#and risky anyway for such a small creature

[trans-yllz]

had to take one of my rats to the vet because she has this weird pink Bump on her stomach and thus I paid ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS for the vet to be like yeah I don't really know you should see a specialist here's an ointment for it. I am going to commit violence

[323cutie]

and i look into the open sky. | psh

pairing ୨୧ pirate seonghwa x mermaid reader

word count ୨୧ 570

genre ୨୧ Angst . forbidden love, ambiguity, yearning...

warnings ୨୧ none <3

author's note ୨୧ this has been a wip since september i love pirate hwa. anyways this might be my first non mental illness related angst work ? unsure

The air is cold when you break through the surface of the water.

It still surprises you after all this time, but you think it must be getting colder out here, too. It’s hard to see in the dark, but you think the trees in the distance, far beyond the town, are less green than the last time you saw them. You’re not here to contemplate the land’s seasons changing, though.

Seonghwa sits at the edge of the docks already, boots dipping past the surface of the sea. For a second you think he hasn’t seen you yet, but you remind yourself that you know better, and that he’s got a keen eye (and good instincts). He’s the only one of his whole crew who’s seen you. So you flick your tail to swim a little closer, the water lapping around you gently. 

“You’re early,” you say once you feel you’re close enough, breaking the silence. Aside from the tender waves and the distant yells from drunken sailors, it’s quiet. You worry anything more than a murmur will make your presence known. “You didn’t miss me that badly, did you?”

Seonghwa hums out a quiet laugh and finally meets your eyes, dark but lively in the moonlight. They shine with the light of all the stars he’s taught you and more, your favorite thing about him. “I did,” he responds. “Is that so bad?”

(You both know the answer.)

You reach up to the docks enough to lay your arms on the wood and rest your chin. It’s a risky move, but Seonghwa’s worth it. He leans closer, practically about to fall into the ocean, and you refuse to answer him with anything substantial. Instead you say, “me too.”

There are a million other things you could be doing that don’t involve risking your life by breaking the surface of the water. But somehow Seonghwa has you hooked, a cliche, naivety and a sprinkle of hope mixed into every word shared between the two of you. You know he’s kind. Would never confirm your existence, let alone whatever connection you have with him. Even still...

You dream of dressing him in real, beautiful pearls; showing him the beauty of the water, the sweetness of the creatures that inhabit it. You dream of trading your tail for legs, of standing next to him, holding him without your handprints showing through saltwater on his clothes.

“It’s getting cold,” you murmur after a moment, gazing at the way Seonghwa’s hair frames his face. “We’re leaving soon.”

You’ve mentioned the Passage before, and Seonghwa knows immediately what you mean. As the air gets colder, so does the sea. It used to be something you looked forward to, when you were small, wondering how you swam so far and so fast that the ocean got warmer. You don’t know how you feel about it now.

He asks, “how soon?”

You answer, “five moons.”

He sighs and it burns you. “That is soon,” he responds, solemn, knowing. He presses a palm to the dock beneath him. 

The rest of the words go unspoken. It aches when you reach to trace his hand with your own. The stars reflect in his eyes and you remember what he told you about his name, the planets in the sky he named and pointed out for you.

The sea and the sky are always meeting in the horizon, so how is it that you and Seonghwa are still so far apart?

[feinv]

prompt: (joel miller x anxious!reader) we all know how joel is a veteran when it comes to surviving the cordyceps virus and that it made him turn into a hardened, stoic survivor. but, how would he react to a partner who is anxious all of the time? like, second-guessing every choice and move they made. his partner is almost acts like how a scared kid would, getting spooked and jumping at every small sound in the dark.

(going to ask this anonymously but u can prob guess who this ask came from lol. can be either hbo or game joel ❣️).

game!joel miller x anxious fem!reader. fluff. mentions of panic/anxiety attacks.

a/n. for future reference, i will be writing only for game joel!! pedro is my babygirl, but og joel has corrupted me these last three years…reads like either joels anyway, so you do you. enjoy!💌

ᯓ he would be so patient with you. memorizing what helps you calm down and always asking what can he do for you. he loves you dearly and doesn’t mind one bit looking after you almost every day. :(

ᯓ personal headcanon is that he would do trainings with you. what i mean is, he would close the door and shut the lights, even blindfold you for more effective outcome, and produce random different sounds in the dark. your goal would be to identify what exactly made that sound because whenever you hear anything in the dark your mind by default convinces you it’s a clicker or far worse. he would help you get more acquainted with your surroundings, so even if you suspect it’s a zombified creature, you can quickly locate where exactly they are and how to deal with them!

ᯓ reassurance!! this man would be so supportive it’s insane. when you are having a panic/anxiety attack during clearing out, he is quick to find a safe spot for you two. his calloused palms would take your face in between them and force you to look him into eyes, showing you that he is there with you and you are safe. “you’re fine, babygirl. just breathe. i’m here with you. alright?” enveloping his big arms around your trembling body in a tight and so needed for you hug, his hand gently caressing your back while he coos in your ear as you cry in his chest.

ᯓ it’s too risky to hold your hand during missions because if anything happens he would need his both hands to protect you. but when you are assured the room is clear he would stop for a moment, take your hand in his and softly stroke your wrists before whispering “you okay?” and kissing your forehead <3

[alice-angel12x]

Born of Unknown Stardust

(Platonic) Lucifer x (???)Child! reader Pt.1

&lt;-Prologue/ Next pt. 2 ->

------------------------------------------------------

50years Later-

"They're a cute little bell, so I don't lose you," Lucifer smiles as he looks down at the cute bell on the bow he made for the tiny creature.

Over the last 50 years, being so tiny it was pretty easy for Lucifer to lose them out of nowhere.

"Huh, I should give you a name. Something to call you by... Uummm. I'll just call you (Y/n) Yuu. What do you think?" Lucifer asked, Yuu only blinked at his words.

"Ummm, actually I've noticed something. You have not grown or changed at all over the past 50 years. You still haven't spoken, or even asked for food... You don't do much. Do... Do you eat? Are you hungry?" Lucifer asked in concern as he tickled Yuu's tiny belly. Earning cute little squeaks from them.

As Yuu giggles, leaning back to get away from the tickling. They leaned farther and farther, till they fell over the counter edge they were sitting on. Lucifer panicked as he dove to catch Yuu, only to stare in a stupor as Yuu levitated a foot above his waiting hands.

"The in the world?" Lucifer gasped as Yuu started to float upward.

Yuu continued to float higher and higher, till a gentle hand intercepted their upward path. That hand belonged to his fellow seraphim Sera.

"I didn't think flight was possible without wings," Sera commented. "How did you teach it to accomplish this?"

"I didn't, they just... Did...It," Lucifer said as he gently pulled Yuu down, and held them against his chest. "Anyways what are you doing here?"

"Well, I hear mortal life or infants tend to eat a lot. So I gathered some vegetation from the earth for this creature," Sera said as she held a glass of pureed fruits.

"I don't know, Yuu has never... Never really asked for anything. Or spoke, they kind of just roll around and be cute," Lucifer shrugs, as Sera holds the glass to Yuu's lips.

The little critter took one sip, two sips, then a gulp. Then proceeded to chug the entire glass, as Sera and Lucifer watched in shock and slight concern. It did just drank a cup that was as big as itself.

'' Are you sure?" Sera asked.

“A-any ways, speaking of earth. I actually all have a bunch of cool ideas we can do, and if you’d-“ “Lucifer. No,” Sera interrupted.

“We’ve already told you to please stay out of this project. As wonderful as these ideas are. They are too risky. I’m sorry,” Sera apologizes sadly. “For know just study this critter… Yuu? Correct? Just keep on eye on them and tell us what you find.”

And with that, Sera left to rejoin the elders to continue the further creation of earth. Yuu watched in curiosity as they felt a shift in Lucifer. His wonder filled smile was replaced by a small frown.

———————

With a string, the end of Yuu’s tail was tied to a small weight so they wouldn’t float away. As Lucifer sat at his work bench in frustration, as Yuu tried to nom through the string to get free. Which was difficult when you don’t have teeth.

But eventually Yuu was distracted from their goal as they noticed Lucifer mess and mold with dust. Shaping them into many different and strange creatures.

Yet each time it looked complete, Lucifer would quickly crumble it down, in frustration.

“I don’t get it! What is so risky about my ideas!” Lucifer shouted as he rested his head on the desk.

Yuu stared in awe at the dust before them. So crawling over, they start to gather the dust. Slowly giving it shape and volume. And by the time they were done… it was something about as big as them. It had a head an oval body and a long mouth.

Yuu stared at its dust figure till.

“Dak,” a tiny voice said. “Dak!”

Lucifer jumped a bit, startled by sudden voice. He looked down at Yuu and their crude makeshift creature.

“Umm huh?!” Lucifer said in a stuper.

“Dak,” Yuu pointed to their creation.

“Oh, umm. It’s.. it’s something. Very cute,” Lucifer said with a confused smile.

Yuu hugged the dust clump, when a golden light started to shine from Yuu. The dust clump slowly started to change. Yellow feathers grew, and an orange bill was revealed as the dust trickled off. But before the creature could come to be, it crumbled back into lifeless dust.

“Umm,” Lucifer said slowly, when he noticed tears well in Yuu’s eyes begin to well up with tears. “Oh no no no. It’s okay. Ummm uhh."

Lucifer panics as he gently cradles Yuu when an idea comes to mind. With a snap of his fingers, Yuu was put into a new little attire.

"Aww look how cute you are. Know you the duck," Lucifer gushed as he held a small mirror in front of Yuu.

You looked at their reflection in awe as a tiny giggle escaped their lips.

__________________________________

Pt.3 ? Continue?

Masterlist Here

[sillyromance]

Good day everyone!

Warning: plant pred/human prey; angst; a character in pain; platonic relationships; healing vore, yet open ended.

I've been haunted by some thoughts on a sci-fi story where a crew of an exploratory space ship includes two best friends: 1) a sentient plant with mimic abilities who works as a paramedic; 2) a tough female warrior rescued from a planet which inhabitants are stuck in their equivalent of our medieval era - her job is to protect her new mates during missions outside of the ship.

The plant is carnivorous and needs to hunt periodically. Yet, it refuses to devour anyone of the crew due to the attachments it has formed and the moral code it has learnt to respect communicating with other races. Also the plant doesn't have a gender, but goes with she/her pronounce, appears as a human girl and calles itself Nova. Meanwhile, Nova's tough friend is Valerik.

One day, when the ship lands on another planet, those who go on the first mission are assaulted by the local tribes. Valerik, shielding a crew member, gets severely wounded. Weak and whimpering, she is brought back on board.

There it's discovered that her body is infected with a very strong poison of unknown origin.

Nova and other doctors try to find the antidote, but, no matter what they do, nothing seems to work. Meanwhile, Valerik has to endure horrible pain violating her entire body; it can be barely blocked by medications. It only grows stronger as days pass by, causing the woman to scream and cry in despair, unable to sleep, or eat, or at least distract herself from the feeling of her bones being tied in knots.

Nova can't watch her dear friend suffer this much anymore. She shows up at the Valerik's door with a risky proposal.

Sometimes plants of Nova's kind can heal other creatures by processing them and keeping the cells alive within while the recipient's immune system is studying the problem and producing the cure. Afterwards, the "prey" gets reconstructed. Yet, there is no way to predict if the outcome will be successful; some plants have been registered consuming the cells they've been assigned to carry for their bodies were powerless to do anything with diseases they faced.

Therefore, if Nova was to "eat" Valerik, the latter might never come back...

Nova explains everything to her friend and asks her if the warrior agrees to try this last solution. The plant admits that she can't give any credits for Valerik recovering soon: the process might take months, or even years to complete. It may not end well at all. However... at least the woman would be saved from pain.

Valerik is deeply touched by her friend's care. Despite the risks, she accepts Nova's offer. The poison would kill her anyway, sooner or later. With that in mind, becoming a part of her friend, temporarily or permanently, doesn't seem to be a bad alternative.

Nova informes the staff about the experiment, then returns to Valerik. The plant shows her true form: long flexible vains coil around the warrior's limp body and gingerly tug it into a huge blue blossom which gently closes around its prey, encapsulating her into a soft live cocoon.

The woman looks around. Sweet honey scent lingers in the chamber. Fluorescent walls soothe her restless mind with gentle shimmering. The woman's form slightly sinks into pliant, warm folds beneath - lying here already eases soreness in her joints...

Yet, suddenly, Valerik's breath hitches in her throat. Admiring the view, she hasn't been paying attention to the thick vains squeezing her legs and torso with more determination than before, firmly holding her in place while smooth flesh of the plant suddenly begins to ooze and ominously sizzle with viscous dark liquid.

Before she starts panicking, a familiar small hand lays on her forehead.

- N-Nova? - Valerik mummbles, stunned, blinking at her friend sitting nearby.

