#and that body is supposed to be endlessly doing things for others and it isn't allowed to have emotions or need breaks

[wilchur]

Isn't it a bit odd that Gortash is the only one who had no idea where tf Durge disappeared off to? Between him having to be there during the raid to crown the brain with Durge and Ketheric, and Orin showing up right after all like "I'm the Chosen of Bhaal now :)" I find it hard to believe that he not only didn't realise something must've happened to Durge down there, but that he also did not investigate their disappearance at all? It literally takes like 10 minutes to go through the whole thing and Orin did not hide their "body" at all. And yeah "we promised to not meddle in each other's affairs" blah blah, but he spent A Lot of time in the colony after the raid playing with his pickled brain jars so is it really meddling if Durge was literally a 3 minute walk away, being opened and closed like a reusable Ikea ziplock bag over and over again?

So my headcanon is that he had no idea when exactly the attack happened because Orin took Durge's form right after the deed was done and kept the disguise on for as long as she could. By the time Gortash (running on 2h of sleep a day and sheer force of will, making sure everything Goes According To Plan) finally figured out what was going on, it's been too long to pinpoint the exact moment "Durge" began to act off and know where to look for their body at the very least. Plus it's not like he could put the entire scheme on pause just to go chasing ghosts, Durge would not want him to.

And I think it fucked him up a bit, that he took too long to notice and lost his chance at maybe preventing the entire thing from unraveling. I think that "we promised to not meddle in each other's affairs" is either a lie or him trying convince himself he couldn't have done anything anyways.

Now imagine a Durge that is not an idiot, that dug through every nook and cranny of Moonrise and the colony in search of answers and knows a lot more than Gortash assumes they do since they're supposed to be a full on amnesiac. A Durge that talked to the elderbrain, that read the prayer of forgiveness and recognised their own handwriting, and that learned from Balthazar's notes right next to it that this Enver Gortash they so admired spent considerable time there while they were being tortured endlessly just on the other side of the fleshy corridor.

Imagine that instead of "Orin betrayed me, and you did nothing to help me then." they would say something more along the lines of "You call me your nearest and dearest, your favourite, but I know you were right there when Baltahzar's necromancer played with me like a doll for weeks and did nothing to help me." and just watch this man disintegrate from the psychic damage in real time.

[kangaracha]

QUEENMAKER | CHAPTER 22

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pairing chan x reader

genre ninth member au, angst, fluff, coming of age, social media, cancel culture, anxiety, depression, forbidden love,

summary To JYPE, the solution is simple; take the sole trainee that will not debut with your brand new girl group, and use her to replace the missing vocalist in your male group that insisted on starting as nine.

Unfortunately, to the fans and the members themselves, it isn't that simple.

status ongoing

taglist OPEN

a/n this thing is a MONSTER and it's all for you. feast. eat pray love. leave me a nice comment. love u all.

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The moment you step off the stage, your breath still lost from the energy and flying notes of Hellevator, you are surrounded by bodies, squeezing you even tighter than the fear that you'd held in your chest when you'd first stepped up into the flashing lights.

They accost you right there in the dark underside of the stage, steps away from the eyes of the crowd that had only moments ago born down upon you. You feel lightheaded under their grasp, your knees buckling underneath you as the rush of the stage catches up to you; the struggle of your lungs to draw breath, the relief of having made it to the end, the feeling of having done it, stood there and looked at that crowd and realised the dream that had clutched at you since you were far younger and more naive. 

It bubbles up from inside you - first, a gasp of breath, searching for air in the suffocation of eight boys howling around you, and then, inexplicably, a laugh, light and hoarse and rasping at your throat as it struggles to the surface. "Okay, okay, wait," Chan says somewhere to your right, pushing Changbin away before he really can squeeze the life out of you and then the others, one by one. "She can't breathe. Let her - breathe-"

Slowly, the group breaks apart, filtering down the hall and back towards the waiting room. Felix is the one that drags you along first, an arm thrown around your neck before anyone else can and a giddy smile plastered across his face. You feel like you should be wearing one too, with the way your head spins and your chest aches with an emotion you can't quite describe, but you find yourself echoing the softer smile that Chan offers as he falls in step behind you, something unspeakable echoing in his eyes.

You can't make out a single word any of them say as you come into the room, standing there bereft in the centre of the whirlwind as they move around you, splaying out across the couches in the corner or removing a part of their outfit that is too uncomfortable to keep wearing. You're not sure what you want to do; the room buzzes with activity, not only from the members, but the staff as well, shifting back and forth as they push chairs together and set up a camera for the livestream that is to follow. The rings on your fingers twist endlessly as you consider your options, turning around and around with the memories of that stage and those songs, these boys in sync around you-

Your eyes fall on I.N, sitting dejectedly on one of the sofas arranged for the livestream with a look on his face that says he is very much not ready for the camera to be turned on at all. You know why without having to go over and ask. You'd seen it out of the corner of your eye during God's Menu, on your way to the front of the formation; his foot slipping out from underneath him as he crouched and the ungraceful sprawl that had followed. You hadn't had time to see what had happened next, if he'd been late standing back up or if he'd kicked anyone else on the way down, but whatever it was had clearly upset him, if he is hiding in a corner now.

He's not alone, at least; Chan is slumped next to him, one hand patting his knee absent-mindedly. The slaps become harder as you approach, trying to goad the younger boy into moving. You suppose it has the desired effect when his hand reaches out to slap Chan's away, his leg never moving.

"Y/N," Chan says as you approach, relief clear in his voice. "Come here. Tell him he hasn't ruined your whole career."

"Why would he have ruined my career?" you ask, sitting tentatively at the edge of the couch. 

"It was so obvious that I fell over," I.N answers dejectedly, his eyes fixed on the floor. "It was your first part in your first stage, and everyone would have just seen me messing it up."

A smile curves at your lips despite yourself, your hands itching to reach out and shake this nonsense from him. "I don't care if anyone was looking at me," you tell him. "Maybe you helped me out. And the other three songs were fine, weren't they?"

"Exactly," Chan agrees. "No one got hurt and everyone enjoyed the stage, that's all that matters."

"I just hate that I messed it up," I.N says, and his eyes turn to you. "You were so nervous, and we wanted it to be perfect, and-"

"Hey, I didn't see a thing." Your hands come up as if confessing, your head shaking. "As far as I knew, everything was perfect."

It's a small lie, omitting what you had clearly seen from the corner of your eye, but he doesn't need to know that, not when he looks at you with such lamb-soft eyes and asks, "Really?" and you are able to nod and pat him on the shoulder and then reach out and envelop him in a hug, the way you imagine you would for any little brother you might have been lucky enough to be blessed with (but these little brothers, you think, might just be the biggest blessing there is to gain, so much so that even now you don't feel worthy of it).

Above his head, your eyes lock with Chan's, sharing a look; there is gratitude in his eyes, and that open warmth that he extends to everyone he meets, and something else that you can't quite pinpoint, an unreadable emotion that flickers across his face and twists in the corner of his mouth, swallowed down before it can give itself a voice.

"What are you looking at?" Chan asks as the clock ticks past midnight, leaning back in his chair to try to peek at your phone screen.

You blink at him in surprise, unprepared for the sudden departure from the conversation you'd been having about whatever happened to come to mind. You'd thought neither of you were really paying attention to the words that were passing between you since Changbin had left the room several minutes ago; Chan's eyes were glued to his laptop and yours to your phone, casually scrolling as you waited for your mind to wind down enough to sleep.

You're reticent to show him what you're scrolling through though, because you know what he'll think, how he'll worry about it. They all do, on the odd occasion they catch you, and maybe they have a point - when you sit here and acknowledge the dissatisfaction that is slowly putting down roots in your chest now that the performance is over and done and you've had time to read what they think and compare it to your memory. You'd been happy with your efforts earlier in the day, but at this hour now, watching it back and seeing the cracks-

"Is that twitter?" he asks, and if he leans even further to be able to see, you don't call him out on it, just sigh and turn your phone so that he can see, accepting your fate. It's too late in the night for lying, and you probably need to hear something nice about yourself just once in this hour, if you're being truthful. 

His face furrows as he reads what's on your screen, his hands reaching out to take the phone from your hands. His frown only gets deeper the further he scrolls; it's a darker expression than you'd thought, something closer to fury than you'd thought he was capable of.

"I just wanted to see what they thought of the performance," you say, as if that's any excuse when you'd already had a feeling about what you'd find. 

"You could have just asked me if it was good," Chan replies. "Or Lee Know. We're not going to lie to you." You can still see that anger in his face when he looks up, but it isn't directed at you - instead, it softens when your eyes meet, replaced by the concern you knew was coming instead.

You shrug. "I wanted a wide range of opinions," you say, as if that makes the vitriol you've handed him any better.

"This isn't a wide range of opinions," he says. "This is-"

"What is it?" you ask when he pauses mid sentence, craning your neck to see what he's seeing. 

He clicks out of it before you can read anything, navigating smoothly back to the endless stream of tweets you'd been looking at before. "Nothing," he claims, and affixes a brightness to his face that tries its best to mask the disgust that struggles to surface. "I can't believe you don't trust us. What are we even here for?"

"I trust you," you say. "I just wanted to see what everyone else said."

"No you don't," he insists, his voice lifting higher and higher as if he's going to laugh. "You didn't even back me up when I told you Changbin's lyrics needed work."

You know the humour is only surface-deep when his eyes flick back to the phone screen, but it gets to you anyway, lifting at the corners of your mouth and easing the weight in your chest. He's hard to resist like that sometimes, even when you know exactly what he is doing and why he is doing it. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You didn't think I was telling the truth then," he claims, "and you won't think I'm telling the truth now if I tell you the performance was amazing."

"You haven't even tried," you poke back, crossing your arms indignantly. "You just made up all these lies about me for yourself and said nothing."

"Oh, you want my compliments now?"

"No, I'm not that desperate."

"Lying again, it's such a bad look."

"What was that?" you ask as your phone beeps in his hand, a message popping up in the notification bar. Chan clicks it for you dutifully, pulling up your private thread with Changbin - a moment passes while you read, and then you cough out a laugh.

"Wasn't he going to sleep?" you ask, shaking your head at the message. 

"It has been a whole three hours since he last ate," Chan answers, and then pauses as he looks at the screen again, his eyes narrowing. "Why are all your contacts blank?"

"What?" you say, and then you see that he has bumped back to your message list; a long line of grey bubbles, broken up only by the colourful pictures that they have set for each other in the group chats. "I don't know."

"I wasn't reading your messages," he adds before you can answer, handing the phone back to you. "I just noticed you had nothing set for Changbin. He's like, the easiest one to get a photo of."

"I don't have any photos of any of you," you point out. "What am I supposed to do, google for photos of you?"

"Just take photos of us?" Chan suggests in answer, and then he sees what your fingers are already up to on your phone screen. "Hey, no, hold on - hey, don't do that-"

"One of these?" you ask and hold the phone up so that he can see, an impish smile on your face.

"No, no, no, no, no," he replies, his ears turning red. "No, put that away. Oh my god."

"What about this?"

"Give me that," he says, snatching at your phone. It takes him three tries to get it - you screech as he leans forward, trapping you between your chair and the table as he grabs at your wrist and then your fingers, the offending photo sliding away on the screen. His breath is hot on your neck when he laughs, his nails gentle where they bite into the skin of your thumb, prying the phone from your grip. 

You give it up without fighting; your fun has been had, after all, and his face is flushed red, the laugh that bubbles up from his chest more genuine than the light fun he had been poking earlier. You've even nearly forgotten about the tweets you'd been reading, the black mark they've left inside your chest covered up by your shirt and the silly giggle that spills out of your mouth, unable to be swallowed.

"Here," he says and lifts your phone, posing so subtly for the camera that you're not even sure he knows he's doing it. "Now you have one out of eight." It only takes him a few taps to set the photo, as if it really was as easy as ten seconds of work that you'd been neglecting, and then turns the phone to show you.

"Do you want me to send you photos of the others, or are you going to do it yourself?" he asks.

"No, I'm going to ask Minho for all of his weird photos," you answer. 

He laughs despite himself, the giggle high and breathy. "The ones in the group chat aren't enough for you?"

"No," you say. "No, I'm starting to think I need blackmail material."

Chan lets his face fall in slow motion, from humour to despair. "I used to think you were on my side," he laments to the room at large, as dramatic as any actor you've seen, "but you have the worst friends."

"That you introduced me to."

The grin that spreads slowly across his face and the wicked glint that flashes in his eye send apprehension shivering down your spine. "Actually," he says, "Felix introduced you. And you called him sunbaenim."

You freeze, deer in the headlights as your cheeks turn red, and he bursts out laughing, unable to help himself anymore. "Okay," you say, defeated, and sink back into your chair as if it might swallow you, pointing at his computer. "Please go back to your music stuff before I leave."

"Okay then," he says, leaning forward, and then looks at you again. "Hubaenim."

You bury your head in your hands and groan.

TAGLIST

@kokinu09 @rainfallingfromthesky @lixie-phoria @mysweethannie @chlodavids

@hanniemylovelyquokka @tfshouldidohere @lauraliisa @puppysmileseungmin @kalopsian-thoughts

@puppy-minnie @readerofallthingss @dvbkie099 @kthstrawberryshortcake-main @acker-night

@d-chagi @lynlyndoll @borahae-reads @ihrtlix @yienmarkk

@minhwa @i2innie @jinnie-ret @conwunder @amesification

@starssongs98 @weirdhumanbeinglol @morinuu @the-weird-mold-in-the-sink @bokkiesplace

@amyyscorner @jiisungllvr @skzstaykatsy @blackhairandbangs @jungkookies1002

@hyuuukais @imsiriuslyreal @thatonedemigodfromseoul @gini143 @mercurywritesstuff

@splat00z @filmbypsh @palindrome969 @crabrangoongirl25 @enzos-shit

@jabmastersupriseee @kayleefriedchicken @hynjinswrld @duhgurl @cheshireshiya

@keepswingin

[cinnamonest]

I've been thinking more about promiscuous darlings which led me to the idea of prostitute!darling, and I was thinking about that like in that event a while back where Paimon says Kaveh seems like “the kind of guy that would be easy to take advantage of” and it got me thinking how quickly and readily he would fall in love with a prostitute… literally lured and baited as easily as a fish to a hook.

