#because running it is getting a bit boring

[bambiihee]

OFF TO THE RACES ˒˒ 박종성

♫ off to the races 一 lana del rey

you thought a punishment was what you wanted to cure how badly you missed your sugar daddy, but you slowly realize that your need for him ran much deeper than just that.

⧼ 📜 ⧽ 一 pairing。 ⸝⸝ park jongseong x fem!reader 𓄵 feat。 sim jaeyun (unamed)

genre。⋆ smut, pwp, sugar daddy!jay, sugar baby!reader, est. relationship, angst themes

warnings。⸝⸝ daddy kink, rough sex to soft sex, bdsm, hard to soft dom!jay, praise kink, degredation kink (slut, whore), unprotected sex, breeding kink, creampies, talks of marriage, jay is a bit of an asshole, squirting, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, whipped jay and whipped reader word count。3. 6 k ╱ ⧼ 🗝️ ⧽ 一 to library。

author's note。⸝⸝ this ended up being a wee bit longer than i intended... as usual... oops...

͏ ͏ ͏͏ ͏ ͏͏ ͏ ͏ ͏͏ ͏ ͏͏   ͏  ͏ ͏͏ ͏ ͏ ͏  ͏ ͏͏ FEEDBACK 𓇼 REBLOGS APPRECIATED!

You know it makes you sound bratty and ungrateful, but sometimes you really hated Jay’s job. Sure, as the current CEO of his father’s old company he made enough money for you to stay at home without a care in the world, pampered and spoiled beyond your wildest dreams… but the sacrifices he made to keep you happy meant long hours at the office and constant business trips that could last anywhere from days to a month at a time. His grand, lofty penthouse just felt sterile and hollow without him inside of it, his california king bed like a wide, lonely island without him in it waking up next to you. Were all of these designer clothes and luxury brands even worth it, if he wasn’t there to enjoy them with you? Your friends had invited you to a club on one of the nights he had been out of town last, and while you felt dozens of eyes on you all night in your tight, expensive dress, the only eyes you cared to ever gaze upon you were the ones of your boyfriend’s. 

It was a dress he had picked out himself. In some odd way, it made you feel held by him. As you brushed off numerous advances from faceless, unimportant men and the irritated jeers of your friends as you turned down following them to the dancefloor, your thoughts were consumed only of him, how much you missed him, how badly you wished to feel his hot, heavy stare upon your back. 

Now Jay was back again, running off the plane and into your arms, if only to give you a kiss and to shove an invitation into your hands– another wretched business party for you to attend as his plus one, spending the entire evening bored out of your mind and clinging to Jay’s arm.

You’ve never told him that you hated the parties, partly because you feared bruising his ego, and partly because they were manageable enough with you able to drown your sorrows in free cocktails. You agreed with a tight-lipped smile and without much fight, though now as you stared down in the drink in your hand, you wish you had the courage to speak your mind. There was hardly any time for the two of you to enjoy being in each other's presence again before you had to get ready and go meet his driver, hardly got more than a hug and a few words before Jay, Your Boyfriend became Jay, The Businessman.

Two years ago, when your relationship was nothing more than an arrangement to get you through college, you couldn’t seem to ever get a moment away from him. Constantly blowing up your phone asking where you are or who you were with, showing up uninvited to your work or your school with lavish gifts that drew more attention than you ever wanted. Back then, you had half the mind to think you hated him. You only stayed with him because of his money.

That was the lie you told yourself, at least. That it was the money that kept you crawling back for more, not his chiseled, handsome face and how sexy he looks when he’s pissed off. It wasn’t because under that cold, aloof exterior, Jay was a hopeless romantic with a deep desire to love and to be loved. He showed it in everything he did, such a gentleman with you even though he didn’t talk like one.

Now you’re in too deep to lie anymore. You miss him breathing down your neck, his vigilant, protective eye over you, something you used to complain about when you were still simply business partners. It wasn’t long after you officially became his girlfriend did his father officially retire from his company and had Jay take over as the CEO. It was something that Jay had been anticipating for his entire life, but he still ended up far in over his head; his workload increased tenfold seemingly overnight, all of these meetings and deals keeping him in the office until late into the night. He makes more money than he ever had before, and he tries to make up for his absence with pricier and pricier gifts, but no amount of designer could ever make up for the way you long for his touch, the memory of his kisses haunting you in your dreams. You’d do anything for his undivided attention again.

The business party was a lot like your night out with your friends. You still felt just as lonely even with Jay there. He was constantly tugged aside by business partner after business partner, colleague after colleague, leaving you to wait alone at the bar. 

There was one particular colleague of Jay’s that he disliked more than the others. He’d never really explained to you why, though you suppose it may have something to do with the way he slid into the barstool next to you like he owned the place, the way he leaned in to introduce himself like you didn’t already know the names of all your boyfriend’s enemies. If Jake recognizes who you are, he doesn’t show it, boyish features staying bright and his smile toothy as he offers to buy you a drink. 

Warning sirens blared in your head, but you looked danger head-on with a flirty grin of your own; a plan was beginning to form in your head, one that guaranteed Jay’s attention whenever he wanted to give it or not. At least, it felt like a good plan at the time. With a rather large emphasis on felt, because with as many drinks as you had knocked back within those last few hours you weren’t doing much critical thinking at all.

You agreed with a sickenly sweet smile, and with another fruity cocktail on your painted lips it became easy to giggle at his unfunny jokes. Part of you knew this was a bad idea, screaming at you in the back of your mind, but you were far too gone to listen or care. The man stuttered and jumbled up his words when you placed a hand on his shoulder, but his grin grew from ear to ear, and he placed his own hand on your upper thigh. He was far too close to the hem of your dress for your liking, but it was exactly what you wanted to happen. Jay was somewhere in the vicinity, you were sure of it, never one to leave you unsupervised no matter where you went– he always insisted it was protectiveness, but you knew it was far more possessive than that. To see your hands on another man was one thing, but seeing a man touch you so intimately like this… sometimes a man standing a little too close was enough for him to see red. And that was when he was sober; you’ve caught him down a couple of drinks himself in the brief times you’d caught sight of him.

If you played your cards right, Jay would waltz back over and take you back home in no time at all. Then you could finally have him all to yourself, tangled in his thousand-thread count egyptian sheets and enjoying the feeling of his strong, firm body pressed against you.

And you knew him all too well, because within seconds of you placing your hand on his coworker you felt his presence materialize behind you, heavy and dark, his large hand cupping the small of your back and tracing the hem of your backless dress. You had him right where you wanted him, wrapped around your finger like always… but then you turned and took in his face, blank and unreadable except for his eyes. 

He wasn’t looking at you at all. Sharp as a knife, his stare was focused squarely on his colleague beside you, a certain glint in his dark irises that you don’t think you’ve ever seen before. Something wild, untamed. Murderous, even, enough to send a cold thrill up your spine even if you knew your boyfriend to be the softest man you’ve ever met underneath his cold exterior. 

“Jong, I–” you stammer, panic rising in your throat. You don’t think you’ve ever seen him this angry. 

He grabs your wrist with a bruising force, tearing it off of his colleague and tugging you up out of the barstool and to your feet. “Get in the car.”

“Wait–!”

“I said get in the fucking car.”

“Do you just like pissing me off? Is that it?” Jay growls, tugging you straight from the car to the bedroom. “Acting like a whore in front of all of my colleagues. You want to get into their wallets too, huh? Or are you embarrassing me in public just over some dick?”

“No, Daddy, I-I’m sorry, I–!”

“If dick’s what you want, I’ll let you fucking have it.” he snarls, cutting you off. With a rough shove you’re practically thrown onto the mattress, landing on your back hard enough to knock the wind out of you. “That’s what you wanted, right, princess? You were letting that man touch all over you to get a rise out of me. I bought you a new dress, new shoes, and this is how you act? Spoiled brat. You want your daddy to punish you? I’ll give you what you want, you little whore. Gonna put you back in your place.”

He’s on top of you before you can blink, his rough and calloused hands tearing your sparkly new dress to shreds with ease. The paper thin fabric rips from your body loudly, cast aside onto the floor in an expensive, shimmery puddle. You open your mouth to protest, but it dies on your tongue; you fear what would happen if you provoke him any further, and besides, there wasn’t any point in complaining. He’ll just buy you another one. You went braless because of its scooping back, leaving you only in a tiny pair of black panties. He pauses for a moment to admire the dainty, intricate lacing before tearing them apart too. “I should have bent you over and fucked you right there at the bar.” he growls in your ear, “Shown him and everyone else just who you belong to, who fucking owns you. This pussy? It’s mine.”

You’re left completely bare beneath him while he’s only taken off his shoes and blazer, crisp white button up shirt and dark suit pants crumpled and disheveled from your greedy hands. One of his large hands comes down to cup your aching mound, long thick fingers sliding up between your folds to smear your dripping arousal around. “Fuck, you’re so wet and I haven’t even touched you.” Jay marvels with a groan. The rough pad of his middle finger wets your budding clit, encouraging it to peek out more from its little hood. “Who owns this pretty pussy, baby, hm? Tell me.”

It takes you too long to speak, your thoughts fractured and scattered about. Jay warns you in the form of a harsh slap to your pussy. “Tell me.” he repeats venomously. 

“Y-You! You do, Daddy! I’m sorry! Daddy owns this pussy, it’s Daddy’s, no one else's–”

Your near-incoherent babbling seems to be enough for now, your daddy rewarding you with a pleased hum and a roll of his fingers against your clit before his hands retract again to grab ahold of his belt. The clink of the buckle is enough to get squirming, thighs clenching together in an effort to soothe the ache between your legs as Jay makes quick work of undoing his pants. He doesn’t bother to undress himself any further, simply pulls his slacks down just enough to pull out his cock, thick and heavy spilling out from his unzipped fly. 

“Keep those legs open.” He orders, prying your legs apart with a surprising amount of force, his deep raspy voice dripping with dominance. “Gotta remind you that this cunt’s not yours to whore around with, since you can’t seem to fucking remember.”

You have no choice but to obey, his grip like velvet-cased steel, forcing you open and laid out underneath him. His dark eyes rake over your most intimate parts, hungry gaze growing heavy as it travels from your perky breasts, bouncing from your heaving chest, down to your glistening cunt. The puffy folds of your pussy lips quiver and weep between your parted thighs, preening for attention. To get Jay angry was exactly what you wanted, yet it somehow felt wrong, his attention still hollow and detached. Regret and guilt eats away at your lust, makes you squirm beneath Jay’s touch as he drags his palms over the expanse of your thighs. What you really wanted was his love; the softer, gentler kind that held you close and whispered sweet nothings into your hair. You want his praise, want to be drowned in his adoration as he worships your body. 

Originally, what you thought you had wanted was to get fucked, hard. But you realize now that it was a lot deeper than that.

Jay picks up the shift in your mood immediately, his face softening in concern. He’s always been so in tune with your emotions, able to pick up the smallest shifts in your body language, the microscopic changes in your expression. It’s as if your thoughts were written out on your skin for him to read, something he’s read before; the notes of his favorite song, familiar enough that he can thoughtlessly pluck out on one of his many guitars. “What’s the matter, baby? He asks you in a soft voice, slowly retracting his fingers, “You don’t want your punishment?” 

You can’t stop yourself from pouting childishly, the tears that had been gathering on your lashes threatening to spill over when you shake your head. “I’m sorry Daddy.” you mumble pitifully, fighting a losing battle trying not to cry. 

Jay reaches up to cup your flushed cheeks in his palms, soothing your soft hiccups and cries with a gentle coo. “Shhh, don’t be sorry, sugar, what happened? Talk to me.” 

“I miss you.” you admit, the guilt and embarrassment eating you alive; you turn your face to hide in his hand, your cheeks wetter than you would like to admit. “I feel like I never even get to see you anymore! I know… I know you work hard, and I’m sorry, but I– I just want it to be like how it was before, when you had time for me. It’s not fair! Finally I’m really your girlfriend, not just your– your whore, and suddenly you’re too busy to spend any time with me! I just…. I just want your attention, Jay.”

Jay blinks down at you once, then twice. And then the realization comes down on him like a crashing wave, those dark eyes of his widening as they scan over your sad little face. “Oh, sweet thing,” he breathes, any lingering dregs of his domineering persona falling away completely, leaving him exposed and unguarded. He scoops you up into his arms and presses sweet gentle kisses to your forehead and temple. “I’m so sorry, sugar, I’ve been neglecting you, haven’t I?”

You burrow your face into his broad, muscled chest and sniffle. 

“My poor baby… she needs her daddy so badly, doesn’t she? Shhh, princess, Daddy’s got you. Daddy will take care of you…”

And one thing Jay will never do to you is lie. When he lies you back town to take you again it’s slower and gentler than he had ever done so before. He slowly and thoroughly stretches you open on his fingers even though you’ve been dripping for hours, doesn’t stop until the tears in your eyes were from pleasure instead of pain. It’s only after he makes you cum does he finally push himself inside of you, perfect and familiar like coming home. His cock is so thick that it still burns regardless of how much he’s prepped you, but the sting only adds to your euphoria. 