- Yes, darling, it's me. - Nova, her human form coos, stroking the woman's hair. - How are you feeling?

- ...I'm scared. - Valerik confesses, flushing in shame. Her red cheek receives a loving kiss.

- I know... It's OK. I won't hurt you, Valerik. My body will be exceptionally careful; it will make you feel very, very good. Plus, you won't be alone! All the way through, I will be here, with you, talking to you, and you can tell me anything that concerns you, sweetheart.

Soon, slimy juices begin to flood the "stomach"; petals, which looked so fragile and tender from the outside, tighten around the prey with unexpected force.

- Digestion is starting. - Nova replies at Valerik's confused gaze. - I know you've been hurting, badly, but once my acids touch you, your turmoil will end. It's scary, and you want to fight, I get it - and I won't blame you if you try, it's a normal reaction! But... trust me - all I want is to help. Just let go. Let me do this for you.

- I... I believe you, Nova. - Valerik smiles meekly. - I'll try.

Eventually, her muscles relax; the vains loosen their grip too and slide into their invisible gaps. Valerik's clothes swiftly drinks in the juices, making her skin tingle at the contact.

At first, sensation is rather unpleasant - the warrior has to force herself from jerking away. Yet, as the liquid is gradually rubbed into her skin, she notices changes.

The pain is gone. Dissolved into nothing.

Valerik gasps, shoked... then rolls her eyes with a long, satisfied groan.

- Oh, Gods... That's... Incredible!..

Nova barely holds away sobs as she watches Valerik laughing - and turning into formless goo down below. She brings the woman closer to her chest, their hands entwined.

- Thank you so much... - The warrior breathes out, her eyes sparkling with childish joy.

- Your welcome, Valerik... - The plant whispers, affectionately stroking the woman in her hold, eyes never leaving a peaceful face of her precious friend.

Valerik has already fallen asleep, exhausted after a row of insomniac nights, with a wide smile on her pale, bitten lips.

She is numb and relieved, at last.

.......

When Nova is back at work, her colleagues do their best to cheer her up. The plant grins and pretends to be fine. Nevertheless, when no one is looking, her face drops.

She takes off her work robe and looks at herself in the mirror.

Intentionally, she has given her avatar a rounded belly; Valerik is digesting slowly, and Nova wants to be aware of this even while being in disguise. Her hands idly caress the lump - it's still solid and full, and it will remain like this for a good week.

But nothing draws her attention more than her forearms covered in greenish patterns. They are moving and lighting up ever so often, separate tiny dots dancing like fireflies from her elbows to the neck, tangling into complicated shapes and stars of immence beauty.

Those are the cells, Valerik's soul tucked safely beneath Nova's skin where no one and nobody can hurt her again. The plant traces them with remorse on its pretty human face. Nova wishes things would never come this far. Now, she has eaten someone she loves so devotedly...

...Who knows if they ever see each other again?..

The only excuse she finds for herself is the last gleeful smile adorning Valerik's angelic face at her last moments.

In upcoming future, all the plant's body will be covered in swirling lines of cells travelling around in its veins. Sometimes, when Nova's grief will consume her mind, warm green light will embrace her crooked form, as if Valerik was trying to comfort her, reminding Nova she is still around, loyal to their bond.

Nova will never give up on her.

Even if hundreds of years must be taken away, she will still wait for her friend to wake up...

[potato-frenzy]

"You can't keep food down....... because you can feel it digesting?" Ford speaks slowly, careful whilst folding wirey limbs up off the floor of the latrine. Eternally concerned at the way Bill's joints overextend in this shape, he wonders what the rationale in giving him such a dysfunctional body was. As far as he understands, this is meant to be part of his former friend's(possibly rekindled, he's not sure) rehabilitation. Perhaps navigating a less than ideal health situation is part of that? Or it could an adjustment period?

Bill remains dead weight, letting his head loll with an uncomfortable looking arch to his neck over Ford's arm. His voice sounding appropriately strangled as he speaks from such an awkward angle. "My brain apparently can't handle the awareness of such an inefficient breakdown of fuel........."

Ford sighs gruffly as he settles Bill back into the berth the formerly multidimensional being is occupying for the interim. Even in a solidly human form, there's still something uncanny, somehow slightly inhuman about Bill. The subtle glow of his sclera in the dim light of the cabin, the reactive slits to his pupils, joints that bend too far, etc. Even as he looks at him now, the curve of Bill's spine is hunched into a shape that is nearly exaggerated with his too long legs pulled to his chin. "Humans aren't generally aware of that particular process, my would be tyrant. Besides, you've nearly passed out just from standing up twice this week. If it weren't too risky, I'd convince Stan to let us drive into town to see a doctor."

Bill makes an unhappy sound that is nearly a growl, mostly a grumble, slightly a gurgle. The low light from the lantern on the wall plays across the shaggy blonde hair that this corporeal came with as it falls into those glowing eyes. Mere firefly light colored slits in the shadows while Bill squirms. "Everything fucking sucks, Sixer ........this body is brand new and it's already falling apart......I think I'm dying........."

"You're not dying, Bill. At least not yet." Ford leans against the frame of the berth, grunting softly as his joints protest. He looks down at the miserable creature before him and in his care, ill-fittingly clothed in his own apparel. "You've only been here a few weeks and while you have lost some weight, the vomiting hasn't become life threatening. The fainting could be attributed to that anyway. I've been formulating some theories though."

"Oh joy, theories. What has my great wise one deduced from my useless human form's failure to function?" Bill's feet thump the wall as he attempts fruitlessly to stretch in the tiny berth.

Ford doesn't like the odd quality that human vocal cords bring to Bill's voice, making it sound flat and featureless. Or perhaps, he was just too used to the sound of a voice beyond human capability. The rich and layered tones and pitches that were just barely outside of his mind's ability to grasp. This voice felt so small, so digestible to mortal senses.

Another sigh, pushing his glasses aside to rub his eyes tiredly, Ford begins slowly. "At first I didn't think I could ascribe normal human body processes to you. But as time has passed, Stan pointed out to me that your body is functioning like a regular human. Albeit a regular human with health issues. Apparently he's seen it before."

Ford idly begins to pet Bill's hair, the texture something between a myriad of different textures. Impossible to place it as it seems to float from certain viewpoints. It's as fascinating as it is frustrating. Ford's caught himself reaching for it more than once in the time he's been here.

Bill never makes comment on it.

"Your immune system seems confused and your vascular system over reactive. And factoring in how unnaturally flexible you are...... you've said you're overly aware of everything happening in your body-"

"It's getting easier to ignore if that makes a difference."

"It does, thank you my m- my mortal ward. Ahem, there's a number of conditions that can cause such things to occur in a body. It could be something like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. A proper doctor would need to run tests but it's very likely. We might also just need to keep trying to help you keep food and water down until you're used to human body processes."

Ford looks down at Bill then, seeing two faintly glowing slit pupiled eyes blinking up at him in the low light should be more disconcerting than it is. Which is to say that it is oddly comforting, knowing that Bill has been peacefully listening like he did all those years ago. The now solidly human shaped creature looking up at him, curled up in HIS berth on the Stan O'War II, wearing HIS clothes. A comfortable T-shirt with a silly cartoon on it that Soos gifted him, a grey cardigan with sleeves that keep slipping over Bill's long spidery hands and hangs down to his thighs.

The pants had to be procured for him, fished out of a donation bin on the interstate. Not quite long enough to cover Bill's boney ankles but fit comfortably around equally boney hips, it didn't help that he had no ass to speak of though. A tote with clothes collected from the neighbors had made Bill a few outfits that made him fit to be seen in polite company was stashed in a storage locker on the ship. But no matter what the day held, Bill managed to change into some of Ford's clothes when the opportunity arose.

Ford tried not to look too deeply into it but there was that niggling thought some measure of the same regard he used to hold for his multidimensional muse may still be returned. He didn't let himself linger on the possibility too much, especially with Bill in such a vulnerable state.

Besides, Bill's current form looked barely a few years older than Wendy at present. Considering anything untoward sat uncomfortably in his stomach with such youth looking up at him.

-------------------------------------------------------

Excuse me while I just dump this here and run. Legit I don't even go here but this mental image possessed me and I had to write it down. I think Bill getting put in a meat suit purgatory would be made all the better by having a chronic illness come free with the body.

[ajaxiscat]

The Little Sprout - Chapter 1/9

I decided to finally throw some writing out there and see if anyone likes it. So here's the first chapter of a story I'm planning to continue. It's about a borrower and their host (as expected because this is a g/t blog)

Word Count: 883

Caught

“Just an hour” Evie knew she just had to wait an hour before it was safe to come out, but she couldn’t help but remind herself. Orenchi had just taken his melatonin which meant he would go to bed in twenty minutes, and he would be in his usual deep sleep forty minutes after that. 

Today was another risky mission to try and steal from her host’s pockets. He was a deep sleeper, which to her meant it was safe to get a little closer to him every once in a while. Usually she only got a small eraser from the forgetful artist, but it was worth a shot anyways. 

Before she knew it thirty minutes had passed, and she was peeking out from her spot so she could see if he was asleep. Usually she could wait the rest of the hour, but her love for adrenaline couldn’t. “He’s usually fast asleep by now, the extra time is just a precaution. You’ll be fine Evie, you always are.”

And just like that Evie was halfway up the cold wooden bedframe. Something stirred in her gut, and she would usually dismiss the feeling but not when she was taking a risk today. 

“Hey!”. Nothing, not even a shift. Throwing up her makeshift grappling hook, she was onto the mattress in less than a minute. He was lying on his side, and per usual forgot to change out of his work pants. There was clearly something inside so she quickly headed over and started pulling his pocket open.

“What the hell?” He was awake. Shit. She quickly started sprinting towards the edge of the bed, abandoning her grappling hook and sliding down the sheets. 

“No no no, I saw that!”. She ran under the bed as he got up and grabbed a flashlight. He crouched down and his paint covered face was quickly put into view. She dodged the light, hiding behind one of his many art boxes. “Listen, I don’t know what you are or if you can even understand me, but I’m not gonna hurt you. I swear.” Believe a human? He couldn’t be serious.

“Please come out? I’ll keep my distance I  promise. If you get nervous or scared you can run and I won’t follow you. Please?” Part of her was nervous about her next action, but regardless of her fear she walked out from behind the boxes. He turned off the flashlight when she squinted at the light. 

“Sorry about that little one, I just wanted to be able to see you better… What are you? Some kind of mutant? A fairy or a gnome? I mean you do have some dirt on your shoes.” Right, she forgot to clean them off after stealing from his garden earlier. 

“Either way, what are you doing in my room, let alone my house? I mean if you need shelter you can stay, but I’d prefer to know about a little thing like you here. Don’t want to let you get hurt.” Conflicted was an understatement. She couldn’t just talk to him, could she? She was always taught that if there was a chance to run from a human if caught, run. Though, she’s seen that he isn’t harmful. Never even swatting a bug, he just releases them outside. To hell with everything she’s been taught, this could be good.

“I live h-here. In your house, w-well in your vents. I’m not a mythical creature per say…” Evie was almost shaking at this point but she stood firm. If this was gonna work she couldn’t be seen as a scared little animal.

“Really, for how long? I mean I’ve never seen you here before.” There it was, he was gonna start asking questions and she’d never leave. Though she wanted to cooperate if she was gonna get him to trust her.

“Three years. I’ve been hiding here for three years”.

“What?! How have I not seen you, I mean-”.

“My kind is good at hiding.”

“Your kind? You mean there’s a whole species of you little folks?”

“Ah… well yes. I really shouldn’t be saying that. We’re supposed to be kept secret from humans. You can’t tell anyone I exist.”

“No one? Why? I mean the world would probably be safer for you little folk if more people knew about you, right?”

“No! Humans kill us! We can’t just come out, that would be like going around and saying ‘Hi we’re pests that steal from your homes and we have no defense. This is where we live, go ahead and kill us all!’ See my point?”

“Oh… wait, you steal from the homes you live in?”

“W-well, it's more like borrowing… we just steal things you humans won’t miss. Little crumbs here and there… I mean how else would we get food? We steal to survive.”

“I see… well, what if you didn’t have to steal? With how… Well, small you are, it’s no big deal for me to give you food.”

“It’s fine… if you’re okay with me taking food, I’d like to stay in the vents.”

“Oh, well I guess that’s okay. Just please be safe.” Evie turned to leave. “Wait! Just… if you change your mind, my offer is still open. Alright?”

“Thank you.” She turned and didn’t look back, the vent cover under his bed was unscrewed as a back-up. So she was gone before he could say goodbye.

