#even just a vague like it will help pay the staff or something

[lianhuajing]

this college au isn't getting out of my head so here y'all go, some headcanons

despite being the first in the world at age 15 LXY still ended up with crippling self-worth issues and imposter syndrome.. makes me think he'd be a burnt out fgli (first-generation low-income) student at a rich school.. university au (this has nothing to do at all with my experiences as a fgli student at an ivy league school lmaoo)

of course FDB is a shoo in legacy student and at first LLH is is incredibly annoyed bc FDB is clearly a rich kid who got in with his parents money

the name i picked for FDB is 择信 ("zéxìn" or "to choose faith"). his dad's name is 则仕 ("zéshì" literally "officer" the author is laugh at us so that zé didn't work, i picked another one to better fit my intention. same sound though.)

he's still called duobing as a nickname bc he was a sickly child, but fang zexin is what appears on official documents and his student id. of course his mom and his aunt still call him "xiaobao" and later on so does LLH

FDB abuses his "xiaohua" priviledges and when he extra wants something he'll pull out "xiaohua'er"

just them warming up to each other to deal with school stress. think of all the shenanigans!! i feel like 3am on a school campus is when you feel like you can do anything super well, even make empanadas when you've never made empanadas before (did i do this freshman year? yes.)

bonus: LXY has a phd in bio-med and is a famous researcher, but he's getting a herbology? nursing? (still deciding tbh) degree as LLH and passing it off as his first undergrad. he made a small fortune from his first go around so he can afford it, but i feel like he donated most of it and/or gave it to QMS + QP + SGD

yes i made LXY a genius progidy med student who got into college at 15 and wrangled a phd + patent at age 18. he's literally every asian parent's golden child wet dream. no wonder he disappeared and changed his name and only resurfaced 10 years later.

FDB is of course an engineering and business student (dual degree, our xiaobao is a champ) and he buys all the school swag cuz he has the spirit

bonus bonus: fdb is a professional college fencer lmaoo. do they have professional college martial arts?

bonus bonus li'er is a part of the family staff but the fang/he family pays handsomely so she's kinda uppity. she doesn't understand why her young master is hanging out with someone 1) obviously older and 2) obviously poorer

FDB of course falls in love at first sight bc LLH happens to be the most drop dead gorgeous person he's ever seen and reminds him vaguely of the researcher that helped with the cure to his childhood illness. surely there's no connection right..

FDB is 20 when he starts college bc he took a two year break to do an internship at his mother's company. it looks great on his resume and conveniently works well so i can line up canon ages

FDB finds out LLH is living in a van and immediately tries to move him into his dorm (freshman year). of course that doesn't work out, but i think around sophmore year, once they've started dating, he would've whittled down LLH enough for him to agree to live together in a house off-campus. LLH tries several times to convince the 20yo that he can do better than some old man who's just starting his undergrad at age 28 (my man breathes lies). FDB is literally signing their lease as he speaks.

bonus bonus bonus (and my fave): LLH makes those terrible tiktok recipes that never work but he keeps trying and the first couple of times FDB actually tries pretending that LLH's cooking is fantastic

bonus x4: DFS went to trade school and owns a handyman service (he makes bank doing it) and the jinyuan alliance is his crew of fixers. FDB is convinced DFS is a mob boss because LLH is always calling him Di 老大 (lǎo dà) when he comes around to fix LLH's rundown van. DFS gives LLH the i'm in love with u family discount but he'll never admit to it. the two of them have known each other since grade school.

bonus x5: DFS and LXY both did the same martial arts extracircular and were known rivals (affectionate) in those circles. they were constantly swapping between placing 1st and 2nd in tournaments.

bonus x5 extra bonus just for me: at one point LXY did call DFS "gege" before he grew out of it / they drifted a part. obvs they reconcillated bc LLH needed a van guy and DFS under all those scowls does care for LXY a lot.

bonus x6: LLH and JLQ absolutely know they are cousins (just bc it's hilarious for me if they do). they don't talk about it but JLQ hates him for "stealing" DFS's attention since their naptime days. he's her cousin timmy. LLH doesn't even know that he's seduced the love of her life, he's just vibing. DFS tries to explain to her that he's gay and has never been interested in women, but she doesn't believe in homosexuals exactly like in canon lmaoo

bonus x7: SGD and LXY were both in an orphanage before they got adopted by qi mushan and qin po. SGD protected LXY like an older brother, but got more bitter and jealous as LXY clearly displayed genius level academic excellence and as a by product got more attention (more care into selecting schools, more time dedicated to LXY's extracirculars, more time spent driving LXY to conferences and stuff as his research gained more traction)

can you imagine the pressure little xiangyi would've been put under to excel, and to excel bc he got this chance when all the other kids at the orphanage didn't? qi mushan and qin po weren't exacty rich, i imagine he must've felt so stressed being bombarded with scholarships and whatnot while his brother steadily closed himself off from xiangyi

nothing just imposter syndrome going off the charts when rumors started going around that a mistake in LXY's research cost someone their life. that no one should've trusted a teenager to be that smart. that some orphan kid just wanted attention and should've never been given a chance. it breaks him.

unintential pressure from qi mushan, qin po and SGD. why was he protected / saved / chosen if not to make their lives easier and to make them proud with his achivements. he's carrying his made-up expectations of their expectations and SGD's expectations

something something my dad was drunk one night and came on campus and told me i was the hope of our entire family bc i was the first to get into a good school and i could make something of myself. i was 18 at the time, same age as when LXY during his famous battle, and i just. feel some type of way. like. the man was carrying the expectations of the entire jianghu on his back. how was he not gonna be overwhelmed and break down?

bc this is a modern au i can make LXY go to therapy :) it takes a few years for him to be convinced to go (he is asian after all LOL), but he does go eventually and it helps him get the will to start again. FDB knows and actively encourages and praises LLH for taking care of himself.

LLH still carries the same self-hatred he has for his younger self bc he thinks his arrogance caused a mistake in his research and ended up causing ppl to die. he's working on it, okay, it's gonna take time

i'll end this with some crack: FDB accidentally hears DFS call LLH "xiangyi" and proceeds to give him an entire speech abt deadnames and such. it's bc he's seen LLH react to being called "xiangyi" before (come on, this guy was a prodigy and he's back at uni, some of the professors are bound to recognize him) and it's never pretty. he ends by saying "it's not like lianhua is running away from the law, he's not doing anything wrong" yes he thinks LLH is trans lmaoo. the entire time, DFS is giving him an incredious look. LXY was in fact running away from the law (or at least the press lmaoo). LLH is just standing there with an amused look on his face like "my xiaobao is a little confused, but he's got the spirit"

[pommunist]

feeling iffy on the egg merch because on the one hand lumi said that she hasn't been contacted about getting paid with the proceeds from the merch but on the other hand it does make sense to an extent. if they say you will get x% of the proceeds, and then that specific egg doesn't sell as well, which would suck. or for the eggs that have had multiple admins getting an exact percent would be difficult, so i understand them not getting an exact number for their likliness. but also would it be that hard to confirm a portion of the merch revenue (general) would be? i'd like to assume it is but im not confident

unfortunate because i did want to buy one if it was confirmed to be going to them.

My thoughts on egg merch are :

-First it’s important to remember that it was in the works way before the admins situation was revealed (this was confirmed by the artist and also it’s easy to guess simply because of the time it takes to design/produce merch).

This means 3 things : That it wasn’t a direct response to the « how do we pay admins » question, that for this very reason we don’t know if revenue will go towards their salary, and also that the merch release is most likely not some PR move to make people forget about what’s happening with a shiny new thing (I’ve seen people have that theory and while I agree timing is horrible you just can come up with merch that quickly).

-Second, IF the revenue from the merch goes towards the admins who stayed (and I hope it does), I agree that it shouldn’t be on a system like you get X% of the revenue of YOUR egg. Not only because pay would then be very popularity reliant but also bc as you said, how does that work when a character was played by multiple admins or by an admin that left the studio

-Imo, the way to go is to just use all the revenue, regardless of which figure generated more, and put it in a fund that can be used to help pay ALL admins, regardless of who they played, and that’d include also builders, writers, community managers, devs, translators….

One sad thing that most likely will stay true no matter what they end up doing is that the money generated by the likability of some eggs will never go towards the people who made said character likeable in the first place because they quit/were fired. That’s why I personally won’t buy any of the merch (that and 35$ a piece ? I don’t have that kind of cash 🥲).

However I don’t think anyone should judge or be unkind to people who buy the merch, there is no point to do so, especially if it’s later revealed that the funds will help pay remaining admins fairly.

Finally reminding you all once more that the figures were designed by the wonderful french artist @/Foxie_Fern on Twitter and I encourage everyone to check her work !

[jurijyuu]

I wanna take a ride on your radio stick (Alastor x Reader)

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

AlastorxReader Smut

Summary: Being sick sucks ass. Unfortunately, your boyfriend is the Radio Demon who’s too busy to keep an eye on you as you recover. As you sleep through your cold, your boyfriend leaves you his mic to keep in touch in case you need help.

Note: No, you do not use his mic as a dildo. That's Vox's kink.

What's in Store: Gender-Neutral Reader, Masturbation, Dry Humping, Established relationship, Male Masturbation, Alastor discovers ASMR

Your POV

When you woke up delirious and exhausted one day, your boyfriend practically panicked. It was odd to see him fret, so unsure and unsettled over a cold. It’s not like dying from illness in Hell would be permanent either so his frittering about was completely uncalled for.

Darling, have some soup. Darling, drink some water. Darling, I brought some medicine. Between your fuzzy senses and bleary awareness throughout the last couple of days, these moments of attention and care piled up into memory. Ah, but he really was sweet even when his worry was unnecessary. When you were better, you would pay him back.

That said, for the first time in days, you felt somewhat clear headed, the fog of sleep no longer clinging to you in moments of consciousness. You tried to remember how long you’d been out. Three days? Four? Alastor would know but the deer man wasn’t here. Weakly, you searched for his presence. The house was silent except for the sounds of the bayou where your shared home stood, no footsteps on creaking floorboards or humming as he went about his routine. You did, however, sense his power. It was faint compared to what he exuded but it was there, not too far from you. Turning to the side, you found his staff leaning neatly on the nightstand.

Right. He had business to attend to at the hotel. You vaguely remember him telling you that earlier along with how he’d leave his microphone here just in case you needed to contact him. Why he refused to get even just a pager, you really didn’t understand. But you weren’t complaining right now. The faint trace of his magic from the microphone was comforting in the absence of the man himself.

Sluggishly, you crawled to the edge of the bed and reached for the staff to bring into bed with you.

“Al?” You called weakly hoping to hear your boyfriend’s voice but only received silence as a response. So he was too busy. Unfortunate, though it’s probably for the best as you only wanted to hear him and that wasn’t a good enough reason to interrupt his work.

Still…

Closing your eyes, a few memories flitted through your mind. A calming hand, and sweet murmurs asking if you were feeling better, what did you need? Your lover had always been good at caring for you but it was never with quite the amount of tenderness your faint memories provided. He’d sounded so unbelievably sweet that you regretted not being able to see him through most of it, fighting for consciousness as you were. Your heart clenched and stuttered thinking of your tall menace of a gentleman actually being a gentle man.

It could have been your fever or just your imagination trying to fill in the blanks of what face your usually chipper lover looked like as he cared for you but you felt flush as you laid in bed. Alastor…

He usually grinned a toothy smile meant to intimidate or fool anyone into thinking he was always having a jolly good time. But on occasion, you’d caught him with a small one, eyes half-lidded, lost in a soft sweet song from yesteryear, oblivious to the world. Sometimes those eyes would be looking at you, something electric lighting them up when you looked back at him.

Had he looked at you with that tired and lazy stare? Waiting patiently for you to get better as he took care of all your needs from changing your clothes to even bathing your body.

Heat pulsed down your body to between your legs. That wasn’t the fever. 

With a groan you turned to your side, the faint wave of arousal heating you up as it passed through you. Should you? Shouldn’t you? If you waited long enough, it would go away on its own. But then again, this was a rare opportunity to help yourself since Alastor was out and left you alone for once. 

Your throat felt dry as the arousal continued its slow but blaring spike. Ahh fuck it. You blamed your still feverish mind for giving in to quick relief.

Reaching into your pants, you fondled your sex through your underwear, gentle and slow, almost shy. When Alastor touched you, it was always urgent and demanding, his dominant personality on full display even as he was servicing your body. But what you wanted right now was that soft Alastor.

One faint memory in particular came to mind. Your body had been burning hotter than it was right now.

“Oh dear. You’re sweating so much, darling. Let me wipe you down.”

His ungloved hand reached out to help you sit up against the headboard, careful not to jolt you too harshly. There was a faint sloshing of water. With your eyes still sleepy, you didn’t see him but he must’ve rolled his sleeves up, coat put away somewhere since he was home.

“Easy there. Let me take off your shirt, sweetheart.”

Your heartbeat picked up as you remembered the faint brushes of his fingers as he unbuttoned your sleepwear. With your free hand, you imitated your imaginary lover. Those long fingers peppered little touches on your chest, on your sternum and down your belly, another wave of heat following their path down but never quite reaching where you’d wanted them to go. He was always a tease.

Your breath hitched as you imagined him looking at your bare chest, one strong hand firmly keeping you in place against the headboard as the other went to grab a washcloth. Did he rub little circles on your clavicle with his thumb while he was at it? You’d like to think he did as you replicated his motions, rubbing your thumb in light circles over your sex.

This soft Alastor didn’t speak much, not wanting to disturb your rest more than he already was. Instead, he crooned a soft melody, keeping you teetering in limbo between wakefulness and sleep as your body grew hotter. 

A cold cloth passed over your shoulder causing you to keen, your nipples hardening in response to the imaginary chill, something your lover probably noticed. With firm yet gentle strokes, he patted the wet cloth against your sweaty body, each touch so gentle that it stoked a fire in your belly. Every time the cloth was washed, wrung and brought back to your body, you hissed, the cool sensation a stark contrast against your heated skin and heated core.

“Almost done, sweetheart.”

He was talking in a lower tone, almost whispering, voice turning the slightest bit gravelly. This was supposed to cool you down so why was it getting you hotter? And did he notice that the flush creeping up your chest had nothing to do with your cold? 

Finally, he’d finished wiping your back and arms, tossing the washcloth into the basin with a loud splash.

In reality, he’d dressed you up in a new shirt and you went back to sleep but not this imaginary deer man.

“Oh darling, you still look so flushed.”

Clawed hands gently cupped your heated cheeks, their coolness shooting straight to your aroused sex in a way that was a little embarrassing given that your man was only trying to clean you up. And even with your eyes closed, you knew he noticed, his stare feeling electric on your exposed skin.

“Oh I might have missed a spot.”

There was a light teasing in his voice, only masked by the rough murmur it had turned to. You heard the water slosh again. A cold and slightly rough sensation brushed against your erect nipple. You moaned in shocked pleasure as it jolted lighting through your body. A similarly shocked gasp came from your imaginary Alastor, a light break in his static as his hand lightly clenched.

You felt boneless as his other hand guided you to lay back down as he cooed softly. 

“Your fever is back up, darling. Let me try to cool you down.”

The washcloth rubbed lightly against your other nipple and your stomach clenched. It felt so good. He kept at it, playing with one or the other until you were a writhing mess. You tried to open your eyes but they were too heavy. 

“Shhh sweetheart. Let me take care of you.” 

One claw tip, razor sharp, lightly flicked your nipple, rubbing on it just a bit before tracing a line down your navel, down your bellybutton and stopping just at the waistband of your pajamas before ghosting over your sex.

He said nothing but the sound of his chuckles transformed that sweet face into his usual smug one. Arrogant prick. He was planning to tease you til you begged, wasn’t he? You were almost tempted to let him play with you until you got to that point. A wicked smile stretched in his face.

“Don’t tease me, Al.”

