#and i decided its probably when animation got out a bunch

[capesch-arts]

Other Outer Gods: Don't you get bored not killing, torturing, or screwing these mortals over? You literally have a hand fully stretched there.

LA-KiY: and ruin any potential movies Disney releases? Nah, have you seen Snow White? Pure art. Muah. I'm not going to risk destroying that when they just started this. I want to know how they'll improve after this.

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #44

Three Teens, Three Crowns, and a Whole Lot of Nope

Imagine dis…

I was just shuffling around my playlist when I heard that song from the animated movie El Dorado and it made me thinking, so here it goes…

…

DANNY’S POV

The moment my best friends bit the ghostly dust, the universe decided to hand us a set of crowns we didn’t ask for. Because obviously, nothing says “Congratulations on your tragic deaths!” like a full-time job in the afterlife.

Tucker, in a plot twist no one saw coming (except maybe Clockwork, because that guy cheats), turned out to be the reincarnation of some ancient Pharaoh. Not just any Pharaoh—oh no—he got the VIP pass straight to the top of the Egyptian pantheon, answering only to me, the so-called King of the Infinite Realms. Because if there's one thing I’ve learned, it's that my best friend is destined to be the world's first tech-savvy, WiFi-dependent god-king of the afterlife.

Sam, on the other hand, had always been a little too into nature, and I guess the universe finally decided to roll with it. When she synced up perfectly with Undergrowth’s power, the big walking salad declared her his heir, making her the literal Queen of Nature. So now, Sam basically has dominion over every plant in existence, which means I can never make an offhand comment about preferring artificial Christmas trees without getting a death glare.

And me? Well, since I yeeted Pariah Dark back into the sarcophagus where he belonged, the Infinite Realms figured I should be the one running the place. So, lucky me—I got promoted to Ghost King, a position that comes with all the responsibility and none of the training manual.

Now, you’d think that’s enough responsibility for a trio of teenagers who just wanted to survive high school. But no, Clockwork took one look at us, decided we sucked at ruling, and thought, Hey, let’s make this fun! So instead of, I don’t know, giving us an actual lesson in leadership, he chucked us into a completely different dimension (because, sure, why not?) and told us to start cults.

Yep. You heard that right. Cults.

No warning, no instructions, just a “figure it out” and a push into the deep end. One minute we’re in the Ghost Zone, the next we’re scattered across this weird universe like a really weird cosmic prank.

So now I’m stuck in Gotham, which, by the way, might be more haunted than the Ghost Zone itself. I have no idea where Sam and Tucker ended up, but if I know them, Tucker’s probably convinced a bunch of tech bros to worship him as some cyber-god, and Sam’s singlehandedly turning a park into her new throne. Meanwhile, I have to somehow convince people to follow me without sounding like a lunatic.

This is going to be fun. (Spoiler: It won’t be.)

…

SAM’S POV

Gotham reeked of smoke, oil, and decay. Beneath its gothic beauty was a suffocating lifelessness, an unnatural cage of steel and concrete. The city was a graveyard where nature had been paved over and left to rot in the shadows of towering skyscrapers. It was unacceptable. It was offensive. And Sam was going to change it.

She wasted no time. The moment her feet hit Gotham’s cracked pavement, she started planting seeds—both literally and metaphorically. It began with whispers. A small movement. A group that promised something different. Gotham had no shortage of lost souls—criminals, outcasts, the downtrodden looking for something beyond the city's endless cycle of crime and punishment. But Sam wasn’t offering power or chaos like every other Gotham lunatic. No, she offered something much rarer: sustainability.

Food. Shelter. Community.

It started with fresh produce, rare and valuable in Gotham’s urban wasteland. No one questioned where it came from, only that it was fresh, free of toxins, and worth more than a stack of stolen cash. The deal was simple—manual labor in exchange for nourishment. Gotham’s criminals, many of whom spent their lives getting stabbed, shot, or beaten in some turf war, found the idea shockingly reasonable. Hospitals ate through their earnings. Gang life was profitable until you bled out in an alley. But a place that provided food, healing, and protection? That was something different. That was better.

The movement grew. What began as a handful of desperate people looking for a way out became something bigger. The streets whispered of a new force rising, one that didn’t deal in violence or corruption but in roots—roots that burrowed deep, that refused to be ignored.

At first, the Batfamily dismissed it as background noise. In a city filled with psychopaths dressed as clowns, what was a little nature cult? But when Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn vanished—not in a grand escape, not in a fiery explosion, but simply faded into the movement—their indifference turned to concern.

When Ivy resurfaced, she wasn’t the same. The wild unpredictability had been tempered into something focused. Controlled. She still worshipped nature, but now she had a leader, someone she called High Priestess. And that leader wasn’t some ancient force of the Green. It wasn’t a metahuman, a scientist, or a villain. It was a teenager.

A black-haired, violet-eyed girl who stood in front of kneeling followers, leading ceremonies beneath the growing canopy of Gotham’s first true forest in centuries.

Sam had never been one for blind worship. She despised mindless devotion. But this wasn’t about faith—it was about purpose. The people who followed her weren’t zealots; they were survivors. They had seen what Gotham’s endless cycle of crime and violence had to offer, and they wanted out. She gave them that. She gave them a cause. And if it meant being called a cult leader, then fine. Whatever. Labels didn’t matter. Results did.

And Gotham was changing.

The city fought back, of course. The corruption, the crime families, even the Bat himself—none of them liked an unpredictable element in their precious, miserable ecosystem. But Sam had never been one to back down. Gotham was sick, diseased, rotting. She wasn’t here to burn it down like some power-hungry villain. She was here to fix it.

And if the Bats wanted to stop her, well—

Let them try.

…

TUCKER’S POV

Metropolis was beautiful. It was clean, it was bright, and it was bursting with technology. Skyscrapers gleamed under the sun, state-of-the-art AI patrolled the streets, and futuristic inventions were integrated into everyday life like it was no big deal. This was a city that worshiped innovation, where science and technology weren’t just tools but pillars of society.

Tucker should have been in heaven.

But he had a mission to complete before he could sit back and enjoy the wonders of Metropolis. Clockwork’s orders. And if the old ghost had taught him anything, it was that ignoring his cryptic guidance usually led to bad things. So, no indulging in the city’s top-tier tech just yet. He had a kingdom to build.

At first, Superman didn’t even notice him. That was fine. Tucker wasn’t looking to pick a fight with the world’s strongest hero. He moved in the background, setting up encrypted networks, hijacking digital footprints, and planting just enough static in the city’s airwaves to keep any unwanted super-snooping off his back. The occasional glitch in Superman’s super-hearing? That was Tucker, laying the groundwork.

But the real disruption came when people started vanishing.

Not just any people—tech specialists, programmers, engineers. The kind of minds corporations fought over, the ones Luthor’s company owned through shady contracts and blackmail. One by one, they disappeared from Metropolis, slipping through the cracks like digital ghosts.

The city was no stranger to missing persons. Metropolis saw its fair share of people vanishing into the underbelly of crime, alien invasions, or one of Lex Luthor’s ever-growing list of sinister schemes. But this? This was too precise, too targeted. Luthor’s R&D departments were bleeding talent at an alarming rate, and the usual suspects weren’t responsible.

The only common thread? The Code of Ra.

It started as an urban myth—a secretive group offering sanctuary to tech minds who had seen too many of their peers exploited, coerced, or “recruited” by the so-called forces of good and evil. They were promised a place where their work was valued, where they were free to create without fear of it being stolen, weaponized, or locked behind corporate greed.

And at the center of it all? Him.

Tucker hadn’t just built a cult—he’d built a kingdom. One where technology wasn’t a tool for war, where engineers and programmers weren’t disposable assets, where knowledge was sacred. He offered an intellectual utopia, a society where the greatest minds could work without limits. And the best part? They wanted to be there. There was no brainwashing, no coercion. The world had burned them too many times, and Tucker had simply given them an alternative.

And, okay, maybe he leaned into the whole Pharaoh thing a little. He was a reincarnated ruler, after all—might as well own it. Gold-trimmed robes, sleek futuristic stylings with ancient Egyptian aesthetics, and a throne room that looked like a cyberpunk temple. He’d always thought he’d look good in royal attire, and damn, was he right.

But his people didn’t follow him because of the theatrics. They followed because he gave them something no one else had—freedom.

Superman, unaccustomed to dealing with cults, found himself in unfamiliar territory. He had fought tyrants, warlords, and intergalactic conquerors, but a movement built on voluntary devotion? That wasn’t as simple as punching a bad guy. Normally, this was the kind of mess Batman or Wonder Woman would handle. But Diana was off-world, and Gotham had its own cult problem. That left the burden squarely on Superman’s shoulders.

And Tucker? Tucker was more than ready to enjoy the show.

…

DANNY’S POV

The desert sucked.

Like, really sucked.

If he ever made it out of this, he was going to personally petition the Ghost Zone to just delete the concept of sand from existence. Sand was evil. It got everywhere, it was hot, and it made him feel like a melting popsicle under a blowtorch.

His ice core hated him. His human half hated him. The sun was having the time of its life roasting him alive. And then—nothing.

When he woke up, things got weirder.

For one, he wasn’t dead. Which, honestly, was a pleasant surprise considering the whole “heatstroke and possible dehydration” situation. For another, he wasn’t lying in the sand anymore. Nope. Instead, he was inside a coffin.

Not the first time he’d woken up in one, but still, rude.

He sat up, blinking blearily, and was immediately met with dozens of kneeling figures in dark robes. No one screamed. No one attacked. They just...stared.

Which, honestly? Way creepier than ghost attacks.

The air smelled like flowers, incense, and something ancient, like he’d been dropped in the middle of an old temple. Around him were offerings—literal offerings—of gold, silver, and silk. And the people? They were whispering. Murmuring things he barely understood, eyes shining with what he could only describe as religious awe.

Which was never a good sign.

Danny had questions. A lot of questions. But the big one?

What the actual heck was going on?

It took some time—aka him sneaking around, eavesdropping, and pretending he had any idea what he was doing—but eventually, he figured it out.

These people? Every single one of them had died before. Not in the casual, “oops, tripped and fell” way, but in the full-on, flatline, bright light at the end of the tunnel way. And somehow, they’d come back. Some were resurrected, others survived things they shouldn’t have, but they all had one thing in common: they felt drawn to him.

Apparently, he was some kind of cosmic beacon for people who’d taken a one-way trip to the afterlife but forgot to stay there. To them, he wasn’t just some random ghost kid—he was the King. The embodiment of balance, life and death, chaos and order. The guy who got to decide whether people stayed dead.

And that was so not on his resume.

But did that stop people from kneeling at his feet, swearing loyalty, and building a cult around him? Nope.

Did he ask for it? Also nope.

And somehow, it just kept getting bigger. At first, it was just the devoted ghost-adjacent weirdos. Then mercenaries. Then, a group of assassins and a guy named Ra. Even Slade freaking Wilson showed up one day, standing ominously at the back like the world’s most intense chaperone.

Danny didn’t do cults. He wasn’t qualified for cults. He was barely qualified for high school.

But Clockwork had said he needed to establish one, and, well...mission accomplished?

Now, all he had to do was find Sam and Tucker, reunite with his spouses, and figure out how to explain to them that, uh...he might have accidentally become a god-king of the undead.

Yeah. They were never gonna let him live this down.

…

 PS: If someone out there wants to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so, don’t forget to tag me though.

PPS: I tried a new type of writing. How is it?

[dandelionsresilience]

whether the internet becomes an intolerable surveillance state, ubiquitous subscription model, or unusably ad- or AI-ridden shithole, I think we need to remember

how to do things offline

either on your personal hard drive (just because it’s an app doesn’t mean the information is stored in your device) or on paper. I’m not saying the collapse of the internet is imminent, and I’m not suggesting we do everything completely without technology, or even stop using it until we have to. (to be clear, I also don’t think the internet will just blink out of existence, suddenly stop being a thing at all; rather I think it might continue to lose its usefulness to the point where it’s impossible to get anything done. anyway) but some people may have forgotten how we got by before the internet (I almost have!), and the younger generation might not have experienced it at all.

I figure most people probably use the internet mainly for communication with friends and family, entertainment and creation (eg. writing), and looking up how to do things, so here’s how to do those things offline:

First and most importantly, download everything important to you onto at least one hard drive and at least one flashdrive! files can get corrupted and hardware can get damaged or lost, but as long as you keep backup copies, you have much-closer-to-guaranteed access versus hoping a business doesn’t decide to paywall, purge, or otherwise revoke your access. I would recommend getting irreplaceable photos printed as well

download and/or print/write down:

anything important to you - photos/videos, journals, certificates, college transcripts

contact info - phone numbers and/or addresses of friends/family (know how to contact them if you can’t use your favourite messaging app), doctors (open hours would be good too), veterinarians if you have pets, and work

how-to’s - recipes (one, two), emergency preparedness (what do I do if… eg. I smell gas)

other things you might google: cleaning chemicals to NOT mix, what laundry tag symbols mean, people food dogs and cats can and can’t eat, plant toxicity to pets

and know offline ways to find things out - local radio station, newspaper, a nearby highway rest area might have a region map, public libraries usually have a bunch of resources

also, those of you who get periods should strongly consider not using period tracking apps! here’s how to track your period manually

free printable period tracker templates (no printer? public libraries usually charge a few cents per page, or you can recreate it by hand)

moving on to entertainment, you can still get most media for free! it’s completely legal to download your favourite movies to your own personal hard drive, you just can’t sell or distribute copies (not legal advice)

movies: wcostream.tv (right click the player) - the url changes every once in a while but usually redirects; I recently noticed that it’s hiding a lot of movies behind “premium,” so it may or may not work anymore | download youtube videos

music: how to get music without streaming it | legal free downloads

games: steamunlocked.net - doesn’t have every game and can be slow to update, but very reliable

books: free online libraries | legal free downloads

otherwise passing time:

active outdoor games

for road trips (social verbal games)

for when power’s out

for sheltering in place (not all offline, but good ideas)

board games (often found at thrift stores)

ad-free customisable games collection (mobile)

read, write, draw, or whatever your craft is, sing, dance, clean, reorganise, take a bath

go outside - excuses include napping (if safe), eating, reading, finding cool plants/animals/rocks, playing with the dog

places to go include:

zoos and museums can be surprisingly cheap

parks and nature preserves

library, mall, or game shop

and a few miscellaneous things for good measure:

time budgeting | household management

how to use a planner | I’ve had success with visually blocked-out schedules like these

please add on if you have any other offline alternatives to common uses of the internet!

[varesai]

BORDER COLLIE - boothill x reader

- you, boothill, and your daughter spend a nice morning together, allthewhile you and your husband converse about a dog.

- i don't know why i made this i just thought it would be a fun little thing idk lol. i just had to add that little bit of jazz to the end bc like yk... idk anyways i'm trynna set myself on a better posting schedule and i think im starting off strong mmm enjoy

- all fluff, tiny mention of pregnancy at the very end, pre-cyborg boothill, his daughter is still alive here and everything is normal, wc 714

You were looking out the window, out at the vast amount of farmland you and your husband, Boothill, had decided to buy when he brought home the little girl you’re now able to call your daughter.

It was a nice, big place, suitable for animals of all kinds, and very family-friendly. You were currently watching your daughter play around with a baby goat that her father decided to bring out, a smile on all three of your faces. 

She seemed so happy, waddling around the goat, clapping her chubby little hands when the goat gave a soft little lick to her cheek. She had just learned how to walk, and had been able to say a few words for the past few months now. 

You walked out the back door, waving at Boothill before he waved his hand as a gesture to have you over by them. While you were walking over, you could hear your daughter shout “Goat! Goat! Cute goat!” While bobbing up and down with her legs and clapping her hands. It made you laugh a little bit before leaning into your husband's side. He wraps an arm around your shoulders, rubbing your arm up and down while supervising your daughter. 

“Dada!” She squealed, giggling. Boothill ruffled her hair before leaning down to give her a kiss on her forehead, making her giggle even more. “Dada and mama!”

You smiled wider than you thought you ever could have. You were so blessed to have Boothill as a husband, and such a special, precious girl as a daughter. 

“Well, we can’t really bring a goat in th’ house, n’ she seems to enjoy playin’ around with it a bunch…” Boothill said, standing next to you with his arms crossed. “What if we got a dog?”

“Really? A dog?” You looked up at him, and he nodded. “We have horses, goats, sheep, cows, and probably some reptiles living in the bushes. Do we really need more?”

