#i can at least say i've given it a fair shot

[heart-of-the-morningstar]

✨Dress Up, Part 3: The Honeymoon✨

Who's ready for the honeymoon?? I've been dying to get this one out for y'all. Thank you all again for the incredible support on this fic, I absolutely love you all! Enjoy!!

I tried to make it as clear as possible who is speaking at any given time lol

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Lucifer x f!sinner reader

Summary: The wedding is over and it's time for the honeymoon! And you have an interesting proposition for your new husband...

Warnings: 18+, smut, fingering, oral (m & f receiving), p in v, anal, multiple partners

As promised, Lucifer behaved himself for the rest of the reception. He was always very good at keeping his promises with you. Although, you had piqued his curiosity when you had mentioned the little "proposition" you had for him later in the evening. He was insatiable. And you loved it!

"C'mon love, at least give me a hint!" Lucifer begged while you were in between conversations with the hotel patrons. "Do you think it's fair to keep secrets from your husband?" He latched onto your waist and pressed a kiss to your cheek, a little laugh escaping your lips. "I'll just keep kissing you until you tell me!" Sure enough, he began to pepper small pecks across your face, finally forcing you to push him away gently.

"All good things to those who wait, Lucifer," you teased, taking his one hand and leading him towards the bar. "We just have to say goodbye to a few more people, okay? And you're one to talk! You still haven't told me where we're going for our honeymoon!"

He chuckled, bringing your hand up to his lips. "I'm the Devil, sweetheart; deception is in my job description, or so I've been told." You rolled your eyes playfully and made your way towards your new daughter-in-law.

"Charlie!" you greeted, bringing her into a warm embrace. "Thank you for this. You did an incredible job. This was everything I could have hoped for and more."

"Oh, there's no need to thank me!" Charlie beamed. "Everyone here worked super hard to make sure everything turned out perfect!"

"You're too modest, Charlie dear," Lucifer complimented. "Anything you touch turns out absolutely perfect. And I shouldn't expect anything less from my little girl!"

"Thanks, dad. I-I love you two so much!" Charlie's eyes started to well up with tears as she brought you both in for a hug. "Oh, dad! Did you tell her about the surprise?!"

Lucifer shook his head. "I haven't, but we're just about to head out right about...now!" With a snap of his fingers, a portal appeared behind the trio. You went to turn your head, but Lucifer used his hand to turn your face back towards him. "No peaking!" Without warning, you felt your legs give out beneath you as Lucifer scooped you up into his arms, cradling you against his chest and smiling down at you. “Thank you all for a wonderful day,” he called out to everyone. “It’s certainly one we’ll never forget. We’ll be back in a few days' time. PLEASE don’t burn the hotel down while we’re gone!” He turned around to face the portal and leaned down towards you. “Close your eyes for me,” he whispered against your ear. You did as he said and let your eyelids fall.

You felt the subtle jostling of Lucifer’s movement as he carried you through the portal. He only took a few more steps before he stopped completely. Wherever you were, you felt a slight breeze hit your skin. You guessed you must be outside somewhere. But Lucifer’s footsteps sounded like they were hitting tile flooring. Before you could try to rationalize further, you felt your husband’s lips graze your earlobe.

“You can open your eyes now,” he cooed.

Your eyes shot open; Lucifer’s grinning face was the first thing you saw as he finally set you back down on your feet. You were right about being outside. Kind of. You were on a balcony. The footsteps you heard earlier made sense now. But you saw something else that had completely caught your attention. The sky above you wasn't red. It was a deep blue. You turned to Lucifer in confusion. "Where are we?"

"Surprise!" he nearly shouted, gripping your hips and twirling you around before placing you back down. "Welcome to the Lust ring, my darling!"

You blinked at him a few times before looking back over the railing, smiling eagerly. "So, this is what you've been hiding from me?"

"It is," Lucifer said as he pulled you flush to his chest. "Do you remember how I said that you're no longer bound to the rules that govern sinners? This is part of that deal! You're free to travel anywhere as my Queen, and that includes the other six rings of Hell! Not that I would recommend most of them. But Asmodeus-"

"Wait, Asmodeus?" you questioned, "The Sin of Lust?"

"Yes! Although I usually just refer to him as Ozzie. He's one of the only Sins I get along with. But anyway, he's the one who put us up in this lovely room for the next few days. I told him I was getting married and well, he practically insisted on letting us use his Honeymoon Suite at the hotel he owns here. Told me I needed to 'put the room to good use'." Lucifer flashed a smug grin before leaning in to capture your lips. He picked you up once more and carried you over to the too- large heart-shaped bed, setting you down on the soft dark purple bed sheets. "So, my angel has a 'proposition' for me?"

Suddenly your cheeks felt burning hot. To be honest, you haven't given your own proposition much thought before this. But that week without any intimacy nearly drove you up the wall and your mind created scenarios that you had never even considered before. You regret mentioning it in the first place, but it was too late to turn back now. "W-Well, yes, I do...I mean, I did. I umm...it's..."

Lucifer laughed and sat himself down next to you, his hip connecting with yours. "Now what could possibly have you so tongue tied?" Lucifer teased as you looked away from him. "I've never seen you like this before. You don't have to be embarrassed, love! Whatever it is, I'm sure I can handle it! I don't think there's anything you can suggest that would scare me away." He brought his hand under your chin and turned your head towards his wanting expression. "Please tell me!"

You sighed shakily. "And you won't freak out?"

"Now when have I ever freaked out?" You cocked an eyebrow at him. "Ok, fair point. I promise you that I won't freak out."

You inhaled a few short breaths before speaking. "Youcanduplicateyourselfright?" you blurted out without thinking, making Lucifer pause.

"Duplicate myself?" he repeated, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uhh, yeah I can. But what does that have to do with...o-oh...OH! UMM...S-SHIT! WOW I uhh...wasn't expecting that..."

"Hey, you said you wouldn't freak out!"

Lucifer shook his head rapidly. "Freaking out?? Who's freaking out?! Not me! Certainly not me! I'm cool, I'm alright, I'm fine! It's just uhh...I..." He laughed nervously, failing to reign in his sudden panicked reaction. But for some reason, it seemed as though he couldn't stop smiling.

You reached down to cup his hands in yours. "Luci, listen, if that's not something you're wanting to try, that's totally alright! I'd never ask you to do something that would make you uncomfortable! That's why we talk about everything beforehand! Please don't worry about it." You smiled and cupped his face in your hands to press a light kiss on his lips.

"Now sweetheart, I never said "no", now did I?" you heard a familiar soothing voice echo behind you.

You turned your head slowly, only to see an identical Lucifer sitting next to you on the opposite side. You gulped and smiled warily. The other Lucifer grabbed your hand and kissed it delicately.

"You...you want this?" you turned to your Lucifer as the other continually kissed up your arm.

Lucifer beamed at you, taking your other hand. "More than you know! If I'm given the chance to provide you with as much pleasure as I possibly can, I will never turn down that opportunity! Besides, I do owe you from the reception, and I intend to pay it back tenfold."

You didn't think your face could get any more beet red. Your lips met with your Lucifer once more, his tongue gliding across your bottom lip, begging for entrance, to which you happily obliged. The other Lucifer found his way to your neck, now sucking and nipping at your sensitive skin. You had barely begun, and your adrenaline had skyrocketed. You had to pull yourself away before you wouldn't be able to stop yourself.

"I...I'd like to clean up first, if that's alright," you chuckled. Your Lucifer grinned, with both of them standing up and offering you their hands.

"Shall we?" they spoke in unison.

Your face flushed as you took each of their hands, pulling yourself up from the bed. They led you to the illustrious bathroom that was connected to your bedroom. It was way too grand for just a couple. Well, at least you three would take up just a little more space. You stripped out of your reception dress quickly, your lovers following suit. The shower itself could have easily fit everyone on in the hotel inside, but the three of you planned to use the space to your advantage. Once the shower was heated to your liking, you stepped in tentatively, letting the hot water relax your body. You didn't realize how stiff you had been. Perhaps the cause were the two men that just stepped in the shower to join you. One stepped around behind you, the other in front. Perfectly sandwiched between two God-like figured. Her heart threatened to beat out of your chest as you felt two hands gently massage your shoulders while two more thumbed circles around your hips.

"It's alright, darling," your Lucifer spoke calmy from behind. "We'll go at the pace you're most comfortable with, yeah? If you need to stop at any point, say the word and we'll be done." You nodded your head, giving them the 'okay' to continue.

"Let's get you all nice and clean now, love," the other Lucifer cooed. He passed the bottle of shampoo to your Lucifer while he lathered his hands with soap. You felt a pair of hands massaging your scalp ever so gently as they thoroughly scrubbed your soft hair, detangling any knots that may have formed. Two more hands roamed your skin, gliding across every inch of it. Starting at your neck, moving across to your shoulders, down to your breasts. Your breath hitched and you giggled, noticing how long his hands lingered in the specific area. His hands finally moved down lower, to your stomach and your hips, only to reach around and give a few light squeezes to your ass. You knew he was going to be touchy, especially considering it's been an entire week since he's been able to feel you like this. And you weren't going to deny him.

You rinsed your hair, watching the other Lucifer lower himself onto his knees to wash your legs, starting at your calves and working his way up to your thighs. After a few seconds, you noticed his hands have not left your thighs; he continued to run his hands along them delicately but desperately, almost begging for something more. You looked down at him only to be met with pleading eyes. It suddenly clicked with you. Wordlessly, you spread your legs apart slightly, allowing him access to the one area of you that you knew he wanted. That he needed. You let out a few shaky breaths before you at last felt his digits glide along your folds. You didn't know how much you missed the feeling of his fingers until he began his ministrations, easily finding your sensitive nub in the process. You mewled as your Lucifer turned your head to capture your sounds on his lips. You felt the other Lucifer's fingers enter you slowly, causing you to moan into your Lucifer's mouth. He swallowed it happily. You felt him languidly thrust his fingers in and out of you, your walls clenching around them.

"Now this is heaven," your Lucifer whispered against your collarbone. "I can finally tell you how wonderful you taste on my tongue." Without warning, the Lucifer beneath you gripped your thighs and plugged his face into your aching pussy, your knees nearly buckling under its own weight. Luckily, Lucifer caught you and held you close to his chest as the hot water continued to loosen every muscle in your body.

"I gotcha," your husband murmured before nipping at your neck, leaving bruises and bite marks in his wake. It was too much and not enough at the same time. Both of their tongues worked on your trembling body, your mind couldn't decide which area to focus on. You felt Lucifer's tongue push past your folds, his forked tongue hitting the most sensitive area inside of you. All that managed to leave your throat were whimpers of pure, overwhelming pleasure.

"L-Luci...I-I...," you tried to speak, becoming more and more difficult with each passing second. "B-Bed..."

You felt both Lucifers smile against you, each of them pulling away to stand up straight. The water was turned off and they led you out of the shower. They took some towels, drying you off as best they could before your Luci scooped you up and carried you back over to the bed, laying you down gently.

"What do you desire, my queen?"

You grabbed your Lucifer's hand, directing him to sit behind you. You looked at the other and patted the sheets in between your thighs. "I'm sorry that I interrupted your meal, please continue." Eagerly, the one Lucifer jumped onto the bed and dove between your thighs once more, continuing his tender licks up your dripping slit without giving you a second to brace yourself. You cried out while your Lucifer sat you in his lap.

"Such beautiful sounds, my darling," your Lucifer praised. "I've never been able to hear them so clearly when I've done this before. I've been dying to taste you again; it's been so long." You tried your best to focus on what he was saying, but the pleasure between your legs had taken up every bit of your attention. You missed this more than you were willing to admit; to have your lover devouring you like it was his last meal. You felt his hands snake underneath your arms, beginning to squeeze and knead your breasts. You were seeing stars, your vision blurred as you could feel legs begin to tremble uncontrollably. The other Lucifer had to wrap his arms under your thighs to make sure you couldn't pull away from his devilish tongue that was now circling your clit relentlessly. You were on the verge of breaking. "I can tell you're close, sweetheart. It's okay, let go for me. Let me taste all of you." You felt two fingers enter you at that moment, forcing you to thrust your hips up in unbridled ecstasy. Once his fingers curled inside you, the coil in your stomach snapped.

"A-AAHH...HHNG...LUCIFER!" you cried out as your orgasm overwhelmed you, your walls pulsating around his fingers that had refused to slow down as you came. You rode out your orgasm, feeling Lucifer lap up every last drop of you before you had finally come down from your high. Your breaths were heavy, but your Lucifer captured your lips once more, inhaling every last one. Oddly enough, you could taste a faint hint of yourself on his lips, even though he wasn't the one between your legs.

"Tell me love, how much did you miss my tongue?" the Lucifer below you asked coyly as his thumbs ran soft circles around your inner thighs.

You rolled your eyes and smiled. "Enough to know that I'll never ask you to wait for me again."

He beamed at you, picking himself up from between your legs and leaning for a tender kiss, the other leaving more hickies along your neck. This was everything you could have imagined and more. But you weren't done yet. You needed more. You had felt Lucifer's hardened cock against your back the entire time you were sitting in his lap. It was time to give him his fill of you. And you were more than willing to let him claim every part of you.

"Luci?"

"Yes?" they answered.

"I want you to take me. All of me. Please..."

"D-Do you mean..." your Lucifer swallowed hard, the other completely red in the face.

"I do," you nodded shyly. "Is...Is that alright?"

With a snap of Lucifer's fingers, a third one appeared and stood next to the three of you at the edge of the bed.

"Anything for you, my angel," the third spoke softly, a nervous smile crept across his face.