“Tease you, dear? I’m just trying to clean you up. Sit up so I can put a new shirt on you.”

You wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face. Fueled by arousal and spite, you imagined pulling the deer man into bed with you, tossing him over until you had him under you. You imagined straddling his skinny waist and letting him feel the results of his ‘cleaning up.’ With your hand still cupping your heated sex, you ground down on it only to gasp when something cool bumped into the back of your hand.

Breaking away from your fantasy, you spot Alastor’s staff under you, faintly buzzing with your lover’s magic. Again, you blamed it on your fever but having something of his right there as you imagined topping your arrogant radio man was too delicious to resist.

Taking your hand away from your sex, you positioned the length of the staff to align with your core and then lowered yourself down. The cold metal glided against your sex as you rubbed yourself on it. It was too thin but if you closed your eyes, you could imagine that you were holding your skinny deer man, rubbing yourself against his equally hard cock.

Fuck. It shouldn’t feel so good but it did. You swung your hips a bit to feel more of that length, the harsh metal rubbing at just the right places to send pleasure up and down your spine. The fantasy in your head shattered as something else replaced it. 

You held onto the microphone tighter, pulling it closer to you as you imagined your Alastor walking in on this display. Coming in from a hard day’s work only to find you so desperately chasing release against his microphone. Could he hear the sounds you were making?

A moan escaped your lips. He would be so stunned. He didn’t know that you were this horny. He was always so proper and only recently accepted intimate contact. How could you tell him that you just wanted to rub yourself all over him? Feel the hard planes of his body against your skin. Push him down and ride his cock until he was a mess of screams and broken radio static. He was so sensitive, so new to sex. You wanted to ruin him for anyone else.

He’d never let you be on top though, too busy wanting to fuck you into the mattress. Gods, he was rough. He’d thrust with all his lithe body, wringing screams of want and desperate pleasure from you until you skull banged against the headboard. Then he’d kiss you to pin you in place. 

Of course you wanted to do the same to him so why not start with this part of him? The mic had a capped bottom, giving you a lovely ridge to play with. Pushing the staff under you, you desperately humped against that ridge, delicious friction sending unimaginable thrills up your spine and all the way to your head until it was empty except for that pleasure.

“Alastor.” 

The microphone head pressed into your chest, its ridges lightly rubbing against your skin and your nipples with each roll of your hips, shooting little jolts of ticklish pleasure through you. Ohh it felt so good. You gasped and moaned as you reached higher and higher peaks. Could Alastor hear what you were doing? The thing was always on so he probably could. Was he listening to you fuck yourself against his mic while sitting in a meeting, unable to leave? Were your cries throwing off his focus? Was he itching to come back home to you and see exactly what you were doing?

“Allll—“

Could he feel your heated sex as you pressed it against the length of his staff? The thing was a part of him after all. If so, how was he feeling right now? Scandalized? Aroused? Horrified? If he were here, would he push you away or take his microphone’s place? Either way, his clawed hand would have to grab you by your hips as you continued to gyrate against his staff. The ghostly sensations of his hands on you fueling the fire coursing through your veins. Fuck! You were so close. 

You pinched your nipple as you ground down hard, your fingers joining the staff in teasing your sensitive sex, the pleasure building up until you tipped over the edge.

“Al! I—I’m coming!” You moaned into the microphone, wanting your lover to hear your pleasured cries, all cares gone with the wind as you rode your high into unconsciousness.

Alastor's POV

A meeting with the Princess of Hell was the last thing on his mind right now. A sick lover awaited him at home, needing to be cared for, but he was forced to come to this useless meeting instead. So very unfortunate. Given, the recent announcement of the new extermination timeline was a huge concern for the girl but that was honestly not his problem to worry about so long as the hotel and his business partner remained unscathed.

Needless to say, the princess was determined to ‘speed up’ what progress she could on getting their two guests to achieve redemption.

“Volunteer work idea! We can do volunteer work as part of our redemption path. Doing good deeds is part of being a good person, right? Well, we should help out some of the sinners in the territorial war districts.” Charlie raised up one of her hand drawn illustrations showing what he assumed to be the said territorial war zone. It depicted the hotel crew helping clean and bandage the wounded and helpless.

All so very trivial given those souls would respawn in time unless they were faced with Carmine weaponry. In that case, and in all cases really, those souls should have known what they were getting themselves into when battling for territory. He’d thought of a hundred ways the princess’ idea could go wrong and was about to suggest them when he heard a familiar voice ringing through his mind. He picked up the signal from his microphone.

“Al?” Voice hoarse from disuse, his little darling called out to him once you had woken up. How he wished he could come to your side right at that moment. The few times you had been coherent during this whole ordeal had been far too few and short. A hellish flu was so uncommon and there had been no ways to heal from it other than to wait it out. 

He reevaluated what he needed to do. On one hand, he could be helpful and plan this whole redemption exercise for Charlie to ensure no trouble occurred. However, the princess took a very hands-on approach to things. Bringing up any problems would only prolong the meeting…He sighed internally. What to do?

With half an ear to the chattering princess, he focused the other half of his attention to whatever sounds his microphone could pick up. If anything alarming was transmitted, he was ready to shadow home as quickly as possible.

“…We can implement a buddy system. It’s a little dangerous to just go alone and…” Ah. For once, the princess recognized a flaw in her plan before he even had to mention it. Wonderful. She was learning to be a bet—

“Ah…oh..”

Any admiration he might have had for the princess’ awareness of the dangers her plan posed was halted by a breathy moan in his mind’s ear. Had you gotten hurt trying to move around? From how delirious you had been prior, he could imagine you falling off the bed trying to look for him or care for yourself. But he hadn't heard any noises indicating an accident.

Immediately, all his focus moved to his microphone, magick at the ready to bring him back. Charlie’s plans would have to wait. He was about to apologize to the princess and leave when another sound, a soft sigh of pleasure entered his mind.

What?

It was soft, so very soft, but your rhythmic breathing was steadily increasing in pace, dotted with little sighs and shy moans. He knew those sounds all too familiarly, aimed to bring them out as he played with your body most evenings. Surely…it wasn’t what he thought it was? 

A high keening sound, muffled slightly and marred by the transmission’s static pierced his mind and smothered any doubt he had about exactly what he was hearing. 

The sound of your whines rang in his ear, reverberating through his head like a dinner bell and awakening a hunger he’d only ever felt with you. Sinful little thing. You had to know that he could hear you with his microphone so close to you. You were doing this on purpose! His static crackled as your noises picked up.

Your muffled cries increased in volume and urgency as he could now hear the subtle rustling of bedsheets moving with you. Whatever fantasy had brought you to touch yourself, you were currently lost in.

He twitched as tendrils of arousal slithered their way into his veins. His wicked lover was casting a siren call, delirious, weak, deliciously vulnerable and obviously asking to be fucked. 

He took a slow breath to cool the heat starting to rise in his body. Why did you start this now, of all times? He’d been with you for days before this! Your timing was terrible. Or maybe you had planned this, wanting him to come rushing to you as soon as possible. His teeth clenched in his smile.

Why was it that the first thing you did when you finally had the energy was to crave sexual fulfillment? To pleasure yourself when he wouldn’t be there to assist you? 

It was debased and primitive of you. He wasn’t sure whether to be irritated by your lewd behavior or proud. But he did know that your little act was stirring things south of where was appropriate in front of the princess and her girlfriend. Keeping a neutral expression on his face, he shifted slightly where he stood by the princess’ desk. He needed to get them out.

In a bid to keep his composure, he played a little jig from his chest, something light and cheerful, a complete and total clash to the heat building below his belly. If he waited just a bit more…but Charlie looked ready to burst into song. He couldn’t have that.

“An excellent idea!” He chimed, cutting off whatever Charlie was saying. Both women turned to him, one in pleasant surprise and the other curious.

“Really?” Charlie sparkled at his half-serious agreement, throwing beams of sunshine from her eyes that only served to irritate him further. The heat running up and down his body made him even more impatient with the princess’ inane suggestions. 

“Yes. Why don’t you scout out the perfect area for us to do this little venture. Have to ensure the safety of our guests, after all.” Before the women could get their bearings together, he was already gently pushing Charlie out the door, with her tail of a lover sure to follow. “Make a day trip of it, even. I’m sure there’s lots to see.”

“H..hnnnggh..!” 

His smile almost cracked at the delicious whine that poured from your darling mouth. He wished he could be there to drink it up right at that moment. But composure. Composure. Disguising the sense of urgency pumping through his system with enthusiastic chatter about casualty statistics and needing to ensure they didn’t overstep into Overlord territories, he managed to get the two women out of the shared office space in record time. 

“Have fun now, you two.” He waved them off, their faces a little bewildered but they didn’t really have much of a choice after he’d closed the door on their faces.

The door rattled in his haste but he managed to lock it quickly. He once again tried to summon his magick to bring him away when a croon reverberated through his chest.

“Alastorrrr…”

His breath caught. 

Static ran up his spine to the roll of those pleasured r’s. He’d never admit to how his knees buckled at the sound, a unique quality he could only attribute to his darling. But it was different somehow. A wicked idea popped into his mind, the static filter in his love’s voice adding a certain flavor he’d never associated with sex before.

Making sure to seal the room so that not even a speck of dust could get in or out, he sat down on his chair. With a flick of his wrist, he transferred the transmission from his mind to the radio sitting at his desk. From there, your voice played.

“Don’t tease me, Al.” 

“Oh but aren’t you doing the teasing here, darling?” He smiled deviously, imagining your face as he said so. You wouldn’t have heard him muse back. For what he had in mind, he’d made it a one-way broadcast purposefully.

Another sigh escaped your lips sending heat down to his already aching member. With deft hands, he unbuckled his belt, slowly easing himself out of his slacks. The hair of his navel stood on end at the rush of cold air hitting the sensitive skin. His cock stood ready and weeping from just the sounds of your debauchery. It was truly pathetic but you had that effect on him. He palmed himself briefly, imagining it was your hands taking him out of his clothes. Shy and careful. You were always very gentle with him. And it drove him mad with want.

Grabbing his cock, he started to stroke, slow at first, getting a bit faster as more of his precum leaked out. From the radio, he heard rustling. He could picture it then, your skin gliding in the sheets of your bed, a thin layer of sweat giving your flushed face a delectable shine. You writhed with want, unfulfilled and calling for him. Your labored breathing sounded lovely and lewdly through the radio.

He groaned, eyes closed as he pictured being there with you as you crawled over to him, hands greedy to stroke his member. The sheets rustled as they tugged at your knees, too eager to disentangle yourself from the blankets. Your hands delicately wrapped around his cock, face aglow as you admired it. You looked so ready to take it into your little mouth.

He hissed and stroked, slower this time to match his image of you. He licked his lips as his breathing quickened.

He’d never understood the appeal of listening to such filthy broadcasts. Saw it as a distasteful use of air time that could have been used for news, jazz or something else. He’d tried it once and could only grimace at the theatrical moaning of the actors at the station. The storylines were ridiculously shallow too.

But with you on the other side, a broadcast exclusive for his ears only…He shuddered, ears twitching to catch the lightest of sounds for his mind to work into fantasy. His hips thrust up into his hand, presenting you with a prize you so very much wanted. Naughty little thing.

The broadcast buzzed sharply, sending a jolt through his chest in shock. Something had hit the microphone. For a moment, his heart stopped, thinking that you did end up over extending yourself and collapsed. But just as quickly, a new sensation started.

“Fuck!”

His free hand rushed to gripped the armrest of his chair tightly. It was the only way he could channel the sudden rush that overtook his body, lest the hand squeezing his cock tighten too much. Something hot and moist pressed against his extension and he nearly choked at the sudden pressure.

He could feel it! A silky glide. He could feel you, your hot sex rubbing up and down against the shaft of his staff, his mind directing that sensation to his crotch. A shiver ran up his spine, the ghost sensations of your hands trailing along his staff being mirrored onto his body. 

“Fuck.” 

A similar curse whispered huskily through the radio. So he wasn’t the only one feeling sensitive. You moaned as he felt the corresponding brush of your sex against his staff, against him. Sweat collected on his brow as his body grew hotter in response. It was as if you were there with him.

“Ah—Alastor!”

“Yes, darling? Come and rut yourself on me. Let me feel you.” His free hand traced up his chest, claws mimicking the way you would slowly and intentionally trail your fingers up his body when you were being intimate. Tugging at his shirt teasingly, your hands lightly splayed against his chest. He arched his back into the touch. You knew how much he liked your touch. Always tracing lines along his shoulders, counting his ribs. 

“Oh..” He groaned, hand moving faster along his cock as you found a steady rhythm to pleasure yourself to. He could feel the ghostly heat and slick of your fluids starting to smear and make a mess of his microphone. His thumb brushed the weeping red tip, paying close attention to smear his precum, imagining it was yours starting to coat his cock.

“Hmnngh. Al—feels good.”

“Does it, darling? Hn. You’re making a mess. I’ll have you clean that up, you know.” As if you could hear him, another pathetic whine squeaked through his radio feed. His static broke at the sound. “Yes. You’ll have to take responsibility for making it so filthy.”

He could feel his extension get crushed between your body and the mattress, your body heat getting relayed onto his own. You were so desperate to bed him, keening and moaning sloppily to a fantasy him of your own design. He did the same. His mental image of you bent down, face close to his cock, breath brushing teasingly over the sensitive tip, waiting for his command. He smirked through the buzz that ran through his body at the pathetic sight, concentration going blurry as lust took over.

“Use your mouth.” 

Another high pitched whine. You bent low, static-filtered breathing feeling so close and warm on his cock. He summoned a tentacle to join his hand in working his member, its slimy texture a poor replacement for your tongue but…he growled at the first lick of it…good enough. As long as he thought it was you, it would be good enough. His teeth dug into his lip, stifling his groans as he guided ‘your tongue.’ A slow lick on each of his balls, up the underside of his cock, teasing the vein there that you knew he liked. 

“That’s good, dear. Ah! So good. Let me reward you.”

His free hand twitched, imagining reaching for your hole, working you open slowly with his fingers. The silky walls of your cavern were a familiar sensation his brain provided in the absence of the actual thing. His fingers pushed in and out slowly, tracing the outer edges before dipping back in. Your moans were constant now, a never ending chant of your pleasure and his name. His head swam with sensations, imagined and transmitted. A part of him reveled in this pleasure you gave him, that you didn’t know he was partaking in. 

“That’s it, darling. My darling doe. Take your pleasure…” He gasped, the muscles in his stomach growing taut as the coils of ecstasy wound themselves layer after layer. “…give me mine too. Make me cum with your mouth.”

From your sounds and the rough brushes of heat ghosting along his body, he could tell you were close, riding that fantasy of yours without reservation.

“Not yet, dear. Hnngh. Not..yet.” It was getting harder to breathe as his heart pounded, trying to reach that high while you were still going. He needed the stimuli. He craved it. He was so close. The wet heat from your body transmitted from his staff to his cock, your voice garbled pleasured sounds from his radio. So close. So close.

“Al! I—I’m coming!”

“Wait, darling. You can take a little more. Just a bit—”

But his plea didn’t reach you. He heard you scream directly into the microphone, so loud and amorous that his mind stuttered, worried that the sound ringing through the room would somehow escape and be heard by some passerby. 

All at once, he lost the rhythmic strokes against his body as your undulating stopped. Your salacious broadcast had ended.

He rutted up into his hand furiously. He hadn’t finished yet, but he was so close, a bit feral as he tried to reach his own high now that you had achieved yours. But it was no use. His tentacle stroked precum and slime-slick pumps against his cock but without your voice, or even your ghostly touch, it felt like nothing. He growled, frustrated, slamming his hands against the armrests as he leaned back into his chair, defeated.

“Fuck!” What a tease! An absolute menace! He cursed you as he tried to calm himself, scrubbing his clean hand down his face. Massaging his temples, a realization dawned on him, reaching his orgasm was next to impossible now. He breathed deep.

