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munsonfamilyband · 2 years

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So I’m aware it’s no longer Valentine’s day but enough people liked part one so here’s part 2 of my Valentine’s Post

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The past couple days had not been fun for Steve. It started on the 12th when Eddie went on a tirade about how much he hated Valentine’s day and wouldn’t ever celebrate it. Steve knew his crush was hopeless already but that was just painful to hear, especially knowing that Eddie didn’t even know it was Steve’s birthday.

When Eddie had left to go help Nancy plan her date with Robin, he had dropped his head onto the counter with a groan.

“It might have been easier if he said he didn’t like me at all.” Robin rubbed his back gently.

“I know. How does he not know it’s your birthday though? Why didn’t you tell him?”

“I don’t like celebrating my birthday usually. I mean, most of the kids don’t even know when it is, but I was going to tell him on the actual day, maybe guilt him into hanging out with me and I could pretend it was a date.”

“Dingus, Steve, platonic love of my life, that is sad.” Steve just groaned again and Robin moved away from him to get back to stocking the shelves like she had been. “At some point you need to just tell him how you feel.”

“Thanks but no thanks, I’m okay existing in ignorance.”

“Steve.” He sat up and turned to her, crossing his arms.

“Robin. You know why I don’t want to take the chance.”

She sighed, looking at the case in her hand briefly before turning to him again. “I know, and as unrealistic as it is, I do wish that the conversation you and Nancy had fixed your insecurities so you could be happy. But I know there are other insecurities there, I just wish you could get something good for yourself.” He gave her a small smile, but he knew she could see how fake it was.

Now, two days later, they were back in Family Video. Robin had insisted that she had to sleep over the night before because it was his birthday and she had woken him up with (thankfully) store bought cinnamon buns and coffee. She had also thrown glitter over him as soon as he was dressed for work, telling him that it was to set the mood for the day.

He hated it then, he still hates it now as he bends over to pick up a tape and glitter falls out of his hair even hours later. It was just after the lunch rush had ended and Steve was dreading the dinner rush, especially since it meant a hoard of boyfriends coming to get last minute movies for Valentine’s day. He just wanted to curl up on his couch with ice cream and the bottle of wine he bought himself.

Robin had been weird all day too. First it was picking out his outfit, including his so-called “ass jeans”, then it was the glitter, then she had been playing the weirdest romcoms in the store. She had somehow been slipping little origami hearts into his pockets all day without him noticing. Things really got weird when he reached into his pocket and found something that wasn’t a little paper heart - it was more solid and felt metallic. Taking it out, he found a Hersey kiss and a note taped to it.

“Rob, I know you feel bad about me not having a date but you don’t need to sneak me chocolate.” He looked over at her for her response and immediately clocked her scheming face. “Robin. What are you doing?”

“Nothing! Just read the little note! I was paid handsomely for that so you better open it.” He just rolled his eyes and looked back at the chocolate. Deciding that he might as well, he opened the note and read it.

“Sweetheart, normally you get spankings but I figured a birthday kiss was a better way to start <3”

“Robin, why the fuck did you give me this?!”

“I’m not super happy about being roped into this, I promise, but I was paid for my time. Just wait, there’s more to come apparently.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Much to his disappointment, Robin refused to say anything more. And she stayed that way for the rest of their shift, including up to the moment they parted ways so she could get into Nancy’s waiting car.

He ended up forgetting all about it when he opened his wine and started in on the ice cream, until he heard muffled music from the backyard. Climbing out of his blanket nest with a frown he worked his way over to the back door and saw Eddie standing there with a boombox raised above his head. He was looking up at Steve’s bedroom window, and he had Madonna, of all things, blasting through the speakers.

“What the hell are you doing, Eddie?” Clearly Eddie hadn’t heard him open the sliding doors and he jumped, nearly dropping the boombox.

“Steve! How did you-were you not upstairs?”

“No, I was watching a movie on the couch. Still not answering the question though.” Steve crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame to look Eddie over. For once his jeans weren’t ripped and he had a plain t shirt on under his jacket. He looked more put together than usual but Steve couldn’t figure out why.

“Shit, uh, that sort of changes my plans but I can work with this. No tower serenade, that’s fine-“

“Sorry, serenade? What is going on, Eddie?” Eddie just sighed in response before seeming to steel himself.

“I fucked up, badly, the other day. I got wrapped up in my own opinions and I didn’t even consider how you felt about Valentine’s day - let alone that it was apparently your birthday. Nancy was actually the one to let me in on it, she asked what I was planning. And uh, well, I got her to help me plan this whole thing, but I was kind of hoping that you would be in your room so that you couldn’t see how terrified I am-“

“Wait, Eddie, I’m confused, why-“ Eddie just held a hand up to stop Steve before continuing to speak.

“I was going to give you this whole speech about how I’ve been in love with you for months now but I’ve been way too scared to say anything and even though I seriously messed up, at least it gave me a kick in the ass, so uh-“

“Wait.” Steve had to stop him there, because he was getting the picture but he needed to do a couple things first.

The first thing was rushing forward, grabbing Eddie’s face in his hands and kissing him right on the mouth.

The second, while Eddie was still shocked from the kiss was to say, “hold that thought. I’m going to run up to my room and we can try again.” Grinning like an idiot, Steve ran back into his house and up the stairs. He had never been serenaded before but he was excited to try it.

Taglist

@nburkhardt @i-less-than-three-you @nelotegreitic @liketheocean @darkwitchoferie @4nemo1egend @scarletyeager @the-redthread @thev01dd

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #and here it is almost a week late but I thought it was cute #i just see eddie as a ”pebbles at the window after dark” boyfriend so a boombox serenade felt on brand

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shiningdesignersreflections · 1 year

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William: Origami Cloud

Designer’s Reflection: Origami Cloud

Obtained: workshop

Rarity: SR

Attribute: Green/Fresh

Awakened Suit: Origami Sky

Story - transcripts from Designer’s Reflection

Chapter 1 - Paper Pagoda

Chapter 2 - Beauty of Cloud Empire

Chapter 3 - Art of Freezing the Moment

Story - summarized

Susan and William love working on paper crafts together. Thanks to their teacher, they are inspired to make a paper pagoda like the ones in Cloud Empire. They want to go on vacation there. So their parents promise to take the kids if they get good grades on their exams.

The twins are enchanted by the different culture. Susan is eager to try all the snacks and desserts, while William is already looking forward to the museum. He takes in all the photos and models of Cloud-style buildings.

One part of the tour shows the various buildings that were damaged by fire and subsequently abandoned. Seeing the old style architecture, William gets an idea for a project once they get home.

Finally home, he sketches some ideas for a different pagoda. Susan wants to help, but he’d rather do this himself. Nevertheless, he tells her to make some origami cranes. He is almost done with the main structure of the tower when Susan excitedly shows him the crane she finished - and accidentally knocks his kerosene lamp over. The paper catches fire. Now, the twins have a better understanding of how the old buildings got damaged.

Susan feels awful about the accident, but this gives William an idea. It takes him a while to find a way to make their paper fire-proof and water-proof, but he finds a perfect method. He’s able to finish his tower and add Susan’s cranes.

They enter their project into a school exhibition. All the students love it, and it’s still on display in the school cabinet.

Connections

-Susan sees an ad for a Cloud pastry shop. It’s the same award-winning dessert shop that Nikki mentioned in her birthday Reflection Colorful Cake Tower.

-Whereas Susan lives in the moment (like how her memories in Message of Camellia are during her trip), William prefers to look at lasting impact, which is why he’s such a fan of architecture and scientific achievements.

Fun Facts

-While the team at Paper Games chose to call Cloud Empire “oriental,” from my research, it’s a charged word that has also been used negatively toward people from East and South Asia as a way to other them. I chose to keep the original wording for the time being.

-For those who use the empirical system instead of the metric system, 1 meter is roughly equivalent to 3 feet. So William had his sister stay 6 feet away while he worked on the tower.

-It’s best not to give a child a kerosene lamp unless you’re in the room with them. No matter how skilled an alchemist they are.

-Origami cranes are actually a Japanese art, not Chinese, but just like in Love Nikki, Cloud Empire also draws on Japanese influences.

#william #shining nikki #green attribute #fresh #sr designer #workshop #origami cloud #cloud #cloud empire #paper craft #arts and crafts #pagoda #tower #architecture

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a-taupe-fox · 2 months

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Sub Frenzy (pt. 3)

Intro Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3 Pt. 4 Pt. 5 Pt. 6 Pt. 7 Pt. 8 White Collar D/s AU ELIZABETH & NEAL ARC: (This bit is real long.) Elizabeth gets SUSPICIOUS - the morning that Neal comes over, maybe? - but then, also, DURING PARTY PLANNING [S1. Ep2]. Because Peter sucks at the party planning bit, so he’s not there, and El isn’t sure - it’s a fucking INSANE thing to think - she actually wonders if Neal is maybe playing Switch to her, in order to appeal to her as a Dom? Or maybe to prevent Dominance Issues? but, at this point, Neal is like. DEEPLY struggling, because he just. Doesn’t fucking have TIME to take care of himself, and he’s TERRIFIED, because Peter could come into his apartment at ANY TIME, and if Neal lets himself go too deep, then PETER WILL KNOW.

[EP 3] Neal manages to fucking keep his shit together through the fucking bible episode, but then, like. He fucking… destroys a priceless piece of art in order to fucking not get shot in the chest?????

He goes home, and is S.T.R.U.G.G.L.I.N.G. He comes up with the fucking FRENZY idea, of like, making himself useful, or something, somehow? Maybe? - He fucking stays up ALL NIGHT just fucking COOKING INSANE FOOD, and then in the morning, gets it all couriered over to the Burke house.

El is awake at like. Seven in the morning, or whenever the fucking delivery arrives, and sees the van drive up, and catches the door before the bell gets rung, and Peter is still asleep.

She sees what it all is, and of course there’s like, origami, and a menu done up in gorgeous calligraphy. She has Neal’s phone number from the party planning thing. [He has to stay at the party place, but she gives his number so he can text with additional info/whatever about what they may need.]

El calls Neal, and he is fucking MANIC AS SHIT, trying to fucking be chill about it, like ‘Hey, good, glad you got it, do you like, does Peter like it, what does Peter like?, etc. etc.,’,

At this point - she doesn’t even really care if he’s a sub or not, she’s just like. Worried about him?

And she knows Peter won’t be up for hours, still. So, she tells Neal like, ‘Oh, it’s great, did you leave any for you?, and Neal like, talks around it, and she’s like ‘Well. This is Peter’s day to sleep in, and I prefer not to eat alone, and I hear you have great coffee, can I make up plates, so we can eat on your balcony?’

and Neal is like. ‘Of course, you can do whatever you want’, kind of, but it’s also like. A little weird, and El can tell it’s a little weird, and he’s like ‘Will Peter know, will he be coming’, and she’s like, ‘nope, just me, but I promise I’m good company too’, so Neal can’t really turn her down.

So, she goes upstairs, and tells Peter that she’s going to go out for breakfast, but there’s lots left for him when he wakes up. He mostly just mumbles and and goes back to sleep.

El puts together some stuff, and then goes to June’s place.

When she gets there, the loft is fucking SPOTLESS, and Neal is SPINNING OUT, but SORT OF holding it together? Until he takes all the food from El, and she like, grabs his wrists to say thank you, and he sort FREEZES, and she just. Automatically starts rubbing her thumbs on his pulse, and he like, tries SO HARD to pull it back, and would honestly have gotten away with it, except El notices that he’s breathing in time with her, and it’s too fast at first, so she slows down, and he follows her, and then she’s like. Oooooh fuck, yeah, okay, no, not only is this man a fucking SUB somehow, he is a fucking sub IN DISTRESS.

and so she like, keeps holding his wrists, soothing until he’s like, not hyperventilating, and then she’s like. ‘Did you notice you’re breathing with me?’

and witnesses just like. some PURE FUCKING FEAR from Neal, and IMMEDIATELY has to go into damage control, and, Neal starts showing signs of fucking dropping, and so she’s just like ‘I WON’T TELL ANYONE’, and he’s just like ‘PETER CAN’T KNOW’.

so she’s like - ‘Look. If you let me help you, right now, then I promise I will not tell him.’

and Neal just. is a fucking MESS, and he’s like ‘You can’t lie to him????’

and she’s like ‘there’s a difference between lying and not telling. I pROMISE that I will NOT TELL him.’

and Neal is just - SO fucking scared, and he just, keeps repeating, that Peter can’t know, and El is finally like ‘Well, he’s gonna find out if you drop hard enough you need to go to a care center.’

and then Neal just look at her, and he’s like. ‘I had to use a [whatever the fuck that fucking not-a-bible book was] - but like. It is also a fucking RELIC OF HEALING. and he’s like. ‘I had to use MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS HEALING RELIC as a shield, or I would have died. She shot me in the chest.’

and El is like. Right, okay, so this is also like. Delayed shock. FANTASTIC. and so she’s like. Immediately going into like. Triage about this, essentially.

So she like, Gets him breathing with her. and then like. Does the most GENTLE shit ever, and Neal is just SO erratic, and every time she makes progress, he starts fighting, and she’s finally just like ‘When was the last time you did this with someone,’, and he’s like ‘Eleven years.’, and she’s just like. WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

So she gets their shirts off, gets them on the bed, and has him like. listening to her heartbeat, breathing with her, and she basically does like, guided meditation with him, and like. That’s iT. That is ALL THEY DO, is just like. Breathing. And he finally stops fucking fighting and just like. CHILLS OUT, and then starts SHAKING, and she just has to like. Essentially hold him through a bout of shock and withdrawl symptoms?

And he hits a point where he’s like. ‘I don’t understand, why am I crying, I can’t stop crying’, and she’s like, ‘you’re crying, because that’s what I want you to be doing right now’, and he legitimately just says ‘Oh, okay.’,

and she’s like. THIS BOY IS SO FUCKED. WHAT THE FUCK., and the whole time, she’s like. keeps holding him through it, thinking like. SUBS DON’T GO TO SUPERMAX. SUBS DON’T DO SO MANY THINGS HE DOES. THERE ARE DIFFERENT LAWS. WHAT THE FUCK, HOW DID EVERYONE MISS THIS.’