[little-peril-stories]

Blood Garnet - WIP Intro

it's a working title leave me alone

Aka: WIP Wednesday / Vaguely Summarized WIP / I'm Desperately Trying to Get This Dumb Story Out of My System

DISCLAIMER: this stupid story is a silly, self-indulgent mess that would require a lot of hard work to make it, um, fit for human consumption. It was my little brain break between finishing The Queen of Lies and restarting The Court of Rogues. It may not ever get finished. ���‍♀️ So, uh, you're forewarned. 😇

OPEN TAG for WIP Wednesday, Vaguely Summarized Plot, or both 😊- there's a lot of nonsense in here so I feel bad subjecting even more people to it 😂

Let's use this cheeky lil post for some recent WIP Wednesday tags: Thank you @kaylinalexanderbooks and @sleepywriter00 for the tags! Posts here and here (same post chain).

Rules: Pick a WIP. Post something about it. On a Wednesday. Or whenever! It can be literally anything! 😊 (It does NOT need to be extra as this😅.)

Mood Board

don't anyone say anything about how there isn't a single gemstone on this mood board

What's It About?

Take a drink every time you see an element Kate's used before in other stories. 😅

Evyn, a schoolteacher, impulsively embarks on a journey in an effort to escape the chokehold of her small village, overbearing uncle, and inevitable (and unwanted) fate as someone’s happy little wife. It’s risky, of course: wild animals roam the woods, and she still doesn’t know the source of the mysterious lights that gleam through the darkness at night. However, she gets more than she bargained for—the forest is not what it seems, nor are those mystical yellow lights.

The Fae, creatures of legend, are real.

And they’re coming for her.

Vaguely Summarized Plot

Also using up another tag here! Thank you @mysticstarlightduck for this one! Posts here and here. The tag is kind of perfect for this seeing as I don't know much of the plot myself, so I have no choice but to be vague. :)

Rules: Summarize your WIP in 15 2-5 word bullet points (as if you were trying to summarize it in 15 seconds). (I didn't stick to the limit at all.)

✨ “So the forest's been kind of glowing lately? And no one but me seems to have noticed? Ok. Coolcoolcool.”

✨ “Get married? Me? Never!” Evyn Edition: Simply Not Interested But I Must Be Lying Because All Women Want to Get Married, Amirite?

✨ “Get married? Me? Never!” Jonathan Edition: Very Not Straight But Try Telling That To My Religious Zealot of a Father

✨ Jealous twin will NOT let his sister win control of their clan like she wins everything else, damn it (footnote 1)

✨ Emo loner who can’t go home (on pain of death) just wants these weird dreams about some random-ass human to please STOP (footnote 2)

✨ “I’m going to pursue independence! In another town! On a time crunch! By walking through the woods! At night! I’m a schoolteacher with no survival experience! This Is A Good Idea!”

✨ Grumpy grandma re: pesky human: What is her deal?

✨ “Hello yes hi I’m the emo loner. I’m unrealistically attractive. I saved you for reasons I won’t explain. But also I don’t talk to humans. Or Fae, really. Or. Like. Anyone. Not often anyway. What’s talking again?”

✨ “So, like, you're kind of hot … but you’re, uh, my enemy?? But I haven't figured that out yet?? And also, do we, like, have weird sexual tension, haha, or is it just me? Hahahaha! … But seriously, do we?”

✨ "Hey I know you have breathing issues or whatever, so you don’t like dusty or dirty or humid places, but … wanna take a shortcut through this super duper cool underground cave system?”

✨ “Haha, what? No?! There’s no reason I’m avoiding this area of the forest! Nope! No reason at all!”

✨ YOU get a betrayal! And YOU get a betrayal! And YOU get a—

✨ “Who is the monster and who is the man?” (footnote 3)

✨ This asylum makes the one in TQOL look like a vacation! (footnote 4)

✨ Sexy villainess gets to emotionally torture one MC and then physically torture another. AND psychologically torture them both! Hell, maybe she’ll even kill one of ’em too! Fun for the whole family!

Footnotes

(1) IT’S NOTHING LIKE ZUKO AND AZULA SHUT UP

(2) IT’S NOTHING LIKE RHYSAND AND FEYRE SHUT UP

(3) IT’S NOTHING LIKE QUASIMODO AND FROLLO SHUT—oh who am I kidding 🎶

(4) Technically the whole asylum thing happened in this story first, like, 2 or 3 years ago. That version just lives in a purple notebook that will never be seen by any eyes but mine. So, really, TQOL stole the asylum setting from BG, not the other way around.

Character Vibes

Evyn, human, orphaned as a child and raised by her aunt and uncle. Now a schoolteacher who sees yellow lights no one else can see.

“My heart cannot be captured. I intend to die an old maid, surrounded by papers and books. Good afternoon!”

Jonathan, human. Evyn's cousin, a clerk. Just truckin' on through a life he finds endlessly tedious and unsatisfying.

“Cecil’s a soggy piece of tree bark in a hat,” he said before he could stop himself.

Ah, Jonathan Garnet. A man who gained a single speck of favour with his impossible-to-please father…and promptly hurled it into the wind.

Dharan, Fae. Exiled from his clan years ago for murdering another Fae.

The Fae leapt up, standing straight and bending his knees as if to run—or perhaps pounce. One hand hovered over the stolen knife on his belt; the other, he extended to her.

He looked away from his foe to meet her gaze, uttering a single word:

“Run.”

Rennith, Fae. Heir to his clan but competing for the title against his twin sister.

He was a man, it seemed, but those eyes bespoke something much more ancient—of man, but not man himself. Silver hair, an impossible shade, framed a face sculpted into sharp angles, as cold and pale as if it were made of ice.

A Fae creature forged in primordial fire, carved from gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl.

For the Whump People Here:

Whumpy Things I've Managed to Squeeze into the First 13,000 words

Humiliation/embarrassment (minor)

Hyperventilation, dyspnea

Angst (minor)

Grabbed in the dark

Abducted

Restrained (but make it magic)

Magically forced to obey commands

Chin grab

Whumpy Things I've Got Planned But Haven't Written

Angst (major)

Stabbed

Various fight-related injuries I won't know till I write them

Betrayed by someone you trust

Drugged/knocked out

Humiliation/embarrassment (major)

Imprisoned

Taunted by the antagonist

More magic restraints (but turn it up to eleven)

Tortured (but make it magic)

Desperation, hitting rock bottom

A death fakeout or two or three

If you made it this far, you deserve a medal. 🥇

[ashs-random-writing]

Anthropophobia

One-shot

Ao3

—

Every human knew the tales and legends of the mighty beasts that roamed the oceans, luring sailors closer and then murdering them in a violent rage.

As it turned out, Sirens also knew about humans. The tiny creatures that showed up everywhere with their uncanny little faces, and tiny eyes, and their general unsettling nature. If only anthropophobia was less common.

Anthropophobia- the fear of humans.

—

Virgil ran through the streets, hearing guards shouting behind him. He grimaced, imagining them catching up and arresting him. He ran through a crowd and took an unplanned turn towards the docks. The guards hadn’t caught up yet

He untied a small boat that had sat unused for months; no one would miss it any more than they’d miss him.

Virgil knew it was risky to take a boat, even if there were no siren sightings nearby. But, he had to get away. He’d take brutal but instantaneous death over getting arrested and wasting away in a cell for the rest of his days.

He rowed for a while, his food piled up on the other side of the boat. He could hear nothing but bird calls and the rippling waves as he moved the oars. And then suddenly the underlying panic that was always present in his mind disappeared, leaving only the want to follow the feeling reaching out to him. What was that sound…?

He rowed closer and closer, not thinking about how strange this was, how suspicious this was. He snapped out of it only when the song stopped, when he was unnervingly close to a pair of eerily large eyes, with no whites to them. Virgil knew that just a few metres below the water was a mouth with far too many teeth.

He felt himself go pale, suddenly feeling lightheaded. He looked around him; how far had he sailed? His boat was probably small enough for the beast to hold it in its hands

He shuddered as that assumption was proved correct, and the siren raised its upper body out of the water, two cupped hands under his boat and raising him closer to its face, giving him a perfect view of their sharp teeth and the way it was grinning. One of its hands curled around the boat and started tilting it, the other hand below.

Virgil tumbled out, too panicked to even think of holding on. This instantaneous death was not being very instantaneous. The monster made a series of noises that Virgil had no hope of interpreting, as Virgil lay in their hand.

He was trembling harder than he ever thought possible, staying as still as he could. It prodded him with one finger, gentler than he thought it could but still hard enough to hurt, and he scrambled away from the hand, unfortunately meeting the fingers of the hand he was in as he bumped into them

He glanced down to the water, would it be worth it to jump down and try to swim away? He saw for a moment that his boat was dropped and overturned in the water and his food was floating around before a huge hand showed up in front of him fast enough that he flinched harder than ever before. He doubted he could outswim a giant sea creature anyway.

It was making noise, presumably speaking in the garbled language. Far too loud, he thought, as his stress headache doubled.

He hoped it wouldn’t sing again any time soon, he quite liked having control over his movements. It was trying to block him away from the edges of its palm, similarly to how one would do with a bug.

The comparison made him nauseous as he recognised that he was that small compared to it. He was maybe only three inches compared to it, all too small, and far too fragile. He stood up, though was immediately knocked off of his feet as the siren shifted slightly

He looked at its face, finding it almost too big to look at it all.

He felt himself go even paler as a second pair of eyes opened beneath its normal ones. It brought him close enough that he could feel its breath ruffling his clothes. He shuddered.

It’s other hand lifted up, starting to cover him from the sky, like the motion to trap a firefly. The hands closed around him, leaving him completely in the dark and cold.

He could immediately tell when the giant took him underwater, even without the little bits of water starting to fill up the space between the two hands. They both stayed underwater for about ten seconds of dizzying motion, and then he was somewhat-gently deposited on a large rock shelf above a pool of water that looked hundreds of feet deep.

He backed away, still trembling. The siren had pulled itself out of the water mostly, and sat on a ledge in the cave, as though it hadn’t just kidnapped him. In this lighting, he noticed that it had ‘little’ glowing green patterns decorating its skin, blending in with the dull green skin

He sat down in a corner, watching the beast intensely. It came closer after a while, using one of its giant claws to scratch something into the stone.

Were those runes? It tapped the runes once they were finished being scratched into the stone, and a clear sphere started to form around the ledge. Virgil tapped it to test if it was dangerous and found that it was similar to glass.

He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. It was still speaking, though muffled a bit now. It ducked under the water and swam away. Virgil looked for a way out, denying himself any tears to fall.

Nothing. Nothing at all. He hit the ‘glass’ with a fist, sitting down again. Why was he the exception to the fact that sirens usually murdered any human they saw? Why did he have to get trapped, the one thing he was trying to avoid?

He curled up in the corner. His prison was quite expansive, perhaps the size of a small house, but it was still a prison. He glared at everything in this cave, every single collected thing, every shiny thing on every ledge. One thing was screaming in his mind: that he was just another collected thing to the giant.

It came back a few minutes later, emerging from the water with speed that he could barely comprehend. Its hands were filled with plants that looked like they were from land, even though they were soaking wet. He came closer curiously, and looked at the strange handful- was that a whole bush?

His bewilderment overtook his fear for a brief moment, until it looked at him again, two pairs of eyes locked onto him.

He skittered back, heart beating so fast it might explode. What was even going on right now? He groaned, pushing his head into his hands and sliding down the rock wall to sit on the floor. It was still watching

It reached through the barrier as if it was not there, which it definitely was, and placed the bushes and soft leaves in the prison with him.

After a few days, Virgil still had no idea what was actually happening. The uncertainty was eating him alive. He had rearranged the plants in his prison, to give himself a hiding place. They were thick enough that he couldn’t see the siren through them, and therefore it couldn’t see him.

Sometimes it would sing to itself. Virgil hated those times. He didn’t even think it knew it was luring him from his hiding spot, it usually noticed him only after a while, stopping singing to speak to him (or at him- it wasn’t like he could understand)

He still couldn’t get over the fear. It was so big, so fast, so loud. He spent most of the time cowering in the corner, staring at the wall. His eyes had adjusted to the dark well

He peeked out from behind the bushes and watched the siren swim out of the cave system. It usually brought him food when it did that. He stood up shakily, once again inspecting his prison for any faults, anything he could use to escape. Once again, nothing.

His knuckles had become bruised by how much he had punched the magic glass when he got frustrated with his captivity. The siren was back soon, nothing in its hands. Suspicious. Virgil went back to his hiding spot.

Another siren was behind it, this one more red in colour. Virgil shuddered. There was a tapping on the glass, accompanied by some words that Virgil couldn’t understand. He knew that this meant it wanted him to leave his hiding spot, and that if he didn’t, it’d reach in and get him anyway.

He wasn’t coming out. Willingly showing yourself to a siren was a death sentence. He could feel the siren's hand getting closer until it wrapped around him, lifting him through the glass. He was still trembling every time it got near him.