Oh, you were so fucked! In both senses of the word. Your hands shot up to your face in a failing attempt to hide your embarrassment. You felt a pair of hands pull them away, now staring back at two pairs of lust-filled eyes.

"Are you absolutely sure, love?" Lucifer's voice echoed behind you. You could almost hear the shakiness in it. "Please don't feel as though you need to do this for me."

You managed to shift yourself so that you were now kneeling in front of your Lucifer, his head resting in the palms of your hands. "Yes, I want this. This isn't for you or for me, this is for both of us. I'm yours, my king." You brought your lips to his, entangling your tongues together in a fiery kiss. When you pulled away, Lucifer seemed to be caught in a trance, completely drunk on you.

"Let's get you ready," he grinned. With a swirl of his hand, a bottle of lube had appeared, tossing it to the Lucifer standing beside you. You noticed the writing on the label before he threw it away.

"Apple flavored?" you questioned.

"Let me ask you, did you taste yourself on me when you kissed me a minute ago?" Lucifer smirked a bit when he asked. Your face flushed a bit, but you nodded. "I thought as much. It was faint, but it was there, right? I didn't think you wanted the taste of normal lube when you uhh...umm, yeah...haha...It's hard to explain, but the short and simple of it is that all of our senses are connected. If one of us is touched, the others will feel the sensation of being touched as well. And I promise that the faintest hint of apples will be the only thing you can taste. A little fun fact about duplication for ya!"

You grinned as you and your Lucifer got up from the bed while the second assumed his position, lying flat on his back, his leaking cock resting on his abdomen. You wanted nothing more than to ride him senseless right now as you made your way back on all fours and hovered yourself over him, but you knew you would get to soon enough. You smiled down at him beneath you, he grinned and winked in response. The other two joined you in bed, with one kneeling behind you, the other in front. Your Lucifer's cock hung just inches from your face, almost begging for any kind of attention. You went to grab it, but his hand stopped yours. "Ah, ah, patience," he scolded lovingly, "I can wait. Let me concentrate on you, yeah?" As if on cue, you felt a cold finger teasing the entrance of your ass. In inhaled sharply, gripping the sheets below you from the sensation. You and Lucifer didn't use it often, but you always enjoyed it whenever you tried it.

"Ready?" you heard him ask behind you.

"Yes."

Slowly, he inserted his lubed finger into you, letting your muscles relax around him. After a few pumps, a second finger was inserted, thrusting in and stretching you out as much as he possibly could. He applied a generous about of lube as he spread his fingers apart inside you, opening you up and making sure you would be able to handle more in just a little bit. The less pain you felt, the better. When he felt as though you were thoroughly prepped, his digits retreated from your ass. He rubbed some more lube down the length of his shaft before positioning himself to enter you. At the same time, you felt the Lucifer below you shift, lining his cock up with your wet cunt. You inhaled deeply a few times, albeit a bit shakily.

"If you need to stop at any time, please don't hesitate to use our safe word," your Lucifer instructed. "Do you remember what it is?"

"Radio." you responded. Neither of you had to use it before, but this seemed like a scenario where it may need to come into play. The word still made you chuckle to yourself regardless.

"That's my girl," he cooed. "Tap my leg and I'll pull out if you need to use it. Slow and steady now..."

You felt your ass stretch first as he entered you lethargically, letting you stretch around his length. You felt the burning sensation for a moment or two, but it soon receded after he remained fully inside for little bit. Your pussy was next, sinking down as far as you could before Lucifer's hips bucked up to meet yours. With two cocks now fully sheathed inside of you, you gave them the 'okay' to start moving. The room was filled with nothing but moans when their hips started rutting into you, feeling absolutely and completely full. You looked up at your Lucifer with desperate eyes.

"Y-Your turn, Luci," you babbled, opening your mouth wide, your tongue falling to the wayside and drool beginning to drip down your chin.

"F-Fuck..." was all he managed to choke out before to tip of his cock was already past your lips. He did his best to match the pace with his other selves, not wanting to go too deep. And he was right; the faintest scent of apples filled your senses as his cock was pushed in and out of your hot throat.

This moment was pure bliss.

Your mouth, your ass, and your cunt all being filled and fucked senseless, somehow in the most tender and loving way imaginable. Lucifer had never been rough with you and he wasn't about to start now. All three cocks were hitting every single pleasure point in your body, it was almost overwhelming. But you didn't dare stop.

You felt a pair of Lucifer's claws dig into your ass as he fucked you from behind, another pair shooting up to grip your hips as he thrusted up into your aching cunt. The last pair of hand you felt playing with your hair as you used your tongue and mouth to drive him mad. But you felt something else not long after. Something had wrapped around your leg. His tail. You weren't sure which it belonged to but you were too fucked out of your mind at this point to care. You felt something else, something that could have made you scream were your mouth not full. Another one of his tails, but this one had gone straight for your clit, its movements increasing with every thrust. Your eyes crossed as your second orgasm hit you like a freight train, giving you no time to prepare. You moaned loudly around Lucifer’s cock as your pussy clenched around his other, your juices leaking out and trailing down your thighs.

“GAA-AHHH, O-OH FFFFUCK,” all of them gasped together. All of them had felt you cum on his cock. He was done for.

“M-My love…”

“Ssshhhhiiittt…I-I’m…”

“I-I can’t…can’t s-stop…”

“FUCK, C-CUMMING…I’M CUMMMING!”

All their movement had stopped as they came at the same time. You felt his hot seed spill out inside of every hole he filled. It took everything you had left in you to not collapse right then and there. Your Lucifer was the first to pull out, finally letting you properly catch your breath. You swallowed his cum without a second thought, licking your lips as you stared up at him innocently. He turned away from you quickly, his face feeling like it had caught fire. You felt two pairs of hands grab your waist, hoisting you up and off of them, and gently laying you down on your back. With a final snap of his fingers, the two Lucifers smiled at you one last time before disappearing, leaving you with just one. Lucifer, now completely spent, plopped down on the bed right next to you. You shuffled closer to him, snuggling against his chest. He wrapped his arms around you and peppered kisses all along your face. You couldn’t help but giggle.

“Are you okay, my queen?” he asked breathlessly. “I didn’t hurt you at all, did I? Was it too much? Were you-MMPH” you cut him off with a searing kiss to his lips. He melted into you, your lips languidly moving against each other. You pulled away, tears welling up in your eyes. Lucifer’s face fell instantly. “Oh, God, I hurt you, didn’t I?! Fuck, I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean to-”

“No, Lucifer!” you laughed, cutting his panic short. “I’m not hurt, you didn’t hurt me! I-I’m just…so happy…” you threw your arms around him and began to squeeze his body as hard as you could manage. “Thank you…”

His arms tightened around you as well, bringing you as close to him as physically possible. “No, my love, I should be thanking you. Not just for this. But for everything else.” He sat you both up, now leaning yourselves against the headboard. He left one arm draped over your shoulder as the other reached for your hand. “You’ve given me everything I could ever want, and more than I ever deserve. You’ve given me patience, understanding, kindness, stability, joy. I could go on forever about what you’ve done for me. But out of all of those, the one thing that you’ve given me that I know I could never go without, is your love. You’re mine, and I’m yours, until the end of time. I love you.”

You couldn’t stop your tears from falling. You smiled at him sweetly, wiping away the tears from your cheeks. “I love you too, Lucifer. But you’re wrong, you know.” The angel cocked an eyebrow at you. “You deserve everything and more. Never doubt that.” You pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. “You’ll always have me. Always.”

Tears fell from his eyes now, pecking your face with more kisses again. Suddenly, he scooped you up in his arms and hopped off the bed in an instant.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, shall we, my beautiful wife?” he whispered to you as you made your way to the bathroom once more. “Hope you like bubble baths!”

