#horus gets around

[rotten-downer]

Troublemaker

The tools necessary in order to make an Electro-Lock Shocker: Some mechanical bits, a little bit of metal, some duct tape, and…a Constable’s Keycard. It would be a useful tool to keep around, never know when you might need it, the shopkeeper had told Billy. Most of these items, Billy already had laying around his room above one of the shops he always helped out at. But that last item, the keycard. That would be the tricky bit, because there was only one place to get them, and that was from the Constables themselves. It’s not like Billy was scared of the task; he’s done plenty of risky things, such as sneaking into restricted areas or breaking into houses to find some specific item. He could have always turned down the request, said that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish the task. But that would be a lie. Billy knew he was more than capable of obtaining the necessary parts for the Lock Shocker. And besides, the shopkeeper said that he had some old medals from someone from the war, someone who had gone on holiday, and there was no way Billy could turn that down. He needed to expand his collection more. He would just have to be careful, and he was good at being careful.

Oh well, there was no use in delaying it further.

Billy stands in an alleyway, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently, his eyes watching the Wellies walk by, going about their days as normal, and then he sees a possible target. A blue Bobby, who seems to be a bit easily distracted. The Constable’s posture is a bit more lax than other Bobbies, yet the man still stands about a foot taller than Billy. The officer tips his helmet to the civilians he walks past, and eventually passes by the alleyway that Billy stands in. Billy closes his eyes, counting to five in his head before he steps out of the alley and scans for his target. His eyes land on the tall figure up ahead. It was simple enough; follow until they were somewhere where there weren’t as many eyes, then swipe the keycard from his pocket. Billy had done it a dozen, maybe a hundred times before.

Billy chose to wait until the late evening to try and accomplish his task. He knew that the Wellies would soon be clearing the streets as they settled down for the night, leaving the streets more and more open as the minutes tick by. Within ten minutes, the street seems sparse enough for Billy to make his move, and he quietly closes the distance between himself and the Bobby ahead of him.

Billy keeps his eyes on the tall figure, allowing himself to smirk as his hand reaches for the bobby’s pocket. He had no idea Billy was even there. Just a little further…Billy’s fingertips graze the edge of the taller man’s pocket, and Billy takes in a breath.

He continues to hold his breath more, his whole body going rigid as he feels a strong hand clasp down onto his shoulder. Terror radiates through Billy, his hand, still outstretched, trembling lightly, his heart leaping into his throat at the low, gruff voice from behind him.

“And what exactly do you think you’re doing, sir?”

Although the tone is cheery, there is a threatening edge to it that makes Billy shiver. Never before has he gotten caught, let alone by a Bobby. Cursing himself under his breath, Billy turns towards the figure holding him in place, heart plummeting to his feet as he’s met by a figure dressed in red. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was somehow even worse.

The red-uniformed Bobby gives Billy a threatening grin, his hand still tight on his shoulder, preventing Billy from fleeing. The blue Bobby has finally noticed the commotion and he turns as well, letting out a low, taunting laugh.

“Well, well, well. What have we here, Sergeant?” Now, the blue Bobby has a hand on Billy’s other shoulder, and the young male could feel his knees wobble in fear. Their grip was so tight that his collarbones were bruising under their gloved fingertips, and Billy knew there was no way he could pull from both of their grips.

“I think this little rat was trying to pick your pocket, Constable.” The red Bobby confirms, his dark eyes looking over Billy. “Isn’t that so, rat?”

Billy looks up at the authority figure, his lips parting, but no sound is able to leave him. He looks down to his feet, shamefully afraid.

“Well, we can’t have that, now, can we?” The blue one taunts, and the red one laughs in agreement. Their taunts only made Billy more afraid. He knew how sadistic some of the Bobbies could be. And no one would care if a rat went missing.

The two both seem to take a step closer to Billy, making the young male feel claustrophobic as their towering bodies trap him. His heart begins to race with panic, and he looks up at the one in front of him.

“Awe, little rat looks scared! Seems he’s regrettin’ his choices now, eh?”

Billy quickly thinks, his eyes shifting down towards his feet. If he didn’t do something now, there was no telling what could happen to him. But none of the possibilities would be pleasant, he was sure of that. Without much more thought, Billy slams his heel down against the blue Bobby’s foot, making him let out a yelp of pain, and he roughly shoves the red Bobby, then makes a break for it. He knew this town better than anyone, he knew all the little places his smaller body could slip into. It was just a matter of getting to one of those escapes.

He runs as fast as he can for the nearest alleyway, his chest heaving with heavy breaths, when he feels as if he were hit by a speeding train, and his body slams against a brick wall, his shoulder slamming painfully into the hard surface. Before he can even respond, he feels a hand tangle in his orange hair, and his vision erupts into stars as his head is slammed against the wall and he nearly feels his legs give out underneath him from the force. He has to blink his eyes a few times to focus them, and Billy shifts his eyes upwards to meet the angry face of the red Bobby.

“Thought you could scamper away, did ya?!”

Another slam of his head against the wall, and all the sounds around Billy sound muted, his eyes fluttering, fighting to stay open. He was sure he felt a hot warmth dripping down the side of his temple and to his jaw.

This was it. He was going to be killed in the street because he slipped up, was careless, and got caught. He was going to die right here.

As the Bobby prepares for a third slam, a loud voice bellows out, making Billy’s attacker freeze.

“What is going on here, Sergeant?”

The red Bobby stammers and releases Billy, and without the support of the hand in his hair or the body pinning him against the wall, Billy slumps to the ground, his vision and hearing gradually returning to normal. He looks up with a pained groan, seeing yet another Red Bobby approaching the trio, his dark eyes looking between the two Bobbies and the pickpocket.

The newcomer’s eyes settle on the other Bobby in red. “Care explaining what is happening?”

The Bobby, who had just moments ago been ready to bash Billy’s head in, stammers, standing up straight and he gives the newcomer a solute. “Sergeant Hunt! Uhm, well, you see…I, uh…”

Sergeant Hunt snaps, “Speak, Sergeant.”

He nods, swallowing hard and continuing. “I caught this young man trying to pickpocket…from the Constable over there…and he tried to make a run for it.”

Hunt slowly nods, taking in the information before looking down at Billy. “Is that true? Were you trying to steal from the Constable?”

Billy meets his eyes, then looks down into his lap with a shameful nod. Hunt exhales and looks back to the other Bobbies. “Well, I’d say he has learned his lesson, and I’m sure he won’t do anything of the sort again. Isn’t that right, young man?”

Billy looks up with a flash of disbelief, but he nods. He wasn’t going to take this chance of getting away for granted. Hunt gives a light shrug of his shoulders. “Well, as far as I see it, he should be free to go, then.”

All three of the others seem to share similar looks of confused disbelief, but Billy pushes himself up to his feet, stumbling lightly before looking to Hunt. He gives a nod of thanks, swallowing hard. He wasn’t going to push his luck, and with one last glance towards the Constable who had saved him, Billy breaks into a brisk jog, leaving the area and ducking into an alley so he could take a shortcut back to his place.

He may have been unsuccessful in his task, but he was lucky enough to still be walking. If that Sergeant Hunt hadn’t come to his aid, there was no telling what could have happened to him.

[skylordhorus]

i’ve been fascinated with pixel art lately so i whipped these up! it was a fun challenge; only so many pixels to work with after all and Every One Counts, and i think i did p good for a first proper go!