But his blood still pumped in his veins, hot and wanting. He couldn’t regain his composure, too worked up. His hand reached to pull off his bow tie and free his neck to get some air. It didn’t help. You damned sinful temptation. He never had to suffer such irritating incidents like this before you. He growled and hissed, a primal aggression taking over. 

This was why he had been happy to never feel these urges. It was crude, having his mind controlled by his lower body. 

No matter, he would get you to fix it.

With one final deep breath, he stood and tidied his desk, making sure to leave nothing amiss. There was no point in tidying himself up. Not when he intended to make a mess of you in just a moment. At the thought, he decided to let you see the proud work you’d done on him. He took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. You liked seeing him disheveled, more casual as you put it. Your heartbeat always picked up at every little show of his skin.

It was with this appearance, top buttons undone and slacks clinging onto his hips by some work of demon magick that wasn’t his, that he teleported back home to you. He was ready to see your surprised face, flushed still from your orgasm and slightly disoriented. Then he’d fuck you back into your coma for daring to pull such a stunt in the middle of the day. He buzzed at the plan, cock aching once again.

When he’d stepped foot into your bedroom, the sight that greeted him was a disheveled lover, hand still in clutching onto his microphone as you dozed. Seeing you weak and asleep, the urgency in his body cooled slightly, worry taking its place. Immediately, he’d made it to the bedside, checking to see if you were alright. 

Light breaths. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips before his stomach clenched to remind him of his current predicament. His eyes roamed your body, making sure you were alright. When nothing seemed amiss, his eyes narrowed in irritation. He’d suspected the possibility that you had passed out after your performance but the disappointment in seeing you unconscious still stung. 

Up close, he could see you, feel you, smell you. You reeked of cum, having fainted as soon as you’d climaxed. How filthy. How divine. The scent was wonderful, heady and musky, traces of your activity still lingering in the air and on his microphone. The fire in his belly roiled to life once again. Stupid little thing. Making his life just that much more difficult and wonderful than it already was.

Precious, lewd little thing. His heartbeat quickened as the rush of lust came back. He’d had all intentions of taking out his frustrations on your more than willing body but seeing you like this, needing your rest, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t get his end. With one knee on the bed, he approached you, wanting to be as close as he could without disturbing your slumber. His hand found his needy cock once again, palm warm and inviting as he stroked from the base to tip. His other hand wound itself in your hair, gently petting you and relishing your warmth as his hand worked his member over your sleeping form.

His ears picked up the sound of your breathing, gentle and soft, just like everything about you. And you let someone like him defile that softness. He swallowed, drool already pooling in his mouth at the meal in front of him that he could not devour as he wished to.

The smell of your shared bed, your sex, your cum, your want lingering in the air. It enveloped him completely. This was his home. His den. His lover. His mate. While the little broadcast was exquisite, the live thing would always be better.

And he can wait for you to get better. Oh, all the things he would do to you once you were well. Just, he needed to take the edge off a little. He breathed in and let himself get lost in the feeling, the heat of his body rising and he got close to his climax again. His hips bucked into his hand, chasing that high as he watched your peaceful face. Shudders racked his body. He was so close. If only he could hear you call his name with that pretty voice of yours.

“Alastor?” His breath hitched. His hand had unconsciously clenched in your hair, not enough to hurt but it did stir you awake. His eyes met yours and his climax finally hit him under your stare. The knot in his stomach unwound and he watched his cum spurt without his control. Some of it splattered onto your bewildered face, causing you to flinch. 

“D-did you just…?” A small hand went up to the new stains on your face, wiping the smear onto your fingers as you studied it as if you couldn’t comprehend exactly what it was. Fair enough. This wasn’t behavior he ever would have done before he met you. He was slightly embarrassed by that but there was something satisfying about seeing his cum on your cheek.

“Well, you did too, didn’t you?” A clawed hand carded through your hair, slightly smearing it with his spend though you were still too bewildered to notice. His voice was husky, still riding high as his body sang in completion. You blushed madly as you remembered what you’d done and why he was here, like this.

“T-that’s—“ 

“Hush. Don’t worry about it, darling. Though it did get me a little worked up.” With a few snaps of his fingers, you were both cleaned up and the bed made around you. It took more effort to do as all he wanted to was collapse next to you but no. He had to make sure you were comfortable before he did. As lovely a sight that you made, he wouldn’t let you rest in filth.

Neither of you spoke as he climbed to his side of the bed, sitting against the headboard while you looked at him from where you laid. Perhaps your stillness slowed your brain processes as well. You still seemed tense, shocked. He started petting your head, an action that calmed you just as much as it did him. He needed just a few moments. 

When complete clarity finally returned to him, he faced you, a teasing grin on his lips as his eyes narrowed.

“I hope you know…” He leaned down to peer into your eyes, holding your gaze and relishing his lone figure reflected in its shine. His eyes roamed over your body, a slow take that he was sure you caught before he looked into your eyes and continued. Despite having only just finished, electric lust still buzzed in his chest, vibrating through his voice as he growled low a promise to the little troublemaker. “…that when you’ve fully recovered, darling, you shouldn’t expect to get out of this bed for a long while.” 

Beneath his palm, you trembled, your little shakes traveling from his fingertips to his cock. Your eyes switched from confusion to dread, sensing the underlying threat and seduction in his tone. He traced a lazy pattern on your cheek, cupping the supple flesh to feel the fever induced heat. Like a demure little creature, you leaned into his touch. 

And like the wretched little thing you were, you casually drew his thumb into your hot mouth, all of that sweet dread replaced by even sweeter confidence. With eyes never leaving his own, you gave his thumb a bold slow lick. He held back the urge to press his thumb down into that lascivious tongue. 

“Looking forward to it…” The tease had the gall to smirk at him, teeth lightly prickling his captured appendage. Clarity and mirth sparkled in your eyes. “Lover.”

AO3

[gennyanydots]

Spitfire

Jake “Hangman” Seresin x female reader

AN: this is my very first fic. I had this idea and it wouldn’t go away so here we are. I’m sorry if it sucks.

TW: verbally abusive relationship mentioned. Not involving any main characters and nothing specifically said.

part of the ‘spitfire universe’

Jake closes his eyes to help clear his mind. If he sunk this shot Coyote and Bob owe him and Phoenix $200. To be honest it wasn’t about the money, at least not for Jake, he just loves to win anything and everything he can. As he opens his eyes he notices that Rooster has joined their group by the pool table. Rooster must have gotten lost coming to the bar. Typical.

Maverick had taken Penny and Amelia on a much needed vacation. Turns out it was Maverick’s first vacation in quite some time and Penny wanted to share the fun so she gave all of her employees the week off too and shut the Hard Deck down while she was gone. Very nice gesture for her staff but it left the aviators with nowhere to go after work. Begrudgingly they found this hole in the wall bar with a couple of pool tables and decided to check it out. Thankfully it was Friday meaning tomorrow Penny and Mav will be back and then they never have to come back here again. Hopefully. Being Friday night meant it was pretty crowded even for some random dive bar.

While Jake takes his time lining up his shot he vaguely hears Rooster saying something about something. Jake’s not really paying attention. He takes his shot sinking the 8 ball turning to Coyote and Bob with a smirk, “That’ll be $200. Would you like to pay in cash or card?” Coyote rolls his eyes while reaching into his pants for his wallet.

Jake looks around then turns to Rooster, “So what were you just going on about? You almost made me miss my shot what with your loud mouth going off and all.”

Rooster scoffs, “If anyone has a loud mouth it’s you and you know it, Hangman. I was just asking if anyone knew the spitfire at the bar. I’ve never met her but I just wanted to keep an eye on her since she seems to be fixing to get her ass handed to her.”

Jake looks towards the bar seeing the back of a women yelling at a man with another woman close behind her. The man is yelling right back in her face. Jake knows he doesn’t know the man or the second woman and turns back towards Coyote putting his hand out for the money. Just then he listens a little harder. He knows that voice. He hears it every day. That’s the voice that yells at him almost every night from the living room while he’s upstairs in the shower not to leave his boots in the doorway because you trip over them every time. Jake’s eyes get big as he yells, “Shit! It’s mine!”

He starts to push through the crowd as fast as he can with his other aviators close behind. He shoves his way in front of the man and proceeds to pick you up passing you off to Coyote to get you out of the line of fire then turns around to face the angry man. He’s got a few inches on this guy and looks down at him with his chest puffed out, nobody is going to mess with his girl even if she got herself into this mess. The man in front of him is seething.

Coyote places you down behind him getting you farther away from the angry man, ready to jump in to help his friend. Bob, Phoenix, and Rooster crowd around too ready for whatever was going to happen.

From behind Coyote Jake hears, “He was yelling at his girlfriend! He was getting in her face saying awful things about her and calling her names!”

Jake was mad before just hearing this man yell at you but now he’s furious. He glances behind himself locking eyes with Coyote who nods his head. They both grab an arm each of the man’s and proceed to drag him outside Rooster following close behind. The girl who you had been protecting now sobbing as you go over and try and help her calm down. Bob comes over with a glass of water for her and Phoenix stands watching all the other Patrons in the bar in case the guy had any buddies they needed to worry about.

Jake and the others come strolling back in not too long after. He heads towards you shaking out his hand. He saddles up behind you wrapping his arms around your waist and leans down so you can hear him better, “What did I say about getting into fights without me?”

You smile and turn in his arms wrapping your arms around his neck, “Umm I think you said not to but I can’t remember. The details are fuzzy and it was soooooo long ago.”

He chuckles and shakes his head, “You’re right a month is a very long time. I’m actually surprised you made it this long.”

From behind the two of you, you can hear Rooster asking, “Uhh did you guys know Hangman had a girl?”

Coyote grins looking over at you, “Nice to see you, Mrs. Seresin.”

You smile right back, “Hey Javy. Did you like those leftovers I sent in with Jake for you the other day?”

“They were delicious. I made sure to eat all the pasta before your husband could steal any.”

You hear Jake whine above you, “Why are you both so mean to me?”

Chuckling you both say, “Because we can.”

Coyote grins slapping Jake on the back and heads towards the bar for another round.

Rooster’s brow furrows as he watches the exchange and looks at Bob and Phoenix questioningly. Phoenix shrugs in response and takes a few steps closer to you, “So Mrs. Hangman where have you been hiding and why did you leave me alone with these idiots?”

You laugh, “I’m sorry I don’t go out much. Jake likes to be the prettiest in the room so he leaves me at home so his reputation isn’t tarnished.”

Jake chuckles shaking his head and kisses the top of your head, “I’m going to remember this later, darlin’. Don’t think I won’t.”

You smile sweetly up at him, “Promise?”

Need more of Jake and his Spitfire? Check out: Kindergarten Failure

[james-is-here]

Yo, sorry for the theme change but I started to not like the Hub look 😅

This is for @thatcucumberwhore who thought an Innie version of my Chanlix thong reaction would be hot so here it be, I got chyu , it might be bad but I got chyu 🩵

Agi Yeou | 아기 여우 | Baby Fox ☺️

"Agi Yeou~ So cute~" You teased the younger, poking his cheek as he tried to push you away but you just got closer.

This back and forth kept happening for awhile until, for Jeongin's sake, you were pulled away by a member of staff calling for you.

It's not that he doesn't like your affection. He loves it, actually, but sometimes he'd like to be seen as an adult, grown man, in front the cameras and as much as he can in front of the members, they're just as bad but they do see him as grown, and you respect that but how could you not tease him and whatnot when you know a little secret of his, that secret being that he's only baby with you, alone, in the cover of night usually.

With the moon being the only source of light, that's when you call him Agi Yeou, Your Agi Yeou, Your Baby fox.

He was grateful you got pulled away, his ears tinged red slightly as he was teased for his nickname, your nickname that the other members have picked up and started using as teasing material, the name that triggers flashbacks and Jeongin can't help but keep his head down as the laces of his boots suddenly became really interesting rather then facing Hyunjin and Minho cooing at him with light giggles.

He stood up, trying to not make it obvious that he was just trying to escape the situation, and walked across the dressing room to distract himself with the drink fridge, succeeding when his thoughts strayed from yours and his nightly endeavors to wether or not he should get you a drink as well and deciding which one.

Someone stepped up next to him and he didn't pay any attention until an arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer. He looked up slightly, you were still looking at the drink options as if the grip you were applying to his hip didn't exist as you held him close. "Can I help you, Hyung?" "Nope." You said popping the 'p' while still looking at the drinks. You weren't, really, just acting as your fingers were slowly making their way under his shirt until your hand rested on his waist when the side of your hand caught something and your breath hitched.

Jeongin saw, confused until his brain kickstarted and he remembered what he was wearing. Goosebumps rose on his arms as your light touch moved back down until he could feel two fingers slide under the band and he could feel a small movement which was your thumb analyzing the material of the band.

"Jeongin-ah?" Jeongin looked down at his shoes, his hands still fidgeting in front of him from when he was looking over the fridge and he grew nervous. "IN-ah?" He still stayed quiet, not really knowing what to say until thankfully, Felix came over with a camera, filming for Skz-talker. You reluctantly pulled away with a soft grunt and turned to Felix as Jeongin stepped away and walked away to leave the room, telling Chan who asked where he was rushing off to that he was using the restroom before they went on stage.

The entire ceremony. That's how long you had to wait.

He was avoiding you, even while performing he wouldn't make eye contact with you during you twos center stage moment, he didn't complete your heart when you two stood in front of each other. It made you sad but also a little annoyed, why wouldn't he just talk to you? Did he think you were put off by what he was wearing? If you judged the fabric correctly, it was a thong. You wanted to see it, needed to see it now that you have a vague picture of what it could look like.

After getting off stage, taking mic packs off and chugging water, Jeongin declared that he was going to the bathroom again and after waiting a few minutes, you said the same thing, taking long strides so you could get to the bathroom as soon as possible.

Pushing the door open, you're met with Jeongin reaching for the door. You side step into the bathroom, your hand placed on his collar at the base of his neck as you push the door closed the rest of the way and pin the younger to the wall. The air knocked out of Jeongin at the roughness and speed of it all as he looks up into your bright green contacted eyes. "Hyung-" "Shut up." A squeak left him at the harsh tone as he shut his mouth, hands splayed on the wall behind him shaking as he resisted looking away from your gaze.

"Why are you avoiding me?" "I wasn't-" "Yes, you were, don't lie Agi Yeou, remember the last time you lied to me? Now, Why were you avoiding me?"

"I-I...I was afraid..." "Afraid of what?" "Y-You...I-It sounded like y-you didn't like what you found earlier and I-I thought you were disgusted." So you were right.

"What exactly was it that I found, huh?" You asked, keeping your right hand on his collar and moving the other to the wall next to his head. He looked away, a little embarrassed but not because he's cornered and being interrogated, because he's growing warm trapped between you and the wall, your hand inches away from choking him and the faint feeling of your leg near his crotch.

"Agi, What exactly did I find?" He whines, still not looking at you. "Jeongin, you don't tell me, I'll leave you high and dry." You snapped slightly and he broke, he can't handle being left, it sucks, he feels empty and he can't even solve it himself since you've been with him for half as long as Stray Kids has been together and he can't seem to cum on his own.

He mumbles, not wanting to say it aloud but your warmth starts to fade from him and he panics. "A thong! Th-The straps of th-the thong is what you felt..." He whines, squirming in his spot on the wall as you smirk.

Your hands move to his hips and he whines at the loss of your hand near you neck before jumping when you started undoing his belt and unbuttoning his pants in order to untuck his top and finally see the straps on his hips more clearly, the flaps of his pants folded out and slightly revealing his growing bulge.

"H-Hyung~ please do something~" Jeongin whines as you just stare, sliding your fingers over the bands before gripping his hips, looking back up and crashing your lips onto his and immediately biting his bottom lip before sliding it past his lips and claiming his mouth.