He hummed. “The thing is, dogs can be domestic, hun. I got lucky this lil’ goat is so docile, good enough for her to be able to hang ‘round it without me having to worry ‘bout it taking her face off.”

“True. But we’d need a dog that can handle farmlife, not just any old dog. A boujee dog would not do very well in this type of setting. Keep that in mind.” 

He laughed before shaking his head. “Nah. I was thinkin’ more like a Border Collie or somethin’. I’d rather have one that's gonna make use of all this land.”

Your daughter came up to the both of you, lightly slapping at your legs to get your attention. You picked her up, giving Boothill a signal to go put the goat back in its respective area before meeting the two of you back inside.

A few moments later, when Boothill arrived back inside, you had lunch started, greeting him before he washed his hands and helping your daughter wash hers, too. He explained to her that she’s always to wash her hands before and after touching an ‘outside animal’ (as he calls it, so her itty bitty brain can comprehend it) otherwise she could get sick. He does the same, too. 

You set the table for lunch, putting some leftover salad and chicken on you and Boothills plates from last night. You gave your daughter some chicken too, but cut into very small squares, and strawberries instead of salad. 

The three of you sat down to eat, occasionally conversing about random things. She was too busy picking at her strawberries to notice your conversation, but you both still kept a close eye on her. 

“About the dog idea, are you sure?” You asked, your voice laced with some uncertainty. ‘I feel like we already have so much on our plate. Are you really willing to walk it every morning?”

“Well, o’course I am. I know what havin’ a dog is like, my dads always had one. I grew up around ‘em.” He takes another forkful of salad before going on. “But why’re ya so concerned? What else is stoppin’ ya from sayin’ yes?”

You smiled before laughing to yourself, leaving him temporarily confused. 

“Well, I want to hold off on the dog, because…

…I’m pregnant.”

[h0neybane]

EVLEO FANKIDS!!

leona's dna is so strong. damn 😭😭😭😭 im gonna do more detailed refs later, but you can have these headshots for now!!

these are Maya and Obuya Kingscholar! they're 18 years old and twins! both are in savanaclaw as third years.

more utc (personalities, interests, etc)

(hi taru if ur reading this... im snatching this straight from our dms LMFAO)

maya's an extrovert who's very confident and she makes a great leader! she's loves talking to people and is always up and running about. shes very caring towards others and isn't afraid to show it (most of the time...) shes very sharp and witty, though her downfall is that she can get REALLY competitive. its ok she has rizz...

she loooves science, particularly biology (though she loves potionology and alchemy too). she likes to hang out in the botanical gardens a lot because she likes nature! she can rattle off a bunch of animal facts off the top of her head. sometimes when shes talking to other beastmen or mermen she'll complete a sentence and they're just like "...why do you know that." in addition to that she is very athletic and plays spelldrive like her dad! sometimes when shes stressed she'll run a mile and then go back to whatever she was doing HAHA. she also sings sometimes except shes super shy about it n' doesn't like doing it in front of anyone

now, remember when i said she's not afraid to show how much she cares for others most of the time? when this girl REALLY falls in love she becomes the most cringefail girlloser EVEERRR. shes like a textbook tsundere!!!! shes stuttering and fumbling and lord help her..... luckily for her she takes a while to fall for someone genuinely. she prefers to show her love through physical affection, gifts, and quality time.

moving onto obuya!

obuya's an introvert! he was shyer as a kid, but he's more confident in himself now. he's chill and very lax! kind of like a sleepy kitty... i just know this mf is singlehandedly perpetuating cat beastman stereotypes. he's super sleepy all the time, constantly taking naps, he probably drinks a warm glass of milk b4 he goes to bed 😭. he's basically a gentle giant! though his strength is definitely not to be underestimated. he's competitive as well, just not as much as his sister. he can get a little wild when he's excited though, DJAOSDAS.

he's very much a history nerd. u ask him how often he thinks of the roman empire and his answer is just "Yes." hes a language arts nerd too!!!! ! he loves to read..... also, he has a guilty pleasure for romance HAHADUJISAOK. he has a big stash of romance novels in his room!! he likes most arts in general, going from movies, fashion, and visual art, which he does! he paints and does digital occasionally; a friend dragged him into fandom and now he cant escape... on the outside he looks like this cool suave chill guy but hes really just. a nerd. he has his hair pushed back with a dumb headband and his glasses on and hes laying down on his stomach kicking his feet while reading MASODSAJMKALSM. he also has a big soft spot for animals! as for when he's in love, there isnt a big noticable difference from the outside. he's already a very affectionate person, so nothing may seem out of place... until you find him writing his crush's name with his surname in a little notebook aDJSIADJOAKND. obuya, like his mother, loves love, and WILL be thinking about his crush AALLLLL the time. he shows his love through physical affection, quality time, and acts of service.

maya and obuya are very close!! they prefer to stick by each other's side and have mostly the same friends. i think actually they got invitations to both nrc AND rsa; both chose nrc together. additionally, they both cook with eachother and just do daily chores and vibe at ramshackle; someones gotta maintain it after all!! they both enjoy not really having to think abt stuff, which is why they don't just do it with magic.

thats all i have finished for now!! theres still more for me to decide, and a bunch of doodles 2do, but i want people to see my twins!

tagging: @taruruchi @honeyedpearcrushh @teighveepao @boopshoops @scint1llat3

@h2llish @viperbunnies @buttholesparkles @oya-oya-okay @cheerleaderman

@qsoap @angelwishess @gimmeurmoneyagh

plus (because fankids): @moonyasnow @skibidibabygirl @justm3di0cr3 @blood-red-bumblebee @beneathsakurashade @screamintoad @babyghoul138

[ladykailitha]

The Caged Bird Still Sings Part 14

Hey guys! Welcome back! So this chapter is getting a little heavy on the angsty side, so just a heads up.

Things have been going great for all the stories especially the Christmas one.

This will be the story that keeps its usual schedule next week. Every other posting day will be finishing up the Olympic Swimmer one. So be on the look out for that.

Also super long chapter!

Steve tries out some hobbies, Joyce pushes, and Steve gets depressed.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

~

Steve would like to say he got right on the job search the next day, but he really didn’t. He woke up refreshed and feeling good about himself. After a run on the treadmill and big breakfast he had already talked himself out needing to.

But instead he decided that he wanted to learn new hobbies. He had the money and pretty much unlimited time so why not?

The first thing he tried felting. Yeah, he had a lot of money, but he wanted to start with something cheap in case he got bored with it.

Taking the kit out of the box, he already ran into a problem. The leather finger gloves were much too small. Like he didn’t have fat fingers or anything but they were much too tight to fit on even his pinkie fingers he turned them inside out to see if he could make them bigger somehow.

He only succeeded in ruining the finger gloves. He tried rubber thimbles as replacements but still the sharp tool would pierce even the tough rubber.

The kit sat abandoned in a corner of his hotel room until one of the porters saw it and asked if he could have it. His sister did the felting all the time and she was having trouble finding colors she liked.

So Steve let him have it. Three days later the porter came back with a bright yellow canary and a female robin. He proudly displayed them on his nightstand next to the phone and alarm clock.

Robin loved them, but refused to take the robin. She said they shouldn’t be separated at any price.

Steve loved her a little bit more when she said that.

The next thing he tried was painting.

That lasted all of six hours before they got handed off to Will. It was a beautiful oil, acrylic, and water color set, with all the paint brushes and pallet and metal wood-handled pallet knives.

It lasted that long was because that was the time it took for Steve to set everything up, including an old sheet Rosa let him have, start painting and promptly knock everything over. The water, the paints, the easel. Everything. He broke the easel, knocked a hole in the canvas, and smeared paint all over the apron he had bought just for the occasion.

Will was happy to receive the paints, but in turn he gave Steve a simple notepad and pencil and taught him how to draw.

Steve liked that.

It was just for doodling and making silly pictures so it didn’t make him feel like a failure. He went to the bookstore and bought a bunch of books on how to draw certain things. Animals, the human figure. He even found this great reference book on clothes sorted based on the English monarch who was in power at the time the were wore.

Which was all well and good, but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

One day while he was over at Will’s talking art and whether or not kneaded erasers were worth the pain they caused if you dropped, Ellie introduced him to a new hobby. Will was against the things, Steve was for.

Jonathan huffed, “That’s probably a class issue as Steve here can afford to replace them and Will can’t.”

Steve and Will stared at each other in complete shock, but had to admit that Jonathan was probably right.

“Yeah, okay,” Steve huffed, “that’s fair. I guess I really didn’t think about it because it’s not my money I’m spending.”

“Have you tried looking for a job?” Joyce asked. She didn’t like that someone was paying to keep Steve safe. As nice as it was, in her experience the well tended to dry up when you least expected it to.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mrs. Byers.” Which he had. Yes, he had been focused on trying to learn things that would keep his mind from atrophying, he had also been looking. “If they seen me coming they take down the sign or if they don’t get to it in time, they say it’s an old sign and that they forgot to take it down.”

Joyce’s shoulders slumped in sympathy. The rumor around town is that because Mr. Harrington was the landlord for a lot of the properties that the businesses were on, he had threatened to raise their rent if they gave Steve a job.

Something that all the adults promised not to tell Steve so that he wouldn’t get so discouraged as to not try at all.

But surely Clint Harrington didn’t own every business in Hawkins and she told Steve so.

“No,” Steve huffed. “But he’s friends with ones that he doesn’t. I’m going to try the mall next. Most of the them are franchises and have their main bosses outside of Hawkins.”

She let out a little sigh of relief. It showed that Steve was trying and actively thinking of these types of pitfalls.

Steve shifted uncomfortably. “What have you got there, Ellie?” he asked trying to shift the focus off of him for a moment.

Joyce was watching Ellie while Hopper was at work.

The young girl held up long satin strings of embroidery thread. She had three shades of pink, a white, and a red. She tied the ends to a safety pin that was pinned her leg.

“I’m making friendship bracelets for me and Max,” Ellie said proudly. “The pink is for me, and then I have these colors for her!” She held up blues and purples.

“That’s way cool!” Steve said scooting over to sit next to her.

Jonathan and Will shared a smile. Steve was lost to the shiny allure of friendship bracelets.

“I could teach you if you like,” she said with a smile. “I also have boondoggle!” She held up shiny plastic strips. “I make key chains and other things that need to last a lot longer than the thread.”

Steve really lit up, but then frowned when he saw out intricate it all was. “I’ll never be do anything that fancy.”

Ellie sat closer and pulled out a little paper that she had in her caboodle. “I couldn’t at first either, so I went to the library and took out a book on all the different ways you could plait and how to do boondoggle. Then I copied a couple of the pages I wanted to try.”

She handed it to him and pointed to the easiest. “That’s the one I started with and it will probably take a little bit to get the spacing right.”

Steve tilted his head. “Is this like braiding hair?”

“Yes!” Ellie said excitedly. “That’s right. I forgot you braid Max’s hair all the time. So then it will be easy for you.”

Soon they were off in their own little world.

Joyce watched with her arms crossed and a concerned expression. Jonathan spotted her and shook his head. He stood up and went to stand next to her.

“You’ve got to let it go, Mom,” he said gently. “You aren’t his mom and even if you were, he’s still an adult. As near as anyone of can tell, whoever is footing this bill isn’t in it to exploit Steve, just making sure he’s taken care of.”

Joyce breathed out through her nose as she tried not to snap at her son. She didn’t know that as a fact and Hopper’s reassurances weren’t enough. She hated having to take his word that whoever this was wouldn’t harm Steve. And that galled.

“It’s all the expensive gifts,” she tried to explain. “The car, the unlimited credit card, cash drops weekly, the gold necklace, the hotel. It’s just not right, it’s not decent.”

Jonathan shook his head. “What about all the non-expensive gifts? Things this benefactor thought Steve would like or get a kick out of? Like that little canary with top hat that he keeps on his dashboard? Or all the music tapes they send, thinking Steve might want to try something different. Hell, according to Steve until they left the country, they talked once or twice a day. That doesn’t sound like someone out to hurt him.”

She let out a shuddering sigh. Because Jonathan was right, that didn’t sound like someone trying to use Steve. “I know.”

Jonathan patted on her shoulder and then went into his room, probably to call Nancy. Another person like his mom who worried Steve was being taken advantage of. But even if he was, that was a lesson he was going to have to learn the hard way.

On his own.

Will had long since left to go hang out with Mike while Ellie and Steve made friendship bracelets. He made four. A black, red, and dark grey one for Eddie, a red, a brown, and a light grey one for Robin and two yellow, white, and black ones. So he could one each to Eddie and Robin.

“Those are really pretty, Steve,” Ellie congratulated him. “Those are some interesting color choices.” Spoken as though she was silently judging, but too polite to say so.

He blushed and held up the first one. “This is for my special friend, they are his favorite colors.” Then he held up the second. “And this is for Robin. The colors remind me of a female robin and the last two represent who I am now.”

Ellie blinked for a moment as she took in the information. “I can see that now. Thank you for explaining it to me.”

“I get my thread at Melvand’s,” she said serenely, “if you wanted to continue to make more, that’s where you would go to get your own.”

Steve kissed the top of her head. “Thank you, Ellie.”

He didn’t stay much longer than that, now that both of the other boys were gone, Joyce was keeping too close an eye on him with Ellie. He knew it wasn’t the gay thing as she didn’t mind Will being around her. And it wasn’t being a barely legal adult considering she would gladly leave Jonathan to look over her.

Nope.

It was entirely because she didn’t know who Steve’s mysterious benefactor was. And the thought of this unknown, probably male, person might hear about Ellie later? Yeah, that’s where she drew her invisible line.

Which was bullshit, like with Robin’s mom, Eddie wasn’t going to prey on little girls. He was freaking out about Steve might be underage when they met in the club. But it wasn’t like he could tell Joyce that. She might revoke his time with Will and Ellie if she learned he had been underaged drinking that night. The night Eddie saved him.

Steve went up to his hotel room and flopped face first into his bed. He was tired. Tired of all the questions about finding a job and getting out from under Eddie’s thumb. Like Eddie was financially abusing him or whatever.

He just wanted to bring people to his hotel room and show them all the little things Eddie sent him just because he walked into a gas station and saw something cute he thought he would like. The keychain from Kansas City with his name on it. The bright yellow shirt that said “I don’t take no shit” and had the Iowan state bird of the American goldfinch. That one came with a little note explaining that it was a canary, but the black on the wings reminded Eddie of the deliciously tight black leather pants.

Steve blushed for hours after that one.

He wiggled onto the bed and crawled under the covers without having taken off any of his clothes. Maybe he could hibernate until Eddie got back in America.

~

Steve managed to bury himself under the covers before the porter with the felting sister ripped the blanket off from over his head.

He stared blearily up at the porter. “Martin?” He struggled to sit up, but flopped back down on the pillow in distress. “Just leave me alone.”

“It’s Marty actually,” the porter huffed. “The only people that call me Martin are my boss and my mom. You’re not either.”

“Marty, I just want to go back to sleep.”

Marty pulled the rest of the blankets and yanked Steve off the bed. He went with a startled yelp. He leapt to his feet to fight him, but he saw that Bob and Rosa were standing by his bed with looks of concern on their faces.

“I have the shower running,” Bob said, “you will get in there and at least clean off the sweat you reek of. Then Rosa will change the sheets. Marty will bring up some food while you are showering, then the three of us are staging an intervention, because this isn’t like you!”

Steve opened his mouth to refute that statement, probably something about how no one called the whole time he as sulking.

Bob pulled out a stack of messages. “I have thirteen messages, and that’s only because the answering machine is full.”

Steve looked behind him and sure enough the machine was blinking complete with a full tape.

“Oh.”

He meekly went and did as he was told. He was only going to do a perfunctory wipe down because they were waiting for him, but once he got under the water it felt so good that he began to thoroughly scrub himself down. Normally going without a shower for a couple of days really didn’t do much, but because he had barely moved to pee, he was covered in thin layer of sweat.

He washed his hair and got out of the shower. He dried himself off and put on the long robe Eddie had gotten him. He opened the door and was instantly hit with enticing aroma of chicken noodle soup. He moved out of the bathroom to the main room, lured by the scent of real food.

The sofa was full of the hotel employees so he grabbed his bowl of soup and spoon and sat down on the armchair curled up as small as he could make himself.

