#I think there’s a tiny panel in her first chapter but it *is* tiny

[tadpolebobatea]

Happy birthday to Miss Kururu! Our genre confused idol queen! 

Manifesting some plot for her soon, even Lucy has done more plot stuff than her TwT 

i mean her ability is  really interesting (even if it was mostly set up for a cute AnFuu moment). i think it’s fun it doesn’t work on attraction, just the pose (i had upsetting asexual thoughts about this, more should be made of free will being overwritten. You don’t even need to like girls (yeah i was projecting onto Tella))

(Yes tozuka is too filled with light and joy to go that route but I think about it)

(to me, unchastes previous activation was seeing the users ankles. Repressed Victorian you feel?) 

(you’ve heard me mumble about kururu enough that I think you deserve a drawing)

Timelapse babie 

Me before making this drawing : love kururu, goober

Me while drawing Kururus hair : I’m gonna hurl this girl into the sun. Immediately.

[lamentationsofalonelypotato]

Chapter 6: Best Friends Forever

Pairing: Soldier Boy x f!reader, Reader POV

Summary:  When you decided to work with Butcher and his merry band of supe hunters to take down Homelander, you never expected to be saddled with a sullen, grumpy, jerk like Soldier Boy when the job was done. The more you're around him the more you hate him, but you can't help but wonder, is he really as big a jerk as you think? Reader is a supe with plant powers. This takes place in an AU about a month after the end of The Boys Season 3, in which Butcher has let Soldier Boy continue to work with him on his team.  (I'm real bad at summaries, please forgive me!)

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers (Not in this chapter), Slow Burn, Age Difference (Reader is in her 20s), Soft Ben/ Soldier Boy.

Word Count: 9.9K

Warnings: I'm going to label this 18+ because Soldier Boy (he's a warning and everyone knows it), derogatory comments, sexism, swearing, mentions of sex, sexual innuendo, sexual tension, little bit of homophobia (It's Soldier Boy). Ben/Soldier Boy might be a little bit OOC.

Note: This is told from Reader's perspective. Any references to the reader is made using you or your. There is minimal use of y/n. I tried my best to proofread, but nobody's perfect. If you don’t like, don’t read, but if you do like, you’re my favorite!

Internal monologue is in italics and is in first person.

A/N: I know I said I was gonna be more angsty with this chapter, but I got distracted, the sun was in my eyes, and my hand slipped…

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

The next morning Mike’s screeching begins all over again, but today he starts with "My Girl" by the Temptations.

He's getting warmer.

You think with a smile, singing along to the song under your breath as you prop yourself up on your pillows with a content sigh. The smell of gardenia wafted over your bed in a gentle wave as your curtains opened, allowing the sunlight to drift over your bed. The beautiful white flowers bloomed from the plant sitting on your bedside table, each petal frosted with mist from the mister hanging on the wall behind it.

Gardenias reminded you of home. They were your grandmother's favorite. There were several large bushes gracing the front yard of her home that rose almost as high as the second story. Whenever you were back home you would make sure that they burst into bloom so she could fill her home with the sweet smelling flowers. It helped you relax and sleep at night, though sometimes it didn't do much to keep the nightmares away.

You hadn't had a good night sleep in a while, but after Ben and you had been up late putting together the bookshelf that stood proudly in the left corner of your bedroom, you were exhausted. Now it was filled with your worn brightly colored paperbacks and covered with a healthy amount of pothos vines as was everything else in your home, but you loved it.

When the delivery men had arrived late yesterday evening and they had been more than willing to carry the couch up the three flights of stairs, but Ben had told them to leave and said "I'm not some kind of pussy that waits for her fucking husband to come home because she needs him to change a lightbulb."

And so they left, leaving Ben and you with the box your unassembled bookshelf came in and a giant three piece couch.

Mike's mother had set up a folding chair with her best friend Mary Ann outside on the sidewalk, drinking glasses of wine and giggling like schoolgirls each time Ben and you came back down to haul another piece of the couch back up into the apartment. He tried to make you sit upstairs and wait for him to bring it in, but you had cussed him out and held up the only finger that mattered.

Putting together the bookshelf hadn't been that much better. Ben had almost broken two of the tiny wooden pegs that secured the back panel all the while cursing under his breath when you tried to show him the instructions.

And being in the presence of the instructions seemed to trigger Ben. It immediately turned the two of you into the couple in the car that bicker over a map before they get murdered in a horror movie.

The shouting got so loud that Mike raced over hopeful that Ben had broken your heart and that he would there to pick up the pieces, while Mike's mother followed in quick pursuit hoping to console Ben.

But when Ben had answered the door sweaty and shirtless- because you'd ripped his shirt on accident when he tried to walk away from you muttering something about "women and their fucking instructions" and you'd grabbed him while shouting "say it to my face you geriatric asshat!"- Mike thought that he had interrupted something else and retreated back to his apartment in shame while his mother stood in the hallway waving a hand in front of her face to calm down.

As annoying as Ben was, you loved the bookshelf. It was perfect for your bedroom and looked a little whimsical, which was how most of your apartment looked with the mismatched vintage furniture, all the plants, and the crocheted blankets. What you couldn't figure out was why he bought it for you.

You had relented on his purchase of the couch, because it did make sense, he was spending the most time on it, but his purchase of the bookshelf confused you. He'd been in your bedroom all of five minutes a few days ago and had only looked at the pile of vine covered books once.

So why did it bother him so much that I had a pile of books on the floor of my bedroom? Why did he have to buy it for me? Why did he care enough to?

No one had ever done that before for you. Your high school boyfriend, Newton, had seen the same pile of books in your bedroom back home every time he came over and never did anything about it, but Ben had only seen it for a moment and remembered.

I don’t understand why he’s acting so nice. You stretch your hands up over your head and begin to get out of bed. Probably because he thinks if he’s nice I’ll sleep with him.

The thought was becoming familiar, but you weren't sure what other reason it could be for. The two of you had nothing in common. He was always angry, sexually forward, annoying, not to mention he was from another century and he didn't understand anything about the present time.

I mean sometimes it's kinda cute how clueless he is about stuff like that. He always gets that adorable frown and- Nope, nope, nope not thinking about that right now.

Bean purrs in agreement with your thought at the end of your bed, stretching his front legs and arching his back. His charcoal fur looks almost silver in the light from the sun that streams through the open window leaving behind the imprint of the brilliant square on your comforter.

Bean had enjoyed watching the two of you put together the bookshelves, well, he enjoyed playing in the box that the bookshelf came in. He ran in and out, back and forth through the openings on both sides of the  box, using it like a tunnel all the while Ben complained over the small screws and even smaller pegs that never seemed to fit where they needed to.

Personally you just think Ben was jealous that you knew how to read the instructions and he didn't.

And last night you understood just how bad Ben was at receiving directions. He had ignored you when you tried to help him, which had lead to the yelling match that Mike walked in on.  

But you still didn’t understand why he cared so much about the pile of books in your bedroom. They'd been sitting there since you moved in, because you hadn't found a proper place for them, not to mention the pile just kept growing.

At least he didn't look too closely at the titles. The last thing I want Ben to know is how many romance novels I read.

You grab a bundle of your clothes and open your bedroom door, while Mike continues to sing "My Girl." You creep down the hallway, intent on taking a shower, but your curiosity gets the better of you, so instead of going to the bathroom, you peek into the living room.

Ben is sitting on the new charcoal couch that you crammed into the room, reading a newspaper and you have no idea where he got it.

Maybe he already left sometime this morning?  Guess he can be quiet when he wants to be.

Bean prances down the hallway behind you and jumps onto the back of the couch, kneading his paws in the soft pillows, before dropping down next to Ben. Ben smiles at the cat and folds the newspaper closed so he can scratch him under the chin.

"Hey buddy." You hear him mutter. "Y/n up yet?"

Bean only purrs and rubs himself further into Ben's hand.

"Don't know how anyone can sleep with that jack-off next door." Ben rolls his eyes, but doesn't raise them from the cat that has begun to crawl into his lap. "Why does she hate me so much?" He whispers to Bean with a sigh.

His question made you freeze where you were standing in the hallway. It was so open, so honest, so completely unlike Ben. It was the last thing you were expecting him to ask your cat, well, honestly you didn't think that he would talk to the cat at all. You suddenly wondered what other things he said about you when you weren't around.

And why does he care so much if I hate him? I mean I don't, he just gets on my nerves constantly, and knows how to press all my buttons.

You liked to think that you were an easy-going person, but Ben drove you crazy. You'd never met anyone who could do that to you before, never allowed yourself to get angry, not even when Poppy Mansfield who put chocolate pudding on your seat at lunchtime when you were in fourth grade and made everyone think you'd pooped your pants. You'd only shrugged and walked to the bathroom, it was Annie who lost it. Annie had grabbed a handful of pudding and smeared it on Poppy's face and earned her the nickname "Poopy Poppy" until she transferred to another school at the end of the year.

But not with Ben, he crawled under your skin and stayed there whenever he teased you . Usually you let insults and teases roll off your back like water off a duck, but not with Ben. He knew what to say to make you lose your temper. You didn't know how he did that.

Not all the time though.

The trip to IKEA had been kind of fun, well, fun until Ben had insulted your boss and when the two of you watched a movie together it was fun.

In fact, the more time you spent with him, the more you were starting to like him. You wish you didn't. It just made everything harder. You remember what he said at the plant shop, tried to burn it into your heart, that he didn't care about feelings or emotions and you did. You wanted to be with someone who cared about that, someone who understood everything about you, and loved you. You wanted love so bad your heart ached sometimes, and yes maybe you read way too many romance novels, but you wanted something like that to happen to you. You wanted to be so wrapped up in someone else that the world faded away, someone kind and sweet, who remembered little things like how much you liked gardenias or how much you loved pineapple iced tea from the place just around the corner and someone who would be okay with sitting on the couch or in bed, with you laying back in their arms while you read your newest book or tried to crochet.

Ben didn't care about any of that, probably what he would call "pussy shit." He just wanted sex, plain and simple, nothing more, nothing less.

And you didn't want just sex.

You didn't want to start something with Ben, develop strong feelings for him, and then only have him push you away as soon as he got what he wanted. You couldn't handle having your heart broken again. Newton had been enough and after him you told yourself you were going to try harder, were going to find someone who saw your self-worth. Of course that had been a few years ago and each year kinda felt like another nail in the coffin when you went on countless dates with people who never seemed to want the same things you did.

Plus, you were sure that Ben was only interested in you because you kept saying no and that made you "exciting" or whatever. So that just meant you were going to have to keep trying to find someone else.

You take a step back into the hallway, creeping further away as silent as possible. You didn't want him to catch you spying on him and you didn't want him to know that you had heard him ask Bean that. You force your door closed, before putting your clothes in the bathroom and shuffling down the hallway, purposely being as loud as you can so Ben can hear you over Mike's inhuman screech.

“Good morning.” You say as you enter the living room, as if it’s the first time.

“Morning Petals.” Ben looks over the back of the couch. He smirks as his eyes trace over your body. “Don’t you look delicious this morning.”

Your shorts were a little shorter than what you usually wore, hitting the middle of your thigh, and the oversized shirt you wore hung over them giving the illusion that you weren't wearing anything underneath it.

He is so confusing sometimes. Maybe he really just doesn't know how to talk to a woman in this century. Did that really work for him before? Does that work with all his dates?

“Thanks.” You say dryly.

Ben’s smirk twitches and something passes through his eyes that looks a little bit like regret, but it’s gone as soon as you see it.

You turn towards the kitchen. You didn’t know what you were looking for, truthfully you were just making conversation because you felt bad about what Ben asked Bean. You didn't know why that hurt you so much for him to think that you hated him, maybe it had something to do with everything that he'd been through. You wave a hand, perking up the plants in the box over the sink and the raspberry and blackberry vines covering the refrigerator to distract yourself.

“Um-“ You begin, but Ben interrupts you.

“There’s coffee in the microwave!” Ben suddenly blurts.

“What?”

Why is it in the microwave? Shouldn't it be in the coffee maker?

You sniff the air for the tell-tale smell of coffee, but smell nothing. A glance in the direction of the coffee maker reveals that the pot is still sparkling clean from when you washed it out last night.

Is he really lying about coffee? It's like he wants me to hate him.

“Um I mean-“ Ben clears his throat. “I got you coffee.”

“You got me coffee?” You parrot, surprised. “When?” You turn to look at him. He's watching you from over the back of the couch and he almost looks a little awkward, like he's not sure where to go from here as if he's not sure what to do when he does something nice for someone.

“I went to get a newspaper and I walked past a coffee shop.” He shrugs as if suddenly uninterested turning back around to face the jasmine covered wall, picking his newspaper up and opening it.

But you have a suspicion that he wasn't actually reading it, that he was just using it as a prop so he didn't have to look at you anymore.

“Oh. Thanks." You open up the microwave and withdrawal the still warm coffee mug taking a sip.

How in the fuck did he know how I like my coffee? You think to yourself, about to do a spit take you were so shocked, because the coffee was perfect. "How did you know-"

"I read the label on the one plant boy bought you the other day." Ben doesn't look up from his newspaper. "Is it… okay?" He asks it tentatively and a little awkward.

"Yeah. It's perfect actually. Thank you." You say it almost robotically. You couldn't believe that he remembered something like that about you. That he actually thought about you when he went to get a newspaper this morning.

He grunts a "You're welcome."

You take another sip and place it back in the microwave. Preparing to go back to take a shower.

"Do you…" Ben clears his throat again. "Do you work today?" He says it hesitantly.

"No. I usually have Friday's off because Annie and I make plans, but this week she cancelled because Hughie got tickets to some concert a few hours away and they're making it a day trip or whatever." You tried not to sound disappointed, but Friday's were usually you and Annie's day. You would plan random trips to shops in NYC, go to brunch, find ridiculous tourist attractions, try new restaurants, or you would go spend the day in Central Park reading. But Friday nights were wine, greasy pizza, sushi, Chinese food, snacks, and movie nights, had been since your parents died. It had been a family tradition before, Friday night films, but when they died Annie took it upon herself to continue it with you because your brother hadn't been willing to. Of course, when you were kids there wasn't wine, there also weren't movies with Glen Powell or Pedro Pascal, but as you grew so did the films and the conversations and the men, but your friendship blossomed with it.

"Oh." Ben leans his head back over the back of the couch, the smirk back in full force. "Well I've got a few ideas for what we could do today. Sounds like you're a little disappointed there Petals. I'm sure I could cheer you up."

You roll your eyes. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Great, I need one too." Ben jumps to his feet, leaving the newspaper on the couch as he turns to follow you.

"Ben." You sigh his name in frustration.

This is exactly what I'm talking about, he does something really nice and then he follows it up immediately by trying to sleep with me. Is that what this is to him? Do something chivalrous to make me like him and then finally let him fuck me?

It made you angry that he believed it would work.

"What? It'll save water and I just want to make you feel better Petals." Ben wiggles his eyebrows. "You sounded so sad when you said that Annie ditched you-"

"She didn't ditch me!" You snap. "She just had plans with Hughie that's all. And I can't believe you!"

"What the hell did I do?"

"You think that doing something like buying me coffee will get me to sleep with you."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! You're trying to act all chivalrous and nice just so that you can get me to finally sleep with you. But I'm not going to fall for it Gramps! I am not going to sleep with you just because you do one nice thing for me or try to pretend to care about me." You turn and stomp down the hallway, leaving Ben absolutely speechless in the living room.

When you get in the bathroom you blast your ABBA Gold Album from your Bluetooth speaker to drown out Mike's singing and to drown out your insane internal monologue. And when the music doesn't work, you start to sing the lyrics to the familiar songs letting the melodies soothe you.

You’d liked ABBA since you were a kid. Your mom would listen to it when she was cooking in the large kitchen in your childhood home and when your father got home from work at the end of the day he’d creep up behind her and pull her away from the stove for an impromptu dance.

Your childhood was filled with so much love from two people that were absolutely head over heels. And it made you want that too. It’s why you wouldn’t give in to Ben, because the memories of your parents and the love they shared still warmed your heart years after you’d last seen them.

You dry your hair with a towel, continuing to sing as you dress in your jeans and t-shirt, hoping that you could just escape the apartment by going to Central Park and read on your favorite bench to avoid seeing Ben. You were maybe a little embarrassed that you had yelled at him again. You never intended to.

Maybe I can just creep past him.

You think to yourself as you open the door of the bathroom, but as you step into the hallway you trip over something big on the ground and begin to pitch forward with a started screech. The thing you tripped on catches you so that you fall directly into Ben's lap, your legs on either side of his thighs. You realize that it was Ben you tripped on, who had decided to lounge with his back against one of the walls of the hallway, his legs bent at the knee, directly outside of the small bathroom.

As you fall into his lap, your hands land on his shoulders grabbing tightly in fear and surprise, while his hands catch your hips, pushing up the shirt you had just changed into enough that his hands are resting on a sliver of skin that peeks between your shirt and your favorite pair of jeans.

You weren't expecting it to feel so damn good for his skin to touch yours, to feel the roughness of his hands against the soft skin of your hips. Your hands are still gripping his shoulders tightly, heart thrumming in your veins as you lock eyes with him, adrenaline from the fall still rushing through your veins. He looks as surprised as you do. His face is so close that you can feel his breath on your lips, his body warm and hard beneath yours, and it's making you have flashbacks of the other night when he kissed you in front of Mike, when Ben crushed you against him and kissed you with so much passion that you couldn't equate it to anything else you'd ever felt in your entire life.