But he hits a point where he’s okay enough, so she feeds him, and then like - it’s getting deep towards afternoon at this point, and Peter texts like ‘hey, you good’, and she’s just like, ‘Friend having a rough time, LOTS of tears, be home when it’s better, love you’.

and Peter is just like NOT touching that, so he’s like ‘Cool, also there is so much food here’, and she’s like ‘yeah, help yourself, see you tonight’.

and like. Neal goes nonverbal for a bit, but like, when he gets his words back, she brings him up, and is like. ‘Okay, so like. As a decent human person, I can’t leave it so this happens again.’

and Neal is just like. EXHAUSTED and TERRIFIED, and he’s just like ‘Peter CANNOT KNOW.’

And El is like ‘Well, I already promised that I wouldn’t tell him, but I also need you to walk me through that.’

So Neal explains like - all this stuff that Subs can’t do, essentially, and how he would lose EVERYTHING, and like. Never EVER get it back - that Subs can’t go to the same prisons, and therefore aren’t eligible for work-release.

and she’s like ‘Okay, how the fuck did you hide it for this long, though’, and Neal explains that he uses forging as his self-soothing technique, and that hasn’t had time to paint, and how Peter just SHOWS UP, and how he’s not good at tracking time when he’s self-soothing, and that he isn’t sure he’d be able to pull himself out of it without warning - which El is thinking ‘well, that’s sUPER FUCKING BAD FOR YOU anyway, so that’s probably okay.’

and then she’s just like. ‘Okay, look. Peter has poker night every Thursday. His poker night is going to be our night where I take care of you.’

and Neal has absolutely NO FUCKING CLUE what to do about that, but he’s definitely not in a place where he can turn it down.

she’s like ‘Also, you WILL call me if you feel like you’re going to drop after this, because it has been ELEVEN FUCKING YEARS since you fucking did this with another human.’

Neal is just like. absolutely fucking shocked into compliance, but also like. El is aware of just HOW fucking precarious his situation is, and she’s like, ‘who knows’, and Neal is like. ‘You, Mozzie, and the Nithdem I had when I was growing up’. and El is just like. THAT’S HORRIFYING, BUT OKAY.

So, she makes sure he’s … reasonably okay, given the givens, tells him the she will be back at [time of poker night] on Thursday, and then she goes home.

She’s NOT happy about not telling Peter, but she’s also ENTIRELY CERTAIN that like… Peter WILL figure it out. And when he does, she will do what it takes to help Peter keep Neal’s secret, because in no world can she imagine her husband destroying Neal’s life the way that it would if people learned that he was a Sub.

Previous - Part 2 Next - Part 4

#White Collar #Neal Caffrey #Elizabeth Burke #Neal/Elizabeth #P/E/N OT3 #Sub Frenzy AU #Writing my writing. Fic my fic

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squirrelplus · 2 years

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13/100 Foxes

It is exactly like one of those paper jumping frogs.

But fox.

That is all.

#13 foxes #my paper was too thick and not square #but I made it work #I promise to actually stay away from origami now #but this was important

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apparentlyaswarmofbees · 4 years

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I want to say that your posts are so wholesome 😊 and can you do a courting headcannon please. Thank you in advance.

I fell asleep and woke up thinking about this, so as I leave some tabs open for reference, I shall grab an energy drink and get right onto this~♡

You didn't specify what characters you wanted so I will do just for the brothers.

How The Brothers Court You

Lucifer

Gloves Off!

You got cold hands? Well, not anymore. Lucifer will often just take them off and give them to you as soon as he feels your hands are slightly chilly. They may be too big to fit on your hands but believe me when I say he is melting at the sight.

He Totally Doesn't Know How to Choose Gifts.

You know that one thing you really liked while you were window shopping but didn't have the money to buy it and Lucifer saw you? Congrats, it's yours now. He thinks he's smooth but the truth is that if it was up for him to choose, it would lead to disaster.

Your Obedient Servant, Lucifer.

This man is BIG on acts of service. You need a coffee in the morning? He is already carrying both yours and his on each hand. Need some help carrying something heavy? He was already sticking his hands and carrying it for you before you even had the chance to find it too heavy. He's a mess.

Mammon

Love Letters.

A callback to his birthday, Mammon has promised to write letters to you, and he is so adorable at them. Some are small with him giving you compliments, others are big as he writes his heart out to you.

Sing Us a Song You're The Broke Man.

And a callback to the wedding event, you can bet that was not the first time he has sang a song for you. Expect many to be directed to your humble self at every karaoke you take part on with Mammon. Sometimes he is drunk and it's hilarious.

Humble Gifts

Who needs expensive things when you have a blushy Mammon giving you small, yet meaningfull, things? A change of pens, a little candy you wanted to taste, an origami you taught him how to make, and even shiny stones he finds around the devildom, he gives them all to you.

Leviathan

Love of Love by Love For Love.

Sitting down for hours listening to you ramble attently? Being angry with you, happy with you, sad with you, he will do it with pleasure. To him, if he loves you, therefore he loves what you love too, because he loves the way you love.

Your Personal Benefactor

You need that copy of your favorite book? He totally didn't already plan to go with you. You need a place to concentrate in your studies? Blue actually helps you remember things so he totally didn't think being in his room would help, pff no. He totally isn't always there to give you a hand because he cares what are you on-

What Is Yours is Yours and What is Mine is Also Yours

Callback to a chat with him where he asked to put some of his posters in your bedroom because he ran out of space in his. Don't be fooled, if there is one thing I know from personal experience, letting him put his stuff on your walls makes him go over the moon.

Satan

The Art of Seduction

The friendly approaches, the teasing, the weekly dates, although he already did it all before catching feelings for you, he totally doesn't know any better. The only difference is how he becomes much less formal, and a lot more smiley.

The One Thing You Can't Replace.

Making your own stuff means there will be nothing else like it in the world, so expect him to get out of his way often to make you handmade gifts. A plushie, a bracelet, a spoon, a book, you name it.

Are You a Turtle-

I headcanon Satan as a biter. He is the person who will playfully try to bite your fingers when it's too close to his mouth, he will nibble on your neck and your earlobe. He won't hurt you, he just likes biting, and he likes you so-

Asmodeus

Another Benefactor

A callback to season 1's ball on Diavolo's birthday where Asmo gave you your clothes as a gift, so just like with clothes, expect him to buy creams and oils, give you massages and invite you to a spa. He will treat you and himself to all the nice things he can afford.

Show Off.

Oh how he will show off how close you two are. There are selfies on Devilgram with heart emojis, mentions of you in his social circles, everyone knows how Asmo is already fell deeper than the lowest layer of Hell.

Boyfriend Material

Call back to two chats where Asmo has proven to be good at handcrafts by fixing a doll and making his own shopping bag. Expect him to not only buy you things, but to also make some things on his own! Need a new bag? No problem! A purse? Coming right up! A pencil case? He will make it amazing! A coin pouch? Just leave it to him!

Beelzebub

Hold Me Tight Like Hamburger

Social distancing? Scratch that, he is going to give you a bear hug for every time you guys greet each other, he even lifts you up a bit. He is just really happy.

Eat This

"Bell doesn't share food" yeah right, say that to all the food he has personally held out for your to eat with his own bare hands. And it's not just any food either, the more you like the food he is eating, the more he shares. Oh, it's your favorite? I see, you can have it all, he will get another.

There For You on Thick And Thin

He will be there with a supportive hand when you need encouragement, he will be there by your side when you're sad and suffering, he will be there by your side when you are so excited and happy you can't stay still, he will drop everything, anything, just to be there for you.

Belphegor

He's a Brat Because He's in Love

Yes he will mess your hair, put things out of your reach, draw on your face while you're asleep and drop pillows and blankets right on your face with love. He can't be honest with his feelings and this is the result.

Romeo

This boy will be you personal sneak buddy. Need alone time in a big party? He does too so c'mon. Can't sleep? He just woke up so c'mon. You just want to run away for a while? He knows a good place, c'mon!

Personal Pillow

Belphie basically ditches his cow print pillow for you. Be it your lap, your shoulders, your belly, he will sleep on you. And the best thing? He loves to let you sleep on him too. Everytime you do it, he curls up around you.

#holy shit I love energy drinks so much #also let's play a game: spot the references #and hes Beel would catch you even if he was holding food if you ran and jumped onto him #obey me #obey me!#obey me! shall we date?#obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons

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astrella-writes · 4 years

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prompt | anonymous asked: Could I get some general relationship headcanons (with some fluff please!) for Chishiya, Arisu, and Kuina 🥺👉👈 let me know if you need a more specific ask! :)

warnings | written with the intention of female pronouns but can be read as gender neutral, very minor suggestive implications, mentions of alcohol, nicotine and eating habits, might be considered kinda cheesy oops, the use of the pet name ‘bunny’.

word count | 1.4K

author’s note | ‘m loving this request. this is written with the intention of it being pre-borderlands.

Shuntarō Chishiya

- Frequenting local cafes for routinely study dates. He helps you with topics that you may struggle on and you buy him the bizarre flavored ‘treat of the week’ as a thank you. He jokes around that you’re probably using him as a test subject, because who would order sweet potato brownies with the premise that they would taste good. Much to his surprise, they actually do.

- Visiting a cat cafe once, but not getting around to completing any work. The image of Chishiya cradling a fluffy kitten close to his chest and holding softened eye contact with it is now your permanent lock screen. He has a matching lock screen of you holding a kitten from under the armpits and touching noses with it.

- Learning new skills together. Chishiya is pretty much down for anything that he considers interesting enough. That’s how you ended up frustratingly trying to follow along to a complex origami cat tutorial at 2 in the morning as Chishiya worked quietly with his earbuds in, listening to a different tutorial. Only once he presented you with a perfect paper flower did you smile for the first time in the past hour, the frustration dissipating. That very flower has claimed its indefinite place on your bedside table, something that didn’t go unnoticed by him.

- Doing escape rooms together every so often. It baffles you to some degree how he figures things out so easily, but then again, you’ve known how smart your boyfriend was since the day you met so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise. You just can’t help but admire him, and voice these admirations out loud. Your compliments being the only ones which truly affect him.

- Despite how genius your boyfriend is, you remain concerned about the mental toll college might have on him. If he is stressed, he barely gives it away, but you’ve grown to read through his indifference and pick up when something is wrong - even if he’s attempting to hide it for your disburden. You allow him to de-stress in your arms, playing with the tips of his hair and speaking through what has got him so troubled.

- Late night dates that consist of trips to the corner store where you buy your favourite snacks and walk down to the beach together. It’s a relaxing way to wind down after a stressful week filled with work and college. If it’s not too cold that night, you substitute sitting on your usual bench for a stroll along the sand. If he finds a pretty seashell, Chishiya will give it to you wordlessly.

- He buys you a lot of small things that reminds him of you. A cute keychain he found by chance while buying groceries, splurging his money on a random claw machine because he spotted a plushie character from that show you really like, buying your favourite snacks to calm you down before a big exam that you’ve been studying really hard for. It’s the little things that show how much he really loves you.

Ryōhei Arisu

- Offering him a place to stay for a few days if he needs a break from his family, Arisu will pack up his gaming laptop along with him and you two will game with each other side by side. He anticipates the moment you rest your head on his shoulder and once you do, he rests his own head upon yours with a small: “you tired, bunny?”

- Being extremely supporting and non-judgemental on the topic of him getting a job. You search listings almost daily and send any promising ones through to him, leaving an encouraging message afterwards in hopes he gets the right intention. You care for him deeply and don’t want to see his father eventually kicking him out the house for being unemployed and making the situation ten times more difficult for him.

- Helping him get out more and introducing him to places he quickly grows to love. A quaint coffee shop with a grassy roof hidden deep within the cracks that he never would have found if it weren’t for you. It’s become your usual spot for dates, and Arisu enjoys the tranquility of it all.

- Going on trips to the game store together, even though Arisu usually just buys all his games online, and he’s pretty sure you do too. Regardless, it’s an excuse to meet up and hang out for a few hours after, something he’s found has become more enthralling than gaming.

- Staying up on video call into the late hours of the night as you both battle it out on some mmorpg. You’re confused when you see his idle avatar and look over at your phone screen to find him staring at you in a trance. It catches you off guard at first, but seeing him snap back to reality upon getting caught and getting all flustered left you replaying the scene over in your head for days later.

- Dates to the arcade, because of course. You two definitely hog a specific game with a line of pouting children waiting impatiently to get their chance. Arisu only agrees to move on when you mention a new game you spotted earlier. There is no new game, you just feel bad for the kids. Once he’s caught on, you merely give his lips a quick peck and you’re instantly forgiven.

- Playing in one of those immersive game machines with the curtains on both sides, only for Arisu to stare at you dumbly, leaving you a flustered and confused mess. This usually leads to a one-sided lean in and a small make out, only for an innocent kid to pull back the curtain and run away mortified. Their screams are the highlight of your boyfriend’s day, and you swear he’s holding some mental record of how many kids he traumatize through doing this.

Hikari Kuina

- Working at the same clothing store and having Kuina intervene whenever you’re faced with a rude customer. She might not be all too friendly if they insulted you, and if getting fired is the cost of standing up for you, then so be it. You’d quit alongside her and find some place new to work.

- Helping tend to her sickly mother in hospital, whom you had made speechless upon your first visit. She was delightfully thrilled upon finally being introduced to her daughter’s significant other, Kuina sharing to you afterwards that she hadn’t seen her mother smiling so brightly in a long time. You always present her mother with gifts upon each visit, whether it be flowers or a small cake. She’s become like your own mother, and so you help pay towards hospital bills as well.

- Comforting Kuina if she ever gets upset about her past (especially her relationship with her father) or her mother’s current poor health. You make her feel so valid; it leaves her a sobbing mess in your arms as you comfort her with soothing strokes and affectionate mumbles. Once her wailing has calmed, you offer to make her favourite - hot chocolate topped with cream.

