#THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE ASK I had a blast answering these

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Ace Trappola - Room Relaxation Vignette

"Happy Birthday"

[Exterior Hallway]

Ace: Well, it's gettin' about time. Guess I'll head to basketball practice… Hm? Who's that over there…?

Ace: Yo, Kalim-senpai! How's it going? Hey, hey, do you know what tomorrow is?

Kalim: Tomorrow? Hm, what's going on tomorrow…? Is there a dance competition? Oh, or is there some sort of feast planned?

Ace: Ooh, you're getting' close! The correct answer is… My birthday～!

Kalim: Woah! Tomorrow's your birthday!? That's awesome!!

Ace: Yeah, it's totally awesome! There's gonna be a party back at my dorm, and everyone'll get me a gift. It'll be a blast!

Ace: But, y'know, the crazier the party, the more lonely it feels the day after my birthday…

Ace: I always feel like it'd be great if these sorts of days come around two or three times more a year.

Ace: …Don'tcha think, Kalim-senpai?

Kalim: Oh, yeah, I feel you! It just doesn't feel enough to only have one birthday a year.

Kalim: Hey, I just had a great idea! I'll throw you another party the day after your birthday.

Kalim: That way you won't feel as lonely, right? It sounds super fun, so let me do this for you!

Ace: Ehhhh, you sure!? I'm tickled pink! Kalim-senpai, thanks so much!

Kalim: Yeah! I'll make it the best, most outrageous party you've ever seen, so I hope you look forward to it!

[Kalim leaves]

Ace: Nice, I got Kalim-senpai to celebrate my birthday! And he's making it an outrageously awesome party…

Ace: That might get a veto from Jamil-senpai, though…

Ace: But regardless, I at least secured a promise from Kalim-senpai for a celebration. I can't way for the day after tomorrow～!

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Ace's Room]

Ace: Huuurgh, today's basketball practice was insanely hard… Floyd-senpai just wouldn't quit guarding me!

Ace: Usually he just gets bored and disappears off to who knows where… Ugh, I'm so tired～ I just wanna pass out…

Ace: My roommates sure got it easy. Doesn't sound like they got any upperclassmen that cause problems or nag all the time…

Ace: …Augh, I'm definitely gonna fall asleep if I just keep zoning out. I'm gonna go jump in the shower.

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Ace's Room]

[roommates chatting]

[Roommate A greets Ace]

Ace: I'm baaack. Why did I take so long…? Y'see, Trey-senpai cornered me while I was brushing my teeth in the washroom.

Ace: He made me re-brush my teeth, and then handed me some floss and mouthwash. Then…

「Survey on Quality of Life Improvements for the Student Body」

Ace: Right, so he handed me this survey to fill out too. Ugh, it's short answers! Better if it was multiple choice or something.

Ace: Hey, can't any of you guys fill this out for me? I'm real tired from practice today, 'cause it was reeeal hard.

[Deuce refuses]

Ace: …Do it myself without tryin' to slack off? Fine, fine, guess that's what I shoulda expected from you honor student types. You're takin' it waaay too seriously!

Ace: Maybe I'll just jot down that it sucks to be stuck in a room with guys I don't vibe with, or something.

[Deuce argues]

Ace: …Oh, shut up, I was just kidding. Whatever, I guess I'll just start filling in the form.

Ace: First off… The dorm rooms are way too small! That's the worst thing, so I definitely can't leave that out.

Ace: Sure, we can ask each other to swap dorm duties, or help each other when we can't remember a specific Queen of Hearts' rule…

Ace: So I guess it's not the end of the world that there's four of us in here. But it'd be better if the room was just a bit bigger.

Ace: It's practically impossible to study in here. Sometimes someone else's stuff'll end up in my personal space, too.

[Roommate B speaks up]

Ace: …Huh? Pot, meet kettle? No way, I'm always tiding up after myself…

[Roommate B interjects]

Ace: Eh, you found my pen mixed in with your stuff the other day? Uhhhh…. Oh, dang, look at that, it's lights out time!

Ace: I gotta hit the hay! Mmkay, night!

Ace: Aaand, that's the way to shut them out! This is why I love canopy beds.

Ace: As soon as I draw the curtains closed, I can have secure myself a small, little private space…

Ace: The thicker curtains help to keep light and sound down, so even if I'm playing with my phone all night long, it's not bothering anyone else.

Ace: When I think of it that way, I think the only thing I really have to complain about my room is just that it's small.

Ace: …But once I step outside my room, I gotta deal with strange rules, scary upperclassmen, and insanely hard homework.

Ace: Oh, right, I have homework… I need to do that… But first, I think I'll take a bit of a breather and play on my phone for a bit!

Ace: Ooh, my middle school friends uploaded something onto Magicam. They look like they're havin' fun back in the Queendom.

Ace: I feel crazy jelly seeing that, especially since I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere on Sage's Island… Hm?

Ace: Wait, what's this video at the bottom…? Oh! It's an ad for the magic shop I was looking into the other day!

Ace: Woah, how'd they manage that trick? Yooo, I bet I'd look real cool if I could master that!

Ace: I really want that magic trick. Maybe I should ask for it for my birthday.

Ace: Oh, hey, that next manga chapter is out. I gotta check that out.

Ace: Oh, and there's an event going on in that one mobile game. Guess I can log in for that. Oh, and…

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Ace's Room]

Ace: Urrrgh… Mm… It's too bright… Is it morning already? I guess I fell asleep playing the game.

Ace: What time is it…? Huh!? It's already this late!? Hey, why didn't anyone wake me up!?

Ace: Didn't my alarm wake me? You opened my curtain for me? …If you're gonna do that much, you coulda woken me up!

Ace: At least I don't have morning practice today… But I gotta get ready on the double!

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Washroom]

Ace: My face is washed and my skin-care routine is done.

Ace: Ack, my hair's all over the place! Ughh, c'mon, I hate how my hair is…!

Ace: Maybe I can just fix it with some wax… Oh, but I want to make sure I have time to fix my makeup…

Ace: I got no choice, I should just use magic to set it! I screwed it up last time, but… I can totally do it today! Definitely! Hyah!

[poof!]

Ace: AAAAAAAAHH!? IT GOT EVEN WORSE, THIS SUCKS!!

Ace: What can I even do about this now!? Okay, first, let me try this spray to fix the bedhead!!

[spritz, spritz, spritz]

Ace: Ack, did I spray too much? Okay, I should just be able to rub it in here with my fingers… Guess I'll just have to see how it looks later.

Ace: I gotta set my makeup while I wait for my hair to loosen up. First, I gotta slap on some sunscreen…

Ace: Now, my eyebrows are the priority. I can kinda let everything else be half-done, but this's gotta be on point.

Ace: Back in middle school, I remember we were all laughing our heads off at this one person who did a terrible job drawing in his eyebrows, tryin' to look all fashion-y.

Ace: …I mean, not like I'd ever or will ever make that kind of screw up, though.

Ace: I saw a video yesterday that says that thicker eyebrows are in right now, so I'll just try to follow that tutorial and draw in where it's lacking…

Ace: Okay, nice. Not bad! I think I did pretty good for just trying to copy what I saw.

Ace: Now all I got left is my eye makeup… What should I do for the suit? I'd like to use something with a bit of lamé in it, but…

Ace: I bet the Housewarden'll get all huffy if it's too fancy. Guess I should just do what I normally do.

Ace: How's my hair looking…? Nice, it's tamer now! Probably was a good thing to spray too much on it.

Ace: Just gotta put some hair wax in to set it… Done. Whew, I feel a bit more presentable now.

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Ace's Room]

[roommates chattering]

Ace: I gotta get my stuff together ASAP… Wait, huh? If the rest of you are all here, does that mean we still have a bunch of time?

Ace: Maan, then I coulda worked on my hair a bit more. I think I'll dip into the washroom again… Huh? My enigmatics homework?

Ace: …AAAAAAAAAH!! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT IT!!

Ace: Oh man, I'm so screwed, Crewel's gonna tan my hide if I don't do anything… What should I do!?

Ace: …Hold the phone. I have enigmatics in the afternoon. That essentially means I'll have my lunch break before I have to turn it in.

Ace: I think the other classes might be ahead of us, so maybe they've already finished the homework already?

Ace: Even if the questions are slightly different, as long as I can figure out how they solved it, I should be able to bang it out… Oh yeah, it's all coming together.

[Roommate A speaks up]

Ace: Wheeew, I got all worked up over nothing～ Mmkay, then I'm heading out… Huh, what is it? You want me to help with your homework?

Ace: Hahahah, no waaaay! Here, I'll open the curtains up for you, so why don't you figure out the rest～?

[Main Street]

Kalim: Oh, there he is. Ace! Good morning!

Ace: Ah, Kalim-senpai! Good morning…? What's up? Isn't the party tomorrow?

Kalim: Yeah! But your birthday's today, right? That's why I thought I'd come wish you a happy birthday in person.

Kalim: So, yeah… Happy Birthday, Ace!

Ace: Haha, you really are the type of guy to show up the day of just to wish someone a happy birthday, huh.

Ace: Thanks a bunch! I can't wait for the epic party tomorrow!

Requested by @thelonepearl.

[mcybree]

🌓 + ❄️ + 🌌

🌓 - opinions on watcher lore?

(warning for any onlookers I am a hater in this one. avert your eyes)

I think it’s fun in passing, like I have fun with it when I make an AU and have to incorporate it in a silly way but I feel as though watcher “KILL EACH OTHER WE MUST FEED” brand of interpretations undermine the entire narrative by tossing aside every character’s own agency and reducing their internal struggles to set-ups by immoral gods. There is only so much “I dont want to do this but I have to :( the watchers told me so” a story can take before it becomes the narrative happening *to* all of the characters, rather than the characters making their own bad decisions which takes away all the fun for me. similarly, watcher grian has always bothered me but I only ever put into words why a few days ago— If I was writing the life series, I would look take one look at Grian’s character and separate grian (watcher lore) and grian (the guy) into two different characters. I’ve never seen watcher grian incorporated in a way that compliments his character or says anything about who he is as a person. The Watchers are a punchline to me <\3

❄️ - be honest, which character do you care about the least?

I have thought extensively about every character at some point in my year long hyperfixation hellscape *except* for Etho and Impulse; through nature of being a scott megabuild mutual I care about Etho now like I get it but Impulse… im sorry man. I have still yet to get it I’ll keep trying though. I cant make myself write something without feeling that I have a grasp on how everyone involved thinks and acts I could not live with myself if I made every impulse fan point at me and go HE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT!!!! before rightfully banishing me to the beyond

🌌 - what happens when the players die?

Okay so. To me. The games are set in a dubious state of reality, like a simulation but theyre still made of flesh and blood and the trees are still breathing and the dirt is still dirt. I’m going to cite the infinity train car coding for how I sort of imagine this works… where its all living breathing thinking feeling but the organics of it are still attached to adjustable values behind the scenes. This is all to say that none of the players ever really sleep— the games existing in this dubious state of reality allows for adjustments to be made and this was one of them. So when they *die* die, the memories they gathered throughout the game are sort of flipped through and finalized in this window of time before the next game, creating a warped nonsensical dream sequence loosely based on the events of the game that they experience until the next one. I visualize this as a sort of psychedelic drug trip combination of all sorts of familiar places and people merging together but eerie nightmare purgatory dreams like being at an empty convenience store at night while echoes surround you is just as likely tbh.