Jay slides inside in one smooth thrust, fully sheathing himself inside of you until his heavy balls press up against your cunt. He’s so deep you swear you can feel him up in your throat, body absolutely alight with the pleasure of being so fucking full. Your gummy wet walls grip his veiny shaft greedily, squeezing him tight enough to make him throw his head back and grunt. 

“Tight pussy,” he grits out between clenched teeth. His strained voice comes out in a rushed exhale. “Ffffuck, let me in. You need to open up for me, baby.”

He spit the words so filthily, making your tummy turn with desire. His thick fat cock spreads your little pussy lips apart and stretches you open so blissfully, your cunt gushes around his shaft and greedily sucks him in even deeper. Jay curses and grinds his cockhead hard against the opening of your cervix, a painful kiss that makes you gasp out. He slides himself out before you can recover, leaving only his flared cockhead inside to keep your hole gaping. 

“Are you ready, sweet thing?” he coos, gentle voice betrayed by the animalistic look in his eyes.

He steadies himself with his hand splayed out across your lower stomach, pressing down with the heel of his palm. You nod excitedly. 

The first rough, strong thrust into your pussy knocks the breath out of you. The ones right after it keep you from gaining it back, all of the air leaving you in the moans that Jay’s powerful rhythm tears from your throat. Soon the room is full of the sound of skin on skin, that filthy, pornographic plap, plap, plap of his hips slamming against your ass making your ears burn. Your pussy squelches loudly every time it welcomes his cock inside, dribbling cum and arousal down onto the bed sheets. 

You reach your second climax in what seems like no time at all, but Jay shows no sign of stopping– in fact, he seems to only pound into you harder and faster, focused expression on his flushed sweaty face like he was hunting something. 

“D-daddy, daddy, you gotta slow down!” you manage to stutter out between whimpers and whines, but Jay only answers you with his thumb and finger pinching your clit, the sudden shock of white-hot pleasure nearly making you scream. 

“Fuck, I can’t, love this pussy too much,” he groans against your neck, hot lips and tongue gliding against your needy skin. “Love the way you feel when you cum around me, babydoll, you clench down so fucking hard– need you to do it again, make you feel so good over and over. Give Daddy another one.” 

So you do, give him two more til you’re certain your cervix is bruised, til there’s a filthy, frothy white ring around the base of his cock like a wedding band. But that’s still not enough, not even after Jay’s cum himself, shot his hot sticky load deep inside of you and filled your empty little womb up to the point you’re dribbling it down the backs of your legs. The pleasure is so intense it’s almost painful, your poor abused cunt overstimulated beyond belief– the next time you feel another orgasm creeping up on you, it feels so much more intense than any other one you’ve ever had before, hot lava building pressure in your pelvis and only intensified by Jay’s hand pressed down hard on your tummy. You barely have time to warn him before the volcano erupts and you’re squirting all over his chest and abdomen, drenching his abs and his balls in your essence. 

Jay’s hips stutter wildly, his rhythm quickly falling apart into sloppy, staccato bucks into your tight heat. “That’s so fucking hot,” he whimpers like it pains him, his eyes rolling back in his head. “Marry me please.”

“Wh-what?” 

“I’m gonna marry you. I’m gonna make you my wife, all mine, gonna put that baby in your belly that you’ve been wantin’ so bad. What do you think, princess? My little housewife carrying my babies…”

You’re too fucked out to properly digest any of what he’s saying, sobbing and hiccupping with the pleasure that wracked your body. “Yes, yes!” you shriek– you’d agree to anything Jay said as long as you get to feel him flood you with his seed again. “Anything you want, Daddy, please!”

Jay just can’t help but spoil your pussy as much as he spoils the rest of you, and when you cum for a fourth and final time he drives himself as deep inside of you as he can and releases another load of hot thick cum into your greedy hole. You rake your perfectly manicured nails down his broad, muscled back as your pussy milks him of every last drop, your walls fluttering from the pained hiss he lets out when they break the skin. You know you’ll catch him admiring the marks you’d left behind in the mirror tomorrow morning, lopsided grin on his face from all the angry red marks.

“I meant it,” he mumbles into your hair when you both come down from your highs, laid tangled together on expensive sheets ruined and cum stained. “I’m gonna marry you one day.”

His cock is still buried deep inside of you, thick globs of cum seeping out from where you’re connected; you look up at him with eyes full of satisfaction and love, your makeup ruined and running down your face in dark sparkly streaks. There are smeared lipstick stains across Jay’s own face and down his neck and chest. 

“Okay.” you reply, stifling a giggle and cuddling deeper into his sticky chest. “It better be a good ring.”

[bmwiid]

I have a script I run when I'm in a situation with new people I don't know. I need a script because I feel like sitting waiting for something to pop up is never going to happen and the silence is the worst.

Mention something about the other person that you noticed FIRST - as long as its nice.

"I love your shoes! Where did you get them?"

"Your glasses are so cool! I've been trying to find a pair that suit me, where did you get those?"

"Is that a tattoo of 'insert pop culture or whatever it is'? Its really well done - how long did it take?"

The way to do it is to try and point out a thing, then compliment it, then ask an open ended question about it. Try to avoid things that can have a yes or no answer.

LISTEN to what they say. If they are like "I got my shoes from a thrift shop" then you can open up a whole world of conversation about bargains and thrifting finds. If they say they got them online - you can say that you worry about fitting or quality when you cant see the item in person. If they say they just bought em at ASDA or a shoe shop, then you can say something like "oh its really cool the different styles they have now! They just used to be so boring! I found a pair of... insert cool find at a regular shop.

This is really handy for people you might only meet once or twice in social situations - they'll remember you as a nice person who complimented them - and if they are going to be more of a fixture, they'll think your nice and will be happy to overlook you messing up bit socially because you've earned that positive interaction from the jump.

I feel like in the rush of “throw out etiquette who cares what fork you use or who gets introduced first” we actually lost a lot of social scripts that the younger generations are floundering without.

[race-cntrl]

𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞

summary: after oscar’s race win spain, he feels he’s deserving of a reward

warnings: MDNI 18+ smut smut smut!! like no plot!! includes cunnilingus, hand jobs, and unprotected p in v sex (wear protection irl, do as i say not as i do). also use of the pet name love. lmk if i missed anything because this was not proofread.

word count 1.5k

୨୧

Oscar laid flat on the hotel bed sighing with satisfaction with a mix of exhaustion. Playfully you climbed on top of him sporting his medal from this weekend’s race win. Your legs straddled his waist and Oscar looked up at you, his hands on your hips.

“You look so good with my medal on, whoever decided to add medals to the rewards deserve a raise.” Oscar’s hands ran up your sides. settling under your shirt.

“Yeah, it's a great addition to my jewelry collection. Gold is my color.” You joke playing with Oscar’s hair.

He mumbles an agreement as eyes travel your body. A heat grew in his chest, it was in knots. Desire and lust entangled into one. “However, you look amazing in any color. Especially papaya.”

His nails drag against your skin making a shiver crawl up your spine.

“You’re getting flirtatious, you want something Mr. Piastri?” You ask. Moving your hands from his hair to rest at his chest.

He sat up keeping his hands tightly on your side. “What if I am?” He kissed your jaw lightly.

You smile, “Well depends on what you want?”

“I’m thinking of a small reward for my valiant victory…”

You scoff at his tone, “Valiant…?”

“Yeah…” he smirks at you.

You giggling as Oscar runs nose down across your throat. “I even won you that gold medal, token of my admiration…” he whispers into your ear.

“Alright soldier…” you roll off him and lay against the pillows. “Come get your reward.”

Oscar crawls on top of you, caging you in with his hands. His lips traveled down the side of your throat making you hum approval. His scent engulfed you and he smelled of the paddock, gasoline and expensive cologne. However there was a hint of champagne found on him.

“You still smell of champagne.” You mumble pulling his face to meet yours.

“Evidence of my victory, no?” Oscar said against your lips before leaning and kissing you deeply. A heat between your thighs sparked. You wrap a leg around his hips, grinding against him. A small strangled moan left his lips.

You smile rolling your hips against him and nip and nip at his jaw. Oscar groans, moving his hand to grab your ass, taking control of the rhythm.

“Aren’t you excited?” he teases.

“I only want to make it enjoyable for you, you’ve earned it.” You stutter out.

Pushing a hand under your shirt and palming your breast, Oscar tuts. “Everything you do is enjoyable to me…”

He eventually pulls your shirt off your body and the medal, kissing the top of both your breasts. His fingers ghost up and down your sides as he rolls into your hips teasingly. You sucked in a sharp breath, tangling your fingers into his hair.

“Osc! Don’t….don’t tease….” Your voice goes up an octave at the end.

Oscar laughs pulling away from your chest now resting nothing with both hands on your hips. “I’m just trying to save all of this. The way you look…”

His eyes bore into your own making you buck your hips a bit.

“At least…” You sat up pulling at his shirt, “Make it equal then.”

Oscar followed your request with no arguments. He flung his shirt off into some corner and sunk down to your lower abdomen. Kissing just above your waistband you fell back into the pillows and your head rolled back. Oscar’s hands undid your bottoms, pulling them off.

Putting your legs off over his shoulders he kissed your inner thighs. Your breathing grew heavier in anticipation. Oscar’s fingers tugged at your panties. You wiggled trying to get him to move faster but he swats at playfully.

“Patience, love…”

You groan, feeling more and more frustrated as the heat between your legs evolves into throb. You needed to do something more than just kiss and stroke at your skin.

“Please…” You whine.

Oscar continues to kiss your thighs, lightly sucking at your skin to break up the pattern. You want to pull him closer, guide him to where you need him most. You mumble out a string of complaints begging him to do something.

He finally gives in and kisses your clothed clit. You moan lightly, muttering out thanks. Pull off your underwear and drop it down at the side of your bed. Oscar kisses your clit again and sucks on it lightly. Your voice got stuck in your throat as you arch your back.

Oscar looked up at you with his round brown eyes, they had a devilish gleam. He takes long licks mumbling on how he loves the taste of you. Your body felt light and small tension twisted in your stomach. Praises leave your lips between long pauses to catch your breath in a struggle to keep focus.

This only motivated Oscar more, the sound of you falling apart due to his tongue was an ego boost. He brought his fingers to dance around your clit giving you an extra kick of stimulation. It built up the tension to be tighter.

“Oscar…”

His name was like a prayer and he answered by pushing you to the edge. Making your back arch high off the mattress and voice get higher. You felt so heavenly.

Then he pulled away entirely earning him half slurred protest. Oscar lowered lip and chin were wet, he wiped the back of his hand to remove the excess.

You pull him into a kiss, moaning at the taste of yourself on his lips. Oscar returns the kiss, deepening it. His fingers rolling over your clit, gasping in shock. He laughs as he applies more pressure.

“I need you so bad, god Oscar please..” You palm his crotch, gaining a groan from him. Oscar slips a finger into you. “Just wait, I wanna make you feel good first baby.”

You begin to babble out profanities as coax out your first orgasm. It came in waves of white hot heat. Your whole body was inflamed. Oscar praised you softly kissing your neck and jaw. As you begin to still he pulls his finger out, licking them clean.

“Better than champagne…”

You sit up to undo his shorts by taking off both his shorts and boxers. You smile at him lopsidedly reaching up to pull him down into a deep sensual kiss before whispering, “I hope you've been enjoying your reward.”

His cock was making you smile as your hands gently rubbed and down its sides. Speechlessly Oscar nods, his cheeks tinged with soft pink color and his breath fanning against your face. Soft moans and whimpers come his lips as you begin to stroke him faster.

“God your hands…” he sighs, rolling his head back. “I need to be inside of you. please.

His hands find a place on your hips again as he holds you still. You move to sit on top of his lap, your faces now a breath widths away from each. A giggle escapes from your lip.

“Are you going to make me wait?”

Oscar shakes his head, sinking into you slowly into you. You pulled him closer to your body, skin pressing against skin. You let out soft moans he pushes further into you. Your nails dug into his back.

His thrusts were gentle and deliberate, whispering against your skin how good you felt. Another knot formed in your stomach, still sensitive from the first orgasm. Your head rolled back as you whined that you needed more.

Oscar obliged your request, his pace picking up. His hand on your hips gripped your tight you were sure to have bruises later. He kissed your shoulder affectionately

“You look so perfect.” You moan at his praise.

“You’re so good for me….” Oscar's voice started to slur. “Absolutely perfect, fuck love…you’re so goodd.”

His pace continued hiking your leg up to rest at his waist giving him a better angle to thrust into you. “Oh god!” You screamed, your nails digging further into his back. “I’m so close…”

“Yeah?”

You nod in response, rolling your hip to match his pace. “You feel so good in me.”

This spurred Oscar to thrust faster. Your vocal encouragement was enough motivation to chase down your second orgasm. You began to feel light again, your vision spotty as your hip movements losing their rhythm.