- Constant sleepovers, which include wearing face masks, ordering takeout, watching some sappy romance before switching it over to an action movie and sipping on some cheap beer. The buzz of the alcohol always makes you more daring as you suggest showering together, and you’re never turned down by your equally audacious girlfriend.

- Helping her overcome her nicotine addiction and being the initial person to suggest chewing on a dummy cigarette whenever she felt the urge to smoke. Her mother couldn’t thank you enough for getting her into this, expressing her hidden fear of having to watch Kuina smoke herself into ill health or worse, a premature grave.

- In return, she looks out for your own well-being: reaching out to hold your hand before you both cross the street, showing up with lunch the next day at work if she thinks you haven’t been eating as much lately, keeping headache pills in her bag ever since you complained about a migraine that one time, keeping an extra umbrella in the break room just in case it rains later that day and you’ll need one.

- It’s never a dull moment dating Kuina, always planning fun and exciting dates like getting drunk in a private karaoke room only for it to lead to sloppy make outs. The one time she was so insistent on riding the kiddies train at the amusement park, only for the both of you to fall off once you reached the sharp bend in the tracks. It left you both a giggling mess, but the pain afterwards definitely made the whole situation regrettable.

#chishiya x reader #arisu x reader #kuina x reader #alice in borderland #alice in borderland x reader #aib fanfic #aib scenarios #chishiya shuntaro #ryohei arisu #hikari kuina #chishiya shuntaro x reader #alice in borderland imagines #chishiya

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greatsagestonemonkey · 3 years

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About “Shadow Play”

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Okay, so, after watching “Shadow Play”, I had to write this out because a lot of people are talking about it and I had to lay out my two cents without being limited to a tiny box...

Possible spoilers for both Lego Monkie Kid Season 2 episode “Shadow Play” AND for Journey to the West, so be warned!

Okay for starters, the episode had a lot to unpack, but this is going to be covering the whole issue of “Poor Macaque” and “what the fuck Wukong”. THAT being said, I definitely LOVED the episode, it was fantastic! But I feel like this needs to be talked about because the writing for the episode tells a LOT more than I think people are seeing. That’s what I want to discuss here.

So, we all know from the story Macaque told in the episode, that he and Wukong go WAY back, the parallel of the Sun and the Moon was used, with Wukong being the Sun and Macaque being the Moon, of course, and that eventually Macaque was left behind by Wukong and he appears to be quite bitter about that. This is where I’ve noticed a lot of people bringing up the “what the fuck Wukong” bit... BUT, they seem to be overlooking something important here:

Wukong’s circlet. Also known as the “cursed hat” or “tightening band”. People who have read the book know that this circlet was given to Wukong by Tripitaka (also courtesy of Guan Yin) to keep Wukong in line. “Why?” many of you are probably asking... Well, it’s not just because Wukong is insanely powerful, that’s just part of the reason; a very MINOR reason.

The main and most important reason that people often forget about Wukong is that he is IMPULSIVE to a fault. For the first six chapters of Journey to the West, Wukong is driven PURELY by his impulsive desires. He never listened to anyone! His rampage through Heaven was testimony to that, as was his taking Buddha’s challenge to escape his palm, and in the end, his own hubris was his downfall. But even after being imprisoned for 500 years, Wukong hadn’t changed much. Or at all, in fact. That is why Tripitaka needed the circlet and the tightening mantra that came with it to control him; because Wukong wouldn’t listen to him AT ALL. It was only after Tripitaka had an effective way to discipline the monkey that Wukong started to actually do as he was asked. And as the book goes on, Wukong becomes more compliant, actually listening and doing as asked without Tripitaka having to use the tightening mantra to get Wukong to calm down. There’s actually a pretty compelling scene later on in the book (I don’t remember the exact chapter or page) where Tripitaka stops Wukong from attacking a demon minion JUST by calling out his name, whereas before he would have to recite the mantra to get him to stop.

There’s another infamous scene where Wukong is moved to tears by Tripitaka’s compassion for others, whereas earlier in the book Wukong wouldn’t have really bothered much with pity for others. Like seriously. He couldn’t be bothered to look after anyone but himself or his monkeys. He was kind of a selfish dick that way. But in that particular scene, it showed that Wukong had changed A LOT since being made to stop and listen to Tripitaka every once in awhile via the circlet. It was kind of like a wake-up call for him, in a way.

Anyway, we can clearly see the circlet on Wukong’s head in this scene when Macaque is showing how Wukong left. I know we can see it in earlier ones too, but I think the reason for that is because that’s how Macaque sees Wukong, but we’ll come back to that in a bit.

Now, we all know that Macaque is supposed to represent Wukong’s darker side, his “shadow”. And one thing that I think the writer’s made clear in this episode is that Macaque hasn’t changed much. He’s still the dark half, the side of Wukong that will always be in the shadows; the part of him that was BEFORE Wukong changed due to his travels with Tripitaka. Since it’s hinted that Macaque was with Wukong before his rampage through heaven and his 500 year imprisonment, we know that he saw the side of Wukong that existed before Wukong went through the various level of character development that he did in the Journey to the West. And the thing that the writers for “Shadow Play” make clear is that Macaque doesn’t completely understand why Wukong changed.

Macaque wasn’t there for the Journey. Which was probably his choice. The writers of this episode, and of the episode “Macaque” make it clear that Macaque hasn’t changed much in the centuries. He himself makes that clear by referring to himself as Wukong’s shadow, and with the parallel of the sun and the moon. And because he wasn’t there, because he stayed in the shadows, he clearly doesn’t understand the reason behind Wukong’s change and choice to stay by Tripitaka’s side through the Journey, despite being jilted and hurt by the monk plenty of times.

Wukong chose to stay with Tripitaka because he was changing, growing, for the better, even if he himself didn’t realize it right away. But when he did realize it, he chose to stay, even if that meant leaving behind a part of him--or even someone--that he held very dear; Macaque.

Which now brings us to this next part people keep talking about:

The scene where Macaque apparently gets his scar.

We now know for certain that Macaque gets his scar from Wukong. And a lot of people have been expressing their curiosity over why the two ended up fighting each other, or what could have prompted Wukong to wound someone he was supposed to have cared about in such a way.

Well, for those of you who have read the book, you probably know why exactly why. For those who haven’t, in the chapter where the Six Eared Macaque first makes his appearance, he attacks and wounds Tripitaka badly; like with the full intention of killing him kind of badly. I won’t spoil the whole chapter for you, but long story short, is that when confronted after his identity as “the false monkey king” is revealed, he confesses that his plan is to kill everyone in the Journey Crew--minus Wukong--and replace them with duplicates that he has created.

Now, we know from previous episodes of the series so far, that Wukong cares for the rest of the Journey Crew VERY MUCH. He’s kept momentos from the Journey and even made those little origami figures of them with that little shrine in the New Years Special. And we’ve seen how he gets when you threaten someone he cares about via the scene of him with Lady White Bone in that very same special.

THAT is what their fight was about.

Macaque hurt someone Wukong cared about, and Wukong retaliated in kind. Maybe he went a little too far, but he definitely wasn’t going to let it slide. It was almost literally “an eye for an eye”.

Now we come back to that bit of how Macaque sees Wukong, as promised. Macaque shows off Wukong with the circlet in the play because he again, doesn’t understand the reason behind Wukong’s change. He probably knows what the circlet does, and thus sees it and the one who controls it as the reason. This is probably why he attacked Tripitaka; in Macaque’s mind, without Tripitaka, without the tightening mantra, Wukong will go back to being his old self.

Macaque doesn’t understand that Wukong was changing without the circlet being used on him. He says this himself in Episode 9 of Season 1, when he delivers the line, “The old you would have leveled this whole mountain range to stop me! But you’re scared of hurting some kid?!”

That. Right there. Says SO much now that we’ve seen Shadow Play.

Wukong changed for reasons that Macaque doesn’t understand; Wukong grew to care about others and the consequences of his actions. But because Macaque stayed behind, he still holds onto Wukong’s old ways, and he wants that back. He used the analogy of himself as the warrior in the story, and even told MK about the “happy ending” because deep down that’s what he wants. He wants the old Wukong back because that’s the Wukong he understands.

Then we come to the line where he tells MK that he’s “a bit too much” like Monkey King, right after the flashback of how he got his scar. If we refer to that bit above again, we know that Macaque got his scar from Wukong after he tried to kill Tripitaka and very nearly turned the whole Journey Crew against Wukong completely. And what was Macaque doing in this scene?

The same thing.

He was using MK’s friends against him, which ticked MK off to the point where MK went almost blind with rage in an effort to get his friends back. We see in that brief flashback, that Macaque saw that bit of Wukong in MK; the part that cared too much.

This is also where we see a bit of growth in Macaque, and again I refer to the flashback. He realizes he’s reliving a moment where he possibly went too far, and decides to back out before it goes even further to a point where he gets hurt. But that’s also testament to how much he hasn’t changed over the centuries; he’s still only the best at looking out for himself, just like Wukong was before Tripitaka changed him.

His whole conversation with MK after the fight also shows how much he wants the old Wukong back and doesn’t want to see MK go down the same path, and we see it through the whole episode; he sees MK and Wukong as too “soft” now. They get concerned too easily with others, and what will happen if they fail, whereas Macaque is overconfident to a fault, looks out for “old number one” (himself) and doesn’t have the inconvenience of looking out for others to weigh him down or to blind him from his person goals. That’s why he tells MK he’s not ready, not because he lack the ability, but because he lacks the survival instinct. That same survival instinct that Macaque is used to.

In conclusion, Macaque both is and isn’t the victim here. He’s not Wukong’s victim, he’s his own victim; victim to his own misunderstanding and his own unwillingness to change or to accept change. It’s actually something we see in a lot of people, but we’re often unaware of because the signs are often hard to read, and I think that’s why a lot of people have reacted to this episode in the way they have. Again, I’m not saying that this episode was bad or anything, again, it was fantastic! The writers did an outstanding job, I just think there’s a lot more that they were trying to tell us with how they played it out that a lot of people aren’t seeing, and I really wanted to address that.

WHEW! Anyway, I think that about covers everything... sorry this is so long, and if you read this far, thank you so much for giving this a read!

#monkie kid #season 2 #spoilers #journey to the west #macaque #wukong #shadow play #psychology talk #warning long post

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maki-matsurra · 3 years

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My Sam & Max Fan-Child Pt. 2: Quinn’s Bio

BLAM! Emily has an older sister now cause I said so xD

In all seriousness, I’ve seen most people in the S&M fandom make one child and call it a day, and I wanted to be more different than that, plus, I felt like Emily was missing something, so what about an older sister! (I promise, this is it, no more fan children for Sam & Max at least from me lol)

This is totally not an excuse to practice my shading techniques or sketching, not at all…

I also may write one shots including the whole family? I dunno, we’ll see if I have time (and if people want to see that kind of thing >.>)

(Also yes, I am very aware on how bad the actual drawing looks, I’m a basic drawing student right now and I’m still learning, so please be patient with my drawings/sketches, as they may not look the best! ^^’)

(Proof)

References I used;

(Fur Color/Breed)

(Fur Type)

Name: Quinn

Age: 18

Birthday: January 6

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Favorite Food(s): Pancakes, French Fries, Nachos

Disliked Food(s): Hot Dogs, Broccoli

Hobbies: Origami, Archery, Astrology

Background:

Quinn was born first by a whole 2 years from Momma Bosco’s baby making machine. Even as a small pup she was very energetic and adventurous, and when she found out she was getting a little sister, the pup would not stop smiling.

Ooh boy she was so protective of Emily when she was finally born, always latching onto her and never leaving her side. Her fathers finally decided to put them in the same bedroom when they kept catching Quinn sneaking in Emily’s crib at night in their own room. However they did get their own separate rooms once again when they reached middle school since the room was getting more cluttered with new furniture and beds.

Even when the kids got older and they reached middle school, Quinn was still super close to her little sister, always going out of her way to find her in between classes and check up on her, helping her to her class if needed, hanging out, eating together at lunch, and most importantly, snapping and chasing away any bullies who picked on her.

Once she reached High school, she gained an interest in Archery once her best friend from Middle school, Saige, started telling her about it, thus, she joined the archery club (where she would just go on and on about how she has the best and cutest little sister and how she was so proud of her-).

The two sisters rarely got into fights and when they did, they only stayed angry with each other for two hours at most before either one of them looks for comfort from the other, making Sam very jealous/surprised since he was very used to getting into fights with his younger sister more frequently.

Overall, she’s still that adventurous, confident, energetic pup who is still protective and proud of her sister. She can’t wait to graduate High School to finally join her fathers out in the field as a Freelance Police Officer.

#sam and max freelance police #sam & max #freelance husbands #sam and max #matsurraart #matsurrawrites #sam and max fan child #hnng my art is so 💀

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authorialarcanist · 3 years

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It Seems I'll Never Understand (Kagerou Project)

Genre: Angst

Rating: Mature

Pairing(s): Tateyama Ayano x Kisaragi Shintaro

Summary: "...Hey, Shintaro. Why'd you do it? I mean... You could have stayed out of it. It wasn't your fight."

In a world where Shintaro Kisaragi was the one who killed himself on that fateful august day two years prior, Ayano isn't sure what she can do with her life. Living in fear of the Snake of Clearing Eyes, all she can do is think back on the past, and wonder - why it was that her best friend took her place when she's sure he must have hated her, and when was it that it all went wrong.

Shinaya roleswap with a focus on making it work with as few changes to canon as possible.

---

It’s late - late enough that it’s gotten truly dark out. I’m walking along the road to my home, a boy next to me. The bridge we’re crossing seems to stretch out endlessly into the distance, illuminated only by the moon and the street-lamps we’re passing by.

I fiddle with my scarf absentmindedly as I steal a glance at his face. I’m so glad… I was finally able to become friends with him. Or, well… maybe ‘friends’ isn’t the right word just yet. To him, I’m sure I’m still just that stupid girl who made him tutor her for hours after class.

Still… I tell myself that this is the most important first step. Mm-hm. Now that I’ve introduced myself, I’m sure that we’ll be friends - real friends - in no time at all.