[n0ct0urn1quet]

everyone jokes about memory and how i cant remember things i said minutes ago and yeah i joke about it too but it Is a bit disturbing from time to time just how easily i forget stuff

i went to go make soup so i poured the soup into the bowl and then walked away to go Do Something and forgot the soup on the counter . then i came back and put the soup in the microwave before forgetting how long to cook it for (even though i looked at the can) and so i looked at it and then realized oh my cat needs water so i gave him water and then went and sat back down in my room thinking the task was Complete before going to my room sitting down for like 10 minutes and being like huh im hungry i should make something to eat. and then going out and seeing the bowl of soup in the OPEN MICROWAVE and being like oh did i not cook it. i thought i closed the door but i guess i just Left it open. and had i not started feeling hungry again it woulda sat there all night . . . god

[luwupercal]

@yestheantichrist replied to your post “picked back up the ferrus primarch novel and...”:

Warhammer soulmates au?

a long and silly exercise in worldbuilding mostly lol

by soulmates i mean like fanfiction style with the little indicators of who your soulmate is and stuff. matching soulmarks, first words, names, see in black and white until you meet 'em, whatever. i think documenting potential reactions of all of these Horrible Nightmare People to a concept as fundamentally fluffy as fanfiction soulmates is kind of a fun idea and i've been occasionally picking it up and toying with it on and off since like september

it's also kind of fun in a. "whoever you are, whatever you've done, someone out there is fated to love you unconditionally (EXTREMELY DEROGATORY)" way if that makes sense. i'm fond of the idea of healthy and loving relationships between deeply evil and fucked up people, partly bc it's fun in an addams kind of way and partly because if you wanna take it seriously and in depth it's kind of a fun way to like, interrogate a bunch of things about love

(i'm not really planning on taking the obvious route of "fucked up you don't get a choice, what if your soulmate sucks" bc that just kinda turns it into arranged marriage with less steps and i think it does a disservice to stories about arranged marriages to mix them up with soulmates. i've got other ideas) (again: "whoever you are, whatever you've done, someone out there is fated to love you unconditionally (EXTREMELY DEROGATORY)")

anyway i think all of this stuff would have an interesting communication with 40k's whole thing, w how romantic and gothic and such the idea of soulmates can become and how easily it can entangle and complicate situations. like imagine having a soulmate on comorragh. or as a space marine. warhammer 40k does this thing a lot where everybody presents themselves as above love and care for one another, and i think soulmates could be a fun way of exposing the soft gummy flesh underneath the ceramite or whatever and interrogating how 40k portrays (and how its characters feel and lack) love and, most of all, vulnerability

(because like. i could easily characterize it as 40k characters being "above emotion", but that's kind of bullshit, 'cause that's what chaos is all about, yeah? everyone in chaos feels extremely deeply. uncomplicated cheer, withered gloom, self-indulgent pleasure, bitter rage, increasing desperation, intellectual curiosity... whatever you like, but not even chaos wants to present as vulnerable. everyone in warhammer 40k has their shields up, and some of the strongest emotional moments in novels, that stick with me the longest after i read them, is when something finally breaks through, unwanted)

anyway also i think its hilarious if there's imperial planets who think soulmates are a sign of witchcraft and you gotta get burned at the stake vs planets who think theyre a gift from the emperor who personally sets you up like some kind of bored schoolteacher

[doolallymagpie]

finally solved the conundrum of "what color do I paint my hyper-professional Khornate Traitor Guard that hang around with my World Eaters"

been grappling with the question for a while, white fatigues with blue armor, or blue fatigues with white armor (brass trimmings either way)

white being the cloth color means the blood splatter shows up better and doesn't clean off as easily, which, if you're a Khorne worshipper, is a fantastic reason to wear white

[crysdrawsthings]

So, after chatting with a friend I have several thoughts to share:

1) Oona falling to Chaos would have been terrible, horrible absolutely bad time for everyone around, because she would be an absolute creacher, running around creating nightmarish forests with horrific monsters

2) It would also be very sexy of her, so I will make a possible design. First rough draft to be seen above.  

[ava-does-dumbassery]

Okay, fine. I’ll admit it. I actually like that version of the Lettuce Myth™️ from Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob that I had to spend a bunch of time translating from Latin to understand.

[stew-chan]

been listening to 30k books in the main story line and I really like the difference in internal culture of the various space marine chapters

lunar wolves: rally Brothers to the beautiful and mighty form of our fallen primarch! his gracious physique laid low through treachery! rally to his side for all the good that is left in the universe! *they then beat 200 civilians to death to get him to a doctor*

emperors children: god I love being perfect. we are so perfect we are beyond perfect. perfect at everything. perfect at combat. perfect at art. but you know what will make us even more perfect? listening to evil music and bathing in the blood of innocents :)

thousand sons: take heed Brothers and comrades for there is scary mind things going on here the lesser beings cannot comprehend and honestly arent even affected by. I will lead us now into 30 minutes of guided meditation in this active war zone so we can stay strong in the face of this massive danger :) *everyone else just steps around them and fights most of the battle*

death guard: wow I love being immune to poison and toxins. when we eat dinner together I really wish one day daddy mortarion will share the Super Poison DrinkTM with me as if I could ever be worthy of such an honor

[suzumori521]

𓀚𓀛𓀜𓀝𓀞𓀟𓀠𓀡𓀢𓀣𓀤𓀥𓀦𓀧𓀨𓀩𓀪

※ The following is all fiction.

🐕When Anubis usually looks so dignified and noble, but if you roll up some bandages and toss them, he gets all excited, chasing after them with joy, sliding and frolicking.

Along the way, Bastet swipes the bandages from him and gives him a good cat punch, leaving him to retreat with his tail between his legs.

He tends to hide things he doesn't want taken, like favorite toys or treats, in the Underworld, but he often forgets where he hid them. When he stumbles upon a forgotten toy in the Underworld, the Deceased urge him to throw it to them (and most of the time, the Deceased gladly catch it).

🐈‍⬛ While the Pharaoh briefly stood up from the throne, it looks like Bastet took the opportunity to claim the spot. The Pharaoh had no choice but to sit on a nearby small chair.

Bastet always comes to sleep on the Pharaoh's lap, at their feet, or on the desk. While thinking that it's a bit of a bother, the Pharaoh moves around to not disturb Bastet (but whenever they move, Bastet comes to another inconvenient spot).

🦅I'm imagining that Horus always sleeps in a place where Bastet can't come (maybe humans have created a safe spot with a special perch), and I'm mostly ignoring the relationships and power dynamics between gods in my portrayal.

[bruhhxiao]

Seth Headcanon (sfw/nsfw)

ennead Seth x gn!reader

☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥•☥

-You fell first, he fell harder!

You liked when he played as the bad, distant one but in reality he is the one always looking out for you!

If you were a god you met after a fight between him and Hours, the ruined your temple and you forced them to repair it. You teased him because you knew he wouldn’t repair it himself, he would force someone else, but you liked when he starts “I’m Seth, the god of…”.

If you were a civilian he got interested when you saved him in a battle. You weren’t a warrior nor someone interested in kingdom’s honor. You couldn’t stand violence! Even though you got along with the god of violence and the desert’s tempests. Once he heals from the accident he invited you to his temple, he walked around with you asking some questions and he then realized he might feel something special for you!

If you are in danger he would be there to save you, he told you only had to call his name and he will come to you less than a second.

