#I spent too much money on this avatar help

[samd1o1]

Movie Shadow after shooting Eggman with a gun

[vandnana]

Hello! I'd love to see some lo'ak fics! I love your writing

Hope you are having a good holiday xx

hello! thank you so much for loving my writing, i really appreciate you! i hope you’ve had a good holiday as well! 

i’ve been working on a new lo’ak  x reader series and below is a preview of it!

**if you would like to be added to the tag list for this fic, please comment on this post or if you’re more comfortable, send me a dm or an ask!  

In Love With the Enemy (Preview Below) 

Prologue Is Here!

pairing: lo’ak x female human turned na’vi reader

summary: during the time when jake became toruk makto, you were quaritch’s youngest and most valued soldier, the daughter he never had. but, pandora changed you and you died fighting with the na’vi, betraying quaritch and wishing that you had been able to do more. now, you have been reborn again, as a na’vi, tasked with quaritch’s new military avatar crew to kill Jake Sully. taking advantage of this second chance at life, you help the Sullys and fall in love along the way

genre: fluff, angst (wip, more themes to come)

word count (wip): 839

The prologue is now up! You can read it here!

You were the youngest in the regiment back then, too young for war and far too young for what was in store for you in Pandora. But, Quaritch took you in when you were a child. You had no family, no home, and no promise of a real future. He had seen himself in you: cunning, willing, strong, unafraid. You were everything he could have hoped for in a daughter, but you were real. His prodigy. And not a day went by when you didn’t live up to those expectations. You loved being with Quaritch. He had become your father and he always thought that nothing could ever change that. 

But, the more time you spent in Pandora, the more you began to see past the façade you let yourself believe. The mission was never about finding diplomatic solutions or building alliances. It was about destruction, money, and humanity’s wretched twist on glory, a misguided glory that Quaritch was more than happy to fulfill. It was Grace who helped you see that first. She always used to tell you that you were smart and far more capable than any of the trigger-happy morons you were with.

But even you couldn’t prevent Hometree from being destroyed, and although you did what you could to help Jake, Grace, and Norm escape with Trudy, the damage was done. You were an offender of the highest treason by helping Quaritch’s worst enemy, and you knew that you could never go back.

You feigned your innocence until the end, fooling everyone. You watched Quaritch shoot Grace and you cried alone when you heard about her passing. It wasn’t until you joined Trudy in her helicopter that you revealed whose side you were really on. Only for a moment did Quaritch hesitate to shoot you down, but his duty was above all. When he had dealt the final blow, the glass around you breaking with every explosion, you looked at Trudy with a smile. You were happy to be alongside her, dying with her as the sight of the Hallelujah Mountains became the last thing you ever saw, your vision fading into darkness as you descended downward into nothingness.

Then, came light again, invading your shut eyes as you heard voices around you, the sounds distant at first, but slowly heightening as you came to. When you opened your eyes, the fluorescent lights stunned you, your hand instinctively finding its way to the front of your face. Your eyes widened, and you figured you were in hell, punished to be what you failed to protect.

You were blue, a Na’vi, and everyone around you towered with their own blue figures, cooing you awake.

“Colonel, the baby’s awake.” One of them yelled, and you propped yourself up, taking in the appearance of those who had an air of familiarity, but still seemed to be strangers. 

There was Wainfleet, Warren, Zdinarsk, and Zhang looking at you, patting you on the back with satisfied smiles.

Then you saw him. Quaritch, the man you once owed your life to. But it wasn’t really him. He had become his worst nightmare and in seeing him, you were convinced that you really had been damned to hell. He was Na’vi too and a real sight for sore eyes as he looked like he wanted to jump out of his own skin, his movements awkward as he made his way over to you. The only comfort that he seemed to take refuge in was seeing you, his eyes still glimmering in fondness over you, the daughter he never had. 

He hugged you and for the first time, he smiled. “It’s nice to see you kid.”

You had all the memories from your old life, the old y/n that loved Quaritch and saw him as a father, the old y/n who trained endlessly to become that prodigy he loved so much. But you also remembered Grace, the only person you felt really saw you for who you were and who you could be, and it was her memory that really revived you. That was who you wanted to be now, not the monster that Quaritch had conditioned you to become.

Nothing felt real until that point, his embrace making your skin crawl, but it was a comfort nonetheless. you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, a lopsided smile on your face, “Nice to see you too, Q.”

It seemed that you had been given a second chance at life, given the video log that you had filmed so long ago. Among Quaritch and the rest of your team, you were granted an avatar too, stowed away in case the supposed small chance of failing ever came to fruition. Seemingly, it had, and you smiled. Yet, no one else remembered Grace or the scientists, or rather they didn’t really want to remember. It was as if this new team of recombinants were a hive mind with only one mission left to complete, a mission that churned your insides.

Eliminating Jake Sully.

~

Author’s Note:

i hope you enjoyed this preview! i’m so excited to write some more! again, if you would like to be added to the tag list, please don’t hesitate to reach out through this post or through a dm or an ask! 

[fivestar-outlaw]

New Horizons (Park Seonghwa) (Ch.1)

Chapter 1: Turnips

Pairing: Park Seonghwa x Fem!Reader

Words: 2.0k+

Warning(s): None

A/N: aYO first story on this blog, hello everyone. I hope you enjoy this self-indulgent series. I lub Seonghwa so I knew he had to be the first one posted here.

Reader is implied to be living in the US bc uh TIMEZONES ARE FUCKY and i didnt realize how reliant i was on mine (PST) when looking up KST

Italicized is English, just an fyi

Summary: Attempting an all-nighter while playing Animal Crossing alongside your bias, you didn't expect your turnip prices to be such a high amount... nor did you expect Park Seonghwa to actually accept your offer to sell his turnips on your island.

Series Masterlist | Navigation

You take a small bite of your snack before you made your avatar walk around your island. Seonghwa's livestream was playing in the background and he, too, was playing Animal Crossing. You made sure to stop and talk to the villagers who you came across outside, pull up some flowers before they overwhelmed areas on your island, and dug up some fossils, which you set aside to get assessed later. Right now, you planned on taking your turnips you bought from Daisy Mae to Nook's Cranny. With the help of time travel, your game was set during the day rather than matching the bold 4:40 am on your phone.

It was a chill all-nighter. None of your classes assigned homework over the weekend, you had the weekend off from your part-time job, your roommate was out of town until Sunday... You didn't mind ruining your already rocky sleep schedule to play Animal Crossing along side your bias.

Before you got into Ateez you already had been learning Korean, figuring having a language degree would help you with future careers. You had been a fan of Ateez for awhile. You adored all of their personalities and enjoyed their music, but for some reason you gravitated towards Seonghwa. You then started collecting albums when you had the extra money and made sure to check into their live streams when you could. Seonghwa even pulled you out of your Animal Crossing burn-out too which you were grateful for.

Currently, you finally got your avatar to Nook's Cranny, your turnips in tow. It was the last day to sell and the previous prices were all bellow a hundred bells. So you prayed to the Lord Tom Nook and hoped for good prices. You tapped the check prices and waited eagerly to see how much they would take for the turnips. Your eyes widened when little Timmy answered the prices.

660 bells.

You immediately sell your turnips to them, making a lot of bells in the process. Finally, you could give Tom Nook a sizable amount of money towards your last loan payment.

Seonghwa's voice, sounding frustrated, caught your attention. You looked at the livestream and saw he was holding his switch up. You could make out that his turnip prices were a mere 34 bells and he mentioned the prices have been like that for him all week.

"That sucks." You murmured to yourself.

For the hell of it you quickly type up in chat that you'll let him come sell his turnips and added the price being offered. You saw how fast the chat was going but you decided to tempt fate. After double-checking for any spelling errors you hit send.

The chat stuttered for a bit, your message right in the middle. You figured it was on your end but then you saw Seonghwa's eyes widen and watched as he scrambled to touch something on his phone. He spent a few moments typing and then hesitating on whatever he just did. You heard him sigh, tapping his phone before setting it down off screen in front of him.

Then, you saw a notification pop up on your end. Curiously, you opened it and when you did, your eyes nearly popped from your head.

Seemed as though Seonghwa, through the Ateez account, direct messaged you.

'Can I sell my turnips after stream?' It read. You immediately go and click the profile, just in case it was someone trying to pull your leg. All that did was lead you back to the official account. You tried it again a few more times just in case but it was the same result.

Seonghwa actually messaged you.

You could hardly contain your excitement coursing through your veins. You took a deep breath, switched your phones keyboard over to Hangul and carefully typed up your response despite your shaking hands. You had to pause several times on what to say but after a few minutes you responded.

'Sure! Just let me know when I should open my island and I can send you a code. I apologize for any mistakes in this message. I figure it would be more comfortable for you ^^.'

You hit send and put your focus purely on the livestream, your game forgotten about. You watched as a few moments passed by and saw Seonghwa glance towards his phone. A small smile grew on his face as his eyes trailed back to his game.

You focused back on yours. You got those fossils assessed (all were ones you already had), visited Brewster, found a gyoird, and stopped by at Marshal's house. You still cringe at how you accidentally told him yes when he asked to move. You caught it too late and the game saved the decision. Your little squirrel you spent hours island hopping for was leaving.

"I'll miss you buddy." You sigh to yourself as he told you he'll miss the island. None of your friends still played nor had space on their islands to save him for you. Maybe Nookaz-

"Yes!" You heard Seonghwa exclaim and you glance back over to his stream. "Cephalobot wants to move." He had such a big grin on his face as he proceeded to tell the robotic octopus villager to move. You couldn't help but smile along with him before focusing back on your island.

About an hour passed when Seonghwa said goodbye to the stream, making a heart with his hands, before shutting it off. You stifle a yawn and grab your phone, bringing up the messages between you and the offical Ateez account. You weren't sure if you were to message first or if you should wait for him to message you. You stood up from your chair and stretch your limbs, hearing a few satisfying pops.

You glance down at your phone and promptly sit back down.

'Ready when you are.'

You smile and start heading to your airport to get a code for him when you passed Marshal's home. You stopped your avatar when an idea popped into your mind. You picked up your phone and quickly typed up a message.

'If you don't mind time jumping to get an empty spot on your island and don't mind swapping friend codes, I have Marshal ready to move if you want him. I accidentally said yes when he asked to move. Only if you want to of course. :)'

You hit send, took a deep breath of air, and looked away from your phone, too nervous to see his reply.

"The worst he will say is no. And understandably so." You say to yourself under your breath. You didn't want to even look at the message but decided to calm your nerves. You turn back to your phone and saw he messaged you back.

'That would be great. Thank you, Atiny. Give me a few more minutes please.' You then saw he sent his friend code.

"Okay, what the hell?" You couldn't believe it. "I guess he really is serious about this game." You chuckled and pressed the home button. You typed in his friend code, making use of the Switch's touch screen and sent him a friend request.

You saw you were immediately added back. You take another deep breath and open your game back up. You went to your airport and opened the gates up for friends. You let your avatar stand idle as you waited. You figured he'd have to time travel a day to get Cephalobot in boxes and then travel again to have an empty plot for Marshal.

You got up from your spot and quickly got a drink of water. You couldn't stop the yawn escaping past you lips, the lack of sleep is starting to hit. You quickly return to your couch and plug your switch back into the dock since the battery was getting low and grab your controllers, the game appearing on your TV screen now. You unlock your phone and opted to lay on your side on the couch, viewing the new message Seonghwa sent.

'Almost ready. Hopping back on now.' His message read.

'Gates are open :)'

A minute passed when you got the notification a friend was arriving to your island. After the little animation finished you see his avatar walk into the airport. You quickly do a little wave and walk out, seeing he is following. You lead him to your Nook's Cranny and wait outside as he goes in to sell his turnips. You simply wait outside so you could take him to Marshal next when you see another message pop up.

'Can I buy the cabinet?'

'Go ahead. I am outside and will take you to Marshal when you are done.' You smile and do nothing to stop another yawn from escaping.

A few moments pass and his avatar walks out of the store. He stays still for a moment before he does the little 'joy' reaction, which you return. You then start heading to Marshal's home with Seonghwa in tow. If sudden tiredness hadn't washed over you, you'd probably much more outwardly excited.

