#gosh the rage lol

[juneneedsabreak]

[ittsybittsybunny]

My PJO Official Episode Ratings

Episode 1: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher

8/10

Episode 2: I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom 

7/10

Episode 3: We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

10/10

Episode 4: I Plunge to My Death

9/10

Episode 5: A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers

10/10

Episode 6: We Take a Zebra to Vegas 

5/10

Episode 7: We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of

9/10

Episode 8: The Prophecy Comes True

7/10

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

YURI. YURI

YOUR TAGS ARE KILLING ME MAN AUGH

Like I’m just sitting here getting smacked in the face over and over by your compliments on my art aughhh you can’t do this to me /pos/pos/pos

Thank you so much dude wawawa

dude trust me when i say i legitimately feel insulted whenever i see my favorite artists get lower than 60 notes on their works like!!! you're KIDDING ME guys how can you just bypass that and not reblog it??? COWARDS<33333

[sysig]

Hunger Pangs (Patreon)

[martuzzio]

HERMITCRAFT CATCHPHRASES

Hi, here's a (hopefully comprehensive) reference list of hermit catchphrases! The main goal here is to help writers and artists who (like me) might struggle with getting the characterization of some hermits right. Check out more info at the end of the post!

Note: this list updates a lot whenever I get new suggestions, which means reblogs aren't always fully accurate. I've linked this post to the top of my blog so it's easy to access the most recent version :)

Bdubs Shreep / uh-oh, gotta shreep! Crastle I love ya to death It’s gorgee Beyootiful Uh oh! Hell’s blazes! Hawsies YOU'LL SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO! Shuddup! Judas priest! Bdubs' PERFECT REDSTONE!! What in the world! Holy cow! Nuh-uh! Hoimycraaaaaf Whimsy Trying my heart out

Beef EEskall That was my nickname in college! Nailed it! Dangit! Beefy Tunes Smelly Etho Opulent Etho? Oh, yeah, I own him Eyy, I go up and I go down. Ladders! / Eyy, ladders! Beef taught Etho about redstone Oh my goodness! Oh boy! What the heck Oh, baby! Quote unquote A ton of __

Cleo Class dismissed! I don’t need your stinky torches I will break your legs Trash is fish The answer to everything is leather pants Not because it’s the sand castle you deserve, but it’s the sand castle I need! What did you do, Joe…. It's FINE, everything's FINE Lovely Silly I mean... Not gonna lie... To be fair...

Cub DA CREAMADA CROP Alright guys Nice, nice Ladies and gentlemen / ladies and gentlemen, we got ‘em Eeeeasy money Beautiful, absolutely beautiful Mmmmmhmmmmmm Holy smokes Let's goooo! Sweet Oh, baby! Man, oh man Without further ado Peace out Cheers / cheers, man There's some heat coming off that thing

Doc Are you kidding me now? Alright guys Can’t touch this The G.O.A.T. Etho, get to the damn land man! It all started when Grian touched my redstone… Epic

Etho Uh-huh Like-a so Oh snap Get your snacks! Holy smokes! Take care, have a good day, bye bye Aww snappers! Aww yeah Von Sway I barely know ‘er! Speaking of llamas Bright blue bamboo E. to the T. to the your mum Beefaroni / Beefers Speaking of llamas… That’s what she said! Free glass Eyy, I go up and I go down. Ladders! / Eyy, ladders! Suckerrrr! Check it out

False Blimey Awh dude Frick False Supremacy Oh my goodness I don't know about you guys, but... Props to __ I'm not gonna lie...

Gem Gem is great Her [name] is [adjective]! Gem will __ ("Gem will watch Impulse") Perfect! Epic It's true, I swear! Not gonna lie... Oh gosh! Trust the process Nailed it!

Grian Hello! My name is Grian Good… byeeeee! Pesky bird My heart! My little heart! Mumbo Mumbo you are AFK Can we just agree that Mumbo loses? What in Queen Elizabeth’s shiny crown was that? It wasn't me, it was the man in the chicken costume! SaAaaaAaAnd Chobblesome SCAR NO— / NO SCAR— In theory… Electric boogalooo What does this button do? What on earth? This is in shambles Get outta here! Hear me out... We don't have __. What we DO have is __ Just straight up Without further ado Crack on Bingo bango Yes. 100%

Hypno Right, right Mmhmm You guys Dang guy

Impulse What’s goin on everyone? Shovel Shuffle BEHIND YOU GEM! Peeps Geez Let's goooo! Are you kidding me? Oh, man Now we're talkin'! Holy smokes Oh my gosh How cool is that? Jeez! Dang it! Buddy Presi (for present) You bet!

Iskall Hallo -skall ("richskall") That’s mega / that’s looking absolutely mega Omega “Excuse me? Sir?” __ of doom Okay, lol And I will see you dudes in the next episode I’ve had a realization Oh for goodness sake! It’s not fat, it’s big-boned Not gonna lie SaAaaaAaAnd Very fine Great success! Bird poop Bumbo Cactoni Do you even bust? / Do you even bust bro E Pag

Jevin Hypno smells! Oh my god Sucker What the heck Dude Man I swear

Joe Howdy y’all! That’s the Joe Hills difference! I will now say a poem of my own devising Core concept Keep adventurin’! Time skip! Who’s the guy who conquers death? That’s Joe Hills No not rage quitting I have to pick up my daughter from school or my wife will rage quit me! Grow Hills / Expand Joe Joepacity / Jhost

Keralis Look into my eyes and nothing but my eyes Wanna buy a book? Spank you very much Just sit back, relax, and enjoy Like this, like that I can see my house from here! Bubbles, Shashwammy, Sweetface, Princess Lookie lookie at my cookie / lookie lookie at my cookie… no, please don’t Like-a so I love your face I’m a real boy! I don’t k-nove (know) Not like this! Booshes Clever girl But first… lemme take a selfie I’m sinking… mayday mayday we’re sinking! Hallo yes dis is de German coast guard what are you sinking about? Scary harry larry I’m alayve! Breathtaking — no you’re breathtaking Mm-kay Oh behave I’m a simple man MeOOOow Welcome to my humble abod-ee Not too shabby My face! My palms are sweaty, mom’s spaghetti Tag 2 Booga Booga Stiffy nipples Batman! First I was afraid, I was petrified...

Mumbo I worry about myself sometimes I'm not really quite sure if I like that or not Yeah… yeah that's looking good… I guess… Dude! Chuffed to bits It’s a bit pants I’m such a spoon Oh my word It’s quite simple, really / it’s actually quite simple Bonkers I’ll catch you in the next one. See ya Off you pop Oh goodness me! Hermit challenges — initiation! All done and dusted To be frankly honest Seriously seriously cool Absolutely nuts I don’t even know what to say Iskall I feel sick Peace, love, and plants Moon’s big Mumbo for Mayor Quite simple

Pearl Lovely Bonkers At this point... Cheeky / you cheeky What's this? Mate

Ren Now we’re cooking with gas / we be cooking with gas today Ladies, get in line! / ladies, gentlemen, everybody get in line! You picking up what I’m putting down My dudes Y’know what I’m sayin’ Coming atcha frommmmmm Dude Coming from left, right, and center Greetings cyberdogs and citizens of the Interwebs, this is Ren-diggity-dog comin at ya in another episode from the Hermitcraft server (ey!) Automagically Jazztastic Janktastic Oh baby Like nobody’s business Looking absolutely magnificent Anyhoozle Twaddle Renstone The Octagon is a well-oiled machine! [word]-age [word]-ation [word]-i (to make things plural You love / hate to see it I'm just sayin' / if you know what I'm sayin' Professional __ Jazz Anyhoozle Exqueeze me? Freakin' Some serious __ What's happenin', baby? Chesticles

Scar Scarred for life Woah, what in the world! It’s gonna be am-ay-zing LOOK at the siiiiize of that Well, hello there my fellow miners and crafters, GoodTimesWithScar here. Welcome back to the wonderful world of Hermits and crafting Don’t forget to subscribe or you might just become scarrrred for life! Looking super fancy Let’s hit super fast build mode! Look at the size of that Appreciate ya Hotguy! Operation: Aquathunder! That’s what she said! Rapscallion You silly goose Oh, sweet baby Jellie! Bayum! / Bam! The bee's knees Easy peasy, orangey squeezy

Stress Are you havin’ a giggle? / are you takin the mic? Mate Oh my god / oh my gosh / oh my good gordons Gorgeous Plonker Geezer Ohhhhh nooooo! Yeeeesshhh I legged it Such a pro / I'm such a pro Proper __ Cheeky Bloke Thingamajig Ain't [word]-age [word]-ies

Tango Happy fun sauce -ificator, -inator, -ness, -tastic Skadoodle Fearsome bunny slippers Noob juice So here’s the deal Holding shift Shwoop Flim flam Poop came out Extra dumb with dumb sauce / __ of extra dumb Flee with extra flee! / fleeing with terror! Boom booms Gah! The dungeon is ready for its next victim Behold! Results may vary! I think my math is correct, but it’s been known to be wrong This is the worst timeline. I hate everything Big no! You— you freak of nature! Jerkface Jerkbutt Excellent How embarassing This is true Zombert Bits This I gotta see! Right in the face! [word] is happening Yeah baby! Stupid jerks Boop This is the best / worst thing ever! Niner niner niner [general unintelligible noises]

TFC What in tarnation! Crap-tacular Humongous Butt-ugly Ugly as sin Oh, goody Ender-twits Bugger Oh, fart For crying out loud

Wels Words are hard If you will Super __

xB Aww yeah Mmkay Son of a biscuit Pretty frickin' __ Man Get frickin' wrecked! Chestacle Dang it Staaph it Oy vey Crap on a cracker Dang it, Bobby! Dang guy

Xisuma Oh goodness me Oh dangit Geez Peeps I’m such a derp Oh my days Chooturial Issooma Allo Woa’ah Brought (instead of bought) My dude Achacha

Zed Hello hello hello A-good a-bye Muckin' about I lied TaaaAAnnGoOOooooOOOo Hu-jah! Pretty darn __ Certainly Rubbish I'm [word]-ing [word] me [word]-iness What happens is... Get kersplatted! Epic Oh my goodness!

More Info

So I'm currently writing a HC fic and realized how little I know about some of the hermits (I unfortunately don't have time to watch all of them), which made it really difficult to depict them properly in my writing. I'm assuming at least some of you might also struggle with this, so, here we are!

If you know of a catchphrase from any hermit from any season, comment, reblog, send me a an ask or dm, dm me on discord, whatever works the best :D

Note: when I say "catchphrase," I mean anything a hermit repeats over an extended period of time. It can be something said during a single season (like "You'll speak when spoken to!" or "Hermit Challenges!"), or something that spans their entire careers (like "Aww snappers!" or "Plonker"). I'm not looking for one-off quotes that are never bought up again — there's some great sources (like @hermitcraft-correct-quotes) for that already :)

Sources (which will hopefully expand with time): This reddit post from four years ago This other reddit post also from four years ago Reddit from three years ago This cute diagram A more up to date source Another Xisuma's dictionary on his website HC character tv tropes page This incredible google doc

[sugurizz]

IDK IF YOU DO BREEDING KINKS BUT IF YOU DO MAY I PLEASE REQUEST JOO JAEKYHUNG X F BREEDING KINK (pls ignore this if you do not feel comfortable, i am so sorry 😔🙏) THANK YOU SO MUCH BABGORL 🧌🫶

Breeding kink is me. I’m breeding kink sis and so is Joo MF Jaekyung. He’s canonly a raw king *cough* chap.29 *cough* he hates condoms even more than he hates people lol.

𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐓/𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 +𝟏𝟖!! , 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐃𝐍𝐈!! 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: STRONG BREEDING KINK DUH, established relationship, vaginal/ unprotected sex, begging, dirty talk.

Oh gosh Breeding Maniac! Jaekyung who cums buckets on every nut your tiny pussy squeezes out of him. His balls are always so big and full, so tight and warm after the long hours he spends training. The hours of sparring and working out, blowing off steam on his competition never seem to drain him though. If anything he’s back home with a visible hard-on grazing his boxers…He still got so much to give you nice and hard.

His raging pheromones get you soft and loose, almost dazzled into begging him to breed you. You never had to ask him twice anyways, not even once to begin with…

He’s addicted to the view of your pussy painted white, sticky and dripping with the viscous cum. He smirks at it like a brat, spreads you open and yanks your feet over his shoulders, staring longingly as if he just created a work of art between legs.

His foxy eyes lock with yours, grinning at your wasted expression and messy hairs sticking to your damp forehead…The lewd sight of you laying down on his bed, your breasts rising and falling with ragged cries. You look so damn pretty and nasty, begging to be bred over and over. Marked with his strong scent and warm sweat, his seed slowly dribbling down the swell of your asscheek…The mere thought could get him off on its own.

‘So good you can’t even breathe huh?’ He hovers over you and leans down, lips ghosting over your ear, ‘Don’t you faint on me, I’m far from done with you’

He pulls you by the waist, pounding into your balmy pussy. The ropes of your wetness and his cum join your hips back together. He gets wilder the longer he stares at your bodies slapping each other, going deeper in heat as you babble for him to breed you.

‘Oh fuckk- sir, godd…feels so fucking good-’

He pulls you closer by the neck, thrusting in and releasing inside you. You drag your nails over his back, drawing a couple groans out his lips…

The way he fills you up drives you crazy. His cum gets you addicted. You feel so complete when he does it :3 Keeps you all warm and docile, calms your body and mind…The sensation of being full of him inside you gets you all bubbly and happy. Feels almost like a little gift you carry of him every time he touches you.

[rikiislvr]

🫧 fake it till you make it (4)

read one, two and three first to understand the plot!

you groaned as you felt your eyes sting, you slowly opened your eyes revealing your bright room from the open curtains.

your eyes winced as you felt a pounding sensation coming from your head. all you remembered was picking up one cup, then pouring another and another until your memory went blank.

you were hoping you weren’t too bad drunk, exposing your act between you and niki with your drunk thoughts. you quickly grabbed your phone and went to nikis contact immediately but there was already a text sent.

riki : u didn’t expose us if ur wondering lol, take medicine

you sighed in relief and slowly sat urself up but your door opened revealing your mother who had pills and a cup of water in her hands, “i already knew.” she smiled walking over to you, you smiled in return and took some pills for your raging headache.

“who is he? why didn’t you tell me about him?” your mom asked sitting at the edge of the bed, “because..” you sighed, “it’s not real.”

her eyes widened, “it’s not.. real? you guys are faking it?” she asked, and you nod with a rush of guilt. “sweetheart.” the moved closer, “i know love. i know TRUE love, and the way he looks at you.. it’s not fake.” she shook her head.

you tilt your head, from what you knew, he didn’t even like you. at all. so what was she talking about, “give it time.. it’ll hit eventually.” she kissed your forehead before leaving your room,

niki doesn’t like you. he never would. you knew that and so did he? this is all just a act, once it’s over you two will go your own ways, he’ll be surrounded by other girls like always and you can finish your studies in peace.

-

you walked into school tying your hair back so it’s out your face, you immediately saw niki hanging out at his locker with his other friends.

you walked over and he smiled, “hey- girlfriend.” he says, you rolled your eyes, “hi boyfriend.” you turned your lips upwards,

“was i bad saturday..?” you whisper to him, “not really.. didn’t blow our cover atleast.” he chuckled nervously, you didn’t blow yalls cover because HE did. but jungwon knew anyways.

but now that NIKI knew he liked you actually, it was awkward for him to barely even look at you. he still had the polaroid picture of you, he had to find the right time to give it back to you.

“hey you two lovebirds.” jungwon walked up to you guys, you cleared your throat, “hey.” you smiled, niki just stood there, you turned to him and widened your eyes,

“oh- right.. hey.” he put his arm around you, jungwon laughed to himself, “what’s funny?” you ask him, “oh nothing. you guys should go out for a date, especially after my party, niki deserves one after carrying you home.” jungwon says.

being the best wingman, niki shot him a smile and he nod softly, “you— carried me home?! why didn’t you tell me?” you gasp, “because i’m the best boyfriend ever.” niki smiled at you, you rolled your eyes and pushed him away and he chuckled.

“fine- i guess i’ll.. take you on a date..” you groan, but quickly covered up and smiled facing jungwon, he just stared at you two, “cool- i’m looking forward to the details later niki!” he waved before walking away.

niki turned to you with a huge smile, “cant wait for this date you have planned for me.” he nods. “don’t get your hopes up too high, watch it literally just be something so small.” you scoffed a chuckle.

“i wouldn’t mind.” he shrugged and walked away, you tilt your head at his response. not expecting that.. but now you had to plan something for him, something alteast so he can tell jungwon about it.

-

all day you’ve been in class wondering where to take niki, since it wasn’t REAL, you didn’t wanna waste too much money, so you decided to take him to a cafe place after school, the bell rang, snapping you out your thoughts, you quickly gathered your stuff and texted niki to meet you outside.

niki received the message and felt his palms sweating, gosh he didn’t think the date would be today? “uh- i’ll see you guys later.” he waved to his friends and walked away from them as they said their goodbyes, he headed down the hallway towards the front of the school where you two usually meet,

but someone called his name, making him snap his head back, his head tilted at who he saw, a short haired girl with glasses on her head, “mimi? what are you—?” he turned to her,

she walked up to him and crossed her arms, “what are YOU doing? since when we’re you dating y/n?! and why didn’t i know about this.” she scoffed rolling her eyes, niki sighed.

mimi was the girl he was hanging out with before you asked him about the fake dating, they got closer and mimi developed feelings for him, but niki just thought she was a close friend.

“why are you so worried?” niki asked, mimi just scoffed, “seriously? you’re gonna act like we had nothing going on between us?!” she threw her arms up in the air.

you on the other hand, tapped your foot on the ground and checked the time, “where is he..” you whispered and made your way back in the school to find the lost boy,

“mi. cmon seriously? we were just friends and i told you that.” niki shook his head, her eyebrows raised, “friends? do friends kiss?!” she furrows her eyebrows, “YOU kissed ME. because you were hurt and i only did it to help you. nothing more.” niki rubbed his temples.