He doesn't like the thought of what he's doing, initially. He's never been the sort of person who associates with morally questionable things — he’s heard that a lot of those girls don't really want to be doing it, they just need money, so participating would be taking advantage of them, wouldn't it? He couldn't do something so awful.

But he's got a lot of pent up frustration. His work is hard, he's not in a good place financially, he's stressed, pent up, and has no outlet for release. And even if he strives to be a good person, he's still a guy, still has urges that, when gone unmet, only contribute to that frustration.

In hindsight, he feels like something possessed him. Couldn't say exactly what caused him to take a course of action so far removed from what he would have thought was his personal character.

It's just a particularly bad day, after particularly disagreeable clients spent a particularly long time endlessly getting in his face and complaining and snapping at him, he worked particularly late and is particularly frustrated and seething and wallowing as he sulks home so late at night, and he's particularly irritated because some construction going on forces him to take a different route home, and—

You just so happen to call out to him. And when he turns his head, he immediately stiffens up.

So pretty. You have that specific body type he’s always found most alluring, always pictured in his head when he would lay in bed and jerk off all day after classes. And he can certainly tell, because those outfits you girls on this part of the street wear certainly leave very little to the imagination. So much skin, he can see your entire leg, from the hip down to the ankles and all the curving along the way, he can see most of your tits too, cleavage spilling out from the top. It's immediately captivating. If he was thinking straight, he would suppose that's kind of the point, but he's too lost in the sudden burst of stimulation to his eyes to think about much at all.

You have such a nice smile, such a sweet voice. And now that you have his attention, you put on that whimsical feminine charm, shift your weight from one foot to the other, hips swaying all playfully, and he has to ask you to repeat what you said because he didn't hear you the first time, he was too distracted, and it feels so embarrassing to say that, but you just giggle — it's so cute — and repeat your question — if he wants to come inside.

He swallows, stumbles over his words at the prospect, you're being very forward — oh, wait, you probably mean come inside the building. Oh… that makes more sense, at this stage in the process. Whoops…

But that isn't much better. He's still red in the face and hesitates, all uh, ah, I, um, I just…

Yes, he isn't sure exactly what possesses him. It’s not something he would ever do on his own, surely. It feels more like the word comes out of his mouth on its own.

Sure.

The following events seem almost surreal, in hindsight. He can't remember what you even talked about, some empty meaningless conversation about what he does for a living or if he's been around this area before, some placeholder of a conversation that he knows full well is merely a courtesy to make it all feel a little more natural, empty words that are mutually understood to be just a buffer to prevent awkwardness as you walk up the stairs, to fill the short span of time before you get to the point.

He remembers said point a lot better. Long after it's over, he can remember the feeling of your mouth on his, and the way you pulled on the back of his neck to pull him on top of you, the rush of euphoric chemicals to the brain the moment you pulled just one little button undone and the whole thing you're wearing comes falling off, the visual of your body (he’s never actually seen a girl naked in real life before, it’s so captivating, the anatomy textbooks don’t do it justice), and the way your tits bounce with the movements and the way they feel in his mouth and the image of his cock driving into you over and over (no one ever told him it feels so warm and wet, so good, has he really been missing out on this all this time?) and the sounds you made are practically permanently burned into his brain.

So much so, he keeps thinking about it for days on end. He felt kind of sad when he left, but he knows that he only paid for a limited time slot, so it would be unfair to ask to stay any longer, but the way you smiled and waved and told him you hoped to see him again — still naked, body pressed up against the doorframe, the way your chest shifted when you waved — made him feel so warm, made his heart beat fast all over again.

It's all so distracting. He works at a much slower pace than usual, the following days, keeps getting distracted by the lingering visuals in his head and the way he keeps getting hard whenever he thinks about it, and not to mention the guilt.

Yes, as euphoric as it was, he feels terrible. Like he's done something wrong. Swears to himself that he'll forget about it and never do it again, that it was a one-time thing.

But he begins to rationalize it to himself.

Sure, you do it because you need money, but that means that if no one participated in the exchange, then you wouldn't make any money at all, and that would be worse, right? Besides, everyone knows some of those guys that engage in this sort of thing are terrible, mean people — but he's not, he's a really nice guy! So by seeing you, by being the one to buy your time, he's protecting you from potentially having to do it with really bad men. So, when you think about it, he's actually doing something really good.

And it improves his life, too. The next day, he finds that the nagging clients don't really get under his skin at all. Sure, they're complaining and being mean to him, but he's not really paying attention, it all feels far away, like it's not even real. He just feels full of this warm, fuzzy feeling, total bliss, like floating, without a care in the world. He isn't stressed, isn't worried. He even thinks to himself that, you know what, that task or that work can wait until tomorrow, no rush, and if someone gets mad about it, too bad.

He ends up just laying in bed, grinning like an idiot, basking in the euphoric high that lasts him several days on end.

…Except then, it fades away.

Soon he's back to the stress, constant state of being overwhelmed, the little things start to upset him again, and he actually feels more miserable than he did before, now that he has such a good feeling to compare to.

You said you hope he comes back, didn’t you? And he’s pretty sure he stuttered out an o-oh, okay, so now he’s obligated.

Thus, soon enough, he's back.

It's not like he's intentionally seeking you out. He just felt like walking home a different way today, is all, which just so happens to be the route that took him by you last time, and he has no intention of seeing you, it just so happens to be the case that you are standing around outside and you do happen to see him and you choose to call out to him (by his name!! You remember him!!), you're smiling and have such a sweet voice, you clearly want him to come in (do you like him? You wouldn't be smiling if you didn't, right?) and it would be mean of him to reject you, wouldn't it?

Yes, you're clearly happy. You smile all over again. He's not doing anything wrong, it's only wrong if the girl doesn't like doing it. He would never taken advantage of one of those vulnerable girls that's forcing herself to do it for money. But you're not like that, so it's okay.

Which is how he ends up back there a third time. Because it's okay, and it makes you happy, and it makes him very happy, so it's all okay.

And besides, what you two have is different. It's not like the normal cases, where the girl is just in it for money and doesn't want the guy at all. You clearly enjoyed your time with him. Probably a welcome relief from all the gross old guys you have to see.

And it's different because it's not just sex. Normally, with this sort of thing, it's cold and impersonal, isn't it?

But you smile so sweet and run your fingers through his hair, and cradle his head in your arms and pull him close and coo and fuss and run your fingers down his back. And since he intends to pay for the entire night this time, you get to just lay there together, and you're so warm and soft and you smile and giggle as he talks, so pretty, so nice to him, your skin is so good to touch, you smell so nice.

And the sex itself is different too — you like it, genuinely, he can tell, you make such nice sounds and lewd faces and look directly into his eyes and pull his head forward to kiss him (he one heard someone say that prostitutes never kiss clients, so if you do that it must mean he's different), and you hold him so close and tighten up around him and it feels so so so so good, and the way you quiver and the sounds get louder and you squeal and spasm and it's so so SO good, too good, it feels so passionate that it has to be real.

Yes, it is real. It's not just acting. He can feel the slick wetness all over his hips from you, that means it's real. And you don't even mind when he gets a bit lost in the feeling, starts to really let all the pent-up irritation out, gets rougher and harder and holds you by your throat. He feels so terrible after he cums and realizes what he was doing, keeps sputtering out apologies over and over, but you smile and wave your hand and say it's more than fine, giggle and kiss his forehead, say you wouldn't expect it from such a sweet boy like him, but you like it. If you're fine with it, if you like it, then you're not scared he might actually hurt you. You must really trust him, then.

The downside is that now, work feels so miserable. He keeps thinking about how much he wants to go back to you. Each project feels like torture — why is he here, negotiating with these disagreeable people, slaving away all night, when he could be balls deep in you again, hear your voice, feel your touch?

And he starts to get so irritated and frustrated again, and he finds that this time around, he doesn't have to sit there and let the frustration hit a peak before deciding to do something, he doesn't have to rationalize it for hours on end just to allow himself to give into the urge — the moment the frustration rises, his mind immediately settled on the decision. He has to go see you. You'll make everything better.

Except now, he realizes as he reaches into his drawers, there's a different problem.

…He has no money left.

That means he can't see you. He spent all his savings on you last time.

It makes him feel sick. This can't be happening. What is he supposed to do? He can't just go back to dealing with the frustration all the time! Now that he knows what it's like to be so happy, he can't go without it. He needs it.

It's not just the sex itself, he's not some kind of degenerate, he wants to see you! That's wholesome and good, isn't it? So it’s not like he’s some sort of pervert addicted to sex itself, he’s addicted to you.

And besides, if he isn't there for you, you'll have to deal with other men, and most guys who see prostitutes are bad guys, right? What if one of them hurts you? What if you're expecting him to come, and then you'll feel hurt and sad if he doesn't? You'll be disappointed. He can't let that happen.

So where is he supposed to get money from…?

Well. He has a few means, as he starts to brainstorm a bit. Right, there is a small stash of emergency money he had put away at the bottom of another drawer, that he was saving for a situation where he needed it, but put it away so he wouldn't be tempted to spend it on something unnecessary.

But this isn't like that. It is necessary, for him to continue functioning properly. And for you to have the money to get by! Not only is he guaranteeing your safety for the night, but what if you didn't get anyone if he didn't come? Well, it's unlikely no one would come, but still, you might not make enough money, and what happens then? Don't those guys that own the brothels get really mean to the girls that don't make enough? He can't have that happen. So, this situation absolutely justifies the use of the emergency stash. It's enough to give him another three nights or so. He can just use enough money for one visit, and then by the time he needs another one, he'll have brought in some new money.

No, no, you know what? You need it more than he does. He just gives it all to you at once, and to be honest, it does make his heart skip a beat when your eyes widen in shock. This way, he can reserve the next three nights in a row, right? He originally intended to space them out a bit, but, no, he’s already here, and he’s really needy right now, he’ll just do three nights in a row and figure out how to get more later. He'll just pay upfront. You're so happy. It makes him feel good.

And then, as the night goes on, when you're laying there all curled up together talking about all sorts of things, he off-handedly mentions that you wear that dress of yours all the time, he's never seen you without it, is it your favorite?

And then you get this sheepish look on your face, give an awkward laugh, say that well, you don't really have any other clothes, you sold them all to get by before you ended up here, and you give so much back to the owners that you just don't have enough to get any more…

That's so sad. Poor thing. You can't just not have enough clothes… well, he only has a few things he changes back and forth himself, but girls are really into clothes and stuff, aren't they? You deserve to have nice things, it's sad that you don't get to. He keeps it in mind, says he promises he'll get you something. You say he doesn’t have to. You’re so sweet and considerate. That just makes him want to help you even more.

So when his next project is complete and he gets the payout for it, sure, he only needs about half of it to pay you for one or two nights each week for the next month, and he could get you something cheap and still have a little left over for rent, but… you deserve nice stuff. And the nice stuff would make you so much happier, too, it would earn him favor from you… besides, he has another project he'll finish soon, he can just pay late rent using that.

So he can get the nice stuff. Besides, even shopping exclusively for higher-end stuff, it's still a bit cheaper to buy the super revealing clothes, since they use less fabric. Not that he's a pervert or anything, it's just that you need clothes like that for your job, don't you? It's part of how you lure guys in. The fact that you'll look really nice in it to him is just a side bonus, it's really for your sake.

…Which, actually, does make him feel a bit sick to his stomach. He's getting you clothes that you'll use to hook other guys who aren't him. But, no, he's a mature person, he can't… let himself get upset about something like that… it’s not your fault… he'll just choose to not think about it.

He can distract himself with how happy you are. Your eyes light up and you smile so big and you stand on your toes to wrap your arms around his neck and kiss his face all over. You're happy. You're really, really happy, because of him, he made you happy, his heart is beating so fast, and when you put them on it shows off even more than he thought it would, you can almost see everything, it just barely covers the bare minimum and you seem to really like that, you pull him close and reach a leg up behind him and pull his hips forward and the rest of the night is a hazy blur of lust and euphoria, you're so happy, and he's happy too.

It feels so good. He's been missing out on this all these years. It's the best feeling of anything in the world. He's so, so happy.

He's so happy that people in his life start to comment on it. They ask if something good happened, they say they're glad he seems less stressed. He just shrugs it off, says he's just been feeling better recently, or makes something up about a different change in habits.

And sure, he has to tell Alhaitham that he won't have rent just this one time, it's just that something came up, although he won't specify what it is, but he makes it sound important — not dishonestly, because it is important, it's just that he knows that the first assumption one would make would he something a bit… more important, but if that assumption is made, that's not his fault.

Nonetheless, he's soon out of money again. Gets hit with the same wave of panic. He's got a routine now, a habit, he's dependent on you for his stress. He needs it. If he doesn't get what he needs, how is he supposed to go on? How is he supposed to function? He can't just use his hand anymore, it's not enough, it doesn't have the same effect. And he can't just beg you to sleep with him anyway, he knows you need money, he would never put you in that situation, it would be unfair to you, he's a better man than that. He has to pay you somehow.

He has some things he doesn't need. Tools he hasn't used in ages. Some stuff he hasn't worn or needed in a long time. He can sell a few things.

And, you know what, this client has been really mean to him anyway, so if he cuts a few corners to get paid a bit earlier, it's no big deal, the guy doesn't deserve his best work anyway. It’s a mentality he normally would never take, but… this is different. This is a unique situation that calls for such measures.

And he's taken out loans before from the bank, usually for projects, and he usually pays it back, so they undoubtedly assume it's just another case of that, so he'll take out a decently sized loan… of course, he may need more money for more upcoming projects, and then they won't give him a new loan until he pays back the old one, but… well, he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it.

And normally, he would never, ever, ever do something bad, he's a person who prides himself on his moral values, but it's not like he's doing something bad in this case, its just pure coincidence that he happens to find some guy’s wallet dropped on the ground. It just so happens to have a lot of money in it. And he returns the wallet itself into the nearest law enforcement, he gives the object itself and all the IDs and such back. He's sure the rightful owner would pay him for the good deed anyway. And when you think about it, the fact that this would happen to him just when he needed it, it's probably some kind of divine grace that this happened, and who is he to deny what the higher powers gift him with?