It presented him to the red one with some dramatic gestures that made him dizzy. Its hand uncurled, leaving him sitting on its palm. The red one let out a shriek that Virgil was sure made his ears bleed, as it catapulted itself backward

Virgil covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. The hand he was sitting on was shaking, as he heard what he assumed was laughter from the green siren. His legs had drawn up to his chest, and he laid on his side as he tried to erase that noise from his mind

He could hear Red saying something, not entirely shrieking now, but not not shrieking. He wanted to leave- to go somewhere else, anywhere else.

It didn’t matter that he couldn’t go home, he could go somewhere else, and start a new life- except he couldn’t. He was trapped in the clutches of a giant siren, and there was no way he’d ever be able to escape the underwater tunnels without drowning.

Green prodded his side and Virgil curled up more.

He was placed in the prison again soon enough. The moment, the shriek, replayed in his mind over and over again as he stared into the darkness hours later

It reminded him of when a school child would find a spider in the grass and show their friends to freak them out. He had never thought about how it would feel to the spider, to be at the mercy of giants so much larger, to deal with the loud screaming and the complete lack of control. He wondered how many spiders had been traumatised by those school shenanigans.

The siren was under the waves, like it was for a lot of the day, but he could still see the glowing. He closed his eyes, but no sleep crept up on him.

He stared up. Was that what was happening? Were humans the spiders to sirens? He thought for a while

It would explain Red’s reaction maybe, and why sirens went into what seemed like murderous rage. Maybe it was just like when someone saw a spider and started panicking. He had certainly seen people go into what could be described as a murderous rage when seeing a spider.

So, why did they lure humans? He thought of his interactions with Green, how it would sing to itself and be surprised when he was drawn closer. His blood ran cold.

They didn’t know . They didn’t know their own power. The thing they were known for . He thought about all the casualties of siren song and he uttered the first word he said in days

“I’m sorry”

A single tear ran down his cheek and he looked around the cave. Of course he had to be found by the type of person who would keep a spider in a jar as a pet. Well, at least until it forgets about him. He wondered how long that would take; weeks? Months? Years? He would rather it happen sooner than later

He didn’t want to form a messed up attachment to his captor before it eventually forgot about him

He curled up behind the bush and waited for it to wake up.

—

Remus had been relaxing just above water for his daily fix of oxygen and sunlight, singing to himself as he slowly swam around.

A human floated into view a little while later. It hadn’t noticed him yet, and so he stopped singing, dipping his head further down into the water until only his eyes were above water. Well, at least his primary eyes; he didn’t need to see details just yet

It froze when it noticed him. Remus was wondering what it would feel like to be bitten by something so small. Roman said that it hurt.

He scooped the little guy up in its little boat. He wondered what it was seeing; an incomprehensible being? Was it feeling unimaginable terror? He grinned at the idea, though knew it was unlikely. Humans were too small for thoughts like that

He tilted the boat to get the human out, and it tumbled out, further than he expected. It laid unmoving for a few seconds in which Remus thought he might’ve accidentally killed it. That would’ve been disappointing, he decided, since he wanted to keep it as a pet.

He nudged it with his fingertip and watched as it scuttled back. That tickled.

It got closer to the edge and Remus dropped the boat and brought his other hand up to guard it away

“Woah there, little guy! If you fall off here you’re gonna die choking on water with no escape! I’m the better option, don’t you think?” He grinned, rambling a bit.

It stared up at him, and he opened his secondary eyes, bringing it closer. It was so small . Roman would be terrified, he realised, grinning harder.

So would most of his friends.

Remus gently placed his hand over his other one and tried to make sure no water would get in between them. He ducked underwater and swam home, placing the little guy on a ledge in the part of the cave above water and scratching some runes so it would have a place to stay.

He looked at it for a few seconds. It was empty, too empty to keep an animal in there.

The human looked up at him. He thought for a moment; what kind of plants grew where humans lived? Pretty much any plants from land would work, right? He set off to find some as the little guy explored the enclosure

He found some soft plants on an island nearby, and uprooted them to take to his new pet. It was a creepy little thing, like most humans, and immediately started moving the plants to create a little hide-away. Remus had always found humans strangely cute, in a way that made his brother extremely annoyed. Roman had never liked it when he brought humans home from his wanderings.

They were just so small, and pretty docile if they weren’t feeling threatened. Remus had heard a lot of people say that they were more scared of people than people were of them, and he had always wondered how much truth that held

He knew a lot of people who were downright terrified of the tiny little creatures. He wondered why humans always got so close to sirens if they were so afraid, but he didn’t dwell on it.

A few days later, he had begun to get very attached to the little creature. It stayed hidden a lot, only coming out when it was fed, and occasionally when he was singing or humming to himself. He named it Creepy, because it fit the description, primarily, but also because it would annoy his brother tremendously.

He suddenly remembered the fact that he hadn’t shown Creepy to his brother yet and grinned, swimming through his tunnels as fast as physically possible and towards his brother's cave.

“Roman! Roman! I need to show you my new pet! You’ll love it” he grinned, holding back a laugh

Roman sceptically followed him until they got back to the cave. Remus saw Creepy hide behind the plants and he got closer, tapping on the barrier and waiting for it to come out like usual, but it didn’t.

“Come on out, lil’ guy”

He reached in and grabbed it gently and dramatically presented it to his brother

“Ta da! My new pet!” He uncurled his hand and watched his brother’s reaction intently

The reaction was even worth the resulting scream. He laughed, bringing Creepy towards his chest and looking back up at Roman

“Remus! Why would you do that!? You know I’m scared of them!” His eyes were looking up at him and back down to the human like he was scared it was gonna leap at him

Remus looked down at Creepy, who had curled up like it did when nervous.

“Aw, look, you scared it! Say sorry,” he said, half teasingly, gently prodding Creepy’s side

“I scared it?” Roman asked, tone disbelieving “If anything, it should apologise to me! Or at the very least, you should” he crossed his arms, secondary eyes widening to show his mistrust

Remus shook his head, placing Creepy back into the enclosure and turning back to Roman as Creepy scuttled back to its hiding spot

“I mean, if you still fall for that, it’s on you. I’ve been pulling the same prank since we were kids” he shrugged and grinned

Roman glared at him, but didn’t argue

“I just don’t get how you can find that thing cute enough to be a pet,” he grumbled.

Remus shook his head, placing Creepy back in the enclosure.

“Oh, come on! How can you be scared of that little face!”

Roman stared at him. “I don’t know, they just show up everywhere and they just give me the creeps, ok?”

They talked for a while, before Roman inevitably left

Remus placed some food in the enclosure and ducked under the water to his bed. He wondered what Creepy was thinking about the situation.

He yawned, and fell asleep, head tucked into his arm.

When he woke up, the thing he did was swim outside for his daily dose of sunlight and basked in the light for about an hour, until the light got too much for him. Then he started swimming around.

The smaller fish avoided him mostly, but they were still annoying. He snuck a peek at one of the nearby islands, finding a lot of boats and a few humans.

Humans tended to be in groups of two or more, he noticed; was his human gonna get lonely? He thought about his human, pushing away the thought of how killable, how squishable, it was, and thought about its behaviour. It hid most of the time. Maybe another human would get it to be less skittish?

This routine was what he did every morning.

After yet another morning of this a few weeks later, he swam back to the cave and greeted his little friend by tapping on the wall of the enclosure. It walked forward towards him and sat down in front of the barrier. Remus’ tail splashed happily and Creepy skittered back, staring at the tail. Oh, right, humans didn’t really like water

He wondered how many humans had drowned in his lifetime, and what it would feel like to drown. He couldn’t imagine it. He had found several dead humans in sunken ships (Roman refused to go near them) and he had always wondered how long it had taken them to die.

He looked at Creepy consideringly. What would happen if he threw it into the water? He shook his head, and ruffled Creepy’s hair. He wouldn’t hurt Creepy.

He started singing to distract himself from his thoughts. Oddly enough, Creepy became more alert, staring up at him with more intensity, getting closer to the barrier.

Remus tilted his head. He had noticed that his singing would sometimes make Creepy come closer, but to see the immediate shift in the behaviour was interesting. He stopped singing and watched it back away a bit

He started singing again and it once again got closer, standing up straighter and trying to get to him.

This was so cool! He grinned. He wondered if it would work on other humans than Creepy. He experimented with the singing for a while, a few hours maybe, before deciding to stop the game and do something else.

Creepy ran back to its hiding spot after they were done playing, and Remus watched it arrange the plants again to completely surround itself. Remus imagined what would happen if it would respond to his singing while it was surrounded like this. It would probably catch its skin on one of the pointier branches and die a bleeding, painful death. It was a good thing he stopped, he decided

Humans were always so fascinating to him, how complexly they acted, but he was the only person he knew who had ever noticed that. Everyone else was too scared to even look at a human without screaming or trying to get rid of it.

But, Remus had always loved watching them.

A few days later, he swam out of the cave and up to the surface. He could see one human sitting on the shore of a nearby island. It froze when it saw him, and he tested his newfound ability.

Much like Creepy, it immediately changed in posture and ventured towards the water. Cool! It would even make humans go towards the water without a boat? He knew how dangerous that was, so when it got to the water he grabbed it and stopped singing.

He swam towards his cave, holding the human above water until they got close enough, then he ducked under water and swam as fast as possible through the tunnels and deposited his new human in the enclosure with Creepy.

The humans stared at each other and Remus had a sudden thought of them ripping each other apart, before they started making noises. He had heard Creepy make noise every so often, but very rarely and very quietly. He grinned.

The new human was smaller, so he named it Tiny. He watched them for hours, though they paid almost no mind to him. He wondered how it felt to be so small

—

Virgil hadn’t grown used to life in the cave. It had been weeks, and it had only gotten worse from then. The red one had visited semi-frequently, though practically did everything to avoid looking at him. Virgil was glad; he didn’t want to deal with even more screaming.

It still did what he called a mini-shriek if it caught sight of Virgil moving around too suddenly, or even at all. Virgil had never been able to shake the sound of the first shriek from his mind.

He shuddered. Red hadn’t come back since Green had discovered that it could draw him forward by singing. It would toy with him for hours at a time, grinning as it forced him forward, let him try to go back and bringing him forward again, until it eventually got bored.

Virgil hunched in the corner, and watched the siren swim away. He grit his teeth and started looking around the cave again. He couldn’t cry. If he admitted the hopelessness of the situation, it would only make it worse to bear.

He took a shaky breath and held his head against his knees. He was going to get away, somehow, somewhere. He was going to get out of this- he was going to get away.

The siren returned a while later, another human in its hands. They were placed behind the glass like him, and sat there seemingly in shock for a few moments. They looked around, squinting at the dark and adjusting their glasses.

“It takes a while for your eyes to adjust, you won’t see much yet,” he offered to the stranger, who seemed startled. Their eyes locked on Virgil after a few seconds of trying to find the source of his voice

“Where are we? Why did it bring me here?” The stranger had an accent to their words, one that Virgil recognised from further south on his home island

“Well, we are inside magical glass in a stupidly large cave for reasons that I only have a theory of” he offered, probably sounding bitter

“Hmm… would you mind telling me your theory? I’m working with almost no reference here” they came closer, and Virgil moved aside some plants for them to get closer to him

“You know how people are usually scared of spiders but there’s always that one person who keeps spiders in jars? Well this,” he gestured around him “is the jar”

The stranger looked at him with a contemplative look

“That implies that most sirens are scared of us,” They said after a few moments, looking at the siren, which was just there, staring at them both

“I think they are,” Virgil replied, thinking of the red siren and the unholy screech it let out at the mere sight of him.

“Think about it, how many people completely freak out when they see a spider and don’t calm down until it’s dead? That’s what sirens do!” He elaborated

“Do you have any definitive proof that they’re scared?”

Virgil once again thought about the scream.

“Just wait for the red siren to visit,” he didn’t offer any more elaboration for that statement.

They talked for hours, deliberately ignoring the giant face that was staring down at them.

The new guy was Logan, an aspiring scholar. Virgil didn’t mention his own line of work.

Virgil told him how most days were in the cave, and answered questions about the siren song situation. Logan seemed to absorb knowledge like a sponge.

The next few days were not as bad as they were alone. The green one had added more plants to the prison, and so there were more hiding spots. Logan had been subjected to the utter torture that was Green singing, stopping and singing again, which was less good, but Logan had yet to be subjected to the shrieking of Red.

Virgil had made sure to keep an eye out so Logan knew to cover his ears when the red one showed up.

Green was out of the cave at that moment, so Logan and Virgil had a precious moment to talk in peace. They weren’t talking about anything in particular, but Virgil still cherished it. He had never thought he’d miss human interaction this much.

Virgil didn’t talk much, instead he listened to Logan speak, and kept a look out for the siren returning. It was about an hour later that the green siren arrived, and Logan and Virgil went back into their hiding place.

It placed some food in their prison and started placing things on different ledges in the cave. It almost reminded him of when he would find something cool when he was on a walk and put it up in his room. He knew the comparison was pretty accurate, but he didn’t want to think about how the siren was a person.