TLDR what happens when the players die is whatever makes the coolest visuals for an animatic SORRY. Like if I’m being completely honest it’s whatever I need it to be to tell the story I made this up retroactively,

[charmwasjess]

Your opinions on Rael Aveross? Yee-haw, or no howdy?

Oh, YEE-HAW. Giddy up, Rael Averross!

I admit, it took me a sec to warm up to Rael. If you include Dooku's Sith-era when he was self-medicating with apprentices, the man trained so many students already, characters ripe to be fleshed out, and now instead they invent a new one?? And it's this cowboy-ass talking motherfucker?? (The audiobook voice didn't do me any favors.)

But THEN. Rael. Under that crack cowboy exterior, this is such a fascinating character. He is clearly Dooku's firstborn son - a duelist, Council problem child, card-carrying disaster lineage asshole with all the requisite drama and trauma - but he also has some wonderful warmth to the character. He treats Qui-Gon like a baby brother. He checks in on Dooku's emotional health repeatedly and isn't afraid to speak the truth in love to him. (Hell, he confronts him about his feelings for Sifo-Dyas?) He talks about Master and Padawan dynamics in terms of love and family. He's physically affectionate. He smokes, he curses, he drinks. He fucks. He also says, of Yoda, and I'm quoting directly from Gray's Master and Apprentice novel here: "up the hell, he should shut." There was no going back for me with the character at that point.

I think I like Rael most of all for how he shows us what a Jedi can look like. And for how tremendously his inclusion fleshes out Dooku, in turn, especially early in his life.

[starflungwaddledee]

emoji interview character asks! [x]

part 2! by the time i've answered these i'll be closing this; thanks for everybody who sent them in!! i do think we've just about hit most of them now wow, i really appreciate the interest! for duplicate questions: what i'm going to do now if i get one that i've already done is pick the next closest one i haven't done! gonna try and 100% clear this list in true kirby fashion. all previous answers can be located here, and i'll highlight these duplicate switches in pink.

@moonverc3x 🍓 [STRAWBERRY] How do they feel about 'cute' things? || cute is...... good right? people are often calling her cute and she thinks this is praise. so... good! she likes them! it's a positive adjective so she feels positively about it!! yes? is she right??! (i will say that if she could figure this out, she probably prefers 'pretty' things; sunsets and the sparkling ocean and a glittery fabric. that said i think she would adore hatched chicks and would sit in front of an egg for hours hoping to see one) 🍉 [WATERMELON] What will your OC take to the grave? || someone in particular. 🍌 [BANANA] Have parts of your OC been lost to time (in-universe)? What do they wish they could lose from themselves? || as an amnesiac this is par for the trope, of course. whatever may or may not have happened before she was found in the crater remains absent, despite her and everyone's best efforts. there might be a trigger that could help her get it back, but thus far nothing sane has worked. what she currently wishes she could lose is her weird magical signature, and perhaps even her non-standard appearance; though i think her friends have probably grown to like one or both of these, and might miss them if they were gone. (this would mean a lot to her to hear). 🏵️ [ROSETTE] What flower symbolises your OC best and why? What does the flower mean in floriography? || bouquet 1: amaranth, columbine (purple), indian jasmine. bouquet 2: pear blossom, flowering currant, bay leaf. the funniest one here is the flowering currant; "thy frown will kill me"; perfect for a pathetic little people pleaser 🌵 [CACTUS] How physically resilient is your OC? || startlingly, for a waddle dee! she hasn't been severely injured since her accident, but seems to bounce through things without a scrape most of the time. and while this hasn't been tested on dreamy peaceful popstar, land of plenty where she eats and breathes when she's told to, she can go a surprisingly long time without most necessities 🥛 [MILK] What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures? || this is an interesting one! in my headcanons waddle dees do not have any biological parents or biological family. so this isn't something she feels she's missing from her forgotten past. some dees certainly do form familial attachments by choice, but if she had a bond like this once upon a time, she doesn't remember. probably the concept of a parental figure would confuse her, so it's not something she's seeking or thinking about! she is more concerned with the fact that she doesn't appear to have had a single friend or acquaintance from her past, either.

@trainerbob23 🍮 [CUSTARD] Expensive restaurants or cheap store-brand microwave meals? || any. all. food!!! she's picked this up from kirby, and she likes tasting things, even if it's bad. might take a sneaky bite out of the microwave plastic tray or the champagne flute at the restaurant, just to check. clear sparkly things just look so enticing! 🌱 > 🌴 [PALM TREE] What are the stops on your OC's dream cruise? What boat are they on? || she is on the warp star or, even more ambitiously, the lor starcutter stopping NO WHERE because if they stop there's a chance she'll be kicked off. she would also accept being on the halberd; anything capable of flying or entering space is of great interest to her. a space cruise counts as a cruise, right? 🍧 > 🧁 [CUPCAKE] If you had to describe your OC using flavours, how would you (e.g., 'they're very sweet')? || i think i've described her as a strawberry marshmallow before. this is probably mostly based on colours. i think if you took a bite of her she would be very sweet, but she might taste more like a peach gummy 🎂 [BIRTHDAY CAKE] How does your OC celebrate their birthday? With who, and where? || she celebrated it here on tumblr and got many beautiful gift artworks actually!!! in universe, waddle dees celebrate a communal 'birthday', as many tend to be firstwoken on the same day, and a bigger event at the end of the season to celebrate all dees, new and old. she'd probably attend these if one of her friends took her, but it might take a while before someone (likely kirby) twigged that none of them know her actual birthday date. ultimately, they might celebrate the day she was found after her accident.

@hyperz0ne 🧅 > 🍑 [PEACH] How do they show their kindness? How kind are they truly? || overbearingly. because she's been shown kindness, by king dedede, by kirby, by bandee, even (to the best of their ability) by the waddle dee doctors who treated her, she mimics this back and tries her hardest. she doesn't really understand being mean or rude, as it doesn't have any positive outcomes. she tends to show kindness with enthusiasm for your presence and verbal gratitude, and by being willing to help with/do anything you might need; it's easy to guess where she learned that

@eliastheownerof0axolotls 🌺 [HIBISCUS] What does your OC think is the prettiest name? || she likes the names of constellations! especially when they are long and complicated with lots of letters; they always sound nice when meta knight says them! also, secretly: 'dedede'. would not stop saying this one when she first learned it because it was so fun to say. 🌷 > 🍭 [LOLLIPOP] Would your OC ever share food with someone? || core mechanic of the games 😂 but she much prefers to eat food with friends than alone, and loves to share meals and try lots of different tastes! she really likes going to eat with kirby because he doesn't judge her for thinking the gilded cutlery looks edible. the pair of them voted most likely to 'pocky game' a shish-kebab, skewer and all 🍧 > 🍆 [EGGPLANT] How are they used by others? How easily are they tricked into this? || uhhhhhhhh. thankfully on popstar everyone is pretty nice, for the most part. like i mentioned before she takes things at face value. if you ask her to do something (and she has not been explicitly told not to do it) there's a very high chance she'll just go along with anything you ask of or tell her. however obviously, you'll then have to deal with a really angry bandee and possibly the others, so it might not be worth the risk!!

🥛 > 🥀 [WILTED ROSE] How good is your OC at meeting deadlines? What motivates them? || only if you make it transparently clear. she's very easily distracted and terrible at keeping time (note: the aforementioned hours spent in the clover patch or waiting for an egg to hatch) but if you tell her you are counting on her to do something and will be inconvenienced or worse, upset if she doesn't do it, it'll be done in three minutes or less 🍉 > 🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them? || nobody!! she's friends with everybody!!!! she doesn't want any enemies!!! let's be friends!!! (extremely compelling parallel between this switched out emoji question, btw) 🏵️ > 🍪 [COOKIE] Does your OC prefer things simple or extravagant? || waddle dee sensibilities insist she prefers things simple if she wants to fit in. buuuuuut her first memories are of course of being under the personal care of king dedede in the royal castle, so she does like things a little luxe... 🍋 > 🌽 [CORN] How good are they at hiding and finding their way? || exceptional at the first, and terrible at the latter. actually terrible at the first too, forget that. 🧀 [CHEESE WEDGE] How often does your OC get into situations that rely on pure luck/miracles happening? || on popstar, planet of miracles? very rarely! she's not a trouble maker, and usually if bandee brings her along on any adventures they're the tamer ones. historically? exclusively. 💐 [BOUQUET] If you could send your OC a bouquet, what flowers would make it up and what is the overall message ||

🌿 [HERB] Is your OC religious? What do they believe in? || actually extremely unsure about this one, and it would depend on if there were a religion she was expected to follow. she's rather a blank slate, so again, she'll believe just about anything; but i'd say she doesn't have any existing religious belief system. probably the closest thing to this that exists in my head for the waddle dees is devotion to the great king. 🌵 > 🍵 [GREEN TEA] What's your OC's preferred flavour of tea, if they even drink it? || camomile, mint, milky; she likes them all! mild preference for sweeter tastes than more bitter ones. would probably be a sucker for a thai iced tea with the condensed milk and any number of fancy toppings. i would not personally trust her with something like boba because i think she'd inhale the pearls by accident and start choking and cause a scene 🌸 [CHERRY BLOSSOM] Does your OC believe in legends/myths? || absolutely! fairy tales as well. sometimes she overhears fantastical tales about bandana waddle dee (connected to kirby or independently) and reports them excitedly to him, which he usually downplays-- even if they're real. sometimes she overhears fantastical tales about king dedede and reports them excitedly to him, which he always upsells-- even if they're false. so you can imagine she has something of an inflated opinion of dedede, though this is fairly standard for a wanya 💮 [WHITE FLOWER] Has your OC ever kissed someone? Who, when, and where? || platonic kisses are very common on popstar, especially as a segue to sharing/healing, so she's received quite a few. for what i think this question is asking, "has she experienced intimate or romantic affection" no, not yet... but she'd probably really enjoy it if anyone's offering 🥺👉👈 🎂 > 🍸 [COCKTAIL] When was the first time your OC had an alcoholic beverage? What did they think of it? (not a nearby switch at all!!! getting close to clearing the list...!) || as far as she knows, never. meta knight has banned her from anything stronger than quarter-strength coffee after That One Time.

🍊 > 🥕 [CARROT] How tough is your OC against certain situations? How weak are they against others? || physical situations: stronger than expected. endurance and stamina: stronger than expected. emotional situations: the resilience of wet toilet paper 🍉 > 🍟 [CHIPS/FRIES] How much junk food/sometimes food does your OC eat? Has it affected their health? || no ill effects yet, and this thing's out here eating the drywall if you let her 🧅 > 🌰 [CHESTNUT] What food group does your OC mostly eat (e.g., grains, fruits)? || by circumstance it's raw fruits, steamed vegetable medleys, baked goods, and rices! these are the most common waddle dee quarter foods that she's able to pick up from the castle kitchens. and also packaged things like crackers, pastries, or dried snacks, which keep well in her room or pockets and which she can produce easily if someone tells her it's time to eat.