“You really saved my life! I never would’ve been able to finish that problem set on my own.” I grin weakly as my babbling inevitably turns to self-deprecation. Ah, well… after my terrible performance back there, trying to act cool for my new friend was a lost cause already. Well, if this was a manga, at least this might be the part where the aloof genius breaks character to reassure me that I can do it?

“Even with my help, it took you way too long…” He sighs. “Geez. I only came here to get my wallet, too. I must be really unlucky.”

—Yeah, right. I’ve only known this guy for a few hours now, but it’s pretty obvious that tender support isn’t his strong suit.

“I really am sorry…” I shrink a little under his criticism. “But! I promise, I won’t forget about today!”

“What are you saying? Didn’t you just say you forget things no matter how much you study?” Ow… I guess I did say that, but… he really has no faith in me at all, huh?

But he just doesn’t get it! Not quite panicking, I redouble my efforts to explain myself. “Today’s special! I’m going to try extra hard not to forget, so it’ll be okay!”

He hums in contemplation and stares away into the distance. And then—

—“Liar.”

I recoil from the sudden accusation. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You’ve broken your promise already, haven’t you? You can’t even remember my name.”

He picks up his pace, and though I try to follow, I can’t seem to move forward.

“Huh? Of course I can!”

“Really? Then why haven’t you said it?”

“Why are you so focused on that all of a sudden?”

“Say it, Ayano.”

“Stop it!”

“Say my name.”

“I— You’re—“ Tears spill from my eyes. I’m trying to say it. Why — why is this happening? Why couldn’t we just keep walking together, chatting about nothing important, like friends do?

“…Yeah. I thought so.” He stops walking, and for some reason, I freeze as well. I have no choice but to watch his back as he speaks. “I guess it’s not your fault, though. Sorry.” He shakes his head. “But… Try to remember, okay?”

He turns to face me again.

His eyes are red.

“If you can’t remember soon, then—“

——

Knock. Knock. Knock. Three hesitant raps on my door.

The sound wakes me from my dream. Already, it’s growing too hazy to remember. All I can say for certain is that hewas there.

He’s always there in my dreams. Maybe it’s some cruel balance for the fact that he’ll never be there again in real life.

“Ayano?”

At the sound of the voice calling for me, I turn over in my bed and bury my face in my pillow, trying not to make any sound to indicate that I’m awake.

“Ayano, please, I know you’re in there. I just want to talk.”

I don’t respond. My father is dead. That’s the best way to think of it. The safest way to think of it. Even when the snake lets him out, it’s only in the hopes of getting me to snap.

“Ayano, I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been the best father to you, since your mother died. But please, I just want to know what happened. What happened to Shuuya and Tsubomi and Kousuke. Why you won’t talk to me. Ayano, please.”

My hands clench against the pillow. I force myself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

“Ayano…”

In.

Out.

“…Just… think about it, okay? I’m here, if you’re ever ready to talk. Even if you need another two years, I’ll still be here.”

A lie. Dad won’t be here. Just the snake.

“…I love you.”

I stay silent, waiting until the sound of footsteps fades from my hearing. No matter how many times I go through this, it never gets any easier. But… I can’t talk to him.

Even if the snake wasn’t privy to his every thought, I can’t bring myself to speak with the man who sold my world.

“…Is… he gone?” A tinny voice whispers from my computer’s speaker.

I listen for a moment. When nothing happens, I nod. “Yeah.”

My computer monitor lights up as it exits sleep mode, and a girl in blue peeks out from her hiding place behind a browser window. “…I still don’t understand why you don’t leave here, Ayano-chan…”

I shake my head. “I… I just can’t. I’m sorry, Ene.” Ene… that’s what this girl calls herself. About a year ago, she popped out of an email and decided to stick around. She tried to put on this sassy, hyper front at first, but it fell apart pretty quickly.

I’m pretty sure I know who she really is, after all. And she knows I know. I just haven’t been cruel enough to push the topic.

It’s not like she has much of anywhere else to go, after all.

“…Okay. I get it.” She looks down at the taskbar and pokes her index fingers together. “Just… hang in there, okay, Ayano-chan? Do your best.”

“Like my best has ever mattered,” I mumble, and sit down at my computer chair. To be honest, my activities since dropping out of school two years ago have been nothing, nothing, and a heaping dessert of nothing. It’s not like I have any sort of online life to speak of, even. It’s just that… ultimately, there’s nothing else to do when I’m living under the same roof as my father. I can’t risk going outside at the wrong time and having to face him. At least he respects the boundaries of my room; and the snake finds it convenient to leave me a sanctuary under his supervision for as long as he doesn’t have any need of me.

“…So, um… Ayano-chan?” Ene glances up at me, a little shyly. “Can I ask about whether…”

Ah. That. I shake my head. “…I’m sorry. I’ve tried talking to him while my father was away, but Konoha really doesn’t seem to remember anything about us.” Konoha… the white-haired boy the Clearing Eyes took in really is just another reminder of my failures. Still, I know that’s not hisfault, and I can’t really blame Ene for being too scared to check up on him herself. Talking to him hurts badly enough for me, and I still hadn’t been quite as close to Haruka as she was. Honestly though, whenever I’d felt safe enough to slip out and check on him, Konoha had seemed pretty nonresponsive. Forget remembering me and Ene; he didn’t seem to remember anything, not even basic things like rain.

“I see…” Ene droops. This happens every time she brings up Konoha; as much as she’s tried to be around for me, I don’t have the first idea how to comfort her when this topic comes up.

Well, honestly, I don’t think I’m in a place to be comforting much of anyone. Back when I tried all those years ago, it only ended in pain.

In the end, I go with the tried and true method of pretending I didn’t see anything. When there’s nothing you can do, acknowledging the problem only ends in more tears, after all. I pass the day mindlessly browsing the web and making more paper cranes for the army that chokes every available surface in my room. Occasionally, I can’t help but fantasize about what things might be like if I had Paper-Animating Eyes. Sending an army of little origami birds to get revenge on the Clearing Eyes… it’d definitely be a more efficient way of getting a wish granted.

Ah well.

At least my father has work during the day and the snake has better things to do than waste time in this lonely house during the nighttime, so I’m able to check on Konoha and grab something from the kitchen for lunch on most days. That’s particularly important, because dinner can be much more spotty, depending on whether my father is in a “bury his problems in work” mood or a “try desperately to be present to make up for selling his soul to an evil snake” one. Well, okay, I really don’t know how much he’s able to retain about what the Clearing Eyes does when in control of his body, but if he really is oblivious about everything that might actually be worse.

Unfortunately he seems to be in a “try to atone” cycle right now, so I’m running off of a single meal when the knocks return once again.

“Ayano.”

Ene hides behind the browser window again, and I click off of the tab showing a video of a mongoose taking down a snake.

…What? Look, I have to deal with the spite somehow.

“I know you’re in there.”

I stay silent.

“I’ve got another mission for you, Ayano. You know the deal by now.”

I freeze. This isn’t dad.

“I trust I don’t need to spell it out for you?”

It’s the other one.

“I’m waiting.Or is this some pathetic attempt at rebellion? If so, I have to applaud. It’s the most pointless one yet.”

I finally find my voice. “I-I understand.”

“Heh. Good.” The snake chuckles. “Two children are coming to stay in this house soon. Your father’s sister-in-law, and some hanger-on. When they’re here, you’re going to be the model of a big sister, understand? Get them to trust you, and then make sure they’re in a certain place on August fifteenth.”

I shrink in on myself. Children? Please, no…

“I said, understand?You know what’ll happen to your family if you refuse…”

“N-no!” I shoot to my feet in panic. “No… I understand…”

“Good.” What should be my father’s voice drips with malice. “See? Wasn’t that easy? Goodbye, Ayano.” Saying the last two words in an odd sing-song voice, the snake leaves. I collapse back into my chair, hugging myself.

“A-ayano-chan…” Ene peeks back out from her hiding spot.

I turn to her with wide eyes.

“Ayano-chan, you don’t have to do this. Please, we can fight back. I’ll help you.”

…If only. But no, I know it’s hopeless.

I can’t fight the snake. All I can do is delay the inevitable.

I shake my head, and start disconnecting the speakers from my computer. If Ene tried to do something brave, and the Clearing Eyes found out…

“…Ayano, please…”

I pull the plug on my monitor. Ene may still have access to the inside of my computer, but the most she’ll be able to do in the house is open and close the CD drive.

“…sorry…” I whisper quietly to myself, even though I know she can’t hear me.

God, how did things turn out this way?

——

I have many precious memories, moments I’ve spent these past two years trying desperately not to forget. Reading storybooks at bedtime with my mom. Meeting my little siblings for the first time. The way my dad’s face used to look when he’d play with us, long before everything happened.

If you were to look through those treasured days, flipping from one to another as though they were files secreted away in a lockbox, one might still stand out from the rest. Perhaps it’s laminated, or hidden behind a false back. Not because it’s more precious than the others - I wouldn’t trade my family for anything - but because it’s unique nonetheless. A moment elevated in its rarity, and in the pain it brings me - not the dull ache of my mom’s face, nor the stabbing betrayal of my father’s failures and mine, but a gaping void of ‘what if’s.

The first time I ever got to see Shintaro smile.

It was during our second year of middle school, a couple months after the day I finally introduced myself. The last test I’d gotten back had been my lowest score yet, and with exams rushing to meet me, I was honestly in a panic.

But then, Shintaro’d spoken up. For the very first time, he gave me a totally unprompted offer to help me study.

“Thank you so much,” I’d sobbed. “I don’t know what I was gonna do…”

“Ugh, don’t be annoying about it!” He’d refused to meet my eyes as he grumbled. “I just know that if you failed your exams I’d somehow get dragged into helping you catch back up. It’s just easier to get this over with this early, alright?”

Whatever his stated reasons, I still felt like I’d been saved when he stuck around to help me pound the latest lessons into my skull. And I don’t know if we finished faster than usual, if something good had happened to him at home, or if his guard was just down that day for some other reason, but one way or another, he decided to stick around and chat for a bit afterwards.

I can still picture it clearly. That sunny classroom, me perched on my desk to bask in the light from the window, him leaning his chair back as we killed time… and the glint of light that drew my eye to the spine of a book just peeking out of his bag.

“Hm? Hey, Shintaro?”

“What?” He glanced lazily back at me.

I tilted my head to read what I could from the spine. It rung a bell; I’d overheard some of the other girls in our class talking about it from time to time. “Isn’t that ‘Let’s Fall In Love’?”

“HUH?” I winced at the sudden crash as Shintaro lost his balance and fell in a heap.

“Ah! Are you okay? I’m sorry!” I rushed to help him up, but he just scrambled back until he was pressed against the wall.

“W-w-w-what are you talking about? I-I don’t, I mean, that’s not—“ Shintaro grabbed suddenly for his bag, but his hand missed its mark and sent the contents spilling out as it toppled over instead. The book landed face up, its cover proudly displaying a drawing of a boy and a girl standing together in a very shoujo-esque artstyle. Emblazoned above the picture was ‘Let’s Fall in Love ~ by Yumeno Sakiko.’

“Umm…”

“I mean! It’s Momo’s! Yeah! My little sister wouldn’t stop pestering me, so I picked up her copy for her, uh-huh! I definitely don’t read shoujo manga!” His stuttering picked up pace as he scrambled for excuses, and I couldn’t help it - some part of me kinda wanted to watch him squirm for a little longer.

So, I grinned slyly and searched my memory of my classmates’ conversations. “Uh-huh? You know, with how Mamiko and Oze were talking in the latest chapter, don’t you think there might be a chance they’ll—“

“THAT’S HERESY!” Shintaro slammed his hands down on the ground, and I winced at the sudden spike in volume. “Mamiko and Suzuki are meantto be together!” He clenched his fist and held it to his chest. “I can’t imagine how anyone would think otherwise after that moment in volume 7! And anyways, Oze and Waka may be having a fight right now, but everyone… knows…” He trailed off as my control failed me and I started to giggle. “…Fine. You caught me. Happy now?”

At the sight of him forcing down a pout and struggling to regain a serious expression, I laughed even harder.

“…So I like shoujo manga. Is it really that funny to you?”

“No, no! I’m sorry!” I did my best to get myself under control. “It’s not that, honestly. You just looked so earnest, and then you kept trying to hide it… If reading that sort of thing makes you happy, then I think that’s a goodthing! It’s actually kinda c—“ I suddenly realized what I was about to say, and blushed heavily. “—I mean, it’s kinda cool! Yeah! You shouldn’t worry what other people will think about your interests, you know?” Oh yeah, that was an absolutely stellarsave, Ayano. Absolutely nobody was gonna suspect that you almost called your classmate ‘cute’ without thinking. Aside from, I dunno, people with eyes.

Thankfully, all of that intelligence must have come out of Shintaro’s perceptiveness instead, because he let it pass without comment. “So…” Shintaro seemed to be looking anywhere in the room other than my face, which might have helped the whole ‘not noticing my face doing a bonfire impression’ thing. “Do… you also read it, then?”

“Huh?”

“Y, you know! ‘Let’s Fall in Love’!”

“A, ah! Right!” I snapped out of my thoughts. Right, let’s just pretend that slip never happened for now, and I can unpack whatever the heck it meant on my own time, when I won’t make my one school friend think I’m even more of a weirdo than he already does. “Ehehe… Not really, actually.” I scratched the back of my head and grinned sheepishly. “I was just parroting something I overheard. I’m more into the shounen stuff, you know? Hot-blooded super sentai fighting to save the world, and all that.”

“Really? But they’re so formulaic. You can see everything coming from a mile away. And how do those guys get through posing dressed like that and not die of embarrassment?”

Well, I couldn’t just sit there and take that. “What? Hold on a moment, like your mushy stuff is any better! Aren’t they all just ‘boy meets girl, cue nothing happening for the rest of their school lives’?”

“Wh— they are not!There’s nuanceand relationship growth and everything!” Woah. Shintaro was looking about the most fired up I’d ever seen him! At that thought, an idea clicked in my head.