“okay well im hurt, i’ve been hurt since i heard about you two because why didn’t you tell me? you need to make it up to me.” she nods, “i will- just not now i have too—

“no. now.” she stomped her foot. “what do you even want me too—

“hug me or something! if this is our last time together. it’s the least you can do.” she sighed, niki bit the inside of his cheek, he’d just get this hug out the way so he could hurry and meet you,

he slowly opened his arms and mimi ran into them, hugging him tightly, he hugged back awkwardly,

you then turned the corner hoping you’d see niki at his locker, but what you saw was even worst,

he was hugging some random girl, she was smiling softly and you couldn’t see nikis face since he wasn’t facing you,

you felt your face heating up, along as your arms and pretty much your entire body. you just blinked blankly at the two, you felt anger rushing up to your head..

why are you mad? it’s not like.. you guys were actually dating. besides, you knew he didn’t like you, and you— didn’t like him..

you bit down on your lip and quickly walked away to just go home, something inside of you was making you feel emotional, which you tried to ignore because— it didn’t make sense.

niki let go of the hug, and mimi smiled, “thanks! have fun explaining this to your loving girlfriend who just ran away.” she pointed down the hall where you pushed through the doors and stormed away,

niki felt his heart drop, “shit!” he whispered and quickly ran down the hall, leaving mimi laughing to herself.

he couldn’t loose you- not without giving you a better explanation and, not before.. confessing how he really felt all this time.

only thing he was scared about was- would you believe him?

a/n: this was SO SHORT im sorry. but better chapters coming soon! not sure how long this’ll last anyways <3

tl:

@certified-ni-ki-lover @noblub-4ulolz @yourmyst4r @vixialuvs @ni-ki-ismyluv @judeduartewannabe @soobs-things @en-chantedtomeetyou @definitelynotherr @heyniki @wntersm @geniejunn

[kittykatthatbitesback]

Hey! I love your beach head canons, and I would love to see your take on the Hazbin Hotel characters on a road trip/maybe a trip to a theme park? I feel like that would be cute lol.

Yes of course! This sounds so fun but I decided to make it a road trip to wherever the reader decides (Theme park, wherever)! This actually works perfectly as a prequel/sequel to my Beach Trip! Headcanons I've posted. Hope you enjoy!

Hazbin Hotel Road Trip! Headcanons

Characters: Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, Angeldust, Husk, Sir Pentious, Vox, Lucifer, Adam, and Cherri Bomb

Charlie 🐐🫶

Originally wanted to be the one to drive, but Vaggie figured her inclination to be distracted by anything on the side of the road would cause everyone to crash, so Vaggie refused to let her drive at any point

Doesn’t even have her license so she wouldn’t be able to drive anyways so

“Ugh fine! Well, then, I call shotgun!!”

Went from Princess of Hell to passenger princess hehe

Was upset at not driving but got over it quickly as realizing she enjoys the view more than driving

“Oh my gosh look at those deer! Wait there’s more over there! Wait. Did we just drive past the rest area, I need to pee again!!”

Constantly nags the driver by chitchatting to them, regardless if they’re listening

A bad habit of hers is playfully hitting others when Charlie talks, but she forgets to not do this when driving

A couple of minor accidents nearly occur but she is unfazed

Is so pumped and asks to stop and look at any roadside attraction

It begins to become a bit annoying after a while

Vaggie ❌🥀

Is the one who drives for the most part on this road trip

Is a bit grumbly because she was woken up so early by an eager Charlie to go on this trip and needs her beauty sleep

Is the only one who can handle Charlie’s constant nagging and pushing, and is also the only one with a license out of the whole group, so logically the ex-Angel is the one who drives

Only pays attention to the road and not Charlie unfortunately for maximum safety

Is sipping on a large Circle K cup that she filled with Monster Energy prior to the trip

This just barely wakes her enough to watch the road

Has a bit of road rage but these guys are from Hell, what can you expect

Refuses to waste gas so only stops for gas when the car is literally empty

Empty like everyone else had to get out of the car and push it to the nearest gas station that was three miles away, empty

“Come on guys, we’re almost there.” She’ll say smugly sipping her Monster from within the car in the AC

Alastor 🦌📻

Was invited on this road trip, but ended up driving on his own to their destination

Yes, he doesn’t have a license, but he’s the Radio Demon he does what he pleases

Mainly decided to drive separately so that he could listen to his radio in peace without complaints or extra unnecessary noise

Is listening to jazz, and keeps on repeating the songs: “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Sing, Sing, Sing”

Also prefers to be alone, he vibes better that way and is more in his element

Drives the coolest, red, vintage pick up truck ever

All the girls and guys at the stop lights are just fawning over him but the Radio Demon can’t see anything past the road in his shades

Drives super fast and only stops for gas, which considering the age of his truck, ends up happening often

Angeldust 🕷️❤️‍🔥

Wanted to get one of those party buses with the strip poles inside but now has to make do with the crew’s giant van

Enough space to do lines of coke so it’s okay

Obviously snuck in drugs and alcohol, this is a given, it’s Angeldust come on

“I call aux!!” and plays his playlist titled Cunty B*tch

It’s a bunch of Ayesha Erotica, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, etc.

Screams all of the songs at the top of his lungs while hanging out of the window

“HE MIGHT NOT LOOK LIKE HE GETS BITCHES, BUT HONEY THAT DICK WAS ELEVEN INCHES!”

Husk has to pull him inside but he’s just having the time of his life

Loud as Hell but provides the entertainment, and Vaggie appreciates his music taste

Has to get Vaggie to pull over and proceeds to violently throw up all the alcohol he chugged earlier on the side of the highway as Cherri films laughing from inside the van

Immediately falls asleep after this embarrassing moment as the aftermath of his “fun” takes a toll on him

Husk 🐈‍⬛🥃

Was planning to catch up on missed hours of sleep by dozing through this entire trip, but Angeldust made this quite hard

Is wrapped up in a blanket, eye mask on, earplugs in, headphones on, neck pillow propped, and stuffed toy snuggled (HE SLEEPS WITH A STUFFED TOY OMG)

It’s a miniature Pegasus he named after his favorite drink: Whiskey

Angeldust, Cherri, and Adam won’t stop making fun of him the entire trip

This, plus Angeldust’s music, Charlie’s nonstop talking causes Husk to EXPLODE

“IF YOU ALL DONT SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR A SECOND!”

But his geared-up sleep ware makes him look a bit goofy as he shouts this, so everyone instead bursts out laughing

The feline just grumbles to himself as he decides to just stare out the window depressingly for the rest of the ride

Gets bored and ends up practicing Poker and Solitaire with the cards he brought

Is also keeping an eye on Angeldust who at first was off the wall

Once Angeldust passes out, Husk covers him with his blanket so he’s not cold (aww)

Sir Pentious 🐍🥚

Actually was the one who designed and crafted the van

The original van wasn’t big enough for the whole crew after Cherri decided to join in last minute, so of course the snake is going to build an ENTIRE new vehicle for his Cherri Bomb <3

Engineered the van for maximum comfort and refused Angeldust’s pleads for strip poles inside; “Thossse would be ssso uneccesssary!”

Instead, he included luxurious feet space, and AC and heater system throughout the whole van, seats with massaging for backs and feet, mini TVs on the back of each seat, and a fancy mini fridge for food

Also built miniature seats for his Egg Bois with built-in heating pads in case they get too cold in the AC

These Egg Bois have a really specific temperature range they can survive in, so those same heating pads were engineered by Sir Pentious to also work as cooling pads

“Anything for my babiesss”

Came extra prepared and was the only one to bring snacks and drinks to put in the cooler

Is constantly offering Cherri a water or coke whenever she is “looking a bit dehydrated”

Which happens to be every 2 minutes according to him

Is trying so hard to flex on her the fact that he built the van

“Ssssoo Cherri, how are you enjoying the back masssssage? I programmed it to perfectly meet the needsss of a beautiful lady like you”

Bro with 0 rizz somehow ends up charming her

Vox 🖥️⚡️

This TV ignores the mini TVs Sir Pentious built arguing they’re “not of top Vox quality”

Tries to hijack them to prove his point, but Sir Pentious is smarter than that and even his mini TVs are Vox-resistant

Ego bruised, now tries to hijack the radio to turn off Angeldust’s loud ass music, but Sir Pentious ALSO came prepared for that

Sir Pentious even shaped his seat and headrest to fit Vox’s big ass TV head perfectly, so Vox isn’t able to complain about anything

Now an upset Vox is left to sit in silence for most of the trip

Will chime in occasionally to the conversations but you can tell his pride was hurt

Spends his hours of silence to brainstorm ways to defeat Alastor

Lucifer 🪽🐤

Brought his rubber duckies to play house with them on the ride

To everyone’s surprise, knows all the lyrics to all of Angeldust’s songs

“What! I enjoy these too!” Proceeds to lip sync them in the most fruity way

Is Lucifer straight or gay? Bi? No one knows.

Is definitely that one person in a car ride to try to start a game of “100 bottles of beer on a wall” or the game of concentration

LIVES for these games

“20 questions” is his favorite

Tries to get everyone involved and yells at Husk once he sees he’s playing his own game of Poker

Husk suggests that Lucifer should play the silent game

Will try to convince the others to play by reciting them old dad jokes

This does not work

Adam 🎸🤘

Will definitely pig out on all of those snack Sir Pentious brought

“YO WHERE THE FUCK IS THE BEER”

Forces Vaggie to stop at a gas station 5 minutes into the trip to buy 3 twelve packs of beer

Is absolutely in his happy place with the massage chair, vast feet space, TV playing “Too Hot to Handle”, chips, and beer

Is the only one who manages to trash his space with wrappers, spills, and crumbs

Does not give a fuck

Has his window down, sunglasses on, and wind blowing in his face while he just yells

Shouts and catcalls to every hot chick they pass by

Brought an air horn to do that more efficiently while on the highway

Is seated next to Vox so is taunting and teasing him about the whole incident earlier

“Hmm not so tough anymore huh? Even these mini TVs are doing a better job than you!”

Is a bit of a menace

Cherri Bomb 🍒💣

Only joined last minute for the trip because she thought it would be lame at first

But Angeldust promised to bring along drugs and alcohol so she agreed

Made a certain snake sooo happy that she decided to come

Is constantly nagged by him throughout this whole trip but she has grown used to it

She even starts to think it’s cute how much he cares

Has to stop to go pee so often because of all the beverages Sir Pentious keeps offering her

Doesn’t wait for a rest area, will pop a squat on the side of the road

Sings along with Angeldust (and Lucifer??) to all the songs

Actually she’s the one who made the playlist and shared it with Angeldust ;)

“Ooh ooh skip this one, the next one’s even better!”

Brought an Erotica novel to read (she usually just skips to the good parts)

Is glad to be sitting next to Angeldust but still films him as he throws up so that they can joke about it later

Passes time with him playing, Fuck, Marry, Kill

She ends up answering Fuck to all the options

[gunilslaugh]

Cassette Playlist

Goo Gunil

Summary: Your mom’s old cassette player somehow sent you back to the summer of 1990, where you meet a goofy, yet confident guy. Who might make it hard to leave. (non-idol au) 

WC:11.6k

Warning:none

If this flops I'm never writing a long fic ever again lol

photo not mine credits to owner.

CRASH! SNAP! CRACK! Panic rages through your body as you stare at your mom’s old cassette player that is now in pieces.

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

“And why exactly have you decided to take a trip down memory lane?” you asked your mom. Letting out a heave as you set the heavy box down on your mom’s bed. 

“I watched Jetsons: The Movie yesterday and it got me feeling nostalgic,” your mom answers you, taking off the lid to the box. “My old cassette player!” your mom called out excitedly as she pulled the old device from the box. “I used to use this all the time,” she tells you. 

“I can tell. You used it so much it cracked.” You pointed to the crack that ran across the lid to insert a cassette. 

“I don’t remember it having a crack actually.” Your mom scratched her head trying to remember if she was forgetting how the player got the crack. 

“Maybe it happened while it was stored. We’re not always gentle with these boxes,” you chuckled. 

“You’re right that could be what happened. We should be more gentle with these,” she states gesturing to the boxes.

“I wonder if it still works?” you wondered, taking the cassette player from your mom. 

“It would definitely need batteries,” she says tapping the battery compartment. “We don’t have the type of batteries it takes right now. I’ll pick some up when I go to the store.”

“You still remember what batteries it takes?” You raised one of your eyebrows in shock. Your mom laughs. 

“I told you I used to use it all the time. I’ll probably never forget what batteries it takes. I bet I could still use this in my sleep,” she affirms. 

“I might have to test you on that,” you said playfully. Your mom smiles and shakes her head, looking into the box again. You join her in looking at the contents of the box. “Is this your year book?” you questioned pulling the book from the box.

“Yeah it’s from my junior year? I think.” You open the book, flipping through its pages. You stopped flipping through the pages when a picture of your mom with some guy caught your attention. Your mom had her arms affectionately wrapped around the guy’s middle. Her head tilted in the direction of the guy too.

“And who is this? One of your old boyfriends?” You nudge your mom with your elbow, showing her the picture.

“Oh um I think his name started with a G. I can’t remember right now, but no he wasn’t my boyfriend, not even a friend really. He was more like a nice acquaintance,” she informs. 

“So this picture is just for show?” you said. 

“Pretty much. That was the first day we met actually,” she tells you. You look at her with your head tilting to the side, as if asking her to explain more. 

“He came up behind me and gave me a really tight back hug. I pushed him away harshly because I didn’t know who he was. Then he began to profusely apologize explaining that he mistook me for someone else,” your mom tells you the story. 

“Oh my gosh that’s embarrassing. I would have died if I was him,” you laughed. 

“Yeah I felt bad for him. Anyway people for the yearbook were coming around, so I pulled him into this side hug to make us even,” she further explained. 

“How kind of you,” you remarked half sarcastically. To which your mom playfully shrugged in response. “Did he ever say who he mistook you for?” you questioned. 

“You’re so nosy and no I never asked,” she tells you. 

“Oh.” you look back down at the picture, wondering who this guy could have mistook your mom for.

After taking the little trip down memory lane you and your mom put the aged objects back inside the boxes, leaving out the cassette player since your mom was going to pick up batteries for it. Then you returned the boxes back to their places in the top shelf of the closet. Proceeding you returned to your bedroom to carry on with your day. You hopped onto your bed, opening your laptop to look for a show to watch. 

Later in the day your mom returned home from running some errands: buying groceries and batteries. You helped your mom put the groceries away. Once all the groceries were placed in their spots your mom excitedly ran to her bedroom to grab her old cassette player. 

“You’re like an excited kid who’s ready to play with their new toy,” you remark. “Well, I guess it’s an old toy in this case,” you added. 

“I am excited,” she states matter-of-factly, opening up the batteries she recently bought. She then opens the battery compartment of the cassette player and carefully places the batteries inside, making sure they're facing the right direction.  Succeeding hearing the satisfying click of the battery compartment closing your mom eagerly places one of the headphones into her ear then holds out the other one for you. You take it from her hand and place it into your ear. She looks at you to make sure you’re ready with her finger hovering over the play button. You nodded at her in confirmation and with that your mom pressed the button. Music began to play from the head phones filling the two of your ears. Your mom begins to excitedly jump up and down at her favorite nostalgic item still working. A smile makes its way to your face as you watch your mom’s happiness. While feeling impressed that the old device still works. 

“This brings back memories,” your mom says reminiscently as she listens to the song. 

“This song is nice,” you comment. 

“You like it?” your mom asked. You nodded your head. 

“You should keep this for a while then,” she suggested. 

“Huh? Why?” Your eyebrows raised in confusion. 

“It made me really happy as a teen. I would like to make you happy too. You’re a bit older than I was when I first got it, but that’s ok,” she explains. 

“Ok sure, why not?” you agreed. 

“Ooh I’ll go grab my other cassette so you can listen to them,” she takes the headphone from her ear before scurrying off to go grab the cassette. When she returns with the cassettes in hand she hands them over with a smile. You didn’t really know how much you would use the cassette player, but you figured you could at least listen to each cassette once. See what kind of music your mom used to listen to. You hit the stop of the cassette player and took off your headphone. You wrapped the headphones around the player as you walked to your room. You set the player on your bedside dresser planning to listen to it later.

Later in the evening you helped your mom make dinner. While waiting for your dad to get back from work. Your dad got home while you were dishing up dinner. 

“Perfect timing,” your mom said, greeting him. You all sat at the table together. “I gave y/n my old cassette player today,” your mom tells. 

“Oh really? That thing still works?” your dad asked surprised. 

“Just like it used to,” your mom says. 

“Except for the crack across the front,” you said. 

“I told you I don’t remember it having a crack. It’s a mystery how it got there,” she states. 

“Guess we’ll never know,” your dad shrugged. You all continued to eat, having the occasional side conversation. After dinner you did the dishes then headed to your room. You sat down on your bed. Your eyes fell over to your mom’s old cassette player. You reached over to your dresser and grabbed it, unwrapping the headphones around it. You put one headphone in each ear and hit play on the cassette. Music filled your ears and you rested against your headboard becoming fully immersed in the music. A couple songs played then you came across a song that you really liked. You wanted to listen to it again so you hit the rewind button, but nothing happened. You hit it again and once more nothing happened. You tried again only to be met with the same result. Growing a bit frustrated you smack the cassette player in hopes of getting it to work. You hit the rewind button another time and this time you hear the song begin to reverse. However your room began to look blurry. Like when you pass by something really fast. Then suddenly it all stopped and you were standing in a park? There were some kids running around playing on some playground equipment. Parents sitting on benches. A couple teenage boys were kicking a ball around out in the open grass. You walked around the park stopping under the shade of a tree, trying to gather your senses. Did you fall asleep while you were listening to the cassette? That’s when you notice that the cassette is in your hand and headphones are still in your ears. Much to your surprise the cassette player had been fixed. There was no longer a crack running across it. How was that possible? Was this all just a dream? Right then a ball lands by your feet. 

