it was all a trick, he deceived you. but being betrayed by your father figure hits so much harder. it's much more personal, especially when both Hero and Partner are kids. and when Nuzleaf goes through all that ordeal in the post game, then gets accepted back into the village?? And his little speech to Hero????? it's heartbreaking and incredibly touching at the same time

everything is just so cute!!!! you go to school with your new friendo and you're friends with the schoolkids, and you make the trip to school every morning taking in the scenery, the smell of dew and fresh grass, and the sun on your face... and you take classes about Mystery Dungeon mechanics, and principal Simipour is a big BRO, the school nurse Audino is super kind and helpful... and you get to play with your pokemon friendos in summer vacation, and explore a dungeon with 'em... AND your bond with your Partner begins to form, getting stronger and stronger from then on. PSMD's beginning arc is so warm and pleasant, it's like reliving childhood memories all over again, when things were happier and you didn't have to worry about how cruel the world is. this story section's one purpose is to get the player used to the game's mechanics, as well as foreshadowing. unfortunately most of the school kids get forgotten later on, but I still love this part for everything it is, even if unintentional.

it's not just the beginning that's cute. PSMD'S ENTIRE WORLD IS ADORABLE. It's just filled with life every town you go. there are a bunch of pokemon locals and they all have interesting things to say, in the main story and the post-game. there's a point where their comments get repetitive, but that's bound to happen in any PMD game. Even then, the days are never the same. one morning you wake up and the Lively Town locals are exercising, then the next they're having singing lessons, and then they're practicing martial arts. and you get to connect with (or recruit) some of them just by.... chatting!!! Sitting next to that big ol' venusaur and sharing stories, laughing and having fun. it's good stuff.

Sometimes you find travelling pokemon in dungeons and it's jsut the coolest thing. Imagine you're exploring a dungeon, then your Connection Orb notifies you there's a fellow explorer in the floor. First thing you do is try to find them, and when you do - oh dang a travelling Archeops!!!! And then they just,,,, exchange their experiences and thoughts on exploration and how hard it is to fend off those enemies and the cool treasure they found the other day (the game calls it "[Team Name] and [Traveller pokemon] compared notes"). then the traveller heals you, fills your belly and restores your PP. and they go on their way. idk man it's such a cute interaction. explorers chatting, empathizing and helping each other, bc their job is not an easy one...

PSMD Partner is the most developed Partner in any PMD game yet. They start off as this naive, hyperactive kiddo, then stuff happens, and worse stuff happens, and you get to see how they grow and change and by the end they're a different person than they were before (in more than one way ...). It's just so nice to be by their side, from the beginning to the bitter end, and watch their growth. in contrast, Hero is a little unbalanced in that their backstory is not explored as much, and their personality is kind of a blank - probs meant to be vague so the player can be in their shoes. to me this just gives you the opportunity to shape their character however you want, so you can have tons of different hero/pardner dynamics.

The music is rlly flippin' good. Some of the tracks are recycled from previous entries, but when they go original??? it's a blast!!! "Echoes of the Mystical Forest" is one of my favorites in all four entries, it has no right being so amazing for a random dungeon. "Time to Set Out" makes me cry immediately (also i think it would be a better fit for the parting ways scene at the end...). Don't even get me started on "Second Dark Matter Battle", it has everything an epic climax needs and MORE. the Partner remix????? absolute genius

speaking of which, Dark Matter ITSELF,, is freaking amazing. Its actions were foreshadowed in the very beginning, though they were not blatant through the game. i do think they could have done a better job at showing the pokemon's negativity raising in the world, as well as negative feelings in the characters... but it's not like Gates did a good job at it, either (outside of cutscenes, all the locals in Post Town are incredibly nice to you and fights didn't "break out often". it's like the game tells you the world is a dark place, but what it shows in gameplay doesn't add up). so i'll cut them some slack. Still, I find Dark Matter a more compelling villain than the Bittercold for several reasons. it is sentient. its speech is a jumbled amount of voices all talking at the same time - the anguished voices of the world. It actually concocted a plan to hurl the planet into the Sun, using pawns like Nuzleaf and Yveltal to do its dirty job. in the Voidlands, Hero and Partner discover its past, and how it'll come back after defeat, like a cycle. when Partner accepts Dark Matter, they accept negative feelings as something everyone has within themselves. Most of all, the fact that Dark Matter is a manifestation of negative feelings doesn't make it just a generic threat, a final obstacle to be defeated so the world can be saved. It makes Dark Matter - negativity itself - a natural part of the world, the yin to its yang. and that's why I LOVE IT SO MUCH DANG IT EVEN THANKS PARTNER FOR THEIR ACCEPTANCE

The fact that Dark Matter can possess pokemon that have "even the smallest amount of darkness in their hearts". it makes me think of Mr. Nuzleaf and what he might have gone through in the past to make him so easy to be controlled. Did he hold a grudge against someone?? Did he commit a crime?? Had Nuzleaf always been malicious???? And if so, is this why he shows so much remorse in the post-game??????? because he had always been this vile fiend and then he met this small kid and got attached, but still carried on with his evil actions because his malice was still stronger than the positive feelings and Dark Matter's hold on him intensified?????? I don't know!!!! and as much as i wish the game could have given us that sweet mr. Nuzleaf backstory, it's pretty fun to have freedom to come up with your own version.

Everything about Super's climax is just phenomenal. Every single flippin' legendary is there to help you. Arceus is in the game. MEWTWO IS THERE. and when things are looking hopeless, they really seem hopeless. First the Tree of Life is dying, then your allies get turned into stone and sent to hell The Voidlands, Arceus gets turned into stone, the entire world is stone (except for several mon' that are still safe and holding onto hope, but they're so few). Your Harmony Scarves stop working and you and your Partner are back to your feeble, basic stage forms. You are bordering exhaustion, you have no Emeras, it's just you and your Partner against an eldritch abomination that's killing the life on the entire planet like a parasite, devouring all hope. but you still fight back. Given how adults in the game always discourage the village children from going adventuring, that they cannot do this or that because they're so little and fragile, it's awesome how Hero and Partner beat Dark Matter as tiny kids.

PSMD is not a flawless game. in fact there's plenty of things that hold it back and i even mentioned some... but it's still full of love put into it and it resonates w me more than PMD Explorers of T/D/S and Gates to Infinity (Rescue Team is a close second). its my all-time favorite PMD game.

[akaashisupremacy]

Moments of Courage

Summary: Osamu Miya is a difficult ex to have. When your paths cross endlessly, you try to rebuild your relationship. Will there be second chances? Or just more broken hearts?

HQ Masterlist || Multi-fandom Masterlist || Read it on A03

Osamu Miya  x reader  

“Are you leaving this party because of me?”

Osamu calls you out from the tiny hallway of your friend’s get together. After locking eyes with him, you did your best to subtly scamper towards the door.

“You don’t have to go. I can leave if it’s making you uncomfortable.” he assures.

You shake your head, “You can stay. I’m not having that much fun.”

You begin shuffling through the coat rack to look for yours. You’re desperate for anything to cut the time talking to him, talking about him. The only guaranteed way for this to stop is to leave.

“Are you hiding from me?” he asks almost rhetorically. His brows are gently raised.

“Yeah, obviously,” you retort, “I don’t want to be seen by you or with you.”

Osamu Miya is your ex. After over a year of dating, he decided to end things with you in a small cafe far off his onigiri stall.

“I’m too busy,” he claimed, “You deserve someone who could give you more time.”

You reasoned out that you didn’t mind not spending so much time together. His job was time-consuming. You understood that.

But Osamu was unsettled. You didn’t mind cheering him on from the benches waiting for him to finish up work. You liked seeing Osamu do things he was passionate about. And yet he felt unsettled, because he knew this was the type of work you would not engage in.

Osamu pressed on, “I’m sure you’ll find yourself someone more worldly, more sophisticated in the city. I don’t want to prevent you from meeting someone like that.”

Something dropped at the pit of your stomach. Your mouth was ajar. He’s really trying to break up with you. It’s no secret that you preferred the city and Osamu the countryside, but neither of you seemed to mind. You’d both make the time to visit each other. You made it work.

You remember barely touching your drink. Listening to him talk was like having a ton of bricks dropped on your back. The sunlight pouring in from the glass window suddenly felt prickly.

“I just don’t think we’re a good fit.” he swallowed, unable to look you in the eye, “I think someone from the country, someone simpler and more traditional would be better for me.”

You don’t miss the yearning in his voice, the dreaminess for someone who was clearly not you. He’d always tease that you were a true blue big city girl. You liked the tall buildings, the noise and the fancy department stores. You thought it was a point of endearment, but apparently not.

It’s been almost a year since you last saw him. He looks so unaffected it irks you.

“I broke up with you respectfully. Why are you mad?” he scratches his head.

It takes all your self-control to not slap him across the face.

“Because you hurt me! You’ve hurt me so…so…much.” your voice hitches before you can catch it. This is so humiliating. He’s clearly moved on from you.

Tears start pouring down your face. You quickly hide your eyes behind your coat.

“You’d eventually realize that I’m not right for you.” he murmurs, “We’re too different.”

“You don’t get to decide that for me.” you snap, clenching your fists, “So is this is it? To make you feel better you’re going to date a small town girl to solve all your problems.”

“Well, Kita did introduce me to someone lately.” he unironically replies, “She works in her family ryokan (inn) and we work similar hours. I think we’ll understand each other more than we did.”

Your eyes narrow.

“There’s no point staying in a relationship that I can’t make time for. Why can’t you understand that?” he snaps back.

It is one thing to be left for someone else and another for him to dump you just because. Somehow you feel like you lost even if you didn’t even have competition. He simply didn’t want you.

Your face contorts into an angry frown.

You slip on your coat and grab the door. “Man, you are a terrible ex. Do you know how it hurts when you tell me how wrong I was for you?”

When Osamu regains his cool, he tries to reach out to you, “I didn’t mean it that way…I didn’t feel good that I could make time for ‘ya and so I let the relationship go. Because i don’t know…—“

“Well, this is all just theory anyways.” he says, “I haven’t met Kita’s friend yet. We haven’t gone out yet, just the two of us.”

You do a double turn. “What?!?”

“Yeah, we’re working all the time but we haven’t made the time to meet.”

You break into a laugh. He stands stunned and confused.

“You know what? You stay behind. You left the last time. I want to be the one to leave this time.” you sigh, closing the door behind you.

You don’t turn back to see the look on his face.

————————————— Osamu mostly works in the countryside which means that you’d be less likely to run into each other in the city. It’s easier for you to keep your mind off him and focus on your current life.

So when you see him in the corner store in place of a small fried chicken stall you used to frequent, you’re visibly shocked, appalled even.

“What are you doing here?!” you jump back, “What happened to the fried chicken stall that was here?”

Osamu looks left and right, making sure no approaching customers can hear your dialogue.

“I run this stall now. Kawaneshi-san retired. It’s a great location. I’m literally in a crossroad between a shopping district and some schools. The rent isn’t too bad and it’s a very busy location.” he answers in his usual no nonsense tone.

You make a mental list not to pass by here again.

He recognizes the look on your face, “Have I just ruined your usual route for you?”

“I thought you were a country boy.” you avoid answering him.

“Even I need to make a living.” he snorts, carefully arranging umeboshi-flavored onigiri in his display case.

Sure! All of a sudden working in the city becomes important after he breaks up with you!

You roll your eyes and curtly walk away. You got here first. You love this city. You refuse to let some onigiri-making man ruin your everyday route.

The days roll into weeks. You stick to your route and diligently ignore Osamu each time. After a while it stops feeling weird that he’s there. You feel like you’re slowly taking pieces of yourself that he broke.

It feels so good to start to be whole again.

———————————— Your newfound peace with Osamu is interrupted when he calls you out of the blue one evening. He calls to tell you that he’s sick and that he needs help running groceries. The nerve!

“Don’t you have anyone else?” you groan. Hasn’t he made friends with some other shopkeepers?

“I have no one else. There’s only you.” he coughs through his words. He tries to explain that one of his few friends is out on bereavement.

You let it go. He clearly doesn’t have anyone for today.

You find out that Osamu lives in the apartment above his stall. The space is rather small. He shares his home with some of the equipment and supplies from his store.

He must hate it here. Osamu always loved wide open spaces.

You open the fridge to find it totally empty. His sink has a few empty bowls from his earlier rice porridges. You understand his desperation. He had nothing to eat.

Moved by his situation and the little compassion for him that remains in you, you sigh and begin chopping up some vegetables to make a nutritious broth. You add in some mushrooms and root crops. While the soup boils, you prepare rice and some pickles.

The faster he recovers, the less you have to interact with him.

When you bring him a tray of food in his room, he is equal parts surprised and confused.

“You can cook?” he clears his throat.

“No, Osamu.” you roll your eyes, “I eat all my food raw.”

He sits up and sniffs the aroma of your food through his clogged nose. He dips a spoon into the soup to sample his first meal of the day.

“I mean you can cook well, like a proper home cook.” he says, his eyes wide with awe. He quickly takes a few more sips and starts on his rice.

“I’ve never known.” he croaks, turning to you.

“You never asked,” you shrug, “And you like to do the cooking yourself. You probably assumed I can’t cook, because I’m not as passionate about food as you are.”

He quietly eats and looks away to confirm the truth in your statement.

You sigh and take a nearby basin with some towels in it. “I’ll leave after I bring the basin back.”

——————————————- Something changes in your relationship with Osamu after that incident. He starts to greet you when you walk by and sometimes offers you onigiri from his store.

You always insist on paying. He doesn’t always take it.

“You’re here to make a living.” you say as you push money into his hands.

In between these exchanges you start to ask about each other again. How are you doing? Was today busy? Stuff like that.

Slowly and surely, you two were rebuilding your relationship ground up. But it was tough. Neither of you went beyond these interactions. Maybe things are just meant to stay that way.

One late evening, the last customer for the day disappears out of Osamu’s line of sight when he heads into the back to start cleaning up. He’s about to start pulling down the rafters when you suddenly show up at his counter.

His face expresses his surprise.

“If it’s too late, I can just go.” you gesture sheepishly.

He’s always surprised when you come here on your own volition.

“It’s not,” he denies, “I was closing up too early anyways.”

You pick out your usual onigiri flavors and quickly pay up. As soon as you turn your back, Osamu stammers at you.