“Hmm… Alright, then!” I grinned at him and gave a sharply enunciated chuckle, heh-heh-heh. “Why don’t you tell me more about this series, and if you manage to change my mind I’ll give reading it a try? And then, in return, you’ll watch an episode of Engine Sentai Go-Onger with me, and we’ll see how you feel about heroes after that!”

Shintaro rose to the challenge. “Fine! Come on then, I’ll teach you about why Yumeno-sensei is a master! I mean, her portrayal of Mamiko’s inner struggles alone touches the heart, even for a boy like me! There’s this moment in chapter 12 when she…” He lit up as he talked, gesturing wildly with the plot points. I’m a little ashamed to say that I actually stopped paying attention after a few moments, because my focus suddenly seemed drawn to his face. He was grinning - actually grinning, the first genuine smile I’d seen from him in, well, ever- as he opened up about his interest.

I can only remember thinking two things as we walked home that day.

The first was, ‘What a pretty smile.’

The second was, ‘…oh. Crap.’

…So, yeah. It looked like I maybe had a teeny little crush. That was okay! It was fine! It meant I was finally starting to grow up, right? Anyways, whatever Shintaro’s romance manga said, I was pretty sure that people were supposed to get a lot of those with time. They didn’t have to mean anything, or, y’know, gamble their only real non-family friendships on the chance that someone who was really smart and cute would still want to hang out with a dumb girl they barely tolerated helping out if she asked.

Not a problem! I’d just go about my life as normal, and it’d fade in time. Eventually, I’d probably look back on this day and laugh.

…And if in the meantime, I wanted to see him smiling like that again? Well, that could be my little secret.

——

Of course, let nobody accuse me of being a good planner. Obviously, the darn thing only seemed to get stronger with time. Wanting to see Shintaro smile because I wanted him to be happy slowly morphed into wanting to be the reasonhe was smiling like that. Hoping that maybe, if I could be the one to make this lonely boy smile, that’d mean I was actually worth somethingreally the hero I pretended to be.

Mom died, and I had to be the strength for the whole family as dad seemed like half his world had gone missing, but no matter how much I needed comfort of my own, I wasn’t ready to tell him.

We met Takane and Haruka, and one friend turned into three, but even though I’d only be gambling 33% instead of 100, I was still too scared to tell him.

And then I found out that dad had changed, what the thing in his body had planned for Haruka and Takane and my siblings, and suddenly my stupid little feelings didn’t seem so important. I had to research the read eyes, and I needed Shuuya to cover for me, and in the end I didn’t have the attention to spare for my friend my crush my…

…for Shintaro. Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice our growing distant. Why I didn’t notice things growing strained.

Why I didn’t notice that I really was just burdening him with my own expectations.

Didn’t notice until a hill at sunset, a hand snatched away, his back receding into the distance while I stood alone.

After that, I wondered about a lot of things. How much had been genuine, and how much really had just been putting up with me. How much of my motives had been pure, and how much had been that dark little thrill of seeing him down and feeling like I was still needed.

How cruel it must have been, to plan what I was planning and still try to hold onto his hand until the last minute.

So I didn’t try again. I delegated as much school time as I could to Shuuya (and carefully didn’t wonder why his face was growing more stressed, why his own time seemed to draw thin.) I withdrew further, and dedicated everything I had to my lonely mission. August fifteenth came all too soon at last, and I shoved my responsibilities onto Takane, told her to be honest with her feelings even as I swore that my own were better ignored. I wrapped my scarf around my neck, the colour of a hero, I steeled myself and turned to mount the stairs, and I was interrupted.

“Shuuya? What are you doing?” My little brother had arrived in front of me, hands on his knees as he gasped for breath.

“N, neechan, please!” Panting, Shuuya raised his eyes to meet mine. They glistened with tears. “You have to— you have to stop Shintaro-kun! He’s about to do something really stupid!”

“Huh?” I was taken aback. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s already gone to the roof! I couldn’t do anything! Neechan, please!”

“The roof?” I still didn’t understand, but I burst into a run anyways, leaving my brother behind. Why was Shintaro even here today, when he didn’t need summer school? Why did Shuuya know about it? What could he be doing on the roof, other than…?

He wasn’t involved. God, please, he wasn’t involved, why was he here?

I took the steps two at a time, ignoring the pain shooting through my lungs, and had no choice but to stop for breath and lean against the wall for a moment when I finally reached the door leading outside.

My father’s voice filtered in from outside. No - not my father. The thingwearing his skin. “Honestly, kid.” He sounded mildly exasperated, like my dad did whenever a student had turned in a particularly baffling answer on a quiz. “You think that you’re gonna be the big damn hero? You really think there’s a single thing you can do here to beat me?”

“No.” Shintaro, this time. “Honestly, it’s a stupid plan. Totally useless in every way. But hey.” A dark chuckle. “Objectively speaking, the life of a rotten boy like me is just worthless enough to make it worth trying.”

I’d finally caught my breath, but at that it caught in my throat. Did he mean—

I burst through the door, screaming, “Shintaro, NO!” The roof was empty except for two people. My father, standing on solid ground looking mildly vexed. And Shintaro, clad in that red jersey I’d said I liked, the color of a hero, sitting perched half-on the fence around the edge of the roof and half dangling over open air.

His eyes met mine, and no matter how hard I try I know I’ll never forget the way his face clouded over, the way his eyes darkened, or the words he said to me at that moment.

“…Oh.

“Ayano.

“The very last person I wanted to see.”

His final curse delivered, he leaned back. The world distorted around him, horrible discordant red tearing open fangs in the sky.

And he fell.

I must have screamed, but it’s a blur. I just know that by the time I came to, I’d fallen on my knees, and the thing that took my father was laughing.

Laughing.

“Ha! You kids never fail to surprise me, you know that? I never once would have expected that depressing little thing to get up off his ass and do something like this!” He paused. “Well okay, I guess I would, but the part where he tried to stand up to me was still new.”

Before I even knew what I was doing, I’d jumped to my feet and was tackling him. “SHUT UP!”

“Whoops!” Somehow, my father’s body stepped out of the way before I could react. I found myself impacting concrete and rolling on the roof, scrapes all over my body where I’d fallen. “Come on, brat. You’re a big girl now, you should be used to hearing swear words by now. Or wait, are you angry about the boy?”

With a wordless scream, I threw myself at him again, but this time he casually stuck out a leg and tripped me.

“You might still have time to save him, you know. Throw yourself off the roof after him, and maybe you could convince him to come on out and bring me that snake he stole.” He sneered. “Of course, it’d mean making this whole little sacrifice play all for nothing. And this guy” he tapped the side of my father’s head, “might even willingly help me kill the brat if you did! Oh, now thatdespair would be delicious to see.”

I swallowed the pain as my fists clenched, scraped raw though they were. “…Shut up. You… you’re just trying to convince me because you know your plan’s finished. You can’t gather the snakes now. There’s no… no more reason to kill Takane and Haruka, or the others.”

*snrk.* The monster covered his mouth with a hand.

“What’s supposed to be so funny?”

“Ha! Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just… you think this kid managed to save your friends? Please.” He rolled his eyes. “He was too late. They’re already dead.” He shrugged and continued in a sing-song voice. “And anyways, the boy was a goner already. You should be thankingme; this way, at least he has a chanceof living for another year or two.”

“W…what…?” I slumped, the fight draining from my veins. No. It couldn’t be. Takane and Haruka… they were gone, too?

My “father” walked up to me and rested a hand on my shoulder. To anyone watching, it might have just looked like a father comforting his daughter; but I could feel his fingers dig into my flesh in a vice grip. “Still, working this all back out from the top is going to be a pain. And that’s not even counting all of the cleanup I have to do! It’s one thing for those other two kids; I’d made preparations for them. But spinning the sudden disappearance of this brat, too? No, that’s far too much work.” He crouched down until he was level with me, a too-wide smile on his face. A shiver ran down my spine. “So, Ayano.I’m going to have you do me a little favor, alright? And before you consider trying to do something brave, consider just who it is that has your family’s life in his hands, hmm? Don’t say anything; just nod.” I nodded, stricken. Everything I’d planned had come to nothing in a few short minutes. “You’re going to find Shuuya for me, and you’re going to have him go make himself look like this guy -“ he waved vaguely at the empty edge of the roof - “’s body for me. A suicide should be easy enough to explain away. Especially when the victim was as gloomy-looking as this asshole here. Honestly, people’re gonna think it was a miracle he lasted as long as he did.” My fists clenched again at relentless slander, but there was nothing I could do. I was totally and utterly defeated. “You got it, Ayano? Do this, and I’ll let the people you care about live a little longer.” He chuckled. “…Well, what’s left of them, at least. Hahahaha!”

How could I have ever thought I could be a hero? All I’d managed to do was arrive too late to save either of the snake’s intended victims, and drag a bystander to his death in the process.

In the end, tears streaming down my face, all I could do was nod.

——

“Neechan!” Shuuya rushed up to me the minute I exited the school. He grabbed my hands - I didn’t resist - and gasped at the scrapes all over them. “What happened to you? Where’s Shintaro-kun?”

“Shintaro— He’s—“ My voice caught.

“Nee…chan…?” I could see the exact moment Shuuya caught on. His eyes widened and his face fell, all in one motion. “Dammit! And just when the guy starts to convince me he’s not all bad, he has to go and do something like this…” His hands tightened involuntarily around mine, but I couldn’t even find the energy to wince.

I spoke in a flat voice, forcing myself to put one word in front of the next. “Shuuya. There’s something very important I need you to do.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“You need to use your power to turn into Shintaro. Let somebody discover ‘his’ body, so there’ll be a record. If you don’t, then… then he’ll…” My voice caught again, but I forced myself to continue before Shuuya could ask any questions. “And then there’s one more thing you need to do. I need you to take Tsubomi and Kousuke, and go away. Go somewhere far away from here, and don’t— don’t tell me anything about where you’re going. You can’t contact me at all, okay? I can’t have any way to find out more about you.”

“W—what?”

“It’s the only way that you’re going to be safe. I… we can’t stop the Clearing Eyes. He can have you all killed in a moment.”

Shuuya must have been able to see the seriousness in my eyes, because he didn’t try to debate the point. “Okay, but… Why can’t you come with us? We can all run, that’ll be safer!”

I just shook my head. “…No. He… he’ll find me, somehow. He knew how to respond to everything that I tried. Anything I do… no matter what, I’m sure he’ll…” I hugged myself and started slowly walking towards the path home. It was clear to me now. I was nothing more than a puppet dancing on the Clearing Eyes’ strings.

“W-wait, Neechan! Come back!”

“Goodbye, Shuuya. Please don’t forget to do what I told you. Consider it… My final request as your sister.”

“NEECHAN!”

——

“…Hey, Shintaro. Why’d you do it?”

I lie on my back, staring at the empty ceiling as I talk to the air.

“I mean… You could have stayed out of it. It wasn’t your fight.”

The cranes crowding every surface above me seem to swirl and distort, like a heat haze.

My head keeps playing his final moments on repeat. Even as the happy days grow dimmer and dimmer, I can’t seem to forget his last words no matter how hard I try.

‘The very last person I wanted to see.’

“If… if you hated me so much, why didn’t you just let me be the one to jump? Why take my place?”

I wonder… if I’d been the one to jump that day, would he have been able to do what I couldn’t? I indulge in a brief fantasy of Shintaro, red jacket flapping behind him, standing tall with my siblings as they face down the Clearing Eyes together.

…Somehow, I just can’t see it. Sorry, Shintaro.

‘The life of a rotten boy like me is worthless’

“…Did you hate yourselfthat much? Were you so sick of life that you grabbed the first excuse you could find?”

…Maybe. But… somehow, as much as he tried to shut the world out, I can’t help but see Shintaro as someone who was brimming with life underneath it all. At the very least, whenever he talked about his sister, he didn’t seem like he’d want to leave her.

The thought of Momo-chan makes me wince. Another memory, this time of her crying and screaming at me when I’d tried to comfort her.

When I’d broken down and sobbed that it was all my fault.

I can’t blame her for hating me. To be honest, I wonder if it wasn’t what I was secretly hoping for.

Just another case where Ayano’s self-satisfaction came before actually doing her job.

My alarm clock rings. I’d set it instead of my phone, to make sure Ene couldn’t try and be a hero. (I can’t help but hope that she’s given up on me, and found her way to somebody who’ll be a better friend.) It means that the children…

…my victims…

…should be arriving soon.

I push myself to my feet. In the end, even blaming myself is just pointless self-satisfaction. I’ve made the choice to play this role; I made the decision that these two children were worth less than the family I know and care about.

It doesn’t take too long to get myself presentable. I choose an outfit that looks like its owner hasn’t been in hiding for the last two years, and glance at my scarf, hanging wrinkled and dusty on a hook.

My hands shake.

And I turn away without touching it. I don’t deserve to wear that color.

Not when red is the color of blood.

“Sorry, Shintaro. Guess you made the wrong trade, in the end. Even a genius like you makes mistakes, huh?”

With that snide remark, I turn my back on his sacrifice and walk out into the house.

…Still, a thought flits across my mind.

—Ah, I would have liked to see that smile, just one more time.

The doorbell rings. It’s time.

I hide my feelings behind a smile, painting it from ear to ear.

And I open the front door.

#kagerou project #tateyama ayano #kisaragi shintaro #fanfiction #shinaya #suicide cw #angst #i promise future fics for this series will be happier once i'm ready to write them #happy kagepro day!

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changeling-crafts · 2 years

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Character and Runes

Maybe you're negotiating with a dragon, fighting off a horde of zombies or piloting a spaceship. Instead of rolling dice to determine the outcome, you will toss runes out on a flat surface and if the number of upright ones surpass the upside down ones then you succeeded! The difference between upright and upside down is the degree to your success or failure, 4 upright is just succeeding and 7 upright is a total success.

Each character gets 7 runes and each rune will connect to a character trait. Good traits to put on runes are the sort that can make your character's life easier OR harder depending on the context. If you are familiar with the game Fate, this is similar to their concept of aspects.

For my first character in this world I used a handy dandy tarot spread to get me started.