You weren't about to admit that aloud, that the kiss you shared with Ben was the best one you'd ever had. And you weren't going to admit that if he kissed that good, you were betting that he would be the best you ever had at other things too. Newton hadn't exactly been a Casanova, and you'd hoped that Newton would have gotten at least a little better at some things the more you two were intimate, he hadn't. You'd also hoped that Newton would have been more concerned about you the closer the two of you were, but each time you were a little disappointed and he was, well, happy.

No. Not thinking about sex right now, not when I'm sitting on top of Ben for fucks sake.

That was a little detail that you were trying very hard to ignore, but it was difficult, not when you could feel everything that made Ben-ahem- Ben, beginning to get interested in your position on top of him.

Ben's eyes are dark, focused on your face, an emotion swimming behind them that makes something snag under your ribs and try to yank you forward, to close the distance between the two of you. His eyes flick from your eyes to your mouth for just a millisecond, moving his face an inch forward, just enough that you can feel the warmth of his lips, but they still do not touch.

"Ben what are you doing on the ground?" You say leaning back to lengthen the distance between your faces, but you can't force your voice into more than a hoarse whisper.

"Dropped my keys." He lies.

"Ben?"

Ben hesitates for a moment. "You've got a pretty voice, wanted to hear better." He admits under his breath, looking as if you caught him with a baseball bat outside your broken kitchen window.

What?

You could feel yourself flushing to the roots of your hair. You'd forgotten that he could hear you in the shower and forgotten that his hearing was so good that he’d be able to pick up what was Mike and what was you. “I’m sorry if it was too loud-“

“No. It was nice.” The end of his mouth twitches in half smile, eyes twinkling impishly. “I’d never tell a woman she was being too loud. I like that doll."

You roll your eyes at him, but his comment doesn’t annoy you this time. You wondered if that was because you were getting used to him and the way he was.

You wanted to kiss him so badly that your lips were aching. He always looked so good and right now was not an exception. Some of his dark hair had fallen forward over his forehead and your fingers itched to push it back, to drag your fingertips over his skin and feel the dips and grooves of his handsome face. The smell of his shampoo was everywhere, spicy and familiar in the best way.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.” You whisper. Your hands hands have fallen from his shoulders to rest against the front of his shirt. You don’t really remember when you did that, just that now you can feel the warmth of his chest and the subtle beating of his heart in the palms of your hands. “I think I am kind of upset that Annie cancelled on me today.”

“It’s okay, I'm used to it." Ben's hands are still on you waist, firmly keeping you on top of him. “You always seem to yell at me.”

"Shut up I do not yell at you that much." You laugh, pushing back on his chest playfully.

Ben smiles, but then you watch it drop.

“Look I didn’t get you coffee because I thought it would make you let me fuck you. I got it because you always say you need it to deal with me.” The way he says it breaks something, because he sounds almost sad and you’d never heard him sound that way before. “And I figured that I would see you today and that you’d need it.” He drops his gaze to where your hands are placed on his chest. He’s watching them curiously, like he can’t quite understand it.

Honestly you couldn’t understand what was going on either. Ben was holding you gently, almost reverently on his lap. It was odd. You’d never seen him be this way with anyone.

“Ben-“ You sigh. “I need coffee to deal with everyone, not just you. You’re not special.” You joke to get him to smile again, but he doesn’t instead he continues to look at your hands.

“Hey.” You whisper and this time your hand drifts softly to Ben’s cheek holding his gaze on you. His eyes widen slightly with your bold touch. “Ben I don’t hate you. I just-“

 There’s a loud frantic knocking at the front door that startles you off of Ben and on to the ground beside him.

“Were you expecting anyone?” Ben asks as he stands up and holds out his hand to help you.

“Um- no actually.” You reply taking it.

The frantic knocking starts again.

“Do you think it’s Mike checking to see if we broke up again?” Ben snorts.

“I think it might be his mom hoping you answer the door shirtless. Almost gave that poor woman a heart attack.” You start to walk through the living room.

“I remember you having a similar reaction a few days ago Petals.” You can hear the smile in his voice. “Though I will say if you ever decided to walk around the apartment shirtless I’d be perfectly okay with that.”

“I did not. And I’m sure you would.” You roll your eyes. “But I doubt you’d be okay with letting me answer the door like that since you seem to be so jealous. Are all the men from your generation so possessive of women they can’t have? Or is it just you?”  You tease, remembering how he reacted yesterday afternoon at IKEA in front of Jake.

You doubted that he was jealous. Ben didn’t have anything to be jealous about. He seemed to be plenty happy with the women he found on tinder and you thought it was ridiculous that he needed to have you too.

You glance back over your shoulder to look at Ben seeing if he’s preparing another insult. He’s gone stick straight, his jaw clenched tightly, eyes dark, frown deepening.

Shit I was just kidding but-

You turn back to look at the door but can’t fight the tight feeling that rose in your chest when he looked at you like that.

Get a grip.

You interrupt the next bout of frantic knocking by opening the door.

A man in a rumpled navy suit stands out side the door, a bright blue quilted baby bag covered in elephants hangs from his left shoulder, a little girl holds on to his left hand, while a little boy screams shrilly and hangs from his right arm.

“Mr. Wilson- hi-“ You stutter, surprised. “Are you alright? Here-“ You reach to take his almost one year old son, Josh, from his arms. Josh continues to wail loudly, shaking his head back and forth.

“Can you please watch the kids?!” He says eyes frantically looking around the apartment behind you and focusing on Ben.

Mr. Wilson was another one of your neighbors, but he and his wife lived on the fifth floor. You’d met the Wilson’s by accident when Martha, the five year old holding on to his left hand wearing a bright pink tutu, decided to ride the elevator down to the lobby all by herself and met you while you were moving all your stuff into your apartment. She’d declared you her best friend as soon as she saw the colorful assortment of flowering plants you were lugging through the lobby of your apartment building in a cardboard box. You’d babysit for the Wilson’s sometimes when they needed a few quiet moments alone and on date nights. Not to mention they had a ton of money and paid almost five times per hour the amount you made in an hour working at “Please Don’t Die.”

Josh wails, his face turning bright red, so loud that Ben flinches behind you. You remember what he said about the supe that blew out his eardrums and can't help but feel a little sorry for him. Your own hearing was only a little better than other people's, but not enough to be as bothered as Ben.

“Hey little guy, its okay.” You coo gently bouncing Josh on your hip to make him stop crying. He sniffles and wraps his arms around your neck, gurgling quietly as he catches his breath.

“Y/n!” Martha shouts putting your right leg in a choke hold.

“Hi Marty.” You smile down at her, adjusting your weight so you don’t drop Josh. You look up at her father. “Mr. Wilson, I'm just not sure that now is the right time."

You think about Ben standing behind you and how horrified he looked when the children descended upon you, as if they were ticking time bombs. You weren't sure if you wanted Ben around kids, or if he had ever been around children before. He wasn't the best influence, not to mention you didn't think that he would be able to filter what he said or what he did around the,

“My wife she just-“ He swallows brown eyes wide. “She just went into labor."

"Oh. OH. Well-"

They had been expecting their third child for a while now, something that had resulted from you taking care of Josh and Martha more and more, and Mr. Wilson's promotion at work. You had learned before Mr. Wilson by accident when you reached down to pick up Josh's binky that was on the ground and your ear brushed against Mrs. Wilson's almost completely flat stomach and you heard the heartbeat.

“Please! I’ll pay you triple the hourly rate and her mother will be here tonight to take over for you.” The man looks close to getting on his knees and begging you. "You won't have them for long-"

Have a heart she’s going in to labor. What else is this poor man going to do? Drag the kids there with him? A part of you whispers. But then they'd be stuck here with Ben all day long. Well, maybe he will leave.

“Okay.” You relent with a sigh.

“Thank you!” Mr. Wilson exclaims shoving the bag into your free arm and then disappears from the doorway without saying goodbye to his children, but you were going to cut him some slack. You understood that when a woman went into labor most men didn't understand what to do with that information.

Shit. You grit your teeth to avoid saying it aloud when taking the bag throws you off balance. With one kid still hanging from your leg and the other one hanging from your neck, it was difficult to maneuver with the bag too.

Ben’s hand appears in your line of vision and he takes the bag, practically with one pinky.

“Show off.” You mutter, but turn your attention to the little girl hanging from your leg.

“I want a flower crown!” Martha crows.

“Okay sweetie just give me one second.” You take another step with her holding on to your leg.

“Now!”

“Martha.” Your voice turns stern as you look down at her and she pouts. "Please let me get Josh situated first."

“Fine.” She pouts and lets go of your leg.

The relief you feel is quickly overshadowed by Ben standing there, holding the diaper bag out from his body like it’ll bite him. Honestly you wished you had your phone ready to take a photo of Ben holding the bag, and then use it as blackmail.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ben asks looking down at the two children confused.

“Shh language!” You snap, eyes widening as you look down at Martha and Josh. Josh has begun to pull your hair from the ponytail at the back of your neck.

"What language?"

You give Ben a death stare wincing when Josh yanks the hair tie out. Martha has let go of your leg and is looking up at Ben with the same fascination that you'd seen her look at Prince Charming from Cinderella.

Guess it works on girls of all ages.

You think about telling her that Ben might be charming from a distance, but he isn't anything like a prince. Honestly, you were more worried that Ben was going to act like a total dick and crush this little girl's heart.

"Hi." She waves her hand at him. "I'm Marty."

Ben stares down at her, as if he's deciding whether or not to say his name aloud. "Ben." His eyes flick back to yours. "What are you doing?"

"We have had the money conversation many times, but I guess you must be getting forgetful in your old age, so we can have it again." You smirk. "Some of us weren’t born with a silver spoon in our mouths or have a trust fund. I don’t have money, therefore, I babysit to get some extra cash sometimes. Hence the children.” You wave your free hand commanding the vines to open up the pantry and grab Josh's high chair out to set up for you. "I told you that I work several jobs."

"What do you mean several? You said that you worked for Butcher and plant guy." Ben huffs, still holding the bag.

"You know his name is Jake. And we live in America if you can't remember. You know? America home of the free, home of the brave single woman trying to make ends meet and pay for her crappy apartment by working fifty million jobs?" You begin to buckle Josh in to the high-chair. "But thanks for showing me how to fix the plumbing under the sink. Definitely going to add that to my job application.

"How many jobs do you have?"

"I mean it’s really what I do when I’m not working for Butcher. I works at the plant shop, I babysit, sometimes I’m a dog walker, oh and there’s this senior living facility a few blocks over that I run errands for when the people living there need me."

"You run errands for senior citizens? What kind of fucking person does that?"

"LANGUAGE! And this freaking person does that thank you. It's not all that bad. Plus I thought you were going to act like them when I first met you, but you are more h-a-n-d-s-y." You spell it out because you don't want the kids to say it. "Oh and I'm also a gardener."

"A gardener?"

"Sometimes." You shrug. "But now that you've met the kids, it's time for you to go."

“What?”

"I don't want him to go." Martha stomps her little foot enclosed in a bright pink sparkly flat.

You ignore her and reach for the table part of the high chair, strapping Josh in. He's wearing an adorable pair of overalls and a teddy bear t-shirt underneath. Despite his early hissy fit in his father's arms, Josh is smiling happily at you, his wild curly black hair sticking up in different directions. “I’m not going to let you be around a kid. You're barely on your best behavior around me."

“What do you think I’m gonna do?”

“I don’t know. Smoke a doobie, roll a doobie, make horrible life choices, drink, curse-“ You cross your arms over your chest and turn to face him, raising an eyebrow.

“You really don’t see me in a positive light.” He smirks at you. It's hard for him to pull off when he's still holding the bright blue bag covered in elephants. It was quilted, probably a knock off Vera Bradley, which only made you wish for your phone even more.

“No I do not.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Fine, just go watch TV in my room. But if you start going through my underwear drawer I swear I will cut off your D-I-C-K.” You spell the word and narrow your eyes, letting them flash bright green to emphasize your point.

Martha is still staring up at Ben, upset at the idea that he's going to go anywhere. "Wait y/n! Please let him stay, he can help me braid Betty's hair!" Betty was Martha's favorite doll, one that you were sure was in the sparkly backpack that hung across her back. Another photo opportunity you did not want to miss.

“I don’t want to go in there.” Ben states.

“Well that’s the first time you’ve ever said that. Usually you’re all for going in my room.” You huff, before turning to look down at Martha. "Alright, you want jasmine like last time? Or do you want some Lavender too?"

"Strawberries!" Martha exclaims.

"Strawberries!" Josh echoes, mashing his meaty fist on the tray not quite comprehending.

"Alright, but you remember. Our little secret right?"

Martha and Josh's parents didn't know you were a supe, they figured that you really liked plants and that Martha's occasional flower crowns came from you manually making them, not from you waving your hand and watching the stems weave together. You weren't sure how the Wilson's would react to finding out that you were a supe. They were more straight laced than you.

Probably also wouldn't like Ben hanging around if they knew who he really was. Actually I'm surprised that Mr. Wilson didn't ask more questions about Ben when he saw him.

Martha nods eagerly.

"Secret?" Ben asks.

"The Wilson's don't know I'm a supe." You murmur so only Ben can hear plucking a strawberry from the plant on your kitchen table. Secretly it was your favorite plant and it was much older than all the others in your apartment, encased in a hand-painted pot.

It was the first plant that you ever grew, sprouted from the chopped strawberries on your high chair tray when you were nine months old. Your parents had potted it inside the house and since then it had never wilted, and it never would. It meant everything to you, weird as that may be, strawberries were like a good luck charm and the plant that sat on your threadbare circular kitchen table was the symbol of your origin story.

"What do they think all the plants are?"

"They just think I like plants." Your eyes are glowing bright green allowing the strawberry in your hands begin to grow a stem and leaves, the stems weaving together to form a circle, sprouting small white flowers that ripen into red fruit, delicately intertwining to create the crown that Martha wants.

She squeals happily when you put it on her head and dances past Ben into the living room on tip-toe.

"You want one too Gramps?" You smirk at Ben.

"Tempting, but no."

"Alright." You look back at Josh, who has begun to chew on his chubby fist. "Are you hungry? I think you're hungry." You turn to look at Ben who is watching Martha do a mock impression of a ballerina with a horrified expression. "Ben can I see the bag?"

His head snaps in your direction. “Why?”

“Because it’s a magical bag with baby food in it.”

He holds it out and you snatch  it away.

“Geez. Calm down Petals.” Ben leans against the counter behind you watching you  methodically take out the jars. “Now what?”

“Well Sherlock, I’m going to feed the baby.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“I know! I know!” Martha screams jumping up with her hand in the air. “Oh please!”

You bite back the urge to laugh. “Yes Marty?” You act as if you're calling on her in class.

“He can help me make friendship bracelets!”

Ben scoffs and rolls his eyes while crossing his arms over his chest. “Like hell I’m gonna-“

*Twenty Minutes Later*

“Please tie another knot for me.”

“No.” Ben grunts

"You're funny." Martha laughs and hands Ben the elastic string so she can start another friendship bracelet.

She was wearing the one that she had spent the last twenty minutes on, a string of bright pink, light pink,  hot pink beads, and white pearly stars broken up by the name Marty. Ben had sat there the whole time next to her, pouting while occasionally throwing angry looks at you like it was your fault.

It's not.

You couldn’t understand why he stayed. You figured that he would leave to go on a date or try to escape as soon as Martha mentioned the words "friendship bracelet," but he hadn’t. He sat there at the kitchen table with Martha, whose little legs hung over the front of her chair, her face tight with concentration as she made friendship bracelets.

You’d taken two photos and you were very excited. But you’d been more focused on feeding Josh. He was still eating bits of strawberry and watermelon, but you would give him the occasional bite of teether.

Ben had looked like he was going to throw up when you broke off a piece for yourself.

It wasn't that bad. Kinda like eating a piece of flavored cardboard.

"You really like the watermelon huh?" You ask Josh taking another piece from the plastic container and cutting it up so it's small enough for him to eat.

"Waa waa." Josh mumbles picking up another piece. The red sticky juice was running down his little arms and each time you tried to wipe him off he would scream "No!"

You figured that he had learned that from Martha.

You hold out the circular Tupper-ware of watermelon out to Ben, who takes a piece, still frowning at you the whole time.

He's got to lighten up.

“Benny pick a color for me!” Martha says shuffling her fingers through the organized little boxes of her friendship bracelet kit, the beads rustling loudly against the plastic sides.

"It's Ben."

"Benny!" She whines. "Pick a color."

Ben sighs heavily as if she’d asked him to stab himself. He was probably considering that to get out of this hell. “Green.”

“Light green or dark green?”

“I don’t give a-“

“Ben.” You growl under your breath staring at him.

He sighs again sinking lower in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. “Dark green.”

When Martha finishes the bracelet it has light green, dark green, and black beads with brilliant pearly white stars and the name Ben spelled out on the strand. She hands it to him. “This is for you. Now we’re best friends forever.” Her face turns serious. “Guard it with your life.”