You finally get to Marshal's home and watch as Seonghwa's avatar enter; you opted to stay outside again. Another yawn left you and you had to blink a few times to keep your eyes open.

"I'm just not built for all-nighters anymore..." You mumbled to yourself. You realized sitting up may help keep you awake, but you were just too damn comfortable laying down as you were. Your eyes droop but you were trying your best to stay awake to see him off your island.

You hear the door in game open and close and see Seonghwa's avatar leave. He did another joy reaction and stayed like that for a moment. You get on your phone again and saw he had sent a message.

'Thank you again, Atiny <3 your island is cute.'

'You're welcome, Seonghwa'

You watch as his avatar heads back into the direction of your airport, though, you did not stay awake long enough to hear your game let you know that a friend has left the island.

---

You woke up about eight hours later feeling like you were hit by a car. You couldn't tell where you were for a moment, what time it was, what year it was,and your stomach ached with hunger. Finally, your eyes fully adjusted to being awake, though you didn't have the energy yet to lift yourself up off what you know realized was your couch.

You lay there contemplating life, cursing your past self for trying to do an all-nighter. You glance around and saw your Switch controller and phone on the floor. You then look to your TV and saw it was off. You had a half drank glass of water on the coffee table and an almost finished snack.

You finally sat up, making sure to stretch your limbs. You felt more awake now. You pick up your phone and curse at the low battery life. Quickly you unlocked it and then nearly dropped your phone, the messages between you and the official Ateez account were still open.

You played Animal Crossing with Seonghwa.

You played Animal Crossing with Park Seonghwa.

You take a deep breath to calm every emotion hitting you and get up to turn your Switch back on. You grab the controller and immediately look to your friends list.

He still had you added.

"Should I unfriend him...? He didn't unfriend me but..." You sighed. You go in and change the time and date to match real life before opening the game up. You quickly press through the usual Isabelle announcements.

When your avatar exited the house you noticed you had in game mail. You figured it was probably a goodbye letter from Marshal. You had your avatar open the mailbox and to your surprise, Seonghwa had sent you a letter and a present.

'Thank you again for letting me sell my turnips and for letting me have Marshal. Let's send gifts!'

You favorite the letter and take the present. You opened it and felt immediate excitement. He sent you a piece of artwork you knew you for sure didn't have for the museum. You could barely contain your excitement at the prospect of being Animal Crossing buddies with Seonghwa.

[raydom-gamer]

Okay this is just a general obey me thought.

There's little spoilers in here but most of it is just common knowledge and stories about Mammon, it's just about a demon and his crows.

Am I the only one who finds it interesting that Mammon the Avatar of greed his familiar is a crow. I always just thought it was kind of funny because crows being notorious for liking shiny objects, Mammon notorious for stealing shiny possessions. But today I learned that crows are kind of a pack mentality. If a crow is deemed too greedy or selfish the rest of the crows will actually peck and shun the greedy crow. Which sounds very similar to when his brother is watch him tied up and hung from the ceiling. They point and laugh at him.

Crows are also notorious for getting items for other members of their murder when they suspect others being sad or stressed. I've only seen two examples of Mammon doing this which was when he thought Leviathan didn't win his concert tickets so he spent money on a cheap pin of one of Leviathan's new favorite anime. The other time being Beelzebub spending extra time on practice for his team, Mammon unprompted showed up and brought his little brother some extra snacks to get him through practice.

Crows are deemed some of the smartest animals in the world and their intelligence are considered on par with chimpanzees. Despite Mammon having very low grades in R.A.D., there's a card (in shall we date) that proves that he's actually very intelligent (especially in math) it's just you have to give him the right motivation to use it.

Crows are also notorious for holding grudges for generations. Mammon still complains about what some witches that he hasn't seen in a couple decades made him do because he requested money for them and they requested his services, only for them to give him stupid tasks. (Mostly because he was running away from his debt.) As well as being still upset about the time Leviathan broke into his room to steal a figurine that Mammon won at random.

Crows are also known to mate for life which is why they tend to be very rude and picky about partners even though some crows can be quite promiscuous and mate with other crows outside of their pairing. This could explain why he enjoys the attention but pushes it away most of the time because he has high standards. Of course that immediately changes when he sees MC giving someone else attention. He gets kind of snippety and territorial over MC by claiming that he is there first but is known to forgive MC in the end.

Crows are also known to steal other birds eggs or fledglings most of the time for food but also to study different birds behaviors. Other times is when the crows own eggs or fledglings have been killed and adopt other birds as their offspring. I know technically Mammon did not steal the child or adopt the child but he does send money to some witches to take care of a human orphan child that grew emotionally attached to him. Chances are the witches are going to use Mammon as a sponge to get as much money as they can from him. He's also been caught multiple times taking care of Luke like a little brother.

Crows have mob behavior and tend to harass bigger predators in order to take down the foe or to steal from it. Very similar to when Mammon convinces Leviathan, Beelzebub and MC to try to steal from Lucifer only to then have to take on Cerberus. Most of mamons ideas usually involve him convincing his brothers (not Lucifer) and MC into helping him with one of his scams.

I could keep going on and on by just Crow facts that I've learned today. It just really cracks me up to think about his behavior and realize that he acts very much like his familiar. Obviously there's some big differences in certain behaviors compared to crows but it makes me wonder if the DMs had taken in fact about crows and tried to humanize them so they could make a Baseline for certain behaviors.

After all we can all agree that Lucifer acts very much like a peacock. So I guess it shouldn't be all that shocking on how much Mammon behaves like a crow.

[lexyychinchillaa]

my school has a wrirers club and im part of it. todays thing was you have 2 minutes to write something, then pass the page to the person on your left and then 2 minutes to write on the next page so everyone has written something on everyones page. mine started as a broadchurch fanfic cuz im so original and... heres the final thing (different color means new person)

Alec woke up. He groaned as he got out of bed. It was early. He walked into the kitchen and made a cup of tea.

He finished the tea, got dressed, and left for work.

Alec walked into his office to find Ellie sitting, waiting for him.

He knew this was coming. He owed her too much money and now she'd come to collect. She sat in his chair with her head held high as she examined his desk.

Ellie curbed stomped (?) Alec and demanded he pay her back the 12 billion robux which Alec had spent on his super cute gothic lolita Roblox avatar.

She threw up all over him (tf???) in distress. He cried and gave her the Roblox password. Ellie scammed the shit out of Alec's card and bought Peter Griffin in (unintelligible). Ellie bought all the Fortnite emotes next. She was on a roll. She loved the idea of Alec becoming bankrupt (lmao). AND BANKRUPT ALEC SHALL BE(😭). Ellie was a sugar addict and her latest dose was making her crazy. (how did they write so much lol)

"Oh no, I hate being crazy." She said manically. Then she did a backflip (ELLIE'S GOT SKILLS) to illustrate her instability. However, she didn't think about how previously incompetent she was at gymnastics. She fell. It hurt (no shit), but the pain and mania created the perfect blend to allow her to be brought back to the present.

Ellie continued to buy more Fortnite emotes and skins. Especially The Weeknd. He looked mighty fine in that suit. (HELP???)Ellie whistled.

Ellie then went to Molly's(who tf is molly) and gave her a Fortnite skin to wear. She was obsessed. Molly staged an intervention but it did not succeed, as Ellie started throwing bricks on the ground (why lmao) and hopping in the air before flopping away.

Suddenly, Beethoven appeared (HELP LMAO??? BEETHOVEN WAS IN EVERY STORY NO JOKE). He was very evil. He wanted to impede the protagonist's goals (plot twist: there are no goals except to buy fortnite shit). How sinister.

Beethoven got into a fight with Karkat Vanks, from the hit webcomic Homestuck (ok free promo for homestuck ig. idk ive never read it). Karkat won, beheading Beethoven and spitting on his dead body (WHAT). Karkat then bit Beethoven in half and disappeared (tf-). The End!!!

basically the take away is never owe ellie any robux and never let anyone finish your story!

(wtf happened to alec and ellie lmao. whos molly??? WHY WAS BEETHOVEN THERE???)

[a-local-idiots-shitpost]

Mc starts randomly screaming

Lucifer:

why… why are you just screaming?

he hides it well but he is genuinely concerned because are Humans supposed to do that?

he still hangs you from the ceiling for it though

simply because you annoyed him

and he hoped it would shut you up

if that doesn´t work he´ll just throw you out of the House

not because you woke him up but he doesn´t want you to wake up his brothers

nighttime is the only time where he has any kind of peace and he will be damned if he let´s you destroy it

Mammon:

also doesn´t get why you just started screaming

did he sell something that is precious to you?

okay he is sorry just stop screaming!

he will get so confused when you tell him you just did it for fun

did they get a broken Human or something? why would you do this?

despite him thinking what is wrong with you he will join you

listen Mammon has so many problems and it kinda helps

so there are just days where both of you scream for no reason

Leviathan:

he can understand sometimes you just want to scream

example from him the moment where you spent all your money and you still didn´t get the character you desperately wanted

and man did he scream on that day

you were actually surprised he didn´t summon Lotan and flood the entire house

actually you talked to early there is Lotan

I would recommend leaving the House now and quickly because otherwise this will be really uncomfortable

also don´t let him get a look at your phone

because you got the character he wanted by pure coincidence

he will lose it when he sees it

Satan:

he screams with you

he just saw you do it one day and decided to scream his anger out

but only once a week otherwise he would never stop

I mean he is the Avatar of Wrath so there will always be a lot

he tends to scream a lot about Lucifer too

but you have to be there to stop or to make sure Lucifer doesn´t hear the things he screams about

because if Lucifer would just hear a quarter of the things he screams about he would never be allowed to leave his room (or the ceiling)

Asmodeus:

he doesn´t really see a problem with it

he sometimes even joins in himself

but don´t you even dare to do this when he is sleeping

no matter how much he loves you

he will kill you if you disturb his beauty sleep

he wasn´t even joking the moment you opened your mouth during the night he was already in his Demon form and glaring at you

you just decided the smartest move would be to close your mouth and go to sleep

and it was a smart decision because Mammon sneaked in during the night and got to experience Asmo´s anger about being waken up

Beelzebub:

he just doesn´t care

as long as it doesn´t stop him from eating or hurts you in anyway you can do whatever you want

he does ask you to stop when Belphie is sleeping or at least be a little quieter

he doesn´t scream with you but when his stomach rumbles it does sound like it

and it´s louder than you could ever be

he also doesn´t want you to scream around Lucifer both for your and his sake

because Lucifer needs his sleep and it isn´t good for you to constantly hang from the ceiling because you keep pestering Lucifer

Belphegor:

hates it more than anything

you somehow managed to be so loud that he can´t sleep

but he can´t tell you that because he knows if you know that you´ll use that to constantly wake him up

and now he either has to silently suffer or find a way to shut you up

sadly the only idea he has is to silence you for eternity

which he can´t do because his brothers would kill him (and he would get sad)

he would also lose his favorite pillow forever if he would go through with

guess he has to suffer now until you get bored of screaming

[beelzebuddy-catan]

The Not Entirely Human-Human Exchange Student pt. 3

Summary: Tired of wanting to help the brothers, but never being able to, Cass finally reaches her limit. Maybe Levi should make a mental note, when the Avatar of Wrath is worried about a human's anger, you should be too. Warnings: Swearing, mentions of death, heavily implied sexual content Spoilers: Up to Lesson three and Lilith's status Characters: Cass (OC), Lucifer, Mammon, Levi, Satan, Asmo, Beel, Diavolo, Barbatos, Solomon, Simeon, Preta (OC), and Vassago (OC). Notes: Just like Asmo's mind control doesn't work on MC, demon powers in general don't work on Cass, including Diavolo's. Previous Part • next part

“HEY, I TOLD YOU! LISTEN WHEN I’M TALKIN’ TO – wait, the stairs that lead to the attic? Stop stickin’ your nose where it doesn’t belong. And don’t go thinkin’ you can just offer the Great Mammon a little bit of money so he’ll spill the beans. Let’s pretend I did. Lucifer would kill me – no, he’d have me eliminated and it’d take me a good two hundred million years to recover.”  