In addition to player characters, this spread is great for any NPCs you might interact with a whole bunch, like rivals, team mates, the big bad evil guy, or even your best friend!

"Melody" used to be one of the performers from a small theater troupe, who is now on the run after debt collectors demanded that they pay all their debt immediately or be strong-armed into working for them. They hope to make enough money to pay off their debts so they can rejoin their troupe, while staying under the debt collectors radar. They also want to fulfill the promises they made before coming back. Some of these promises include making an elaborate costume for one of their friends, writing a short play, and learning how to play a new instrument. Currently they are on the road to the nearby city of Finas, to hopefully make some new friends and earn some money.

The runes I've chosen for this character and what they represent are as follows

Sun – ambitious, unfulfilled promises, very optimistic view of their future (despite the circumstance)

Mouth – friendly, making new friends, keeping in touch with the old ones through letters, hates to be disliked

Butterfly – impulsive, good at improv, often improvises their music, irresponsible with money

Shield – stubborn, ashamed of needing to run away, won't resort to theft no matter what, stand up for their friends

Star – restless, always starting something new, can't stand boredom

Mask – performer, just a tad melodramatic, music, acting, costume creation, prop creation

Coin – in debt, trying to save up, on the run

Since I wanted to have a whole bunch of characters I could switch between, I chose to make around 20 different generic runes that I could pick from to represent each character's traits. As for the actual physical runes themselves,the options are endless. So long as it has two sides and has roughly equal chances of falling on both sides you will be golden. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Formed from salt dough or air dry clay

Coins

Buttons

Cardboard box segments

Flat stones

Bits of wood

Folded and glued book pages

Cut and sanded popsicle sticks

Shells

The symbols on each rune can be whatever you want so long as you can tell them apart. J.R.R. Tolkien's fancy schmancy elf letters? Go for it! Different road signs? Why not! Original symbols lovingly designed by you? Absolutely! If you want some inspiration for simple generic symbols I highly recommend looking at Rotate Bird, a ttrpg by David J Prokopetz, @prokopetz which has a big ole list of lil symbols for its own game mechanics. By whatever method you come up with the symbols the next thing you gotta do is write down what they mean to your character.

Here are a few ways to document rune meanings

Draw each rune in the center of it's own page, journal and draw about what it means

A strip of paper folded into zig zags, a rune described on each section

A portrait of your character, with the runes appearing in their design, arrows pointing them out and describing what they mean

A pop up, like a waterfall card

Written in an origami fortune teller

Just write the meanings on the backs of the runes themselves

The road to Finas is not empty, though. Ahead on the trail is another traveler dressed in clothes that more resemble pajamas than they do daywear, walking alongside an incredibly scruffy looking creature. Being the sort of person Melody is, they will do their best to introduce themselves in a friendly manner. (I toss the runes, the sun, mask and shield are upright. Based on which runes are face up I decide that Melody came off too strong.) Eyret offers her name but not much else, she seems intimidated by Melody’s over the top introduction. Oh dear, not the best start to making new friends.

Tomorrow we will talk about strain

#fortunes path #indie ttrpg #solo game

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thisisawonderfulusername · 4 years

Text

take a break

five hargreeves x reader

requested by: @ohmyitsfaith

prompt: 250: “you can’t ignore me forever.”

summary: a playful argument turns to you ignoring five

trigger warnings: fluffy fluff

word count: 1.5k

a/n: so, first of all, this is sent in the apocalypse. it’s been a few years, so five and y/n are around their late teens, possibly their early twenties, you can decide for yourself. this was one of the best ideas out of a few, so i hope you like it as much as i liked writing it :) secondly, part two.four of lstw will be coming out soon as well, possibly tomorrow or monday, but i can’t promise anything. i don’t have anything else to say, so enjoy!

it had been a few years since you got yourself stuck in this hell. you had tried to mark the days in the beginning, but after a while, you slowly gave up, and started relying on the seasons to know what time of year it was. you didn’t even know how old you were now.

you were pretty sure it was summer time, now. during the winter, the weather was harsh, blizzards were a common occurrence, and you often had to stay in your shelter to wait until it calmed down before you could try to look for something to eat. in the spring, the snow slowly melted away, and when summer came through, the sun beat down on your skin and you would easily sweat. it wasn’t as bad as it was in the beginning, when fires covered the land around you and ash floated through the air.

what else could you have expected in the apocalypse?

you guys had created a little shelter in the city- which was now burned to the ground- and it was where everything you had was stored. you stocked up as much food as you could whenever it was possible to go out for food, and it was a nice place to relax whenever the weather was too harsh to do anything.

it was hard having only each other to talk to. sure, you had formed a sort of- intimate relationship- but you would eventually have to have interaction with someone else, but of course there was no one anywhere nearby. that’s how you ended up having delores around all the time. when you found her, it was surprising that a mannequin could have survived whatever ended the world, as it seemed to destroy almost everything, but you took her with you, and eventually, she became another to talk to.

you sat against one of the stone pillars that circled around your apocalyptic home, flipping through a book. you weren’t sure what the pillars had been a part of, but they served you well now as a foundation to the shelter. all of the books you had were piled up around your home, often the only source for your entertainment. some of your favorites were simply guides on different hobbies- knitting, drawing, origami- anything, really. you had picked up on a lot of things over these years of simply surviving.

looking up from the book, you let your gaze fall on five, who was scribbling away on one of the walls, trying to figure out the equation to get back to the normal world, as he had been since the beginning. it was like he never stopped. sure, you wanted to get back to your life from before, but it wasn’t like you were running out of time just yet.

“why don’t you take a break?” you call out to him in question, closing the book and letting it fall into your lap.

pushing yourself up from the wall, you stretch slightly as he looks back at you. “why would i do that?”

rolling your eyes, you toss the book back into it’s pile, “because you need to relax at some point.” you say it as if it’s obvious, and really, it is. he works himself to death and it annoyed you.

“i’ll relax when i get us back to twenty-nineteen, and we save the world.” he goes back to scribbling on the wall, and you sigh heavily as you take a seat next to delores.

“oh, doris.” you put an arm around her shoulder, leaning into the fake woman. “won’t you tell him? we have all the time in the world to get back to twenty-nineteen.”

“delores. her name is delores.” five corrects without even looking away from the stone, and you grin. he always got annoyed by the names you would call the mannequin. you tried your hardest not to call her by her actual name, just to get under his skin. “and she knows that i need to do this.”

you look at her painted face. “oh, lori. you’ve got to help me out here.” you bite your cheek, “he’s unbelievable. never knows how to relax. when’s the last time you saw him sit down, other than to eat or sleep?”

not sure if he ever has.

“exactly, delilah. thank you.” you look back to five, “you see, she agrees with me. just sit down, even if it’s only for ten minutes.”

you hear him groan as he finally turns away from the equations, dropping his arms to his sides. “delores doesn’t agree. she’s always said it’s best to keep going until i find the answer. you know, sometimes i like her more than you.”

gasping dramatically, you hold a hand to your heart. “take that back right now. debora, can you believe him?” you shake your head, clicking your tongue, “we’re both amazing in every way, he can’t compare us.”

“i can, and i did.” he shrugs his shoulders as he looks at all the numbers written over the stone, “and she’s better than you.”

frowning, you cross your arms over your chest. “fine.” you stand from the ground next to her, looking through a pile of books and grabbing one of the stories and picking delores up, before walking past the stone walls and out into the world around your cozy shelter, crossing the road that had started to become overgrown with plants, taking a seat in the grass nearby against one of the fallen power lines.

“what are you doing?” you hear five shout from your sanctuary, but you don’t answer as you open the book, flipping through to the last page you had read. you hear him sigh loudly as he finally puts his chalk on the ground, walking just outside of the pillars. “come back! you’re going to burn in the sun, and then you’re going to complain about it for weeks!”

you try to keep a grin from tugging at your lips, and just to be sure he wouldn’t see it if you failed, you turned your back to him and continued to pretend to read the book.

“y/n.” he sounds annoyed by your little act, “are you really ignoring me right now?”

when he doesn’t get an answer, he turns back to the shelter. “fine. i need the peace anyways.”

you roll your eyes as you hear him. he was annoyed, but you knew he would expect you to come back within minutes, and when you didn’t, he would continue to try to get you to come back.

“this guy, delores, he’s so hard to deal with.” you mumble to the fake woman beside you, a small grin on your face.

he’s all you have.

pursing your lips, you nod. “you’re right. he can be difficult, but he’s the only reason i’ve kept going in this nightmare of a world.”

“you can’t ignore me forever!” you hear five shout once again and you hold back your laughter by biting your lip. “just come back!”

yet again, you keep your lips tied together, but you jump slightly as he blinks in front of you. before you can turn away again, he places his hands on your cheeks, holding your head in place. “stop ignoring me.”

you bite the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from smiling, avoiding his gaze.

“okay, fine.” he groans, looking at delores for a second before turning his focus back to you. “i’m sorry.”

you raise an eyebrow, letting the grin you had been holding back appear. “for?”

he presses his lips together, clearly still annoyed. “really? you’re gonna do this?” you give a nod, and he looks down at the ground for a moment, running his hand down his face. “for saying delores is better than you.”

“and?” you push.

his eyebrows furrow as he looks at you in confusion, and you chuckle softly. “and you’ll take a break.” you answer your own question.

he stutters for words for a moment, “but i can’t-”

“ah ah ah!” you shush him, placing your finger to his lips, “you’re going to take a break. that’s final. even denise agrees that you need one, even if it’s important to get the equation.”

sighing heavily, he looks at the road behind you, “fine.” he mutters, keeping himself from looking at you, “i’ll take a break. but only a short one.”

“that’s good enough.” you smile, standing up and grabbing his hand, pulling him closer to you to place a kiss just at the corner of his lips before picking delores and your book up.

skipping back across the road, you put delores back in her spot, throwing the book back in it’s pile before sitting down, five following. “i’m only doing this for five minutes.”

“sure you are.” you grin, and he looks at you, displeased. “just relax.” you tell him, leaning forward and pinching his cheeks before pressing your lips to his for a quick kiss.

he rolled his eyes, but ended up doing as you said, and for a lot longer than five minutes, to your pleasure.

taglists

main: @horrorklaus

tua: @rasberrymay @noodlextrash @atomicpillar

five taglist: @anapocalypseinmymind @five-hargreeves-official @insatiable-ivy @coffee-e-addict @xplrreylo @fandomfreakff @colie-babi @flowertoty

#the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #tua #five hargreeves #number five #five #hargreeves #the umbrella academy x reader #umbrella academy x reader #tua x reader #five hargreeves x reader #number five x reader #five x reader #hargreeves x reader

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writersofdestiel · 4 years

Photo

Recently, we did a little reboot of our Weekly Words. You will find the details on our Discord Server. Meanwhile, we rounded up all the amazing fics that were created for Weekly Words in the year and a half since the challenge was created.

Time Flies by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: time flies

It's been ten years since Cas went to fight Heaven's war. Today, he's coming back. (Rated T, 0.5k)

Ash by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: rise from the ashes

Dean's shoulders tremble as they watch the flames devour everything he and Cas have built together. (Rated T, 1.1k)

Fate by @galaxystiel, prompt: rise from the ashes

“C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Dean tugged Castiel towards the storefront. “Don’t you want to find out who your soulmate is? Who you’re fated to be with?” (Rated T, 1.3k)

Equals by @galaxystiel, prompt: white wings

Castiel has one shot, and if it involves punching Crowley in the face? All the better. (Rated T, 1.3k)

Naps for Dogs and Men by @envydean, prompt: white wings

The golden retriever has been coming to Castiel's house for several weeks, taking a nap and then going back on his way and Castiel finally sends a note to his owner. (Rated T, 1.5k)

Runs in the Family by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: white wings

Dean's new boyfriend, Cas, has been wary about him meeting his child, Claire. Dean gets it, they've only been seeing each other for a few weeks. What Dean doesn't know is that Cas might have more reasons for worry than just a premature attachment. (Rated G, 1.4k)

The End and the Beginning by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: shooting star

There is only one way for Cas to escape The Empty's reach. (Rated T, 1.0k)

What Do You Wish For? by @envydean, prompt: shooting star

Dean, Cas, and their senior high school friends are on their annual camping trip. The sun has set and Cas wants some space to reset himself after a lot of socialising and Dean joins him. (Rated E, 1.5k)

Fearful by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: maze

It comes for children, it feeds on their fears. Dean and Cas arrive to end its reign of terror. (Rated T, 1.4k)

All Those Summer Nights by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: tell me more

It was the best summer of Dean's life - spent on relaxing, parties and fun. And most importantly, spent with a blue-eyed boy he met one day on a beach. But the summer's over now, the school year begins, and Dean's left with the memories of his first summer love. (Rated T, 1.4k)

Tell Me More by @thunderthighsmish, prompt: tell me more

“Good night, Dean. I’ll see you in 2 days. Be a good boy for me?” “I will,” Dean promised. “I love you.” (Rated E, 0.8k)

For Better Or Worse by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: through the fire

When they first meet, Cas saves Dean from school bullies. Over the years, their friendship only grows stronger. (Rated T, 1.4k)

Missing Piece by @fangirlingtodeath513, prompt: missing piece

Castiel and his garrison are given the assignment to rescue the Righteous Man from Hell. (Rated T, 0.8k)

Look What The Cas Dragged In by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: flowing teardrops

There’s a guest in the bunker. Dean’s nose is not a fan. (Rated G, 1.0k)

Teardrops For You by @envydean, prompt: flowing teardrops

The accident killed her and left Dean alive and emotionally broken. He's a disgrace. His best friend is dead and he can't even cry for her. (Rated T, 1.5k)

Christmas Sweaters In June by @envydean, prompt: ugly sweater

“Love,” Cas says suddenly in his ear. It makes Dean’s heart jump and his lungs constrict. “Wha-what?” Dean stutters, head turning to Cas whose eyes are still fixated on the screen. “L-O-V-E. Love, it’s the one you’re missing from this round.” Dean looks back down at his screen and sees Cas’ finger linking the letters together. “Oh,” Dean breathes. (Rated T, 1.5k)