Ben holds the bracelet between his thumb and index finger, frowning down at it. For a second you hope that he’s not going to throw it away in front of Martha. You noticed that she was trying to impress him the best she could and even you had to admit that her bracelet making skills were unmatched. You were also a little jealous. She didn’t make one for you.

But then Ben does something you didn’t think you’d ever see him do, but puts it on. “Thanks.” He grunts and Martha’s smile is so wide you’re sure it would blind anyone in a ten mile radius.

You’re surprised, so surprised that you drop the watermelon you had been holding on the ground.

What in the actual fuck is happening? He’s being so nice to her.

“Y/n, pick a color!” Martha shouts handing Ben another piece of elastic to tie a knot in.

“Um- light green.” You say, but you can't look away from Ben.

Am I hallucinating?

You were so shocked at his behavior. Yes he was still being a little bit of a dick, but he hadn't done anything that bad in the time that the children had been here, just occasionally curse.

The bracelet that Martha makes you looks a bit like Ben’s, except you have light green, dark green, purple, and black beads with white pearly stars broken up by your name.

"Thank you Marty." You smile at her and roll it on your wrist.

"Y/n?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"I have to go to the bathroom." She stands from the chair and hops from foot to foot. "I don't want to go by myself, the hallway is scary!"

"Oh okay." As soon as you get up Josh begins to wail, face turning bright red as he does, pounding his little fists against the tray of the high chair, sending pieces of strawberry and watermelon flying everywhere.

Oh shit.

"Hey it's okay Joshie." You unclip him from the high chair and pull him into your arms, bouncing him to make him stop crying.

"Y/nnnnnnnnnn!" Martha whines, continuing to hop from foot to foot. "I really have to go."

"Well I- um." Your eyes dart to where Ben is still sitting at the kitchen table, cringing slightly when Josh gives another particularly loud wail.

Am I really about to do this?

"Ben can you take him for just a second."

"What?" Ben's eyes widen.

"Please? I have to take Marty to the bathroom."

"She can't go by herself? Suck it up or whatever?"

"It's dark Benny!" Martha cries, peering around him down the hallway. "I don't want to go by myself."

"But-" Ben begins to say.

"Please Ben." You plead.

He curses under his breath. "Fine." He stands up and takes Josh from your arms, holding him away from his body in the air with both hands like Josh is a live grenade, which only makes him scream louder.

Martha grabs your hand and begins to drag you down the hallway, while Ben grimaces at the wriggling child in his arms. "Try holding him against your chest." You say to him as Martha continues to pull you towards your small bathroom.

I am definetly getting a night light for this hallway. Then again, she doesn't even like it when the lights are on. She said that the yellow glow looked "creepy." But I don't think I should leave Josh alone with Ben. What if he drops him or kills him or- shit why did I do this.

As soon as Martha is finished and has washed her hands you return to the kitchen prepared for the worst, but then you see Ben. His back is to you, but he's gently bouncing Josh in his arms who giggles happily over Ben's shoulder at you.

"See you just need to man up." You hear Ben say. "The ladies don't like a man who cries kid, take it from me."

You smile to yourself. And if you thought that Ben was gorgeous before, Ben standing with a baby making a baby smile, makes something primal at the back of your mind begin to stir and unfortunately makes every plant in your general vicinity burst into bloom. The smell of gardenia, hibiscus, honeysuckle, and lavender hitting you in a strong wave as they do. You weren't sure what instinct it was, all you knew was that the image of Ben and the baby would be very  difficult to wipe from your mind.

"Did you miss me Benny?" Martha shouts coming up behind him, her strawberry crown still perched over her dark braids.

"Um." Ben turns around to look at where you're standing at the edge of the kitchen. He looks a little sheepish, like he didn't want you to catch him with a kid.

That's understandable. Hughie told me how he reacted to seeing a diaper commercial. The guy just doesn't seem to be the most gentle or really loving. And yet look at how he is with Josh.

"Of course he did Marty." You smile rubbing her back. "Right?"

"Sure." Ben sighs, but then he lifts his gaze back up to you. "You shouldn't call her that." Ben grunts.

"Why not?"

"You keep calling her a man's name and everyone is gonna think she's a boy."

You kick Ben hard in the shin.

"Ow. What the fu-" Ben snaps, eyes blazing.

"Marty, why don’t you pick out a movie you want to watch, anything you want." You smile sweetly at her, ignoring Ben's angry glare.

"Anything I want?" She exclaims, eyes bright.

"Anything you want."

She squeals happily and runs to the couch, disrupting Bean who had been watching with contempt from the cushions that line the back. He didn't like the kids as much as Ben did. Bean leaps off the couch and vanishes down the hallway before Martha can catch him.

"I call her that because she asked  me to Ben. Don’t say things like that to a five-year old. In fact don't stuff like that at all. It's 2024 not 1920."

"What does that mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean." You frown at him.

"Fine." Ben huffs and rolls his eyes.

"Why are you still here? I thought that you were going to go on a date or whatever it is you do when you're not being forced to work for Butcher?" You say taking Josh from Ben, who fights you as you rub a wipe against his sticky cheeks.

"I didn't want you to be outnumbered Petals." Ben smirks.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Admit it, you really wanted a friendship bracelet."

Ben leans closer to whisper in your ear. "As soon as she leaves, this is going in the trash."

But for some reason you don’t believe him, but at the same time you didn't care, because you had photo evidence on your phone of Soldier Boy  making friendship bracelets.

The opening song of Frozen begins to play from the tv behind you and you smile mischievously at Ben.

Now he's in for it.

"You're gonna wish you left Gramps." You snort.

"What do you mean-" Ben starts to say.

And then Martha begins to sing.

After a stunning  and masterful performance of the Frozen movie done by Martha that included singing, dancing, and screaming the dialogue back at the tv, followed by Frozen 2, both Josh and Martha have fallen asleep just as the Aristocats began to play, leaving you and Ben to sit in the blessed silence of your apartment with the movie playing quietly in the background.

You were all sitting on the couch, Josh was sleeping on top of you, his little head buried in your left shoulder, while Martha curled up beside you, covered in one of your crochet blankets. Ben was sitting on the other side of Martha, leaning back and avoiding any contact with her feet that occasionally twitched while she slept, scrolling on his phone.

As much as Ben had hated the performance, you think that he might have actually liked Frozen. He'd noted that Elsa was hot, which Martha didn't quite understand and stated "No silly she's cold."

But then Ben followed up the observation by saying "You know, I knew this supe that looked exactly like her, who did this thing with her tong-" and you'd clamped your hand over his mouth and hissed "the kids are too young for that. Frankly I am too." Ben had only smirked at you and for the first time since you'd seen him do that, you smiled.

You didn't think that Ben had been paying attention, given that he had been scrolling on his phone through the entire movie, but he was. Because when Hans betrayed Anna Ben muttered "what a dick" under his breath.

Butcher had called during Frozen 2 and Ben had taken it in the hallway, filling you in quietly when he got back. Tomorrow Butcher wanted the two of you to infiltrate the party and see if the supe showed up to steal any of the cars.

It sounded like a solid plan, but it also meant that you were going to be on a mission alone with Ben, wearing God knows what. The last time Frenchie had stolen a dress for you wear on a mission, you'd practically had a heart attack when you first put it on and then made Annie go instead. You hoped that this time Frenchie got you something a little more, you. But you doubted it.

Plus the whole idea is to not be you genius.

“You’re really good with them.” Ben murmurs from his seat on the other side of the couch interrupting your chain of thought.

“You sound surprised.” You whisper back gently rubbing Josh's back with your hand. “And here I thought you were going to make a misogynistic comment about me having to be good with kids because I’m a woman.”

“I thought about it.” He shrugs shooting you an easy grin that makes you roll your eyes.

“Wouldn’t have expected anything less Gramps.”

You'd be lying if you said you weren't enjoying Ben try to act normal around the children. You liked watching him be all uncomfortable and awkward, especially because he prided himself on being a "big strong man." It was the same look he got in his eyes whenever Mike's mother cornered him.

“So have you been around kids before?” He asks.

“No. I never had any younger siblings, just my older brother. Were you ever around kids?”

You barely knew anything about Ben or his life before becoming Soldier Boy, just all the propaganda that Vought fabricated about his early life. He had called you guarded but he definitely seemed to keep everything closer to his chest. Sometimes you found yourself wishing that he would tell you more. You wanted to know more about him, but another part of you told you that it was a bad idea. You were getting too close to Ben, developing feelings for him, and you knew that it wouldn’t end well.

“Not people I knew. Vought used to send me on tours around America, talking to assemblies at schools.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Do you-“ Ben pauses considering. “Like kids?”

“I mean I like that I get paid to watch them but-“ You look down at the children quietly sleeping between the two of you. “I like these two. I think it kinda depends on the kid.”

He nods and turns his head back towards the tv. Thomas O'Malley has started his song, sauntering along to the tune.

Is it wrong that I think Ben has Thomas O'Malley vibes? Or Kovu from Lion King 2 vibes?

You thought about texting Annie that exact question, but you didn't want to tell her how you spent your day babysitting with Ben. You knew that it would only bring on another onslaught of photoshopped baby pictures and potential baby names.

“Do you want kids?”

“Huh?” You glance over at Ben who is watching you curiously. He was doing that thing again where he acted completely different than how he acted around the team, had been doing it all day long.

“Um-“ You contemplate. “I’m not sure. I’m kinda young or well in my head I am. I think I’d want to wait a little bit.”

“But you do?” He presses.

Why does he want to know that so badly?

“I kinda see myself as a mom.”

Ben’s eyes are studying you. “I think you’d be a good mom.”

The compliment makes you inhale in surprise. Ben had been acting weird all day long, being nice to Martha, wearing the bracelet she made him, sitting with her to watch a movie and listening to her recount the lore behind it. He was being uncharacteristically patient and kind. For another moment you see the possibility of Ben being more than just an angry, horny, jerk, and you try hard not to give in.

“Do you want kids?” You whisper back.

Ben’s expression darkens and he turns back towards the tv, arms crossed over his chest. He doesn’t say anything for a good two minutes, the silence awkwardly growing between the two of you. “I did.”

“With Countess right?”

He looks at you surprised.

“Hughie told me.” You bite the inside of your cheek. “I’m sorry Ben.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. You’re not the bi-“ He stops and looks down at the kids who are still sleeping silently. “You’re not her, Petals. You don’t have to be.”

“I know that, but still. What she did was shitty.” You whisper the curse word. “You didn’t deserve that. Any of it.”

It was the first time you’d said that to Ben. The first time the two of you would have a conversation about his life before you met him, the life that he seemed to want to forget. You couldn't blame him for that. In fact, the two of you had barely talked before these past few days other than the occasional tease or Ben’s attempt to get you into bed with him. And it was actually kind of nice, learning more about him.

Josh gurgles quietly and you adjust him in your arms, gently rocking him for a moment. Martha stirs but then leans further against your right arm cuddling up against it.

Ben watches you for a minute with the same expression he has when he seems to be unable to understand you and then the mask slips for just a moment, enough for you to see something genuine in his eyes. "Thank you." He murmurs.

"You’re welcome." You reply with a small smile as you turn back to watch the movie, aware of Ben's gaze on you.  "Then again I should be thanking you. I couldn't have made it through today without that coffee."

Ben chuckles and leans back against the couch cushions. "You're welcome Petals."

Mr. Wilson's mother in-law shows up to take the kids just as the movie finishes. Ben and you stand there for a moment in the aftermath taking a breath and when you smile at him, Ben actually smiles back.

But before you can ask Ben if he wants to order a pizza or something, he states that he has a date and not to wait up for him as he shrugs into his leather jacket.

And when he goes you try not to notice how quiet the apartment is and how empty it seems without him in it.

A/N: Alright the angst will begin to come NEXT chapter, probably, I promise... I just couldn't get this silly little idea out of my head and I thought why not?

As always thank you so much for reading! If you'd like to be added to my taglist or if I missed you on the taglist please let me know :)

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[technicallyneon]

felt like rereading the changeling chapters so here’s some of my favorite panels (pretty much only chilaios related because the shipper goggles are permanently glued to my face at this point)

spoilers for ch. 50 and 51 under the cut (duh)

first of all… yeah i don’t know either… is that the second time laios has called him mister or did it happen more often. wonder if they’re gonna change this one to “sir” in the anime too… i mean what who said that…

i’m not even gonna comment on this one

i’m really totally super normal about him wearing laios’s clothes and armor i promise. you gotta believe me

obligatorily pointing out the reversed height difference. laios is so fucking tiny i need to squeeze him like a stress ball

sweet revenge for all the times they’ve coddled him (bonus half-foot marcille appearance because i love her). they both look so cute i need to eat them

there’s something to be said about laios being the only member of the party who doesn’t miss chilchuck’s “cute” appearance (or at least the only one who isn’t actively thinking about it) like everyone’s all upset about tallchuck but laios doesn’t give a shit because he doesn’t care about what chilchuck looks like, he’s still chilchuck to him even if he’s taller now and i need to stop yapping now before i talk myself into a frenzy over this

they have my whole heart

same braincell mfs. they did not communicate this plan at all by the way they just thought of it at the exact same time and it somehow worked out anyway yadda yadda yadda implicit trust in each other and all that (poor marcille tho)

i’m not into feet but my friend is so i’m posting this for it specifically. also it’s fucking funny and i appreciate the detail of laios’s scar from the dragon fight, that’s very cool

that’s it, that’s the end of the post thank you for indulging my insanity

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 87)

She pulled N into their apartment with a groan, having been tensely silent the entire walk, with a huff, she grabbed a sleepy Tera out of N's arms, and with a breif kiss to her delicate head, went to put her in the crib.

“What's wrong? Why’d we rush out like that?” N was right behind her, looking worried. It didn't take long for Uzi to back out of the bedroom and begin to shrug off her hoodie.

A soft blush took over his face, tail kinking up as her clothes hit the floor.

“O-Oh… Uh, R-right now?” He stammered, surely she didn't have them leave early just so that they could have some alone time? That was unlike her. Though it wasn't like the nest was much privacy lately either…

She looked at him strangly, before blushing, realizing how it looked without any context.

“N-No! Dummy, not that. Come here.” She opened her side panel, huffing again as she pulled out all the paper she was using to stop the flow of thick oil, “Eugh…” She whined as it stuck to the paper, leaving strings of oil to come off her.

“Are you bleeding?! Are you hurt?! Is the baby-” He immediately panicked, closing the distance and grabbing onto her shoulder so he could take a closer look, she grabbed the bottom of his chin to shut him up.

“No. I'm fine. Everything's fine. I think, I just need you to test something.” She hummed, pointing over to the fridge where they kept Tera's oil supply. “Get out one of Tera's filled bottles and take off the top, and bring me a empty one, please.”

He did what he was told, quickly setting out one full tiny bottle and handing her an empty one, she took a deep breath and began to fill the new one, he could already tell that this was different… she looked way less uncomfortable and more relieved.

She sat down the newly filled bottle next to the pre-filled one. And then went to go put back on her undershirt with a sigh.

“You have sensors that tell you what somethings made out of, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me the difference between the two.” She explained, pointing to the two bottles on the counter.

He flushed gold, now for a whole new reason.

“But… I'd have to taste them…”

He didn’t care about drinking his girlfriends oil with her permission, but drinking it from a bottle she'd filled with the express purpose of giving to their daughter felt wrong on so many levels.

“It's just oil. I just wanna make sure it's not unsafe for her to drink.”

“But… the human equivalent!” He whined, maybe it was his time at the manor making him feel that way, the time spent with humans making this simple act feel extremely strange.

“Then don't think about the human equivalent! There's no difference between the oil in the bottle and the oil currently keeping me alive!” She argued, and she wasn't wrong, but it didn't make him feel any different about it.

“We've shared oil before babe. It's not any different.” She said a little softer, now dressed and standing behind him, leaning on his arm.

That was true… one night, during a particularly passionate evening. A heated kiss had turned into a double bite, each other's oil pouring into their mouths. It was one of the most intimate things they'd both experienced. But this situation was entirely different.

Still… he didn't want it to be unsafe for Tera either.

He tipped the first small bottle into his mouth and it went down like a shot glass, she was right, it tasted no different then any other time he'd gotten a taste of her oil, even if he did think her’s was the best tasting.

“Just oil. Like normal.” The sensors in his mouth read out normally. 100% pure machine oil; And he made sure the taste was out of his mouth before he eyed the new one and tipped it between his lips.

It was thick and coated his throat, he made a scrunched up expression as intense sweetness spread in his mouth. His sensors got to work.

50% machine oil, 25% organic protein, 25% electrolyte solution.

He blinked.

“Uh, it's…not the same, but… nothing is being tagged as harmful, if anything it's being accepted into my system better.” He said, a little bit surprised at that fact himself.

“What is it then?”

“You want the basic answer or the complicated answer?” He asked seriously.

“Basic I guess?”

“It's oil mixed with milk.”

Uzi blinked, blushed, then looked grossed out, and then horrified.

“That's fucking gross! Are you serious?!” She whined, N nodding his head solemnly, trying to repress that fact himself considering he just drank it.

“Why am I made like this…?” She despaired, covering her visor with both hands with a sigh.

“Aaaand scoop!” In an instant, N was lifting her bridal style, taking her towards the bedroom. “It's decompress time, let's not think too hard about it!”