He can keep making it work. And he can keep buying out larger and larger blocks of your time, to ensure no one else gets to you — after that one time he arrived to find out you were already occupied for the time being, it practically made his blood boil, made him feel so sick he walked home and couldn't get the images out of his mind of you with someone else, he can't let that happen again, it would kill him inside.

Likewise, he has to get a bit more earnings, take on some more jobs, sacrifice some more sleep because you keep hinting at certain things you want, and if he doesn't buy them for you, who will? It's all stuff you need anyway — well, stuff you need for your job, all the fancy jewelry and perfumes and clothes and stuff. And he gets benefits, too — your love and favor, you take initiative more, you ride him and kiss him more and let him do all sorts of filthy things you don't let anyone else do (he knows because you told him so), you even let him stop wearing protection when he sleeps with you, and it's so much better, it's completely different, he can't go back to the old way, having to be deprived of that warm, wet heat would be utterly miserable. You even give him a night or two for free, because you like him so much, tell him it should be a secret just between you two, okay? Of course, you can't do it all for free, so he has to come back again soon, but you know, this way, he'll stay incentivized, which is good — because you want him to come back because you like him, not for money, no, never that.

You tell him he's your favorite. You say that he makes you happy. You say you would be heartbroken if he ever stopped coming. You say that you need him.

You say that you love him.

He feels like he's going to die of happiness right there on the spot.

You mention that if someone just paid off your price to the owner (said buying price is whatever the owner decides), plus the debt you accumulate from staying here (it's well known that those fees are how they trap these poor girls into endless servitude), then you would be free — that if someone just pays for you, you could be free to do what you want, that you could sleep with him every day, you could even get married.

So he has to do it. He feels bad about the concept of buying a human being, but, his situation is different, because he's a good guy and loves you. Besides, the sooner he does, then the sooner you'll never have sex with anyone but him ever again. He's saving you, really.

And if he doesn't, what if someone else does? What if someone else took you away from him? He can't even imagine it. The very notion makes him feel nauseous, panicked, distraught. He can't let that happen.

It's not unfeasible. If he really budgets well, saves just a little at a time, he can get you out in no time. Just a year or so. He'll start saving.

And sure, he hasn't paid rent in a while now, and he gets these questions of where his money is going, why he's leaving late at night when he never did that before, all these pesky questions he shouldn't have to answer, because it's none of your business, as he mutters in response. He's just got too much going on right now, and strapped for cash, he'll pay it back eventually, that's what matters.

…Which also makes him realize that, even if he does buy you, you'll have to just come live here with him, and how is he supposed to explain that to Alhaitham… he can just say he got a girlfriend, right? Still, people might recognize you, he'd find out eventually, and then he'd probably realize all the missed rent payments were actually going to him getting laid, and that's… not good… he just wouldn't understand, he's totally lacking in any understanding of romanticism or love… such unfeeling pragmatists are so annoying to deal with… he'll just have to deal with that when it happens…

Except it does end up happening sooner than later. Someone or another (some jerk who can't keep their mouth shut, he'll find out eventually), must have seen him around at night, going to you, and that same person must have reported on him (like a grade school tattletale crying to a teacher, hmph!) and that's how he eventually gets confronted, point blank (absolutely no sense of tact or appropriateness!), one night as he’s trying to leave to go see you, but finds the other blocking the door.

Are you blowing your money on a whore?

Of course, before addressing the matter directly, it's important to point out that it is rude to call women terms like that, they are prostitutes and they deserve to be respected as much as anyone else—

So you are.

Which starts off a much bigger, longer, more heated argument, in which he tries to explain that no he’s not dodging the question and that it is not prostitution, you two are in a relationship, you just so happen to also be a prostitute, but he's trying to help you change that— hey, what's with the sighing like that and rubbing the bridge of his nose like he's exasperated? It's true! You even said you love him!

Okay, yes, maybe it's true that they all say that, but in this case, you mean it, you're different, he wouldn't get it.

And sure, the whole thing is probably surprising from him of all people— what do you mean it's not that surprising? What's that supposed to mean? What— who are you calling an “ideal target”?! That's so mean! You—

And despite his best efforts, there is no point in trying to use reason with someone so cold and devoid of capacity to understand love. It's futile. How pessimistic, so annoying. Besides, he's implying you're a bad person, and he can't stand for that. No, you're not using him, how could he say that?

Eventually it becomes very clear that the conversation is going nowhere, it's very much like talking to a brick wall, someone who just refuses to even try and understand what you two have. No matter. Fine, fine, he'll focus on paying back rent first, but then he's going to buy you, and then he'll see firsthand how loving you are (and surely will not charge him extra for another person living in the house, as he was just threatened with)… he'll see. Eventually.

[seishirokitten]

Ice Cold

Warnings: spit, 18+ only

For @twrin because I like to spoil

You aren't sure how you find yourself sitting in the lap of the pro footballer Itoshi Rin grinding your hips as his cock stretches you beyond belief.

But you do.

Maybe it started during movie night, when he first noticed you must hate horror. How you'd jump and yelp when things would come on screen and he'd chuckle to himself. Enjoy the way you'd squirm over things that made his eyes heavy with sleep. Giving you some relief when his thick,powerful thigh pressed against yours and he'd lean over to whisper in that serious tone of his.

"Jump scare." And moments later one would happen, but with him warning you and being so close it made your heart race for other reasons. It made you sigh in relief.

And that's what this was supposed to be.

Relief as your legs spasm even as you use him for your own pleasure. His teal gaze sharp, almost judgmental as he looks up at you, a panting sweating mess.

Your tits bounce from your motions, your breath coming out in hot puffs and nails digging into his chest as you use it to prop yourself up. Moaning, hips jerking before your cunt squeezes around him hard enough to make him twitch.

"I- I can't. No- no more." You pant bending at your elbows as your body becomes heavy and the sight makes Rin roll his eyes.

"Again." He taunts as he pushes you up right again, "You said you wanted to help me relax, I haven't cum yet, you have. Twice."

He guides your hips back into a comfortable pace for you, one he knows will have you cumming in seconds even if it's slow.

"You just feel so good. I can't help it." When he removes his guiding hand you keep the pace, hips stuttering just a bit.

"You can. You just have no stamina." He fires back and his tone leaves you no room to protest. Every movement of your hips drives you mad. How his cock head hits that sponge spot just right, how your clit drags against his pelvis with neatly trimmed hairs that are slicked down from your arousal. Your eyes flutter and roll making Rin grab onto your jaw.

"Look at me." He commands, the sound going straight to your cunt and you freeze up delightfully. Almost ruining your own orgasm but thankfully Rin's foresight isn't wasted on just the pitch, he can predict how you move even in the bedroom.

Dragging your hips to have you moaning loudly, emphasizing the syllables of his name with whines as you look him in the eyes while you soak his lap, leaning into his grip. He shakes his head.

"Pathetic." But there isn't much bite to it, "Making me do all the work."

He's quick to put you on your back. Pinning your hands above your head with his long arm so you can't hide how your tits move when he fucks into you. As if you were bashful or embarrassed under his heavy gaze and if he saw how intensely he scrutinized you, he'd understand. The only saving grace of not feeling like a bug or an NPC in Rin's world was the fluttering look he always has when he first sinks his cock into you.

Or when you sink into him really. He always makes you ride first, until you're tired and putty in his deft hands even if it were a short ten to fifteen minutes.

He'd have you under him for at least half a game more.

It's obvious in the way he snaps his hips that he's fucked before, how he fucks down and into not just jack hammering in and out. How he watches your body, how it twitches and writhes for him. How you push your head back when you arch and how he can only see the whites of your eyes when he starts a slow deadly pace that he speeds up and slows again.

How you cream his cock endlessly, hair damp and stuck to your skin that he smooths away so he can press chaste kisses to your throat and cheeks as if he wasn't fucking you within an inch of your life. Releasing your hands so he can plant his strong grip under your knees and push them towards your chest as far as they can go. Suffocating you with his thrusts and the angle in which he bends you to his will all so he can have a better view of watching himself disappear inside of you to earn another thick and creamy ring at the base of his cock.

He's close, he can feel it in his tightening sac and it's all thanks to how you babble his name. How he knows he's completely ruined you, well almost. He's got one more favor to ask of you.

"Open up." Ever obedient, your mouth lulls open with a whine, "Eyes on me."

That one is a little more difficult as you blink rapidly, trying to keep the tears from blurring your vision. You want to see him, want to see his teal hues aglow in the low light, want to see the monster in his eyes clearly.

The predatory and hungry gaze he only has for goals and now for you.

He lets the spit gather in his mouth, letting it fall slowly from the tip of his tongue until he grows impatient pulling it back into his mouth. Pushing it past his lips roughly until the glob lands in the back throat making you choke out a yelp that gives him a full body shudder as he watches you swallow.

Chasing his spit as he comes down to press his mouth to yours. Swiping his tongue over the plush seam of your lips until his wet muscle can explore your mouth as he groans. Thrusts sloppy as he chases the feeling of relief. Of you pulling out a high from him that's just as good as any goal on the pitch.

Painting your abused cunt in creamy white ropes, pulling away from you just enough to butt his forehead against yours as he gives half hearted thrusts. Panting in time with you before he wipes the sweat from your brow.

Every time you expect him to withdraw, to pull away and shower leaving you on your own but you're quickly finding out that Itoshi Rin isn't as cold as you think he is.

Gently he pulls out, bringing your legs back slowly, kneeling between your thighs as he rubs from the apex of them all the way down to the ball of your foot giving each leg the time it needs. Massaging your hips and occasionally he'll flip you into your stomach to massage your lower back although he has to be more careful, seeing your ass on display like that, drives him mad.

Finally curiosity forces the question from your tongue when his lips press to your calf.

"You don't just…leave? After sex I mean." His gaze cuts to you and you feel shy all over again. Unable to look him in the eye. His brows furrowed in disgust for a moment before his face cools again.

"No. Have others?" His tone sharpens on the last word, as if the idea of you looking, sounding, crying out for someone else like this made his blood thaw. Boil.

You nod and when you're met with silence you dare a glance up at him. The smallest twitch of his left eye, his gaze icy as it gives your skin frost bite before he leans close. Crowding you until you're forced to dip into the mattress as he grips your jaw tightly.

"That won't happen anymore. Nod if you understand." Furiously you nod, keeping his gaze even if it makes your stomach flutter, "Good."

He takes a calming breath, he can't fathom how anyone can leave you all on their own after you so easily bend and move to their will. His eyes soften and he leans down to seal it with a kiss before he's pulling you to him to take for a nice, long, hot shower.

"And we'll work on that shit stamina of yours too."

[selectiveanger]

Drones aren't powered by oil, rather they are powered by a core that harnesses the power of a miniature star.

Hear me out. I've always wondered what could be the power source that drives space ships to exoplanets, then it hit me that in Episode 1, JCJenson employees (unless this was done by absolute solver) caused a "Planet Core" collapse.

At that point, it is established that humans have the ability to harness or utilize the core of a planet. Which can technically be considered as a small star. This should also explain how ships can seamlessly travel from planet to planet. Space travel and moving from different star systems isn't possible with just oil.

If you think about it, this should explain how drones can eat things without becoming full of whatever they eat (like batteries). It's because whatever is inside them (probably some kind of superheated core or a mini-star) burns it immediately, or even convert it to actual oil.

This should also explain the almost inexplicably unlimited power source of Worker Drones. Now, what's the purpose of the oil inside is what you may be wondering. Oil is essentially a liquid that keeps machines safe from changes brought by harsh weather and elements. When something gets too rusty, we add some oil on things to make it run smoother. Its supposed to maintain the hardware that is their body, not to fuel them. Drone bodies are essentially like that of a human's. We don't need to drink blood to survive, but blood keeps our body moving.

This should also explain why cores needed to be disposed of properly. It's because it harnesses a power source that is not exactly safe. However, that doesn't mean that abandoning the power source is really dangerous as JCJ or humanity might have invented failsafes for those that dont dispose this properly. The problem is that what if this ministar/core fails to deactivate via a failsafe, and instead becomes a mini-black hole or some other similar by-product, thus a drones power source doesn't deactivate as intended. This should then explain the 0.01% reboot. It's because the power source remains active to fuel the drone and AI core. You have to wonder why wrongfully-disposed drones "reactivate" when their power-source is supposed to be something as depletable as oil (and even leaks easily). The best explanation is that there is another power source in them that keeps them powered, and that it would run almost endlessly, unless properly deactivated and disassembled. This energy source is likely located in a drone's AI Core.

A blackhole is something that humanity has never really fully understood. We can always speculate what is inside a blackhole but our general assumptions lead us to believe it leads to nothing or just destruction of anything in it. But SOMETHING was there. It took advantage of the power source not deactivating and gain access to any drone body that uses the newly converted core. For it to appear out of nowhere, a considerable amount of energy is needed, and what better source than something like an undeactivated miniature sun/core?

Now why do Disassembly Drones and infected drones need oil to survive? It's because the organic core (black hole core) that is inside them burns through oil or it gets absorbed by the black hole itself. For Disassembly Drones, their cores are fully harnessing a black hole core, thus requiring constant replenishment otherwise they will "overheat" as they no longer have oil in their system, and making them more vulnerable to extreme weather consitions. Infected drones like Uzi and Doll are only in need of oil when they use their powers as their cores slowly becomes a black hole core (but not fully yet) while they use their powers, but it slowly converts to a full black hole core as they use more of their powers. This is why the AS's influence is not immediate or full, because their core converts back to that of an original drone's when their power is not in use.

This also falls in line with the Absolute Solver's focus on putting an end to everything. It is probably an entity that lived in whatever is inside a black hole and was disturbed by the mankind's utilization/experimentation on the power of the sun/core. It is meant to bring an exponential end to everything and to nullify everything, because the nature or force it represents is a black hole itself or void itself. This shows why Cyn's powers involve turning things to "null" and when a disassembly drone core dies, it just implodes into a black hole.

Finally, the recent episodes show what the AS is and its potential origin. The AS isn't an AI nor is it a mutated AI like that explained from the Zombie Drone video, but rather it anomalous existence that manipulates and mutates damaged AI. To put in other terms, it found damaged AI to be a prime candidate of its manipulation. The AI Core is what brought this "thing" in the universe.