Will You Bee my Valentine? by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: ugly sweater

Dean's tradition on Valentine's Day was always to go out and look for someone to spend the night, but this year he decided to stay home, which was his best decision. (Rated G, 1.1k)

I've Never Wished for Anything more than You by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: i wish

Dean has lost many people before—it’s practically a normal thing in his line of work—but none of them hurt as much as Castiel’s death. Especially because Dean is sure there’s no possible way for the angel to come back again. Or so he thought. (Rated G, 3.0k)

A Drive Under the Moonlight by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: moonlight

Dean has had a lot of fights with Sam—growing up so close together can do that—but sometimes he just can’t stand being near his brother, so he just takes Baby for a drive until his head gets clear. (Rated G, 2.5k)

Cas Loves Emoticons, Burgers, and Dean by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: emoji

Cas has always known that his husband can be a real pain most of the times, but he brings burgers so Cas always forgives him. (Rated G, 1.1k)

Dean + Alcohol = Loose Lips by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: too many beers

Dean has done some pretty stupid things while being drunk—there are some he would even rather not think about. But when he wakes up that morning, he’s pretty sure that what he did last night will be on his Top 3: after almost a decade of hiding his feelings from Cas, he just practically wrote them on a brick and threw it on his best friend’s face—or maybe that would’ve been a little more subtle than what he did. (Rated T, 4.3k)

Intoxicated by @envydean, prompt: too many beers

Cas finds Dean drunk in the fourth bar he searches after Dean sends some worrying texts to him. Dean has surpassed his flirty, chatty self and fallen headfirst into feeling utter desolation. It leaves Castiel to pick up the pieces. (Rated T, 1.4k)

The Case of the Missing Paper by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: origami

Dean has always been sure the bunker is haunted, even when everything pointed to the fact that it’s not. But when all of the paper in the bunker starts to go missing, Dean starts to think that maybe he’s right or there’s someone messing with him. (Rated G, 3.6k)

A Lost Teddy Bear and a New Found Love by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: stuffed animal

Dean has always been very responsible, especially when he needs to take care of his niece, Mary. But when they can't find her stuffed animal (a Stitch that's a few years younger than Sam), Dean starts to panic, not knowing what to do. Good thing the hot neighbor comes to save the day. (Rated G, 4.7k)

Meeting Emma by @deansrightfulangerissue, prompt: stuffed animal

Dean’s pacing the hospital corridor like some nervous expecting father. After all, that’s who he is right now. And the daughter he didn’t know he had will be here any moment. (Rated G, 1.9k)

Ambiguitatis Error Est by @fangirlingtodeath513, prompt: i miss how you were here

Dean's pulling away from his close-knit friend group and Castiel is determined to find out why. If he finds some other things out along the way, he won't complain. (Rated G, 1.6k)

Up On The Rooftop Greenhouse by @envydean, prompt: fighting destiny

Michael Shurley is Dean Winchester's true mate. Except, Dean has been in love and dating the Winchester house gardener, Castiel Novak, for nearly three years and Dean doesn't want that to stop. He needs to find a way out of the impending wedding before it's too late, especially when Michael shows his true colours. (Rated T, 5.0k)

With Eyes Wide Open by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: insomnia

Insomnia wasn’t one of Castiel’s favourite parts about humanity, but he loved what he could do in that free time—which, most of the time, involved Dean. (Rated G, 0.9k)

Cheer-Up Food by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: baking

Cas and Sam decide to make a pie for a grumpy Dean. (Rated G, 1.4k)

If Castiel Was A Cake by @envydean, prompt: baking

Castiel comes home to a stressed Dean baking a lot of cakes. So, he decides that a gathering of friends is the best way to keep Dean's mind off everything and it comes with a bonus extra Castiel has been waiting on for years. (Rated T, 2.0k)

As Many Kisses As You Want by @gii-heylittleangel, prompt: kiss me

Dean gets really hurt in a hunt and Castiel has no idea what he's supposed to do. He really doesn't. (Rated T, 4.4k)

Kiss Me by @peanutbutterjelly-pie (Aleakim), prompt: kiss me

Dean’s spur-of-the-moment ideas aren’t always the best, as lots of people are able to attest. And his last one really took the cake. Because now he’s unable to forget the taste of Castiel’s lips and he’s got no freaking clue how to deal with this. (Rated T, 4.2k)

The Dare On Your Lips by @envydean, prompt: kiss me

Dean Winchester has had the biggest crush on Castiel, but believes that Castiel isn't interested. Then on one drunken night, Dean is dared to kiss Castiel. (Rated T, 1.5k)

Not According To Plan by @peanutbutterjelly-pie (Aleakim), prompt: proposal gone wrong

A fire truck, a smoky kitchen and an unexpected surprise are awaiting Dean after coming back home from work. (Rated G, 1.7k)

Proposal Gone... Right? by @fangirlingtodeath513, prompt: proposal gone wrong

Dean's been planning this proposal for a long time, but on the day he's actually supposed to propose, nothing seems to go his way. Will he actually manage to propose without everything falling apart? (Rated G, 1.1k)

#fic collection #writersofdestiel #destiel fanfic #destiel #event: weekly words

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lovelivingmydreams · 4 years

Text

Family and identity

And so we have arived at a new chapter in the Paper Flowers au. This one complete from the start. I promise. For those who missed it, previous instalment can be found here.

All the chapters can be found in the pinned post t the top of my page.

In this chapter Patton takes Roman's unintentionally given advice and it goes as well as you could expect. Enjoy!

Virgil was lying on his bed listening to music. He was feeling pretty okay. Not great, but all things considered he was having a good day. Usually that thought would make him panic and try to remember what he was doing wrong. But right now, he wasn't going to question it. He had a list, he checked it twice, today was just going to be nice.

Roman was really getting to him. Here he was once again being optimistic. And rhyming on top of that.

A sudden knock on his door had him confused. Hardly anyone knocked on his door.

Princey wouldn't knock on that one. The field had become their hang out spot. They watched movies, talked, listened to music or brainstormed together. It was nice.

So it wasn't Princey.

Janus and Remus were out too. Both tended to invite themselves inside if they wanted to bother him. One more reason to be happy with the field. He'd spent some alone time in there truly at peace knowing nothing could harm him there. If he didn't have to look after Thomas he'd probably move there permanently. And he supposed he couldn't leave Princey to deal with the specs on his own...

Speaking off those two. At least one of them was at his door.

The knocking was back. “Kiddo? You in there?”

Virgil frowned confused as he got up and walked to the door.

"Patton?" He said in surprise as he opened it. Sure he'd figured it had to be him or Logan. But between the two he would've put his money on Logan. Patton usually just announced that dinner was ready and left before Virgil could even respond. Then Virgil would go down to collect a plate and leave for his room right away. He'd been tempted to stay and listen to Roman's stories once or twice since they became friends. To gang up on him with Logan, pointing out holes in the grand tales and laugh along as Patton made a joke, making them all forget what they'd been talking about. But he figured he better not intrude on family time and risk messing up. They tolerated him when they were working. If he forced his company on them in their free time they'd probably send him back down. And as much as he cared about his fellow outcasts, he couldn't go back there….

Would his key work if he did? He should test it out, just in case…

He was getting of track. “What's wrong?” he asked. Trying to sound like he couldn't care less. He leaned against the doorframe to sell it better. Inside he was terrified.

Patton smiled at him nervously, leaning back and forth on his heels, wringing his hands. Why was he here? He clearly didn't want to be.

“Nothing wrong kiddo… just… dinner will be ready soon. Why don't you join us?”

What? “Better not,” he huffed looking at his fidgeting hands with a raised brow. He planned to turn around and close the door to freak out in peace, but then…

Patton balled his hand in fists at his side and stopped wiggling. “Sorry, but that wasn't really a request Anxiety. You live with us, so you join in for family dinners. I make Roman come out of the imagination, I drag Logan away from his work, up until now I’ve given you time to adjust and join us on your own time. But I’m done waiting. Pizza night is family dinner night. I expect you at the dinner table in 15 minutes.” And before Virgil could respond he turned and went downstairs.

Virgil went back in and shut the door. What was going on? Should he go ask Roman if Patton said something? Should he go to the others? Maybe this is a weird joke from J?

Or maybe this is a test? Or maybe Patton is looking for a good reason to send him back down? Proof that he doesn’t fit in with them? No, that doesn’t sound like Patton at all… what should he do?

“Dinner is ready!” Patton’s voice pulled him out of his panic. He’d been worrying for a full 15 minutes and now it was too late…

He took in a deep breath. He would not mess up. He just had to get trough dinner. And Roman would be there to distract Patton right? Right. He could do this.

When he arrived downstairs Roman and Logan were already seated and served.

Roman saw him enter and paused his recollection of his latest adventure to look at him.

“Evening Seymore Krelbore,” he greeted with an elaborate gesture.

“Likewise Bummertime,” he replied as he loaded his own plate and, to the surprise of both Roman and Logan went to sit at the never before used chair. Patton looked pleased at least.

He didn’t think he could handle a conversation though. Luckily he didn’t have to. Roman continued his story as if nothing had interrupted it and Virgil got away with just eating his pizza, thanking Patton for dinner when he was done, putting his plate in the dishwasher and leaving for his room.

Roman watched Virgil going up the stairs. He wasn’t surprised that shortly after he disappeared from sight he could feel a swift, but urgent pulsing from the key in his pocket.

He wanted to join Virgil at once, but then Logan said something that drew his attention.

“Patton? What’s the problem?” Roman looked at the paternal side and saw that he was looking up at the stairs with a frown.

Patton sighed and slumped in his chair, letting his head fall into his hands.

“It worked, but I don't know if I can keep doing this,” Patton explained.

“What worked Padre?” Roman wondered.

“Tough love… patience didn't get him to open up to us, but you seem to get him to at least talk to you for more than a minute nowadays. So I thought… maybe if I pushed just a little? I'm sure there is a wonderful kiddo hiding under that eyeshadow. I thought that making him join family dinner would help?” Patton explained. Roman felt a little guilty. One, he had given Patton this idea that had put both Virge and the moral side through a tense dinner for their troubles. Two he had all the answers to make Pat feel better… no. It was not his place to tell. Patton would understand.

He laid a reassuring hand on the eldest side’s shoulder. “If you wish I shall retrieve the pumpkin king in the future,” he promised.

Patton thought about it for a bit. “Are you sure Roman? Will he even come if you ask?” he wondered.

Roman chuckled and bowed. “No worries Padre I will ensure his company won't be lacking on pizza night ever again,” he vowed though he wondered if he'd have to break that promise.

He'd cross that bridge when he got there. He used his key to get to the field. The others never questioned his doors. He was the prince of imagination after all. Things like this were expected.

Once he closed his door, he looked around. Where… he spotted an empty spot in the otherwise smooth sea of origami flowers. He smiled as he walked over and sat down next to it. One leg straight in front of him, his other bent at the knee. He leaned back to look up at the clouds passing by. Supporting his weight with his hands.

“They do look lovely today,” he started casually.

“Still not doing it Princey,” Virgil replied to a question Roman had yet to start building up to.

“He meant well, he just wants…”

“Me to be part of the family, I know!” Virgil groaned as he sat up hugging his knees to his chest. “But I’m not and I’ll never be. You didn't see him when he told me to join dinner. He thinks that I’ll turn into one of you. All soft and optimistic. And he wont have to be scared of me anymore. That can't happen, for everyone's sake. I have to make you guys cautious. So we can't tell him.”

Roman could tell the subject was over. He'd tried to encourage Virgil to let the others in as well a few times. Normally he'd probably push harder, perhaps even until he crossed a line that wasn’t meant to be crossed. Ruining their friendship in the process. But the field was so relaxing, and their friendship was comfortable and safe enough that he felt he could fake his time considering his words. He'd found himself realizing that he kept parts of himself hidden from the others as well. Parts that he feared would make them loose respect for him. Virgil knew about some by now. He had very quickly picked up on how stressed the spotlight made him sometimes. He knew talking about Remus made him feel guilty and terrified though they hadn't talked about the why yet. Anyway, Roman would be a hypocrite if he made Virgil tell the others about his true self if he wasn’t willing to do so himself.

Roman sighed under the heavy atmosphere.

“Hey Virgil?” he asked, a small burst of pride exploding in his chest as he said Virgil's proper name. He was still getting used to it. And he was glad for their battle of the nicknames or he definitely would have slipped in front of the others by now.

Virgil looked up, curious what Roman wanted.. “Yeah?”

“Did you actually listen to my adventure? Cause it gave me a few ideas…”

Virgil chuckled. Roman was probably just looking for an excuse to tell it again. Knowing this Virgil nodded. “Yeah I heard you.” Roman's face fell a little, though he tried to play it off and Virgil grinned teasingly. “But best to make sure I remember all the important details right?”

Roman lit up, not even caring that Virgil just messed with him. He jumped straight into story teller mode.

“So there I was…”

__________________________________________________________

The Prince found himself once more locked in combat with his arch nemesis.

Theirs was as rivalry written in the stars. An ancient battle between the heavenly lights of goid versus the dark depths of evil.

And he couldn't have asked for a better opponent.

“How long have we been doing this dance? Surrender! You know you cannot win!” he bellowed readying his sword.

“Never! And 5 years today! Don’t pretend you don't know that,” his opponent growled.

The prince gasped, moved. “You remembered!” he exclaimed in awe. He hadn't been sure if the lord of evil cared enough.

“Of course you nitwit,” his foe grumbled a bit flustered before regaining composure. “Now die!”

Both men raised their weapons and charged with a battle cry.

__________________________________________________________

You are browsing tumblr.

Thomas's latest vine was hillarious. You are probably way too attached to the villain character though. He's existed about 18 seconds. You take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one. There is art and fics about him and the prince popping up everywhere.

And boy do people ship it. Suddenly you see a thread that catches your eye. You start reading.

"Considering how well liked he is, Prince's nemesis should have a name if Thomas isn't going to at least give him a title. I vote Marcus. It sounds badass and it is. It comes from Mars, God of war. All hail to our future overlord."