“I-I’m cooking up some stuff at the back. Do you want to stay and eat? Think of it as a return favor for the other week.” he refers to the episode of his sick day.

You’re caught off guard but you slowly nod your head to agree. You hadn’t had Osamu’s cooking in a while and it was getting quite late. He opens the door for you and you follow him towards the back of his shop.

In a messy plastic table, you see an array of salads and pickles with different kinds of miso soup laid out. You feel almost intrusive, even more than last week.

You set the table. Osamu fetches hot rice.

It feels unnecessary for you to be here especially if he is with someone else. You do your best to keep your mouth shut. This is a friendly return of favor.

Osamu notices how unusually quiet you are. He chats you up about work. He tries his best to be animated and show interest in your latest project. He asks about your coworkers and your work environment. Were you having fun? Do you get to eat on time?

For dessert, he brings out mochi wrapped in leaves.

“It’s made by the girl I was telling you about.” he remarks, while clearing the dishes.

“Oh,” your heart sinks. You get up and leave, feeling humiliated by your naivety. Of course he’s with her. You feel stupid for even hoping.

You’re about to walk out when he comes back in. “Apparently, she’s been secretly in a relationship with another chef in her family inn. They recently got married and are hoping to start a family soon. She sent these down to inform me. I suppose that solves the problem of having to see someone outside of work—”

He sees you standing. Confusion runs through his expression.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Just stretching…” you lie.

You want to shoot yourself in the foot in embarrassment.

When realization dawns on him, Osamu looks crestfallen. Any energy left in his body abandons him. He sighs, resigned.

“It’s ok if you want to go,” he nods, “Or if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

He bites his lip and looks down on his shoes. The room is still and pregnant with silence.

“I really am just stretching. My hip feels wonky from sitting all day.” you insist with some renewed energy. You grab hold of the pot on the table. “Also, can we get some more hot water? Tea would be nice with the mochi and it’s kind of gone cold.”

He offers to make another pot, relief evident on his face.

“I’ll go heat up the water.” he walks to the kettle, “Are you sure you want dessert?”

You sit back down.

“Yeah, I want to stay.” you murmur. For once you don’t go running to the door.

He glances at you, content, a small smile creeping on his face. ——————————————————

Atsumu, Osamu’s twin brother, always finds himself in his brother’s kitchen every time he visits. He doesn’t mind too much though. It gives them something to do when they catch up.

“Samu, you can’t still be moping around your ex!” Atsumu exclaims. He’s washing Osamu’s dishes as his brother prepares for their meal.

“I’m not ready to get back out there.” Osamu waves dismissively.

Atsumu flicks some water his way. “You’re just not open to seeing someone else.”

His words clearly prick Osamu who throws flour into his face. Atsumu dodges right on time and flicks some flour right back.

Some flour grazes Osamu’s sleeve. He sighs and dusts himself.

“It’s tough, because I’m working all the time. This job doesn’t pay too much and it’s not glamorous. Who’d wanna date someone like me?” he murmurs.

“That’s why you gotta date around to find out!” Atsumu emphasizes, “Maybe you’ll even find someone who might help you with your business when you get married.”

Osamu obstinately shakes his head. “It’s not as easy as you think.”

Atsumu dries his hand and carefully observes his brother. He puts his towel down onto the kitchen counter and raises his brow, “Or maybe I should just give you advice on getting back together.’

As if right on cue, Osamu slams his hand down onto the counter, “I hate that we still haven’t gotten back together. This is killing me!”

Atsumu chuckles in satisfaction. He’s hit the nail right on the head.

“Why has nothing happened yet? I’m already in the city!” Osamu continues on, “They can cook too! Did you know that?! I wish we can skip to the part where we can settle down.”

He vigorously gestures in frustration.

“I cannot! I just cannot move on until I know I’ve given everything to make this work and yet every time I see them all I do is offer them food!”

Atsumu places his hand on his brother’s shoulder, “You need to be more strategic about it. Here’s what you need to do…”

———————————————————————————

Osamu takes a deep breath before knocking at your door. He holds a bag of onigiri in one hand and whatever courage he has in another.

One knock, then another. He hasn’t been this nervous in a long while.

When you open the door, his ear picks up on a male voice inside your house. Combined with your expression, he realizes that he’s come at an inconvenient time.

“I brought you something.” he tries to smile despite the sweat pooling, “I made you lunch. I just wanted to make sure you were eating. We don’t have to talk. I just wanted to give this to you.”

He tries to look past your shoulder, attempting to glimpse at your guests.

“Are you seeing someone else by any chance?” he blurts out, “I want to clarify before I make any more free deliveries.”

You frown. “That’s none of your business, Osamu. You should leave.”

Your frankness pierces something within him. He hadn’t expected to be rejected so quickly.

Osamu’s eyes widen and his mouth drops. He quickly gathers himself before he gets disheartened.

“I want you to give me a second chance. You loved me so deeply. Maybe you can find love in me again.” he says quietly.

“I thought I was too much of a city girl for you,” you retort, despite lacking an edge in your voice. You notice his hands tightly clutching the plastic bag.

The noise at the back seems to melt away. It’s like you’re back in that party, standing too close to each other near the coat rack and the door.

“Maybe you’re not.” his shoulders gracefully go up and down.

You shook your head wryly, “Osamu, I haven’t changed. I like my job and the city. I’m not the life and business partner that you’re looking for. I’m just a customer and we should keep it that way.”

“I can stop if you like.” he offers meekly, putting his hands behind his back.

“Yeah, you should. You’ve hurt me so much.” you cover your mouth with your hands while you try not to sob, “There’s nothing to go back to.”

“I’m sorry I ended things the way I did.” he looks away, “Seeing you walk by me every day feels like penitence…“

You close the door before he says anymore.

Osamu gazes longingly at the door. It’s only now that the full weight of losing you sinks in.

—————————————— “How’d it go?” Atsumu calls to check on Osamu.

Osamu sucks in his breath, his palm pressed on his temple. Atsumu braces himself, this doesn’t sound good.

“They had someone else over.” Osamu is seething in frustration and angry tears.

“Calm down. Were they alone? Or was it a friend group?” Atsumu ’s mind races. He sifts through the situation in an attempt to placate his brother.

“Yeah? No? I don’t know.” Osamu snaps, “They told me she didn’t want to talk about it. Your advice sucks!”

Osamu walks most of the way home. When he catches sight of his store, he curses. He had left his damn bike at your apartment complex! The universe is not giving him any breaks today.

He sighs and continues towards his store. He had a friend watch it while he was away. He’ll have to come pick up after he closes the store.

Throughout the rest of the day, he tries to push you out of his mind. By the time he closes the store, he is bursting at the seams with anticipation to make his way back to your apartment.

Before he sets off, he sees your figure wheeling his bike towards him.

“You left your bike.” you breathe out. You fish something out of your pocket and toss him the key to his bike lock, “You left this in your lock too.”

“Every time you see me, I just look dumber and dumber.” he sighs in exasperation.

You can’t help but burst into laughter at his candidness. He perks up a bit. He hasn’t made you laugh in a while. Of course he’d rather have you laugh with him than at him. Still, this was a start right?

"Did Atsumu put you up to this?" you chuckle, handing the bike over.

“Yeah, how did you know?” he asks dumbfounded.

“I just do.” you scoff, “It’s not like you to show up on people’s doors.”

He sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, “Sorry about that. It won’t happen again. It was a moment of weakness.”

Your eyes lower, framing the sad expression that sets into your face, “Yeah, it better not. I’ve moved on.”

You turn around to walk away. In a brief moment of courage, he cups his hands around his mouth.

“I’m not ready to move on from you and if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.” he calls out.

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

Taglist: @itstheee-ha-chan @kaizumi @holaaaf @glxar​

Comment or message to be added to the taglist! I’m definitely making a part 2!

[rainecreatesstuff]

LAMP Soulmate AU Bulletfic thing

Word Count: 2569

TW: Mentions and implications of abuse, mentions of anxiety, descriptions of panic attacks, mentions and implications of death + illness

They’re all connected in different ways

Virgil is connected to Patton through that thing where marks on your soulmate’s skin appear of yours too

Roman through a thing where on your eleventh birthday at 11:11pm a name will pop into your head and wow its your soulmate’s

And Logan through the string thing

Roman is connected to Patton through a timer on his wrist

And Logan through a tattoo-like mark on your wrist that says your soulmate’s first words to you

Logan and Patton are connected through a soulmark (A tattoo or raised pattern on your skin that is also on your soulmate)

Patton is blind

so in this au different soulmarkers develop at different ages

So when V’s little he’s super excited to meet his sm, bc his parents are soulmates and everything he’s seen abt them is so sweet and exciting!

He turns six and doesn’t develop a timer, which is what he was hoping for

But that’s ok! There are tons of other soulmarkers!

And then he doesn’t develop a soulmark when he’s seven

Or a sentence on his wrist when he’s eight

And he can see colours

So he’s starting to get nervous

And hey! Mom’s sick, and in the hospital, and she’s just not doing too swell

But then when he turns nine, a beautiful red string has been tied around his ring finger when he wakes up!

And wow! Mom look, I have a soulmate! Just like you and daddy!

And then a few months later he’s doing his homework at the kitchen table and the string goes limp before shriveling up and turning black

The doctors have no explanation, and V’s anxiety has really started to kick in

Mom doesn’t seem to be getting better either

So when he turns ten, he is fully aware that this is probably his last chance to develop a soulmarker

He writes on his forearm the night before his birthday

It says “Hey, I’m V! I guess we’re soulmates?”

When he wakes up there’s nothing new

Which is fine! Because that means his sm is probably in the same time zone as him!

But then he keeps waiting and

Nothing

Nothing for a week.

Eventually his dad convinces him to wash it off

Then on his eleventh birthday he knows how uncommon a soulname connection is, but he needs to try

So it’s 11:10 and he’s sitting at his desk with a marker ready to write it down and then-

Roman Prince

Roman prince? What do you mean Roman prince? That’s not a name! What the hell?!

So he’s really sad and anxious and stuff because he doesn’t have a soulmate and, yknow, that’s kinda upsetting for him

And hey, your mom really isn’t doing too well, we have to visit her after school, okay?

At first Virgil doesn’t understand why mom’s being so dramatic or why she keeps telling him she loves him

Then it hits him

And now he’s sobbing and hugging her and shaking and he can’t breathe he can’t breathe he can’t breathe

Fun fact! Turns out this is a regular thing and he has really bad anxiety.

And mom has been put in a medically induced coma

So a year later dad decides to pull the plug

Virgil’s anxiety has gotten really bad

He’s just not in a good place

High school goes by without much happening

Now he’s going to university! How exciting and stressful!

Roman, too, was entranced by the idea of soulmates. His parents aren’t soulmates, but they encourage his excitement about them!

And when he turns six, he develops a timer on his wrist! Score! What a romantic way to meet the love of your life!

Or friend of your life

His moms are so excited for him! They get him new paints and take him out to dinner to celebrate.

And then he wakes up on his eighth birthday to words on his right wrist

It says “If you could stop talking, it would be vastly appreciated.”

He’s a little pissed

His moms take him to the doctor bc “wtf why does he have TWO soulmarkers?!”

The answer is that he has two soulmates

It’s uncommon, but possible

So while he is ecstatic and ready to parade his soulmarkers around the school, his moms are a little less happy and a little more worried

They may have made the suggestion that he wears long sleeves most days, those ones that he hates because they will not roll up

But he did what they asked because they’re his moms, and he loves them very much

And then a few years later on his birthday he’s typing up a short story for school

It’s due the next day so he’s rushing through it a little bit

It’s still amazing

But anyways, he’s writing, and he suddenly just gets the name “Virgil Miller” stuck in his head

He doesn’t think anything of it bc he’s writing and that’s normal

He ends up naming the main character Virgil 

Logan grows up in a bit of a run-down part of town

His Mami and Dad are soulmates (he doesn’t think they should be)

They fight a lot, and sometimes Dad’ll hurt Mami, especially at night when they think he’s asleep

And he’s heard Mami on the phone with his Tia, talking about court cases? And laws, and soulmates?

Needless to say, he isn’t all too enamoured with the idea of soulmates

When he’s seven he gets a soulmark, some bumps over his heart, which is a little distressing

He’s never met this person, but he’s supposed to spend his whole life with them?

He’s very scared that his soulmate will be like Dad

And then he develops the words “Bold of you to assume I can stop talking” on his right wrist

And then a string when he’s nine.

He doesn’t tell his parents about any of them. “Soulless” people existed, and he knew his Mami was hoping he was one of them.

And then later that year Mami sits him down and tells him that she’s going to live with his Tia until she can find her own apartment, and that she and Dad aren’t together anymore

Logan cries for a while, and tells her about all the things he’s heard, and the bruises he’s seen, and begs to go with her

Mami says she was hoping he would

His Dad finds out the day before they leave and he hits Logan

Multiple times

And when his Mami steps in, Dad scowls and yells and stomps away and Mami picks Logan up and they run to the car and leave

When they get to his Tia’s he hides in the guest bedroom they said is his and he takes a pair of scissors and

Snip snip, he’s 33% more “soulless”

He steals Mami’s concealer and puts it on his wrist everyday to cover the words there

The only one he doesn’t cover is the soulmark on his chest, which he almost never sees because of his shirt

Whenever anyone asks, he just tells them he’s soulless

He tries not to get too close to people, but he usually fails and so he has a very small, very tight friend group 

Oh also he’s a grade ahead of his year

Patton’s family is very well off

He’s the oldest of four brothers

He’s trans, but his family is v supportive and helped him transition as soon as they found out

His service dog’s name is Cookie and she’s a golden retriever

He’s had her since he was eleven, and he loves her very much

Because he’s blind there’s certain things he didn’t know about growing up

For example, nobody told him about soulmates until he was nine

Which really explains the weird ticking he hears every once in a while, as well as the strange, tiny bumps on his chest (which spell out “Loved” in Braille)

He doesn’t think about it too often, but he’d be lying if the idea didn’t entrance him

He didn’t think he’d ever meet his soulmates, though, and if he did, he wasn’t sure they’d want the responsibility of a blind soulmate

On the day he turns ten, there’s this little tickling on his forearm, like butterflies gently taking off on him

He doesn’t really think anything of it, though

Despite being blind, Patton is super capable

He can’t cook by himself, but if he’s supervised he does a really good job. He’s the most prepared for “real life” out of his siblings, which is strange, considering he’s the oldest

He goes to public school, where most kids are really nice (sometimes antagonistically nice), but there were also some rude kids

“You don’t really need that walking stick, you’ve got a dog, and we need it to play our game!”