“Oh, so you’re afraid of Lucifer.”  

“I ain’t afraid of Lucifer! Tell ya what. I’ll let you buy the information off me for the monetary equivalent of two hundred million years’ worth of the world’s total oil production.”  

“Is that with inflation?”  

“Is that with – I ain’t gonna tell ya.”  

"DOES HE EVER SLEEP?” Cass whispered sharply as she threw a pillow onto her bed.  

This was the fifth time this week she’d woken up to some ominous voice in the walls calling for help only to be stopped by Lucifer when she got to the foot of the stairs. At this point she should take him up on his offer to make her a tea that would put her into a coma because it might be the only time she actually gets some rest.  

Lilith wasn’t much help either. She couldn't even tell Cass what was at the top of the stairs. Apparently, there was some charm at the very top preventing her from going through. Lilith wasn’t sure what the spell was since it didn’t seem to be related to her ghostly status. Which meant Cass couldn’t even try and get Solomon to help.  

The lack of sleep would have been bad enough, but she also had to deal with the brothers. Each of them had more baggage than she had under her eyes at this point. Worst yet, they wouldn’t let her in enough to even help them with it.  

Lucifer acted like a politician giving a statement whenever she tried to talk to him. Do not disappoint Diavolo. We’re counting on you to make this a success. Just once she’d like to see him show any side of him that wasn’t polished or annoyed at his brothers.  

Whenever Mammon was near her, he started complaining about having to watch over her. Even though he was hovering around her a lot more since making the pact. He started walking her to her classes and hanging out after, even banging on her door until she let him in. If he wasn’t complaining about her or his brothers, he was trying to rope her into some complicated money-making scheme that always seemed more of a bad idea than a pyramid scheme.  

She was lucky if she saw Levi more than once a day. If she did, he refused to make eye contact or acknowledge her presence. The little time he spent with his brothers was spent on his phone, mumbling under his breath, or fighting with Mammon.  

True to her expectations, Satan was cordial to a fault. Just like Lucifer, she never really saw past his mask unless he was angry. While anything could set him off, she started picking up on his warning signs. The book he was holding would snap shut with an unexpected force. He’d take a long-calculated breath, staring at the person or thing that set him off. When they weren’t in the House of Lamentation, she could feel the murderous aura building around him before he excused himself.  

That aura wasn’t exclusive to Satan, she learned. She felt it with all of the brothers when they weren’t at the house. Whenever their emotions started to take over or they lost control of their sin, it would start forming. Mammon, who seemed to have little to no control over his greed or emotional state, seemed to be the only one who didn’t radiate that feeling on a regular basis.  

The first time she’d felt it around Asmodeus had taken her by surprise. While he’d been flirty with her since they met and tried to charm anyone he encountered, the darker side only crept up once and a while. There was a sense of desperation behind his actions. A desire for something more, to be seen as something more.  

Beel, she’d learned, wasn’t as apathetic as she’d suspected. He was able to stay level-headed, expect when it came to his brothers or food. He simply wasn’t an expressive person. He’d been spending more and more time with her. There was something comforting about his presence. And just when she started to think he may share the sentiment, he would withdraw, as if afraid of getting close to her.  

“Why do I get stuck here looking at your face every morning,” Mammon’s outburst pulled Cass from her thoughts. She gave him a quizzical look over her coffee mug. “Ya know, eating a human is a treat for demons, right? Having you sit there and not being able to do anything is like having a premium-grade, medium rare, roast Iriomote musk hog in front of ya when you're stuck eating dried black belly newt legs.”  

Cass’s eyebrows scrunched together. Did he just compare her to a roasted hog? Mammon was too busy going on about blackbelly newt legs and roasts to notice the glare she gave him. He jabbed his fork in her attention, finally making eye contact.  

“And ya know what the worst part is? That thick juicy hunk of meat started ordering me around like it’s the boss or somethin’. What kind of sick torture is that?”  

“Did you just call me a hunk of meat?” Mammon froze, as if he hadn’t even realized that’s what he’d said. After a moment it looked like he was going to double down and confirm the insult, so Cass continued. “This hunk of meat has only given you an order once, by accident. And if you called me by my name to begin with, it wouldn’t have happened.”  

“Where are your brothers?” She asked when she saw him open his mouth, knowing it would end in an argument. An argument consisting mostly of him complaining.  

“Hell if I know. Asmodeus is a playboy who sneaks out at night, so he’s probably sleepin’. Satan’s a goody two-shoes and I don’t care where he is. And I don’t even want to think about Beel. He ate the custard I was saving after I TOLD him not to eat anything with my name on it.”  

Cass rolled her eyes, of course she can’t get a simple answer from him. Most of the time, she found Mammon oddly charming. With the headaches caused from lack of sleep though, it was unbearable. “Pay attention when I’m talking to ya! Bet the others scurried off to class so I had to deal with ya on my own. They’re rotten and it’s all ‘cuz of Lucifer! Stuck with you in a pact, Levi’s lame haircut, Satan’s stupid horns, Lucifer’s nasty smelly feet.”  

“Do you know about those stairs on the west end of the house?”  

“HEY, I TOLD YOU! LISTEN WHEN I’M TALKIN’ TO – wait, the stairs that lead to the attic?”  

Ah, so the others did know about them. So, whatever was blocking Lilith didn’t seem to affect other ghosts or demons. But how would Lucifer know to put up a spell so she couldn’t get up there. He didn’t even know she was there. What was he hiding and who was he hiding it from?  

“Stop stickin’ your nose where it doesn’t belong. And don’t go thinkin’ you can just offer the Great Mammon a little bit of money so he’ll spill the beans. Let’s pretend I did. Lucifer would kill me – no, he’d have me eliminated and it’d take me a good two hundred million years to recover.”  

“Oh, so you’re afraid of Lucifer.”  

“I ain’t afraid of Lucifer! Tell ya what. I’ll let you buy the information off me for the monetary equivalent of two hundred million years’ worth of the world’s total oil production.”  

“Is that with inflation?”  

“Is that with – I ain’t gonna tell ya.”  

“You could have just said you don’t know what’s up there.”  

"Of course, I know what’s up there!” Silence hung between them. “Fine, you want to know so badly? Then go up there yourself. If you want to get past Lucifer, just distract him. What’s that series Levi likes again? The Tale of the Seven Seas Trying to Get Rich Quick...Wait, no. The Tale of the Seven Kingdoms. 

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Just get a vinyl edition of the soundtrack from that and use it to distract Lucifer. Don't know why, but he’s interested in it. Get your hands on that soundtrack and you’ll be able to climb those stairs.” 

Cass stood up crossing to the door. “Well, let’s go.”  

“What makes you think I’m helpin’ ya? If ya want the soundtrack so bad, go find Levi and work it out with him yourself. I gotta get to class.”  

“Mammon, I said let’s go,” Cass said, feeling the same warmth from her pact mark she’d felt when she’d first invoked its magic.  Mammon followed her out of the dining room grumbling like always.  

-- -- --

Cass was about to knock on Levi’s door, when Mammon yelled in her ear. “LEMME GO, DAMMIT!”  

She jumped, the magic allowing her to control him, breaking with her concentration. Mammon stumbled backwards, head hitting the edge of the nearby end table. He looked up, rubbing his head. They stared at each other for a moment in shock.  

“What the hell, Cass? Ya coulda given me a little warning!”  

“I’m sorry! I don’t exactly know how to control a pact. I don’t even like using it.”  

“Whatever,” Mammon grumbled, standing up. “You don’t have any prudence, do you? You can’t just storm up to Levi’s room demandin’ the vinyl from the Tale of whatever-it-was.”  

“You mean the Tale of the Seven Seas Trying to Get Rich Quick?” 

“You know what your problem is? I’ll tell you.” Mammon stepped closer as he spoke.  

“Oh, please do,” Cass snapped back. 

It probably would have been easier to ask Levi for help without Mammon. The two always seemed to be arguing, even when they got along. Not to mention, his constant put downs and yelling was only making her headache worse.  

“Mammon, you jackass,” Levi called out from his room.  

“Who said that?” Mammon looked around wildly. “I’m not a jackass! Or an idiot!”  

“Or a scumbag or a money-obsessed moron,” Cass added on, unable to resist the urge to mock him a little more.  

“I’m tryin’ to help ya!”  

“You’re making way too much noise, Mammon,” Levi yelled, “I'm trying to watch Magical Ruri Hana: Demon Girl.”  

At this point, Cass didn’t have the energy to trick Levi. She just needed the vinyl, so she could give it to Lucifer and stop whoever was talking all through the night. Every day she was one step closer to poisoning everyone in the house with holy water. 

“Open the door, Levi. I need your TSL soundtrack.”  

The only response from Levi was a curt laugh. Both Mammon and Cass knew exactly what it meant, not that she expected anything different. She sighed rubbing her temple, what were the odds Mammon could just break the door down. Levi did say he couldn’t beat Mammon in a fight. Maybe she was at her last resort.  

“And I’m the idiot.”  

“Well, if it isn’t the pair everyone is talking about.” Solomon stepped up to Levi’s door, knocking softly. “I heard a rumor about a certain human who looks very ordinary at first glance. She just arrived and already has a pact with a demon. Though, the demon must be incredibly stupid because he let the human discover and exploit his greatest weakness to then forge a pact.”  

“What a total numbskull! Who was the demon?” Mammon laughed, the sound echoing around the hall. 

“Definitely a numbskull,” Cass muttered. “What brings you to the House of Lamentation, Solomon?”  

“Levi invited me,” he answered, clearly enjoying Mammon’s obliviousness.  

“What’s the secret phrase?” Levi called when Solomon knocked again. 

“The second lord attempted to steal the Lord of Corruption’s platypus which could lay golden eggs. Having incurred the wrath of the Lord of Corruption for this misdeed, it was ordered that the second lord would forever be dubbed the Lord of Fools.”  

Levi’s door opened a crack. “Secret phrase authenticated you may enter.”  

Solomon nodded to Mammon and Cass before slipping into Levi’s room. The sound of the lock clicking back into place echoed through the otherwise empty hall. Cass sighed, not sure what to do next. Mammon, in his own world, seemed to just catch on to what Solomon had said.  

“OI SOLOMON! I AIN’T STUPID!” He pounded on the door, but there was no answer. “You know what, he’s the stupid one, givin’ away the secret phrase and all, wait, that was the secret phrase!”  

Mammon knocked on the door again, gesturing for Cass to repeat what Solomon had said. “The second lord att-” before Cass could finish the sentence, Levi made a buzzing noise.  

“Secret phase authentication failure. Access denied.”  

“WHAT? Ya didn’t even let her finish? What is it a one-time password?” Mammon yelled, resuming his banging.  

Cass linked her arm with his, pulling him away. “Let’s just go, it’s not like he’s going to change his mind.” 

“Maybe you should at least watch TSL on DVD before asking for favors.”  

Cass let Mammon pull away to return to Levi’s door, knowing it was a lost cause to fight him. He was already hurling insults at Levi and Levi wasn’t hesitating to yell right back at him. Cass sighed, deciding they could be Solomon’s problem for a while. She was running late for class anyways. Luckily, she caught Beel heading towards the door and was able to walk with him. 

-- -- --

Cass stared down at the cover of Volume 8 of the TSL series Levi had lent her, pen tapping against her chin. The book ended with the Lord of Emptiness being trapped in the Tower of Shadow by the Lord of Corruption. Based on the parallels between the series and what she knew of the brothers, the writer was someone close to them.  

She didn’t know much about their history apart from what little information Lilith would share, but she wouldn’t be surprised if the end of this volume coincided with the start of the exchange program. Beel had been upset about his younger brother but wouldn’t talk about him because of Lucifer.  The youngest brother, she had been told, was an exchange student in the human world.  

She groaned, letting her head fall to the table. Something told her that it didn’t matter if she could find a connection or could find more information about them from the series. She just knew that the only way she was ever going to learn anything helpful was getting up those stairs. Which she couldn’t do without Levi. Having Levi’s help seemed more and more impossible by the second.  