🌳 [DECIDUOUS] What's your OC's favourite thing to do at the park? || hang out with friends, of course. if she's with friends and being asked to pick it depends on the companion's energy levels. quiet time activities: cloud or critter watching. mid-level activities: swinging, or walking the gardens and learning new things. high energy activities: games, except she's a little scared of hide and seek because she doesn't want to get separated or lost or forgotten 🥑 [AVOCADO] What will they never back down about, even if it makes them seem bad? || exclusively defence of her friends. with everything else, even defence of herself, she has the fortitude of a strawberry éclair. she wants to be good so bad. 🍔 [BURGER] What would your OC put on their burger? || after the pineapple on pizza question she's a bit scared to answer this. she'd put the Right Things on the burger!! only the right things and none of the wrong things. 🧀 > 🍹 [TROPICAL BEVERAGE] If your OC could go anywhere, where would it be? || nebulously, "to the stars". whatever that means. she wants to touch one. on popstar, she'd like to go to nutty noon! it's high up and also looks really soft. 🧇 [WAFFLE] Using shape language, how would you redesign your OC? || 🍑🎀🌟? not sure if i answered this right! 🍍 > 🍕 [PIZZA SLICE] How good is your OC at sharing? How do they share something if there's not enough supply? || super good!! if you want it and she has it, it's yours. with the exception of her friendships; i'd say it's probably the one thing she could be a little jealous over 🥤 > 🍒 [CHERRY] Who is your OC's perfect companion? || little orange guy, blue bandana. maybe you know him? he's pretty famous.

and that's the last one!! phew. we didn't quite get 100% clear, but we got close!! i'm adding this one on myself, because i think it's an important addition after all this talking about her bizzare eating habits:

🥞 [PANCAKES] What's the most your OC can eat in one sitting? At what point do they get sick? || despite her willingness to taste-test anything: from the crunchy leaf on the ground to the spicy curry, what this amounts to is a lack of pickiness. in terms of meal size, she actually isn't a big eater at all. in fact she'd generally prefer not to eat, if left to her own devices, and usually only eats when prompted or in a social setting. eating more than she can handle is a far more frequent cause of tummy aches that eating something that technically isn't supposed to be food

[happi-tree]

👀 your pfp is from your fae amphibia au right? i would love to know more about it <3333

Actually, my pfp is from a different Amphibia au that I haven't talked about at all on here! I've tentatively called it "the raven and the dove" and it's roughly based on the movie (the MOVIE, not the books) The School for Good and Evil and my friend @toonteller came up with a lot of it (hi, toon, hope you don't mind the tag!). If you're at all familiar with the characters from that, Anne takes Agatha's role while Marcy takes Sophie's and Sasha takes Tedros'. You don't have to be familiar with the characters at all for the au to make sense, though!

Basically, Anne and Marcy are two girls growing up in a rural village. They've been friends since they were very small, sticking close together and facing the mean-spirited remarks of their peers together. Marcy happens to stumble across a book one day that tells her of a magical place that trains the heroes and villains of fairytale stories and becomes very determined to find it, while Anne rushes along after her because she doesn't want to lose her only friend and sincerely doubts that any good could come of this. The two of them end up getting whisked away to The School For Good and Evil, where they are promptly deposited into their respective schools - Anne into the School For Good, which trains heroes, and Marcy into the School For Evil, which trains villains. And obviously this is a huge mistake, because not only does Anne want to get back to her parents, but also Marcy cannot possibly be evil! There isn't a vindictive bone in her body! The headmaster, Andrias, tells the girls that the only way to prove Marcy's innate Goodness is a true love's kiss (because villains don't get one of those in the stories, right?). They end up causing quite a stir among the students, as they are both generally disruptive and the first to enroll from outside the fairytale realm in a long time, and the shenanigans draws the attention and disapproval of one Sasha of Camelot, heir to the throne of the Storied and the School For Good's golden child. And. Well.

Quite a lot of chaos ensues in an attempt to get Marcy into the "proper" school and get Anne home, including but not limited to a Marcy corruption arc (and one for Anne, to a different extent), some identity/morality/sexuality crises on the part of Sasha, magic and shapeshifting, a slow dance (with evil overtones), gay archery lessons, ruminations on the societal expectations of beauty, attraction, gender roles, and morality, women covered in blood, true love's kiss(es), and LOTS of impractical fantasy costume changes. It's quite a bit of fun (and Sashannarcy endgame, obviously), even if I haven't thought about it in awhile! :DDD

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Top 5 golden girls Moments?

How could you ask me this. Not even my top 5 episodes, my top 5 moments. This is an impossible choice. Do you enjoy inflicting pain on me? I may die from this (said in Blanche's half-asleep accent).

I hope you know that producing this list has been equivalent to tearing my beating heart out of my chest.

The Great Herring War scene from S1E25 The Way We Met

Rose's reveal that she had 56 boyfriends before settling down with Charlie from S7E13 Old Boyfriends

Dorothy telling off Blanche's abusive boyfriend (and Blanche kicking him out of the house) from S6E13 The Bloom Is Off The Rose

The little moment between Dorothy and Rose on the lanai from S5E19 72 Hours

The kiss on Rose's nose + hug from S3E3 Bringing Up Baby

There. I hope you're happy. Personally I will never recover from this.

[Ask me my Top 5 anything]

[lumiereandcogsworth]

I know Maria’s family had issues with her marrying Maurice but do you think they’d ever try and find him later ? or Belle ? Do they know their queen is their family??? 👁️

REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION THANK YOU.

okay so i actually spent like ten minutes writing out all this backstory lore and then i realized that i wanna save that so it’s a glorious surprise when i write their love story fic. if i reveal it here i’ll be less inclined!!!! so i’m keeping some secrets 🤫 BUT i can still answer this without saying everything ;)

to answer, no i don’t think they go looking for maurice. they do find out that maria died in the plague (i doubt any of them died because they’re rich as hell and probably stayed relatively safe from it. but maybe!! but regardless) they know maria is deceased from the lists of the dead that were later published, and they very much blame maurice, being that he brought her into poverty and therefore was more susceptible to disease. (and you know what! maurice blames himself too, lmao!!!!!!)

charlotte (maria’s favorite sister, who did visit her once when belle was a baby (such a dramatic wip, it’s only half done 😭) does probably go to their windmill home a couple years later when things have settled down. perhaps having a glimmer of hope that her husband and child (mainly her child) are still there, and maybe, After All This, something can be worked out between them. but she goes to the little house and of course finds it vacant. she looks through all the death records, looking for a Maurice LaRue or a Belle LaRue, but only finds Maria LaRue (and other LaRues she doesn’t recognize… some of Maurice’s family.) so she concludes maurice must have taken their child and left the city. she’s pretty heartbroken and i think regrets not making things right with maria before it was too late. so for her sister’s sake, she prays maria’s husband and child are alright, wherever they are.

BUT YEAH THERE’S THE KICKER. when belle becomes queen, her background gets published EVERYWHERE. it’s SOOO weird that she doesn’t come from any kind of nobility. who the HECK is this chick !!! i can just IMAGINE maria’s siblings, all in their 40s and 50s now, reading about their new queen. where she’s from. who her father is. where he’s from… i don’t think they’d all pick up on it, because they tried very hard to forget that pathetic artist who stole their sister away and essentially killed her. (their words not mine👀) but i do think that charlotte has a sudden moment like that squidward gif when he’s in bed with his eyes closed and then they suddenly open like WAIT HOLY SHIT—

charlotte tells her siblings (and maybe their parents? idk if they’re still alive) that No For Real. THE QUEEN IS MARIA’S CHILD. OUR NIECE. they all don’t believe it but the dots eventually get connected and they’re all simply AGHAST. i don’t even think they know what to Do about it for a while. they’re just in Shock. i could see them having the impulse to Tell Everyone, in true aristocratic fashion, but i think charlotte would tell them to hold back,, save it… maybe we should meet our niece queen… 🤔

from maurice’s perspective, he really had no idea HOW rich the Bouchets were until it got mentioned that that was maria’s family and adam was like wait fr???? they’ve BEEN connected to the royal family,,, and maurice is like [404 Processing Error] because he just… like as much as they hated him, he equally hates them. for never accepting maria!!! for never letting her be her magnificent self!! he Despises them on her behalf. and he Does Not want to know them. even if their family and the royal family have ties, he wants no part in it, and he firmly tells belle she shouldn’t either. they never did anything for her mother, they’re no family of ours. (it gives me chills to think of maurice being so cold but. it’s pretty clear that maria is the one subject he doesn’t really budge on.)

belle is SUPER torn on this situation because on the one hand, she respects her father’s views and obviously she wasn’t “there” and doesn’t know what her mother went through. but On The Other Hand she’s soooooo curious about her mother!! and meeting her mother’s family, even if they SUCK, would be SO INTERESTING. and i mean… she IS the queen after all… does she not have a Duty to Meet Her Subjects?? 🤔 so i lowkey could see belle maybe secretly slightly figuring out a way to meet some of the Bouchets without maurice knowing. but i don’t have any idea for that right now but… i think that would happen. i don’t see any of it going well though, lmao. maybe in the end some reconciliation happens but i am seeing A Lot of anger. maurice might be old but he’ll still throw hands if he catches those Bouchets in his house 🤼‍♀️

but yeah uhh… i’ll just leave it there… 👀

[tvrningout-a]

//some ooc/worldbuilding q's ive been curious abt !! >:3 ur free to plead the fifth on any/all of it since ik its a 'living'/ever-evolving world

does dórverold have 'monsters'/fantastical non-humanoids? if so, any specific ones you've already decided on?

can vampires drink other vampires blood for sustenance (like they can/do humans')? can they drink the blood of animals, etc, so long as theyre AliveTM?

does. are magically-created beings (vampires, valravn, etc) un/able to reproduce --xually??

ask me about my lore! | @futurefind was curious!

1. does dorverold have monsters/fantastical non-humanoids? if so, any specific ones you've already decided on?

the only non-humanoids i've decided on are dragons and technically valravn ( if they are unable to eat a human heart, they remain in a half-raven half-wolf form ), but more are definitely possible! i know sea monsters of some sort exist bc the sea god sjór created them to spite humans who caused a famine that his children had to suffer through. aside from that, i haven't gotten deep into creatures in dorverold -- it's something to think about, though! i do want to say that there might be certain " great beasts " that are endangered, in hiding, or extinct for various reasons ( typically war, the passage of time, and generally not vibing with the mortals of the " modern " age ). in example, dragons are uncommon but do exist. they are few in number, though there never was a lot of them, and they remain in humanoid forms to avoid being hunted. they were created by líf to be guardians of the land and sea, but very few still act as such since the gods went away.