The amount of times he’s had to explain that no you dumbass I do still need the stick is ridiculous

But he keeps a smile on his face and forges through it

And then in grade eleven Roman’s studying in the hallway when he sees some kid being bullied

Well, not bullied, but definitely teased. Something was wrong, anyways

He’s been on edge all day because his timer keeps going down

But he’s not really thinking about it rn

So he goes over and gets the idiots to leave and

Holy hell did heaven drop an angel? They must have, because look at this boy with his golden hair and tanned skin and freckles and

Beep beep motherfucker. It’s soulmate o’clock

And Roman is just so happy

“H-hey, I’m Roman!” “Oh, hi, I’m Patton! Did... did your timer go off?” “Uh yeah! It did!”

And Patton

Just grins so wide and there’s tears, and he leaps up and hugs Roman so tight

And Roman is so freaking happy!!!! He asks Patton for his contact because duh and Pat’s like

“Uhhh well I can’t text”

“Why?”

“..... I’m blind?” “OHHHHHHH”

So they figure they can talk over the phone because Patton does have a phone for calling

So they have a cute first date and they fall in love and everything’s good and dandy and Roman’s going to college but Patton’s found this real nifty job that just so happens to be right next to Roman’s college so they move in together and Patton knows about Roman’s other sm and Roman knows about Patton’s other sm

And Roman’s in a lecture now

And he didn’t really notice but he’s been muttering

And he’s just kinda sitting there when he hears it from the guy next to him

So he looks up and here’s this ethereal looking dude with gorgeous brown eyes and dark hair and

“Bold of you to assume I can stop talking.”

He curses every known god for making his first words to his soulmate be a meme

They excuse themselves from class because holy shit

And Logan introduces himself shakily

And Roman asks for his number

And they go on a date where Roman tells him about Patton and Logan mentions having a soulmark over his heart

Logan is really hesitant to join their relationship bc he was hoping he would never meet his soulmates

So they don’t put a label on it right away

But they go on a few dates and hang out a bunch and Logan realizes that he actually really, really likes these guys and he doesn’t really want to live the rest of his life without them

So he talks to them and tells them about some of the stuff that happened when he was a kid

Roman and Patton are horrified but they hug him and promise that they will never lay a finger on him if he asks them not to 

And Logan just has a moment of “These guys love me. Like actually love me. And want me to be happy. And I think I feel the same?” 

So on their next date Logan asks both of them to be his boyfriends and obviously they say yes

And basically they’re just all really in love

They move into a bigger apartment together at the beginning of year two

So then they’re all cuddling one day when Logan tells them about his string

And so the other two are like “oh shit is there another???”

And Roman says that on his eleventh birthday he just suddenly had this name pop into his head but he just assumed he’d wanted the name for a character so

And Patton says that after getting his soulmark AND a timer he didn’t think to check for anything else

So they’re all kinda like well whoops let’s hope we still meet them!

And Patton’s at his job one day when this guy walks in and he’s one of the new employees

Pat’s got his seeing eye doggo with him but the vest is off cuz they’re both on break

And so V’s like “oh cool dog can I pet him?”

Bc usually he would never just go up and ask but he literally can’t stop himself because here’s this adorable dude in front of him and the universe is screeching at him to say hi

And Pat hears his voice and immediately falls in love

“Oh, yea sure! She’s my eye dog, but she’s on break so it’s all good!”

And V meets Pat and his dog

And they end up exchanging numbers because they are coworkers and well

Yknow

So a couple days later, after him and Patton have been talking a lot, Pat invites him over

So V goes over and meets Roman and Logan

And he hears Roman’s name and

Holy shit

And of course Roman is also freaking out because the name Virgil just really hasn’t left his head since he thought of it

So yknow

Logan’s a little unsure, but then the two get talking about astronomy and he doesn’t care if they’re not soulmates he is going to marry this guy

And they all get really close really fast

And then one day Virgil offhandedly mentions the string thing

And Logan freezes and just

Shows V his right ring finger, where they can both see this rotting string that’s still tied tight around it and

Fuck V can’t breathe are you kidding? right now?

So they help ground him, and Logan explains everything

And Roman tells him what’s up

But they’re not really sure how he’s connected to Patton but then he just

Grabs a marker and draws a heart on his hand and

It’s right there on Patton’s hand holy s h i t

So they take Virgil on a date and stuff and they make it official

And Virgil’s a little nervous bc like those three have been together for a while now and he feels like he’s intruding

But he talks to Logan and L understands bc Roman and Patton had been dating for 2+ years when he found them

He promises that V is not intruding and that they all really love him

And Virgil just full on starts crying because he hasn’t felt this loved since before his mom died and he loves his bfs so much

They find their bfs and just cuddle all night

Virgil moves in with the rest of them at the beginning of third year 

They get their happily ever after for the most part

Hopefully y’all liked this! I think I’ll be posting more writing on here, bc I have TONS of wips stacked up in a google docs and I’d like to get them out of there lmao

[serenedash]

I started rambling about my experience with kh and then it turned into khux and then it just turned into me rambling about Ryou and my art journey????? enjoy I guess,

it’s very long but there’s art in there :)

It’s funny to think about my kh journey as a whole tbh, I grew up watching my mom play video games, which included kh1 and 2. I wasn’t allowed to play the playstation2 we owned BUT I did have a gameboy so the first game I played was CoM (after my mom finished it ofc,) so I guess you could say I’ve always been passionate about kh “””side games””” lmao but I did fall off of kh very quickly bc again, I wasn’t allowed to play our PS2 and also I Am A Terrible Gamer I’ve Never Finished CoM I’m sorry you all had to find out like this, but then 358/2 came out when I was in middle school and!!! I didn’t care and I didn’t play idk why lol

Anyway, fast forward to high school I’m like 15 and my older sister, who HAS been keeping up with kh, has a wallpaper on her phone of roxas and ventus. And bc I haven’t kept up I say “nice roxas wallpaper” and she says “thanks but it’s roxas and ventus” and I proceeded to get so mad that I was determined to prove to her that her wallpaper was just roxas twice and then I fell down the BBS rabbit hole and suddenly I was reading about vanitas and then I’m reading the fan translations of the BBS novel and I’m crying??? I am sobbing???? and that’s how I actually got into kh for real lol we are vanitas stans before we are people,

It’s so funny how I thought I was some kh super fan, knowing all this stuff that I spent so long reading and rewatching cutscene movies, but I never once, SOMEHOW NEVER ever came across khx. It’s so absurd and bizarre I seriously have no idea how I never once encountered khx prior to khux. I suppose that has to do with the fact I wasn’t involved in the fandom? In early high school I had stepped away from fandoms as a whole and I didn’t have any interest in really posting content or interacting with fans anymore bc of how burnt out I was from a previous fandom,

but khux released! and I was so hype and excited for it! on launch day I was a senior in high school, I had ran around to every “nerd” and weeb I could find in school to ask them to join my party and fun fact about me is I have crippling social anxiety I literally refuse to start conversations irl so holy shit I was OUT HERE doing the MOST

My player just originally had my name (Matt) but everyone in my party had fun names so Ryou was born! High school was one big yugioh phase for me and ryou bakura is one of my favorite characters ever so it was just the logical name choice lol I quickly started creating Ryou, the character, as well. I was also leaving my homestuck phase and that + vanitas obsession made This character design (art circa 2016)

If y’all are familiar with my kh oc’s you might notice that keyblade now belongs to my kid Monty LOL

Anyway that got scrapped quickly for the chip and dale outfit (which is where Ryou’s trademark goggles are from <3) Goggles have been a staple of my character designs for a LONG TIME so like, it had to be done, (that’s a separate ramble about a separate oc tho)

OG Ryou was an interesting guy; he was a young party leader with this overwhelming responsibility on his shoulders bc of his status as a party leader. In his original story, he also struggled heavily with darkness, much like Terra but for Ryou it was more that the darkness was controlling him and not like a source of power like it was for Terra

A big part of early Ryou I kept, however, was the crushing awareness of loss. One of my party members (the strongest one at the time,) had left without saying a word and I was very confused and hurt. This was around the time the ephemera plot was happening so I decided to incorporate it into Ryou’s story; having him experience losing a friend to darkness since it’s so normal for wielders in Daybreak Town to just disappear, and this would unintentionally become a theme for both me and Ryou as khux friends would just randomly disappear.

I was desperate for khux at this point and I decided to watch the fan translations for khx and GOD, god, was I obsessed. I couldn’t stop thinking about the foretellers. And I’m not going off about that here bc I already did that, but I actually started entering fandom again! I did it slowly, I started on tumblr before this blog was made altho it was me sending anons to the few khux related blogs I could have lol a friend convinced me to get twitter where I got involved with the ffxv fandom, which led me to the kh fandom and eventually the khux fandom there which is what REALLY got me going on khux.

I joined discord servers, most of the servers I’m in are khux related, and from there I joined the khux oc rp (shout out to anyone there who might be reading this lol here’s some art from the beginning of the rp,)

It’s SO FUNNY how the RP influenced me so heavily. I hadn’t RP’d in YEARS, I used to have a strict no oc rp policy, but here I was? And the funny part is, I had barely developed Ryou. I had scrapped his original story and all I had was POST WAR Ryou so I literally had to reverse write him; I had only ever written him as a depressed, guilt ridden adult, but it was a fucking blast and I have such fond memories of this rp when it was active,

But anyway, this encouraged me to get more serious about art! I started drawing, writing, cosplaying, and roleplaying when I hadn’t done any of that stuff in a very long time. The first time I ever drew a background was for a deviant art khux competition actually LOL

also! I always think extremely fondly of the drawing I did of Aced in the keyblade war. It was also one of the first backgrounds I ever drew and it felt like my real starting point in the khux fandom. It got a ton of notes on here and someone wrote a tiny fic in a reblog which just made me SO HAPPY like it really felt like people were noticing me :) I was going to draw a matching Ira but!! I just never did!! One day tho, it’s on my art bucket list to redraw this along with Ira,

Aside from my personal growth, khux was great for my social life ngl, I made SO MANY friends online and got to meet a ton of people irl over the years! It’s crazy to think about all the people I now know and talk to? It honestly makes me really emotional. I’ll never forget taking the train into NYC and meeting up with discord friends. Going to conventions and talking with people about the latest khux update? Absolutely insane and those were some GOOD TIMES, if I thanked every khux friend or even just person who made an impact on me then we’d be here for a LONG TIME,

Fun fact, for my Lauriam cosplay all I needed to buy was the wig I just owned his outfit LOL also? Probably retiring that cosplay ngl people treated me like absolute garbage when I wore him and it led to a lot of confidence issues for awhile ngl. That’s probably one of the only memorable negative experiences I have with khux; it was great when khux people recognized me but for kh fans that weren’t in khux? They were FUCKING MEAN??? fuck kh fandom at large, I only care about khux fandom,

This leads me to another huge part of my experience in khux fandom: THEORIES!! I used to write SO MANY and oh my god my brain was so full all the time. It was a huge appeal for me in the fandom; I had been previously writing theory posts in the RWBY fandom and it just migrated over to khux for me lol I had done a ton of theorizing around Lauriam tbh, it was really the only reason I liked his character at all bc initially I did not care about the dandelions, anyone who wasn’t Skuld I was like “please leave Now thanks”

A funny part of khux fandom I never intended to be apart of is the MEMES, I really only started doing memes as stress relief bc college had me so busy all I had time/energy for was these quick little shit post drawings.

The first meme I made, file name “invi despair” LOL we need to get her a girlfriend smh anyway, I think in my senior year of college I did a bunch of rapid fire memes all in one month bc the stress of finals was getting so bad afdgfhdgf as far as I know my impact on this fandom will be my memes bc all I do now is enter a kh/khux server and introduce myself and I go “yeah I draw art. here’s a meme” and everyone goes OH YOU, honestly I am nothing if not a clown

I’ve talked so much idk where I’m going with this. Khux is just a good game even if the gameplay actually kind of really sucks yknow lol but it was the first game I played where I like, REALLY got into the meta and the mechanics. I used to read so much on the mechanics and watch youtube videos on which medals were worth pulling for. I was never a whale or a top player exactly, but I could rank well if I tried lol I’ve made it to the top 100 for solo rankings, my party has made it to top 10, and in pvp I’ve made top 300. I’m not the highest level in my party but FUCK do I know how to manipulate this game LOL

And with all that hard work, the strategies, the theorizing, the content I’ve made-- it’s been my life for 5 years. I’ve logged into khux almost every single day. At the end, I have logged 1820 days in khux out of 1910 days. Kinda crazy. Crazier I’ve never spent money on khux either lol the only “money” gone into it was one time my mom gave me a google play store gift card and I used it on my birthday for a VIP xemnas medal which eventually made it to regular pulls anyway but it was nice and a little treat :)

I’m not a gacha fan, I don’t care for it, so I don’t think I’ll be touching another gacha again. But for kh? This was pretty fucking awesome, even if it sucked a lot sometimes LOL It was worth it for the people I’ve met most of all I think. I would honestly be a completely different person without khux and that’s REALLY insane to think about.

[popculturebuffet]

Spooktacular Double Feature Halloween Night is Grinch Night and Ghosts of Fear Street Review (Patreon Review for Emma Fici)

So bit of a story here. The Patron, my good friend Emma, requested Halloween is Grinch Night, a 1978 Dr. Seuss halloween special for her review. Thing was the special ended up leaving me bored and short of things to riff on or tear apart about it. I’ve done shorter reviews sure, but I still felt confident in the material and jokes made. Here.. I just don’t have enough jokes or stuff to rip apart. Thankfully, hot off watching the awesome netflix trilogy, i’d noticed when logging them in letterboxd there was a failed pilot for a TV Pilot trying to captalize on Goosebumps popularity that I just so happened to inflict on Emma when I found it because I rightly felt she’d apprciate it. So as a  nice suprise to help shore up this review, i’m doing BOTH tiny slices of tv I don’t have enough material on for a full review at once. It’s a double feature baby and i’ts under the cut!