“I’m so close.”

“Good…” Oscar could feel you tighten around him. “I feel it, are you gonna give it to me?”

You nod babbling on, falling back on to bed. Your grip the sheets tightly with your eyes closed. Oscar muttered sweet nothings as his thrust became more sporadic. Your back began to arch as waves of pleasure came over you.

You fell limp as Oscar slowed his thrust. He pulled out and stroked himself until came onto your stomach. You giggle, swiping your finger to take a taste of him. Oscar smiled at you, taking his bottom lip under his bunny teeth. “This is better than any race win….”

You sat up giving Oscar a chaste kiss, “Is that right?”

He nods, “Yeah, they way you look? it’s worth more than a hundred race wins…”

“Quite the statement…” You stood up “Let’s take a bath, you smell of sex and champagne.”

Oscar stood up, taking your hand and kissing your cheek. “Evidence of my victory, no?”

[steelheart-redux]

Steelheart Redux: Year 1 Retrospective

I meant to post this yesterday but forgot. Oops. Anyway, June 1st marked the official first full year of Steelheart Redux! For me, at least. While the comic didn’t go public until September, those who have been here since the start remember that I uploaded all of chapter 1 at once. That work started in June, so I consider that the comic’s effective birthday.

With that disclaimer out of the way: what a year it’s been! In 365 days, I drew 153 comic pages. That’s about 0.4 pages a day— a little shy of a page every other day. Granted, those numbers aren’t an even spread. I made all of chapter 1 in three months (68 pages) and then had to take a break for a while because of wrist strain (wonder how THAT happened…) and then the amount of backlog I had fluctuated wildly for a while. Some days I have more time and motivation than others. It happens.

Quite honestly, I’m mainly happy that I’ve stuck with the project. My worst fear was that I’d get a month or two into Actually Doing The Thing, then get bored, demotivated, and give up. Luckily, my brain has allowed me to stick with Redux with a level of consistency that is frankly unforeseen from me, and I’m just as motivated as I was a year ago, if not more, thanks to people's interest. I’ve said it before, but the reception to the story already regularly blows me away. I went into this with the expectation that it would take years for the comic to gain any real traction, if it ever happened at all. But here we are, a year in, with tens, if not hundreds of regular readers across multiple platforms. It’s an honor I don’t take lightly, and as I’ve said, I’m so, so grateful for the trust and support.

Looking back, the comic started on wobbly feet. That’s something I knew even at the time and had to make my peace with. Steelheart Redux is my first original story project, first long-form comic (first colored comic longer than a few pages, tbh), and first time I've ever really left the title of "fanartist" behind for longer than a month or so. I knew I was entering uncharted waters and that whatever I made, I'd later come to see as 'bad', or at least, not executed as well as it could have been. Unfortunately, the only way to get that experience and improve is to do it bad. So I did it bad!

STRUGGLES:

Chapter 1 is way too long. Not in terms of content, but in terms of page count. For some reason, I was utterly allergic to the idea of putting more than four panels on a page. While I do like the pacing of it, and the sort of slow ease-in to the world and the setting, I made way more work for myself than I needed to. I definitely could have cut at least 10 pages by compressing things without seriously hurting the pacing, and it would have saved me a lot of trouble. Figuring out how to "trim the fat" and get to where I'm going as fast as possible without making things feel rushed is still something I'm working on, but I'm a lot more intentional about things now that I know it can cost me time and physical strain. You can see the font size slowly shrinking throughout the comic's run as I pack more in, lol. Honestly, it kind of works.

I have various other nitpicks. I'm sparing myself from the general "I don't like how I drew that"s in terms of anatomy and such, as those are just an inescapable result of improving as an artist and not worth getting in the weeds over. I will raise my eyebrows over some lighting choices-- I went out of my way to plan out a way to make the nighttime section of early chapter 2 read as "night, but not dark", and then the entire bit was annoyingly dark as hell. Trying to get the purple DRACO to visually stand out from the concrete there was obnoxiously difficult. I don't think it's bad-- I like the 'scribble background' gimmick I came up with to save myself from having to do backgrounds there, for one thing-- but I don't think it would have killed me to brighten up that section a bit. Something to keep in mind for later.

Speaking of backgrounds. Maybe it's too early to say, but at least right now, changing the background style was a game changer. That was one of the largest time sinks of early pages, adding 2-3 hours to every page that had at least one or two backgrounds. They were doable, but tedious, and as time went on, I found myself enjoying them less and less, instead of more and more as I'd hoped. You can see details start to disappear as a result, as backgrounds stopped being a "fun worldbuilding element" and "visual element of the page" and became just "something I had to draw to get the page done". Changing the style to a much looser one has brought the fun back, and made it much easier to pack in all the details I actually enjoy drawing without getting bogged down in "is the perspective exactly right". I've written posts before about making things easier for yourself if you're doing a long-form project; this is honestly my best example.

GROWTH:

I feel like, looking back, I can see myself become a lot more confident with drawing various things. Steelheart Redux is filled-- intentionally and not-- with things I'm bad at drawing, which has forced me to improve at those things sheerly through unavoidable repetition. Mainly, this includes backgrounds, mechs (still can't get me to draw cars though LOL), full bodies, and profiles.

It's also interesting to see the way I draw characters change. Going into the comic, I'd already been drawing Arthur for years, but making pages forced me to really lock in his design and get comfortable with drawing it. While it's not too different in terms of content, it has a different 'feel' now. This, too, I know is inevitable, and honestly something I look forward to.

I've become a lot more confident in doing these things, which makes making pages less intimidating and lets me experiment more with layouts and angles I might have otherwise been afraid to try. It's nice! It shows in a lot of the end of chapter 2, which is one of my favorite parts of the chapter. I was worried about hitting those emotional beats, because they're setting up for a lot and really needed to feel meaningful, but I think I landed them alright. My character writing is still something I worry a bit about-- there's a lot of subtlety to these guys and this story I worry I won't be able to get across in a more visual story-- but that's something for me to increasingly focus on going forward.

Away from the comic, I've also improved a lot as a 3D modeler. My robot rigs have improved, and I have much better human bases to work off. I can also slam out a layout for a scene much faster, which is a nice time boost to my workflow.

Overall, despite the hurdles and rough edges of some of the early stuff, I'm incredibly proud of everything I've produced. This is the first time I've ever put my heart, body, and soul so thoroughly into a project like this, and I'd like to think it shows.

While we're still in somewhat of the early stage of the comic's story, I'm hoping I've made a solid foundation for myself. I'm so excited for what's to come, and hoping I can execute it even better, year by year.

[smuttynerdtrash]

Caleb Smut

Waiting up for you

-You had plans to play games with Caleb, but he had some business to take care of in work. You got bored waiting for him so… your mind starts to wander to say the least. And that’s when he surprises you by coming home early..-

(NSFW, masturbation, use of toy, use if evol, Yes there’s use of the word pipsqueak, it wouldn’t be Caleb if there wasn’t lol. Kinda all over the place since it’s been a while since I last wrote smut. Enjoy!)

______________________________________

“Soooo boredddddd” You whine into the phone.

“I know, pipsqueak, but I have some business to take care of here, I might be a while..” Caleb explains, you can hear the pout he’s toting on his lips through the phone. He hates disappointing you. Anything that makes you feel any negative feeling is agony to him.

“How long? I downloaded a new multiplayer game and I wanted to play it as soon as possible.. with you!” There’s a moment of silence on the line, you would have thought the call got disconnected if you hadn’t heard planes taking off in the background.

“Till.. maybe 9…” he said reluctantly.

You groan and throw yourself back on your bed.

“Are you sure? Can’t you make an excuse or something? You are the Colonel, after all. You can have someone else do it..” The hope in your voice makes it harder for him to resist the idea. But…

“I can’t BECAUSE I’m the Colonel, Y/N. I have responsibilities that only I can take care of. Look, I promise I’ll make it up to you. I’ll get you your favorite snacks on the way home if the store’s still open!”

There’s another few seconds of agonizing silence, then you sigh.

“Alright.. I guess..” you breathe, making your self-labeled misery known, to Caleb’s distress.

“Come on, pipsqueak, lighten up a little! For me?” He coos, “I know you can’t stay mad at me forever~”

You let your silence draw out a bit more, for dramatic effect, of course. You let out ANOTHER big sigh..

“Fiiiineee.. But like you said, you’ll make it up to me, right?” You taunt lightly, drawing out a laugh from your best friend on the other end of the phone.

“You know I keep my word, Y/N/N. I always have.”

“I know~” you smile. It’s nice having someone to rely on when you need them most.

“Alright, I gotta go, they’re ~summoning me~” Caleb bellows in a silly voice, making you giggle.

“Yes, sir, Colonel Caleb, sir!” You say in your best soldier voice, physically doing a salute.

“At ease, soldier! You’re dismissed!” He replied, somehow knowing that you were saluting him and him doing the same on the other side of the phone.

-beep beep beep- Silence.

A sudden emptiness forms in the room again, making you realize how big Caleb’s place in Skyhaven really is. Even the silence has an echo.

Not being sure what to do with the newfound alone time, you decided to scroll through a couple streaming services to find something that you could watch.

-an hour later-

The movie you picked was WAYYY too long, you were only halfway through when your mind began to wander. You think about how much fun you’d be having if Caleb was there like he was supposed to, but alas.. going off of your thought, you think more about how much you miss Caleb. His voice, his smile.. then you think about how he looked this morning before he left.. hair still damp from his shower, uniform haphazardly buttoned up exposing his chest, and part of his shirt untucked.. you can still smell his body wash wafting through the air. It was intoxicating.

You feel yourself run your fingers down your stomach towards the hem of your pajama bottoms, lifting the elastic band and tucking your hand into it. You slowly slipped your fingers around your sensitive nub and gasped at the sensation, wetness pooling already. You suddenly remembered that you were wearing one of Caleb’s favorite shirts.. no wonder you could still smell him so clearly. Lifting the shirt to your face, you inhale deeply.

Oh, god.. he smells so.. fucking good..

His particular smell, it was somewhere between Sandalwood and Amber, with a very sweet hint of vanilla. It comforted you when you hugged him tight, but right now.. with the image of him this morning combined with the massive crush you’ve have on him for YEARS.. it’s driving you insane. You need him so bad.

You circle your fingers around your slowly swelling clit faster, spreading your slick all over the nub instantly. Moving your fingers down to your dripping arousal, you slowly slide a digit into yourself, moaning softly at the feeling. You find your soft spot instantly, desperate for the delicious lick of pleasure it brings. Sliding in and out feverishly, chasing euphoria with every stroke.. but it wasn’t enough. Another finger, more strokes… not enough.

You gently slipped your fingers out of your twitching heat, sighing, slightly disappointed at the sad attempt of your tiny fingers. Smirking to yourself, you remember you have a new friend in your bedside table. You weren’t sure if you could keep it here, seeing as Caleb would occasionally snoop around your room when you weren’t there while he was doing laundry. But you found a clever way to keep it hidden. Sliding open your bedside table, you pull out a fake book with the most basic title to avert any suspicion: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Giggling to yourself, you open it to pull out a pretty pink dildo. Not too big, not too small, but just enough to hit your sweet spot so good that you drool.

Closing the book and resting it on the table, you spread your legs once more, lining up your toy with your core. You pause, quickly grabbing a blanket to drape it across your torso for some extra warmth. You slide deeper into the bed, making your crop top ride up over your bare breasts. Your nipples harden at the sudden chill of the AC hitting them, making a shakey sigh tumble out of your lips.

Lining up with your entrance again, you slide the tip across your nether-lips, coating the toy in your arousal.

A soft moan rolls out of your mouth, then a gasp as you slid the tip inside your desperate hole. Deeper.. and deeper.. and deeper..

God, it was so much better than your fingers.

Setting a moderate pace, you pull the toy in and out of your dripping cunt, your breathing becoming more rapid and the moans you let more desperate.

Your mind travels back to the image of Caleb again. Man, you wanted to rip that uniform off his toned body. He doesn’t have the right to look that good all the time. Jerk.

Your mind gave you an image of him on top of you, giving you more satisfaction than the flimsy pink shaft you were shoving in yourself. Faster and harder than your hand could ever go.

The coil in your stomach tightened, the idea of him folding you in half and shoving himself in your throbbing cunt making you get hotter and wetter by the second.

“C-Caleb~!” You squeaked out.

All the sudden you hear a soft click of the door.

SHIT.

“Pipsqueak..? Are you- OH!”

All he saw was you barely covered, using a toy on yourself. Great.

You quickly scrambled to cover your naked body with the blanket you draped over yourself, kicking your toy underneath it to conceal any dignity you may have left.

“Oh my god, Caleb!! Would it kill you to knock?!” You cry out defensively, acting tough to shield your embarrassment.

“I- I’m so sorry, I’m walking away, I swear!” He scrambled for the door handle and hid his eyes with his free hand as he shut the door behind him quickly.