2. can vampires drink other vampires' blood for sustenance ( like they can/do humans' )? can they drink the blood of animals, etc., so long as they're alive?

sadly, drinking another vampire's blood will not provide any sustenance, though it will give the illusion of a full belly for a little while, kind of like how coffee curbs one's appetite but does nothing to actually sate your hunger. a vampire's blood does not have the vitality that a regular mortal's has, so it's no good for food. basically? a vampire is not only drinking a person's blood but the natural energy in their blood as well. hopefully that's not as confusing as it sounds to me rn asdf that said, they can drink animals' blood and often do/say they do as society does not look kindly upon vampires who prefer mortal blood. mortals get all nervous about it if a vampire admits they prefer a willing mortal over blood from the butcher.

3. are magically-created beings ( vampires, valravn, etc. ) able to reproduce?

it really depends on the being! vampires are still undead even if their bodies are able to function normally as long as they drink blood, so producing life would be impossible or, at the very least, highly improbable. valravn are probably capable of reproduction, but valravn aren't meant to be loving, nurturing individuals who desire to have a family. it's not impossible, but valravn are better known for living alone and prioritizing their survival and comfort. if they chose to, a valravn could reproduce with a mortal, but that child might first appear like a fresh valravn -- a beast in need of a first meal. dragons are able to reproduce with each other and mortals, which is how the dreki first came about. a dreki child whose parent is a dragon will be much heartier than the dreki of today, though, and may even possess some of their parent's innate magic. and i'm just realizing dragons are not magically-created, so i didn't need to talk about them asdfg but have that as a bonus i guess :' ))

[kaizsche]

talk to me about the part in “love of a doppelgänger” where Finn uses his magic against mikael! Tell me your opinions on Finn and magic!

omg, hello amanda and thanks for the ask!

finn in TLAD is a very different finn from canon (obviously) he is the eldest and a man and we all know how patriarchal it was back then. mikael, in particular was a cruel and strict father. he knew how sheltered/spoiled his eldest son had become after freya's 'death' bc esther coddled him, wanting to protect him after they lost freya 'to the plague' (lol). so mikael was particularly cruel to finn in order to get rid of that 'softness' because it is a weakness and a trait for women not for men and most certainly not a trait for a man who will soon be the head of the family.

chapter 2 will be about my version of how freya was taken from them. and i think that this particular scene is important because this is how my finn deviates from canon. the trauma of losing a sister and failing the family basically defined him (that's why he was so adamant into pleasing mikael - in proving that he was deserving as the head of the family. and he hated himself because of how weak he was. he loathed himself at the fact that he could never be acknowledged by his father, ashamed that his responsibility as elder brother fell on elijah's shoulders. a burden that should never have been elijah's in the first place. and esther saw all that and she knew what really happened that night freya supposedly died. so she helped him gain another power instead - by practicing magic.) that's why finn is very protective of his siblings and he did not hesitate to use magic on mikael. lmaooo.

finn and magic. hmmm. i think magic is somewhat of a second chance to him. he had failed mikael but esther gave him another choice, another purpose so to speak? all his life, he's been told that he was going to be the head of the family, blah blah blah, therefore, it is his destiny to protect the family blah blah blah and it kind of became his life? his duty? and when mikael took that away from him by installing elijah instead, he was kind of lost? i think magic became something important to finn, something that can redeem his past mistakes.

(omg. its been so long since i've looked back into this fic - i literally had to go through the deepest part of my brain to answer this JAIDHAHDOAH so i hope my answer is satisfactory. if you have any further questions, pls don't hesitate to hit up my ask inbox!!!!!)

[haleths]

Curious to know what your top 5 films of the year would be? 👀

haha i was gonna say ask me again when the year is over, but then i started thinking about it and well...

barbarian

the batman

the banshees of inisherin

nope

decision to leave

worth saying that i've yet to see the fabelmans, glass onion (i adoreddd knives out so i wouldn't be surprised if this ultimately makes the list), tàr, and the whale

some of these won't be released in the uk until next year so idk if they count? but there you go 💕💕💕

[righteousruin]

if all the rogue gallery villains were in high school right? bane got a yearbook, who would he cross out? who are favorite & least favorite classmates??

dammit riddler you know i had to bring photoshop into this

[silverselfshippingchaos]

!! Ash, I love your cyberpunk s/i ask meme!! You did so good!! :>

Alsooo, I do absolutely wanna know about your cyberpunk s/i, sooooo can I get... A Day in the Life, I Can See Clearly Now, Double Life, I Walk The Line, With A Little Help From My Friends aaaand Sweet Dreams?

I would ask for all of them, but I'll leave some for other people to ask. But also if you wanna do all of them anyways, I would love to read

HEYYYY thank you!!!!! i'm so excited to talk cyberpunk Ash!!! She's very cool (I'm biased).

Swearing, some blood, mentions of kidnapping and killing... What you'd see in your average Night City afternoon.

A Day in the Life: They say looks are everything in Night City, so what does your S/I look like? Hair, tattoos, eyes, all of that. Who are they and what made them like that? Give us the most basic overview of your character. Do their looks contrast with their personality at all?

Ash is paired with Vik, and so she's around his age. She's in her early 70s, but she looks a lot younger because... well... This is Cyberpunk. Like me, she's very visibly of Punjabi descent and has tan skin and black hair that reaches to her mid-back/waist. She usually has it tied up because she just doesn't like having it in her way regardless of what she's doing. She also wears red glasses like I do! She doesn't need them to see and ditches them in quests that involve her fighting.

Ash has a LOT of tattoos! After all, she is a tattoo artist! She works out of Vik's Clinic and she has plenty of fun clients and a lot of passion for what she does. It's not what she always did, but we'll get to that later. I'm unsure if she has any tattoos on her face since I'm still figuring things out, but she has a lot on her arms and the rest of her body, even though she is fairly covered up by her clothes. Her tattoos are a lot more zentangle-y as opposed to her partner, who has a lot of faces. Ash works with symbols and ideas, and her tattoos reflect that. Lots of lines, solid colors, stars, maybe some text here and there. Overall something quite artistic and pretty. Kerry's arms come to mind.

(That being said, did Ash tattoo him? I dunno! We'll figure it out!)

Ash's most defining trait is a scar she has running down her left cheek. She used to be involved with a gang, but eventually left and become a mercenary. People weren't happy about her leaving + a multitude of other reasons since Younger Ash had a bit of a thing for pissing people off... And so some Scavs were tipped off. Besides, Ash has plenty of great chrome in her. Ash describes it as the scariest day of her life, when she got kidnapped and cut open. She was saved by a certain boxer though, and it was kind of around that time that her and Vik realized that shit, I need you in my life always.

There is a sidequest in which V is with Ash when she confronts the person who brought in scavs in the first place. This person (whom I haven't developed at all) was an old friend of Ash's, maybe even a partner. During that quest, they have a chat about how Ash could very easily kill this person. After all, when has Ash ever hesitated to get blood on her hands before?

"No, I'm not. That would be too easy. I'd fucking love to watch you bleed, shoot you full of holes and leave you there bleeding on the street. I'd love to take you away to the Badlands, tie you up, rip your clothes off, dig my knife into your flesh and start peeling it off.... Just like what they did to me. But it's been 40 years and I have things to live for that have nothing to do with you."

Anyways!

I Can See Clearly Now: Adding onto the last question, let's talk cybernetics. Does your S/I have any chrome? Why or why not? If so, what kinds do they have and what purpose does it serve? Additionally, how did they get that chrome? Do they have a ripperdoc that they trust, or was it some shady hack-job?

Ash never got that scar removed. Vik offered, but she wanted to keep it, and he respects that choice a lot. As for Cybernetics, Ash has enough to get around, but still not an excessive amount. Ash being a mercenary in her past plays a big role in what her character is meant to be. In a sense, Ash is what V could be. She's a lot older, she's retired, she found something that makes her happy. She got to live.

Will V ever have that luxury? Being both an accomplished mercenary and not losing their mind along the way? As a result, Ash generally has some of the same tech that default V has, but with some quirks.

She has a grip in her right hand for her lovely pistol (called Ashes and Dust, given to V through a quest), a scanner in her eyes + overall better eyesight, and also double-jump! Some other smaller things here and there so she can take a few bullets, but her skin isn't silver or anything.

As for ripperdocs.... Her partner is the best one in the city. I don't think I need to explain who she usually goes to for tech-related asks LMAO. Some of his tattoos are her doing too.

Double Life: Corpo, Street Kid, or Nomad? Or none at all? Where does your S/I come from and how did they end up in Night City (assuming they're there at all)?

Ash grew up in the west coast to a pretty well-off family. She was a model student, but when she was about 18-19ish, she murdered a relative. They deserved for the way they acted, but it was murder nonetheless. And so, Ash finds herself in Night City. She then proceeds to live the life of your typical Street Kid.

She joins up with a gang and makes money shooting gonks. Over time, she gets fairly good at her craft and scrounges up plenty of eddies. Most of them are saved, but plenty go towards her appearance too. Tattoos, piercings, chrome... All that good stuff. More than a few eddies were spent on XBDs and joy toys too, of course.

Ash is a well-known name on the streets. People fear her. She was known for creating blood baths wherever she went. Oh, also! Younger Ash dyed her hair a lot! The lower half of her hair was always some funky color, and she had a leather jacket she loved ripping up and painting and absolute wrecking. Very well-worn!

It's while Ash is running with the gang that she stumbles across the Night City Devils Boxing Club. She's not a boxer by any means, but she hangs out. She ends up becoming close friends with one of the boxers there (Viktor Vektor). They had nothing to do with each other, but yet they were still able to talk on equal terms. They became friends, and younger Vik had to stick back up a bullet wound of hers more than a few times.

She left after a decade or so, and then the scavs happened, and then she was a mercenary, and then Vik told her that maybe she needs a hobby that isn't as "destructive" (what do you mean killing people isn't good for her??), so she starts drawing and now she stabs people with needles for a living!

I Walk The Line: How is your S/I in terms of morals? Do they try to do the right thing in sticky situations, or do they not hesitate to shot a gonk without warning? Is there such a thing as having a heart in a place like Night City?

Ash doesn't hesitate to kill, but she's a lot more mellowed out in her old age than when she was 30. It's no longer going to be her first resort. I like to think she's a fairly nice person who won't go out and start conflict (anymore, at least). She's a pillar of support to a lot of people, but Night City will never forget the ruthless merc she once was.

She doesn't create problems, but she will end them.

These days she's mostly just down in the clinic doodling in her sketchbook or tattooing a client.

With A Little Help From My Friends: Is your character a lone wolf, or do they have a crew of friends that they always stick with? What are their relationships like and around whom do they spend their time (if anyone)?

Ash is really tight with the Vik/V/Jackie/Misty squad! She works out of the clinic, so she's very close with all of them and sees V/Jackie/Misty kinda like her kids. Especially V.

She's like that kind of shady, but really funny aunt. The slang she uses can be a little outdated sometimes too, so she always makes the youngins laugh! She likes them all, and she just wants the best for V.

As for her relationship with Vik, they don't put any labels on it in-game. He's just her partner and they're a bit of a boxed set.

"Good mornin', kid. Glad to see ya here. It gets tiring, Viktor always talking my damn ear off… Makes me wanna rip the things he put in 'em right out."

V just chuckles,

"Yeah? Then how come I always find you down here?"

"I owe him a debt or three… And, besides, I've been his partner in crime for years now. I bet the stupid old man doesn't know where he'd be without me! Think of me as his guard dog."