A person who was keeping them captive for entertainment. It was easier to think of it as a monster or a beast than to recognise that it was just as sapient as him. He watched it, trying to ignore any familiar actions.

It swam towards them a few minutes later, Virgil was mostly hidden, and so was Logan, but they were peeking over the bushes to watch the siren.

It didn’t seem to notice them both, looking through the glass at different hiding spots. It gave up trying to find them and instead tapped on the glass to try get them out. It always was annoying if they didn’t eat their food immediately. He glanced at the tapping fingers with an emotion he couldn’t identify.

If it really wanted them to come out, maybe it should’ve stopped being annoying. He ducked down further and crossed his arms.

Logan looked at him with an unreadable look

“Are you okay, Virgil?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper

Virgil stayed completely still and silent. He was sick of this whole thing.

He wanted to get out. The tapping was getting quicker, louder, matching Virgil’s breath. He drew his knees up to his chest and gripped his hair in his hands. His breathing was getting worse the more he could hear the siren's insistent tapping.

Soon he could hear nothing but his own breathing, his heartbeat, and the blood rushing in his ears. Everything else was gone. He could feel movement next to him and he tried to ground himself.

It took a while for him to come to his senses, to stop hyperventilating, but when he did, he noticed Logan in front of him, holding his hands and gently talking him into calmness. Virgil smiled falteringly

“Thanks, and, uh, sorry… about that,” he mumbled lamely

Logan looked at him. Virgil felt like there was something he wasn’t telling him.

Virgil tried to peek out from behind the bushes, but Logan pulled him down

“Keep your eyes on me,” he instructed, which made Virgil only want to look out more. He had never been good at following advice from people.

“Virgil. Do not look out there. It will only send you into another panic. You’ve already hyperventilated enough that your lips are going blue, you don’t need more”

Logan’s voice was firm, but it was calming. Virgil nodded, realising that his lips did indeed feel weird. Then he realised just how lightheaded he felt. He looked at the food that was just in his line of sight. Logan followed his gaze, and looked back at him.

“I’ll get us some food, you stay here,”

Virgil resisted the urge to look out at the rest of the cave, and instead focused on Logan.

He rested his head on the stone wall behind him. This whole thing was so… fucked up. Everything was so fucked up.

He was going to live and die in a glass prison because giant monsters saw him as nothing more than a bug, or animal. He finally felt himself cry. Logan brought the food closer and Virgil noticed for a second that he glared at the siren (or sirens? He was sure he could hear more voices)

Logan didn’t ask about his crying, just wordlessly passing food. He was going to ask Logan what exactly happened whilst he was out of sorts, but later. Right now, talking didn’t seem like a viable option. He could hear splashing, muffled through the glass

He closed his eyes. He could think when he woke up, he was too tired to mope anymore.

When he woke up, Logan was behind a different bush than him, glasses askew as his face pressed against the ground. Virgil shakily stood up and looked out at the cave. He froze under the gaze of the green siren, and felt like nothing more than a deer in headlights.

His heartbeat had gone through the roof, and he felt the instinctual urge to hide, but his body did the opposite and he just stood there.

Green came closer, Virgil flinched back and his body was startled back into motion. He ran behind another bush, noticing Logan wake up. Virgil didn’t know what exactly had triggered his fear this time; he hadn’t been this scared in weeks .

Everything was amplified to him. He didn’t know anything, he had never felt more like an animal than that instance, hiding and relying on instinct. Logan approached him a little while later.

He just looked up, feeling more helpless than he had ever felt. How long had it been since he had seen the sun? How long had he been in this prison? How long would he stay there? The rest of his life? Would Logan stay there the rest of his life? He wanted to leave, he couldn’t take this anymore.

He would rather drown trying to escape than stay here. Nothing was worse than staying here. Well, staying here alone was worse, but at least now he had Logan to help him through it. Logan had sat down next to him and was whispering reassurance

Virgil could still see too-large movements outside the glass. He shuddered. He had bruises from where Green had grabbed, prodded and poked at him. He was never going to get out of this if something so big that it couldn’t even touch him gently was the thing trapping him.

He felt like he was getting worse. He felt like everything was getting worse. But most of all, he felt bad for Logan, who had yet to suffer the worst of the captivity

—

Remus was worried about his humans. Tiny was less skittish than Creepy, but it still hid often. They usually stayed close to each other, something he had noticed in wild humans as well. Humans liked being near other humans.

Remus wondered why Creepy was on its own to begin with, but he could never think of a reason. He came back from his daily swim and put some cool rocks around his cave, fins shaking out in happiness, before checking on the two little guys.

He had already put food in there for them.

They were obviously hiding, since he couldn’t see them, but he didn’t know where they were hiding. There were a lot of hiding places in their enclosure, to make them more comfortable and try to simulate a more natural environment for them, but that meant the times he saw them now were few and far between. He tapped the barrier, waiting for them to come out, but they didn’t.

That was weird. He tapped again, louder and faster, but there was no movement visible. Were they ok?

“Come on, little guys, come on out” he said quietly, but nothing moved. Wait- did something just move? He grinned. The little humans were still living, at least

He noticed that they still weren’t coming out. What if something was really wrong with them, and that was why they weren’t coming to the front of the enclosure? He mentally debated what he should do, and landed on singing to draw them closer.

It only drew Tiny closer, but Creepy still was hidden. Once he stopped singing, it all but ran to where it was before. If Remus really strained his eyes, he could notice a shape behind the foliage. So that was where Creepy was? Was it ok?

He swam in circles, accidentally splashing the barrier a few times. He muttered to himself with a sort of fear- what if he had accidentally neglected his pets and one of them died? His voice was probably echoing and his marks were likely glowing brighter than usual.

Remus was talking to himself now, voice getting more echoing, and marks getting brighter. He watched Tiny move across the enclosure, towards the pile of food, and start dragging it back to where Creepy was

Remus was still muttering to himself, still echoing loudly as he watched the enclosure. It was hours later that Creepy emerged from the hiding spot. Remus stared intently, noticing the way it froze under his gaze. He watched it skitter away again.

He frowned. It was back to how skittish it used to be. It had been getting better, what happened? He placed his hand on the barrier and brought his face closer, trying to spot Creepy in the mass of plants

He didn’t know what to do about the sudden behaviour change. Maybe his singing had had a negative impact on it after all?

He swam out of the cave and towards his brother’s cave. His brother, annoying as he was, was still someone he trusted with his feelings. Sometimes.

Remus could only think of every bad possibility, every gruesome thing that could happen to his pets, but Roman was often an optimist.

He burst into the cave, accidentally waking Roman up

“Woah! Remus, what the- are you okay?” Roman’s anger seemed to dissolve as he noticed Remus’s distress

Remus explained the weird behaviour to him, and watched Roman nod along with the face he made when he was thinking

“Look, I’m not gonna claim to know anything about humans, they give me the creeps, but I really don’t think that it’s anything to worry about. It’s probably just confused why you added a new human to the enclosure”

Remus nodded. He always wondered what was going on in the humans’ minds, but he knew that he would never find out exactly what they thought. Roman was probably right. Would it help if he separated them?

He brushed that thought away; changing things now would confuse it more. He breached the surface to clear his head, only to be faced with a boat full of humans. It was one of the bigger ships, the ones bigger than his head, absolutely filled with the tiny creatures.

He grinned, gently knocking into the side, careful not to make any of them fall. One of them threw something sharp at him. He knew that that’s what humans did if they were hunting, but that made Remus laugh

Was it trying to hunt him for food? He was bigger than the whole ship! He pulled the tiny object out of his face and got closer, watching the tiny little creatures run around.

He loved observing wild humans, they were so fascinating to him. He wondered why they were so close to each other, in a big crowd as he got closer. His grin grew as he looked each human up and down. They were all so different from each other.

He scooped up a few into his hand to get a better look, and felt them moving around. He laughed softly at the feeling. One of them attempted to jump off of his hand and back onto the boat, and he attempted to catch it.

He looked at the tiny body in his hand. Oops. He didn’t mean to catch it so hard, but their tiny little bodies were so fragile.

He dropped it into the water and put the others back onto the boat. They were all making a lot of noise, strangely.

He swam away, wiping the red blood off of his hand and onto a rock. He didn’t mean to do that. He swam back to his cave and checked on his humans again.

He could see them this time, though they weren’t looking at him. Creepy stayed close to Tiny, much like the humans on the boat, and he couldn’t help but compare them to the one he accidentally killed. He looked at them consideringly

What would be the least painful way to die if you were human sized? Probably not drowning, that looked like it took a while. Maybe getting squashed, that seemed pretty instantaneous, but then he thought about how it might feel to have your organs splattered across a rock. He shook his head of those thoughts and just watched them.

Nothing was really happening. He couldn’t explain the strange foreboding feeling in his mind.

Things went back to normal after a few more days. Roman came by to visit him, though once again dramatically avoided the enclosure like his life depended on it.

Remus rolled his eyes as Roman shrieked upon seeing Tiny move across the enclosure to get food.

“It’s not going to hurt you, drama queen. It’s just trying to eat,”

“Ugh! Stop teasing me, you-” he was cut off by Remus shoving him with a grin plastered across his face

“Oh, yeah, the tiny little creature is gonna get you, you should be worried that it’s gonna get past the barrier, somehow swim towards you and, I don’t know, gently bite your hand?” He teased, mock biting Roman’s hand as he tried to shove him in return.

“Stop it, Remus! I can’t help how scared I am,” Roman pouted

“But you can help screaming my ears off every time one of them moves!” He countered, grin growing

He and Roman had a mock-argument for about half an hour, one that only got partially violent, but immediately ended when Roman had to go. Just like normal.

He dramatically swam down to the bottom of his cave and lay in the darkness for a while. How well could humans see in the dark, he wondered. Probably pretty well, since they’d been fine in the cave so far.

His eyes drifted shut as he thought and he slept

—

Logan hated this. Well, mostly. The good part was that this presented a very unique opportunity to study sirens. Usually, sirens killed anyone who interacted with them, so not much was known about them. Now Logan had the upper hand, second only to Virgil, who had been there longer

He felt bad for Virgil. Virgil had evidently gone through something during his time in the cave, perhaps even just the effects of long-term stress, but Virgil could barely stop trembling even when they were both hidden

Virgil had some interesting hypotheses about why they were being kept, and Logan had to admit that the theories held up well as Logan observed the siren.

Concerningly, Virgil mentioned a second siren when bringing up the idea of sirens being scared. Even more concerning, Virgil turned pale at the mere mention of the red siren, which did not give Logan a lot to work with in terms of what he was actually dealing with.

Virgil constantly looked like he had never slept, which was incredibly impressive considering how much time he spent asleep. Logan thought it must’ve been the effects of stress.

When the Red siren finally showed up, Logan was sharply pulled behind a bush

“I advise you to keep your ears covered and try not to move” Virgil warned him, which intrigued Logan very much.

“I’m just going to get some food, I’ll be quick” he promised, watching Virgil curl up more and press down on his ears.

Logan went to get food, looking at Red intently. It spotted him after a few seconds of movement, both sets of eyes widening before it started shrieking. Logan flinched. So that was why Virgil told him to cover his ears.

Green and Red seemed to start arguing, shoving each other and even biting once or twice.

Logan watched with strange fascination as the sirens fought, and then as the fight immediately stopped as the red siren left. Logan’s ears hurt from the scream, but his brain hurt from the strange behaviour of the giants

He went back to his and Virgil’s designated talking bush and sat down

Virgil was silent for a few moments, while Logan looked out at the dimly lit cave.

“I think they’re siblings,” Virgil offered, strangely tonelessly. Logan didn’t have to ask to know who he was talking about

Logan thought for a while. The thought made him feel oddly nauseous, the idea that his captor had a family. He hadn’t thought about the siren's personal life before.

If Red visited more often, though, he might be able to translate a few words. He was pretty sure that Red had said ‘stop’ several times during the argument, and that would be an invaluable word to know when in this situation. He was somewhat sure that Green was not keeping them out of malice, that being backed up by his and Virgil’s observations of the situation, so he hoped that once he had the words, it would let them go

He shared his thoughts with Virgil, who did agree with the idea, but was worried it might take too long to get every word they needed correct. Logan wondered whether it was worth it, but decided on yes as he looked at just how tired Virgil seemed

It took at least a month and a half (he was pretty sure, anyway; it was hard to tell in the cave) for him to learn how to speak one word. He practised every time that Green was out of the cave. He could understand more than he could speak.

He was going to keep practising, but his vocal cords were not made for their language.

Virgil had bitten the siren a few times, which did reduce the grabbing frequency. Green had never grabbed him as much as he grabbed Virgil. He assumed that it was due to Virgil’s larger stature, and him therefore being less fragile than Logan’s smaller form.