“Of course I do, my darling husband.” He smiled and leaned down to press another kiss to your parted lips.

~~~

GOD, PLEASE, I CAN EXPLAIN 😫🙏🏻

Anywho, hope you liked part 3! Part 4 will be a sort of epilogue so stay tuned! Thank you everyone for your support 💖

@ask-theradio-demon @kermitdafroggy @thonethatflies620 @luc1fersducky @a-okay-rj @bat-boness @myhornybrainonlyknowsthis @misfitgirlwrites @animationmovieshipps @orbitinglumps @ramenkitten @blaackbiird @bigfatbimbo @lucisaspen @bvnnyangel @seulace9 @fluffypinkpillows @starlightdreaming @k-n0-x @rosen-und-mondlicht @raindropsfromheaven @slutforlucifermorningstar @lola576 @ag-cookiebat800 @victoriousvic @rand0m-1diot @lonelynmisunderstood @cosmic-lavender @yourmom132 @liveontelevision @luci-lover-forever

[imperatorrrrr]

Can you please do NICO HISCHIER SCHOLARS REPORT part 2?

I'm sorry this is so incredibly late, Anon, but let's go.

So we're going to be doing a deep dive into this Nico Hischier interview from Summer 2021. (Fair warning, these interviewers are...annoying ahahah to say the least, and sometimes do not shut up, but there are some gems from this.) I feel like I haven't seen a lot of content from this video, so I thought it might be a good one to share and also discuss...

First things first, Nico's giving this interview from Switzerland, and from the way he's positioned, I'm going to say he's giving this interview lying on his bed or something. The phone is facing up towards the ceiling and he's kind of facing the phone on top? Like I guess he could have laid the phone flat on a desk of some kind? Regardless, its an interesting choice of positioning to give an interview!

Fun Fact! This is Nico's first time meeting "Mike" and this Mike person ends up being someone that Nico stays connected with. Do you guys remember the sauna pictures and videos from this past season? That was courtesy of this very same Mike.

We all know Nico played a variety of sports growing up, but we learn here that Nico also played tennis, which I think is a new one to add to the list as well as swimming, skiing, and eventually switching to snowboarding.

Nico lived with a billet family. There's a great article that details that. Check it out here.

From youth, Nico was playing hockey with guys older than him.

"I had a really good season there" - big smile when talking about Halifax

He's still in touch with his Halifax teammates.

There's a bit in this interview, which unfortunately gets cut off due to connectivity issues, but basically Nico's asked about whether he was given a hard time by anyone bigger/older than him and I think his answer pretty much sums up the philosophy he has in the NHL now. "It never bothered me...these guys who were talking shit about me, I just didn't care, and just kept going."

"I had fun. Still now, I just have fun playing hockey and hanging out with the guys." - This quote I think is the epitome of Nico Hischier. Like, throw it back to Nico's pre-game speech before one of the playoff games "remember to have fun". That's Nico's entire hockey essence. And then throw it back to the win streak in the 22-23 season "this is the most fun playing hockey I've ever had". He just wants to hang out with his boys and have a good time.

Nico did a little bit of high school while he was in Canada.

One of the interviewers calls Nico "mister easy going, always playful". One of the times Nico met this man, he did a back flip off a bench in the gym. Like, thats Nico Hischier. He's not always mister serious, he's not always Nico Hischier Resting Face™️. He's just a silly little guy.

On Expectations: "I always try to keep that on the outside, always try to focus me on myself...I'll try my best every game, if its not enough its not enough...sacrifice myself for the team...at the end of the career, I obviously want people to say that he was a great player, but its almost like a little bit more important for me to have people say that I was a great teammate, I was a great guy to hang around with, lots of fun. This is my goal a little bit." Like how can you not love the guy?!

There's a whole bit about Nico taking a puck to the face (this was when PK Subban's shot hit Nico in the face back in the February 2021). He talks about the surgery and the actually medical procedures involved. I'm not going to get into the specifics here in case folks are squeamish, but just an FYI its in the interview. If you're not squeamish its very interesting, but trust me you want to skip that part if you are. He goes into detail.

One of the things Nico enjoys the most about playing hockey is the traveling to other cities.

What do you attribute your success to? Nico talks about his family that always supported him. Talent isn't all you need, you need to work hard as well. He talks about how he did things that maybe have been considered "weird" by his peers. When he was fourteen/fifteen he went to Pilates once a week with his sister. He was the only guy in the class. Loves to try new things. If you're not having fun then its not worth it.

Sidenote for anyone wondering about the Devils jersey hanging above Nico? Fairly certain thats a Patrik Elias jersey. If you wanna be in your feels for a bit.

"I do believe in our team. I'm just excited about what's coming up." - this was summer 2021. He has believed for a while that this team has it in them to compete truly.

Nico's inability to say the word "rivalry" will always always always make me smile.

"I want to put the team in front of me."

So during this entire interview, the two hosts are cursing throughout, and near the end Nico says "fuck" and immediately apologizes.

Nico believes he was picked as Captain for the person he is off the ice. "I'm an easy going guy. I don't really have a problem with anyone. I'm just guy you can have fun with. You can come over to my place. We can have a couple of beers, talk about anything, doesn't have to be hockey. If I see a friend is not playing his best, I'm not trying to fuck with him, I'll go talk to him. I'll try to help him."

One of the interviewers ends the interview by saying "you're a special dude"

And that's that. Tried something different with this edition of Nico Scholars, so I hope ya'll liked it.

[scoobydoodean]

Curious if you have anything for "Dean doesn't care about demonic vessels" / Dean calls Sam a monster whenever he makes a concerted efforts to exorcise care about the humans in the vessels. If not, is it something you'd consider tracking or expanding upon?

The first time the death of a vessel comes into question is in 1.22, when Sam, Dean, and Bobby capture "Meg", and the real Meg (Meg Masters) is still alive and possessed by her. Dean is the first person to say they need to exorcise "Meg" immediately to save Meg Masters from possession, while Sam wants to leave Masters possessed so they can potentially get more information out of "Meg" (this is all after "Meg" revealed John's location, so Dean already got what he wanted—Sam wants Azazel's location). Bobby then interjects, saying that exorcising "Meg" will kill Masters.

Sam (quietly to Dean): Maybe we can still use her. Find out where the demon is. Dean: She doesn’t know. Sam: She lied. Dean: Sam, there’s an innocent girl trapped somewhere in there. We’ve go to help her. Bobby (comes up to them): You’re gonna kill her. Dean: What? Bobby: You said she fell from a building. That girl’s body is broken. The only thing keeping her alive is that demon inside. You exorcise it – that girl is going to die. Dean: Listen to me, both of you, we are not gonna leave her like that. Bobby: She is a human being. Dean: And we’re gonna put her out of her misery. Sam, finish it.

This is an interesting discussion, but one where Sam is the absolute least concerned about Meg Masters. Overtaken by the desire for vengeance at this point, Sam just cares about potentially getting information from "Meg" that will lead him to the demon. It's Bobby and Dean who care about Masters, but push for different solutions. Dean believes Masters is suffering and cannot be saved, and is concerned with immediately ending her suffering and violation. More darkly, he may also want a little payback against "Meg" the demon. Bobby, from his own POV as a husband who lost his wife to possession, immediately jumps to wanting to wait and see if they can save Masters somehow, but this is... also likely a pipe dream. "Meg" is... to put it quite bluntly, a creepy, murdering, rapey demon. She is happy to kill humans at her leisure at this point in the series. She has zero incentive to preserve Master's life and they were never going to be able to save her. Meg Masters immediately thanks them for exorcising Meg when she retakes control of her body, even knowing she is going to die. There's really no good solutions in the situation, but Dean is still the one to reflect after on Meg and another of Azazel's children who he kills to save Sam, considering the gravity of the vessels lives.

Dean: Hey, Sam? Sam: Yeah? Dean: You know that guy I shot? There was a person in there. Sam: You didn’t have a choice, Dean. Dean: Yeah, I know, that’s not what bothers me. Sam: Then what does? Dean: Killing that guy, killing Meg. I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t even flinch. For you or Dad, the things I’m willing to do or kill, it’s just, uh .... it scares me sometimes.

I do think Dean is a little less fair with himself when it comes to Meg, given that at the point where they went through with the excorcism, they already had the information on John's location that Dean had wanted.

In 3.04, Sam calls Ruby a "cold bitch" after *she dismisses the weightiness of him killing two vessels. However, Sam kills a crossroad's demon and her vessel just because he's angry in the following episode. Sam's prioritization of vessels doesn't seem to materialize until 4.04. "Metamorphosis" (which I'm guessing is the basis for the claim you're asking me about):

SAM I'm sorry, Dean. I am. But try to see the other side here. DEAN The other side? SAM I'm pulling demons out of innocent people. DEAN Use the knife! SAM The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months than we save in a year.

First, this wasn't the motivation for honing Sam's powers when Sam originally agreed to start using them. His motive was revenge on Lilith. We also know he isn't being honest with Dean or himself here about the full scope of his motivations. As is slowly revealed to us over the course of season 4, Sam is attracted to the feeling of power that the demon blood gives him.

That aside, if you actually take this discussion in 4.04 in context, this is the first conversation where Dean knows Sam is working with Ruby and that Sam is honing powers he developed via her guidance. Dean's plea to use the knife comes right before Sam reveals that he is actually able to save some of the victims by using his powers. Dean doesn't claim the victims are unimportant after that—he pretty clearly suggests that saving the victims being a good thing is the start down the dark path paved with good intentions and that it won't end the way it's started.

DEAN That what Ruby want you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers? Slippery slope, brother. Just wait and see. Because it's gonna get darker and darker, and God knows where it ends.

He casts doubt on the idea that there aren't ulterior motives and dangerous downsides in play that Ruby isn't being honest about. These concerns materialize as reality by the end of the season. Ruby is using him in the exact manner Dean feared, and as Sam's powers grow, he needs more and more blood to not just grow stronger, but to maintain his powers. By 4.20, he cuts a demons throat and then stabs her, completely uncaring of the vessel, in his desperation to feed. In 4.21, Ruby notes that his appetite has grown, and in 4.22, Sam needs to drink a whole person and he begins to turns into a demon because of all the blood he has consumed.

This "conflict" about the knife killing vessels also isn't a repeated discussion between the brothers. It happens in 4.04 only as noted above. At the end of 4.04, Sam decides he is done with his powers after getting scared by what happened with Jack Montgomery. In 4.07, he decides to use his remaining powers against Samhain, and Dean asks him to use the knife instead. However, Samhain's vessel is 1) a villain 2) already dead. The next time Sam's powers come up is in 4.09 when Ruby urges Sam to use his powers to stop Alastair. After Ruby emphasizes their precarious position, Dean stifles his objections. No one is concerned about Alastair's vessel—they're concerned about not being killed. Dean (though he suspects) does not know about Sam using his powers again until the end of the season in 4.20 when Sam kills a vessel to drink their blood then flexes his powers on the demon possessing Amelia Novak. In other words, at no point after 4.09 does Dean even have an opportunity to object to Sam using his powers, and the vessel discussion is only relevant the first time they discuss Sam's powers, in 4.04. In 4.20, Sam shows he doesn't really care that much about vessels by feeding on and then killing a demon and vessel. So Sam's whole "save the vessel" angle also doesn't come up again after 4.04.

The point being... I think there are various points where Sam and Dean could both have showed more care toward vessels, but we can hardly say that SPN presents a consistent narrative where Sam cares about demonic vessels and Dean doesn't. I think framing the discussion in 4.04 in that way in the first place is fairly disingenuous, given Dean wasn't upset at Sam for wanting to save vessels. He was angry that Sam lied to him and broke a promise to uphold what Sam himself called Dean's dying wish (to please not hone demonic powers with Ruby because Dean believed it was the culmination of Azazel's plans for Sam and a continuation of their family's generational traumas). He's scared because he sees the path paved with good intentions down which Sam could tumble. He's scared because he only found out about all of this because Cas warned him the episode before (in 4.03) that if he didn't stop his brother from working with Ruby, the angels would.

You brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we're not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or we will.

He's scared because he's spent the last 40 years being coerced and tortured by demons and was corrupted toward becoming one and doesn't want his brother to suffer that same horrific fate—simply by some other means. He's scared because Sam lied to him about all of this, which suggests that deep down, Sam knows there are parts of this that aren't good and he might be hiding more things from Dean or even himself (4.04).

[skeltrr]

it's time for some p1 headcanons

My thoughts on p1 and the kind of guy he is have morphed around a little bit in the last year I've been into Postal. In fact he's gotten so much development it's probably safe to say I've created a whole new beast lmao. He is fairly removed from the guy in the game just by virtue of p1 dude having almost no characterization. Take it all with a grain of salt.

Anyway, lets get this goin.

First things first I want to talk about his personality. In the past I've talked about my hc that he is a very standoffish and rude kind of guy that would sooner take advantage of kindness than repay it. I still think this is a fair assumption to make considering P2's personality, but there is a little bit of nuance that tends to get lost when I talk about this stuff. I'll see if I can convey it this time.

P1's depression and anxiety are definitely present. In the past I may have made it seem like I think he's Doomguy, all beef and no fear, but that's not the case. What I think is that p1 would act out and show his discomfort in a very hostile way rather than in a... I dunno. "people pleasing" or avoidant way. He is still afraid, he is still suicidal and lonely and sad, but showing his 'weaknesses' is not an option. If people find out, they'll have the upper hand on him. They'll try to fuck with him. The solution is to use threatening and hostile words and body language. To make himself unfuckable. In his own mind at least.

So, he's not trusting. Not that it matters because he doesn't have a desire to make friends. Not in any real way. He wants people around, but his idea of the perfect buddy isn't anything achievable, because a person can't be there when you need them and then dissipate in to thin air as soon as their presence gets annoying- and not only that, but they gotta be cool with getting ghosted whenever Dude feels like ghosting them, only for him to return like nothing happened.

But this is really only the tip of the 'Dude acts like a loser creep toward the general public' iceberg. His social skills are shot, both from neglect throughout his life and his general unwellness, and that makes talking to him pretty stressful. He's always ready and willing to stroke his own ego, and he will do so in both lighthearted and underhanded ways. From poking fun, to outright humiliating people.

I do think, though, that with his type of fears n such, and the way his biggest issues seem to stem from misanthropy, that he would be able to read people very well. Not only that, but he also has charisma that everything else 'wrong' about him coasts along on. People tolerate him in their presence because from the outside he seems very confident and sure of himself and he's funny (if you like his weird and often depressingly gruesome humor).

When the schizophrenia hits fully sometime in his early 20's, that's when his personality takes a shift. His depression worsens and his distrust of people grows into a wholehearted belief that people want to hurt him and will do so if given the chance. Good people stop existing, anyone who tries to help him has an agenda. His hostile nature gets worse, his ability to be charming or even just seem normal dissipates. People can see it, they look at him differently, they avoid him before ever speaking to him. Even where there are no threats he sees them and eventually he's subject to total self-imposed social isolation.