Halloween Night is Grinch Night:

This special is a disappointment. There’s no two ways around or through it. You’d THINK having a somewhat creepy character like the Grinch, a halloween special would be awesome: he’s creepy, Seuss continuity is loose enough they could use him again while keeping his classic form of douchebaggery, and halloween seems like the PERFECT outlet for Seuss’ endless fountain of creativity. 

The resulting special though just feels weak. It starts OFF promising. The neat logo that makes the Grinch look like a 90′s teenager, the ominious setting, it all has a great halloween feel as the Who’s celebrate.. only to smell a sweet-sour wind, a really Seuss way of signaling a bad night is a coming and everyone locks themselves indoors, our focus being on Euchariah, a smart kid with glasses who has a habit of taking them off because i’ts less scary. And by habit I mean it happens twice and dosen’t come across as meaningful character development as clearly intedned. He’s being raised by his grandparents because they murdered his parents and thus became his parents. It’s ancient who law, I don’t writes them I just talks about them. 

The Grampa likewise has a running gag saying “I wouldn’t go out on a night like this for something and 50 cents”. They repeat it SO many times in both the opening song and later it phsycially hurts me to recall it. People will forever wander why I shudder in revulsoin when they say “50 cents”, and i’ll be too embarassed to tell them. Children will write tails of my hatred of this gag. It’s just.. not funny, or whimsical or suessical. It’s just..

And that’s really the special’s issue.. it dosen’t HAVE a lot to it. The basic idea is good: The Grinch goes out on Halloween and terrifies people, a kid gets locked out while going to the out house.

And has to confront the grinch and take on his terrors to protect his family and whoville. It’s a VERY good concept.. but they just do nothing with it.

The special’s biggest flaw is it simply.. LACKS creativity. The only really creative bit is there being a hot line to call for updates on the grinch as a weird mustached guy in a giant persicope gives updates on him. It’s genuinely fun and suessian.. and i’ts the ONLY thing that really feels seuss here. There’s none of his creativity, wit or wordplay half the time. And in a halloween special that’s just not okay. Ther’es TONS to be done with a creepya tmospher, the grinch terrorizing the town, the dread building up to it.. but it just lacks atmosphere most of the time and most of the creatures for it till again the climax, feel generic as hell. Like they’d fit in ANY other suess story instead of being uniquely creepy harbingers of the Grinch’s presence like the story treats them. 

The grinch himself dosen’t fair much better. His actor tries but just dosen’t quite get it and his schtick, of ALL the things they coudl’ve come up with to be cool and creative... is riding a giant wagon while using poor max to pull lit. 

All the ways they could do something cool or unique or intresting with it.. and they choose big old wagon evocative of the sleigh. Have him ride a giant pumpkin, or some weird suessian contraption that runs on nightmare or a giant bat named grinch junior or a giant floating richard nixon head. It’s telling I had to CHECK to see who wrote this special simply because it felt so... souless. So lacking in Seuss’ creativity. It WAS him, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it for whatever reason. 

The only part where the special REALLY shines is the finale. Having finally sufficently pissed the Grinch off, the only way he cares about anyone or anything, Euch is subjected to a cornociopia of weird, creepy frights and tricks. 

It’s geninely creepy, ,using flashes of images, some neat deisgns and some creepy music. It’s an utterly awesome seqeunce.. but it’s all the special has. It’s fine to build up to an awesome climax or have your climax be the highlight of your work but you HAVE to have something to keep intrest before that or no one’s going to keep watching. Even in the 70′s with only 5 or so channels.. they could STILL change them to anything else. The finale is full of effort, creativity and spookiness... which makes the REST of the special’s lifelesness, i’ts dullness and i’ts lack of engagment in our main character of Euchriah, whose only real good act is keeping the grinch distracted with him long enough to run out of grinch night then taking max home with him. It has nothing really going for it. 

Even riff wise the only really “what the hell thing” is Max suddenly getting a musical number about how miserable he is... it’s just so out of nowhere, sad and wonderful I can’t help but love it. There’s also the fact that despite this being in his head THE GRINCH CAN HEAR IT.

THE GRINCH IS TELEPATHIC

.... that.. might actually explain why he hates people. But you don’t need a mindreader ot see why I don’t like this dull, lifeless half assed special. And that’s not even in a vacum: I had fond memories of the 70s version of the Lorax, which was 6 years before this, having really smooth animation and just to see if I was right about it and not just coated in middle school nostalgia I went back and watched a scene or too. I’ts fluid, gorgeous and everything this isn’t. Watch the vid above, but please if you want some seuss, you have better options. 

The Ghosts of Fear Street:

So for those fear street fans just coming in from netflix , you MIGHT be wondering how execs expected to turn a series that’s ENTIRELY about teenagers getting stabbed a bunch into a cash in on that sweet sweet goosebumps dollar. 

And the answer was simple: While the main fear street was a grounded (in theory in practice it seems cheesetastic and I want to gobble some up asap) series of slasher novels, there was a spinoff designed to be goosebumps for a slightly older audience: Ghosts of Fear Street, essentially combining goosebumps scary monsters and super creeps with the Cursed Town of Shadyside’s penchant for offscreen bloodshed. I only learned about this offshoot thanks ot this pilot, but it sure sounds like some riffable fun. 

Hence why this pilot takes that series title.. and that’s really it. Much like the Netflix Trilogy this pilot takes the basic IDEAS of it’s series and does it’s own thing with them. And what it does.. is strangely creative. No really I didn’t expect creativity from a cheesy, clearly made for fox kids tv pilots from 1997 trying to ride goosebumps coatails but with the budget of some blood they took with a syringe before RL Stine asked them politely to stop. But here we are. 

The pilot starts with your standard Goosebumps-Type story: a kid is invited to a party at the weird kid in town’s house only to find the house cocooned and SUPRISE the kid turns into a bug boy and webs him up with arm pit webs!

It turns out this is a story by an RL Stine stand in played by Brock from the Sitcom Reba. That’s not his actual name, that’s uh..

“Christopher Rich”. Though I will continue to call him Brock From Reba because that’s what I know him from and I did not recall any of these characters names and find it much more fun to call them whatever I damn well please. If you don’t remember Reba it was a sitcom in the 90′s starring Country Star Reba Macentire that somehow worked, following Reba “Hart” as she dealt with her teenager daughter getting pregannt and marrying her doofy but lovable boyfriend, and her husband cheating on her with his assitant then knocking her up. At the same time. 

It’s pretty good, not the BEST sitcom there’s ever been but I have some nostalgic fondness for it and Rich was decent. The only thing i’ve seen him in besides this for more a guest apperance was the TV movie: Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again. Which i’m only convinced is real and not some fever dream I have because this clip of it exists. 

I want to visit the reality where America suffered through the series this was supposed to lead into. And it’s STILL not as bonkers as the actual prime time drama show about Riverdale we got. I mean would this series have had Archie mauled by a bear? Probably not and by that token it looses. Still I do need to take a look at this trainwreck someday. Someday. 

For now back to this trainwreck: So Brock From Reba’s secret second family is visiting Shadyside , paticuarlly the titular Fear Street itself. Due to his age, his father in law can’t run his weird museum of stuff the adams family would enjoy as well and Wet Blanket Mom wants him to move in with them, something he’s reluctantly agreed to. 

FORCING YOUR FATHER TO MOVE IN WITH YOU BECAUSE OF AGING!  ARE YOU AFRAAAAIIIIDDDD YET?!

So they head for fear street. It turns out the parents grew up there and the place is the inspiration for Brock From Reba’s novels.The kids consist of Moody Daughter, Scardey Cat Boy and Sees a Ghost Also Boy. Sees a Ghost Also boy found a ghost dog and bonds with it while the other two are sent ot explore the town as the parents don’t want the kids to know it’s..

SPOOOKYYYYYYYY!

Oh no not you Spooky, though this series probably would’ve get picked up if you lived there. They instead find a creepy house with webs and a girl named Cricket, who Moody Daughter hits it off with. Seriously they try to play the two off as friends but I know chemistry when I see it. Scardey Cat gets scared by al lher bugs, which is the only time h’es fairly creeped out. Seriously spiders are fucking terrifying. So he tries to head out only to find Circke’ts dad who when h’es scared has his head turn into a bug. 

So Scardy Cat does what any resonable child would do: he steals the car battery out of his parents car, and jury rigs some sort of gloves to go kick that bug man’s ass. yes this actually happens and Brock From Reba’s reaction implies this happens a lot. So Brock From Reba goes to stop his son from comitting homicide and ends up shocked instead...... 

I just.. I love everything about this. Brock From Reba’s facial expression, the fact this is normal for them just everything. Oh and Scaredy Cat, who i’m now renaming Electro Boy, left a cartoony impact siloutte

Oh and it turns out the bug man ISN’T evil. Yeah he just has “turn into a bug when scared” syndrome and is old friends with Brock From Reba whose just.. casual about the fact he’s friends with ab ug man and his books are based on his childhood. As the kids and him walk home he even says, and i swear i’m not joking “I know i’ts a lot learning everything you knew was a lie”. Honestly Christopher Rich is the best part of this pilot: he just gets this is a goofy family sitcom but with monsters and just rolls with it. 

So the mother having had an emotinal moment with her dad I glossed over because it didn’t have any electrocutions decides to stay and they find out the ghost dog is real. 

This pilot.. is wonderfully goofy and entirely on youtube. I really hope we get a better transfer someday because while WAY too much of the pilot is spent on nothing, the idea of a family living in a town full of weird stuff that unlike say most towns with that premise like gravity falls is an open secret and you could just happily go visit the bug man and his goth daughter. I mean.. ther’es so much potetial: vampires running the blood bank, a were puma mowing his lawn, mummy lawyers arguging against the creeper from scooby doo in night court judged by Harry Anderson> There’s so much fun to be had I may have to take a stab at this. Ghost of Fear Street is stupid, goofy and enjoyably wholesome. Check it out and marvel at what we could’ve gotten. For now though if you enjoyed this review, check out my patreon to get your own every month, or just follow and reblog and get more eyeballs on this goodness. And thanks for reading. 

[divineluce]

Research Reunion || Orion & Luce

Timing: May 11th, 2021

Tagging: @3starsquinn & @divineluce

Location: The Scribrary

Description: Who else would know phoenixes better than a Scribe? Luce goes to Rio for help-- third time’s the charm. Right?

Grabbing her backpack from the passenger seat of her car, Luce glanced up at the Scribary. She remembered the last time she’d been here, vividly, in fact. She’d been asking Rio for help that day too. Help for… Swallowing, she slid the backpack over her shoulder, keenly aware of the books inside. They were the one she’d borrowed from Rio, months and months ago. Books about ghosts, about exorcisms. She’d poured over every single page, trying to figure out how she could do something. And in the end, she hadn’t even been able to help. She’d failed. Nadia was safe, but no thanks to her. It was like how Remmy was safe, how Bea was safe-- by virtue of being nowhere near this town, they were safe. Luce made her way to the door of Scribe HQ and knocked on the door. “Hey. I need your help.” She said, not looking at Rio. The last time they’d seen each other… She didn’t want to think about that. Instead, she awkwardly held up her backpack, “I’ve also got some overdue books.”

Orion hadn’t expected to hear from Luce. The two hadn’t seen each other since everything with Lydia. And the last that he had heard from her was the alcoholic apology for punching him. Rio just hadn’t been sure which time specifically she had been apologizing for. Maybe it was meant as a catch all. Broken cheek bone aside, getting punched was nowhere near the reason that Rio expected the two hadn’t seen each other since the incident. The whole situation with Lydia… it still weighed on Rio. People had died. Instead of getting to help, Rio had been promise bound into hurting his sister and friends all in an attempt to help a serial killer escape. He still hadn’t forgiven himself for being so naive. At the end of the day, Rio and Luce had never been particularly close. She was more like the sister of the best friend of the person Rio had been dating. Familiar with each other by extension, acquaintances by association. “Hi there.” Rio held the door open, scratching the back of his neck as a nervous tick while conveniently covering half of his face with his arm. Just the memory of Luce made his face throb. “I really hope we can do introductions without the uh- punching thing this time.” Rio smiled innocently, though the joke sounded more like a genuine plea than anything a normal person would laugh at. But if there was anything that could get Rio out of that funk it was the mention of his books. “Really?! That’s amazing. That means I can take you off my list. Come on, follow me we can head back to the library.” Rio waved her inside and started off down the winding hallways, “So uh- it’s been a while. How ya been?”

Grimacing at the memories of how she’d… greeted him in the past, Luce offered a tight lipped smile. “Nope. No punching this time.” She said. Christ. He was just a fucking kid. And she’d fucking clocked him. Twice. She needed to work on that. She needed to work on a lot of things, but decking kids was definitely on the list. Slipping the bag off her shoulder, Luce pulled out two of the thick leather bound books and tossed them to Rio. “Yep, right here. Ghosts and Ghouls and Diaries of an Exorcist. Real light reading.” She said before squinting in slight confusion. “A list?” She echoed as she followed him inside. The hallway seemed a bit brighter than the last time she’d been here and she realized there were lights installed along the halls. Lights that hadn’t been there before-- Winston’s handiwork, she realized. Winston must have fixed the place up before she left. Yet another person who was better off away from here.

Shrugging, she mulled over her response. Out of magic. Out of people to turn to. Which is why she was here, why she’d talked to Leah. “Keeping on keeping on. Just trying to fix some shit, that’s all. What about you?” She asked.

It felt like there were a million books in the Scribrary. Far too many for Orion to ever truly miss a random ghost book that Luce had borrowed a few months back. Still, there was something oddly comforting about knowing that one was going to be back where it belonged and he could mark it off the list. “Oh yeah. I sort of started a list. Like a book check out system, so that I can keep a better track where the books are. If I can’t find one I start to get stressed, so it’s a bit calming to know which ones are in someone else’s hands.” Rio shrugged following the explanation. Even he knew that it seemed a little over the top, but considering people had found their way in before without his knowledge he also thought it’d be a good idea to keep track just in case a book disappeared that he hadn’t lent out. Farther down the hallway, he couldn’t help himself from making further conversation, “For the record, what I said earlier? When you first got here? Totally a joke. I don’t blame you for either time you-” Rio held up a fist and motioned towards his face. “Just so you know.”

Rio wondered what Luce meant by that. What exactly was she trying to fix? It probably had something to do with what she was doing here asking for his help. “Good to hear.” Rio answered regardless. It hadn’t been the most positive answer, but keeping on was about as good as it got in White Crest, “Loaded question. I guess I’m alright, all things considered. It’s just been a long year already.” He didn’t want to bother Luce with all of his issues. It was just depressing and sad, “But I’m glad you dropped by. I’m happy to help with whatever you need.”