You knew about his relation with his Horus and Anubis, you would bow whenever you saw them and Seth would step in front of you in defense mode. Hours definitely bowed back. He respects you!

When he announced to his people about your marriage he couldn’t hide the nervousness. And when the day came he couldn’t stop looking at your nervous, shy expression.

Some times he would tease you around people by caressing your butt cheek and if you were sitting on the throne he would slightly pull up your skirt/vest resting his hand on your thigh.

He didn’t touch you the night of your wedding, he was scared to hurt you. He held you close, your head resting on his chest listening to his heart beat.

(NSFW)

At your first time with him he would hug you and kiss your tears away whispering sweet nothings while he rested his forehead on yours.

Once you got used to it he would tease you or some time force convince you to do it for all night long.

He liked it in every position and he is definitely the one in charge.

”Take me deeply” or “someone down there is needy” his most used lines during sex.

His favorite moment is in the bath or when you just finished bathing and your body is still wet dripping water

(Sfw)

•He won’t let his ex-wife get close to you he wants to protect you from brain wash from the other gods that tries to make you change or doubt your feelings towards him

•If you get pregnant he will definitely stick around and never leave you alone. (Fem!reader)

•^plus he will spend all day listening or talking to your tummy from the moment you told him about your pregnancy.

•If you adopt a child he will definitely sulk around scared that the child might grow feeling for you in the future but once he saw the child he won’t let you hold him because he wants to spend quality time with someone he never thought he would care that much. (He wants to be the favorite parent 🙄)

•He would teach everything he knows to their child but he wants the kids be smart and calm like you.

“You should listen to your mother/father..” he will say when the child won’t go to sleep

•He wants to take walks or play on the bed with you and the child/children.

•He would cover your mouth and hold you from behind when you try to tell the kids about your first kiss or romantic moment with him.

•His eyes will go 😍 when he watches you take care of the kids. (Yours or from the village when you walked around)

•There won’t be a night he won’t kiss you good night or stroke your hair to sleep as you rest on his chest.

•He will love you more and more by day by day.

[canmom]

Animation Night 173: Takashi Nakamura

Hi everyone! It's that time of the week again~

The day that puppets bite their gloves off.

Tonight on Animation Night we'll be taking a look at the works of Takashi Nakamura (中村 たかし).

Nakamura is a director who flies under the radar a bit over here, but for those who know him, he's a unique director - one who we've actually encountered a couple of times before, actually! He directed one of my favourite shorts in Robot Carnival [Animation Night 158] Chicken Man and Red Neck, in which the machinery of a city comes alive to have a violently strange Bosch-like party led by a strange red-robed robot, witnessed only by one salaryman on a moped...

...and if you remember when we looked into the three adaptations of Project Itoh's novels [Animation Night 127], he co-directed Harmony with Michael Arias, a powerfully understated film about a high tech biopower future and people who reject its utopia through a suicide pact. We also saw him in the Japan Animator Expo, with the charming Bubu & Bubulina...

But let's give a fuller story...

As an animator, Nakamura entered the industry very young, signing on as a colourist and inbetweener at Tatsunoko in 1974 - at which point he was only 16, an aspiring mangaka newly arrived in Tokyo. Working in Tatsunoko's distinctive 'industry within an industry', he was introduced to Hirokazu Ishino's 'Anidō' association, in which he was introduced to not just many important animators but also had the chance to see animation from around the world, from Norm McLaren to Japanese independent animators like Kenzō Masaoka. The two films that got him most excited were Takahata's Horus, Prince of the Sun [AN41] and Disney's Fantasia [AN15], both of which contained incredible flexes of effects animation.

(Incidentally, it makes me happy that a lot of the films Watzky mentions showing at Anidō showed up on here! Following in the footsteps of giants and all that.)

Once Nakamura got the animation bug he put aside his manga aspirations and became a key animator, going freelance a couple years later. In 1979 he saw Galaxy Express 999, and got to witness the insane 'liquid fire' effects of Kanada, and he instantly became a devotee - soon enough getting a chance to work with Kanada directly.

And by the early 80s Nakamura was definitely making a name, already working in animation direction and solo-animating entire episodes of Gold Lightan for Tatsunoko. The next couple of years he'd end up working on Nausicaa, Macross DYRL and the with Rintaro [AN53, 134] on Genma Taisen. By now he was specialising hard in effects (not unlike Anno!), and his work had become terrifyingly elaborate, look at this building collapsing into every single element or the clothes coming to the life under the power of a psychic. His work also inspired another incredibly significant animator to enter the industry - Kōji Morimoto, future cofounder of Studio 4°C - and they ended up working together on Genma Taisen.

Meanwhile on Nausicaa, Morimoto handled some of its most memorable scenes like the opening sequence where Nausicaa is pursued by the giant Ohmu. Once again you see his fascination with effects and debris, like the shot where the Ohmu explodes out of the forest, sending stalks flying in every directions. In Macross DYRL he animated the scenes of the gravity flipping sideways and a street's worth of stuff tumbling down all at once, elaborating on a scene by Itano from the TV show.

In short, if there's lots of bits of stuff flying around in a mid-80s movie, there's a good chance that Nakamura was involved somehow.

Such a focus made him a perfect fit for the 'realist school' developing in the late 80s - whyat you might loosely call the Otomo circle. You see his work on both Manie-Manie/Neo Tokyo and Robot Carnival, and naturally enough he ended up part of the team for Akira. Given what he'd already accomplished, could he somehow step it up another notch? You bet.

Going by sakugabooru comments, Nakamura's role in Akira was mainly related to two things: explosions, and animation direction. Considering how iconic the explosions in Akira are, and how challenging it was to animate Otomo's very solid and 3D designs... the success of the film depended a lot on Nakamura's insane drawing skills. Further, he was a kind of 'teacher' to the rest of the staff, such as Morimoto. But this was apparently the 'limit' for Nakamura, and after Akira he turned from creating animation for others.

And this point marks a major stylistic turn in Nakamura's work. Starting with the World Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Peter Pan, on which he worked as character designer, he adopted a highly stripped-down, simplified style. With all the Akira goodwill, he was able to pull in many of the new stars of the 'realist' school, from Okiura to Ohira. But his work became a lot less flashy, focusing more on a Disney-like approach where it's about creating a consistent sense of life rather than individual flashy sequences.

The Hakkenden [AN 122] was one of his first chances to experiment with the new style as a director, with Episode 4 really kicking off the series' trend of completely redesigning the characters according to the sensibilities of each director. He also worked on the kinda obscure but gorgeous realist-school film Junkers Come Here [AN 118] as his own film debut, Catnapped!, progressed.

So Catnapped! This is a weird movie. Many people see a Disney influence in its style, and it definitely broke the 90s trend with a younger target audience - but Disney could never make a movie filled with as much imaginative strange shit as this one. Watzky points out how much Otomo influence there is in the direction - dense environments and elaborate multiplane shots, in contrast to simple character designs which afford a lot of movement. These designs allow great animators like Okiura [AN139] (who animated most of the finale) to really go to town. There's a great para in Watzky's article on the different directions taken by the 'realist' animators.