“I wanna go back to noooormaaaal.” She moaned, completely distraught at this new information. “I'm gross and huge and feel like garbage!”

“You're beautiful and perfect and absolutely nothing is wrong with you.” He replied, laying her on the bed with a certain kind of gentleness, pressing a kiss onto her rounded stomach.

“I don't know how you can still look at me the same way! And It's just going to keep getting worse! If this is exactly like a human pregnancy, it's not going to be 5 months, it's going to be 9! That's really close to launch day!” She went on a small, stress enduced angry rant that N just let her work through for a moment while he took his hat and coat off, replacing it with a loose fitting black shirt.

“Agh!” She finished up as N crawled into bed beside her. Resting his head on her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her gently, purring.

He didn't even have to say anything anymore, all he had to do was hold her and purr and she already knew what he would say if he did grace her with his words. That she was beautiful no matter what and literally nothing could change how he felt about her, especially something as shallow as her changing appearance.

She sighed.

“I definitely don't feel it…”

He smiled and placed long, trailing kisses down her neck, still purring, now wrapping her up in his tail, his hands making feather light touches up her sides until she was shivering every time they made a pass.

“You want me to be honest?” He hummed, finally, after she started to relax and lean into his chest, basking a bit in his warmth that surrounded her own core like a warm embrace, chasing off the feeling of cold she was often left with.

“This might sound weird, but… I'm really attracted to how you look right now…” He admitted softly.

“You're just saying that…”

“No! It's true! I don't know why but… you, being like this, with our baby. You still being so wonderful with Tera… I-” He stops, embarrassed, before smiling warily “I kinda want to… do this again.”

Uzi turned onto her side to look at him, completely befuddled, though flustered, and possibly a little bit angry.

“You are not getting me pregnant again anytime soon. I will take a copy of your code and develop a special firewall for myself if I have to.” She said, being completely serious, and he smiled again.

“I figured as much.” He chuckled, leaning back into her shoulder and closing his eyes. “But you understand what I mean. I love you either way.”

She looked down at the comforter, sighing and rolling her eyes before looking back up at his soft expression, she returned it.

“Yeah… I do, I love you too, N.”

He leaned down to nuzzle her visor, a spark jumping between them as they laughed and connected their lips, enjoying the moment of privacy…

Next ->

[bubblewrapsnek]

Phantomarine Reread: Chapter 1

For this chapter I don't have too much to elaborate on so it'll probably be mostly stuff I enjoy about it so uhh enjoy!

Let's begin:

The cover of the chapter is just very fun and good, I love how in a full page what acts as frame is the composition itself, using the rock as both a titlecard, flat space made to have Phae stand out in the centre thanks to less detail around her, and has a couple skeletons climbing on it too making it interacted with the enviorment too, it's just very good, plus lots of cute critters

Bonus, pretty lady with pretty dress

One sword lady just happy to be there, good for her!

Cheth working like a lamp, getting turned off as soon as Phae chickens out is a very good bit xD

Something I also enjoy a lot from this chapter is just how present those godly veins are

You can clearly see them flowing into everything Cheth uses, they work at being somewhat subtle to me, at a first read I just assumed they were for flare, it's a god in the sea hopping bodies, of course he has an aura, but going back they are very consistantly threads coursing through what he touches and moves, around him at all time, and it makes the reveal that those aren't something he causes, but those are HIM very fun to go back to

Also Cheth being so unserious even when angry, giving eyelashes to a t-rex HE CHOSE TO THROUGH A HISSY FIT WITH, THIS GOD CHOSE THE DINOSAUR FAMOUS FOR HAVING TENEE TINY ARMS TO PERK THEM UP AND SHOW ANNOYANCE, love that for them

Something else I want to point out is how Phae is never still, every panel she is moving, posing with dumb bravado sometimes downplaying it a bit, it keeps her expressive and alive even when the obvious main show is Cheth's flamboyance and shapeshifting circus play, and that in itself is also a very fun thing, in a revolving door of actors, the play doesn't loose itself, Cheth's emotions are readable, a character is expressed constantly and flows nicely into a variety of states, and for both of them, keeping this bravado will pay off later in the chapter VERY well

Great visual, the veins themselves working as the smoke, showing he is loosing patience, he is fuming while being underwater

Another bonus point: Extremely rare instance where I find M!Cheth looking hot in a sense of coolness instead of the usual lovely dork clown (he is hot in both ways but this is a different taste)

Plus

The facless crowd of red eyes not playing, smiling or fooling around anymore, they are finally dead set on her, she created a play for them and he provides the pressure of an audience, more than the panel before, with her literally being portrayed in front of the t-rex's mouth, this feels like the maw of the beast surrounding her, sizing her and ready to devour her, ready to have her be part of the facless crowd of observers, very spooky

And this feeling of the maw of the beast pays off, 'cause shit gets real very fast, Cheth doesn't take it lightly and goes for the throat with a question that not only he thinks she would never know, but that hurts so so much, (and also shows what is in his mind when dealing with royalty, not the attacks towards him directly, not the damage to him, but the countless children who have been deprived of a family due to all this). This works as a tone shift, the first, altho minor, payoff from the swagger set up early in the chapter, and this question hits you in the face hard and fast

Cheth's frame while asking this is almost as big as the burden of that knowledge, a question so heavy the panel under it is quite literally being smothered, Phae's face accomapanying the reader who didn't expect the shift

And this leads to another piece of characterization that will come back later, Cheth cares for children, this isn't just a question done to hurt her but it's something he cares for, and why do I say this? well it's something I read not only in what will be said later on in other chapters, but in Cheth's reaction when Phae actually can provide an answer

He is confused, but also looks genuinely worried about her, he is dumbfounded AND concerned for the woman who showed to care about something he thought she would have only superficial empathy towards, for the girl who just admitted to being herself a lost child in grief (little headcanon, the cat showing up is there to be ready to help in case it got too far)

Something else I want to make note of that I find very compelling:

The background, Phae answers and the background goes BLANK, until now it consistantly framed her in either blue or red, either in Cheth's play or taking a step back from it, but now, this is something that wasn't part of his tease, this wasn't something he thought would happen, Phae's care and grief quite literally breaks Cheth's overwhelming, presence here, it feels as if not only is he shocked, but he is giving her a brief moment to breath, letting her have some space for just a moment, I love it

And this also leads to a moment I find very interesting, and I would like to give my reading to

The way I read it as of the time of writing this, is that Cheth has a deep fondness towards humanity, the anathema comic shows a devotion to his love for the people he fares in the afterlife, for the children of man who have all but forsaken him, and here he is ANGRY, but why would he be angry that the king actually cared for said people? I can think of one reason: at this point he has been waiting for a sign for 5000 years, made to sit back and watch for ages the humanity he loves sending their man foolishly to die in a war against him in which he isn't even participating, and I think he might have internalized how the people he loves have accepted a doctrine against him so deeply that they deem the sacrifice of their lives and the suffering of their children as worth less than fighting him. But what does he learn now? that the king, the guide of this war, feels guilt over this, that the mean leading all those people to die had to find a way to cope with how terrible that weight is, that they haven't forgotten how precious the lives of his people are, AND YET HE KEEPS SENDING THEM TO DIE, EXACTLY LIKE THEY DID FOR THE PAST 5000 YEARS. This is beyond foolish, this is pure denial of knowing that what you are doing is terrible, and thinking you can offset it by being kind instead of working on the problem at the root of it, I too would be angry if the man leading those fathers and mothers to abandon their children tried to save his conscience by doing charity instead of preventing those deaths to begin with.

God this came out rant-y, and probably not perfectly worded

Moving on

Remember when I spoke about how the constant expressiveness and bravado of the characters is a great setup, well here we get to the first very big payoff in my opinion

Once again, Cheth's overwhelming red get's completely broken, stark white coral framing the object of something that deeply hits him and breaks his flow, he stops to a screeching halt for the first time, speechless and astounded. without all that overwhelming presence before, all that bravado, this loss of control would hit so much less and it doesn't stop here, no this is the first punch of a two hit combo, the proverbial quiet before the storm

And this also leads to another reversal in their constant duel present in this chapter, up to now all of this has been a back an forth, a dance where Phae responds in kind to Cheth's provocations, and here, she doesn't reflect an attack, but just like Cheth seeing her at a low before had him react with a look of pity, she responds here with the same concerned expression

Sadly, Cheth isn't in a place where vulnerabilty is something that can be helped with pity or comfort, not now

Now all he is, is a raging storm of emotions

And how does he get back control of the scene? he lashes out, he once again becomes overwhelming, the entire scene becomes a vortex of red and anguished faces, Phae's bright yellow gets tinted in a red glow, something deep within him has been touched

And MY GOD is the subsequent page a mic drop, the red slowly drifts to the bottom, her emotions are settling down, there is a moment of reflection and quiet, of many things she probably couldn't hope to think about for such a long time finally piecing together, and with those elements coming into place, here comes a new face that we will come to know along the way, not only is this a new face in the chapter, this is an expression of Cheth's state of mind in my opinion, as we will later learn that the sign he was waiting for, all he is doing and setting up, it was all in the name of a promise made to this face. at least, this is my read atm, we'll have to see how the story unfolds to see how well it fits

Have you ever seen a lady so beautiful you forgot you are dealing with Satan and decided to flirt? Phae sure has

And here we arrive at the reason I said Phae's tired reaction to the death of children was the "minor" payoff to the bravado shown

Cause damn here we get to the main show of her fall

But also, shock factor aside, I want to point out how this is the first truly mean spirited move Cheth has made thus far, the question of children came from a place of care, this is purely mean, nothing can come from being this petty and evil in action, it's almost parody of the demonic figure he gets painted as, almost...

Yeah you all probably know what I'm getting at, this is the first action she takes after learning of the bonefish, of the sign, and we later learn that she actively decided to play up the evil aspect Phae knows her as, painting herself as a disgusting villain because that was the role she thought would work, after all, would kindness and explaining have worked? she is basically programmed to hate them...

And with this Cheth has completely put the curtain back on, the second act of the play has started and they are both the director and the actors, the scene once more tinges itself in overwhelming red as they start their show

After this point the chapter is quite straightforward to me, tho it doesn't shy away from some very neat shots that end up being some of my favourites of the entire chapter

Like this one, it creates a very good feel of having Phae on the backfoot, the textbox itself works in presenting her driven in a corner, against a wall, even amidst a boundless ocean she has no escape, and Cheth taking center stage to the panel also works in establishing them once more in control

Meanwhile, I honestly can't even explain why I like this laugh so much, it's just so visceral, so played to an extreme, the sea itself is laughing, Cheth looks like he could fall over on their back from how the laugh is bending them, you the reader aren't safe from the thunderous laughter as the panel itself breaks down, becoming seafoam, you are seeing them explode over the question of Shoshanna's return and once again, Cheth is playing up a villain, we see later down the line how the argument of Shoshanna breaks them and tears them down, and here I think they are masking it, they play up their bravado to an higher degree than ever before, a villain so incredibly sure of themselves that they can stop and laugh so much they aren't even seeing you anymore, they are completely exposed, not a single shade has their eyes open to keep watch on you

What grief could ever deserve such a boisterous mask?

AND HE KEEPS GOING, HE KEEPS UPPING THE FACADE

He both becomes and rides a wave about to wash Phae away, he both is master of a distaster and the disaster itself, all this part feels like is him deciding to play the villain and putting on his best theatrics to deliver it, they become mean, deameaning, ruthless, the teases don't feel as fun anymore, Phae isn't in a place to make it a back and forth anymore

The chapter starts as an ebb and flow between our main characters, but by the end there is no more pushback, Cheth has become a flood and Phae has lost the ground she was so confidently standing on before

And she manages to get a hold for a last desperate second, she has been pushed so far back in a corner that she lashes out violently, but in the end, even this is futile, in the end...

The tidal wave has crushed her, and she can do nothing but break.

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Some Much-Needed Downtime TBH

ok I kinda read these species-swap chapters quickly without commenting 2 nights ago bc I REALLY wanted to catch up to the show, and honestly I didn't have much to say? It was a fun showcase of some different species talents, and introduced multiple fun problems for the characters to solve [takes notes in DM]. But it didn't seem to move either plot or characters forward much. Some notes:

Honestly it's surprising that there's only been 1 count of food poisoning so far, when they're trying SO MANY new things. One must credit Senshi's cooking skills!

This might be the single funniest joke so far:

I've seen multiple posts saying Senshi's elfsona reveals him to be feminine by dwarf standards, and I'm genuinely BAFFLED by that take because it is SO obvious that Senshi's elfsona reveals him to be 1. the Hottest Man You Have Ever Met, and 2. HAIRY. We have seen 0 other elves with facial hair. I dug up that showcase of different elves and 0 of them have facial hair. In the Tolkienien lore from which all modern fantasy, or certainly this sort of fantasy, is derived, exactly 2 elves in the history of the world are said to have had facial hair. Elf!Senshi has a tiny little moustache. Elf!Senshi isn't feminine, he is the HOTTEST, HAIRIEST bear in the metaphorical gay club.

...it's possible that he's more of a himbo than we realize, though.

I don't know what's up with Kensuke and I AM worried that it's being directed by the demon. I want it to be Laios's friend so bad...

It occurs to me that "the winged lion is actually the demon at the root of all of this" is probably the biggest spoiler I've gotten, and I didn't even realize how huge a spoiler it was because I DIDN'T get spoilered for the fact that, so far as the characters know, the lion is supposed to be a helpful god. Don't play with spoilers, kids! Even if you want to read the juicy meta!

This initial fight with the gargoyles is probably my new second-favorite "Laios is really quickly analytical and problem-solving in combat" moment (the living armor fight is still #1). He sees how everyone is failing, prevents more problems as he can, realizes they can't win and puts together what pieces they need to get out. In group social dynamics, he's a mediocre leader at best, but he's a superb combat tactician.

Laios is just living in his own little after-school special, and I love him for that.

That first panel is definitely support for the theory that the 50-60yr life expectancy of "short-lived" races like tallmen, orcs, kobolds and halffeet is shorter than it should be, relative to their ages of maturity, because the long-lived races control and hold most of the resources. It's even possible that their ages of maturity SHOULD be even older, but social conditions force them to become "adults" at a younger developmental age than dwarves, gnomes and especially elves!

Panel 3 is Marcille mentally shoving Chilchuck higher on her list of Lives to Extend by Whatever Magic I Can Learn.

I love how the way they figure out that the mushrooms' effects are easily reversible is literally by thinking through the greater social worldbuilding implications of the effects.

^This is the single most Dad we've ever seen Chilchuck...topped only by that 'carry child like a football' a moment later. Actually, he yeets Marcille a LOT while tall - here, over the jump in the travel montage, with Laios to make a loop for the gargoyle...which I'm dead certain is an indication of how he physically treated his daughters. Those kids got casually, affectionately tossed like salad.

.

AND THAT'S WHAT WE CALL FRIENDSHIP.

...okay maybe I did have several thoughts about those 2 chapters.

.

"[Falin] was much tougher than I was. I hear she and our parents still write to each other" is SUCH a line for painting a picture of Laios and Falin's childhoods, and Laios's feelings on it.

.

you can keep your Kabru Wink(TM)s, I am weak only for the Laios Fond Little Smile(TM).

.

I love how Senshi is still musing on this soul = egg metaphor, and I LOVE how both times now that we've seen Laios genuinely lose his temper, it's because someone was saying "why are you just being excited about eating monsters when Falin is in danger?!", and he's snapping because he is fucking NOT dismissing his sister in favor of eating monsters, he is doing EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER to save her and it just so happens that the only plans with a smidgen of success involve leaning into eating monsters. And by trying to stop him from that, you're stopping him from saving Falin.

.

Laios, how tf do you remember the Wink? I'm 99% sure Kabru never once winked in your interactions; I WAS looking for it. Was he just exuding wink energy? (I mean...yes.)

.

The dramatic irony jokes in this chapter are on POINT. Chilchuck: "There's no way this thing still works" [tram door slams shut on his heels, cars immediately starts moving]. "You won't find a military company in the dungeon" [smash cut to Shuro, Namari and Kabru unhappily leading the Canaries into the dungeon]. Impeccable.

Stopping this one here in preparation for going nuts about implied elf-related worldbuilding in the next chapters!

[mamapyjama]

Thought I ought to bring this over here for the Tumblr crew since it’s making a little buzz in the other place and I want to gather all my thoughts in one place.

So, back in 2022 I was in my feelings about Izuku (when am I not?) and wrote the following little sad headcanon on twt:

Made myself sad thinking about how the original Japanese word for Quirk is ‘kosei’, which means ‘individuality’ or the unique part of a personality. It’s no wonder Deku thought he was plain and useless. Everyone has literally been telling him since he was 4. 😓 Like, there’s no way at that age he could separate people talking about his lack of meta-ability from his own unique value as a person when they’re using the same damn word. That’s the kind of stuff that’s going to stick with you. 🥺

Sad to imagine, eh?

Fast forward to 2024 and chapter 412, and as always, I was browsing the jp fandom tweets for reactions after the official release. They often pick up on things we miss like Katsuki’s childlike language, the NTR implications of the kudoichi plot etc.