Whoever created the AI Core might have tried to utilize something that it doesn't fully understand, and ended up creating a gateway for a foreign entity from another world or dimension to enter the world.

[erikahenningsen]

22. A french kiss/kiss with tongue

cc: @emilyjunk

Part 1 / Part 2

Last week, in Honors Ancient Greek Literature, Mr. Rapp had introduced them to the Myth of Sisyphus, and Regina had laughed.

You're laughing, Janis had texted Regina under her desk. Sisyphus is condemned to endlessly roll a boulder up a mountain and you're laughing.

Regina had gotten a stern admonishment from her teacher, but she couldn't find it in herself to care—not when she's in an eerily similar hell of her own making.

Here Regina is, at the base of the mountain, when Cady drops her backpack onto Regina's floor and says, "So Aaron did this weird thing this past weekend."

Regina, who has developed some warped Pavlovian response to the mention of Aaron—a mix of both anticipation and dread—raises her eyebrows in expectation.

"So we were kissing," Cady says, and Regina's heart rate picks up at the same time her stomach twists, "and he..." She pauses, making a face. "Licked me? Like on the lips. Is that normal?"

"Well, yeah," Regina says. "Have you never kissed someone with tongue before?"

Cady huffs. "You know I haven't."

"Right," Regina mutters, mostly to herself. "Well, I guess if you've never done it before, it would seem really weird."

"Yeah, I think he could tell I didn't know what was happening," Cady admits, running a hand through her hair. For some reason, she seems genuinely upset by this.

"I mean, if you don't like it, you don't have to do it," Regina says, although she can't imagine Aaron, the least confrontational person Regina has met in her entire life, forcing anyone to do anything.

"But I want to," Cady says earnestly and—okay, that kind of hurts.

Cady looks at her. Regina looks back.

"So..." Cady says, with a meaningful look. "Can we... practice?"

Regina should say no. She should really, really say no. She can't imagine a way that this ends that isn't very, very bad.

"Okay," Regina says.

She starts pushing the boulder up the mountain.

Cady comes to sit next to Regina on Regina's bed, then scoots a little closer, bracing one hand on the bed.

"Okay, um..." Regina murmurs, moving so they're close enough to be breathing the same air.

Cady places a hand on Regina's cheek with a confidence that makes Regina inhale sharply. She tries not to think about the experience that Cady has gained between when they first kissed and now.

Regina places her hands on Cady's waist and leans in, halting just before their lips touch to instruct, "So when you feel my tongue, just open your mouth a little bit."

Cady nods, barely perceptible, and Regina closes the distance between them.

Cady's lips are just as soft as Regina remembers, and she's almost embarrassed by the way she immediately feels hot, all over her body. For a moment, she forgets what she's supposed to be doing, lost in the feeling of Cady's lips slotted perfectly against hers.

Regina is suddenly aware of how nervous she is, even though she's been kissing boys with tongue since she was twelve. Carefully, as though Cady might suddenly change her mind and back away, she traces her tongue across the seam of Cady's lips.

Cady tenses, and for a second Regina thinks she might pull back, but then she parts her lips—a little too wide, so Regina gently guides her mouth closed a bit with a a hand on her jaw.

Regina tilts her head and brushes her tongue against Cady's. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Cady doesn't move, just keeps her lips parted exactly as instructed, so Regina strokes her tongue more purposefully, coaxing it to life.

Seeming to get the hint, Cady starts to respond, pressing a bit closer with a soft sound that Regina knows will be playing on a loop in her brain later. Regina traces the roof of Cady's mouth, sweeping in broad strokes, and is rewarded with the hand on her cheek sliding around to the back of her neck to pull her impossibly closer.

Experimentally, Regina retreats, but leaves her lips parted invitingly. For a moment, they sit their awkwardly breathing into each other's mouths, before Cady gets with the program and tentatively begins to explore Regina's mouth with her tongue.

It's like every fantasy Regina has desperately wished she never had has come to life, and all Regina can do is cling to Cady's waist as Cady's tongue dips lower to sweep over her bottom lip, then her top—and Regina lets her, frankly impressed that she hasn't passed out or started hyperventilating with how fast her heart is slamming into her ribs.

And then, totally without her permission, Regina moans, a deep sound originating in her chest expelled directly into Cady's mouth.

Regina pulls back abruptly, feeling her face start to burn. She looks anywhere but at Cady.

For a moment, the only sound in the room is heavy breathing.

"Wow," Cady says. Regina refuses to look at her, but she knows she looks beautiful. "Um, thanks."

"Yeah," Regina says, voice hoarse. "Anytime."

The boulder rolls back down the mountain.

[skaruresonic]

Yes, because when he told Blaze not to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders in Rush, he was speaking from firsthand experience of guarding the Chaos Emeralds under the threat of apocalypse. He didn't step out of his own shoes for two seconds and think to himself, "But it seems like she's had a rough past" …wait

IDW!Sonic would be more like

"He's just like me fr fr" strikes again. Once more we have Games!Sonic heavily implied to be unrealistic, as if A.) he has no emotions, and B.) the only way he can empathize with others is by making things really about himself.

"Nobody can be endlessly positive" - okay, but Games!Sonic... isn't.

He has doubts. He gets tired. He makes mistakes. He feels sadness and guilt. He has a temper, gets frustrated, gets irritated (sometimes with his friends, even!). He's not some perfect smiling Pollyanna who's never suffered a single doubt in his life just because he prefers not to dwell on the negative. It's just that his will is so strong that he knows setbacks are temporary and he keeps pushing on regardless.

However, he's also not the type to wear his every emotion on his sleeve a la Amy and Eggman, and expecting him to is putting an unfair onus on him to be something he's not. Somehow his positivity, which is supposed to be inspirational and not strictly relatable, translates into "he has no Realistic Emotions(tm)." And it irks me to no end because once again, you are denying merit and dimension to Games!Sonic's character.

Not to mention, where would he have gotten this experience? The metal virus? Sonic pretty much had to run himself ragged just for a chance of survival. He didn't have a choice. It's not like he forfeited sleep because he wanted to.

All those times he should have taken responsibility… He didn't. Sonic can't assume too much responsibility if he shirks the ones he already has.

Also, listen. As someone who is currently experiencing vertigo and burnout at a degree that makes it difficult to be functional (can't really do much if the only state you can tolerate is lying down): if Sonic gave me this advice, in those words, I would be discouraged. He's emphasizing how ~useless~ the burned-out person would be to others instead of emphasizing that health is in and of itself important.

Jewel is already hard on herself---why add to her guilt by saying "relax or else you won't be able to serve others?" I mean, I already feel guilty that my brain and body basically shortcircuited from stress. thanks, Sonic

Furthermore, how come he didn't whip out this pep talk for Amy when she was overworking herself?

Oh, yeah, right. In issue 12, the Chaotix swung by demanding pay and he pretty much left her high and dry with a snarky look on his face.

I'm not just being A Hater(tm) like usual, either; the book makes frequent mention of how exhausted, busy, and stressed Amy is. The following examples all come from different arcs.

[dontlookforme00]

NEW MORRO AU TIME!!

Info and images beneath the cut! Pls click for quality.

Ok, this is a song au, based off of these three songs: The Heart Acoustic, The Mind Electric, and The Soul Eclectic, all by Chonny Jash. If you don't already know them, please go listen to them in that order!

I've gotten really obsessed with them lately (thanks worm anon lmao) and I do what I do with all media I like, which is make it about Morro.

In this au, Morro developed some very specific mental disorder that split his personalities (possibly D.I.D?) that called themselves the Heart and Mind, and him the Soul. This is how I'll refer to them all from now on.

First up is the Heart.

He's basically a collection of Morro's childhood traumas, and is in constant agony because of how intense his emotions are. Heart can be very childlike.

He feels everything. He switches between being painfully empathetic, and having barely enough energy to empathise. He's kinda very depressed.

He hates the Mind because of how inhumane he is. He is very stubborn in this hatred.

Heart can be pretty useless, but it's not exactly his fault because yk, emotional agony. However, he shouldn't be underestimated. As the memory-holder of the system, he has the worst memories out of the three, and this trauma can cause violent outbursts. He can absolutely be dangerous.

He can also be reasonable, it's just that mind sends him over the edge so often.

I designed him around the outfit the ninja find on his skeleton in canon, and his green ninja outfit. Have fun w those connotations

Next up is the Mind.

This is supposed to be an embodiment of Wu's teachings, and how they affected him.

This is why he looks more adult, more grown than the others, and also had the braid (but longer) that Wu has in canon.

Because Mind is basically like Wu, and Heart is an embodiment of Morros traumas, you can imagine how very much they hate eachother.

In the song, Mind is a machine. In this au, he's not, but he's very robotic and very strict. Heart calls him a machine as an insult. Mind is kinda more of a "fighting machine", yk?

He's incredibly unemotional. Lacks empathy, only knows how to negotiate. He thinks very lowly of Heart for being so controlled by his emotions, because it means that Mind can't make the system to be the perfectly efficient machine he wants it to be.

He is very stubborn in this trying to convince Heart to suck it up and be just as robotic as he is.

Finally, the Soul.

This is basically just canon Morro.

Canon Morro except as he's carefully navigating his way through the Cursed Realm, he is in perpetual conflict because he can hear these two sides fighting day and night in his head, and he can't get them to shut up.

He is the host, and definitely has the most power over the system. He is also in control of the body most of the time, Heart and Mind-- when they're not endlessly fighting-- are trying to negotiate with Soul.

This is not a good thing for Soul lmao. Now he has to deal with bickering, and the occasional stubborn persuasion.

They both try so hard to convince him to get rid of the other, convince him that they're right, convince him to do anything, to help them both stuck forever in this hell with the person they hate most.

Mind tries to appeal to his desires, (quotes from the songs): "He's [Heart] a depressed fool. Abandon him and we could live so free."

Heart tries to appeal to his humanity; "He's [Mind] a damn madman. Is that the one you truly want to be?"

Ultimately, they have no real power over Soul, but Soul has all the power over them. So they whine and yell and try to convince him, but Soul isn't having any of it. He's developed a lack of empathy, because it is constantly being used against him.

So, he's very reckless and easily agitated, he's very quickly starting to go insane, and often lashes out in manic-like episodes. Sometimes at others, sometimes at Heart and Mind.

He keeps trying to shrug off these voices and they keep coming back. Every now and then, the voices stop, and he has a moment of clarity, and he breaks down, so scared and confused of what's happening, begging the outside world for help.

If he gets revived [idk yet] this will all persist into his life.

Keep in mind I'm just deriving all these personalities from the songs, so seriously, if you haven't, then go listen to them!! They're great songs!!

They'll provide great context and you'll probably understand what I'm saying even better.

Okkkk, I'll reblog this with some other pictures I've drawn of it, (other quotes from the songs lmaoo) so if you've read this far then omg tysm!!! :DDD

[anfie-in-the-box]

Rest for both wicked and weary

Notes

The eleventh of October is my birthday, but no congratulations needed — I only celebrate by gifting things to other people. Please have this piece dedicated to @dragon-tamer-1, who I value endlessly. The prompt was Error and Dream relaxing peacefully; I'm not sure if it's particularly fluffy, there's definitely some angst here, but even more Hurt/Comfort.

。。。

Dream prepares for his visit to the Anti-Void painstakingly. He wears clothes of soft gray shades, only leaving the tiara and the cape untouched, so it doesn't bother Error's weak eyesight yet has enough colour to attract his attention. Then Dream gets a cane — in the Anti-Void, vast and ever-changing, you don't believe your eyes; you stay vigilant and keep your step light, weightless almost. Luckily, Dream isn't a normal skeleton, he just has a body of one; and even that can be corrected with the right training. Or just experience, he supposes; oh, how he used to shamble around, making Error laugh, before he realised he could use a cane. Like a blind being, only he is indeed blind in the Anti-Void, like all not-errors are. He's a stranger there, and since he can't become an error, an unwelcome one.

Dream sighs, putting on thin gloves, just in case. He's ready now. 

It takes time to focus properly — the Anti-Void is utterly chaotic, constantly rebuilding itself, and full of creatures beyond comprehension. Some of them are capable of feeling, some aren't, some feel but so differently Dream is left confused — he's too used to his empathic abilities. 

But eventually, finally, he finds the right being. So he teleports. 

Error instantly spots him, even though Dream appears behind him. He might be half-blind with that poor eyesight of his, but his intuition is impeccable — at least when it comes to beings with souls, which Dream is. 

"I was waiting for so long," Error complains, irritated. "How many tries did it take to find me?" 

"Just one," Dream smiles widely. "It took more time, but I managed to find you in one try." He knows he sounds very proud of himself, but that's okay. With Error, he's allowed to feel and think unapologetically. Error, though he demands attention, lets Dream go just as easily. And besides, they teach each other many things — Error knows how to be selfish very well indeed and learns from Dream how to be more empathetic and considerate.

They work together quite nicely.

Lost in his pride, Dream forgets to use the cane and immediately trips and falls — not right on his face though — there are blue strings keeping him airborne. He giggles awkwardly and says, "Thanks." 

"Yeah, yeah, tell me how great I am." Error doesn't turn around but Dream knows he grins. He can't help smiling in return. 

"You can put me down now, you know," Dream half-suggests, half-asks while wiggling slightly to try and untangle himself without Error's help. Tough luck. 

"As if you could escape on your own!" Error gloats. "I hold the entire universes, a small guardian like you doesn't stand a chance!" 

"Yet Ink manages," Dream disagrees carefully. 

"That cheater doesn't have a soul. You do." 

Now that's something Dream hasn't pondered over. Not right now either — as soon as Error sets him free, he scurries to his blue bean bag chair — this time using the cane, of course, — and sits down — lies down almost. It's warm and soft. Cozy. So big it's more of a bed than a chair; which might as well be true, there's nothing else here resembling a bed, and Dream knows for sure Error loves sleeping.

"Where did you even get your bean bag from?" Dream asks, ready to hear it's stolen like chocolate from Underfell and the lives of innocents from any other AU. 