Catnapped is a pretty short film at less that 80 minutes, a revel of visual imagination; Nakamura's next film A Tree of Palme is just as distinctive but in a different direction. It's another take on the Pinocchio story [c.f. AN138], but a very 'dark, metaphysical' one, with its biggest inspirations apparently being French - Moebius and René Laloux [AN71, 93], with Mutsuo Koseki coming up with art direction capable of comparing to Laloux. The three year megaproject pulled in animator legends from across the board - Inoue, Ohashi, Ando, Masuo, Matsutake, Umetsu! (Count how many directed part of Robot Carnival).

The character designs of Palme look simple in stills, but once you see them in motion, they're anything but - incredibly volumetric and full of life and movement.

In the 2000s and 2010s, Nakamura ended up working with Colorido and 4C a lot (naturally enough given the connection with Morimoto!), increasingly making effective use of CG in his projects. This led up to The Portrait Studio (写真館 Shashinkan) (c.f. AniObsessive) in 2015 - an almost solo short film, with Nakamura writing, storyboarding, designing characters and doing all the key animation, which is a kind of slice through Japanese history through the lens of a photographer who just wants to figure out a way to get his client to smile.

Much like Palme, The Portrait Studio combines simple character designs (in a stylised picture-book look) with very precise, realist animation on 2s and 1s to lend them a sense of density and 'existence'. Moreover, unlike most anime, it uses the raw pencils as finished lines instead of redrawing them clean on a computer. The style might call to mind Otomo's Cannon Fodder, and in fact the two films share a colour designer. 3D is integrated with an unusual degree of skill and subtlety. It makes for a fascinating combination, a very memorable and impactful film for all its apparent simplicity.

So, that's our focus for tonight! We'll be watching Catnapped!, A Tree of Palme and The Portrait Studio, and getting to find out what the deal is with Nakamura - one of the Very Important Guys in the history of anime, influential on so many of my faves... but all too often overlooked by people who aren't like, huge animation nerds.

If that sounds fun, come join me at twitch.tv/canmom - going live in just a minute! I've been wanting to do Nakamura for ages, and today I finally found energy for a writeup. See you there~

[bones4thecats]

Hello, I would like a request for Ror from Hades x Female Anubis from Hades meeting the parents of Anubis and Seth, his father threatening the god for setting his eyes on his “baby” please

Hades Meets His Anubis! S/O's Parents

Type of Writing: Request Name: Hades Meets His Anubis! S/O's Parents Character: Hades Requester: @anubis-ror

A/N: Apologies for this taking so long to get out, I'm currently undergoing a lot of stuff at once with my classes and whatnot. But, I do hope you guys enjoy this! By the way, the Reader here is Anubis' twin sibling

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💀 You always were committed to your family, from watching over your siblings, Horus and Anubis, to trying to help out your uncles, Set and Khepri, you were always there to help them out

💀 It was because of your willingness to help that lead you to offer your assistance to Anubis, your twin brother, in leading the many dying humans to the underworld and getting them fully settled

💀 It was because of this that you had met your future husband, Hades, the Greek God of the Underworld and the King of Helheim

💀 When you had taken both your brother's and your shifts one day, due to him getting slightly ill from no doubt doing something stupid, you had learned from your helper, and niece, Kebechet, that you had a meeting with the King

💀 During your meeting, Hades thought to himself about how similar you appeared to his ally-in-work, and he learned from your introduction that you were the Deity of the Soul, meaning you would watch over and mold someone's soul correctly before they came to life, and you would take them down alongside your brother

💀 Hades may not inherently like how your brother acts, but whenever you look at him with big puppy-dog eyes, his heart melts

💀 You mainly became close due to your jobs working together and gossiping about your families (the Greek and Egyptian Pantheons), you now know a lot more about Poseidon and Zeus

💀 You and Hades eventually began to court one another a few centuries after your first meet, which in a God's life is like knowing somebody for around a few months, depending on the amount

💀 Due to how close you had gotten, you wanted Hades to meet your parents, Osiris and Nephthys. And he always reacted the same; maybe after you meet mine first

💀 Respecting his wishes, you had met Hades' family on a number of occasions, your most memorable being when Zeus tried hitting on you, but before his sons could pull him back to reality, Hades grabbed his ear and scolded him like a mother would. Though he did also glare at him with nothing in his eyes... maybe that was why he almost pissed his toga...

💀 And over time, your requests began to get more frequent. So, respecting your wishes as well, Hades agreed to meet your family, much to you and your brother's delight

💀 You hopped that this would go perfectly, but hope doesn't always work out...

" You're kidding me. " " Osiris! Be nice. I apologize for my husband's harsh words, Hades. I'm Nephthys, Y/N, Horus, and Anubis' mother, it's so nice to have you here. Oh, by the way, Y/N, the rest of the main family is coming by soon. " " Including Uncle Set and Uncle Khepri? " " Yes. Now come, I must show you how he redesigned your room. "

💀 Hades watched as you walked away with your mother, smiling gently as you groaned and you slide your upper-jackal head mask down to cover your burning cheeks as your mother ranted

" So, what are you planning to do with my youngest, huh? "

💀 Your husband's eyes widened as your father pointed his Shepard's crook at his neck. His green skin clashing with the gold and wooden item

" Apologies, but I do now quite understand what you mean by 'doing with them'. " " Are you gonna hurt them like Zeus hurts Hera? After all, you do have the same genetics. "

💀 Hades had to resist grabbing Osiris' crook and snapping it into splinters with his hands. Instead, he took a deep breath and lightly nudged the item away from his neck and began looking at you across the room with hearts in his eyes as he spilled said organ's love and devotion out to his Father-in-Law

" Osiris, your youngest is by-far the most spectacular person I have ever met in my many centuries of living. In both physical appearance and how their personality and beyond is, they just... they just feel so right to have by my side, you know? I cannot stand the mere thought of laying harm to her, mental of physical. It makes my stomach plummet to the depths of my immortal soul. Seeing them happy and smiling on the other hand? That is one thing I would never change nor rid myself of for the world. "

💀 Looking up and down at Hades and contemplating his words, Osiris sighed deeply and held his crook lighter than before as a smile slightly covered his face before it turned into a teasing yet dangerous scowl

" I shall allow you and my child to prosper in your love for one another longer. But, know this, you hurt them, I will dispose of you like how we do here in Egypt. Understood? " " Completely, Father. " " Don't call me that. "

[sharenadraculea]

The Primarchs at the Zoo

Emps is doing family bonding events again, so now they go to the Zoo

Lion: He gets into a staring contest with every big cat at the zoo. Needs to be stopped from getting into a fight with them. Otherwise very well behaved, just staring at animals and making notes. Fulgrim: There is one of those butterfly-houses where they just kind of fly around. Fulgrim is absolutly enchanted. Just sitting between the flowers and waiting for them to come say hi. He also definetly is wearing highly impractical clothes. Perty: Not quite sure what he should do, so he just ends up following Magnus and Fulgrim around. Get‘s to save them, because he thought about taking a powerbank and charging cable with him! Jagh: the pony riding thing is only for kids. This makes Jagh very sad. But he can tell Magnus about all the animals he knows from Chogoris. Tries to steal a horse, a yak and a camel for Magnus (not necessarely in that order) Leman: Wants to befriend every dog and wolf and similar animals. Will bark at them. Then ends up clinbing into one of the enclosures to pet the doggos and get‘s chased away by security. He stole a puppy tough! (Malcador forces Leman to bring it back, because it would be really sad without it‘s parents) Rogal: Not all that interested in the animals, but he really enjoys looking at the architecture. Brought a little sketchbook along for making notes, and some noise cancelling headphones. His siblings still get him to look at some animals and that‘s how everyone learns that Inwit is apparently full of ice-age megafauna. Rogal is just confused why the animals at the zoo aren‘t fluffy Konrad: He was very unhappy at first because there are so many people and it‘s loud and bright and smells. Then Fulgrim bought him some cute sunglasses from the Zoo Shop and Rogal gave him the printed out guidelines for how to care for the diffrent animals, so now Konrad can controll if the zoo is following the rules. As with every family-outing, he has visions of inevtable doom Sang: He is so excited! But some of the animals are very confused by his wings, either thinking he is one of them (very cute, Sang is very happy) or he is prey. Lion needs to buy him ice cream. Well he doesn‘t need to, but it comforts Sang. Then they go to the petting zoo and the goats start chewing on his wings. Sang somehow finds this very cute