You can hear Viktor mumbling something about how, yeah, dog is a very fitting word for her- They love each other a lot, I swear. It's pretty clear to see that they're in love.

Sweet Dreams: What does your S/I dream of? What is their motivation to get out of bed every morning? What do they want from life? Are they fine with flying under the radar and living a relatively normal life, or do they want to make a statement?

Ash is somebody who has experienced Night City. These days, she's just a normal tattoo artist and she's very happy with the (mostly) quiet life that she lives with Vik. She was once a legend, but now she just exists. NC isn't a great place, but it has been Ash's home for so many years. She's seen so many things happen.

She was content with being a killer for so long, but she has found her true calling. She loves making art and she loves leaving her mark on peoples' bodies.

She may joke around a lot, but you can't deny her experience. Her main problem these days is just that she wants the best for V. She just wants them to live.

[monstersflashlight]

To kill a king, to fuck a dragon (Day 8/8 of 10k followers event)

A/N: Hi there people! I’m so, so glad that all of you took time to read all the stories I post, especially these past 8 stories that had been super exploratory for me. I think I did good enough, at least y’all seemed to like it. For this last one I added a bit more plot than usual, this is a tiny bit longer and I think the story is really good. I hope y’all love it as much as I do. Also, and once again, I want to thank ALL OF YOU for following this little corner of the internet and being so supportive and great, special thanks to all my patrons to make my life a little bit easier <3, this has been a blast so far and I hop y’all keep reading, hopefully this account is just the beginning of a much longer exploration of monsterfuckery for us all. (PS: If someone catches the very subtle Grey’s anatomy reference please let me know so we can be friends)

Dragon x fem!reader || size kink, slow-burn (kinda), sex with feelings, magic saliva, spit on pussy, multiple orgasms, overstimulation || tw: mentions of murder

You enter the cave and are surprised to find a door, a normal human door caved into the rock. It looks like a house, a house on the rock, but still normal. What the fuck? Your hopes and dreams of finding the dragon slowly disappear, your eyes teary.

Someone chooses that moment to speak behind you: “Who are you?” You turn around so fast you fall to the ground with a scream. The stranger looks at you like you are a bug he needs to squeeze, and you feel a tear running down your cheek. Fuck. You promised yourself you wouldn’t cry even if there wasn’t a dragon. “Again: who are you?” His tone is harsh and you want to cry even more, but you bit your tongue.

“I- I came to find the dragon,” you confess, swallowing around the knot in your throat.

He looks at you like you are a joke, not even trying to help you to your feet. “What dragon?” He asks, his tone amused.

You get up and look at him, trying to look as serious as you can when you say: “They- They told me there was a dragon here.” You fail.

He chuckles, inspecting you up and down, his eyes zeroing on the few tears that escaped your eyes. “No dragons, just me,” he finally answers, his tone a lot softer than before.

“Uh-oh… Sorry. I’ll be on my way, then.” You try to get pass him, sniffling as you do so, trying really hard to get out before you start sobbing.

He sighs, and adds: “do you want some tea?” He offers you his hand, and weirdly enough, you don’t feel threatened or scared, you feel calm around him.

“Really?” You don’t want to sound too hopeful but you are thirsty and tired and you want to cry because there is no dragon and you basically lost hope of everything.

“Yeah, come on.” He motions you to follow him inside the rock house, and you are surprised about how cozy and homey it feels inside, like out of a fairy-tale kind of thing.

He makes some tea as you lean against the door frame of the kitchen, trying to look around as much as possible without looking too snoopy about it. Not that he seems to care that you are curious about everything, he just looks at you every once in a while like making sure you are still there.

“Why were you looking for a dragon?” He asks when he sets the tea cup on the table in front of you. A similar one in front of him. You sit and start sipping on the best tea you’ve ever had.

You sip the tea for a couple seconds, trying to decide if you can trust him, at the end you decide why not, your life is already ruined. “To kill the king,” you say. He chokes on the tea he’s drinking, and you have to bite down on your lip to stop from giggling.

“What?” He asks again when he recovers, his face red from the coughing.

“To kill the king,” you repeat. He still looks stunned so you give him more context: “I- I was bought when I was in the womb. My parents promised me to him in exchange for gold, and the day we marry is approaching. I don’t want to do it, he’s a foul man, and I didn’t choose this. I overheard some servants talking about the dragon in the mountains, and I though… I thought they would help me.” You try not to sound too bitter about it, but you can’t keep the despair out of your voice.

He looks at you like you are suddenly the most interesting specimen of a bug. “You escaped the castle and came here?”

“Yes,” you answer truthfully. There was a lot more implied in that simple question. You escaped, but not only that, they are probably looking for you and the king would probably kill those guards you ran away from. You try not to be too sad about them, they were cruel with you, laughing at you every time you passed, talking about how the king got a new hot wife.

“Are they still looking for you?” He asks, a lot smarter than you give him credit for.

“Probably.” It’s the truth but it still carries a lot of pressure as you say it. You understand though, you know it’s not his problem and you shouldn’t even be there. You’d find another way to escape the king. “I’ll be out of your hair, I promise. You didn’t sing up for any of this.” You realize the sun is setting in the horizon and you don’t know if you could find your way back to the village. Fuck. “I need to go. The village is a long journey from here,” you try not to sound scared, but an edge of fear permeates your voice.

He surprises you by saying: “Stay. I have a guest bedroom and there’s no way you could get back to the village if it’s this dark.”

You want to say no, to refuse, that’s improper, but the idea of going back to that golden prison is enough to make you say: “I’ll leave first thing in the morning.” It’s a promise you do to him, but also to yourself. That man showed you more caress that anyone in your life, and you didn’t want to cause him unnecessary trouble. You’ll leave in the morning.

Problem is… You never do.

The next day he prepares breakfast, and insists on showing you around his house. It’s so beautiful you are mesmerized. His garden especially. It’s so colorful and big and calm…. You feel an instant connection to the earth, and to him. He’s so easy to be around, he treats you so differently like what you are used to. And you like it. You like it so much that you get distracted until the sun is setting once again. And he never tells you to leave.

And days pass. One day turns into another, and you… never leave. You know someday they will come back for you. You know you can’t run away from your problems. But right there, in the side of the mountain with that nice man that took you in… It feels possible to run away. It feels possible to avoid the awful destiny that was set for you before you were even born.

He teaches you to cook, to take care of plants, to polish wood… He’s like a handyman that can do all, and you are his new apprentice, even though he insists on doing all the heavy lifting. But on top of that, he just… amazing. He takes care of you, but also you two argue about stupid stuff until you are red faced and you want to hit him, just to end up laughing when he tells you a stupid joke. You have the most fun you had in ages with him.

Until one day all shifts (pun intended).

You are laying around under the tree as he does some gardening. He wouldn’t let you near the roses in case you got hurt. “I have something to tell you,” he breaks the silence.

“What?” You ask, looking directly at him, a spark of something unknown raising inside of you, like bugs in your stomach, crawling around every time you set your eyes on him, on his beautiful smile.

He looks at you intently and says the most ominous thing: “I- I think it’s better if I show you, actually.”

“Show me what? Why do you sound so serious?” You try to joke, but it doesn’t land because he still looks at you with a poker face.

He looks worried, apprehension settling on his features. “Just… Wait until I’m done to say anything, please?” His tone is more than pleading, is more like he’s begging you to understand, and you don’t know what could possibly be so bad.

“Okay…” You tell him, anxiety spiking.

And then he turns. Literally. His body contorts and cracks, and there’s a bunch of things happening at once, and before you realize, there’s a dragon in front of you. A full on real dragon. What? He’s majestic, as big as a house and skin covered in the most precious scales. He looks like a work of art… you are mesmerized.

“You said there was no dragon!” It’s the first thing out of your mouth, an edge of hysterics creeping in your tone.

You laugh then. You laugh so hard and so much you have tears rolling down your eyes. He changes back, and tries really hard to cover his manhood with his hands, failing and making you laugh even harder.

“You are a dragon,” you say when your laughter dies down.

“I am,” he says simply, approaching you slowly until he’s right in front of you. “And I will kill the king for you,” he adds.

There’s no point in asking why he didn’t tell you sooner, you understand why. Why would he? Why would he trust his deepest secret to you? But him showing you now? It meant more than the world, it made you forget about everything and anything chasing you down. It makes you happy. He makes you happy.

“No. I don’t care about the king. I just… I love you. I think what I feel is love, I never felt like this before.” You tell him, heat creeping up your cheeks. He looks at you like he’s surprised, like he wasn’t expecting that at all. “Do you feel it, too?” You ask shyly, your hand over his chest, feeling his heart beat faster and faster.

“Ye- yes. I love you, too.” His confession is followed by his hands cupping your face, so soft and tender, you feel a tear running down your cheek as he kisses you for the first time.

You should have known better than to think your life could be so perfect.

You don’t hear them before you are captured. At least four soldiers appear at the edge of the garden and catch you before you can scream. You think about him, about your dragon, and lament how confused he will be when he returns and you aren’t there. You worry he would think you abandoned him… But you can’t do anything as they take you away from the only place you felt like home.

They don’t even wait a whole day before they are dressing you and pampering you in the best silks and makeups. Nobody says anything as you silently cry during all the process. The servants looking worried but not arguing with anyone, three guards at the door of every chamber you enter.

You are caged once again.

You walk to the aisle in between a crowded place full of people who don’t like you, nor the king for the matter. They just want to appraise his old self to gain some benefits, the same as your parents did even before you were born. He looks like a nightmare standing in front of the altar, and you want to run, to run far away, back into your dragon’s arms. But you can’t, guards all around the open garden the ceremony is taking place in. You stand before your soon to be husband and have to swallow back the tears and bile, his rancid smell hitting you like a brick.

The minister starts speaking about love and marriage, and you cry during all his speech. You dream of being far away from there, as far away as possible. Or at least as close to your dragon as you could.

When you hear the people mumbling around you, you turn around, a shadow obscuring the sun. You look at the sky and sigh, so happy to see him you could cry. Maybe you would cry if you weren’t so shocked that he actually showed up.

He roars as he lands, people running in all directions, hiding in every possible place. “YOU STOLE FROM ME!” He growls, breathing fire to the sky and making people cry out in fear. You look at him in all his glory, fascinated by every inch of his skin.

“We- we saved the queen to be,” the guard’s words are short lived as your dragon looks at him and breathes fire right over his body, instantly burning him to the ground. There’s a chorus of screams and cries again, and you have to bite your tongue to stop from smiling.

“She’s not yours! SHE’S MINE!” You shiver at his words, feeling them so deep inside you think you might combust, butterflies dancing inside your stomach once again.

“You can’t take her! I bought her,” the king’s words don’t help his case at all, your dragon roaring and launching for him.

It all happens so fast, one second he’s there, and the next one the king’s head is rolling onto the ground as everyone screams and runs away. You are shocked to the core, but he doesn’t let you wallow in that. He picks you up and takes flight. You realize he’s being very careful not to pickle you with his claws. You don’t know where he’s taking you, but soon enough you are in a place you know, a place that brings you memories of joy and love… The garden.