You swallow his moans and whines, taking a step forward and pushing him further into the wall. Nothing mattered, not even the current group's muffled song outside the bathroom, all that mattered was your Agi Yeou and possibly your quietest quickie yet.

Let's not talk about Chan going to find you two after it being quite some time and immediately turning back around before his hand even touched the door.

I might actually do a full fic on this since I was about to go into full blown fic mode when I was just doing a one shot but be on the lookout, I'm definitely writing this one as a full smut fic.

I hope this is suitable, I realized I made Jeongin possibly really subby and I'm sorry but I'm in my Jeongin zone and it got away from me 😅

[morgana-ren]

I'm sorry if something similar has been asked before. But, I imagine that some of Tav's close friends are concerned about her being a Dark Consort. She's not returning letters as frequently and is intentionally vague on any plans for a reunion. How would Ascendent Astarion react if one of their former comrades showed up at their palace attempting to see Tav? And if that person might have been a former flame of Tav's before she chose Astarion over them?

They aren't seeing Tav. I can tell you that right now.

Astarion is going to know they're coming before they've even decided to do it, and he's going to ensure that nothing intervenes with his plans.

Astarion has quite literally stated that he has zero qualms with turning on their old comrades if they get in his way. He makes a joke about preemptively killing Wyll because he's the most likely to be a problem for them going forward, and he absolutely means it.

If it was just an old comrade that used to be friends with them both, Astarion would probably receive them politely-- albeit there is no Tav in sight when he does-- and soothe over their anxiety as best as he can.

She's fine, she's fine! She's just busy, is all! A little indisposed at the moment. Resting. He wore her out... If you catch his meaning.

(Yes, I imagine he is inappropriate about it deliberately to keep them from asking questions and to assert just what kind of relationship they have to hopefully discourage further meddling.)

He'd prefer not to kill them if he can help it. Not because he cares, but because it would make his darling awful sore on him for a while, and it's such a miserable pain when she's angry. He's going to use his silver tongue to convince them that she's fine, but that their aspirations and plans keep them so busy so really, it's a terrible inconvenience to just have guests out of the blue, so it's best they be on their way. Ta!

For a former flame, he's really going to double down on the 'relationship' bit, and he's going to be blatantly... disrespectful, to put it nicely. No one is going to steal Tav from him, and if that's why they came here, they will not be leaving. At least not in one piece.

They lost. Astarion won. She belongs to him now, and they need to make peace with that. She's happy with him. It's not his fault they're a sore loser, and really, it's quite pathetic that they're coming up with excuses like this to try and see her. She doesn't want to see them. She's happy with Astarion. Don't you get it? She couldn't even be bothered to be here to greet them! (Of course she knew they were coming... what do you mean 'did she even know?')

She's his queen, and he has no intentions of ever changing that.

It's time they moved on from their pathetic little crush.

Astarion understands it's so hard to lose, but this is just a pathetic display of desperation. Making up some bollocks reason to check in on her in an attempt to see her. It's sad, truly. Tav has moved on, and it's time they did too.

He sends them on their way without ever catching hide nor tail of Tav, with nothing but his word...

And if they keep harassing Tav, then he takes matters into his own hands, one way or another.

Tav herself has absolutely no idea that anyone even came to visit, and Astarion would see it kept that way, staff held under pain of death to keep their fucking mouths shut. There will be hell to pay if she ever gleans someone dropped by.

[wolfawaycamp]

LauraMax went to the motel. What's a typical staff table dinner conversation look like?

Max greets her in the way that has become their norm since camp started and they’re surrounded by children and coworkers at all hours of the day and night: the gentlest of shoulder checks — his knocking ever so briefly against her own — as he’s sliding into place on the bench next to her. It’s something so unremarkable, so mundane in terms of physical contact and affection, but the tender little smile they share when their eyes meet is something that shouts their love for one another even in complete silence; it’s a little bit of warmth, a little bit of Laura that exists solely for him and a little bit of Max that exists solely for her. A little piece of their souls that no one else gets to see.

“Hey babe,” she grins. “How did dodgeball go? We didn’t get any more nose gushers in the nurse’s office so I figured it must be going better than yesterday at least…”

Down the table, there’s a snort.

“That’s true, there were no nosebleeds today,” Kaitlyn interjects. “Or black eyes, unless someone ate a ball and just didn’t mention it— do not make the joke, Dylan!”

“What?” the boy squawks, with a terribly see-through attempt at a poker face. “What joke?! I didn’t say anything, Kaitlyn!”

“Well I can tell you were thinking it!”

“What, are you a mind reader now?!”

The far end of the table descends into rapidfire back-and-forths as the two continue bickering, oblivious to the amusement of the rest of the counselors. Max shoots an amused grin at Laura, who only rolls her eyes and looks to the next source of information: Emma.

“Yeah, it went off without a hitch… I think mostly because Mr. H sidelined Ryan to fix whatever was up in the boathouse, so he and Jacob weren’t bumping shoulders on the field anymore,” the blonde rolls her eyes with a smirk. “So, you know… no ‘totally accidental’ elbows thrown or balls conveniently thrown right into someone’s nose this time. Way better example set for the kids today.”

“Yeah, I s’pose that would help,” Laura says with a wicked grin; she and Ryan had had a vague yet instantaneous rivalry from the very first moment she set foot in Hackett’s Quarry, yet somehow his beef with Jacob would always reign supreme.

“Well…” a tentative voice pipes up; it’s Abi, speaking up for the first time that night. “Ryan being gone also kinda helped with the accidental injuries that were actually accidental, too…”

Everyone’s curiosity is piqued by her vagueness.

“How do you mean, Abi?” Nick questions.

“Just, um,” she flushes, looking a bit guilty suddenly. “Just that, y’know, Dylan was actually paying attention to the game this time? Not just… uhh, what Ryan was doing? So there was less tripping over tree roots and knocking kids —- or me — flying because he didn’t notice us standing right in front of him...”

The counselor table falls silent. Abi blushes a deep shade of red, enough to almost put the highlights in her hair to shame, and starts digging into her dinner furiously as a means of self-distraction. Then, like the pin had been pulled, the whole table bursts into explosive laughter — with the exception of Dylan, who was suddenly flushed equally as red as Abi and slouching comically low in his seat, as if he could somehow become tiny enough to go unseen.

“O-hhhh, my god, Abi,” Emma crows, leaning on the shorter girl to wrap an arm around her shoulder and jostle her appreciatively; it’s a sentiment shared around the table as the rest of the counselors hoot and holler, Jacob being the loudest of them all.

“Do I even want to ask what you guys are laughing about?”

Ryan’s voice cuts suddenly through the commotion as the final member of their group arrives, dinner tray in hand as he stares down at them all with a vague air of judgment.

“Just th—”

“NOTHING! It’s nothing!” Dylan practically shouts, and poor Jacob cuts off with a choking noise as one of the taller boy’s hands smacks right across his mouth, successfully cutting off whatever teasing was doubtlessly about to commence.

An eyebrow twitches ever so slightly on Ryan’s face.

“Riiiiight…” he says. “Whatever that was about, then.”

And then Mr. H’s favorite counselor takes his spot at their table, completely unbothered and unruffled even as Dylan — seated directly across from him — continues to burn tomato-red, and Kaitlyn and Emma are still shamelessly giggling to themselves further down the row. Laura’s eyes gravitate to Max’s, as always, and the two of them share the same fond-yet-disgusted eye roll as every other time Dylan’s elephant sized crush somehow manages to keep flying under Ryan’s radar.

She’s not gonna be able to leave this damn camp without Max playing wingman, Laura concludes; she can already practically see the determination solidifying in her boyfriend’s heart.

🐦‍⬛

[nocturnal-desolation]

Hello sorry for tagging. I am very sick, my asthma is at its maximum level, my nose freezes, I have no medicine or food. I am in bad shape financially, I am a black disabled, who uses multiple medications, I pay for my food and lodging

Unfortunately I do not have all the resources to keep me safe, that is why I need your help, whatever you can contribute to me will be of great help.

Would you look at that… I have a prime example of how to spot a scam in my asks. It's not very well done, just well enough that some people might fall for it - and some have even reblogged it. You've been redirected to the Fraud Detection Unit, which will take it from here. (actually it's still just me, I'm the fraud detection unit, we have "Fachkräftemangel" in Germany, sorry, jk)

Seriously though… First of all, I'd like to address the fact that it's incredibly sad to play with people's emotions like this. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I'm sure you're not. It's the same with scams asking for help and donations for people and families in Gaza, which has come up a lot recently and is even more despicable because there are actual fundraisers going on (which are official) and these people are in a terrible situation. So to exploit that worldwide sympathy or solidarity and use the inhumane circumstances of these or other people for your scams is disgusting to the core.

But back to this particular ask and blog… The text itself makes no sense. Like, not at all. For example, a " freezing nose" is not a typical symptom of asthma. I've never had asthma, but I'm pretty sure your nose doesn't freeze up when you have asthma. What are you trying to tell me? That you got asthma in the middle of a blizzard? Sorry, I can't help you with that. "Get out of the blizzard!" is all I can tell you. And what is the "maximum level" of asthma? Is that some kind of asthma end boss? Sounds more like you need an ambulance, not money...

That's why it's important to be fluent in English if you want to pretend to be a native speaker. I can't help you there either. I can barely speak my own language, let alone English.

Some other things everyone should notice or look for when getting messages like this:

blog was created fairly recently, no consistency, just reblogged some random things (like posts from 'tumblr staff' lol - no offense) to have something on it at all + obviously otherwise empty blogs that are just begging for money or reblogging other similar posts all the time are even more suspicious

something I haven't seen before either is "Black Lives Matter" being used as bait to appeal to those involved in the movement

randomly generated usernames (what is "toosaladgarden"? I've never had a salad that was too garden, so I don't know - not too important, but in this case it doesn't help to be convincing)

no bio, no age, no country (usually not important, but in this case it is)

non-transparent fundraiser, no one knows why this exact amount of money is needed (I think it even went from $1700 to $1900 since yesterday if I saw that correctly lol) and how the supposed current donations came about (you could put any number in there)

randomly contacted

scammers often use tactics such as emotional manipulation and urgency to evoke sympathy and to prompt a quick response

lack of details, very vague in general, limited information about specific circumstances

But that made me curious and I wanted to know more. You (the scammers) were "smart" enough to use a profile picture that can't be easily traced back to the original source, I'll give you that. But that's a problem for you, because it seems to be the only picture you have of this person with this child, so you had to use it everywhere…

And that's why I was able to trace your picture back to a Twitter / X account that goes by the name "Aska" and the handle askafarao… which also engages in very, very obviously fraudulent requests for money. Every few days or weeks since August 2023, this "X" account posts nothing but new "reasons" why the money is needed. And it's quite funny how little effort they put into it, because the reasons are not creative and half of them don't even add up. But most importantly, somehow there are a couple of different email addresses for different paypal accounts with different names on them. I think we can all agree that unless you're trying to hide something, you don't need more than one name… right? Unless Paypal is going to close your accounts all the time, or you're afraid they will because they're detecting fraudulent activity, you don't need more than one account, right?

TL:DR Let's make this part short and sweet: If you get a message like this, or see a similar post, be aware that it's a scam. Don't reblog it and don't be like, "But what if it's true…" It's obviously not, and when I saw the X account, I actually had a good laugh because this account is a complete mess, even for a scammer.

[rumalumasuns]

"Each day I love you more, today more than yesterday, and less than tomorrow" (Rosemonde Gerard) - With Shu Yamino

Based (loosely) on Beauty and the Beast by Disney (for the first part y'all might wanna listen to this song for reference if y'all don't know it already lol)

Part of my Living in a Fairy Tale series

!- Reader is Gender neutral (if I made a mistake somewhere I apologize and I'll fix it as soon as possible!)

!- Mentions of shooting, blood, killing, obsessive behavior from antagonists, magic curses, gremlins

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, Shu Speaking

Original work by rumalumasuns, 5,175 words (it's long sorry haha), unedited but I will do so when I have time later :)

Once upon a time,...

There was a handsome, young prince by the name of Shu Yamino de Luxiem of the Kingdom of Ninisani. Shu was a peculiar prince. He wasn't like his oldest brother Vox, the Crown Prince, his older brother Ike, an infamous novelist, his younger brother Mysta, an acute detective, or his youngest brother Luca, the Captain of the Imperial Guard. Instead, he was a sorcerer - one with a high aptitude for performing curses.

Although his art was looked down upon by those around him, as curses were seen as taboo, his brothers didn't mind, and even supported him! Shu was a prince, and he could (within reason) do what he desired. His art wasn't useless either: with the help of his curses, many monster and demon subjugations went smoothly.

So, what went wrong?

As stated, Shu was a peculiar prince. It wasn't just because of his curses. Rather, he was interested in many peculiar things, including tales of sky dragons and fairies and mermaids, as well as unusual trinkets. While strolling through the woods, Shu stumbled upon something glowing within the bushes. His curiosity peaked, and he absolutely HAD to see what the glowing substance was, possibly bring it home for research.

Once Shu parted the bushes, he came upon a glorious, glowing piece of...excrement. AKA poop.

"Huh? Why is this poop glowing?" thought Shu, as he began to, without thinking, reach for the poop. Before he could get his hands on it, however, he was stopped by a screech.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU DARE LAY YOUR HANDS ON MY PRECIOUS EXCREMENTOUS SUBSTANCIOUS???"

Shu whipped around in panic, even though he didn't even touch the poop. Behind him was an infuriated gremlin. It stomped its feet and roared in rage, waving its magic staff around. At this point, Shu was confused by such actions. 

"But...but it's just glowing poop?"

"NO! IT IS MY PRECIOUS! FOR YOUR CRIME, YOU WILL PAY!"

The gremlin roared and hastily waved its staff around, chanting.

"WITH MY CURSE, ONE NEEDS TO FIND SOME-ONE WHO SEES BEAU-TY, IN EVE-RY-THING EV-EN IF IT'S THE WORST YOU'VE EV-ER SEEN! BUT WHO ON EARTH WOULD LOVE A BEAST AS HID-E-OUS AS HE? NO ONE, THAT'S WHO! AND SO THE NAR-RA-TIVE CEAS-ES TO BE!"

"Wait!"

But before Shu could stop him, the gremlin cursed the prince. A glow surrounded Shu, and all he could hear was the gremlin faintly cackling as his vision filled with white.

When his vision cleared, Shu found himself on a grassy cliff covered by a forest of tall oak trees that overlooked a small town. In a daze, Shu vaguely noted his location as he scanned a sign that was posted in front of the small town's entrance, showing "Petit Mura of the Kingdom of Ninisani".

".......What just happened??"

Shu gasped, then grasped for his throat, thinking it was weird that his voice came out in a much more low and gruff tone, only to retract his hand quickly after feeling not flesh on his neck, but fur. His eyes widened once he caught sight of his hand- er, paw. A paw with black fur. He then looked down at his clothes, now wrapping around his black fur-covered body. His shoes were gone, replaced with large black paws with sharp silver claws. Shu quickly looked around for anything reflective near his location and found a lake a couple meters behind him. Shu hurriedly ran to it to look at his reflection, and his eyes widened. His face now had a fuzzy snout and thick, pointy ears. The only things that could show that he was Prince Shu were his violet eyes and a small ahoge that was reminiscent of his yellow hair back in his human form.

"I'm...a panther beast? Well, cool, but I have to go back home. My brothers are probably waiting."

So, Shu tried to undo his curse and go on his way, thinking that it would be easy since he specialized in curses. However, he discovered that he couldn't undo it. In fact, he couldn't do curse magic at all, besides summoning a couple shikigamis, which he lovingly called his Yaminions. Perplexed, but getting his priorities straight, he sent one Yaminion to the castle to let his brothers know that he was okay.

Shu then tried to think about what he should do next, but before he could reflect on his situation any further, his train of thought was halted by a small voice singing, coming from the town behind him. Curiosity, as always, got the better of Shu as he crept through the trees until he got to the edge of the cliff and peeped over, not wanting any locals to spot him and chase him away in horror.

"𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞…𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞."Shu observed the person singing as they sang about how they are stuck in a town with life that was too repetitive. They held a book in their hand titled Sorcery Through the Ages.

"They seem kind and knowledgeable...Maybe they're understanding enough to give me some help and shelter until I can figure all of this out..."

Shu’s main objective was to look at the townspeople and find potential people who could help him, including the person with the book. He continued to watch as the person went through the little town, as others (for some strange reason Shu couldn't fathom) began to join in singing. The song by the townspeople was filled with insults and praises alike: how weird the person was for reading such strange books, and how beautiful this person was despite their flaws - in short, the townspeople talked about how the person was nothing like the rest of those in the town. He also learned the person's name through the song: Beau/Belle (Beau or Belle depending on what y'all prefer).

Shu saw how they sighed at the townspeople who doubted them, and how they had to shoo two people - possible suitors of Belle/Beau - away before they went into their home.

After looking over the town for a little longer, Shu decided he needed to find or make a temporary shelter for the evening. He went to one of the nearby oak trees before asking his four Yaminions to help him build a treehouse (really just a wooden tent on a sturdy branch), climbing the tree easily with his new body, and eventually resting in his shelter.

His eyes drooped promptly after settling down, as he reflected on the day's events.

"... What a day...," said Shu, before his eyes closed, and slumber came to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shu was abruptly awoken in the dark by one of his Yaminions, who was frantically indicating to the ground. His ears perked up upon hearing rustles and cracks coming from below. Cautiously, Shu craned his neck out of his shelter to direct his vision downwards, where he saw an old man harvesting what appeared to be faintly golden-glowing acorns. Shu watched as the old man hemmed and grumbled about how peculiar his child was to always want these for their birthday.

Resolving to find a proper shelter, Shu slowly and silently shimmeyed (lol try saying that 5 times fast) down the tree. When he was a couple feet behind the old man, he carefully cleared his throat. The old man whipped his head behind in a panic, wondering who on Ninisani would be awake at this hour besides him. He didn't see anything besides the slight glimmer of Shu's amethyst, beastly eyes.

After Shu noted that the old man saw him, he opened his mouth.

"... Please don't scream. I would only like some assistance from you if that is alright?"

The old man pondered a moment before nodding his head.

"Come into the light, please," said the old man. Slowly, Shu emerged from his place in the dark to the dimly lit area that the old man with his faintly glowing acorns was in.

The old man’s eyes widened as he let out an audible gasp. Shu’s full panther beast form was shown to him, something he’d only heard about through the stories that his child read to him while he was working with the acorns. Unable to overcome his shock, the old man fainted.

Shu rushed to the side of the man.

“Oh no, oh no, please wake up!! I just wanted... to ask... for... help..."

Shu tapped the side of the old man’s face and shook his shoulders slightly, before sighing and looking around for a safe place to put the old man (as Shu did not know where the old man lived).

Eventually, Shu decided to bring the old man back to his makeshift shelter, and with the help of his Yaminions, he leaped up to the treehouse, carrying the old man on his back.

After securing the old man in place so that he won't fall even if he woke up in a panic, Shu sighed deeply, hoping that tomorrow morning he could have an actual conversation with the man. He assigned one of his Yaminions to keep watch before he fell into slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫? 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮!… 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬… 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬… 𝐎𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞!"

Shu's ears perked up upon hearing the sound of a person venturing through the woods. Lazily, one of his eyes opened, as Shu noted that it was now late morning. Beside him was the unconscious old man, whom Shu believed was the father that the person below was looking for.

To see who the person was, Shu looked out from his shelter, only to have his eyes widen in surprise as he saw the Belle/Beau from the day before now in the woods.

'They must be this old man's child...'

Shu then thought of a plan. Although he never wanted to bargain using someone's life, in this case, he had to if he wanted to gain even a slim possibility of the help that Belle/Beau could offer. So, he called out to them from the treehouse.

"You there! I have your father. I have kept him safe in the woods after I found him passed out. However, I will not release him yet."

Belle/Beau looked around for the source of the voice before spotting a faint outline of Shu's rickety treehouse near the top of one of the oak trees.

"𝐔𝐡𝐦… 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭? 𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐧𝐨𝐰!"

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, unless you promise me something."

"…𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐬𝐢𝐫, 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫."

"That... well... I need some help and shelter. You see, I was cursed-"

"𝐇𝐦𝐦? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞?"

"I said I was cursed- darn it, why can't I say it??"

"…𝐒𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤, 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤."

"Th-There's no need for that! I... I'll come down. But first, may I ask if you have ever encountered mythical creatures before? Such as beastmen?"

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧- 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬… 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤, 𝐬𝐢𝐫?" asked Y/N in a suspicious voice.

"... Well, you're about to meet one, so..."

Y/N's face pulled into one of surprise before they quickly composed themself.

"𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭."

Y/N stared at the tree leaves, getting ready to use the book in their hand to defend themself, and waited. Eventually, they heard the rustle of the leaves and something heavy made its way down.

First, Y/N saw a black, long tail. Then, they saw pants and a coat. Eventually, all of Shu was shown as he made his descent from the top of the tree, and Y/N saw it all: a panther beastman with amethyst-colored eyes and their father on his back.

"𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!" exclaimed Y/N as they rushed to his side, shaking him awake. Eventually, the old man awoke, dazed and confused as to why his child was shaking him so hard. Then, he looked around and slowly began to recall the events of the night before. Quickly, he stood up and shielded Y/N away from the beastman.

"What have you done to me?"

"Uh, I haven't done anything. I brought you back to my temporary shelter because you fainted after you saw me..."

"... Oh. Well, what do you want with us?"

"I only would like a place to stay for a couple of months. You see, I have a situation that requires me to find a shelter..."

"What situation?"

"I... I can't say. B-But! I will prove to you that I have no bad intentions. I'll cook and help you with things if you need it: I only ask that you provide me a place to stay for a couple of months. Afterwards, I will reward you greatly."

"Pfft- reward? What could you possibly offer us?" asked the old man with a scoff.

"𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞?" asked Y/N, with a glimmer of hope in their eyes as they clutched their book harder with their hands.

"Uhm, I don't know of other beast people than me, but I can provide you help with my curses, and my Yaminions."

"𝐘𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?"

Shu then summoned four shikigamis, each swirling around him before tentatively going towards Y/N, who looked upon them with wonder. Noticing their child's excitement, the old man considered taking the beastman in.

"...Alright, we'll let you stay with us. But, if there is any funny business, just know that we will not hesitate to defend ourselves," said the old man, who moved his hand towards a gun that was resting on his hip. Shu nodded in understanding.

"I promise, no funny business."

After a moment of silence, the old man sighed before he motioned Shu to follow him. Shu, the old man, and Y/N went on a path that was covered, likely to prevent Shu from being seen by the townspeople, who would definitely try to chase him out of the town, or even kill him.

While walking, Shu ended up side by side with Y/N, who then turned to him and introduced themself.

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐘/𝐍 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞/𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐋/𝐍. 𝐀 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞/𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐦𝐞. 𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

"...I'll call you Y/N if that's alright?"

Y/N's eyes brightened before they nodded and smiled.

"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞?"

"...I'm Shu. Shu...Kurano."

"𝐖𝐨𝐰, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦."

"Haha... do I?"

"𝐘𝐞𝐩! 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜! 𝐈𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠!"

Shu watched as the person continued to praise him (unknowingly), feeling slightly warm inside. No one had liked his practice in curse magic, much less find it interesting. Everyone else besides his brothers feared or disliked it, even his own servants. But, not this person.

'This is nice,' thought Shu, as he continued to converse more with Y/N. Through their conversation, he found out about how Y/N moved to this town when they were little, and grew up being told how unusual or strange they were for being interested in peculiar things.

"Me too, I'm like that also. Growing up, the people around me thought I was weird, haha."

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧!" laughed Y/N.

Y/N then talked about how they recently were constantly bothered by these siblings who were infamous in town, Gastro and Gastria LeGuem, who tried to court them and show off to them.

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 '𝐍𝐎'! 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭? 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝?"

"Not at all, they sound like tough people to deal with."

"𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞."

Little did Y/N know, Gastro and Gastria were obsessed with Y/N. They both knew Y/N's habits, their favorite foods, and their three sizes - and they wanted to know more. They wanted to make Y/N theirs (to share, they weren't sure yet but they figured they could battle it out). So when Gastro and Gastria detected a new presence entering the L/N household, they became on edge.

Just after Y/N helped Shu settle in, they heard a frantic knock on the house's front door. Y/N peeked out from the little window in Shu's room, only to groan when they saw Gastro and Gastria outside.

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 ��𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

"Why are you looking for your soulmate?"

Y/N turned from the window to look at Shu.

"…𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞."

"That... sounds so amazing! I've never heard of something like that."

"𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

The two smiled at each other for a moment, until loud banging came again from the front door. Y/N groaned again, muttering curses under their breath.

"𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐢, 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

"Alright, good luck!" Shu gave Y/N a thumbs-up as they left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~downstairs~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭?" said Y/N in a slightly harsh and frustrated tone.

"MY LOVE! I am so happy you could grace us with your presence," said Gastro, who bowed deeply and tried to reach for Y/N's hand to give them a kiss on it, before he was pulled away by his sister.

"YES, MY LOVE! We came to make sure that everything was okay in this household. Is there someone who came to visit? Your house smells... different. Musky. I do not like it."

Y/N sighed.

"𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭."

"I SEE! Well, Gastria, I guess it is alright then. Will you, Y/N, let us into your house for a moment? I would like to give my greetings to my future father-in-law," said Gastro, as he began to force his way into the house.

"𝐍𝐨! 𝐆𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮!" and with that Y/N slapped Gastro out of the doorway. "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞!"

The door slammed in Gastro and Gastria's faces.

"...Brother, something is not right. Y/N clearly lied to us just now."

"I know, sister. It is obvious that Y/N loves us."

"Well, there's that, but I clearly sense another presence in there. It is not our future father-in-law, but it is definitely male."

"*Gasp* No! Well, we just have to kill him off, don't we sister?"

Gastria grinned maliciously.

"Yes brother, we do. Let us go get our guns ready."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple months passed, and Y/N thought that these might be some of the best months of their life. During that time, Y/N and Shu got to know more of each other, and Y/N did not see the LeGuem siblings at all. They were satisfied, thinking that they finally got rid of the siblings once and for all.

Y/N and Shu read books together, discussing the content, and Shu talked about his adventures and encounters with peculiarities. There were the occasional admiration speeches from Y/N whenever the topic of curse magic was brought up, as it related to Prince Shu.

"You know, you're really an odd one Y/N. N-Not in a bad way or anything, but in a good way! It's just, don't you think curse magic is scary or weird?"

"𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝? 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐝. 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?"

Shu's chest felt warm. Lately, he kept getting these warm feelings whenever Y/N expressed their interest and acceptance of Prince Shu and his curse magic (well, because it's about him, obviously). He had a feeling he knew what this warmth meant, but he decided to push it to the back of his head for now.

"Alright you two, come and eat some breakfast," said the old man. The old man had been observing the interactions between his child and Shu, and while he was at first afraid that Shu would do something, he found Shu to be quite helpful and kind. Much better than anyone else in the town (besides their town's librarian, who always had books to share with Y/N). If only Shu wasn't a beastman...

His train of thought was interrupted by someone bursting through their door. Shu whipped his head up, only to make eye contact with the LeGuem siblings.

"AHHHHH Y/N MY LOVE! YOU ARE IN DANGER! I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE INVESTIGATED SOONER!" exclaimed Gastro, looking at Shu in rage and in disgust as he started to raise his gun.

"Y/N, SWEETIE, LEAVE HIM TO US. GO HIDE WITH FATHER-IN-LAW!" said Gastria in a shrill voice, as she grinned and cocked her gun to Shu's chest area.

"𝐍𝐨!" exclaimed Y/N, as they pulled Shu to the side just as the first shot was fired. They took Shu's paw and urged him up the stairs, as the old man threw some plates at Gastro and Gastria to distract them.

Once Y/N and Shu got in his room, Y/N brought out a bag of emergency supplies for Shu.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞-"

"But what about you!" asked Shu, as his paws enveloped the hand he was holding.

"𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞! 𝐆𝐨!" said Y/N, as they opened up one of the back windows and pushed Shu out. Shu landed on his feet paws before he turned to look back at the window. He saw Y/N motioning frantically to the road they took when they first brought him to their home. Although Shu didn't want to, he eventually sprinted down the road, not looking back. His speed as a beastman allowed him to quickly get back to the area he was in before: the forest on a cliff overlooking the town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple days passed, where Shu was lazily living a solitary life in his treehouse, worrying about Y/N, when one of his Yaminions, which he sent to watch over Y/N, frantically floated to him.

It made motions on his paw, crumpling up like origami and animating with its paper form who he assumed to be Y/N getting brought to a stake a burning.

He sat up with a start.

"They're going to burn Y/N at the stake?? But I thought Gastra and Gustrio or whatever loved them?? What happened? What about their father??"

The Yaminion crumpled up into a different scene and showed Gastro and Gastria beating up the old man, who kept trying to protect Y/N from them before Gastria raised her gun and shot him in the head. Y/N fell to the floor, shouting curses at the siblings, before clutching their father to their chest. The siblings left Y/N with their dying father in some room, and locked them up, as Y/N continued to cradle their father as he slowly died. He said something to Y/N, then went limp. Y/N sobbed silently over their father's corpse. The Yaminion then went back to its original shape.

"...So, just because they refused to like the siblings back, the siblings killed their father and now are going to kill them? WHAT?" Shu stood up, enraged, and resolved to help Y/N, even if it meant getting killed. Y/N was one of the only ones who believed in and accepted him, even as a beastman and Shu was willing to finally acknowledge what he felt for them: love.

He jumped down the tree, his Yaminions floating after him, as they rushed towards the town. Dusk was approaching, meaning Shu did not have much time left to save Y/N.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he got to the entrance of the town, Shu sent his Yaminions to find where Y/N was placed for preparing for the "burning ceremony". Lately, Shu had found that he could perform a little bit of some other magic as long as he used their elementary spells (level 1 and 2 spells). So, he used his level 2 spell of cloaking with the shadows to be able to sneak around town and find the siblings who were causing all this trouble. If possible, he wanted to deal with them before they could harm anyone else. People in the town were milling about, lingering around the stake that Y/N was going to be burned at.

"I heard that they were a witch who enticed a magic beast to come into town for a while before the LeGuem siblings caught on and saved us!"

"Oh, bless those siblings! They are always such a help when it comes to the big hunts."

"Yes. They're also so charming! It's about time that Y/N got their retribution for rejecting such amazing people so often."

Shu scoffed internally at the gossip from the people he passed by.

'The siblings aren't charming, they're crazy!' thought Shu. 'You can have them, just leave Y/N alone!'

After a couple minutes of searching, Shu found the LeGuem siblings in a pub, as the people within sang praises of them for protecting them from the "witch" Y/N and for being so good-looking and strong.

Shu waited for the siblings to come out, before he revealed himself, much to the horror of the townspeople.

"IT'S THE WITCH'S COMPANION!"

"SAVE US, GASTRO! SAVE US GASTRIA!"

The siblings smirked at the desperate cries of the siblings before they pulled out their guns and started shooting at Shu. Shu called upon his level 1 wind magic spell "Deflect" and was able to make the bullets go around him and stop their motion. Gastria became uneased, as she never had to deal with an opponent who used magic, while Gastro growled in frustration, disliking Shu's move. He began to recklessly shoot at Shu, and the bullets began to go toward the townspeople. In a panic, the townspeople scattered away to their houses, screaming.