“You frightened us, mi corazón,” Rosa huffed. “You weren’t answering your phone, you weren’t ordering food. The only way we could tell you moved at all is that occasionally the cup in the bathroom would be wet or you would be on the other side of the bed.”

Bob nodded. “We were told to look after you, money was no object. That’s what we were told, but you turned out to be kind and generous and frankly better than ninety percent of the patrons here. You treat us like we’re human, so it became our pleasure to serve you. So when you weren’t opening your door to anyone or answering your calls, we knew something was wrong.”

“Sorry,” Steve muttered into his bowl. “I just got so tired of everyone trying to find out who is bankrolling my life style and telling me to get a job that I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”

“It’s none of their business,” Rosa huffed. “They’re just jealous that they don’t have this life. I know your papa wants to hurt and all this for you protection, but it seems to me your friends just see the money you...” she snapped her fingers. “What’s the word?”

“I’d use ‘splash around’,” Steve said with a shrug.

“Ehhh,” she knew it wasn’t the word she was looking for but it would have to do. “They see the good. Not the bad. They see new car, but they weren’t there to see you give up your old car. They see the fancy hobbies, but they don’t see your big room and no one to fill it with.”

“She’s right,” Marty said. “I don’t think even the girl that comes with your gifts from Eddie Munson quite understands the crippling loneliness and isolation you have to be feeling right now.”

Steve sniffled into his soup. “Thanks, guys. I don’t know how to impress upon them how dangerous this all is for me. Like the only ones that remotely understand are the Hendersons and that’s because my dad showed up on their doorstep. But even then I don’t think Dustin quite grasps the enormity of it all, but then he’s thirteen so...”

“The only reason your father hasn’t penetrated hotel security,” Bob said with a grimace, “is that the owner, Dr. Sam Owens hates business men like your father. Otherwise, his hold over this town would have extended to here, no doubt about that.”

“So this is what’s going to happen,” Marty said, “if you need to sneak out and just go for a drive to get out of your head, call Bob and he’ll arrange it. If you need someone to talk to ring up Rose or myself. We’re here for you. We understand that Mr. Munson is out of the country right now and it makes it harder, but we’ve got you, okay?”

Steve nodded and said weakly, “Okay!”

~

Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24

Tag List: CLOSED

1- @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog @beelze-the-bubkiss @blondie1006

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @cryptid-system

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @sticknpokelightningbolt

9- @scoops-aboy86 @kurofuckingshi16 @watermelonmite @eyehartart @dreamercec

10- @little-birch-boy @yearningagain @micheledawn1975 @sadisticaltarts

[theallianceofcelestials]

How would the SEA family react to a possible grandchild? Either Eclipse accidentally acquiring a child through some means (he got a raise for being surprised adopted, so he should get a raise for surprising adopting too) or possible Solar having already built Jack in that scenario thing. KC is a very devoted and involved father, curious how he would be in regards to a grand baby. Also Lunar no longer being the youngest, cue petty gremlin

Let's just say in this situation there's a Jack, who's either an SCP or just a newly forged animatronic that ran off in the city Eclipse usually shops in, and stumbled upon him and imprinted like a baby duckling

I kinda like the normal SCP running around and imprinting one, so we shall go with that. And for conveciences sake, Eclipse was alone when this happened, and couldn't just leave the random SCP there

So he's kind of freaking out, because there's another SCP glued to him now, and for all he knows this Jack fella is going to get into a territorial dispute with his own family. And well, the angry little thing certainly tries.

He'd hiss and growl at the family, and would be confused when he doesn't earn the expected reactions, and instead has these people cooing over him. He'd find it especially weird that when he tries fighting them, they turn it into something playful. So after getting freaked out by these friendly randos, he'd hide behind his newly claimed father's coattails.

Eclipse on the other hand is not amused, especially when he can see his father get emotional and teary. He's especially disappointed in his family by that point.

Bloodmon would be good uncles, and mock fight with the baby to encourage him to become a better hunter. They'd also let him stalk them, pretending to act surprised when they're caught. They'd quickly grow to be the favourite uncles, if only because they can match Jack's energy.

Solar Flare would be more of an emotional support, trying to share the things it loved while growing up. Jack'd quickly grow to love storytime, even if Solar Flare doesn't think it's as talented as its father. They'd love their new nephew tho, even if he wishes Jack was better behaved.

Lunar would feel threatened at first yeah, but then Jack'd just stare at him with his big ol' empty eyes, and he'd decide that he's the fun uncle now, teaching the kid the bad words and all the mischief. He'd also finally have a full-time partner for his cookie heists, and KC is less likely to do anything with the grandbaby involved. He's still the lovest on the favourite uncle list tho, simply because he was being meanish at first. Lunar can live with that

Moon is in a crisis all over again. He's not prepared to become a gruncle, same as he wasn't prepared to become an uncle. And this is another chaos gremlin! He'd be afraid of being bitten, he'd be afraid of being stabbed, and he'd be the strictest out of everyone, seeing as he's not sure he can live with someone who has this much energy. He'd still teach the kid how to do pranks though, and he'd be the most likely to sneak him treats. He denies this

Sun doesn't know how to react for a bit, seeing as this was very sudden, but he'd adopt the grunkle title pretty fast. He'd probably have fun knitting for a new family member, even if they still have to go through the cats being treated weirdly by Jack first thing. After that he'd make sure to teach his grand-nephew how to behave around animals

Killcode is in absolute bliss. He thought it'd be Bloodmoon who'd get a part of themselves first simply because... out of all his kids, they're the best at romancing someone amusingly enough. He especially didn't expect Eclipse to bring home a grandkid first, but he's escatic nontheless. He enjoys being the doting grandpa, more than willing to make pumpking shaped cookies and whatnot whenever his grandkid requests. He'd also be completely overbearing with Eclipse for a bit while he teaches his prickliest son how to parent. He may or may not get shouted at a bunch of times, but he really doesn't mind. He just wants the best for his family, even if he's utterly weak to the grandbaby once he learns puppy eyes

Eclipse meanwhile is just staring at his weirdass family, dying inside while simulteniously feeling warmed. It's weird for him too, because he never wanted a kid, but he does have to admit he likes having him around sometimes. Even if he ends up being the one who accidentaly teaches Jack how to curse

[kikyoupdates]

Girlfriend-For-Hire ⭑˚🦋⭑ 𝟶𝟽

yandere!ocs x f!reader

yandere, reverse harem, yandere reverse harem, original characters x fem!reader, slowburn, slowburn yandere

Hoping to try something new and earn a bit of money on the side, you join an app that lets people hire you for your dating services. The idea is pretty straightforward — you pose as the client's girlfriend for a brief period of time, and in turn, you receive payment. But you didn't foresee everyone getting so attached to you, and suddenly, they're no longer satisfied with a fabricated relationship.

previous | story masterlist | next

“Come here, little ducks. I’ve got a bunch of yummy seeds for you guys to eat.” 

You crouch down, leaning closer to the edge of the lake as you scatter seeds across the water’s surface. They all come flocking around, trying to gather the food up as quickly as they can.

“They like it,” you beam towards Liam. “Good idea bringing all these seeds along. It’s been a while since I got to do something like this.” 

Liam smiles back. “Don’t mention it. You look like you’re having fun.” 

“Mhm! I love animals. They’re so cute and interesting. And even if we don’t completely understand them, it’s cool how they find different ways of communicating with us.” 

“Yeah, there’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on in the animal kingdom. Animals are a lot smarter than some people give them credit for.” Liam pauses for a moment, then sheepishly scratches his head. “When I was younger I actually wanted to become a veterinarian. But obviously there’s a lot of work that goes into that sort of thing. Even if I went to university, I’m not sure I would’ve had what it takes.” 

Axel leans over his boyfriend’s shoulder and pouts. “Don’t say that, babe. You’re super smart. You always learn things way faster than I do. I bet you could have easily done it. And it’s never too late to start, right?” 

“It’s fine,” Liam chuckles, tousling Axel’s hair. “It’s not like I’m not happy with my current career. I was just imagining another outcome, that’s all.” 

“Well, if you ever find something else you want to try, I’ll be right behind you. You should be able to do whatever makes you happy.” 

Axel wraps his arms around Liam and gives him a big hug, and even though this date is technically supposed to be between all three of you, you can’t help but feel like you’re slightly out of place. They’ve just got such a sweet and lovey-dovey relationship. It’s enough to make you blush. 

“Thanks for saying you’d support me,” Liam smiles. He squeezes Axel’s hand, then crouches down beside you. “Anyways, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent. I just wanted to say I really like animals too. Oh!” 

His eyes widen, and at first you’re not sure why, but then you follow his gaze and realize that one of the smaller ducks has decided to climb out of the water. It stands up on its cute webbed feet, spends a few moments shaking its tail feathers off, then proceeds to tilt its head at you and stare. 

“I think it might want to say hi,” Liam whispers, being careful not to scare the duck off. 

“That or it wants more birdseed,” you whisper back. 

“Ah. Yeah, that’s probably it.” 

“I’ve heard ducks can be pretty aggressive, you know,” Axel remarks to no one in particular. You notice that he’s not getting close to the duck like you and Liam. He’s probably not that big on animals.

“You’re probably thinking of geese,” Liam dismisses. 

“Nah, ducks too. I’ve definitely heard that they can get really territorial and stuff.” 

“Is that why you’re standing so far back? Because you’re scared of this one little duck?” 

“...no.” 

Axel crosses his arms and frowns, but he still doesn’t step up, so honestly, it’s not too convincing. 

You and Liam exchange knowing looks, even chuckling a few times under your breaths, but before you can consider teasing Axel any more, the duck walks right up to you and lets out a proud, resounding quack. 

“Aww,” you gush. “Look at this cutie.” 

“He’s adorable,” Liam nods in agreement. “Here, little guy. We’ve still got lots of seeds left for you.” 

Both of you hold out hands filled with birdseed. The duck takes a moment to ponder its options, then starts pecking at the seeds directly from your palm. You giggle at the sensation of its beak nuzzling your skin. 

“Damn, lucky!” Liam whines. “I want to feed him too.” 

“We can take turns. Here, I’ll pull my hand away so he can go over to you next.” 

You do just that, and unsurprisingly, the duck heads directly towards the nearest source of food. Liam’s eyes are practically glowing with excitement as he watches the duck happily eat straight from his hand. 

Axel shakes his head. “Man. Aren’t you guys scared he’ll bite your fingers off?” 

“Ducks don’t have teeth, Axel,” Liam sighs. He gives you a look that seems to say, ‘Sorry about him. He’s hardly a duck connoisseur.’ 

“But they can still bite, I’m pretty sure.” 

“Are you seriously scared of ducks? How am I just now finding out about this?” 

“Pfft.” You giggle and tentatively reach a hand out while Liam feeds the duck, and as chance as would have it, the duck sits still and lets you pet its back (much to Axel’s horror). 

Honestly, if it was up to just you and Liam, you probably would have played with the ducks for an absurd amount of time, but you feel bad that Axel isn’t being included in this activity, so you suggest doing something else. 

“That was fun, but you mentioned wanting to get something to eat, right?” 

“Yes,” Axel says, exhaling loudly. “Yes, finally. No more ducks. I don’t want to see any more ducks ever again.” 

Liam shakes his head. “I still can’t believe my boyfriend is scared of ducks.” 

“I already said I’m not scared of them! Anyways, whatever! Let’s just go!” 

He storms off comically, and once again, you and Liam proceed to look at each other and burst out laughing.

You walk back the way you came from and eventually leave the park. Axel already seems to have a few places in mind for where you can go to grab food, and he looks excited to voice his suggestions. 

“This place has really good reviews,” Axel beams as he swings the front door open. 

“I’m sure it’ll be great. You always know how to pick them,” Liam encourages. Axel nods happily and steps inside the restaurant, and while his back is turned, Liam leans in to whisper in your ear. “Please just humor him. Even if the food’s bad, try not to let it show. He gets really bummed out about these kinds of things.” 

So, he’s scared of ducks and also gets all pouty when things don’t go his way. That’s kind of cute.

You sit down at one of the booths and start skimming through the menu. Thankfully, it looks pretty promising. Odds are that everything will taste great and Axel’s feelings will be spared.

You end up being seated right in between Axel and Liam, which feels a bit strange, since it’s sort of like you’re acting as a barrier between the couple. They seem fine with it though, and you suppose this is supposed to be a date involving you as well. So far it’s felt more like hanging out with your friends, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially since you’re getting paid on top of everything else. 

“What are you gonna get, [Name]?” 

Axel leans over, bumping shoulders with you in the process. The booth is big enough for the three of you to sit comfortably, but he isn’t shy about getting close. The lack of distance makes your face heat up a little bit. These guys really are way too attractive for their own good. 

“I’m not sure yet,” you admit, hoping it’s not too obvious that you’re blushing. “What about you? Have you already decided?” 

“Sure have,” he grins. “I’m getting the steak. And the ribs. And the spicy hot wings.”

That’s a lot of protein…

“Axel has a big appetite,” Liam says, flipping through the menu. “I keep telling him he eats way too much meat and needs more variety in his diet, but he doesn’t listen.” 

“How is my fault that meat tastes so good?” 

“Your body’s going to hate you one day when you’re not young and fit. I also don’t understand how your skin always looks so nice, even with all the junk you eat.” Liam sighs and lightly pats his cheeks. “Meanwhile, I break out constantly if I’m not careful.”

“Being a model full-time sure sounds difficult,” you frown. “I obviously don’t know all the details, but I’ve heard it’s really hard always staying in perfect shape.” 

“It depends. Some people you work with are more lenient than others, but yeah. I’ve definitely met my fair share of assholes that made me adhere to ridiculous standards. That’s just the industry, though. It’s super competitive, so you need to be willing to go above and beyond. Which is why I’m getting a salad today.” 

“He works so hard,” Axel sniffles. “I would literally kill myself if I ever had to eat a salad.” 

You chuckle, but in all honesty, you doubt he was kidding.

Eventually, you figure out what you want to eat, and soon enough, the server comes back with all your orders. Axel’s dishes alone cover the majority of the table. Setting aside the fact that it’s literally just meat, the sheer quantity that he’s about to consume is enough to make you feel ill.

You decide to avoid looking at his side of the table and just focus on yourself.

“It’s good,” you remark, and you’re not just saying that to make Axel happy. The food is good. Going to this restaurant was the right decision after all. 

“My salad’s really good too,” Liam nods. 

“How good can it possibly be? It’s a salad,” Axel shudders, as if merely uttering the word causes him immense pain. 

Liam shoots him a pointed glare out of the corner of his eye, and Axel proceeds to take a big bite out of his ribs, unbothered. Meanwhile, you struggle to hide the smile spreading across your lips. Being with these two is a lot of fun. 

“Oh. [Name], you’ve got a little something on your face,” Axel suddenly remarks. 

“I do?” 

Your face reddens. How embarrassing. You’re not usually a messy eater, which is why you’re surprised to see Axel reaching towards you with a napkin. You squeeze your eyes shut so he can gently pat the napkin across the corners of your mouth.

“Th-Thanks,” you say. “I appreciate it.” 

Axel grins. “It’s no big deal. There were only a few crumbs. I just wanted to try doing that. So, now it’s your turn, right?” 

He gestures towards the little patches of sauce on his face, which you were debating telling him about, but he clearly seems aware. It’s no surprise he’s made a mess, considering the loaded meal he’s been chowing down on.

You chuckle softly. “Alright, then. Hold still so I can clean this up for you.” 

Axel beams at you, clearly happy as can be. He didn’t initially strike you as the type who enjoys being spoiled, but then again, he’s scared of ducks and refuses to eat vegetables, so perhaps it’s not all that surprising. 

Your back is turned towards Liam the whole while, so it goes without saying that you don’t notice the pained look in his eyes.

“All done,” you say, and Axel sighs disappointedly. 

“That felt so nice,” he whines. “Will you play with my hair later? I love it when Liam plays with my hair.” 

“I can just do that for you at home,” Liam suggests, a slight desperation in his voice. 

“But I want [Name] to do it for me,” Axel insists. He wraps an arm around your shoulder and pulls you close while grinning. “[Name]’s so cute and nice. I can’t believe you’re not actually dating someone for real. People are seriously missing out.” 

You blush again. The flattery is practically nonstop with this guy. Well, you suppose you aren’t complaining, and it's nice to know that he’s having a good day. 

“...yeah. She’s really cute and nice,” Liam mumbles in agreement. He smiles at you, briefly, then turns away and starts poking at his salad. 