The social isolation aspect is important. This is where he comes to the conclusion he has nothing left to lose. He becomes so detached that he stops being able to relate to his own species. People and human life stop having meaning because he's started believing he isn't part of the group. They might as well be cows. Complete detachment.

There's nuance to this as well, of course. Not everyone who has schizophrenic delusions or goes into social isolation is bound to decide killing everyone around them is a good idea. So... What makes Dude different? A lot of things, I'd assume. A lot of bullshit. Probably a shitty upbringing, one that taught him to be violent and to emotionally detach. But I'd have to write for days to explain what I think his childhood was like or whatever. This is already so fuckin long.

[kikiyoomis]

you've always looked at him from afar, never having any opportunities to really get close with him. you watched the more courageous girls shoot their shot but you also watch them get turned down.

you really wanted to get closer with him, to at least be able to call each other acquaintances. you won't ask for the impossible, so you hope for the minimum.

sakusa kiyoomi had your heart since middle school. from being in the same class all three years, you've had your fair share of interactions as most kids did with everyone in their classes. you were friendly with him, your crush not on him yet apparent then. it was in your last year of middle school that you realized you liked him.

disheartened by the fact that graduation was coming up quickly and the both of you were going your separate ways to different high schools. you thought your feelings were fleeting, temporary and it will be quick to move on from. but you were wrong.

even at a different school you tried various attempts to see him again. you joined your school's volleyball team as the manager to be able to go to the tournaments where he will be playing.

there you would see him, very briefly, playing on the court. your school never shared the court with his. always eliminated after either the first or second game, you could never stay long enough for a chance to even say hello.

but now by a complete stroke of luck, you see him in your university lecture on the first day of class. you've come to terms with the fact that you've never gotten over him and seeing him sitting in the front row made your heart flutter like it did in middle school.

this was an opportunity. a chance.

you walk over to the front row, hoping to sit next to him. he notices you walking over and you couldn't let this go to waste.

"hi! i'm y/n l/n" you introduce yourself. it's been years since you've last spoken, and you weren't the type to stand out. you know for sure that by now he's forgotten you.

"..." he stares at you silently, making you slightly nervous.

"is this seat taken?" you ask him, gesturing to the seat beside him. he hesitates briefly before shaking his head. you set your bag down and sit next to him.

"i'm so nervous, i've never been in a class this big," you try to initiate some small talk but it gets increasingly more awkward by the second.

finally, sakusa breaks his silence.

"did you go to dosho junior high?" he finally says. you look at him shocked, not knowing what he intends to say afterwards.

"yea i did..." you confirm. finally, a small smile makes its way to sakusa's face.

"i remember you. we didn't talk much but i know we were on friendly terms. i saw you a couple of times in high school too, during the volleyball tournaments but i never had a chance to speak with you since our teams never crossed paths."

he... remembered you? your heart is pounding against your chest as if you sprinted a mile without stopping.

"i saw you too then, during the high school tournaments..." you say trailing off, admitting small parts of the truth.

"i'm sakusa, in case you've forgotten. i hope we can be friends again," he says with a soft smile. as if you would forget his name. you smile back, cheeks hurting slightly from it. but you cant help it, this has been the happiest you've felt in a long time.

"likewise!"

the distance that time and different high schools created left you feeling that all that remained from your crush on sakusa was just a lingering attraction. something you couldn't ever reach out and touch. but now, in university, the universe has given you a chance to take a step closer.

[doe-eyed-fool]

Fallen {Chapter Four}

Alastor x (fem)Reader

I sat on the bed of my room, it was nicer than I expected it to be. Quite spacious too. My mind was still racing from what just happened. I spoke face to face with Lucifer himself. And what's worse? He's suspicious. He might not know I'm an angel, thanks to Alastor's help. But didn't make me feel any better that he suspects something. What would he do if he caught me?

I shutter, trying to shake the thought from my head. Alastor made it clear that demons would jump at the chance to get ahold of an angel. I didn't even want to think about what Lucifer would do. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my door opening. I look over to see Alastor standing in the doorway.

"Quite the day you've had." He says before stepping inside and shutting the door. I only nod. "You fell from heaven and got to meet the devil himself all in one day."

I grimace. "I uh, didn't expect him to look like that." I muttered. "Expecting a red demon with horns and a pitch fork?" Alastor raises an eyebrow with a smug grin. I shrug. "I guess?"

Alastor chuckled at my words, he walked over to a near by window and looked out of it. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect that either when I ended up here." I look over at him. As much as he has already explained to me, I was still confused to as to just what exactly he is. Who he is. I choose my next words carefully as I ask.

"How does one become a overlord?" I asked. Alastor's grin widened at my question. "Why, earning it of course! You don't become as feared as I am over night. Though, I will admit I earned my position rather quickly. Maybe a month or two at the most." Alastor went on.

"There are plenty more like me out there. I tend to keep my distance from them however. We do not share the same ideals, so I see no point in trying to "get along" with any of them. Especially that damn flatscreen faced fool."

Alastor's expression soured slightly at the mention of the "flatscreen faced fool". Such an odd nickname for someone. I couldn't help but wonder just who he was talking about.

"So, you're all pretty strong? From what you said, a lot of people here are afraid of you." Alastor nods. "Strong is an understatement my dear. But yes, we are." I then thought back to Lucifer. "But not stronger than Lucifer?"

Alastor's eyebrow twitched. "Unfortunately." I had thought as much. Though, I didn't speak much more on the subject, clearly Alastor wasn't too happy about it. "And you, an overlord, work at a hotel? Why would you do that?"

"Sheer boredom." Alastor says with a shrug. "I've reached a low point believe it or not. Things are starting to repeat. So, why not join in on the princess' little project? Sinners given the chance to be redeemed? Ha! Now that's entertaining!"

I didn't much like the way he laughed off Charlie's idea. She had a good heart, and wanted to see the best in others. She didn't want them to be in this place forever. It was nice, and she wasn't hurting anyone. If she could pull it off, than good on her.

"About Charlie. Has she always been like this? So...nice?" I asked. "I have only known her for a week. But I assume so. She's one of the more polite demons I've met, given who her father is." He chuckles. "And her idea, this belief that sinners can be redeemed. It's adorable."

I furrow my brows. "At least she's trying to care about the people down here." Alastor raised an eyebrow at my words. "So what if it's unheard of? Or if it's even possible at that? She believes in a good cause, and she just wants everyone to have a fair shot at being the best version of themselves they can be. Sure, some if not most of the people down here actually deserve to be here. But those who have done small sins, theft, substance abuse, things like that. Maybe they could make a turn around and be better people. We don't know these people's stories. Charlie's idea, this hotel, is what they might need."

"An angel indeed." Alastor smirks. "So naive, so innocent." I huff and look away from him. "Well forgive me for being considerate for others. I was kinda taught to do so my whole life." I cross my arms, a slight pout on my face. "Yes, about that." Alastor hums. "You seem pretty young my dear. How old are you?" I glance at him.

"I'm twenty five" I answer him with uncertainty. "So young, and already off in heaven? What happened?" My irritation slowly turned into sadness, I look away from him once again, my shoulders slumping slightly.

Alastor spoke after I refused to answer, this time his voice laced with a bit of sincerity. "I see it's a sore subject for you. Never mind it." He says softly. I only nod before more silence fell between us both. "If you truly believe in the princess' cause, why not help her out?"

"But she believes I'm already a sinner in need of rehabilitation. How could I work here?" I asked him. "Easily. Just ask. And showing some interest in helping your fellow sinner wouldn't hurt either." Alastor explains. "It could prove to help you in the long run. Maybe the big man upstairs will see your effort and grant your reentrance into heaven."

I perked up at the idea. Maybe that could work after all. If I can prove that even in hell I can be good and show kindness and love to others, maybe god will accept me again. "Perhaps that could work." I tell him. "Do you think Charlie would let me apply for a position?"

"She could use all the help she can get. I'm sure she wouldn't turn you away." Alastor assures me. "And, how can I be sure that her father won't show up again?" I ask, he only shrugs.

"You can't. Lucifer shows no interest in this hotel or it's ideals, so I doubt he'd be here often. However, I can not guarantee he will never be here. I understand your worry, but there is no need to fret. I have it under control. As long as you have this..." He carefully lifts my necklace by the gemstone. "Then you will be hidden from him, and everyone else in this god forsaken cesspool." He lets go of the necklace, I look down at it.

"The second it comes off, your disguise disappears. And your true form will be revealed." I place my hand over it. "I'll be sure to take great care of it." I promise him. Alastor grins. "I'll hold you to it." He walks back to the door. "I must be off now, I trust you'll stay here in the hotel until I return?" I nod. "Very good." He says before leaving my room.

I sigh before standing from my bed and walking towards the small bathroom in my room. I look into the mirror and stare at my reflection. I still couldn't get over my new look, I'd never thought I'd ever look like this. Like a demon.

Though, it was for the best. As long as I looked like this, I'll be safe. I place my hand on the necklace, my mind then went to Alastor and the deal I made with him. He said he would help me get back into heaven, and all I had to do was amuse him. I furrow my brow at the idea. Just how exactly was I suppose to do that?

I'm not exactly a comedian. Unless, his idea of amusement was some form of comedy at my own expense. I grumble as I step out of my bathroom.

"I wouldn't be surprised if some bodily harm is involved." I mutter before leaving my room. I made way through the halls and down the staircase into the main lobby. I turn my head and see a small bar with that same winged cat demon manning it.

I look around, no one else seemed to be around. Maybe they were all busy? "Hey you." The demon's gruff voice caught my attention. "Ya gonna say something or are ya just gonna stand there lookin like a fucking idiot?"

I bite back a sour expression before walking over. "Sorry." I apologize. "You're Husk, right? Where is everyone?" I ask him. Husk looked up from a glass he was wiping. "Charlie's is up in her office, and I assume her girlfriend is with her. Nifty's off somewhere cleaning something. And I don't know where Angel is. Probably out sucking dick."

Again, I hide my distaste for his choice of words, and only nod. "And as for Alastor? Who the hell knows? I'm sure he's up to no good though. Anyways." Husk puts the glass away. "What will it be?" He asks, turning to the many bottles of liquor on the wall.

"Oh, uh, no I don't drink." I tell him. Husk turns back to me with a raised eyebrow. "You don't drink?" He asks, very confused. And perhaps a little suspicious. Oh, that probably wasn't the best thing I could have said.

Almost everyone in hell drinks, I assume. It would be more than odd if someone down here didn't drink, even if not just a little. "W-Well, I mean, I just say that because people usually don't make it the way I like." I lie.

"Well, you ain't had me make it. What is it, exactly?" Husks asks. Darn. "A whisky." I say uncertainly. Husk nods and begins to make it. "Anything specific added to it?" He asks. Gosh darn it. "...Vodka." Husk raises his brows before returning his expression to normal. "Bold, I'll give you that." He pours the drink before passing the glass to me.

I took a sniff before taking a small sip, failing to hold back my disgust. I set the glass down and just barely repressed a gag. I coughed a few times, blinking back a few tears, a slight shutter going throughout my body.

"Wow." Husk mutters. "You weren't lying when you said you don't drink." I sigh shakily. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you pour that drink for nothing." Husk shrugs before taking the glass and downing it easily.

My shocked and admittedly impressed expression caused him to chuckle. "You get use to it after a while." He tells me before making another drink. Before I could refuse it, he put my worry to ease. "It's just sprite." I thank him before taking a much appreciated swig of the drink, grateful that the horrible taste of the whisky was quickly washed away.

"So, what do you do if you don't drink?" Husks asks me. I just shrug. "Other things." I hoped he wouldn't press further. Thankfully he didn't. "Whatcha here for?" Husk asks me, I look up at him from my drink. "Pardon?" I tilt my head.

"You're here for rehabilitation right? What for?" Oh, I was no prepared to answer a question like that. Though, it might have been wise of me to think of something beforehand. Husk raised an eyebrow, I was taking to long to answer. "I stole." I finally managed to say. "I uh, robbed some people when I was alive."

"I see." Husk nod turning his attention away from me. "So. Heard Alastor's the one who showed you to this lovely hotel." Husk says casually. "Surprised that bastard would do something like that." I glance up at him.

"Why's that?" I asked. Husk gave me a look as if I should already know the answer. "He doesn't give a shit about this hotel. All he cares about is the suffering of others. Why the fuck would he care about advertising the hotel to others?" I didn't doubt that. He's been pretty obvious about his disinterest in the hotel. But it wasn't like I could tell him exactly why I was here.

"You two friends or something?" My mind raced as I tried to quickly think up of an answer.

I had a feeling that Alastor had no interest in considering me a friend. We weren't even acquaintances. We were simply just, helping each other out. If that's what you can call it. I went to open my mouth to answer but Husk beat me to it.

"Don't tell me you made a deal with him." His tone wavered on pity and annoyance. My heart skipped a beat, my body language seemed to have given me away as Husked sighed heavily. "Fuck, that's not good. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

I already knew nothing good could come from it. But his words made my unease grow. It was like he had a first hand experience to Alastor's dealings. Suddenly the sound of Alastor's voice caused both of us to freeze.

"Husker my dear friend." I felt Alastor's presence from right behind me, though I didn't turn to acknowledge him. Husk's harden expression fell slightly. His brow twitched, ears flattening against his head a bit.

"I don't believe our business is any of your concern."

[impishjesters]

Mafia Boss Jax x Reader

warning(s): gun mentioned, stalking mentioned, domestic/soft Jax, marriage mentioned note(s): Honestly couldn't really see much worth tagging, it's all just stuff you'd expect to see mentioned in a mafia/gang headcanon... A/N: So I saw a fanart thingie (and I've had it on the brain anyway) and it made me thirsty for some mafia boss Jax and I just... I might have to write up a one-shot (or series) at some point but this was enough to quench my thirst...temporarily. I can definitely see myself building a universe around this idea though. I'm excited as you can tell because I just kept fuckin' going in writing this out... Also feast upon domestic Jax in the latter half, I got mushy...

Jax is a tricky boss, it’s hard to get a solid read on him, as an enemy or an ally. He’s almost always sporting a grin, making it difficult to gauge unless you can tell those smiles apart. If he’s frowning? Ha.

He’s that fine middle ground of laid-back yet strict. His word is law, get shit done and do it right and he doesn’t particularly care about the rest.

This person needs to be killed, but before that, they need to be tortured for information. How you torture or kill them doesn’t matter, you get that information or else.