A soft thud drew her from her thoughts. She glanced towards the noise. A fresh chocolate croissant sat next to her now empty mug. The demon who had brought the plate pulled a chair up to sit down with her. She glanced around the coffee shop, realizing only now that it was empty. The demon who had joined her was working. He must have gotten bored and decided to have some fun.  

Cass poked at the croissant, hesitant to eat it because she was still learning what was human-safe in the Devildom. That, and she’d only seen the barista in passing, she didn’t know if she could trust him yet. There was something oddly calming about him though, at least compared to the other demons she’d interacted with him.  

Then again, he was just treating her with common decency. Maybe the bar was so low for her expectations now that he was just less terrible than the other demons, but terrible none the less. Her brain hurt trying to figure it out. It didn’t help that her, Mammon, and Beel had been up the entire night before watching the TSL series.  

Mammon, who complained about being there every chance he could, ended up crying most of the series. When he wasn’t crying or complaining, he was yelling at Beel to stop chewing so loud. Cass still wasn’t sure why Beel had even come to her room. He said he’d heard them talking about the movie marathon and decided there would be popcorn. Yet, he’s the one that brought all the snacks, something he could have done without Cass or Mammon. 

“I didn’t do anything to the croissant.” The demon once again pulled her from her thoughts. “And all the food here is edible for humans.” Cass shot him a look, still trying to figure him out. “Diavolo’s been trying to make human and celestial things more accessible here. It’s not a perfect remake, but it’s safe.” 

“Why are you giving it to me?”  

“You’ve been here for a few hours and haven’t eaten. I don’t really know how often humans are supposed to eat and don’t want you to die.” He looked up from the notebook he was reading. “Sorry, should I rephrase that? I don’t care if you live or die, but if you die here, it’s going to cause me problems.”  

He looked back down at Cass’s notes. Cass tried to hide her smile as she began picking at the croissant. Most everyone ignored her or treated her like dinner. Despite adding the second part, she knew the gesture was genuine.  

“I’m Cass, by the way.”  

The demon laughed, setting the notebook down. “Is there anyone in the Devildom who doesn’t know who you are at this point? I’m Vassago.”  

“I’m starting to think Solomon’s having demons follow me,” Cass murmured.  

“How’d you know – " The shop bell rang, cutting Vassago off. He rolled his eyes before going to the front.  “Leave her alone. I’m seri – PRETA.”  

Cass jumped at the sudden change in his volume. Standing in front of her was the demon she’d seen on her first day. One thing she’d noticed quickly was that most demons stayed in their human form, especially in classes and around the Academy. The demon in front of her was definitely an exception to the rule.  

“I’m Preta.” They grinned, mouth stretching further than humanly possible, adding to the unease Cass felt.  

The next few seconds happened so fast that Cass almost didn’t process it. Vassago snatched the croissant out of Cass’s hand, jumping up on the chair. He held it out of Preta’s reach, but barely had time to gain his balance before Beel tried tackling him. Did he come in with Preta? Preta’s hand shot out to stop him, knocking over the half-full cup he’d left when the bell had rung.  

“Stop trying to steal Cass’s food,” Vas snapped at the two demons.  

Beel hung his head and grumbled a quiet ‘sorry’. Preta, on the other hand, didn’t even try to look remorseful. “Vas, I’m hungry. You said you there wasn’t any baked goods left.” 

“There aren’t any baked goods left.”  

“She’s not even eating it!” Preta yelled.  

“I ALREADY ORDERED YOU FOOD. IT WILL BE HERE IN TEN MINUTES.”  

It wasn’t until Cass felt something wet hit her foot that she realized the coffee from Vas’s cup had spilled. She shot up, trying to move the papers out of the way. It was too late. The cup had landed directly on Levi’s book, soaking the pages.  

She held the book up, coffee dripping from the pages onto the table. The reality of the situation hit her like bricks. An exasperated sound left her lips. It wasn’t quite a laugh, but it had a similar cadence. They were fighting over an old croissant. A croissant she didn’t even care about. What a stupid, normal thing to do. In most contexts, it would have been funny to watch.  

Except she wasn’t in most contexts. She was just a human, stuck in hell, surrounded by demons threatening to kill her daily. She didn’t have the luxury to enjoy stupid, normal things. Their fight ended as easily as Vas ordering takeout. Yet, at the end of the day, she was the one whose life was on the line.  

She hung her head, letting the book fall to the ground as her hand dropped. The book Levi made her swear she wouldn’t ruin. The book he’d barely been able to bring himself to lend her. Levi, who had threatened to kill her moments after meeting. Levi, who wished death on his own brother for leaving a figurine in a box. Not ruining it, just not appreciating it.  

“Cass?” Beel asked, tilting his head to the side. Cass looked up, tears threatening to fall.  

“It’s just a book, we can get you a new one,” Preta added.  

“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “I told Levi I’d give it back to him tonight. I don’t have time to get a new book.”  

“There’s a used book shop on the street over, we can look there.”  

Cass picked up the book from the floor, putting it in her bag. She haphazardly threw the rest of her things in after. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll figure it out. Thanks for the croissant, Vassago.” With that, she pushed passed Beel and Preta and left the Bitter Inferno.  

Usually, she hated walking down the streets alone. In their human forms, most demons were over six foot tall. Even Asmo, one of the shortest demons she spent any time with, was 6’2. Which made her a lot easier to notice. She’d gotten in the habit of wearing heels over four inches, just to blend easier. Not that it did much good.  

The streets were almost empty, though. It had rained earlier and was expected to rain more. Maybe she was finally catching a break. As Preta had said, there was used book shop on the next street. Secondhand Spell Books. Cass sighed, knowing that short luck was already over. There was no way a secondhand spell bookshop would have the TSL book she needed.  

Cass pulled at the door, but it didn’t budge. The lights were still on, though low. It wasn’t uncommon for a building to have low lights or for her to have difficulty opening the heavy doors downtown. A small, barely legible, handwritten sign sat near the handle. Secondhand Spell Books will be closed on Tuesday due to a private event.  

That was more in line with how the day had been going. Cass sat down in the alley next to the bookstore, leaning against the side wall. Something about the empty alley felt safer than returning to the House of Lamentation and whatever waited. That’s when she realized what she was really dreading, was the look on Levi’s face when he realized the book was ruined.  

After making a pact with Mammon and helping Levi, she’d seen him very little. The minute she handed the destroyed book back, it would just serve as confirmation for Levi. Conformation that his interests weren’t worth appreciating. That he wasn’t worth appreciating. He put so much energy into the shows and things he enjoyed. But in his eyes, nobody put any energy towards him.  

One of the shop bells rang, followed by a moment of silence, then “Cass?” Satan stood next to the bookstore, close enough to the door that the rain missed him. When did it start raining? Satan opened his umbrella, crossing to her. He sighed, squatting in front of her, hand pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “Did Mammon do something?”  

“What?” The question took her so off guard that she started laughing. Satan tilted his head, unsure what the reaction meant. “Why would you automatically assume it was Mammon?”  

“Well, for one, you’re crying, alone in the street, at night. He is supposed to be making sure you’re safe. Two, it wouldn’t be inconceivable that Mammon did something stupid.”  

“You should be nicer to him.”  

Satan hummed, standing up. He held his hand out, helping Cass up. “May I inquire why you’re out here, if Mammon didn’t do anything?”  

Cass hesitated, still not entirely sure how she felt about Satan. It wasn’t like him to genuinely care about her. Plus, even if he could help, he wouldn’t do so out of the goodness of his heart. She relented, knowing she was picking the lesser of two evils, and pulled the ruined book from her bag. Satan took it from her, flipping the cover open. Both of them visibly cringed at the sound of the pages peeling apart.  

“You’re hiding because you’re afraid?”  

“No, it’s not that.” Satan glanced up at her for a moment before looking back at the book. “I receive death threats every day. It’s just, it’s, I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.”  

“Well, we’ve got some time on the walk. Unless you planned on sleeping here.”  

-- -- --

“If I’m understanding correctly, you’re upset the book is ruined because you think it means you’ll fail a test Levi was giving you?”  

“Kind of? It’s not like I think Levi was intentionally testing me. I don’t think he’d even entertain the thought. It’s just a feeling I have. It’s easier for him to push people away before they push him away. I mean, he spends all day comparing himself to you and your brothers. That has to weigh on him.”  

“Ah, in a way he’s convinced himself he’s not good enough and acts out on that. That way, when someone does tear him down, he is already expecting it. The book, or anything he lends out, is a way to see if it’s worth getting his hopes up.”  

Satan came to a stop outside Purgatory Hall. Cass sighed, looking up at him, knowing he didn’t have an answer, but wishing he did. It wasn’t that she just failed a test. She failed Levi and he didn’t need any more false confirmations that he wasn’t good enough.  

“Why do you care so much, though?” Cass’s knitted together in confusion. Why didn’t Satan care more? They were brothers after all. “I’ll be right back. I have to ask Simeon something. Try not to get too upset about Levi, you haven’t failed him.”  

Cass didn’t have time to ask Satan what he meant before he disappeared down the hallway. Cass looked around the foyer. Why couldn’t she have been put here with the angels and Solomon? That would have solved all of her problems. Well, not the almost being killed by demons everyday related ones, but the paranormal life coach ones.  

Unlike the House of Lamentation, Cass was welcomed with open arms when she visited Purgatory Hall. It was starting to become a safe haven for her. Simeon would bring a cup of tea to cheer her up. There were nearly always fresh baked goods that Luke prepared. Even Solomon’s mumbling when doing experiments had become a comforting sound.  

Despite Lucifer’s warning, she and Solomon had become close. She wasn’t sure how it happened. Maybe they both found comfort in being around another human, even if what they knew about each other was limited. Maybe Solomon was secretly after something. Maybe he found it amusing how she didn’t put up with his shit just because he was a famous sorcerer.   

She assumed Simeon’s friendly nature was in part because he was an angel. Though it felt like more when he patiently listened to her vent. He was one of the few beings that knew the brothers, that could commiserate with her.  

Despite his protests and claims that he was older than her, she started viewing Luke as a younger brother. And while he may deny it, he took on the unofficial role of her guardian angel, unafraid to stand between her and danger. 

“Thank you again, Simeon.”  

“You really don’t need to mention it.” Cass turned to see Simeon and Satan walking down the stairs. Simeon held a book under his arm. “Cass, it’s lovely to see you.”  

“You too. Actually, Simeon, I wanted to see if you and Luke were busy on Saturday. There's a bakery near the coffee shop I like is trying out a new menu.  

“I’ll check with Luke, but I’m sure he’d love too.” Simeon held to book out for her to take. “Satan told me what happened earlier. I think this may help soothe things over with Levi.”  

It was a first edition of the book that had been ruined earlier. On the inside cover was the author’s signature and a brief note. A piece of notebook paper was placed halfway through the pages. There were various notes and plot developments from the unreleased volume 9 book. Cass shut the book and tried handing it back to Simeon.  

“I can’t take this.”  

“I insist. It’s just been gathering dust. I’m certain Levi would appreciate it more. Maybe not the notes on volume 9, but you can keep those.” 

“This is amazing, I can’t imagine how I’ll repay you.” 

Before Simeon could answer, something cold hit Cass’s neck, causing her to scream in surprise. She turned around to see Solomon grinning, holding up a single winged pendant. He was leaning over into her space, so they were almost eye level. Neither of them blinked, not wanting to back down. 

“Here I was waiting to give you this. It’s the Lord of Corruption’s lost wing. It was only sold in limited quantities when Volume 1 was released. I happen to know Levi doesn’t have it. What would you give me for it?”  

“How about I don’t kick you in the balls?”  

“I’m starting to think you might like Simeon more than me.”  

“You’re only now picking up on that? I’ll have to be less subtle.” Cass snatched the pendant before Solomon could pull it away.  

“Careful, there’s a curse on that so anyone who wears it falls in love with me.”  

“I didn’t realize you liked Levi that much.”  

Satan or Simeon coughed, causing Cass and Solomon to break eye contact at the same time. “Do you want to continue whatever this is or walk back with me?”  