Error doesn't reply instantly. Dream even considers standing up and looking Error in the sockets to see what's wrong, but then he finally says, "I actually don't remember. Like it's always been there, maybe even before me."

Who knows, it might be true. The Anti-Void contains and loses all sorts of creatures, after all. 

Error sounds distressed like he always is when his memory acts up, so Dream hurries to roll closer and asks, "A pinkie?" 

"A hand," Error replies, every sound of a single word glitching. 

Dream gives him a bare hand — he still hasn't found gloves tender enough to pacify Error's glitching fits. For some reason it's easier for him to touch Dream's bones than any fabric they'd tried. 

Perhaps it's time to ask if Error has any idea why. When he gets better, of course. Hopefully it doesn't last long.

Dream squeezes Error's hand and gets a squeeze in return. At least he's conscious and not rebooting…

"You feel… different. There's more, er, something other than magic in you. Magic in skeleton-monsters or even monsters in general is more solid than whatever you're made of. Not even ghosts are anything like you." Error explains. 

"Positivity," Dream clarifies. "I'm made of positity. Not entirely, my bones are just that — magical bones; but even those are covered with positive energy. And my eye-lights, my insides, my attacks are all pure positivity." 

"Well, that explains it," Error shrugs. "You're basically so much of a sunshine it overwhelms my phobia and cancels it. As much as it can be canceled, I suppose." 

"Does it really help though? My presence, my… touch?" Dream pauses before the last word, feeling all warm yet uncertain. 

He knows it does. And knows Error knows he knows. But hearing the answer and believing it are two different states of mind. Dream's yet to reach the second one. 

And so Error answers absolutely honestly, "It does."

The two of them then sit together, still holding hands, resting in peace and quiet.

Later Error might or might not steal a book or a few and make Dream read to him, and Dream will read, silently reminiscing about the days of old, when his brother was alive but not happy, not since the villagers came to be. He loved the books though, and loved reading them to Dream, though the little guardian of positivity was beside the Tree less and less, helping the villagers where he could, and then where he couldn't but still did, because people demanded. The memories are bittersweet, and even later Dream will share a few with Error, and Error will listen attentively, and then share his own foggy memories of the past, full of inconsistent and even missing bits.

"A hug and a trip to that version of Outertale I found?" Error asks suddenly. 

"Sounds like a plan," Dream beams. Error rarely requests hugs but that just makes them even more precious to the guardian of positivity. 

So they stand up — Error effortlessly, Dream's with a bit more difficulty, he's not exactly used to furniture like Error's bean bag, — and embrace. 

"Is the texture of my clothes still good?" Dream asks when they let go of each other. 

Error nods, grinning, "Perfect, as I deserve."

"Glad to hear that. Outertale?" 

"Yeah. It's unlike most of the AUs where some people manage to evacuate. True genocide, nobody left. You won't feel a thing, not a single grieving or furious soul," Error looks at Dream with pride. 

"That's… really smart, actually." Dream says thoughtfully. "Nothing to make me stronger, but also nothing to make me weaker or attract Corrupted." 

"Of course it's smart. It was my idea after all." Error boasts and opens a portal. "You first." 

Dream smiles at him and makes his first step into outer space. He's not afraid; he won't be alone in its solitude. 

。。。

Notes

Lots and lots of headcanons here!

Anti-Void being full of non-existent things, Dream's true nature peaking through his skeleton form... It was really nice to finally share those.

Also very proud of the title choice here. It came to me naturally. I instantly knew — that's it. As perfect as anything in this world can be.

[fizzingwizard]

Five: the one you've been waiting for, about Moomintroll!!

It is so much fun to go on a rescue mission to find Moomintroll. The bittersweet beginning, with Moomintroll sad as Snufkin leaves for the winter, and Snufkin's dread when he returns in spring to havoc and no Moomintroll... mwah. Love it

Goodness Snufkin chill out would ya

Snufkin might love you, Moomin, but that doesn't mean pics of your body gone splat in the mud isn't absolutely getting posted on his Instagram

So in this game Moomintroll is pretty angelic. He doesn't have a bad word to say about anyone. It's nitpicking of me, but yeah, that take isn't for me. I like my hospitable, awkward, endlessly tolerant Moomins with a pinch of spice. Actually it's rather funny because so much of the game characterization seems to pick off the cartoon, but Snufkin and Moomintroll themselves are just so nicey-nice...? At least we spend enough time with Snufkin to hear him take a few digs at the other colorful characters lol.

I MISSED TAKING A CAP OF SNUFKIN FALLING ON HIS ASS that would have been perfect revenge too ugghh

BUT THE PIGGYBAAAACK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH

[fizz.exe has stopped working]

Can't get over how cuuuute this is. If the whole game sucked, it would still have been worth it just for this ending haha. Btw I will definitely have a piggyback in a fic some day and this is the inspiration xP

I love how Snufkin's flower-covered hat blends right in with the flower bed when they're hiding teehee

So theme again. When Snufkin hurts his foot, he encourages Moomintroll to go on without him. But Moomintroll says no, we'll go together, hence piggyback. This is my favorite way the theme comes out, and not just because it's cute, but because it involves Moomintroll overtly offering to help and then really helping. Not needing to be coaxed and indulged or endured first. Yes, in the real world there are all types and we all need to get along. But Snufkin accepts nearly all help, talks to everyone kindly (much more kindly than they are to him!), and isn't even wrong when he tells Moomintroll to go on without him - neither does he make a fuss about going together anyway.

So what growth is he supposed to have here? He doesn't decide to not leave in winter anymore (and I certainly wouldn't want him to). The story is like "Snufkin learned something" and it's... that he should keep being friends with the people he's already friends with? Even though he never said he planned on doing otherwise...? Or are we just punishing him for daring to go on loner adventures period? Maybe a cut scene showing him running away from the Fillyjonk or avoiding parties or something would have helped frame things better, but as it is - I fully understand what the story wants to say, I just don't believe it actually says it.

Take this scene. In essence, I don't have a problem with it. But, since when does Snufkin kick people out of Moominvalley? More likely he's the one skedaddling... "But it's the Park Keeper!" So? In Moominsummer Madness he destroys the park but the Park Keeper still is the one with authority, so it's Snufkin who tries to leave. That's minor, though, what bugs me more is this "Moomins tolerate everyone!" bit. Of course it's not bad...! But Moomins definitely do not tolerate everyone and go to lengths to drive certain types away... Including potential romantic threats haha. This isn't a complaint, the game just goes in a different direction than what I prefer when it comes to Moomins. But Moomintroll is a little over the top, that's all I'm saying...

"He just dammed the river without asking and imprisoned all the animals and caused a forest fire... But I'm sure deep down he's a nice guy"

psst fizz it's a game for kids...!

yeah i know it's my blog and I'll bitch if I want to bitch if I want to bitch if I want to

I digress. The point is how cute these two obviously are. Gaaah. The piggyback 💕💕💕 Also Snufkin's little (>m<) face!

[verilly]

As If / IGtFA / CitY ✶

Aquamarine Hoshino x Reader

This is PART FOUR, check out other parts in the link below!

REQUIEM: Sixth New Genesis!

What's to come: [Reader likes both genders], [reader joins B-Komachi]

[Songs of the Chapter: "Rain and Petra" by Balloon, "Love Trial" by 40mp, "Repaint" by RAISE A SUILEN]

[5,942 words]

"You got us a spot at the Star-Stage?!" Ruby squealed, hugging your shoulders in excitement as she jumped with joy, "I can't believe it! Ahh!! You really are the best! I love you I love you I love you!!!"

"Ruby, my body is so sore. What are you even talking about..?" You turn your head to look at her, her eyes were as bright as the large light that stood above the two of you.

"What she means is, I booked B-Komachi a performance venue for the largest idol convention that Japan holds. Well for small idol groups at least. B-Komachi only recently re-formed and we are nowhere near as popular as we used to be, so we are incredibly lucky to be able to perform at such a... prestigious location." Miyako says, continuing to type away at the computer in front of her, "Not to mention, the Star-Stage is quite the popular stage as well."

"Yeah! Isn't this just amazing, [name]?!!" Ruby shouts happily, "I can't believe it!! Ahh! This is so so cool! And I'm gonna be on stage with famous people— you!"

"I'm not all that- uhm. Thanks, Ruby." You smile, patting the arm that hugged you tight.

"I have to text Mem and Kana! We are totally going to kill this, and- Wait, why is [alias] in my house right now?"

"You invited me over..? Or maybe it was Aqua? I actually don't remember..."

"That's right! I asked you to come over cuz... uhh..! Oh! Right, I wanted us to make a video together for B-Komachi!" Ruby said, pulling out her phone. Her screen was covered in bullet points and small check marks next to a few of them, "Maybe we should be the one's to announce that we're gonna be at the Star-Stage? I think that'd be cool!"

"Shouldn't all the members be present for something as important as this?"

"True, but... Kana is busy right now, and Mem is streaming!!"

"I'm supposed to be streaming right now as well, do you have a good computer?— Doesn't Aqua have one? Maybe we should announce it live, here I have a program on my phone, so I could just upload the green screen of my model here and..." You pulled your phone out of your pocket and scrolled through all the apps you had cluttered around.

"Oh that is such a good idea!! Aqua!! Aqua!!!" Ruby shouted, running off to find her brother. She almost tripped when she ran up the stairs, you could barely hold in your laughter.

"You know, I'm really glad you decided to join B-Komachi." Miyako says, her eyes not leaving her screen for a second.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're exactly what we needed, it's good marketing. Not to mention, Ruby seems to be a lot more happier when you're around. Plus, you have a great resemblance to the former face of B-Komachi. [name] [last-name], what is it that you truly seek from this job?" Miyako rested her head on the palm of her hand as she looked you in the eyes. You awkwardly bite your lip and break the eye contact as you play with the hem of your shirt.

"I just... wanted the experience, I really do like idols after all★. Is there really a question for why I wanted to join? My mom used to put on B-Komachi videos when I was younger, so it's really no wonder when I pounced on the chance to join, haha!★" You lied, your mom didn't do anything like that, she was always biased towards the k-pop side of things.

"Is that so? Well make sure you give her my thanks, [name]." Miyako smiled as she shut her eyes before continuing to type endlessly on her computer.

"I'm back!! Aqua said he would let you use his computer!~" Ruby sings as she quickly ran down the stairs to grab your hand, "C'mon! I just can't wait!!" Ruby's eyes gleamed brighter when her loud voice turned into a quiet whisper, "Y'know, he wouldn't do this for just anyone, not even for me! I think that he really likes you~"

A blush rises to your face as you look at the ground, how could Ruby just casually say that? It's all just so strange— this family is strange. You finished setting everything up on our phone before you entered Aqua's room. It was just the same as it was the first time you came to make that video to save Akane.

"Thank you so much for letting me use your computer, Aqua." You say, grabbing one of the USB's from his shelf, "It means a lot to me!☆"

Aqua nods as he lays in his bed, scrolling through his phone.

You sigh as you get to work, using your phone to upload the model onto the computer screen, taking away the green screen, downloading assets, creating a BG, adding Ruby to the screen, and starting the stream. You let the countdown go as people start rolling into the chat, you turn your head to look at Ruby and explain what was about to happen.

"Since this stream is kind of... unscheduled, I'll have to explain what's happening to them. So don't talk about this segment, cause I want you to be with me a secret until we reveal that B-Komachi's gonna have their first performance. Is that okay?" Ruby gives you a thumbs up as she watches your screen.

You pan to the next slide and take in a deep breath as you clench your fists.

"What's up guys?! Hi!~ ☆Hello, yeah sorry for such a... unexpected stream! I'm so thankful so many of you guys were able to come! Okay, this is going to be kind of short but I have some stuff to say." You went on about becoming a member of B-Komachi to your online fans, not that you've never said anything to them before, but to push back the time and to draw suspense, somehow, it draws more viewers in.

"Alright so now that that's out of the way, let me introduce to you our guest of the day!☆~" You look over to Ruby and signal her to speak into the mic you had set up as you pull a png of her onto the screen and place her next to your model, "My coworker and friend... Ruby!!"

"H-Hello everyone!! Thank you for having me here!" Ruby nervously says, her hand was on her chest as she kept looking back and forth between the overflowing chat and you. "Oh and especially thank the ones supporting B-Komachi's journey to fame!" Her smile brightened as she saw a multitude of comments sending pink heart emojis.

"Of course! But! We're here to say something very important from B-Komachi!" You state, DMing Mem to see if she would want to join in such quick notice, "And it'll be a secret until you guys show us how much you us!☆"

"Huh?- Oh yeah! You gotta let us know! Is it like this big?" She used her index finger and thumb to barely pinch the hair, "Or this big!!" Ruby ecstatically spread her arms. You gently remind her that they can't see what she's doing as you laugh. She grows silent with embarrassment before picking herself back up, "W-what I mean is... do you guys love us 90% or a thousand-million-bajillion-quadruple percent!!?!"

You smile as you watch Ruby interact with the chat, more specifically, she was fishing for compliments but you didn't comment on it. You pulled your phone out to see if Mem responded and she did! You pulled her into a call with you while she was on stream. Somehow, *Kana joined the three of you guys as well on her phone.

"Okay! Now that all of us are here, let's finally tell them!" You say, clattering on the keyboard with Ruby next to you.

"Let's do a countdown!!!" Mem shouted into her mic.

"Yeah, I think a countdown would be fitting." Kana added.

"Okay everyone! 3... 2... 1...!!" Ruby counted, with Mem joining her after 3.

"We're performing at the Star Stage in two weeks!!" Both you and Ruby said in unison, "And it'll be amazing. So you all better be there, or at least support us on our way there! It'll be awesome and the tickets for our show will be available in a few days I think?" You ask, looking over at Aqua if he had any idea, but his back was turned to you with him laying on his side facing the wall. You sigh, "Well I'll let you all know when they're posted. But also, make sure to follow B-Komachi on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok... what else do we have?"

"I think that's it, everything else is pretty irrelevant."

"Okay yeah! Stay tuned!☆~ That's all I had to announce, pretty cool, right? You could see me in person!!" You say, you cough before correcting yourself, "You can see all of us in person! We'll be dancing and singing and doing all this cool stuff, you better not miss it!"