For just a second, his expression looked a bit off. Were you imagining it? 

“Man, I don’t want today to end,” Axel sighs, still hugging you. “I can’t wait for us to do this again. You’re fine with that, right, [Name]? You’d be open to seeing us again?” 

“Of course,” you nod. “I’ve been having a great day. You two are a lot of fun to be around. What about you, Liam? Would you want to do this again sometime?” 

Liam freezes up. Once again, he’s surprised that you’re bothering to check with him. He’s so used to Axel leading the conversation. He’s got a big personality and has a tendency to sweep everyone up in his own pace. 

But you were right to ask him. Initially, Axel said this would only be a one time thing, and he agreed to it just to make him happy. However, it’s clear now that he isn’t comfortable doing this. You’re a great person, and he genuinely enjoys being around you, but he’s not sure he can ever imagine sharing his boyfriend with someone else. It’s nothing personal. It’s just… not something he feels okay doing. 

So, he needs to be vocal about this and tell Axel how he feels. Surely then, he’ll understand. The fact that he was willing to even try should already count for something. It has to. 

Liam offers you an appreciative look, then turns towards Axel.

“I’m—” 

“Liam wants to do this again too. Of course he does,” Axel says, waving his hand and practically dismissing him before he can get a word in. “We talked about it before. And he would’ve told me if he wasn’t having a good time.” 

Liam desperately tries to hide the shock on his face. 

What? He… never promised anything. All he said was that he would try this out and make his decision afterwards. Why is Axel acting like it’s already a sure thing that he’ll want to keep going?

“Today’s been great,” Axel hums. He leans up against you, shoving your body closer to Liam’s and effectively pushing you into his arms. “Going on a date is way more fun with all three of us. Right, Liam?” 

Axel finally meets Liam’s gaze, and the look in his eyes is so painfully expectant that Liam can’t think of a way to refuse. He knows he should. He’s an adult, with his own voice and his own opinions. But for some reason… it feels wrong. It feels like he’s not allowed to do what he wants and risk upsetting Axel in the process. 

Liam hasn’t had a relationship worth protecting until now. He’s only dated losers, assholes, or shitty girls who went behind his back and cheated on him. That’s why he’s so afraid. He’s afraid that saying the wrong words will ruin the best thing that ever happened to him.

And so, he buckles.

“Yeah,” Liam smiles. He’s used to forcing a smile. He does it for work all the time. “It’s been a lot of fun. We should definitely do this again.” 

You stare at him long and hard. Part of you still gets this strange feeling, this feeling that he isn’t being completely transparent. But you’re not the one who can make this choice for him, and he’s had every opportunity to come forward with the truth. 

“Great,” you smile back. “I’m happy to hear it.”

Axel lets out a happy cheer, and even leans across the booth so that he can pull Liam into his arms as well. Between the three of you, it’s hot, stuffy, and there’s not much wiggle room, but Axel seems to be loving every moment of it.

Liam’s eyes lower to the ground.  

It’s okay. Just one more time. He’ll go on just one more date, and then he’ll tell Axel how he really feels. 

Definitely.

It’s late. Normally, at this time of the night, you would be curled up inside your apartment, either doing homework, watching TV, or scrolling mindlessly through your phone. It’s nearly time for you to be going to bed, but instead of sitting comfortably at home, you’re standing out in the chilly night air, dressed in a skirt that you grossly underestimated how short it is. 

And what’s the reason for all of this? 

Your job, of course. 

“[Name]! Hell yeah, you actually made it,” Callum grins. 

He walks over to greet you in a hug, but you’re too preoccupied with shivering from your poor choice of dress, so you give him a half-hearted fist bump instead. 

There’s a party on campus tonight. Well, there’s probably several parties on campus, but this is the one that Callum invited you to, because he heard that Nadia would be going as well. And since he fully intends to make her jealous and eventually win her back—a plan that you still aren’t totally convinced by—he hired you to come out and be here with him. 

“You look really nice,” Callum says. He offers you a lazy, but well-meaning smile. You appreciate the compliment, and you were hoping you looked nice, but right now you’re honestly freezing your ass off. The sooner you get inside, the better. 

“Thanks,” you nod. “You look nice too. I, um. I like your t-shirt.” 

Callum stares at you for a few moments, then throws his head back and explodes into laughter. “Haha! Ha, that’s good. You know, you really don’t have to force yourself to say something nice. Most guys don’t exactly put as much effort into their outfits as girls do.” 

“It’s a nice t-shirt,” you shrug. 

“Well, I appreciate you saying that. Come on,” he gestures, beckoning you along. “Let’s get going. This is around the time people were saying Nadia would be showing up. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll run into her right from the beginning.” 

You nod and follow him. Even though you still have your doubts about whether or not Nadia will actually want to get back together with him, you’re done worrying about it. He’s the client, and you’re here to do a job. All you can do is play your part, and play it well. You’re being paid whether or not his plan succeeds, and honestly? Part of you is hoping it won’t, only because they’re so clearly not good for each other. You want Callum to be able to move on with his life and find someone who treats him well. Someone who genuinely makes him happy. 

But until that happens, you’re in for one hell of a ride. 

“I mentioned before that some buddies of mine are gonna be at this party too, right? I think you’ll like them,” Callum says. He scratches his cheek, then laughs. “And they’ll probably like you too. None of my friends can really stand Nadia. They always tell me she’s a massive bitch and I need to drop her already.” 

Yikes. Even his friends are advising him to find someone else, but he still has no intention of doing it. His relationship with Nadia truly is a horror show. 

“Honestly, they’ll probably suggest I start dating you instead,” Callum adds in a casual, nonchalant tone.

“But we’re still telling them we’re just friends, because that’s what we agreed on. Right…?” 

You blink warily. You hope this whole thing isn’t one big setup, because you’ll be really pissed off. If he deceives you again, then you have no intention of keeping him as a client. 

“Don’t worry,” Callum reassures. “I’m only going to tell people that you’re my friend. I’m just assuming how they’ll react, because I know they’re desperate for me to date other girls apart from Nadia. They just really want her out of my life. Which I get, because again, she’s kind of fucking crazy.” 

I am very much aware. 

You let out a sigh. It’s weird to think that you’re being paid to essentially butt into someone else’s relationship. If someone had asked you how you would be earning money, you could never have predicted it would be like this. 

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. There’s no shame in what you’re doing. If other people can hold their heads up high while working this job, then so can you. 

“Looks like we’re here,” Callum says. He points towards a big house further up ahead, where there’s a line of people waiting outside to be let in. It’s even busier than you were expecting. You’re not much of a partygoer to begin with, but damn. You can already tell people are going to get wasted out of their minds. 

Callum pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Hold up. I’m gonna text my friends and see where they’re at. One of them is pretty close with some of the frat guys, so I think we’ll be able to get in for free. We might be able to skip the line too.” 

You nod and step back while you wait for him to do his thing. He’s trying to call his friends, but it looks like he might be having a hard time getting through to them, because no one’s picking up. They might already be in the house and can’t hear their phones ringing. The music is blasting even way out here, so you can only imagine how loud it is on the inside. 

Pretty much all you can do is twiddle your thumbs while you wait for Callum to tell you what the plan is, so you absently walk around in place, hoping that it won’t be much longer—you’re seriously freezing. 

All of a sudden, someone bumps into you from behind. 

But it’s not a little bump. It’s not the kind of bump that just startles you and might make you look around in surprise. 

No, it’s the kind of bump that knocks you flat onto the ground and lands you right on your palms and knees. 

The kind of bump that was done on purpose. 

“O-Ouch…” 

You grit your teeth and wince. The fall was far from pleasant, and you know that your tights definitely ripped from the impact. It hurts like a bitch, and when you slowly peel one of your hands away from the concrete, the skin of your palm is covered in angry red scrapes. Part of it has even begun to bleed. 

“Aw, I’m so sorry,” a nasally, disgustingly-fake voice cuts in. It’s a voice you recognize, unfortunately. You don’t even have to turn your head to know who it is. 

But you do it anyway, and you’re met with a hateful grin. 

“So sorry about that,” Nadia says, looking anything but. She twirls a lock of hair around one of her fingers and chuckles. “But it was really your fault for not looking where you were going. Maybe don’t walk around like an airhead next time, okay, love?” 

You don’t say anything. You refuse to debase yourself and sink to her level. But either way, one thing is certain. 

She’s not going to make this easy for you. 

Enjoying the story so far? More chapters are available on Quotev!

⊱.⋅follow + post notifications on for story update announcements or join the author's discord!⋅.⊰

🦋 main masterlist ♡ character appearances

[dreamsofbroflovski]

How about a ditzy, naive, cutesy ish ( think cutecore ) fem bodied reader with Craig? :3 I love love love your writing btw!

this request is old enough to pay rent in my askbox at this point.

THIS IS THE FIRST PART TO THIS FIC. next part (the one with the smut) is coming out in a couple of days. i've decided to post pt1 here now to give you guys something while it's not out yet, and also because editing ~6k words right now - while i'm awake and alert - and then the rest later is easier than editing 14k+ all at once when i'm done

i'm so sorry for the wait and for making you guys wait even longer for the smut. but it was better that way

Craig Tucker x Reader - sugar (c)rush - part 1

Also available on ao3! 𓆩♡𓆪 Link to Part 2

Summary: Craig Tucker's unwanted visit to the maid cafe leaves him in a sour mood, but the place might bring something that makes his life the sweetest it's ever been.

Warnings: Explicit Language, Fem!Reader

A/N: This work was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but it started getting too long so it got turned into a two-parter. Next part's the smut!

Yeah, I'm showing exactly my weeb background in this one. If anyone has maid anime recs I'm all ears

Craig Tucker let out a deep contented sigh as he settled on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table in front of it. Contentment that didn’t come only from the physical sensation of sitting down, but also the psychological freedom it represented. He had finally managed to catch up with the downright obscene amount of essays and projects his university course was hauling onto its students, his job was being somewhat easy on him, and his home had finally reached a state of cleanliness that satisfied him - this last one probably being the most surprising concept of all.

For the first time in a bunch of weeks, he was finally able to just relax and do absolutely nothing, without the overwhelming weight of adult responsibilities crushing his shoulders. It was all heading up to be a perfect Saturday.

Had it not been for Clyde Donovan barging through the door of their shared apartment, yelling before he even entered, his arms flailing everywhere as the energy built up in his body tried to find some escape.

“Craig, Craig! You’re not gonna believe this, dude! It’s genius!”

Words that famously preceded disasters.

There wasn’t a single day that Craig didn’t regret moving away with his best friend for university. He figured that, by putting some distance between himself and South Park, he’d at least break free from the bulk of his problems. Turns out, he brought the problems with him and now they just seemed to have gotten worse.

Clyde approached the couch with quick steps, extending his hand eagerly towards Craig, which finally allowed the black-haired man to see that his friend had brought something inside with him - what seemed to be a light pink leaflet for a place or event unknown.

“What’s this?” Craig asked as soon as the paper touched his fingers, still following Clyde with his eyes. Even if reading the information it contained would’ve only taken a couple of seconds, he decided it wasn’t worth the brain cells since his friend would probably just try and explain everything to him anyway; asking him straight up would be less time-consuming.

“It’s a flyer for that new maid café, dude!” Clyde dropped himself next to his friend on the couch, turning to him with pure excitement in his face.

“The new what now?”

“A maid café, dude!” Clyde repeated like the concept was obvious. “It’s a café where all the waitresses dress in those hot-ass maid outfits and treat you like a damn king!”

The brunet held such reverence to his explanation, it made it seem like what he was describing was simply the best thing to have ever graced the planet, a present given by the gods themselves to satisfy his mortal urges. It only made Craig want to know about it even less.

“I’m not going to that.” Craig placed the flyer on the coffee table carelessly, bringing his attention to his phone again.

His friend let out an almost comical gasp of surprise. “What? Why?”

The other male rolled his eyes. Clyde had known him since they were kids, yet he still always came to him with his stupid ideas expecting him to agree with them without another thought, despite knowing full well that Craig was a whole different animal from him. “Because I don’t want to.”

“Please, dude!” Clyde clasped his hands together, looking at his friend with wide pleading eyes. It was clear he was trying to give him the Puss In Boots face, which was terrifying. “I tried inviting the guys from uni, but they won’t come either!”

“Then go alone.” To Craig, it was an obvious solution to a problem that shouldn’t even exist - but he knew that his friend wouldn’t accept it, the ever needy fellow refusing to do anything by himself if he could avoid it.

“Fuck no!” Exactly the response Craig expected to receive. “Dude, I need you there! Can’t just go alone to a place like this, the chicks will think I’m a weirdo!”

“They already would. Because you are.” Apparently Craig’s phone had nothing of value to provide him, because he also threw it at the table, letting it land next to the leaflet.

Clyde pouted, flipping his friend off, and receiving the exact same move as a response. “Fuck you, Craig! You’re an asshole, you know that?” 

That display of irritation at his friend lasted very little, as immediately after he was clinging onto the sleeve of his hoodie, his begging reaching a breaking point. “Come on, dude! I’ll pay for both of us!”

Craig yanked his own arm out of the brunet’s grasp and scooted to the farthest end of the couch with an angry expression. “You said that shit the last four times!”

“I swear I’ll do it this time!” Clyde scrambled around with his hands for a moment, still trying to grab Craig, the movement mirroring the racing of his mind as he tried to figure out a way to make his friend comply with his request. “I’ll do all the dishes for a week!”

When the black-haired male stopped moving altogether, Clyde grinned, knowing he had him in the bag. 

If there was one thing Craig hated more than putting up with his friends’ bullshit, it was doing dishes. Nothing about it was pleasant: the feel of the soggy sponge and the soap on his bare hands, how his shirt would always get wet afterwards, having to touch the gross remnants of food on the plates, scrubbing the grease out of all the pots and pans… He let out a groan of disgust just thinking about it. And, weirdly for a bachelor pad where takeout was regular, he and his roommate seemed to go through an obnoxious amount of dishes all the time, which meant it was a constant task that needed doing and took so much out of his time that he could be using doing something actually productive.

“Two weeks.” Craig lifted two fingers to emphasize the number as he turned his face to the man beside him. “And you’re paying,” he then repeated, not wanting Clyde to forget his earlier promise. His friend nodded enthusiastically, the specifics of his side of the deal going through one ear and out the other as he focused solely on the fact that Craig had finally agreed.

With a grumpy huff, Craig rubbed his eyes with his palms and stood up from the couch, once again roped by a friend into another stupid idea that was sure to end up stressing him out. There went his peaceful moment.

༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚𓆩♡𓆪༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚

Exactly like he thought he would, Craig wanted to spin around and leave as soon as he arrived at the place.

It was like he had been immediately engulfed in a tsunami of cute. The walls were pink with some pictures and drawings of different anime girls framed on them as well as some photos of adorable-looking desserts and drinks that Craig assumed were served there. Frill details had been painted high up on those walls, giving the impression that they hung from the ceiling line itself. The floor was white wood, and the young man would’ve been tempted to just stare at it the whole time and save himself from the assault on his eyeballs caused by everything else, yet he knew that would only provide him temporary relief. Every single piece of furniture that could have a bit of lace or a ribbon definitely got it; the centerpieces on the tables, the ceiling lights, even the backs of the admittedly very comfy-looking chairs. There was a set of shelves at the back, near the counter, which displayed various merchandise items - mugs, cold cups, t-shirts. Craig never understood the whole ‘coffee shops selling merch’ deal to begin with, and the fact that someone would willingly bring those things home to show that they had been to the place was just damn baffling.

He could not comprehend how someone in their right mind would want to spend money to be there once, let alone get a job at the place and have to see this every. single. day. He felt a tinge of sad empathy for the maids Clyde had spoken of earlier, but it was snuffed out of existence when one of those women approached them and opened her mouth to talk. She was every bit as obnoxious as the environment; speaking in a forced cutesy voice that sounded shrill to his ears, explaining every part of the café’s ‘rules’ - no touching the maids, no asking for personal information, no taking photos of the women, maids can only sit down with customers after payment of an extra fee - with way too much enthusiasm for his liking. The uniform she wore consisted of a baby pink dress with white details on the end of the puff sleeves and white frills at the end of the poofy skirt, right above the knee, and her legs were fully covered by a set of opaque white pantyhose. An equally white and frilly short pinafore apron went over the dress, with pockets on the front and a small pin at the bust that said the maid’s name, a piece of information that was forgotten by Craig right after he read it.