Oh. My. GOD.

I need to leave. Now. This is way too embarrassing, I’ll never be able to look him in the eye ever again, let alone SPEAK to him.

You quickly grab your bag and load it haphazardly with clean clothes and put your toy back in the faux book, shoving it in your bag, too. Speed-walking towards the front door, a force stops you from getting it open. You pull and pull, you even put your foot on the wall for leverage. No give.

“..Pipsqueak..” Caleb says gently, “you don’t have to go..”

You can’t even look at him. Your eyes lay firmly on the front door as you spoke softly.

“And stay here to die of embarrassment? I’d rather not..”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Y/N, it’s perfectly normal to-“

“NOPE. We’re NOT having this conversation.” You put your red face in your hands, feeling the burn of the blush infesting every part of your face. He can’t be serious!

You hear gentle footsteps come behind you, Caleb being in a closer vicinity makes your spine shiver nervously. He’s not too close, but he was close enough for you to hear a clear zzzzziiiiippp.

Your eyes widen. Was that..?-

A metallic clank of a belt buckle hitting the floor rang out next.

what. is. HAPPENING?

You feel yourself being turned out of your own volition towards an unbelievable sight.

He was.. stroking himself. Right in front of you. Not to mention using his evol with his free hand to grip your body in place.

He’s way bigger than you ever imagined. MASSIVE, really.

Your mouth lay agape subconsciously as he looked you deep into your eyes, searching for your reaction.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed if we’ve both seen each other playing with ourselves, right?” He smirked.

You stay silent, afraid of saying anything. Your eyes dart between his eyes and his cock, already leaking pre-cum from his blushing red tip. The way he strokes himself.. it’s so mesmerizing. His thick fingers balled into a fist around himself, giving you a good show.

“Are you there, pipsqueak?” His voice snapped you out of the trance of his rhythmic strokes and made you blush furiously, your eyes darting away from the sight of him.

He sighs “Oh, pipsqueak~” he teasingly cooed, “I’m right here~”

Silence.

Caleb sighs as he uses his evol to pull you to the couch gently, sitting next to you with his length still in hand. He continued to stroke himself, rolling his eyes momentarily at the feeling. Hot.

Wait- Look away, look away!

Twisting his free hand gently, he turns your head toward him again.

“Be a good girl and look at me, Y/N”

Your clit twitched. You loved when he called you that. Something you’d never actually admit out loud, especially to him.

His evol made it impossible to look away from the glorious sight of his head tilted back, eyes on you, eyebrows stitched together and mouth slightly agape. You can hear his breathing becoming more rapid as he tried to suppress his moans by only letting small sharp exhales of air escape his lips.

“Tell me..” Caleb breathed, “What were you thinking about when you were touching yourself?”

You don’t dare speak. How could you tell your best friend that you were touching yourself at the thought of him turning you into a human pretzel and pounding you into the sunrise? It just sounds.. insane.

But there’s one thing you know well about Caleb. 10% of the time when he asks me a question, it’s because he genuinely doesn’t know the answer. But the other 90%… he normally already knows the answer.

“You know.. came home early to surprise you.. I had your favorite snacks.. like I promised” He panted between his words, working himself up with each movement of his hand.

“I heard you call out to me.. and I thought you were hurt.. I ran so, so fast.. and lo and behold… you were just fine~”

Could you blush any harder?

“Then I realized.. you were playing with yourself.. and you were thinking about me..”

You shuddered at the way his voice darkened, your legs crossing with what freedom he allowed you. You felt a pool of wetness in between your thighs again and you could NOT let him know.

“I-! That’s not-“ you stutter, poorly attempting to defend yourself.

“That’s not what it looks like? Is that what you were trying to say? Puh-lease~” He quipped, pulling you closer to him with a flick of his wrist. Your faces were so close, noses touching. A gasp explodes from your lips at the sudden moment and you didn’t have time to form another thought when Caleb grabbed you by your chin and jerked your head towards him.

“Look at me” He said in an even firmer tone than before, demanding me.

As I look at him, he stares deep in my eyes, hand still pumping his length at a delicious pace.

“Show me how you touch yourself” he said breathlessly.

You gasp at the request involuntary, tightening your crossed legs (if you could tighten them any further) and blushing a new shade of red.

“Are you serious?” You scoff.

“Dead serious.”

“…are you sure..?”

He lets out a frustrated sigh and uses his evol again to lay you down on the couch, then spreading your legs wide.

Oh, you cheeky son of a bitch.

“I’m most definitely positive… I want to watch you..” There he goes, looking into your eyes again. You can’t resist him at all, can you?

He makes it easier for you, pulling your pants and underwear off your legs with a snap of fingers.

Hesitantly, your fingers find your pussy again, just like before. You moaned softly at the feeling, earning a moan from Caleb as well. He thought you were so pretty like this.. fingers wet and face contorted in pleasure. It made him want to bust immediately, but he can’t. He had to take in every single detail of your body, the way your wetness reflected in the moonlight, how it clings to your fingers as you dive into your slit. The way you shake and shiver at the feeling, how it makes you arch your back off the couch. Fuck.

As you pleasure yourself, a strong sense washed over him.. he has to feel you. Now. He’s been so pent up for years, how could he control himself when an opportunity like this falls into his lap?

“Pipsqueak..?”

You look up at Caleb, eyes glossed over and half-lidded.

“Huh?” You sighed, unable to take a proper breath as you try to hold your head up. Your head was swimming as he stood up and placed himself between your legs, towering over you with his large frame.

“I don’t think I can handle waiting any longer.. I need to know if you feel the same..” his hand cupped your face, thumb gently running across your bottom lip.

“Do you want me to fuck you?” His eyes pierced into yours and the question made it impossible to look away.

Do I?? Yes. Can I express that without looking desperate? Absolutely not.

Your voice comes out almost as a whisper, nervous: “Y-yes..”

Caleb let a sigh pass his lips, not realizing he’d been holding it up until you answered. Within seconds his lips crash into yours, feverish and desperate, like he’s been waiting for years for this (because, in fact, he had been). One hand slid down your side to the small of your back as the other slid to run his fingers through your hair, grasping gently to keep your lips on his. He whimpered softly against your lips, sending a shiver down your spine. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you moan in response, the position making the kiss deepen. He pulls you closer to his torso by the small of your back, so tight it made you want to wrap your legs around him. So you did.

Both of you gasp at the sudden sensation of your lower bodies making contact with each other, his shaft rubbing against your folds.

God, his cock is so warm. Throwing your head back, your mouth the perfect shape of an ‘o’ and eyes rolling in the back of your head, Caleb sighed blissfully at the sight.

“So responsive~” he cooed, “I can’t wait to see what you do when I slide my cock inside you”

Your core clenched in response to his words.

“Please… C-Caleb..” you whine softly, feeling yourself getting more and more wet by the second.

“Say again, pipsqueak? Please what?” He teased, sliding his shaft across your folds again. You whimper at the feeling, growing more and more impatient.

“Please, Caleb!” You squeak “I need you inside me!”

Caleb licked his lips, finally getting to feed the hunger he had felt for you for so long. He kissed you firmly yet gently as he lined himself up with your entrance.

He only broke the kiss briefly to ask if you were ready. When you nodded, he warned: “This might be a tight fit, pipsqueak.. let me know if you need me to stop”

You nod again, looking into his eyes as he slowly slipped into your weeping cunt, creating a wet sound echo softly in the quiet space. Gasping, you realize that he was definitely right about him being a tight fit. He was stretching you out at an agonizingly slow pace, creating a pressure that you’ve never felt before.

“Oh.. my.. god~” you squeak, covering your mouth at how loud you were being already.

Caleb moved your hand off your face, pulling it to the side.

“Don’t bother, pipsqueak. I want to hear those pretty little moans~” he slowly slides himself the rest of the way in, sheathing his length deep inside your walls. He groans into your neck, dipping down to take a gentle bite of the skin there.

“F-fuck!” You desperately grasp at Caleb’s back, trying to cling to him in any way possible. You scratch at the skin exposed on his back due to his shirt riding up his torso, pulling a hiss from Caleb. He chuckled darkly.

“I haven’t even moved yet, baby.. do you feel alright?” He raised his head from the crook of your neck and looked at you with gentle eyes.

You nodded. “Please… keep going.” You almost whisper, bracing yourself for his next move.

Keeping eye contact, he starts to move in and out of your throbbing hole, lewd sounds gaining more volume in the otherwise quiet living room. Your moans mix with the music the two of your bodies are creating, it drove Caleb crazy. He couldn’t help but go faster and deeper. Gasping and moaning, your arms lose the strength to hold onto Caleb’s back, inspiring him to sit up and take your legs up and over his shoulders.

Oh, shit. It’s happening. Just how you imagined it. You never thought this would be real! He’s.. so.. deep..

He fucked you into the couch at a devilish pace, the sound of skin smacking skin filling the room, making your eyes roll to the back of your head.

“You’re taking my cock so well. Such a good girl~” he praised, leaning into your legs, pressing them against your chest. It made it so much easier to hit that spot that made you see stars.

That made you moan so loud that it was almost a scream. No, it was definitely a scream.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this? To be closer to you than anyone else could ever imagine getting, being the only person who can make you feel…*thrust* like…*thrust* this… *thrust*” you moan as he growls softly, his eyes focused on where you two are connected.

“I touched myself at the thought of you taking my cock like this. But the real thing…*moans* it’s so much better than I could ever imagine”

You felt the coil of pleasure twisting at his confession, the same way it did when he caught you. You can’t take much more..You’re gonna..

“Come for me, Y/N. Come all over my cock. I need it” he coaxed, his thrusts getting more erratic and desperate.

As if right on cue, your toes began to curl as you moaned out his name with a string of curses. You buck your hips into his to create more friction, and oh, that you did. It felt so good, it made you clench around his shaft oh so snuggly.

“Oh, fuck, baby.. just like that.. I’m not that far behind~” he moaned.

His hips stuttered, cock pulsating within your walls, driving you straight into your climax. Both of you shout in pleasure as you both came at the same time.

“Fuck.. I can’t stop.. you’re making me make such a big mess” he panted, driving his stuttering cock back and forth, milking every last bit of his spent into you.

Your brain was mush, and your pussy was twitching and drooling all over the couch. As he slipped out of you, his cum leaked out of your folds, joining your slick on the soft cushion below. Caleb sighs at the sight.

“Damn, pipsqueak.. you took everything out of me” he praised, thumb stroking your cheek. “You okay?”

You nod halfheartedly, not having the slightest ability to move your body.

He chuckles at your state, getting up to carry you to your bedroom after wiping the mess off your lower half.

“Let’s get you tucked in, sweet girl.” He spoke gently, you humming in response.

He places you in your bed softly, pulling your blanket over your fucked-out body. Before he could turn to leave, you tug on his arm.

“Cuddle me~” you whimper, giving him your best puppy eyes.

“Heh, alright, pipsqueak”

He sinks into the bed behind you and wraps his arms around your torso tight.

“Looks like you made it up to me after all..” you mumbled sleepily.

Recalling the earlier conversation, Caleb chuckled. It felt so long ago now.

“I told you I would”

[makixroll]

NONCHALANT BF — maki ۫ ꣑ৎ

pairing . . . maki x fem!reader

contents . . . non-idol , established relationship , fluff .

warnings . . . not proofread + a bit messy

Maki, being the gen z he is, always spends his time scrolling on social media whenever hs isn't with you. Now was those times, his roommate, Harua was no where to be seen, which he assumed he went out which left him no choice but to get bored. It didn't help that you were at your university right now, probably crying over statistics or something.

As he scrolled through his tiktok fyp, he stumbled upon a video of a girl, talking about girls' preferences. He didn't know why he bothered watching the whole video when Maki already pulled a fine shyt like you a couple months ago. But one thing he found out was somehow, girls love nonchalant men. Maki knew you love his chalant personality so much, he knew it makes you happy whenever he pulls out goofy shits, sends you a ton of tiktok videos, which you reply with the same energy, that made you have a streak of over 100 on tiktok.

But he wondered what your reaction would be like if he acted nonchalant towards you all of a sudden. Maki wanted to prank you. So he scrolled more on tiktok, waiting for you to message him

you: hi baby!! class is finally done ;-;

you: what have you been up to? You haven't messaged me for the past hour.

Maki bit his inner cheek, trying to stop himself from replying too fast. He reminded himself, a nonchalant person wouldn't look eager to reply. He noted to himself. He waited a dreadful five minutes before replying.

Maki: hey, baby.

As you finally received a message from Maki, your eyebrows immediately furrowed together, looking at Maki's message intently, as if your eyesight was just betraying you. Something isn't right, and you feel it. Maki's the type of person who will send you long chats, making the short hey into a heyyyy, and the baby to babyyyy!! .

No questions asked, not even letting him know that you'll come. You immediately went straight to his dorm, letting his dormmate, Harua, know beforehand since you were being considerate. Harua gave you a go signal, even telling you that Maki never really locks their door so you'll be able to enter the dorm immediately.

