#but i think its pretty much the opposite. she can help because she's got other shit going on that's Not This

[calypsolemon]

I feel like a lot of the fandom assumes Connie during future is studying to an unhealthy extent and is making 0 time for herself but I feel like that's not the case? She literally introduces Steven to 3 new friends in Bismuth Casual, she seems to have free time for fun activities and hanging out. It's just... Steven who she doesn't always have time for, and I'm willing to bet it has just as much to do with her schooling than it does his own crazy busy schedule.

As usual, I think the perspective that Connie is always busy is mostly an effect of the show being told through Steven's perspective. She's always busy in the few moments that Steven has spare time. The thought of her moving far away for school, hanging out with people he doesn't know, moving on from the stressful things they had to do as kids... thats scary for Steven. But I think thats why Connie is more grounded than Steven in future, she's allowing herself to grow past gem stuff, make more friends than she ever had when she was younger, see the world for her own purposes rather than to do missions or save the world. Steven feels like he can't do all that, so he's imagining her as drifting away from him, with school as the culprit.

[sanjisblackasswife]

Can u pleaseeee do a part 2 to the nanami cam girl fanfiction 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Part 1 Of Nanami x Cam!Girl Reader Here

Blk!Fem Reader in Mind

CW: Pervert Nanami, Nanami with a voice kink, Idk. Smut fr w some plot.

“Sssshit, yes baby….” Nanami’s voice growled from the back of his throat, his legs beginning to rise as his body tenses for a moment. His groans echoed through his empty apartment, only thing luminating his room was the lights of the city and his phone in his hand.

He threw his head back to land on the headboard, mind feeling a little fuzzy. This orgasm definitely drained him way more than any this week.

Maybe because this particular video he was using to get off was his and only for him.

“I um…i hope that was good for you Mr. Nanami.” She spoke breathlessly holding up the camera above her face as she laid on the fluffy pillows on her bed, eyes were dilated, cheeks flushed despite her skin tone, strands of hair on her forehead. She must have overworked herself this time. She did cum more than usual, as requested of him. “I never came that much, I almost feel embarrassed i couldn’t last as long as I should of.”

“You did amazing, sweetheart.” Nanami thought as she began to ramble a bit….per requested. Her voice was almost the equivalent to an angel through his ears. So soft, feminine and gentle.

Almost the polar opposite of her whiney, loud, slutty voice when she moans his name.

“I never gotten a um…private suggestion and you’ve been…so sweet with your donations I actually was able to get a new camera for it so of course I had to show you!”

“I noticed.” He thought, a faint smirk arising on his face.

“As promised though please do not share this video or post on any other platforms. Please.”

Nanami clicked off the video to give a long sign of relief. Her voice was too cute;

“Please.”

His thoughts still going a mile a minute, “Maybe next time she can beg to cum for me.”

Shaking his head to clear some of his perverted ideas he got up to take a quick shower and put on some new sheets. He actually tired himself out tonight, but he still couldn’t completely fall asleep.

He was tired yes, but everytime he shut his eyes they fluttered back up.

Tossing and turning on his bed he reached for his phone again, maybe another rewatch?

The shame nanami felt watching the streamer was now completely gone, he only watched her anyways and something about her voice always helped him not only get off, but fall asleep.

He remembers hearing a very….perverted conversation with Geto and Gojo about listening to sexual audios when they are too sleepy to watch a video, but too awake to fall asleep.

…It was 7am and honestly Nanami tried to ignore it, but Gojo was so damn loud.

With a moment before reconsidering he reached for his airpods and phone off the dresser again and scrolled through her videos.

This one. This video where she first moaned his first name was soothing

….to him.

Laying on his back, gently allowing the weight of his lids to fall shut he turned up the volume of his phone and just listened to her.

He replayed the video so much he almost can invision what she was doing in the exact moment she was speaking.

Nanami had no intention to touch himself again, just to simply hear her, but how naive of him to think he can listen to the wet sounds of her cunt and her soft moans and NOT have a body reaction.

He felt himself get hard, palming his shaft he rubbed it through his boxers, face getting red from the lewd thoughts he imagined from the video.

Nanami invisioned him on top of her, throwing her pretty thick leg on his shoulder, kissing her ankle to distract her from the full feeling of his tip and a few inches of shaft pushing its way inside her. When she moaned Nanami’s name he imagined that’s exactly how she’d sound the moment he bottomed out.

Without noticing his hand was down his boxers moving his fist at the same pace she was fingering herself.

Nanami wasn’t the type to make A LOT of noise when hes self pleasuring. He’s more vocal when with a woman, but his thoughts almost felt like reality he started to speak to himself as if she was there.

“Goooood good girl, sweetheart. Keep your eyes on me…yesss fuck—-so good taking me in like this….”

He never really got off to just audio before, but somehow with his eyes shut he felt more sensitive and it wasn’t long until he felt close again, but he tried to hold on until til she was as well.

“C’mon baby…just like that cum with me. Yes fuck—-“

It probably would seem embarrassing to see such a big strong man whimpering in his bed alone at the thought of fucking a girl he doesn’t even know, but fuck it he did not care. It felt too good to him

It wasn’t too long until he made another mess. Sucking his teeth he just grumbled to himself knowing he needs to grab a towel, but before he does that, he moves over the table in his phone and clicks “New Message”.

While still coming down from his high, Nanami sends another $200 donation and private message to the pretty streamer stating;

“How much would it be for a private phone call?”

[7s3ven]

ATHENA'S GIRL. luke (pjo) - pt 3

trailer > part 1 > part 2 > part 3

( master list )

IN WHICH... Luke has to finally acknowledge his growing fondness for Y/N while she does the opposite and pushes her feelings down in order to fit her mother’s expectations.

"Have you forgotten to turn off your heart? This is not you. I see you changing from how I've designed you. Have you forgotten your purpose?"

Warnings : Y/N swears a lot

—

Y/N was the talk of the town after Athena oh-so dramatically claimed her. She didn’t even have to spend a single hour in the rowdy Hermes cabin.

The H/C-haired girl turned her head, looking around at her surroundings. Her heart almost did a leap of joy when her gaze landed in the rows of books that seemed to fill the cabin up to its capacity.

“Excuse me, which bed should I take- Oh. Okay. You’re walking away. Yeah, just act like you don’t hear me. It’s fine.” Y/N watched as the young girl brushed past her without a single word, ignoring her question. Judging by the state of some of the beds, Y/N assumed the neater mattresses were the ones available.

She set her things down on the squeaky floorboards, sighing. She didn’t have much with her; only a novel and some spare change as well as her school textbooks. It looked like she wouldn’t be needing this anymore.

Y/N sat in the edge of the mattress, pressing her lips into a thin line when she felt a spring break. “Man, I hate it here already.”

Y/N felt even lonelier at meals. None of her so-called siblings wanted to associate themselves with her. She could feel their envious stares on her as they constantly whispered how they could’ve easily solved a murder case. Finally, Y/N had enough.

She placed her silverware done, tensely smiling while clasping her hands together. “Are you guys familiar with Nabokov’s work?” She piped up, catching the attention of everybody at the rickety wooden table. They each turned to each other, confused.

“He’s like… a German poet, right?” A boy replied, furrowing his eyebrows together as if Y/N’s inquiry were stupid.

She shook her head. He was the stupid one. “I found a clue in one of his books. And the nationality of the writer helped quite a bit in unpacking it. But none of you seem to know Nabokov so I doubt you could’ve solved the mystery. I solved a crime in under an hour, slayed a dragon, and easily killed a happy. What have you guys done? Made friendship bracelets?��

One of the kids hid their untidily made bracelet, thickly gulping as if he was self-conscious.

Y/N was about to turn back to her food before someone else spoke up. “Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian author, best known for his work Lolita. Or rather, infamously known because it’s quite a controversial piece.”

Y/N’s eyes flickered to the kid with pretty brown eyes and long, braided hair. “Three movie adaptations were made, all of them equally hated to no one’s surprise.” The younger girl added, causing Y/N to smile.

She stabbed a string bean as she shrugged, “It’s always the Russians pulling some sort of weird crap.”

“Language.” Another teenager uttered. Y/N turned her head to stare at the boy, unimpressed. She raised her brows in an almost pocking sort of way.

“Fuck… off.” Y/N tauntingly smiled, causing Annabeth to lightly snort. “Don’t you guys fight monsters? I’m sure you can take a bit of swearing. Can't you?" She leaned forward, "Listen here, you little bitch. I dealt with Castellan's shit for months. You think I can't take you and your stupid ass now?"

"Colorful language you've got there, writer. As always. You gonna use it in your next global article?" Luke placed a heavy hand on Y/N's shoulder as he quietly chuckled. "Hey, Akut," The Hermes boy turned his attention to the teenage boy, "I wouldn't mess with this one. She's fierce. And she was best friends with Clarisse for a while."

A flash of fear crossed Akut's face at Clarisse’s name. “I was only teasing. Jeez.” He grumbled to himself, shrinking back. “She doesn’t have to be such a whiny bitch about it.”

Luke clicked his tongue, knowing exactly what was coming next.

“A whiny bitch? Oh, I’ll give you a whiny bitch, punk!” Y/N grabbed her plate that still had a decent amount of food on it and slammed it into Akut’s face. “How’s that, huh?!”

“She could be Ares’ kid with that anger.” Chris whispered to Luke.

“She’s probably still adjusting to camp… you know how it is.” Luke’s gaze stayed glued on Y/N as she whacked Akut across the place with a goblet. His eyebrows raised in partial surprise but he did nothing to stop her. Akut was asking for it anyway.

Luke felt Annabeth tug on his sleeve and he slightly leaned down to listen to her over all the shouting because some other Athena kids were trying to pull Y/N off Akut. “I like her.” Annabeth murmured, “She reminds me of Thalia… a little bit. Thalia never had such strong rage, though.”

Luke chuckled under his breath as he ruffled the young girl’s hair. “Guess it’s time to finally stop this before she ends up killing poor Akut.” Luke grasped the back of Y/N’s orange shirt, pulling her back. “Chiron and Mr D are gonna have a mean jab at you, writer.”

Y/N merely scoffed as she wiped away the blood smeared across her chin. Akut had blindly punched in her direction and landed a lucky shot. “He deserved it.” She muttered, eyes flickering to Akut’s bruised face.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get you cleaned up before Chiron whoops your ass. You, get Akut some nectar.” Luke sternly pointed at a nearby Ares kid before he dragged Y/N towards the infirmary. He had patched up Annabeth enough to know what he was doing.

Y/N was silent as Luke wiped her lip with a towel soaked in alcohol. She quietly winced but that was the only noise she made. Luke gently dabbed the cloth against her split skin, being mindful of how hard he pressed.

“What? Not gonna snap at me this time? I’m waiting for you to tell me that I’m holding the towel wrong.” Luke joked but Y/N simply shrugged and let him continue.

Luke’s gaze raked over her suddenly soft and deer-like features. In this moment, she almost seemed peaceful. He had seen many different versions of Y/N. The stressed one, the annoyed one, and the bloodied one. But never calm version until now. Without the biting remarks and sharp tongue, Luke couldn’t deny that she was beautiful.

He heard Y/N clear her throat. She raised her brows, as if questioning why his actions suddenly halted. “Y/N… you’re pretty. Did you know that?” He found himself accidentally whispering his thoughts but the look of shock swirling around in Y/N’s eyes made it worth it. Her eyes softened slightly before she looked away.

“Are you just gonna stand there like an idiot, Castellan?” She asked, glancing at him again.

“You’re just too good-looking, writer.” Luke teasingly uttered before going back to cleaning Y/N’s small injury. “You better behave yourself after this, though. Chiron will end up punishing you for attacking Akut, even if he started it with words.”

“He just got on my nerves. Everybody does. They all whisper and say they could easily do the stuff I did, knowing fully well they probably couldn’t.” Y/N’s lips curled into a scowl, “I just got ripped away from my life, from my school, and probably from my dream of attending Harvard. How did you think I’d react?”

“To be honest, I thought you’d be less violent. Must’ve been all your pent up rage.”

Y/N’s angry eyes turned to Luke and for a moment, he was scared she’d attack him. But they softened and suddenly, Luke was aware of how close they were. He could easily lean down and kiss her.

The duo were interrupted when Annabeth walked through the open door. She took in Luke’s wistful expression and Y/N’s slightly flushed cheeks but didn’t comment on it.

“I thought I’d come and introduce myself.” She uttered, “I’m Annabeth. You’re pretty good at fighting, did you know that?”

“The orphanage was run by a strange woman… she taught us how to fight and all sorts of crazy things.” Y/N clicked her tongue.

“Well, anyway, I think what you did was your quest was impressive. Rarely any newbies can say they slaughtered a monster, let alone two.”

Y/N lightly smiled at the young girl. “Thank you.”

Luke pouted, poking Y/N’s shoulder. “How come you aren’t this nice to me, writer?”

“Because you’re an idiot, Castellan. And you merely existing annoys me.” She sent Luke a pointed look while Annabeth muffled a snicker. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Y/N hopped off the bed, “I’m going to finish Akut or whatever his stupid, hideous name is.” She walked out of the infirmary before Luke could grab her.

“Are you going to stop her?” Annabeth questioned, raising her eyebrows.

“… Nah, I kind of what to see how this ends.”

It did not end good. Akut ended up needing stitches and Y/N was dragged into Chiron’s office while Mr D and a few Ares kids betted on who would win in a fight; Y/N or a random Aphrodite girl. The answer was obvious.

Y/N lay in her bed, half asleep yet half conscious. She rolled over, hitting her forehead on the wall next to her but she didn’t bother to open her eyes.

She wasn’t sure when she ended up in a temple made entirely out of white marble with pink veins running through the slabs of stone. Fluffy clouds floated around and Y/N waved them aside to see who the two figures standing in the distance were. She instantly recognised Athena but the short woman with beautiful locks of curly blond hair standing next her was unfamiliar.

“Mom?” Y/N carefully called out, causing Athena’s head to turn.

“Back so soon, my dear?” She asked in that calming, silky voice.

“Where are we?” Y/N questioned, furrowing her eyebrows. Athena didn’t get the chance to reply because her companion, whose blond hair was now brown and pale skin tanned, answered for her.

“You’re in my temple, of course!” She joyfully clasped her hands together while Athena kept her calm composure.

“It seems you are unfamiliar with the goddess of love, my dear.”

Everything seemed to click in Y/N’s mind. “Aphrodite.” She breathed.

“That’s why she’s your daughter and not mine, even with how pretty she is.” Aphrodite let out a giggle, gracefully grinning and showing off her pearly white teeth. In the beautiful goddess’ presence, Y/N felt inferior.

“Um… if it’s not crossing a boundary, I’d like to ask why I’m here.” Y/N piped up as she stepped closer to the deity duo. “Every time I fall asleep, I end up in different places.”

“Something seems to be troubling you. Oh, is it love problems? Because I can solve anything!” Aphrodite, as gleeful as ever, beckoned Y/N forward. “It’s that Hermes boy, isn’t it! Aw, I knew you two would end up in a thrilling and cute romance!” Aphrodite jumped around as she gushed over what Y/N and Luke could possibly become.

Y/N stole a small glance at her mother only to flinch at Athena’s furious facial expression. “Aphrodite, some privacy please.” Athena uttered, lifting a hand that seemed to hush the goddess of love.