-- -- --

“Did you think coming back with Satan would help you?” Levi yelled as soon as Cass and Satan stepped through the door. As usual, the dark aura she began to sense from Levi vanished after a few seconds. Cass and Satan exchanged a look. “Beel already told me.”  

“I’m sorry, Cass. I thought I could talk to Levi for you.”  

Cass sighed, casting Beel a reassuring look. She knew his heart was in the right place. It didn’t really matter anyways, Levi would have found out about the book in the end. Besides, she now had two different things to make up for it, so they should be square.  

“This is why I don’t lend things out to normies. I just knew you were going to mess it up. Not only are you NOT an otaku, you’re also a human. Can you do anything right?”  

Cass’s hand froze, partially through pulling the book out. “Deep breaths, Cass,” she told herself. After living with the brothers, she’d learned Satan wasn’t the only one who would snap at the drop of a hat. While there were far fewer things that set her off, they definitely existed. One of those was demons underestimating her and brushing her off solely because she was human.  

“What? Were you seriously going to return my ruined book? LMAO.” 

Satan, who had been observing the interaction, stepped forward. He placed his hand on Cass’s as if to stop her from pulling out the book. “Levi,” his tone left little for argument. He also had become more in tune with your anger. 

Levi didn’t seem to care. “Why? What’s she going to do? Did you think learning a little bit about TSL would make it, so I’ll like you? You’re lucky Mammon’s such an idiot or you never would have been able to make a pact with a demon.” 

“You know what Levi,” Cass snapped tossing the bag to the floor. “I’m over this arrogant, conceited, woe-is me crap. I get you like TSL, but I don’t think you know as much about it as you think you do. I bet I even know more than you.”  

Cass wasn’t sure where that came from. She wanted to be there for Levi, but first she wanted to prove him wrong. No, she wanted to beat him, make him think about treating her like that again. She could blame the anger, the wounded ego, the lack of sleep, the constant disparaging remark about Mammon, but really it could be any one of them. The flood gates opened. 

Something flashed in Levi’s eyes, but it was gone almost as fast. “Do you seriously think you know more than me about TSL? As if I’d ever accept a challenge like that.” He scoffed, turning to go back to his room.  

“The fact that you’re running away, proves I’m right. You know you’d lose.” 

Levi spun so quickly it made Cass dizzy, he marched over, glaring down at her. She refused to break eye contact. Given how tall he was, it was near impossible to hold her head back that far. Due to his horrible posture, Cass was always forgetting how tall he actually was.  

“Excuse me?” The words flowed out like venom.  

“You heard me,” Cass said with the same animosity.  

The tension in the room was palpable. Even Levi, who looked like he might snap at any moment, seemed to be holding his breath. Maybe he was trying to intimidate her into backtracking or maybe he was trying to decide if he should just kill her here and now and be done with it.  

“Fine, I accept your challenge. I’ll even make a pact with you if I lose, that’s how confident I am,” Levi answered, finally breaking eye contact. He started walking back towards his room before once again turning to call over his shoulder. “Just one thing. If you lose, you might not make it back to the human world alive.”  

With that, Levi disappeared up the stairs. Cass let her shoulders drop, instantly feeling some of the tension leave her body. She picked up her abandoned bag and threw it over one shoulder. So much for fixing things and maybe getting a step ahead with the gifts Simeon and Solomon gave her.  

“Can I give you some advice?” Beel, who Cass had forgotten was in the entry way, broke the silence. “Levi’s the demon of envy. If you work him into a jealous frenzy, he’ll lose control. Once that happens, he’ll slip up and give you an opening to exploit. But if Levi does lose control, your life will also be in danger.”  

“What else is new?” Cass mumbled under her breath.  

She thought of the piece of paper Simeon had put in the book and the pendant Solomon just happened to have. Of course, Satan hadn’t genuinely cared. He certainly was calculating, she had to give him that. He must have realized that if she was upset, there was something he could capitalize on later that would piss Lucifer off.  

-- -- --

Mammon rattled off question after question about TSL. Despite her recent introduction to the series, she had actually learned a lot about it and was able to answer his questions easily. Not that she really thought she had a chance at beating Levi. Honestly, if it weren’t for the spoilers and the pendant, she’d be screwed.  

“You know that right?”  

Cass, who hadn’t heard the question, answered as sincerely as she could manage, “Yeah, that actually makes sense.”  

Mammon stopped walking, staring at her in shock. Oh no, what had he asked. She just assumed it was something about how great he was or how he didn’t want to be here. He turned away before she could catch his eyeline, but she didn’t miss the faint blush that had appeared.  

“It feels weird when you agree with me like that. I mean, doncha think that would’ve been the perfect time to put me down or somethin’?”  

Mammon rubbed the back of his neck nervously, still refusing to look at her. She did like poking fun at Mammon because he always had a big reaction, but she was going to have to change how she went about it. The other brothers must really be relentless in their comments.  

“Whatever, just forget it. Let’s talk strategy. Beel was right about Levi and jealous. There’s no way you’ll win a competition about TSL in a fair fight, so we’ve just got to figure out how to make him jealous. It can’t just be some braggin’ ‘cuz all that will do is make him talk about how it’s not fair and you’re lucky.” 

“Oh, I have it covered. I have spoilers for the next book, a signed first edition of the book that got ruined, and a limited-edition pendant.”  

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Mammon laughed as they continued walking towards the student council chambers. He continued asking her TSL trivia until they made it to the doors. Mammon stopped her before she could go in. “Ya probably already know this, but if Levi does snap, there’s a real possibility he’ll try and kill ya.”  

She really was getting a soft spot for this demon. “Careful Mammon, someone might hear and think you actually care about me.”  

There was that blush again. Mammon started sputtering, unable to form a coherent sentence. She stepped back to open the door. Everyone else was already in there. Diavolo, Barbatos, and Lucifer were standing in a cluster discussing something. Levi was looking down at his phone, headphones on, ignoring the world. Asmo was filming a video while Satan and Beel sat waiting.  

Asmo lit up when he saw Cass and Mammon enter. He rushed over, looping his arm with Cass and pulling her to the center of the room. As if preparing to shoot a movie scene, he positioned her in front of Diavolo’s seat before fixing her hair. She swatted him away, not worried about fly aways, given the current situation. He continued directing everyone to their seats before forcibly pulling Levi to the center with her.  

“All right, everyone! The wait is over!” Asmo announced, ever the performer. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had tried to film this live but was stopped by Lucifer. “It’s time for the Devil’s Trivia Showdown! The quiz show that pits demon against human!” He mock oohed and ahhed behind Levi and Cass. The only one who seemed to be enjoying his antics was an enthusiastic Diavolo.  

“Today, we’re testing the knowledge of the super-famous fantasy series known to all The Tale of the Seven Lords! Let’s meet our competitors.” Asmo stood next to Levi holding a fake microphone up for him to speak into. Levi scoffed in response. “First, he’s a demon who freely admits to being a giant TSL nerd, meet Leviathan.”  

“I am the G.O.A.T. None can oppose me!”  

Asmo oohed again before spinning to introduce Cass. “And his challenger. The human who was only introduced to TSL recently and binged the DVDs. Say hello Cass.”  

“Hi.” Asmo didn’t move the microphone, his eyes insisting she say more. “I literally could not care less about this series. I just want to make him cry.” It was a lie. She had really enjoyed TSL. She just wanted Levi to suffer a bit and it’d be even funnier to beat him after saying she didn’t care about it.  

Levi inhaled sharply, before turning to face her. “You watched the DVDs ONCE. That’s it! The fact that you even challenged me is an insult to TSL. Do you have any idea how infuriating-”  

“Things are really heating up here!” Asmo interrupted stepping up to the bench. “Judging this fierce competition is our very own Demon Lord himself, Diavolo!”  

“Hello there, good to see everyone. Thank you for coming!” Diavolo stood up as he made his remarks.  

“Color commentary will be provided by Satan, Avatar of Wrath. Can he keep a cool head as a good commentator should?” Satan shot Asmo a dirty look but didn’t answer. “And our guest demon, the always-famished Beelzebub. Appearing for his usual fee, cheeseburgers.”  

Cass looked over to see that there was a pile of food in front of Beel. While Beel was describing how much he loved cheeseburgers from Hell’s Kitchen and Asmo started introducing himself, she snatched a few onion rings off the table before going back to her position.  

“Are you, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” Levi erupted. “You’re eating right now? Did you really risk your life to steal food from Beel at a time like this?”  

Cass coughed, trying to breathe around the bite of onion ring in her mouth. She hadn’t expected them to still be scalding hot. One of the special Devildom tricks she was still getting used to was how they could make take out taste just as fresh as when it was made.  

“I mean, every day I risk my life,” Cass said, taking another bite of the onion ring. “Might as well get a snack out of it.” 

“She may be fearless, folks,” Asmo chimed in, stepping between them, “but let’s see if she really knows her stuff.”  

Asmo proceeded to ask them questions about the series. Levi’s questions started difficult and became increasingly more challenging each round. Cass’s questions started easy and stayed that way. After a while, Diavolo seemed to be the only one still finding the game entertaining. Satan’s commentary was becoming increasingly sardonic and Beel’s cheeseburgers were almost gone.  

“How long are we going to keep this charade up? It’s so boring, I might fall asleep.”  

“You heard him Cass, let’s see if your trump card livens things up. Crush him like a bug!”  

-- -- --

Levi started laughing, the sound more maniacal the longer it went on. It didn’t help that the chamber echoed the sound, adding to the eerie cadence. Nobody dared move, as if any movement would set Levi off.  

“You can’t just make things up and think you’ll win. The Lord of Masks wouldn’t do that to the Lord of Shadow.”  

Cass grabbed her bag and pulled out the book Simeon had given her. She flipped to the page with the handwritten notes. “What’s better, Henry dies.”  

Levi froze, staring at the book in her hands. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Despite his words, Cass could see the panic in his eyes. He knew she wasn’t lying.  

“I’ve heard that as well,” Satan added from the side. 

“While I’m unable to discern the veracity of Cass’s statement, I can confirm the truth in Satan’s.”  

“Take that Levi! You know Lord Diavolo can tell if someone’s tellin’ the truth. Except for Cass I guess, but that doesn’t matter right now. Because Cass totally just won.”  

Levi’s head turned between them all as he started mumbling to himself. “THAT CAN’T HAPPEN,” he screamed. “The idea that YOU could be a bigger fan than me.”  

Mammon stood up, eyes not leaving Levi. “Woah, Levi –"  

“NO, NO, NO, I WON’T STAND FOR IT.”  

The dark aura Cass had become accustomed to when the brothers got upset started to overpower her senses. Levi yelled, or hissed, or something as his sin took over. His eyes narrowed as he focused on her, horns sprouting from his head, tail hitting the floor.  

She vaguely heard Mammon yelling at her to run, but Levi had already cornered her against the bench. So, this is how she died. Not that she was all too surprised. She had been warned by Beel, Levi, and Mammon that this was a probable outcome. For the briefest moment, she thought it might be fear that caused her to maintain eye contact.  

When Levi took a step forward, she realized it wasn’t fear but understanding. Of all the things she’d expect to feel when she was seconds away from being killed by a demon, understanding was not it. Satan was right, she hadn’t failed Levi because the book wasn’t the test. All he wanted was someone like Henry. Someone that stood by him even at his worst moments.  

Even if he didn’t intentionally do it, this was the test. Would she stick around after seeing what he thought was the worst side of himself, the anger, fear, obsession, envy that was part of him? What happened to them that this is how his brain processed that information? And what happened to her that made it make sense?  

As Levi closed the distance between them, Cass refused to cower or hide. If this was the last he saw of her, she would make it count. The last thing she remembered before everything went dark was hoping Levi understood what she was thinking.  

I see you for who you are and I’m not running away.  

[cherries-lostgirls]

Rehabilitation Chap. 1

Summary: Mai, Daughter of Fire lord Izumi, sister of General Iroh ll, next in line for the throne. She spent her life perfecting her image. As a young child her brother Iroh was very adamant about not wanting his claim to the crown. All the expectations fell onto her, so she became the perfect child. A fire bending prodigy, A respectable lady. She even started a rehabilitation program in honor of her grandfather. Everyone can change, though the latest “recruit” is starting to become a hassle.