As you opened the door, you were greeted by Maki, who was wearing a black tank top and black shorts, he had a bowl in his hand which you assumed was his snack for the day. Maki was about to eat a spoonful of the snack he made when he was startled by the sudden open of the door. You could see his shocked expression that was switched almost suddenly into a neutral look upon seeing you.

"What's up?" He asked, in the most nonchalant way possible which made you pout. You're convinced that this isn't your boyfriend right now, a doppleganger perhaps. Because if this was Maki, your super duper ultra chalant boyfriend in the whole wide world, he'd definitely drop his bowl of food just to run up to you and give you the best hug right now.

"Are you joking with me right now?" You whined out, dropping your bag by the door as you went towards him, surprising him with a tight hug, your head buried on his toned chest.

"Dunno what you're talking about." Maki answered with a small shrug, raising his bowl a bit high so you wouldn't knock it up, his other hand making its way to your waist. Your hopes went up, thinking that he might drop this kind of act, but was left disappointed when he didn't do the usual squeeze he does when he holds your waist.

The almost one-sided hug only lasted for a couple of seconds before he broke it, which isn't Maki at all. He then went towards the couch and sat on it, his bowl still in his hand as he took a few bites before watching tiktok on his phone again. The pout on your lips never left as you sat next to him, making sure to have a wide distance from him, to let Maki know that you're upset.

Maki is the type of person who'd immediately know what you're feeling at the moment. He knows whenever you're upset, whether it'd towards him or other else. But right now, it felt like he doesn't care at all.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" You asked, now worried.

"Mhm." He hummed, giving you a short glance before he placed down his now empty bowl. He didn't even share his food with you like he always does! Something isn't right.

"Are... we okay..?" You whispered softly, but still enough for him to hear.

Maki swore his heart broke into pieces when he heard the tone of your voice when you asked that. But he bite his inner check to control himself, and mustered out the courage to reply.

"Yeah, why?" Maki asked again, in the most nonchalant way possible that makes you want to cry due to frustrations.

You glared at him, Maki scrolling on his phone with a poker face. You then started thinking of ways to make him revert to his old self, cause now you know he's just doing this to mess up with you. The only solution you thought of is none other than to tickle him.

You scooted closer to him, and your boyfriend didn't seem to mind at all, yet there was still no reaction except for the corner of his lips that almost rose up, but he immediately stopped and composed himself which irritates you. At times like this, he would've gave you a teasing smile, maybe throwing in a remark before he puts his arm around your shoulder, pulling you close. But today, he wasn't doing any of those.

As you went closer to him, you peeked through his phone, seemingly interested with what he was doing. Maki then lowered his phone a bit to let you watch. You waited for a few seconds before you placed your fingers on his waist, and started tickling him.

Maki's eyes went wide as he bite his lower lip, trying to stop himself from smiling or laughing. But it only helped for a few seconds before he bursted out laughing.

"S-stop! Oh sh-shit! Baby, s-stop!" Maki couldn't stop himself from laughing, he couldn't even form a sentence as he tried to catch your hands with his one hand, the other one making its way to your waist as he flipped the position, pinning you on the couch rest to stop you from tickling him further.

"There's my super chalant baby! Oh, how I've missed you!" You exclaimed, being dramatically possible. Maki lets out a laugh as he buried his head on the side of your neck.

"Fine, fine. I'll drop the nonchalant act." He rolled his eyes in a joking manner, even though he knew you wouldn't be able to see it.

"Why are you even trying to be nonchalant? We all know you're the most chalant person in the universe." You exaggerated, which erupted yet another laugh from him that you most certainly adore.

"Nothing, just saw this video and wanted to try it out to see your reaction." Maki said in a teasing voice, giving your jaw a soft kiss before burying his head back on your neck.

"God, I hate you."

"I love you more, baby."

[theamberparadise]

THE MANSION: HEADCANNONS

SYPNOSIS;

my thoughts on how the Creepypasta mansion looks like, the people living in it, where it resides, how it survives, and what the residents do in general.

PUBLISH DATE; 03/06/2025

AUTHORS NOTE;

this is a very long one. so if you're not absolutely bored out of your mind, don't read. lmao

HEADS UP, RESIDENTS=CREEPS THAT AREN'T PROXIES

by the way, don't fret, more MHA writing coming soon. i just need my hyperfixation to relieve itself before i can get to MHA again

happy reading my little shrimps

THE MANSION

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? HOW DO THE RESIDENTS/PROXIES FIND IT?

I do imagine it being old and antique. Black mold staining the outer edges of the very off-white wooden planks that cover the outside of the mansion, black roof with a few hanging vines (now that Tim managed to reach up and snip them off), and windows that barely showed anything inside to anyone looking at it from the outside.

There's an algae-covered grand fountain that once spewed great, elegant spurts of water that used to wow its guests, and now only a very small, sputtering blast of water from one opening remains

At the far back of the mansion, there was once a bright green patch of healthy grass, now only a training ground, the once healthy grass is turned into a large, very dry rectangular patch of dried up soil as a result of endless kicking, stomping, running, and discarded bullets, worn down with time

In front of the longer side of the training ground, the very thick forest that frames the mansion from the entrance. Lots of other creatures inhabit that actually, it isn't only The Rake that haunts them

It formerly belonged to an old rich man from the 60s who violently murdered his wives consecutively for their dowry and was running a money laundering business before getting caught and soon enough committed suicide in front of the town officials.

Since then it's been untouched

The Operator found it a bit soon after his existence was manifested, and has used his own power to "restore" the mansion. Not a full-on makeover, just a little redo of the original design on the inside but leaving the outer as is, to deter any unwelcome intruders

But that barely happens, with maybe six or seven unfortunate wanderers who managed to stumble across the building. Either way The Operator orders his subjects to immediately eliminate whoever spots it, as he always informs his children on who should be in their home.

That being said, the reason why there's only so few of the people that found it, is because the forest is quite literally-- alive. When it senses an unwelcome being, it will twist and turn its vines and branches, open up holes to habitats belonging to deadly cryptids, and deprive them of food such as fruits and drinkable lake waters.

That's why, when the residents and the proxies are called by The Operator to their forever new home, it's inevitable that they get lost in the forest for a few days first, as it takes the forest a bit of time to acclimate to the being's temperature and presence.

This is part of why The Operator takes his recruiting slowly, so as not to alarm the whole barrier that very much protects his creations' spaces.

Although The Operator would like to recruit as many as he can in a sleek amount of time, another reason why he doesn't force the forest to accept them immediately is because he sees the way that his children survives in the forest for the few days they are there as a test-- he wants to see their nature being in somewhere that is unknown to them

How they hunt. How they travel. How they seek. How they retain their strength in this green void of nothing but the cold.

He also sees how they can defend themselves against those who aren't in their "likeness". By this, he means how they defend themselves against other cryptids, such as The Rake, The Seedeater, The Stiltwalker, anything that isn't of The Operator's creation.

Do they fight? Do they flee? Do they bargain? Do they just hope for the best?

Either way, he is glad. Somewhat relieved, since he now knew he didn't have to show himself to them every time they encounter a being such as those, which in most cases, they flee. Fight if they have to, but they mostly flee and end up at the mansion's care

Surprise! The mansion is ALSO alive. It's similar to the forest-- except you're surrounded by antique oddities and the smell of decades-old leather.

The first time Hoodie stepped in, it seemed like the halls started to twist and turn at its whim, for every left Hoodie took, would lead him somewhere back in the kitchen.

Of course, he was frustrated for a while, deterring supernatural cryptids weren't easy in the forest, and the poor guy needed some sleep after he was quite literally just had been brought back alive. Eventually, he finally found his room, and thanked the heavens (which he believed did not exist after what he's been through), before finally getting some rest.

Although he wasn't really the first to step inside the mansion, he definitely was one of the first to figure out the whole jig of the place.

Masky came and Hoodie told him what was going on after Masky just rotated around the library about three times

Toby came, then Kate.

Soon enough they all worked as a team to finally map out and draw the mansion's actual layout. They framed it on the right staircase at the entrance of the mansion.

Speaking of the entrance, it looks like the second picture above, except it is MUCH MUCH MUUUCH more cleaned up than that. The Operator doesn't exactly give luxury to his children, but he gives then practicality. And you can't be practical with dust everywhere.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS IT!?

Actually, I'd like to think the mansion is in the Appalachian mountains.

Think about it. So many posts online talking about Doppelgangers and Wendigos. Random whistling at night.

Many places to staple the pages. Easy to build undetected weaponry huts. Plus, the population's not all that bad, there are some people to eliminate and it's also a bit rare for far travelling for the residents/proxies

Anyhow, that's my answer.

HOW DOES IT SURVIVE?

I would guess that The Operator does have a part in maintaining the mansion's overall well-being (y'know, since it's alive and stuff)

So, in the deepest, darkest, smallest room in the mansion, lays the heart.

The Operator created the heart because he has his own responsibilities to tend to, and he alone cannot maintain it. So, in a nutshell, he created that thing so he won't deal with the mansion falling apart anytime soon.

It's similar to what happened when Alice from Fear Street: 1978 found some sort of a "beating heart" which connected her to the dead.

Very, very similar. Except the whole room is so much more darker and only lit by a number of candles-- none of which seems to melt any further. It's a gorey, fleshy mess.

It's a big goop of red, pumping sac with black goop lining it. Every time it pumps, it produces this horrible blomp, glurp. blomp, glurp. kind of sound that makes any resident gag at the sound of it, even if the sight wasn't enough.

Huge part of why it's at the very bottom. The heart is the reason why the mansion stays standing, given its very obvious rot and mildew, the heart's goop keeps it all together.

It needs to be fed. And its food needs to be alive. Live animals, live people.

A few of the only residents that can handle the stench of this.. organ. Is Eyeless Jack, Jeff (to an extent, at least. he's not in there for more than three minutes), and surprisingly, Toby.

WHAT DO THE PROXIES DO?

Of course, all of them kill. Killing is at least more than once, required. It's just that, for some of them, it isn't as frequent, due to their specialties. This is a list of what they do for the mansion. Basically, their household chores.

THE MAIN PROXIES

PRIMARY INFORMATION (read this so you won't get confused)

As a main source of extra income, the proxies partake in organ-trafficking.

Basically, they're the dealers. And honestly, they have pretty good reviews on the Dark Web, just a few stars off here and there because of the customer service (Masky) but otherwise, their stuff is pretty good.

With the help of EJ and BEN, the harvesting is almost flawless and is packaged very safely to their clients. The marketing is decent, too, for the Dark Web is where BEN gets most of his jump scare material and his sneaky tech allowing them to see if the client is actually real and not some bogus who tries to scam them.

Toby kills the victim. EJ harvests the organs. BEN embeds pop up ads. Masky talks with the clients. Brian does the packaging and helps Kate deliver. Kate is the driver while Brian makes sure the organ doesn't get shaken up too much.

They're a great team honestly. Toby is just a little greedy when it comes to money. And Masky paired with customer service can sometimes not be a great duo. He can be a little rude in text and much more rude on the phone.

One time, a client complained about a liver that was "too small". Of course Masky retaliated and told them it was a normal size and no refunds were allowed, they were delivering organs for fuck's sake why would they take it back!?

Eventually the customer hung up in a fit of rage and Masky almost broke the phone with his bare hands.

That was one of the only 3/5 stars they ever received but so far the rest is always 5/5 so Masky could care less.

It's just that next time, whenever Masky got too heated, Brian would be the one to take the phone. Not Toby, because he'd be too unstable and the client may not be aware of his tics and he might accidentally call the client a slur.

Not Kate, either. She doesn't talk. And if she does, and if the client's questions is something stupid as fuck like "ohhhh ehmm geeee is this actually from a human" she might just sigh, and hang the fuck up

BEN would just straight up troll the guy. "These lungs look kinda small. You sure they're from an adult?"

"Oh yeah, sure they are actually kinda small, but deez nuts aren't"-his response. 😕

EJ is actually decent to talk to, it's just that his voice has made people piss themselves. A woman once asked for a receipt for reference and when he told her very maliciously that it was stapled to the ice box it was shipped in, her scream of "HOLY SHIT" was heard by everybody in the room followed by "you fucking COCKSUCKER" even further followed by the beep of the phone

Safe to say, Brian is more fit for the phone, Tim just doesn't wanna admit he's not easy to talk to.

MASKY (TIM WRIGHT)

He is considered to be the plumber and repairman of the mansion. Every annoying leak, squeaky bed (😏), loose cabinet, hole in the wall, he's onto it.

It started because of a leaky pipe in the kitchen sink. Hoodie, trying to wash his mug, casually mentioned it while Masky was going through the fridge post-mission at the ungodly hour of four AM.