“Oh…” Aphrodite seemed to hesitate before she nodded, “Of course.” Her body faded away into a mass of pink glitter and Y/N was left alone with her mother.

“So, you and this Hermes boy?” Athena quirked an eyebrow which made Y/N shrink back.

“We’re nothing, mother. I don’t even like him that much. To be honest, he’s annoying and he talks too much.”

Yet, Athena was not convinced. “I have created a clear pathway for you, my dear. Annabeth is a bright girl but I want you to be my star pupil. However, if you choose not to follow in my footsteps, then you will merely be only another disappointment.”

Y/N stiffened. Failure was her worst fear, whether it be within a school exam or being unable to meet someone’s expectations. She had never failed and she was not about to start now. With reluctance, she turned to Athena. “What do I have to do?”

Y/N quickly opened her eyes, quietly panting. She found herself back in the cabin and a sigh of relief slipped past her lips. She lay awake in her bed for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling. She could hear light snores coming from her siblings and while the crackling sound of fire was supposed to calm her nerves, it didn’t. Eventually, Y/N rose.

She made an effort to keep quiet as she slipped past the cabin’s front door and into the chilly night air.

“Can’t sleep, huh?”

Y/N almost let out a loud shriek when she turned around only to almost crash into a certain Hermes boy. He had oh-so coincidentally been standing on the Athena’s cabin porch.

“What are you doing here?” She quietly hissed, on edge from both her dream and seeing the very boy her mother despised.

“I had a feeling you couldn’t sleep. The first few days are always the worst. You’re homesick and you’re also stuck with the realisation that you probably won’t ever go back.” Luke’s grin was visibly in the dim light coming from his lantern. “If I’m being honest, I was just on patrol duty and you happened to step out while I passed by.”

Y/N fidgeted with her fingers as she slowly sat down on the squeaky porch, wincing as it creaked. “What was the first night like for you?” She slowly questioned, staring up at Luke.

He shrugged. “Hard. I missed my mom and my friends and, well, Thalia.”

Y/N tilted her head to the side at the mentioning of Thalia’s name. “Who’s that?”

Luke paused before he glancing over at the lonesome tree on the hill. “This is going to sound stupid to you but she’s that tree. She was my friend while I was on the run from monsters. We then found Annabeth. Our satyr guide led us here but we were being chased by monsters. Thalia fought some of them off but there were too many… she would’ve died if it were for her father, Zeus, saving her.”

“He turned her into a fucking tree.” Y/N deadpanned.

Luke quietly groaned, “That’s the same ready Percy had as well. Why did the king of the gods turn his daughter into a tree of all things to save her life? I don’t know. I ain’t Zeus. Yeah, a tree is stupid but hey, at least she’s not dead.” Luke sarcastically smiled while Y/N remained unamused.

“I would rather die than become a tree.” She replied, “Imagine all your leaves falling during winter. You’re basically bald then.”

“If you were a tree, I’d cut you down.” Luke snapped back before he could still himself.

“So, Thalia. Tell me more about her.” Y/N abruptly switched topics.

“She was a little fiery and prideful but that’s expected of Zeus’ daughter. To be honest, she was a little bit like you. She seemed to have a soft spot for Annabeth. I think she preferred Annabeth over me.”

“Wow, what a shocker. I prefer Annabeth too.”

“I was young back then but I’m pretty sure I had a crush on Thalia. She could get me to do anything with one look.” Luke slowly trailed off while Y/N bit the inside of her cheek. Her heart felt unexpectedly heavy and for a moment, she thought she was sick.

“I should go to bed now. I’m feeling tired.” She stood up, stretching her stiff limbs. “See you later, Castellan.” Y/N walked back into her cabin before Luke could reply. He watched her disappear, leaving him standing alone in front of the porch.

He sighed. “Good night to you too, writer.”

Y/N was in the bathroom, washing her face tired face, when somebody else entered. They awkwardly stood behind her for a few moments before clearing their throat.

Y/N opened her eyes and wiped away the beads of water that dripped down her chin.

“You did some mean damage on Akut.”

In the mirror’s reflection, Y/N could see a pretty Ares girl with long, curled hair and a camp t-shirt a size too big. She was shorter than Y/N, not by much, but the H/C-nette still had to look down.

Clarisse had changed a lot but Y/N could still recognise that familiar glimmer in her old friend’s eyes.

“So this is where you disappeared off to?” Y/N questioned as Clarisse stepped closer. The brunette was now standing beside Y/N, leaning against the sink next to her with her arms folded over her chest.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” Clarisse uttered, her gaze looking Y/N up and down, “You’ve grown… a lot.”

“So have you, Clari. You look good.”

“You look better. You might turn me lesbian. It’s a shame you like Luke.”

Y/N paused and furrowed her eyebrows. “I don’t like Luke.” She said, but it was mainly to reassure herself. She heard Clarisse laugh.

“He’s all you look at. For a daughter of Athena, you aren’t too smart on this topic.”

Y/N remained stone-faced as she calmly turned to look at Clarisse. “I don’t like him.” She repeated, this time firmer.

Clarisse hummed as if she wasn’t convinced. “He’s always looking at you, by the way. You being claimed means he sees you less and I think he misses you. But you shouldn’t care. You don’t like him.” She teasingly smiled as she applied a heavy layer of gloss onto her lips.

Y/N said nothing as she looked away, splashing another handful of cold water onto her face.

“You probably remind him of Thalia. Headstrong and stubborn.”

Y/N let Clarisse’s words sink in before she opened her mouth. “I’m not Thalia.” She quietly muttered. “I remind Luke of Thalia. I remind Annabeth of Thalia. But I’m not her. My identity is not tied to Zeus’ half-blood daughter.” Y/N clenched her hands into fists. “It was nice catching up, Clari. Next time we talk, we should tell each other about our lives after we parted.”

Y/N dabbed her face with a soft cotton towel as she walked back to the Athena cabin, almost groaning at the sight of Luke. “What are you doing here? Again?” She demanded, kicking his ankle.

“Woah! Hey, I’m waiting for Annabeth. I’m not here to annoy you. Yet.” Luke grinned as he leaned against a wall. Or he tried to, at least. He underestimated the distance and ended up falling.

“Smooth, Castellan.” Y/N sarcastically said as she towered over him.

“Thanks, writer. I try.” Luke coolly played his embarrassing mistake off while Y/N rolled her eyes.

“Luke, what are you doing?” Annabeth pushed open the door, arching an eyebrow at the boy who was sprawled across the floor.

“Y/N pushed me.”

Y/N scoffed, “I did not. You fell by yourself, Castellan. Like an idiot, might I add.” She brushed past Annabeth.

“You like her.” Annabeth blurted out as soon as Y/N was out of earshot. It was more of a harsh statement than anything else.

“I do not.”

“You do. What about Thalia? Why don’t you like her anymore?”

Luke furrowed his brows as he glanced at Thalia’s tree. “Thalia’s a tree, Annabeth. I have to move on at some point.”

Annabeth clenched her hands into fists as she glared at Luke. “I don’t want you to move on!”

Luke was confused as to why Annabeth was acting this way. He knew she missed Thalia but she had never burst into a fit. “Annabeth… I have to. You said you liked Y/N.”

“I do… but she’s not Thalia.”

Y/N woke up covered in a thin layer of sweat. She quietly panted. Her dreams were all the same now and depicted Athena ruthlessly lecturing her over and over again to the point where Y/N felt a little scared.

She heard someone shift in their bed. “Are you okay?” Y/N heard Annabeth whisper from across the room.

Y/N gave herself a moment to catch her breath before she sighed. “Yeah… just a bad dream, you know? I’m going outside for a bit.” Y/N kicked the covers off her body, shakily standing up.

“Thalia wouldn’t do that.” Annabeth muttered, “She doesn’t like going outside after nightmares.”

Y/N bit back an annoyed huff. “I’m not Thalia, Annabeth. I never will be her. You and Luke should let it go.” She walked out of the cabin, resisting the urge to slam the door.

“Oh, wow. This is just creepy. Are you sure you aren’t stalking me?” Luke grinned while Y/N sarcastically smiled. She sat down on the steps.

“Does Annabeth always go around and comparing people to Thalia?” She was straight forward and blunt. Luke clicked his tongue as he took the spot next to her.

“Not really… no.“

“Do you see me as Thalia?”

“I see Thalia in you but I know how to tell the difference between you too. Listen, Annabeth was attached to Thalia. And with new things coming to light, she’s on guard.”

Y/N turned to look at Luke, gazing at him in confusion. “New things?” She questioned.

“New… feelings.”

“… New feelings for Thalia the tree?”

Luke held his face in his hands as he groaned. “How are you a daughter of Athena? I’m giving you all the hints, writer.”

Y/N only raised her eyebrows. “I see no hints. All I see is your infatuation with a tree that was once a girl.”

“I like you.” Luke blurted out, unable to withstand any more of her obliviousness. “I don’t like Thalia. Maybe I did before but like I told Annabeth, I have to move on.”

Y/N was silent. She stared ahead while Luke awaited her reaction. Finally, Y/N said something. “You can’t like me… you don’t know me, Luke.”

“But I do! I know your favourite food and I know your favourite book. I know when people ask what your favourite colour is, you say it’s stupid to have one but your favourite colour is actually (insert)! I know you hate parties but you also want to feel like a normal teenager. And I know your favourite drink is (insert) yet the best one you’ve tried is in that cafe across from the school. I know things you didn’t know that I knew”- Luke cut himself off with a small sigh. “My point is I know you!”

“Did you mean you know things I didn’t know you knew about me?”

“Yes!” Luke quietly hissed, not wanting to be too loud in case he woke up the Athena kids. They wouldn’t be too happy about that. “And I know that you like correcting people’s grammar because the only paper you scored a B on was because you made grammar mistakes. You think you’re helping people but they think you’re a know-it-all. Though, when you explain your intentions, they realize you were only trying to help.”

Y/N stared at Luke with her lips parted. “Are you stalking me?” She murmured.

“No… yes? It was part of my quest, writer. I had to.”

“Well, that’s not creepy at all.”

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying? I just said I like you and you called me creepy.”

“You are for knowing all that information about me!”

“Okay, okay.” Luke held his hands up in surrender, “Truce. I really do like you, writer.”

“And here I thought you hated me. What was up with all our bickering then?”

“It was the only way to get your attention. And, I must admit, I did feel a little jealous of you. You were so good at everything… and I’m only good at swinging a sword around.” Luke’s gaze flickered to the ground. He thickly swallowed before lifting his head again. He quickly realized how close he was to Y/N, their foreheads almost butting against each other.

“Do you really like me, Cast-Luke?” Y/N quickly corrected herself. Luke could feel a grin stretch across his lips. Y/N had never called him by his first name before. It was always Castellan this, Castellan that.

“I do. I like you, Y/N. I really, really like you.”

“Okay.” Y/N whispered, slowly leaning forward. She was afraid of what her mother would say but when her lips met Luke’s, suddenly she didn’t care.

All that mattered were Luke’s hands trailing up to grab her waist and the smile that spread across his face like gleeful wildfire.

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[ataraxiaspainting]

Sweet Hibiscus Tea.

Yan Shalnark x F Reader.

Synopsis: After a day of finally trying to face your social anxiety, you walk home alone. The roads are empty, quiet, and eerie. But you are almost home now, aren’t you? You are not going to cry anymore. Just when you think life is starting to turn around for you, it goes in the exact opposite direction. 

Warnings: Yandere themes, violence, kidnapping, misogyny, not SFW implications, psychological horror elements, manipulation, panic attacks, Shalnark being an asshole, unhealthy relationships, and stalking.

Word Count: 5k.

Can be considered to be within the Hier Encore universe.

Ten Songs Like This Piece:

Look Who’s Inside Again by Bo Burnham

Things She Said by Chris Garneau

Baby Bride Rag by Roar

Butch 4 Butch by Rio Romeo

Appetite of a People-Pleaser by Ghost and Pals

Valentine, Texas by Mitski

I’m Yer Dad by GRLwood

Cry Baby by Melanie Martinez

Freaks by Surf Curse

Neighbour by Mother Mother

“You stay soft, you get beaten; only natural to harden up.” — Mitski, Stay Soft

*~*~*~*

Regardless of how much time has passed, this convenience store always remains the same.

There is always the familiar, tired face of the clerk behind the cash register, her gaze never on you or any other customer who walks in and out of the doors, a simple, muted hello being the only proof that she noticed you.

The lights dim and blink without fail, fading from white to a shade of daffodil to dark flaxen before disappearing and resurfacing yet again as alabaster. No matter how black the night sky is, the less-than-bright illumination never changes.

Neither does the rest of the scenery.

Next to the payment area are two vending machines, with one not functioning. It is dead, with the glass broken by a punch that left a large gaping hole in the dead center. Once when you accidentally touched the front wall while bending down to get your can of lemonade from the working one, it left a sticky residue that had you rubbing your palm on your sweater for what felt like an eternity. It somewhat helped, you guessed, but it also stained your clothes. The vending machine to its right was always out of most sweet drinks, often leaving you with the choice of coffee, lemonade, green tea, or water.

You don’t buy any snacks aside from strawberry Pocky and, if you are lucky, a chocolate bar.

But you do buy meals here because it is cheap. Usually fish with miso or a salad, but there have been times when you can find a premade sandwich.

The total cost comes to between 500 to 1000 Jenny. There is always a poster that claims the cashier is the employee of the month, though you are certain that she is the only one who works there.

The only thing that ever changes is the calendar behind her. The past dates are crossed out in red ink that is in the form of thick, scraggly lines. They remind you of the drawings you used to make as a child when your father was too busy screaming outside your door and your mother was too powerless to do anything but cry and yelp as he hit her. One time you drew them fighting, and when one of your maids saw it, it inevitably found its way to his desk.

Needless to say, he was not happy by any means.

*~*~*~*

The calendar behind the worker reads the 17th of April, 1998. On this day in 1985, your first and only ever friend, the head gardener’s apprentice, went missing. When you eventually gathered up the courage after waiting for hours outside, you went to your father’s room to ask where she was.

“She has been removed from the premises for distracting you instead of doing her job.” The answer you got was to the point, because when has he ever been warm to you? “I made sure that she had learned her lesson before she died. She was in pain the whole time. It was a shame to put a bullet between her pretty eyes. But at least she had a bit more use to me beforehand.”

You cried and cried until you threw up.

That is when your mother, the usual bandage over her left cheek this time, came in and sat on your bed gently, sadly.

She patted the area next to her and slowly you stood up from the floor where you kneeled as you sobbed and went over. She asked you if you wanted a hug and you said no. She responded with a simple nod, respecting your answer. But then what she said next turned your tear-stricken face into a glare.

“She’s alive.” She muttered, along with thanks to God and a hold of the cross on her neck. 

“...What?”

Your mother shushed you when she heard footsteps coming to the door. When the sound eventually leaves further into the hallway, she leans into your ear while pointing to your vanity. Your gaze leads you to the dusty cat statue made of garnet.

It got shattered a little while ago when a maid cleaning your room accidentally made it fall to the floor. You felt bad for her as she was a new hire, so you never told anyone aside from your mother. You knew that if your father, the head of this household, ever found out he would punish her severely, even when he did not care for the statue at all. You got to choose, if you were lucky, which part gets whipped or cut off.