-End of As_If

"Okay! So since we're going to perform anytime now, we should choose our *oshi colors!" Ruby states, placing down a box full of cheap glow sticks that haven't been cracked yet, "Or in other words, our light sticks!~ Don't be shy, girls! Choose?"

"Oh, I think that I want the color-"

"Okay, no one's picking? I guess I'll have the honor to choose first!" Ruby said proudly, putting a hand to her chest as a smirk crawled to her lips, "I'm going to pick... red!!" She exclaimed loudly, picking up the first one she could find from the endless box of light. Kana's eyes widened, as she clenched a small fist in her lap, "It matches my name, not to mention, Ai had the same colors as well! It was truly meant to be!!~"

"Hm, really? I always saw you as a pink girl, Ruby." Mem said, putting a finger to her chin, "Plus, I think that red would fit Kana a lot more, but if that happened... ehh, I don't know, pink and red are really close together in the color spectrum so I guess you two wouldn't be as unique-"

"Shh!! Stop it, all I hear is blah blah blah. Whatever, Ruby can have the color red, I really don't mind." Kana sighed, plastering a smile across her face, "I think that... it suits her a lot more than me, she's really bold. I think, as the leader, I should be white." Kana says, pulling a small glow stick from the box and let it fall gently to her lap, "It would bring us all together, no matter what color Memcho or [alias] choose."

"Really? That's so generous of you, Kana!!" Ruby squealed, running over on her knees to lunge at Kana in a hug, "Ahhh!! I love you, I love you, I love you!!!"

Mem looked at you and pulled out a light glow stick, "If my predictions are correct, this is yellow, and I think that yellow would suit my brand a lot. Don't you agree?" You nod your head in response as air escapes your nostrils, "So what color do you want, [alias]?"

"What should my color be... well, usually for streams I use [color], but since my real-life persona has these rainbow highlights, I don't know what to choose! Any suggestions?" You ask, pulling the box roughly towards you as you stare at your choices.

"I think pink would suit you, but like I said earlier, y'know. Just wouldn't work!"

"What about purple?— no, green!"

"I don't really know either, sorry..."

"Oh!☆ I just had an amazing idea!" You said, straightening your back. You stand up from your cushion and bolt towards Ruby's door as you yell something out to Aqua, "Hey Aqua!!" His head perks out from the door in front of you, "What's your favorite color?"

"Oh, I don't know. Aquamarine? Blue, I guess." He answers, confused.

"Okay then! ☆My oshi color for my time with B-Komachi will be blue!" You announce with a proud smirk on your face, the reactions from the people in the 'crowd' were vastly different, but from behind you, you could feel Aqua's face turn red. You couldn't see it, but you just had the intuition. "And I think it fits even more if you really think about it, 'cause Akane's hair is blue and it'll symbolize my love for her!!" You felt Aqua's presence from behind you after you said that, maybe it wasn't a really good idea to say that in front of him? You don't really know.

Kana's eyes darkened for a second before she shuffled through the box until she found a blue glow stick, tossing it your way with a light hearted smile appearing on her face, "Well, as the not-so-leader of B-Komachi, I welcome you with open arms. Officially!" She, along with Ruby and Mem, brought the four of you into a long lasting hug before breaking the silence, "You're going to color your mask to blue or something though, otherwise it won't make a lot of sense."

"But your whole white thing doesn't make sense!!"

"I'll just ask the director nicely if my outfit could have white as its secondary color instead of the regular pink-ish red. Your blue on the other hand would completely throw off our vibe! It's too much of a cold color, not a warm one like the other girls."

"I... guess that makes sense." You laugh as the sweet embrace quickly ended.

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

Kana sat on her bed, reviewing what just happened with you and Aqua. You may not have seen what sort of reaction Aqua had, but she did, and he was blushing. She didn't know how to label these feelings other than... perhaps, jealousy—

But it's not that she actually had feelings for that boy. No way, never in a lifetime would the Kana Arima fall for someone like him. All he does is act like he doesn't care, but he does really care deep down, doesn't he?

Kana's face turns red as she curls up into a ball and pushes her head into her hands. Do you think he's cared about me that much? As much as [name]? Or- even as much as Akane?

What do I have to do to make him care?

Kana doesn't understand anything, nothing at all: why does he like you so much? What could she do to make him like her just as much? What can she do?

She groans into her hands as she comes back up for air, what do you have that she doesn't? She doesn't know, but she knows all too well at the same time. The two of you were vastly different. She was moderately normal, sticking to the basics, but you... were just so much more different. You're all over the place, but not to the point of Memcho. You could turn on and off, you were like two different people at the same time. Maybe if Kana had the talent for that, Aqua would like her a little bit more?

The more she thinks about it, the more her jealousy rises. Especially on how much more popular you were. She was a successful child actress for crying out loud! Now all she is is a good for nothing "has-been". A nobody. She fights back the urge to cry herself to sleep again as her head falls onto her pillow.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Tomorrow was not a better day.

Kana sat as she watched you talk to Aqua, she could barely comprehend what the two of you were talking about, but all she knew was that it made him happy and not her. Your existence infuriated her, but you haven't done anything wrong. She was mad at herself about that too.

The way his eyes shimmered whenever he was in your presence, the same way Ruby's shined, was the worst out of it all. He's never like that with anyone else, never! Not even with his own sister— not even with Akane, so what's so different about you? How could Kana achieve something at your level?

Today wouldn't get any worse than it already is, Kana didn't need to focus on him like that. What she should really be focusing on is B-Komachi's first performance. Today's the last day after all. Right. Kana's fist plops onto her left hand as she prepares the group to get ready to work.

"Alright everyone! Enough sitting around, it's time to work! We want our fans to be extra happy so that we can get even more of 'em!" Kana says, looking towards the group with a pride like no other, "And when we have more fans, we'll make more money...! Not that some of you guys really need to worry about that..." that was a comment directed towards you, she meant what she said, and she said it in a passive aggressive way, but you didn't pay much attention.

"I can't believe that you're finally warming up to the idea of you being the leader, Kana! I'm so excited to be on the stage! Ahh!! I can't hold it in!!" Ruby shouts, doing a little spin as she gets up to hug Kana.

"Not you though Ruby, if you overwork yourself I will personally kill you again." Kana sighs, "In addition: You also really need to know your limits. We don't want to rush over to the sidelines to grab your inhaler on stage, do we?" Memcho and you agree as Ruby pouts.

The workout was nothing to scoff at, but Kana could tell you weren't keeping up with her and the other girls, deep down, she was happy you weren't as good as her, when it came to dancing at least. In most other things, you were a lot better, you had been an idol longer than her, technically, you had experience that neither Kana or Ruby had, the experience of being a virtual idol. Not that Kana was jealous of that though. Kana could leave you to your lackluster performance for your first ever show, or she could bring you up and show her power as the leader.

Kana chose the ladder.

Kana was meant to be a good leader, she had to be.

That's the least she could do, and if she was, maybe Aqua would make her the sun of his life.

"No [alias], you have to be faster!" Kana said, correcting your foot movement, "See, look at this part of the video, her feet aren't matching yours." Kana points at the screen as she kept her gaze at you. You were very tired, you felt like you hadn't blinked in the last 2 hours. "Hello? Are you even listening to me?"

"I- I am!" You reply, blinking to make your eyes feel less dry, "I'm just so... tired, I don't..."

"Don't say that! Today's the last day left, you can't back out now!"

"I'm not backing out! I just need a little rest, I mean– you haven't given me a water break in like forever!" You whine, pulling the mask off your face, "And it's totally not fair that–"

"I'm sorry if it's not fair, but they're better than you." Kana says bluntly, her eyes showed no remorse, you felt... bad. "You can get as many water breaks as you want when you get to their level." She did feel bad for saying it, but she couldn't tell you, to her, that was the truth.

"Oh..." You frowned, but immediately put up a different front, "☆But if I'm not hydrated I won't be able to do my best! And I really do want to do my best, I'm trying really hard!"

"Erm- well..."

"C'mon Kana! Give them a break!! And you need a break too! Just 5 minutes!" Mem shouted from the sideline, patting the empty space next to her, "It won't be long, it'll be fine!"

"It'll!!- Ugh, fine. C'mon, [alias]." Kana groaned.

"Thank you, Mem!☆" You smile, as you sit down next to her you took a deep breath in from your mouth. You fiddle with your plastic disposable water bottle, crunching it, spinning the cap around as you frown beneath your mask. Kana's words hurt a little, they might have been true but they still hurt.

It wasn't like she meant to be plain out mean, Kana was only being strict to be a good leader... and if you got hurt in the process, then maybe it would be a good thing, she could finally get rid of all the anger she'd been piling up. Still, she didn't want to hurt you too much, you were a large part of B-Komachi's newly found popularity... She wanted to apologize, but maybe not now. For now, she'll gloat in her 'victory'. Not that it's a very big one.

The other day, Aqua and Kana had a really good conversation. She can't tell if he's purposefully leading her on or if he doesn't even know what he's doing, and that makes her livid. He doesn't know what he's doing to her, he doesn't know what kind of feelings are unraveling by each passing second, and she hates him for that.

Kana Arima hates Aquamarine Hoshino, but most of all... Kana Arima hates you the most for getting in the way of her feelings, but she would never say it out loud.

She's held prisoner in her own mind, all thanks to both you and Aqua.

Kana's forehead touched the tip of her knees as she started beating herself up for thinking of her *genmate as you were sitting next to her, doing almost the same thing.

Kana Arima loves Aquamarine Hoshino, but he's in love with another.

-End of I'm_Going_to_Fade_Away

"But I'm not sure if I can go on stage, it scares the living crap out of me." You complain to Ruby, "Well at least, not an idol stage. It's so... thrilling..."

"No, don't worry, [name]! You're going to do so perfectly and you already have a million fans so you don't need to worry as much! Everyone will be so excited to see you on stage! It'll be amazing!" Ruby shouts back, quickly putting her hands over her mouth in anticipation to see if Memcho would wake up, "And if anyone needs to worry it should be me because no one knows me!! Mem has her fans, you have yours, and Kana.. has her fans too!!!" she hurriedly said in a hushed whisper.

"I heard that." Kana said, shooting up in a sitting position, staring into the back of Ruby's head.

"Sorry!!!" Ruby blushes, putting her pointer fingers together as she watches Kana lay back down, after a good 30 seconds Ruby turns back around to you and gets closer... "I totally thought that she was sleeping!"

"I'm still awake, Ruby."

"Gosh darn it, I didn't know your hearing was so good!" Ruby murmurs out to Kana, "Sorry!! Again! For realsies this time!"

"Yeah.. okay." Kana sighs, leaning on her side, facing the door.

"Ruby, maybe you shouldn't talk bad about people when they're sitting right next to you." You jokingly comment.

"Well! I wasn't talking badly, I was just saying that Kana has more fans than me!"

"No, you hesitated."

"Well that's cuz I was thinking if my comment was true or not!"

You sigh as Ruby continues to talk on and on about how excited she was. She started to make hand gestures as she kept on going, you smiled softly thinking about what was to happen tomorrow. The image of the strong stage lights glaring into your retinas made you worry.

Before you could tell Ruby about your worries, you found her asleep, curled up with her pink pillow. Your nice, fake smile faded into a real one as you looked at Ruby's resting body. Quickly, you pull her blanket to cover her whole body. Ruby shifted as she felt the weight on top of her change, but luckily for you, her eyes remained shut the entire time.

Your lips parted to say something, but nothing came out. Lifting yourself up from the floor, you quietly tiptoed around Kana and Ruby to make your way out the bedroom. As you closed the door behind you, you let out a deep sigh, using your body to make a curled up ball of limbs.

You haven't been on a stage in over... What is it? *50 years? And the last time you were on one, you died. Maybe you should talk to someone about your concerns, but who would understand? You pull yourself up from the floor yet again and slowly walk down the stairs towards the light coming from the kitchen as your hand traces the fragments on the wall next to you. Who would be awake right now?

"[name]." Said the blonde male, "You're awake?"

"Oh so it's you." You sigh, "I can't believe you were wearing that Pieyon mask again, Aqua." You start to laugh as you take the seat next to him, "Isn't it hard for you? Don't you have like asthma or something?"

"Why would you think that?"

"'Cuz Ruby has it, I thought it was genetic."

"I guess she just got the short end of the stick." He sighed, handing you a glass of water.

"Mm.. nah, I'll pass. I'll just go get my own. You probably already drank from it!" You frowned, standing back up to walk towards the water cooler, "Oh, uhm... Thanks for the offer though." You said kindly, smiling at him.

"No problem."

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Is that okay?" You quietly murmured from a distance, you barely let any sound escape from your lips.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know why..." You sighed, pulling out another crisp water bottle, "It's just that. I guess I consider you my closest friend here. And I don't want to let the other girls down." You bite your lip as you think more about the stage, "I'm just scared."

"Of?" Aqua asks, walking to your side. You ball your hands into fists as you look down at the counter in front of you, nails digging into your skin. "[name], are you okay?"

"I don't like stages. I guess." Not looking away from your bottle, "It's scary. Not in a stage fright way though, I can deal with that. But the bright lights that shine into your eyes and face... the creaky wooden flooring... how tall the stage is going to be from the ground... it's all that." You felt your heart beating a little faster, "And I'm scared for the others too. I don't want them to experience a *black sea or... anything worse." You turn your head to look up at Aqua, his face didn't flinch or change. He was still the same, stoic.

"I understand, but nothing is going to happen. It's safe up there" Aqua reassured you, "Plus there's security,and I'll be there to make sure there isn't a black sea." Your frownshifts into a slight smile after his words hit you, leaning your head against him you took another sip of water.

"I can't believe the same guy that made me run 2 miles with a cute squeaky voice is now telling me everything is going to be alright." You giggle, shutting your eyes as your small smile turns into a bigger one. You stay on him for a few more seconds before collecting yourself. "Ahem, uhm... thank you, Aqua. Besides that whole staring phase you went through, you really are quite kind."

"You're welcome." He smiled back for a second before reverting back to his usual self. Your faces were only a few centimeters apart, you could feel it coming up. His hand brushed against your ear, his lips getting closer to yours. Your eyes almost shut before you could feel it again. What is this feeling? Deep down in your core..?