Rabbits are his motif design, not originally by choice but it stuck. Purple rabbit head, his signature grin, it’s childish—which is why it’s perfect, only idiots see that childish design and think “Oh this will be easy” and then it’s fuckin not.

Working for him means nobody is an exception to his little pranks and fuckery. Nothin’ too bad—not intentionally anyways. Bunch of wackos with guns, who thought they’d get trigger-happy when startled?

If you work for him, chances are he finds you a fun target for his mischief.

He might seem buddy buddy with you, but remember he’s your boss. Chances are you are acquaintances at best, not friends. At least for now—who knows?

If you’re dating him, well howdy hey aren’t you a pretty little thing on his arm?

Just kidding, regardless of whether you work under him or not you are given standard gun training as protection for yourself and him, but mainly yourself.

He does like it when you are his date for any events, though he’ll never say it. Jax is the type to bring up an event and do the whole shtick of “guess I’ll need to find a date” sorta guy.

Back on the topic of dating him and gun training—on the off chance you are dating and don’t know about his little crew and lifestyle… What the fuck’s wrong with you? Are you that blind? His position isn’t some well-kept secret, well not to anyone who knows anything.

Jax is pretty straightforward about it, except with his track record of joking there’s like a 97% chance you thought he was kidding when he said he’s a mafia boss. Ha, surprise.

Now if the two of you are dating, and you aren’t part of his little world then he does do his best to keep you out of it. This means that there are periods when you won’t see him, whether it’s because he’s busy or for safety reasons.

You aren’t safe from spam texts, calls, and video chats though. Nah, that’s all fair game to him baby.

Oh, you got work in the morning? Tough, he’ll stay on the phone/video with you until you pass out—he might go a step further and stay on the call for hours even if you are unconscious.

He does it for one of three reasons…

One, it gives him fuel to use whatever shit you say or do in your sleep to tease you with later.

Two, your company, albeit silent and unaware that you’re keeping him company, makes him feel less alone. Moments like this are often when he’s not working and at home, alone. Hearing you breathe, babble, and shuffle around on speaker has him feeling less alone in that big home of his.

Three, it gives him some piece of mind that you are okay, he can see and hear you, and no guns or glass are breaking to be heard. You’re safe. Moments like this are usually after stressful events, whether it’s a job gone wrong, someone injured, etc.

Those calls usually last through the night into the morning and you wake up and see the call still on or see him on the screen. He’s never told you about why some calls continue into the morning, or rather why he’s still awake when he should’ve been sleeping. Though it doesn’t take a genius to figure out it’s not just him being a stalker, but something more serious—if the oddly sweet tone he uses when telling you good morning and asking how you slept is anything to go by.

That said, Jax is not a morning person—even to you. Though if he’s awake before you or has yet to sleep, he’s oddly tender and domestic when it’s just the two of you.

“How’d ya sleep, angel? Dream of me? Nah, don’t answer that, I know ya did.”

“Hey sleepyhead, got ya coffee and breakfast ready. No, I didn’t put anything suspicious in it. I’m wounded doll, ya think I’d put in all that effort to make you breakfast just to ruin it?”

Okay so he’s still a little shit, but he’s got an unspoken soft spot for you.

Speaking of soft spots, if he’s truly down bad for you then that means you are his weakness. He can’t have those—no he’s not gonna kill ya Christ calm down—that means you’re at risk of getting hurt if word gets out.

So if the two of you aren’t at that level yet and are still living apart, he tries hard to keep his distance to keep the attention off you.

But if you are living together? You’re still at risk but he’s got his security measures, and bodyguards galore—even if you don’t live together he always has someone watching you—sure it’s a little creepy but just don’t think about it alright?

I said don’t think about it.

Jax does yet doesn’t understand the line of stalking. To him he’s keeping you safe, to you it’s likely an invasion of your privacy—but if you are anything like me then as long as there’s no malicious intent he can do his own thing. I dunno bout you but I’d rather him have eyes on me than something bad happen to me.

While living together it doesn’t take a genius to tell you that Jax visibly relaxes in your presence, especially when he comes home and gets into bed with you. He’s such a domestic sucker deep down, but you don’t need words to see that.

Overall, I feel like Jax wouldn’t date you if he didn’t have serious feelings for you. His lifestyle isn’t for everyone and he doesn’t open up to just anyone, it could take years before he finally allows himself to even ask you out on a date before considering more. But once the two of you are together he sees the two of you in for the long run, he’ll probably be upfront about it and say if you aren’t in this for the long run and potential marriage then he can’t do it.

Your Jax’s ride or die, please allow him to be yours too.

[riahlynn101]

If you're not doing trick or treat asks, then ignore this. But if you are,

Trick or treat? :D

Okay, I've never done this before so forgive me if I'm doing it wrong.

TREAT -

(Have a tiny Mike x Vanessa One shot)!

Warning may contain minor spoilers for the FNAF movie.

It's downpouring outside. Rain thunders against the roof of the car. Mike sighs. He'll have to time this right. Unfortunately for him, Abby broke the only umbrella they owned by bringing it outside during a windstorm. He eyes the rain with contempt. If he hurries fast enough, only his jacket and hair will get wet.

"One....two...." Mike opens the car door, shoving his car keys and wallet in his jacket pocket. The wind blows droplets of cool rain into his face. "...Three..." Jumping out of the car, he falls on his face. Right into a mud puddle. He groans. There goes looking semi-presentable.

Mike drags himself into the diner, clothes sopping wet and hair dripping with water. A waiter named, "Ness," (if the nametag on his chest is to be believed) points him to a booth near the back. He's also given a dish rag clean up a little bit.

When he sits down Vanessa has her face buried in the menu. Muffled laughter can be heard, as she tries and fails to act natural.

"You saw, huh?" He wipes at his hair.

She lowers the menu. Shrugging her shoulders, Vanessa looks confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh? Really?" He asks, hopefully that his dignity hasn't been compromised by a mud puddle.

"No, I saw everything."

"Oh..."

"But to be fair, it was a deep puddle. I've seen at least three people fall into it."

Mike smiles. At least he wasn't the only one to fall in. If he would have looked up at that very moment, he would have seen Vanessa tugging on her earlobe (something she only does when lying).

"I'm just glad you're here."

"Me too," Mike says, a fondness in his voice. He stares into her eyes, water continuing to drip from his hair and down his face. Realizing how that must sound, he backtracks. "I mean, I'm glad you're here too."

Vanessa laughs. "You're so weird."

Mike has been called weird many times in his life. But no one has said it, like she does. Like being weird is something to be proud of, to not be ashamed of.

"I am," he agrees, wholeheartedly. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

[thedragonagebigbang]

Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @crabs-with-sticks  |  AO3: CrabsWithSticks

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Found Family in Crisis!!!!!! How This Local Woman's Life Just Keeps Getting Worse!!!  

Jacs and Dema talk music, tragedy, DMing tabletop games, and OCs who won't follow the damn rules

Dema: Good morning! Happy Saturday. Are you writing today? 

Jacs: I'm hoping to! Though I might be taking a break from my actual project to do some fun oneshots. Give myself a bit of time away from the tragedy of my bang fic and write something happy haha

Dema: That is very fair! Especially with heavier fics. How do you get in the zone to write, regardless of the project? Or does it vary depending on the vibes of your fic?

Jacs: Normally it involves getting nice and cozy under a blanket on the couch with a good cup of tea. I'll sometimes put a playlist on to get into a particular vibe, I've got a bunch of character playlists which can help get into the perspective of whatever oc I'm writing that day.

Dema: I won't get too specific with this question but, if there is one song on your playlist that especially fits your bang fic, what would it be?

Jacs: Hmm, I'd say probably 'Sampson' by Regina Spektor. The song is based on a tragic biblical story and is all about what could have happened if things had worked out differently. If the love had been enough to save them, then they wouldn't have been remembered by history but they would have been happy.

Dema: Oh okay, arrow straight to the heart. I see, I see.

Jacs: Yeah, I'm a known tragedy enjoyer, just rolling around in the sadness like a dog in a puddle. In order to get optimal levels of tragedy you gotta have some happiness first just so that readers can really see that it didn't have to be this way (but they never could have changed it).

Dema: I can't wait to read it! I also love tragedy, and especially in that ratio. Is there a particular one-shot idea you have kicking around, to cleanse the palate?

Jacs: Not sure! Though probably something with my oc Luca Trevelyan with Dorian, though I haven't actually managed to get very far through that particular playthrough yet....I'm a bit of a serial oc creator who then never gets around to actually playing them in the game.

Dema: Do you always make your OCs in game? Even if you don't get around to the playthrough? 

Jacs: Yep! It’s probably my favourite part of Dragon Age, or any CRPG. I really like thinking up characters, with their conflicts and histories. I'm a forever DM in real life, so I'm fairly used to making up characters and then never playing them, although at least with Dragon Age I already know the events of the game they'll be going through, so I have a better idea of their development arcs. I am trying to do a re-playthrough of the whole series before Veilguard comes out, but we'll see how successful that is haha.

Dema: Do you find that DMing has informed the way you structure your stories?

Jacs: I'd say that it probably has. When I DM I'm always keeping a hand on the pulse of all the characters, their emotions and where they're at in their arcs, because my aim is really to tell a good story. So I think it can help me to see things from the big picture as well as a more mechanical perspective. Though sometimes I do need to tell myself to stop looking at the big picture and just focus on what is at hand.

Dema: I'm a bit in awe of DMs. To me it seems like being the conductor of an orchestra, except all your musicians are improvising. Do your characters sometimes feel like players? Or do they tend to stay within the lines?

Jacs: They do end up getting away from me sometimes, or they'll do something that leaves me going 'huh, why did you just make that decision', because I know it's accurate but I'm not entirely sure why. Though sadly there's no actual player to ask...just my brain. I was intending to make quite a whimsical and happy Brosca, but she just keeps doing morally grey things!

Dema: HAHA ah yes, relatable. I find it's such an interesting balance, for me, between wanting everything in the story to feel a bit inevitable (especially in a tragedy!) and embracing the realism of some things just not having a clear explanation, especially character decisions.

Jacs: Yeah for sure! It's great when characters are messy and contradictory, I just wish it wasn't so hard...I had a character at one point who was making a whole bunch of decisions I wasn't expecting or had planned for, and I'd try to think 'ok why is this character doing this?' and all she supplied in return was 'I'm lactose intolerant'...which honestly was a very in character response; just straight up ignoring the question. 

Dema: A character in writing, or a character in a campaign you were DMing?

Jacs: A character I was writing.

Dema: Hahaha, incredible.

Jacs: I sometimes have, I guess little 'conversations' with my characters in my head where I tap into the section of my brain that they live in.

Dema: That's a great strategy! Is that how your characters first come to be?

Jacs: Hmm, I think the conversation part comes a bit later when I have some context for them, either in their history or in the game itself. It starts off as a lot of collaging together different ideas until it makes a full character. Often I start off from a particular theme or emotional angle I'm interested in exploring. So one started off as 'religious trauma', and another from 'idealism in a cruel society' and so on.

Dema: Has that first theme or idea ever come from a really unexpected source? And related to this, do you tend to be primarily inspired by the source material itself? I know that's a big reason so many of us love DA in particular.

Jacs: I think the themes are usually all ideas that I'm already interested in, but it's super fun seeing the way it can connect to the worldbuilding and lore. I think it's really important for characters to have specifics which tie them into the world around them, so thinking about how their family might have lived in the particular part of the world they're from, how they and the people around them either adhere to or go against it, and what impact that would have on their story. It's really fun looking at how a theme can change based on where the character comes from, like a character with conflict based around religious trauma is going to be different if they're human, Dalish or a city elf, and the world will react to them differently because of that.

Dema: Now I simply must ask you if you ever write AU fics.

Jacs: I haven't written many to be honest, though I do have some ideas for some. It can be hard translating a story that is really rooted in the specifics of one particular world and translating that to another. So I'm always really impressed to see when other people do it so well! I often find you can find a good parallel for one aspect of a character, but then you have to try to fit a second aspect or character conflict in and it doesn't fit the new world at all!

Dema: I feel the same!

Jacs: Writing; it's hard man.

Dema: It is! So why do you do it!? And a follow-up question: writing is hard, and you're signed up for a Big Bang! What made you interested? Is it your first one or have you done this before?

Jacs: It's like a wonderful little puzzle; except it can be all wibbly wobbly and just like real life it doesn't always need to make sense- it's lovely just to embrace the humanness of character writing!

So a bit of context, I recently finished postgraduate studies, and realised I didn't have any hobbies! I used to love creative writing of any sort when I was but a young whippersnapper (they say, in their mid 20s), so I decided to embrace the cringe and get back at it. I've never participated in any fandom events, or even written something this long that wasn't academic! But I'm really loving the community around this event and getting to chat to other writers as we all write (and suffer) together!

Dema: In the last minutes, and just for fun: can you come up with a click-bait title for your fic? Without giving anything major away, of course.

Jacs: Maybe something like 'Found Family in Crisis!!!!!! How This Local Woman's Life Just Keeps Getting Worse!!!’  (To quote the venerable Sir Terry Prattchet: And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.)

Dema: Ten out of Ten, would click again. Thank you so much for setting aside this time to chat with me!

Jacs: No worries! I had a great time!

[the-last-f2p]

Yandere promts day 12

12: “Go get the chains. you brought this upon yourself, not me”

Featuring: Furina/Focalors

TW: Implied kidnapping, Furina is kind of a sadist, humilation?

Furina really tried to uphold her status as the Archon of Justice and be her fairest self possible (though she failed most times). Furina holding make-shift trials for you whenever you so much as said anything she considered rude that day. At least she gave you two chances to beg for mercy!

Honestly, when this idea first came to her she originally wanted to hold these trials at the Opera Epiclise, though that was shot down when she tried to bring it up with Neuvillette. She swore she saw the blue part of his hair turn the slightest bit grey that day.

And that is the origin of the small courtroom in Furina's living quarters, which is of course being used at this very moment.

"Y/N L/N, you are being charged with accounts of escaping and causing damage to the Palais Mermonia; how do you plead?" Furina asked you while sitting on a particularly high chair as she kicked her feet back and forth. You couldn't tell if it was out of boredom or excitement but you really didn't think whatever she was doing was amusing.

That's just one of the many ways you contrast Furina.

Images of what had happened earlier this day started to flash through your mind at the speed of light, waiting for Furina to go attend to some quote-un-quote 'boring Hydro Archon stuff'. Breaking a window and trying to work up the courage to jump from the highest drop you've ever seen. And of course, your least favorite part, Furina catching you for the sole reason that she left her gloves at home. Today was NOT a good day.

"Furina I'm sorry I didn't-" You start but Furina cuts you off.