“Sorry, could you kick it back please?” you hear. You looked up to see one of the teenage boys. You looked back down at the ball then back at the boy. You gave the ball a swift kick sending it back over. “Thanks!” the boy shouted. You nodded in response. Quickly you went back to trying to figure out what was going on. This didn’t really feel like it was a dream, but what else could it be? You look around at your surroundings again. This time you notice that all the clothes people are wearing look like they're from the 90s. Certainly this was all a really weird dream. You began to leave the park not really knowing where you were going. Just trying to find some answers. Hopefully some confirmation that this was all indeed one weird dream. As you were walking you happened to come across a discarded newspaper. You pick it up and flip it around. Your eyes widened as they saw the date: June 3, 1990. You couldn’t really be back in the 90s could you? No, that would be crazy and impossible. There was absolutely no way. Your heart began to pound in fear. If you were really back in the 1990, what were you supposed to do? How did you get here? More importantly, how were you going to get home? You started to rack your brain. That’s when it hit you, the cassette player. You were trying to get the rewind button to work when you were suddenly transported here. You quickly brought up the cassette player. If rewind brought you back to the past  then fast forward should send you to the future as in back home. You couldn't hit the play and fast forward button soon enough. However much to your dismay it didn’t work. Well technically it did work. The song you were listening to began to speed up and fast forward, but you didn’t go anywhere. You weren’t back in your room. You were still standing about a block away from the park. You felt like crying, sinking down into the concrete pavement. 

“Oh hey it’s you again,” you heard a familiar voice. You look up to see the teenage boy from the park again.

“Hey,” you replied. 

“Why are you just sitting here?” he asked. Oh you know just having a crisis. No big deal. 

“Just…thinking.” is the word you decide to go with. 

“Shouldn’t you be headed home? It will be dark soon.” You didn’t even notice the setting sun. 

“Oh um…” If you could you would and really wish that you could. 

“Are you new around here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before?” he questioned. 

“Yeah I just got here,” you tell him. The boy has no clue how literal your statement is.

“Are you lost then? I can walk you home if you want? Just tell me your address,” he offered. 

“No, that’s ok.” I don’t have a home to go to.

“Did you run away from home?” he gasped. 

“What? No! I didn't, it's not like-” you sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” you say.

“Try me?” he challenged. 

“Fine. I time traveled from the future,” you told him seriously. The boy looked at you for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter. 

“Oh, that’s a good one. Seriously, did you get in a fight with your parents or something?” He takes a seat beside you on the pavement. 

“Told you wouldn’t believe me,” you said. “Just go home, don’t worry about me.” Sensing your upsetness he decides to give you the upper hand. 

“Ok, let’s say I believe you. How did you get here and from where,when?” he questions. 

“I’m from 2024. My mom’s old cassette player somehow brought me back in time. I know that sounds crazy because it is, but it’s true,” you explained. 

“This cassette player?” He points to the cassette player in your hand. 

“Yeah.” You held it up a bit. 

“Can I see it?” He held his hands out. 

“Knock yourself out.” You handed the player over to him. At first he only glances over it, yet he begins to squint at the clear plastic lid of the cassette player. He proceeded to hit the open button on the lid. “What are you-”

“1993.” you hear him murmur. 

“What?” you asked. 

“1993,” he repeated. 

“What about it?”

“It’s 1990,” he reminded you. That’s when it clicked. 

“It’s 1990 and this cassette is from 1993!” you said excitedly. “You believe me now right?” you questioned hopefully. 

“Well it’s not, what did you say 2024?” You nodded. “But it is evidence that you are from the future, so…yeah I believe you,” he tells you. 

“Oh thank you!” you tell him. 

“So what are you gonna do?” he questioned handing you the cassette player back. Your excitement faded away as quickly as it came.

“I don’t know. I just wanna go home,” you answered. The boy looks at you sympathetically. He has no idea how you must feel right now, but it’s clear that you're very stressed about your situation. 

“How about you come stay with me. I could help you figure out how to get home,” he suggested. 

“Thanks, but would your parents be ok with you bringing some random girl home?” you ask. 

“I’ll tell them that you’re a friend who needs a place to stay for a while,” he tells you. 

“What if they ask about my parents? I mean they…haven’t even met yet. They’re both teenagers right now.” The gravity of your situation hits you even more. 

“We can figure that out later. Sitting on a sidewalk isn’t going to solve anything though, so will you come?” he questioned. You thought for a moment. It’s not like you had a better option. 

“You’re sure it’s ok for me to stay with you?” you double checked. 

“Absolutely we have a guest room that you can stay in,” he tells you. 

“Ok thanks uh… you’re?” Something hits you while you’re looking at the guy, whom you didn’t know the name of. He looked just like the guy from the yearbook photo with your mom. “Something with a G” you mouthed recalling your mom’s words.

“Oh that’s right we kinda skipped over introductions. I’m Gunil,” he introduced himself, sticking out his hand. 

“Gunil, with a G,” you didn’t mean to say it outloud. 

“Yep with a G. I don’t think it would quite work with a J,” he joked lightheartedly.

“I’m y/n,” you introduced yourself and finally shook his outstretched hand. That had been waiting an awkwardly long time. 

“Let’s go y/n.” He stands up from the pavement, dusting off his pants. Then he sticks out his hand to help you up. You take his hand standing up. You still had no clue how you were going to get home, but at least you had someone who was willing to help. 

The walk to Gunil’s house didn’t take too long. He lived relatively close to the park. 

“This is it,” Gunil announced when you reached the bottom of his driveway. You felt your nerves begin to bubble up again. 

“Are you sure this is ok? I can figure something else out,” you say feeling uneasy. 

“Like what? Sleeping on a park bench? I assure you it's fine. Now come on.” Gunil starts to walk up his driveway. You follow behind him, nervously fiddling with your hands. “Mom I’m back and-”

“You have a guest,” his mom finished his sentence. After seeing you standing behind him in the doorway. 

“This is my friend y/n and they need a place to stay for a bit,” Gunil said sheepishly. 

“Oh, of course you friends are always welcome here, you know that,” his mom smiled.

“Thank you,” you thanked her.

“Sure thing sweetie, but Gunil, is there any reason why we haven’t met her before?” his mom asks.

“Have you been hiding her from us?” His dad now joined the conversation with a teasing tone. 

“What? No I haven’t it-” Gunil began to sputter, feeling flustered by his dad’s teasing. 

“It’s because I only moved here recently,” you saved. 

“Oh I see. I hope you like it here, but if you’re going to stay with us why don’t you have a bag? Certainly you need more than just a cassette player.” Gunil’s mom looked around for your belongings. 

“I wanted to get permission first. I can go pack my stuff tomorrow,” you told her. You felt your heart pounding. 

“That’s right. I tried to tell her that you would understand, but she didn’t want to intrude,” Gunil backed you up. 

“You’re just a sweet little thing aren’t you? Come on, dinner is ready. I’m sure you both are hungry.” She guides both you and Gunil to the kitchen table. You felt awkward as you sat next to Gunil at the table.

“So y/n where did you move from?” Gunil’s dad questioned you, trying to create some small talk.

You swear you could feel Gunil tense up beside you. 

“Michigan.” Why was that the first place that popped into your head?

“Did you like it there?” he followed up. 

“The lakes were really pretty,” you said the one thing you knew about Michigan. 

“Oh yes! I’ve seen pictures of Lake Michigan I would love to see it in person one day,” Gunil’s mom chimed in. 

“Dinner is really good Mrs. Goo. Thank you,” you state, trying to change the topic. 

“I’m already letting you stay here. There is no need to butter me up.”

“I’m not,” you pronounced, shaking your head. 

“I like her,” Gunil’s mom says and shoots Gunil a look. To which Gunil quickly shakes his head at his mother. A silent plea to ask her to stop. His mother laughs lightly at him. Thankfully you aren’t asked anymore questions throughout the rest of dinner. 

After dinner Gunil showed you the guest room. His mom came into the room holding some pajamas. 

“They might not fit perfectly, but they should be ok for the night.” She smiled at you as she handed them over. 

“Oh, thank you. You didn’t have to,” you said, taking them from her. 

“Don’t be silly. You’re our guest. You should be comfortable,” she insisted. 

“Well thanks again,” you say. Gunil’s mom then steps out of the room, leaving just you and Gunil.  

“My room is right next door”– Gunil pointed towards his room– “And the bathroom is right across the hall. Let me know if you need anything,” he told you. 

“Mmh, thank you” you nod your head.

“No problem.” Gunil turned around and left the room. You looked at the cassette player sitting on the bed. You walked over to the bed, setting down the pajamas that were in your hand to pick up the cassette player. 

“Can’t you just take me home?” you said to the old or you guess it’s not so old right now cassette player. “Please,” you begged, placing a headphone in your ear. You placed in the other one and hit play. Music filled your ears. You pressed the fast forward button, the song played faster. You sighed. Your finger now hovers over the rewind button. What if you hit it and it sends you even farther back in the past? However, on the other hand, what if it sent you home? You took a breath, closed your eyes and hit the rewind button. The song began to rewind. You carefully popped one eye open. Nothing happened, you were still in the guest room. Feeling defeated, you pulled the headphones out of your ears. You changed into the pajamas Gunil’s mom had given you. She was right they weren’t a perfect fit, but they would do. 

Later in the night Gunil’s mom stopped by your door to wish you goodnight. Before you could respond to her you hear Gunil yelling you a goodnight as well through the thin walls. You yelled him a goodnight back which made his mom laugh. Then you wished her a goodnight as well. You made yourself comfortable underneath the covers. Closing your eyes and waiting for sleep to take you away and hopefully back home somehow. 

Upon waking up in the morning it takes you a second to remember where you are. Once you see your mom’s cassette player sitting on the edge of the bed you remember. You were still stuck in 1990. You sat up on the bed not quite knowing what to do. It would be awkward if you just walked out of the room as you are right now right? What if Gunil wasn’t up yet then you would be stuck with his parents. That didn’t seem all that ideal. Your bladder apparently had an answer for you though. The bathroom was right across the hall from you. You would just have to do a quick in and out. You opted for getting dressed first, changing back into the clothes you were wearing yesterday. You carefully opened the door as silently as possible, peeking your head out. When you didn’t see anyone you quickly beelined into the bathroom. You were ready to beeline back to your room however right when you opened the bathroom door someone called you.

“Oh y/n you’re up. How’d you sleep?” Gunil’s mom asked you. You awkwardly stepped into the hallway. 

“I slept good, thanks. You?” you returned.

“I slept good too. Gunil is still sleeping, but I can wake him up if you want,” she offered. 

“That’s ok he can keep sleeping,” you told her. You kinda regretted it though. Maybe it would be better to just wake him up.

“You can come out to the living room. I’m almost done making breakfast,” she tells you. You awkwardly followed her out to the living room. Where you now see Gunil’s dad sitting in the chair. He bid you a good morning as you did to him in return. You tentatively took a seat on the couch. 

“Y/n you never told us why you’re staying with us,” he dad said. You feel your heartbeat pick up as you took a moment to think.

“...Oh my parents are out of town and I don’t feel comfortable staying in our new house by myself yet,” you explained. 

“What’d they go out of town for?” He was probably just trying to make conversation, but you really wish he wasn’t.

“Work.” That sounded reasonable enough, you thought. 

“What do they do for work?” It was too early for your brain to make up these fake answers. 

“They work for a cassette manufacturer.” Gunil answered for you emerging from the hallway. He came and took a seat next to you on the couch. He was still wearing his pajamas and his hair was a bit messy. He looked oddly cute. 

“Gunil you’re up just in time. Breakfast is ready,” his mom informed, coming into the living room. 

You guys all headed to the kitchen, sitting down and eating the breakfast that Gunil’s mom had made.

“Thanks for breakfast mom. I’m gonna go change then I’ll take y/n to go pack her things,” Gunil stated. Just like that Gunil whisked away to his room. You returned to the guest room to grab the cassette player. You had barely grabbed the cassette player when Gunil appeared in the doorway. 

“You ready?” he checked.

“That was fast,” you remarked, taking in his tidied up appearance. His hair was no longer messy and he swapped his pajamas for a black t-shirt and jeans.

“I didn’t want you to wait,” he told you. 

“Thanks, and yeah I’m ready,” you answered him. The two of you walked out of Gunil’s house. “Gunil how are we gonna pack my things when I have no things to pack?” you questioned once you two reached the end of his driveway. Gunil reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

“We have some shopping to do.” He waved his wallet around. 

“Gunil no,” you say, footsteps coming to a stop. Gunil lets out a sigh. His footsteps coming to a stop as well. 

“Do you have a better idea? You can’t exactly wear the same clothes everyday,” he pointed out. 

“I know that, but I feel bad having you spend money on me,” you explained. Gunil takes a couple steps closer to you. 

“Don’t feel bad. I want to. I’ve been wanting to go shopping anyway, so this is the perfect opportunity,” he tells you. 

“Still, won’t it be too much-”

“Shush, your only concern should be figuring out how to get back home. Let me take care of the rest,” he silenced you. He swings one of his arms around your shoulder prompting you to start walking again. When you try to refute again he simply shushes you more.

“Can I ask where we’re going then?” you questioned. You turned your head to look at Gunil, who still had his arm wrapped around your shoulder.

“The mall. It’ll have everything we need,” Gunil answered casually. 

“I haven’t been to the mall in ages,” you say. 

“Really? Are malls not that popular in the future?” Gunil asked with slightly widened eyes. 

“I don’t think they're as popular as they used to be, but plenty of people still go to them,” you answered. Gunil nods at your answer. “How far is the mall?” you asked. 

“About a twenty minute walk,” Gunil answered. 

“Wanna listen to music?” You held up the cassette player. 

“Are you sure it won’t send us to the past?” Gunil jokes. You scoffed. 

“Honestly no I can’t be sure, but it should be fine,” you say. 

“I’ll risk it.” Gunil reaches to take one of the headphones and puts it in his ear. You put the other one in your ear. You hit play on the cassette player, letting the music fill either of yours and Gunil’s ears. To any onlookers you and Gunil probably look like a couple. With Gunil’s arm that he is yet to remove from around your shoulders and now sharing headphones on top of it. You felt oddly comfortable though. This is probably the most relaxed you felt since you had arrived in 1990. 

Upon arriving at the mall both you and Gunil remove the headphones from your ears. Gunil’s arm finally leaves your shoulders. It’s not until he removed his arm that you realized it was there the entire time. Gunil finds that his arm now feels empty that it’s not wrapped around you. 

“Where to first?” you questioned as the two of you walked inside the entrance of the mall. 

“I was thinking we should probably get you a bag first, then we can go get you some clothes,” he tells you. 

“Sounds good,” you agreed. Gunil led you to a shop that had a collection of bags that you could choose from. You ended up picking a blue duffle bag that had teal carrying straps. Next, Gunil takes you to a clothing store. He asked you about your preferences for what types of clothes you like to wear then proceeded to help you pick out some outfits. 

“How about this one?” Gunil asked, holding up a shirt in a color you specifically told him you disliked. You make a very unimpressed face at him. 

“Gunil, I specifically told you I don’t like that color,” you told him. 

“Why? I think it suits you. You look pretty.” He steps closer to you, holding the shirt up to your frame. You feel a warmth trying to make its way to your cheeks. You shook it off. 

“Gunil, no.” You pushed the shirt away from your frame. 

“Come on please. I’m buying anyway,” he pointed. He kinda had you there. He was paying for all your things, so you felt like the least you could do is get something that he liked. Even if it wasn’t something you would pick for yourself. 

“Fine, but don’t keep using that against me.” You pointed a finger at him. Gunil raised his hands in a playful surrender. 

“Ok, I won’t,” he said, happily tossing the shirt with the other clothes you were getting.

Three shops later you convinced Gunil that you really didn’t need anymore stuff. He seemed reluctant, but agreed with you. He insisted that you two get some food before you head back to his place though. You couldn’t deny that all the shopping didn’t work up your appetite, so you and Gunil made your way over to the food court. The two of you got food from a place that Gunil recommended. After getting your food you walked over to the seating area. 

“So how are you liking the 90s mall experience?” Gunil questioned making you laugh. 

“I mean, I don't think it's that different from a modern day mall, but it’s nice,” you say. 

“Yo Gunil! You didn’t tell us you were coming here today. Oh who’s this?” One of, who are assuming, is Gunil’s friends asked. 

“This is y/n. They’re new around here,” Gunil introduced. 

“She looks kinda familiar,” one of the notes.

“I was thinking the same thing,” another one says.

“The park!” One exclaimed pointing at you. “She’s the one who kicked the ball back to us.” 

“Oh, that’s right.” 

“You mean they’re the one-” 

“What are you guys doing here?” Gunil cut his friend off. 

“We were gonna see if they have any new music at the music shop,” One answered. 

“Well then don’t let us stop you guys,” Gunil motioned for them to get going.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! We haven’t introduced ourselves yet,” one says. “I’m Jooyeon,” he introduced himself. 

“I’m Jiseok,” another one said. 

“Seungmin.” The boy gave you a half wave. 

“Jungsu,” he smiled. 

“I’m Hyeongjun,” the last one says shyly. 

“Nice to meet you guys,” you state. 

“You like to listen to music?” Jiseok pointed to your cassette player. You nodded. 

“Yeah you could say that,” you answered. 

“Do you want to come to the music shop with us then?” Jiseok offered. 

“Maybe some other time. We should be heading back now,” Gunil interjected, standing up. 

“Oh don’t be silly Gunil. It’s not even late afternoon yet. Let me see what you listen to, the music store probably has it.” Jiseok reaches for the cassette player you had sitting on the table. Wasting no time in opening it and taking a look at the cassette before you could say anything. “You listen to them too! I-why don’t I recognize any of these songs?” Jiseok starts to look at the cassette closer. 

“Oh that’s be-”

“1993!” Jiseok’s eyes widened. “H-how do you have a cassette from 1993?” Jiseok looked at you in disbelief. You looked at Gunil in a panic. He looked back at you just as panicked. “What’s with those looks? What’s going on?” Jiseok interrogated. 

“Well, you see, I may or may not be from 34 years in the future,” you said. Jiseok’s face deadpans for a moment before he bursts out laughing. 

“That’s a good one. I didn’t think you’d be so funny, but seriously what is this a fake or something?” He waved the cassette in his hand. 

“Listen to it,” Gunil tells him. 

“What?” Jiseok responded. 

“Listen to it,” he gestured for Jiseok to put the cassette back in the player. Jiseok looked skeptical, but he did as he was told. His eyes widened again as he listened to the song he’s never heard before, but is unmistakably from the artist. 

“How is this possible?” Jiseok asked, removing the headphones from his ears. You reach over taking the cassette player back from him. 