As soon as he sets you down, he orders you to: “Go inside.” His tone is harsh, almost a growl.

“No,” you answer, not recoiling, not moving. You approach him more, your hand softly caressing the scales of his chest.

He roars over your head, trying to scare you away: “Go inside, I’m not in my right mind right now, I can’t answer for my actions.” You aren’t scared of him, though. He saved you from your most fearsome nightmare, he’s just the big monster you are in love with.

“No,” you repeat, a big smile playing on your lips when you look up at him.

“Come on, princess… Please.” Him begging in that form does something to you, such a big and scary creature asking you to go inside so he can protect you from himself… You are more sure than anything that you are safe. Safer than you’d be with anyone else. Human or monster.

“No. I want you. I love you.” Your words finally go through him, making his big body shiver, you feel it under your hands, a big shake that leaves you breathless. “Take me, my dragon.” You know adding that isn’t necessary, but you are more than ready to be a bride, to be his bride.

“Don’t joke around,” he growls, grabbing your body with his big clawed hand and positioning you to look straight into his yes, his big dragon head so beautiful you have to reach out and touch him. He scrunches his nose, making you giggle.

“Make me fully yours,” you say again.

His responding growl is so loud it makes the earth vibrate under your feet. You shiver in anticipation. He tears your wedding dress of your body, wrapping his wings around you to create a bubble, so you won’t feel a single spark of cold in your human skin.

Your wedding dress is torn off your body as he launches for your body, your naked form shivering at the cold temperature around you, but he solves that easily. He wraps his wings around your body getting you close to his much warmer scaled body. You sigh happily.

He lets you down onto the ground and you look up at him, completely vulnerable. “Fuck me. Claim me. Love me.” You lower yourself to the ground, your upper body to the ground, your ass up. You know what you must look like: an offering, a sacrifice. And you are okay with that. You are okay being his.

“You sure?” He asks again, always the gentleman, always worried about you. You are more sure of this that you were about anything else ever.

“Yes. Yes. Yes,” you chant as his claw proves your entrance. You look around in time to see him biting on his fingers, two seconds later he’s claw-less and his now not-dangerous fingers enter you. You cry out and bury your face on the mossy ground, his chuckle making you flush all over.

He plays with your pussy for what feels like an eternity, making you come twice before he starts stretching you fully. He gets to three fingers, way bigger than anything you tried before, and you can’t stop moaning.

You come again as he spits on your pussy, the sensation so filthy and so good you scream and fall over the edge again. You feel tingly all over after that, your pussy relenting under his ministrations and somehow widening further, accommodating one more of his fingers. “My saliva has magic in it,” he explains, his tone amused as he keeps finger fucking you. You don’t know if you can come again, you didn’t even know that much pleasure was possible.

“Come on, come on, please,” doesn’t matter how much you beg, he doesn’t relent.

He starts scissoring his big fingers inside of you, stretching you impossibly wide, and you squirm under him, a pleasure so big you don’t know how to deal with it, your body pliant under his actions, your brain completely void of thoughts. And then he stops and you curse him so loud he starts to laugh, moving your body and making you squirm under him. He grabs your hips to stop you from moving and you feel the tip of his cock against your entrance.

He enters you slowly, so slowly. You want to scream, but your brain is frozen with the over-sensitivity of his dick inside of you. He can’t fit inside, there’s no way, he’s probably just aiming for a third of his length, but right now, with just the tip inside, you feel like you are about to burst. You reach down and rub your clit, unlocking something inside of you and crying out so loudly he roars as your orgasm makes your pussy constrict around him. He pushes in a bit more, and you keep coming.

From that point on, it’s all a blur of sensations and emotions, so much pleasure you are blind to the world around you. His dick is barely inside, but it seems to be enough for him, and more than enough for you. You feel like he’s going to split you in two in the most amazing way. He feels so big inside of you that you think you might die if he keeps rubbing against all your special spots at once. And if you do… You’d die happy.

“Take me. Take all of me,” that’s all the heads up you get before he’s filling you, one last thrust inside before his hot seed floods your insides. It propels you over the edge one last time, the world fading into blackness.

You pass out.

When you come back to your senses, you are laying on a bed and there’s a warm body behind you. You sigh happily as he kisses your forehead and makes sure you are comfortable and warm. You feel such intense love for him in that moment, that you have to turn around and try how well it would feel to fit his human dick inside of you (this time all of him).

He feels perfect.

[deadsetobsessions]

Sea Cryptic! Danny- pt. 10

[Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3] [Pt.4] [Pt.5] [Pt.6] [Pt.7] [Pt.8] [Pt.9]

“This you?”

Danny glanced at the stone tablet in Spoiler’s hands and groaned, Phantom form flickering with embarrassment as his face got even more neon green. It was indeed him.

——

The first Atlantean and Ghost King encounter went something like this:

Imagine Danny, sleep deprived. Easy enough. Now, imagine Danny, trying to corral a ghost that had a penchant for sea life.

“Alabastor, I swear to Ancients, if you don’t get back here, I’m gonna make you into ghost sea-food boil!” Danny yelled as he chased Alabastor through the ghost zone. The crustacean shaped ghost cackled, skittering along the Zone.

"Make me, Phantom! You have not seen the might of the sea!"

"That's it, soup-time, crabby!"

Danny dove after Alabastor, chasing him face first into a temporal portal and right into the sea.

"BEHOLD!" Alabastor rumbled, claws raised and sea churning around him. Danny flew at him, noticing the screaming people below. He quickly raised a dome of clear ice to protect their entire city before returning his attention back to the giant crustacean. The distraction cost him, as Alabastor blasted him with a beam of his power. "THE MIGHT OF THE SEA!"

"SOUP!" Danny bellowed back, Alabastor's power forcing him into a giant crab form, aside from, hilariously, his head. Danny, always quick to adapt, slammed a massive claw straight into one of Alabastor's eyes and popped open the Fenton Thermos with a feral grin. In but moments, Danny manages to soup Alabastor but not before slamming him down onto the unbreakable ice Danny had just made.

Carefully turning by skittering sideways, he unmelted his ice.

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly to the gawking civilians below.

"Suh-ree? What is suh-ree?" A brave woman asked.

"Oh," Danny uttered as he realized that he should probably switch languages. His giant crab body and small itty bitty human head swayed in an unsure motion. "Sorry means "my apologies." I had not meant to involve you. I am Phantom."

"It is alright... thank you for protecting us... God Phantom?"

He grimaced. "Not a god."

"King, then." She stepped forward. "May I ask of the ice?"

——

Spoiler, sensing weakness like the Riddler to a riddle, leaned in. "Did you know they have a traditional dance to honor the god that gave them the unbreakable ice that protects Atlantis to this day? It goes like this," Spoiler stepped back and did the dance, complete with exaggerated arm movements and, embarrassingly, the scuttle walk Crab!Danny was forced to learn with his new crab form.

"We shall never speak of this again," Danny huffed.

"But King Phantom, the God of Eternal Ice and Protection, how could we not celebrate your iciness?" Spoiler simpered, Black Bat not too far away and shaking with laughter. The purple donning vigilante did the scuttle dance once more, picking up bottles as she went a small circle around one of Bludhaven's rock beaches.

Danny scowled and plucked the tablet away from her, hair flowing an a more agitated direction. His jumpsuit burned brighter. "Why are you two menaces in Bludhaven? I thought your territory was in Gotham."

"Nightwing asked for back up and we were in the area." Spoiler, blessedly, stopped the walk to answer him. "By the way, are you and Danny dating?"

"Pardon?" He asked, insulted but highly amused.

"Oh, you know, he has your number, and you only ever talk to him outside of us, and how you guys have a high level of communication." Spoiler said leadingly.

Oh, Danny knew what this was about now. He found out their identities and now these two are interrogating him because he liked them best. They thought they were so clever. Well, they clearly haven't gotten to know Danny at all if they thought he was going to make good decisions.

Danny tilted his head, making sure his face gets as eerie as possible, shadows elongating and eyes burning just that much brighter. The neon green of his face shone even brighter against the suddenly dark landscape of the place. Black Bat stood up, laughter seizing immediately. Spoiler tensed.

"I have a riddle for you. You are good at those, are you not?"

Spoiler blinked but gamely said, "Bring it."

"What do these things have in common? An arguing couple, papers on a stranger's desk, and Star City's robbers."

"..." Spoiler slipped into her solving mode. "Stolen goods. Stolen hearts?" She guessed.

"No. The answer is that they're all none of your business," Danny snarled. His form flickered. "Keep your questing away from Danny- Daniel, vigilante. Your duty is to protect your city and help her," Danny swept an arm out. "Stick to that instead of inserting yourself into places you are not wanted."

Then, with a toss of an ecto-crossed recorder that held the verbal report he'd promised Nightwing towards Black Bat, Danny blinked out of the visible spectrum and flew above the two.

"... Shit, I think I pissed him off."

Black Bat nodded. "He was defensive."

"Yeah... did you hear that slip? Oh, they are so dating."

Danny grinned. He couldn't wait for Tim to interrogate him soon.

——

"You're kidding."

Danny shook his head, maniacal grin still on his face hours later. He'd taken the liberty to call his best friends before classes started for the day.

Tucker groaned. "Danny, I can't believe you're messing with Batman. Why are you like this."

"Look, I need your help."

"Oh no, keep me out of your dumbass plans, Fenton," Sam pointed at him through the screen, immaculately painted black nails threatening.

"Okay, if you go along with my plan, I'll give you Dr. Isley's number."

"Deal," Sam said immediately, changing her tune at a drop of a hat. Or, at a drop of a number.

"What about me?" Tucker asked, offended. "I deserve compensation for my work too, dammit!"

"I'll give you Tim Drake's number and persuade him to let you have a crack at Wayne Industry's tech basement."

"Deal, what are we doing?"

Danny's grin spread even wider. "We're dating. And, you two? You're Phantom's exes. Tucker, you say good stuff about me. Sam? You make up terrible things about me. But we're all dating each other and I'm dating Phantom on the side."

"I hate you," Sam deadpanned. "But fine, it's not that hard. I've got tons of embarrassing stories about Phantom. You better get me that number, Danny, because you know Dr. Isley was my gay awakening."

"For Tim Drake, I'd be willing to puff up your ego." Tucker said solemnly.

"Perfect. I'm cleaning his brother of ectoplasm today. so expect a call later! Love you guys!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, boyfriend." Sam clicked off the call.

"Think Tim Drake would be interested in a date?" Tucker asked Danny.

"Nah, I think he's got his heart on Benard."

"Damn," Tucker sighed. "Guess I'll have to mend my broken heart with the tools of a state-of-the-art lab, right, Danny?"

"Yep, see ya!" Danny hung up. Today was going to be a good day.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @themetalhiro

Hi, I’m Metal! I’m a freelance artist from good ol’ New Jersey. My favorite things to work with are a lot of bright colors, exaggerated poses, and candid scenarios. I try to farm sensible chuckles whenever I can, so I’m also big into comics. I love making them about my life, and the media I’m into, and one day I’d like to publish my own series!  Thank you to everyone who has gotten me this far!!