"Sorry won't cut it. I had to skip another trial for this so you make it worth it." Furina smiles for a second and seems to have a light bulb moment "How about this? If you give me three good reasons to not lock you in my room again I won't.~" She flashes a playful grin, yes this was her idea but it was so funny to her! She just had to make it a little bit more dramatic as well.

"Well-" This is the second time she's cut you off does Furina really want to be 'fair' with you?

"And I'll count to five, only to make it less drab." And what's drama without stakes? She has to add some stakes as well! All your thoughts that were going through your head were:

Is she messing with me on purpose? (The answer is a very clear yes by the way.)

"You see, it's been a long time since I was able to go out, and I just thought if I just went out for a couple of hours while you were out." You start explaining of course, you weren't planning on coming back but Furina wouldn't know she's the God of Justice not wisdom!

"Lying in a courtroom, low blow. ~ Oh and you're at three seconds!~" Dammit. Furina saw right through you.

"And...I Furina.. Please.."

"Times up..~ Well Y/N L/N, as you have given me one reason I've decided to let you out but.." The playful grin on Furina's face turns slightly sadistic as she continues "Go get the chains. You brought this on yourself, not me. I think it's about time we went on a date correct?"

"Yes.. Lady Furina."

Today was one of Teyvat's greatest days ever. Seeing you desperately trying to hide the chain that was around your wrist was very amusing shall we say?

Maybe she should encourage you to escape so she can do this more often?

[phantoms-lair]

Heist Gone Wrong

Another snip for @era-the-witchy-birdkid's Super!Conan AU

"You caught up fast, Tantei-kun," Kid complimented his current rival. "The longer legs from that growth spurt of your are serving you well." "I can be much faster." Tantei-kun smirked. "I just wanted to give you a fair chance." "Ah, but I still managed to get this." With a flick of his wrist the brilliant-cut jade, rumored to be cursed, appeared in his hands. Tantei-kun paled and dropped to his knees, which Kaito thought was a little dramatic (though he perhaps shouldn't be one to talk.) Then he started sweating and gasping for breath and Kaito wondered if he was really being dramatic or if it was something else.

When one of his favorite detectives collapsed on the floor looking like he was either having some kind of seizure or body-wide muscles spasms any thoughts of dramatics were gone.

Steam seemed to be rising from Tantei-kun's skin and he locked feverish eyes with kid, struggling to say something.

"Gem," he finally managed to gasp out. "Poison."

The gem was poison? That didn't sound right. Kaito glanced over to where it had fallen on to the museum floor. In the shadows it no longer seemed like it was glowing. It absolutely was. Was this a side effect of the supposed curse on it?

Kaito ran the stories about the curse through his mind. It was nothing like what was happening to Tantei-kun. Infertility, balding, stomach sickness to the point of vomiting up blood. And several things clicked together at once.

The glowing gem wasn't magic, wasn't cursed. It was radioactive.

Kaito's eyes scanned the display and there! Pewter drinking goblet from ye olden Europe, that contained lead. He grabbed the cup by the stem and slammed it over the gem.

The result was immediate. Tentei-kun's spasming stopped. He sat up, weakness apparent in his movements (and had his clothes gotten bigger on him? They had. Were those weird spasms Tantei-Kun shrinking?)

Then Tantei-kun's eyes glowed red and a twin beams of light shot form them, sealing the cup shut with the gem inside.

"I'm not taking the blame for that." It was maybe the least important thing about this while mess, but he felt the need to say it.

Tantei-kun looked at him with eyes that had just melted metal and those eyes contained nothing but fear. Right, he was probably never supposed to find out about this. "You're not a normal human, are you?"

The answer was obvious and Tantei-kun hid his head in his too-long sleeves.

"Well, you're far nicer about it than other's I've met."

That got his attention and the little detective's head shot up. "Others?"

"Well, one other. She was perhaps a tad bit homicidal towards me at first. Then she got a bit stalkery. I have to say I much prefer you. I assume that's was the cause of your reaction to the stone?"

"I guess." Tantei-kun shrugged. "It wasn't in any of the records I found, but it's possible they never came in contact with it."

"Would your parents know?"

Tantei-kun shook his head. "I'm adopted. They know what I am but no more than that. And my people were wiped out. I'm the last. So there's no one to ask."

The last of his kind. That was... okay, that was a lot that he wasn't prepared to deal with on what was supposed to be a light low-stakes heist. "Do you want me to call Mouri-san?" "No. Agasa-Hakase, please." Tantei-kun sounded exhausted and out of it.

Kaito gently took Tantei-kun's phone and called the old man with his voice. His task force was likely closer, in the wrong wing, mind. But given what he'd just learned about Tantei-kun any medical aid they could give was likely not what he'd need.

~

Several days later a thick lead box was sent to the police station with several stickers on the openings that said 'Do not open' and an envelope with Kid's logo and the words 'This Box is not a place of honor'

Inside the note read:

My Dear Task Force,

I have once again returned what I have taken, but this time extra precautions were needed. You see, there is truth about this jewel glowing and causing misfortune to those that held it. But it is no mystical work at place. The stone is, to put it bluntly, mildly radioactive. Testing has revealed it shouldn't cause problems with short term exposure, but is absolutely not safe to put on display. Or be handled as casually as it has been. I had to get tested for radiation poisoning and I suggest anyone who handled it in it's current and former locations be tested the same.

Don't worry, I'll check the next target I select with a Geiger counter so this doesn't happen again.

Best Wishes, Kid.

[sibyl-of-space]

oh my god so a while ago i submitted the amadeus demo to a certain not-to-be-named indie event, not really expecting it would be accepted but figuring it's worth a shot and either way i get feedback. right.

now i have had... mixed... experiences with the particular group putting on this event. i think they do some genuinely awesome work and provide an invaluable service, but the overall community still feels wholly unprepared for anything even remotely artsy or weird. like even though it's an indie scene it feels very normie core. i don't even consider amadeus that artsy or weird, but i am occasionally reminded that i may have a skewed frame of reference compared to a lot of folks.

(a few months ago i attended a narrative feedback thing with them that was such a dumpster fire it pissed me off so bad i went and wrote 43790248932 paragraphs about it on here. like just genuinely some "have you, like, ever read a book?" tiers of utterly baffling "criticism." one of them pointed out to me that i may not have considered this, but Amadeus comes off as slightly rude. ....NO FUCKING SHIT.)

anyway. i submitted the demo because i figured the feedback would be useful, i can use any positive quotes in future trailers, etc. i have as of today learned that the game didn't get in and also received the promised feedback.

first of all i think it says a lot that from seeing in the email "we regret to inform you," my response was oh thank fuck. I don't really want to deal with tabling at an event cuz I have other shit going on and would rather focus on finishing the game since I've just made a lot of decisions I'm excited about; they also didn't get these responses back far enough in advance to actually prepare tabling materials if I HAD been accepted so it would have been more stress than anything else. I've also been salty at things like the above narrative feedback debacle so I was absolutely just like "this is completely fine with me."

But I made the mistake of reading the feedback provided and now I am going insane again.

TO BE FAIR! SOME OF THE FEEDBACK IS GENUINELY THOUGHTFUL, I may take or leave a lot of it, some of it raises good points I've already addressed, some of it clearly understands what I'm going for etc. I appreciate all of that.

But man some of this is pissing me offfffffffffff.

Some quotes that are making me particularly want to kill someone:

"When first meeting the witch the dialog is just incredibly long and boring and I ended up skipping through most of it. Given how linear this story seems to be, I think it would be better suited as a webcomic or a motion comic, not a visual novel."

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE WORD NOVEL MEANS. JESUS CHRIST.

I am extrapolating a hint of potentially meaningful feedback from this which I'm already addressing (the personality of the Witch in that conversation should come through more than it does) - but this person gave that "feedback" in the douchiest most insufferable way possible. Luckily for them, I've since made that conversation even longer. Fuck off.

"Some of the music is very harsh and dissonant while being very repetitive, which made me less enthusiastic about listening to it."

This was the same person which just tells me they have no taste. Like hmm I wonder if there was an intentional reason I am using dissonance in the soundtrack about someone going through something insanely fucked up. The repetition is an understandable critique even if I'll be ignoring it, but "some of the music is harsh and dissonant" is not a valid critique. Soundtracks aren't supposed to just sound like nice flowery music all the time, or at least not good ones. I'll be making the full soundtrack more dissonant just for you.

"Is there a reason for the Amadeus's bracers to be colored in but not the rest?"

[different person] THIS . THIS. F. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

NO. THERE'S NO REASON. I TRIPPED AND FELL AND ACCIDENTALLY ONLY SOMEHOW ENDED UP COLORING HIS ARMS IN EVERY SINGLE ASSET THAT DEPICTS HIM BY ACCIDENT SOMEHOW! THANK YOU FOR CATCHING THIS OVERSIGHT! SILLY ME!!!! IM TEARING MY HAIR OUT

"Not all of the music is equally fitting. There's at least one track that gets a bit techno."

yeah and im adding another track inspired by Bad Taste Aquarium from Sonic Adventure and another one that's basically GoldenSlaughterer 2. girl help I'm being "critiqued" by lame people with absolutely no taste

im so glad i read this after i finished moving my to-do lists to a new project management platform and getting really excited/motivated about where i'm at with the game because if i had seen this 2 days ago it would have just fucking killed my motivation. man. it's literally so hard being the only person with #vision

[fabdante]

tw physical abuse, violence, domestic abuse

*spins* I wonder if anybody ever noticed how quickly reboot Dante heals, and used it as an excuse to hurt him more/worse than they would've otherwise dared to when they knew he was going to be seen out in public? Because they know he can just heal up just fine (he's not fine- healing still takes energy, his healing factor still has a LIMIT, but its not like Dante'll ever tell them that, and they more than likely wouldn't care enough to stop if they knew), "so it doesn't matter what I do to him". Like, abusive foster parents, or guards, or teachers, or other people in positions of power. I wonder if Dante ever used that healing factor of his as an excuse to take physical abuse meant for somebody else, even if the victim wasn't someone he knew or they weren't kind to him, just because Dante knows they don't deserve to be treated like that? It still HURTS, but at least he can take it. (Besides, it hurts less than seeing someone else get hurt, and because he thinks he deserves it for being- who he is. Like maybe he thinks there must be something wrong with him for the demons to keep hunting him so doggedly.)

I wonder if he's ever been stabbed or shot on someone else's behalf? I wonder if he's ever killed someone that took the abuse too far, human or not? I wonder if he ever ran away into Limbo, because it made running from the cops easier?

Plus, reboot Dante has more control over his healing factor than preboot Dante seems to, so if reboot Dante needs to lie there and bleed for a bit to satisfy someone's sadism, he can. Very useful trick, that, sometimes. Especially if/when you need to play dead.

Ok so I may have gotten off topic but I'm very interested in the idea of reboot Dante and violence asdfghjk. I love characters and their complicated relationships to violence, it's a whole thing for me.

But yeah in an effort to keep this short my TLDR is: I think that yeah, Dantes been subject to a lot of abuse and his healing abilities could have enabled that abuse to be worse in the right scenario though I think he's very liable to start hitting back. I think he's definitely protected people he cares about with his healing abilities and he's definitely killed abusive people before (something him and Kat have in common). And I think the ability to play dead would be useful for him dfghjkl

In an effort to ramble about reboot Dante and violence, here's more post asdfghj (I'm not putting it under a read more but if anyone wants me to let me know):

I've come under the realization that I tend to categorize reboot Dante as more...violent and volatile then a lot of the fandom. I tend to characterize him like a scary dog in a lot of ways, largely a persona built out of a desire to protect himself and shut other people out. Which is to say I think he grew up in a lot of abusive and dangerous situations and given his unique circumstances he learned to hit back rather quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if Dante were someone's punching bag when he was younger and I wouldn't be surprised if he, given things like his healing abilities and what not, then decided to take this opportunity to punch back.

From what we see of him in game, particularly the late game conversation with Vergil about finding solace and release (the one where Vergil's like 'yeah I channeled all my energy into hacking because I felt like I didn't quite belong and it made me feel better what about you :)' and Dante was like 'yeah no I just slept around a lot and killed lots of demons' which was definitely not what Vergil wanted him to say asdfghjk), I think it's fair to assume Dante gets some sort of not exactly comfort or enjoyment from violence but a sort of like...it's sort of an outlet for his frustrations and emotions. And it's an easy outlet for those emotions.

I think there's also something to it with that one Barbara Kruger piece, this one:

The piece itself has like a homoerotic tone to it, at least I feel, particularly within the context of when it was made and all. But there's also this idea that like any sort of attention when you are starved from it is good attention. Here it's the idea that like these men want attention from other men but are too scared to receive it in a loving, kind way and so then turn to violence because it is some sort of attention, some sort of contact, with one another.

Which relates to what I want to talk about here, Dante is starved of affection and love which he copes with by both a lot of meaningless sex but also I think there's something to the idea that when you are touch starved, any sort of touch will do after a while. So getting into a physical fight, allowing oneself to engage in that, can give the sort of give a little hit of what he's looking for. Which is that sort of connection with another person, that like 'we're both here we're both alive you're real and I'm real' of a hug except you know, Worse. Like is a fight a kind interaction, no, but you can't really deny the fact you are both here in this moment and you are both alive and real as you drive a fist in a guys face. The idea that any attention is attention, even if it's bad attention.

I also tend to view him with very little care for his own self preservation. A mix of just not caring what happens to him but also that young person invincibility complex that's further enabled by the fact he can heal himself at will. Like he both is aware he can recover from injuries and all, but also fairly sure he's not going to live long, that sort of thing and isn't quite sure how much he cares to. But I definitely can see him, given the big heart he has down there that he likes to pretend he doesn't have, very eagerly playing human shield for people he cares about because he can take it and they can't.

So I think it's very likely he's taken hits on someone else's behalf before lashing out on the abuser/attacker. I don't think he takes abuse well, happening to himself or others.

I'm also very much of mind he has killed people who are not demons before because of the above.

There's also a lot of other angles to look at when it comes to reboot Dante and violence done by him or onto him to but I'm trying to keep this short asdfgh it's just a really interesting subject to me with characters, particularly characters already associated with violence.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

In Defense of the Other Teens

Hello besties :)

SO how about that last episode huh? I've certainly seen a lot of interesting takes and cool art and all that come from it!

And I'm... Here to offer my two cents.

Alright y'all, a few things before we actually get into the meat of it. First, this is a long post. Like, even by my standards this post is pretty fucking long. I hope that I'll be able to keep you entertained throughout at the very least, but maybe grab a cup of tea or coffee or the like before venturing under the cut.