“Huh. Guess that makes sense.” Luce said, because it did on some level. She’d never liked books, never really cared much for anything that she couldn’t listen to or see or feel. But it made sense for Rio to keep track of shit. They continued down the hallway in relative silence, Luce aware of how fucking awkward it all was. She’d never really given a shit about Rio. Which was a pretty terrible thing, but it was true. Rio wasn’t someone she’d bothered to get to know-- he was just Winston’s boyfriend. But, he wasn’t just that, was he? He’d been there, that day… he’d seen what she’d done. He’d stood between her and Lydia and she hadn’t cared. And fuck. He was… human. Innocent. “You should. I shouldn’t have punched you. Either time.” She said, her voice dull, sounding almost as numb as she felt. The memories of that day still haunted her. Day and night, what she’d done, it stayed with her.

“Yeah.” Luce said offhandedly. “I feel that. A long fucking year already.” It was hard to believe that a single year had passed since she’d been pulled from her cabin by her parents, forced to live with Bea and Nell. Now, she would give almost anything to even see her parents, let alone argue with them over whether it was really necessary for her to live with her sisters as a grown ass adult. Clearing her throat as they entered a room lined with shelves crammed full of books, “Great. I’m looking for books on phoenix’s. Specifically stuff on what can cause corruption. I reached out to,” Luce paused, not knowing if Rio was exactly on the up and up with Leah, “someone who knows about phoenix’s, but they didn’t know much either.”

It was obvious from her tone that Luce didn’t want to talk about it. Orion couldn’t claim that he wanted to talk about it either. It was awkward. Especially with someone he didn’t actually know well. “I mean the first time was just a misunderstanding. I can’t fault you for looking out for Winston.” Rio shrugged. He hadn’t loved it when it had happened. And he had mostly wished that Luce would have given him at least a minute to try to explain himself before she chose to punch him instead. But Rio and Luce weren’t super close. Luce cared about Winston and owed nothing to Rio. “I can’t say I would have done the same, but that’s just because I’m very non confrontational. I’d rather silently second guess from afar.” The second time was an entirely different story. “And we all know that I wasn’t in control with Lydia. You had to do what you had to do. If anyone should be apologizing it’s me. I threw a knife at you.” The reminder of it flashed through his head. The snapping of Athena’s arm. The air whistling as the knife flew and landed in the back of Luce’s leg. He blinked the images away and tried to focus again. “I’m just saying, neither one was exactly unmotivated.”

Inside the library, Rio was able to breathe a tiny bit easier. Something about the place calmed him. Maybe being here with Luce was not any less awkward than it was in the hallway, but it felt less claustrophobic. Physically and mentally. “Phoenixes?” Rio repeated, crossing his arms and giving a huff as he tried to consider what might be useful. “Honestly? There’s not a ton of information on them in the Scribrary. I have a theory, but can’t really prove it. But I think maybe one of them knew enough about their past lives to take the books that were stored here. Or the Phoenixes that worked as Scribes never trusted them enough with the knowledge.” All of that was speculation, a theory mostly beginning when he learned that Leah’s past life had been involved with the Scribes. Part of Rio wanted to question Luce’s source. Given her sister’s relationship with Leah, it made sense that Leah directly might be the source. But he didn’t have any interest in outing the woman if Luce wasn’t privy to that knowledge. Leah was actually starting to trust Rio, despite his hunter heritage. He didn’t want to give her any reason to jeopardize that. “But I definitely have some stuff on them. Follow me.”

“I should have stopped to think. To ask questions, get some straight answers.” Luce replied dully, her boots falling heavily against the solid stone pavers of the building. How fucking old was this place anyways, she wondered absently. It seemed older than the town itself. “I should have done a lot of shit differently.” She said, but grimaced at Rio’s next words. You had to do what you had to do. No. She’d done much more than that. She remembered the way she’d set fire to innocent bystanders, people caught in the crossfire of a world they weren’t even aware of. She could feel the flames curl and crackle against their skin. She could remember the way rage and fear had coursed through her. “Sure. They weren’t unmotivated.” But they were motivated for the wrong fucking reasons.

Glancing around at the massive store of books, Luce had a hard time believing that the Scribes didn’t have much on the subject of Phoenix’s. They had to have something. They had to have information. Or else… what was Luce going to do? Give up. Go back to Adam and tell her she wasn’t the right person for the job. Her magic was gone, her sister was gone, her family had abandoned her for what she was. And now, she couldn’t-- she couldn’t even find a goddamn book. Luce wrapped her arms around herself as she listened to him, as though she could hold all the remains of who she was together. “Alright. Makes sense to me. Theories and stuff aren’t my wheelhouse, but sure. Lead the way.” She nodded.

Unable to argue that, Orion just shrugged. At the time, he had certainly wished that Luce had stopped to question Rio on the topic or tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Partially because he didn’t enjoy getting punched in the face, but mostly because he had hoped that he ame off friendly and pleasant enough that Luce might have questioned the misunderstanding entirely. He had to remind himself that the two had not been friends at the time. He wasn’t even sure what they were now. “Yeah. Well I get that much. I would have done a lot differently too.” Like never promise a random woman that he would protect her at all costs. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure he would have done anything different. He still wanted to give people the benefit of the doubt. He just couldn’t help himself from making stupid decisions.

Rio didn’t waste any time leading her to the few materials that he had found on phoenixes. Most were journals by other scribes talking about their experience with them, though there were a few self-collected bestiaries that almost devoted a small section to them. Certainly not as vast as some of the more common supernatural creatures. Books about vampires or werewolves took up multiple bookshelves, while mentions of Phoenixes fit neatly on a single row. “I guess theories and stuff is sort of my area of expertise. If you want to call it that.” He honestly wasn’t sure what he would describe as his ‘wheelhouse’. When he got to the shelf, and pulled off a book and started flipping through it, “So if there’s anything about them it’s probably here. Feel free to start flipping through some of them. What kind of corruption do you mean?”

“Shoulda,” Luce kicked at a broken piece of cobblestone, “Coulda,” The stone bounced and skittered across the floor ahead of her, “Woulda.” She said, a grim expression on her face. There were a lot of things she would have done differently. She wouldn’t have let herself get carried away by fear, by anger. She wouldn’t have called in a favor from a woman she hardly knew or understood. She wouldn’t have listened to the words of a kid, of a… fuck. She was more than just a kid. Athena was Rio’s sister. Christ. Rubbing her forehead, Luce followed him to a different section of the scribrary. The books here were all old, leather bound things, with worn spines. No doubt used by generations of Hunters and Scribes alike. And now… her. To try and do something good for once.

“The way I see it, you’re the expert here on books. Theories go right along with that.” She shrugged. Luce wasn’t a theory gal, wasn’t a reader, barely even gave a shit about learning things she cared about. Rubbing a hand on her arm, Luce thought back to the scene she and Adam had witnessed in the forest. The way the fires had burned an natural red, the way a curved beak had seemed to jut from the phoenix’s face, while their head remained human. Pulling another book from the shelf, she paused at an anatomical diagram of a phoenix, in both human and full form. How had the person who wrote this book figured out the anatomy? Had the phoenix in this sketch offered this knowledge? Or had it been taken? Luce cleared her throat. “The flames, they didn’t burn like normal fire. Or normal phoenix fire either. There were feathers, on fire, being shed all over the place. And they didn’t go out on their own. They just kept burning, like oil. And the flames, they didn’t look right. There was this shade of red, to them. I’ve never seen fire look like that before.” She frowned, “And I know fire.”

Listening to Luce’s description, a worried line settled across Orion’ face. “That sounds scary.” He didn’t know much about phoenixes, but that definitely didn’t sound normal. Plus, he trusted Luce if she said that it hadn’t been normal. “Definitely not something you see everyday.” Rio had a bad feeling that if the former Scribe phoenixes did know anything about this it wasn’t something that they would want stored in Scribe records for anybody in the group to see. His only hope was that something was left behind, or somebody was studying the phoenix without their knowledge. Just the thought of that made him feel gross, though. He didn’t want to operate like that. Studying someone that didn’t want their secrets out. He would be better. He had to be. “Do you think they were dangerous?”

Had it been scary? Maybe. At this point, Luce had seen so much shit in this town, done so much fucked up shit… it hadn’t really registered as scary. Which was a troubling thought-- one that she could deal with later. When she wasn’t trying to stop half the woods outside of White Crest from getting set ablaze. Shrugging, she continued to flip through her book, “Nope. Not at all. Apparently, they also were able to melt through a car. Which means they’re powerful. Real goddamn powerful.” She said, thinking back to the melted shards of glass and obsidian, the dried streambed. At Rio’s question, Luce paused. Yes, definitely. But not because they wanted to be. “They’re dangerous only because they’re out of control. Whatever happened to them, it doesn’t look like it was intentional. Magic might change someone’s appearance, but it wouldn’t be enough to alter their flames. I think they’re in trouble.” I think they’re afraid of what they’ve done. What they might do.

Orion continued flipping through his own book, but couldn’t help but glance up at Luce as she described the encounter. She sounded so casual while discussing so insanely powerful. Rio had been dealing with the supernatural his entire life and he still couldn’t quite manage to keep himself that calm. “Woah. Didn’t know that was something they could do. That’s like… insanely hot.” Rio had no idea exactly how hot, but definitely not a safe amount of hot. He realized moments too late what he had said. “Hot as in like actual temperature hot, I mean. Not like attractive hot. For the record. I mean melting a car might be very attractive. I’ve never seen it for myself.” Definitely time to focus on reading that book again. He pulled it up to try to head his reddening face and only peaked over the top to look back at Luce when she gave him the best news he had heard so far tonight. That she didn’t think it was intentional. She didn’t think they were dealing with someone evil, but someone that might need help. Now that he could get behind. “In that case, we have to find something. I want to help.”

“Sure is.” Luce said off-handedly as she read a paragraph about phoenix feathers and molting patterns. Hm. Nothing there. A bit late, she realized that Rio was sputtering over his words. Glancing up from her book, she offered a grin. “Keep it in your pants there. But no, I know what you mean. It’s real fucking hot. I’ve melted metal before, but that shit takes time. And I only did doorknobs. I could never cut something as huge as a car. Guess that’s what happens when you’re basically a living sun.” She said before going back to her book. Fuck, she hated reading. Why weren’t there like… audiobooks for this shit? Or some wise old person to tell her what was up? Well. There were plenty of wise old spell casters in town, the difference was… they just wouldn’t have anything to do with her anymore. She couldn’t exactly go to them for help. So, Rio and Leah were the next best thing. At Rio’s words, Luce looked at him again, expression  pensive. “Why? This isn’t your responsibility, you don’t need to help me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you are. But why?” Was he trying to ease guilt the way she was, was he trying to atone?

“Ha ha. Very funny.” Orion laugh sarcastically, thankful that Luce didn’t spend much time teasing him on the subject. Instead, she surprised him. He knew about her family's power, but he had no idea she had been strong enough to use the fire to cut metal. “That’s impressive. I guess I should have known that fire magic like that could get that powerful.” The extent of his knowledge on spellcasters came from Winston and the Vural family admittedly. The Quinn family had never partnered much with spellcasters to help catch supernatural creatures. They had always been far too proud. He hadn’t been expecting Luce to question his intentions. It took him off guard, mostly because he didn’t really know them himself. Though he had more than a few ideas. “Um… I guess I don’t know the right answer to that.” Rio shrugged, but continued to consider the question, “I guess I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff in my life? I was raised as a hunter, told that supernatural people were inherently evil and unnatural. I knew that wan’t true, but I never got a chance to help them.” More often than not, Rio had stood idly by while watching them get slaughtered. It wasn’t a feeling that Rio would soon forget, the helplessness of knowing he couldn’t stop it. The disgust at himself for not trying anyways. He had failed so many people in this town. He just didn’t want to do that anymore. “Now’s my chance. I don’t want to waste it.”

“It can.” When it works. When it wants to. “But, I couldn’t do something like that even if I wanted to.” Luce said, saying the words her brain was thinking automatically. Luce’s mouth snapped shut and she stared at Rio. Fuck. Fuck. She hadn’t meant to say that. She didn’t-- she didn’t want more people to know about this than need be. She didn’t have the protection of the coven and Bea had only just gotten back from New York, she didn’t want to add more to her sister’s plate. Same went for Nell—she didn’t want to force her baby sister to watch her back. If more people knew that Luce was without her magic, it would paint a big fucking target on her back. “I didn’t say that. You didn’t hear anything about my magic. You got it?” She asked, voice shaking slightly.

Listening to his words, Luce couldn’t help but wonder how anyone could have thought that this kid could be a hunter. He might have the genes, but there wasn’t a cruel bone in his body. “Yeah. Don’t fucking waste it.” She repeated before looking blankly back down at the book that was clutched in her hands. Any other time, the pages would be scorched and smoking in her grasp, a byproduct of her stress and anger. But the pages were only slightly crumpled under her fingers. Fuck.

Orion was left confused and concerned about Luce’s comment. It had been said so quickly that it had almost completely gone over his head completely. But a few moments after Rio’s eyes narrowed as he became perplexed by the wording. His head tilted, glancing away from the book in order to get a better look at Luce. Before he even had a chance to question her, Luce was talking again. She seemed pretty adamant that this was not something to be spoken of. Or even remembered from the sounds of it. That only concerned Rio more. “Right. Uh- didn’t hear anything.” Rio bit his lip and considered if there was anything else he should say. Adam had experienced something similar with his own abilities. Why did that thing only happen to people that actually wanted the powers? “But uh- if I did hear something, I’d definitely be there for you. Like to help figure that out. But I wouldn’t tell anyone. If I had heard anything.”

Not wasting the opportunity would be a lot easier if Rio knew what to do to help. That was the first step in helping others. Still, he appreciated Luce’s energy. It was intimidating for sure, sometimes downright scary. But it was surprisingly motivating. It made Rio want to find the answer to this more than ever. “I won’t. We’re going to help.” Rio tried remaining confident. Good vibes only. “Even if we have to write it ourselves.”