“That’s what I want to know,” you sighed.

“Wait a second, are you actually saying that she’s from the future?” Seungmin speaks up. 

“I know it’s hard to believe, but yeah,” Gunil states. 

“Hard to believe? It’s completely crazy!” Seungmin declares. 

“You don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to, but Gunil and I should really get going now,” you say. Gunil gathers the bags of your recently bought items and makes his way to your side. 

“Hold on you can’t just leave after saying you're from the future,” Jooyeon followed after you and Gunil. 

“Ok then you can follow us, but I told my mom we're gonna go pick up y/n’s things. She’ll start to worry if we’re gone for too much longer,” Gunil tells. Like a group of ducklings Gunil’s friends started to follow after you two. 

“We should probably put the stuff into the duffle bag,” you tell Gunil.

“You’re right. Let’s stop for a second.” Gunil stepped aside and the two of you began to pull your recently bought items and put them into the duffle bag. 

“I take it your parents don’t know that she’s from the future?” Jungsu inferred. 

“No, she’s a friend, who moved here recently and is staying with us while her parents are away,” Gunil informed. 

“Do you know where your parents are?” Jooyeon randomly asked. You stopped loading clothes into the duffle bag to think. 

“Umm…if it’s 1990 then,” you pause to do some mental math. “My mom would be sixteen, so she’d be living with my grandparents. I know she goes to the same high school as you guys do,” you say.

“How do you know that?” Gunil asked as he finished putting the last piece of clothing into the duffle bag and zipped it up.

“I saw a picture of you in her old yearbook,” you tell him. It’s a bit ironic that you called the yearbook old considering that it hasn’t been made yet. You go to take the duffle bag from him, but he ignores you and swings it over his own shoulder.

“Oh, that’s how you knew my name started with a G,”’ Gunil commented as he began walking in the direction of his house. 

“Does the name Lee Jooyeon mean anything in the future?” Jooyeon quickly followed behind you both. 

“No, sorry,” you shook your head.

“What about Kwak Jiseok?” Jiseok cut in, appearing beside Jooyeon. Again you shook your head.

“How about Seungmin then? Oh Seungmin,” Jooyeon tried. 

“Oh Seungmin?” you repeated a bit louder. You did recognize that name. 

“Don’t tell us he’s the one who got famous?” Jiseok said. You laughed. While Seungmin let out an offended “Hey!”

“No, he’s not famous. I just know the name because my dad hated him,” you explained. 

“Why would your dad hate me?” Seungmin asked with a bit of hurt in his eyes. 

“I thought you didn’t believe her,” Hyeongjun commented. 

“I-I don’t, not entirely, but if someone hates me,” Seungmin stuttered. 

“Because you always beat him at track. My dad was the top track athlete at his school, but whenever it came to school competitions he could never beat Seungmin. He always came in second,” you explained. 

“So you’re saying your dad is d/n?” he said your father’s name. 

“Yeah, that’s him,” you confirmed. 

“No way,” Seungmin states in denial. 

“What? You don’t see the resemblance?” You turned to face Seungmin. Seungmin leaned closer to inspect your face. You slightly turned your head from side to side to give him a better look at your features. Suddenly Gunil reaches for your wrist pulling you up beside him. 

“It doesn’t matter if he believes you or not. Let’s hurry up and get home,” he quickly said. You can hear the rest of the boys joking about something behind you.

“Mom, we're back!” Gunil shouted upon entering his house. 

“That took a bit longer than I- oh the boys are with you,” his mom says.

“Yeah we ran into them along the way,” Gunil tells.

“Well make yourselves at home,” his mom smiles and steps aside. You all make your way to Gunil’s room, making a pit stop by the guest room you were staying in to set your bag down.

Jooyeon, Jiseok and Hyeongjun made themselves comfortable on Gunil’s bed. Jungsu sat at a desk. Seungmin sat on top of the desk. You stood there awkwardly until Gunil grabbed some pillows from his bed for you two to sit on.

“So if you’re from the future how did you get here?” Jooyeon was quick to ask you more questions.

“This,” you held up your mom’s cassette player. 

“And you let me listen to it!” Jiseok yelled. 

“It happened when she hit the rewind button, not just from listening to it,” Gunil defended. 

“Still,” Jiseok grumbled. 

“Since you’re still here I’m guessing pressing fast forward doesn’t send you back?” Jungsu presumed. 

“Nope,” you shook your head.

“How are you gonna get home then?” Jooyeon questioned. 

“That’s what I want to know,” you sighed. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Gunil told you comfortingly. 

“Maybe it’s cause the cassette is from 1993,” Jiseok spoke. 

“Huh?” you questioned, not understanding what he meant. 

“The cassette is from 1993, so it technically doesn’t exist here yet. Maybe that’s why you can’t go home,” he elaborated. 

“Are you saying I’m gonna be stuck here for three years!” you panicked.

“No,no, no. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Gunil tried to console you, placing his hands on your knee. Meanwhile Jungsu was scolding Jiseok for what he said. 

“What he said kinda makes sense though,” you stated worriedly.

“No, what the others said is right. I’m an idiot, I don't know what I’m talking about.” Jiseok tried to fix the panic he caused you. Seungmin still doesn’t really believe that you’re from the future, but seeing the way you’re freaking out right now makes him want to. He definitely feels bad for you, cause even if you weren’t from the future your situation right now surely isn’t ideal. Gunil is still trying to ease your nerves.

“How about we go to the arcade?” Hyeongjun suggests amidst the bit of chaos happening. 

“I’m not sure now is really-” Jungsu started. 

“I’ve never been to an arcade,” you stated.

“You’ve never been to the arcade? Do they not exist in the future?” Jooyeon asked, astonished. 

“They exist. I’ve just never been,” you informed. 

“Oh, well we totally have to go then,” he said, hopping up from Gunil’s bed. 

“Right now?” Seungmin questioned. 

“Well we don’t know when y/n will return home, so if we want to do something with them we should do it now,” Jooyeon reasoned. 

With that you found yourselves walking to the nearest arcade. Jooyeon and Jiseok practically dragged you because they were excited to play games with you. While Gunil was trying to tell them to slow down, not wanting you to accidentally get hurt. 

The arcade was really fun. It managed to take your mind off your current situation for a while. Jooyeon and Jiseok were excited to teach you how to play the games and maybe tease you when you weren’t so good at one. Hyeongjun was much more chill and helpful when it came to games you had no idea how to play. Gunil stared at you admiringly. He felt like he could relax a bit seeing you genuinely smile and have fun. 

“Are you gonna confess to them before they go back home or are you gonna hide your feelings forever?” Jungsu asked, resting an arm on Gunil’s shoulder. 

“They want to go home. I shouldn’t complicate their situation any more,” Gunil said. 

“You’re allowed to be a little selfish you know?” Jungsu voices. 

“Even if I did confess it’s not like we can exactly be together. Plus I’m sure being in a relationship is the last thing on her mind,” Gunil notes.

“It’s a given that you can’t stay together, but do you really want to give up on being with her, even if it’s for a short amount of time?” Jungsu put to question.

Gunil saw you at the park on the day you first arrived. He thought that you were cute, so he may have accidentally sent the ball he and his friends were playing with your way. He was looking for an excuse to talk to you. When he saw you sitting on the sidewalk on his way home he couldn’t up the god given opportunity to talk to you again. Upon finding out about your situation it was clear that you were very stressed, but Gunil couldn’t help but feel a teensy bit glad. He was able to spend more time with you because of it. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want that. Jungsu told him that he was allowed to be selfish, but he was already being selfish. He didn’t simply offer to help you out of the goodness of his heart. No, it was because he liked you. He was already being selfish with his actions, so he didn’t know how far he should go with selfishness. Would it be too selfish to tell you how he felt about you?

Gunil is interrupted from his internal struggle when he sees you excitedly jumping up and down at a claw machine, reaching down to claim your stuffed prize. 

“Gunil look!” You hurried over to him to show him the turtle you just won. Gunil falls for you even more, finding you adorable. 

“It’s cute,” he smiles at you. He means both you and the turtle. 

After your time spent at the arcade you part ways with Gunil’s friends. Gunil enjoys it being just you and him again. He watches you as you walk looking down at the stuffed turtle you just won. 

“What should I name it?” you asked Gunil for his opinion. 

“Umm?” Gunil thought. 

A loud honk interrupts his thinking. He looks at the sound of the honk seeing a truck fastly approaching you two as you're midway across the crosswalk. Gunil quickly pulls you out of the way of the vehicle. The truck goes wheezing past you two. 

CRASH! SNAP! CRACK! Panic rages through your body as you stare at your mom’s old cassette player that is now in pieces. It was haphazardly shoved in your pocket and the force of Gunil suddenly pulling you must’ve somehow made it pop out of your pocket. 

“Are you ok?” Gunil looks you over still not noticing what had just happened. 

“I’m. I’m. Uh, the- how am I?” Your non-coherently sputter out, pointing at the cassette player.

“What?” Gunil flows the direction of your finger and sees the broken cassette player. Gunil quickly goes to gather the broken pieces.

“It’s gonna be ok?” He tried to calm you. 

“How is it going to be ok? That- that’s my only way home and it’s-” you heaved.

“Look at me,” Gunil says calmly. Your eyes hesitantly tear away from the broken pieces in his hands to look at his face.

“It’ll be ok. There’s a repair shop we can take it too. They’ll fix it,” he tells you. 

“But what if-”

“They’ll fix it,” he told you firmly. 

“Ok,” you let out a shaky breath. 

Gunil and you arrived at the repair shop. You’re shaking with nerves. Fearing for the worst. That your mom’s cassette player will be unfixable and you’ll be stuck here forever. 

“I think it would be easier to buy a new cassette player,” the worker of the shop informed. It made your heart sink to your stomach. 

“It was a gift from her mom. You can surely fix it right?” Gunil told the worker in a passive aggressive voice. 

“Look man-” Gunil leaned whisper something to the guy. “Ok, I’ll see what I can do. Come back in a week to pick it up,” the worker says. 

“Great, thank you,” Gunil said to the worker. 

“Come on.” Gunil wrapped his arm around your shoulder leading you out of the store. 

“Can he really fix it?” you asked, doubtfully. 

“He’ll fix it,” Gunil said confidently. This was going to be the longest week of your life.

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

It indeedly was the longest week of your life. Gunil tried his very best to keep you distracted. He wanted to show you the joy of living in the 90s. He took out around town, showing you his favorite spots. He invited you out with his friends (who have started to grow close with you.) You  could never completely shake the anxious feeling in your stomach though. Yes, you were having fun thanks to Gunil and his friends, but having fun didn’t make your problem go away. You were simply making the best out of a bad situation. 

Currently you are sitting on the couch with Gunil, a movie playing on the t.v. It’s the night before you go pick up the cassette player. You bounced your leg anxiously as the fear of the worst began to set back in.

“Are you not interested in this movie?” Gunil asked you. It was an indirect way of asking if you were ok. 

“I don’t think I’ll be interested in any movie. I’m too nervous. What if it couldn’t be fixed?” you told Gunil your worries. 

“I told you it’ll be fixed.” Gunil scooted closer to you on the couch. 

“You can’t know that for sure. What if I’m stuck here forever?” your voice raised slightly. Not because you were mad at Gunil, but because you were terrified of never being able to get home.

“Then I’ll take care of you forever,” Gunil answered. He tenderly took your hands in his. 

“You can’t do that Gunil. You’ve already done so much, too much. I can’t keep burdening you, and your parents,” you argued. 

“You aren't a burden y/n. I took you here because I want to look after you,” he tells you. His thumbs run over your knuckles. 

“Realistically, how long can you do that? Your parents are bound to ask where my parents really are soon. What are we supposed to tell them? That I actually ran away from home? That my parents abandoned me? That I’m from the future?” you ranted. 

“I get that you're really scared and stressed right now, but can you please just trust me. Let me take care of you. We don’t know if the cassette player is fixed or not right now. Let’s at least see how it goes tomorrow,” Gunil proposed. 

“What if it couldn’t be fixed?” you asked again.

“Then you can have a mental breakdown, but I’ll take care of you during that too.” His thumbs stop rumbling your knuckles, but his grip remains grounding on your hands. 

“Why do you care so much?” you questioned.

“Because I like you,” Gunil confessed. Your hands go slack in his due to shock. 

“What do you mean?” you asked not being able to understand. 

“I like you,” he repeated. “That ball didn’t accidentally land at your feet when we were in the park. I purposely kicked it over to you cause I wanted your attention. I thought you were pretty and wanted to talk to you,” he revealed. 

“Then all this time you’ve…” You trailed off, not knowing exactly what you wanted to say. 

“I know that you don’t like the situation you're in right now and that romance is one of the last things that would be on your mind. Which is why I wasn’t sure if I should tell you how I feel, but I’ve really enjoyed being with you this entire time. It’s selfish cause I know how stressed and scared you are. I really want to be by your side as long as I can,” he continued on. 

“I feel most relaxed when you’re with me,” you tell him truthfully. “You’re right romance isn’t exactly on my to do list, but I like being with you too,” you say. A smile tugged at your lips. You moved your previously slack hand to hold Gunil’s hand back. Your words weren’t exactly a confession, but for Gunil they were more than enough. You liked being with him. That alone made him feel over the moon.

Gunil moved to lean against the back of the couch, pulling you along with him. His hands never left yours. Both of your eyes wandered back to the t.v that neither of you were paying attention to. Gunil being too wrapped up in the feeling of you leaning against him and the fact that you liked being beside him, just as he liked being beside you. Your nerves about finding out if your way home was fixed or not definitely keep you distracted. However you also found that the way Gunil was absentmindedly playing with your fingers and the calming warmth that radiated off of him proved to be an equally good distraction. 

Sometime during you and Gunil basking in each other's presence the two of you drifted off to sleep. Your head falling on Gunil’s shoulder and his head resting on yours. Gunil’s hands placed protectively over yours from where they fell in the small space between your two bodies on the couch. 

“He really tired to convince us that she’s just a friend,” Gunil’s mom said when her and Gunil’s dad returned home from their date night to find you and Gunil cuddled up on the couch. 

“The hearts in his eyes were never fooling us dear,” his dad stated. 

“They look so cute. I need to take a photo.” Gunil’s mom quickly and excitedly rushed off to grab the camera. She snapped a couple photos of you and Gunil. Then Gunil’s dad ushered her away from your sleeping forms, not wanting to wake the two of you and ruin the moment.

Your eyes cracked open in the morning, taking in the lighter room. You notice that the t.v has been turned off. Next you realize that your head is resting on Gunil’s shoulder and you can feel the weight of his head resting against yours. You slowly tried to remove your hands out from under Gunil’s. When they were almost free Gunil’s hands suddenly grasped onto your hands, bringing them back to his hold. 

“Gunil,” you softly called out his name. You carefully lifted your head up from Gunil’s shoulder, which resulted in Gunil’s head coming down onto your shoulder.

“Gunil,” you tried again. “Gunil.” You shook your shoulder. Gunil started to stir awake.

“Mmh,” he mumbled, opening his eyes. 

“Good morning,” you told him. Gunil now realizes the position that the two of you are in and sits up straight. Then he realizes that his hands are holding yours. A shade of pink dusts his cheeks. 

“Good morning,” he said. “Do you want some breakfast? We have cereal or I could make some eggs,” he offered standing up from the couch.

“Cereal’s fine,” you say, standing up from the couch too. Gunil and you walk over to the kitchen and make your bowls of cereal. He pulls your chair out for you before you sit down.

“Thanks,” you smiled. He nodded then pulled out the chair beside you to sit down in. 

“Look who’s up,” Gunil’s mom said as she entered the kitchen. You and Gunil each wished her a good morning. “Did you two sleep well?” she asked. You and Gunil share a glance. You both know she must’ve seen you two on the couch.

“Yeah, I slept well,” Gunil answered. 

“Me too,” you followed. Your answer makes Gunil smile and Gunil’s mom certainly doesn’t miss it.

“That’s good. I know sleeping on the couch isn’t always the most comfortable, but you two looked so cute I didn’t want to disturb you guys,” she says. Both yours and Gunil’s faces flared red at her comment. 

“Should we go pick up your cassette player now?” Gunil asked, changing the topic. 

“Yes, we should,” you eagerly nodded. The two of you hurried up eating your cereal then rushed out of the kitchen. Gunil’s mom could only smile, finding you two adorable. 

Once you and Gunil got ready you headed to the repair shop. The closer you got to the shop the more nervous you got. Gunil easily noticed how nervous you were and slipped his hand into your, giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

“I got you,” he tells you. 

The two of you arrive at the shop. You always thought the saying of feeling your heart in your throat was weird, but now you understand it cause it really did feel like your heart was in your throat. 

“We’re here to pick up the cassette player,” Gunil told the worker. 

“I know, I remember you,” the worker said, giving Gunil a look. The worker reaches under the counter and pulls out your mom’s cassette player. It looks like it’s fixed…accept for a crack that runs across the lid. “I couldn’t get rid of this crack, but it works,” the worker said. 

“The crack doesn't matter. Thank you for fixing it,” you told the worker, taking the cassette player in your hands.

“Just doing my job,” he replied. Then he turns to Gunil, so that he can pay. 

“Sorry about the crack,” Gunil says as you two exited the store. 

“It’s ok. It answered a question actually,” you disclosed. 

“What question?” Gunil asked. 

“Back in the future, my mom and I were going through boxes of her old things. This cassette player was in one of the boxes and it had this exact crack, but my mom had no clue how it got there. She never remembered it having a crack,” you told. 

“Well mystery solved then,” Gunil said. 

“Yeah, mystery solved.” You unwrapped the headphones from around the cassette player and handed one to Gunil. He gladly took it and placed it in his ear. He took this time to wrap his arm around your shoulder, just like the first time you two listened to the cassette together. 

Soon enough you arrived back at Gunil’s house to discover it empty, meaning his parents went out somewhere. The pair of you made yourselves comfortable on the couch.

“So what exactly happened when the cassette player brought you to the past,” Gunil questioned. 

“I told you I hit rewind,” you chuckled. 

“I know that, but did you hit any other button first or?” he clarified. You took a moment to think back.

“I smacked it,” you remembered. “When I first hit rewind it didn’t work, so I smacked it thinking it might get it to work,” you explained. 