Noatak, better known as Amon. He knew what he was made for, he knew that he needed to eradicate benders. Nothing will stop him. He’s thought out every little thing, the avatar, the police, his brother, his task force. However he didn’t think of the fire lord princess. That would prove to be his downfall. His downfall right?

A/N: Dual POV

Series Masterlist

I stepped off of the boat, cracking my neck, and arms in a stretch. I looked at the big towers, and busy streets. Republic City.  This place was much different than the fire nation, and yet nothing seemed too impressive. A car pulled out in front of me, revealing a white lotus member. 

“Princess Mai, please if you’ll come with me.” I got into the car, and kept quiet while the man started to explain what I was doing here and my duty. I had already heard it from my mother, and grandfather. 

“You are to represent the fire people of the city while you serve in the council. You must do what you believe is best for the fire benders of this city.” I raised my brow and looked at him. “What of the non-benders?” They were people of the fire nation just as much as fire benders were. “Our president deals with the non-benders of the city. The council is of benders in the city.” Talk about segregation. I kept my mouth shut however. I didn’t come here to change the system, only to help run it until my mother finds a new representative. 

We parked in front of a big hotel. Best money can buy. I followed the white lotus member into the building and kept my pace matched with him all the way to the elevator. He clicked the number 20 and placed a card into the slot. I watched as we passed each floor, starting at one. 

“The city has been dealing with complications. There’s this–.” 

“Don’t say anything else. We don’t need the world knowing our business.” I cut him off, mentally facepalming. How’d he become a part of a “Secret society.” The man kept quiet the rest of the elevator ride, and I had expected to walk down to my door, however instead I was brought to a room that looked to be more of a house. 

“So the elevator is a door to the place I’ll be staying in. Great.” What kind of idiot designed that? 

“Rest assured you are safe here. Only a card can get to this floor, and it’s this one right here.” I grabbed the card from his hand, rolling my eyes. Do these people not know how easy it is to override an elevator? I walked over to the kitchen island, placing my duffel bag on it. 

“Run me through the problems now.” The man was quick to respond. “There’s been what some people call the equalist, a revolution against benders. Their leader Amon has yet to be seen or captured.” 

“I’d like to talk to this Amon, set up a meeting.” I started to walk to what I believed was the bedroom. “I-I but no one has seen him!” I opened the door, and just before I closed it, “I wasn’t asking. The longer you wait, the more his revolution grows.” With that I closed the bedroom door. 

– 

“You're late.” I spoke to Tenzen. I waited by the Air temple island docking area and helped tie the ferry to the pole. “My apologies, I ran into some problems.” I gave a lazy hum, and eye’d the water tribe girl next to him and the kids. “Fire Princess Mai, this is Avatar Korra. She will be staying in the city for her air bending training.” 

Korra stuck her hand out, a smile on her face. “Nice to meet you! I’m Korra, though he just said that.” I grabbed her hand, shaking it, “Mai, pleasure to meet you. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I have matters I need to speak to Tenzen about.” 

Korra took the kids, and when I deemed them far enough I turned back around to Tenzen. “Tell me everything you know about this ‘Amon.’” The air nomad sighed, “Recently there have been speakers all over the city speaking about this Amon. All I can really say is he doesn't like benders.” I nodded my head. 

“I’m staying at four element hotel, if you need to speak to me, send someone or just stop by.” 

“Korra will be having an announcement tomorrow, the city needs to know their avatar is here.” I gave Tenzen my assurance of me being there. I walked to the edge of the dock and propelled myself into the air with my flames. When I finally landed back onto the ground I sighed in relief. I got into the car waiting for me and gave the driver my destination. 

I stared out the window as it started to lightly rain. My eyes caught a glimpse of a man on a roof. I didn’t get a chance to get a better look because we turned on the next road. 

– 

“Hello, I’m Korra. Your new Avatar.” Korra said into the mic. I watched as a bunch of people started to ask questions. I didn’t bother listening to them, or to her response. Instead I made a mental image of all the dirty looks people sent Korra’s way. I watched as someone slipped away from the crowd, a look of panic and disgust on their face. Bingo. 

While Korra went on about a speech talking about Avatar Aang. I slipped past the sentry guards, and made my way over to the man. I followed him into the alley, and was quick to slam him against the wall. “You're one of those equalist, aren't you?” His eyes widened. 

“No, no I’m not.” I tilted my head, then looked at his uniform peeking from his hoodie. “Right. Look, I won't arrest you.” Hope flickers in the man's eyes, and for a moment I wanted to snuff it out. “R-Really? Do you support Amon too?” 

“No, and I’ll let you go but you’re going to do something for me.” I smiled for the first time coming to this city. You know what they say; you want something done right, do it yourself. 

– 

Amon POV

“The Avatar won’t be answering anymore que–.” The air nomad was cut off by my lieutenant. “What are we going to do about this, Amon?” I looked over to him, “The avatar has arrived earlier than expected. This means, were going to have to put things in motion quicker.” I looked at the door as knocking cut off my discussion. 

“Come in.” Without missing a beat the door opens and a recruit walks in, nervous.  “B-boss, I got some uh, some news.” Spit it out then. I hardened my glare, my eyes piercing his behind the mask I wore. “You see, I attend that whole Avatar thingy. And uh well you see–.” 

“Get to the point.” My patience was wearing thin. “The fire lady, the one that was just sent from the fire nation. She cornered me and told me to bring you a message.” 

“She wants to talk, and she gave me this paper.” He handed me a sheet of paper, sealed with red wax. I ripped it open, and turned away from the men in the room. 

Think it’s time we talk. Avatar Aang’s statue,  three days from now at night. Don’t be late, and if you don’t show up, I will hunt you down. It’ll be as easy as you reading this. 

A meeting huh? I’m not one to back away from something. If we talk it’ll be on my terms. This fire princess will see that soon. 

…

Navigation

[rivenroad]

10 years ago today.

Despite playing the beta and loving it, I actually didn't buy A Realm Reborn on release for a few reasons - I was just about to start my third and final year at art school, didn't have much money and my laptop at the time struggled with the game, plus I knew about the server issues going on at launch so I didn't feel too bad for missing it. I owned a PS3, but I'd heard what everyone said about it being inferior to playing on PC, so I was hesitant, but a couple of weeks later I bought it for PS3 anyway because I really wanted it. I feel like that was perhaps the first time that FFXIV helped me to cast off the influences of others and make my own decisions.

The first character I made in the game proper was a Duskwight arcanist. He doesn't exist any more, but I found screenshots of him the other week when I dug out my PS3. Back then, I was excited by the amount of options in character customisation because I hadn't played an MMO before with the level of variety that XIV had. I played around with a whole lot of different characters, most of them being on the extreme ends of things - unnatural blue and green skintones, tiny Lalafells, huge Roegadyn women who towered over everyone else. I really liked that those were options for the protagonist of a game because I hadn't played many other games where they could take a leading role. The first character I took to level 50 and spent the most time on, to start with, was one of those, but it took me much longer to realise that I was playing a character who I wanted to exist in the world, but not one that I actually connected with on a personal level.

Early on I also messed around with male Miqo'te and Midlanders, and I made a couple I really liked, but I was reluctant to actually commit to them and I think it was because I felt like I "shouldn't" - because it was predictable to be an anime catboy or a plain old human man, it was boring, those things had been done before. In a game that allowed you to be some combination of traits that was hardly ever seen in a protagonist role, why would you pick something that was basically... a trope? That's kind of how I felt, or rather, had been made to feel. I was mildly embarrassed that I wanted to be a catboy, so I resisted it for a while.

Eventually, though, I did take the plunge to make one and level him alongside a friend who had picked up the game a few months later.

That was Ayin'a. That was really where things began to change for me. I was finally playing a character who I really felt a connection with, who I felt actually represented some part of me rather than ones who I absolutely loved being part of the world, but just weren't really "me". I started to write, to roleplay, to create, to form connections with people with him as my avatar. I was enjoying myself and I was inspired in a way I hadn't really felt... probably since I was a child, because I was doing things from the heart, rather than trying to follow an idea of what I thought I should be doing.

A lot has happened since then and it's way too much to go into here, but this for me was a huge turning point that provided me with inspiration and passion to hold on to in some very, very bleak times in my life. And from there, more came - with a better understanding of what I found interesting, what I liked in a character, what I was interested in exploring and writing... My identity began to solidify thanks to this process. After a long, long long and dreadful slump I started to make art again because of FFXIV. And now, I'm fortunate enough to be in a position where I can call making art my career, where I can look forward to what the future may hold for me as an artist, because of the experiences I've had with this game.

Incidentally, Ayin'a himself is now retired as of Endwalker, both in and out of character. For as much as he means to me, he was never intended to be "the" Warrior of Light, and as soon as I was able to make a character who suited that role (it only took 6+ years...), I started winding down his role as my "main" in a gameplay sense, because at last I had character who belonged in those MSQ cutscenes rather than having to feel mild uncomfortable as I watched them feature a character who would absolutely not be in that role.

Plus, when it comes to his own story, he's had enough too - he made a bunch of money, got married, settled down in his beachside house with a bunch of odd pets and his husband to be a reclusive and grumpy yet altruistic neighbour. He's still around, and always will be, both in FFXIV and in other worlds I choose to transport him too, but for now that chapter is over. I'll always have a soft spot for him and how he was the start of my journey to understand myself and find my place in the world, just as I'll always be grateful for all the many, many ways in which FFXIV changed the course of my life.

I'm looking forward to the next ten years, and there were times in the not so distant past when I had no hope that I'd ever say such a thing truthfully.

[epickiya722]

For the anime ask game, can I ask :

Balance : Unlimited, Vanitas no Carte and ATLA?

BALANCE UNLIMITED 💴

Favorite Character: Haru Kato! From his design to his personality, Haru easily became my favorite character.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: The entirety of episode 4. It's just too funny to me that Daisuke left the house because he got natto for breakfast, left his phone by accident, and has to stay with Haru because he refuses to go back home. He slept in the bathtub! 😆

Character I Think is Underrated: The whole Detective Division. They're actually very enjoyable characters to me and a lot of the scenes they have together are favorites of mine.

Character I Think is Overrated: We all know it's Daisuke. Remember when that show came out?! Oh my gosh... still love him though.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: DaiHaru, that will always be my ship!

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The gag that at the end of each episode shows the total balance of how much money was spent is something that I love. Whoever thought to do that, I applaud them. Also, just the overall vibe of the show. To me, it's an anime worth a rewatch. I find myself doing so once in a while. The opening song is one of my favorite anime openings still!

**

VANITAS NO CARTE ✒

Favorite Character: Noé is everything to me. He actually holds a very special place in my heart because he looks like a character I created way back in middle school.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: One of my favorite scenes has to be that Vanitas had pushed Noé to the point of being scary. First season when they're facing Roland and Noé takes Vanitas hostage. The way Vanitas reacts will always have me in tears and Noé? Me watching that scene "you're doing amazing, sweetie!"

Character I Think is Underrated: I feel like Amelia is underrated. She's nice, I like her.

Character I Think is Overrated: Noé definitely, but more so Vanitas is overrated.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Vanitas and Noé! Their dynamic is everything to me, okay?

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The anime, to me, is very beautifully animated to me. The music though? That first ending song, oh my gosh. That song is just... I can't even describe. You ever listen to a song and it just puts you in a trance and it relaxes you? That's what that song is like.

**

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER 💨

Note: ATLA isn't an anime. But I'll answer for it.

Favorite Character: ATLA has such a good cast of characters, it's hard to choose a character. But for me, it's Yue! When watching her episodes as a kid, I couldn't help but admire her. Still do!

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Other than Yue scenes, The Beach is definitely one of my favorite episodes. Another would have to be "Firebending Masters". My favorite scene is when Aang and Zuko gets stuck in that trap and Aang yells for help and Zuko responds "who are you yelling to? No one has lived here for centuries!"

Character I Think is Underrated: Hmm... okay any Avatar that isn't Roku, Aang and Kyoshi. Avatar Yangchen being one.