Craig tried to keep his cool as the woman escorted them to their table, sighing with relief when she finally let them be and said someone else would arrive shortly to pick up their orders. 

“Hell yeah, dude! Isn’t this great?” Clyde giddily said, taking in the environment one more time, stretching his neck to have a better look at one of the busy maids before turning back to his friend.

The freezing glare he received in response told the brunet all that he needed to know.

Taking note of the menus on the table, both men picked up one each and started scanning through it in broken silence, given Clyde’s continuous exclamations and gasps of apparent joy. As for Craig, it probably made everything worse. All the items available were ridiculously overpriced, and had dumb unnecessary names; it turned out that the visual pollution caused by the excessive pictures of the food was necessary, otherwise he’d never have figured out that a ‘Fuzzy Caramel’ was in fact supposed to be just your average frappuccino, or what on Earth a ‘Delightful Bubblegum Spring’ even was. If there was anything he’d be joyful about, it was the fact that Clyde had promised to foot the bill, and Craig had full intention of forcing his friend to go through with it this time. “Dude, it’s so hard to decide!” Clyde murmured, seeming slightly awestruck behind his menu. “Everything looks so good!”

Craig’s eyes focused a bit on the images all over the menu, unable to find a sarcastic retort to send his friend’s way - everything did, in fact, look pretty appetizing. “Pictures can’t tell you shit,” he settled for pointing out, “This stuff can still taste bad.”

“That’s bullshit,” Clyde shook his head. “If it looks good, then it’s gotta be great. Have you ever seen a hot chick that wasn’t great in bed?”

‘As a matter of fact… ‘, he thought, but decided that that was not an appropriate conversation to be having in that particular environment, settling instead for a small huff that Clyde either didn’t notice or didn’t care for, considering the smug smirk that tilted his lips with the satisfaction of ‘winning’ the argument.

They didn’t get much more time by themselves to really mull that over, though; A soft unknown voice brought attention to a third party that had shown up near the table, the background noise having covered its arrival. 

“Hello there, masters! I’ll be your maid for today! How may I help you this afternoon?”

Both men turned their faces to you, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Clyde basically gave himself whiplash with how quickly he turned, his whole upper body shifting to your direction as he beamed with joy. Craig, on the other hand, only turned out of basic respect, keeping a straight face and making no sound, a movement quite reminiscent of a robot’s.

“Oh, hey there! I’m Clyde and this is my friend Craig!” The enthusiasm his friend used on that greeting matched what you had on yours, and both had Craig cringing internally, while also taking note of the fact that he hadn’t even answered your question. Clyde always seemed to use more sentences in interactions than what they required.

You didn’t seem to mind, though. tapping lightly on the button in your apron as you responded. “I’m (Y/N)! It’s very nice to meet the masters, and welcome to the café!”

It was a very simple answer, obviously default to a server’s duty, but Clyde’s smile seemed to grow impossibly larger, which blared sirens in Craig’s head. Years of knowing his friend made him silently pray to any possible entity that the guy wouldn’t try and make a pass on you - he didn’t know how much attention the man sitting in front of him had paid to the list of rules that basically told them ‘Don’t Mess With The Maids’, and the embarrassment of getting kicked out of the place in front of every other patron didn’t appeal to him at all, no matter how much he didn’t want to be there.

“That’s such a cool name! Thanks a lot!” Oh, thank fuck. Clyde seemed to have brought a brain cell from home instead of mistaking basic politeness for romantic interest… again.

You made a little hum of approval to accompany your gentle smile, and tapped some things they couldn’t see on the - also very pink - tablet you were holding. “So, what’s it gonna be for the masters today? Have you gone through all of our options yet?”

“Ah, yeah, that!” The reminder made Clyde nod vigorously and turn his face to the menu again, scanning it for his choices. “Let’s see, where was it… Can I have a ‘Soft Maple Mix’, and the…”

Craig tuned out his friend’s speaking after that, making use of the time you spent distracted taking his order to fully size you up. You had a similar sweet and high-pitched tone of voice to the first maid, but he captured the difference straight away - yours was softer, more natural, like it came that way straight out of your vocal cords. The uniform dress was the same, but seemed to fit better in your body; take away the apron and he could’ve honestly mistook you for a client at the place instead of a worker, with the way you wore it so well. Instead of full pantyhose, you had striped knee-high socks on, white and pink in a slightly different shade to that of your maid uniform. Your facial features had their gentleness enhanced by a light layer of makeup, in which he appreciated the lack of bold colors or excessive details, the simple yet still impactful look making for a sight for sore eyes.

Even someone as nonchalant as him wouldn’t be able to deny that you looked adorable. Lovely and approachable, like something worth protecting, and had the setting been another, he’d have no qualms about mentally acknowledging your beauty and admiring it some more. Right there, though, already annoyed by the environment and the situation he was put in, he couldn’t help but wonder if any part of you was even true; everything cute in the place was dialed up to 11 to attract customers, and obviously, being a server, you’d be inclined to match the setting. Very likely, as soon as the shop closed for the day, you’d turn into something completely different - and  if there was one thing Craig disliked, it was fake fucking people. People who could shift their entire personalities around like it was nothing were the worst. Maybe that’s why he grew up to have few friends, but at least he knew he was able to trust the ones he had, considering no one could fake being that stupid.

When Clyde finally finished yapping away his ridiculous order and you turned your face to Craig again, he was quick to straighten his posture and pretend like nothing else had been going through his mind. “What about you, master? Do you wish to place your order already as well?” 

That term you used to refer to him again made him wince, but he just shook his head and didn’t mention it. ”Do y’all have just normal black coffee here?”

The slight frown that dipped your eyebrows showed him that this was not a question you were used to receiving. With such a long menu full of options, most people would’ve been drawn to the many extravagant drinks - but Craig would insist on his simpler choice if need be, even if it’d be irritating to do so. To him, this was the best way to find out if a place was decent or not. Fancier beverages can have damn near anything in them, all kinds of different ingredients and preparation methods that can force a false air of quality into something lackluster; but black coffee is straightforward, its taste speaking for itself, so if it’s bad, he knows to not waste any time trying anything else.

Luckily, despite your weirded-out expression, you didn’t question him. “We do, indeed,” you responded in the normal peppy tone, “Would that be it for our dear master?”

“Yeah, that,” he turned his eyes to the menu again and squinted briefly as he tried to make a last-minute pick among the huge array of food items, “And also a… Huh… This.” He just turned the menu to you and pointed at a picture of a cat-shaped grilled cheese.

“Oh, our Cheesy Kitten Warmth?” 

Craig just nodded once at your words while you noted it down on the tablet, choosing death over saying that name out loud. “Alright, a Cheesy Kitten Warmth it is! Well then, masters, I’ll be off for now, but if you need my assistance you can just call over to me anytime and I’ll be here as soon as I can! “

And just like that, you were off somewhere else with a pep in your step, both young men watching you leave until you disappeared through the kitchen door. When they faced each other again, it couldn’t have been more clear that their opinions on the situation vastly differed, like they did on all other points concerning their visit.

“Duuuuude.” Clyde drawled, turning to face Craig again, “What did I tell you? A-fucking-mazing.”

Now Craig doubted if his friend knew what that last word meant. “You really are a fucking weirdo.”

“Oh, come on, Craig,” Clyde’s smile didn’t falter even through the name-calling, “Don’t pretend like you’re not having fun.”

“I don’t have to pretend, I’m not.”

“Fuck right off with that,” the overeager friend insisted, “Did you even hear what she called us? ‘Masters’. I’ve never had a girl call me that before. It’s the best feeling in the world!”

That was the first time in years Clyde had managed to leave Craig speechless without it being from a sentence so stupid no retort could salvage it. His mention had brought back the memory of your voice calling them that, loud and clear as if you’d been doing it right in that moment - making him ashamed of how much he did like it. Despite knowing that it was yet another part of the job, meant to sway needy fellows just like his friend and fool them into thinking they were actually liked so that they’d come back and spend more money to get the high of feeling adored, he knew the trap had caught him too. His blood had run boiling hot every time that word rolled off your tongue in your honey-coated voice, and his leg had been shaking under the table the entire time, a small outlet for a surge of unfamiliar energy that coursed through him - excitement. Sexual, of course, but not just that. A sense of true power.

Had it been anyone else, they’d have called Craig out on his prolonged silence and his cover would’ve been blown. But luckily, this was Clyde; a man not notoriously known for his long attention span.

“Do you think if I send them my CV, I can get a job in the kitchen?”

And just like that, Craig found a way off the corner his friend had put him in, swiftly adopting his serious mindset again as he tried to dissuade the brunet from showing up with his lackluster resumé and nonexistent cooking abilities to beg for a job - both men finding a distraction as they waited for the food to arrive, not paying attention when you finally emerged out of the kitchen.

No one knew how it happened. Whether something had been on the floor near the table that caught your step, if it had been your own foot over the other, or if you had tripped over nothing at all. Either way, it didn’t matter. Because before anyone could react, your body was halfway to the floor already, the contents of your tray escaping your hands while you held onto the metal as if it could catch your fall, a loud squeal ripping through the background noise of conversation in the café.

Your face landed near Craig’s shoe, both his feet raising off the ground as the surprise made him recoil in his chair - a movement that, although it might’ve prevented you from seeing the creases on his sneakers, did little to save him from the barrage of food and drinks that landed square on his body. Both his and Clyde’s orders hit him square in the lap and chest, the coffee they had ordered making him roar loudly in pain as the extremely hot liquid seeped through the fabric of his shirt. Porcelain mugs and plates broke on the floor, their shards scattering everywhere.  

Almost all of the workers in the room stopped what they were doing immediately to assist both you and your patrons, one of them helping you off the floor and taking you out of view to preserve what remained of your dignity while the others apologized to the pair of clients and started fixing the chaos, picking up the broken dishes and cleaning up the food and drinks from the ground. Someone had shown up with a wet towel to assist Craig in wiping away the mess on his outfit, and he didn’t know what was more humiliating; to have that happen to him to begin with, or to be tended to like a messy child by one of those soft-spoken maids while still knowing that he’d have to go back home in dirty clothes, probably even stained from the coffee.

The owner of the place herself had decided to waive both of the guys’ bills for the day as an apology gift, saying they could order whatever they wanted for that visit, as well as gifting them a fifty percent discount coupon for a possible next time; a deal that personally didn’t interest Craig at all - why the fuck would he return to that place to spend money there when they already screwed him over the first time? - but that pleased Clyde greatly, as he accepted the coupon with a huge smile and was quick to usher his friend back to their table so they could continue eating. 

The pair was set up with another one of your maid colleagues, who was pulling all the stops to make sure the both of them were comfortable and happy in their stay, considering the earlier fiasco. But Craig’s mood was already soured beyond repair, irritated with the theatrical antics that accompanied the food and wanting to just be left alone to eat and go home in his silence. It didn’t help that he didn’t care for much of what he ordered, either - the new cup of coffee that was sent his way felt too sweet, even though he hadn’t put any sugar in it, and his Kitten Warmth Whatever had spent one too many seconds on the grill, the markings on the bread a bit too charred for his specific tastes.

The black-haired man endured what he could for a while, but when seeing that Clyde was on his third slice of cake with absolutely no intentions of ending his indulgence of the free cafe food and the maid’s attention, Craig decided to just call an Uber for himself and leave his oblivious friend to figure out how to get home alone later. 

Not wanting to spend much more time inside, he got up and left the establishment without another word, deciding to wait on the sidewalk for the car, finding the noisy city streets surprisingly much less overwhelming than the corny environment of the cafe. Seeing that the rideshare was a good bunch of minutes away, he leaned against the wall outside, scrolling through his socials absentmindedly as he waited.

His brain faintly registered the sound of the café’s tiny door chime ringing, but he didn’t care much for it, figuring it was just another patron leaving much like him. So he wasn’t aware that it was you who slowly went down the steps outside the door and walked towards him - he was only made aware of your presence once you put your hand on his shoulder, calling out to him softly. “Excuse me, sir? Can- Can I have a moment?”

His whole body instantly tensed in light of your touch, his jaw clenching and grip tightening on his phone - a sight that made you recoil with your hand as you gasped in a much more vocal demonstration of the same surprise Craig seemed to be feeling. It was made painfully obvious he wasn’t one for much physical contact, as he only relaxed once you took a step back.

“I don’t have a bill to pay. They cancelled it.” He said dryly once he noticed you were not close to him anymore, still focused on his phone. Because of you, he wanted to add, but found it best to not make himself part of another scene outside.

You nodded quickly, both your hands moving to clutch your apron nervously. “I know, I know, I just…” You started off meekly, and he did notice how you seemed a bit scared, even. “I just wanted to apologize personally, sir. For dropping your order and ruining your clothes.”

For a brief moment, Craig was taken aback, his face lifting up slightly. He didn’t expect you to chase him outside for something like this, to speak to him personally and face his complaints head-on where the other customers wouldn’t see a thing. However, just as it came, it went - this was all just part of your work protocol, down to the shy behaviour, he was sure of it. For all he knew, your boss might as well have told you to come outside herself, not wanting to lose a potential client and wondering if he could be buttered up with soft words.

“You already said that,” he grunted, looking back down again, suddenly acting really interested in a TikTok that had played about forty-five times on his screen already. “You can leave now.”

Another small nod. “I know I have, sir, but…” You averted your gaze to the street briefly, your hands tugging softly at the white fabric they clutched, “I wanted to come and say it myself. I really mean it, sir. I’m so sorry for causing so much trouble, and I hope you can forgive me.”

Craig finally stopped messing with his screen and turned his face to you, catching your gaze in his. You were quick to drop your eyes to the ground, bending your whole upper body forward in a short bow. He’d never seen such a display before - apologetic submission wasn’t something people usually directed at him, and he would die before admitting that it felt good to see you like that, but it also made him angrier to think it was all an act.

“Fucking stop that already,” his groan made you turn your face up immediately, just in time to catch what was probably the most annoyed eye roll you had ever seen.

“I- I’m sorry?” You stuttered as you asked, mouth slightly open in surprise.

He put his phone in the pocket of his jacket and made a gesture with his hand, as if encompassing all of your body - or rather, everything that had to do with you. “This… Thing, all of it,” he huffed, “Stop.”

Slowly, you straightened your posture, though your expression was still nothing short of confused. “I don’t think I understand…”

“Of course you do,” Craig insisted, “It’s part of your job, acting all cute and shit like that. You don’t need to do that out here.”

“It’s not about my job, sir, it’s-"

“Don’t call me ‘sir’. We’re about the same age. It’s weird.”

“Sorry, ahm…” You lowered your face again, and there was silence as you tried to think of something else to call him, your hands kneading at the apron anxiously as you put all of your brain into that thought.

Noticing your struggle, the man decided to speak up again. “My name is Craig,” he said, “Maybe start out with that.”

“Oh, okay… Mr. Craig.” The man scoffed at the honorific, but didn’t actively complain. “It’s not about my job. I’m really sorry. As a person, not as a maid…”

“Then why do you keep acting like that?” He asked, “You’re outside. You don’t have to pretend to be all meek and shy and shit. Just say what you have to say and go.”

“I’m not pretending!” Your voice went even higher in pitch, if that was even possible. “I’m being honest!”

“Ugh, stop making that voice!” Craig threw his head back and tugged at the strings of his hat, the only thing not soiled by your earlier mistake. “Just say it like normal!”

“I’m not making a voice! This is just how I am!”

At this point, a few people passing by the sidewalk had either stopped completely or slowed their speed to pay attention to your discussion, which Craig noticed. He was getting visibly stressed out. With a huff and a second sharp tug to the strings, he forced himself to calm down.

“Look, no offense, but it’s so annoying.” His deadpan tone had returned. “It’s so fake. Nobody wants to deal with fake shit. If you act like the real you, then maybe people will actually believe when you apologize to them.”

You sighed. “I’m acting like the real me,” you stated back gently, “I can’t be anything else.”

And for the first time, Craig found that he wanted to believe you. It had never crossed his mind that someone could be so kind, so sweet, so cute, straight out their heart. Just… Wake up and be that, like he woke up and acted like a jerk every day. But if you had those words to say, that conviction - even if it felt like it was wrapped in cotton candy -, maybe you both were really being true to your essences.