“Have you tried smacking it again?” he asked. 

“No, but it just got fixed. I’m scared to smack it now,” you said. 

“I’m not saying to smack it with all you got, but it’s worth a shot,” he stated. You lift your hand to give the cassette player a smack then paused. 

“Are you that scared? Should I do it for you?” he offered. 

“It’s not that.” You lowered your hand. 

“Then what is it?” 

“It’s funny. Most of the time I’ve been here, I’ve been wanting to go home, but right now it feels hard to leave,” you say.

“Well you know I’m not going to tell you to go,” Gunil said lightheartedly. “There’s no guarantee that smacking it would work either,” he notes. 

“I know, but if it does. I think I’d rather try it later.” 

“You wanna go get ice cream?” he suggested. 

“Sounds good,” you agree. 

You spent the rest of the day out with Gunil. Having your ice cream then going to walk around the mall. After the mall you walk aimlessly around the town. 

“Well look who it is?” A voice spoke behind you two. Both you and Gunil turn your heads to see Jooyeon standing there with Jiseok. The pair of them had teasing smiles on their faces. 

“Yeah look who it is,” Gunil said. 

“It’s fixed,” Jiseok pointed to the cassette player in your hands. 

“Yep.”

“Any ideas on how to get home?” he asked. 

“We have an idea, but we don't know if it will work,” you said. 

“How come you haven’t tried it yet?” Jooyeon questioned. 

“Do you want me to leave without saying goodbye?” you said, quasi offended. 

“Of course not. I’d be very sad if you just disappeared. You just always seem like you’re eager to go home, so I’d thought you’d jump at any chance,” he responded. 

“I thought so too, but it’s harder to leave than I expected,” you say looking at Gunil.

“Aww have you grown attached to us! We’ve gotten attached to you too,” Jooyeon and Jiseok pull you into a sandwiched hug. 

“You seriously can’t leave without saying goodbye ok?” Jiseok states pulling away. 

“But there’s no way to tell when I’ll be leaving,” you brought up. 

“We should have a goodbye party!” Jooyeon shouted. Jiseok immediately agreed. 

“If we have a goodbye party and I don’t go home wouldn’t it be awkward?” You asked. 

“Maybe a little, but with a goodbye party we won’t have to worry about not getting to say goodbye,” Jooyeon answered. 

That’s how you found yourself at the very park, where you first arrived in the 90s. Surrounded by Gunil's friends, who are also your friends now too. Pizza boxes litter the ground along with soda cans. 

“I still think this party is kinda stupid,” Seungmin said while taking a sip of soda. 

“So if y/n just disappears and goes back home one day you’re not going to miss them and wish that you could’ve said goodbye?” Jungsu interrogated.

“Whether you believe she is from the future or not. She is still leaving one day no matter what,” Hyeongjun added.  

“But we don’t know when that is, so having this party when we could still see them tomorrow seems kinda silly,” Seungmin defended. 

“Exactly. We don’t know when. She could leave tonight, tomorrow, next week. This way we don’t miss saying goodbye,” Jooyeon said. 

Goodbye parties typically are kinda sad, but you didn’t think this one would feel as sad as it did. You hadn’t really been in the 1990 all that long, yet you’ve made great friends, met a guy who makes your heart flutter and makes it hard to say goodbye. The boys taking the turns saying goodbye to you at the end of the party had all your eyes turning glossy. 

“If I find you in the future then you’ll have to believe me then right?” you asked Seungmin. 

“Yes, if you find me in the future. Looking as you do now. I’ll have no choice, but to believe you.”

“Then goodbye till then,” you told him. 

“Goodbye y/n.” The party ended with a group hug and maybe some spilled tears that no one would admit too. 

“Should I try smacking it?” you asked Gunil. The two of you were currently sitting on his bed. 

“Do you want to?” he followed. 

“With having the goodbye party I feel like I should at least try,” you say. 

“Then let me say goodbye before you do,” he said. 

“Hold on, let me go grab something,” you excused yourself. You went to your room and grabbed the stuffed turtle you won. You returned to Gunil’s room and handed him the turtle when you sat back down beside him. 

“You’re giving this to me?” he checked. 

“Mhm,” you hummed. “I always planned on giving it to you. I doubt it would come back to the future with me anyway, but I won it with giving it to you in mind,” you tell him. “Thank you.” Gunil hugs the stuffed turtle to his chest. 

“It still doesn’t have a name,” you pointed out. 

“I’ll think of one for it.” He already knew what he was gonna name it, but he felt too shy to name it after you right in front of you. He sets the turtle down on his pillow and turns to pull you into a hug. 

“I’m really going to miss you,” he says, resting his head over your shoulder. 

“I’m gonna miss you too,” you hug him back. “I like you too,” you confessed. Gunil pulled back enough to look at you. 

“I’m a little late to say it back, but I wanted to say it before I leave,” you give him a sentimental smile. Gunil smiles at you back and cups your face in his hands. He leans forward, pressing a warm, loving, gentle kiss on your forehead. You close your eyes basking in the feeling of his lips on you. Your hands come up to hold his wrist lovingly. The two of you stay like that for a few moments. Saying nothing, but also somehow saying everything. 

“Give it a try,” Gunil says, pulling away.

“Ok.” You put each side of the headphones in your ears. You hit play then gave the cassette player a smack. You took a breath and hit rewind. Nothing happened. Literally nothing happened. The rewind button didn’t work, the song kept playing like normal. 

“It doesn’t work,” you say. 

“We’ll just have to think of something else then,” Gunil said. 

“No, like the rewind button doesn’t work. Did smacking it break it? This is what I worried about,” you complained. 

“Hey it’s ok. Let me see.” Gunil takes the cassette player from your hands. This time he gives it a smack. “Try it now.” He handed it back over to you. You give Gunil one last look before hitting the button. The song began to play backwards and the room started to blur.

You were back in your bedroom. Only the cassette player wasn’t with you. 

“Y/n can you come help me with these boxes?” your mom asked you. Help her with boxes? Like on the day you time traveled. You checked the date, surely enough it was the morning of the day you left. 

“And why exactly have you decided to take a trip down memory lane?” you asked your mom. Letting out a heave as you set the heavy box down on your mom’s bed. 

“I watched Jetsons: The Movie yesterday and it got me feeling nostalgic,” your mom answers you, taking off the lid to the box. “My old cassette player!” your mom called out excitedly as she pulled the old device from the box. “I used to use this all the time,” she tells you. There it is the very cassette player that took you back in time. 

“So much that it cracked,” you joked. Despite knowing very well where the crack came from.

“I actually don’t remember it having a crack,” your mom said, scratching her head.

“Must’ve gotten dropped at some point,” you say, recalling the memory of Gunil pulling out of the way of the speeding vehicle. 

“I wonder if it still works. I’ll buy batteries for it when I go out later,” she says. You looked into the box and pulled out the year book, flipping to the page with Gunil and your mom. A sad smile appeared on your face. Your finger slowly rubbed over Gunil’s image. 

“He wasn’t my boyfriend if that’s what you’re wondering,” your mom pulls you from your gaze.

“Honey, are you ok? Your eyes are red,” your mom looked at you concerned.

“I think some dust got in my eyes when we pulled the boxes down,” you lied.

“Let me go get you a wet rag,” your mom hurried away. You missed Gunil. You missed him so much it hurt. You want to cry looking at his picture. Now you know he mistook your mom for you that day. That he was probably all excited to see you again, pulling you into a super tight back hug. Only to find out that it wasn’t you. “Here you go. Wipe your eyes,” your mom gives you the rag. You couldn’t hold the couple of stray tears that escaped as you held the rag to your eyes. 

Later in the day when your mom got back with the batteries you listened to the cassette with her.

“Can I keep this for a while?” you asked her. 

“Of course you can! Ooh I’ll go grab you my other cassettes to listen to.” She went to grab the other cassette. You didn’t plan on listening to them though. You were only going to listen to this one and remember your time spent in the 90s with Gunil. Still when she returned you brought the cassettes up to your room and sat them down.

“We found my old cassette player this morning,” your mom tells your dad as you all eat dinner. 

“Oh really? Does it still work?” he asked. 

“Yeah, but it has this crack across the lid that I don’t remember it having,” she answered. 

“Guess it's a mystery,” your dad said. 

“No, I dropped it when I time traveled back to 1990,” you say. 

“That’s a good one,” your dad chuckled. 

After dinner you headed up to your room. You laid down in your bed and listened to the cassette player. Tears cascaded down your face. 

For the next week you cooped up in your room. Feeling what you would call a heartbreak. The worst part was that you couldn’t talk about it. All you could do was listen to the cassette as you thought about your memories with Gunil and his friends. You wished that you could see Gunil one last time. You spent the bulk of your time there worrying about how to get back home, but now ironically enough all you want to do is go back, just one more time. 

“Please, please, just one more time,” you pleaded. 

“Y/n!” You opened your eyes and there Gunil is standing right in front of you. 

“Gunil!” You throw yourself into his arms. He crushes you in the tightest hug. “Wait, how is this possible? I didn’t hit rewind or anything.” 

“I need to do something I really regretted not doing before you left,” he said. 

“What’s that?” you questioned. 

Gunil cups your face just like he did when he was saying goodbye. Expect this time instead of leaning in and kissing your forehead, his lips land on yours. Your hands travel to his shoulders and one of his hands moves to cradle the back of your head. 

“That.” He pulls away to rest his forehead against yours. “I really regretted not doing that.”

Your eyes open and again and your back in your bedroom. You don’t know if what just happened was a dream or not. You decide to go with not because you wanted it to be real. 

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

“Honey, can you run to the store real quick? I realized I forgot something for dinner tonight,” your mom asked your dad.

“Does dinner really need it?” your dad asked. 

“Yes, why are you too lazy to go?” 

“No, Seungmin grocery shops today I don’t want to run into him,”

“Are you serious? After all these years do you still hate Seungmin that much?” Your mom asked in disbelief. 

“It’s not my fault I ran into him at the grocery store. He just had to bag his belongings quicker than me. He's a stupidly fast asshole,” your dad complained.

“I’ll go mom,” you speak up. You needed to see Seungmin. 

“Thank you,” your mom told you. 

You arrived at the store, found what your mom needed for dinner and then walked around looking for Seungmin, hoping that he was there. 

“Oh Seungmin!” you called out when you saw a guy that looked like he could be an older version of Seungmin. The dude turns around at you looking perplexed at who could be calling his name. 

“Y/n?” he said. 

“You believe me now right?”

“How is this possible?” 

“You know how it is. Time travel,” you sassed. 

“You look exactly the same,” he says. He’s still partly in denial.

“Yeah, it’s been 34 years for you, but It’s only been a week for me. Are you and Gunil still friends?” you asked, changing your tone. 

“We’re friends for life,” Seungmin stated “Give me your phone,” he told you. 

“Why?” you asked, still pulling out your phone nonetheless. Seungmin took it from you and began to type something in. 

“You should give him a call. He’s been waiting,” Seungmin said. You stare down at the number typed on your phone screen. 

You got into the car and sat down. You stared at the number once more before hitting the call button. You feel butterflies dancing in your stomach. 

“Hello?” he picked up. 

“Hey Gunil,” you say. 

“Y/n?” he asked. He looked over to the stuffed turtle that he still keeps on his bed even after all these years.

“You’ve been waiting a long time right?”

“I’d wait forever if I had too.”

Taglist: @purplelady85, @odesonnets, @gingerjunhan, @chewednails, @ezlynkisses, @mon2sunjinsuver, @mxlly143

[puppetmaster13u]

The omegaverse post is getting. VERY long- so I’m swinging into here-

At two-three ish years old, i think Damian would be on solid foods at that point, granted- he did just come from a cloning tube, so he wouldn’t have had any solid foods- but nonetheless, I don’t think Bruce would start producing milk.

Also, Pit rage + Dynamics?

I can see either that the Pit Rage is almost completely removed from the equation due to Jason having grown up with unnatural instincts, (There is a Lazarus pit in Gotham after all, he could have immunity due to being raised in the hellpit that is Gotham) or it’s so much worse.

Jason will either be almost completely uneffected except for being a bit more feral, or will drop into angry ferality at the drop of a hat.

And you know that Tim will end up being smothered by both Jason and Bruce- though, most often it’s Jason because Jason now has a little brother- one that needs his help and protection from his clearly neglectful parents.

Tim has no idea how dynamics work- and While very much annoyed by it, Atleast Jason can teach Tim how to be a proper pup with Steph’s help. (I can see Jason having helped taught Dick when he first came to the manor in a similar way)

And Steph will want to join in. This pack is a mess, but she she still wants to help. While She’s not full Wayne pack, she is definitely on the fringes of the pack. Not as much as Jim, but still there. ‘Sides, it’s fun playing with a big pack like the Wayne Pack! There’s so much chaos and Bruce makes amazing nests.

Also- Dynamic Headcanons time, in order of hierarchy cus why not.

Bruce - Head Omega

Alfred - Elder Beta

Dick - Alpha (Defaulted to Head alpha due to being the only adult alpha in the core part of the pack)

Jason - Pup Omega (Presented)

Tim - Pup Beta (Unpresented)

Damian - Puppy

Steph, Jim, and Barbara are on the fringes of the pack, so their rank in the pack often changes depending on what’s needed. But they default right above the pups more often than not.

Also, I can see all three of them being alphas.

Good idea lol- I'll add links to the previous ones too. 1 2

First of all, yesss. Tim is slowly brought out of his shell and encouraged by the combined might of the entire pack. No, Bruce and Jason are not almost sobbing in relief the first time Tim actually responds like a pup should.

Omg, I absolutely adore the idea of tiny pup Jason helping Dick learn how to pup. Dragging him into wrestles and gnawing at him until he asks him to stop.

I feel like Steph tries to stay on the edge of the pack but slowly gets sucked in lol, not helped by the fact that she's Spoiler. And getting dragged into the Batman's side of a pack too. It is inevitable at this point.

Gosh, what if the pit rage like, he's fine and completely in control as long as there's a Lazarus presence- which is thankfully all around Gotham. But like, if he leaves an area that hasn't had any sort of death-juice corruption he loses it a little bit. Like he has to learn how to control it before he can properly leave Gotham- outside of emergencies where he has a pendant or something with a tiny bit of the Waters maybe?

[sundays-wing-piercing]

Oh my gosh it’s Pixel again I was typing an ask and I think I pressed the send button on accident haha sorry but what I was SAYING was he always has that soft voice. It’s hard to imagine him raising his voice and yelling no matter how upset he gets.

But oh my gosh if he DOES get pushed to that point?? That’d be so scary oh my gosh…

Sorry I sent them in two parts lol my bad😂😂😭😭 and like I said if it’s too dark go ahead and just disregard-

Have a good day~

WELCOME BACK PIXEL!!! I think I once reblogged a fic idk if it was yours where it had something similar and I said "that's hot, sadly I cry when shouted at" AHHSJSEJWHSHSSGH I still think it's hot-

Now he's a busy man he litterally has a whole planet to look after. The dreamscape is somewhat falling apart not to mention...yknow, a dear family member so this man is stressed. Even concealer isn't enough to hide the dark circles around his eyes. You also notice how his feet always seemed restless these days. Possibly cause of his recent unhealthy caffeine intakes BUT YOU GET THE POINT.

Man is this close to absolutely losing his mind 🤏 and this time what appears to you as the normal disagreement that he would usually nod silently to with a smile feels more like stepping on a mine. You've absolutely NEVER seen him shout so angrily before. Whatever rage you had before was quickly swapped in for fear as his hand grips you arm tight enough that it hurts. You litterally start tearin' up.

Aight let's make out up two scenarios. First one is Ai's fluffy Sunday where he would quickly snap out of it and release you. Even he is terrified of what he just did and he can't help but feel guilty as you sob out apology after apology muffled by his shoulder. He would probably politely ask you for some alone time between the two of you to sort of calm his state of mind without the risk of that happening again and once it's done he will make sure to make it up to you.

TW for manipulative behaviour under the cut!!!

Second is a more manipulative aproach inspired by your writings but I'd imagine after the scolding he'll slouch down to the point where you are face to face with him as he goes back to that gentle voice to ask you if he was clear. Oh you think that'll be easy? He won't stop until you look him in the eye and verbally tell him yes. Afterwards he'd pat your head and pull you into his arms as he calms you down. Now sobbing in his shoulder as the other scenario described just with a whole lotta guilt this time. Don't worry, this won't happen ever again as long as you don't misbehave. You surely won't disobey him anymore right? He's doing all of this for you afterall.

Both endings leave you scared shitless but atleast the first one ain't that bad.

Come again whenever!! Thank you for asking and sorry if it's not up to your standards thank you thank you~☆

[mechformers]

Ma Miles - Ch. 17

9.5k words

Chapter warning: Oh gosh, where do I even start... Wound cleaning and dressing, "sponge bath", grief, panic attack, Mo'at should be a warning in and of herself lol, what did I even write??? I am not responsible for anything that happens in chapter 17 alright! Oh, boner alert... Come to think of it - I guess Quaritch's horrible flirting should be a warning too

So... this got a bit longer and later than I had intended lol I would absolutely love any and all comments you would want to give me, be it a clean "neat" or an unintelligible long ramble!

(If you want to be tagged with the updated chapters, please leave your @ myusername in the comments! )

Previous chapter | Masterpost | Chapter 18

The sea gently laps against the roots below your kelku, the sound soothing as you sit cross-legged in your nest, staring down at your sleeping son while you run your fingers over your songcord, the new beads bringing deep sorrow to your heart. Pressing your voice through your lips, the sound fills the kelku as you sing, remembering each bead as you go. Spider smiles in his sleep and it makes your heart soar within your chest. Your son was safe once more, removed from the dangers that had surrounded you for far too long. Finishing your songcord, you’re surprised to see Jake Sully standing in the doorway, a conflicted expression on his bruised face. Smiling gently at him, you welcome him to sit by your nest with a nod of your head.

“Are they -” Jake tries, his voice breaking as he tries to reel in the conflict raging within him, “The addition was beautiful, I’m sorry I listened in on it without your permission,”

“Who they were with us meant something to me, Jake Sully,” You hum as you look down at the bead between your fingers that represents the recom unit.