Ferrus: He is making artistic photos of Fulgrim. After a while he still get‘s bored with this and goes to listen to Robs animal trivia Angron: Absolutly no one expected him to just plop down in the pettong zoo and feed goats for the rest of the day. The goats are climbing onto him and Angron is just happy. It is very hard to get him home again, Rob: The logistics of running a zoo! He is so excited about that, he nearly forgets they are there for the animals. He made sure to read up on trivia about every single animal in the zoo and now shares this knowledge with his siblings. Morty: He also wants to watch butterflies, but Fulgrim is allready there… after a while they start talking and Morty starts infodumping. Fulgrim finds this too cute. They are later seen walking out of the toilet all disheveled. Things definetly happend Magnus: He is here to do research. Yes, this involves stealing some of the animals. The most dangerous ones around actually. E told him not too, but who would Magnus be if he actually listend? Horus: He is spamming the family chat with photos of well, mostly himself. Sometimes there are animals in the background. Somehow ends up in the penguin enclosure and get‘s soaked. He isn‘t bothered, because the wet shirt accentuates his muscles, but he still get‘s kicked out of the zoo. Emps is very disappointed Lorgar: Not quite sure what he should do at first and kind of ends up wandering around alone. Then runs into Sang at the petting zoo and the goats try to eat his books. They then spend the rest of the day together Vulkan: All those baby animals! He might die from cuteness! He‘s making a ton of photos to share later, including a lot of embaressing things his siblings did. Corvus: They are nowhere to be found at first. Later Vulkan finds them sitting in the birdhouse, petting all the birds. Somehow the zookeepers haven‘t noticed. Konrad does not like this, as it is against the rooms. Alpharius Omegon: They have blended into the masses. No one knows what they did all day, but they return to the spaceship covered in plushies, cheap souvenirs and baby animals. Malcador also forces them to bring the animals back

Bonus: Emps: This was a fantastic idea, he is very proud of himself. Loudly yells about every cool animal he sees Malcador: He is highly stressed out. Why did they decide to make so many kids? Next family trip he‘ll just stay at home Valdor: He pays for everything.

[cyberwhumper]

The animal is quite skittish. Despite being alone in the quiet room, able to do whatever it pleases, the creature chooses to spend days pressed up against the corner, terrified of imaginary punishments that don't seem to come. Even as Imran steps into the room to swap old food for a fresh serving, the biopet still doesn't move much from its spot despite being so obviously terrified of him. Every step makes Horus flinch in fear.

He had been so patient with it up to this point, giving the injured creature plenty of space and a consistent environment to help soothe its nerves, yet Imran still couldn't help but feel concern. It hasn't eaten in almost a week, it barely moves from the corner of the room, it whimpers if the man so much as looks it in the eyes. At night it cries itself to sleep, the soft sobbing carried through the house tugging painfully at Imran's heartstrings.

The bruises and cuts which littered its body blossomed into horrifying shades of crimson and purple, areas where he hadn't even noticed the animal was hurt seeming to be bruised as well. In fairness, his eagerness to remove the creature out of that squalid situation likely played a part. He should have inspected Horus better, assessed the damage more calmly, actually planned what to do once he got home. Not that it seemed to mind.

Imran doesn't know whether or not it's even intelligent enough to understand what's happening around it. In the eyes of an animal, the constant change in environments, owners, even down to the rules it's supposed to follow, must be extremely stressful. In a way, he almost hopes Horus doesn't understand, so that it may be spared the burden of knowing the full extent of what it has gone through.

It takes almost another entire week before Imran catches the faintest glimpse of progress, the slightest sliver of hope. The animal, hungry and desperate, had slowly dragged itself to the food bowl. He caught it passed out right on top, so exhausted it didn't seem to have had the energy to drag itself back. Food, he hoped, could be the way to coax the biopet out of its shell. To get confirmation that his strategy was working made Imran elated.

Perhaps one day he could live to see a situation in which Horus would truly be happy and healthy.

Perhaps then, and only then, he could feel like he atoned.

Tag list: @whumpsday // @demondamage // @squidlife-crisis // @whumpedydump // @cyborg0109 // @whumpfish // @astrowhump // @the-scrapegoat // @whatwhumpcomments // @dustbunnywhump // @why-not-ask-me-a-better-question // @dokidokisadness // @moss-tombstone // @lambofmine // @maracujatangerine // @pinkraindropsfell // @writereleaserepeat // @blood-and-regrets // @littlespacecastle // @snakebites-and-ink // @unforgiven235 // @lonesome--hunter // @atomicsandwichprince // @writereleaserepeat // @whatamidoingherehelpme // @skittles-the-whumpee // @the-blind-one-speaks // @i-eat-worlds // @devourerofcheesecake // @theauthorintraining // @otterfrost // @mommymarichatfurever //

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[moodymisty]

Author's Note: Inspired by this post. You can blame all of the unhinged horniness there for this unhinged horniness. Someone there put the idea down as space wolves or Luna wolves and I chose Luna wolves because @bispecsual gave me the brain rot. And since I'm a massive masochist, I write.

Relationships: Like five unnamed Luna Wolves/Fem!Reader

Warnings: Vaguely NSFW, Very hornily charged bullying, Astartes are very curious and grabby, Demeaning speech, Just imagine you're that one girl on the couch in the meme surrounded by massive dudes but those dudes are 8 foot tall genetic abominations, Gangbang implications(?) my warning tags are getting weird as fuck

To the Luna Wolves, serfs are a new idea- a curiosity.

But after their good deeds upon a planet of little known renown and placement in the galaxy, a few of their population offered to serve them.

Before them, most serfs were primarily stationed on Terra, and on Luna Wolves ships instead those roles were given to low ranking tech priests, or penal labor. Even then however the Astartes saw them rarely, until now.

Some of the newly conquered planet offered sons as aspirants, of which they eagerly accepted. The Luna Wolves have been eager to grow their numbers now under Horus’ leadership.

Others, older and ablebodied, offered themselves to serve as serfs.

Many Luna Wolves can't remember the last time they've seen a normal human for more than a few moments, ushering them to safely into a Stormbird or pushing them from a firefight. Or seeing their corpse flung on the far reaches of a battlefield, out of sight and mind.

In their brief periods of reprieve from battle, it's now been a struggle for their captains and lieutenants to keep their men on task, now that serfs scurry around them completing various tasks. Particularly for the youngest marines among them, it's been a constant to stop them from reaching towards the serfs, interrupting their sanctioned duties.