He hummed, trying the word in his mouth again as Green left the cave

Virgil hadn’t been trying to speak, deciding that trying to speak to the giant was not his ‘style’, so to speak. Logan was pretty sure that just meant he was scared, but he didn’t say anything about that hypothesis.

It was a week later that he actually put his practice to the test, as the siren reached through the ‘glass’ to try to bring Virgil out. The panicked and pleading look from his friend was enough to convince him.

He looked into the eyes of the siren as best he could, took a deep breath and spoke

“Stop,” he said in the strange language, before gesturing to the siren’s hand, still looking to grab at Virgil

“Stop,” he repeated

Green’s eyes were all on him as he stood, trying his hardest not to look scared.

It widened its eyes, and those sharp teeth were on display as it started to speak

“What?” It asked, and Logan repeated himself once again, crossing his arms.

—

Tag list: @a-chilly-pepper

[snuggles-and-struggles]

This crazy idea years ago (that actually sprouted from a sproutling of a different, similar idea lol) that came back to me unexpectedly a few months back and I forgor abt it entirely until right now so I'm writing it down n sharing it just bc <3

So - fantasy-ish ye olde kingdom-type setting. Swap makes up a very large, flourishing kingdom, lead by Gaster. His youngest, Stretch (would probably steal the nickname Soleil again), goes missing unexpectedly one day, with signs indicating something very large had been the culprit.

Dragons had been presumed extinct, or near to, for quite a while by this point, but after having the court mage examine the magic signature, they're quite certain it couldn't be anything else. Gaster does everything in his power to hunt the beast down and get his son back, if he’s even still alive, but as time drags out, that seems to be less and less likely.

He creates a team of some of his best to go and search farther than before, lead by one of his highest ranking, Alibi (or whatever his name would be in this sort of a setting). And so off they go.

They make several expeditions, returning empty handed of even any proof of a dragon each time, but during a trek through a ver dense forest just beyond the kingdoms territory, they come across a very strange traveller. A skeleton monster not all that dissimilar to Alibi.

He lives in the area and helps them navigate the forest for a little while, ultimately learning of their mission. A dragon? How peculiar. Are they certain? Yes quite. Ah well, good luck on your journey then.

Eventually the expeditions taper to an end, until Gaster dies and Blue takes his place as King. He wants to go out in search himself, but his advisors implore him not to, not wanting to leave the kingdom vulnerable for how long the journey he’s plotted out would be. It's been so long anyways, Blue knows most everyone believes his brother to be dead aside.

So. He sets a pricey reward for any hunters willing to go with his men to find and slay this wicked beast.

And they set out once more.

This time though, with Alibi's input on setting up the route, he'd suggested something that stranger from the forest he'd met all those years ago had told him about. It would be incredibly risky, but it's one of the last places they could even attempt to check.

It's a long journey, and the kings men don't get along very well with the rouges joining them, but they manage to get as far as a very uncharted forest surrounding a perilous, isolated mountain range jutting up from a very steep cliffside.

It wasn't easy and tempers are already a bit frayed, so when, much to everyone's great surprise, they spot a dragon, the hunters act without planning or permission, immediately firing on it.

From the second he could make out its form Alibi knew something was wrong. Yes, a dragon, but far too small– he can't stop the hunters before they act, rushing forward to try and stop them as the creature cries out in shock and pain, quickly making to escape. Of course, they pay no mind to him, going after the dragon. Alibi catches movement from the corner of his eye and calls for his men to get back!

Just in the nick of time, as a startling blaze of magic crashes down on the hunters, followed shortly by a much larger dragon landing and crushing any who may have possibly survived the first attack.

Alibi holds his hands up placatingly as the dragon eyes them, calling out that they mean no harm. The beast looks to where the child had been, keeping an eye on the rest of the group as it checks its young over. It then sends the child off, turning and simultaneously shapeshifting...

Into the stranger from the forest. All of his charm and friendliness is gone, banked anger flaring brightly in his eyes as he approaches asking what it is they're there for.

The others are stunned, but Alibi...had had an inclination.

He tells him the truth. The brother of the long missing prince is still searching for him. He glances at where the child had disappeared, and Edge's shoulders sink. After a long moment, he concedes, but only one may come with him. The rest must stay here. The other knights try to argue, but Alibi silences them. He agrees to the terms, sending the others back and going to follow Edge.

He blindfolds him and carries him there in his other form so Alibi cannot simply make his own return, and soon, after landing and removing the blindfold, Alibi finds them at a large door in the back of one of the taller mountains. It'd be nearly impossible to get to by foot anyway.

They head in and it's not long before the child appears, now looking more like a monster child. He’s startled by Alibi's presence, but is easily reassured by Edge. While Edge introduces them, another appears, one Alibi is very familiar with, having grown up childhood friends, and it was truly good to know that Stretch had been alive all this time.

Not just alive, but happy, Alibi quickly learns. Stretch had met Edge two years before he asked him to steal him away, and he'd been with him the entire time, of his own volition, very clearly in love.

They talk, and catch up, and eventually, Stretch agrees to write a letter to Blue. He never had with his father because he knew his father would never be open to understanding, and would do everything in his power to hunt Edge down until one or the other had died. But he trusts Blue. And he admittedly would like to see him again, perhaps. Alibi as well, and possibly other friends he misses.

Aaand that's basically the whole thing. Ultimately just leads to visits where Edge and Market stay in their "monster" disguises (thought Market really is half monster so it's probably easier for him lol) n it was just a silly little mostly fluffy story abt a dragon stealing a prince but bc they. Were actually in love da whole time <333

[shinyshade8026]

Hmm… ooohh maybe the rouywae might interest you Finn? It’s like a whale-fish-dragon thing!

A “rouy” (pronounced rue-uh) is a group of dragon species that are (usually) smaller than other kinds of dragons, and unlike other dragons, rouys are classified into subtypes based on what kind of elemental magic they can use! Normal dragons can’t use magic, and it is unknown how rouys came to be! There are many kinds of Rouys, but I think you might like hearing about the Rouywae!

By the way, rouy is short for roucryeten in the ancient language which translates to “small creature” and “wae” translates to “water” in the ancient language, so if you put those together you’d get rouwaecryeten or “small water creature” but it gets shortened to “rouywae”. (Bonus fun fact, unlike Satyr Speak, the “ancient language” doesn’t and most likely will not ever have a translation document as it is meant to be a dead language that can’t be fully translated, but it was a language once spoken by all creatures who inhabited Mirazia. It’s not known why or how the language died, but it did, and due to the lack of well preserved information on it, it’s near impossible to translate ancient texts.)

Anyways I’m way off topic onto the part of Rouywaes!

A rouywae is an elegant looking creature whose scales vary in color in the “cool” color range (such as blue.) There have only been 2 recorded cases where a rouywae had scales of a warm color (such as red), and in both of these cases, that rouywae lived alone and died at the juvenile stage as a result. You see, rouywaes are very social creatures, and they live in large familial groups! If a rouywae is left behind by their family, it is extremely likely that it will die within a few years of being abandoned, as rouywaes simply can’t survive alone. They need their families as they hunt in groups, and they take turns sleeping, one staying awake for a few hours while the others sleep, and then that one sleeps while another stays up to keep guard.

Sometimes a young rouywae (usually male) is brave enough to venture beyond and leave their family behind in search of a mate, but it’s a risky thing to do. Once they choose to leave their family behind it’s very rare for them to be welcomed back. So, basically, when a rouywae leaves their family to find and establish a family of their own, they put themselves at risk and possibly cut their lifespan by close to 90%. They can live hundreds of years if they find the right environment, but they can’t live alone.

Sure, Rouywaes are the largest kind of rouy in terms of size, but they’re no predator. They are docile herbivores, they don’t have sharp teeth that can deal heavy damage to an attacker, and their only defense mechanism is honestly their magic, which they often use to mess with the water currents. They have fragile fins and gills, and if either of those are damaged by a predator it’s very unlikely the rouywae will survive the attack, and even if it does, it will struggle for the rest of its life.

On to their appearance though! They are, again, the largest kind of rouy, being able to grow large enough to not fit in your average pond, and their scale colors usually range from blues to greens to purples! They have long fins, and their tails are very similar to that of a whale. It’s not uncommon for rouywaes to have bioluminescent spots scattered around on their bodies. They sound a lot like whales, but they have a distinct difference, which is that a rouywae’s voice is almost always deeper than that of a whale. Personality wise they are rarely ever aggressive, usually only ever becoming agitated when something threatens the life of a younger rouywae in their group. They are known to have lighter colored underbellies, and their eye colors usually range between cool colors. The bioluminescent spots on their bodies are usually a different color than their scales, and it’s believed that they slowly gain more of these spots as they age, as it’s been noted that younger rouywaes have a significantly smaller amount of them than their elders, with baby rouywaes usually having none at all. Because of this, the bioluminescent spots are sometimes used as a way of calculating approximately what stage of life they are at (baby, adult, juvenile, etc). Their scales have a magical ability that helps them camouflage in open water. When in open water, it is almost impossible to tell if there’s a rouywae under the surface if you’re not underwater. It’s believed to be a magic ability they have, but this camouflage ability can be seen through if the water’s surface is disturbed.

Gonna stop here but like let me know if you wanna hear more and I apologize for rambling a bunch I love rouywaes they are very silly and we don’t talk about them enough

-Luminescence

oh!! very cool!!!

[radioiaci]

▹@electriccapitalist | continued from x.

Doing his utmost to not appear as unsteady on his feet up on the catwalk as he felt, Alastor pays as little attention to the water below as he can. The depths still give him the heebie jeebies and he is not eager to find out how deep that tank truly is.

He settles next to Vox (though keeping all of his limbs to himself, lest he get any manner of wet or invite attention from the aquatic creatures that linger nearby) and offers the bag with a small nod.

"Just a few tidbits from here or there you may enjoy as snacks. Nothing extreme. But I suppose the doctor has my same concerns in mind. That you eat and rest as needed. Otherwise, this whole plan and whatnot will be rather fruitless."

That is not the only reason he says it. His concern goes deeper than that. For Vox's well-being, in general. Uncertain as to how risky this 'pregnancy' is, he is not willing to risk losing Vox for some yet-to-be-birthed creature.

"There are some sweet things in there. And savory. I'm not sure your preference."

Also in the bag are a few small pocket-sized books. Alastor does not know much about what Vox does to pass the time when he is not working - aside from, he supposes, feeding the sharks. He is throwing stuff at the proverbial wall to see what sticks. They are books part of his own collection - mysteries and thrillers from an older era, but nonetheless interesting.

In his opinion, anyway.

Also in the bag is a wrist-watch. Not technologically fancy - antiquated, but still rather illustrious looking with its blue and silver coloring; polished to near mint condition with finely crafted leather banding. Nonchalant about it as he glances off into another direction to avoid sensing any disappointment from the gift. Which makes little sense for a man who really 'has it all'. But it is an attempt made, anyway.

[nanojungle]

Fish Wishes!

(Images aren’t mine, snatched from google)

Ok so I’ve thought about this for awhile and I’ve seen a couple of these guys in fish stores and done the research to figure out what’s going to be happiest in my 15G nano tank.

Honey Gourami as the centrepiece fish

When I see these guys iRL, they’re always inquisitive, swimming right up to things and then giving them a little pat with their feelers. They’re cute and interesting to watch. Generally considered a peaceful community fish but Reddit has been full of stories of them bullying their own kind until they die :< As they’re happy solo, I think I can give them a stress free life being the centrepiece fish of the tank with a few easygoing nano fish friends.

Or Sparkling Gourami as the centrepiece?

I love the idea of Sparklers. I fell in love with the YouTube series from Foo the Flowerhorn where they set up a tank with sparklers and amanos. In reality I think it’s very risky for the amanos; I’ve had LFS guys and Reddit posts give me anecdotes about the sparklers eating shrimp or killing them off slowly by beating them into hiding. Let’s be honest, I do this hobby to relax. I’m not going to have violence in my tank! Such a shame as they’re so pretty. The image of these guys with their turquoise scales and a backdrop of a bunch of baby blue jelly shrimps would be soo cool but I know there would be suffering so it would never be worth it.

Nano fish

Celestial Pearl Danios

Excuse the shitty iPhone vid. Sometimes you just have to go to see some fish iRL to figure if you’re really going to love them.

I’ll tell you what, every time I see these guys in real life they make my heart flutter with how stinking cute they are. They have beautiful colours and are so small. The ones I’ve seen in store have been about 0.8” in length.

Chilli rasbora

These are another species that always catch my attention in person. Their little faces and big eyes are too cute to handle and their body shape looks like a miniature red shark. They’re also micro predators so they would have a great time gobbling up the creatures and loose eggs in the tank. Thankfully their mouths are too small to do any damage to shrimps!

Extras;

When I think of all the gross lil non-fish creatures I would enjoy in a tank, my mind always gravitates to cherry shrimp or amanos. With amanos I think i’d like the peace of mind to rely on these lil dudes to clean up the nastier hairier algae if it turns up.