Second, my stance on things will become pretty clear I think fairly early on, if you haven't already put two and two together from the title of this post. That said, there are some fairy bold claims I'm gonna make here, and the fact of the matter is some of them may very well be disproven as soon as today's Teen Talk drops. But I wanted to get this out beforehand, partially as a show of faith in a certain someone, and partially cause honestly I think it's good to practice giving oneself room to be wrong about things. That said, there are still many other points that I think remain important regardless of what we find out next episode (or in teen talk), and I hope you'll find those interesting as well.

Next, honestly, the first few chunks of this little essay really start out as more of a rant/vent than a tight analysis, and I kinda start things in a weird spot if I'm being frank with you, so maybe just try to bear with me for the first few parts, ok? They're still important for the bigger picture I'm trying to paint.

Finally, if I come off as a little extra salty and sassy in this one, I am, but I *promise* it's all in good fun. :)

Alright, so let me tell you my thoughts about Lincoln.

You know what I think? What I honestly, genuinely think? Linc is the most selfless of the teens by a long shot. Like, there's literally no competition. Enough "all he wants to do is help other people and all they ever do is betray him" with respect to Mr. TalkedGrantIntoAPanicAttackThenLeft and more appreciation and recognition for Lincoln Li SayHiToYourDadForMe Wilson, I'm begging you. I could sit here and start listing examples of Linc's selflessness to you for a good long while, but really no set of examples could better illustrate what differentiates Linc from the rest of the teens than this exchange:

**

Scary: "Chosen one…""

Jodie: "Bat’tholemew, we don't use those words." 

Scary: "Somebody they wouldn't expect."

Taylor: "It's me. It's got to be someone that they don't expect."

Scary: "Yeah." 

Taylor: "Yeah." 

Scary: "It's got to be somebody who's really earned—"

Taylor: "Somebody who’s really earned—" 

Scary: "—the respect."

Taylor: "—the right to... And all the knowledge of all the animes together…"

Scary: "Somebody with more knowledge than anybody else."

Taylor: "Someone with— who knows what to do. S… "

Scary: "Somebody who knows what to do to step up."

Taylor: "Somebody who can step up and be the chosen one."

Scary: "And be the chosen one."

Link: "Hey…"

Normal: "Guys, I think… I might be the chosen one…"

**

Yes, funnily enough, it's Linc's absence here that says a lot about him rather than his presence.

What's more, I frankly just don't think it's fair that Linc can do *so much* for the people around him but the *one time* he decides to do something that (seemingly) goes against Normal's plan, it's depicted as some ultimate act of betrayal or Linc "giving up". I feel like we significantly understate how much the other teens *have* done for the sake of Normal's plan (seriously, are we actually gonna ignore Linc stabbing his leg on a candy cane- TWICE??), and how much they've lost in doing so. If every time they fuck something up undoes everything they've sacrificed or done right, well, that's quite the negativity bias!

So why don't we talk about Linc's decision, actually. Did we just witness Lincoln finally snap? Has he given up on Normal's plan to help the doodler? Has he given up on using empathy? Did Lincoln Li Wilson choose the easy option? I would say no! No to all of those! And I think especially upon a relisten of the final moments in the last episode, Linc's train of thought when he breaks the pic is actually quite clear. And yes, this is about Linc showing empathy towards Scary, but I want to talk about the actual implications of that a bit further as well. Let's start by looking at the final bits of dialogue leading up to the breaking of anchor:

**

Linc: "Scary, what are you even doing?"

Scary: "You gotta destroy it"

Linc: "We can't- you just heard the Doodler's gonna make the world worse it's gonna kill we just gotta find something, why do you have to destroy it-"

Scary: "You don't know that!"

Linc: "I mean you don't know it's not that way we can find another way to destroy it"

Scary: "No, Willy said that it's easier to control if we destroy the anchors"

[ANTHONY EXPLAINS THE SPECIFICS OF WHAT WILLY WOULD HAVE TOLD SCARY]

Linc: "Well we're not gonna do it that way okay, come on like, the easy way is-"

Scary: "Who died and made you the leader?"

Linc: "The easy way is usually the bad way right? Sometimes the better thing is harder."

Scary: "This is easier what you're just gonna tell the pic 'Oh I love you I'm so nice to you' and it's just gonna give you all its secrets that's not how life works."

[LINK TRIES SAYING I LOVE YOU TO THE PIC AND NORM EXPLAINS THAT HE ALREADY TRIED THAT]

Linc: "Okay well like you're right it's gonna be hard but- I know it's not a person but I don't want more people to die we've already killed enough people like can you just do one thing with us and just try to find a way to make this-"

Scary: "The Doodler is gonna kill more people you're not seeing the bigger picture!"

Normal: "What no, Linc don't listen to her!"

Scary: "Listen to me!"

[AND THEN LINC SNAPS THE PIC]

**

Okay there's... A lot to unpack here. I'll start by pointing out what I think are a few key things to take note of:

- Linc is seemingly adamant on choosing the empathetic route and not letting any more people get hurt

- Linc affirms that sometimes the harder route is the better one

- Scary rejects the notion that simply saying "I love you" or otherwise being kind in words could actually do anything

- Norm says "don't listen to her"

- Linc's decision to break the pic only occurs after Scary says what she does (above point), seemingly in conflict with what he himself said only moments prior about not taking the violent route.

What I think needs to be understood about Linc is that, more than anyone in the group, Linc's decisions are calculated. Yes they often catch us off guard (seriously the amount of times Linc has done something that's made me actually gasp in shock is a bit crazy), but once the dust has settled, his decisions are always clearly consistent with who Linc is as a person and his philosophy, and accordingly, never come from a place of selfishness. The humor of it aside, when Linc says that he never misses any shot that he takes (:( Can't find the exact quote), he is entirely correct (and admittedly while I probably should gather various examples to show you what I mean, Linc swapping places with himself and Nicky really is the most perfect demonstration I could possibly ask for, as it showcases both Linc's aforementioned selflessness and how Linc's seemingly shocking decisions are never actually accidents or executed with uncertainty on his end). Try to keep these above points in mind as we move forward.

Next, let's consider the pros and cons for Linc of breaking or not breaking the pic, as seen from Linc's perspective. I suppose the general impression I've gotten thus far is that many people seem to be interpreting Linc breaking the pic as a likely (or sure) sign that he has "given up" on Normal's plan, and given in to choosing the "easier" route. This, I perhaps a bit boldly argue, raises a number of questions and ultimately implodes in on itself as an interpretation after even a brief consideration of them. At the most basic, and perhaps least interesting level, it's not like it would be that hard to search a little bit for some demonstration of love (especially with a certain pair of will-they-won't-they partners not too far away... Though I feel like the pic also could have been interesting as applied to some of the other characters around right now? Anyways...) You could say then, that maybe Linc simply doesn't care about using empathy, and has ultimately lost confidence in Norm's plan by this point, so he takes the path of absolute least resistance cause, well, whatever. But wait, didn't Linc *just* say that they weren't going to do things that way, and that he doesn't want more people to be killed? (You might say then that he thinks Scary has a point on "not seeing the bigger picture" and believes that choosing violence here will result in less deaths, but frankly I just don't think there's anything promising or compelling enough about Scary's argument here for Linc to have any real reason to believe it, all the more so given Willy’s involvement). Are we to think, then, that Linc changes his mind purely on a whim, and a whim influenced by Scary of all people no less? Frankly, I see this as a severe underestimation of Linc's strength of character, and this is where we really do need to consider the degree of calculation and confidence that goes into Linc's decision making and risk taking. What I'm saying is, Linc simply doesn't fall victim to selfish impulses that way (and within the group this is a quality unique to him!). Moreover, even if Linc might have his doubts in Norm and his plan, he still has significantly more reason to go with that than to listen to Scary. Seriously, Linc has every reason to not listen to Scary here. When it comes to what Linc cares about the most, Scary has without a doubt harmed Linc more than the Doodler ever could (The significance of Tony Pepperoni being stabbed in Linc's home in front of his dad  c a n n o t  be forgotten or understated!!!). Even if Linc didn't care at all about showing empathy to the Doodler, if he were acting purely out of selfishness he would still have more reason to do so if only because it means not giving the satisfaction to or otherwise helping Scary (and Willy).

But Scary is confused, and Scary is lonely, and from her perspective she probably does feel betrayed. We (and Linc) are given some important information regarding Scary in this episode. Firstly, we get a glimpse into how Willy has twisted things and convinced her that violence is the better option (not because it's easier per se, but because more people will apparently be saved in the long run). Second, Linc finally understands what Scary needs... Or at least what she doesn't need. Specifically, he understands that simply saying "I love you" isn't enough. He understands that Scary will never believe it no matter how many times it is said, and that to really prove to Scary that she is loved and get through to her, he needs to show her, has to prove to her that, despite everything, he is still on her side.

Linc, I dare argue more than any of the teens, has so much reason to leave Scary behind. But he understands her now, and, against Normal's wishes, listens to her. In a weird way (if I'm not dead wrong about this whole empathy thing), this kind of is Linc's "throne of the doodler" equivalent. It would be so easy to not break the pic, to not choose to (help and) empathize with Scary after all the pain she has caused him, but that's not the kind of person Linc is, and I hope the points I raised earlier make that reasonably clear.

So no, I don't think Linc chose the easy option. I think he believes himself when he says that sometimes the harder route is the better one, and followed through on this when he took his shot.

Sincerely, if you think the Doodler is just a scared teen deserving of empathy and sacrifice and making tough decisions, but Scary isn't, then I think you've missed the point. The Doodler is just acting out and needs help, but when Scary or Linc break an anchor through violence (be it violently empathetic or not), we give up on them? We hope for Normal to abandon them when they're hurting and depict it as deserved or even righteous? I can't get behind that, I'm sorry. 

Furthermore, whereas Norm would certainly be justified in feeling concerned for the Doodler's sake if Linc's actions count as an act of violence, apart from that like, if Norm chooses to interpret Linc reaching out and showing support to someone as lost and alone and in need of help as Scary as a personal attack against him, either as a betrayal of their friendship (Norm is very jealousy-prone we’ve known this from the start!) or as a direct attack against Norm's perfect little violence-free narrative that lets him be the hero regardless of who gets left behind wait does he actually just hate Hero cause of her name hm, then that is, respectfully, completely a problem with him, and not with Linc. I think if Normal actually snaps from this, then his entire philosophy of choosing empathy is based on a lie, and Norm just wants to follow the narrative that allows him to be the hero on paper, so that everybody finally loves him.

Well that's a bit harsh huh. Believe it or not, I'm genuinely not trying to throw Norm under the bus here. But... I am trying to expose his flaws and shortcomings in relation to the other teens. This is important moving forward, because in refusing to seriously acknowledge the fact that Norm, while still having plenty of good in his heart, is someone who can be quite self-centered, and ultimately cares about being well-perceived and loved first and foremost, we become blind to the ways in which Norm, like Scary, is vulnerable to future instances of manipulation. That bit on appearance vs. true compassion isn't mere interpretation, by the way, Will has stated this quite clearly in episode 27 of teen talk (and in general I'd really rather not rely on that kind of bonus content in these sorts of posts but, well, it's hard to ignore this):

**

Will: (In reference to Norm's scene in the pride layer) "I feel like I understand Normal better now, like a kind of darker side of his psyche that's different from Henry... Like Henry's very concerned with being a good person but I don't think is super concerned with whether people like him or not, whereas Normal is like a little concerned with being a good person but *mostly* concerned- it's two different ways to solve love [he explains what it implies for Henry], the other is 'if everyone else likes me, that means I can take that in as well'."

**

I need to stress that I am not trying to imply that Norm is anywhere close to being a bad person, btw. Normal, like everybody else, has his flaws, but has proven that he has plenty of good qualities as well. What I *am* trying to imply is that Norm does have a tendency to put himself at the center of things, and is from a more meta standpoint benefiting from a narrative that puts him at the center of things (more or less guaranteeing that he will be seen as a hero of sorts no matter what- evident even in how fandom largely depicts him vs the other teens), and I'm just saying that if ever he found himself in Oakvale by some chance he might really appreciate the enforced anti-violence initiative put in place by the town's noble leader who really just gets him and praises him and-

I know (almost) nobody wants to hear this, but if Normal actually had a villain arc, it would most likely consist of him falling down the same path that Barry did. Barry was a hero, on paper. And the people around him certainly saw him as such, and loved and accepted him in some sense of the word, which is what he truly wanted at the end of the day. And he got rid of all the violence!!! 

But none of that makes Barry a good person.

*sniff sniff*

Hey... Has anyone else noticed the distinct lack of stinky weebs in this post?

As much as I myself am a bit more interested in the Linc side of things right now, I do need to talk a bit (or a lot) about Taylor too. My little guy! You haven't even had a proper, serious character arc yet and people have already decided that you don't have a shot vis a vis the upcoming anchors, despite easily being the most emotionally resilient and stable of the group. You know what, I'm gonna throw in most loyal too. If you'll humor me...

Taylor may not be the most empathetic of the teens (in fact, he may very well be the least), but this doesn't mean he doesn't care, and doesn't mean he isn't kind in his own way. What's particular about Taylor's brand of loyalty compared to the other teens that I think might make it a bit easy to overlook is that it while it is very strong, it tends to be reserved only for the people he chooses to call his friends (oh, and his mom!). There's no question of Taylor's choice to disregard what Nick tells him and go back to save Linc from the FBI, it embodies some of the most fundamental parts of who Taylor is as a person. Which I guess is to say that, there are ultimately only so many people Taylor chooses to have in his circle, but those bonds are extremely important to him, and he really is ride or die about them. I think that this aspect is most obvious when looking either at Taylor's relationship with Linc or Cassandra, but also with Hermie actually! Oh, and similar to the example with the FBI, Taylor's response to the whole Tony situation is perfectly consistent with this aspect of his character as well. Tony was not part of Taylor's circle, not someone he chose to let himself get attached to (because when Taylor gets attached to someone, it is indeed a very deliberate choice), so no, he's not gonna care that much about Tony's death. But he is bothered by Scary's betrayal. He is bothered because, even if they weren't the closest, Scary was, I would argue, still part of Taylor's circle. And yes, he is bothered by Linc leaving him alone in the last episode for the same reason, except that in this case it's probably worse actually. I know I'm straying pretty far from the original topic here, but still I think it's worth exploring the interesting position this puts Taylor in going forward, especially with respect to Nick. 

("Seriously baba when did this become about Nicky literally what are you talking about right now?")