Hoodie barely turned around and almost immediately seeing a fairly small splash of water repeatedly hitting the drain before sighing. Sink's leakin' through again. Masky tiredly lifted his head backwards, the pang of his previous headache threatening to return if he doesn't soften his movements. He asked the taller man to step aside. And out of nowhere, he pulls out a toolbox from the cabinet, fishes out a wrench and creaks the cabinet under the sink open. There, the pipes were immediately assaulted by his wrench, and soon enough, he stopped the leak just before his eyes went dark.

Hoodie was taken aback, yes, but quickly recovers from the new found shock, remembering that his old friend is a carpenter-- he was just slightly surprised Masky remembered anything at all.

From then on Hoodie started calling on Masky everytime a repair was needed.

Toilet not flushing? He'll grumble about how your shit is too big to go down the pipe.

Slammed the door too hard? He will annoyingly screw the hinge back on.

Jumped a little and broke the floorboards? Fatty.

He just silently accepted it, despite his his annoyed nature, he knew there wasn't anyone else with that much experience in those things but him, and he takes a little pride in that.

Especially when it comes to fixing a woman's things. It stems from his inner trauma/abandonment issues since his mother left him at the young age of nine years old and he's had a... "view" for women since then.

He would boast about being "the man" of the house, just because he can fix Nurse Ann's table. (She wants to saw his head off)

HOODIE (BRIAN THOMAS)

He's in (1) charge of in-house security using various CCTV systems he keeps in his office, as well as (2) tolling the numbers for their organ business, keeping track of how much money each member should get, and (3) monthly room checks of each resident.

His CCTVs don't make it into the rooms of the residents. It is an unspoken rule of the mansion that nobody should ever, invade or snoop another one's room without their permission.

His cameras blink in the corners of hallways, in the kitchen, the living room, the library-- basically every common part of the mansion.

He does this so the liberty and the dignity of the mansion doesn't get ruined. And by ruined I mean he does this so Jeff doesn't have another fit and rip the couch again.

Overall, he does watch over everyone so that no fights break out resulting in unnecessary clinic visits to EJ, no furniture is ruined, nobody unknown is breaking inside, no malicious intent is done...

At least on his part. In his eyes, he can do whatever he wants. He's a cocky bastard. Don't be surprised to find him in your room sniffing for "prohibited items" even though there are literal army guns stored in the weapons room.

TICCI TOBY

He's known for breaking up fights whenever Hoodie informs him that there is one and at first he gets made fun of or not taken seriously, but once he throws his hatchet down in between the two penetrators they go silent. He's also one of the people in charge of hunting for food, usually he brings home deer, rabbit and stuff like that. He is also a mentor for X-Virus (Cody) since he's the newest member of the mansion.

Every time a fight starts, he begins ticking off people in his head. He recalls what people have told him and which pissed them off, and almost every time it ends up being Jeff starting it.

It began when him and Kate were still a bit new to the mansion and even then Masky and Hoodie were very commonly found bickering at each other during missions. One snowy day, Toby had enough and basically screeched at the top of his lungs for them to stop-- only for Masky to make fun of him. He ended up being slammed into a brick wall and was threatened by Toby before he dragged Masky back to the cabin they were staying at and locked the two separately for a while until things calmed down.

KATE THE CHASER

If you think about it she'd be known as a "recon" of the group. She stayed in the forest the longest out of all of them and safe to say she's actually encountered one of the cryptids. Although she didn't fight, she didn't flee either. She observed the creature, to her curiosity, and figured out what deterred it and what attracted its presence. She is also the main one who is informed first of the mission since her first instinct isn't brawling with the others on who gets which part in the mission.

Of course she's just as strong as her groupmates, possibly even stronger since The Operator takes more out of her than the others. But in the times she's able to calm her animalistic nature down and listen to her surroundings, she can actually sense what is lingering there, and whether it has bad intentions or not.

Regardless, she plays a very important part in the group. She is the main disseminator of information in the group.

BONUS!

WAIT, BUT AMBER, HOW DOES THE INFORMATION GET TO KATE? OR ANYONE IN THE MANSION? DIDN'T YOU IMPLICATE THAT THE OPERATOR DOESN'T PARTICULARLY LIKE SHOWING ITSELF UNLESS IT'S FOR AN EMERGENCY?

Yes! You're absolutely correct. The Operator does not like showing himself to his children as it can hinder his underground work, so, he disseminates his missions to his proxies like this:

In very common cases, the information comes out on its own through a typewriter. Yes, a haunted typewriter.

Whenever a new mission is to be completed, its keys click and clack on their own, despite nobody at all near touching it. And when the page is full and finished, its bell will let out a little ding!

Voila. A new mission.

It's impressive, really. How it works is, The Operator has his own little typewriter in his office. Same model, same size, same color, the only distinct mark for him to know it's his is, his sigil is carved on the side.

He types away, and he presses this silver little button on the very corner, and just like that, the paper fades away, leading to the proxies' typewriter to type it write out again, on its own this time.

Kate's room is the closest to this typewriter, so she ends up hearing the bell-- almost every single time.

It resides in its own little room with very little space just for one person and one person only, propped up on a slim coffee table in the middle of it. I swear, it's a bad place for claustrophobics.

Anyhow, she reads it first, then takes it back to the common room where the proxies hang out mainly.

Any other information/warnings/missions addressed to any resident other than the proxies, are held confidential and only known by Kate. It is up to that resident's volition or choice to reveal it to them if wanted.

hope you enjoyed this lmao.

[bunkernine]

My ideal Calypso plot is that after she goes to her mortal summer camp, she thinks it's so fun but she also wants to try to get back into the godly things. So she joins the hunters looking for her sister maybe, and she enjoys it for a bit, but it's ultimately not what she wants. The adventure was nice after such a boring millennium but something just doesn't click. So she says okay, thanks tho, and she has nowhere to go but camp half-blood. And at this point, Chiron is trying to figure out something stupid like the camp monster free WiFi, so he makes Calypso an assistant. And she's basically Mr D, but 100x worse because she does not do any work in the slightest, she makes the little kids run around for her, she carries megaphone to yell, she just gambles with the older kids. Worst counselor ever. She sees a group of teens trying to sneak out and she goes "wait where are we going gang :D" like she's not supposed to stop them. And also during all this, she and Leo never actually broke up so Leo keeps showing up saying 'i miss u my sunshine beautiful cinnamon girl 🥹' and Calypso is like 'can u fix the tv, thanks' and this is how camp half blood goes from being fun to fucking dope af

[nightshade962]

I came up with another dcxcp you can pick whatever ship you want I don't have a specific one for this one

I'm going to break it down into 2 possibilities

Possibility number one

Okay so team Phantom which for both of these will be Jazz Sam Tucker West Valerie and Danny are traveling and they stopped and Gotham in parking lot for this one I'm going to kind of go with that they just pulled off for a couple days see some sites and either the bat kids or the bat kids in their teams are in the parking garage as well and I'm going to say like Valerie or west are wanting to do like those singing videos that they'll see like if people singing in the parking garage and they are singing the one that comes to my mind and I'm kind of obsessed with recently is Arabian Nights so let's say they are filming a video to have the internet decide who sing it best and whatever team or teams you want there are kind of like speechless looking at them and you can like pair of multiple people

Possibility number two

So kind of the same situation a bit as above but Ellie is the Aged and she is Danny's kid and they're traveling with her and let's say maybe they were having like technical issues with the van or whatever vehicle they're driving so they pulled over into a parking garage or parking lot so Danny can take a look and fix before they get back on the road and Ellie is in her Disney phase she's like a toddler age and so because she's used to them singing to her everyone in this group she's requesting different songs for each of them to sing to her and that's how the teams or team come up and they see this family this Misfit bunch of family taking turns singing to a little girl to distract her so she's not bored and running around

Sorry for rambly I have taken my sleep Med so I am slowly getting drowsy and it's been real rambly and that's just hit me and I had to get it out but as usual feel free to add there's no punctuations that has become a common theme for me and since I am tired this is speak to text I'll take it with some Grace

[darkfictionjude]

Hi Jude!!!! How are you? I hope you're doing well! If you're day hasn't started, I hope you'll have a good one! THE BEST ONE 💖💖

I'm thinking of making an IF, because yours and other IFs really want me to start making one before summer ends. Do you have any tips on writing chase scene? Or more like any tips on writing the feelings of the person getting chased? I could look at Pinterest, but tbh, I just really like your writing and the way you write the supernatural stuff in WWC. I think it's also a bit of psychological horror, but maybe that's just me.

Anyways, yeah. I'm inspired. That's all. Take care of yourself!!!

-Ryn :))

Hmmm so before I started writing IFs I would write for myself and I hated writing chase scenes. They bored me and I never could get it right

Nowadays I still don't like them that much (I'm more into introspection scenes) but I find that it's best to make those scenes focused on the feelings of the MC less than describing the running itself because there's not much you can say apart from "you are running."

Focus on the sound of their heartbeat, the feeling of sweat of their skin, the fear curling in their stomach

THANK YOU YOU'RE ALWAYS SO NICE 💜💜

[scrubbinn]

In Stars and Systems: Traveling

Prev - Chapter select - Next

Bonnie 42 days after the King’s defeat

“Bonnie. Have you seen Sif?”

Za woke you and Mira up. He sounds super tired. He even called you Bonnie. Za only does that when he's super tired or super mad. He sounds sick, so it's probably both. You want to go back to sleep, but now's fine to get up you guess. 

Belle’s cool and talks for you. “We just woke up. Is Siffrin missing again? Oh no. Did something really really bad happen?

You don't get what's going on. Belle accidentally woke you up last night cause Frin ran away and Za had to go bring him back.

“They said they’d be going out to the market today. Somehow he still has the energy for that sort of thing. But they've been gone for a while, I'm starting to get worried.”

You hop upright on the bed. “I can go look for Frin!” 

You want to go to the market place anyways to see if there's cool foods you could use. You also need more potatoes. And peppers. And other stuffs too.

Mira looks at you with a worried face. “Will you be alright by yourself Bonnie? I've only been here a few times when I was a housemaiden. But the markets were always super crowded! Maybe one of us should join you. Y'know! Just to be extra safe!”

“I can do it on my own! I'm the snacks leader now! Frin said so! So now it's my job to pick out the food!

Belle still looks worried but Za puts a hand on her shoulder.

“Voiralters is a safe place, Mira. Besides I’m getting a bit too sick to leave now, and M’dame is busy reading up on something that might be what’s going on with Sif. But you're more than welcome to accompany Bonbon.”

“Isabeau, I’m not only worried about anyone in town harming Bonnie. It’s just that… after last night… With what Siffrin did.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Whatever it was, it was only last night. Sif's back to normal, and he promised he would explain everything later tonight. He just needs time to prepare.

Belle looks sad. You look confused, but that’s because you have no idea what they’re talking about. This is clearly adult stuff that you don’t have to worry about. Because it’s not snacks or meal stuffs. Oh! You should make the bestest meal ever for everyone tonight! That way everyone will have to be happy! And Za won’t be sick anymore and everyone will be nice to Frin again!

“Ok. I’m gonna go outside now!”

You jump out of bed and get ready for the cold so fast that Belle and Za can’t even stop you before you’re running downstairs and through the front door of the inn! But you trip into the snow after your first step outside. Wait, snow? SNOW!!! It snowed so much last night! It feels like you haven't seen snow in like, forever! You’re about to bounce right up and start jumping around in it but Belle picks you up out of the bank you fell in.

“Bonnie, please don’t run off like that. I’ll go with you to help find Siffrin, ok?”

“Don’t need any stupid help. Sides, I’m gonna make the best lunch for everyone and that'll fix everything.”

Belle giggles at you. “That sounds wonderful, Bonnie.”

The two of you travel the shoveled pathway down to the market square. There's!... not a whole lot of people. What was Belle so worried about? Whatever. You're a big kid, you can take care of yourself! 

Marching over to some of the display shops you see there's not a great selection of stuff. Most of the food is being stored now that it's winter. There's only stuff like fish and a bunch of citrusy fruits. Gonna be hard to make the best meal that makes everyone happy. Maybe, you could ask the innkeeper if you can make pancakes! Hehe! You're the crabbing smartest. Bestest cooker in the world!

Oh! You spot Frin a few blocks down the market, looking through the window of some boring clothing shop. Wait, is it… looks like… normal Frin.

You crunch the snow as loud as you can as you walk up to him. “Hey, Frin! I am going to touch you!”

You poke their side. They still jump even though you already told them!

“Bonnie!? Oh uh, hey Mira…”

“...Hi, Siffrin.”

…

This is so crabbin annoying

“You two can just talk y'know. Stop being mad at each other and talk already!”

Belle looks at you in that way adults do when they think you're just a kid who doesn't get things. You take Belle’s hand and walk towards Frin. You hold your hand out and make grabby motions. Frin gives you their hand after being so wishy washy about it! Finally! You raise Belle’s hand as high as you can and stare at her.

“This is what my teacher does to make us get along. So now it is your turn to talk so you can both get along.”

Belle looks back and forth between you and Frin. She wants to tell you something but she sighs and looks at Frin.

“So… What are you looking at? Are you looking for a new hat?”