They will get to you once finished with your brothers, is what the current quartermaster on duty or Astartes captain says. Though haste to have their armor cleaned or bolter clips loaded isn't the thing on their mind, but instead an almost dog-like curiosity.

But after their superiors leave, they always end up crowding around you again. These astartes have barely seen baseline humans in decades, let alone a woman.

It's suffocating.

You were nothing on your home planet. Insignificant. You’d hoped joining them would bring you purpose, something to be proud of. And to get off the planet that had you feeling so trapped. And while you got your wish, in a way the thing trapping you had merely changed form.

They have you cornered in the armoring room now; Like Wolves. You went from trapped on that no name planet to trapped by five different astartes. Your palms feel hot and sweaty, but not as hot as your face.

“You’re so small, you’re going to get lost on the ship,” One says.

He grabs for your chin and holds it for a moment, forcing you to look into his grey eyes. they're stoic, but you can see he's enjoying something about this. Though he allows you to shrink away and out of his grip, looking downward at their chest armor. Or anywhere else that isn't their faces.

“Or trampled,” Says another. The one who spoke previous gives him a sour look before passively aggressively replying.

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

One who hasn't spoken yet has his top armor removed, his lower half unpowered. He was training, using it as dead weight. Training concluded blood now drips down from his nose and lips but is mostly dried, partly covered healing bruises. If he looks like this, you can't help but wonder how his opponent looks.

It’s distracting.

You don’t know if it’s some sort of illness or insanity from being locked in this ship for so long; It makes him look more attractive. You hope to whatever deity or god or whatever exists out in the stars that he doesn't notice you’re staring. That he doesn't notice the way your heart is pounding in your chest and what feels like your cunt as well.

He does. As do the others. You can't kid yourself and think that with their hearing and smell that they haven't noticed that you're boiling alive, and that your body is screaming fuck me fuck me fuck me fuck me-

“He won. Out of one hundred men.”

Your gut twists and the marine behind you laughs quietly. It's deep, enough so that you swear you can feel it in your chest. You would squeeze your thighs together for some relief, but you don’t think you can without stumbling over.

“She likes the winners. Looks like you’re out.” He gestures to a fellow marine that gives him another sour look. You briefly wonder what he lost at to deserve such a jab.

“I should return to my duties,”

You meekly say, hoping to remove yourself from the embarrassment and scurry away to another quarter of the ship.

One of them blocks your path and traps you from leaving, picking you up by the armpits and holding you before putting you back down between them all. It's like you weigh nothing to them, and that they can simply jostle and swing you around like a toy.

“I’ll tell your quartermaster you were helping us.” He jerks his head in the direction of a marine clad in only the casual clothing they wear out of their ceramite. Now the focus of your attention he rolls his shoulder, and you can see the muscles of his neck and around his collarbone flex.

You swallow a knot in your throat that felt like it was going to choke you. Your hands clench tight, nails sharp against your palms. You're going to have a heart attack, you swear it. Tears well in your eyes but they don't break your waterline just yet, from sheer will alone. If any of them say another word, call you cute, small, soft, that you smell so sweet, you swear they’ll roll down your cheeks like a waterfall.

“He wants you to put on his armor. The others are always so rough, you’re so gentle with those little hands.”

The marine reaches for you, and in your back step you stumble and accidentally bump into the one who hasn't spoken at all; Just watching and sitting. You stumble over his massive armored boot and end up falling into a sit on his thigh, legs parted over it. His massive armored hand comes to grip your waist, to keep you from falling over. It covers a good portion of your stomach in the process.

You’re so tightly wound just the simple pressure alone is enough to have you clamp a hand your mouth to avoid letting out a moan that would kill you right then and there, if you weren’t already dead. Your knees quiver, toes just barely touching the ground. His massive height makes it impossible to fully stand with his thigh between your legs.

You know they can smell the way you’re leaking and staining your underwear, hear the way your heart is racing like it's going to explode. You’re half afraid you might make his ceramite thigh plate slick.

You can feel their eyes on you. They look at you like you’re food thrown to a pack of starving wolves.

One suddenly steps forward, and pushes his battle brother out of his way with a harsh slam of ceramite on ceramite before undoing the latch his belt.

“I go first.”

[its-all-stardust]

Sugar || 2

Masterlist || Part One || Part Three

Steven Grant/Sugar Mommy!Reader

Word count: 3.8k

Series Summary: You meet Steven in a museum gift shop and feel an instant connection. Before you walk out the door you decide, perhaps against your better judgment, that you need him to be your sugar baby. Now you just need him to let you treat him right.

You finish making your way through the rest of the museum with a little time to spare. Unfortunately, you barely remember a single thing you looked at. Your thoughts were consumed by one particular gift shop clerk.

When you’ve finished with the last exhibit, you find your feet taking you back to the Ancient Egyptian section.

When you left the shop earlier, you told yourself you wouldn’t be so impulsive. You know where Steven works. You can always clear an hour or two in your schedule and make your way back after running a proper background check. But you can’t stand the thought of waiting.

You’ve never been so impulsive, especially not when inviting people into your life. Not when it comes to letting them so close and paying them to do it.

But you’re drawn to this man—this stranger more than you’ve ever been drawn to anyone else. Part of you wonders if it’s because all the others in the game have specific goals in mind. For most, their personalities were akin to sharks hunting for blood, not looking for anything other than what you and others with wealth could give them.

Not all sugar babies are bad; the ones you were involved with weren’t. You preferred them not to act entitled to you or your money. You needed them to know that just because you could pay for anything they could dream of, it didn’t make them any better than someone else—or better than who they were before they started getting into these arrangements. You need people you actually enjoy being around, spending time with. A connection on some level. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Admittedly, you liked it when they were new to the game and had never had a mommy or daddy before. There’s nothing quite like taking someone and showing them all the good things they deserve. 

You have a feeling Steven will be like that, the light in his eyes shining brighter than any of your previous babies because of the mere random chance of it all and the disbelief that he could have such things.

As the gift shop comes into view, you pray Steven is still there. The museum’s closing in an hour. Depending on when he started his shift, he may already be gone for the day. You don’t think your pounding heart can take it if he isn’t behind the counter or sweeping up another mess.

Stepping inside, you deflate when you don’t see him. In fact, you don’t see anyone. The shop is empty. No Steven, no Donna, or even another employee to be found. Frustrated with yourself for being so disappointed about not finding a stranger, you turn to leave, already reprimanding yourself in your mind for acting like this.

“Oh, hello,” someone calls. You slowly turn back around, relief filling you.

“Hello,” you reply, facing Steven as you try to control your expression. You’re a professional; you should act like it.

“You again!” Then he cringes, face flushing. “Not that I mean that in a bad way. It’s just…usually, people only stop in here the one time, especially after I’ve scared them off.”

“You haven’t scared me off.” You walk up to him, stepping closer than he got to you earlier.

“No?” he asks, confused.

You shake your head. “I said I’d see you around.”

Steven shrugs. “People just say that. They don’t actually mean it.”

“I don’t lie, Steven. When I say something, I mean it.”

He appears flustered then, blinking rapidly in disbelief and looking around the shop like he doesn’t know what to do.

“You erm…” His eyes catch on something. “You didn’t buy anything earlier. Did you want one of the Horus figurines?” He rushes to the display, grabbing one of the birds to hold out to you.

You follow, stepping close. Without taking your eyes off Steven, you take the bird from his hand and put it back onto the display.

“I want to take you to dinner,” you say.