“Yes.”

Her short answer leaves you almost jumping up out of your seat. “...Huh?”

“At last week’s banquet, she caught the attention of your father’s wealthiest business partner.” She turns to the curtains covering the lone window in your room, her back now facing you. “She was tricked into boarding a car when the driver claimed you were inside waiting for her. To the partner in question, she is nothing but another pretty face to add to his collection.”

At the slight turn of the doorknob next door, you two go as still as wax people in a museum. “Why did he lie to me?”

“Why? Well, he certainly did not want you rebelling against his decision.”

“But I have never rebelled against him before.”

“I know.” Your mother lets out a sharp laugh, salty and sour. “I know you are always trying to be good, trying to stay under the radar. I know, I know because you are a lot like me. but now I am going to teach you a lesson about your father and the world at large. Remember that a man’s resentful attitude will always result in a woman’s agony, physical or otherwise, always. However, when things go right for a man, a woman is either praised like a dog or ignored until something goes wrong because it is never enough.”

You can’t breathe. “But why? Why, why, why? What did I do wrong? What could I have done right?”

She shakes her head. “Nothing. There is nothing you can do or could have done. No matter what, your faults will always be found. That is how most men are raised, to find, and how most women are raised, to hide.”

“...”

“Men’s hearts are such cruel, small things. Oftentimes they can only fit themselves in them, but there have been times where even they cannot fit.” She is still holding onto the cross charm on her gold necklace, firmer than she has ever held you. “They are cold, are or are almost dead. There is no room for people like you and me. No room at all. All they see us as is something to own, something with no feelings whatsoever, and whose only purpose is to please no matter the cost. Such pigs, all of them.” She murmurs some prayers that you cannot hear. “I want you to be better. I want what is best for you, what I never have been able to accomplish; run and live.”

She opens the drawer beside your bed, and you don’t do anything to stop her. It is not like you can hide anything, from her or anyone else in this house. Whatever is buried eventually resurfaces. She pulls out your rarely used bible, a thick layer of dust on the leather cover. It smells and makes you cough. She doesn’t though.

“At least your father does not force you to read this day and night.”

“Mmhmm.”

“It is one of the few things I appreciate him not doing, I do not want you to grow up hating the church.”

“I know.”

“He has made you hate a lot of things already.”

She turns the pages, dust flying around the cold air.

“He made me hate a lot of things too. Blankets, steaks, cameras. The color white, the color black, the color red. The sounds of belts unbuckling, the sound of laughter, the sounds of doors opening and closing and locking.”

You don’t say anything, only looking at her hands. Only in the dark can you not see her scars, her blooming wrinkles, and the bruises that are always fresh. 

You don’t say anything, because you have learned from a very young age that you are her only listening ear. You are the only one who keeps her head on her shoulders. You don’t say anything, because she is right. He has made you hate plenty of things. But, but, but. But you can’t hate him, and you can’t hate your mother.

You can’t hate her, because who knows what she would do when she finds out that no one cares about her pain in this hell?

“Mother.” You mutter, putting your head on her shoulder as you scan the text on the page that she selected. She does not stop you. 

“Yes, [First]?”

“Do you hate me?” You ask, trying so very hard to not let her see the tears that threaten to come out of your eyes. “Because… because… if I wasn’t conceived, you wouldn’t be here hurting, would you?”

You could swear that you heard her heart skip a beat.

“...I would not be here, yes.”

She is honest, for once. You know at least some of this situation is all your fault.

“Do you hate me?”

“...”

“Mother, please answer me.”

You hear a sniffle as she starts mumbling the words written. “‘A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.’”

You choose not to press on the subject. You don’t want her to suffer anymore.

*~*~*~*

You buy an orange-flavored Ramune soda, a pack of pork ginger instant ramen, and strawberry Pocky.

The total would come to about 600 Jenny if your quick calculations are right. You could get something extra, like a topping for your ramen or some chips. But would it be wise? You have never been someone who finishes their plate after you had ran away, so what if you just waste your money?

So, you decide not to get anything else.

You walk to the cash register.

You hear an explosion from the back of the building. Small sparks of white and orange. The lights go off before you can place your chosen items down, and you can hear the employee cursing under her breath. The breaker. What happened?

“Damn it, I don’t get paid enough for this shit.” She grumbles, putting her thumb and pointer finger on the bridge of her nose, rubbing. “No raises whatsoever. Only one here. Without me, this place wouldn’t be working, ungrateful pricks.”

Fighting the way your heart rate shoots up, you decide that talking to her would be best. It wouldn’t hurt to talk to someone aside from your boss, right? 

Maybe your anxieties would quell, and you can eventually graduate to talking to your co-workers, that would be a dream come true for you.

You haven’t had a friend, a real friend, ever since Rose was taken from you all those years ago. You still cry whenever you think about her. You miss her. Is she dead, is she alive?

You still blame yourself. If only you hadn’t talked to her, maybe she would still be with you. What kind of adult would she have been? A kind one, a responsible one? You would still be friends at least, wouldn’t you? Or would she grow to hate you, if she didn’t already?

You keep telling yourself that she wouldn’t and didn’t, but that is not what your mind tells you.

Is she dead?

You could picture a rotting corpse six feet under. An unmarked grave. Glassy, dead, amber eyes looking upward to anyone who looks down, helpless, pleading. You always liked them, always complimenting them much to Rose’s shy chuckles. She was so pretty, that much was true. You could only imagine how beautiful she would have been as an adult.

Her looks were a personal gift from God, the heavens, and the angels.

But if she didn’t have them, would she not have been treated like she was in the estate?

“Erm, excuse me,” You mutter, taking a few steps forward. “If you want I can go check it out.”

It is what Rose would do. She always liked helping others. You just wish that people would have appreciated it more and seen past her appearance. It was a double-edged sword. It helped her become the head gardener’s apprentice but also caught the attention of both your father and his business partners. You felt bad for her, and still do.

The employee turns around, her confusion prominent despite the dark. 

“Erm,” You mutter, looking down at your hands and entangling your fingers in one another. You could feel the heat rushing to your cheeks in embarrassment. “Is that okay?”

It takes a few moments to respond. Her surprise was unexpected, as you never spoke to her outside of asking her if she had change or telling her you hoped that she had a good night. Rose would be better at this kind of thing. You once had a dream that at a fast food joint, an adult her would order for you and correct the staff when they put pickles on your burger. It’s what could have been, funny moments like that. She had always been the one to take charge, you following her like a lost puppy.

You miss her so much.

So much.

The worker slowly nods. “...Okay.”

“...It’s in the back, right? The breaker.”

This is so awkward. Rose would be better. You wish she was here. Or your mother. Anyone.

“...Uh. Um… I like your eyeliner.” As soon as you say that, you curse at yourself, not wanting to sound like a creep. The woman’s confusion becomes even more prominent.

“...Thanks, and yeah, it’s in the back.”

“...Okay.” Jesus Christ. You turn away from her, the heat on your cheeks hot enough to be mistaken for a fever. This is not what Rose would have done.

“...You can leave your stuff here.” She says, and you quickly spin your heel and put your items on the counter. “It’s not like they are going to grow legs and run off, so relax.”

“...” You both chuckle, and you feel slightly better. “...Thanks. I’ll go now.”

“...” You start walking. “Wrong way.”

You stop.

It takes you a few seconds for you to move back to first base and go off in the opposite direction. As soon as you open the creaky steel door, strong rain and cold wind greet you, along with a loud clap of thunder and lightning.

Perhaps you could go back and get your umbrella from the stand by the door. But that would be even more awkward.

“Stupid. Stupid.”

“If we are lucky, the wind simply detached it or something. Not the best at this sort of thing, though.”

“I don’t think breakers detach.” You could picture her shrugging and scoffing at your murmur. “Sorry. Sorry. Just… sorry. I’m the best at this sort of thing either.”

You close the door behind you and start looking amongst the pitter-patter of the raindrops and gusts that nearly make you fall over. 

Stupid. Why do you make everything so weird? Rose would have been so much more charismatic. It was one of her strongest traits after all.

Stupid.

It’s hard to see. Trying not to trip over stones and cracked cement, you grip onto the wall and walk forward. Soon, you feel something.

“Ew, ew, ew!” You cry out, quickly moving your hand away from the slimy slug. “Ew!”

“You okay?”

“Uh, nothing. Just a bug. Yeah, just a bug.”

You hear a chuckle. Stupid.

“Sorry!” You exclaim, almost bowing your head. “Sorry! Really!”

Making sure you don’t touch the slug again, you keep moving.

Eventually, you find the breaker. But it wasn’t what you were expecting by any means. The damage almost looks like it was done on purpose, the way it was open and covered in soot. Did something get to it?

The breaker that exploded was a mass of melted metal that had been blown apart from the intense amount of heat and pressure. It was now barely recognizable as a single unit–parts of it scattered across the cement path and others having been fused and becoming something else entirely. The metal had been melted and blown upwards in the sheer force of the explosion, coating parts of the wall, wet grass, and roof with small, solidified droplets of metal. The ground around the remains of the breaker is burnt and scarred with traces of the immense fire that had consumed it.

It seems the rain put it out.

“No hope for this, huh?”

“Hey,” The employee calls out. “How bad is it? If there is nothing you can do, come back inside.”

So, you do.

The way she turns at you is robotic almost. A smile is on her face that was not there before. She nods when she sees you. Something tells you to not approach.

“It exploded into molten metal.”

“Oh well.”

Under the stormy skies, her gaze turns pale. Her eyes, seemingly captivating, lack any hint of vitality, while her lips curve in a disarming and saccharine manner. A shiver runs down your spine as you meet her gaze, every fiber of your being urging you to flee. Deep within your primal instincts, an innate awareness stirs, recognizing the smile as a charade, a mask of humanity that ventures into the realm of unease: akin to an artificial being adorned with synthetic flesh or a wax figure encased in glass. Those lifeless, white eyes, coupled with a forked tongue and an unsettlingly beautiful countenance, leave you with an undeniable sense of mistrust.

“You’re not mad? Really? Um…”

Something is off. What happened? She looks more like an imposter than anything else. But if she is, where did the real cashier go?

“Don’t worry.” She says, her voice oddly chipper and no longer confused by your awkwardness. “It’s fine. I’m quitting anyway, so it’ll be my boss’ problem.”

You turn your head. “Really?”

She nods. Something is off.

“Like really?”

You blink multiple times and you don’t think she does. She just stands there. Slowly, she nods. Something tells you to run yet again.

“Um… um… okay. Okay. I’ll just pay and leave. How much does it come up to?”

She shakes her head.

“Um. I have to pay. It’s thievery if I don’t.” You get closer. “It’s the law.”

“It’s fine.”

“I can’t just not pay.” You say, taking out your wallet from your sweater pocket. “That’s stealing. It’s wrong.”

Every action she takes is measured and precise, and she seems to move like a machine rather than a person. It’s as if she’s been programmed to act and talk in a certain way, and she doesn’t seem to have the ability to break out of that. She simply stares at you, not speaking.

Run.

You undo the metallic button, hearing the shuffling of paper Jenny within your wallet. “Um. Let me pay. Please.”

She simply shakes her head again.

“It’s fine.” The employee says, the smile still plastered on her face. There is quite more than a hint of blankness and detachment in her expression. She speaks in a mechanical and emotionless manner, her words delivered as though repeated from a script of carefully chosen sentences. Her movements are quick and precise, putting your chosen items in a plastic bag. There is no life or energy in her actions, instead, she moves like a mindless machine, performing her tasks before her without showing any personality of her own. Is it better to just accept it?

What should you do? What shouldn’t you do? Is she joking? Should you leave?

What would Rose do?

One of her hands grasps onto the plastic handles and she holds it out before you. There is no authenticity or warmth. Her eyes are blank. What happened? Should you ask? Should you just take the bag without saying anything further?

“Okay,” You murmur, obeying her silent command. “I hope you don’t get into any trouble though.”

*~*~*~*

Boss (9th May 1996 17:45)

Did you find anything?

Boss (9th May 1996 17:45)

Feitan found her heels nearby along with some blood, so she couldn’t have gotten very far.

You (9th May 1996 17:45)

Nothing yet

Boss (9th May 1996 17:47)

Try checking the stores nearby.

Boss (9th May 1996 17:47)

From the blood trail, she is most likely injured from running and trying to fix herself up in some sort of shelter.

Boss (9th May 1996 17:48)

She may have also discarded the rest of her clothes, not just the heels, and is currently wearing something else.

You (9th May 1996 18:15)

I found a dress and jewelry at the bottom of a lake

You (9th May 1996 18:18)

(image sent)

Boss (9th May 1996 18:20)

That’s it.

Boss (9th May 1996 18:20)

Disappointing. I’ll send over Pakunoda to ask people nearby.

You (9th May 1996 18:20)

K

You (9th May 1996 18:21)

Don’t cry, I’m sure we’ll find her soon :) 

Boss (9th May 1996 18:22)

I wasn’t crying.

Boss (9th May 1996 18:22)

I just thought she came around already.

Boss (9th May 1996 18:23)

This will set our heists back weeks.

Boss (9th May 1996 18:24)

She has planned this out for more than a year, it seems.

*~*~*~*

Bum, bum, bum. Dun, dun, dun. Whunnnnnn, wooooooo, ummmmmmm. You can’t hear anything else. The sounds sting your ears like an aggravated hornet. 

The darkness around you is solid, more so than the cracked, aged concrete path beneath your shoes. There is a tiny light in the distance; a streetlamp.

Silence.

“...”

“Have a good day!”

“...Thank you.”

Let there be light.

“Um…” You can’t see anything. The sounds… stopped. “...Time to go home.”

But the pain stays. 

It feels like a drill. 

It hurts.

“...” You feel deaf and blind. No, maybe something even worse. “...”

You turn around, to the dark convenience store, and you see the cashier still staring at you. “Have a good day!”

“...”

“[First]?”

…How does she know your name? Did you say it to her in the past?

When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

“[First], dear.” She starts waving as you look at her. “[First]. [First]. [First]. [First]. [First]!”

There is nothing but emptiness. Is your name all she can say? What happened to her? It is like she has regressed. Like a storm cloud in summer, you do not wish for this pain. Now you feel deaf and blind and mute now. 

You almost wish that you were dead. All there is is pain. Bum, bum, bum. Dun, dun, dun. Whunnnnnn, wooooooo, ummmmmmm. 

Interruption. The sounds returned. Is this good? Is this bad? Does it matter at all? 

You walk. You don’t speak. Only walk. You can’t breathe. You can only move. Bum, bum, bum. Dun, dun, dun. 

Whunnnnnn, wooooooo, ummmmmmm. 

A hand clamps over your mouth.

You drop the plastic bag from shock, and then you finally hear something other than those sounds; glass shattering.

“Sh…” A voice, calm, along with the smell of oranges. “It’s okay.”

“...!”

“Don’t scream.”

The touch of lips, a man’s lips, on your ear, thin and hard. 

“Breathe. Just breathe for me, okay?”

But you can’t. The wind goes down your throat. It is suffocating. You can’t breathe. You smell oranges and something rotting, blood.

It stinks. It fucking stinks.

Christ. Get away. That stink. That fucking stink. Your body rejects it by continuing to not breathe.

“Sh… Breathe. Just breathe, for me, for you, for us.”