“Nope. You sure didn’t.” Luce said flatly before looking back at her book. It was useless though. She wasn’t the studying type usually and even less so when she had an audience. She glared up at him, ready to tear him a new one if he kept up on this subject. But, as she looked over at him and saw the expression on his face, she couldn’t help but sigh. She didn’t want his help, but… “We’ve got more important things to deal with than my shit. But thanks. You don’t need to, though.”

“Yeah.” She said with a nod before flicking through her book. “Whatever it takes.” Luce said quietly, the words familiar to her tongue. Not in the same context, not in the same way, but the words were just as true as they were a year ago. Whatever it takes. She’d right her wrongs, one step at a time. As she skimmed over the pages, she paused on what looked like… an ingredient list. It seemed to be talking about some kind of illness-- not corruption, exactly. But something that affected phoenix flames. “Hey. What do you think about this?” She asked, pointing at the list. “Essence of the phoenix stricken by disease. White flowered herbs found where wild creatures roam, bound with sage and lavender to purify. Tears of another freely given and,” Luce squinted at the text, “Fire. Lots of fire.”

Clearly, Luce was serious about not bringing it up. Orion continued to peak over the book at her, trying to pick up on any signs without asking. Asking wasn’t the right idea it seemed. Rio wasn’t sure that he could necessarily relate. He had always hated his abilities, had wished that they would go away. For him, losing them felt like a blessing in disguise. But for someone that seemingly liked and enjoyed the powers they had always had, it must be a lot harder. Like an extension of themselves. Rio didn’t understand, but he could guess that it must feel like losing a part of herself. “Point taken. Subject dropped.” Rio assured her, though he hoped at some point it would come up again.

Rio continued skimming through his own book until Luce pointed something out in the book she was looking through. He bent around to get a better look at the list and scanned through quickly, noting a few words that stuck out to him. “A phoenix disease? Never heard of that before. But that could make sense.” If there was ever a disease specific to phoenixes, one of the first things Rio would consider was their fire abilities and temperature. “So is the list some kind of spell? Or potion maybe?” He squinted at the list further and sighed, “They kept it pretty vague. Except for the fire part.”

At least he dropped it. That was something. Luce focused on the list-- there wasn’t much to go off of at all. It read more like an old ritual that the coven would do, one of the ancient rites that they did on a yearly basis. Big magic, powerful magic. The books Bea had kept, the ones on necromancy, they had featured lists similar to these. They were written to be vague for a reason. “It’s a spell. A potion would have more specific instructions, discussion about tinctures or timing. This is a ritual, some kind of cleansing. The sage and lavender tell me that much.” She tapped the line on the book before flipping the page. But, there were no further instructions, no other words. “Whoever wrote this, they kept their cards close to their chest. And I don’t blame them. The Scribe who figured this out, they must have worked with spellcasters and at least one phoenix. Can’t imagine either of them would have wanted the specifics of a ritual to be written out.” She said with a sigh and pulled out her phone to take a picture of the list. “I don’t know exactly what all of this means. The fire is clear and the lavender and sage are easy enough to source. The specifics of it, though. Can’t tell you.” Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Luce wished she was better at this. Better at all the parts of magic that she’d scorned. Because then, maybe she wouldn’t feel so lost.

Orion listened to Luce’s description intently. He was thankful to have a friend well versed on spells like that. That is what Luce was, right? A friend? Today more than ever, it seemed like there was actually a small chance of that. “Good to know.” Rio nodded, making a mental note of this in the back of his mind. He may never be involved in a spell or potion making, but he would at least remember how to tell a difference between the two, hopefully. “Big shocker there, a scribe being cryptic and vague.” He sighed. For a group dedicated to cataloguing supernatural knowledge for historical use, a lot of scribes didn’t love putting things in layman's terms. “I can’t tell you anything for sure, but I have a couple theories. That part about wild creatures. I would bet they’re referring to more than just your average wild animal. Probably somewhere with a large population of supernatural creatures. And this part,” Rio paused to look at the part about the tears of another, “Phoenix tears are supposed to be special, right? Some kind of super healer or something.”

“Witches aren’t much better. Must be a paranoid magic thing.” Luce said with a shake of her head before shutting the book. She couldn’t make heads nor tails of what it meant and, honestly, she wanted to be able to study the book on her own. It took her time to parse through magical shit, she didn’t pick up written spells and rituals quickly. “Mind if I borrow this? I’ll give it back sooner than the last batch.” She said, shaking the ancient book in her hand. “As far as what you’re saying… It makes sense, but keep looking for anything that might help. We don’t even know if this would help a phoenix who’s been corrupted. This is talking about disease, but I don’t think what we’re dealing with is a disease. I’ve got some leads I might track down, see if they can help.” She let out another sigh. “But yeah. Thanks for your help with this.”

Magic seemed fickle. Orion nodded at Luce’s statement, wondering what made it so different from hunter strength or a werewolf’s ability to turn. In the end, it was all some kind of magic, right? Some unexplained phenomenon that made people stronger or more capable than regular people. None of it made sense. But without any insight, Rio decided to just nod in agreement and leave it at that. “Yeah of course. Take whatever you want. I’ll just make a note of them before you leave. For this archive thing.” He shrugged, sure that she wasn’t interested in hearing about his attempts to modernize this ancient library. “Definitely. I’ll keep looking. Keep me updated okay? So I can help with stuff.”

Shoving the book into her backpack, Luce nodded. “I think just the one will be enough for me. It’s not exactly light reading.” She said as she shrugged on her bag. As she turned to leave, she glanced at the young Scribe for a moment. He really did want to help. And fuck, she needed the help. She wasn’t smart enough, didn’t know enough about magic outside of her own fire. And she couldn’t do this alone. It wasn’t possible, not if she wanted to help this person. “Yeah, I will. I’ll keep you posted. And if you find anything… let me know.” She said before turning her back on Rio and walking back down the dark corridors of the Scribrary. First Leah, now Rio. Who else would know about this? Who else could help her? Who else would understand why she… needed to do this?

It didn’t matter. It really didn’t. “Whatever it takes.” She repeated to herself. Whatever it takes, to bring some scrap of balance back to the world. To right the wrongs in her past. Whatever it takes. 

[aspiring-ginger]

Thunderstorms Ch. 2 (Fellowship x Reader)

Summary: Reader gets the Fellowship ready for bed, how the heck is she going to have room for everyone?

Warnings: Language

Word count: 2,496

Pairing(s): Platonic Fellowship of the ring x fem!reader, eventual romantic interest (Lord of the Rings)

Who do you want Reader to end up with? Vote here!

A/N: This one was fun to write! Reader is going to have some nice moments with each member of the Fellowship before the final romantic pairing is decided, so this chapter has a bit of Legolas! I am keeping a tally of who you guys want the reader to end up with, so go ahead and put your votes in lol 

Comments and feedback are always appreciated! Let me know if you want more!

Taglist: @thunderdog8​ @kathieycarrerarosshley​ @sleep-deprived-things​ @nabercnm​ @agenerallynicegirl @sammy201d​ @thefoxskinwalker​ @minimxno​ 

(If your name has a strike-through in it, I couldn’t tag you! Let me know if I spelled anything wrong, or check your settings so I can tag you in future parts!)

Masterlist I Previous 

You left the fellowship standing around your kitchen table while you went looking for candles and flashlights. It did cross your mind that the majority of the fellowship wasn’t even human so they might be able to see better in the dark, but you needed the light and using just your phone wasn’t going to cut it. It was probably for the best that you needed to grab these anyway, so you could use this time to process what the actual fuck was going on. 

No matter how many times you pinched yourself, the fellowship was still standing in your kitchen. It was fucking bonkers and you knew it. Hopefully you would be able to put them all to bed quickly so you could sleep and when you woke up it was all a dream and there weren’t eight strange men in your house. God, you hoped it really was a dream. 

You managed to find a few scented candles that you currently balanced in your arms as you returned to the kitchen. The hobbits were still seated at the table, busy whispering to each other with wide eyes. Aragorn and Legolas seemed to be discussing something in Elvish. They both seemed tense so it could actually be an argument, but honestly you had no idea. Boromir saw you struggling with the candles, so he strode over and took several from your hands. You tried to protest but he simply waved it off saying it was the least he could do for your generous hospitality. He helped you spread the candles throughout your house and watched curiously as you lit them using a lighter. You caught the hobbits’ attention as well when you put the last candle down in the middle of the table. 

“What’s that, there? You tryn’ to use some sort of a weapon on us?” Sam asked, eyeing the lighter in your hands.

You shook your head. “No, no. I’m just lighting the candle, see?” You clicked the lighter so the small flame would come out of the tip, then lit the candle.

“Is that some sort of magic?” Pippin asked.

“Why are you lighting the candles now? Don’t you have any torches or candles already lit?” Merry chimed in.

You handed the lighter over to Pippin so he could get a closer look. Wait shit, was that really the best idea to give it to him, of all people? Well, it was too late now as he was already twirling it around in his hands and fiddling with the trigger to try and light it. It was only a tiny lighter anyway, it wasn’t like he could actually set anything on fire….you hoped.

“Hm? Oh, it’s dark because the power’s out.” Merry gave you a blank stare so you clarified, “Our lights run on electricity, not fire. The storm must’ve hit a generator or something, so the power’s not on. I can’t turn any lights on without it.”

“Does this normally happen, lass?” Gimli piped up from his spot in the corner.

“No, we haven’t had a storm this bad in a long time, and if the power ever does go out it’s usually only for a couple seconds.”

“Well, the candles smell wonderful.” Boromir added with a smile. You smiled back and excused yourself to get them towels. Seriously, they were making puddles on your floor. You saw the lights flicker back on in your office as you grabbed them. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

“Alright, the power’s back on now, but I’m not gonna turn on a ton of lights because it’s late and it’ll be bright.” You explained as you handed out the towels. 

Tackling one problem at a time- the power was back on, and the fellowship was drying off. Now you had to figure out where everyone could sleep. This was going to be a real challenge. Two could fit in your parent’s bed, two in the guest bed. One on the loveseat, and either one or two on the couch. You had a small pullout couch underneath your loft bed you had since childhood, but that would mean one of them would have to sleep with you in your room. That might not sit well with them wanting to preserve your honor and hospitality. They had their sleeping packs with them and you had a sleeping bag as well, but you didn’t want them to have to sleep on the floor. Especially since you had no idea how long they would be staying and they’d been on the road for so long it felt wrong to make one of them sleep on the floor. You supposed you could clean off the couch that was downstairs in the family room, but it was sort of dirty. Sighing, you explained this to them, which they all assured you it would be no problem should some of them need their bedrolls. 

“I’ll give you a tour of the house, and then you all can decide where you want to sleep.” They all nodded in agreement. “So, you’re standing in my kitchen. Do you have any questions?” You asked as you flipped on the light.

“Will you show us how to use your equipment?” Sam asked, “We’d hate to have you cooking all by yourself. And I’d like to learn to help, if I could.”

“Sure, but we can worry about that in the morning. I think we could all use some sleep first.”

You led them throughout your house turning the lights on as you went. They didn’t have any questions, but you figured that all this was overwhelming so you didn’t launch into any explanations unprompted. 

After some discussion among themselves they came to a decision- Frodo and Sam would sleep in the guest bed downstairs, Aragorn on the couch also downstairs (he wanted to stay close to Frodo in case anything happened), Gimli took the loveseat and Boromir the couch in the living room. Merry and Pippin would sleep in your parents’ bed upstairs. Legolas insisted he lay out his bedroll down with Gimli and Boromir, he refused to sleep in your room.

“Please, Legolas. You’ve been through so much, just take the pull out couch,” you pleaded, “We wouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed or anything. I promise, it’s fine.”

“No, I could not. Elves do not sleep the way Men do, you need not worry. I will be alright.” 

“If you don’t need as much sleep as humans, then it would be alright if you slept on the couch! We wouldn’t disturb each other, and you don’t have to stay in there once you wake up. I just want you all to be comfortable. Please, it’s the least I could do.”

“Would it not be improper, my lady? What would your husband think?” Boromir cut in.

“What? No no, I’m not married. Nooo way. It’s just me in the house, my parents are out of town and won’t be home for a long time. Besides this is a...weird situation, but you’re my guests so everything here is yours. I would give up my bed if I needed to, but I have a feeling you guys wouldn’t like that.” They shook their heads. “There’s nothing wrong with a friend sleeping in the same room and hey it’s 2020 so it doesn’t matter what gender. At least for tonight. If you want to move tomorrow I promise I won’t be offended.” You offered a final plea. 

Legolas caved. “As long as it is what the Lady wishes.”

You held up your hand “Okay let me just get this straight- I’m not a lady. Just call me (Y/n), I don’t have a title. I’m not nobility or super rich or anything so you’re not offending my honor or whatever by calling me by my name.”

They nodded in response, but you weren’t sure if they would actually listen.

“Okay, you all can start setting up your stuff and getting ready for bed. I’ll bring pillows and blankets, and I can dry any of your clothes. I’ll get you all some stuff you can wear tomorrow.” 

You set everything up, the fellowship trailing behind you until their respective ‘beds’ were made. Just Legolas was left, so you told him to get ready however he needed and you would change in the bathroom. Oh shit. The bathroom. You would have to explain that to them. You called them back upstairs and quickly gave them a run down of the bathroom, water in the kitchen should they need it, and whoever was the first to wake would come wake you up as well. Racking your brain, there wasn’t anything else you could think of.

You set up the couch for Legolas, then climbed up into your bed. You weren’t sure if you should say goodnight. Honestly, why did you push so hard to have this elf sleeping in your goddamn room? You laid there contemplating if you really should say something, if it would be more awkward to say something or not say anything at all, it was taking too long to decide so if you spoke up now it might be weird-

“Thank you for the bed. Sleep well, (Y/n).” Legolas softly called up to you, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“It’s really no problem. Goodnight.”

You rolled over and tried to sleep. Minutes ticked by but you just could not fall asleep. Your thoughts were racing far too quickly. What if you said something while you were sleeping? Moved around too much? Made too much noise? Oh god, what if you farted? Why, why, why did you push so hard for him to stay with you? There was an elven prince sleeping underneath you. A real, actual elven prince. You flopped around in your bed to try and get a more comfortable position. Every time you did, you paused and winced realizing that your huffing and rustling around could keep Legolas up, too. Seriously, why did you think this was a good idea? By the time you finally began to drift off, you had no idea if Legolas was actually asleep. He hadn’t made a single sound since he bid you goodnight. Well, you could just apologize tomorrow for keeping him up.