Before he was able to say anything, though, a black car stopped near the both of you - Craig’s Uber, which he had forgotten he had even asked for. The man didn’t take his eyes off you as he entered the car, but no other sentences were exchanged. The ride home was equally silent for him, bringing home the weight of your argument and the smell of coffee on his clothes, along with the faintest hint of strawberry on his shoulder.

༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚𓆩♡𓆪༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚

Against his better judgement, Craig ended up visiting the café once more with Clyde, to take advantage of the discount coupon both of them got. That next time, his friend had convinced some other poor souls to tag along on the ‘adventure’, bringing back a bigger group, a concept that made Craig irked with the irony of it; he had not only managed to go back to the place he said he wouldn’t, but brought more paying customers with him.

You weren’t the assigned maid for his table that afternoon, but the black-haired guy still found himself chasing you with his eyes as you scurried around the café, serving your own clients. The extra people in his group meant he could just stay silent while they chatted among themselves, which gave him plenty of openings to sit alone with his thoughts and analyze your every movement, almost as if trying to catch a sign of weakness. No other accidents similar to his occurred during this next visit, so maybe he was just that unlucky, a concept that didn’t seem far-fetched to him. But still, something about you kept him on his toes. You felt more ‘real’ than the extremely fake version of the environment he had in his mind, and he wanted to know to which end that held true.

So began what could only be described as Craig Tucker’s insanity arc.The next time he went, and the one after that, and the others in sequence, he came in fully alone and of his own volition; there was no way he could make an excuse for going to the maid café. It started slow: Just showing up, getting a table in the corner away from everyone, ordering a black coffee like he would at any other establishment and sitting there saying nothing, refusing to play along with the maids’ over-the-top acts and leaving after a while. 

Until a day two weeks later where, by some wicked will of the gods, he managed to have you as his maid again - and it was very evident you were terrified of the ordeal, fidgeting with the fabric of your dress and approaching his table with your spine so straight you looked like you had a broom handle tied to it. Despite all that, you still managed to greet him with grace and politeness, as if his words from the previous exchange hadn’t fazed you at all. 

This brought to surface his curiosity again and led to his next crazy idea - asking to pay for the special fee that would make it so you’d sit with him at the table and engage in conversation with him. He’d seen other patrons doing so, considering them chumps for spending money on such a thing, but he wanted to figure out your deal, and maybe you’d be more comfortable with talking in your safe environment. Obviously you seemed surprised, but didn’t deny his request, adding the fee to his total on your tablet and taking the empty seat in front of him.

You talked for a while. As in, you talked. The first several minutes were spent in awkward silence, as they should considering the tense way you’d interacted the other day, but before you’d consider one of your usual icebreakers for shy clients, Craig did it for you by asking about the job. Not in a fascinated way like the other clients usually did when the subject came into play - which was something along the lines of ‘how does it feel to work in such a beautiful place every day?’ -, but in a more down-to-Earth vein, making it abundantly clear he wanted your true opinions. Which you gave to him. 

He sat in silence as you explained your thoughts, only stopping every now and then for him to order more coffee, a sandwich, or to renew the fee for your stay. The conversation naturally shifted into other topics, but as you babbled away in each of them, he was paying attention to your whole behaviour again; how even the more tense parts of the conversation didn’t seem to make you ‘break’ the ‘character’ he thought you had going on. When night had fallen and he finally left, he wasn’t exactly fully convinced, but he left the café already thinking of conversation starters for a next opportunity that would let him understand you better.

The owner, having noticed how that day went down, made the association that he was more prone to spending more time and ordering extra stuff if you were the one serving him, so she and the other maids began deliberately making sure to try and keep you available around the time where he usually showed up. And he was extremely punctual about his visits. So the next time, and the one after that, and the others, you were there - and, he was internally relieved to see, less nervous about his presence as well.

He never mentioned the first occurrence, and you obviously didn't either. The following meetings were much lighter in spirit, and although Craig didn’t behave as enthusiastically as all the other patrons did, he began sharing more about himself, letting himself engage with your questions rather than just asking you things. What’s more, he actually paid attention to the answers. Most clients were just keen on yapping away and didn’t remember much about the maid herself, since they weren’t going to return as often, but Craig showed up at least two times a week, always to hang out with you specifically, so it didn’t take long for an actual connection to form. 

Along with the vibes, what also changed was Craig’s appetite: he began taking your suggestions on specific dishes you liked from the menu, ordering them for himself and giving his sometimes too honest opinion. The plain black coffee made its appearance here and there, but it now competed with slices of cake and pie, different sandwiches, croissants, iced lattes, and even the occasional tea, all of them with long and cute names you pronounced with a naturality he still lacked.

There was one specific aspect of your interactions that he firmly held onto, though. He insisted that you not call him ‘Master’ or ‘Sir’ during your conversations - the very first customer to actively ask to be called by name. The maid roster had waved it off to a need for a more personal interaction, which you complied to gladly. Yet, it was unmistakable how his head would snap in other directions whenever another maid was in one of the nearby tables, talking to her ‘Master’; like the word drew Craig in, even if he refused to have it used towards himself.

Never would he admit it, but those encounters eventually became the highlight of his days. You were a breath of fresh air from the tribulations of his stressful life. He didn’t have many things that could calm him down the way your gentle voice did, and soon it was all that he could hear in his mind during days of particular irritation - it grounded him, validating his feelings with bits and pieces of advice you did give during your talks, but merged into something much more personal, like you actually cared. It disconcerted him how his heart rate would increase whenever you directed him a question about his experiences, and he’d have to force himself to remember you were just making the conversation you were paid to.

And having your eyes on him for hours, being able to stare at your beautiful face without shame as you hung onto every word that came out of his mouth… He hadn’t realized how much he craved that sort of attention until you came into the picture. Being single was comfortable for him, he had enough problems on his own without having to deal with someone else’s. But he wanted to deal with yours. He wanted you to feel safe with him the way he did with you, to know you past the limits of the tiny table in the corner, to have those stocking-clad legs walking beside him and to hold the hands that kept on bringing him all different kinds of pastries. But he wasn’t a creep, he knew where his boundaries resided with you, and Craig Tucker wasn’t the type of man to let a line blur - he wouldn’t squander his moments of peace over a flicker of interest that might not even be reciprocated. Being your client was all he needed, should be all he needed.

Funnily enough, for a guy so observant, he never noticed how eventually that fee from your table hangouts wasn’t being charged from his credit card anymore. Along with the price of a slice of cake or two.

Dividers by @cafekitsune

[magicalgirlypop]

reviewing all the magical girl anime i watched this year

2024 was a year i got into lot of media. i decided to expand my horizons by watching more magical girl anime because i realized compared to some mg fans the amount of mg anime i've watched is relatively few. so i set out to make a long watchlist of mg anime and out of those, i've finished a few. so i'm going to review all the magical girl anime i've managed to watch this year. i'm counting magical girl anime that came out this year, and old magical girl anime i watched this year.

magical girl anime that came out this year

wonderful precure

lets start with this year's precure season. wonderful precure was a show i never thought i'd like as much as i did. to be honest i didn't really care for the theme of animals and i wasn't as invested in it at first. i wasn't one of those "it has no physical fights therefore its BAD!!" people but i just wasn't drawn in at first. but it ended up surprising me with how well written it was. mayu's and yuki's episodes in particular were really good. komugi was lots of fun to watch. and i actually ended up liking the m/f romance that i was skeptical about. satoru was a wonderful addition who helped in his own way despite not being a precure and his relationship with iroha developed naturally and was so sweet that i ended up being drawn to them. these last two episodes in particular have been... well, wonderful. i know precure gets into dark territory sometimes but i didn't expect them to cover the topic of a pet dying, which can be so devastating. and episode 45 is probably my favourite in the franchise so far. i'm surprised that i ended up liking this season MORE than hirogaru sky (probably helps that there isn't a baby taking the spotlight from more interesting characters). wonderful precure is a cute and fun show with some heartwarming moments and while i'm excited for an idol themed season next year, i'll be sad to see komugi, iroha, mayu, yuki, and satoru leave.

himitsu no aipri

this is... a mixed bag for me. initially, i was excited for this show because it gave me aikatsu friends vibes, the artstyle was nice, and it was the first idol show i'd watch as it was releasing. it started off pretty strong too and had the potential for some good story beats with the mystery of who tsumugi was. but... it was very slow paced for my liking. i don't mind slow paced, more slice of life stories, but aipri was not meant to be like that. it really felt like nothing was happening in a bunch of episodes. and it lacked that dramatic flair common to all pretty series. i will admit, i adored mitsuki and himari's friendship. and its also not disappointing in the yuri department. ig another thing that makes this show such a mixed bag for me is how long the subs take to drop, which just.. makes me lose interest in the show. but maybe that's a skill issue on my part.

acro trip

probably my favourite show released this year. there wasn't a single episode where i didn't laugh. chizuko is such a cute lesbian bby and her fangirling over berry blossom was adorable. berry herself was really cute, and i love how she acts like a normal teenage girl despite being idolized by chizuko (example, when she didn't let chroma see her hair because she cut her bangs a milimeter too short and was self conscious), and chroma was such a girlfailure of a villain, i love him and i didn't expect that doomed yaoi between him and mashirou. all three mcs were such a joy to watch. i honestly can't think of anything bad to say about this show other than it was too short and needs another season.

magilumiere co. ltd.

a unique take on the genre, where being a magical girl is a job and all the mcs are adults working for a small startup company. it certainly did come out at the right time as this is the year i dealt with Adult Struggles so the mcs were more relatable to me. i enjoy the bond between all of the employees at the company. and i do enjoy those little jabs at capitalism they make with koga's character, with him seeing a profession that's supposed to help people as only a profit making scheme. i'm really glad its confirmed for a season 2.

mahonare

this is the prettiest show released this year, no exaggeration. the pastel colouring and the storybook feel of the show makes it such a joy to watch. its definitely one of the more slower paced shows released but the unique characters make up for it. this show gives me little witch academia and witch hat atelier vibes. i would say that the slow pace of the show works against it being only 12 episodes because there's so many story beats set up that would be unable to complete in a small timeframe without feeling rushed. so i hope this show gets confirmed for multiple seasons.

the magical girl and evil lieutenant used to be archenemies

i only watched one episode of this show and i did like what i saw back then. i almost supported the main couple... until i found out that byakuya was a teenager and shun was a grown adult and then all my interest in the show went down the drain. i wanted to pick it up again but from what i heard its.. not that great. so definitely one of the weaker shows released this year

old shows that i watched this year

full moon o sagashite

this show is what i'd call "almost perfect". the themes of what it means to live and how to live your life knowing you don't have long to live? touching on how the music industry is not a squeaky clean place and how certain people will play dirty to get on top? the dilemma of the shinigami who grow an attachment to mitsuki, who they're supposed to reap the soul of in a year? and the added detail of mitsuki being a mere child? also the amazing music? it has all the ingredients to be a perfect show. the one thing holding it back from being a 10/10 anime is the FUCKINGGGG ROMANCE! there is not a single romance in this show that isn't problematic! i can excuse mitsuki having a crush on eichi because she's just 12. but there is no excuse for eichi, a 16 year old boy, falling in love with a 10 year old girl. and don't get me started on takuto fucking kira. it wasn't enough for him to fall in love with a 12 year old, but said 12 year old was his FORMER BANDMATE'S DAUGHTER! HIS DEAD BANDMATE'S SICK DAUGHTER! if i was aoi i would rise from the dead to beat the shit out of takuto for that. and its not like its a minor thing i can ignore, the romance plays a major part in the series. full moon would've been perfect as a show about living your life to the fullest with the little time you've been given if it just got rid of the awful romance. one thing i will say, that episode with the old man who can see the shinigami and knows he's about to die? its one of my favourite anime episodes period, no exaggeration, its such a beautiful episode that embodies everything i love about the show.

wedding peach

i'm sorry but this show was a chore to get through. i wasn't expecting anything progressive because its a show released in 1994. but even then i really didn't enjoy watching it. i can complain about how heteronormative the show is but i'm gonna excuse it because again, it was released in the 90s. but for what it is? its still such a BOREFEST. for a show all about romance, none of the main couples interested me. yosuke was just another jerkass love interest i just couldn't get into. takuro gave major incel vibes during his whole arc and was only slapped with hinagiku because he couldn't get momoko. yanagiba was probably the most interesting but that's not saying much since i couldn't get invested in him either. but the thing that bothered me the most was how shallow the friendship between the girls felt. see, this is a genre where female friendships are front and center and given just as much importance as romance. but in wedding peach, i didn't feel like the mcs were friends. they were willing to throw each other under the bus for some guy and the only time their friendship comes up is when the plot needs a power of friendship moment. its definitely not the worst mg show i've ever watched but its not one of my favourites either. i feel if i watched this show as a teenager i probably would've liked it more.

yume no crayon oukoku

i'm honestly not sure this counts as a magical girl show but some people do count it as one so i'm including it here. i really enjoyed this show. i love that the main character was really flawed and the point of the show was for her to get rid of her bad habits. it made her feel more real despite the show taking place in a fantasy kingdom with talking animals and objects. and i like how she never completely gets rid of her bad habits either, because she's a child and she can't become perfect overnight. and although i'm tired of jerkass magical girl love interests, something about cloud endeared me. he reminded me of syaoran li from cardcaptor sakura, who's my favourite mg love interest ever. and the villain for the first arc was hilarious, every time he was onscreen was a joy to watch. the show did remind me of ojamajo doremi in a few ways, but when i looked it up yume no crayon came out before ojamajo doremi so, i feel maybe ojamajo doremi was inspired by this show. but anyways this was a cute, feel good show and i enjoyed it.

kamichama karin

this is the most chaotic magical girl show i've ever watched and i loved every minute of it. of course many people know it from THAT frame, but the show itself is as chaotic as the infamous frame makes you expect. the story is just all over the place and normally that would make it frustrating, but there's something so charming about kamichama karin that just makes it work. the plot twist was just a whole mindfuck but that's what i'd come to expect from the show. the villain made for a lot of funny moments in the show. i realize i've become picky about magical girl main couples though because i was not feeling karin and kazune at all. i've grown tired of jerkass love interests, and kazune fits the "guy is an asshole to girl because he likes her" trope which i've come to hate. and his sexism really dampens my enjoyment of the show. i get that he's a child but still. but kazune's jerkishness wasn't so much of a problem that i couldn't enjoy the show because he does seem to grow out of it by the end.

machikado mazoku

and finally the most recent show i've finished. i have to say, shamiko and momo are already one of my favourite mg ships. i really enjoy how they care for each other despite shamiko declaring multiple times she's momo's archenemy. the story was also pretty interesting. i did enjoy how it was the demon girl who had the cheerful personality while the pink magical girl, who we expect to be cheerful and friendly, had a more withdrawn personality before she met shamiko. the mystery surrounding sakura was also interesting. i'm definitely gonna check out the manga someday. i need more shamimomo in my life.

and that's all the magical girl shows i've watched this year. here's hoping next year i have the time to get into more shows.

[silvermoon424]

Sailor Moon Name Meanings: 10 Main Sailor Senshi Edition

Most of the names in Sailor Moon are packed full of meaning, so I've decided to do a series of posts examining each name's etymology! Let's start with the main Sailor Senshi themselves.

Usagi Tsukino: “Rabbit of the Moon”

Usagi’s name is packed full of symbolism, as it directly references the East Asian legend of the “rabbit on the moon.” If you look at the full moon and observe its darker areas contrasted against the white ones, you may see the shape of a rabbit standing over a mortar with a pestle. According to folklore, this rabbit is making anything from the elixir of life to simple mochi.

It’s not just Usagi’s name that references this legend. Her odango hairstyle is meant to resemble rabbit’s ears (although this is far more obvious with Chibiusa), and many of her belongings feature cute pictures of bunnies. Unlike real rabbits though, Usagi hates carrots!

Ami Mizuno: “Asian Beauty of Water”

Time to clear up a misconception I myself have spread in the past. Ami’s name does not mean “Friend of Water,” it actually means “Asian Beauty of Water” according to the kanji in her name. Although Rei is commonly seen as the traditional Japanese beauty of the bunch, Ami isn’t far behind!

Of course, “Water” is a reference to Sailor Mercury’s powers over water and its different forms (ice and gas/fog). Apart from having powers over water, Ami is shown to love water in her civilian life, being an avid swimmer. Finally, Mercury in Japanese is “Suisei,” or “Water Star.”