“...St… Sto-”

“Sh…” The voice is sweet, not at all sour, like candy. “Calm down. Nothing bad is going to happen. Just breathe. You’re going to pass out.” The lips and the scent of his breath are like salted leather in a butcher’s shop, stinky and rotting. “Calm down. Don’t worry.”

“...Sto… Si-”

“Breathe. Sh… It’s okay. Breathe.”

“...Ge… Sti…”

“Sh… Breathe. Breathe, [First]. Breathe. [First]. Breathe. Breathe. It’s okay. Don’t worry about all this. Breathe.”

When you finally do, you gasp, desperate. “...Huff… Huff… Huff…”

Get off of me, I can smell you. 

“There we go!”

Your vision clears up a bit. “...Huff… Huff… Huff…”

“Just keep breathing.”

“...Huff…”

You can smell him. You can practically taste him, with his mouth so close to you.

“Whew! That was a close one!” The man exclaimed, wrapping his other arm around your waist.

Pain. Get off of me. I can smell you, I can hear you, I can taste you. Get off of me. Please.

The pain still stays, in your chest and your ears, and your head. Oranges. Blood.

Get off of me.

Please–

A pain in the back of your neck and you go limp.

Darkness. Then pain again. You can’t move. You can only breathe. Bum, bum, bum. Dun, dun, dun. Whunnnnnn, wooooooo, ummmmmmm. 

*~*~*~*

SAINTSHORE SPACE THEATRE

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF RANDOLF URASLEF, GRETEL JAMES, AND QUINCEY J. ORATICE

PAUL DONSHEL CELESTE BAKER   ANNE CROAKS

AND

THE GREAT COMET THEATRE COMPANY

SWAN LAKE

ADAPTED BY MUSIC WRITTEN BY PYOTR ILLYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

INSPIRED BY THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF JULIUS REISINGER

WITH THE WONDERFUL CAST OF

(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

Odette, the White Swan………………………………………………………….JEAN YVETTE

Odile, the Black Swan……………………………………………………………...JUNO LILOU

Prince Siegfried……………………………………………………………(the name is illegible.)

The rest of the list’s names cannot be read just like Prince Siegfried.

“She is simply beautiful. Just so beautiful. Simply wonderful, perfect.”

As the spotlights ignite, their scorching beams engulf you, causing you to shield your eyes with futile resistance. The sheer force of the light overwhelms your feeble defense. An ethereal audience erupts with exuberant cheers, applause, and whistles, resonating from vacant seats. Champagne flutes collide, men erupt with hearty laughter from their very core, and women unleash piercing screams akin to banshees.

The temperature rises and the noise intensifies, repeatedly, enveloping you in a symphony of overwhelming sensations.

Onlookers casually share their thoughts.

“Get off the stage, we want to see the play, not some stagehand!”

“Boo!”

“Fuck off!”

You run off crying.

“Where is that Odile girl?”

You run into a dressing room. One used by a woman wearing a black dress. She is so pretty. Her long strawberry blonde hair falls off her bare shoulders, clearly just done with a flat iron. There is a burning smell in the air. Smoke. When her gold eyes meet yours, she marches towards you and slams the door shut.

You can almost hear sobbing coming from the other side. Cries.

“So lonely…” The woman mutters. “When will it ever be enough?”

The voice sounds familiar. Her eyes. Her hair.

Nostalgia. Memories you would much rather forget. The basement. The imaginary ripping of clothes and tears and men’s laughter.

“I can’t do this much longer…”

Someone else knocks on her door. You want to scream.

“Come out, dearest.”

The devil. Tall with curved horns and a forked tongue. You want to warn her. 

You want to save her. “I’m not going to harm you, I am going to make you happy.”

You are so focused on whether the woman opens the door or not that you do not notice what happens next until it is too late. A clawed hand on your mouth. A tongue licking your ear. Tasting your sweat. Your tears. Laughter. The rest of the world disappears, and the only one there aside from you is the one behind you.

Sh… Sh… Sh… Sh… Bum, bum, bum. Dun, dun, dun. Whunnnnnn, wooooooo, ummmmmmm. 

Get off of me. Please.

“Breathe. It makes things more fun for me.” The voice echoed like you two are in a cave.

You gasp for air, and the smell of blood and oranges fills your nostrils.

“...Huff…”

“That’s better.”

You turn around. There is a body of a man. 

But the scaled, furred, horrifying face of a demon.

“Good.” He says, smiling his sharp teeth. “Deep breaths, in and out, come on.”

You do what he says. He praises you again, you think. But you can’t hear it. Either that or you simply do not pay attention to it. What happened to the woman? 

“...”

“We should go.”

The woman. The devil, this other… thing.

“...Rose…”

The demon laughs.

“Wake up.”

*~*~*~*

The first things you hear come from a happy man’s voice. “My boss’ girlfriend ran away more than a year ago you see, and he’s been heartbroken ever since. I want to prevent that kind of loss from happening to me. Real pretty one, too! He didn’t expect it, but I don’t blame her. After all, she’s been held captive for more than a year, she had to try to escape eventually.”

…The first thing you feel is lace on your neck. A collar.

It does not tickle or hurt. It itches. 

A cold hand plays with it, and it almost chokes you. At your discomfort, the man laughs.

“You are so cute.”

Something metal is on the collar, and it blinks a small red light.

[lifeandtimesoftrying]

The overlords’ persuasion, the Morningstar’s power, and what this means for Charlie

Hazbin Hotel's been rotating in my head since the finale and I have capital-t Thoughts about the worldbuilding (and its implications). So!

Hazbin Hotel’s power system is fundamentally divided into two parts: the overlords, whose abilities are fully tied to and determined by their connections with other denizens, and the Morningstars/other Hell-born aristocracy, whose abilities are innate and unchanging. I think this is why Lucifer is incredibly powerful while not really having power, the overlords seem to be running the show, and Charlie’s character has a lot left to come.

(This got pretty long and there are spoilers, so I’m putting it under a cut!)

Lucifer doesn’t have much authority—the meeting to decide the fate of hell is attended by only the overlords, other demons repeatedly dismiss Charlie (often even using her relationship with her dad to do so), and when we do finally meet the King of Hell himself, it’s when he’s engaged in a hobby which he clearly has a lot of free time for. When Charlie needs large numbers of allies, it’s Alastor and Rosie who coordinate to get them for her, and Alastor is terrified of Zestiel but told Lucifer “fuck you” to his face. Lucifer doesn’t have any control over his subjects.

However, he is still incredibly powerful. He and Charlie, whose powers presumably came from him, defeated Adam, and in the finale sequence he conjured the foundation for a whole hotel without any strain.

The overlords function in the exact opposite way: their powers are gained through their various relationships with other people, and can be influenced as such. Most obviously, Carmilla Carmine explicitly tells Vaggie that the best way to fight is for love, but Rosie is powerful because of the ways she can provide for people and gain their loyalty. Alastor’s known to have bought souls to do his bidding, and the Vees are all themed around ways to influence people (pornography, TV, and social media), and at least one of them also has contracts for souls.

“Hell’s Greatest Dad” illustrates both the overlords’ and the aristocracy’s perspectives. Regardless of how authentic Alastor is being in his claims in the song, it can be assumed that he’s doing everything he can to convince Charlie to work with him, and Lucifer is doing the same. However, their approaches are polar opposites.

Lucifer’s persuasion relies on his innate abilities: he calls himself “the big boss of Hell himself,” and says that he can help “with the punch of a pentagram / I wap-bam-boom, alakazam / Usually I charge a sacrificial lamb / But you get the family rate.” This emphasizes both his familial (and unchangeable) tie to Charlie and his inborn abilities, which come up again when he says “there’s no substitute for pure angelic power.”

The reasons that Alastor cites for why he should be chosen are all based in the actions that he’s done for Charlie, and the resulting relationship that they have because of those actions. He emphasizes his consistency (“who’s been here since day one”) and reliability (who’s been faithful as a nun), both of which are good traits for an overlord to have.

I think this contrast is why Mimzy has to show up when she does: there is no way to resolve the argument about whether to choose that which has been built or that which you were born with. And that’s because of Charlie. Charlie’s dad was never mortal, but her mom was. None of the overlords have been called immortal, but many of them are confirmed to have been mortal. A large part of Charlie’s arc in season 1 is her learning how to connect with the people around her and get them to believe in her. She is, in many ways, beginning to function like an overlord would. With one major difference.

We know that Husk used to be an overlord, most likely one of gambling. Gambling is really three things: chance, skill, and being able to read other people without them being able to read you. And from what we know of overlords, getting that status requires all of those traits. Chance and skill exist in any field, but the ability to see past other’s facades without revealing your own hand is incredibly important here, to the point where it’s Alastor’s whole shtick—a smile is a way of staying in control.

But where overlords try to read those around them while keeping their own feelings hidden, Charlie always has her heart on her sleeve. When she goes to cannibal town, Alastor’s advice that she always smile quickly stops working, and only after she’s processed her feelings about Vaggie by talking with Rosie is she able to convince people to follow her.

But this is still only half of what she’s potentially capable of. We haven’t seen her try to battle anyone on her own and win—the closest we got was Valentino, but she quickly backed down from that. Since a second season is scheduled, my bet is that it’ll follow her learning the extent of her innate powers, and how to pair them with her connections to others—after all, she is the only character with both mortal an immortal lineages.

[kaladinkholins]

BRB thinking thoughts about Taigen's character, the TaiMizu ship, and a big chunk of fandom's perceptions regarding both those things.

(Inspired by @farintonorth's post related to this topic that just got my brain going brrrrr)

OK so let me just... start off by saying that I think that reducing stories to their tropes is seriously detrimental to the way some people are interacting with fiction, and while that honestly warrants its own post about the subject, I wanna talk specifically about how this affects the way some people in the fandom talk about Taigen and TaiMizu.

Because yeah, tropes are useful shorthand to refer to certain dynamics or archetypes etc, and they are indeed the building blocks to any story. But in a well-written story, characters and their relationships, actions, and motivations, are much more complex than just tropes. Because in a story that has characters who are more than just cardboard cutouts, their behaviours, backgrounds, motivations and all of that, are inseparable from the context of the overall story they exist in.

So like, sure, you can say Mizu and Taigen have an enemies-to-lovers or rivals-to-lovers dynamic. I also use those terms because it's easier. But I also think this is where things start to get a bit twisted, especially from an intertextual sense. Because "enemies-to-lovers" is also commonly used to refer to other ships in other media, whereby it tends to be rooted in an imbalanced power dynamic, such as oppressor-oppressed and bully-victim.

And while that's a whole can of worms that I won't be getting into because it can quickly derail into a whole separate sort of fandom discourse, I'd just like to make it clear that Mizu and Taigen, in particular, do not have an imbalanced power dynamic. They are not bully-victim or oppressor-oppressed. The only understandable reason why someone might actually think their relationship is imbalanced is if

A) they only watched the first episode, or

B) they cannot grasp the slightest bit of nuance in a character, or

C) they're being obtuse on purpose simply because the Mizu/Taigen relationship, or Taigen's character in general, just doesn't suit their tastes.

While yes, Taigen, along with his whole gang, had bullied Mizu when they were children, that dynamic does not exist between them whatsoever in adulthood. Whatever imbalanced bully-victim power dynamic that had once existed between them was decisively ripped apart the moment Mizu beat him in that duel in the dojo, and then completely obliterated by the end of the season.

Mizu is not a defenseless victim at Taigen's mercy. Mizu can beat Taigen's ass any time she wants (and she DOES, repeatedly in fact), and could even kill him if she felt like it. She taunts him openly and without fear ("I like your hair"; "I can beat you with any weapon you choose") and all he does is bark back, because that's pretty much all Taigen ever does. Time and time again, he yaps about how much he wants to kill her, but time and time again, his actions prove that all of it is just an empty threat. Because though his words say "I hate you", his actions demonstrate the complete opposite. He's shown how protective he is of Mizu, how unhesitatingly he sacrifices himself up for her, how loyal he is in enduring days-long torture to not give up information about her, how even when near-death and in pain, he's still willing to keep standing back up so he can fight by her side and help her win against her enemies.

And Mizu is not an idiot! She sees that too. She does not see him as a threat, an enemy, or even a bully. Especially not by the end of Episode 3, and definitely not by the end of the season. When she finds him in the dungeon in Episode 6, she smiles from relief, and doesn't think twice to take him with her. Mizu finds him, at best, an annoyance, or at worst, an infuriating hindrance on her quest for vengeance. Which is why, when Taigen is about to say, "It's a shame our duel's set for tomorrow; I have to kill you before you get your revenge," Mizu whacks him on the head without a second thought before he can even finish his sentence, and leaves him lying unconscious, face-down, in the snow.

And this further emphasises how he does not hold any power over her. There is no abusive power dynamic between them. She is more powerful than him, he knows this, and all he's ever done after they've met up again in adulthood is get his ass whooped by her, get mad about it and pester her and follow her around, get his ass whooped by her some more, and put his life on the line to protect her.

"OOoooOOoooH b-but he called her a demon at the end of Episode 7 and threatened to kill her again!!!" Oh my god. He called her that because he's calling her out on her selfishness to stay silent about her knowledge of Fowler's plans to attack Edo. Because to him, loyalty and honour as a samurai is more important than anything. So in his own brash-and-immature Taigen way, he felt betrayed that Mizu did not hold the same principles. That's why he got angry. He wasn't even that mad about letting Akemi get dragged off by the Tokunobu guards. It was about saving the Shogun and the Shogunate as a whole. That's why the first thing he does in Edo is not find Akemi, but try to warn the Shogun about Fowler's attack.

Look, I'm not defending his stupid ass, of course. Because calling her a demon especially after their cute little wrestling time was obviously rude and inappropriate, especially since words like "demon", "monster" and "Onryo" have had such a deep effect on Mizu throughout her life, and continue to contribute to her self-hatred. But like? That's the fun of realistic and flawed characters, and realistic and flawed relationships. They're not perfect, and it's why we as an audience root for them, wanting to see them work through their shit and find a way to prevail despite it all.

Also, him saying that was in the heat of the moment. He was angry, he felt like his initial belief of who Mizu was—a strong and loyal samurai, just like him—was shattered, and so he lashed out. Was it rude? Definitely. Was it immature of him? Yes, incredibly. But it's also very much in line with his character, because even though he's grown a lot over the course of the season, the show isn't over yet, so obviously his character arc is just beginning, as that is also the case for the other three main characters: Mizu is beginning to accept herself, Akemi is beginning to grow into her position of power, Ringo beginning to train under Master Eiji, while Taigen is beginning to simply be a better person.

On that note, when speaking of Taigen's immaturity, I think that's also one of the main things that people tend to gloss over when it comes to his character. Because when you boil everything down to its bare essentials, Taigen is, essentially, a boy. I've talked about this before, but to reiterate, Taigen very much behaves like an unhealed child. Even as an adult, he is insecure, prone to throwing tantrums, and is desperate to latch onto some material goal in hopes that it will make him feel better—initially he was chasing status/glory/greatness, and then when Mizu tells him that "Nothing comes from being a samurai but death," he immediately decides he wants to run away with Akemi in hopes that he will be happy.