However, a hoard of cherries swarming the tank and filling it with bright colours would also be so fun! Blue jellies are the cutest but bright orange ones look like you’ve got a tank full of pre cooked shrimp or living cheetos.

Anyways, that’s my fish wishes! Im not going to get every one of these fish, just a centrepiece fish, some skrimps if compatible and a small shoal of nano fish.

Next weekend I might go to the LFS and see what I can find, I’m so excited!

[incorrectshantaequotes]

SO! This is something a bit different! Reversal AU has been on my mind recently, and, well...I DO have something more substantial forming in my brain, but for now, I've been in a drawing mood recently, so...fanart!

I've avoided doing fanart for the Reversal AU because there are no official designs and I want people to make their own interpretations - and that still holds true - but no one's really done any fanart for this particular aspect of the Reversal AU so I don't mind that much

With that out of the way - what exactly am I doing fanart of? Well, the Chimera Pirates, of course! Or more specifically the flag and members that aren't R!Shantae/Captain Shantae

In canon, Risky doesn't really have a flag - closest we get is just a generic skull - because, well...it's just her. It's just her and the Tinkerbats, who don't particularly care about something like that, and Risky doesn't particularly care about that either. Captain Shantae on the other hand puts much more effort into her public persona so of course she'd have a flag. There are two versions of her logo - one that she'd fly above her ship, and one that's smaller that her crew would wear on their outfits. The idea for both is the same: a skull that's a mishmash of various different creatures, fitting the name of her crew

Speaking of! Did some sketches of what some of her crew would look like as well! More in the HGH style than my own art style, because I'll be completely real just referencing the sprites from the wiki was significantly easier than figuring out how to translate both of them into my own style (which already kinda needs to be altered for Shantae fanart to begin with because my natural style is not very conductive for drawing Shantae characters; normally I make the heads too small for the anime style to work), but nevertheless here they are!

Note: If you've been following this blog for a while and get the exact reason why I chose to draw a Harpy and Wetman specifically - and why the Harpy has a bomb and looks like a gremlin - you get cookies

Anyway, that's all for now! I also have a design for Abyssal Siren I want to post at some point but I'm going to finish the design for Prawn Siren first before I do that so I can post them together. Have a nice day!

[autumnhares]

I agreed to buddy read A Court of Mist and Fury with a friend. She really wanted to talk it over with someone.

I'll say that by the end of this book, I think I have a better grasp of what Romantasy is. Maybe. Hopefully.

The writing was much better, I'd say for the first two Acts at least. The third Act I'll get back to a little later.

I'd heard talk of what happened with Tamlin and Feyre, and it's always talked about how he was horrible and all that, and I'm not going it deny it, he did horrible things, but Feyre was written as just having given up. They didn't talk about anything, they just hid from each other. The difference in their journey is that Rhysand helps her, not him. He doesn't warn Tamlin about Ianthe, just let's her worm her way into his court and whisper in Feyre's ear. Anyway, that was just a small thing that struck me as unfair.

Tamlin's arc was overall weird, and hard to buy into. They just got rid of one sadistic asshole, why would he think that was the best thing to do for Feyre was to open the door for another?

The story about what happened to Rhysand and Tamlin's families was just wild. Why would High Lords engage in such risky behaviour? It just made no sense! And where was the Spring Court getting their information from about the movement of the lady and daughter of the Nightmare Court? How did they get into the Nightmare Courts lands undetected? How did Rhysand and his father find out what happened to the sister and mother? Why would the Spring Court go ahead with their plan when their target wasn't even there? Why did the Spring Lord and his sons do it and not expect retribution? How did the Nightmare Court find out who had done it? How did they get into the Spring Court undetected.

I mean seriously. The author has a conceit in this story that Azriel and his spies can't get into the Human Queen's castles. How am I supposed to buy that assassinating a High Lords and their families is easier than that?

Romantasy. So, the third Act is largely about Feyre and Rhysand accepting their matehood and banging it out. It's about in the spot of a book where the climax and resolution happen, so this is the whole point of the book.

After that is a quick interlude with the Hybern plot. Again, because of how impossible it was to get into the Queen's Palaces, it was obvious this whole thing was a trap because of how easy it was to get to the cauldron. The reveals of everything Tamlin had been doing, as well as the Queen's being bought and paid for were weird, as already mentioned, and this is also where First person really shows it's limitations.

I'm not a fan of first person. It's limiting to a story teller, especially when you have surprise reveals that the POV knows about. But mostly it struggled because of what was happening to characters that were not Feyre. All of a sudden it was like she was privy to the inner thoughts and feelings and intentions of everyone around her. It was jarring.

Lucien, neutered during this book, is mates with Elaine! There's something Feyre had to hold over him in the future.

Also, Nesta rocks, I don't care about the haters. I've always found it weird that people condemned her for not stopping Feyre from hunting. Nesta was only two years older (that poor mother), and Elaine being useless is never held against her. Would Feyre have stopped if Nesta told her to? I get the impression she wanted her father to wake up because of the danger the youngest was in. If you're going to hate on anyone for failing Feyre, hate on her father. What a useless creature.

[deeversuswords]

PAIRING — Pro Hero Bakugou Katsuki/Vigilante F!Reader RATING — Explicit CONTAINS — heavy angst, enemies to lovers (sort of), mutual pining, slow burn, eventual smut, moral ambiguity, cheating (not between katsuki/reader), unhealthy relationships, unhealthy coping mechanisms, grief/mourning, dark themes (past abuse, stalking, kidnapping, torture, quirk trafficking), violence, swearing, open but hopeful ending, dual pov (mostly reader), no use of y/n ◆ married bakugou katsuki—not to reader—and has a daughter too ◆ characters are in their late 20s SUMMARY — Running away would be the sensible thing to do. Getting as far away as possible from him, the one person who’s your ticket to losing your freedom. Not searching for him out of stupid curiosity and showing up at the last place you should: his house. They say curiosity killed the cat, but yours seems to always end up as the key unlocking doors that should probably stay locked. Because when you open the door to Bakugou Katsuki’s life, it’s not a loving marriage, not a happy family of three you find, but falsity, forced duty, and a dark secret that threatens his very own life. Bakugou Katsuki, the pro hero tasked with catching you and your downfall. And you, the vigilante exposing ugly truths for a living—his salvation.

➥AO3 LINK // ➥AO3 CHAPTER LINK // ➥TUMBLR CHAPTERS LIST

CHAPTER WARNINGS — accidental voyeurism, quirk trafficking, implied abuse

WORD COUNT — ~3.7k

a/n: i was a biiiit nervous about posting this one since...yeah, it's kind of a rollercoaster, but now I'm stupidly excited about posting the future ones. also, ooops...👀

“Laughable how the cameras are just for show,” Ayumu said in your earpiece as you stole a glance around the corner at Lakki Café’s side door.

“It’s strategic,” you replied quietly. “If shit goes down, they’ve got a built-in excuse. The dead angle cameras.”

“Good point, but,” his voice piped up, “doesn’t matter anyway. Your disguise is flawless.”

“Yeah? Tell that to my hairline. It’s dying.”

“Use weaker glue?”

“Oh sure, so my wig can take flight?”

Ayumu barked a laugh, and you winced as the sound hit your eardrum dead-on. You were this close to snapping about how he got to sit safe at home while you lurked like some mythical creature under a full moon, blending into the stinking shadows of the café’s side alley.

But you didn’t.

Because he wouldn’t hesitate to change that, and his safety mattered more than yours. Always.  

And because your nerves were buzzing, drunk on the thrill of danger.

“Going in.”

You made yourself small and prowled toward the door, pulling your mask higher as you sneaked past the dumpsters. The putrid stench of sun-rotted waste perfumed the air so delightfully that even your trained stomach shriveled and wished to abandon its post. As ridiculous as it was, the idea of plugged nostrils sounded like heaven. Maybe it was time to consider that for future endeavors.

Curling your fingers around the doorknob, you twisted and slowly pushed the door open.

According to the blueprints and Ayumu’s deep-dive investigation, the café had two elevators: one on the second floor, the other in the kitchen. After a long debate over the best approach, you both agreed the latter was the safer bet. Knocking out a staff member was less risky than a member of whatever was going on below the café.

You crept down the short hallway, skin clammy and bristling with goosebumps beneath your fitted clothes as a rush of cool air swept over the stretchy material. Praise the timing for this marvelous opportunity to play ninja thief in the night and sweat your ass off. Couldn’t Bakugou have waited until autumn to stomp into your life?

With the fashion designer had been easy. You frequented one of her many stores and bought several pieces from her most expensive collections, eventually scoring that VIP customer status. Which earned you an exclusive invitation to her latest fashion runway. All you had to do was dress up, disguise yourself, and attend. From there, it was a walk in the park except for the impulsive move at the end—snatching Bakugou’s drink right out of his hand and having to disappear fast after.

Worth it. His confused puppy expression kept you amused for days.

Clinking and bumping suddenly rocked the quiet behind the closed staff door, forcing you to stop. Your heart rate climbed as you listened. Heavy panting? Moaning?

“Couldn’t you wait until we got home?” a woman’s voice whined, one you recognized as the cashier’s.

“Not when you tease me like that.” Slap. “Shit. Feels even better when we risk getting caught.”

Your jaw dropped to the floor. The café was supposed to be empty. You’d lurked long enough before starting your mission to confirm that these two morons had left. So when the hell did they get back inside?  

Taking out your burner phone, you texted Ayumu.

You: Got me two fuckers fucking in the kitchen. The cashier and the chef.

Ayumu’s surprised voice came through the earpiece. “What? No way. Are you at the door right now? Listening?”

You: How else would I know? Door faces the elevator, right?

“Yeah, but shouldn’t you wait? You can’t sneak in with them there.”

Wait? You couldn’t wait. There was an invisible timer counting down to the end of this once-a-month chance.

Countless hours spent staring at a pinboard displaying every piece of information Ayumu had gathered confirmed the rumors: people were entering and leaving the café late at night. There was a pattern that initially raised your brows in skepticism—one of its elements being dynamic—but upon closer inspection, you saw how it fit. Which left you with an even worse feeling than before.

On the first night of a full moon, from midnight to twilight hours, whatever was below the café was active.

You: Fuck that. I’m ruining their session.

“Dare I ask?” Ayumu sounded intrigued.

You: Fear. Boner killer and pussy drier.

“Hate to break it to you, but they might be into that.”

You rolled your eyes.

You: Plan B then. KO both.

Phone pocketed and one deep breath later, still crouching, you quietly opened the door, making a repulsed face at the sight of a very naked, very straining ass diagonally from you. Good for them for fucking, but damn them for doing it here and getting in your way.

Luckily, the chef was into pounding it from behind, his hand pinning the cashier’s head to the metal counter. She couldn’t see a thing. As for him, the visual of his dick thrusting in and out spell bound him.

Perhaps knocking the fuck birds out wasn’t such a terrible idea. You’d be done with them and their risqué adventure, but you had no idea how long you’d be underground. Definitely longer than it’d take them to come to their senses.

No. You needed them gone. Out of here.

“Wish you’d waited it out. Now I’m an involuntary voyeur,” Ayumu complained in your ear as you crept behind the two, swiping a pot from the counter opposite them. One side of your mouth quirked up.

If you had to suffer through this, so did he. You were in this mess together. Ride-or-die.

Adrenaline pumped through your veins with every step toward the café’s customer area. You refused to look back, no interest in pairing the rising moans and guttural groans with more visuals. Watching strangers fuck wasn’t on your to-do list.

Ayumu’s voice crackled in your ear as you ducked around the corner. “Hear that? That’s the sound of a man not lasting much longer.” He snickered. “You’re about to deny him his nut.”

You bit your tongue, dangerously close to cracking a laugh. A little edging never killed anyone, and maybe the chef was into it. If not, your spontaneous generosity might just unlock a new kink. All in good faith for his risqué sex life.

Gripping the pot tightly, you aimed for the stack of bowls on the upper shelf, held your breath, and hurled it. The sharp, echoing crash made you wince, and the two fuck birds screamed like intruders in a haunted house at the first light flicker. They froze as the bowls rolled to a stop.

Then the chef groaned and resumed thrusting. “It’s nothing. Ignore it.”

Motherfu—

It’s nothing? Nothing?!

You spun around, searching for the next thing to throw. Tables, chairs, vases, candles, the lottery stand—but they were all too far. You needed something closer. Like the cash register, winking at you, begging to be part of your petty scheme. Perfect. Heavy enough to make a ruckus anyone would want to run from.

You hurried to it as the sex sounds ramped up, putting every ounce of strength into the shove. Down it tumbled, sounding like a train wrecking through the café. Its cables snagged on the counter’s decorations, dragging them down too in a crash of shattering glass as your legs bolted, instinct carrying you to the first hiding spot—under the staircase.