Frin shakes their head no.

“Oh! Are you looking for clothing designs you like for Isabeau?”

You raise Frin's hand

“...yeah! I was… no, that's a lie. Sorry… I'm looking at the canes.”

“Canes? How come? Are you having trouble walking?”

You're mad that Belle is ignoring your cool making friends technique, but you are also curious about why Frin wants an old person stick. You wiggle Frin’s hand repeatedly while they try to look anywhere else.

“...Sometimes I feel aching, and burning or sharp pains. My scars start hurting… or places that got hurt in the loops. One place in particular hurts to walk on.”

“How bad is it?”

“Pretty bad. Sometimes it's all I can think about. And sometimes I feel like I'm about to pass out from it... Sorry."

You and Belle kinda don't know how to talk back for a while. It takes like the amount of time where a minute feels like the whole school year before Belle talks.

“Siffrin. Why didn’t you tell us? Or at least talk to the nurse?”

Belle looks upset, but you are too. How can Frin be so crabbing stupid! You always tell someone when you get hurt! Dummy! Anytime you get hurt, you go to a teacher or the town healer or Nille and they help!

Frin tries hiding their face by looking down. You wanna do that too. “I didn’t want to worry anyone. I was already wasting so much time recovering, and if I forced everyone to wait even more-”

Belle takes her hand back and grabs both of Frin’s. “Siffrin please! Don't think like that! It hurts so much to see you suffer for what you say is our sake. It's ok if you need to take things slowly. We're fine slowing down for you. Please talk to us! I don't want to find out about something after it's too late to help!”

You give Frin a hug.

Frin tries not to cry. “I… I… It’s going to take time getting used to being open about this. Even if I have help now. It’s just that I was already diagnosed by the house healer with so many things. I didn’t want to look too… broken.”

The healer back at Dormant read a list of things they found wrong with Frin. You didn’t get any of it but it made everyone look scared. You’re trying your best to be brave. Snacks and meals are supposed to make everyone happy. But everyone’s been so worried all the time now. What do you do if you can’t fix things? Dile’s the one who takes care of big words and plans things. Za’s always there to help you carry stuff or talk about how you’re feeling. Belle knows exactly how to take care of you when you miss your sister too much. And Frin saved your life and nearly beat the King and said all your snacks were amazing! And! And. and… you don’t know how to help them. 

You pack a snowball together and walk a few steps back before hitting Frin right in his side. He falls back into the snow stunned.

“Bonnie! Don’t hit them!”

“Why not?! Frin’s being bad! They won’t stop being so crabbin stupid! They won’t stop trying to hurt themself cause they won’t tell us anything! And everyone is being so angry all the time about it! I wanna go see my sister! But I also want everyone to be happy when we get there! I want Nille to see how much fun it is to travel! And none of you are making it fun cause you won’t! Crabbing! Talk to each other!!”

…

You made everything worse again.

Belle holds Frin and helps him breathe better. Frin looks past you like they’re remembering something. Probably something bad. You look down at the ground ready to get yelled at for setting Frin off again.

You wanted some pineapples. They're so tasty but Frin kept complaining about them and you were already having a bad day and you said something you didn't mean to. You said you hated him. You didn't mean to say it! But sometimes you get mad and you say things you don't mean because… you don't know why you say things that aren't true sometimes. Frin got really scared after that and couldn't breathe right.

And you didn't know what to do so you kept yelling at him and you couldn't stop until Belle and Za took you away from Frin. And Za kept yelling at you to be nicer to Frin and you couldn't tell Za you didn't mean to because you couldn't stop crying! You thought Frin was gonna leave you. You couldn't sleep at all that night and everything you ate tasted gross.

You stand there for what feels like the whole crabbing day. Just waiting for Belle to finish helping Frin. You're too scared to run away. ow. Huh? Someone threw a snowball at you? 

Frin is leaning back in the snow trying to smile in that way where you're too tired to. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk to you. Both of you. Um, if you want. I can talk about what happened last night. So that we can start, talking to each other again.”

Belle doesn’t say anything and sits next to Frin. You sit down next to them in the middle of the pathway too.

“...I. Don’t actually know how I’m supposed to describe this, or maybe it’s just weird to actually say it out loud. Sometimes, I don’t feel like I’m me. I feel like I’m someone else, who thinks differently, and acts differently, and has different thoughts about everyone. I’m not making sense am I?”

Wait, is that?... “You mean happy Frin and silent Frin?”

Belle and Frin both look at you confused. “Huh?”

“Y’know! There’s normal Frin. That's you. Then there’s happy Frin when he gets cheery and silly. Also there’s silent Frin who stares at people all day and doesn’t say anything, even when you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I guess? They have different names actually, and I don’t actually remember much when I’m acting like them. It’s like I take a nap and someone else takes over. Kind of? It’s hard to describe. I… it's been going on for a while, and I didn't say anything because I didn't want to seem crazy and I… Can we stop talking about it actually? I think I need more time.

Belle sighs. She looks confused and sad and scared and angry all at once. But at least she looks kinda hopeful too. “I don’t really get what's going on, Siffrin. This seems like something that Madame Odile would know more about. But I’m glad you could tell me a little bit about it. And for the record, I don't think you're crazy. You're my best friend! I just want to see you safe. Let’s go back to the inn together and talk with everyone, ok? And I’ll get you something to help with walking tomorrow too.”

You smile. Wait. Did you do it? Did you help things get better? And you, you did it without making the perfectest bestest meal ever! You have become powerful. The only thing left to do is make today the bestest day ever for when you make the bestest pancakes ever! Frin helps you pick out fruits for the pancakes. Belle buys you some candy, and you get a promise from both of them that you'll all have a snowball fight tomorrow! Frin starts to get tired and you all have to walk back to the inn now. That's fine. Today was pretty cool.

The walk back is nice. But then…

Then you heard what sounds like a bomb going off far away. Belle and Frin both freeze. You smell smoke, it’s forming off in the distance, right where the inn would be. Frin runs off ahead of you. You’ve only seen him move that fast when... When you were about to get hurt. You don’t know what’s going on. And by the time you get there. You see----Za?------

…Smells like burnt sugar….

You wake up super early. Frin’s panicking and screaming woke you up. It's gonna wake everyone else too. You hear Isa trying to comfort and wake him up. Probably another nightmare. Frin gets those a lot now. You try to go back asleep and think about anything besides how no one is having fun traveling.

Smells like someone is burning pancakes.

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

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Hope you're enjoying things. We're now halfway through Act 1 of this story. We'll probably make a post later today detailing our plans on this project moving forward. Hopefully we can continue to post a chapter every Sunday, although chapter 7 has been given us a lot of trouble. Regardless, we hope you enjoy the start to a much more story focused direction, and all the suffering the Sifstem will have to endure now.

Also happy pride month!

[jasina85]

It sometimes feels very weird to think about the history I have with the World of Darkness. Sometimes it feels weird to remember how I might have missed the IP entirety, if it wasn't for being bored out of my mind one summer afternoon back in highschool to go digging through a stack of DVDs I got from a gaming magazine, seeing Bloodlines in there and thinking to myself "What the hell, how bad can it be?" Yes, I used to hate vampires, and you can blame my second-hand experiences with Twilight for that. But I put the disk in and the rest you can probably guess.

Bloodlines utterly bewitched me - finally, some good fucking vampires, to paraphrase a meme. I've beaten the game (thanks in no small part to the walkthrough that came with the Unofficial Patch, I love you written walkthroughs) and I wanted more. I wanted to know more of this world, I wanted to experience more of this world, a quick search led me to one of many vtm discord servers when I discovered just how expansive this setting actually was and I was utterly hooked. I eventually got the corebook for V20 and although it'd be close to a decade before I actually read it cover-to-cover (I mostly read the clan section back then) I already knew this was going to become a special interest of mine. I wanted to get involved, I signed up for a very short lived play-by-post... and then it kinda just all stopped.

Sure, I still liked the setting, but it became more passive, like my interest went into hibernation. I still occasionally talked about it with people, I snatched all the PDFs for the 20th Anniversary corebooks when they were giving those away on drivethruRPG, but I just largely stopped engaging with the setting. I didn't feel very interested in Werewolf, Mage, Wraith or Changeling. It wouldn't change for years either.

What put VtM back on my radar was an Actual Play group I followed at the time started a WoD show. Not VtM. Just "World of Darkness*" The * is semi important, because for the first half of the show, everyone though it was a mortals/Hunter game, but then the big plot twist happened that they were actually fetches. So yeah, it ended up as Changeling the Lost, which is Chronicles of Darkness, and not World, but I was unaware of the distinction between the two at the time (and maybe it's why I seem to like the Lost more than the Dreaming). And then they did a V5 Chicago show and I was gone, hook, line and sinker. I was back in it and once again wanted more... and I wouldn't actually play VtM for many more years yet.

Funnily enough the first bit of WoD I actually played was a rather short-lived and disastrous hack of Mage the Ascension for V5 (it felt alright mechanics-wise, but the ST insisted we do a mixed Technocracy/Traditions game, when it was painfully obvious he just wanted to run Technocracy). And again, years passed and I sat on the sidelines, hoping to get my chance.

And it kinda happened when I got invited to a V5 game set in Amsterdam 3 years ago. That game still hasn't happened (and at this point probably won't), but it made me write Olivia, which ended up wildly different from her initial concept (she was originally going to be a crime novelist turned Toreador trophy embrace, if you can believe it)... and then Yonah suggested we could write a little scene for our characters together. And we did just that! And then another... and then another, and before we knew it, we wrote Harmony and Olivia a whole damn chronicle... and then we outlined another. And then Blood on the Stones happened and I got to play Celeste.

Around 2023/24 I got on a VtM reading spree, going through pretty much all V20 books (and Dark Ages 20, and some older DA books, and clanbooks) and it was around that time I also got into Werewolf. Believe it or not, with Werewolf 5 either... and it felt so off I decided to go back to W20 and see how things were back then... and once again I was hooked. I ended up reading all the 20th Anniversary cores, Wraith fascinated me and Mage and Changeling mostly baffled me.

And I suppose here I am now.

[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

Alastor waited until dinner time that evening before he did anything with Adam's journal. For the most part it wasn't anything too interesting.

He missed his kids. Fair.

He missed his girls. Whatever.

But then there were some more juicer entries that he felt were worth sharing with the group.

Especially Lucifer.

-

Adam was setting the table, his nerves felt like they were on fire.

Charlie apologized for her outburst. But he gets it, that's her mom.

After the table was set Adam went to get the food to set it on the table for everyone. His heart was racing when everyone sat down but he was somewhat okay when he sat next to Angel.

Alastor: Now, before we eat I'd like to share a story or two from a book I found.

What he held up, Adam paled. How the fuck did that asshole get his fucking journal!? His heart slammed in his chest and he felt paralyzed. He could see Angel out of the corner of his eye looking at him, hand on his shoulder, but Adam couldn't hear him.

Alastor: Ahem, now the first little bit is boring but I'll tell you anyway. Written is, "I miss my kids, my girls, and my home. I hope that maid bitch breaks her fucking neck and ends up in the garbage disposal."

That got a few snickers, even Nifty found it funny and it was about her.

Lucifer listened a little bored, Charlie was looking at Alastor as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

Weird.

But it wasn't until names were said that it started to fall into place for Lucifer.

Alastor: "I wonder if Abel asked out that twink yet. I wonder if Sera misses me, because I sure miss her."

Vaggie: They sound pathetic.

Sera and Abel? Lucifer frowned, he looked over at Adam who looked close to tears.

Wait......

Alastor: Oh it gets better! "No one understands the abuse I faced back then when all I was just trying to do was make everyone happy." And this one is gold.~ "Being here around Lucifer is so hard. It's bringing up my old feelings for him, feelings that never really left. He never knew how much I longed for him and his touch in Eden, but it's not his fault. He never knew how much I loved him and still do. Even as the devil, he will always be my angel deep in my heart."

Eden.

Fuck.

The sound of a chair hitting the wall and footsteps running away from the table could be heard, all Lucifer could see was Adam running away sobbing.

He felt anger, but not at Adam.

Lucifer got up and out of his chair snatching the journal from the radio demon.

Lucifer: The fuck is WRONG with you asshole!?

Charlie: Wait.... That's Adam's journal?! Alastor!

Lucifer did the only thing he could think of, he punched Alastor so hard he broke his front tooth before stalking off to give Adam his journal back.

✨️Busboy✨️

@things-arent-what-they-seem66

Adam isn't scared of anything. Not since Eden. But feeling his very dead body coming back to life definitely scared him. He could feel his blood pooling in his wound before overflowing and running down his body until it soaked into his clothes. It was a strange feeling. To have a gaping wound that was slowly closing up.

His fear got worse when someone picked him up. He couldn't see- one eye swollen shut and the other too weak to open. But, he saw flashes of things as he was carried, Hell's sky one minute and then a high, grand ceiling. He had never seen the inside of the hotel, but he prayed to his father that this wasn't where he was.