---

You woke the next morning to a soothing voice calling your name. You groaned as you looked around, who would be waking you up this early? Rolling over, your eyes met with soft blue ones. Oh. Legolas was still here, in your bedroom. It wasn’t a dream after all.

“Ah, good morning, (Y/n). I believe I heard some of my friends beginning to stir downstairs. I woke you so you might have time to dress before the hobbits bust down your door,” he chuckled, “They can get quite hungry in the morning, and I’m sure seeing a fully equipped kitchen has only made their hunger worse.”

“Oh, thank you.” You instinctively pulled your blanket closer to your chest. “Did you sleep alright last night? I’m sorry if I kept you up.”

Legolas’s laughter was bright and clear. “You needn’t worry. The dwarf snores far louder than your tossing and turning. I was still able to dream. If you like, I shall step out into the hall so you may prepare for the day in private.”

You hummed in thought. If the fellowship really was stuck with you now, they would eventually see you in your pajamas. It might be better if it was sooner than later so they could get used to it.

“Oh no, it’s alright. I’ll just use the bathroom, you don’t have to leave.” You climbed down your ladder and scooped up a bra and a brush, sticking them under your arm in an attempt to hide the fact you were carrying your undergarments. 

You went through your usual morning routine, double checking to put on deodorant and a little perfume. The non-humans had sharper senses right? You didn’t want to smell bad, ugh that would be embarrassing. As you exited the bathroom you heard loud snoring from downstairs. That must’ve been what Legolas was talking about. When you came back into your room, you found Legolas examining your things. His attention seemed to be on your bookshelf.

He had taken off his outer tunic and bracers leaving just his blue undershirt and trousers. His boots and socks were neatly placed beside the end table next to the couch. His weapons leaned against it as well, the string removed from his bow.

“Would you like some tea or coffee? Wait, do you guys even have coffee?”

“Coffee is not a common drink with the elves, but the halflings might enjoy it. Everyone enjoys tea.” 

“Cool. You can pick out what kind.”

Legolas followed you downstairs and into the kitchen. It was still early, the sun was barely poking over the tops of the trees. Gimli and Boromir were still asleep and Aragorn appeared to be waking up. There was no sign of the hobbits just yet. You pulled out your rather large selection of tea for Legolas to look through while you started on breakfast. Who doesn’t like waking up to the smell of food, right?

You didn’t have that much in your fridge so nothing too fancy, but you did have eggs and bacon. You took what little vegetables you had left and added it to the scrambled eggs- a few mushrooms, some spinach, a little onion, and some cheese. You put some bread in the toaster for good measure. Aragorn came up to join you, taking a seat across from Legolas. He launched into a conversation with him in elvish after saying good morning. Eventually, Legolas handed you a box of regular green tea and you put the kettle on. 

The others began to shuffle into the kitchen when breakfast was closer to being ready. Aragorn, Boromir, and Legolas all offered to help, so you put them to work setting the dining room table and bringing kitchen chairs in to make room for everyone. You were quite pleased with what you were able to come up with, but now you definitely had to go to the store. Which meant leaving them home alone. Maaaybe not such a great idea. 

The hobbits seemed particularly happy with what you made, the mushrooms especially. Everyone happily sipped their tea and enjoyed their meals, making light conversation. Legolas and Aragorn were speaking to each other in elvish again, much to your annoyance, while Merry and Pippin described the dreams they had that night. Boromir and Gimli laughed on and added their dreams for good measure. It was easy to see how well everyone got along with each other, and the hobbits were kind enough to bring you into the discussion as well. This isn’t exactly how you thought your spring was going to go, but it sure was going to be lots of fun.

Taglist is open!

[joyful-soul-collector]

Peter was scared

@keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars asked:  Ohhhh can you do one for the line: “Peter was scared.”?? Please?? Congratulations on 300 followers hon, you’re amazing!

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Peter was scared. Not quite like “crushed by a building” scared, or “I have a history test tomorrow” scared, or even “maybe that wasn’t the best decision” scared, but a bit of all three and then some, mixing around in his stomach with all the terrified nausea in there. 

And all just because he would be spending the weekend at the Avengers Compound for the first time. Well, that wasn’t the only reason, but he didn’t want to think about the other one yet. Aunt May was going to be out of town for a few days, and as soon as Peter had casually mentioned this to his mentor Tony Stark, Tony had all but insisted that he stay at the compound until she got back. 

So here he was, sitting the backseat of a car headed for Upstate New York. And wishing more than anything that he wasn’t. 

Alright, maybe not more than anything, Peter reasoned, watching the world outside flash by. I do wish I was bulletproof. What’s the point of superpowers without bullet-immunity? Or at least a way to make it really easy to avoid it. Like superspeed. But it’s fine, I can stick to walls and have super strength. Basically really stubborn wallpaper.

Peter spent the rest of the ride thinking about nothing in particular until he saw the large white building looming on the horizon, and he felt his stomach do a nervous backflip and his heart start to pound. And it only got worse when he saw Tony waiting for him, his hands shoved in his pockets and a smirk on his face. 

“Hey there Underoos!” he said as Peter got out, lugging his backpack and a duffel bag with his clothes and toothbrush.

“Hey Mr. Stark!” Peter said, doing his best to mask the anxiety making him want to grimace rather than grin. Tony didn’t seem to notice, and Peter breathed a mental sigh of relief.

“Here lemme help you with that.” Tony held out a hand to take Peter’s backpack, but Peter held it just out of his reach. 

“You sure?” he said with a smirk, knowing Tony would take the bait. “It’s really heavy.” As he suspected, Tony rolled his eyes and gave him an exasperated glare. 

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that. Gimme,” he said, making grabby-hands at the strap of Peter’s backpack. Peter slid it off his shoulder and held it out to Tony. As soon as he let it go Tony had to scramble to keep it from hitting the pavement, ending up with both arms wrapped around his backpack. 

“Jesus--What the hell is in this thing!?” he said, struggling to get one of the straps over his shoulder. “Did you bring some tech in here with you or something?”

“Nope, that’s just my computer and my homework. And it’s actually a bit lighter than usual, I took out all my chemistry and calculus homework since I did it already,” Peter said. The look on Tony’s face made him burst into laughter, easing the knot of anxiety in his chest a bit. 

“Jeez, how do normal, non-spider kids do this?” he muttered as they made their way to the front doors, hunching over slightly, and almost making Peter feel bad for not carrying it himself. Almost. He was literally asking for it. 

“Well it definitely wasn’t a fun time back when I was a string bean with asthma. I had to use my inhaler any time I had to walk more than a block with that thing. Aunt May used to meet me outside our apartment building so she could carry it up the steps for me,” Peter said with a laugh, opening the door and holding it, letting Tony walk through and promptly drop the backpack on the nearest chair. When he stood up straight again Peter heard his back crack and giggled at the frown on Tony’s face. 

“That’s it. I’m making a drone to carry your stuff for you. Cuz that--” he pointed to the offending bag, “--is bullshit.”

“I have super strength, it’s not really heavy anymore,” Peter said with another snort of laughter. “It would be better to somehow convince my teachers I don’t really need five hours of homework every night.”

“Friday, remind me to figure out how much money it would take for a teacher to be bribed into giving less homework,” Tony said as they walked to the elevator. 

“Done Boss. Would you like to put in an order for pizza to be delivered for dinner?”

“You know me so well, Fri.”

The rest of the day passed pretty well, and Peter was distracted from his lingering worries by the gadgets in Tony’s lab and by the pizza and movies they watched together. But when Tony looked at his watch and told Peter he had to go to bed, he felt his heart sink. 

“Wh--It’s not that late--”

“It’s ten o’clock kid, and even superteens need sleep. Plus I think your Aunt would kill me if I let you stay up any longer,” Tony said, picking up the empty pizza boxes and putting them in the trash before switching off the TV. 

“Well, she doesn’t have to know--”

“As tempting as that is, you really should sleep. Believe me kid, you need rest to function, and I don’t wanna have to deal with a grumpy spider in the morning,” he said with a kindhearted smile. 