Rei Hino: “Spirit of Fire”

Rei’s name reflects her status as the most spiritual of the Senshi, being a miko who is capable of using special powers (her psychic and purification powers) even when she’s not transformed. “Spirit of Fire” even brings to mind one of her special abilities, which is divining the future by meditating and staring into flames.

Of course, the “Fire” also references how Sailor Mars is the Senshi of Flames and Passion, being the Sailor Senshi who has mastery over fire. Finally, Mars in Japanese is “Kasei,” or “Fire Star.”

Makoto Kino: “Sincerity of Wood”

“Makoto” can have a number of different meanings, and we don’t 100% for sure know which one Mako’s is because her name is in hiragana. However, the fandom has largely chosen to go with the meaning of “sincerity.” This is a very suitable name for Mako, as she is one of the most sincere and honest characters in the entire series.

“Kino” means “of wood.” Although Sailor Jupiter is commonly associated with electricity, her powers really encompass nature as a whole. In the manga/reboot anime, she has a number of attacks that involve plants. Finally, the Japanese name for Jupiter is “Mokusei,” or “Wood Star.”

Minako Aino: “Beautiful Child of Love”

Minako’s name is very straightforward, being a reference to the mythological goddess Venus- the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Out of all the Senshi, Minako/Sailor Venus by far has the most associations with the deity who is the namesake of their guardian planet. In Codename: Sailor V, she is even outright stated to be the incarnation of the goddess Venus.

Out of all the Senshi, Minako is the only one who does not have a reference to the Japanese name of her planet in her name. In Japanese, “Venus” is called “Kinsei,” which means “Metal Star.” Although this is referenced in her powers (in the manga/reboot anime, Venus uses her metallic chain as well as a sword to attack), the reason why it’s not reflected in her name is probably because she was the very first Sailor Senshi created and Naoko Takeuchi hadn’t hammered out the naming scheme yet.

Chibiusa: “Small Rabbit”

“Chibiusa” is actually a nickname given to the girl when she arrived in the 20th century; her birth name is “Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity.” Introducing herself as “Usagi,” she quickly got the name “Chibiusa” to distinguish her from the first Usagi (who, unbeknownst to her at the time, was her mother). It’s an appropriate nickname, as it basically just means “the smaller Usagi.” The same symbolism behind Usagi’s name applies here as well.

Setsuna Meioh: “Moment Dark King”

“Setsuna” means “moment” or “instant,” which is fitting for a character so heavily associated with time. “Setsuna” also sounds very similar to “setsunai,” which while difficult to get an exact translation of, basically means a strong mix of happiness and sadness. Think nostalgia, bittersweetness, sweet sorrow, etc. Again, this is very fitting for Setsuna, who is noted by other characters to appear slightly sorrowful at all times but still carries out her duties with pride.

“Dark King” is a reference to the Roman god Pluto, the namesake of Sailor Pluto’s guardian planet and the god of the underworld. While Sailor Pluto is most often associated with time, she is also referred to as the “Senshi of the Underworld” and some of her attacks (such as Dead Scream) are related to the underworld. Also, “Dark King” starts a naming convention with the Outer Senshi (sans Hotaru) who all directly reference their planet’s mythological namesakes in their family names.

Haruka Tenoh: Distant Sky King

“Haruka” can have a few different meanings, but our Haruka’s name means “distant” or “far off” (Haruka’s name, like most of the Senshi, is written in hiragana instead of kanji, meaning that its exact meaning is ambiguous). This reflects her initially standoffish, aloof nature and how she first presents herself to the Inner Senshi.

“Sky King” is a reference to the Roman god Uranus, the namesake of Sailor Uranus’s guardian planet and the primordial deity who represents the sky. Sailor Uranus’s powers are related to wind and the sky, making this a fitting tribute.

Michiru Kaioh: Rising Sea King

“Michiru” is a name that has nuance to it. I used “rising” here, but it can also translate to “mature,” “complete,” etc. The impression that “Michiru” gives off is a fulfilment of growth, like hopes that have been nurtured. Of course, this is extremely fitting for our Michiru. Like the rest of the Outer Senshi, she is very mature and is initially further along in her development as a Senshi than the Inners. I also like the term “rising” in particular, as it gives off the imagery of ocean waves as well as hinting that Michiru’s maturation and growth is still ongoing.

“Sea King” is a reference to the Roman god Neptune, the namesake of Sailor Neptune’s guardian planet and the god of the ocean. Sailor Neptune has powers over the sea, making it obvious where Naoko Takeuchi made mythological connections.

Hotaru Tomoe: Firefly Sprouting From Earth

Unlike the other Outer Senshi, whose names have significance from Greek/Roman mythology, Hotaru’s name is rooted in Japanese symbolism. In Japanese folklore, fireflies are thought to be the carriers of the souls of the dead (more specifically, the souls of soldiers who died in war). This is very fitting symbolism for Sailor Saturn, the Senshi of Death and Rebirth; in the manga and Crystal, Hotaru is even shown carrying and guarding the souls of the Inner Senshi. Other symbolism for fireflies is that they are beautiful and burn bright, but are short-lived; this is again fitting for Hotaru in her original life, as her life was doomed to be cut short before she was fortunately reborn.

The ”earth” (as in “dirt,” not the planet Earth) kanji in “Tomoe” is a reference to the planet Saturn, which in Japanese is called the “Earth Star” ("Dosei"). The planet Saturn has been known since ancient times, whereas the planets beyond it were only discovered thanks to modern telescopes. This is reflected in their Japanese names, as Saturn follows the traditional Japanese planet naming scheme of “element + star” whereas Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are named following the same Roman mythological naming convention that Western astronomers used (“Neptune” being “Sea King Star,” etc).

[cerastes]

How do you rate the gacha booty shooter?

NIKKE sure is a game! It's the funnest mixed bag I've played lately. As a side game, it's been pretty good, because it's good at what it does good, and not terrible at its weak points, leaving you with a pretty "Ok :)" feeling overall.

So what's up with Nikke? Yeah, let's have a talk about that so I can explain a bit by what I mean with "fun mixed bag".

Nikke's setting is the same old tired, you've seen it a million times: Once day, humanity was almost decimated by a mysterious enemy that came out of nowhere... We call it... The Enemy! They were simply too strong, so humanity had to deploy its strongest weapons: Anime Girls. And you are the lucky Authority Figure that commands the Anime Girls to defeat The Enemy! But... The Enemy and Anime Girls have more in common than it seems...!?

Replace "The Enemy" with "Rapture", "Anime Girl" with "Nikke", Authority Figure with... Technically "Commander" but more on this in a bit, and you've got Nikke. In other words, the game's setting and premise are just a few word swaps away from being Punishing Gray Raven, Snowbreak, and a bunch of other properties. But here's the thing: Whereas Punishing Gray Raven tells you its story with all the charm and pizzazz of a Wikipedia article, and Snowbreak... Uh, stands there staring at a wall Blair Witch style because nothing ever fucking happens in Snowbreak, Nikke actually has good moment to moment flow. Allow me to elaborate.

Read More break here because I wrote a lot more than I intended:

Nikke has probably the dumbest premise to open with: The Nikkes are basically superpowered cyborg girls (war machines with human brains) that look like supermodels on purpose because they were created, in the game's own words, "with the ideal form in mind". That's all a wordy way of saying they are super hot girls with very powerful guns and superhuman physical capabilities. The dumb part is that Nikkes are treated like absolute shit in-universe by humans. You're telling me humanity is making cyborgs -- not even full on robots or AI, these are straight up people getting turned into weapons -- that are hot as fuck and have tits bigger than my head and asses that could crush cars under their sheer heft and then decided to hate them and treat them like shit, and also these cyborgs are the ones actually keeping humanity alive? Well yeah we need a reason for the Main Character (you!) to be Special and bond with them, so your thing is that You Don't Treat Nikkes Like Shit. In fact, you care for them.

Now, this is all absolutely fucking stupid, but then, the game sort of... Realizes how stupid it is? And some may say "this was always the plan" but to me personally it feels like they kinda realized how god damn stupid this all was as a premise, and they started veering the car mid-trip because for a while this all feels REALLY sincere, not in a foreshadowing way, but then you have some developments such as "no yeah, Commanders are a dime a dozen, are brainwashed into seeing Nikkes as walking garbage and that they'll be heroes, risk their lives for pennies and are extremely expendable", and there's also what I consider a really good and consistent thing the game has done: Nikkes were always a desperate last minute rushed product as a concept, so the safety measures in place so that they don't rebel against humans were never perfect.

This is what I mean by the moment to moment being good: The plot is absolutely whatever, the setting is something you've seen a million times, but the actual scene by scene, beat by beat, is fun. On the micro level, the game knows how to be entertaining and interesting, and when they expand these micro nuggets of gold to a macro level of writing, it's when they end up with their best bits of narrative and world building. I want to use two examples about the whole safety measures thing: Crow and Rose.

Crow is a Nikke that hates humans and is part of a squad of known dangerous elements that Missilis, the most irresponsible of the Big Three companies, is responsible for. This squad is Exotic, and Exotic works with you (your squad is named Counters) on this one mid-game chapter. The thing is, they never really intended to work with you, and Crow wanted you dead because Crow wants to spark a Human Vs Nikke conflict in the Ark (humanity's last big home), because you might quell the hostility between both sides. But, Nikkes can't intentionally kill humans (accidents happen and a Nikke may be ordered to subdue a human, but they are hardwired to not be able to shoot at them or kill them). So, how does Crow go about it when she betrays you? She has her squadmate Jackal plant a steel plate on the ground, and then shoots the plate in a way that the bullet ricochets and hits you. NIMPH, what's used to, among many other things, make sure Nikkes can't turn on humans, was so, so easily circumvented, and this is consistent with what we've been told about the Ark and Nikke in universe development in general: It's sloppy, it's lazy, it's not good. Rose, the other example, is a Nikke from a flashback story around a hundred of years before the start of the game. Rose was a prototype Nikke that was geared for melee combat instead of ranged combat, as all Nikkes are, and she was one of ten such units. Basically, Rose realized that their human Commander was intentionally trying to get them killed until one remained, which would be deemed the success of the line in Darwinian fashion. Rose got so immensely, justifiably angry at this that she plotted to kill the Commander. How can she do this, though, with the NIMPH that prevents her from doing so? Well, Rose was an actual swordmaster, and what she did was wear a blindfold, convince herself that what she was slicing was not a human, but a Rapture, and then she easily killed the shit out of him, unimpeded by her system. The NIMPH, end of the day, is sloppily made, highly dependent on the mental state of the Nikke, and easily circumvented. This is a very important plot point throughout the story, and the way they show this in multiple ways is really good.

Another thing I like is how the game goes about the player's title. It's technically "Commander" but the truth is, most every single Nikke calls you a different way relative to your relationship with them or their impression of you. Rapi and Anis some of the few that call you Commander, because they are in fact your subordinates, but Rapi says "Shikikan" while Anis says "Shikikan-sama" in a sarcastic way initially and after a while in an affectionately playful way, Neon calls you "Master" (Shishou) because she likes the way you use firepower, Liter calls you "Greenhorn" because you are, well, that in her eyes, Moran calls you "Partner" (Ototou, "little brother" in Japanese) because she's the head of a crime syndicate and she considers you as a cool person under her protection, the sports inclined ones call you "Coach", the school themed ones "Teacher", Viper, the flirty one, "Honey" or "Darling" depending on the scene, and so on, the old timey Scarlet calls you "My Lord", the religious Rapunzel uses "Believer", and the coarse, rough around the edges Snow White just uses "You" (Omae). It's a great touch that I like when it's done.

So, basically, you have a charming combination of a setting that's been overdone infinite times with plot beats that vary between legitimately good (the NIMPH and its logistics) and legitimately bad (Whatever the fuck Chapter 18 was, to name one case), and moment to moment that's really charming and entertaining.

The gameplay is honestly extremely unbalanced, and the sheer disparity in strength between units of the same rarity makes you wonder if they have anyone in the team that actually cares about balance, but honestly, putting the issues of balance aside? It's fun to point at stuff and shoot a million bullets and rockets, and they even get pretty creative with the fights sometimes in terms of enemy types and how they use them against you, so gameplay balance is awful, gameplay itself is suprisingly good for how simple it is.

I know people are going to be like "Dreamer, You Didn't Even Rate The Asses" so okay here:

First of all, the ergonomically perfect ass of the VIXEN that lured me into the game in a moment of weakness, Scarlet:

And next up, the Clothed But Massive Ass of Snow White

In fact, I appreciate the variety, because if it was just bare cheeks and panty shots, it'd be kinda whatever to me, but bodysuit ass and clothed but noticeably huge ass? Fresh, to be honest.

Also notable is that progress in entirely gated by passive production of resources and daily stuff because there's no stamina system. Bold!

But yeah feel free to ask more specific questions, but this is pretty much how I've felt about it.

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Chapter 6

The memes!!! I'm getting to the memes!!!

When Laios noticed the emblem on his sword was missing, I went through the last chapter to see if it fell off then. It didn't. Every panel I found of his sword had the panel. And then I realized that was kind of pointless because it has the emblem when he hands it to Chilchuck in this chapter.

They look so cute and tiny!!

So when they called it a golden kingdom, they meant it literally. What's the economic viability of dungeon exploration? It could be viable if you're hunting for various herbs or beasts that only exist in the dungeon, but actual rewards for treasure hunting seems to go to whoever gets there first. And as the saying goes "In a gold rush, sell shovels." Most of the money earned from these expeditions likely flow into the pockets of the owners of the Adventurer's Guild.

Little Laios has a bandage where the Living armor ran him through.

Laios's first death was to a Living Armor and he decided to do a bunch of research into them after. Is he wearing the armor he's wearing because he became that obsessed with Living Armor?

This reminded me of how Ed and Lin ate one of Ed's boots in Fullmetal Alchemist chapter 51.

Huh. Neat. The Living Armor's knee pads also have the little wing design on their sword hilts.

The Living Armors have noticably less armor plating around their right arms than their left. Sacrificing defense for flexibility.

Laios kept the Living Armor putting its head back on in mind but I think the part where it reattached its arm is a more relevant clue to what they are. If they were just animated suits of armor, then whatever leather straps or chainmail or whatever binds the armor together would have been severed when the arm was cut off. For it to be able to reattach it means those bindings had to be restored.

So Chilchuck is entirely support with no real combat utility. Got it.

The lion-headed armor went all-in on the wing design. The flower petals and leaves on the chestplate even have a slight feather-like design to them.

I wonder if they'll encounter seraphim at some point.

By the way, that spherical part of the shield juts out. It may be a crevice that the egg sack is placed inside.

Senshi is holding onto several of the sword arms of the Living Armors. He's making sure they can effectively "disarm" them.

So onto my speculations about what these are. I'm going to guess that Living Armors are a spider colony, probably a tarantula or wolf spider variant. They inhabit actual suits of armor and use their threads to move the armor. When pieces of the armor are broken, the spiders use their threads to reconnect the pieces. They're probably a colony species with either a queen or a division specifically tasked with protecting the brood.

Now I'm probably dead wrong cause I don't know how the party would eat a bunch of spiders, but that's the best guess I can think of.

back

[sleepyheadnat]

ДАЙ ОТПОР

Guess who binge-watched Murder Drones? I diiiiid.

Ok, ok, I feel like talking about the show in a little more depth because a bunch of my dear mutuals are big fans of the show. I actually decided to watch it because of them—after seeing so much fanart reblogged or even made by them.

The TLDR of my opinion is: it's a cool show, I liked it. For the longer take, read on.

I'll start off with the bad so we can get it done quick and move on to the good. Because so many of my friends love this show, criticizing it in a place they probably will read is not fun (╥u╥). So here goes nothing:

The tonal whiplash was way too jarring and took me out of the experience constantly, especially in the first few episodes. To be fair, this was probably intentional. I think they were going for humor, but it kinda fell flat for me—I was too busy trying to rationalize how everyone in that universe is so nonchalant to their acquaintances dying brutal deaths in front of them (maybe they know it's okay as long as their heart is intact? or maybe I was not supposed to think too hard about it. that's probably it). This is more of a personal incompatibility, I think: the show's overreliance on violence and disturbing topics to create its humor ended up making me disturbed—not in the fun, intended way, but in a "this actually makes me uncomfortable" way. The whole scene with the baby cutting N open while N cheers them on is a good example of this.

Aside from that, the pacing felt a little too fast for me to keep up, and important information was presented in a way that was not very clear. For example: I did not even notice Tessa was not Tessa, but Cyn/The Solver masquerading as her; I only realized that because a comment under the video pointed it out. This might be a skill issue, but my poor brain could barely keep up with what was happening hahaha.