And it's a big step, acknowledging that he doesn't truly want greatness, but had always just assumed it was his only path to a good life. But it's clear he still hasn't really figured it out. Because if he did run off with Akemi to get married and live in the countryside, he still wouldn't be happy. Because he still doesn't know who he really is, or what it is he really wants. Marriage at this moment is the last thing he needs, and as he is now, he would be a pretty awful husband. A simple life would be good for him, but would he be good at a simple life, when he still has so much he needs to work through?

So anyway, what I'm getting at here, is that he's trying and he is learning and growing. So yeah, he is flawed, but honestly? So is Mizu. And the funny thing is that they're flawed in very similar ways.

Because Mizu is also an unhealed child. That's why she's so angry all the time. That's why she pushes people away. That's why she, just like Taigen, is so happy when given the chance to playfully wrestle in the forge, laughing and rolling around like children without shame or pretense.

Again, this shows there is no imbalance between them. They had grown up together as peers from the same town. And while Taigen had had the upper hand back then, because he'd had a gang of other kids with him, that is definitely not the case anymore. Today, they are equally flawed, equally strong, equally skilled swordsmen, and equally bull-headed.

However, yes, Mizu is definitely leagues more mature than Taigen. But she still holds a lot of childhood wounds that mirror Taigen's own. And we see this especially in relation to her mother. Similar to Taigen who had an abusive and alcoholic father, Mizu's Mama was an opium addict and had hit her, berated her, had shaved her head without her consent as a child, and as an adult, had constantly emotionally manipulated and guilt-tripped her. Mizu's love for her Mama was what had driven her to a path of vengeance in the very beginning. And when she'd found out Mama was still alive, she had wanted nothing more than her Mama's love, and it was this alone that pushed her to agree to the marriage with Mikio in the first place. And now, knowing from Fowler that her birth mother is someone else entirely, is what makes her agree to keep him alive and haul his ass to London to seek answers.

Thus, integral to Mizu's self-hatred is also Mizu's intense longing for love and family. Just like Taigen, whose pompousness comes from his insecurity about being the son of a poor fisherman, Mizu's goals are also shaped by who her parents are. Remember, her vengeance is not against just anyone who's corrupt or evil, but specifically against the men who she believes had assaulted her mother, the men she believes had made her a monster, the men she believes had abandoned her to die and continue to try to kill her. Her vengeance is against a father, on behalf of a mother. In The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride, Mizu is not merely the Ronin, the Bride, or the Onryo, but also the Child.

This is also why Ringo is so good, not only for Mizu, but for Taigen as well. Ringo is wise and caring and considerate, but above all, he is in tune with his inner child in ways that Mizu and Taigen are not. He is always earnest and positive, he sees the world with childlike wonder, but is not naive or blind to its ugliness. His whole life has been a battle. Ringo brings out the best in Mizu, consistently acting as her moral compass and conscience, and Mizu's choice to save Akemi in the final episode is only because she promised Ringo that she would. Because it's the right thing to do. Ringo inspires her to be a better person, and to think outside of her narrow-minded goal of revenge. At the same time, Ringo also brings out the best in Taigen. While at first Taigen had looked down on both Mizu and Ringo ("Half-limb to a half-wit"), by the end of the season, he's proud to have Ringo as a friend and ally, he listens to Ringo's advice ("What would Master do?"), and asserts to the fucking Shogun that Ringo is a worthy warrior to have by his side.

Okay, I've gone on a bit of a tangent here, but my main point is that Mizu and Taigen are incredibly similar. They are equals. They are both flawed, unhealed children who are chasing some impossible outlandish goal in hopes that it will fill the void in their hearts. They also both have a long way to go in terms of character development if they were to ever build a healthy romantic relationship (either with each other, or even with anyone else). So while I believe things will be rocky (because duh, it's a story, we all live for the drama, etc), I think with Ringo's help, they'll get there eventually.

[deus-ex-mona]

just a tl of lxl's tv guide interview~

Q1: First off, please introduce yourselves!

Aizo: It’s nice to meet you guys! I’m Aizo.

Yujiro: And I’m Yujiro! The two of us make up the idol unit of LIPxLIP.

Aizo: We sing with all we’ve got to bring happiness to our listeners.

Yujiro: We’ve released many MVs as well, so please check them out as well.

Aizo: We also give it our all when we’re shooting our MVs, so you’ll be able to see us being all cool in them!

Yujiro: That sure is a lot of “all”s that we’ve given, Aizo.

Aizo: That’s cuz I really give it my all in everything we do. You do the same, right?

Yujiro: Of course I do. There isn’t a single day when I’m not giving it my all.

Aizo: See? You look calm and composed most of the time, but you’re actually a pretty passionate guy, huh?

Yujiro: It’s because you’re always giving it your all that I feel like I can’t lose either.

Aizo: There it is, your tendency of hating to lose.

Yujiro: Well, we both hate to lose, don’t we?

Aizo: But, Yujiro, you’re able to do everything so easily without seeming bothered by the thought of falling behind, which never fails to surprise me every time.

Yujiro: I guess you’re the opposite of me in that regard, Aizo. You’re a straightforward open book. I think that any onlooker will be able to tell how much you love singing and how much fun you’re having at work.

Aizo: Eh? Do I really look like I’m having that much fun?

Yujiro: You’re always excited when we’re on site. But, Aizo, you’re actually surprisingly calm and even more observant of your surroundings than I am of mine. Even when I’m distressed, you’re the one who notices it faster than anyone else, Aizo…

Aizo: I’ve told you that you should ask for help when you’re troubled, but you really can’t be honest, huh? (laughs)

Yujiro: …Right now, I’m troubled by you and the way you’re smirking at me, Aizo.

Q2: What was the response to your 2nd Album “Be Grateful You Were Born!” like?

Aizo: Since this was our first album in a long time, we have received a lot of responses from our Julieta (what they call their fans) who have been anticipating its release. We’re really happy that it brought joy to them.

Yujiro: We had performed “White Day Kiss” live, so there were many Julieta who were looking forward to its album release too.

Aizo: Also, Narumi (Sena) who starred in the MV for “Julieta”, the sequel to “Romeo” from our previous album, congratulated us too. She said that she’ll recommend the album to her friends as well, which I appreciate!

Yujiro: I will be really happy if people who don’t know of us yet can get to know and support us through this album.

Aizo: We’ll continue to work hard as LIPxLIP with all we’ve got, so please root for us!

Q3: What were the challenges that you faced with this album?

Aizo: Well, it’s more like we faced so many new challenges that I don’t know where to start. (laughs)

Yujiro: In terms of the mood of the songs, I think “Meoto” with its Japanese taste and the Arabian-esque “A.B.Secret” have a very new feel to them compared to our other songs as LIPxLIP.

Aizo: We changed the way we sang to suit each and every song too, so I think we were able to show you new sides of us. For “Meoto”, I was conscious of the way I sang to fit the role I played in the setting of the song, and for “A.B.Secret”, there was that rap-like dialogue.

Yujiro: You may be surprised by the difference in intensity if you listen to “Oshi no Mahou” and “Yurushite Santa-san” after those songs. (laughs)

Aizo: With the “LOVE chu chu”s and the “Please, Santa-san”s, right? I’ll be thrilled if you can feel not just our coolness, but also our cuteness as idols! But… even though I was the one who said all that I’m starting to feel embarrassed.

Q4: The album has songs that would be a hit at live concerts, such as “Oshi no Mahou”, with its fun call-and-response bits.

Aizo: It goes without say that I definitely want to do the call and response with our Julieta!

Yujiro: Same here. I’ll be happy if everyone memorised it and came to watch us perform when that day comes.

Aizo: It’ll be super fun, right?! I’m looking forward to hyping up the venue and making it echo with all our voices.

Yujiro: Is there anything else that you’d like to do during the performance?

Aizo: Hmm, well… Maybe we’ll make a Möbius loop together with the audience… wait, the ideas won’t stop flowing if we carry on like this. (laughs)

Yujiro: Yeah, you’re right. (laughs) Let’s leave the details of the performance as something that our audience can look forward to when the time comes.

Q5: Tell us the secret stories behind the shootings of your MVs!

Aizo: I had a feeling when I heard Yujiro sing “Anata” in his lines in “Meoto”... But I was still surprised when I found out that Yujiro was dressed up in the role of a girl during the MV shooting. But, y’know, it suited you amazingly~. The air your makeup gave off was also different from how it’s like during our usual jacket photoshoots and live concerts, so I was a little charmed by you (laughs).

Yujiro: Thanks. Although I played the role of a woman this time, the costume I wore was a fantastical gorgeous kimono, within a unique setting, so it was easy for me to get into my role without feeling uncomfortable.

Aizo: I really didn’t feel uncomfortable at all either.

Yujiro: You looked good in your bewitching horned costume yourself, Aizo. It brought out your coolness, and you looked strong too.

Aizo: Right?! I was really pumped with all of the manly accessories like the horns, the mask, and the patterns drawn on my body.

Yujiro: Your long sharp nails suited you too. And in the MV, there’s a scene where the pair, played by me and Aizo, open their hearts to each other and hold hands while standing shoulder to shoulder. Be sure to pay attention to the contrast between our hands, okay?

Aizo: Speaking of the shooting, when I was hugging Yujiro during the filming of that shoulder to shoulder scene, I could smell a wonderful fragrance coming off of him. I was really surprised at the time, y’know? (laughs) “He smells so good!” I thought.

Yujiro: The staff had prepared some perfume for me. Although the fragrance can’t be conveyed through the screen, they had hoped to enhance the vividness of the setting for the viewers by having me wear the perfume as we filmed. I thought that it was a wonderful idea, so I had the staff apply the perfume to my costume. 

Aizo: For “A.B.Secret”, we filmed a live concert called “Arabian Nights in the Dunes”, which was yet another tough day. (laughs)

Yujiro: To be honest, we got lost on the way to the venue, so we had to cross several dunes.

Aizo: We may look all nonchalant in the MV, but we’d used quite a lot of our stamina. I’m just glad that we were able to make it to the venue in one piece…

Yujiro: But we were treated to a lot of wonderful food after our performance, so I’d say that it had been a very satisfying day.

Q6: Since this is a TV guide… What TV programmes do the two of you tend to watch?

Yujiro: I watch all kinds of shows, but I tend to watch talk shows often. I think that it’s great that I’m able to learn about current events from all over the world in the form of an entertaining programme, no less.

Aizo: You don’t just check the news or something? You sure are a diligent one, Yujiro.

Yujiro: I watch talk shows just because they’re interesting. If I just want to know the news, I wouldn’t particularly watch a talk show for it.

Aizo: I watch them every so often myself, but I only watch the segments that introduce restaurants that serve good food or amusement park events.

Yujiro: I see. You watch TV too, Aizo? I had the impression that you’d be often off running outside or something instead.

Aizo: Well, I do watch TV, y’know? I like watching programmes hosted by their namesake comedians. And I check out singing programmes without fail.

Yujiro: Yeah, I watch music programmes often too.

Aizo: It goes without say that I check out my favourite bands and artistes too, but I have to know what the current trends are on the rankings! As idols, we can’t afford to lose to others and all.

Yujiro: Though, I do occasionally get hooked on particular trends just from checking them out. (laughs)

Q7: Going off the name of your album, please express your gratitude for each other and your Julieta!

Yujiro: Do you even have anything to be grateful to me for…?

Aizo: Yeah. I’m grateful to always have you as a nice wall for a rival.

Yujiro: A nice wall? Is that supposed to be a compliment?

Aizo: Yes, it’s a compliment. For example, I do pretty well in my studies and sports at school, but when I look at you, Yujiro, I find myself thinking that I can’t be satisfied with the way things are yet. I’m able to grow steadily because I have you as my literal worthy opponent.

Yujiro: You’re really grateful to me, huh?

Aizo: Well, since we have the opportunity now, why not? How about you? You’re not gonna say that you have nothing, are you?

Yujiro: Yeah. I have something too.

Aizo: Ooh, what is it, what is it? 

Yujiro: There has been a lot of pollen in the air lately. So, when I sneezed, you immediately gave me some pocket tissue, the soft kind. You really saved me back then, so I’m grateful to you.

Aizo: Is that simple thing all you’re grateful for…?

Yujiro: Sorry, I was just kidding. (laughs) As I had touched on in an earlier question, whenever I’m depressed or distressed, you’re the first one to notice, Aizo. I tend to overthink all kinds of things, but you always make my worries disappear. So I’m always grateful to you for that, Aizo.

Aizo: Huh, so you do have a proper one after all.

Yujiro: It’s embarrassing to be this honest, so let’s keep this between us, okay?

Aizo: It’d be nice if you could be honest all the time, though.

Yujiro: More importantly, we have to honestly express our gratitude for our Julieta.

Aizo: Yeah. We’re more grateful to our Julieta than anything.

Yujiro: Thank you so much for cheering us on, Julieta.

Aizo: We were only able to release our new album thanks to your support, Julieta. We are able to continue on as LIPxLIP thanks to every one of you who listens to our songs, buys our albums, and sends us your thoughts and cheers.

Yujiro: Julieta, I’m grateful to you from the bottom of my heart. Also, I’d like to express my gratitude that you were born in this era and that you and us were able to meet like this.

Aizo: We will continue to do our very best so that we can return the love that we have received from you, Julieta, many times over.

Both: Please cheer us on!

Q8: What was your first trip together like?

Aizo: There were some pranks, and there were times when I felt exasperated, but it was truly a ton of fun!

Yujiro: We haven’t had many opportunities to go on a trip till now, so it was a really great experience for us. 

Aizo: We got to see many places, plus thanks to the fact that we were in charge of the voiceover for the Izumo guided tour, we had a good knowledge about the places of interest and we were able to enjoy ourselves to the fullest.

Yujiro: I especially liked the footbaths. When I dipped my feet into the footbath after a tiring walk, I was truly impressed by how much it helped to relieve my fatigue.

Aizo: It’s amazing how it completely warmed your feet up, huh?

Yujiro: Yeah, its healing properties are amazing.

Aizo: No, y’see, your feet were flushed pink from the warmth of the water in the footbath after soaking in it for a while. When you took your feet out of the hot water, saying “It’s hot.”, it looked like you were wearing pink socks, which I found rather funny.

Yujiro: …If you want to bring that up, should I release that video of you scooting around on your butt to grab a towel with your legs raised up in the air because you had nowhere to put your wet feet?

Aizo: When did you even take that video…?

[storiesofsvu]

Post Its

Tara Lewis x reader req'd by anon Warnings: language, some slight teasing, pure fluff. Tbh, it is a fcking crime that there isn't more Tara stuff out here, wtf? Send a req here! Sign up for her taglist here!

Tara loved you more than anything in the world, she had from practically the moment she’d met you. You were exactly the opposite of all the darkness that she saw on a regular basis working with the BAU and that was part of what drew her to you originally. You were soft, warm, colourful, her own personal ray of sunshine to come home to after a long dreary day. She knew part of that stemmed from the fact that you taught kindergarten, spending the days with tiny humans, you were always full of laughs, stories full of imagination and your sticker collection was far larger than she’d ever seen before.

She couldn’t help but smile when she’d catch you in moments of still very much being in teacher mode, as if you were talking to tiny humans instead of actual conversations. She’d once overheard you in the kitchen when a pot was boiling over say something along the lines of “oh come on now Mr. milk, that is not very smiley face sticker behaviour of you.” She chuckled but didn’t say anything, she found it endearing and adorable, not something to tease you about. It was just something that made her love you more, made her softer around you, able to finally embrace that side of herself knowing that you loved it as well.