Character I Think is Overrated: The main cast, but can you blame them? To pick... I'm giving it to Zuko and Sokka here.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Sokka/Suki will always be one of my favorite canon relationships. It's just so sweet! And admittedly, I am also a fan of Zukka.

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The characters, love them. The plot, amazing. Music, on point. One thing I really like about the show is the number of memorable quotes. It's been over a year since I actually watched the show, but almost every day I or anyone in my family will quote something from it.

"Let us leave!"

"Lettuce leaf?"

"My aura has never been pinker!"

"My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurts."

"I CAN STILL FIGHT!!"

"It just says... 'bear'."

You get the picture.

Anime Ask Game

[ystrike1]

Candy 🍬 Man - By Chanok (8.5/10)

This is my favorite yandere comedy. It's silly. It's scary. It's unrealistic. The main character is a hopeless guy who is deeply in denial about being gay. His entire family has sort of figured out that he's fruity, but he hasn't. There are layers of humor in this. I laughed out loud multiple times.

Kyuyeon is a harmless kind of scammer. He's a normal high school student and he loves gaming. He's a skilled player, but he pretends to be a girl in games to get free stuff. He does it pretty religiously, in every single online game he plays. He uses the same username, Yorong, for his avatar.

She's a perky blond with pigtails. Her teammates are highly skilled and she forges strong relationships with other players with her cuteness. Creepy dudes do give "her" free stuff, but regular players like her too. She's popular. Kyuyeon's favorite game right now is called Arcana. He spends most of his time there. He also has an online boyfriend named Yummin. Yummin has lots of money, and he's a very doting online boyfriend.

He wants to meet Yorong. He is willing to fly out to see her.

This is Kyuyeon's sister, Kyuri. She makes everything worse. Kyuyeon tells her the truth. Kyuri tells him he fucked up. Yummin has spent thousands of dollars on him. Yummin constantly buys food and snacks for him that get directly delivered to their house. Kyuri asks Kyuyeon to make Yummin buy them pizza when she's hungry, because he does it so much. If the guy ever finds out he's been scammed Kyuyeon is dead meat. Yummin seems kinda crazy in voice chat too. Kyuyeon is scared.

Kyuri tries to help. He puts a wig on Kyuyeon, and the web of lies gets deeper. Yummin starts talking to "Yorong" on the phone every day. Kyuyeon tries to ditch him, but it's not easy. He loves Arcana. He doesn't want to delete his precious character avatar to get away from Yummin. When they exchange pictures Kyuyeon freaks out. Yummin is Yumin. His classmate Yumin. The ultra hot rich guy that everybody likes, even though he's a little blunt.

He looks like this, but he also gets attached easily. When he decides he likes something that's it. Boom. Mine now. You get it. Anyway Yumin has never been in love before. Lots of girls have confessed to him, but he wants real love. Yumin isn't good at gaming. Yorong reached out to him and taught him. That's why he fell for "her". Kyuyeon didn't know he was rich when they met in game, so her kindness was genuine. Yumin likes "her" voice. They have phone sex. Yumin wants to be in a serious relationship with "her".

Things get wacky. Yumin becomes a stalker. He's smart so he's somehow able to guess where Yorong lives. He brings flowers to Kyuri's school, because Kyuyeon was wearing that school uniform in the catfish crossdressing photos. Kyuyeon is pretty sure that he's dead meat if Yumin finds him. He hits Yumin with a door. He sprays Yumin with roach spray and he runs away with a blanket over his head.

Yumin doesn't give up.

Kyuyeon buys a fake rental boyfriend, but that rental boyfriend knows Yumin. Yumin beat him up before, so the hired muscle steps aside. Kyuyeon is really running out of options. They literally run through the streets until Kyuyeon gives up. He feels guilty because Yumin's feelings are clearly sincere. Yumin is his classmate, so he knows he's serious about Yorong. He talks about her every day. He blushes when he looks at his phone. Kyuyeon feels like trash, so he confesses. He says he's Yorong.

Yumin doesn't care, and also he already knew that.

He saw Kyuyeon's face in the bathroom, when he smashed him with a door. He's known the truth for weeks, and he's been waiting for Kyuyeon's answer. He wants to date. If Kyuyeon says no he's going to kill him and commit suicide. He's not joking. Kyuyeon eventually starts to accept his sexuality. He has no experience with men or woman, but his attraction to Yumin is undeniable.

Now he's stuck with a stalker husband.

Yes, Yumin does want to get married.

So much nonsense happens. It's all fun. Yumin is a very loving, stubborn yandere. Kyuyeon is a nervous, quiet guy that needed to be pulled out of his shell. They become an infamously affectionate couple. Kyuyeon likes it but he's in denial for a while. He didn't think he was gay but now he loves it when Yumin smothers him with affection. Yumin totally spoils him.

Yumin's family doesn't approve at first, but Kyuyeon is an experienced seductress. He's a literal expert at kissing ass. He kind of seduces Yumin's entire family, and they accept him as their son in law. Even Yumin's conservative grandma blushes, because Kyuyeon is so cute. None of them are in love with him. There's no stupid love triangle in this, but Yumin sees enemies everywhere. He constantly showers Kyuyeon with affection in public and in private.

Their friends think they're cringe.

This is very cute and stupid.

[stormkobra-5]

Banks of the Nile, Part 3 Sneak Peek:

Marc Spector frowned deeply, his brow furrowing as he turned the whiskey bottle over in his hands, caked with dried blood. “I didn’t know… who she was.”

In the reflection of the mirror, Steven Grant sat in a more hunched position, hands bloodied as well, curls a mess. Unlike Marc’s cold, guarded gaze, Steven’s was wide, curious… worried. Scared. Marc hated seeing that face on him. He’d wanted to keep Steven out of all of this, and yet he’d been dragged into it anyway, as if in spite of his efforts. A part of him wanted to crush the bottle in his hands, but… he was too tired.

It was all so much. Steven. Layla. You. Khonshu, Harrow, the end of the world. Millions of lives in his bloody hands. Why, when he destroyed everything he touched?

From the mirror, Steven said, very softly, “...Then what happened, Marc?”

Marc’s frown deepened.

He hadn’t wanted to tell this story anyway, really. But after last night, after he calmed down (and drank this whole damn bottle on his own), Steven had asked who you were. How the Avatar of Anubis was connected to the Avatar of Khonshu. Marc couldn’t deny him. If he was going to be in this mess, he had the right to know anything he asked of him.

And so Marc had told him.

He’d told him about the young woman who approached him and presented him with a fortune in return for helping steal a priceless ancient artifact. He’d had a lot of trouble getting that far. He wasn’t sure how he’d relive the memory of actually finding the book of Ma’at. The ambush that led to you protecting him with your powers as an Avatar, how you’d saved the life of an enemy and fought non-lethally. How when you’d returned to Cairo, he’d told you to keep the money. He didn’t want it. Instead, he wanted your number. Told you to call him if you ever wanted to see him. The look of confusion on your face, like you weren’t worthy, when it had taken every ounce of his courage to do that and he had opened himself to what he expected to be rejection.

“You mean… like… a date?”

“Yeah… if you want. It’s up to you. I’m not gonna force you into anything.”

Then your smile.

Your damned smile.

He’d never seen anything more breathtaking in his life.

The memories were bittersweet, now. How was he supposed to relive them to tell Steven how after dating for awhile, you’d moved in together? How happy you’d been for those years? How he’d taken a bad job, gotten Layla’s father killed, and when he went to apologize to her in person, he couldn’t bring himself to do it? How she mistook his awkwardness for flirting and he found himself comforting her in those days and spending less time with you— how he lied to you, told you he was on missions, unable to admit that guilt was keeping him trapped with Layla and that he’d become the Avatar of Khonshu? And then, that night that changed everything. The night he spent with Layla instead of you. How guilt clawed at him and ruined him and disoriented him, and the next thing he knew he was married.

But not to you.

How he’d have blackouts and wake up just outside your apartment building as if he were leaving it. How Layla came to him on the day after their wedding, their first fight stemming from how he’d never told her about you. How terrified he was when she went to apologize to you. That one mission for missing Book of the Dead pages that ended up failing because of his feelings for you, yours for him. How badly you fought then.

And how everything went downhill from there.

How was he supposed to tell Steven that when he could barely form any kind of coherency to think right now?

[togglesbloggle]

Before the Discourse gets too Discoursey, I do wanna go on record and say that I was and am genuinely fond of the James Cameron’s “Dances With Smurfs” Avatar movie. My reason is this:

All of it, as far as I can tell, happened because Cameron himself just decided to go absolutely balls-to-the-wall making the movie he really, truly, had always wanted to make. Any AAA movie is a work of an astonishing number of people, but there’s a real and nontrivial sense in which Avatar is in fact Cameron’s passion project, the thing he could do after he got respected enough that he didn’t have to compromise with anybody. Whatever the movie achieves, whatever sins it carries around, whatever cringe it carries in from the woods and drops directly on your lap, they are more or less entirely his fault.

When it came out, Avatar was constructed to be the most technologically advanced spectacle that the movie business was capable of achieving. In this, it largely succeeded, even if it didn’t really make a cultural impact otherwise or cultivate much of a fandom. And to accomplish this, it was fed monstrously large sums of money- costs not quite as unprecedented as its revenues, but $250 million dollars is not small potatoes in 2022 and it certainly wasn’t in 2009.

If somebody spent a third of a billion dollars making my dream come as close to true as Hollywood can provide, I think it would also be pretty embarrassing. But it would be embarassing because I am embarrassing, as an extension of the basic fact that I’m a monkey trying to achieve virtue using a brain originally meant to detect tasty berries and saber toothed tigers. Same with Avatar, I think- where it was weak, it wasn’t weak because of muddled focus-testing or because of a budget shortfall or because they had to find a way to advertise some Toyota car in a chase scene somewhere, it was weak because the dream itself is just doofy sometimes. I can’t help but imagine James Cameron’s eight-year-old self sitting in the seat next to me watching it, shoveling popcorn in to his mouth and yelling at the scary bits and having the time of his life. We should all be so lucky.

[orangepanic]

@ljf613 thanks for the tag!

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

Strange Constellations - Ursa/The Boulder

The constellations were different here. Kyoye, the fortune teller, had explained them to her one night after they’d all had too much blackberry wine out behind the caravans. The Earth Kingdom had no Golden Monkey, no Chariot, no Dragon On His Throne. Instead there was the Goat Dog and the Archer, the Six Wives, the Mountain. Yet as Ursa sat on the soft grass and mapped out the stars she knew that they were the same ones that her children would look on.

2. Girls' Night - Toph Beifong & Asami Sato

“Who’s 5’9” over there?” Toph asked. “The skinny one in the boots. I don’t know her.”

“Mom,” said Suyin, “this is Asami Sato. She’s one of Avatar Korra’s friends. Like Bolin.” 

“Spirits help her, then.”

3. Hard Bargain - Iroh II, Eska, Asami Sato, Prince Wu and others

Prince Iroh II of the Fire Nation looked out the window and swore at the flat white clouds. The sailor in him knew a snow sky when he saw one. Just what he needed. Iroh had spent the ten days he’d been in Agna Qel’a wrapped in the heaviest furs money could buy and had more or less survived, but he had no such protection today. Now, he must look his best; not like a polar bear dog, but a prince.

4. Little Fish - Iroh II/Asami Sato

Asami was still getting used to the southern Fire Nation, but not in a bad way. More than anything it was interesting. These remote volcanic islands had been too treacherous for her to explore much during her days as pirate captain of the Current. The few inhabitants seemed very happy to be left alone. Now, she understood why. 

5. Hotman - Iroh II/Asami Sato

“No,” Iroh said firmly. “Absolutely not.” 

There were six of them together in the outer chamber where his mother typically received visitors: Varrick, Asami Sato, Bolin, Tenzin, Tai, and of course his mother herself. Iroh tried to remember how many conspirators there had been in the 465 BG attempt to overthrow Firelord Bunzo and recalled it was about the same. Conspiracies seemed to work like that. You had the idea person, the financier, the enthusiast, the diplomat, the idealist, and the insider. Treachery on repeat. Just swap out the victim.