Thus far, Taylor has made it very clear that no, he is not going to allow Nick to be someone he becomes attached to. There's a risk, in loving and becoming loyal to someone as strongly as Taylor does, and Nicky has not yet proven himself to be a risk worth taking. So what happens next? Nicky is (finally) around after all, so what might the future hold for little Taylor? On the one hand, Nicky's "words of advice" might begin to get through to Taylor, which could leave him in a pretty dangerous position. Taylor takes a big risk every time he lets someone in (everyone does but Taylor more than all the others because of how fully he loves and trusts and protects, is what I'm saying- er... He's a lot like his dad that way actually!), so what if Nick convinces him that nobody is worth that risk, and that everyone you hold dear will ultimately betray you? Well, I think we'd be left with a very lonely Taylor! Conversely, what if Nicky decides to prove himself worthy of Taylor's love? What if Taylor comes around and lets him in? ahaha shit I feel like there's a bad joke to be made about Taylor keeping his dad at arms length and his dad not having any arms right now god fucking damn it what even is this post. Will Nicky be able to maintain that trust? If he abandoned Taylor again, after Taylor has allowed himself to become attached (or if something happens to Nicky cause lets face it horrible things tend to happen to Nicky), I think Taylor might finally have a hard time getting back up.

What the fuck was I talking about? Oh yeah, so I guess going back to Norm, on the one hand, I guess on the more extreme end Taylor could actually take Linc's actions very hard, in which case I actually could see him sticking with Norm as an act of self-preservation. That said, I don't personally feel that this will be the case, that Linc is still ultimately in Taylor's circle, and accordingly Taylor's loyalty towards Linc will persist, albeit perhaps with a seed of doubt sewn at the back of his mind. And I don't think in that case that it's fair to frame this as Taylor betraying Normal? As others have pointed out, Norm frankly just hasn't really earned much in the way of Taylor's friendship. Really, as far as I'm concerned, Taylor doesn't really owe Norm much of anything at all. From the very beginning Norm has made it clear that he doesn't particularly care for Taylor, and ultimately has let his own jealousy and desire for attention (especially Linc and Hermie's attention) get in the way of ever really getting to know or appreciate Taylor beyond the surface level. Would I call it betrayal for Taylor to choose to continue to support his best friend instead of the guy who told him that anime isn't real? No, and I think the double standard is pretty obvious if we consider the reverse. That is, if Taylor chose Norm over Linc, after everything he and Linc have been through, would we be framing Linc as the victim of some grand betrayal? I genuinely don't think we would, at least not to the extent that we would with Norm. I suppose I'm saying all this, because well as aforementioned I just find there's been a lot of undeserved cynicism towards Taylor, and I think a lot of it does genuinely come from Normal's privileged position within the narrative as its de facto "hero" and what is most convenient for maintaining that image (and when I say "hero", that does include "righteous villains" who "deserve(d) to snap", just so we're clear on that).

Hmmmm I kinda wanna talk about Taylor and Normal as each other's foils but this post is getting a bit long isn't it... *Sigh* Not today, no, not today.

......Okay but still I have to say that if Taylor actually does finally get his "main character moment" I actually think that would be a great opportunity for Norm to acknowledge, reconcile, and learn to cope both with his jealousy and the parts of himself that are self-centered. Conversely, if Taylor does for one reason or another stray a bit too far into the habit of keeping people at arm's length out of fear of abandonment, betrayal, or the like, I think he could learn something from Norm too (having trouble phrasing exactly what I mean here, so perhaps I'll save the full notion for another time!)

So that's... Yeah, I think that's the most important stuff. I debated on sort of elaborating on examples of Norm's major character flaws, but despite everything my intent here was first and foremost to offer a "defense of the other teens" more than anything else. Though I will say that I think there is something to be said about how Normal's self-centeredness gets in the way of his ability to actually help those around him (Grant and Taylor both being great examples in "The Staircase"), how this contrasts with Linc's willingness to actually listen to and figure out what Scary needs in this most recent episode, and accordingly what Normal could potentially learn from Linc about not just choosing the route that's easiest for you.

[greetingfromthedead]

C10: Wounds

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Series Rating: 18+ / Explicit

Chapter: 10/84

Words: 1.8k

No particular warnings for this chapter.

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As you sit against the stone, you see the wounds in you. You count ten; two of them have gone straight through. They still hurt, but you feel them healing up, tissue connecting, and nerves rebuilding. The remaining bullets are slowly being forced out. Three bullets have been pushed nearly to the surface, so you can easily pull them out. One that has hit your rib needs a bit more digging, and a hiss escapes your lips once it's finally out. Taking a breather, you look up again to see Vash with his back towards you. He seems to be digging around for the bullet, as his hands are occupied in the area where you noticed his wound.

"You've been poking around a lot in my past, in my feelings and motivations. So, when are you gonna tell me about yourself? I'm not blind nor am I stupid; I've been around for long enough to notice things," he flinches, not sure if it's from pain or your words. "You have the eyes of a person at least twice your age; I know you've seen some shit, but still. You try hiding behind a smile, but half the time it's a lie. I bet you don't smile at all when you think nobody's looking. I see you. You carry a burden of your own with you; the people in this town were ready to maim you and cause horrible pain. Hell, they might have killed you by accident, and you only used your gun once I was in danger of getting shot again. From what you've told me, it's far from the first time too."

You hear him swallow, and the head that, for a moment, seemed to be turning towards you goes back to looking down. He is surprised you have seen through him so easily; the smiles that would have fooled anyone else seem to have no effect on you. How much have you figured out? And what are you thinking? He is too afraid to look at you, scared that you will see right through him when he meets your sharp gaze.

"And what's up with that jacket of yours? Where did you get something with the Project Seeds logos sown onto it?" Your voice is quiet, not at all demanding, but still firm. Vash's mind races; of course you would know what the patches mean; you had been there when humanity was scattered onto this planet.

"Those are the things I would like to ask you. But I have no right to do that. You've given me every opportunity to not answer your questions; I've just half-accidentally plurted out most of my replies without thinking too much. So, in all fairness, I don't expect you to tell me anything. You don't have to. But know that I will listen; maybe I will even understand. I will not judge you, and I won't force you."

"Thank you," he says quietly, his voice sounding somber as he still avoids looking at you.

"On a slightly different tone, and I do expect your answer this time." You pause for a second and look at him carefully. "Are you okay?"

He lets out a sigh, his shoulders relaxing a bit, and he seems to go back to treating his wound.

"I'm okay, almost done," he replies, and when you don't say anything else, he knows that's not what you meant. "I'm used to this. It's not the first time, and I doubt it will be the last. And that's okay."

He looks over his shoulder and smiles a sad smile at you; it's genuine, but not in a cheerful way. You look back, nothing but sadness in your eyes. How can he think this way? You sigh and lift the hand that has been resting over your wounds, holding gentle pressure even though nothing is bleeding anymore. You look at your bloody self, wondering how long it will take for you to be clean again. In the meantime, Vash wraps his wound and looks at you with a worried expression. He acknowledges that you have a rapid healing factor, but seeing all this blood and your injuries still makes him worried for you. He looks at you digging in one of your wounds, trying to pull out the bullet that caused it, but you give up with a sigh after having your jaw clenched from all the pain.

"I have some forceps; they make it easier." He pulls down his shirt, making sure to hide the injuries and scars, before getting up, taking his bag, and coming closer to you. He sets his stuff next to you, the instrument in hand, and takes out a bottle of clear liquid from his bag to clean the forceps with it. "Want me to do it?"

"Yes, please, if you don't mind," you say as you watch him clean his own blood from the tool. You know it will hurt either way, but he has a clearer view, and his hands won't flinch from the pain. You pull your shirt up some more before laying down. One hand clenches down on your shirt, the other you place preemptively onto your mouth.

"Are you ready?" he asks you, a sad look on his face. Clearly, he doesn't want to cause you any pain. You simply nod to him and turn your eyes away before he places his metal arm on your stomach, and the right one maneuvers the forceps into one of the wounds. It takes him just a moment to pull out the metal, and he moves onto the next one. Each one hurts, and your teeth are clenched together close to shattering, your hand muffling some of the hisses and growls that escape you as you force your body to be still, his metal arm helping you in that regard. It doesn't hurt as bad; your healing factor has numbed everything quite a bit. Still, you are reminded that getting shot is not a fun business by any means, because your options are either to pull them out and heal up quickly or possibly struggle for days till your body naturally disposes of the bullets.

"All done, I think," the man finally says. "Your body is astonishing; there is no bleeding; you are already healing up the wounds. Incredible. Do you need bandaging up, or do you say it's better to leave it as is?"

You sit up and look at him. How strange it is to hear praise.

"It's fine; there's no need to bandage it. I'll heal in no time."

"But still, don't do that again. Don't get shot at for my sake. I don't deserve it." His eyes shoot down, unable to meet yours.

"Let me decide that." You try to sound assuring and place a hand over his, both still bloody. "I've never met anyone like you before. I don't wanna lose you. It's selfish of me, so let me selfishly protect you. Me getting hurt there was my choice, not yours, so don't beat yourself up over it. Got it?"

You give his hand a squeeze, still looking at him and waiting for him to look at you. But instead, he moves and grabs you into a hug. He decides that if you can selfishly take bullets for him, then he can just as selfishly give you a hug. He has never met anyone quite like you either. And while he can't bring himself to reveal all his secrets to you yet, he knows that if there's anyone out there who he could trust with them, it's you. The fingers of his right hand, still sticky with blood, go into your hair, pulling your head into his chest. His metal arm wraps itself around you, also pulling you closer. He rests his cheek on top of your head. Something so unexpected leaves you frozen for a moment, but then you wrap your arms around him, squeezing him as much as you can without causing yourself pain, avoiding his injury as you do so.

Unsure who needs this more, you or Vash, the two of you hold each other. It's not quite gentle; there's a fire between the two of you. The tightness of the hug reflects a longing you've both had since long before even meeting. You snuggle closer, feeling like he is a puzzle piece that belongs next to you. And he feels the same, like his arms were made to hug you.

Suddenly, you feel something pushing against your cheek, and Vash feels it too. As you raise your face to have a look, the tomas pushes her head between the two of you, seemingly more interested in you than Vash.

"Oh, you birdbrain, did you get jealous?" You laugh a bit and release your grip on Vash, one hand moving to pet the bird. The blond man lets go of your hair, and the space between you grows, yet his prosthetic rests on your arm, which isn't petting the bird; his other hand is placed on your leg. He watches as you look at the bird lovingly and gently.

"What's that?" he asks, points at your hand, and then notices the same phenomenon happening to his own, a slightly worried expression moving onto his face. The two of you watch as the blood on your hands turns black and then gets carried by the wind in flakes.

"Oh, yes. Not to worry. After a while, my blood kind of oxidizes, I guess, and turns into an ash-like substance. Quite convenient for cleanup. The stains left from it on clothes also just wash out." You shrug and finally get up. Vash takes your outstretched arm to stand too, a grimace on his face from the wound.

He looks at you and himself, seeing that the blood either disappears or leaves black stains behind. His own blood is still wet on his shirt. The bloody mark on your cheek is also still there. He reaches into his bag to get something for cleanup while you make sure the bird is properly saddled and that everything is ready to go.

"It's not safe here. Can you keep going? We can take the tomas and put some more distance between ourselves and this town."

"Yeah, I'm good to go." He comes closer, and as you face him, he wipes a damp cloth over your face to remove the swipe and hands it to you to wipe off the rest. He stuffs everything back into his bag and fastens it to the bird that is lying down. One last look so you don't forget anything, and both of you are in the saddle. You avoid leaning into him, afraid to disturb his wound, and while he wants to pull you closer, he is afraid to cause you pain. So he settles his human hand onto the outside of your thigh, afraid he might be pushing it, but still he longs to feel that you are with him, in his reach, and you aren't scared of him.

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[the-s1lly-corner]

If and when you have time/energy, of course:

Kind of in the same vein as the "Cuppa Joe as a dad" anon, do you have any HCs for the same situation, but with Toilenator, Stickybeard and the Count? :0

I personally think the vibes are like..."nerdy goofball uncle/dad trying to be cool", "the actual cool uncle/dad that lets you do stuff and is like 'don't tell your mom', and "basically Drac from Hotel Transylvania, but way more goofy and a bit more embarrassing", but I'm curious to see what you think! Thanks again if you answer this! :)

Toiletnator, Stickybeard and Spankulot as dads

Couldve sworn I've done at least toiletnator and sticky with this prompt but I guess not <\3 that said ueueue god i love this prompt with knd villains and i blame mr boss for this

Notes: reader is GN and a child, platonic post

CWs: none

TOILETNATOR

drops you off at school and all of your practices while loudly saying goodbye to you- also cheers for you the loudest during any of your games if you partake in any sports

number one most supportive dad, a lot of things may go over his head and he may even push you too hard but he genuinely wants to see you do your best- arguably one of the best choices of parent out of all the KND villains

if youre passionate about something hes going to get into it as well so he can understand, as well as how to help you complete your goals

just like joe in his post, he keeps a lot of photos of you on hand so he can show you off and brag

genuinely so proud of you, asides from his small feats as a villain, you give him something to be proud of

STICKYBEARD

takes you anywhere you want on his ship, you even have your own dedicated room on the ship! though to be fair im sure sticky already lives on his ship...

did someone steal something from you? well good thing hes a pirate, thats kind of in his nature! just tell him who and hes going to return what was taken, and then some

he can be a little rough, but he doesnt mean to hurt you- just wants you to have a tough skin

scolds you in front of the crew and other villains but you can see him fighting down the smile on his face, and hes going to quietly let you know that hes proud of what youve done as soon as everyone is out of ear shot

will sneak you some candy under the table during meetings and dinners

SPANKULOT

also very supportive of you and whatever you want to do! takes the time to learn about your hobbies and plans evenings so the two of you can bond! on that note, he also takes you bowling every now and then

that said hes a rule honoring man, so there are some expectations for you that you're too follow- stern about it, but i can see him having just a tiny bit of bias for you

brings treats to parent teacher meetings, a lot of the staff get to know him very well... sometimes you duck your head in embarrassment as he beelines for one of your teachers to talk to them

bonus points if youre also a vampire like him, hes going to teach you how to fly and as well as how to handle all the other powers that comes with his genetics! the first time you just... vanish.. into smoke he nearly has a heart attack

so very cautious to make sure youre not given any garlic- you wont die, but no one wants to be sick