“Just call me Jake, Y/n. We have known each other long enough by now,” Jake offers, his voice gentle as he watches you turn the bead between your fingers once more. “How is he?”

“The demon has not moved,” You growl pathetically as your ears flatten against your skull and your tail trashes angrily behind you.

“Yeah, he had that effect on people,” Jake chuckles softly even though he looks uncomfortable.

“What effect?” You huff out a little harsher than you had intended to.

“The anger and frustration that you’re feeling, I don’t think there’s anyone he’s ever crossed paths with who hasn’t felt the same,” The words are meant to bring you comfort, yet, as the realization sets in, it only brings you immense sadness.

Had the demon really been like this to everyone he ever met? Had he really had no one by his side that he could have been himself with? He must have… He managed to create Spider with a mate, after all. The thought sours your mood even more as your tail thrashes behind you. His unit seemed fond of him too, so he couldn’t have been completely alone.

“Tell me about him,” You hear yourself saying, your desperation to know more, to grab and hold onto anything that would point somewhere in the direction that all of this was just one big misunderstanding, clear in your voice.

“About the Colonel?” Jake does a double take, his eyes widening.

“Yes, tell me about him,” You confirm, turning your hopeful eyes to him, “Please,”

“Um… I don’t know what there is to say. You obviously know the important details,” Jake starts, his eyebrows furrowing with unease.

“That is not the important details. Who was he when he was not this Colonel?” You plead with him, the passion in your voice obviously enough to sway him.

“I didn’t know him for very long, but in the time before our relationship turned sour, he was a decent enough guy. Typical bonehead Marine, stern, direct, but behind all of that, he took care of his own,” Jake starts before taking a deep sigh. You smile at the way you recognize what Jake is describing.

“He would always go that extra mile for his people - for his family. But there was always this thing looming over him, a pressure that always had him moving forward, never quite standing still. If he wasn’t training the troops, giving safety briefings, or being in meetings, he was cooped up in his office doing paperwork until late at night.” The way Jake describes him makes the same sad feeling from before drape over you again. What Jake was describing was not a life…

“When he wasn’t at the base, he was always on the move. You see, Quaritch led from the frontline, always taking the first step to pave the path for his people, to make sure that it was the right line of motion.” Jake huffed before immediately freezing, the fond memory obviously not one he expected to have.

“Quaritch made a lot of horrible decisions as head of security for the RDA, but he always looked for the right path to take, the one that would lead to the smallest amount of casualties on both sides. You see, in basic training, you're taught to make quick decisions under fire. To view everything through the pinhole of surviving the moment.” Jake got a far-off look in his eyes and you got the feeling that there was more to the words than what you were talking about right now.

“When none of your choices are good, you make the best of the bad ones. There's no room for second-guessing. No time for regret.” Jake continues before meeting your eyes head-on, ”That comes later. A luxury for the living, so to say."

“Quaritch was no exception. I could see it in his eyes after a bad mission. It was in the way he snapped at people or avoided the big bosses at all possible costs. He would try his best to hide it, but it was in everything he did for many days after.” The words felt hollow as Jake spoke them. Although you understand them, you can't quite wrap your head around the action behind them.

“Why did he not refuse to do these missions?” You can’t help but ask, immediately noticing how Jake shakes his head as he huffs a humorless chuckle.

“It didn’t - doesn’t - work like that, Y/n.” He quickly corrects himself and you get the dawning feeling that he’s speaking from experience. “Once you got a job that paid well enough, you needed to dig your claws in to keep it. Earth, the planet we were from, has become hostile, our Great Mother brutally murdered by the greed of the few, and the desperation to simply just survive of the many. If you were lucky enough to get a job on Pandora, you made sure to keep it. Besides, he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Everyone is replaceable for the RDA - if Quaritch had refused, another, possibly worse, person would have simply just taken his place and done it anyway,”

What Jake says is disturbing, sending chills down your spine. Did the sky people really treasure life that poorly? Did they really just replace each other if someone refused to do what was obviously wrong? You stare back at Jake with big eyes as the silence stretches on.

“You know, I hadn’t really thought about it that way before,” Jake starts, another conflicted look crossing his face. “Quaritch valued loyalty above all else, didn’t matter who you were or who you had been. When he accepted you into his unit, that was a clean slate for you, a new chance at life for when you rotated back home.”

“His values do not excuse his actions,” Mo’at grounds from behind you, making the both of you turn your heads in her direction, only to see Tonowari standing by her side with his arms crossed.

“Tsahìk,” You greet Mo’at, before looking at Tonowari, “Olo’eyktan, I see you,”

“How is your son?” Tonowari asks, his uncertain eyes looking at Spider’s sleeping form.

“Spider is doing well, Olo’eyktan,” Your little kelku feels crowded with the five of you inside, but it means little when Mo’at huffs and presses past Tonowari.

“Spider is going to be a great hunter, a mighty warrior. You do not need to worry about him,” Your Tsahìk looks so proud as she speaks about your son, her head held high as she walks over to the supplies she left the day before. “Y/n, we have lessons to get to,”

“Yes, Tsahìk,” You mumble as you hurry over to her side, bending your head as you pass Tonowari.

“I guess that is our cue to leave,” Jake chuckles as he gets to his own feet.

“I specifically remember giving you an order to be with your family today, to not let me see you moving around,” Tonowari rumbles as he crosses his massive arms over his equally massive chest while pinning Jake with a harsh stare.

“What can I say, my friend…” Jake grins as he spreads his arms, palms up.

“How Neytiri deals with you is beyond me,” Tonowari chuckles, rolling his eyes as he shakes his head. Wrapping an arm around Jake’s shoulders, the bigger man steers Jake’s smaller body out of the marui pod.

“How has his rest been?” Mo’at asks while laying supplies on a woven mat before her.

“His rest has been sure, Tsahìk,” You reply before sitting down beside her, taking the mortar she has offered you.

“And yours?” Mo’at’s knowing eyes pierce through you as you sigh deeply.

“Troubled,” You eventually respond honestly, knowing that the older woman would know whether you replied or not.

“If you are to heal the demon, you will need to be rested. I do not share my lessons with just anyone, Y/n” Mo’at’s voice leaves no room for argument.

If you were being honest with yourself, you felt gratitude for getting the chance to learn from the Tsahìk herself. With no particular skills of your own, you had been shuffled around to where there was a need for extra hands, your whole life. It wasn’t as if you were untalented, you just hadn’t found the right path for you. But maybe going through tsakarem, for however long it would be taught to you, would be the missing link in your life, finally offering you a chance to be useful to your clan.

For the following week, Mo’at teaches you how to crush ingredients into different textures, teaches you what herbs would help with healing wounds specific to the demon’s injuries, and how to assess his condition throughout the day as he lay unconscious. It’s incredibly hard work, but somehow, you make it work. Spider is gone most of the day anyway, so instead of sitting alone in the kelku to watch over the demon, you welcome the older woman’s guidance.

“You have done well,” Mo’at hums one afternoon after you cleaned and redressed the demon’s wounds.

Whatever Mo’at was feeding him sure kick-started his weight gain. As if you hadn’t been struggling before, the demon grew heavier and heavier with each day that went by, making cleaning his body extremely difficult. The awkward positions you had found yourself in while buckling under his weight would have you blushing for years to come. Mo’at’s voice still rings clear in your ears when she commented that modesty had no room in a Tsahìk’s life. Sighing deeply, you had powered through, but with his growing deadweight, it had taken longer and longer to complete the task.

“Wait, was that an actual compliment I heard?” Jake’s voice calls from the doorway, his grin spreading lazily across his face as he looks at Mo’at.

The older woman huffs fondly, the smallest of smiles pulling on her lips while she tries to ignore her daughter’s mate. Jake chuckles as he walks further inside, his long legs swaying lazily as he comes to a crouch before you.

“Do you need help with him?” He smiles down at you as you struggle to lift the demon into place.

“She must need to learn how to do this alone,” Mo’at hums as she walks around your kelku, her eyes sharp following your every move as you struggle to get the demon back in his makeshift nest.

“I’m fine, Jake,” You smile up at him as you shift your hold on the demon, “Thank you,”

“Alright,” Jake just chuckles as he looks up at Mo’at.

“Can you take Y/n to the cove of ancestors?” Mo’at asks, making both of your heads snap to her position by the seaside opening of the marui pod.

“Y-yeah, sure,” Jake replies, his voice breaking a little. Curiosity is written all over his face, but he knows better than to ask by now, something you do not.

“The cove of ancestors?” You repeat questioningly, watching as Mo’at turns to you, her all-seeing eyes pinning you to the woven mat you’re kneeling on.

“You will know when you arrive, Eywa will show you the way,” The reply doesn’t make sense at all, but when Mo’at motions for you to get up to your feet, you do.

“When you have found what you’re looking for, spend the rest of your day with your son. I will watch over the demon,” You’re not about to be told twice, so as your ears twitch excitedly, you get to your feet, and with one last look back at the den, you leave your kelku behind for the first time since you arrived.

Walking beside Jake, you let your eyes fall on the beautiful marui pods that make the village. They’re decorated in beautifully vibrant colors, with shells, stones, and everything else the sea would willingly offer the Metkayina. The sand is warm and wet when you step down from the woven mats that made the bridges between each marui pod. You can’t help but dig your toes into it, grinning childishly as you chuckle.

“You’ve probably never ridden an ilu before, so we’ll take my skimwing. She will get us there quicker.” Jake grins over at you, so obviously knowing something that you don’t.

“I have seen the ilu outside of our kelku, but I have never ridden one,” You confirm, only making Jake grin wider.

“You will love the skimwing then,” This childishly excited side of Jake is new to you, one you have never seen before while he served your people as the Olo’eyktan. You decide then and there that you like this side of him.

You do not, however, like the skimwing. Clutching onto Jake’s middle, he howls with laughter as the skimwing quickly takes you in and out of the water as she flies. It’s quick, it’s challenging and it’s absolutely nothing like riding an ikran. At that moment as you’re plastered to Toruk Makto, you wish you had called for Hawnu instead. When you eventually come to a stop though, the scenery takes your breath away. The last time you had been here, Hawnu had flown low with the small ship behind him while you desperately clutched onto Neteyam’s body, and the time before…

“It’s beautiful,” You whisper in awe as Jake greets a small family as they swim past you on their ilus.

“Isn’t it?” Jake hums back, leaning back now that the skimwing slows down. “The first time I was here, we held a funeral without a body,”

Your gasp comes involuntarily. Clutching his shoulder, you don’t know what to say to him as you move further into the cove, the floating rocks paving way for the beauty that lay within. Letting your eyes roam the huge cove, you realize that it looks so much different than you remembered. Like Jake, you had held your own funeral without the bodies needed to connect with the Great Mother.

“Come on,” Jake turns back and smiles gently at you before breaking tsaheylu with his skimwing.

“When we get down there, I’ll give you a txampaysye, it will help you breathe underwater. Make tsaheylu with it and it will breathe for you,” Jake explains, a gentle smile on his face.

“I will not need one, Jake. I have already been down there nine times before. I will not struggle with the journey,” Swallowing audibly, Jake’s eyebrows furrow before he reaches out to squeeze your knee.

“Alright, come on then,” Nodding, you slide off of the skimwing, taking deep breaths before you let yourself sink beneath the water's surface.

Following Jake’s lead, you swim down until you reach the glowing spirit tree. It’s just as beautiful as you remembered it to be, but this time, you have the chance to really look at its surroundings. Letting your eyes roam around the gorgeous area, you notice how Jake has already connected to Ranteng Utralti. You wonder who it is he’s visiting, perhaps a friend lost in a battøe that should have never been. Tsu’tey’s name comes to mind as you make your way over to one of its vines. The two had become brothers before the final battle and through the years, you knew that both Jake and Neytiri missed him.

Connecting to Ranteng Utralti, you’re immediately brought back to a place you knew all too well. Grinning, you let yourself walk forward as you approach the childish group of recoms currently splashing water at each other in the pond. Z-Dog and Brown balance on the log bobbing in the water as Lopez, and Prager float in the water below them. They’re all grinning and laughing as they try to be something called a “king of the mountain”.

Turning back, you’re prepared to see the rest of the unit lounging on the bank, but to your surprise, only Seanfike stares back at you, the man sitting cross-legged as his tail slaps happily behind him. Narrowing your eyes, you can’t help the way your ears pin back flat against your skull. Something wasn’t right…

“What’s wrong?” Seanfike immediately asks, noticing your worried face.

“Where are the others?” You ask him, seeing how his own face furrows in confusion.

“What do you mean? They’re right behind you,” Seanfike points to the recom’s playing in the pond behind you.

“No, where is Lyle?” You start, but a grin spreads across Seanfike’s face as he chuckles at something behind you.

“Seanfike, please listen,” You press, desperation clutching your chest, “Where are Mansk, Ja, and Lyle?”

“I dunno, they’re probably around here somewhere. Haven’t really seen them in a while,” He eventually replies, confusion deeply etched into his face. “Why?”

A heavy feeling grows inside of you as you realize that they hadn’t been accepted by the Great Mother. Your attempt at putting their souls to rest failed as their bodies had never been united with Eywa. Your chest hurts as you feel tears pressing from your eyes. There’s a wail building in your chest, but below water, as you were, your mouth only fills with water. Distressed, Seanfike clutches your shoulders as Brown’s head comes to rest on your shoulder. All around you, the recom unit, what was left of them crowded you, wrapping their arms around you to hold you close.

“Breathe,” Brown whispers, his gentle voice stinging like a blade against your skin.

You’re roughly pulled from the vine you’re attached to, Jake’s scared eyes pulling at your body to take you up again, but you pull away from him. Struggling underwater, Jake suddenly freezes as he looks behind you, his eyebrows furrowing at something. Turning, your eyes go wide at what you see. From the glowing golden tendrils of Ranteng Utralti, four songcords flat upward, as if presented as something sacred.

To you, they were…

Kicking your legs, you reach for the rejected songcords as you glide through the water. Clutching them to your chest, you curl in on yourself as sorrow overtakes you. Eywa had accepted them, had held them within her warmth until you came and ruined everything. Distantly, you realize that you’re being pulled to the surface, but it isn’t before you’re hauled onto a rock and your lungs desperately gasp for air that you register it.

Coughing and gasping, you wail mournfully as you’re gathered up into warm arms. A hand smooths your wet hair back from your face as you’re rocked, but all you can think about is the songcords clenched tightly in your hands. Other Metkayina gathers around you with sympathetic looks on their faces as they ask Jake what they can do to help, or if they can get the Olo’eyktan. But Jake just shakes his head as he holds you through your heartache.

By the time eclipse arrives, Jake has managed to get you back to the village, his gentle hand leading you out of the water where Spider and Tonowari stand waiting for you. Your son meets you before you’ve managed to emerge fully, his small hand clutching onto the leather of your tweng. Shifting the songcords to one hand, you offer the free one to Spider, feeling how he immediately takes it in his. Although your heart is heavy, you find comfort in his small, warm hand as he clings to yours.

The communal meal goes by in a blur, your son’s worried eyes following your every move. You know that he wants to ask about the songcords still clutched tightly in your hand, but like you, he waits until you’re ready to talk, giving you the time you need to collect your thoughts. Jake and Tonowari keep sending you worried looks, even Ronal looks your way once, her knowing eyes lingering on you before turning away again. It feels like a relief when Spider eventually finishes his meal and you’re able to excuse yourselves from the clan.

Walking hand in hand, you slowly lead Spider down the woven bridges to your kelku, the flickering lights from inside greeting you as you let your son enter first. Taking a deep breath, you follow through, closing the flap behind you. Mo’at, of course, takes one look at you and immediately knows. You want to be angry at her knowledge, but you find that you’re grateful for her understanding when she nods minutely before getting up to leave you alone.

Moving about your kelku, you watch as Spider washes his feet in the little bowl on the other side, his little nighttime routine before going to sleep. Slowly, he settles down in your nest, the blankets nestled tightly around him as he cuddles up. Walking up to sit beside him, you listen as he lets out a deep, sleepy sigh. Closing your eyes, you part your lips as the first words leave your mouth.

“I couldn’t find their bodies,” You whisper, knowing that your son is listening intently. “So I made these songcords for them, hoping that the Great Mother would show them mercy and accept the offering,”

The silence feels cold inside of your kelku, the soft sound from Spider’s exopack the only noise besides the water below your marui pod. It should have been calming, but as your heart clenches painfully in your chest, you’re unable to find any real comfort in it. Turning your head to look at Spider, you see the shimmering in his beautiful brown eyes. Cupping his face in your free hand, you smile sadly at him before getting up to lie down beside him.

“Here, I will sing their cords for you,” You hum as you pull your son closer to your chest.

Sleep finds you shortly after you have finished recounting their milestones, your son’s face as he turns in your arms, surprisingly happy as he closes his beautiful eyes. Cupping the back of his head, you let your eyes drift to the songcords still clutched in the hand below Spider’s head. Closing your eyes, you don't even notice when you drift off, leaving the stress and heartache of the day behind.

It’s another early morning when you wake up the next day. Your body feels heavy as you roll Spider to the side to step out of your nest, the warm glow of the sun greeting you through the cracks as you approach the flaps. Opening them, you let the fresh, salty air clean away the heaviness of sleep from your kelku. Looking down at the songcords in your hand, you sigh deeply. The Great Mother’s will was not without reason, you had to trust that.

Turning to stare at the demon, you find his songcord in your hand, turning your bead between your fingers as you make up your mind. If he could be here before you, alive and real, then Lyle, Mansk, and Ja had to be alive somewhere too. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath as you settle your resolve. Walking over to your nest, you dig until you reach the bottom of the corner that saw little use. Looking at the songcords in your hands one last time, you hide them at the bottom before arranging the nest back to how it was.

Working through your own morning routine, you gather fresh water into bowls before starting on fresh salves and pastes for the demon’s first change. For once, the demon doesn’t seem quite as heavy when you move him while cleaning his body, making your work that much easier. When Spider wakes, you’ve already finished up, the last lingering feeling of despair leaving you as your son sends a cheeky grin your way. He’s telling you about the plans he has for the day when there’s a knock on your kelku, Jake, Neteyam, and Lo’ak smiling gently at you from the outside.

“Thought some fresh food would be good,” Jake offers as you gesture for them to come inside.