6. Whiskey Tango Foxcat - Iroh II/Asami Sato

General Iroh crushed the letter and pushed fire into his hand as hard as he could. The fragile paper didn’t so much burn as disintegrate. For a split second his closed fist glowed white-hot—well past the temperature needed to melt most metals. He wasn’t pulling any punches tonight. Iroh watched it with a satisfied grimace, then extinguished his fire and opened his hand. Fine flakes of ash fluttered down into the bin next to his desk like so many blackened dreams.

7. Six Days in Ba Sing Se - Iroh II/Asami Sato

“Come on!” Asami hissed, leaning on the stubborn room key now as hard as she could. She didn’t really think it would work, not anymore, but the last thing she wanted was to drag her heavy suitcases all the way back down to the hotel lobby for help, either. The bed was so close. If she could just…

Suddenly the key turned in the lock with a thunk. Asami nearly toppled over as the heavy door abruptly swung inward. Then a man’s voice spoke from inside her room.

“May I help you?” 

8. Goodbye - Hiroshi Sato & Asami Sato

Asami didn’t know yet that they were going to die. How could she? Even though she tried her best to hide it she was still so impossibly young. No one her age really thought death would come for them, or for those they loved. The end was something abstract, something that happened to other people, other families. But Hiroshi knew better. He’d been young once, too.

9. How I Always Loved You - Hiroshi Sato/Yasuko Sato (Lei)

Lei stood in the middle of Central Square and pinched herself hard through the hole inside her coat pocket. Think of something sad, think of something sad. An image swam into focus of the little black and white bunny spaniel she’d found huddled in a doorway a few days ago. She’d had brief visions of adopting it, as if she could; taking care of it the way Kitsai did those skink finches of his, feeding it scraps until it was fat and sleek. Only then had she seen the blood.

You Say You'd Like to See Me Closer - Iroh II/Asami Sato/Noatak (Amon)

Fire. His body was on fire.

“It’s not much, but it’s more than he deserves,” said a man. Noatak had a vague sense of a shadow shifting to allow in more light. The burning in his skin faded slightly to a sickening throb.

A woman’s voice followed. “And you’re sure about the bending?”

“As sure as I can be,” the man said. “Waterbenders self-heal if they’re able. His condition is a good indicator that he can’t. I've had basic triage, but no one wants me for a fire healer if they have some other choice. My guess is it’s a response to the shock. I’ve seen it before in field hospitals.”

A pause. “Is he going to live?”

“Do you care?”

Open tag! Post your first lines.

[a-local-idiots-shitpost]

Wildcard#2 why is there a Horse with bags of Money?

belongs to this

Lucifer:

if he wasn´t used to your bad behavior he might have scolded you but he also knows this doesn´t help because as long as you think something is fun you will always do it

and bank robberies are one of your favorite things to do so trying to stop you is like trying to put a fire out with oil

and as long as they rob banks they can´t so anything worse, like impersonating important political figure or going on a murder spree

sure he would prefer them to do neither of those things but at least he only has to deal with the lesser of the two (or countless) evils

Mammon:

he´s disappointed at you, both of you already planned your next bank robbery together, how could you not wait for him!

okay but he thinks you could have made it a lot funnier if you turned into a second bag of money, you could have stolen even more money that way

and then given it to Mammon, I mean the great Mammon obviously should get a cut of 100% for his perfect idea and this deal is non-negotiable

okay maybe negotiable if you give him half of what you got now and the other half now

he really needs some money to pay the Witches but he already spent everything he has and nobody else wants to give him some

and he knows you will always give him some because you know he won´t give it back anyway and you can´t resist his sad look

Leviathan:

you should have stolen the newest Ruri-Chan figurine if you were already on your weekly robberies

or literally any other limited edition merch, there would have been so much to choose from and you didn´t even get him a present

he´s very insulted right now but if you were to get him the rare and elusive Devilstation 5 he would suddenly feel a lot better and no he isn´t trying to guilt you into getting him a present not at all

he totally is, he can´t lose against Normies he has to get one even if it isn´t as good as his computer

if he didn´t want it to make others jealous he would bring shame over his title as Avatar of Envy

Satan:

if you turn into a Cat he´ll keep it between both of you and won´t tell Lucifer that you robbed two banks in one week

and if you can smuggle in a Cat for him he´ll never bother you again… maybe you might have to help him keep it hidden

and maybe pay a bit for it too, actually scratch that he doesn´t want the Cat to like you more than him

okay but most important one turn into a Cat but make sure Lucifer doesn´t see it because even you just looking like you isn´t allowed in the House because Lucifer claims even allowing such a little thing will make his Cat addiction come back in full swing and House of Lamentation will be run over again

bullshit! all that happen is that he allowed a couple 50 or so Cats into the House… so it wasn´t over run Lucifer was just being a dick against him for no reason

but Satan will be the one with the last laugh this time

Asmodeus:

yeah he get´s the feeling where you just want to go wild and take whatever you want, I mean he never had to do that because most people would give up everything to be with him but he´s pretty sure that´s how most of his fans feel like

and don´t worry he won´t tell anybody about your love of bank robberies iiiif you promise to buy him something pretty

or you don´t even have to buy something pretty you could just steal something form a jewelry or a museum depends on what you prefer and would think is funny

he also already made a list for it <3

and no he wasn´t planning this he just like making lists of pretty things that should belong to him, including you <3

which he crossed of because he already has you and will be damned if he would ever lose you

Beelzebub:

if you buy him food he won´t tell Lucifer you robbed a bank looking like a Horse

he really wanted to eat at a fancy restaurant and Lucifer said no, unless Beel can pay for himself

and it looks like you got more than enough money for him to use for food

I mean considering it´s Beel we are talking about you won´t have enough money but he can dream

and you like him so he´s lucky enough that your willing to use extra money so he can eat as much as you want, you probably won´t have any left but eh

if you ask one of the Brothers you just get everything you want anyway so money is mostly useless for you

Belphegor:

the only thing he said before he fell back asleep was just “you spend to much time with Mammon” and honestly you would have been more surprised if he said more than that

and that he didn´t insist on using you as his plushie, last time he slept for three days and you couldn´t get free

those were such boring three days…

at least he doesn´t freak out because you robbed the second bank in one week, actually does he even remember? it always feels like when you tell him something and he falls back asleep he forgets it

eh could be worse at least he won´t know where all the money you drag in comes from

Diavolo:

he thinks your just being funny and silly, I mean yes you did rob a bank and last week you turned into a Dinosaur and killed a bunch of Demons or the time you turned into a Harpy to steal a priceless artifact but as he said your just being in one of your silly moods it isn´t your fault you decided to go through with a bad idea

also you got him something too when you went through one of your murder/robbery sprees so he can´t even be mad at you if he wanted to, that´s what Barbatos is there for :D

yeah he would love to allow you to keep doing your thing but Barbatos already scolded him and unless you stop he will have to keep getting scolded every day

please forgive him...

Barbatos:

as long as you don´t make Diavolo look bad or rope him into one of your plans you can go wild as much as you want

but this also means if you robbed a bank, no matter your crazy appearance, you shouldn´t immediately run to the Demon Lord´s Castle

just as he said before as long as it doesn´t make Diavolo look bad Barbatos doesn´t care about what you do and how do you think it looks when your first stop after a Crime is the Demon Lord´s Castle

and if you said anything besides it might make Diavolo look bad he will personally throw you out of the window and he will make sure you can´t change into something that will make the landing hurt less

Solomon:

yeah he knows how shapeshifters are, they always come up with the craziest of plans to do well anything

guess there is a lot of creativity involved when you can turn into everything you want

but he´s surprised it doesn´t get boring after a while

but the only thing he wants is if you rob a bank again get some money for him too

his experiments are expensive and he can´t forage everything he needs

also he wants to partake in the next one too, in his opinion crimes are a good way to bond :)

and he doesn´t really have much to do so he´s pretty boring and everything you do ends in fun and chaos

Simeon:

he isn´t mad just disappointed

he will make you feel incredibly guilty for a little bit of bank robbery, which is honestly the tamest thing you ever did

hell this is the tamest thing he ever caught you doing

but he always tried to make you feel bad about what you did so it shouldn´t surprise you to much

he doesn´t want you to give the money back though, he actually wants you to a good thing and use it to help people

and as long as he doesn´t want you to give it back to the person you stole from you can deal with it

he doesn´t knows how much you stole and you can keep some to yourself

or just give it all away, you actually just did this for fun and not because you needed it

Mephistopheles:

what a magnificent creature

a shame it´s nothing but an annoying and hideous shapeshifter… okay hideous might be to much but he can´t think of any other insult for them tricking him into thinking he actually saw a Horse

he doesn´t take the annoying back though

you are because every time he sees you, you do something he hates

but he doesn´t hate you enough to tell someone that you robbed a bank and he knows Diavolo will just tell them to let you go

or because you changed your face for a couple of months, he actually saw that happen a couple of times

but that was for murder instead of bank robbery

so he knows you could just get away with it anyway

Raphael:

a Horse that robbed a bank? guess everything can happen in the Devildom but enough of that time for a spear rain

and as it turns out it´s not actually a Horse and just a shapeshifter that robbed a bank

still time for a spear show- oh… it´s actually you

yeah he doesn´t want to kill you with a spear shower, you´ll just have to fight him for your live

he´s joking if you couldn´t tell

but you have to bring the bag of money back and no you can´t bribe him and it is non-negotiable

be glad he´s noce enough to not turn you in to the Devildom judgment system

though he knows you would easily get out even if somebody would catch you

Thirteen:

Thirteen knows a couple of shapeshifters and at this point she thinks it´s some weird rite of passage for them

if a rite of passage involves robbing a bank and then turning into a horse and hoping the confusion is big enough to take the money and run

but if you help her with a project of her´s she won´t tell anybody and yes the project is just another plan on how to kill Solomon

but all you have to do is sit where she tells you to sit there looking pretty like always and how you usually do

which is more than enough for her to throw an anvil on his head and crush him like the insect that he is

perfect plan and no she doesn´t care what you tell her that´s not a loony toons like plan

[fitgothgirl]

So blocking websites from myself during the workday has worked out almost a little too well lol, I’ve hardly been on either of my tumblrs lately. It’s been nice having this Freedom app though, it’s worked well and I’m happy with it even considering I spent money on it. No more doom-scrolling the news or mindlessly/habitually scrolling tumblr for hours and thinking “I hate this why am I doing this” (especially when I should be working lol). When I wake up, I just read the e-version my local newspaper, and then I just do my job... And my downtime/breaks are spent either just chillin or going to sit in my backyard or playing a crossword, etc. Then when I’m off work, I haven’t been online much either because I’ve been busy either going to the gym or doing DoorDash, with my later evenings watching TV.

Had a little gap of 7 or 8 days of not going to the gym, but I went back the day before yesterday and shmurdered my legs and abs. Still been overall fairly consistent with going to the gym since about mid-July. I think this is the longest I’ve kept up with a regimen? It’s been great, I love lifting! I’m about 10 pounds down from my highest weight too. Granted it’s been 5 months since I was up there, but still lol. I also just recently edited my Fitbit daily step goal to go back to being 10,000, after having lowered it to 7,000 a while ago when I was really stagnant and never even getting close to hitting it. Lowering it did help make getting steps in seem more manageable at the time, but now I can put it back up. 💪🏼 Back to the gym today for back & biceps.

I’ve also been busy just with life, especially concerts. Over the last month, I’ve seen Incubus & Sublime with Rome, Alice in Chains & Breaking Benjamin, Nine Inch Nails, HEALTH & Perturbator, and just last night was Roger Waters. Tonight I’m going to an SJSU football game (my alma mater), and tomorrow I’m going to see the re-release of Avatar in 3D; I’ve seen that movie a few times before but I had missed it in theaters and heard I really missed out on the 3D. It’s also just been a long time since I’ve seen it, so it’ll be cool to refresh before the sequels start coming out this winter. Anyway, then next weekend is a movie night at a friend’s house on Friday, and Saturday night is an Odesza concert... And October doesn’t really slow down at all either lol. Phew! It’s a good life though. 😌