His father must truly hate him. Or be using his as entertainment for Heaven. Or both. After a week of being in and out of consciousness, Adam now found him in the princess's office- which was way too fancy if you asked Adam - being talked down to by her. Or, that's how it felt. Even that fucking traitor had the nerve to stare him down, and that bastard of a king didn't know where to stand, behind him, like a freak or in front of him, like an asshole.

So, the king paced, also staring him down. Though his glare was more amused than Vagatha's. Doesn't make it any less threatening.

Adam tried to ignore the feeling in his still wounded chest whenever Lucifer got close, jumping when him or his daughter made any sudden movements. He doesn't know what's wrong with him. But he felt scared, all over again.

Charlie: So, before we even think of getting you into our redemption program, I want to be sure you're serious about this, Adam. Seeing as we've had... past dealings that haven't painted either of us in a good light, I want everything to be clear, okay?

What a load of bullshit. She's the fucking villain here. She has the nerve to fucking put him through a vetting process?! When in their meeting she made it very, VERY clear anyone and everyone can go for redemption.

Adam managed not to roll his eyes. Or glare. Or swear. Or attack. Or trash the room. He would be proud of himself if he didn't have the king and the traitor looks g ready to attack and kill him at any moment.

Charlie: So, for about... a year, you'll work for me, doing any tasks that are asked of you. You'll be respectful to those in the hotel, including Vaggie and dad. Especially Vaggie and dad. If I'm not around, you will report to Alastor, who I will properly introduce you to the next time he's feeling able. But, for now, I'll get you fitting for your uniform ans then show you to your room- oh! How exciting! Here, have a read through and sign when you're ready.

The first man wanted to kill her. Especially when she reached over, pushing some papers closer with her finger. Adam hated how his heart rate rose and his chest tightened when she was closer.

He didn't want to grab the paper, afraid someone might cut his arm off. But, with a hand shaking too much for his liking, he grabbed the paper and started to read through it.

It was a few minutes later that the king spoke up: Taking a while there, buddy. Are you sure Heaven taught you how to read~?

Vaggie laughed. Fucking bitch.

But what made Adam freeze has Lucifer's hands on the back of his chair, the fucker was leaning over, talking into his ear, but it was clearly loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

That was when he felt something he hadn't felt since Eden. Panic. He was starting to panic. Everything was closing in, which didn't help with the company he had. Feeling Lucifer's head made those bad memories flood back, especially the more recent ones, of the Devil destroying his face and breaking his body. Everything hurt like it was happening all over again.

Charlie: Uh- Adam?

Without finishing reading, Adam quickly signed the contract, which was just a pathetic excuse of an 'A' with a line through it. As soon as he signed it, the paper was snatched out of his hands, making him flinch, and handed to Charlie, who smiled.

The princess was surprised Adam actually signed the contract with so little fuss, but she won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Charlie: Okay, great. Everything's in order! How about we get you fitted? If you're not too sore-?

Vaggie: He's fine, Char. He's just trying to act pathetic so you can feel sorry for him.

Charlie: Oh? Well... That's not very good, Adam. Guess we can't expect the best from you yet.

Well, that fucking hurt.

Lucifer: Hun, he hasn't been the best at anything since he was made in that garden! I have a feeling we'll still be waiting a while!

Well, the fucking hurt more. What the fuck would this chump know? He fucked off not even half way through Eden's existence.

Charlie: Dad, please. Alright, come with me, Adam.

He flinched again when everyone stood and moved. He just wanted this to be over. Why was he acting so pathetic? Jumping or internally panicking whenever these assholes do something? This has never happened to him before. Not even during or after the first few exterminations. When Adam took too long to move, Lucifer grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. His body burned at the sudden, involuntary movement- he even put his hands in front of his face. Like a victim. Which he wasn't fucking.

Lucifer: Move. Now.

He quickly did as he was told, keeping as much distance as he could between him and Charlie.

-

The uniform was straight forward, or, it would have been if those two other cunts weren't right behind him. It didn't help that they stripped him when he took too long. Vaggie shoved his shirt back into his chest when he started bleeding again. Like it was an inconvenience to her.

Everything rushed back from Eden. Being surrounded by the angels, then to his rib being broken and torn out- then it flashed to Lilith. Wrapping through vines and rope, she had made tightly around his wrists to keep him in place. He felt her hands. He nails. Leaving red welts on his skin. He felt the hollowing hunger he'd get when she left him there for days at a time.

Charlie noticed the look on Adam's face and how his breathing would become either laboured or quick. He looked scared. And, maybe he had a right to be. Charlie made some rough estimates of clothing size before bundling them up in her arms and finishing the fitting.

Charlie: Okay, Adam. Let's get you to your room.

She reached out to him, and her fingers only grazed the top of his hand, that was holding his shirt to his chest. He jumped back like he was burned, his eyes wide and staring at her. She couldn't tell if the look was bagging her to leave or begging for her to take him out of here. Either way, Charlie didn't make another move to touch him.

They walked back to his room. It was slow, seeing as Charlie wanted to be next to Adam to give him a little tour along the way, but Adam wanted to be as far from her as possible. Vaggie was in front of her, keeping her eye on Adam the whole time, while Lucifer was behind Adam. He didn't slow down when the first man did, so he'd often walk into his back, which was a whole new reaction in itself.

Lucifer could see him cower and turn to face him- for only a second. As soon as their eyes locked, Adam would spin back around again. It was driving the king nuts.

Lucifer: Just fucking walk, will you?!

Charlie: Dad! It's fine. We're nearly there, anyway.

That made Adam look up. He watched Charlie unlock a door and hold it open for Adam. He has to walk past her. And Vaggie. They would be so close to him.

He must have been standing there for too long because Lucifer grabbed him by the waist band of his pants and basically threw him into the room..

Lucifer: You won't come out until one of us fetches you. And I'll know if you leave your room, got it?

Vaggie: And have a shower while you're there. Fucking gross, man.

Adam felt shame. He really was a mess, wasn't he.

Charlie reached in and placed his uniform on a small shelf neat the door: Have a rest, Adam.

She smiled before closing the door. The king didn't stop glaring at him the whole time it was shutting.

But Adam was finally alone.

Adam: F-Fuck- fuck. Wh-What the fuck is wrong wi-with me...?

[meet-this-stuttering-character]

You know, as a stutterer, I could actually familiarize myself with all the characters that have been submitted so far and maybe share my thoughts on whether they’re good representation or not really

[lemonduckisnowawake]

Dragon!Angelique AU word dump that I wrote on a whim just to see how many words I could write in 20 minutes on my phone (it was 569. 1327 total in about 40 to 50 minutes total). So don't expect anything shiny.

_

They were all supposed to be dead.

What they didn't know was that when the goblins ransacked the little village of Joie in Loire, the creatures had been drawn to a lurking power.

"He was a soldier," Angelique had told Clovicus about her father, nothing but an old grief tugging at her heart.

She hadn't said anything about her mother.

But it wasn't like it was a secret, anyway.

There wasn't much to hide when you found a child, eyes blazing a cold and unnatural silver, something hard and scaly and glowing on the sides of her face, teeth bared and sharper than a child's teeth should be.

Mama was supposed to be invincible.

But in a world where an ogre can be felled by nothing more than a youth and her cat, where a man-turned-beast can be tamed by a snarky ranger, where a demonic mirror can be contained by a mortal with her human power and love - even goblins can fell an ancient monster.

"You should practice using that power..."

And what right do you have to say that? Angelique had thought, eyeing the irritating teenager training under Clovicus. He didn't understand the pain that the lurking beast inside her had caused. He didn't understand that without it, she might have a family, not be someone taken out of pity by a man who didn't even like children.

And yet, six years later after being discovered, when Evariste had invited her to stay in his home as she tried to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, she'd accepted. When the Council protested, he simply had bared his very human teeth and claimed he'd teach her magic.

(A mage?, they'd whispered, voices horrified. Why would Lord Enchanter Evariste teach a monster to be a mage??)

Just to spite them, Angelique - planning to stay quiet, subdued, discover a way to run - decided to learn.

Even if Evariste kept insisting she use her horrible, heinous power, even if he kept insisting that it was beautiful, she stayed and thrived.

Of course, she refused his asinine insistence for her to train that other side of her.

The memory of her mother, in the process of transforming, cut down by one of those creatures, still burned in her mind. The whispers surrounding her, the people who barged into Clovicus' home to see her, make sure she was controlled, that she wasn't dangerous. And even now, people sent by the Council harassed Evariste - all these memories kept her tranquilized.

"Is your little beast tamed?" the visitors wouldn't say, but imply with all their words.

Evariste would shield her, and Angelique longed to sink her teeth into these people, show them what an untamed, wild, and free beast really looked like. But for Clovicus and now for Evariste, who was protecting her on some strange basis of loyalty from growing up together, she'd stay tame.

And now...he was gone.

He'd been gone for nearly six years, taken from under her nose, right in his own home.

Shielding her.

Just like her parents.

Everyone was always left or taken, and maybe now Angelique understood those stories where the dragons kidnapped royals or young people or entire villages. Creatures like her must have been fated by the gods or some deity to forever be alone, so they took and hoarded and kept whenever the opportunity rose. Because it would be taken anyway, in the end.

You have all the power to take back what is yours, young one, the stars had told her once.

They had called themselves Pegasus, a swirl of stars knit together into a constellation she could ride.

We had an agreement with your human mage, Pegasus told her. But the stars will only bow to those who can reach them.

So Angelique did not have to unfold her own wings, transform into something that would make children quake in terror. Instead, she became the beautiful enchantress who rode the stars, in search of a friend who had taught her the beauty of human magic and abyss-deep love. She was the one to tame men turned into beasts, who transformed a destitute duchess into a queen, who fostered a mage of creation, who destroyed only to protect and save.

That was how it was supposed to be.

Angelique, at 18 and about to leave the world behind before Evariste invited her into hers, would have been happy to withdraw into the shadows and fade as another bad memory of the world. But then she'd risen to become a hero, to become someone who was great enough that she didn't need to unleash the beast shaking in the cage of her soul.

"You can't hide it forever. You can't hide from it forever," Emerys warned her once, something gleaming - something that looked like hope and joy - in his eyes.

And now, he repeated the words to her again, cradling the form of his wounded human lover. It made Angelique's heart squeeze painfully. An elf of the forest from a land far away and a mortal woman who accepted who he was, loved it even.

"Please, Angelique?" Emerys begged her, himself bloodied and bruised.

So how had it come to this?

It had started with her father, loving Angelique for who she was, calling her and Mama his "little fire stars." And then it was Clovicus (Angelique now knew how unfair she'd been to the man, who may have not liked children all that much but had loved her and Evariste), giving her a home when the Council had called for her to be killed. And then...Evariste, who had given her a home and an alternate solution to survival in his beautiful, human magic. Then Emerys and Alastryn, Roland and Gabrielle, Elle (who had discovered it because of course the former spy would), and now....

"It always comes to this," Angelique muttered to herself, not even aware that she was speaking.

Something hot - and she didn't know if it was rage or love - burned in her chest. The fire of it all spread from her core into her veins, forcibly squeezing through her muscle onto the organ of her skin, hardening it.

"No matter how much I give, I always have to give more," she said, almost a sob and yet so full of resigned desperation. "You had all my humanity. And this, finally, is the rest of me."

Because she would have burned long ago if it could have bought her parents to life. Or if it would have saved Evariste.

Trained to hide it all her life and told by those she loved to set it free.

Fine. Here I am.

And the fire burst out in full, encasing her in a cocoon of silver flames. She felt herself rise with the fire, the unsteady floating stabilizing when scaly wings were wrenched out, the flying coming to her instinctually.

It wasn't a full transformation, no. She wouldn't give them that.

But the scales were on her face again, as they had been long ago when they'd found her. Her back had grown wings as large as the wonder from the soldiers below, and they propelled her as she raided the sky and became the wind of this windless day. There was no fire out of her mouth - her humanoid body was not made to contain it - but it didn't matter.

An ancient, deep, powerful magic danced in her blood, merging with her human spells and setting the horde of the evil beasts alight. In seconds, the encroaching armies became ash and dust, scattered in the winds of her flight path.

Inside of Angelique, there was a contended rumble, as if from a creature long-chained set free.

Welcome home, it whispered, startling her.

Home?

As she landed back to where Emerys and Quinn, both gazing at her with...with awe, of all things, staying put as Angelique willed the searing burn of her magic into a healing warmth to flow over them - as she looked into their eyes and smiles, something within her shattered and mended and sang.

It sounded like the voice of her mother, opening her arms wide to an Angelique shrieking in delight as her father tossed her up and down.

"Welcome home."

[unintentional-sad-wizard]

I don’t usually comsume caffeine (my body just doesn’t handle it well) but given that I am starting work again and extremely fatigued as a result I fear I must begin experimenting with it again. Anyway. Time to see what 100mg of caffeine does to my (extremely exhausted, zero caffeine tolerance) body today.