Of course, Spider rushes through his breakfast before the soles of the boys feet are the only thing Jake and you see as they hightail out of your kelku, leaving only the fleeting sound of their snickering as they poke fun at something Neteyam said. The kelku falls into a comfortable silence before Jake eventually breaks it with small talk. You sit, chatting like that until it’s time to change the demon again.

Preparing what you needed, you continue to talk with Jake as you start what was now routine for you. Mixing a freshly smelling surly leaf into the water, you dip a clean cloth into it before starting to clean the demon’s arms. Jake leans back on the wall behind him as you go about cleaning the demon, changing to a new clean cloth when it’s time for his face.

“And then she looked at me as if I had grown a second set of ears,” Jake chuckles, his grin wide as he retells the story about how Neytiri had taught him the way of the people all those years ago.

“And then, what did you do?” With a grin of your own, you chuckle as you wipe the demon’s brow, letting your hand linger as you look over at Jake.

“Am I dreaming, Princess?” The demon rumbles lazily, a sappy smile forming on his lips as he lifts his hand to caress your cheek.

Snapping your head back down to look at him, your grin slips into a frown as you slap his hand away as if it burnt you. Hiss furiously at him, you get up to your feet while you drop the wet cloth in your hand. The demon was asleep just moments ago, his sleeping draft given that morning assured that. Had you managed to mess up the mixture somehow? It must be the only explanation as to why the demon was now awake. You watch as his smiling face morphs into something a little sad as his ears droop, but all you can think about is what you did wrong as your wide, scared eyes lift up to meet Jake’s equally surprised ones.

“Aww… What did I do this time, sweetheart?” The demon’s lazy rumble turns charming as he smirks up at you, a cocky grin on his face.

“Quiet your tongue, demon,” You refuse to use his English as you hiss furiously again, noting how his sad, droopy ears pin back flat against his skull instead.

“Yes, ma’am,” He hums, a fond kind of smile spreading across his lips as he closes his eyes and breaches contently.

“How are you feeling, Quaritch?” Jake asks, his voice is low, gentle even, but the reaction is still instantaneous in the demon.

His eyes pop open with both alarm and fear, and it makes something clench painfully in your chest. The demon tries to jump to his feet to get into a defensive position, the move no doubt second nature to him, but with his muscles weak from disuse and his body still exhausted from trying to heal itself, he wobbles under his weight. Still, the demon fights to get into a defensive position, swaying and stumbling as he takes a protective stand before you, pushing you behind him.

“I’m not here to fight, Quaritch,” Jake states quickly, even though anger steadily becomes evident on his face.

“Like hell, you aren’t,” The demon sneers back, his ears flat against his skull as his tail whips anxiously behind him, smacking you with every back-and-forth motion.

From behind, you can recognize how good he looks in a normal tweng, how the soft leather hugs his narrow hips, or how strong the base of his tail is. But at that moment you find that you’re done with his bullshit and the situation his presence has forced you to be in. Grabbing the base of his kuru, you kick his legs out from under him, wrestling his slightly weaker body into the makeshift nest he’s been resting in.

“You stay and you be silent,” You hiss at him furiously, the English command registering immediately as his ears lower submissively. To your surprise, the demon looks almost ashamed, the fight leaving his much bigger body as he stares up at you with big eyes, his tail twitching anxiously beside your hip.

“Yes, Ma’am,” The demon mumbles, his voice rough with disuse as he looks away, unable to meet your eyes any longer.

“Answer him,” You demand, your voice leaving no room for argument.

There’s a tense silence spreading over your kelku as the demon refuses to do anything - as if a petulant child. He’s not meeting your eyes, not even looking in Jake’s direction. He’s clutching the ribs on his right side and you get the grueling feeling that all your hard work has just been wasted on the demon. Hissing, you step over him on your way to leave when his hand desperately grabs your tail.

“Wait!” He croaks and there’s an urgency in his voice, as if he’s genuinely afraid, that has you turning around to look down at him.

The demon is still laying in his makeshift bed where you put him, only having moved enough to grab your tail. Reluctantly, he slowly lets go of your tail, as if he’s testing if you’ll flee or not. Only when you’ve stood still for what he deems long enough does he roll all the way over to his back again. There’s a battle going on within him, one that looks painful enough that you want to reach out to him, to help soothe his troubles as much as possible, but you don’t. Eventually, his conflicted eyes meet yours, as if looking for strength before they close on a deep, rugged sigh.

“I’m peachy,” The demon bites, eyes opening to stare directly at Jake.

“Skxawng,” You scold with a click of your tongue while crossing your arms over your chest.

“Alright, alright, relax already,” He grumbles, reminding you of Spider the few times you’ve had disagreements. “I’m sore, alright. Ribs hurting like shit,”

The admission seems to pain him as his face darkens with embarrassment. He still scowls at Jake in the corner of your kelku, but your immediate worry is the pain that he’s apparently in. Stepping over the demon, you grab the ingredients for the salve that would help with his pain. Sitting down beside him, you cross your legs as you start to grind the ingredients into the bowl. There’s an uncomfortable silence in the marui pod, until it’s disturbed by Spider running into your kelku, laughter in his beautiful voice as he smiles at you.

“Mom,” Spider grins, his happiness all but blinding you as you look up, just in time to see your son’s smile dropping from his face as he freezes, only for Neteyam to run into him from behind.

“Yo, what’s up, bro?” Neteyam snickers as he sidesteps Spider, only to stop dead in his tracks. “D-dad…”

Jake reaches out for his oldest son, offering support when he recognizes fear in his voice. Neteyam grabs his father’s hand before quickly stepping closer to him, but the demon doesn’t care. His initial reaction was a slight widening of his eyes, but just as quickly as his eyes shifted to Neteyam, they’re back on your son again.

“Spider,” The demon croaks, voice pleading. He doesn’t dare to move, but his ears rotate, open and alert, to your son as he stares.

“Come,” You tell him, looking at the spot beside you while still crushing the ingredients into a smooth salve. “Sit,”

“We will be fine, Jake,” You look up at Toruk Makto, noting how his chest has puffed out, his legs spread wide as he covers his son protectively.

“You sure? It’s no trouble staying, Y/n,” Jake assures you, and even though you know he would like to take his son anywhere but here, you know that if you needed him to stay, he would.

“There are words that need to be said between us,” You sigh, feeling the emotional turmoil that this is taking on you weighing heavily on your shoulders as you come to the conclusion that maybe your son shouldn’t be here for this conversation after all. “Will you take Spider with you?”

Nodding, Jake gently leads Neteyam and Spider through the doors, spearing one last look at the demon before disappearing from view. You have no doubt in his mind that he will be back soon, if only under the disguise of having forgotten something. Sighing, you continue the grind, watching as the paste turns creamy and then, finally, a smooth light green salve.

“Point to where the pain is,” You snap quickly at the demon, breaking the silence that once more had spread across your kelku.

“Slower,” The demon rumbles, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Pain. Point,” You growl, your impatience bleeding over into annoyance when he sighs.

“Here,” He points to his right side, just below his nipple, “And here,”

Nodding your head, you crouch over him, spreading your legs over his hips before sitting down on the meat of his thighs. To feel the demon’s warm skin against the inside of your sensitive thighs brings a lump to your throat, but shortly after, you’re pulled out of your thoughts when the demon growls.

“The hell?” The growl is dangerously deep as he gets up to his elbows, wincing at the pressure it gives his ribs. “The fuck are my clothes, woman?”

The sharpness of his yellow eyes sends butterflies through your stomach, but you refuse to make it excite you. The demon had made his nest, now he needed to lay in it.

“Gone.” You huff down at him, narrowing your eyes.

“What do you mean gone?” He bites back just as quickly, his own eyes narrowing.

“When I found you, you had soiled yourself. Your tweng could not be saved,” He doesn’t understand what you’re saying, his face all twisted as he tries to make sense of it.

“My twe- The hell you saying, woman?” The demon tries to sit up, but you easily push him back down again, noticing how the motion brings him pain.

“Like a baby, you dirty your tweng,” You repeat, this time in English so that he’ll understand.

You don’t have to wait long for him to do so. Almost immediately, his eyes go wide as his face turns dark, his eyebrows narrowing while he clenches his jaw shut. He doesn’t meet your eyes, instead deciding to stare at something else on your face.

“You mean to say that you undressed me while I was out like a light?” His voice is dangerously even when he speaks and had you still feared him, you would have probably backed off of him.

“I do not know this meaning,” You huff back at him, holding your ground.

“You fucking took my clothes off and dressed me in this shit,” The demon raises his voice as he sneers at you from below, his ears slicked back against his skull.

“Would you have preferred to wear soiled armor?” The deadpan comeback makes the demon growl angrily.

“Wha- in English, woman!” The demon huffs, his frustration only growing.

“Should I take you here with a dirty tweng?” The reaction is, once more, immediate. The demon growls furiously, his despair so easy to read as he cups his hands over his tweng.

Huffing at his ridiculous modesty, you lower your body once more, sitting down on the meat of his thighs. Slapping his hands away from his tweng, you watch as he immediately covers it with his hands again. You do not understand what it is he’s doing, so you slap his hands away again, only for the demon to cover his tweng again, his face growing an even darker shade. Grabbing his wrists, you tear them away from the front of his tweng, pinning them to the makeshift nest below him, only for the demon to snap them right back again.

“Stop it,” You hiss at him, your ears folding back in annoyance.

“You stop it!” The demon’s voice is high, almost childish as he looks up at you. He’s still not able to meet your eyes.

“You are like a child,” Grabbing his wrists once more, you tear them away while he fights you. In the end, his weakened state makes him lose the battle. “Do not move, demon.”

Huffing, the demon turns his head to look away from you. It finally gives you the space you need to work. Leaning over him, you spread your hands over the demon’s pectorals, fanning your fingers until your thumbs meet in the middle. You try to feel if his lungs expand equally, but the demon only takes shallow breaths, as if he’s consciously fighting you every step of the way.

“Deep breaths,” You tell him and to your utter surprise, he follows your command without complaining.

Guiding him through the examination Mo’at had taught you, you’re surprised that he doesn’t fight you. He states motionless as you press your fingers down his sternum, checking for tenderness in and around his chest wall. With a finger between each of his ribs, you percuss while listening for hyperresonant sounds. The demon hisses when you reach his right side, but otherwise stays quiet. It’s only when you scoot back to put your ear to his chest that he freezes.

“What are you doing?” He drawls, his head finally moving back to look down at you.

“Be silent and breathe regularly,” You hum back as you press your ear to his warm skin.

His heart beats loudly in his chest, almost too loud, and his breathing is too fast, but you’re still able to listen to his lungs. Moving your head further down to the bottom of his ribcage, you feel his stomach tighten against your cheek as his breath stutters.

“Oh, sweet mother,” You can hear him whisper above you, but then he manages to breathe carefully, somewhat close to what his breathing was while he was asleep.

Moving to the other side, you do the same. Sitting up again, confusion strikes you as you find the demon has screwed his eyes shut, his jaw tightly clenched as his hands have created tight fists by his side. Reaching over to take one of his hands in yours, you open the fist to hold his hand, sliding your smaller hand into his bigger one.

“Tell me, where does it hurt?” You ask him gently, only to receive a snort and a smirk in return.

“Trust me, sweetheart, you don’t want to know,” He mumbles, his drawls so thick that you struggle to understand the words. “I’m just fine, darling,”

Letting go of his hand, you move further up on the met of his thighs to get a better position. After asking him to take deep breaths, you press your fingers over his vital organs, starting under his ribs. With each exhale, you feel for any enlargements, for any tenderness. Moving further down you do the same, watching him closely just in case he wouldn’t say anything about the pain. It’s not until you put your hands on each side of the top of his hip bones that he tenses.

“Do this hurt?” You ask him as you gently make the organ move between your hands.

You only receive a gasp in return as the demon closes his eyes, his lips slightly parted and his breath becomes ragged. There’s something wrong, but he doesn’t want to tell you what it is. Moving over to the other side brings forth the same reaction. You’re about to demand he tells you where the pain is from when your hand brushes against something it should not have. Looking between your wide-spread thighs a huge bulge stares back at you from beneath the demon’s tweng. With wide eyes, your head snaps up to meet the dangerously sharp ones of the demon. His lips have parted more, the tips of his fangs visible from the plumpness of his lips. You can feel your irises dilate as the warm scent of the demon reaches your nose.

“Maybe you did want to know after all, mama,” The demon’s husky voice has dropped several octaves, the deep rumble all but rattling through your ribcage as your own core responds to his scent.

Until his words register in your suddenly foggy mind. Hissing, you jump off of him as if burned. The disappointment is clear as day when the demon flops his head down on his makeshift nest again. Stomping around your kelku, you grab your blade before walking to the door.

“Use the salve in the bowl on your pain, and drink water,” You growl before stepping outside. The fresh, salty air greets you as its warm winds caress your heated skin. It feels great.

“Trouble in paradise?” Jake chuckles softly, making you jump.

“What?” You’re caught so off guard that you don’t know what to say.

“You seem distressed, Y/n,” Jake squeezes your shoulder gently as he bends to look into your eyes.

“Would you not be distressed if you had to live with him after everything he has done?” Your words come out much harsher than you had intended to, but you find that they ring no less true than what you feel.

The demon had taken everything that you had. He had snatched every breath from your lungs, had made you feel, had made you care only to turn his back to you at the first opportunity he got. He had taken everything you taught him and used it against you. Still, when his body lay beaten and broken at death’s door, you had stood by his side. You had cleaned his body and healed his wounds while he rested. You had kept him alive when all he deserved was to be washed out in the sand, a dark moment in Na’vi history. Jake just looks at you with knowing eyes. You can no more help the sigh that leaves you than you can keep your shoulders from sagging under the weight of Jake’s hand.

By the time you get Spider, the demon has been asleep for many hours, but you still make a mental note to up the sleeping draft you mix with his water. Sighing, you watch as Spider curls into your nest, his smaller body tired after yet another day filled with new and exciting adventures. Smiling to yourself, you step over to the demon, pulling the blanket off of him. Sitting down, you start the cleaning routine, removing leaves on the deeper wounds while cleaning old salve from shallower cuts. By the time you had finished, you felt the weight of the day in your tired eyes. Curling up beside Spider, you’re happy to see that his beautiful brown eyes glitter as he stares at you. Smiling, he bumps his masked forehead to yours as he sighs happily. It doesn’t take long before you’re asleep, warm and tired as your son’s heartbeat plays the most beautiful rhythm you have ever heard in your life.

Which is why you’re so confused when you wake up to the rumbled growls of a much darker character. Turning your head, you’re met with the demon’s sharp eyes as he huffs with frustration. He hasn’t moved from his makeshift nest apart from sitting up, the blanket tightly wrapped around him. Groaning, you rub the sleep from your face as you yawn. This would apparently be another day when the demon would be awake. Annoyed, you start to plan a way to slip him more of the sleeping draft. Maybe, if you were lucky, he would drink the entire bowl and choke on -

“Woman, stop ignoring me,” The demon growls, his voice annoying in the silence of the early morning. “Where are my weapons?”

“Where I found you,” You respond lazily as you sit up in your nest to stare at him.

“The hell you mean by that, darling?" He sneers, the anger blazing in his sharp eyes.

“I left everything when I took your armor off,” You sigh, pinching the broad bridge of your nose as you pray to Eywa to give you strength.

“Now why in the ever-loving hell would you do that, sweetheart?” His voice cuts deep like a blade through the soft underbelly of a beast as his eyes narrow.

“You have no need of them,” You start, watching as his chest puffs while his face contorts into one big frown, ready to spit angrily. “But I took your blade with us. It’s in Cupcake’s bag.”

“Cupcake?” At the mention of his ikran, the demon halts, his eyes turning from angry to hopeful in a matter of seconds. “Is she alright?”

The demon’s voice is gentle when he asks, yet, the urgency behind his question shines through. He cares deeply for his ikran. The knowledge warms something deep within you, making your own annoyance bleed away.

“She is safe with Hawnu,” You confirm, offering what you hope is a comforting smile.

The demon takes a deep breath, wincing slightly before he lets out a sigh. In your own stressed state, you have failed to realize that he must have his own set of stress going on in his life. Something must have triggered his sudden change of heart. The man you had come to know, the man behind this… this unrecognizable mask, something drastic would have had to happen for him to leave all reason and just act. In the back of your mind, Jake’s words ring loud and clear. ‘When none of your choices are good, you make the best of the bad ones.’

“Thanks,” The demon mumbles, his voice calm and relieved.

You’re about to ask what happened when Spider yawns beside you. Looking down at your son you smile as his beautiful brown eyes open to greet you. Reaching forward, you brush the hair from his forehead, chuckling lightly as he swats at your hand before brushing the rest of his hair away by himself. Sitting up in your nest, his easy smile drops to one of uncertainty as he notices the demon. Looking up, you notice how the demon furrows his brows before taking a deep breath.

“Good morning, Spider,” He drawls, his voice warm and heavy, like a blanket during thunderstorms.

Spider doesn’t reply though, and although you want to tut at him for being rude, you don’t. His father had broken something sacred, something only he could make right again. The only thing you could do was to offer your son the support and safety he needed when he needed it. Getting to your feet, you offer Spider a fruit for breakfast, smiling gently at him when he slices the fruit in two and offers you the first dice of meat. Reaching forward, you cup the back of his messy head before leaning down to place a kiss on the top of his head, letting your lips linger for a moment too long before pulling back. Looking up at you, the conflict on your son’s face makes you smile sadly down at him. You wish more than anything that you could take this hardship away from him, that you could make his life as joyful as he has made yours. When he sighs and looks over to his father though, pride explodes within you at the strength you see in his small form.

But as Spider opens his mouth, no doubt to offer his father food, Neytiri and Jake enter your kelku, the older woman’s smile slipping from her face when sharp eyes meet hers. Before you’re able to react, the demon is up on his feet, staggering unsteadily as he pushes Spider and you behind him as he takes a defensive stand before you. The way he hisses sends a chill down your spine and makes the tip of your tail twitch with unease. When the deep growl leaves the cavity of his chest, an immediate biological reaction course through you, forcing you to reach out for safety while clutching your so to your side. Your heart beats wildly as you hold onto the demon’s tail, your hand gripping so hard that your fingers grow cold. Distantly, you can hear Jake tell you that everything is alright, that you’re safe, but the demon’s furious growls want nothing to do with the Toruk Makto’s words. It’s only then that your frozen body thaws, your fear bleeding out of you as Jake’s words reach your mind. Taking in the situation before you, Neytiri hisses and snarls, her blade drawn and pointing at the demon, while her mate desperately tries to calm the situation behind her.