“Stop, stop, stop!” the cashier squeaked, panicking. “One time is a coincidence, but twice? Something’s wrong. Do you think someone is in here?”

“Impossible,” the chef huffed. “Place is locked down, you know that.”

Not the side door.

“Can you check?”

“In a minute. I’m not done with you.”

“Well, I am.” The way she said it, you could picture her crossing her arms and glaring at him.

Their back-and-forth lasted less than three minutes before the chef stomped into the customer area, sneering, “Leaving me with blue balls.”

Laughter threatened to break free, forcing you to press a clenched fist to your mask-covered mouth. From the shadows, you watched him assess the damage—hands on his head, face twisted in absolute bafflement. And maybe a little fear.

“We should go,” he directed to the cashier, his steps picking up pace as he returned to the kitchen.

Ayumu asked whether the mission was successful, but you held off answering until the staff door banged open and shut, the two fuck birds scrambling out.

“Good riddance.”

“If I didn’t know you, I’d say you’re jealous,” Ayumu teased.

“Jealous of what? It’s not like I can’t get laid if I want to,” you grumbled, striding toward the kitchen elevator.

“Last I checked—”

“Oh, shit. Losing signal. Beep beep. Talk after.”

You weren’t jealous. Not even a little. The only reason you couldn’t remember your last “sex date,” as Ayumu liked to call it, was because you’d been busy exposing Nakamura Yui, and orchestrating your next move in pissing off Bakugou.

Last time, back in April for his birthday, you sent a truckload of protein bars to his agency from the same brand he’d been spotted snacking on. Made sure the order was non-refundable, too. Ridiculously expensive, but the satisfaction you got watching him argue with the poor delivery guy—through binoculars, rooftops away—buttered your soul.

The cherry on top? You made it clear that if the recipient threw a fit, the driver could ditch the truck and walk away. Let Bakugou deal with it. The fallout was paid for.

That alone gave you a hit of endorphins, but maybe it wasn’t enough. Maybe your body acted so stupid around Bakugou because it craved an overdose.

Wrinkling your nose, you jabbed the only button in the elevator and tucked your earpiece into the inner pocket of your sports bra. Instead of focusing on the unknown below, your mind wandered to the man who, somehow, occupied way too much space between your mental walls.

When the elevator stopped two floors down, its lights went dark. Then the doors slid open to reveal a narrow, red-lit hallway. The floor gleamed black, matching the empty, dark-hued walls. At the far end, a pair of double doors waited, making every muscle in your body tighten.

Cautiously, you crossed the distance. Leaned in. Listened.

Faint, jazzy music caressed your ears like an obscure invitation, guiding your gloved hand to the knob to crack the door open. The sensual notes swelled to full volume as the air drifting through the sliver between the curtains that obscured your view stole your breath. It reeked of something sweet, slipping into your lungs before you knew what hit you.

Pleasant warmth bloomed under your sweaty skin, goosebumps rising in its wake.

Your fingers found your throat as your breath quickened, folding over the healing bruise. You were suddenly feeling feverish, thoughts stumbling into dangerous territory. His hand on your neck hurt then, but if he were to pin you down now, to whatever surface he wanted, you’d beg him—

You gasped and jerked back, blinking perplexed at where your mind had gone. Another inhale brought a clearer hit of the sweetness and the floral note underlying it. You swallowed hard, aware now of the wetness between your thighs.

An aphrodisiac, huh. Subtle, but so potent.

Why?

For what?

Curiosity pushed you through the curtains into the unexpected—a medium-sized balcony. By the railing, a round table flanked by two armchairs overlooked the floor below. A few steps away, a closed door. You kept an eye on it as you moved to the edge.

“What the fuck?” you breathed, eyes widening as you crouched down, sticking to the shadow.

Long couches arranged in two rows faced a rectangular stage, currently empty. Some guests lounged on the cushioned seats, chatting, while others mingled at the bar, trading clinks of glass and intimate touches. The red light washed everything out, making it impossible even for you to pick out faces. Just silhouettes. Dark shapes slithering through the shadows. But you recognized the body language oozing arrogance.

These were people with money. Maybe influence, too.

You propped an elbow on your knee and rested your cheek against your fist, watching whatever the hell this was with genuine interest.

Your gaze shifted to the stage. The same heavy curtains you passed through cloaked the back wall, but your gut said no actors were waiting behind them to deliver a dazzling performance.

The jazzy notes climbed into a keening crescendo, chasing the saxophone into madness. Harsh light burst from above, crashing onto the empty stage in a single, blinding spotlight. The curtains flapped apart, and through them strode a woman.

Average height. Wrinkled. Dressed in a cherry red gown with a plunging neckline that flaunted her sagging breasts and a high slit that teased a slim, veined leg. Her graying brown hair was piled into a sophisticated updo atop her head.

What were the chances this was the Madam you’d heard of?

The music cut out as she reached the edge of the podium, replaced a beat later by a round of deafening applause.

“Greetings, everyone,” she said, her voice commanding yet melodious, quickening your pulse. “Have you enjoyed today’s party?”

A wave of enthusiastic yes echoed from the crowd.

She placed a hand over her heart. “My pleasure. As always.” A slight pause. “Before we move on to the main course, and the reason we’re here, I’d like to personally greet our new members.” Her gaze shifted to the three figures huddled together in the front row. “Welcome. And congratulations on being selected. I’m Madam Luck, your host.”

You squinted at the potential enemy. Now that you had a name and a face to pair, all you felt was… disappointment. But villainy wasn’t age-exclusive, you supposed. If that were the case here.

“Tonight is special. My boy decided to join us.” She gestured toward the side of the stage.

A tall man hopped onto the platform, dragging a wooden chair behind him. The screech of its legs scraped at your brain, more irritating than the persistent ache between your thighs. His strides were lazy, self-assured, steeped in the kind of arrogance you’d seen in Bakugou.

But where Bakugou charged the air with presence, this man stirred something darker. The atmosphere condensed, like he was sucking the life out of it, putting you on edge, one foot angled toward the way you came.

Weird.

Flight hadn’t been your first instinct in a long time.

“Takumi, would you be a dear and entertain our guests for a moment?” Madam asked.

The man—Takumi—dropped into the chair, forearms resting on his spread knees, hands dangling. His violet eyes swept the crowd with a bored gaze before he smirked, like he already knew their every dirty little secret. Light seemed to steer clear of his eyes, escaping into the glossy strands of his messy black hair.

Your gaze trailed over his fit body, and you hated the forbidden shiver skating down your spine, blaming the aphrodisiac.

He had tattoos, too, on his left arm. Crimson red threads started at the wrist and wound around words? Numbers? You couldn’t tell, only that they were spaced evenly along the exposed skin. The ink vanished beneath his rolled sleeve, reappearing between the undone buttons of his dress shirt, ending in a knotted infinity symbol over his heart.

The longer you stared, the harder it became to silence the intrusive thoughts.

He was painfully handsome. A devil’s kind of beauty—luring, mesmerizing, ensnaring. Flawless for trickery. An ace up the sleeve.

“You’re lucky I promised to behave,” Takumi responded, the timbre of his voice like mist descending in late autumn.

Violet gaze glided upward to the balcony, connected with yours for a beat, then dropped to the crowd. Your body went rigid, heart punching hard against your ribs as if it wanted to break free. Much like your instinct. But you needed answers, so even if this was hell itself, you’d just burrow your roots deeper into the boiling soil and stay.

Never run. Always fight.

“You don’t mind if I present it, Madam?” he asked, rising to his full height, hands in his pockets.

“Of course not.” She offered him a strained smile. “All of it, Takumi?”

“No. I wouldn’t dare steal Miyuki’s job.” His mouth curved up in a heart-stopping smile. “Let’s begin the auction.”

* You could barely breathe when the air forcing its way into your lungs felt like toxic fumes. You hadn’t looked back once since you left that cursed place, sprinting away as if that would erase what you’d witnessed. You ran until you were sure Lakki Café disappeared from view. Only then did you stop, hunched over and hands on your shaky knees, heaving and wheezing.

Sweat dripped from your chin onto the pavement, expanding into random shapes within your shadow. Bile scorched your throat as your stomach revolted against the abhorrence pooling within its walls. You might throw up, but maybe that wouldn’t be too bad. The pesky aphrodisiac was still in your system.

Blood roared in your ears, making everything feel ten times hotter, suffocating, filthy.

Filth…it clung to your sticky skin like a disappointment. It was making you itch, making you crave to scrub yourself raw. But that wouldn’t help the frustrating anger sapping your hope in the good, in the fair. It was already too late. Your senses had recorded. Your brain had processed.

You blew out a curse and yanked off your tight top, letting it dangle from trembling fingers as you trudged forward on jittery legs.

Let’s begin the auction.

You sped up when the night’s draft sighed those four words in your ear. Words that breathed life into nightmares. Nightmares that weren’t even yours, but you were forced to participate in. Forced to play the bystander. Forced to watch the depravity unfold into a macabre show, powerless to stop it right then and there. To impulsively act was to condemn.

People could be unfathomably terrible, but these were worse. A different breed of perversion you hadn’t believed possible. Their lack of remorse as they gleefully bid exorbitant amounts on the auctioned left you stunned to your core. Paralyzed.

“Home, then think,” you told yourself, shaking your head to will the thoughts away when the low rumble of an engine broke the eerie silence.

A black car whizzed past. In that split second, the driver’s mint-green hair registered, stopping you mid-step.

You tracked the vehicle as it screeched to a halt at the end of the street, tires wailing as loud as the anger-turned-hate tearing through your insides.

The door flew open. Miyuki climbed out, tugging at the hem of her strapless black dress as a tall figure appeared from around the corner.

You staggered back.

Bakugou, fully geared in his hero suit, stood there nonchalantly as Miyuki sauntered up to him. Her hands pressed to his chest, gliding upward to interlock behind his neck, while his gloved fingers clasped over her wrists. He said something you couldn’t hear or read on his lips, before his expression unmistakably softened.

Denial rampaged inside you as your feet shuffled backward. He looked at her like she’d done no wrong.

No.

She rose onto the soles of her shoes and pulled him close.

No.

The shirt you’d been clutching slipped from your fingers to the ground.

No.

Then she kissed him, and your hand flew to your chest, hitting against it because when he kissed her back, your heart ruptured in pain when it shouldn’t have. You’d seen this scene play out before, but every time, he ended it quickly, with a scowl.

What changed?

Why was it lasting?

And why the fuck were you getting twisted over it?

Seeing him up close, absorbing the details that made him him like plants starved for sunlight, hearing the textured nuances of his voice, feeling the warmth—the life—coursing hot through his veins in his rough touch…it must’ve gotten to your head. Your soft spot for him must’ve gotten drunk on his presence, must’ve become delirious with a secret wish, hidden even from yourself, for a reality that didn’t and wouldn’t exist.

Poetic irony for that clarity to slap you across the face as you watched them, while the healing handprint on your throat scorched a mark into your soul. His mark.

You wanted to tear it off. Pierce your flesh with your nails and rip that fucking bruise off like a band-aid.

She was his wife, not the cheating bitch who repulsed him. Not the one who hit him. Not the woman he seemed hellbent on finding a way to divorce without losing his daughter.

He loved her, didn’t he?

He’d stand by her, through thick and thin, sickness and health—whatever the hell their vows were—right? He’d protect her against everything? Against everyone? Against…you?

Because you were coming for her, and you weren’t out for truth and justice, but for a little bit of blood, too.

Your next exhale was long, controlled, but the rest of your body betrayed you. Tears welled up, vision blurred, as fury and heartache strained every inch of you.

Detached, you watched Miyuki molding her curves to her husband’s with the same shameless ease she’d displayed onstage before the covered glass tanks.

One by one, she’d removed the draped cloth, revealing—

…

—people.

People in ragged clothes, with bruises in varying stages of healing, and glazed eyes that told a story where death would be a mercy, not a sentence.

Her face had been void of remorse as her voice carried the clinical details of each person’s Quirk. Only the Quirk. No names. No identities. They didn’t exist beyond that.

The auction was all about Quirks and the guests debating which ones were worth bidding on.

Useful? Fought over.

Useless? Swallowed by the curtains.

You wiped the wetness off your flushed cheeks as their kiss ended.

Bakugou straightened, something strange flickering across his face before he shoved back from Miyuki, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe what just happened, as if he was caught in something, now snapping out of it. It didn’t last long. Maybe your wrath was potent enough to rattle his senses, or maybe something entirely different, because those confused eyes of his snapped up and locked on yours.

Recognizing.

You tilted your head, sending him a smile that promised ruin, which he received loud and clear. Clumsily, he tried to sidestep his one-of-a-kind precious wife, seemingly attempting to come to you, only for her to stop him.

That was the last thing you saw before you turned your back and walked away, leaving behind your shirt and one contradictory thought.

For both our sakes, don’t be guilty.

taglist: @lunaryasha | @tomiokasecretlover