Ok, now on to the good stuff, because, despite all I pointed out, there is a lot to love about MD:

The cool factor in this show is off the charts. From the first few minutes of the very first episode, I was sold on that; the Disassembly Drones with their wings wide open, the glowing Xs on their faces, that was seriously cool (which is a feat in and on itself, considering their faces are essentially the XD emoticon). That segues nicely into my next point: the character designs (especially in the Disassembly and Solver Drones) are awesome. I love the usage of their screen-faces to show emoticons and images—that was such a fun detail that made the animation (which is really good by the way) all that more delightful to look at. Using it to show text was also very cool and led to some of the more memorable moments in the show.

The iconography is—no pun intended—iconic. From the Solver's symbol to Nori's choker, etc. Quotes like "Die mad", "Fight back" and "Golden Retrievers have gentle mouths" will be forever ingrained in my brain, I tell you.

The horror is very effective when it wants to be. Going back to the tonal whiplash, the show quickly desensitizes you to robot gore, but that makes the very rare human gore so effective. The first time I got to see (Cyn/The Solver using) Tessa's black and blue and bloody very human body was terrifying. Also, Cyn/The Solver digging into N's chest while chanting "Let me in" over and over should not have been as disturbing as it was.

The characters who are not just canon fodder are all developed well and are pretty likeable. Uzi is a surprisingly nice take on the teenager-archetype/stereotype, and was probably one of, if not the first time I managed to actually see my teen-self in one of these characters. Doll is my fave though. I legitimately thought she was just going to be a "Russians are hardcore" joke character, but no—my girl does so much. A lot of bad stuff she should not have done, also. And a lot of stuff I did not understand—going back to the pacing point I mentioned earlier. I'm already planning on rewatching the show to try and actually understand what happened hahaha.

Also, random P.S.: My interpretation is that Cyn's not the bad guy, just the first host to the Solver. That's what I hope at least hahaha—she was adorable, and I loved her dynamic with N.

Random P.P.S: Is it just me, was Cabin Fever kind of a nothing burger? Aside from establishing the changes in Uzi as she fully transforms into a Solver Drone, kinda nothing happens...?

[thequeenofthestorm]

How to Use D&D to Make Elden Bling

Part Two is out now! Read it here!

Introduction

So, I'm sure that my post title doesn't make too much sense, but let me explain myself. So, in D&D there are 12 different types of armor. Three of them are light, five of them are medium, and four of them are heavy. These armor types (plus one more for unarmored) can be used to categorize all Elden Ring clothing and armor, which is what I've used in the past to help me make better fashion. Now, this doesn't fully correlate with weight, although there is a pretty decent trend with heavier kinds of D&D armor being heavier in Elden Ring. Elden Ring has its own separations of armor categories, which I've decided to label as unarmored, robes, ultra light, very light, light, light medium, medium, heavy, very heavy, ultra heavy, and oversized. These are all fairly explanatory, and I mainly bring them up here for categorization purposes later on.

What Are the D&D Armor Types?

Alright, so now that we've talked about the categories, what are each of the D&D armor classes? What do they look like? What is used to distinguish it from other armor types? WHAT THE HELL IS SPLINT? Etc. etc. We'll go over them from lightest to heaviest below.

Padded

Padded is the lightest of the twelve armor types: just featuring layers of quilted cloth. This is primarily known as gambeson, and almost looks like a quilt version of one of those blanket hoodies when thick enough. It will keep you alive more than clothing, but not much more. Arrows will still tear through, as well as things like spears of just a sharp sword if the armor is thin enough.

Leather

The armor of rogues and other edgy folk everywhere: this is one of the more popular kinds of armor in D&D. It's just some simple boiled leather, typically fastened into a breastplate. According to roll20, aside from the breastplate the rest of the armor tends to be made of more flexible materials, which can be kind of true, but there's probably a little more than that: with maybe some greaves or forearm protection. Of course, most of your joints are likely going to have fairly breathable materials so that you can move, but you'd be able to get away with the same amount of leather that you would steel on, say, half plate (which I'll get into later)

Studded Leather

Ok so like apparently this armor never really existed, which I'm not super surprised about. Like, it's just leather with metal studs to help with sturdiness. Not gonna bother talking much about this one

Hide

Ok so we're now in the medium armors. I'll be honest, this feels like it should be under the light armors, but fur and animal hide is heavy so whatever. But yeah, it's armor made by thick animal furs and pelts. Think the kind of stuff that barbarians wear.

Chain Shirt

Made from interlocking rings, it's just chainmail in shirt form. None or only very little of the arm or leg protection, just the torso.

Scale Mail

You take a fish and make it into armor. I kid, but that's what it looks like. You take a bunch of metal scales and overlap them on each other. This set tends to mainly just be a coat with maybe greaves, according to roll20.

Breastplate

A breastplate, cuirass, or whatever you want to call it is very simple: a sheet of metal to cover your torso, with not much else. It's usually not JUST the torso covering (also known as the cuirass), and it may have some pauldrons and tassets, but not much else.

Half Plate

This is, in my opinion, the most confusing type of armor. According to roll20, it's interlocking plates that cover most of the wearers body, but with only simple greaves. That sounds simple on paper, but it always just sounded too much like plate, until I got this description from online. I unfortunately don't remember where this was, but half plate was described as a "best hits" compilation of full plate armor, which makes sense. Simple shin or thigh protection, a full breastplate with elbow and knee plates, and leather or possibly steel gauntlets.

Ring Mail

If you've ever played Skyrim: this is what the executioner in Helgen wears. It's a suit of cloth or leather that has rings put on top to help shake off sword or axe blows. It's inferior to chainmail armor (and hell probably half plate as well) but it's not bad. I feel like this should be the heaviest medium set instead of half plate, and that half plate should be the lightest heavy set, but I'm not from WotC and don't have some large following so my opinion doesn't matter much lol.

Chain Mail

Remember that chain shirt of interlocking metal rings we talked about earlier? Yeah, now make it into a full set of armor. Think the crusaders and a lighter armored paladin (as the heavier ones tend to go for plate). Some historical vikings wore chainmail as well!

Splint

Splint is probably the second weirdest armor behind half plate, but it's not super weird to visualize. Take long steel strips and bolt them on top of leather armor. Some types of splint could be brigandine or lamellar armor. I also think of roman legionnaire armor as a lighter form of splint

Plate

Alright, the heaviest suit of armor, and is by far the easiest to visualize as it's so damn customizable. It's the knight in shining armor archetype, the tin man made into armor, etc. etc. Paladins wear it. Fighters wear it. Plate armor is wonderful. You can wear robes over it or even other light armor as long as it's not gonna make you boil in the weather! Also, roll20 states that the boots are normally leather, but it kind of depends tbh. I typically think of plated sabatons, but shorter leather boots work well too!

Which Elden Ring Armor is Which?

So now that we have a basic understanding of each type of armor, we can now sort the Elden Ring armors into each of these thirteen types of clothing (the twelve types + unarmored). This isn't going to be going over non-set armor, as I'll be honest there is enough armor to go through already. Next to each armor set, I will also show the Elden Ring weight class. This can help if you, say, want to put together a heavy set of leather armor, or if you want to take pieces of plate armor that may be lighter in order to cut down on weight (because the plate armor can get quite light in some cases). I'll stop rambling and just show each armor class now lol. I was going to add images, but I've run out of images I can put on here lol.

Unarmored

Clothing, Most Mage Robes, Lightly Armored Sets with No Fitting Category, ETC.

Alberich's - Robes

Aristocrat - Unarmored

Astrologer - Robes

Azur's Glintstone - Robes

Battlemage - Robes

Bloodsoaked - Unarmored

Blue Festive - Unarmored

Champion (Kind of - It just doesn't have enough armor to go anywhere) - Light

Commoner's - Unarmored

Consort's - Ultra Light

Duelist - Light

Errant Sorcerer - Robe

Festive - Unarmored

Fia's - Robes

Finger Maiden - Robes

House Marais - Very Light

Godskin Apostle - Ultra Light

Goldmask's - Robes

Guardian Garb - Unarmored

Guilty - Unarmored

High Page - Unarmored

Juvenile Scholar - Robes

Lazuli Sorcerer - Robes

Lusat's - Robes

Malenia's - Medium

Mushroom - Unarmored

Noble's - Very Light

Old Aristocrat - Set

Page - Unarmored

Perfumer - Ultra Light

Preceptor's - Robes

Prisoner - Unarmored

Prophet - Robes

Queen of the Full Moon - Robes

Raya Lucarian Sorcerer - Robes

Ronin's - Medium

Rotten Duelist - Light

Ruler's - Ultra Light

Sage - Robes

Sanguine Noble - Ultra Light

Snow Witch - Robes

Spellblade - Robes

Traveler's - Unarmored

Traveling Maiden - Robes

War Surgeon - Very Light

Ansbach's - Ultra Light

Ascetics - Light

Dancer's - Very Light

Dane's - Robes

High Priest - Robes

Hornsent - Unarmored

Thiollier's - Very Light

Padded

Gambeson and Particularly Thick Cloth

Depraved Perfumer - Ultra Light

Godrick Foot Soldier - Light

Haligtree Foot Soldier - Light

Highwayman - Light

Godskin Noble - Ultra Light

Leyndell Foot Soldier - Light

Mausoleum Foot Soldier - Light

Omenkiller - Very Light

Perfumer Traveler's - Ultra Light

Radahn Foot Soldier - Light

Raya Lucarian Foot Soldier - Light

Common Soldier - Light

Shadow Militiaman - Light

Leather

Armor Made Of... Leather...

Bandit - Very Light

Blue Cloth - Very Light

Confessor - Very Light

Leather - Very Light

Raptor's - Very Light

Highland Warrior - Light

Studded Leather

Leather Armor With Those Tiny LEGO Bricks

Vulgar Militia - Light

Yes, that is it. The Nox sets MAY fit here, but they look more like a brass-tinted metal than leather to me. You can get away with them, though

Hide

Armor Made of Thick Animal Furs and Pelts

Fur - Ultra Light

Shaman - Ultra Light

Iron Rivet (Look I just wanted a third set here, ok?) - Light

Chain Shirt

Shirt Made of Interlocking Rings

Albinauric - Light Medium (Not confirmed as I have the game closed while writing this and isn't considered a set in my full item checklist apparently)

Drake Knight - Very Heavy (Could also go under chainmail or half plate)

Godrick Soldier - Light Medium

Haligtree Soldier - Light Medium

Leyndell Soldier - Light Medium

Mausoleum Soldier - Light Medium

Nomadic Merchant's - Very Light

Radahn Soldier - Light Medium

Raya Lucarian Soldier - Light Medium

Messmer Soldier - Light Medium

Scale Mail

Armor of Metal "Fish Scales"

Black Knife - Medium

Exile - Medium

Iron - Medium

Kaiden - Medium

Night Maiden - Light

Nox Monk - Light

Nox Swordstress - Light

Messmer's - Medium

Breastplate

A Fitted Metal Chestplate, Without Much Extra Protection

Eccentric - Medium

Elden Lord - Medium

Marionette Soldier - Medium

Zamor - Medium

Divine Beast - Heavy

Divine Bird - Heavy

Freyja's - Medium

Gravebird - Very Light

Igon's - Light

Half Plate

The "Greatest Hits" of the Superior Plate Armor. High Torso Protection with Moderate Limb Protection

Blackflame Monk - Medium

Blaidd's - Very Heavy

Bloodhound Knight - Heavy

Carian Knight - Heavy

Fire Monk - Medium

General Radahn - Ultra Heavy

Raging Wolf - Very Heavy

Scaled - Ultra Heavy

Death Knight (Can work with chainmail as well) - Heavy

Horned Warrior - Heavy

Oathseeker Knight - Very Heavy

Young Lion's - Ultra Heavy

Ring Mail

There's no ring mail sets, so I'm just gonna move on without the quick one-two sentence subtitle

Chain Mail

A Suit of Interlocking Metal Rings

Blue Silver - Medium

Briar - Very Heavy

Chain - Light Medium

Splint

Metal Strips Riveted Onto a Leather Backing

Land of Reeds - Medium

White Reed - Medium

Gaius's - Ultra Heavy

Plate

Full-Body Coverings Made with Shaped, Interlocking Metal Plates

All-Knowing - Very Heavy

Banished Knight - Ultra Heavy

Beast Champion - Ultra Heavy

Bull-Goat - Oversized

Cleanrot - Heavy

Crucible Axe - Ultra Heavy

Crucible Tree - Ultra Heavy

Cuckoo Knight - Heavy

Fingerprint - Very Heavy

Fire Prelate - Oversized

Gelmir Knight - Heavy

Godrick Knight - Heavy

Haligtree knight - Heavy

Hoslow's - Very Heavy

Knight - Heavy

Leyndell Knight - Heavy

Lionel's - Oversized

Malformed Dragon - Ultra Heavy

Maliketh's (Can fit scaled as well) - Very Heavy

Mausoleum Knight - Heavy

Night's Cavalry - Ultra Heavy

Omen - Oversized

Redmane Knight - Heavy

Royal Knight - Very Heavy

Royal Remains - Very Heavy

Tree Sentinel - Ultra Heavy

Twinned Set - Very Heavy

Vagabond Knight - Heavy

Veteran's - Ultra Heavy

Black Knight - Heavy

Fire Knight - Heavy

Night - Medium

Rakshasa - Very Heavy

Rellana's - Very Heavy

Solitude - Ultra Heavy

Verdigris - Oversized

Conclusion

Aaaaaaand that should be it! I may've forgotten a set or two since I'm writing this at 0230, but I got the majority of them done. If this post gets enough eyes on it, I want to do a follow-up post or two with what I couldn't include in this post. I want to show fashion that pertains to each of the thirteen categories, explain ways to use items in different categories to make items in different categories (for example, using a robe over plate armor pieces to make plate armor with a much lighter weight), and show every one of my current characters while explaining what armor category I think they fall into. Hopefully this was entertaining enough to read, but to be fair if you're all the way down here you (may've) read it all, so thanks! :D

Ok yeah I'm gonna go to sleep now. This has been Rachel; y'all have a night lol

[aeijnnjams]

(Part 1/2)

Once again, I had the brilliant idea to start a fanfiction.

Prompt: An Original Character as the sister of the ASL brothers.

I was hyped, motivated, and ready to write the greatest thing since sliced bread... until my ADHD brain pulled its usual stunt and left me with absolutely nothing. Classic.

But hey, silver lining! I ended up with a bunch of cool art from this idea. (Don't mind the quality; I lost the original files, so here's a blurry screenshot that's trying its best.)

---

Background: Meet my OC, a kid who accidentally ate the Zoan-type Devil Fruit: Kitsune model. It was all fun and games until her home island got raided by pirates. Refusing to return to her human form (because who doesn't want to be a unique-colored fox?), she got caught and became a noble's pet. Yes, a literal pet. Yikes.

After a year of captivity and probably way too many belly rubs she didn't ask for, she escaped and met the ASL brothers. Cue the chaos.

Despite all the trauma—losing her family, her home island and a year as a glorified house ornament—she found herself loving these rowdy boys. She became their sister, younger than Ace and Sabo but older than Luffy. 

And just when things were starting to look up... the trash heap of the Goa Kingdom caught fire, and guess what? She got caught again and was gifted to a Celestial Dragon. (Someone, please give this girl a break.)

Fast forward a few years under the absolute worst creature imaginable, she escaped (finally!) and ended up with the Whitebeard Pirates. Here, she slowly healed and decided to channel her trauma into becoming a badass fighter. 

Inspired by Whitebeard himself, she picked up a naginata and got herself a massive tattoo to cover her slave mark. Oh, and she became skilled in both Observation and Armament Haki because why not?

Now 19 years old and done hiding, she decided it was time to reunite with her brothers. She left the Whitebeard Pirates with all the confidence in the world—unaware that Ace was about to meet Whitebeard just two months later.

When the Whitebeard Pirates called her to say, "Hey, guess who just joined us?" she rushed back and had a teary reunion with Ace. It was a beautiful moment... until she found out about Sabo's "death." Cue emotional devastation.

Fun Fact: When she's really agitated in her animal form, her white fur turns red. (No, I didn't color it in the pic on the left because I forgot it like a normal sleep deprived being. Don't @ me. It wasn't even finished at all. ahahahhahaha)