“You do?” Steven asks, a little breathless.

You nod. “When’s your next free evening?”

“Tomorrow,” he quickly answers. Good. You like that he’s not questioning you and is quick to answer.

Smiling, you name a restaurant, one of your favorites. It’s not the most expensive place, but it’s not one Steven would likely visit regularly and probably only on special occasions. You doubt working in a museum gift shop pays very much.

“You’ll be there at six.” You’re not asking, needing to see how well he’ll listen to you.

“I’ll be there at six,” Steven repeats.

“The reservation will be under my name.” You give it to him, which he softly repeats as well.

You take a step back, and Steven sucks in a breath as if it was his first since you decided to stand so close.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Steven.”

“Grant,” he hastily blurts when you turn to leave. “Steven Grant. My name.”

You smile at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Steven Grant.”

You walk into the restaurant precisely at six. Some would say you’re punctual to a fault, but you simply find it to be a common courtesy—though it really isn’t that common.

You don’t like your time being wasted and try not to waste others’. It’s rather disrespectful, in your eyes, to ignore set deadlines or meeting times. There’s a reason that time was chosen, after all.

And even though you’ve technically arrived on time, you consider yourself late. You like arriving at least a few minutes beforehand, but your last meeting of the day ran long. One of the department heads liked the sound of his own voice a little too much and couldn’t seem to get to the point. And that’s not going into how it annoyed you that it couldn’t happen earlier in the day due to so many schedule conflicts between you and all the heads.

You also wanted to be early to see Steven arrive. It would allow you to see what he’s like when he doesn’t know you’re looking. Your oft-requested table gives you an excellent view of the door without being directly in front of it, making whoever you’re eating with search for you and giving you time to examine them before they put on their mask—if they have one.

As you look toward your table, you see Steven already seated. He doesn’t see you, though. He’s too busy fidgeting with his askew tie. The collar of his dress shirt isn’t in any better condition, but despite his outfit, he was able to tame his curly hair fairly well.

You continue to stare as you’re led to the table, but Steven, so lost in his thoughts, doesn’t notice until you’re seated and handed menus.

“Oh!” he exclaims when the menu is put in front of his face. Then he finally looks up and sees you across from him. “You’re here.”

He looks a little stunned, and you smile.

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, it’s just… You know.” Steven laughs awkwardly.

“No, I don’t know.” That could mean a hundred different things; you’d rather not guess and pick wrong.

He shifts in his chair, uncomfortable. “I… wasn’t quite sure if this was real, to be honest. Was wondering if I was going to show up just to find out you were having a laugh.” He laughs again, trying to play it off as a joke, but it’s obvious that was a genuine concern for him.

“Has someone done that to you before?” you ask casually, though underneath you silently seethe. It doesn’t make sense to you how someone could be that cruel. It especially irks you that it may have happened to Steven. You already feel protective of him even though he hasn’t even heard your proposition yet, let alone accepted it.

“Not exactly,” Steven says, though he doesn’t look you in the eye and takes a large gulp of water.

You don’t press the subject. “Do you believe me now when I say I don’t lie?”

He meets your eyes then and sets his water down.

“Yeah, I do,” he says softly.

“Good. Remember that.” You don’t want him to forget because you know how your offer will sound when you finally get around to it.

“So what’ll you be having?” you ask, changing your focus to the menu. You’re eyeing your favorite while wondering if you should try something different.

Steven fumbles his menu a little as he opens it. “Do they have anything vegan?”

The question makes your brain short-circuit.

“...I don’t know,” you say apologetically. “I’m sorry. I should have thought to ask—”

“That’s alright,” Steven quickly interrupts. “I can usually find something.

“I still should have been more considerate.” You get like that sometimes, so focused on what you want and how to get it that you…forget others aren’t like you. You don’t do it maliciously, and you try not to be like that at all.

You got excited about Steven. You met him, and in the span of a few minutes, you decided you wanted him. You almost berate yourself again for not doing this the proper way. If you had, you would have known something as basic as his dietary restrictions.

You make a mental note to do better next time.

“Normally, I try to mention it, but…I was a little overwhelmed,” Steven admits. His eyes aren’t downcast at the menu like you had expected. Instead, he meets your eyes easily.

He meant it to be reassuring like it was his fault, but you only end up feeling a twinge of shame.

“I did come on quite strong, didn’t I?” You’re not exactly sorry for it, but you know you’re too much for some people. You’re afraid you’re too much for Steven.

“I liked it.” Steven quickly says before his eyes widen, and his face flushes, embarrassed. You don’t know why; you appreciate the honesty, the words draining the tension from you. You haven’t scared him off yet.

Maybe…maybe he’s afraid he’s too much for you.

“You did?” you ask, needing to be sure Steven wasn’t just saying that. Similar to his assumption that you didn’t actually mean it when you said you wanted to see him again.

“Of course I did.” Steven’s cheeks are still flushed, but he doesn’t hesitate.

“That’s good,” you say, relieved. You smile at Steven, to which he happily returns.

The two of you manage to order dinner. Steven found a quite delicious-sounding pasta dish he could have while you stuck with your favorite, needing the comfort and familiarity of it.

While you wait for the food to arrive, you make small talk. You’re not exactly a fan of it most of the time. It’s tedious, and people tend to say a lot while saying nothing at all because they can’t stand sitting in silence. With Steven, though, it’s not terrible, not to mention necessary. 

The two of you know nothing about each other, and he needs to know where you’re coming from, what you can offer. You start out slowly, talking about your interests and hobbies before moving on to company. You talked about how you started it and how it grew. You don’t say anything about money, not yet. People can be funny when wealth is brought up. And you respect Steven enough to trust that he can figure it out for himself. The prices on the menu, while not the most expensive in the city, are higher than what the average person could comfortably afford on a regular basis. And then there are your clothes, sleek and stylish, quietly saying, ‘I paid money for these.’ There’s even the bag on your arm. If someone isn’t familiar with the brand, should they even make out the logo, they can tell the quality.

To your relief, he seems to take it all in stride. His eyes widened when he seemed to realize what all it meant, but the surprise didn’t linger, his expression didn’t turn predatory, and he didn’t ask the typical “So how much money do you make in a year?” while drooling over what it could mean to be with you.

Over the years, you’ve learned to tame yourself. Never talk too much about yourself all at once and ask questions about the other person at the right time—even if they interrupt you and you can’t finish your thought. Steven, however, never interrupted to talk more about himself, letting you talk as long as you wanted, even prompting you to talk more when you stalled. He even seems to lack your same sense of needing to hold back.

Once he got started on his book collection, his fish, Egypt, he didn’t stop. You let him go, struck by how much he was willing to share about his interests like he wasn’t afraid of what you would think. Or at least, that’s what you thought it was before he stumbled over his words and apologized for talking so much. You didn’t mind. You liked seeing his face light up when he spoke about things he genuinely cared about. It was much nicer than the dull, bored expression most people had when they didn’t know what to talk about.

Dinner hasn’t progressed very far—you’re only halfway through your meal and plan on getting dessert—but you’ve decided. You thought you already had when you couldn’t leave the museum without asking him to dinner, but the more you talk with him, the more you just know.

A part of you thinks you shouldn’t ask and let this be a proper, old-fashioned date. Let yourself have a proper partner.