As I scrolled, I realised there was a HUGE disconnect between what we in “The West” were experiencing (mostly rage at yet another translation ‘choice’) and the existential questioning that was occurring among Japanese readers.

This is just a tiny glimpse, but you should know that every single one I saw was doing the tweet equivalent of staring into the middle distance with a haunted look.

It’s all about the panel below, which was mentioned by the incomparable Pikahlua, as it is unusual in writing ‘mukosei’ without the speechmarks that signify ‘quirkless’ (to use the English term) rather than ‘lacking individuality’.

Horikoshi always uses speechmarks around “Kosei” when talking about quirks, so the implication here is that Izuku never believed he had actual individuality/personality.

Using this interpretation, Kudou observed that Izuku held the hope that even people who were detestable (Katsuki) and those who had no individuality (Izuku) still had human hearts.

Read that again. Izuku hoped that both he and Kacchan, despite their shortcomings, had human hearts. He thinks his only worth is as a vessel, a holder of OFA, and without that he’s barely human.

Ever noticed how some parts of the fandom complain that Deku is a boring MC, that he’s just ‘nice’, and we never get his opinions on things? Yeah.

Remember how hard he cried when All Might said he could be a hero? That was the first time in his life that someone acknowledged him as someone with potential, with worth. (In ch2 he also says “I have no reason to refuse!!” when offered OFA, which always struck me as slightly anticlimactic but makes way more sense now).

And remember how he cried in a similar way when Ochako told the world that he wasn’t special but that he had a special power? She couldn’t have known she was reinforcing his deepest held insecurity, and for a moment his mask slipped. Or maybe he was touched by her assertion that he was just a ‘regular high school kid’? We don’t know, but it’s worth taking a look at these moments in this new light.

You staring into the middle distance with a haunted look too yet? I know I am.

If you’re interested in the bright side (I needed this, I hope it helps):

Narratively speaking, this is the angst section that will lead to Midoriya Izuku: Rising and the happy ending they all deserve.

And the person most likely to disavow him of this sense of inherent worthlessness is the one person who added to it the most in their childhoods.

✨KACCHAN!!✨

No one else can reassure Izuku that he is special, that he’s worthwhile and—crucially—that he always has been, because he’s the only one who knew that all along.

If you need more reassurance, remember that their Origin and Rising chapters so far have all involved each other and have mirrored the emotional journey they’re both on.

Bakugou Katsuki: Origin: Katsuki struggles to accept Izuku and work as a team to battle All Might. Eventually does the bare minimum to cooperate by lending him his gauntlet.

Bakugou Katsuki: Rising: Katsuki coordinates the pro heroes and sacrifices himself to save Izuku. His body ‘moved on its own.’

Midoriya Izuku: Origin: Izuku is bullied by Katsuki, tries to save Katsuki from a villain—his body ‘moved on its own’, and is consequently told he can be a hero by All Might.

It isn’t a reach at all to pretty safely assume that Izuku’s Rising chapter will also be intrinsically linked to Katsuki, and it is his cooperation, faith and love (however you interpret it) that will finally save Izuku from his own sense of worthlessness. Closing the circle.

So yeah, this bit could be rough for the next few chapters, but I have faith that Horikoshi will wrap it up in a way that will be so rewarding and satisfying.

I’m gonna stop now because I’m ill and I need to rest my head, thanks for reading! 😮‍💨

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 428 Spoiler Talk: Did Kohei Horikoshi Just Blueball Us???

So, that just happened, huh? Not a bad chapter by any means. It was a solid, slice-of-life-ish chapter that continues to give us our beloved Class 2-A kids some idea of how life is going to be like now that the war is over:

The chapter starts off where we left off 2 weeks ago with the new first-years (the new Class 1-A) fangirling over Shoto and Bakugo. Iida has to step in to stop the chaos while Bakugo and Shoto hide behind him like little kids using their big brother as a shield 😂! It's cool to know that our kids have fans now and seeing them as Senpai to new Kohais is a nice idea to think about. I also like that there's a panel of Shinsou in the class to remind all of us that he's part of the main group now.

There's also a tall 1st-year who is inspired by Deku and wants to be like him after seeing him fight in the war! I love that for him 💚! I don't think Deku's really had any fans outside his classmates before, so it's nice to see how people are looking up to him like how he looked up to All Might.

A little later, we see our Class 2-A working to help clean up the wreckage from the war with Fat Gum, Best Jeanist, and Edgeshot who FUCKING SURVIVED (BRO, HOW???) and is now just a big strand of string with a face and tiny string arms 😂😭! It's a funny visual for now, but Edgeshot says that he'll be better than ever hopefully which makes Bakugo show a wobbly, awkward smile 🧡.

I also love how much Bakugo has changed in general. It has been a slow, general progression, but it's clear that he's softening up and opening up more to the people around him. It's such great character development for him. I love this dude so much 🧡

It's also cool to see the kids work and use their Quirks to help clean up all the rubble. We've seen them do this a little before during the Provisional License Exam, but it's good to see it again because it's a good reminder that there's more to Hero work than just beating the bad guys and saving civilians. I can absolutely see how a lot of their Quirks can help out with clean-up duty, but I can't help but wonder how people like Jiro, Shinsou, and Kaminari use their Quirks though can already think of some ideas. Actually, Kaminari can restore power to towns and cities, but he can't use his Quirk to help pick up rubble.

The civilians and even the new Class 1-A kids come along and are more than willing to help clean up the mess too. The heroes are being trusted more again and then getting help from the people who they thought lost faith in them is a great sign for that bright future everyone hopes for. I also have high hopes for the new UA kids. They're already heroes in their own right by wanting to help during their first few days at the school. I also really like the look of the few new designs we get out of these kids. As expected of our mangaka!

Later that night, we are told that the students at UA aren't forced to stay at the dorms anymore, probably because things have calmed down after the war. This is good to hear because while I know the kids loved life at the dorms, I'm sure they missed their families too. I won't be surprised if some students in general decide to stay home for a while. I'm sure this also gives Horikoshi an excuse not to draw so many characters in one panel because god knows this man has his work cut out for him over the next 2-3 weeks.

The last couple of pages boil down to beautifully drawn panels of Ochako who's still keeping up that fake smile and optimistic façade and Izuku and Tsuyu worrying about her because something is CLEARLY wrong. Ochako does eventually break down remembering Himiko Toga and her fate. This chapter doesn't outright confirm nor deny what happened to Toga, but I'm pretty sure she's dead. I don't think Ochako would be this sad if Toga was alive in any capacity. It sucks because Toga had a change of heart in her final moments and I think she would have been given something of a second chance had she lived. But, maybe not because I don't know how society would really treat her if she was allowed to go out in public again. I would love for Toga to be alive, but I'm betting my gatcha money that she isn't... Still, this is a big loss for Ochako and I feel for her. I still can't help but feel we got blueballed on Toga's fate, though and I'm not sure how to really feel about that.

The final page shows us that Izuku used some embers of One For All to get to Ochako who's on the same hill back during the "We're Weird" conversation they had before the Final War. First off, Izuku bby 🥹💚. Second, this absolutely sets up Izuku and Ochako finally talking to each other since the Final War ended. I assume some kind of love confession is going to happen, but I'm not 100% sure because I don't know if now is a good time for that or not. Ochako definitely needs a shoulder to cry on and Izuku needs to talk to someone about what happened, so we'll have to see where things go from here.

Regardless, we have 2 chapters left and something has to happen before the end. It's going to be bittersweet next week though because we are getting the Cover and a Color Page in WSJ! These will be the last ones we get, so I hope they're special. Knowing Horikoshi, the art and coloring are going to be immaculate and I am going to cry happy tears for the next 2 weeks.

We will also get a 16-chapter tie-in chapter for the new You're Next movie by Yoko Akiyama, the mangaka for the spin-off Team Up Missions manga! I love her art so much! It's very similar to Horikoshi's, but the style and the coloring especially is so soft and cute! It's perfect for a slice-of-life-esque spin-off like TUM and she hasn't disappointed me yet. Plus, I'm 99% sure she did the manga tie-ins for the 2nd and 3rd movies too, so this was expected.

We're finally at the penultimate and final chapters of the series. I still can't believe it's ending. Just 2 weeks to go starting this Sunday.

[aucatgirl]

I'd like to hear your complaints about mha please. I think rei should've rolled her ex husband off a cliff.

SIGH. Here is my official diatribe against MHA’s ending. This is definitely not my first rodeo with a series I love and had hope for having a bad ending but wow this one stings harder than usual

What’s craziest about all this is how much I defended this manga up until the last ten chapters. I loved this manga so much and had such high hopes for it. My own MHA social circle was nothing but huge fans that also had high hopes, some criticisms about things but willing to give the benefit of the doubt… But then 420 happened and I snapped out of it (and then my mutuals also snapped out of it, one by one, lol). It was so rushed and baffling that it actually ruined my day when it released, lmao. Deku regaining his arms via Eri ripping off her horn via child mutilation was only the beginning and I was not prepared for the everything else that would happen

The biggest issue starts and ends with Deku, who apparently got a secret lobotomy during the dark Deku arc and has not been written the same since. He completely loses his ability to be introspective in any capacity. “I’ve been having these thoughts about Tenko too” where?? Where is it??? Where is literally any of your real thoughts on Tenko or losing OFA or anything??? This manga used to have such an interesting insight into Deku’s mind. And it’s just, gone. A big issue with Shigaraki’s death goes back to that. Where’s the reflection?? “Show don’t tell” doesn’t work that well with a protagonist that barely shows any emotion at all!!

When it comes to the saving Shigaraki plot, I saw some mutuals suggest that Horikoshi changed his mind on the ending at some point between the togachako fight and 423. I reread those chapters and disagreed. Deku being unable to save Shigaraki is a plot twist and it’s a BAD one. All of the build up leading to 423 is that Deku would save Shigaraki, not just his soul, full stop. Unless it really was a last minute change or pushed by editors/SJ, I cannot imagine that this ending was not planned the way it was, so I will criticize Horikoshi as such. The twist was ass. And now we’re left with an ending of “well we can try to prevent villains, but if they’re already villains, beat ‘em up!” which is just.. AUGH!!! Completely throws Twice’s death down the drain!!! I can’t believe we were left with “we’ll do better next time” when the whole point was that the next generation would do better than the previous… Deku’s generation was supposed to be that one!! Not to mention that All Might seemingly forgot about his personal connection to Shigaraki…

It’s also wild that the togachako plot was the best written tragedy while also being the most offensive of all of them. I don’t care how many people Toga killed 😭 she was explicitly queer. At least izuocha didn’t happen, that would’ve made things so bad I don’t think I would’ve been able to interact with the series anymore. It was a one-off line but Toga’s death had the most direct impact on improving society, however, it was a ONE-OFF LINE, there is zero indication that Uravity is as prominent of a hero as this line makes you believe, which sucks. Also, the fact that the cameras got retconned is ridiculous, just another knife twist of completely gutting the theme of rehabilitation and societal changes on how people view villains

And… that’s not even mentioning what the fuck happened with 3baka. I understand the rush. Horikoshi has health issues, there are time limits for endings. I would’ve been okay with just the rush. But the writing decisions that were made… why the fuck did Kurogiri die like that?? In the most baffling, inconsequential way possible? Aizawa wasn’t shown, Mic didn’t react, it’s never brought up again except for a tiny, tiny panel of Shirakumo’s grave. I guess the whole plot with nomu and how they’ve slowly been humanized was just completely scrapped, because Kurogiri’s death was more inconsequential than Hood’s. If you’re going to kill Kurogiri, make him die by AFO’s hands. It would’ve worked a lot better as a tragedy rather than random and unnecessary Bakugo moment

This is honest to god one of the worst pages in the entire series:

Finally okay I honestly don’t care for the Todorokis so I don’t really have any strong thoughts on their ending. The ending Dabi got is actually better than I expected after Shigaraki died lol. Though I do agree that Rei pushing around Endeavor in his wheelchair is a hilariously bad look and I don’t know why Horikoshi thought it was a good idea

Here is one thing I will say, though. One final word:

Foster brothers Shigaraki and Kurogiri never got debunked!! Can’t have your theories be wrong if you get no information about a character!

[partly-cloudyskies]

Red Birthright - Chapter 8

A Star Wars WFM AU

“Hey, Princess.” “Don’t call me that,” Miorine said. “You’ve seen my bounty posting. You know my name.” “I don’t like your name,” Chuchu said with a matter-of-fact ease. She sat across from Miorine and the two had managed to achieve a civil if frigid silence, though that mostly owed to the fact that they spent much of that time eating. They no longer had that luxury. “It seems that I’ve managed to achieve a perfect slate of dislike across the board,” Miorine said. “And all I had to do was exist. Tell me, is there some specific objection you have about me or am I just that lucky?” “Well,” Chuchu drawled. “You’re prissy, stuck up, sharp-tongued. You managed to upset that poor girl you came with using a single sentence. You come aboard my home and start criticizing it immediately. I watched your weird Mandalorian cult shoot up a space station and my ship because you decided to run away from your home. And I’m starting to wonder if they’ll do the same to mine. And while we’re on the subject, your Clan Rembran is a bunch of glorified highwaymen who think they can shake down us independents just because they’ve got shinier stuff.” “House,” Miorine said, distracted. She wondered if Chuchu would call Suletta a ‘poor girl’ after she saw her in one of her rages. Miorine thought uncharitably that she’d quite like to see that. “What?” “We—they’re not a clan. It’s House Rembran of Clan Benerit.” “Whatever. I don’t want to know. And I truly don’t care.” Most of the barbs did not find their purchase, but Chuchu’s baldly stated concern that Rembran would find their way here did strike at a fear Miorine had tried to avoid. She’d bring calamity anywhere she tried to put down roots. The people here had been kind. Well. Nika was nice enough though how trustworthy was a bit of a question. And Chuchu was unpleasant but it was in a forthright way that was far preferable to intrigue and rumors. Still, she did recommend a very good sandwich. Even that felt like a lifeline in this moment. “That look on your face could turn aside a storm cloud,” Chuchu said. “The hell’s on your mind?” “Too many things. As you established, nothing that you’d care about.” “I’d love to keep it that way but we’ve got time to kill and I get bored. You finished?” Chuchu indicated the food wrappers and Miorine nodded her assent. Chuchu cleared it away and Miorine noticed for the first time that the table they occupied had a pattern of dark and light panels, arrayed in a circle radiating from the center. Chuchu reached to the side where there was an instrument panel. She fiddled with it. Nothing happened. Then she frowned and struck it with the heel of her palm. A holoprojector within the table wheezed to life. Tiny, monstrous figures suddenly occupied the board, arrayed on the dark and light areas. They idled where they stood, waiting for commands. “Dejarik?” Miorine said. “You play?” “I… am familiar.” “Good. Then I won’t have to explain the rules. I can kick your ass a couple rounds and then it’ll be time to take you to see the others.” Miorine raised an eyebrow. “Do try to go easy on a novice such as myself.”

[dragonfly0808]

Snippets of the next chapter…

I’m really excited for the next chapter so, to build up hype and cause I’m just super excited here are snippets of chapter 28:

Roxy’s Interlude: Crossroads of Destiny

—————————

Helia smiled gently as he joined her, “What do you think?”

“Somehow… it’s both exactly what I was expecting and not at all what I thought it’d be like.”

He chuckled, “That’s Magix for you. A strange culmination of dozens of different planets and cultures and all that good stuff. You’ll never find anyone who’s straight up ‘from Magix’ you know? Everyone has some planet they or their parents are originally from.”

“I’m straight up from Magix.” Timmy protested from the control panel.

Helia rolled his eyes, “Aren’t your grandparents from Gader?”

“…that doesn’t count.”

“Sure it doesn’t.” Helia made a face at him and Roxy chuckled.

—————————

Red Fountain was huge, all red and silver metal and golden stone and falling water.

It was also a floating island. The boys had seemingly forgotten that little detail when telling her about their school. 

—————————

“Oh, this is one of my favorite spots.” Naten guided them past a threshold, which guided them to a platform open to the outside air, ancient stone with red runes beneath Roxy’s feet, the jagged ending giving way to the long fall.

“Whoa.” Roxy approached the ledge cautiously, crouching to inspect the old runes with clearly old scratches that did not match the rest of the building, “This… is a lot older than anything else.”

“That’s cause this particular floor,” Alexa said as she tapped her foot on the stone, “is a part of the old Red Fountain.”

“…what do you mean the old Red Fountain?”

The others suddenly paused, trading glances as they clearly realized she didn’t know what they meant.

“Well…” Shirley hesitated clearly unsure of how to explain, “This technically speaking isn’t the first Red Fountain. They had to rebuild.”

“…why?”

—————————

Cloud Tower was a bit more like what she’d expected. Despite Shirley’s previous rants about the perception of witches, their school was all fog, shadows, bats, spiders and medieval architecture in shades of blacks, greens and purples.

—————————

“Maude?”

Shirley, perhaps for the first time since they’d met, blushed lightly, “It’s my middle name. Riven’s is worse though, his is Knox.”

Roxy gently nudged her, “I like Maude. It’s really pretty. Fits you.”

She ignored how, over Shirley’s shoulder, Alexa had opened her backpack just in time for Naten to fake-puke in.

—————————

Alfea was somehow more impressive in person, the building was a pale pink with accents in sky blue, whites and creams. Vines growing over certain columns.