Peter barely had the willpower to make himself smile back. Tony gave him a hug before sending him off to his room. Peter got changed into his pajamas, feeling dread rise in his throat like bile with each passing second. He cracked open his door before shutting off the light, taking a small comfort in the fact that Tony would be staying up a little longer. He climbed into bed and did his best to fall asleep before the light in the hall went out. 

~~~

Peter’s eyes opened without his permission. He’d been asleep, and then quite suddenly, he wasn’t. But the effect of waking up was almost instantaneous. 

He couldn’t even see his blankets in front of his face, the darkness was so thick. It was surrounding his arms like heavy ink, filling his lungs with black ashes and crushing him, crushing him like a ton of concrete. He tried to calm himself, to ground himself with something, but he couldn’t see, and the panic was making his fingers feel numb, and seemed to stuff his ears with cotton. 

He threw himself out of bed, stumbling and feeling his bedside table for his phone, but when he couldn’t find it he felt the walls for a light switch. He wanted to cry when he finally felt his fingers graze the small switch, and he flicked it on. 

Nothing happened. 

“No, no no no no--” Peter whimpered, flicking it up and down and up and down, before feeling for the door still resting ajar. He stumbled into the hallway, and even though the windows provided a tiny amount of light, it was too cloudy outside to help much at all. Peter tried the hall lights, then the kitchen, then the living room, feeling tears tumble down his face as they all gave the same, terrifying result as the one in his room. 

“Please, please please please work, please--”

“Kid?”

Peter jumped so hard he almost crushed the switch he was frantically flicking. He turned, and there was Tony, his arc reactor glowing bright through his thin pajama shirt, providing the light Peter had been desperately looking for. Peter had to stop himself from flinging his arms around his mentor. 

“Wh-Why don’t any of the lights work?” Peter said, his voice trembling from fear and tears. 

“There was a storm--the thunder really didn’t wake you? It knocked out the power,” Tony said. 

“N-No, I… I have really loud neighbors.” Peter sniffed, wiping his eyes. “I-I’m s-sorry I woke you up. I d-didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine, I was just in my room reading anyway--Woah, wait are you crying?” Tony said as he came close enough for his metal heart to light up Peter’s face. Peter started wiping the tears away more quickly, ducking his face a little. 

“Oh, uh, no it’s ok, I’m--”

“Oh Peter,” Tony said softly, laying a hand on Peter’s cheek and wiping a stray tear from his eye. “What happened? Did you have a nightmare?”

“N-no,” Peter said, feeling his face grow hot. 

“Are you sick? Are you hungry? Did you get hurt out on patrol? Peter you gotta tell me when these things happen--”

“No, no no no, it’s not anything like that,” Peter said. “It’s just… it’s stupid. It’s really really stupid.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that,” Tony said gently, pushing curls out of Peter’s shining eyes. “Whatever it is, it scared you, and you don’t have to be ashamed of being scared. Just tell me what happened kiddo.”

Peter ducked his head and squeezed his eyes shut, wringing his hands for a few seconds before he spoke. 

“I-I’m scared of the dark!” he blurted. “I-I woke up and the light in the hall was off and it was so dark it-it felt like I was suffocating, and I couldn’t even see my blankets or find my phone and then the lights wouldn’t work and--” Peter broke off with a sob, burying his face in his hands. “It didn’t used to be like this! I used to be able to sleep fine! But now whenever I’m in the dark by myself I feel like there’s something crushing me, like I’m being buried alive by a bunch of concrete and bricks and dust--”

Peter started crying even harder now, the tears falling so fast and his chest growing far too tight to speak any more. Luckily, it seems he didn’t have to, because Tony circled his arms around him, pulling him tightly to his chest so that Peter's head laid right beside his arc reactor. He ran his fingers through Peter’s hair while his other hand rubbed his back as Peter slowly regained composure. When his sobs had reduced to small hiccups and sniffs, Tony spoke. 

“There you go. You’re all spent huh? I haven’t seen you cry like that in a little while,” he murmured, starting to slowly rock them both side to side. 

“I--I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

“Shhh, it’s okay. I don’t care about the crying, it’s okay to cry, remember? And it’s not stupid to be scared of the dark. You’ve been through a lot Pete, and you’re still just a kid. It makes sense that you’re scared of the dark. It’s okay to be scared,” he said, still speaking in that soft, calm voice that made Peter’s shoulders relax. 

“It’s just… kind of annoying,” Peter mumbled. “I know I’m safe, but when I wake up in the middle of the night like that I’m all like, disoriented and freaking out and too tired to get my thoughts in a logical row.”

“What do you usually do when this happens? Does your Aunt know about this?”

“Aunt-Aunt May knows, and I… I, um…” Peter trailed off, feeling his face turn bright red. Tony chuckled, causing Peter’s head to shake slightly on his chest. 

“I won’t judge you kiddo. Just tell me,” he said. Peter bit his lip and avoided Tony’s eyes. 

“I um… I have a nightlight,” he said. “It uh… it looks like your arc reactor.”

“Does it now? So even little toddler Peter liked Iron Man, did he?”

“No--I mean yeah, I did when I was little too, but um, my nightlight from when I was little broke a long time ago. Aunt May bought that for me after the first time I freaked out in the middle of the night,” Peter said. 

“Huh. Why the Iron Man light?”

“It’s not an Iron Man light. It’s a Mr. Stark light,” Peter said. Tony had to think about what he was saying for a moment before he got it.

“Ohhh, I’m your nightlight?”

“Yeah.”

“I… I keep you safe? I stop the uh, the crushing feeling?”

“Yeah.”

“So, why didn’t you bring your, heh, your Mr. Stark light with you? Did you forget it?”

“No, I just… I didn’t want you to make fun of me,” Peter mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Oh kid… I’m sorry,” Tony said, resting his chin on Peter’s head. 

“Huh? For what?” Peter said, opening his eyes in surprise when Tony hugged him a little closer.

“I clearly haven’t done a great job of making sure you know I wouldn’t make fun of you for something like that. I would never make fun of your fears kiddo, even if I did think they were silly. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear earlier,” Tony said. 

“Oh. Um, it’s alright, it’s fine,” Peter said, not entirely sure what else to say, and absentmindedly tracing his finger around the edge of Tony’s heart. 

“Heh, it’s not really, but I see what you’re trying to say,” Tony said with a small smile. “Well, since we can’t exactly go out and get your Mr. Stark light right now, why don’t you have the real thing for tonight?”

Peter blinked, then lifted his head off Tony’s chest, staring up at him in confusion. 

“What do you mean?”

“You want to sleep in my room tonight kiddo? I’ll be your light, I’ll make sure the dark doesn’t get you,” Tony said.

“A-Are you sure? I don’t wanna intrude or--”

“I’m offering, Spiderling, it’s not intruding if I offer.”

After a moment Peter smiled and nodded, and the two headed to Tony’s room. Tony was sure to grab Peter an extra blanket to help with his thermoregulation, and then they both slid under the covers. 

“Goodnight kiddo,” Tony said, being sure his arc reactor wasn’t hidden beneath the covers. 

“‘Night Mr. Stark,” Peter said with a yawn. “Thanks for being my nightlight.”

Tony smiled, warmth growing in his chest. 

“Of course Peter. If there was only one thing I could use this heart for, I’d want it to always be your light in the dark.”

[bangtansbun]

The Lucky One || Taehyung

Pairing: idol!taehyung x army!reader

Genre: pure smut, just written porn essentially with touches of plot

Word Count: 3,026

Synopsis: After performing at the Grammy’s and feeling completely frustrated and used by the western music industry, Taehyung needs to let off some steam and you just happen to be the lucky person he decides to fuck into oblivion

Warnings: casual sex, insinuated unprotected sex (pls use condoms my dudes), degradation, slight praise kink, dom/sub themes, oral (m. receiving), cursing, mentions of hard kinks and limits, light impact play, lots of dirty talk, gagging/deep throating, some cute aftercare because Tae is a good boy

a/n: you can tell when I started writing this given the plot, but I’ve finally finished it, and a special thanks to my friend Phil for telling me to write this after I brought up the topic. 

It was Grammy weekend and you and your friends decided to go to a local bar to have drinks and watch the Grammy’s. You especially wanted to watch to support your favorite group, BTS’s, performance. You were hoping they would get a Grammy nomination this year, considering their most recent album Map of the Soul: Persona was a massive hit worldwide. However, the Grammy’s snubbed them, even though they claimed to have “diverse nominees,” and were, instead, performing with another artist that was nominated.

You guys had downed a few drinks and sang along to some of the other performances. You appreciated Alicia Keys’ shoutout to kpop and you were ready to have your eyes glued to the screen for their performance. You finally hear the music for old town road come on and within seconds you see your favorite boys. They looked mouth watering. It was like they had leveled up and you were now scared to see their final form for fear of ascending to heaven as a consequence.

But just as quickly as you had started jamming out to their version of the song, it had ended. It felt like 30 seconds – was that is really?? You couldn’t believe that was all you got to see of them. You watched a bit more of the show, but you felt no point when you noticed that BTS themselves had even left the Grammy’s after their performance. Feeling a bit dejected on behalf of the boys and your buzz wearing off, you decided to head home without your friends. Not wanting to explain how much of a blow this felt to you, you just told them the alcohol was making you feel sick and you’d just get a Lyft home.

As you’re waiting outside the bar for your Lyft driver to arrive, a large black SUV with tinted windows rolls up to the curb. The window rolls down and to your astonishment, it’s Taehyung who’s peeking out at you through the window. “Hey, what’s your name?” he asks you loud enough for you to hear but not loud enough to attract too much attention. “Who? Me?” you ask walking closer to the car and he nods at you. “Oh, um, y/n” he smirks at you. “Pretty name, you wanna come with me back to my hotel?” You felt like you were about to pass out, was this some kind of prank? “Y-you want me to come with you?” Your eyes going wide and your nervous stutter coming out. “Yes, but only if you want to and only if you decide quickly because it won’t be long before someone notices me and I don’t want to make a scene. I promise, you have nothing to worry about. So are you in or out?” his eyes turning into crescents as he shows off his charming grin.

Without saying anything you got into the SUV quickly. You felt like your head was spinning. You couldn’t believe this was happening. The Kim Taehyung, has asked you back to his hotel room. You’d literally fantasized about this about a hundred times but you never thought in a million years that it would ever happen. He brought you out of your trance by lightly touching your shoulder to let you know you had arrived.

On the way up to the room, he begins to talk to you again, breaking the silence. “So, I know this may seem strange, but I promise, nothing weird is going on here. I’m just having a bad evening and want to let off some steam.” He was speaking to you very seriously now. “Yeah, I saw the performance! You guys were incredible, but it was so short.” He looks at you with his brows furrowed. “Are you an army?” You nod shyly at him and start to fiddle with your fingers. He chuckles to himself, “didn’t really expect that considering I just randomly chose you, but it’s nice to know you understand somewhat.” The elevator door opens to your floor at this point.

He leads you to his room and you catch a glimpse of Namjoon walking into his room and shouting a quick hello to Taehyung. The reality of all of this hits you again, but this time like a ton of bricks. Your heart is starting to race now as he ushers you into his room. It’s a decent size with a king sized bed, desk, separate sitting area with a tv, and a nice sized bathroom. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable, we have some stuff to go over before this happens. Can I get you a water or anything?” You move to take a seat on the couch and take your jacket off, “some water would be nice, I had been drinking earlier.” He grabs you a water bottle and turns on some jazz music to play softly in the background before he grabs some papers and heads toward you.

He lays the papers out in front of you and you realize it’s a non-disclosure agreement. “Hopefully you can understand, but I’ll need you to sign this in order to continue. We like to keep our personal lives as private as possible given the circumstances.” Of course you understood, so you take the pen and sign your name after looking over everything. “Thank you,” he says sweetly to you in his low voice, smiling at you now. “So, some other things we should discuss. I don’t know what you’re into, but I want both of us to be comfortable and have fun tonight. Do you have any hard limits? Kinks that would make this better for you?” Your mouth had been bobbing up and down at his words, but now you were trying to gather yourself. “Um, uh, I’m not into water sports, or anything too hardcore like gagging or rough impact play. Spanking is fine though. I- um, I don’t mind degradation and dirty talk helps a lot and ohmygoshicantbelieveimtellingyouthis” you cover your face from embarrassment. He reaches out to peel your hands away from your face, “hey, it’s just me and you here, no need to be shy, sweetheart.” He smiles his cute boxy smile at you and you feel like you could melt right there. “Okay, is there anything else you’d like to tell me? Because to be honest, I’d really just like to kiss you now, your flushed face is so cute.”

You blink at his words and half way through a shake of your head he leans in to gently press a kiss to your lips. It takes you a second to relax into it, but soon enough you start kissing him back. His lips are soft and plush, and he’s taking things slow. There’s something about the way he’s kissing you, so gentle as if he’s worried about taking care of you.

You move your hand to brush it through his silky soft tousled waves. He deepens the kiss as you do that, placing one of his hands on your hip. He breaks away for a second to look at you, leaving you to slightly whimper. You’re dressed in a tight black cami-strapped dress. “Ah I didn’t really get to look at you earlier, too worried about getting everything taken care of, but you look beautiful.” Your face instantly goes red and you dip your head a little, “thank you, you look amazing yourself.” In fact, he looks so good you’re practically drooling at the sight of him. He takes two of his fingers to lift your chin up so you’re looking at him. “So shy, cute. Now come on, I want to make sure I take good care of you.” He grabs your hand and leads you into the bedroom.

He quickly takes his shirt off and is eyeing you up as you sit on the edge of the bed. His tummy looks soft and there’s a tiny trail of hair leading into his pants. “Are you just going to stay clothed throughout this whole thing?” he chuckles as he says this. Realizing what he’s asking of you, you take off your dress, leaving you in just your pretty mauve pink thong. It quickly hits you how vulnerable you feel considering the situation and you start to cover yourself up with your arms. “Considering you got into my car earlier, I didn’t really think a little slut like you would be so shy. Come on now, stop playing coy, baby.” His words hit you in just the right way, making your core feel warm and tingly.

“Okay, but you have a lot more clothing on than I do right now,” you countered back to him. “A little sassy, huh? Well, I was actually hoping you’d help me with them, sweetheart.” Not wanting to disobey too much you move to undo his pants and pull them down off of him. You’re left with a thick print of his hard cock under his black boxer briefs. You run your hand over it and a light moan escapes his lips. His voice sounds so enticing that you lick a stipe over the print.

“Don’t tease me, I know you want this cock down your throat just as badly as I do, right?” You nod your head and pull his boxers down. He’s already leaking precum so you use that to lubricate him a little more. He has such a pretty dick, you don’t think you’ve ever seen one as pretty as his and this worries you because he may ruin all other men for you after tonight.

After stroking him a few times you take him into your mouth, hollowing out your cheeks and creating suction. He grabs at your hair and pulls your head back slightly, “such a good little cock slut for me, but I want you to keep your eyes on me while I’m in your throat.” Your panties were completely soaked through by this point simply from his words. It only made you want to be even better for him. His length was long, but you thought you could probably take most of him if you focused. After bobbing back and forth for a little while you back off a bit to give some kitten licks to his pulsing red head, causing him to shiver and moan, before you take him back in as deep as you can. “Fuck baby, I didn’t think you’d do that.” He pushes your head even farther down and you start to gag a little, but he keeps you still with the palm of his hand on the back of your head. There’s spit dribbling down your chin now and you’re concentrating hard to breathe through your nose. “That’s right, use your pretty little mouth to warm my cock.” You moan at his words and the vibration causes him to mumble out curses. He yanks your head back off of him and his dick comes out of your mouth with a loud *pop*.

“Up on the bed now, head down ass up” he says giving you a rough smack to your bottom. You do as he says, hurrying into position on the edge of the bed. He comes up behind you and admires your bottom, running his hands over your cheeks before adding another swift smack. You whimper as he adds another to the other side. “This ass was made for me, baby.” He bends down slightly to leave a few kisses to your cheeks. You’re so wet and needy, and you’d do just about anything right now to have him buried inside of you. He notices you try to push back against him, for some sort of friction. “Feeling eager are we? Does my little slut need a cock inside of her?” You nod at him, a little teary eyed, but reeling at the possessiveness of that sentence. His hand comes down hard on your ass, “use your words, sweetheart.” A whimper escapes your lips before you respond with “yes, yes plea-” And before you can even say anything else, he begins to slide into you. “That’s my good girl,” he coos at you as he starts a fast and steady pace.

Soon enough, the room is filled with your dulcet moans and his heady grunts. Your back arched and hair tightly wrapped around his wrist as he fucks into you. His once soft tousled waves are no hanging over his face with beads of sweat dripping from them and onto your back. His large hands had a firm grip on your hips and it didn’t appear he was going to let up anytime soon. It was all becoming overwhelming. The way he spoke as he continued to ravage you, the pure fact that it was him of all people, and the way that he was paying special attention to your kinks. The heat in your core felt like in was singeing, in the best way possible, with every perfect thrust he pushed into you. It was as if your senses were heightened in that moment and you could feel every vein, every pulse. You didn’t know how much more you could take. “Fuuuuck, fuck, fuck, Taehyung,” you cried out to him. 

He lets go of your hair to press kisses to your back and rub his hands up and down your thighs. “Does my little cock whore need to come? Look at you, all red and dripping. Go ahead sweetheart, touch yourself.” And that’s all you needed to hear. You began to rub your clit, using your juices to make it all the more pleasing. Your breathing, already ragged from the way he’d been pounding into you, was getting caught in your throat as you neared your climax. “Ohhh my god, pl- please don’t stop,” you whine out to him. “Don’t worry baby, I didn’t plan on it.” You continue the circles on your clit and you can feel that you’re right on the edge but you need some help. You’re frustrated that you can’t push yourself over the edge and whimpers start to leave your mouth, tears coming down your cheeks. “Oh does someone need a little help? Come on, you can do it. I want you to come all over my cock.” He says this as he moves your hand out of the way and does the work for you. All while still fucking deep into you. Your moans getting louder now, and you could feel yourself about to break. “That’s it baby, come for me,” and that’s all you needed to have the coil inside of you snap. 

A string of almost incoherent curses and his name are all that you can manage to say. Your high so intoxicating that you swear you lose your vision for a moment, seeing stars. He’s slowly helping you through it now, laying more kisses on your back as you come down. “Fuck you got so tight, I’m not going to last much longer,” he warns you, but you’re still recovering from the intense orgasm, and all you want in this moment is for him to feel the same bliss as you. His thrusts start to become staggered and his moans turning into mere stuttering breaths, then suddenly he pulls out and finishes on your ass. “Shhhit,” he lets slip out as rope after rope of his silky seed drips onto you. He falls on the bed to catch his breath with you for a few minutes, but he quickly realizes that he should clean you up before his cum starts to dry. He comes back quickly with a damp cloth and wipes you clean, a soft thanks coming from you. He smiles at you and goes to grab a towel. “I’m going to shower off, you’re more than welcome to join me too.” Given how sweaty you were, you felt like you couldn’t pass up the offer.

The shower was innocent enough, him sharing his bath essentials with you and even helping with the condition process when he realized how tired you were. He helped you dry off and gave you some of his sweats to change into so you were more comfortable. “Thanks for everything,” you say shyly to him, the reality of everything that just transpired hitting you. He gives you a big smile, “no, I should be thanking you! I feel so much more relaxed now.” He continues drying off his hair and puts on some sweats too. “I’ve arranged for a driver to take you to wherever your home is, and our bodyguards will make sure everything is done discretely, but there’s something I’d like to ask you..” He looks down now at his feet and smiles shyly, almost as if he’s nervous. You’re looking at him with your eyebrows knitted in confusion as he finally looks up at you again. “I’d like for this to be a regular thing for us when we’re in LA, that is if you’re around and you’d want to?” The question threatening to make your knees buckle and cause you to lose consciousness. “Uh- um, sure i-if that’s what you’d like? I’d like that.” He smiles brightly at you now, that boxy grin a million times more charming in person. “Okay, great, I’ll have the paperwork sent over to you and you can just send it back to me whenever you get the chance.” 

With that, he ushers you to the door and gives you a chaste kiss on the cheek, “thanks again, sweetheart.” The nickname he’d used on you all night making your heart swoon. “Wait! What about your clothes?” you say in a hurry. “Keep ‘em, we’ll see each other again anyway,” he says this last part with a wink and you’re on your way. The memory of the night being etched into your brain as detailed as humanly possible. You never wanted to forget how incredibly lucky you felt to be his for a few hours, and now possibly for more in the future. Unable to share with anyone, you just climb into bed quietly and hope that your dreams are even half as good as your reality is, drifting slowly into sleep.