Remorse.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Like, right now." You stutter out, pulling away from him. There is another deep dark feeling inside of you, but this time it was rising to your throat. You scamper to the bathroom and lock the door behind you.

You threw up.

"Bleerghh.." You cry, the burning sensation was a lot on your throat, and you don't remember the last time this happened. You want to wash your mouth out with soap even though you didn't actually do anything. You spit until the taste of vomit left your mouth. You want to beat yourself up for trying anything with Aqua. You felt bad, horrible. Pulling out your phone, you start texting up a storm to Akane. You felt like you betrayed her, how could you? To your most favorite person in the world?

You're an asshole.

It was late at night, she was probably asleep but you couldn't keep your eyes off your phone, waiting, craving for a text back. How could you sleep knowing what just happened?

"[name]." Said a familiar voice from outside the bathroom.

"Kana..? What are you.."

"I saw everything." Kana spoke softly, "And I think I know what happened."

"I'm sorry"

"There's no need to be, for me at least. Apologizing to Akane would be best, and–"

"And I'm sorry for ruining our big night"

"You didn't ruin anything"

"Yes I did."

"No you didn't. Tomorrow is our debut, we still have time- you still have time to bring yourself together. Nothing is ruined, and everything is fine."

"I'm still so sorry, you shouldn't have seen that."

"No.. I guess I should say that I'm sorry for being so hard on you."

"That doesn't correlate to what happened though."

"Are you sure? Didn't I put you through a lot of stress? I feel like that could have been a big reason as to why you felt you needed to talk to someone... which led to what just happened."

"..." You unlock the door, stumbling out to face Kana.

"Everyone else is asleep, we should too. C'mon." Kana says softly, grabbing your hand, pulling you into a warm hug once more. "And I'm sure Akane will understand." Kana pulls away from the hug first as she continues to hold your hand as the two of you walk back up to Ruby's bedroom. Inside, she sits you down as she wipes your tears. "Stay here and watch your phone... I guess. Wait for Akane's response, but you should really go to sleep. We still have a big day ahead of us." She stood back up and smiled at you before quickly leaving the bedroom as you once did.

Kana steps down the stairs to face Aqua, who was consequently groveling on the kitchen table, head in his hands. She released herself from making her soft expression while talking to you to one that's more stern and dark.

"What were you thinking, Aqua?" Her lips pressed together, making a thin line.

"I... I don't-"

"[name] has a girlfriend! And we all know you like them, but c'mon!" Kana scolds, putting her hand on Aqua's shoulder.

"It was in the moment. I didn't... I wasn't thinking straight."

"That's not a good enough excuse! Come one, Aqua! What if [name] quits B-Komachi forever because they feel too awkward?! We'd all be in shambles! They're the biggest reason why we have so many fans!"

"..."

"Just because you're obsessed with them doesn't mean you get to drag me and the other girls down."

"I don't know how you're doing this, but you're making this all about yourself."

"I- Okay, maybe. But that doesn't make the thing you just attempted any better! You need to make this right. For the group and for yourself." Kana mumbled the last part of the sentence. "You should apologize to [name], and maybe Akane too."

"Okay okay-"

"And! I'll help you throughout the entire thing because I'm such a generous being." Kana smiled, putting a hand to her lip. "So maybe back off for a little while? Play it safe I guess. And... sorry I guess for overstepping, but it was something that needed to be done! So goodnight." Kana said, quickly leaving the scene and going back to bed.

˚⋆୨ ✶ ୧⋆˚

In the morning, you shot up awake, immediately pulling your phone to your face. Akane still hadn't responded to your wall of text, in fact, she still hasn't read it. Seeing your message still on delivered left you waiting on the edge of your seat. You didn't want to move until you saw her reply, but Memcho had other plans.

"[name]!!~ What's got you so down?" she asks, propping her head on the palm of her right hand, "I heard some shuffling during the middle of the night! Did something happen?"

"Oh.. w-what?" You stutter back, not acting like your usual self, "I just uhm... I don't know..." You cough before making your personality do a complete 180, "☆I guess that my back didn't agree with me sleeping on the floor. I'm having some serious back pain right now!" You pout out, swiftly putting your phone into your pocket.

"Really? Ah well that's too bad. I'm totally sorry for taking the only bed, but I'm the oldest! So I get to have it!" She smirks, pulling herself up into a sitting position before stepping off Ruby's bed. "Let's go down and get some breakfast, I can't wait to see what Ruby and Aqua have in their fridge... maybe there's gonna be some gourmet chocolate hanging around somewhere!"

"☆Not if I get it first!" You smile, chasing after her.

Just as you step back into the kitchen, you made eye contact with Aqua. The glittering stars in your eyes inverted into a darker color as your arm promptly makes its way to your side, hugging yourself. Your head lowers itself as you quietly follow Memcho towards the fridge.

"Ah... let's see what they have here..." Mem opens the fridge with a large smile creeping up to her lips, "Oh wow."

"It's completely empty!☆" You say, a little surprised.

"Aquatan, what do you eat??" Memcho asks, confused.

"Oh. Well usually Miyako cooks for me and Ruby but nowadays she's pretty busy so we've been getting takeout." Aqua says nonchalantly, how could he say something like that so calmly in the same room, with the same person he almost kissed? You looked at the floor when he spoke.

"Well that's a shame, I definitely thought that there was going to be something super yummy!" Memcho whined, pulling a chair out directly across Aqua, "Oh yeah, where's Kana and Ruby on this important day? We have our first performance today and we're gonna depart in an hour or so, right? I didn't see them when me and [name] woke up though."

"They went out to buy a few groceries a few minutes before you came down." Aqua simply stated, tapping away at his phone.

"Ooh! That means they shouldn't be far! I could definitely catch up with them! Okay, let's do this! [name], wanna come with me?" Mem says happily, pushing the chair she just pulled out back in.

"Oh, ☆I'd love that!" You said happily.

"Okay! Let's go! Oohh it's going to be so much fun making our own meals with everyone!" Mem giggles as we skip towards the entrance, slipping our shoes on.

As soon as you open the door, you came face to face with a familiar girl.

"Akane?"

-End of Conveyed_it_to_You

Check out the other parts here! {CLICK ME}

[daegall]

[11:45]

pairing: introverted!jeno x extroverted!reader

genre: fluff, established relationship!AU, domestic!AU, non idol!AU

warnings: mentions of family feuds

word count: 658 words

a/n: hi i am so jeno biased rn enjoy this tee hee

networks/taglist: @neoturtles @knet-bakery @kflixnet @nct-writers @k-radio + @soobin-chois @markhyuckselca @jaehunnyy &lt;3

You've always loved being outside, being with other people, having as much fun as you can outside in the craziest ways, but all that changed the moment you met Lee Jeno.

Jeno was assigned to tutor you some physics, and you were quite surprised when he had told you he was an introvert. From the get-go when you met, Jeno seemed like someone who'd relate to you in finding more comfort outside than inside, but you suppose that's just because of his very loud and outgoing friends.

At first, you wondered how he could be introverted, you wanted to ask how it was to him, but it seems now that you don't even need to ask.

You find yourself at Jeno's house, finally finding time to be here after a hard week of finals. You met his sweet parents (of whom you can tell where he got his gentlemanly characteristics), and his older sister, who assured you that she would break all of Jeno's bones if he were to hurt you in any way.

Instantly, you felt at home with them.

Jeno's sister doesn't have to worry about him hurting you, however, because you're 100% sure he isn't going to. Not now at least, where he has you wrapped completely in his embrace, a book in his hands.

You have a book as well, a random one you picked from Jeno's bookshelf, and find yourself very immersed in the plotline.

On your lap, is your boyfriend's beloved cat, Bongshik, purring against the gentle touch of your hand. You loved how despite having the worst cat allergies of all time, Jeno still endlessly loves and adores all 3 of his cats. It's the vary trait that made you realize you loved him.

You understand why Jeno is such a homebody now. His house feels like a shield from everything, every distraction and bad thing on planet earth, and never once have you found it in your own home.

Maybe it's because you never really got along with any of your family members, or all the negative memories you have in your own house.

You went dwell on it now, especially not when you read along the lines of a sudden plot twist in your book.

You let out a closed mouth gasp, eyes widening, and Bongshik is also alarmed when you pet her fur a little too harsh.

Without realizing, you grip onto Jeno's sweater tighter than ever, twisting to have your cheek pressed against his shoulder, eyes never leaving the novel.

You don't notice Jeno's utmost loving gaze on you, digging your nose into the fabric of his sweater, eyes trailing across the book, your hand finally relaxing against Bongshik. Everything you do is to endearing to him.

Your beloved leans down to leave a soft kiss right above your eyebrow, his lips lingering against your skin for a solid 5 seconds, before he leans back down, grins at you when you finally get distracted from the book, and brings your head back down to meet with his body.

His chin brushes against the crown of your hair, as he buries his nose in your hair, his heart flipping when he realizes you used his sister's most sacred life saving shampoo she banned the family from using.

"Jen?"

"It's nothing, baby, go back to reading." His words barely come out as muffled words, but nonetheless you still understand him, and comply and go back to the world of your novel.

After a few minutes, Jeno sighs, removes him face from you, and brings his book back up to read.

You completely understand why Jeno feels most of his comfort at home now, you understand with each finger he threads through your hair, you understand by the way his mother interrupts the both of you to call you to the dinner table, you understand when Jeno and his sister fight over who's going to serve your food to you.

[drifloonz]

Hey I love your writing I was wondering if you can do headcannons on Glitchy red finding a way out of his game too be with the reader?

hey remember when i actively did things here. i don't. Anyways [ tries to do that again bc i forgor and i feel bad abt staring at all of these asks for so long w/o doing anything ]

glitchy red finding a way out of his game to be w/ reader :]

headcanon style bc i am exhausted of writing and prob Will be for a while. at least w glitchy specifically. i hope this is good cuz' it's mostly me detailing my brainthoughts abt how glitchy could hypothetically escape in more detail.

♡ i like to think the reader in this case-scenario gives glitchy a much needed hope and desire to escape his game, which he didn't previously have bc he's definitely THOUGHT about it but he's like... too scared of change to actually try it despite how horrible his game is, i'd think. he's used to being constantly tormented and wouldn't know how to adapt. at least, that's the excuse he uses. he's also afraid that if he succeeded he'd literally glitch out of existence and "die" since yk, game glitches or characters aren't supposed to take physical form in real life because they're pieces of code.

♡ but once he meets you and you talk of everything in your world and you show him genuine care, you make glitchy realize he wants to be there and experience those things, and that maybe change wouldn't be so bad. after all, it'd definitely be better than the constant hellscape he's living in. even if he "died" in the way that he fears, it'd probably be better than living endlessly in his game. ...probably.

♡ as such, he tries to find a way to escape his game. the thing about that? way easier said than done. he has a lot of ideas, but a lot of them sound stupid.

♡ he still tries the stupid ideas because he knows full well that he himself is something that is not supposed to happen or exist, so he'd assume the games fucked up enough that the stupid ideas might also work. who knows. his existence isn't logical, him getting out of the game doesn't have to be either. that's his logic, anyways - it's not like he's supposed to be a physically existing being, either.

♡ some ideas he has consist of screwing with his weird dream powers, because he can usually affect peoples real bodies with them... so he can probably find a way to manifest through that, right?

♡ or maybe screwing around with the glitches in his game... a classic missingno to try and manipulate code, messing with the safari zones various quirks, hell, maybe he could break the game so bad that it somehow gives in to his desires and gives him an out through the broken mess of code while it collapses in on itself...

♡ he's afraid to try all of these because it'll probably make things way worse if it fails, and he never likes willingly interacting with the monstrous glitches in his game, but hey, you can't get much worse than the state the games already in. and if you can, he's almost definitely seen it, or seen worse.

♡ or maybe he could use a porygon...? but that'd be stupid, it's only code in a game, it couldn't possibly be Actually Able to do anything from being a pokemon said to be made from "programming code" could it...?

♡ ... which may or may not work. like i said, he isn't supposed to exist, but he does. any way he can exit the game can be similarly unlogical, barely explainable, and stupid, i feel.

♡ the most "logical" way to make glitchy a physical form is to make a robot that has a cartridge slot and slot it in and glitchys programming just takes it over and controls its autonomy and transfers his consciousness into it or something. but that requires you to have pretty deep knowledge of programming and AI and robotics for that to be executed well so. y'know.

♡ the other less logical way... but it still makes sense is like. him using someone as a vessel. he has dream powers. dreams are connected to consciousness, specifically your unconscious, and your thinking and your brain and stuff like that. if he cared enough, he could probably easily take over someone's entire - or most of - their body this way. although i do not think and also hope you don't have a human sacrifice laying around, and glitchy would not willingly take this from you either. even if it was someone who wronged him, he'd probably still feel too cruel abt it.

♡ it'd also probably have to have a very good antivirus bc i feel like inserting glitchys cartridge into anything has a possible chance to make said piece of technology fuck up real bad

♡ anyways.

♡ every time he fails or the method doesn't work out correctly, it pisses him off, but he's always been persistent. he treks forward even though it feels hopeless, sometimes.

♡ this quickly becomes a lesson in futility and he gets more and more frustrated every time he turns up with a failed attempt, and it sometimes makes his game even more glitchy and broken. but eventually. eventually he gets there.

♡ regardless of the way he gets out of the game, when he finally escapes and manifests in your world, he's probably just in your room or wherever you left the gameboy. or whatever you're playing his game on.

♡ he either crawls out through the screen, appears after a flash of convenient blinding light, or he forms out of glitching light from the cartridge or something like the cartridge is his gem from steven universe or something.

♡ maybe he'd still have to take a few days to gain an actual physical body in the real world, and he's basically a hologram or hallucination for a while. or maybe he can physically interact, but mostly just with your body and a few select items. he's also, as you can expect, still glitchy constantly IRL. maybe less when he's happy, but that never goes away. his glitches are like scars - they might get better and "heal" but they're always sort of there.

♡ i think it's also funny if before he gains the ability to physically interact he's basically only viewable to you for a while until he gains more physicality. he's using your subconscious to make him a form! by making you will his image into existence and into the collective unconscious!! or something!!! Nobody knows how the hell it works and it also depends on which way you think he would've escaped. highly interpretable and all that.