You chuckle. But Marcus does sound good. The thread continues with another fander stepping in.

"He should have a name. But knowing Thomas I'd think it's Kevin."

If you'd been drinking you would have choked on it. Kevin?

A reply from yet another user. "Let me guess you are one of that idiot Prince's squires? I'm with OP. The dark lord is called Marcus."

Oh this is getting spicy.

"Well you are clearly a henchman. Just look at how the guy is dressed! He looks like a 2000's emo kid. Defenitely a Kevin. XD"

There were more replies of people proclaiming themselves as either squires or henchmen. It's all in good fun. Plenty of laughing emoji's made that clear. You hit reblog and take a moment to consider who you are going to join.

Thomas has no clue what he's started.

Next chapter: By any other name

#sanders sides #ts sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #prinxiety #platonic or romantic #paper flowers au #patton sanders

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misscorn · 4 years

Text

Day 3

Winter/Rings

This one is extra late oops lol @sihjrweek THIS ALSO TOOK ENTIRELY TOO LONG TO WRITE SO ITS NOT PROOFREAD SO IF U SEE A MISTAKE NO U DIDNT

***

"Anchan's birthday is in a week." Onodera Youko said, currently sitting at the dinner table across from her son, her husband absent.

Ritsu nodded as he pushed his food around on his plate. He was fully aware that March 14th, An's birthday, was fast approaching, but not for the reasons his mother was hoping. No, it was because March 14th was also White Day. Ritsu was both severely stressed and excited about it.

Ritsu planned on going on an aquarium date with his Senpai after school, thinking it'd be a little more special than their typical bookstore-pandaway combo. Not that Ritsu disliked this pattern at all! He just wanted to do something different for the holiday.

Then, they'd go back to Ritsu's house where the brunette would prepare dinner. His parents weren't going to be home since his dad always took his mother on a trip for White Day from the 14th to the 17th, so he figured it was the perfect time to finally invite Saga Senpai to his house! He had already started practicing cooking and baking the day after Valentine's Day. He figured he'd need as much practice as he could get, seeing as he had never done either of them before, but he was definitely improving!

Ritsu intended on making white chocolate chip cookies as a gift. Although his Senpai didn't particularly like sweets, it was tradition to give something white. So, he'd give the cookies in addition to some bitter dark chocolates that Saga was more likely to enjoy. Additionally, he'd give a white rose, since his Senpai had given him a red one and he thought it would be a sweet gesture to mirror. And...perhaps the most embarrassing and overkill gift idea of all: a jar full of paper origami stars that, when unfolded, have reasons he loves Saga written on them. His Senpai had asked him once before why he loved him and Ritsu simply didn't have the time or the courage to say all the reasons to his face, but he could definitely write them down!

"What do you plan on doing for her birthday?" Youko asked, interrupting Ritsu's thoughts about his string of plans.

"Oh, well, since it lands on a school day we were going to hangout over the weekend instead." Ritsu said. "But, I'm not really sure what to get her..." He admitted.

"Why don't you just spend time with her after school? It's not as special if you celebrate after her birthday's already passed. Plus, it's White Day. She did give you something on Valentine's day, didn't she?" Youko said. She recalled Ritsu coming home on Valentine's day, giddy and flushed as he held tupperware full of homemade chocolates. An was really such a sweet girl, going through the trouble of making the chocolates herself.

Ritsu felt a swirl of dread start to form in his stomach, recognizing his mother's tone. "Yes, but mother-"

"Its the polite and gentlemanly thing to do. Imagine; not spending White Day with your fiancée and to make matters worse, blowing off her birthday as well!" Youko said.

"Mother-"

"And as for what you can get her, I have a great idea." Youko smiled brightly. "Promise rings! Such a cute and meaningful gift, she'd love it." Youko continued.

"Anchan and I aren't a couple!" Ritsu did not mean to raise his voice, but his frustrations of being talked over got the best of him.

Youko's cheerful demeanor left her. "Don't be ridiculous, Ritsu. You and Anchan are a perfect match. She is a lovely, intelligent, kind girl from a fine background and she undoubtedly adores you. What more could you ask for?"

"Mother, I..." Ritsu trailed off and frowned. "I just-I don't like her that way!"

"You won't even give it a chance! Who could possibly be a better fit for you than Anchan?"

"I'm only fifteen, why do we have to start talking about marriage now?" Ritsu desperately wished his mother would let this go, but his mother was just as stubborn as he was.

"Because your future is important and should matter to you, Ritsu." Youko said. "You are spending White Day with Anchan and that's final. If you'd like, I can help you pick out a pair of promise rings." She offered, the happy tilt in her voice returning as she tried to force the conversation back on track.

Ritsu just mumbled something in assent in order to stop this awful conversation, fully intending on avoiding that little ring shopping trip. Let his mother believe that he would spend White Day with Anchan. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Ritsu tried to act normal around his Senpai for the rest of the week, (well, his version of normal, which was already a certain level of nervousness) but he could hardly contain himself.

"You're being weird." Saga commented on March 12th. Exactly 1 day, 8 hours, 14 minutes and 25 seconds before 12 A.M. on White Day. Yes, Ritsu was counting.

"S-S-Sorry, I just-um-I-I had something I wanted to ask you." Okay, this was it, deep breaths Onodera, deep breaths. "I was wondering if you w-wanted to...spendWhiteDaywithme?" Ritsu squeezed his eyes shut tight as he waited for an answer.

"...What the hell?"

Well, that wasn't a good sign.

"I thought we were already spending White Day together." Saga said. "Or did you forget what you said?"

"N-n-no, of course not, the opposite actually, I've been thinking about White Day nonstop and what I should do, what would be a fun date, what sort of presents I should get you-"

Saga glanced around the library to make sure they were alone as Ritsu rambled before he cut him off with a gentle kiss.

Ritsu blinked a few times, dazed and completely embarrassed, but undeniably happy.

"So, tell me these ideas you've been thinking about 'nonstop'." Saga echoed.

"Well, I want some of it to be a surprise." Ritsu said after he managed to get his thoughts back in order. "But I thought it'd be fun if after school we went to an aquarium together and then...my house for dinner."

"Your house?" Saga was surprised to say the least, his normally stoic face for once betraying him.

"U-Unless that's not okay?" Ritsu said, automatically assuming the worst, as he typically did. "We don't have to go to my house, we can do something else-"

"No, you can't take back the offer now. I'm coming to your house." Saga said quickly. He was endlessly curious about Ritsu's home and more specifically Ritsu's room, so he'd be damned if he let this opportunity slip by him.

Ritsu smiled a little and nodded before he became shy. "And um...my parents won't be home...s-so..."

"Ahhhhh, I see. Who knew you were such a pervert?" Saga teased, but his straight face and serious tone gave no hint to his playfulness.

If it were possible for humans to combust into flames on the spot, Ritsu would have done so. The younger teen shook his head vehemently as he made frantic and wild hand gestures. "No! I-I didn't mean it like-I'm not-!"

"I was just messing with you." Saga smirked a little bit. Normally he didn't really joke around like this, but Ritsu's reactions were priceless. Even in the beginning of their relationship Saga would never say something like that, but Ritsu managed to get deeper and deeper into his heart every day and break down more and more walls.

Ritsu's whole face was red, including the very tips of his ears. He looked away out of embarrassment, not knowing what to say.

Chu

Ritsu swore his body somehow heated up even more after Saga leaned forward to press a kiss on the back of his head.

"I'm looking forward to White Day. It'll be fun." Saga said. "I'm expecting to be impressed."

"Y-You're teasing me again." Ritsu complained.

'It's not my fault you make it so easy.' Saga thought.

White Day was sure to be fun this year and hopefully for many years to come.

...Or maybe not.

The day had started off fine, completely normal in fact. When Ritsu woke up his parents were already gone. They always left early in the morning.

Ritsu was completely exhausted. He had stayed up all night, excited and anxious about White Day, but Ritsu's exhaustion caused him to miss the small box and a note left for him in the kitchen.

It was such an innocent item with good intentions behind it.

It was a thoughtful gift that would surely be cherished.

It was going to ruin everything.

Ritsu had already made the cookies last night and had the dark chocolate, keeping both of them stored in his kitchen. He'd also purchased a white rose the previous day, telling his mother it was for Anchan when she asked about it. It probably didn't help to feed into the insane fantasy his mother had, but he didn't have any other excuses. The jar of stars was also hidden in his room underneath his bed. He'd spent at least 4 or 5 days making them all. He planned on giving Saga these gifts in privacy later today.

As the day went on, Ritsu started to think that maybe it would have been better for him just to cut class since he wasn't able to focus at ALL! An agonizing 7 hours later and he was released from his class, hurrying out front where he and Saga had agreed to meet after school.

Ritsu beat the older teen to the entrance, waiting for him as patiently as he could, unable to contain his bright smile once he saw him

'Damn it, why does he have to smile at me like that? I don't know if I'm going to survive today.' Saga thought as he walked over. "Hey."

"Hi, Senpai! H-Happy White Day..." Ritsu said, the latter half coming out a little quieter so no passing students would hear.

"No gift?" Saga didn't actually care about a present, excited to just spend the afternoon with Ritsu, but he couldn't pass the opportunity to mess with him.

"S-Senpai, don't tease me!" Ritsu complained with a pout. Shit, that expression wasn't good for Saga's heart. "They're at my house. But come on, let's go!" Ritsu's excitement returned to him quickly as he set off. Saga followed.

The aquarium was a little busy, so it didn't give Saga many opportunities to sneak attack Ritsu with PDA, but he still enjoyed himself. Of course, he watched Ritsu more than he watched the actual animals, but it was still a good choice for a date spot.

When they finally did have a moment alone, Saga reached out, gently taking Ritsu's hand into his. "Thanks for bringing me here."

Ritsu blushed, but felt electrified by the touch. "Of course, Senpai. I'm glad you're having fun." He smiled.

Saga couldn't deny he was enjoying himself, but what he was REALLY looking forward to was finally being in Ritsu's house! He had his own preconceived notions about Ritsu and how he lived, so he was curious about how right or wrong he was. And the hormonal teenager in him wanted to do it in Ritsu's bed.

But, when they finally left the aquarium and arrived at Ritsu's home, Saga wished that he had jumped into a damn fish tank instead.

Sitting on his Kouhai's porch was the girl who had given Ritsu chocolate on Valentine's day.

"Richan!" She stood when spotting them, looking angry. "Where have you been?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"A-Anchan? What are you doing here?" Ritsu asked, genuinely confused.

"Didn't your mother talk to you? She called my mother and set up for us to spend the day together! For my birthday! We were supposed to meet after school, but you never showed so I came here, but you obviously weren't home." She frowned and crossed her arms.

"No! My mother didn't tell me anything about this." Ritsu said, going up to the front door and taking out his house key to unlock it.

Saga cleared his throat.

"Oh-uh-Anchan, this is Saga Masamune, Saga Senpai, this is Kohinata An." Ritsu hastily introduced them. Crap, this was bad, this was so bad!

"I think I recognize you...you and Richan hang out together at the library, right?" An said.

"Hai." Saga responded blandly.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." An said politely.

"Same." Saga looked away from her and An decided to ignore his rudely aloof nature. A friend of Richan's was a friend of hers, after all.

"Um, well, come in I guess..." Ritsu said before going inside, Anchan following.

What. The. Fuck. This girl already had her chance on Valentine's Day and, according to Ritsu, was rejected. Now she was going to interrupt White Day too? Saga was absolutely pissed, though he tried not to let it show as he walked inside.

"Um, I was going to make dinner, if you want to sit in the living room and relax..." Ritsu said awkwardly. He was with his two favorite people, so this shouldn't have been as bad as it was, but oh boy was it terrible.

"I'll help!" An offered with a smile.

Ritsu tried to insist that it was okay and that she was a guest and that she didn't have to, but An ignored him and marched into the kitchen. Ritsu couldn't do much other than shoot Saga an apologetic look before following her. Saga decided to trail behind him, not wanting the girl to have even a moment of alone time with HIS boyfriend.

"Hey, Richan, what's this?" An said, regarding the box on the table.

"Oh, I don't know. I guess my parents left it this morning before they left." Ritsu picked up the note and started to read it. His mother detailed the plans she had set up for An and Ritsu today in the note and also explained that inside the box was...

"Rings? Are these what I think they are Richan?" An asked after opening the box, her curiosity having gotten the better of her. She plucked the note out of Ritsu's hands, the boy frozen in terror as he realized what was happening. "They are! Promise rings! I'll have to thank your mother for getting them for us, they're so cute! Let's put them on!" An beamed.

SNAP

Saga turned and stormed out of the kitchen, Ritsu breaking out of his shock when he heard the front door open and slam shut.

Ritsu quickly ran after Saga, ignoring An's concern as she followed him out. "Senpai, wait!" He called after him, somehow managing to catch up.

"What the fuck, Ritsu?!" Saga whipped around to face him. Oh God, Ritsu had never seen him so angry. "You told me she was just a friend, that you rejected her!"

"She is! I did!" Ritsu insisted. "She's just a friend!"

"Then why the hell is your mom buying the two of you fucking promise rings?! On fucking White Day too!"

Ritsu started to tear up, but he couldn't cry. He needed to explain everything before he lost the person he loved. If he started crying then he wouldn't be able to get a word out.

"W-We're in an arranged marriage." He admitted, feeling so ashamed for not telling his Senpai the truth earlier. "But I don't like An like that! Its a fantasy created by our parents and I've told my mother over and over again that I won't go through with it! A-An and I are not a couple and we're not getting married!" Ritsu insisted.

'Please, please, please believe me, he has to believe me, please.' Ritsu silently begged.

Saga looked between Ritsu and An, who was standing on the porch. He clenched his jaw, shaking his head and refusing to meet Ritsu's eyes. "Looks like you're the only one who thinks that way." He turned and walked off again, Ritsu staring helplessly as he did. The image of his Senpai blurred with tears before they finally started to fall.

#onodera ritsu #sekaiichi hatsukoi #kohinata an #saga masamune #sihjrweek #mama onodera #oop bad things happened

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