“Get your batshit crazy wife away from my family, Corporal,” The demon sneers, his tail whipping furiously beneath your hand.

Letting go of the demon’s tail, you slap the back of his head, having understood what he just said, knowing it was not nice words.

“If you come near my son again, I will skin you alive, woman,” You have never heard him sound this venomous before, his fury sending dread through your body.

As Jake hisses in response to the threat to his mate's life, the feeling that something is wrong settles heavily in the pit of your stomach once more. Pushing Spider further behind you, you try to sidestep the demon, but his long arms keep pushing you back as he shifts his defensive stand with each move you make.

“Be nice,” You scold him, holding his arm still as you finally step out from behind him.

“You don’t know, do you?” He huffs a flat chuckle, but there’s no humor in it as his dangerously sharp eyes meet yours.

“What do I not know?” You ask confused, a heavy stone dropping in your stomach as the unease doubles up.

“How she held our son at knifepoint, how she ran her blade across his chest, drawing blood before going in for the killing blow,” The demon’s words are spat so venomously, with such pure hatred, that it leaves no room for questioning.

Yet, you can’t help the gasp from leaving your lips as another, much colder chill runs down your spine. Looking down at the long, crusting wound across your son’s chest, you walk through your belief that he had hurt himself during his escape, like with the other cuts and bruises. But now that you really look at the wound, as you look beyond the healing flesh, you realize that the wound is too clean to have happened by accident.

“Quaritch was holding Kiri at knifepoint too, threatening to kill her if I didn’t surrender. Y/n he took our children just to draw me out. We thought we had just lost Neteyam by Quaritch’s demand,” Jake hurried to say, his voice pleading with you.

But all you can hear is that Neytiri ran her blade across your innocent son’s chest, drawing his blood before going in for the killing blow to end his life. Turning to Neytiri you see how her blade has lowered, her hands slack by her sides as she stares ahead, her expression empty behind her eyes.

“A son for a son, wasn’t that what you said?” The demon sneers and his fury with Neytiri all but drips from the sound.

“Oh, shit,” You can hear Jake whisper, but your ears start ringing as the words sink in and you understand what has been said.

“Is this true, sister?” You turn to Neytiri, praying to the Great Mother that it wasn’t so, that this was just one of the demon’s and Jake's many lies.

“Yes,” Neytiri doesn’t even deny it, but the older woman doesn’t look proud about it either.

A wounded sound leaves your throat as your mind goes blank with pain. Distantly, you feel tears start to roll down your face at the betrayal of your sister’s actions. You’re screaming, but you can’t hear it, unable to stop it as sobs rush through your body. Strong arms wrap around you and before you know it you’re going down, the warm body behind you following you down as your knees hit the woven ground of your kelku. You’re wailing, but all you can hear is Neytiri’s ‘Yes’ ringing through your mind.

The demon tries to comfort you, his big hand holding your head against his chest as you cry. Spider steps closer too, his small arms wrapping around your shoulders as he presses his head to your back. It doesn’t help. Reaching out for your son, you clasp your hand around his, noting how his hand is so small where it’s held by yours, and suddenly, the image of Neytiri holding a blade to your son’s small body flashes before your mind. In the end, rage is the only thing left inside of your empty heart.

“We’re supposed to protect the children,” You whisper morseso to yourself, your voice almost inaudible. But you know they've heard you by the way they all flinch at your words.

“We’re supposed to protect the children,” You say louder as you push away from the demon’s embrace, slapping at his arms and chest to get away when he reaches for you when you turn to face Neytiri again.

“We’re supposed to protect the children!” You scream at her, but she won’t meet your eyes. Stepping away from the demon, you stare at both of them, truly seeing them for the first time in your life before continuing. “And you use them to hurt each other,”

You watch as both of them flinch, their ears pinned back so close to their skulls that had you not known they were there, you would have missed them. Their tails have curled protectively around their legs, their heads lowered in shame, but somehow, they still have the audacity to meet your eyes when you stare at them.

“I saved your son while desperately searching for my own and this is how you repay me,” Your words fall like stones in the silent marui pod.

Behind them, Tonowari stands tall, his warriors no doubt calling him to the marui pod for him to see what the wailing and shouting is about. His eyes are wide as he stands behind the Sullys, ears flat against his mighty hair, while his tail thrashes behind him.

“You are both unworthy to call yourselves parents in the presence of Eywa.” You sneer at them, your fury making your skin grow cold, threatening to make your teeth clatter against each other.

“You do not deserve them,” Your voice is surprisingly calm when you speak, making their ears twitch with the change, as if the defeat in your voice was somehow worse than the rage.

Wrapping your hand around Spider’s arm, you walk out of your kelku without looking back. You needed to find Hawnu, needed to feel the wind through your hair, needed to take your son to a place where you knew he would be safe, where you knew he would be protected. When you had calmed down enough, you had a whole cave full of things you would need to talk to him about, but for right now, you just needed to feel safe, if only for a little while. With your heart broken and bleeding in your chest, you call for Hawnu, your ikran immediately responding with his own screech, Cupcake’s complimentary screech following just behind.

“Do you have space for one more?” Mo’at’s voice asks gently from behind and you’re too tired to argue with the older woman, so instead, you just nod as the tears roll down your face. Maybe she would know why the Great Mother had turned her back on you…

Chapter 16 | Masterpost | Chapter 18

[yingjiaoyue]

Celestial Au

It was during the havoc in heaven ( and during Xin Yi’s past life) against the brotherhood you were using your power in the battle but you turn your head seeing hui jing body and half of her face was disintegrated she you put your hand telling Hui jing to get out of the battle to get healer but as Hui jing ran to you she felt something through her chest it was azure’s sword then Hui jing collapsed to the floor your face was in terror

Here’s the ref

Oooh pretty!

___

C!Jiao Yue quickly rushed to Hui Jing as she collapsed on the floor. The look of terror and shock written in Jiao Yue’s face as she holds Hui Jing’s body on the ground. “No, no, no— I need to find Nezha.. this can’t be-!”, her eyes tearing up as if she was about to panic. Hui Jing takes her hand and shakes her head, “Find.. the celestial healer.. and tell my brother I’ll be back soon..”, her words barely coming out as a grunted whisper.

Jiao Yue looks down, her eyes glancing with sorrow, nodding slowly. With a special ability, Jiao Yue was able to transfer the message to Nezha in the battle. Nezha rushed to see Hui Jing’s body in Jiao Yue’s arms at the ground. Nezha’s expression darkens, his eyes burning with rage and terror. He quickly runs toward them and takes Hui Jing, “Damn it- stay with me, Hui Jing!.. don’t leave..” Nezha cried out of despair, but he knows it’s too late.

The celestial healer also came running as fast as she could, seeing the terrifying scene. Diane gasps, out of frantic, she starts going through her collection for an antidote. As the two went to take care of Hui Jing, Jiao Yue stood up… her eyes filled with storming rage and her powers barely stable inside her body, extending her arms and creating a powerful blast, ready to face Azure and the brotherhood.

___

Ft: @0xxjustdianaxx0 & @monkiart

Aaaa been a while since I wrote something lol- writersblock :_) anyways, kinda busy to add drawings.. but gosh, I would love to collaborate all of your ideas regarding the celestial au, havoc in heaven😭😭😭

Might not continue since not completely in the mood to roleplay.. but I just answered this to at least give you an idea what happens next TvT

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Harry Potter characters that I like

In response to a Romione fan who thought I hated every HP character and hated everything about the series because I don't stan certain characters and ships, I want to mention here the few characters I like.

For me, I like a character usually if:

they have an interesting personality and background

I feel sorry for how they are generally misunderstood or bashed by fandom (sometimes I take great pleasure in being a contrarian haha) or treated by the author.

their wins feel earned in the narrative and I feel inspired

So here is my list!

Draco Malfoy + Malfoy family

I love Draco so much. I admit that I was drawn in mostly through fanon but as I explored the books more, I really enjoyed his book character a lot. He has a vibrant and entertaining personality and I like how meta he can be sometimes. Every time he proclaims how bad Hagrid is as a teacher or how Hogwarts sucks as a school, I just want to hug him so badly. I also like his parents and their interactions as a family later in the books. Narcissa is my fav mom, no contest. I just think that JKR wasted his potential. Draco is the most developed Slytherin kid and his character should have represented hope for a better future. But of course, JKR only cares about her lions (and Snape who she tried to retcon as a lion too lol) so screw Slytherins. And the NPC houses.

Black family

Gosh, I absolutely ADORE the Black family. The Black family is the most intriguing set of characters JKR ever wrote in HP. The Black family lore, the constellation theme, the dark history, the tragedy. Chef's kiss! Screw making a marauders' prequel!!! Give me a Black Family series! You shouldn't be surprised that Sirius Black is my favourite marauder. Compared to Sirius, James Potter is an utter bore.

Neville Longbottom

I often wish Neville was the chosen one instead of Harry. I think Neville's story is more tragic than Harry's. It must be torture to have your parents alive but practically dead. And Neville just feels more heroic to me. A lot of times, I hate Harry's hero's journey because JKR keeps letting Harry win due to deu ex Machina. It was nice seeing Neville gradually grow into the man he was at the end. And Neville's rage at Bellatrix just felt more visceral compared to Harry's with Moldy Voldy. I just like Neville, he's so sweet and he deserves better friends.

Percy Weasley

On the surface, I don't care much about Percy but I do feel sorry for him. Ron and the twins treated him like trash. His family just had a hate boner for him. Poor Percy. I can vibe with a family black sheep character. I don't like how people paint him as the bad guy for walking out on his family. And I appreciate how distinguished he is as a Weasley. He is the only Weasley member not to bow down and kiss Dumbles' backside like a brainless puppet. It's a shame it backfired on him but I admire his logic.

Luna Lovegood

To be honest, Luna was a nothing character to me until I began reading Druna fanfiction and I realized how adorable her character is in the books. She makes me smile and I like how she used to talk back to the trio in the beginning. So funny when Luna told Harry that people thought Hagrid was a bad teacher lol! I think Luna is the only HP girl I like...also maybe because I really like picturing her with Draco. No shame!

Severus Snape

What a beautiful and tragic character. Like Draco, Snape is such a pleasure to read. The man is pure entertainment in written form. I don't love Snape the way I do Draco, but I like picturing him with a better life. 'Snape drops out of Hogwarts' is one of my favourite AO3 tags. I love how he dedicated his life to good even though life was cruel to him and gave him a bad hand. Everything about Snape is so intriguing and I like learning more about him. Definitely one of JKR's best characters.

Ron Weasley

I hate the golden trio but I find Ron the most tolerable and the most interesting. It's a shame I found myself disliking the guy in the epilogue. People complain about the movies ruining Ron but JKR was ruining Ron in the books too. Ron started out as so intelligent but gradually JKR made him slobbier and dumber. I like how Ron was the common sense guy. Once again, Ron had to be the one to tell Harry what a complete trash disaster Hagrid was. Lord, I hate that man! Shame Hagrid's spiders didn't kill him!!! I wish JKR expanded on Ron's chess ability. Ron showed promise as being a leader of the trio (Lord knows Harry was a disaster) and Ron being strategic would fit with his chess skills...but JKR never followed through. My fellow HP critic, chicory, mentioned this passage:

‘Hmm,’ said a small voice in his ear. ‘Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that’s interesting … So where shall I put you?’

applies more to Ron than Harry and I have to agree with her.

There are also several instances of Ron just being a sweet friend to Harry and Hermione and I wish he had better friends. I don't care what Romione/Hermione fans say. Hermione does not deserve a guy like Ron. Never did and never will. I don't even think Harry deserves Ron either. Ron does so much more for Harry than Harry ever did for him. I would have preferred if the Luna friendship was developed more for Ron. Ron has his infuriating moments but his great moments offset them. Out of the trio, I think Ron is the best character and sometimes I wish he was the protag instead of Harry.

Well, let me end it at 7, the perfect number! I can't fully word why I like or love some of these characters but this is a gist.

Of course, there may be other characters that I enjoy for what they are in the story (the Death Eaters, Dumbledore etc) but I don't care about them enough to mention them. Blessings!

[waitmyturtles]

To my taggers @hughungrybear, @ranchthoughts, @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, and @telomeke, this one's for you!

GET TO KNOW ME TAG :)

do you make your bed?

Not until I sleep in it!

what's your favorite number?

Feel like I don't want to spill it because I use these numbers in passwords lol

what is your job?

Executive management

if you could go back to school, would you?

Such a good question. I already did it once, mid-life, and it was THE BEST DECISION I EVER MADE, and one of the first decisions I truly made just for myself. Would I go back AGAIN? I would have considered it if I didn't know so many PhDs who are at various levels of happiness with their decisions. So: maybe. What I really look forward to is being retired so that I can take free classes at local colleges and have all the time in the world to read through the syllabi.

can you parallel park?

Fuck yes, who do I fucking look like, someone that can't parallel park? /end-East-Coast-road-rage

a job you had that would surprise people?

Hmmm. I don't think I have one that fits this category!

do you think aliens are real?

I think humanity's definition of "life" is too limiting

can you drive a manual car?

UNFORTUNATELY NOT, and I really wanna learn

what's your guilty pleasure?

Watching dramas, honestly. I shouldn't feel guilty about it, but I'm Asian, so I feel guilty about everything

tattoos?

Love them on other people, never made up my mind on what I wanted to get, and I feel like that ship has sailed for me

favorite color?

My kids ask me this all the time: pine green, rich purple, deep pink, all oranges, aquamarine blue, and black

favorite type of music?

I can't choose one. My playlist is all over the place. Korean hip-hop and New Orleans bounce (THANKS @bengiyo) have been my workout go-tos lately

do you like puzzles?

I will when my kids have more patience to do them

any phobias?

HEIGHTS :(

favorite childhood sport?

Ice hockey

do you talk to yourself?

Absolutely, and I've needed to use meditation to manage the inner monologue over the years

what movies do you adore?

Oh gosh. All I think about lately are Thai BLs, so I think a lot about the impact of The Love of Siam and Dew, two movies that are so tough to digest, but are really well done. I've also had two wonderful Japanese movies on the mind for no reason, Like Father, Like Son: Soshite Chichi ni Naru, and Drive My Car.

coffee or tea?

Both, all the time, often mixed

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

I wanted to be a journalist. I was such a rabid sports that I thought being a journalist would get me the closest to sports that I could go without being an athlete. And I actually got to do sports journalism for a while, and it was fun! (But I quit media, which is a whole other thing, and now I'm much happier)

Who hasn't been tagged? How about the old Only Friends Ephemerality Squad, how y'all doing?! @lurkingshan (I think you already did this Shan) @neuroticbookworm @twig-tea @slayerkitty @thatgirl4815 @distant-screaming @clara-maybe-ontheroad

[yonemurishiroku]

Hiya yone! Recently my brain has been infested with bugs that want me to make a Circe Nico AU (Nico is Circe?? Kinda.) You are the glorious fanfic writer who can conjure up anything from anything, so please do your magic.

I'll try my best, however I only know like. 2 stories about Circe at best? So please don't put too much trust in me lol 😅😅

The first one is when Odysseus visits her during his return voyage to Ithaca. I forgot most of it (typical me) except that she turns his crew into animals, which Odysseus managed to convince her to undo and if I'm not mistaken, they live together for a while?? Let's just go with it.

As for this story, I think it would fit best with Jasico? Mainly bc they have that sort of enemies-to-lovers air (Jason distrusted Nico at first). Jason is best fit to be a returning hero, too. Though the Cupid debacle is like heaven and earth with mere convincing on Odysseus' part, I reckon we can work around it with enough maneuver. Why does Nico accept to turn them back? - Maybe he's feeling generous, maybe he's a petulant lonely witch who wants people to stay but never knows how to voice it, and ppl often run at the first sight of him, so he just turns them into animals to keep them by her side.

In the end, Odysseus leaves Circe. This aligns well with the fact that Jason just dropped dead shortly after he and Nico became friends. Which is a funny (and depressing thought) if you put thoughts into it. Which I can't atm lmoa.

Anw. think of it as a piece of quiet Jason has given Nico in the expanse of his loneliness. That, though he was swept away by the natural order of things at the end, Jason did try his best to alleviate Nico's pain. So I reckon there should be a little bit of affection - if not love - in there.

The second story is, well, Circe and Scylla. And the male lover whose name I forget.

This is a classic case of jealousy - so who fits it better than Percy, the canon epitome of every jealous trope in the history of fiction?

sorry that was my pettiness talking. Anywayyyyy, I suppose I don't need to talk about this... I mean it's pretty clear who is who and how the story transpires: Circe is in love with that-something-sea-god, who is in love with Scylla, so Circe turns her into a monster. The only difference between Circe and Nico in this is that he doesn't do anything to Annabeth (even refuses to hate her still. gosh).

But that wouldn't be Percico, is it? So I say just say fuck it and make Percy a sea monster or something Idk. A witch living secluded in an island with his beloved sea monster? I'm in.

Another choice would be to make Annabeth the bad one but I'm in no position to make that propose.

If you still want to keep the story, and if you're any of an unhinged person like me, just make Nico the villain. Well, Circe is the villain in this story, yeah? Embrace it - Nico as the powerful witch, whose loneliness-induced jealousy wreaks havoc on even a sea god. What's left is not love - because love is the last thing Yone needs in fanfics srsly - but an impression of terror, of how disastrous Nico's love can be.

The concepts mix well in this case btw. I remember a painting of Circe pouring a plate filled with poison into the sea. Just imagine it - a blinding blackness spreading rapidly across the lapping water with just a touch of Nico's dainty finger. The shadows overlap with the roaring waves - the black undercurrents raging all the same - and darkness swallows all those whom he call enemies. If Percy's the sea and Nico's the lightless bottom, dark, mysterious, and full of threats.

That's everything I have atm, I guess. Sorry for not being able to help much :(((