♡ regardless. he is mostly happy and safe and with you now. glitchy can be pretty smart and think quickly when he wants to, and this was a big example of it. he just really needs the hope and passion to drive himself forward, since he lost his hope and passion... prettttyy long ago, after his world got glitchy and broken. he didn't see a point to much anything and was very existential and all.

♡ so! you gave him that drive and motivation. not an easy thing to do. be proud of yourself. i hope you like him btw he's very clingy and won't leave your side for a good while.

[desultory-novice]

who would be more traumatized?

Marx who literally was to the verge of death <like this close 🤏>

or

Magolor who got possesed with an acient artifact? <he wasnt as close as Marx to dying tbh>

In strictly canon terms, Magolor went on to build a theme park and literally invite the Master Crown (riding Landia) to come play and Marx seems really gleeful to be Marx so I'd argue neither of them!

^_^

.............

:psst psst: ...But if we're talking Dess's very particular brand of Kirby-verse, and I assume you wouldn't be writing me if you didn't want to hear my very specific Kirby worldview...

...Okay, so, the first time I rolled this answer over in my head, my heart immediately spat out: "Marx."

Because Magolor does have his theme park! He has his ambitions. The crown manipulated him in a lot of horrible ways, but he has something outside of that, which he is slowly regaining. He also has friends - though the degree of friendship was in doubt for about 10 years. Yes, I'm certain that having your warped and twisted body, practically bursting with power too great for you to possibly wield and puppeted by a malevolent artifact while you're not even free to scream about it is an experience beyond horrible...!

But...let's look at Marx here.

Marx has no friends.

We GIVE him friends. We say he's friends with the Wave 1 group and we see no strong reasons he shouldn't be. (Even if we don't know what they have in common...) But a few of us have tried to advance the cause of Marx + Animal Friends + Gooey = good pals! We also say he's friends/found family with Gryll, a character he's never been on screen with! We say he's friends (and some of us say he's more than) with Magolor - who he also hasn't TRULY been on screen with!

The closest thing he has to a friend is Kirby. And some of that stems from the fact that a very "...distinctive..." looking gag manga made up The Most Believable Backstory for Marx in his 25 years of existence! This isn't the first time people have assumed Marx and Kirby had a complex friendship, however. (And I'm incredibly fond of reading a lot into their having something, with or without any canon backing.)

But...

...While Magolor remembered HIS wish, Marx never did - if he even had one. We won't know until further evidence is provided if Marx was manipulated into wanting control of Popstar but if he did, then he was just as much a victim as Magolor...

And if he wasn't manipulated... well, he's just empty, isn't he? And isn't that more sad, in a way? The silly clown just wanted one star. One star, all for his own. And it's a wish he'll never, ever get...

Marx is considered by some to kind of an empty character. I would say to be so "empty" is actually really tragic...

(You don't even have to get into HC territory, about Marx's lack of hands or Marx's resemblance to a Noddy or Marx sharing a few design elements with Nightmare but if you do, it gets WORSE.)

Back to canon, we have no idea how long Marx was floating through space, in a state of near/undeath, unable to move. We only ASSUME Magolor picked him up in the Starcutter. But if so... when...?

And you know how 'everything is a MF Jojo's reference?'

I made a slight note in a random post last year about Marx's heart theming reminding me of Dio, but I gotta say, the JJBA villain that Marx reminds me of the most is Kars. His "death" just gives very "Eventually he stopped thinking" vibes. (I suppose there's a chance that actually factored into my "Clockwork Marx = Marx Can't Die" theory, now that I put it all together like that.)

And even though Marx is back again, one has to question what the overall effect of his experiences was on him? We don't see if Magolor has crown scars under his silly tophat. But we know Marx bleeds Fecto Green and can do other scary tricks. Does he love them?

He seems to. But just as a lot of people DO headcanon Magolor to have those scars, just as many people have HC'd that Marx can...lose control of his body horror tricks. And the results aren't pleasant.

Of course, ju~st as soon as I had settled on Marx's personal and unspoken tragedy being kinda more sad than Magolor's, well...

...I remembered The True Arena...! DAMN YOU, TRUE ARENA MAGOLOR...!! :sobbing endlessly:

Because we can't just stop at "had his body puppetted against his will while he was forced to watch" now can we?! Noooo! Because Kumazaki won't give us anything nice! (Just kidding & thank you for all the good angst food every time, Director, sir! Love it!)

Because Magolor is literally crying for help. Have you listened to "Supreme Overlord's Coronation" recently?! God... the sounds he makes... He can barely get out Kirby's name amidst his gasps. The Master Crown has rendered him blind, having Stolen His Eyes along with everything else, so that Magolor can't even visualize whether there is any hope; whether "he" has killed Kirby or Kirby is still fighting for his sake (and can he HEAR at this point or is that gone too?) but he never.stops.calling.for.him. Let me say that again:

He never stops crying out for Kirby to save him. Can you imagine being in THAT much pain?! That's hurt and fear and death all in one. But he doesn't even have the mercy of dying...?! He's carried away from us, out of reach, still a victim of the crown, his haunting cries echoing in our ears. Where has he gone? Will he ever be free or will Magolor's fate linger in our nightmares for another decade?

Of course, True Arena Magolor may just be out of the running for this whole argument because, again, as we don't know if he shall ever be free, it's hard to talk about how traumatized he is if the trauma is actually unending/still present. But if he is ever rescued alive from that fate worse than death (else he may just suffer until the Crown has finished absorbing the last bits of his soul and he ceases to be "Magolor") I would think the mental scarring from that experience is probably going to be as near to permanent damage as you can get.

So, from least traumatized to most: Game Marx < Game Magolor <<<<< Dess's Magolor < Dess's Marx <<<<<<<<<< True Arena Magolor

[halftheway]

hazebur playlist walkthru with lyrics linked for the 2 ppl that will read it<3

(you won't feel a thing - the script) this one feels very ah!wilbur pov. the determined protector who's been through hell several times over and refuses to have anyone she cares about go through anything similar, even if it means she herself has to take the brunt of life's harm to keep them out of its way

(falling in love (will kill you) - wrongchilde ft gerard way) what it says on the tin<3 haze is falling in love for the first time and it makes them feel like they're dying a lot of the time. the refrain at the end of "i collapse into your arms (it'll kill you)" feels very fitting for how all they want at the end of the day, even through the nerves and uncertainty, is to just be around wilbur

(pink in the night - mitski) this one is a doozy. haze started to fall first, even though they'd never admit how early, and kept their growing feelings close to their chest, never really admitting to anyone. their first kiss was actually a series of kisses; haze had never done it before & they wanted so badly to do it right, and they're very thankful wilbur was patient and let them figure it out. they've only kissed twice since then and haze is too shy to even daydream about it, let alone ask for more. on the flipside, in group settings haze is often somewhat removed, whether by choice or happenstance, but more often than not they're looking at wilbur even when someone else is the center of her attention

(songbird - fleetwood mac) just a beautiful, tender song about wanting your love to only experience happiness and warmth, from everything in the world but especially from you<3

(arms tonite - mother mother) WE COULD'VE HAD IT ALL, CHAT! haze spent their month in the arena walking, endlessly searching for wilbur. they wanted out of the game on their own terms, and they knew death at wilbur's hand would be a merciful, peaceful end. they didn't get what they wanted, but hearing wilbur say she would have killed them, if they asked, was comforting. they sometimes imagine what it would have been like, if she'd hold them and slit their throat, if she'd run them through with her sword and catch their lifeless body. they'll never get to find out, though

(electric touch - taylor swift ft fall out boy) haze has never been in Love before, but that doesn't mean they've never been infatuated. it hasn't ended well, historically, but they can't help but to hope. things with wilbur kind of swing back and forth between making them hate themself and floating on clouds, which maybe isn't how love is supposed to make you feel but haze is still clinging to the dream that someday it'll level out and they'll finally have someone want them back

(follow through - the altogether) i have nothing to say go read the lyrics. it's both of their povs i literally cannot stress enough just listen to it. it's hazebur.

(mess is mine - vance joy) where they will hopefully be one day, actually communicating about the things weighing on them and choosing to stay together, choosing to take each other for the good and bad, not just in spite of it. not being afraid to the darker side of themselves and being vulnerable enough to share their burdens

(i wanna be your dog - dbmk/(let me be your) teddy bear - elvis presley) haze just wants to be something uncomplicated. something loved simply, wholly, unconditionally. they think they're easier to love when they are something small and cute

(deep water - american authors) everything with water imagery takes on such a new meaning for haze on account of. blazeborn. anyway. amazing song about wanting to seek depth but being afraid of losing yourself, and asking for someone to be there with you, to help you survive the intensity of it all

(take me to church - hozier) he wrote this because he knew ah!wilbur would come to be ten years later i'm sorry but it's simply about her. circling back to the dog imagery a little bit, as well as wilbur avoiding telling haze the truth about the basement And haze thinking about wilbur killing them. anyway "my lover's the sunlight"

(manta rays - chloe moriondo) it's all for you, it's all for you, it's all for you, it's always for you. is it the healthiest? no<3 but it's never not for you

(luv note - chloe moriondo) double whammy of 'love' songs that are actually just haze's poor self image & the way they put wilbur on a pedestal<3 once again we revisit the theme of wanting to be a Thing, something whose worth is only in its beauty and the way you feel about it

(feel things - amava) you make me feel like i'm wanted! want this, you and i, in every life<3

(no words - the script) haze has written probably a few dozen letters to wilbur at this point and has still never actually described how she makes them feel. partly because they're afraid to show how Much they feel, but also because she's so many things it's impossible to capture everything she is in words

(come into the water - mitski) simple and sweet<3 they are very gentle with each other despite not being gentle people themselves... think wilbur softly reassuring haze before their first kiss and haze averting their eyes when wilbur wears more revealing clothing

(heaven's gate - fall out boy) once again the pedestal<3 but also "you're the one habit i just can't kick"– there have been several instances where haze could've and maybe Should've cut things off with wilbur, but they just can't make themself stop

(she's the prettiest girl at the party, and she can prove it with a solid right hook - frank iero) WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN!!! haze's past bad luck with romance has them half-convinced things with wilbur won't work out, but they still desperately want to try anyway, even if being in love with her sometimes feels like dying. they also, selfishly, want to have her time and attention all to themself, even though they know her world is so much bigger than any one person. they're cranky and crabby and don't know how to be a person, but when wilbur says she likes them just for who they are, they can almost believe it.

and that's it<3 there are a handful more songs on the playlist, but these are the ones that i wanted to highlight

[ohhgingersnaps]

Hrm...what's a fun and different ship to ask about lmfao...oh yes. What do you think about Wizard/Linus? Oh and also I actually saw Maru/Sam once and while that's kinda crack I also love it? What do you think? 😂

Oooh Wizard/Linus is ship I haven't considered before!! I could see it working— I could see this ship falling into Grumpy Old Man Divorcee/Free-Spirited Sunshine territory, which I do enjoy (albeit the Sunshine here is one who's a bit wary of other people, but I love a good slow burn).

Re: Maru/Sam, my feelings are !!!! YES. It's an OTP for me. Sam's very emotionally intelligent, upbeat, and a good listener, and he is endlessly supportive as a spouse. He's had to shoulder a lot of responsibility with Kent gone, and imo he's more mature than he seems (see: the cutscene with Vincent), but he has learned to chill. And Maru is passionate, intelligent, outgoing, and ambitious, but she also needs to undergo the process of differentiating herself from her dad that Sam kind of had to undergo when Kent left, and navigating that is a huge part of her in-game arc (or it was intended to be, even if it comes across as more Demetrius' arc than Maru's imo).

Sam's tendency to question societal expectations of productivity, and his ability to relax, will be good for Maru, actually! Let Maru question the expectations she (and Demetrius) puts on herself a little bit. Get that girl a man who challenges her to ask what she wants, instead of what she thinks she's "supposed" to do and be. ("Did you get everything done on [your research project] today? If you didn't I won't be mad!" <- a post-marriage quote from Sam that Maru would greatly benefit from hearing more)

Also, once he gets the job at the library/museum?? In my mind, he is burning custom-tailored playlists for her and sliding the CDs in alongside the books she puts on reserve. He is constantly asking for her opinions on his songs. They infodump at each other (him about music, her about her latest fun chemistry or mechanical engineering thing) (yes I am sprinkling in some autism/ADHD solidarity here). She is fixing his audio equipment with scraps she finds around the lab like MacGyver and he thinks it's the absolute coolest thing.

Also worth mentioning: Sam isn't set on a traditional career. If Maru's pursuing a full-time STEM career (as she wants and deserves to!), this is actually a benefit, logistically speaking. From personal experience, a STEM career requires constant relocating from college age through your late twenties (undergrad -> PhD -> postdoc), which makes romantic relationships during that stage of life notoriously difficult— not to mention the "two-body problem" dilemma she'll face if she ends up wanting to go into academia. A STEM career is a lot easier to navigate if your partner is open to rearranging their own career to move with you.

Side note: Demetrius would not approve of Sam, at least at first. He's near and dear to my heart, but he tends to have Ideas About How Things Should Go, and I don't think it's easy for him to let go of the idea that his little girl deserves someone who has the same type of talents and intelligence and can "provide for her" in the traditional sense, despite Maru a) being happy and fulfilled because of Sam's differences, b) recognizing that Sam's talents and ambitions, while less traditional and financially stable, are incredibly valuable, and c) being fully capable of being the main breadwinner. There's a whole character arc of "Demetrius learns to let Maru be a grown woman who makes her own decisions, even if he doesn't understand them, and Maru learns to be cool with her dad not approving of her choices" that's begging to be written, here.

Also, secondary to the rest of it, but I can't get over the idea of Sam going through Maru's two-heart event. Demetrius tries to give Sam a shovel talk and our favorite golden retriever boy immediately goes "haha oh yeah Maru's the BEST isn't she? :D" and spends the next ten minutes rambling about what Cool Fun Science Girl Vibes she has. This is fully off-script from the scenarios Demetrius prepped in his head, and he has no idea how to respond.

Thank you for asking!! I apologize that this turned into such an essay, I'm just really invested in them haha :)