She wasn’t quite sure how to describe the aura the building held, but it somehow felt almost ethereal. She could just barely see small motifs all over the walls and arcs, in the stone of the fountain, in the cobblestone of paths, everywhere she looked there seemed to be hidden tiny paintings of wings and butterflies and clovers and bells and pearls and crystals and fungi.

It was really quite something.

—————————

“Sure thing, and- oh! Hold up,” Naten suddenly turned around, yelling at the boys to get closer, “After we give Roxy the tour can we take her to a cafe in Magix? She hasn’t seen the actual city.”

Timmy grimaced, clearly disapproving, “I don’t know…”

“Pleaaaaseeee?” Alexa pleaded, “We won’t go far. And we will not split up for even a second.” She finished making puppy eyes at the boys.

“You can go.” Helia told them, “Just update us when you leave and… don’t take the bus, you can call your Windriders.”

—————————

Roxy carefully turned the computer on, glancing around. The others were nowhere in sight, she’d left Chimera and Naten looking at a history book on Zenith, Naten telling Chimera stories and myths of his hometown and the villages around.

Alexa had said she’d check if there were any technical books on archery or Earth since she was curious about her brother’s mission. Shirley had gone straight for the potions section.

She was alone, unwatched.

Roxy stared at the search bar for a long moment. A part of her feeling guilty.

But she had to know.

She just had to.

————————

“What is in Lake Roccaluce?”

Chimera blinked, surprised, “What?”

“I was gonna look it up cause Sky was clearly lying or avoiding but… I wasn’t sure how to spell it.”

Chimera sighed, gesturing for her to sit down, carefully adjusting her velvet skirt, “Do you… do you know about Daphne?”

—————————

“It was our pleasure, now, we gotta show you the best part, actual Magix city.” Alexa told her as they stopped in front of three of those motorcycle-like machines that didn’t have wheels and hovered in the air.

“Are those… safe?”

“Oh yeah, Windriders are standard for every Specialist.”

Roxy tilted her head in silent question as to why there were three.

Shirley smirked, “My brother is off-planet, someone has to take care of his windrider.”

“And you were kind enough to take on the burden.” Roxy teased.

“Precisely. Now come on, you can ride with me.”

Damn her. What gave her the right to also be a motorcycle girl? Roxy hadn’t even known she apparently had a thing for motorcycles until Shirley casually threw a leg over it to get on, the way she flipped her hair as she did it had to be intentional.

Thankfully, she wasn’t the only one as Chimera was a shade of scarlet as she went to hold on to Naten.

Alexa sighed heavily, “Strike me down now.” She implored the sky above her.

————————

Ogron chuckled in a low tone, Gantlos and Anagan appearing behind him, “Impeccable invisibility spell. Moon fairies are quite rare,” he looked in Chimera’s direction, clearly somehow able to see her despite the spell, starting to reach towards her, “but I’m afraid you have yet to master the art of fully cloaking your very essen-”

Chimera used the staff like a baseball bat, hitting Ogron right across the face, the other Wizards freezing in momentary surprise, “GO!”

[chuthulhu-reads]

I'm off ill so I decided to binge-read Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna/She Loves To Cook, and She Loves To Eat and folks I am VERY emotional about how Kasuga specifically is depicted

[ID: Two manga panels showing Kasuga in chibi style. In the first, she is thinking "...Am I influencing her?" with a blank expression. In the second panel, her expression seems unchanged but there's now blush shading over the middle of her face, the background has changed from a neutral screentone to glowing sparkles, and there's a big "Puwa(blush)" sound effect over her head. End ID.]

She's a big woman. She's tall and broad-shouldered and has big arms and thighs and a round face. She has a flat affect and dresses very simply.

[ID: a panel of Kasuga in profile with a very, very tiny smile as she says, ...she looks so peaceful... and cute." The profile emphasizes her pointy nose, round chin, and small pouch of double chin. End ID.]

She has a double chin. And she's the primary love interest. And she's drawn as beautiful. Not in spite of her non-conventional features and not necessarily because of them, either, she just... is beautiful. She's beautiful in her passion.

[ID: Two panels of Kasuga and Nomoto eating together. The first shows Nomoto, her hair kinda messy because she's been in bed ill, holding a grilled onigiri and smiling at Nomoto, who's taken the first bite of her grilled rice ball and is chewing with "Mosu(chew)" sound effects. The second panel is a close-up on Kasuga's face as she opens her mouth wide and puts the rest of the rice ball inside with a big "bakun (nom)" sound effect in the background of the panel. End ID.]

Several panels in every chapter are just devoted to Kasuga eating, including these shots of her mouth open wide as she puts food in. There's nothing gross in the depiction of her eating, there's nothing gross about her eating a lot, her enjoyment of the food comes through in her intensity rather than her expressions and through Nomoto's eyes we see that as enchanting. She's a big, broad, strong woman who enjoys eating plenty, and she's perfectly healthy with the amount that she eats, and she's the romantic interest. I'm staring at her like I'm looking in the mirror but she's depicted through such loving eyes that it's knocking me flat on my ass

There are a lot of wonderful things about this manga but the loving depiction of a big woman is what's got my heart. Thank you Sakaomi Yuzaki <3

[izaneko]

♥︎- tokyo revengers/izana x f!reader🤍❤️

♡- summary: inspired solely by this panel. i was rereading this chapter earlier, it excited me honestly way more than it should have.

♥︎- warnings : minors dni fem reader. cursing, pet names, izana beating up some random dudes, intercorse, smut

it was something about watching him beat the shit out of six other men and how you strangely felt turned on. you couldnt help but have remorse for the poor souls getting their asses handed to them by your seriously enraged boyfriend as he absolutely destroyed these guys one by one but at the same time you couldn't stop thinking about how sexy it made him look- and you found yourself having to shift yourself fixing your skirt cause of the slick wet coating on your thighs. as youre watching these dudes get there shit completely wrecked by izana your mind kept traveling to the worst possible places with him. you kept thinking bout when he was finished with them how you wanted to take him off to the side somewhere secluded, pin him down with your thighs and kiss him as you mercilessly grind your hips into him. you wanted him so bad it began to hurt yet for some reason you couldn't take your eyes off of him. he was spectacular. right before he finished off what little strength the last guy barely had left, he stopped for a second to check on his girl cause he always wants to make sure you are safe and caught you looking at him with a face that hes used to only seeing when you were beneath him. when he saw the way your skin was dusted pink and how your eyes were filled with such desire made him solid in less than a second. he put his already ruined opponent out of his misery with one last powerful blow letting go of his hair, tossing him to the side. right away he started to walk over to where you were seated amongst the heavenly kings, for protection of course and as arrived he had only one thing to say. " can i talk to her, alone.." it wasn't a question. kakucho stared at him confused and respectively informed him that you were unharmed and there was no need to worry but he simply laughed, and ignored him as he responded instead to you " c'mon baby, theres something real important i gotta talk to ya about .."

--------

the only thing that you could hear fill the air around you two other than your mismatched breathing was the moist noises his dick made thrusting in your pussy and the sound of his earrings as they swing rapidly in rhythm. he filled you completely and you screamed a little when he first went all the way in. the way his large purple eyes stared down at you with such affection you didn't know how much more you could honestly take. his hands found your thighs as he grabbed onto your plush cause he felt himself starting to drown inside you. you felt so fucking good around him and he felt his body jump whenever you would squeeze his length with every sexy sigh you let out. his movements became faster and you felt a taste of your first orgasm start to come on. you gripped his back knowing how this would end and he smiled cause he knew exactly what that had meant from you. he repositioned his feet on the ground to firm his stance and grasping your hips pushed inside, fucking into you with every last ounce he had left. you felt his cock press up deep in you that left such a pleasing ache it made a tiny whimper escape you. when he heard it, he leaned in to kiss your lips and as he did his silver trim tickled your cheeks that made you orgasm with such intensity that you instinctively began to cry out his name. " fu-ck, izanaa .. wait." he felt you grip down hard. there wasn't enough warning to stop as he felt himself come entirely in you. while you both desperately tried to even your breathe he held your limp body in his arms against him and kissed your forehead as he said, " damn that's why your my queen."

©izaneko - all rights reserved.

please do not copy / reupload or modify my writing.

[penguinkyun]

chapter 150 review

*laughs* oh this chapter. this is the day ive been waiting for since 123 dropped last year. folks its finally over. but before that lets review: augh aqua looks so tiny in the first panel....standing with bloodsoaked pants. man. he can't ever escape that hallway huh. him and goro being stuck in that same hallway from over ten years ago, still drenched in blood is so....auhg. i am so happy we're finally getting back into aquas head after *checks notes* 31 chapters of no longer being in his head! and i really love the conversation between the two of them too! it establishes a lot of what i've been thinking of how aqua views his reincarnation vs how ruby views it i.e. she is continuing her life as sarina unbroken but aqua....is a wholly different person! a year is enough time to change a person let alone almost twenty years! and how goro refers to himself as a faint wound is also quite interesting because as we've seen in c.65 and c.95, goro is used almost exclusively as aqua's vehicle of self hatred, constantly telling him he has no right to be happy or that he deserves to live unless ai's murderer is dead (put a pin in that point). goro is wound that aqua has not allowed to heal and it festers until he does. AND FINALLY. WE ARE FREE. we've never really seen aqua's viewpoint of the whole Incest Debacle apart from the very very uncomfortable faces he makes when ruby is chasing after him and that's because the very instant we get back into aqua's head he instantly shuts down any notion of it ever happening. it really is just ruby seeing the illusion of goro amamiya in him and aqua is no longer that person. anyways speaking of c.95, goro giving up here is very....eh. sure seeing sarina happy must've triggered some rethinking because she was also a major part of his guilt but. its always been centred around ai! ai's murder is the reason goro can't let go, because he was never able to fulfill his promise to protect her. avenging ai is always the driving force of whenever we see phantoms of goro in aquas head! honestly this is part of like. the story largely removing ai as a driving force in the twins lives - from decentering her involvement in their reincarnation to excising her from goro and aqua's central motivation for vengeance. but as i say that, goro has always been a vehicle for aqua's self hatred when it comes to his revenge. he is exclusively shown as a restraint on aqua gaining any sort of happiness and all his self hatred given form. but the phantom that is actually his desire for revenge, pure and unfiltered is:

and we haven't seen aqua confront him yet have we? *laughs nervously* also goro acting like an elder brother to aqua and teasing him about his crush on kana is hilarious lmfao. and handing him the knife. ha. anyways kana is so funny here. girl does not acknowledge akane as her rival in any major sense. akane is crying somehwere in the background (for legal reasons this is a joke). anyways kana slowly working up the courage to finally confess to aqua is so beautiful because she has incredibly low self esteem and to see her hope in this? after reminiscing on all her moments with aqua is really sweet. honestly a lot of aqkn romantic moments feel overdramatic on kana's end but this was. just really sweet really. it reminds of the moment in sweet today where she just glances aqua's way before the camera comes on. actually this chapter itself gives me a lot of the early onk vibes in how its written which is quite different from the tone of the movie arc which swung between comedy and almost horror. i will say i like that both aqkn think of their more normal moments in between all the dramatic ones. and god that panel of kana. shes so beautiful. i am so scared. because there is no way aqua will accept, since she is still an idol, kamiki is somewhere in the background and. well baby aqua hasn't shown up yet has he?

either way the knife is in aqua's hands now. its his choice if he wants to turn it on himself or throw it away.

break next week!

[cheerycherrycandy-resurrected]

What You've Done, You Cannot Undo (Medieval AU)

Chapter 17

The ghouls settle in some more, and Rain opens up to Dewdrop about his final big secret.

A bit of fluff, a bit of angst, a lot of "just kiss already!" I hope you enjoy <3

Rating: M Content: flashbacks, mild descriptions of violence Words: 7217

Links to full fic: Tumblr | AO3

Hi tag pals! @everybodyshusband @revengeghoulette

Read below, or on AO3!

Sunshine had pulled out all the stops with the picnic she brought; Dew had to wonder how she managed to fit as much into the basket as she did. They lounged around in the midday sun, chatting about their mornings and listening to the gentle lap of the lake against the feet of the dock. Rain had eventually put a shirt on, to Dew’s relief and disappointment, but he could still picture how he had looked climbing out of the lake; the type of figure the ancient Greeks carved statues of, the type that poems were written about. He spent the first minutes of their meal pretending to be incredibly interested in the sandwich he was nibbling rather than the press of the water ghoul’s knee against his, but he quickly found something more interesting to watch.

Swiss and Mountain were sat incredibly close to each other, so near they were practically in each other’s laps – Dew chose not to think about how him and Rain were sat in equal or greater proximity – with their elbows knocking together each time they raised their arms to eat. Dew wondered again what had transpired that morning that had led to them acting quite so cosy.

Rain was keen to see some more of the Abbey, seeing as he had been in the infirmary whilst the others had been shown around, and so Sunny offered to take him to the greenhouses on the way back to the Abbey. Mountain and Swiss followed too, seeing as their visit had been cut short by the pandemonium of Rain’s recovery the previous day.

“You coming too, Aeth?” Dew asked, turning to the quintessence ghoul. He shuffled his feet.

“I think I’ll go back to the library for a bit, Copia was showing me around before Sunshine fetched me for lunch.”

Mist raised an eyebrow.

“Wow, either the old guy’s got a lot more fun, or you really like the books.” She remarked.

“I’ll see you later, don’t worry,” Aether smiled at Mountain’s concerned expression, “seriously, I’m good. He’s really interesting to talk to.”

Dew made a mental note to check in with him.

Sunny had led the rest of them up to the greenhouse complex, Mist giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off with Aether back to the Abbey. Rain was mildly intrigued by the strange sheds made of glass panels, and even more interested when Sunshine explained how she had enchanted some of them to grow summer produce all year round. However, what he was most interested in was Dew’s rapturous expression as he followed her around. In a greenhouse that was almost stifling in its humidity, he had spotted a collection of small plants with long, red fruits hanging from them.

“Chilli peppers,” Dew gasped in delight, “they didn’t grow these before! We only had the dried ones.”

“They’re a new crop,” Sunny smiled, “we traded a few seeds from down south, and now we can grow them in here ourselves!”

Dew nipped one from the plant with his sharp claws, happily biting into it. Rain made to follow his lead, but the fire ghoul shot out a panicked arm.

“They’re really hot, Rain. Hotter than anything we ate before, try a tiny nibble of mine first.”

Rain eyed the bright red pepper in Dew’s hand, unsure how a plant could be hot. Before he could reach out a hand to take it, Dew raised it to his mouth, offering to feed him. He sniffed it, and shot out his forked tongue for a delicate lick, trying not to think about Dew’s own lips touching it moments prior.

He didn’t have a chance to worry about his face blushing red: the tiniest touch of it on his tongue left it burning, and he flinched away from it with a hiss.

“It burns! What is that?”

Dew tried not to laugh, sympathetic to the water ghoul’s pain.

“It’s a chilli pepper. They’re spicy, it makes them taste hot.”

“They’re evil.” Rain countered with a pout, drinking from a stream of water he summoned that cascaded from his hand.

Dew failed to keep a straight face and giggled. The sound was infectious, and despite his still-burning tongue Rain found himself doing the same.

While the two youngest ghouls messed around, Mountain had wandered off to investigate a tall plant with waxy yellow and white flowers he didn’t recognise and swiftly got chatting to an elderly earth ghoulette tending to it. Swiss was left looking around, wondering who he was supposed to tag along with, when Sunshine sidled up to him, following his gaze towards Mountain.

“Looks like you’ve caught yourself a nice one there,” she purred, before looking Swiss up and down, “although he’s not done too badly himself, either.”

Swiss stared down at her, too scandalised to speak.

“Relax, I’m just messing with you!” Sunshine cackled.

“We’re not even together.” He huffed back, bemused by the ghoulette’s behaviour.

“What!” Sunny shrieked, clapping her hands to her mouth to stifle the noise when Mountain glanced their way. “What’s in the water where you lot come from? First those two idiots,” she gestured to Rain and Dew, the latter now trying to see how many chillies he could fit in his mouth at once while the former continued scraping at his tongue, red faced, “and now you? How come none of you talk to each other!”

While Swiss spluttered, at a loss for words, she turned back to bark at the two youngest ghouls.

“Stop wasting all my damn harvest, Dewdrop!”

“I’m gonna talk to him,” Swiss huffed, “I just need to find the right moment.”

“When’s that, next century?”

Swiss gave in, chuckling along with her as he let Sunshine lead him along an aisle of plants, away from the rest of the group and out of their earshot. It was nice, he thought, having someone new to talk to, even if she seemed to be having far too much fun laughing at his expense.

“So, you’re a multi too,” Sunshine said as they strolled, the teasing gone from her voice but the cheerful attitude still there, “I haven’t met another one of us in years.”

Swiss nodded. “I haven’t either. Not since I left my birth clan.”

“How’re you settling in here?” Sunshine asked casually, but Swiss could feel the question was loaded.

“I don’t really know,” he sighed, “everyone else seems to be finding their place really quickly, but I don’t know where I’m supposed to fit in here.”

Sunshine pursed her lips in understanding.

“It’s hard. The other ghouls all seem to have their roles laid out for them, don’t they.”