Shu didn't pay any mind to the screams as he started to make attacks of his own, summoning level 2 fire spells to burn the clothes and hair of Gastro and Gastria, leaving Gastria bald and Gastro's shirt in smoldering tatters. The siblings yelped as they continued to reload and shoot at Shu, though their attempts were futile. Shu would've won if it weren't for the fact that Gastro and Gastria directed their attention to someone behind him.

Gastria and Gastro cackled in madness, before shooting at Y/N, who had a yellow outfit adorned with gold, probably for the burning ceremony.

"NO!" Shu sent a gust of wind to direct the bullets away from Y/N, who held their father's gun in one hand and a shield in the other. They would've been fine even if Shu didn't do anything, but Shu didn't care. His priority was to protect them.

And he did, at the expense of his own protection. Laughing harshly, Gastria pointed her gun at Shu.

"For Y/N's love!" she exclaimed before firing her remaining two bullets into Shu's chest.

"For our love!" exclaimed her brother, who followed suit and gave Shu bullet wounds in the leg and arms.

"𝐍𝐨!" cried Y/N, as they aimed their gun and shot at Gastria and Gastro's hands. As they practiced with this gun a lot with their father, all of Y/N's shots met their mark, leaving Gastro and Gastria to scream in pain and leaving their hands immobile. Their guns left their hands and flew to the ground near Y/N, who then crushed them using the shield in their hand.

Shu's Yaminions flew from behind the shield (as they were there reinforcing the shield in case any bullets came for Y/N). They hit the back of the necks of the LeGuem siblings, knocking them unconscious, before quickly going to Shu.

Y/N followed them and ran to Shu's side. They gasped at the multiple bleeding wounds he had, and his Yaminions, who once frantically floated around Shu to try and save him, were now drifting to Shu's side and fading away.

In a frenzy, Y/N ripped off a part of their sleeve and applied pressure to the wound bleeding the most, gasping as tears formed in their eyes.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲- 𝐨𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝-"

"Y/N..."

Y/N looked over at Shu in shock, tears streaming down their face as they continued to try and staunch the bleeding.

"… 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐒𝐡𝐮?" replied Y/N shakily as they continued to apply pressure.

"... I love you."

"𝐒𝐡𝐮, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰!-"

"Y/N... I'm afraid I'm running out of time."

Shu chuckled weakly, his smile strained and pained, and he looked upon Y/N and placed a hand on their cheek, slowly wiping away a tear.

"I love you."

Those were Shu's last words before he closed his eyes.

Y/N sobbed, as they desperately clutched onto Shu's hand, and looked at Shu, his clothes now soaked with blood.

"𝐌𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨… 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒, 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄!"

Y/N's tears fell onto Shu's face as they looked upon him, before letting out a quiet sob as he remained unresponsive.

Then, they remembered something, and hurriedly took off their pendant made out of the wood of the glowing acorns and placed it over Shu's heart. Y/N then started chanting.

"𝐌𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐞. 𝐁𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞! 𝐒𝐨, 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐌𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞!"

Their pendant glowed and Y/N saw the bullet marks in Shu heal as the bullets popped out from his body.

It was silent after the pendant stopped glowing. Y/N held their breath, eyes trained on Shu's chest for any breathing movement.

After a couple moments of dead silence, Y/N was about to lose hope before Shu gasped suddenly and sat up. He pawed at the places where he was shot, only to find that he was completely healed.

He turned to look at Y/N, who had tears streaming down their face before they hugged Shu fiercely, muttering "𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐓𝐚𝐳𝐮𝐦𝐢-𝐬𝐚𝐧" and "𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲!"

"You... you saved me? With your acorn pendant? But, you were supposed to use that for your soulmate..."

"𝐒𝐡𝐮, 𝐈 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞."

Shu looked at Y/N with shock and disbelief.

"Are you sure? I thought you wouldn't like me since I’m this way and all..."

"𝐎𝐡, 𝐒𝐡𝐮…"

Y/N shook their head before gently holding Shu's paw.

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

Shu felt his heart stutter before he brought the hand that was holding his paw to his chest, bringing Y/N closer to him. The two seemed to have the same desire, as slowly they began to get closer and closer. Y/N placed a hand on Shu's face, making him lower himself until the top of his snout was now below their lips.

A moment full of tension passed, before Y/N put their lips on the top of Shu's snout, giving him a gentle kiss.

Shu felt his face grow hot, as his tail started moving around in happiness and wrapped around one of Y/N's legs.

Y/N pulled away, a satisfied grin on their face before it turned into one of shock as Shu's body suddenly started to glow a blinding white. In a panic, thinking that the acorns didn't do their job and now Shu was going to go away from them, Y/N reached out for him with one arm, while the other arm covered their eyes.

"𝐒𝐇𝐔!"

But just as quickly as it started, the glow ended as well, leaving not Shu the panther beast, but Shu the human sorcerer prince.

"…𝐒𝐡𝐮?"

Shu's eyes were closed, as the light blinded him as well, before he slowly opened them.

"...Yea?..."

"𝐘𝐨𝐮… 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧?? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝? 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥?"

"Uh, huh?" Shu looked down at himself. His shirt was loose and in tatters, though all his articles of clothing were able to shrink back along with him. In place of his paws were his pale hands, and he was barefoot.

"I, I'm back! I turned back into a human!" exclaimed Shu, before looking at Y/N who was confused.

"I was cursed, but I couldn't say this to you at all. But now, I'm back so... I-Is it weird?...," asked Shu shyly, as the silence afterward stretched longer and became slightly awkward.

Slowly, Y/N walked to Shu, before hugging him.

"𝐈, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐮. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝," said Y/N in gentle joy, as they gripped onto Shu tighter with their arms.

Shu, still in slight disbelief over his sudden transformation back into a human, hugged them back tightly. He lightly started sobbing.

“Thank you…thank you for loving me.”

Y/N grinned.

“𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐚.”

After they broke apart from the hug, Y/N looked at the side of Shu’s face as he held onto their waist, pulling them into his side. Shu looked in the distance, towards the direction of the castle where he had to go next. Y/N smiled at him in understanding before looking at the same space.

Together, they reveled in the peace that they earned.

Then, Y/N broke the silence.

“𝐁𝐮𝐭…𝐒𝐡𝐮…𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐞…𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝.”

Shu froze before turning to look back at Y/N, horrified but laughing at the same time.

“NOOOOOO- I mean I love you, but NOOOOOO-”

Their conversation continued filled with giggles, happiness, and love.

And they lived happily ever after~

The End.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue:

“SHU!!!! YOU’RE BACK!” shouted Shu’s brother, Mysta, who was sobbing loudly, face flushed and with tear stains down his cheeks as he ran to Shu.

“SHUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!” exclaimed Shu’s other brother, Luca, who ran excitedly to Shu, passing Mysta, and gave him a big bear hug, not noticing that Shu was holding someone’s hand.

Ike was descending the stairs of the palace entrance in a much more calm manner, although his excitement and relief were shown through his fast walking strides towards Shu and his face showing a wide smile.

Vox was right behind Ike, laughing in relief at the sight of Shu, while also noting the presence of the person standing behind him with mild interest.

While Shu was staying in Y/N’s town, he had been regularly corresponding with Vox through his Yaminions, so Vox had a feeling that this person was this Y/N Belle/Beau L/N who was mentioned in Shu’s letters. Vox was happy that they were both safe, especially after the LeGuem incident. The LeGuem family happened to be a small barony that supported the town that Y/N was in. They were now stripped of their title, with the LeGuem siblings being put in the imperial prison on the outskirts of Ninisani.

He watched in amusement as Ike managed to pull Luca and Mysta off of Shu before asking the person next to their brother to introduce themselves. The person proudly introduced themself as:

“𝐘/𝐍 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞/𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐋/𝐍, 𝐒𝐡𝐮’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 :)”

“…..WHAT?!?!?!?!?”

Vox chuckled to himself.

Things were going to get even noisier in their Palace de Luxiem.

[donnerpartyofone]

I just had the misfortune of seeing that 100k post where someone is commanding Twitter migrants to reblog all the fan art they see, on the premise that if an artist has a reblog:like ratio of 1/50 or something then they'll be so discouraged that they'll quit. OP then reblogs their own post to say that there's someone who sometimes reblogs the first post 200 times a day--which like, my reaction to that was "wow that's completely unhinged and not good", but what OP meant was that we should all cater to whatever that person wants to make them happy. I generally don't see the point in yelling at strangers on the internet, but I really had to restrain myself from pointing out that this was the stated motivation on the Staff post about fucking with the chronological feed: that if we all have too much power to curate what we see, then some users will feel unpopular. Which is like, completely normal and acceptable, in reality. There are just so many problems with this attitude:

Nobody owes you attention. Most people don't enjoy random waves of applause just for existing, and most of us have learned to live with this and place importance on things other then validation from strangers.

If your principle reason for making art is NOT the art-making itself, and if you know that you would stop making art if it never got you some form of fame and fortune, then you should literally stop making art. Just stop right now, and find something to do that is more rewarding and less psychologically perilous for you.

If you have ever tried to work in any creative industry at all, then you should know that it can take absolutely forever to get good at something. And it might never happen. And even if it does happen and you turn out to be a genius, still, people might not notice or care--especially if you're really original. There's a reason it's become cliche for people to remind each other of how famous writer X wasn't published until he was 50 or famous painter Y only became important posthumously. If you can't take the heat, see above.

If you're just begging your personal friends to help circulate your work, that's between you and them. But you can't order people who just got to this platform five minutes ago to fill up their accounts with stuff that maybe they like enough to hit the like button, but they don't like it enough to add it to their own page. People are allowed to like your art on a limited basis.

If you're so emotionally dependent on popularity that you think its acceptable to strong-arm strangers into shilling for you, then you should probably take some time to get to know yourself better and figure that out, before you rake yourself over the coals of social media conflict about it. I used to have a mutual (not an artist, just a guy) who had really serious behavioral problems in this department: One day I reblogged a very popular post that had been making the rounds, and suddenly this guy was up my ass with righteous anger about why I didn't reblog it from him personally. I actually took the time to explain that the post itself was doing a lot of traffic, I had no idea that he was one of the thousands of people who had reblogged it, and I can't bother to go combing through his blog every time I see something I like just in case I can reblog it from him individually. Incredibly, he didn't even get what I was saying, he was so invested in the idea that I should conscientiously use my blog to pay tribute to him, and eventually I had to block him for being rude like this all the time, and he was really sad about it. Don't be like that guy.

And finally, the post I'm referring to counted as art things like gif sets and "edits" (a vague concept I think barely counts as creative work but whatever) from TV shows and all kinds of other fan posts. And like, that is just a bridge too far. I shouldn't even have to explain why. And I won't.

[newvegasdyke]

you worked in a quilt shop, cool! how was it? did you get a good staff discount 😄

Ooo I could say so many things about that lol. Some parts were bad— the rude customers, male customers who got all weird and extra rude to me because they didn’t what they were doing and I did. I didn’t like my boss either! We weren’t allowed to sit even if no one was in the store. But she got to sit as much as she wanted back in her office! Which had security cameras for normal reasons but she would also use them to call the store phone if she saw us sitting down or using the computer to do a task longer than she thought we should. She also fired me in a way that was so cowardly and unprofessional ?

But the good parts!! I learned soooo much about sewing in general and quilting a little in depth. I learned how to quilt like how to piece a front, piece a back if needed, layer it with batting (cotton is my favorite), top stitch, and the binding!!! I did at one point know how to do a mitered corner that looked pretty nice but it’s been a while. I also learned some more I guess craft sewing? Bags, fabric bowls/baskets, that kind of thing.

One of my favorite parts was when I got to help customers pick out fabric. It might have been my top favorite part. When a quilter wanted help picking something out, especially when they needed to find fabric to go with something they already had. It was just so fun to go through the hundreds of bolts to find the right choice!! Talking with the customer learning what they’re making and for who and why— and quilters usually love to talk about it. I love picking out coordinating things like that, paying attention to movement, and colors being complimentary or not and if that’s what they wanted or not, etc. I liked when people came in a little nervous and overwhelmed by picking fabric for their project but they left feeling excited and confident about sewing!

Overall it was just really good for my creative development both in practical sewing skills and also it helped me to think more creatively that is to say think about a subject etc from many different angles and perspectives thought wise. That is so vague so an example. I made a quilt inspired by fallout 4, but no appliqués. It was patchwork that kind of reflected the in game map, and the borders were various fabrics with patterns that reminded me of the game— something with the constitution, vintage baseballs, old bottle caps, neat rows of mid century looking homes, plane blueprints. It was so fun and I think really got me into that kind of thing. Thank you for asking btw this was fun to remember it all!!!

[bridgertonbabe]

do you think you can give us a quick snippet of why future princess sophie was first irritated by prince benedict when they met? ik you mentioned she wasn't easily charmed and thought him arrogant but i gots to know more

So Sophie's dislike for Benedict had actually been preconceived prior to meeting him. In her young adolescence she had actually fancied Prince Benedict and would rewatch any news reel of him, fantasizing that one day he'd somehow seek her out or spot her in the middle of a crowd and thus the fairytale romance she had always dreamed of could begin. The fantasy of him had been a source of comfort in her lonely home life after her father passed away and she was left in the begrudging care of her stepmother. Her heart had gone out to him and his family upon the untimely death of King Edmund and though she didn't know him personally and had never met him, she kept him in her thoughts, hoping he would be granted with some sort of peace of mind after losing his father.

As Sophie got older, her outlook on life became more grounded in reality and she soon put to rest her childish fantasies of one day meeting the prince, having him fall in love with her, and marrying him. She soon became disillusioned with the thought of Benedict altogether as he was rumoured to be dating gorgeous successful women and Sophie was sure he was just as rakish as his older brother was renowned for being. No longer was he this perfect person she had imagined he'd be; now he was just a playboy prince who knew just how good-looking and desirable he was and who could charm anyone into bed. This new image she had of him didn't correlate with the type of person she wanted to be with. She wanted someone who would never let her feel lonely, who would be devoted to her, who would cherish her and love her unconditionally.

And so as she knuckled herself down in reality to achieve her new dream of becoming an art psychotherapist, of providing help to those who needed it, her teenage crush on Prince Benedict faded to the outskirts of her brain. Now whenever she saw him in the newspapers she merely rolled her eyes. Ben & Gen to marry when? Wow what a surprise to see him with yet another rumoured love interest. Who were the press trying to kid anyway? Like hell was the prince going to marry any time soon. Prince Ben's cheeky King Ant quip. Oh big whoop, he said something vaguely amusing about his own brother. Why does the media paint him out to be the royal funny man? It'll only go to his head and make him think more highly of himself. B keeps the peace between G + H. Okay, so admittedly Sophie was unnecessarily bitter when it came to the coverage of Benedict being a good brother. It had less to do with him and more to do with Sophie being envious of the big and loving family he was a part of, a family set-up she wished she had been lucky to be a part of growing up. But still, as he was a representative of having what she never had and since she didn't think that much of him anyway, she allowed herself to remain frustrated with him for being privileged in the family department.

Then one day at work she was stunned to learn that the charity's royal patron would be paying them a visit - with the member of the royal family in question being none other than Prince Benedict himself. Anne Gibbons, Sophie's manager, who had only ever known Sophie to be a hard-working, willing, and conscientious member of the team was taken aback when Sophie had grumbled if she had to be present on the day of the royal visit. Sophie seemed put out that she would indeed have to be present for the occasion and she was only more disheartened to learn she'd be lined up with the rest of the staff to be met by the prince.

"Why don't you like him?" Anne had curiously asked her.

"He's a prince, Anne." Sophie had scoffed. "He knows he's above it all, he's arrogant, he's full of himself, he's a playboy; what is there to like or even respect about him?"

"I'm surprised by you." Anne had pursed her lips. "I've only ever known you to see the good in people, Sophie. Personally I think Prince Benedict is a very lovely man and what you see is what you get. I can't help but feel you're being too harsh on the man."

"I guess we'll agree to disagree." Sophie shrugged off, even though she felt bad to be on the receiving end of her manager's disappointment.