But then you remember when you’ve tried that in the past. Remember how your heart broke when they all decided they didn’t love you. When they stopped pretending they cared when they weren’t getting what they wanted out of you. Eventually, that was your money once you far surpassed the bar of what would be considered successful for most people.

That was when you decided that if money was all someone wanted from you, that’s what you would give them. Then, they wouldn’t have to pretend to be in love with you, and your overwhelming desire to care for someone could be met. Plus, there was the added bonus of telling someone exactly what you wanted and expected from them, and they obeyed without question. It makes it easier than a regular romantic relationship would be.

You like Steven, but there’s no guarantee he won’t leave you heartbroken if you let him in that way. So no, he can’t be your boyfriend. 

But he can be your sugar baby.

It’s safer that way.

The conversation comes to a lull, and you decide to pounce.

“I have a proposition for you if you’d like to hear it,” you say, suddenly nervous. You’ve never asked a baby to be yours without knowing well in advance that they would say yes.

What will you do if Steven says no? There’s no taking an offer to be someone’s sugar mommy back, no way to laugh it off, and then ask him to be your boyfriend. You’re well aware this isn’t what ordinary people do, so ordinary people have a hard time truly talking about it.

“Yeah? What’s that?” Steven asks, brow furrowed slightly, though there’s a slight smile on his lips.

“I’d like to take care of you if you’d let me.” There, the words are out, and you were even able to look him in the eye when you said it. A small victory in itself for you.

Steven’s smile drops, confusion falling over his face. “Sorry? What do you mean exactly?”

You’ve never had to explain it to someone before. Even the brand-new babies you’ve had knew what they were signing up for when you connected with them.

“I don’t have children or family of any sort, but I like taking care of people. I have more money than I could ever spend in several lifetimes, and yes, while I do donate quite a bit, it’s not the same as giving one person everything they want when they couldn’t have it otherwise.” You pause, but Steven doesn’t say anything. He just stares down at his plate, stunned.

You decide to continue.

“I like you, Steven, and I don’t like very many people, not really. But with you, I know, and I would like to have your company. You would be compensated, obviously, and I could give you anything you’ve ever dreamed of. If you asked for the moon, I would find a way to pay for it if it made you happy.”

You aren’t usually so blatant about showering a new baby with money and gifts, practically begging them to accept what you can give. It mostly kept them from seeing you as a piggy bank and more as a person. But it’s different with Steven.

“That’s…that’s very…” Steven trails off. He keeps shifting nervously in his seat, unable to look at you.

You’ve made him uncomfortable, and your stomach drops. You drop your eyes to your plate, your favorite meal turning sour in your mouth. You wonder if you’ll be able to eat it again after this.

“Like a…like a sugar baby?” Steven whispers as he looks around the restaurant, afraid of being overheard. It makes you wince.

This was a mistake.

“That’s exactly what it is, yes.” There’s no point in trying to sugarcoat it.

Your eyes flick up to meet his before quickly dropping again. You push your food around on your plate, no longer hungry.

“Aren’t I a little old for that?” Steven laughs, sounding a little hysterical.

“Only if I were a pervert who wasn’t interested in anyone over twenty-five,” you say without thinking. You don’t usually speak like that unless you’re with close friends, especially since some of the other mand daddies you associate with do, indeed, only seek those in their twenties. Steven’s reaction has you so distressed you’re starting to lose your filter.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not that, then,” he laughs, sounding calmer. Surprised, you finally look up.

Steven looks hesitant, but not like he’s going to run for the hills. Not right now, anyway.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” he asks softly.

“Of course I am.” You don’t look away when you say it. You can’t.

Steven does, though, staring down at his plate and twirling his form in his hand.

“... I’ll need to think about it, obviously,” he says, and you’re shocked, to say the least.

While it’s not a yes, it definitely isn’t the ‘no’ you were starting to expect. Yet.

“You can take however long you need,” you tell him. He doesn’t need to answer you today. You weren’t expecting him to.

Steven nods. “Let’s finish dinner for now, yeah? Unless you want to leave?”

The words make you laugh, no doubt sounding a little hysterical yourself. “I’m surprised you don’t want to!”

“I’m willing to keep an open mind,” he says.

You nod. “That’s all I can ask for.”

The rest of dinner goes fairly smoothly, though there’s a lingering tension in the air, an expectation that had been set yet not met. You decide against dessert. What started as a fun dinner has left you feeling nauseous even though Steven hasn’t outright turned you down.

When the waiter arrives with the black leather booklet holding the check, he hands it directly to you like he knows. He probably does; you’ve brought babies here before. You don’t even think twice, only glancing at the bill that can’t even be considered a blip in your finances before placing a card inside and handing it back.

Steven is fumbling with his wallet all the while.

“I invited you. Dinner’s on me,” you say, figuring he’d take that better than trying to explain how you never intended for him to pay for anything tonight.

“Shouldn’t I…? I mean, I’m the—” Steven cuts himself off at your raised eyebrow. “You know what? Nevermind. Thank you,” he finished quickly, shoving his wallet back into his pocket.

“You’re welcome.”

You both go silent.

“You’re really going to consider it? Because it’s okay to say no right now.” You have to say it. You’d prefer Steven be upfront with you and decline now rather than ghost you, never to speak to you again.

“I don’t know if I want to say no,” Steven admits. “It really is a lot to think about, and it’s not like I know what I’m doing. And I really do like you, so I’m not going to tell you to bugger off just because I wasn’t expecting something like this to happen.”

“You’re not insulted?”

“Should I be? Isn’t the more appropriate response to be flattered?”

“And are you?” you can’t help but ask. 

Steven looks down shyly, his face flushing once again. “I am.”

A smile threatens to spread across your lips, but you try to tame it.

You turn away from him and grab your bag. Digging inside, you pull out the small notebook you keep for notes and a pen. You rip out a page from the notebook and write down your phone number.

“Take your time letting me know,” you say, sliding the paper across the table to Steven.

He stares at it for a moment, perhaps trying to memorize the number, before carefully slipping it into his pocket.

“Do you need a ride home?” you ask, standing, sliding your bag onto your arm.

“N-no, I’ll be alright, thanks,” Steven stammers, quickly standing and bumping the table.

You can’t tell if he’s trying to be polite or distance himself from you. Either way, you want to push the topic, so used to giving your babies everything, asking after their needs, but you don’t. Steven hasn’t agreed, and you don’t want to pressure him into a decision. It’s a choice he has to make for himself, or the relationship will never work.

But there is something else you can do to show him that you care.

“Do you mind if I…?” You gesture toward his tie.

“No?” he answers, clearly not understanding what you’re asking.

You don’t clarify. Instead, you step close and reach for his tie. Steven goes still, his breath catching, as you loosen his tie and fix the collar of his shirt. You straighten it, pulling it down from where Steven had it placed a little too high on his neck. Then you cinch the tie back up, making sure it lays straight, and smooth a hand down it—down his chest—before stepping back. The slight change makes all the difference, making him look more put together than he had just a moment ago.

You want to do that for him more often.

“There.” When you look up, Steven’s pupils are blown wide, his face flushed. “Shall we?”

“Mhmm,” Steven hums, making you smile.

Outside the restaurant, you spot your car, the driver having pulled up to the entrance to wait for you.

“I hope to hear from you, Steven,” you say softly. 

You’ve grown a little too attached, you think. You’ll be devastated if he says no. Even worse, perhaps, if he doesn’t respond at all.

“You will,” he promises with a firm nod.

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