Check out Metal's interview below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

I guess so! It’s funny, I don’t remember a single time in my life that I wasn’t drawing as a hobby… somewhere in middle school (a little late, I know.) I put the pieces together that animated movies were made by artists, and that it wasn’t just for fun, they were paid to do it. The moment I discovered people could be paid to make art, I decided I would do that, too. Now I’m here!

How has your style developed over the years?

I think the best way to answer this would be with an example! Over the last few years, I have made more of an effort to draw more intentionally, which sounds silly. Now, I put more thought into my poses and step out of my comfort zone with shape language and composition. I had a phase where I drew everyone with a huge, perfectly circular head and no nose. That definitely did not lend much variety...

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

Ack! I’m so terrible at history! I’d love to give a well-thought-out answer about fine artists of old, but I don't think we’d have much in common… Most artists I admire and who have driven me forward creatively are the people behind comics I’ve read. Andrew Hussie, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Eiichiro Oda... these guys have inspired me greatly and had a heavy influence in developing my art style and sense of humor. I’d love to ask them questions about their processes and upcoming projects. I think it would make for an entertaining night!

Over the years as an artist, what were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

Outside of pure aesthetics like searing bright colors, layered clothing, and loud noises…. the best and most inspiring moments in my life were those surrounded by friends and loved ones! I cherish the hell out of memories of hanging around in fun locations, trying weird food together, and impromptu midnight walks... so I try my best to capture that atmosphere and my own memories in my work when I can, even if I’m imposing fictional characters on top of them. That’s always the core of it.

What is a medium that you have always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?

I would never permanently refuse a medium, but every time I pick up clay, I’m like a baby using its hands for the first time. Absolutely dreadful. If one day I could make and paint a figurine like the ones I admire in videos, that would be awesome... But for now, I’m not counting on it.

How do you want to evolve as a creator?

I’ve had an absolute blast drawing fanart over the years, and it’s certainly played a massive role in my growth as an artist. But my dream has always been to publish my own stories for y'all to enjoy! I have lots of worlds I want to introduce to you before I’m old and gray. I want to get faster, work harder, and get better at drawing interesting settings so I can get the wheels turning as soon as possible. I also want to stop avoiding the color blue like a coward.

What do you wish you knew when you first started out creating art that you know now?

Pay your taxes quarterly. Tablets will break at the exact moment you need them most, so have a spare. Wear your blue light glasses. You’re going to need to wear a brace on every joint on the right side of your body. It can be lonely sitting at your desk all day. The car on the side of the road that costs $1000 cash….. don��t trust it!!!

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@cranity—They use absolutely beautiful colors and weighty line work. Everything looks so sharp and clean! I wanna put it all up on my wall!

@vewn—Their ability to crank out quality short films and illustrations packed with detail is incredible. The off-kilter perspective they use really sells disorientation and catches your attention like nothing else.

@nelnal—They have absolutely banger character designs again and again, I can’t believe one person’s mind can come up with so many creative ideas!

@jinx88kc—They have a beautiful and recognizable style, and the way they incorporate animation into their illustrations sometimes is SO cool!

Thanks for stopping by, Metal! For more of Metal’s work, follow their Tumblr, @themetalhiro! If you haven't seen their Meet the Artist piece, be sure to check it out here!

[osaemu]

GOJO SATORU: ❛❛ IS IT OVER NOW? (IT ISN'T) ❜❜

.ೃ࿐ streamer!au: all good things come to an end, including your relationship—but don't worry, broken hearts can be mended, but only if you're both willing to try.

contents: fem!reader. you two break up and make up! you guys fight/break up over something that coulda been resolved with better communication. kinda suggestive ending, maybe i'll drop a part two if this does alright. satoru announces your break-up on his stream. longest fic i've posted so far, 4k words (kms).

author's note: the long awaited angst has finally arrived.. big thank you to @screampied for beta-reading!! tagging @yunymphs who read it early and @sutorus + @kentopedia who i both miss very much!!

ever since you first joined satoru on his stream, it’s gotten way more popular than either of you could’ve ever expected. before he brought you onto his live, he was averaging about eight thousand views per stream. now, his average was well over fifteen thousand—and that wasn't even including the publicity he got from other websites. when satoru accidentally left the camera on while you two made out, you two went viral on twitter. and when another user tried to swipe him away, the clip got over a hundred thousand views on youtube.

at first, satoru didn't mind the change his stream was going through—in fact, he welcomed it. but lately, things have been… different.

last week, while satoru was playing in some competition, he won first out of hundreds of equally proficient players. had it been anyone else, their comments would've been filled with congratulations and good job's, but in his case, all satoru got were messages asking where you were. that wasn’t the first time—ever since that very first day, when you showed up on his stream, satoru’s audience has entirely shifted. and honestly, if you were in his position, you'd be a bit annoyed. anyone would be. 

but you had never expected that it would be so big of a deal that you and satoru—the "cutest couple on the internet"—would break up over it.

you walk along the chilly, suburban sidewalk up to your boyfriend’s house. satoru had just sent you a message asking if you could come over, and like always, you answered with an immediate yes. a flock of crows fly by, raven feathers providing a stark contrast between them and the pale gray sky around you. it’s gray and gloomy, but not unpleasant. 

a sweet, romantic song plays in your ears as you knock three times on satoru’s front door. his familiar voice calls out “coming!”, and you can hear his footsteps grow louder and louder until he swings open the door. satoru smiles down at you, cheeks already rosy from the cold winter air. “hey.”

you tilt your head and smile back at him. “that’s all i get? hey?” you huff, walking into his living room behind him as the door closes behind you. “d’you have any hot chocolate? i’m freezing,” you say, licking your lips. satoru turns and pauses, an unreadable expression on his face. “satoru?”

after a moment, your boyfriend snaps out of it. “oh, yeah, sorry,” he says ruefully. satoru rubs his eyes with one hand and uses the other to open the door to his bedroom, and as you follow him in, you’re hit with a blast of warm air. “i’m just kinda tired, but yeah, i have some hot cocoa in here. c’mon.”

“anything i can do for you?” you offer, sitting down on the corner of his bed. you’ve been to his house so many times that it feels like home—maybe even more so than your own place. everything about satoru’s room is comfortable, from his plush chairs to the faux-fur blankets draped over every single piece of his furniture. you could probably fall over at any given point and it wouldn’t actually hurt—you’d just land on something soft and/or fluffy.

but that wasn’t all that made you so in love with his home. it was just the way it felt—words couldn’t describe the way everything was just so right and just so perfect, and you really did hope that you’d never have to see a time where you wouldn’t be able to spend time with your boyfriend here.

it really is a shame that all good things had to come to an end. at least, that’s what you kept telling yourself as satoru finally told you why he called you over. unlike nearly every other time, it wasn’t because he missed you or wanted to cuddle—it was quite the opposite, really.

“i don’t think this is working.”

six words that shattered the life you had come to know and love.

“is this a joke?” you try, an unnerved smile spreading across your lips against your will. he doesn’t reply instantly, which is so out-of-character for him that it makes you stiffen up. “satoru, this isn’t funny—”

“i’m not kidding,” satoru murmurs, looking away. he refuses to meet your eyes, and some part of you is still desperately trying to find reason in the chaos that’s slowly taking over your mind. how could it be that everything was just fine two minutes ago and now it’s anything but that? did something happen? did you say the wrong thing? did you—

“it’s not funny,” you insist, still somehow clinging onto your slowly-dwindling hope. maybe you’re in denial, but still, you were sure that everything was fine—no, that everything is fine. there was no past-tense, right? how could the glass home you’d built with your bare hands just crash down at the throw of a pebble?

satoru finally meets your eyes, and your breath catches in your throat. there’s no amused glimmer in his eyes, no “just kidding” in sight, and even worse, you can’t even see an ounce of the love or adoration you’d come to grow so attached to in just a couple months.

“what happened?” you whisper, miraculously managing to keep yourself together. you’d never forgive yourself if you just started crying over a breakup you weren’t even sure was happening—what little’s left of your pride is holding on. you allow yourself to wrap your arms around your chest, curling into your own embrace. 

satoru doesn’t reply for a long second. right when you’re sure he just won’t reply, he does, and it all comes spilling out in a messy stream of words. “it’s just… i can’t do this anymore. i can’t keep going online and seeing everyone on my stream talking about you. i love you, i really do, but it’s just—” satoru shakes his head frustratedly. “i don’t know how to say it, but you know what i mean, right?”

your eyebrows furrow and you shake your head. “you’re breaking up with me because you’re tired of seeing me?”

“no, fuck,” satoru groans, running a hand through his hair. his previously cool and collected demeanor starts to fall apart as he takes a step back. “i don’t know how to explain it, but— shit, you wouldn’t understand.”

you swallow and start to stand up, still willing to try. “then help me understand, satoru, i—”

“you’ve seen the comments, and you’ve seen all the posts on twitter,” satoru says, tilting his head back and glaring at the ceiling. “it’s not your fault, but i really just can’t stand everyone disregarding me and turning my own stream into a youtube channel starring you.”

his words sting like alcohol in an open wound, and you fight the battle of your life to prevent the thousands of tears hiding behind your eyes from being visible. even so, your voice wobbles ever so slightly as you say “that’s a bullshit reason to break up, satoru—”

your boyfriend—is he even still your boyfriend?—scoffs and shakes his head, stumbling back and falling into his chair. "for you, it isn't. you wouldn’t understand. for me, it's like everyone's just... invalidating the three years i've spent on this shit. and i can't do it anymore, i just can't."

you blink slowly, backing away towards his bedroom door. "what does that mean?"

satoru exhales a bitter laugh and turns away, the back of his chair facing you. you think you can hear him take a soft, shaky breath as the room falls silent. neither of you make a sound before satoru turns back toward you, a blank look on his face.

he looks up at you, azure eyes devoid of the sparkle you've become so familiar with. satoru smiles sadly, but to your dismay, there's no real emotion behind it. it's almost like he's already accepted it when he says, "it means we—" he pauses and looks away. "this is over."

you reach out toward him, desperate to hold on to him—to the invisible string that ties you and satoru together, but he's just out of your grasp. "satoru, it isn't even that big of a deal, why are you—"

satoru turns and fixes you with a stern glare, and just like that, the string that kept you and satoru together for months, maybe years snaps, and you're left with a limp strand of what it once was. taking the hint, you walk out of his room in a daze, hardly noticing the way he says "i'm sorry".

and the worst part? he said he still loved you. but apparently that wasn’t enough.

satoru has every right to be annoyed that his stream is only growing because of you—his stream was the way he made money, and after all, it was never meant to be about you. 

and maybe he was never meant to be for you either.

the walk home is cold and lonely. you slip a hand into your pocket—the pocket of satoru's hoodie, which you should probably return to him—and extract your earphones. it probably isn't a good idea to wear both outside as you walk home, but you do it anyway—this day can't possibly get any worse.

a soft voice murmurs words of sorrow and encouragement in your ear as the music takes you to another world. maybe this—the breakup—was meant to happen. maybe it was a mistake to date a boy with thousands of fans.

as soon as you get home, your phone dings softly. you pick it up and frown when you see it's from toru. you'd have to change that name later.

toru: idk if u blocked me already but i still have a lot of ur things, do u wanna come pick them up later?

toru: or i can drop them off tmrw ig

you miss the way he used to text you—with an obnoxious amount of exclamation points and an even worse amount of emojis. now, it's like all of the flavor's gone from his words, and it hurts. that's when it actually settles in, that this is really over. it hurts like an icicle being driven straight through your heart, and it stings like one, too.

satoru's texts are left on delivered for five whole minutes before you reply, and it's only with an "i'll come by tmrw". he likes the message less than a minute later, and you're left to wallow in your misery alone until you finally drift off to sleep.

the next morning, you open your phone to a notification alerting you that satoru’ll be live on stream in ten minutes. curiosity kills the cat, but in this case, maybe it’d be worth it to see what he tells his viewers about your breakup. after all, there’s no way he wouldn’t tell them—he always had something to say about you, and he’d probably rather tell them for sure rather than let them come up with ridiculous theories on their own.

so you hastily make a new account using some email account you haven’t touched since middle school, trying a couple different passwords until you remember the one that works. the website hits you with a hundred questions, asking you about your favorite games and who’d you like to subscribe to first. you choose satoru, albeit after a second of hesitation. two minutes later, sparklingzebra672 joins your ex-boyfriend’s stream. you wait a second, holding your breath as the live loads. a brief moment later, satoru’s painfully familiar face appears on your screen.