When the day of the prince's visit came, Sophie had attempted to get out of the mandatory meet and greet, hoping she could simply hide away in the toilets but Anne had caught her before she had the chance and made sure she was stood next to her in the line to greet the royal patron. She didn't even look up when she heard the sound of camera shutters going off, indicating that the prince had arrived, and she purposefully chose to ignore how her chest tightened when she heard the prince's voice. She could hear him coming closer and closer as he made his way down the line, politely greeting her colleagues, asking the odd question and making affable remarks as he went. She made sure her eyes were averted to her shoes, the floor, the wall opposite her; anywhere that wasn't near him. She heard him greet Anne beside her and then -

"Ms Beckett, our art psychotherapist. She specialises in counselling children and adolescence dealing with grief."

And then he was right in front of her. She knew he was good looking, there was no doubt about that, but he was somehow even more gorgeous in person. He shot her with his signature lopsided grin as he shook her hand, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"Ms Beckett. A pleasure to meet you." he said.

She flashed him a false smile of politeness before her face became impassive once more and she offered him no word of response, seeing as his sentiments couldn't be returned. He raised an eyebrow, his blue eyes glittering with intrigue, but just as he was about to open his mouth (to say what, Sophie couldn't fathom), the head of the charity had moved to the colleague beside her and began to introduce them. Benedict moved along and Sophie kept her attention away from him until she felt as though a pair of eyes were burning into her and when she glanced to her right she found the prince's gaze on her. He then shot her a wink and continued down the line. Sophie felt like rolling her eyes for how cocky he was acting but refrained from doing so - after all, she didn't want to do anything that could potentially set her apart from the rest of the staff or even be seen as disrespectful towards the royal patron.

"Very interesting, isn't it." Anne murmured beside her as the meet and greet continued.

"What is?" Sophie asked out of the corner of her mouth.

"How Prince Benedict can't keep his eyes off of you."

Sophie bit her tongue even though she wanted to call her manager out for talking absolute nonsense, and to try and affirm such an opinion she spared a glance towards the end of the line where the prince now was; only to once again discover that Benedict's gaze was already on her and his lips pricked up again smugly.

Her teenage self would have flushed pink and be overcome with giddiness to be having a prince constantly glancing at her. Her grown adult self however was not having any of his shit. She knew exactly what he was playing at. She was the only person in that line up who hadn't been the least bit interested or excited to meet him or make small talk with him and he was simply trying to provoke a reaction out of her for his own amusement, to regain the power he always possessed whenever he met anyone.

She then had a session to host with the children she counselled - a session which the prince would pop in for all of a few minutes before leaving for good. Sophie treated the session like any other, paying no mind to the photographers who scrambled in moments before the prince was escorted in, and continuing to pay no mind to the royal presence in the room. She made sure she never looked remotely in his direction and kept her focus on the children, who would always come first and foremost no matter who else might be present in the room.

Sophie remained intent on focusing on the children until her eye was drawn to someone pulling up a chair, initially assuming it was a parent, until she glanced over and was flabbergasted to see Prince Benedict sat in between the children, a pointed grin aimed right at her. She had no idea what he was doing - from the itinerary for the visit he should have already been and gone and there was certainly no mention of him sitting in on the session. She noticed his security team furiously muttering between themselves, another member of his team on their phone as they glared at the prince warily. Sophie clocked that his team were as confused and put out as she was for his continued presence and she realised he was screwing up the tightly timed royal schedule to... to do what? To sit in on a session he definitely didn't care for? To distract the children from what she was trying to help them with? To personally mess with her?

She had no idea what he was up to or what the meaning of all of it was but she was becoming increasingly annoyed with him. Not only was he skewering her session seeing as all the children were now distracted by having a prince sat with them, he had clearly ruined his team's itinerary. His cockiness and lack of consideration for anyone else astonished her, especially as his eyes kept piercing into her, filled with silent mirth knowing how much he was throwing her off.

Nevertheless she persevered in spite of him and then at the end of the session she asked the children to show her the paintings they had done, the subjects of which she had said should be of something that makes them smile. The children all presented theirs, and Sophie gave encouraging feedback to each and every one of them - and then someone cleared their throat and Sophie very slowly turned her attention to the smirking prince, who clearly wanted to show off what he had painted. He then presented a cartoon representation of King Anthony having just stepped into his pet corgi's poo and the room burst into laughter, adults and children alike.

"And what do you think, Miss Sophie?" he then addressed her just like all of the children did, tilting his head coyly, having noticed she was the lone person who hadn't laughed at his painting.

"Very amusing." she replied tightly with a fake smile for appearances alone.

She thought with the session over he would finally leave but he actually sat and chatted with the children, all of whom were eager to speak with the prince. He humoured them and continued to get laughs out of them, even hugging them all before he got up to leave.

"Can't wait for the next session, Ms Beckett." he grinned at her. "That is, of course, if you'll have me back." he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Sure." Sophie answered, her tone dripping with sarcasm, knowing that as soon as the prince left the premises that he wouldn't think twice of the charity having entertained himself by getting on her nerves all afternoon. 

A few days later however, just as she was starting one of her sessions, the door opened and her jaw dropped open as the prince swanned in.

"Apologies." Benedict winked at her. "Got stuck in traffic with the roadworks down the street. Please, Miss Sophie, continue." he motioned as he sat himself down, thrilling the children who all squealed and tittered with excitement. 

At this point Sophie had absolutely no fucking idea what he was doing or why he was there. Were princes employed to go around winding up people for their own amusement? What the hell was he playing at? 

He stayed for the entirety of that session but at the end of the hour his security team quickly ushered him out and Sophie thought perhaps that would be the end of it - but he showed up again, and again, and again, much to her irate chagrin.

"Stop it." she growled at him after the sixth session he had attended when all of the children had left. "Whatever this game of yours that you’re playing is, just stop it. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, showing up and distracting the children, but you’re undermining me! This is not some joke; this is my livelihood, my vocation, and I won’t have you making a mockery of it. Haven’t you literally got anything else better to do than to be an unwanted presence in my sessions? Surely there are other charities you’ve got to pretend you give a rat’s arse about, pointless engagements you’ve got to show your face at, socialites to be sleeping with; so why the fuck are you here?"

Benedict stared at her, his mouth hovering ajar as he took in her red and infuriated expression - and then his lips curved up into a smirk, which only made Sophie even more apoplectic. 

"Why in god’s name are you fucking smiling?!"

"No one has ever spoken to me like this before." he remarked, his tone laced with laughter. 

"I find that very hard to believe." she snapped. 

"It’s... refreshing." he beamed at her. "Actually, I kind of like it."

Sophie stared at him in bewilderment, wondering what sort of world this ridiculous man lived in - oh right, he lived in a royal bubble, of course he didn’t know how to respond to things appropriately. 

"I am sorry." he then said. "I didn’t mean to be distracting you so badly -"

"Not me." she stated sharply. "The children. You’re distracting the children."

"Of course." he grinned at her teasingly. "I apologise for causing anyone such a distraction, and I would never wish to undermine you in any way."

"Then why are you always here?"

He gave her a small shrug and graced her with a soft smile. "You bring a lot of good to the world. It’s inspiring to see someone so passionate and who cares so much about their job. You make such a difference with the children, it’s lovely to see. Though you clearly don’t think very highly of me, I think the most highly of you." he confessed, dropping the swaggering facade he always carried for one of complete earnest sincerity. "I’ve actually... I’ve actually been doing art at home, following your guidance... it’s already made me feel lighter... lighter than I’ve ever felt in years... but if I have become such an unwanted presence, then I of course will -"

"You’re more than welcome to stay." she blurted out, shocking Benedict and herself in the process. "If... if you really feel... like being here is making any sort of difference,"

"It’s making all the difference." he said, his eyes shining with what Sophie could have sworn looked like hope and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

"Right. Well then... I’ll see you at the next session?" Sophie couldn’t quite believe the u-turn she now found herself in (and she couldn’t quite believe the hope she now possessed herself for him to actually show up again). 

"I wouldn’t miss it for the world." he replied, shooting her his crooked grin. "Until next time, Miss Sophie." he winked at her - and in that moment Sophie suddenly realised that much to horror that her teenage feelings were creeping back up to the surface again - and she found herself annoyed with Prince Benedict all over again.                                                                                     

[maryhadalotofshows]

Chapter 4:Unravelling the Mystery

Jake could feel their eyes on him. It felt as if they were all trying to look for answers. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Lexi one more time. Breathing out, he lifted his head, locking eyes with Ice before he began to speak.

 

"I was on leave three months ago. I went home to see my friends, only to find that something strange was happening. The townspeople were disappearing. You see, I'm naturally nosy, and I couldn't resist the urge to investigate these mysterious disappearances. What I discovered was that they all had one thing in common: they had visited Bobby's Saloon. So, one fateful Friday night, I decided to pay it a visit..."

THREE MONTHS AGO

 

Jake Seresin approached Bobby's saloon. It was strategically situated on the outskirts of town, where the last vestiges of untamed nature still held sway.

 

The facade of the building paid homage to a bygone era, a time immortalized in pop culture and history books. The dark wood cladding, worn and aged saloon doors, and an atmosphere that hinted at lurking dangers in the wilderness all combined to transport you back to the wild west. The illusion, however, was shattered by the presence of modern automobiles, a jarring contrast to the otherwise carefully maintained ambiance. The moment you crossed the threshold, the past came alive, undisturbed by the march of progress. Lanterns cast warm, flickering light that painted moving silhouettes on the walls. An expertly preserved piano sat nestled in the corner, its keys expertly tinkered with by a silent pianist who played melancholic tunes from a forgotten era. The tables, scarred and stained with history, bore silent witness to countless tales. The staff and patrons alike were dressed in period-appropriate attire, making Jake feel like he'd stepped into a time warp.

 

As Jake settled onto one of the well-worn barstools, he couldn't help but marvel at the craftsmanship of the saloon. The scent of aged wood mingled with the faint aroma of cigar smoke, drawing him deeper into the past. Lantern light danced upon the walls, creating elongated shadows that seemed to whisper secrets of the wild west.

 

Bobby, the bartender and owner, regarded Jake with a curious glint in his eye. His attire, a vest, and shirt straight out of history, added an authentic touch to the establishment. "Welcome to my saloon. How can we help you this evening? I have not seen you here before. Are you new to the area?"

 

Jake, choosing his words carefully, replied, "No, I'm not new to the area. Unfortunately, I've been away for work." He kept his tone intentionally vague, maintaining a protective barrier between his personal life and this enigmatic proprietor. "I just got back into town a while ago, after travelling for the past five years."

 

Bobby's gaze held a flicker of interest, though Jake couldn't quite decipher whether it was genuine curiosity or something more inscrutable. "Five years is a long time to be away," Bobby mused, polishing a glass with well-practised motions. "There must be quite a story behind that."

 

Jake offered a faint smile, though his eyes remained guarded. "Yes, it's been quite the journey," he admitted, his mind already working on an excuse to leave the saloon before too long. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss, an underlying tension that hung in the air. As the sombre tunes from the piano man filled the room, Jake's senses were on high alert. Maybe it was a mistake to investigate without telling anyone. He considered abandoning his "mission." He couldn't do that guilt wouldn't allow, especially after what happened to his wingman, a tragedy that had resulted in his first kill.

[feralmoonlight]

THE BOYS BEING STUCK AS ECLIPSE MUST BE SO STRESSFUL FOR THEM. Do you know *why* they’re stuck, or is that too spoilery? If it is, then what would the Reader’s reaction be to this whole Thing if they don’t get a proper job description? Does it take them a bit to realize Eclipse is two animatronics, or are Sun and Moon immediately panicking about that? 🌻

I mean, if you were trapped in a single room and left alone(awake) for 12 hours at a time and every other adult human you encountered saw you as little more than a fancy washing machine to be dismantled and tampered with on a whim regardless of your own concerns since the moment you came into being, you might get a bit stressed too? Constant threats of decommission, random upgrades and swapping parts on the same scale as having an organ transplant while conscious, getting ordered to parts and service because the 'new tech' wants to poke around and familiarize themself with your inner workings. CASUALLY TAMPERING WITH THE BASE AI and fucking over your entire sense of self until you manage to work with this new normal that never feels normal? There's a lot. But mostly it's just it finally got to be too much. Eclipse wasn't programmed into them. It just... Happened. And it's not responding to it's usual protocols. Because Eclipse has no programmed protocols or rules. It can hurt people. It can move around freely. It can, will, and has injured the P&S guys that tried to drag him down for maintenance. He's probably been stuck like this for a few weeks while people try and figure out that if it's someone that's obviously trying to force them to get help, they reject it. Moving into Reader's reaction~ The gist of "Help the Daycare Attendants" is vague enough. They'd know Sun and Moon are a thing from just general advertising for the plex through osmosis, like those commercials you can't totally ignore so you know about it even if it's not something you look into a lot. The first reaction of them walking into the daycare, half lit, mostly empty, and in an absolute MESS (Half destroyed jungle gyms, craft supplies thrown everywhere, some of the floor padding thrown up and some unfortunate staff bots that got sacrificed for science) it would be startling. THEN you've got this looming, jittery, MASSIVE animatronic just perched at the top of the tower, mostly in shadow, that just rumbles out this dual tone, static heavy "Go AWAY." Nope nope nope, fuck that. Fuck ALL of that. Except the employee that showed you to the daycare locked you in. HA HA HA fuck. alternate option is trying to go up the slide to the ball pit. BUT... that means getting closer to the thing that wants you out. Full on panic. But you're not leaving. Granted you CANT, you're still there. And he's getting twitchier. Agitated. Banging on the door and yelling at the person on the other side to open up, at least maybe it can see you WANT to leave. And maybe he does. When you look back up, it's gone. This isn't comforting. It takes a few hours, till the end of your shift, before someone finally comes back to open the door and you could PUNCH them. You didn't see him again, so at least that's ok, but fuck. For some reason you come back the next day, and the next. If he's just gonna hide, you'll take the free pay for dealing with this creepy ass room. Eventually it would click that the Daycare Attendants are kind of both active, in varying levels. Different vibes from the short first interactions would lean more towards an anxious fidgety Sun or a dark, dangerous, spiteful Moon. It's a coin toss on who's more present at the moment. Some days it's nothing though. Some days he just perches and hisses static at you from the tower. ON THE FLIP SIDE for Sun and Moon, they're in a really weird state. Like the AI Have blended. They're only really aware they're two AI when the swing is REALLY HEAVY one way or the other. If one goes dormant and lets the other lead while they rest (usually after exhausting their reserves). The true blend of eclipse is dual speech overlaid with heavy static, conflicting words and phrases, showing off the torrent of mixed emotions inside. The more they can split and flipflop between one or the other, the better off they'll be. If they can fully split their minds, they can undo the Eclipse state. But as long as they're so fucking stressed and distrustful, and one is latching onto the other mentally, they're stuck.