Once the two of you moved in together it was pretty frequent that you’d pack lunches for the both of you to take to work. Tara hadn’t thought much of it, she usually bought lunch or they were on the jet by the time noon hit anyways, but you always brought your own, and made sure your classroom was stocked with extra snacks for kids who got hungry. So it just made sense for you to make double what you were making and pass the bag off to her with a gentle kiss on the way out the door. It started out as just food, though sometimes things were cut into cute shapes, sandwiches without crusts, little animal or frog skewers in the smaller pieces of fruit to use instead of forks.

“Awe, did your mom pack your lunch.” Luke teased with a smug grin one day and Tara simply snorted.

“Nah, you should know this by now, it was your mom.”

It was almost too easy to tease him back, and besides, he walked right into that one and he knew it.

That was when the rumours started that maybe Tara had a secret kid at home that no one knew about, hence why everything was kid accessible. The rumour lasted approximately ten weeks until she was invited out for post work drinks and she said she had somewhere important to be.

“I’m betting girl.” Spencer muttered and Luke laughed.

“Nah, I’ve seen dinosaurs in her lunches.”

“Girls can like dinosaurs too.” Garcia cut in with a huff and Tara raised a brow in their direction.

“This started out with me thinking you were trying to figure out my sexuality but you lost me at dinosaurs.”

“They think you have a kid.” Emily cut in dryly, already knowing the truth and Tara barked out a laugh.

“No, absolutely not. I have to get home because it’s my anniversary.” She shouldered her bag, “with my future wife, because I know you’ll spend another two months speculating that next.”

It was shortly after your wedding that the notes started. You and Tara had thoroughly enjoyed your three week honeymoon off in Italy. Nothing but time for each other, so much wine and more pasta than you could even imagine. While the transition back into work was relatively smooth for yourself, Tara found herself instantly thrown back into the world of darkness and back to back very jarring cases. You knew she was a little off when she came home absolutely defeated, forgoing dinner for a large glass of bourbon and latched onto you like a koala bear for as long as she possibly could before Monday rolled around. She accepted her lunch with a soft smile and a kiss, pausing to steal another one before you sent her on her way.

When she pulled her lunch out a yellow post it fell out of the bag, her brow furrowed when she went to pick it up, wondering if it was a work note she’d gotten stuck in there by accident or the label from someone else’s lunch in the fridge. Instead she found your writing scrawled across the front,

‘I love you so much, you are my sunshine.’ A large sun drawn in the corner with a huge smile and a pair of sunglasses. A couple of sparkly cloud stickers on it as well. She felt her shoulders drop as her entire body relaxed, releasing the tension of being back at work again and the small smile stayed on her cheeks for the rest of the day.

The next day she opened her lunch to find a slightly crushed chocolate chip muffin among her items, a pink post it with ‘You’re my stud muffin.’ Scrawled across it with a winky face and a print of your lipstick on the paper. She laughed silently, shaking her head at the way she could hear it in your voice. Opening the drawer of her desk she added the note to the little basket she had put the first one in, smiling softly down at them.

Two days later and she found an extra container of candy in her lunch, the post it note blocking the label, ‘You are one hot tamale.’ With a wink. She didn’t need to move the note to know what the candies were, but she still slipped it into the small growing pile in her desk drawer.

‘I know it’s cheesy, but I think you’re grate!’ Stuck to the outside of a cheese string. She audible laughed at this one, earning a raised brow from Spencer, but he didn’t say anything.

‘A list of cute things:

-you

-also you

-hey look, you!

-wait, wait, wait

-you!

-you’re cute’

‘Olive you’ with a drawing of two martini glasses complete with extra toothpicks of olives. (and a note on the back ‘seriously, don’t forget about drinks with the Tanners on Thursday’)

‘You are the sugar and spice of my life’

The notes weren’t every day, obviously if a case took her out of town for a week she wasn’t bringing that many packed lunches in one go. And she could tell that you usually did them the day after rough days, days when she needed a little uplifting, that you knew you would make her smile, if not laugh. Some of them were funny, some punny, and some just utterly adorable. It didn’t matter the theme, she saved every single one of them in her desk drawer, not quite able to part with them. And each day that you left a note, she would come with an even warmer smile than she left with, holding you a second longer when she greeted you, murmuring a soft I love you into your skin as she kissed you hello.

‘There is night so we can appreciate day, sorrow so we can appreciate joy, evil so we can appreciate well, you so I can appreciate love’

She felt the warmth blooming through her chest at that one, a little boost of how important she was to you on a day she was doubting herself.

‘The sound of your laughter is food for my spirit.’

‘I love you more than anything in the entire world. You are my rock, my sun, my moon and stars. You are the most snuggly teddy bear I’ve ever had in my bed, and without a doubt my absolute favourite. Can’t wait to see you, because that’s my favourite time of the day.’

It had been a rough couple of days and she almost felt tears building up in her eyes at that one. She quickly tucked it into her desk drawer and shook the feeling off, she had a reputation to uphold at the office after all. However the moment she was home she was sure to make you know just how much she loved you and how much she really did adore the lunch notes, even if you’d never actually talked about them. It was silent cues you took from each other about them, the way she had a little more pep in her step when she got home after you’d sent her one. And that was all you ever needed.

It was a few days later when Luke was looking over something for a case at her desk, Emily across at Spencer’s desk, eyes looking up at the white board trying to figure something out, Garcia perched on the edge of the desk. Luke let out a huff, recapping the highlighter in his hand before tossing it into the trash.

“Tara, you got a highlighter?”

“Yeah, top right.” She gestured to the drawer and turned back to Spencer as the two of them went through the geographical profile. A small chuckle broke out from behind them that she didn’t think anything of, probably some snarky remark from Penelope until she heard the shuffle of paper and Luke’s voice.

“The most snuggly teddy bear I’ve ever had in my bed… this is pure sap.”

“Oh, but she’s got puns too, look at this one.” Emily’s laughter was what broke Tara out of her trance when she finally turned around to see the three of them with the large array of colourful post it notes spread across her desk.

“Oh come on! That is not a highlighter!”

“Yeah, but it’s way more entertaining.” Luke replied with a smirk, reading off another one of the very sappy ones.

“I think it’s endearing.” Spencer, who had left her to join in on the fun chimed in, smiling brightly in her direction, “couples that continually do little things to keep each other’s spirits up are found to be much happier and have much more successful relationships.”

“Aweee, pookie bear.” Luke teased, “that your new code name?”

“I will shoot you right now.” Tara shot him the coldest glare.

“Does she come up with these on her own?” Penelope asked with a smile, “cause they are good!”

“I don’t know.” Tara replied with a shrug, “I’ve never asked her.”

“Are these what you’ve been smiling at in your lunch all the time?” Emily asked with a wild grin, holding up the stud muffin one and Tara let out a huff, rolling her eyes.

“Can we just stop this? Maybe focus on the task at hand?”

“Whatever you want pookie.” Luke made a kissy face in her direction and she hucked a white board marker at him.

It wasn’t that she was particularly embarrassed by it, but she was a little irked by them seeing all of them. Sure, they were all from you and they didn’t technically see how soft she got with you, but the façade was ruined. As much of a bad ass that she was in the field, she knew that nickname wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon and almost instantly started planning her revenge against Luke. Garcia would help her, she knew that.

A couple of days later she was smiling at a pink post it;

‘You are the sun on a cold day, the crunchiest leaf on my walk to work, the first snowflake of the season to catch on my tongue, the first daisy to bloom come springtime. You are the light of my life. You are the small things that make every and each day the absolute best that it can, you are the only thing that can brighten me up no matter what. I love you.’

She pulled open her desk drawer to add it to the basket and her hand stalled in its tracks when she found the basket empty. She groaned, pinching at the bridge of her nose as disappointment surged through her. Despite her best efforts the team had insisted on going through every single note you’d left for her, she must’ve forgotten to put them back into the drawer before leaving for the day, the cleaners probably thought the pile was garbage. Letting out a soft sigh, she placed the new note into the basket, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to start over now.

*

You were in the kitchen when you heard the door open, Tara calling out to you while she clunked around a little more than usual in the entry way.

“Hey!”

“Hey! Hope you’re in the mood for lasagna!” You called back, wiping your hands on a dish towel before padding your way over to the entry way to greet her.

“Baby you really don’t have to slave way over a hot stove for me after you’ve finished a full day of work.”

“Babe, please. I picked up a frozen lasagna and garlic bread on the way home, the oven did all the work.” You laughed, cupping her face in your hands as you popped up on your toes to kiss her softly. When you pulled back you noticed the black frame under her arm, “what’s that? Did you get some kind of award you failed to mention?”

“No.” She laughed, nudging her go bag off her shoulder to its spot on the entry way bench, “the team may have found the collection of post its stashed in my desk.”

Your head tilted in that adorable way that she loved so much, “the lunch notes?”

“Yeah.”

“You kept those?” You practically melted, a happy and somehow dreamy pout on your lips as you gazed up at her with wide eyes and she couldn’t help but fall even more in love with you, her hand stroking your cheek before she leant in to leave a kiss on the tip of your nose.

“Are you kidding me? As if I could ever throw them away! They were the second best part of my day.”

“Second?” You eyed her suspiciously for a moment before a grin broke out on your lips.

“Well the first is always coming home to you.”

“You fuckin’ teddy bear.”

“Yeah, and now the entire team knows it.” She rolled her eyes, “I guess after approximately one hour and forty two minutes of teasing they got scheming, but my money’s on this being Garcia’s idea.” She turned the frame on the table so you could actually see it, “she’s a bit of a sap and thought the notes were super cute, figured they’d be nice to have all together in one place we could actually admire instead of stashed away in my desk drawer.”

“Oh I knew I liked her.” Your fingers reached out, ghosting over the side of the frame, “this is so cute, and so thoughtful.”

“You like it?”

“I love it.” You leant into her side, humming happily when she kissed your temple.

“Where do you think we should put it?”

“Hmm.” You tugged your lip into your mouth, glancing around, “the wall behind the couch is particularly bare.” You turned to her with a warm smile and a gleam in your eye, “then maybe… we should have your team over for drinks next weekend? It’s practically a crime that I’ve only met Emily so far.”

“I’d love that.” Tara smiled brightly at you, cupping your cheek as she leant down to place a tender kiss on your lips, “and I love you.”

“Not as much as I love you.”  

_______________

@mysticfalls01 @evilregal2002 @maybe-a-humanbean @alcabots @dextur @wchipxchipxp @m00nkn1ghts @daddy-heather-dunbar @augustvandyne @supercriminalbean @prentiss-theorem m @unsubologyy @svushots @happenstnces @sapphicprentiss @heidss @geekyandgay98 @pagetboobstarcomments @onmykneesformarvel @inlovewithemilyprentiss @akingcalledkris @desperate-gay @amypoehlfey @overtrred28 8 @kalixxa

[pyromegalomaniac]

…hi there! I love your writing style neighbor! I was wondering if you could write a welcome home fic for me!! Wally x a gn reader that Uses music to express emotion, like they always have headphones on and communicate with signals and when others don’t understand they get frustrated? Maybe Wally witnesses them and the reader FINALLY takes off their headphones and talks?

-⭐️star anon ⭐️

This is such a cute idea star anon!! Thanks for saying you like my style!! I wouldn't say I have them on quite to this degree, but I do have my headphones in pretty often!! I know at least one person (*cough cough* mother-) that would consider it a genuine problem, heh. I hope I can use my experience to write this fic for you!! Enjoy!!

(♡˙︶˙♡)

Sing me to Sleep🍎🎧🎵

☆°•☆°•☆°•☆

It was such a nice day out, I just had to have the perfect music to match. Something cheery and bouncy, that made me want to swing my legs on the park bench I was sitting on.

I took a deep breath in and tasted the fresh air, clean and sweet. The picture perfect day with the perfect soundtrack. I wondered if I took off my headphones if I'd hear birdsong.

But before I could entertain that thought any further, I spotted a figure on the sidewalk opposite me.

It was Julie in front of her house, practicing jump rope. I hopped off the bench and made my way over. She waved as I approached, smiling, and I waved back.

"What's the game today, y/n?" She asked.

I didn't respond, but I picked up a spare jump rope off the ground.

"Oh, sure, we can jump together! Bet you can't beat my best score! 47," she said smugly as she started jumping.

I jumped too, keeping in time with the beat of my music. I jumped until the song was over, and the next and the next...

I hadn't even realized until she was shouting and shaking my shoulder a bit that Julie was trying to talk to me. I turned around to see two hula-hoops in her arm.

After a moment of attempted communication I understood that she was offering me a hoop, and I took it. We hooped for a while, me with my eyes closed.

Eventually the weather turned sour somehow while I wasn't looking, because I felt a raindrop on my arm. I looked up, and sure enough there were clouds covering the sky. Julie was picking up her things and putting them away, and after I helped her get everything out of the rain I waved goodbye and started for my house.

I thought to myself that I could've helped her better. I knew it wasn't her fault, but if she could've understood that I would've stopped what I was doing to help her...

The rain had picked up to a drizzle, and I hoped I could make it. The song playing seemed to spur me on, with its fast tempo urging my feet to speed from a walk to a jog.

I heard something that wasn't my music, though. I slowed and turned my head to see one of my neighbors, Wally, struggling with a painter's easel in his front yard. He heard me approaching, apparently, because he turned to face me.

"Oh, y/n. You wouldn't mind kindly helping me get my masterpiece out of the rain, would you? It's not finished, and it would be such a shame if it got spoiled now..." He turned to face it and put his hand on his chin.

"I don't think I can carry it inside on my own and not smudge the paint. The canvas is just too big."

I put my hands on one side and looked across at him, and he turned to me and looked me in the eyes. I smiled at him, and he seemed to understand.

"Okay, I'll lift this side, and you get that one. Ready?"

We picked it up effortlessly, perfectly in sync. We took his painting inside and then all his supplies, and though we managed to save his artwork, his hairdo which he had clearly worked so hard to maintain had fallen from its pompador-like shape into something floppy and sad, covering over half his face.

"Well," he sighed. "I do very much appreciate it, neighbor. Thanks a lot for your help. Say," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"You're probably cold and wet. Would you like to come inside and I could make warm drinks?"

I nodded, and we headed inside to do just that. When I was seated at the table with my mug in my hand and Wally at the other end of the table, he smiled and thanked me again for helping him.

"How's your... oh, well, I suppose you're not one for conversation, are you y/n..."

I slid my headphones off my head, leaving them around my neck.

"It's delicious. Thank you very much."

Wally looked dumbfounded, his mouth open wide.

"Why... why, y/n! I'm very glad you like it! But... if you don't mind me asking... what made you decide to finally take those off?"

...

"I like the sound of the rain."

...

"And... if I may say, you have a very lovely voice."

"As do you, Wally."

I smiled.

☆°•☆°•☆°•☆

Here it is, star anon!! I was a bit stuck at the beginning but I think I found it at the end!! I think it turned out pretty cute, at least with Wally and the reader!! I tried to show that he was able to connect with them right away! I hope you liked it, I'd like to say thanks for requesting it!! I look forward to doing more in the future!! Much love!!

ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ

[a-d-nox]

i bought a DNA test - here is my assessment of the DNA (asteroid 55555) persona chart

23 & me + health is very comprehensive, so i am just going to touch on some of the topics i already predicted based on their test breakdown from their website. for privacy reasons i won't be talking about how much of any given ethnicity i have. the only "evidence based" screenshots i will be providing are from the traits section of the test.

ancestry

i know for sure that i am polish and slovakian so tesinsko (38674) 10h and sextile saturn makes sense. těšínsko is basically the dividing line czechoslovakia and poland. so to have that in my dna 10h status makes me believe it will be pretty prevalent in the test breakdown - 50% +. plus i have polonia (1112) conjunct moon and that is very true - i got it from my mom's side lol.

danmark (2117) in the 2h rx makes me feel like i am not as danish as my father told me i was nor... i am correct because i am not danish nor am i a descendant of the danes.

am i as german as he made it seem. 7h germania (241) is not as convincing plus the lack of aspects just makes it all the less convincing... also true because my descendants were from southwestern germany not so much the core of german territory.

italia (477), hispania (804), and copenhagen (13586) in the 4h. perhaps i will revoke my statement above about the danish ancestry, but we will see. i do believe italian and hispanic descent might be probable based on these placements. try sardinia.

i know i am welsh but i can't find an asteroid related to wales :(... fun story 23 & me couldn't detect welsh ancestry in me, BUT nearly all the locations for the "british & irish" section regarding where my ancestors were from were in wales so lol yes i am welsh though i don't feel that snowdonia in my 4h is a very solid indicator.

i did discover that i have irish ancestry - i have ireland (5029) square moon, it is my mother's side that has irish descent! my grandmother found paper work confirming that.

i also discovered russian ancestry - my grandmother told me a very interesting story about my ancestor alex who used to be alexei but escaped via moscow... i have moskva (787) trine moon. the shoe fits.

a majority of my lineage and the asteroids associated with aspect the moon and/or saturn in my dna persona chart. 23/41 asteroids do at least; that's about 50% which is pretty good considering that 23&me ALSO isn't 100% accurate - they don't nail down where your ancestors are from they give possible regions from which your ancestors were likely from.

that being said, i am not sure that dna persona should be used alone - i feel like it was helpful to confirm and nail down which regions from the options in the dna results are even more likely for ancestry.

i do think that the 4h, moon aspects, and/or saturn aspects to country/city asteroids in a dna persona chart tend to be most accurate for determining ancestry.

trait report

ability to match musical pitch: air venus at 17° - i am gonna say this comes back positive.

asparagus odor detection: mercury at 1° conjunct chiron; i definitely will have a heightened sense of smell.

bitter taste: capricorn mercury... get it? its a saturn ruled mercury? saturn can be bitterness? i don't know i thought it was funny...

earwax type: on the other hand... a saturn ruled mercury - soft wax (i'm of the mindset there are only two options hard or soft wax).

health

type 2 diabetes: it kind of looks like i can beat the odds... like venus square saturn - that's just genetic. BUT venus sextiles moon and pluto AND conjuncts uranus - these are all planets of change, so i feel like i can/will prevent diabetes. true because i have the typical likelihood for developing diabetes per the test.

brca: it's not looking too hot and i know my father's mother passed from breast cancer at a rather young age i think she passed at 40... my moon conjuncts pluto and is opposite jupiter. fortunately, it conjuncts chiron, so i might beat it or catch it early thanks to the test. a grey area in my eyes... of the 4000 variants of brca they only test 44 of them. they found 0 of the 44 though. so we will see 44 is like nothing though to be honest.

thrombophilia: it's a given... uranus square saturn - the blood flow is just not that good. i kind of knew this before going in - i have factor 5 leiden; they found 1 of 2 thrombophilia variants that they test for and it was that variant/mutation.

alzheimer's: mercury conjunct sun and chiron AND sextile mars makes me believe it's fine and i'm good - i will get the negative here. i tested positive for late onset alzheimer's... i mean i feel like it can sort of be challenged - i know i am fighting something out of denial of the possible, but i really don't like that they don't test particularly for the early onset variant. if i have one, why wouldn't i have the other? i think we all could understand why that developing early would be horrible...

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[cryptidclaw]

Oakfeather (aka. Stormfur)! He has been brought back from the dead (atleast for a bit longer) due to high demand hehe

Design wise, Oak is pretty similar to his father Greystripe, though he has similar stripes to his grandfather Oakheart who he was named after! He is a brownish shade of gray (he also got the brown tint from his grandfather) and Oakfeather's pelt color is pretty similar to the bark of a lot of oak trees which can be kind of gray! He also has one blue eye and one orange eye like his sister (though the blue one is covered moslty by is hair) but they are the opposite ones to his sister!

In RoC Silverstream is the daughter of Oakheart and Willowbreeze, and she named both of her kits after her parents (as well as Graystripe's mom Willowpelt)! Oak and Willow both received the same title (suffix) showing their bond as siblings! I also really like that they both have tree names!

Oak and Willow went though hell together during River Order's era in Tiger Order, and they came out of it extremely bonded. Their mother died weak from getting less food and not receiving care for an illness, Oak was sick as well but he was able to survive, this made Willow extra protective of her brother. Willow is the more feisty sibling, and she was the one to fight back the most during this time, resulting in her receiving a lot more scars. Oak was more hesitant, he feared the wrath of Tigerstar and his followers, he has never fully forgiven himself for not fighting back and helping his sister, he blames himself for several of her injuries because she had been protecting him while he did nothing to fight back.

After Tigerstar was defeated the two siblings had very different outlooks on their Order and lives. Willow never forgave River Order for what happened to her family, she especially had a hatred for Leopardstar and the cats who agreed with Tigerstar. However she chooses to keep a more upbeat, friendly and positive attitude, keeping her anger boiling underneath her happy exterior. On the other hand, Oakfeather is much more loyal to his Order, he mostly believed Leopardstar when she claimed that she regretted Tiger Order, and only did it to protect the Order. Oak loves River and for the most part forgave the Order for what had happened, choosing to mostly blame Tigerstar and his lackeys. 

Oak still deals with a lot of regret and fear however. He regrets that he did not do more to protect Willow, but he is still fearful of fighting back. Maybe part of why he so easily forgave his order was because he feared continuing to hate them and continuing to fight them. This fear to fight back upsets him however and he wants to break free of it he wants to be brave, but he believes he is a coward.

Oak didnt become fast friends with Crow, he found him annoying and weird, but Willow brought Crow out of his shell, and Oak came to think of Crow like a little brother and felt a strong spark of protectiveness for the young cat. 

When Willowfeather was chosen to go on the journey with the other prophecy cats, Oak refused to let her go on her own. He couldnt bare the idea of being separated form his sister, and he didnt want her to be alone.

He, along with his sister was hesitant of Tawnyclaw and Brambleflower at first, but they realized over time that they had nothing to fear form the two kits of Tigerstar, they even found they could relate to them greatly. Bramble and Oak both related to eachother due to their similar insecurities, and Oak noticed that Willow and Tawny got along due to their fiesty protective attitudes. 

in this version of events, it is not Willowfeather who dies killing sharptooth in the mountains, it is Oakfeather. 

When Sharptooth found its way into the Mountain colony’s cave and it cornered Crow, Willowfeather rushed to her friend to help him, but she was only cornered as well. Oak stood frozen horrified watching from a higher ledge in the cave. He was frozen just like he had been as an apprentice in Tiger Order, unable to protect his sister. Unlike back then however, Oak snapped out of his frozen state, and in that moment made the decision to fight back one last time, to finaly protect his sister, and to protect his friend! He was the one who jumped up on and broke the spike on the ceiling of the cave and he was the one to fall with the sharp stone onto Sharptooth. 

Oakfeather died with his friends he had made and his sister by his side.

Willowfeather would later choose to stay in the mountains when the Orders traveled back through to find their new territory. She would stay where her brother was buried and find happiness with her mate Brook, with whom she had a kit who she named Oaktree. 

And when she hears word that the Orders are in dander due to Hawkfrost.. now Hawkstar, she would remember her brother’s love and loyalty to River Order, and she would return to help end Hawkstar’s reign over her old home!

[Image ID: a digital drawing of Oakfeather, an au version of Stormfur from warrior cats. He is sitting with his right side showing, he has a happy expression and he has his mouth open like he is talking. He is a long furred, fluffy gray tabby tom with one blue eye and one orange eye. He has a long hair tuft on his head which covers his right eye (the blue one) almost entirely and the fur around his neck is extra long and fluffy like a mane. He has white on his muzzle, chest and paws, and he has scars on his shoulder. His inner ears, nose, paws and scars are all light pink./End ID]

[sariahsue]

Jealousy Ch 2

Adrien's point of view

(Chapter one (Marinette's pov) here. Please note that I started this story in the ancient days of May 2021.)

---

Chat Noir almost always felt at home in Marinette's room. It was cozy and warm, lined with layers of fabric, like she was building a soft den. It was so different from his own old and sterile room. His windows let him see outside at the same time they reminded him he would always be disconnected from it. Marinette leaned against him, but tonight, no matter how close he physically was to her, he felt like they were on opposite sides of glass.

Their playing cards had been knocked out of their piles by Marinette's victory dance. A container of leftover noodles lay empty on its side. And Chat Noir held steady against Marinette's weight as she relaxed into his side.

There were so many things he couldn't tell her. So many things he wanted her to understand. "Hey, Bug?"

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Aren't you asking something now?" she joked. "Sure."

He hesitated. Asking was only a few steps removed from the forbidden act of telling. (Not his name. Not how many days it had been since he'd last had dinner with his father, or been given a hug.) He wanted to ask why she'd taken down all her pictures of Adrien. What had he done as his civilian self that had upset her so much? She stayed perfectly polite to him at school.

Instead he asked, "If it weren't for that other guy, do you think you would have fallen for me?"

Marinette leaned away. It wasn't the first time he'd asked a variation of this question. It was almost always on his mind. His rival.

"Um... do you want to play another round of Uno," she deflected, "or should we do something else?"

"Marinette, I'm serious. Would you have?"

She shrugged. "Maybe, I guess. Video games? I have UMS 4."

"Really, that's it? You guess? That's not a real answer."

"Please, chaton. Don't do this to yourself."

He selfishly slid closer to her. Not many people allowed him to be in their space like this, and the need to touch her was too much. If she felt like he was chasing her, she didn't complain. A reminder that at least someone wanted him around.

He didn't stop until he could feel her comfortable body heat against his side again. "I just want to know."

He'd expected a simple yes or no.

"You're kind and compassionate. You're reliable. You're funny." She stopped, taking care to find her next words. He thought she would just tell him no. "We have such a strong connection, and I trust you with my life. You're brave. You're my best friend."

Marinette's voice dropped for the devastating truth. "It would have been so easy. That's the real answer."

Chat Noir struggled to stay still, focusing on not hugging her, not crying, not moving. Even if she didn't love him back, she did in some way love him. She just… loved someone else more. Differently. Who was it? Adrien watched her at school. He knew Alya teased her constantly about her love life and Marinette's inability to talk to the mysterious boy who'd so effortlessly caught her attention. Adrien never overheard his name, though he'd tried.

"So why haven't you talked to him yet?" Chat Noir asked.

"What?"

"If you'd pick him over all that, then you must like him a lot, but you aren't together."

Marinette shifted, looking at him for the first time since gifting him a list of her favorite things about him (a gift he didn't deserve). "And I can't imagine anyone rejecting you, so you must not have asked him out yet."

"I'm... very awkward around him. I'm pretty sure I make him uncomfortable sometimes."

"I doubt it," he said. "So who is he?" Another question he hadn't been able to ask before. But he was tired of the glass in between them. If he couldn't be with her, maybe knowing more about her would help. This nameless boy was such a huge part of her life.

And one of the biggest obstacles in his.

Marinette got up and walked away, her back to him. "We shouldn't be talking about this."

"Why not?"

"Because I hate this!" Her face was pained as she turned to him. "I hate hurting you every time you bring it up."

The headless mannequin was suddenly very interesting. Father didn't have his own mannequin until he was nearly 18. Marinette was more passionate and more talented.

"I'm only curious," he lied. He felt like a bad friend for pushing, but there was only so much he could learn about her from studying the decor in her room. "I just want to know what type of person attracts Ladybug. That's all." And find out what he still lacked.

"I'll tell you under two conditions. One, you stop asking about it. Two, you don't laugh at me."

"Laugh?" he asked. "Why would I laugh?"

"Because you're going to think it's a celebrity crush, and it's not."

He waved to distract her from his face. He hoped it was neutral, but he couldn't be sure. A celebrity? She had a crush on some random celebrity? That's who his competition was?

Marinette groaned. "Adrien Agreste."

He didn't think. Didn't realize he'd stood up until he was walking toward her. The glass was shattering. "Plagg, claws in!"

"NO!" she shrieked, snapping her eyes shut. Had she seen? "What are you doing? Put your suit back on!"

"No."

"I'm not going to look at you."

Plagg bobbed back and forth between the two of them, then flew off to find Tikki. That was as close to permission as he was going to give.

"You have to retransform." Her commanding tone was at odds with the way she backed up, flinching away from him until she hit her desk, hiding her face in an effort to protect him. Or maybe herself.

"No," he repeated, "not until you look."

"You'll have to," she said. "You can't walk out my front door and let people see you. You'll have to leave the way you came in."

"You're just going to keep your eyes closed for the rest of the night?"

She nodded.

Adrien walked over to her, his socked feet stepping lightly over the remains of their time together. He wrapped her in a loose hug, and then waited. After a few seconds, Marinette dropped her hands from her face and sunk into him. He took that as permission to hug her the way he'd always wanted, like he was never going to let her go.

Maybe he didn't have to.

He was the boy. The rival. The obstacle. She could know all of him, and he wouldn't have to feel so fragmented and broken. There would be nothing left to come between them, if only she would open her eyes.

Marinette shivered in his arms. His fire dimmed, replaced with softness at her worry. It was so much better to hold her without thick armor in the way, just a few layers of fabric.

He wouldn't force her to look, but he wasn't above leading her for once. He could tell himself that it would be an advantage, tactically, for her to know who he was. It would strengthen their partnership, but really, he just needed her to know him.

"I'm not opening my eyes," she said.

"Then please just listen to my voice. I won't tell you my name, but please just listen?"

She pushed her face into his neck, skin to skin, and breathed deeply, nodding. Adrien wanted to drop his head on top of hers, but instead only leaned down, letting her hair brush his cheek. Almost nothing in between them.

"When I'm not transformed, I'm much quieter."

"A quiet Chat Noir?" Marinette teased. "What must that be like?"

"I don't show off either. I try to avoid attention, actually. I get too much of it."

Marinette didn't ask him why, though he'd expected it. He hoped it was because she was trying to figure it out despite herself.

"Did you know that we know each other outside the masks? We go to the same school."

He stopped, letting her come to the truth if she was ready. Despite what he wanted, and how desperately he needed to be seen by her, this ultimately had to be her choice. If she wanted to understand, she would.

Marinette's fingers started to roam, first to his ungloved hand, maybe testing to see if he really was detransformed. The hairs on his forearms raised as she drew a line from his wrist to the edges of his rolled up sleeves. Over and across, to his shoulders, a breathless slide along his collarbone, then down the buttons of his shirt, then back up to his shoulders as she breathed into his neck, and her eyelashes tickled him as she opened her eyes.