“hey guys,” satoru says, forcing a smile on his face. even from behind a screen, you swear you can feel his eyes on you. “how’s everyone today?” 

the already unstable smile on satoru’s face falls when he opens the comments and gets greeted with a flurry of where’s your girlfriend’s. had you been anyone else, you probably wouldn’t have noticed the way satoru’s eyes dulled ever so slightly or the way he curled into himself, but being the girl who once knew him best, you could tell.

“oh, she won’t be back on here for… a while,” satoru starts, dancing around the topic. he leans back against his chair and tilts his chin up, azure eyes focused on the ceiling. “we broke up.”

nothing could’ve prepared you for the way satoru’s comments explode. it’s almost like you can hear the shocked gasps coming from all fourteen—no, twenty thousand viewers as the words nobody thought would ever they’d hear from satoru are spoken.

suguru-geto: holy shit im so sorry 

toji-fushiguro: wait wtf r u kidding?? that's fuckin crazy

yuuji-itadori: omg i thought u guys were together forever :(

inumaki: chat is this real??

satoru shrugs, averting his eyes from the hundreds of comments pouring in, but you scroll through and read them all. everyone, even satoru’s haters, seems genuinely shocked. in fact, had this not been your own breakup, you would’ve been one of them, begging and pleading satoru for more details.

“yeah, we did,” satoru murmurs, eyebrows furrowing just enough for you to read his expression. now that you’re looking closer, you can see the subtle redness underneath his eyes—had he been crying too? and maybe you’re imagining it, but his hair seems a bit dishelved too. your ex-boyfriend shrugs, forcing his face back into his usual lighthearted expression, but it’s not fooling anyone.

satoru scowls at the new flood of comments asking him why you two broke up. some people are already hypothesizing—maybe it’s because you got jealous of his fame, or maybe he got sick of you. maybe you left him to go date some other streamer, or maybe—

“i’m actually gonna end the stream here, ‘cause i don’t really want to deal with all of this right now,” satoru says with a frown. his eyes are narrowed irritably as a couple users protest, still begging for more details. “you guys know that i’m a real person with my own life, right? fuck off.”

and just like that, the stream ends. you’re left with a blank screen and a message saying that satoru’s ended the live, so you shut your laptop. your stomach turns as you groan, just remembering that you have to go over to his place later to retrieve your things, and somehow, you’d have to pretend that you didn’t just stalk his stream to see if he’d say anything substantial about the breakup.

a couple minutes after the stream ends, your phone blows up—every mutual friend you and satoru have is messaging you about what he said, but you can’t bring yourself to open any of them. except for one.

suguru: r u ok?

you: yeah ig

suguru: do u want anything?

satoru’s best friend’s question catches you off-guard—there are a lot of things you want. you want this whole situation to go away. you want the world to disappear. and most of all, you want satoru back, without the online world attached.

but suguru can’t do any of those things, can he? so you leave him on read. 

somehow, you fall back asleep, tossing and turning in your bed without satoru’s steady arms to accompany you. a couple hours later, you wake up again, wincing from the dim sunlight that pours through your windows and directly into your eyes. it’s just past five, so you figure that you might as well go down to satoru’s house and get your things. better to do it now than drag it out for an uncertain amount of time.

the walk is shorter than you remember, but maybe it’s just the absence of music pouring into your ears that makes it seem that way. you watch the wilted autumn leaves flutter in the wind, falling down onto the sidewalk like pieces into place. once upon a time, you had walked these very streets with satoru—it’s a fond memory you remember only all too well.

when you finally step onto your ex’s doorstep, the door opens before you even have a chance to knock. and there he is—the boy who’d once been the love of your life. satoru looks down at you with an unreadable expression. “hey.”

you think you’ve seem this film before, and you didn’t like the ending.

satoru spares you from having to reply by opening the door wider and beckoning you inside. “i already put most of your stuff into a couple boxes, but i thought you’d wanna check on your own. just in case i forgot something.”

you nod and walk past him, not trusting your voice to be steady. this was harder than you expected—much harder. in fact, you’re practically on the verge of breaking down when you step into satoru’s room and look around and see just how different it looks without the touches of you everywhere.

the fortnite poster you’d given him as a joke for the second anniversary of his stream was gone from his wall, and so were the two mini succulents that used to sit on the corner of his desk. the white cat plushie that used to rest on his pillow was gone, too—probably stuffed somewhere in one of the boxes outside his bedroom door.

after nearly a minute of looking around, you decide that whatever satoru possibly could’ve missed wasn’t important enough for you to have to stick around any longer.

you turn and start to exit satoru’s room so fast that you nearly crash into him when he suddenly appears in the doorway. “shit, sorry about that,” you mumble, trying to walk around him. but of course, because the universe is actually praying on your downfall, you and satoru both walk the same way at the same time. you awkwardly try to go around each other, and eventually, the humiliation is over.

“so, you got everything?” satoru asks, walking beside you with his hands in his pockets. you nod, bending over to pick up one of the two boxes. it’s pretty heavy, but not unmanangable. you just don’t really seem to know if you’ll be able to carry both back home at once. 

“oh, uh, i’ll be right back,” you say tentatively. a flash of confusion appears in satoru’s eyes, so you clarify, “i’m gonna go grab my car. that’ll make it easier.”

satoru’s eyebrows furrow and he shakes his head. “no, it’s alright. your place isn’t far from here at all, i’ll just take the other and walk back with you.”

“no, really, it’s alright.”

“it’s the easiest option, ba—” satoru cuts himself off, stopping himself from calling you baby for the first time since you two had started dating. “sorry.”

“let’s just go.”

the walk back to your house is brutal. you walk side by side with satoru since the path is wide enough for you to do so, and you two just keep bumping into each other. had you still been dating, satoru probably would’ve dropped the box and scooped you up instead, kissing your cold face to warm it up. of course, that would’ve added five minutes to your walk, but it would’ve been better than the tense silence dividing you and satoru right now. 

the wind whistles around you, brushing at your skin and making you shiver with every gust—there’s nothing more you’d like than to go home, plop on your couch and cry while watching the titanic for the hundredth time. 

after what seems like three hundred awkward hours later, you and satoru finally make it to your house. “thanks,” you say quietly, setting down your box in front of the door. 

satoru places his next to yours and slips his hands back into his pockets. he nods and replies, “no problem,” but still doesn’t leave.

you cross your arms, and tilt your head, meeting his eyes hesitantly. “umm, do you need anything else?”

satoru coughs tensely and shrugs. “oh, uh, not really, just—” his eyes drift down to your top, and your face grows warm when you realize you’re still wearing his hoodie. 

“shit, my bad,” you mumble, internally cringing and resisting the urge to say every curse word you know. could this day really get any worse?

well, at least satoru looks equally as embarrassed. he shakes his head and gestures for you to keep it on. “it’s fine, it’s kinda cold anyways. keep it.” satoru hesitates, shuffling his feet before continuing, “if you want something… to remember me by.”

what you say next was done entirely against your will. “do you still love me?” you ask suddenly, not sure what otherworldly force prompted you to do so. you instantly regret it when satoru’s face goes even redder, and you can tell it’s not from the cold the way his blush spreads to his ears.

“i— uh, i mean—”

“answer me, satoru, i think i have a right to know.”

he looks away and mumbles something about needing to go back home, to feed his fish or something (he doesn’t have a fish), and you grab his hand just as he starts to turn away. “please, satoru, i need to know,” you breathe, squeezing his hand harder when he flinches. 

ten silent seconds tick by, but you still don’t let go. so satoru sighs, a soft white puff of air coming from his lips. “yeah.”

your heart breaks again.

“then why did you—”

“because i don’t know how to do this,” satoru says, blue eyes darting all over the place. “i love you, i really do, but i just can’t— i don’t like having thousands of people thinking that i’m only worth looking at if i’m with you, it’s annoying and it pisses me off and i don’t want to accidentally take it out on yo—”

you cut him off with a kiss, ignoring the way he yelps a little in surprise. but thankfully, he doesn’t push you away—instead, his arms instantly wrap around you and pull you closer into his warm, warm chest. satoru’s lips are a little dry, but still minty as ever from the peppermints he’s constantly munching on. he kisses you back like a man starved of affection, and when you two finally break apart, his eyes are just as hungry.

“you idiot,” you whisper, trailing your fingers through his hair as tears prick at the corner of your eyes. “you shoulda just talked to me about it first.”

“i know,” satoru mumbles, looking down bashfully. “‘m sorry.”

“you should be.” you pause, watching satoru’s lips curve into a pouty frown. “i’m sorry too,” you murmur, and he looks up, confused. “i should’ve seen this coming.”

satoru shakes his head and presses his lips to your forehead, lingering for a couple seconds before pulling back. “i missed you.”

“i was gone for less than a day, satoru.”

“oh, so you didn’t miss me?”

“i did,” you admit, exhaling a puff of air when satoru smiles smugly. “shut up, it’s not a competition!”

“yeah it is, but fine, you win,” satoru gives in with a dramatic sigh, reaching down and twining his fingers with yours. his hands, which are significantly bigger than yours, instantly warm you up. “but only ‘cause i don’t want you to break up with me next.”

“i hate you, y’know that?” you grumble, leaning into his side and letting satoru kiss the top of your head. he hums in agreement, reaching out and opening your front door. 

“i’m sure you do, baby. now c’mon, let’s get inside n’ warm up. i wanna make it up to you,” satoru says with a grin, bending over and scooping up both boxes. 

“oh, yeah? how do you plan to do that?” you challenge, going inside first and holding the door open for satoru. once he’s inside, you close the door and instantly get pinned against it by satoru, whose hands are already creeping underneath your clothes. “satoru, your hands are col—”

he cuts you off by pressing his equally cold lips to yours, smiling against your mouth as he tugs at your clothes. “i know, baby. but i’ll keep you nice n’ warm for the rest of the night, i promise!”