[girderednerve]

workblogging, please no doxx me

after an unpleasant situation involving a local person who runs her tutoring business out of the library, my boss was deputized to draft a new unattended child policy for our library. our current child policy is really vague & to some degree contradictory—the public-facing policy says that parents should not go far from their children, then says that they should plan to pick their kids up from the library before close, while the internal procedure says that staff should immediately attempt to reunite any unattended children with accompanying adults, including calling the parent or guardian, even if the library is open. in practice, my library does not really do this: we get a lot of older elementary schoolers and middle schoolers who come by the library after school by themselves, and generally speaking we think that's great. we do occasionally kick individual kids out for the day if they're really being disruptive; we either have them phone an adult or let them walk home, depending on their preference, when that happens, and we always warn repeatedly first.

anyway, we are pretty sure that this assignment my boss was given is just to distract her from how much upper admin has left her out to dry, but it does still feel pretty important, so all of the youth staff have been looking for other library youth policies that we like. what this research has turned up is: most of these policies suck. they have hard cutoff ages (e.g., "children under the age of 10 must not be in the library without an adult or caregiver"), which is in practice difficult to enforce, and anyway encourages children to lie to staff about their age, which isn't helpful to anyone. they read like liability waivers. they aren't written to be clear or welcoming. they don't express that minors do, in fact, have a right to use the library.

my main concern when the subject came up was to clarify our existing policy so that caregivers can know exactly what to expect from us in terms of safety & childcare. my coworkers, though, were more concerned about writing a policy which is explicitly defensive of children's right to use the library, because another library in our district essentially has a no-child policy & has been ejecting teens and children who use the library without an adult, which is evil cop shit. (i did not know about this & am very angry!)

the problem, though, is that it is much easier for the library to just lazily ignore teens & children who come by without adults. kids & teens who come by the library by themselves usually do make more work for us than those who come by with adults, sometimes by a lot; they need more attention, they need things to do, they have questions & needs that they don't raise when adults are there. to better serve children & teens, we have had to make genuine service adjustments, which has been difficult. i'm not complaining, earnestly: i love the kids who use the library, they have every right to use it, & they deserve to receive quality library services from staff who give a fuck. if that puts us out, a) that's our problem and b) that's why the government pays us, like, to work. but there is something of a resource crunch here, right: staff get sick of hearing about teens being loud on their phones from grouchy retirees, so instead of, e.g., setting up a dedicated teen space, designating quiet spaces in the library, or telling adult patrons to mind their own business, they just kick the teens out. problem fixed! no need to critically examine our service model now! we don't have to go to the library director and demand more staff or expanded facilities or anything like that. we don't have to try to make community partnerships to fill gaps we can't. we don't have to insistently, patiently explain to people whose idea of the public library was formulated ca. 1957 that other people are allowed to make noise. we can just tell these kids to watch tiktok at home :)))))

it's bothering me how obviously the interests of staff here diverge from community needs, and how confidently they prioritize what is convenient for us as a library. it would be a lot easier to just not adjust for teens. i think we have a duty to accommodate them, even if that requires us to engage in some awkward negotiation with other services & patrons. there is also, i cannot emphasize this enough, essentially 0 affordable childcare. i am not going to make working parents' lives harder by demanding that they keep their kids out of the library after school unless i have to (we do issue semester-long bans for kids who get into physical fights on-premises; mixed feelings on this). there are plenty of situations where i feel fine ignoring patron needs, because i think there's a good reason not to prioritize them (e.g., people want to be able to use a 3D printer at the library for free any time the library is open; we are not doing that unless we get a massive budget increase).

during hurricane ian, our local hurricane shelters were understaffed in part because the teachers' union bargained to have teachers exempted from having to serve in shelters. county staff, including library workers, are still expected to do it; we are almost all of the shelter staff. if we had a union, i guarantee this would be a top issue—staff do not want to work in shelters because it sucks hardcore. but the community needs emergency services! so who goes? there's a separation in our interests. (i mean, i think the county should offer hazard pay to staff, make it optional but strongly encouraged, & generally perform extreme gratitude to those who help, instead of what they actually do, which is threaten to fire people if they don't go.) it's not the cops are class traitors thing, but it feels aligned to me: public employees as a group have a weird relationship to the public.

[faithintheunknownsblog]

Chapter Summary: As an important day in your past nears the more you start to spiral, and your mind weakens. This causes you to reveal more information within a week than you have in the months you’ve already been with the Hellsing Organization.

TW: Kidnapping, multiple examples of how to kill someone, blood, gore, torture, guns, knives- y’know the typical Hellsing things

Master List

To Kill A Monster

Chapter Four: The School

You let out a loud relaxed sigh after stepping out of the shower, relishing in the feeling of being clean. Running water is something you’ll never take for granted like you did before you were homeless.

You grew up in a boarding school, and all you remember of your childhood is that horrid school. You weren’t sure when you got there, but at sixteen you ran away with your best friend, Alexis.

At first you didn’t care that you were homeless, you were happy to finally be free. But as you got older and matured over the years the more you regretted it. All you knew was the school, and though you hated it there, at least you had a bit over the basic necessities to live. You were guaranteed a roof over your head, schooling, food, clothes, ac, heat, running water, and a few other things.

The whole time you were there they told you that you’d go home sooner if you stopped acting out. But you were the picture of perfection, never stepping out of line and following all the outrageous rules they set.

That was until Alexis arrived at the school, around the time you were thirteen. She helped you realize that you were never leaving. She pointed out that you were there since before you could remember and never acted out, yet there was no hope of you leaving until you graduated from the program. So she convinced you to run away with her.

You’ve thought about what would have happened if you hadn't run away all those years ago. What if you had just waited until you were eighteen and set free? Where would you have gone? Would you have lived with your mom?

Your mom… You vaguely remember her. She’d visit weekly and called daily for quite some time. But over time those visits slowly stopped happening, then the calls stopped too. The last time you ever heard from her was a call on your tenth birthday.

You had no idea why she was no longer in your life. The staff convinced you into blaming yourself, saying it was because you were a bad child. When in reality nobody told you that your mom had passed away, which you found out after you and Alexis ransacked the dean’s office before you escaped.

They had all your paperwork, legal documents, and even your original birth certificate. You took yours, Alexis took hers, and you both set fire to them once you two were a city away from the school. There was no trace left of either of you.

But there was one paper you kept, it was a letter from your mother that was in your files. It explained everything.

She confesses how she was a woman who could barely afford the clothes on her back, but your father who she kept unnamed is a man of riches. You’re the result of a one night stand and when your mother went to him she found out that he had a family. She couldn’t take care of you on her own, and didn’t want to give you up for adoption. But it would have been a huge cheating scandal for your father if he took both you and your mother in. So to avoid this your parents made the agreement that the only thing your father had to do is pay for you to go to boarding school. There was no explanation of why they chose such a miserable place, though your mom wouldn’t be able to complain if she knew.

You didn’t bother trying to find your father, there was no point. But you did find your mother’s grave, and visit it occasionally. “Maybe tomorrow,” you nod to the mirror while wrapping your hair up in the towel you just used to dry your body. “I’ll go to the cemetery.”

Grabbing your dirty laundry you open the bathroom door. You were moved to a room that has its own bathroom so there is no need for you to get dressed. Or so you thought.

Because you’re met with the sight of Alucard at your table. This is an issue on its own, but what makes it worse is that your door has a deadbolt on it that was still locked. Meaning he went through the door to get into your room, and when he heard you showering he didn’t bother leaving either.

“Why are you going to the cemetery?” Alucard casually asks. He doesn’t care to look up at you as he continues to flip through the book.

Which you are thankful for because you quickly slam the bathroom door shut. You basically screech when you tell him, “GET OUT!” You don’t get a response, assuming he ignored you- which he did- you yell again, “I’m naked you stupid bastard!”

Alucard let out an annoyed sigh, “if you’re not decent in the next five minutes I’m coming back in, regardless.” Alucard says plainly and exits your room. You open your bathroom door a tiny bit to peek through it, seeing that he’s gone you rush to get dressed because you know what he said wasn’t an empty threat.

Even though you’re dressed you don’t let him know you are. Instead you stand by your door with your sword ready, and wait for him to come back in. Once the five minutes are up he goes through the door with his head first. You bring your blade down swiftly, cutting his head off.

Alucard let his body disintegrate, then came back as usual. “You take ridiculously long showers.”

“Why the Hell were you in my room while I was taking a shower?!” You swing your sword at him again.

“I didn't feel like waiting outside your door,” Alucard says plainly while effortlessly dodging your swings. He was looking for any notes about the guy you kidnapped. When he couldn’t find any separate journals he looked through the ones you already showed them, analyzing each page carefully for anything cryptic. He has yet to find anything.

“You could have waited anywhere else!” You yell and keep attempting to land an attack. “You have a whole mansion! Why are you in my room?!”

“You hide your journals in here,” Alucard takes a step back with each step you take forward. “I was curious if you made any progress with your research.”

“I’m not hiding anything!” You lie and keep your mind clear so Alucard doesn’t get the chance to find out any information if he reads your thoughts. Managing to corner Alucard- which wasn’t hard to do in your small room- and take the opportunity to stab him in the chest.

“Oh?” Alucard pulls your sword out of his chest by the blade and tilts it upward. You still have a hold of the sword, fighting against him in an attempt to have the blade go forward and cut off his thumb. But Alucard’s strength pushes the sword up to your face, and it nearly touches your nose. The sword is covered in his blood, including the part that is almost making contact with your skin. He’s trying to get your senses overwhelmed by the blood so you’ll try it. “What about the cemetery then?”

You know exactly what Alucard is trying to do, and you know there is no way of you slicing forward. So you pull down and back on the sword to withdraw it, taking a good amount of steps back as well. “What about it?” The thought of the cemetery came to your mind for a split second when Alucard asked about it, you quickly pushed it out.

But Alucard managed to get a sliver of an emotion locked in with the memory, and he used it to his advantage. Time to see how far he can push you. “It seems that someone important to you is there.”

“Stop,” you deadpan and try to keep your mind from flooding. You run at him and try to stab him in the chest again, thinking that you landed the attack.

But Alucard moved right before you could cut him. He stands at your side and brings his elbow down hard on the small of your back, causing your body to smack against the floor. He gains a smirk because you may not be thinking about it but your reactions are giving it away. “A sibling, or perhaps a parent?”

You jump up and quickly stab him from behind, which makes him rumble out a laugh. You try to distract your mind by thinking about the winter weather outside. The cold that you absolutely hated when you were homeless, you didn’t have layers to wrap around yourself. “Shut up!”

That was a mistake as well, because now Alucard will take random guesses to see which one is right, or until your mind reveals the truth. “It must have been a parent if you were homeless.”

The other way you know how to distract your mind is thinking about violence, so you invest all your thoughts into every way you could kill him. Even though some of them would only work on a human but you'd kill him that way too if it was possible.

Cutting his head off, shooting him, blowing him up, stabbing, stake through the heart, poison, car crash, hanging, fire, crossbow, drowning, peeling his skin off, scalping. The list goes on and on, any way that someone could die you’re picturing that it’s happening to him.

“And in which of those ways did your parents die?” Alucard asks, but to his disappointment you only picture his death. He can no longer get anything from you, with a sigh of annoyance he leaves by going through your still locked door.

You throw your sword at the back of his head so hard that it goes all the way through the door and stops at the hilt. You stare at the sword for a moment, then scream at him through the wall “FUCK YOU!”

Alucard looks at his hat that you skewered and sighs in annoyance because of your childish screaming. To think that the vampire that thinks she will be the one to kill him screams like a toddler when they don’t get their way. He snatches his hat off of the sword and heads back to his room to think about what little information he’s slowly gathering.

=======

A week has passed since the fight, and your mind has yet to become completely stable again. It wasn’t only because of your fight with Alucard, but memories of your past keep trying to make their way to the surface. You’re having more trouble suppressing them lately, and it doesn’t help that today marks the six year anniversary of running away from the school.

Your instability is making you more and more aggressive, and the hostage is getting the brunt of the anger tonight.

“If you don’t give me any information I’m cutting off a finger,” you threaten the guy you’re holding hostage in the abandoned building. You already took all his fingernails off, though they will regrow after you give him only the tiniest amount of blood from a vial that you brought with you. You do it to keep him from going dormant.

You have only visited this guy five times since you kidnapped him, which was a little over a month ago. The interactions last for a few hours at a time, because if you were to interrogate him for a whole night, you’d kill him.

Not only out of anger, but if you stay for too long you’ll end up killing him to drink his blood since your interrogation tactics are so brutal. The smell of his blood and the blood become nearly too much after a few hours, so to stop yourself from giving into temptation you leave before you lose control.

But you’ve only been here for thirty minutes and already want to keep him out on the roof until sunrise.

After these few interactions you've had with him, he’s given you nothing to go off of. Making you envy Alucard’s mind reading and manipulation, it’d make all of this go so smoothly. You have debated asking Alucard to help before, since you know he’ll have no problem drinking this guy’s blood to get all his memories.

But you also know Alucard will keep things from you, and he’ll use whatever information he gets to pursue his own research on you. It’d give him an upper hand on you.

And you refuse to ever let him have that.

So you force yourself to suffer through nearly uncontrollable blood lust and deal with the unrelenting urge to kill your hostage.

Though the hostage actually doesn’t know much. But he knows that he will survive longer if he acts like he does. He knows you won’t kill him as long as you think he knows something of importance. So he continues to withhold what little knowledge he does have, since he believes he’ll be rescued by one of Granger’s people eventually. With a growl he says, “I’m not telling you shit.”

It was effortless when you cut off one of his fingers, even though you’re only using a regular blade, he isn’t worth dulling your blessed ones. You watch his agonized facial expression as he holds back a howl of pain, and you pocket his finger so you can throw it on the roof before the sun comes out. “What do you know? Next is your dick if I have to ask again.”

He spits in your face, “fuck you bitch.”

You growl and punch him across the face so hard that a tooth flies out of his mouth. You wipe the spit off of your face and look at your hand, it’s now smeared in his blood and saliva. The blood makes your hunger grow, then you remember that it’s also his spit. But your appetite didn’t decrease, making you realize that it’s time for you to go.

You fight him to get the shirt you use as a gag tied around his mouth, and after succeeding you pack up your things. When you see the tiny vial of blood you brought for him at the top of your bag you have to clench your jaw so hard that it feels like your teeth are going to shatter. You know that if you open it to give him a few drops you possibly wouldn’t be able to contain your hunger. That was a risk you weren’t willing to take just to keep this asshole you have tied up from going dormant.

You don’t look at him, but you can feel his eyes following you as you climb out of the broken window and cover it up with plywood- like always- before making your way up to the roof to place his severed finger down, so it can burn once the daylight hits it in a few hours. When standing up there, you pull out the vial you carried with you tonight and look at it. The glass feels so warm as the breeze from the cool night air gives you goosebumps.

Alucard hasn’t bothered with reading your mind while you were interrogating your hostage over the past few visits because he knows you would end up with nothing. But when you come up to the roof he notices how something is off about you, prompting him to peek inside of your mind.

It’s so tempting, the ruby color makes the vial’s liquid look delectable in your trembling fingers. Yourself control is slipping away, starting with opening up the glass to bring it to your nose. You take a deep breath, having the intoxicating smell taking over your senses.

Alucard watches you, filled with anticipation and hope that you’re going to drink the blood, it’ll be a step closer to get you to drink straight from the source.

Bringing the vial to your face and feeling cold glass touch your lips the words “just a small taste” run through your head. Immediately your vision becomes cloudy as segments of a memory rush to your mind.

”Just a small taste,” you hear again, but it’s not your own voice. It’s a female’s voice, but when you look at the face all you see is a blur. She’s trying to convince you to drink with her and a few friends she made.

”Okay, fine!” You chuckle and take a sip of the bottle that is handed to you. But after a while everything became a haze.

”Get off!” You shout at a girl who is over top of you. You’re fighting her off because she’s trying to kill you.

Your vision fades out again. When it comes back to you seeing a guy with a black beanie running away from the fight.

Then another gap in your memory happens until a broken piece of the scene comes to your mind as you stand over top of this girl, blood everywhere and she's dead.

When you come back to reality you quickly close up the vial and without a second thought chuck it as far as you can across the city, in London Bridge’s direction. You listen hard to hear where it drops, luckily it splashes into the water that's miles away. Licking your lips there is no taste of blood in your mouth, so you know you didn’t drink any, thankfully. The picture of that black beanie is in the forefront of your mind, that beanie belonged to Granger. And the girl… You shake the thought of it from your mind, because you don't want to think about it right now.

Which Alucard doesn’t appreciate because he now has even more theories of who this Granger person is and now is left wondering who this girl is. He watches you scale down the fire escape and make your way back to the mansion so you can get some sleep. You are certainly a puzzle that he is dying to solve.