The pair watched Mountain talking animatedly with the earth ghoulette through a gap in the foliage. Of all the ghouls, Swiss would have thought that the introverted earth ghoul would be the least likely to fit in so soon in a busy community like the Abbey. However, Mountain seemed to be doing better than Swiss so far; a strange experience for the ghoul who had always felt like the ‘face’ of the pack before.

“How did you find your niche?” He asked eventually. “I feel like I’m just tagging along with everyone else for lack of anything else to do.”

“It kind of just happened,” Sunshine mused, linking her arm through his and starting walking again, “I overheard a group of fire ghouls complaining that they were struggling to enchant a warm climate greenhouse because everything was just turning crispy, and I offered to help. Things seem to be doing better now I’ve added more light and humidity, so this has become my main task.”

“I worry I’m just a bit useless here,” Swiss sighed “back home I made predictions and stuff for the people in the town, but there’s air ghouls here who can do that so much better.”

“For the humans?” Sunshine stopped again, and swung round to face him. “That’s something that could be useful! Talk to Copia, he has all kinds of plans for something he calls ‘community outreach’, but no ghouls to help him.”

“He does?”

“Uh huh. I came from living with humans too, and he got really excited about some sort of project to ‘spread His message’? I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned it to you already, knowing your background.”

“Didn’t Dew say there are humans here who could do that? Why does he need ghouls to do that?”

“There’s a few, yes. You probably haven’t seen much of them, they stay in a totally separate wing to us ghouls. They’re the current ambassadors for the Ministry, but they’re not very successful.” Sunshine gave an exaggerated look over her shoulder, as though to check no errant human had snuck up on them in the last few seconds.

“They’re a bit useless if you ask me,” she whispered conspiratorially, “and so boring. They’re scared of their own kind, and they’re so bad at recruiting that they’re outnumbered by ghouls almost five to one.”

Swiss tried to imagine being a human preaching to their own kind about the wonders of the Dark Lord. That sounded like a one-way ticket to the gallows or the stake.

“Copia thinks us ghouls would do a better job,” Sunny continued, “even glamoured, we’re not human enough to fully pass, and he thinks that our slight otherworldly appearance might attract the interest of humans more suited to our cause, while scaring off those who oppose us.”

“I can see where he’s coming from,” agreed Swiss, “before I joined the pack I used to travel around with my guitar, singing in taverns and such. People were wary of me, but I think that added to the allure for some of them.” He flashed a dazzling smile to demonstrate, slightly-too-pointed teeth glistening next to his lone gold fang.

“Oh nice!” Sunny clapped her hands in joy. “I used to do something similar, I’d go round villages singing the humans’ folk songs in exchange for food and shelter.”

“Huh. Maybe Copia should think about spreading His word through music…” Swiss thought out loud.

“If our voices don’t get ‘em, that smile of yours sure will,” Sunny laughed, “it certainly seemed to work on your earth ghoul, look.”

They glanced over to where Mountain, having finished his conversation with the earth ghoulette, had drifted back over to Dew and Rain. He was hovering behind them, his eyes watching Swiss and Sunshine and he looked guilty at having been caught staring. Steering him by the elbow, Sunny led Swiss back over in their direction, beaming angelically.

“So, where next boys?”

The ghouls ended up in the library a while later, where they found Aether and Copia in a pair of armchairs, surrounded by books and deep in conversation. The quintessence ghoul looked up at the commotion caused by their entry and waved them over happily.

“See you nerds later.” Sunny gave them a mock-salute, and vanished back down the corridor.

“How were the greenhouses?” Aether asked as they dragged more chairs over, thoroughly disturbing the peace the two had been sat in.

“We saw Sunny's tropical one,” Mountain enthused, “it was very interesting. I got talking to an earth ghoulette called Delphinia, she's offered to give me a proper induction to working there if we choose to stay!”

“Spicy.” grumbled Rain, so quietly only Dew could hear him. He was still pouting about the betrayal of the pretty red fruit even now, and Dew thought it was simply adorable. His lower lip jutting out, Dew wanted nothing more than to kiss it and wipe the expression from his face. He saw Rain watching him, the slightest twitch in the corner of his eyes giving away that he had noticed Dew's stare, and he forced his eyes away, embarrassed at being caught.

“I've been telling Copia all about our travels before coming here,” Aether continued, “especially our early ones, Mount.”

The earth ghoul chirped in interest.

“They sound fascinating,” Copia gushed, “and not just the environments you saw, but the people too! As you can probably tell, we don't have a large human populous right now, especially not people who have come from any distance away.” He gestured around the library as he spoke, the lone human sat in a corner looking scared for their life as five pairs of ghoulish eyes suddenly landed on them.

“What's so interesting about the people?” Mountain asked, curious.

“For starters, how their attitudes to our cause are changing over time. Are they more accepting? Or are they frightened instead? These are all questions I have wanted to ask!”

“You want to talk to Swiss really,” Mountain said, looking at the multi ghoul who seemed surprised at his involvement, “he's got the most experience interacting with humans out of all of us; Aeth and I tended to steer clear of them when we could.”

“I travelled around with my guitar for many years,” Swiss explained, “playing in taverns and the like. I was just telling Sunshine about it. Most humans acted similarly, but there were always a few who were... more receptive listeners.” He tried diplomatically to describe the humans, men and women alike, who would practically throw themselves at his feet for a few sweet words and a honeyed smile.

“How wonderful,” Copia beamed. The intense focus he was listening with surprised Swiss, “I would be honoured to discuss your experience with us more mortal folk at greater length!”

Swiss shrugged, bashful. After the last few days of seeing his packmates slot into place here, he hadn't expected to feel needed in any way, least of all by their leader.

“I have a goal, you see,” the man explained, his face seeming to regain its youth in his excitement, “to spread His message far beyond these walls, far beyond the distance any missionary could carry it. The problem is, of course, the method.”

Swiss thought back to his conversation with Sunny.

“How about music?” he asked. “At least as a way to lure people in, it always worked for me. Then you'd have a captive audience to preach to.”

Copia nearly leapt to his feet in excitement. Instead, he simply gripped the edges of his chair and pitched himself forward.

“What an idea!” Several others in the library looked round, disturbed by the noise. “You said you played guitar, correct?”

Swiss held his hands out in front of him to defuse his enthusiasm.

“I do, but you must understand we are very wary of humans right now.”

Copia deflated somewhat, but his face was one of understanding.

“Yes, of course. My apologies Rain,” he turned to smile at the water ghoul, half hidden behind Dew, who shrugged at him, “I would never force any one of you do anything against your will.”

As he was looking at Rain, he seemed to remember himself suddenly.

“Why, we haven't been properly introduced! I am Papa Emeritus the Fourth, leader of this Abbey and sanctuary, but you can call me Copia.”

Rain looked uncomfortable as he became the sudden focus of the man's attention, but he held a cautious hand out to shake.

“Rain.” He said, softly. Copia took it and smiled, softer now he had calmed down somewhat.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Rain. I am most thankful our Dewdrop was able to save you, and I hope your recovery is going smoothly.”

“Yes, thank you. Mist has been helping me.”

“Ah, Mist. With her in charge you will have no choice but to get better!” He laughed at his own joke.

Sensing Rain's discomfort, Dew surreptitiously snaked his tail out to twine around Rain's. The water ghoul's tightened back in return, glad of the comfort. Luckily, Copia's attention was soon diverted back to quizzing the more senior ghouls, and Rain could relax again.

Eventually, Copia seemed to run out of questions and the ghouls were able to make their escape. As they left, Dew made a point of walking alongside Aether.

“Hi Dew, have a good day?”

Dew nodded offhandedly; he was here to question Aether, not the other way around.

“Are you alright?” He asked, in his usual blunt fashion. “Swiss and Mount are clearly worried about you too, afraid you felt left out while they went to go flirt in the woods earlier.”

Aether wanted to point out that Dew had also run off for similar purposes, but refrained.

“I thought they were,” he sighed, “they don’t need to be though, I’ve had a really great day. Copia is a fascinating man, and I bumped into Astra from the infirmary earlier who offered me a position there.”

Dew raised an eyebrow: Aether truly did seem happy today.

“I could really see us settling down here.”

That really did shock Dew. He had assumed Aether and Mountain would have the most difficulty figuring out their place here, but they seemed to be finding their feet best of all. He smiled up at the quintessence ghoul.

“I’m glad, Aeth. Really.”

That dinnertime, they decided to brave the main dining hall for the first time. The ghoulettes led them along the maze of corridors, taking them into a large wood-panelled room with a giant fire burning in the grate. Finally they got a glimpse at how large the Abbey’s population actually was. There were about half a dozen humans, all sat together in one corner, with the rest of the long tables occupied by ghouls. A gentle hubbub filled the air, but it was by no means unpleasantly loud. Cumulus led them over to an empty table in the middle of the room, and gestured for them all to take a seat. Dinner would be served buffet style, she informed them, but only once the kitchen staff themselves were ready to eat. Mealtimes were taken seriously here and there would be nobody left hunting for leftovers at the end, especially if they had a hand in preparing it.

Spotting Astra across the room Aether waved hello, happy to see a friendly face amidst the sea of strangers. The meal was as chaotic as ever, maybe even more so with the overall good mood of the pack and ambient noise in the room, but nobody seemed too bothered.

The ghoulettes led them up to the serving hatch to help themselves to food. Dew happily sprinkled more dried chillies all over his, reaching out an urgent hand to stop Rain from automatically copying him.

“It’s chili,” he laughed as they sat back at the table, “the spicy plant, only these have been dried.”

Rain was unimpressed.

“How can you eat that?” He pulled a face, as Dew began shovelling the mountain of red-freckled food into his mouth. “It’s trying to hurt you!”

“I’m a big strong ghoul,” Dew grinned at him, “let it try.”

“Sure you are.” Rain purred, rolling his eyes and bumping Dew gently with his shoulder.

The ghouls made casual conversation the rest of the meal; Cirrus and Cumulus asking about their days, and Sunshine about their conversation with Copia.

“He really liked the music idea,” Swiss told her, “I don't know if it will go anywhere, but it could be fun.”

Sunny seemed vastly more enthusiastic than him, so he let her excitement buoy him along as they chattered with the others about it. While the ghouls were still highly sceptical about interacting with humans, their memories of nights in the tavern or just around their own farm with Swiss and his guitar were full of fondness.

Back in the Den, the ghoulettes diplomatically left the common room to the newcomers for the evening, knowing they had an important discussion to have: whether they wished to stay at the Abbey for any length of time, or move on. As they peeled off, Cirrus pointed out all the empty doors, telling the ghouls that all the remaining rooms were made up ready for them if they wished to separate at last.

The pack spilled into the common room, occupying the colourful collection of chairs. The hubbub of the conversation from the hallway soon died out and they looked at each other, unsure of where to start.

“So,” Mountain began eventually, jumping straight to the point, “are we staying for now?”

Aether broke the silence that followed the earth ghoul's words.

“I'd be in favour, yes.”

Rain nodded exuberantly, clutching onto Dew's arm with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah, same.” He chuckled, making Rain beam.

“Me too.” Mountain cast his own vote.

They all turned to look at Swiss.

“Sure,” he forced a smile and shrugged, before answering truthfully, “it's the best place for us as a pack.” He would find his place eventually, he figured, and he trusted Sunny's optimism. Besides, where else would he go? He didn't dislike it here, and Copia's plans sounded interesting. Really, he just wanted to be wherever his pack were happy, and if that was here, he figured he would be too, in time.

"So, it's settled then: we stay for a while and try to make a go of things here.” Aether looked around at his pack, the mixture that they were, with pride and hope. They had all come a long way; from the antisocial wanderers he and Mountain had been, to the frail and frightened ghouls Rain and Dewdrop had been when they arrived, they had become a real pack, as strong as family.

Like any family though, they still needed time to themselves, and Aether for one was itching to stretch out in a bed, alone. As much as he had loved their piles over the last few nights, the weeks of camping had taken their toll on his back. He stretched his arms above his head, his spine making a flurry of popping noises, and he knew when he stood his hips and knees would do the same.

“Bedtime?” suggested Mountain with a laugh, slapping his knees before staggering to his feet from the impossibly low armchair he had landed in earlier, like a baby deer learning to walk. The antlers really added to the mental image, though Dew with a snicker.

Back in the hallway, the ghouls looked at the doors in front of them, at a slight loss for what to do.

“The one next to mine looks pretty much the same, the ones opposite have bigger windows and a balcony.” Dew summarised, waiting to see which dithering ghoul chose which. Mountain shrugged and opened the door to the room he had showered in previously; the wooden panelling like in Dew's was perfect for protecting an earth ghoul's energy, especially in the winter. Aether did the same opening an opposite door, keen for the view of the sky the tall windows would provide and already imagining evenings sat watching the stars. That only left the rooms next to him for Rain and Swiss. The latter waved goodnight to the pack, and sent an additional smile towards Mountain directly opposite, leaving only the water ghoul who made no move to leave Dew's side.

“You good with the last one?” Dew asked, concerned he'd overlooked some crucial issue. Rain dug his claws into Dew's arm, tugging him towards the fire ghoul's plain door.

“Oh, you don't want your own?” Dew tried to colour his voice with concern, but was secretly delighted to keep the water ghoul close, and all to himself. Rain shook his head vehemently and tightened his grip.

“Ouch! Okay, I get it, roommates it is.” Dew laughed, and let himself be pulled into his own bedroom.

The pair did not stay there for long. Whether due to the nervous energy that buzzed around them at the realisation that they were truly alone for the first time, or just from the lingering excitement of the day, it was barely half an hour before the two ghouls were sneaking back out of the dormitory, giggling like kits. They ran hand in hand towards the lake, pulling each other along as the light of the waning moon gleamed off Dew's champagne hair, making it appear lit from within.

Their footsteps slapped lightly on the dock as they ran along it, heading for the spot where they had sat earlier, right at the end. Rain looked like he was debating leaping straight in, grabbing at the hem of his shirt, but thought better at the last minute and tested the temperature with his tail first.

“Fuck that's freezing!” he hissed. How did it feel so much colder now that it was nighttime? Dew giggled next to him, lying on his front instead to look down into the dark water. Rain joined him, their shoulders bumping together as Dew reached out a hand to swirl the dark liquid around. The moonlight reflected off every little ripple he made, spreading out in hypnotising circles.

Dew's mind drifted. He imagined them swimming alone in the lake, dressed only in darkness with the moon the sole witness to their pile of clothes laying abandoned on the dock. He could probably keep a patch of water around them warm, if they stuck close enough together...

Glancing at Rain, his blue-tinged skin glowing luminescent in the moonlight, he suddenly felt very exposed, and rolled onto his back to stare into the dark abyss of the sky. It wasn't empty though, he realised. The myriad pinpricks of light from stars competed for his attention with the moon that hung there, mocking his inaction with her beautiful kin laid next to him.

“It's almost unbelievable,” Dew mused, distracting himself as Rain rolled over to join him and maintain their closeness, “that the moon caused all of this. It looks so small up there.”

Rain followed his gaze and hummed in acknowledgement.

“I knew it controlled the tides, obviously, but I didn't think about it affecting ghouls too,” he agreed, “it seems almost obvious now Mist's pointed it out.”

“You didn't know at all?” Dew asked, surprised. Rain shook his head.

“I don't know why no one ever told me,” he sighed, “was it really obvious to everyone else, and I'm just stupid? Or was there some super-secret club for powerful water ghouls where they talked about all this, that I was left out of because they thought I was useless?”

“You're not useless,” Dew answered automatically, “I hadn't heard of anything like it either, it seems almost unbelievable.”

Rain hummed again, thinking about Dew being half water but with no knowledge of what that meant at all, not even a connection to the element to hold on to.

“Is it strange, having a part of you that you know nothing about?” he asked finally.

Dew thought for a moment about the half of him laying dormant before answering with a shrug.

“I guess. I don't know how else I'm supposed to feel about it, it's not like I've lost anything, y'know? I'm mostly a normal fire ghoul without it. It's always just been this tainted thing about me.”

It was so sad, thought Rain, that the thing that had drawn him to Dew in the first place – his faint familiarity – was something he saw as a negative, just a stain. He was sure the sorrow was clear on his face, as Dew's began to mirror it when their eyes met again.

“I'm still sorry, for taking my resentment about it out on you,” Dew continued, almost whispering now, “it felt like the universe was taunting me by presenting me with such a perfect water ghoul. Showing me something beautiful, but that only made me feel uglier inside like some sort of cruel joke.”

Rain made sympathetic noises, Dew having already apologised enough for his previous actions, until it suddenly dawned on him that Dew was describing him.

“What do you mean perfect? I'm as far from perfect as you could get, everyone in my clan thought I was a pathetic excuse for a water ghoul, even as a kit!”

Dew snorted; he'd never heard anything so silly.

“Look at you though, look at your pretty fins!” Dew gestured to Rain's arms, the lacy fins on his arms glowing a thousand shades of blue and rolled to point at his tail moving lazily through the water, leaving a bioluminescent trail in its wake.

“We all look like this!” Rain laughed, incredulous.

“Yeah, but I don't,” Dew sounded sad again, “all the water in me did was douse the fire some. The worst of both worlds.” He stared at Rain's tail some more, not wanting to meet his eyes. Sensing the beginnings of the familiar slide into self-pity, and not wanting to put a downer on their otherwise pleasant day, he forced himself to pull the topic back into lighter territory.