She wouldn't be able to see his face, but she knew. He rested his head on hers, strengthening his hold on her.

"You're kind and compassionate," he said. "You're brave and creative and amazing. It was so easy to fall in love with you, Marinette."

Her hands slid from his shoulders and wrapped around his neck, holding him just as tightly as he held her. "I love you too, Adrien."

[livfastdieyoung69]

Nikki sixx or Tommy Lee x reader where reader is like a famous pop star bubbly persona and she meets them at a award show maybe (Turns out she’s a metal head)

Award Shows

(90s!Nikki Sixx x Metalhead!bassist!reader)

Award shows suck. Sure, you might win some cool award and get your five seconds of fame but was it really worth sitting at a table with a bunch of people you either don’t know or probably hated all night long? On top of that, there was no alcohol in sight. So here Y/N stood in the world's most uncomfortable outfit, with the guitairst of their band, Kacey Towers, whispering in their ear to look atleast a little happy as they tried very hard to hide their aggravation from the flashing cameras. They ignored the shouting papparazi and continued down the red carpet into the venue with a sigh.

Vinnie Lake, Static in Conspiracy’s very own singer, had already made a detour to some hot chick he saw, leaving the rest of the band to figure out where they’re supposed to be sitting. After confusingly whisper-shouting at each other for way too long, their drummer, Trip Ryke, finally went to go find a worker or something, leaving Kacey and Y/N to awkwardly stand and watch as the other artists found their seats way too easily. Y/N looked over to Kacey at the sound of him quietly giggling.

“Whats so funny, dude?”

“Look, your boyfriends here!” Kacey teased as his giggling continued. Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion before their eyes starting scanning the crowd again.

“What are you talking ab- oh, holy shit! Why did nobody fucking tell me he was gonna be here?!” Kacey kept giggling at their expense while Trip finally returned.

“What are we laughing at?”

“Nikki Sixx is here with Motley and Y/N is totally freaking out.” Trip let a little airy laugh out before speaking.

“Leave ‘em alone while they have a crisis would you? C’mon were over here.” Apparently they had been on the exact opposite side of the huge room which made sense because MC Hammer was sitting at the table they were standing by. The group weaved their way through way too many tables, Vinnie eventually joining them at one point.

“Are you sure were not lost? I think we’re lost.”

“We’re not lost Vin! Look, I see it right over there.” Trip pointed to their table as he spoke. Y/N immediatley turned around at the sight of the other band at their table but Trip caught their arm.

“No. No, no, no, no, no. Oh my god, no!”

“Oh, you’ll be fine, babe!” Vinnie had a habit of calling everyone pet names, especially his band members.

“I absolutley will not be, I’m totally gonna embarass myself infront of Nikki Sixx- who incase you didn’t notice is totally the hottest guy in the world!”

“Thanks.” Y/N whipped around with widened eyes at the sound of the smooth voice to find the entirety of Motley Crue watching the other band as if they were a reality TV show, and Nikki Sixx himself staring directly at them with a grin covering his face from ear to ear.

“You…are welcome. I totally already embarrassed myself so glad we got that out of the way.” SIC moved to sit down at the half of the table Motley wasn’t taking up, unfortunately forcing Y/N to sit by Nikki, much to their embarrassment.

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re pretty hot too. Its Y/N, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, that's me. And thanks, but I definitely don’t look like this normally, these pants are doing like half of the work. Can barely fucking breathe in these things.” Nikki let out a small laugh at their comment.

“Yeah, they don’t look very comfortable. Maybe I can help you take them off later?” It was Y/N’s turn to laugh now.

“Just cause I said you were hot doesn’t mean I’m a groupie, dude!”

“Dude?”

“Trip- the bleach blonde down there- has been saying it since I’ve known him and I’ve know him since…5th grade I think? It’s kinda stuck on me over the years.” Their conversation went silent, but not uncomfortable. Nikki spoke up after awhile.

“Hey, listen, I really like your guys’ music and I really like you, would you maybe wanna meet up and get something to eat, maybe write some lyrics or something?” Y/N’s eyes widened once again at his words.

“Yeah, I’d love that! I really like you too.” Maybe award shows weren’t so bad.

this is totally not what the request was but this popped in my mind and I thought it would be a cute idea 😭😭sorry bae

written with the 1990 MTV Music Video Awards in mind, i kinda hate this but I feel bad not putting something out so here ya go i guess! I’m gonna try to write some chapters for Bones and RND. it doesn’t really say anything specifically about it but I did make the reader a bassist cause we never get any attention and i felt like it lol

[artbywaffless]

hello internet welcome to a super duper duper long rambling explaining the intricate details of why i personally believe jimmy t and orbulon are best friends in my strange weird brain mind

i mean just look at them (warning this will be super ramble-y and very long lmao)

i am an absolute sucker for the idea of polar opposite friendships and these two are no exception. we got jimmy, the super fit and overly friendly celebrity heartthrob. and then orbulon....who is orbulon. a dickish incompetent lazy little ego freak of a alien dude who nobody knows all that much about. literally its the perfect scenario for funny hijinks to ensue. perhaps jimmy helps orbulon get out there and stop being a douche???....perhaps. i love to imagine that orbulon was eve douchier when he first got to earth and jimmy pulled an "i can change him" WHICH SOMEHOW WORKED probably because he is jimmy t and he is awesome

DANCING!!!!!!!!! this is kinda a random thing that kicked off my whole idea of this friendship but they both seem to have an interest in dancing. for jimmy its pretty obvious but for orbulon its literally only in inc and i am stretching this so much he literally only mentions dancing in his break scenes like twice lmao case and point:

boom. i am objectively right here.

3. it brings me comfort to think jimmy helped orbulon realize not all earth folk are dickish assholes even if i imagine orbulons first time on earth he was a total snob who would never except the help of an earthling if his life depended on it. yeah hes a little bit of a meanie sometimes. but hey at least jimmy got our silly pal over here to open up at least slightly 4. jimmy is childhood friends with wario so its a bit of a given he has somewhat horrible taste in who he befriends yet somehow it worked out a bit this time cuz even orbulon wouldnt stoop to the douche levels of someone like wario. plusssss orbulon is technically warios oldest employee so it kinda goes back to them having a sort of "friend of a friend" bond at first? 5. i find humor in the idea that most likely even ORBULON is confused by some of the wild stuff jimmy does. like being friends with jimmy had him unlearn a good chunk of his earthling knowledge because this is jimmy goddamn thang we are talking about and he is possibly the least conventional person alive (except mona but she is her own other level of weird)

6 (the true reason). theyre my two favorite warioware characters and i want an excuse to draw them together constantly

thank you for coming to my warioware talk

[rach-amber]

Me again!

Do you think that Rachel and Max had a spiritual connection with one another? They’re completely different as far as their personalities and outer appearances. Yet, they both have one thing in common:

Their love for Chloe.

Plus, the fact that Rachel appeared as Max’s spirit animal (the doe) somewhat shows me that they were connected to some degree. What do you think?

You always ask great questions! I must admit I'm not as well versed on Max's side of the story as Rachel's, so there definitely are people who can give a more comprehensive answer than me. But imma just try and write what comes to mind :)

For 2 people that have never met, their spiritual connection, chemistry, "fate entanglement" as I liked to call what they have are the strongest across the fandoms I've seen. When Max returned, we as players felt Rachel's presence all over Arcadia bay. In the original there was even a line to the effect of "I feel like everything in this town is connected to Rachel Amber somehow". Max was able to "see" Rachel through different people in Arcadia bay. Everyone had something to say about her, even a random trucker. It can be said that she really had an effect on the people of that town, if we put the fire aside. This town being Max's hometown adds another layer to it, it is so much different due to Rachel's existence.

left pic from a fan made Rachel DLC | Yes, their love for Chloe is the key link that transcends through time & space, allowing them to see each other in some way.

Like the town, Max is also very different from her past self. While she didn't have such a strong presence back when she was growing up in Arcadia, Max eventually became the decider of the town's (including most of its people) fate. Whether Rachel is the root cause to Max's powers is very much a mystery and up to interpretation, just like many things in life is strange.

If we acknowledge that Rachel is the cause of the fire, there could be another parallel: this girl who tried to leave this town nearly destroyed the town; meanwhile another girl who came back actually have the power to do that, or stop it from getting destroyed. Even though both never meant to. (Not expanding on Rachel being the storm here cuz it's really not definitive & personally I think if Rachel's got powers she'd just use them on those who did her wrong, not the entire town)

Personality-wise, especially on the outside, they are almost opposites. But somehow I get the feeling that they'd really understand each other, because on the inside, they may not be that different. I've seen a Tumblr post saying Rachel using her people skills to get on people's good side is mirrored by Max using her rewind powers to fix her responses. (When you've got such an ability, of course you use them! Which is different from being manipulative, might I add.)

Rachel with her sensitive, vulnerable side, which she guarded & masked with so much effort and painted with her smiles & godly social skills, is definitely able to understand & empathise with Max and not judge her. And Max being pretty perceptive herself, having quite an astute understanding of Rachel just from photos she found, is definitely able to see more than Rachel lets on. Both are powerful smartasses and fiercely protective of Chloe. (& both bi x)

Max sees, Rachel shows. The photographer & the muse. Built for an "electric combo", as Love is Strange says, even though they may not hit it off well at the start due to awkwardness or slight jealousy from both sides, eventually they're gonna realise that the other is beneficial for them. Max is able to ground Rachel and give her heartfelt & real advice that she needed; Rachel's able to help build Max's confidence, socialise better (back off V, she's with me), share insights about art & photography.

I'd even say Max & Rachel may complement each other more than Max and Chloe, OR Chloe and Rachel. (If there are more content on these 2, AmberPrice in my heart might be challenged. Yeah. It's scary.)

Some say they share the same spirit animal, which is really possible (bts putting that "doe see doe" photo on Rachel's bed frame), or it could mean that as Max's spirit animal, Max sees all spirits in a doe form. Another possibility is that Rachel have the doe as her spirit animal, and everyone who can see her spirit sees the doe. Nonetheless it's incredible that Max seems to be the only person to be able to see the doe, or that Rachel chose to present herslef to only Max. Definitely a connection there. 🦌

Looking at their personalities through enneagram (Rach 4, Max likely 9) we see that they can be similar but in different ways (9 & 4 can be mistyped):

"The difference is that Nines are detached both from the external world and from their emotions (not keeping in touch w Chloe in Seattle & delay on reaching out to her?), whereas Fours withdraw from whatever has caused them pain (delaying telling Chloe about her messy relationships cuz it causes her pain? + her immediate reaction to finding James making out with another woman). Nines see the world through rose-colored glasses, and their view of it is comforting, whereas Fours see the world from a garret window as outsiders and are not comforted: everyone else seems to be living a happier, more normal life."

Thanks for the question! I've no idea I was gonna write this long. You guys can see a few of my blogs or reblogs that I've mentioned these 2 via the tag "Rachel and Max" or "Amberfield" if interested :) Feel free to reblog/ add on!

[haven-of-dusk]

After discourse about the topic spawned over there, I posted this analysis on how healthy I believe Ethan/Danny and Aiden/Lydia were as couples on the Teen Wolf subreddit. But looking back over it, I'm honestly happy enough with the analysis that I'm going to copy it wholesale to right here:

With Dethan, what Danny did for Ethan was pretty straightforward, but significantly important for Ethan: he just made him happy. With what we know about the Steiners' past, it's more than likely that the only friend Ethan had with any consistency was Aiden, and much as he loves his brother, Aiden is...himself. Ethan can spend time with Danny and not have to worry about wolf politics, or orders, or look over his shoulder waiting for someone to come looking for revenge or Deucalion to appear and punish him.

As for what Ethan provided for Danny, while we don't get a ton of information on Danny, what we do know is that A. He probably was a bit lonely at the start of S3 considering his 'best friend' left town, B. He never seemed to have a consistent partner up till Ethan, and based on the partners he did have we can guess it was either because those relationships were about sex/intimacy and nothing else, or because there just weren't many options and nobody was the right fit, and C. Danny expressed that finding out about his condition and its effects usually drove people away or made them far too overly cautious for Danny's liking. Using all that, I think it's safe to say that Ethan's consistency and willingness to basically fight to stay with Danny was a big part of why Danny got attached. Ethan wanted to be around Danny just because Danny was himself. Instead of driving him away or making him overly protective, Danny getting sick had basically no effect on Ethan's behavior outside of just reaffirming love.

In short, they worked for each other because they provided the stability they both needed for the other.

With Aidia, what Lydia did for Aiden was...basically calling him out for bad behavior. It'd be reductive to say she became the angel on his shoulder, because it's a bit more complicated than that, but what made the way Lydia helped Aiden grow so effective was that she never tried to force him to change his personality. He didn't need to stop being sassy, or 'cure' his anger, or anything of that sort. What was important was that when the chips were down, she could count on him to do the right thing, and he did prove that, and along the way she helped him finally feel good about himself (likely not a commonality with all the abuse in his past). It is a wonder what positive reinforcement can do.

As for what he did for Lydia, I think it's most important to remember that her boyfriend immediately prior had an extremely toxic relationship with her that ended with verbal and borderline physical abuse, not long after she was basically SA'd on the field by Peter (and then had her mind invaded). So in essence the fact that Aiden was devoted to her, let her take the reins so to speak, and allowed her to dictate her needs from the relationship was a big step up and the type of healthy boundary setting she desperately needed after Jackson doing...the exact opposite of all of that. Whether he was the right forever partner for her or not, Aiden was the exact sort of boyfriend she needed in that moment of her life.

So in essence their relationship worked because they both felt validated and cared for by the other, but Lydia was still able to set a line in the sand and Aiden realized he wanted to stay behind it and change for the better.

With all this I'd be remiss to not mention and address a couple of the major criticisms I've seen directed towards these couplings...

While it is true that they started the relationships because of the Alpha Pack's mission, the way the show depicts that element, the initial deceptive phase lasted about 24 hours at most before they both actually started falling for their 'targets'. Ethan was definitely just dating Danny for its own sake by at the latest Episode 7, and the dialogue a little later on even confirms that Ethan was attached to Danny despite the Alpha Pack no longer having any need of him. The switch in Aiden's mind is a little harder to pinpoint, but at the absolute latest it was by the 3A finale when he was ready to fight Kali to protect Lydia. So just on the whole I don't think it's fair to say their relationships were 'built on lies' when their feelings turned genuine so quickly.

The other one I've seen is speculation that Ethan and Aiden are child predators/adults dating children/are no better than Kate. But really the oldest the Steiners could be in my opinion is 19, and are probably younger than that given how easily they pass as teenagers. The most information we get about their age is that they 'never finished high school' which could mean anything from dropped out the previous year and are, in fact, still the same age as their peers, to dropped out several years ago and are now somehow 25 year olds able to masquerade as teenagers. And honestly, with how easily they slip into the high school life, I don't think the latter is plausible. I don't really have a 'gotcha' piece of evidence for this argument, but I just find it hard to believe that two adults could enter the school system and blend in easily and no one, anywhere in the show, mentions that they aren't actual teenagers.

To be honest, use of that last argument feels like attempts to manipulate some of the show's vague lines to discredit the pairings, since there just isn't much to scrutinize otherwise.

And to be clear, none of this is saying you have to like these pairings, but it is always important to recognize the difference between not liking a couple and declaring that couple unhealthy.