“Not to mention, that apparently it makes me smell like fish!” He reached out into the dark lake to splash Rain lightly, making the water ghoul squeal in shock at the cold. In retaliation, Rain fixed Dew with a wicked smile, and pulled a column of water up from the ripples below, making it arc menacingly over him.

“Okay, okay, I take it back!” Dew shrieked, not wanting a drenching in the icy water. “I can tell you your fins are pretty again, just please don't soak me!”

Rain carefully guided every drop back into the lake with a pleased trill. The tension utterly shattered once again; the pair sat giggling uncontrollably to themselves. Dew had to wonder if they were becoming slightly delirious; he couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so much.

They finally regained their composure enough to continue talking, the atmosphere of openness that the dark night provided still surrounding them in her comforting arms.

“Do you have anything at all that links you to water?” Rain asked, curious. “Anything that links you to the moon?”

Dew thought hard. He definitely didn't have the true elemental magic, that followed what Mist had explained too, but he thought about any of his behaviours that had been seen as odd for a fire ghoul.

“I never noticed much,” he mused, “but I guess I like fish a lot more than the average fire ghoul? My clan never really ate it unless food was tight, and then we barbequed it beyond recognition anyway. They all preferred red meat. I don't know if that's a water ghoul thing though or not.”

“Swiss likes fish too?” Rain thought out loud. “Maybe that's also his water element.”

“Maybe the three of us just have more refined palates.” Dew laughed.

A comfortable silence fell again.

“Can you swim?” Rain asked after a while. He realised he'd never actually seen Dew swim, only bob around with his feet on the ground.

“Not properly,” Dew shook his head, “I never learned as a kit, and I just got by without knowing until now.” He met Rain's gaze with shy eyes. “Could you teach me?”

The water ghoul positively beamed at him.

Eventually, the two ghouls found themselves in their earlier position, lying back on the pier and watching the celestial bodies above. Out here in the stillness of the night, the gentle noises of nature were reassuringly constant. Everything felt just a little bit easier, Rain thought, when the sounds of the world carried on regardless of his actions. Nothing he could say would stop the humming of the insects of the periodic hooting of the owls, no matter how monumental it sounded to his ears. The moon shone down at him, imploring him to tell Dew his final secret under her protective gaze.

“It wasn’t just the moon, that day.” He said finally, eyes fixed on her glowing shape in the heavens, so as to not have to meet those of the fire ghoul beside him. Rain could feel Dew’s stare boring into the side of his face, unsure of both where the conversation was going, and where it had come from. He kept looking up, lest he lose his nerve.

“I told you about the ghoulette from my home clan, remember?” Rain felt, rather than saw, Dew nodding next to him. “I’ve been having nightmares about her, ever since I left. They’re usually pretty similar, just variations of her calling me useless, pathetic, that sort of thing.”

“Was that what the nightmare the other day was about?” Asked Dew sadly, unable to stop himself.

Rain debated how to answer. ‘No more lies’ he reminded himself.

“Sort of. She was in it, but that dream was different,” he continued quickly, before Dew could ask a follow up question, “the important one is the nightmare I had that morning.” Rain took a deep, shuddering breath, determined to get the words out fully. “The morning I killed three people.” His tongue felt like lead as he spoke.

Dew reached out a comforting hand, and Rain gripped it like a lifeline before continuing, his eyes still fixed forward.

“It was the same as most of my nightmares usually went; she called me useless, the fire ghoul next to her laughed, I woke up. Only that morning, I couldn’t shake it off like normal. She was in the back of my mind from the moment I woke up. Then when I got to the farm, it was like I was seeing a ghost.”

Rain tore his eyes away from the moon to look at Dew, and wished he hadn’t when he saw the deeply earnest expression on his face.

“Wait, do you remember the girl I–” Rain tried not to choke on the word this time, “killed?”

Dew shook his head. “Not really. I remember Farmer Wilkens had a daughter, but I couldn’t recall her face.”

Rain laughed wryly, but there was no humour in his tone as he focussed back on the moon above.

“She was the spitting image of her. It was like I’d been transported back in time to when I was an adolescent, like I was looking at the version of her who’d said she loved me, rather than the version in my dream who said no one ever would.”

He felt the squeezing round his hand grow tighter, grounding him.

“Seeing someone who looked so much like her from back then, combined with the nightmare still in my head, I panicked, and then I couldn’t stop the magic flowing through me.”

Rain could feel hot tears running down into his hairline, unbidden. Recounting the event like this, dwelling on how he had felt, how he had hurt. However it also felt cathartic, like by telling Dew, the moon and the whole night sky, he could begin to ask the universe for forgiveness, or at least understanding.

“I just wanted her to stop,” he cried, sobbing now, “I just wanted her to be quiet, to leave me alone and get out of my head. Then I saw that poor girl, and I couldn’t stop it coming out! The water just wouldn’t stop, and it was going straight for her.” Rain’s whole body shuddered in horror at the recollection of how the unstoppable tidal wave of his power had felt; how he’d seen the girl’s painfully familiar face and lashed out, desperate to make his endless night time suffering end.

“I saw her get dragged away by the flood,” he gasped between stuttered breaths, “I couldn’t stop it and I killed her!”

He’d seen her body crumple to the floor as the water released her, finally seeing her as the true innocent stranger she was. As the life left her fragile body, the light behind the eyes of the ghoulette who lurked in his mind and haunted his dreams faded too. Rain let himself be pulled into Dew and comforted as his cries of guilt and grief wracked his body.

Dew had tried as hard as he could to hold his tongue while Rain spoke, seeing how much pain he was putting himself through. He could tell how important it was to Rain that he got the words out however, so he tried to provide all the unspoken comfort he could. When Rain finished, he wasted no time in clutching the water ghoul close and letting him sob for as long as he needed. What he had gone through that morning was even more traumatic than he could have imagined; Dew couldn’t even begin to picture how much guilt he must have been holding on to. No wonder he had appeared to lose his mind in the aftermath, he thought. Rain’s constant and recurring need to blame himself made sense too, given the harrowing circumstances.

When Rain appeared to have run out of tears to cry, simply shaking in his arms, Dew shuffled even closer, nuzzling his way into getting his head onto Rain’s chest. He didn’t know what to say, but it seemed he didn’t need to; Rain’s reaction to his closeness clearly showed it was enough for him to just be there for him. The peace was much-needed, it seemed, and Dew was happy to provide.

They could have stayed that way for minutes or hours, it was anyone’s guess. Long past the time Rain had stopped quivering, past the time Dew’s leg had begun spasming with disuse, until the water ghoul started shivering from the cold instead. Dew heated himself up and happily let Rain hold him closer for warmth, like a sentient hot water bottle. Eventually, it wasn’t enough however.

“Do you want to go back inside?” Dew asked in a whisper, twisting to raise his chin and look at Rain for a response, but not fully lifting his head from his chest.

Rain nodded, and released Dew to scramble to his feet where he held out a hand to help the water ghoul up too. He kept hold of it the whole walk back to the Abbey, needing to feel the closeness after the raw emotion of baring his soul. He only released him once they had tiptoed back into the Den, with the bedroom door closed behind them as they went to change into pyjamas.

The pair both blushed deeply with their backs to each other as they stripped, and stumbled into their sleep clothes. Dew turned around as soon as he was finished to see Rain stood with clearly no intention of putting a shirt on over his sensitive exposed gills. He thanked whatever deity was listening for the dim light of the fireplace as they climbed into his – or he supposed it was now their – bed, grateful that the deep flush on his cheeks was camouflaged by it. Letting Rain manhandle him back into the position they were at down on the dock with Dew halfway on top of the him, the two ghouls slipped very swiftly into sleep. It had been a busier evening than either had anticipated, with far more vulnerability from the water ghoul than Dew had been expecting given their light-hearted joking just before. He supposed it was all things Rain had needed to say, and he could only hope that it would help keep the nightmares from continuing to torment him. For good measure, he wrapped his arms tighter around Rain’s torso: no bad dreams were getting past him if he could help it.

Next door, two of their packmates were in a very similar position.

Swiss had gotten ready for bed in the cold, empty expanse of the unoccupied room that was now supposedly his, every move he made echoing loudly off the bare walls. His footsteps sounded like a giant thudding around, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the whole hallway could hear him. Laying in the nest he had tried so valiantly to build, he felt a bone-chilling cold despite his limited fire power heating the blankets around him, and the fire burning in the hearth. He stared at the high ceiling, and tried to distract himself from the feeling of the stone walls closing in on him. They reminded him of Rain’s jail cell, and left him half-paralysed in fear.

Eventually he could bear it no longer; the wind racing past the tall windows was beginning to sound like screams in his ears, the yells of the bloodthirsty mob from the village, and he bolted from the room. He paused outside Mountain’s door, unsure if he could just burst in on the earth ghoul. What if he was asleep? Calmer now that he was out of the room, he considered his alternatives: going back wasn’t an option, he could barely stand to be in there for another minute, let alone sleep a whole night there. Aether had a similar room to his, and no amount of company would make him feel comfortable in the veritable stone prison. Besides, the quintessence ghoul desperately needed more sleep and he wasn’t going to take that away from him over a mere sleeping arrangement issue. There was no way in Hell he was going to disturb Rain and Dewdrop, and he couldn’t just stay in the hallway in his sleep pants, leaving him with no other option.

Quietly he pushed open the emerald green door. Maybe Mountain would be asleep and he wouldn’t even have to explain himself – he could make that a problem for Morning-Swiss. That plan was immediately foiled however at the sight of the earth ghoul staring straight at him, two green eyes glinting in the darkness and the dim firelight flickering on his unglamoured antlers.

“Hey Mount.” he whispered softly, apologetic.

“Can’t sleep?” rumbled Mountain, a sleepy smile on his face.

“How’d you know I don’t just want a cuddle?” Swiss tried to joke, but his voice rang hollow to both of them.

Mountain, however, very much liked the sound of a cuddle, especially with how haunted Swiss was looking as he spoke now. He hadn’t been able to sleep either yet; against all of his prior experience, he was missing the company of his pack. Especially one packmate.

“C’mon,” Mountain hummed, beckoning Swiss forward, “bedtime.”

He pulled the multi ghoul tight to his chest, resting his chin on Swiss’ piled up hair.

“Is this okay?” Swiss whispered into the dark. The room here was so much more comforting already with it wooden interior, although he suspected his specific company helped.

“Course it is, Snapdragon.”

A short while later, the room was reverberating quietly with the sound of their harmonising purrs as they fell into a sound sleep.

Across the hall, Aether was also just drifting off to sleep. He had sat up for a while, wrapped in a heavy blanket and watching the stars from his balcony. The constellations above were familiar: the same unwavering cast of characters telling the same stories they had told for millennia. It made the multitude of changes that had occurred recently easier, knowing that some things remained totally static in the world.

The quiet in his room was blissful; he felt bad thinking it, but it was nice to have a moment of peace to himself. He loved his pack mates, more than anything, but his brain needed the alone time to decompress sometimes. The calm stillness of the room welcomed him, absorbing the loudest of the thoughts that rattled around inside his head like marbles in a jar.

Back in bed, he let the gentle rushing of the wind around the corners of the building lull him into a deep sleep.

[2n2n]

CH. 116

WOOOO!! ah I wished for a Tsukasa color image... aren't we so blessed....

a delicate princess pose lol...... every Tsukasa has a kind of hime-sama vibe, even dirty orphan... isn't it true....

God. what did Amane do with you

now this is a meaningless detail I'm sure everyone will note, but I do think a correction was made to Kou's staff. Previous chapter it had the 'seal' Hanako placed on it when they met....

which doesn't really make sense in this world...

It now seems to be a seal to imbue it with lightning. Even in distance shots, or shots before Teru himself is holding it. So it's simply an error that has been corrected.

it's not the first time AidaIro-sensei have bungled a small detail. The dates for the Yugi twin's 4th birthday were originally printed slightly off (1960 in magazine print VS 1959 in volume print), and I used to go insane staring at the literally same panels with different numbers LOL. If it was an earnest mistake, we'll likely see the seal replaced with this lightning one in the previous chapter, in the volume edition.

It's kind of endearing... because if I had to guess I assume the seal was a simple aida-sensei bungle, while the dates/calendar was an iro-sensei bungle. Both such simple mistakes to make though, lol... and both caught!

I wonder if it's kind of a concession to make it easier on Aida-sensei LOL, I feel bad for her having to always subtract or add seals and occasionally messing up... maybe it's easier to draw a seal there on impulse, and just change the symbol on it, than get used to drawing the staff fully without seal at all.. it doesn't have one in the first volume, of course, lightning or anything...

so wild to see Kou just punch a kid...

maybe I am overthinking it, but it doesn't feel like the lightning really hurts Tsukasa....? feels like he just whacked him with a broom for all that did....

typically even a feeble small bolt at least hurts Hanako or seizes his body briefly...

though Tsukasa is always flat affect when receiving pain, you can at least see it does technically hurt him/leave a mark, like it does on Hanako...

eh... wonder. The lightning only works on 'evil spirits' and not blessed ones, so I'll just say I'd be really intrigued if this Tsukasa was not technically an 'evil spirit'.... Hanako is categorically one (like it or not). I do not really know what this Tsukasa is (:> my heart is open to anything....

AND THEN IT IS TIME FOR ULTIMATE INTRIGUE!!!! GOING TO MAKE ME CRY!!! I was watching all the girlies on JP twitter losing their minds....

p-please... why does Tsukasa always have some... strange, confused aspect to him, like his mind isn't all there, like he can't remember where he is or what he's doing... this is a devastating tiny peek into something... AidaIro-sensei are, such masters... how can Tsukasa balance so well, being a scamp menace, and seeming so unfortunate? Your heart hurts, doesn't it... he always loves Amane. He is always calling for him....

I wonder if he's just confused easily when alone, or if there's something about his perception of reality/time/space, or what... he seems to get kind of lost while he's chasing Nene-chan around too... I wonder why!!! Tsukasa-chan... do you think you're chasing Amane, do you remember playing with Amane...? Do you hallucinate other people as Amane...? Or... do you just not remember when and where you are... or do you call out to him compulsively when alone? Why did you say it in your own tone of voice, apart from the well's...? A white textbox, standing out from the black... What is your state, little otouto...

Did Amane train you to do this....? Does that mean you did this with him? How and why are you here!!! 100 QUESTIONS

ohhh lamentably fuckable otouto .... Amane I don't know what you did but I wonder if I'll be able to blame you.... I dunno, something about Tsukasa, maybe you've gotta subjugate him to quiet the darkness within you wwwww....

now, I think Kou made a big mistake w, I'm going to assume Tsutsu started barrelling at him at inhuman speed

I hope you got caught in about 5 seconds....

this is all the twitter girlies summoning Tsukasa to ask him what color Amane's underwear is

glad to have another angle of 'yorishiro' lore...

yorishiro is an established concept in shinto beliefs as it is, so obviously it always has had an existence of SOME kind outside of the mysteries specifically... but we haven't gotten to really know what those are, in THIS world! I like learning about this simpler, pared-down version of the idea... less complicated and advanced than the mysteries obviously... I like that one would not need some sort of kannagi/miko/blessed being to destroy this kind of simple yorishiro. This would imply a lot more power to the SEALS in particular, and whatever PLACES them onto the mysteries, which PROTECT them from such simple destruction (I get the impression the Mysteries are trying to create a system of checks-and-balances by REQUIRING cooperation between HUMANS and KAII both... which makes one ask 100 questions about how they came to be)...

well I like this tidbit (: grudge you say.... hmhmmmm...

do you remember when I finally was like OHHH i get it, the purpose of KouMitsu is raw physical assault, that's the fetishistic appeal of it, that is the kind of yaoi it is visually... is like, a small, waify pink haired femme boy getting hit and grabbed and throttled and straddled and kabedon'd by a shoe and screamed at. Well it's happening again.

hmm. This is the best you have ever looked in your life, Kou. You should be grateful. You'll never achieve this level of minxy foxie slay on your own, with your ugly little sonic the hedgehog eyeballs....

hm though. I think some individuals are going to have some kind of a forced sexual awakening, from the concept of Tsukasa possessing Kou and harming Mitsuba like this. I dunno. Some people, they've really built Tsukasa into such an ultimate terror in their minds, it has to come out the other end some day (like all deep-seated fears do). I dunno man. If you're uncontrollably aroused by this concept/scene don't worry, it's normal. Mitsuba's divine purpose in life is to have his limbs chopped off and be thrown around the room like a ragdoll...

a Tsukasa-chan who doesn't like yelling.

it's funny to get all quiet and just continue to more silently strangle him wwww...... very Tsukasa-like........

yaoi panel wwwwwwww.....

WE ARE ONCE AGAIN QUESTIONING TSUKASA-CHAN'S AUTHENTICITY!!! is it ever really 'Yugi Tsukasa'? Ohhh what did the stupid clockkeepers really accomplish....

I'm hoping they had a hubris, and had no real idea the domino effect of time shenanigans that occur from tampering with Tsukasa... considering Nene-chan's timehopping means Tsukasa connects to FAR more involved points in time than may be obvious to a linear-time observer...