#i thought i knew what a jester did and looked like

[rarityroo]

Helloo can you write about pomni and reader confessing and sharing their first kiss?

Lovely love

(Pomni x Gn! Reader)

Hey! Thank you for requesting, istg the ‘tadc’ fandom is keeping my blog afloat 😭 This was a tad bit rushed so I apologize for that but lmk if you liked it. Enjoy!

Never in a million years did you think you'd find yourself in this situation.

You've always been a hopeless romantic but you never thought you'd develop feelings for the skittish jester. Then again what's not to like, Pomni was sweet and funny, her laughter, like tinkling bells, echoed in your mind. Despite her appreciation towards the circus she always showed kindness to you.

You had to tell her, but you were so nervous. You didn't want to ruin your friendship, but you knew if you didn't say anything it would kill you inside. You had to do this...

You headed for Pomni's room, with every step you took your legs shook, and you felt so nauseous. Before you knew it you stood in front of her door, You took a deep breath.

You lightly knock at the door, "Pomni? Can I come in?" You heard a loud crash in the room, the noise making you recoil, Pomni scrambled to open the door. "Hey!! Uh-I mean uH, hi!" Pomni said looking embarrassed, she was so cute. You chuckled, "Hey, can I come in?" You took a shallow breath, "It's kind of important." Pomni looked nervous, "Oh! sure!" She moves to the side to let you in.

As you stepped into Pomni's room, your heart pounded in your chest like a drum. She gestured for you to take a seat on the edge of her bed, her own nerves palpable in the air.

You cleared your throat, trying to steady your voice. "Pomni, there's something I need to tell you."

Pomni's eyes widened, and she sat down beside you, her expression a mix of anticipation and apprehension. "What is it?" she asked softly, her voice quiet.

"I... I don't really know how to say this," you admitted, your palms growing clammy. "I have feelings for you."

A flicker of realization crossed Pomni's face, her cheeks flushing with a delicate pink hue. "Oh..." she murmured, her gaze dropping to her lap.

"I know it's unexpected, and I don't want to make things awkward between us, and I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable," you continued, your words tumbling out in a rush. "But I couldn't keep it to myself any longer. I care about you, Pomni. More than I ever thought possible."

Pomni's cheeks flushed with a delicate pink hue, and she glanced away shyly. "Really?"

"Yes." you insisted, taking a small step closer to her. "You bring a kind of light into my life that I never knew existed before, every time I have a bad day or I feel hopeless I look at you I know I’ll be okay."

Her gaze met yours, and for a moment, the world seemed to slow down. You could see the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes, mingled with something deeper, something you dared to hope was affection.

"I... I feel the same way," Pomni admitted softly, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her jester's outfit. "You make me sane, you make me feel safe here." Her words were filled with sinserity.

Your heart swelled with warmth at her words, and without thinking, you reached out, gently tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "I love you more than you know. And I... I care about you so much, Pomni."

The air between you crackled with anticipation, the weight of unspoken words hanging in the air.

And then, as if guided by an invisible force, you leaned in, your lips meeting hers in a tender kiss.

Time seemed to stand still as you melted into each other's embrace, the world around you fading into insignificance.

At that moment, there was only the warmth of her lips against yours, the gentle rhythm of your hearts beating in unison.

When you finally pulled away, a soft smile graced Pomni's lips, her eyes shimmering with newfound certainty. "That was...hehe that was amazing," she giggled softly lost in the feeling of passion, her voice barely above a breath.

You couldn't help but agree, feeling a sense of euphoria wash over you. "It was," you replied, intertwining your fingers with hers.

You and Pomni sat together, hand in hand, knowing that this moment marked the beginning of something truly lovely.

[definitelynotrhi]

swordtember day 8: jester :>

i went for a jester kind of look but he gradually started to look more like a clown so a clown he shall be.

thats it for swordtember!!...i forgot to post this yesterday but better late than never :,)

one day i'll be able to draw for a whole month,,,one day

he has no name but can summon balloon swords with magic cards ! maybe i'll make a series of clown/jester fighters??? this was really fun haha

[phoenixblaze1412]

Can I kindly ask for a Dottore X reader who has a bad habit of stealing his fatui coat and wearing it or using it as a blanket?

"I could have sworn I placed it on the couch..."

Dottore muttered under his breathe as he looked around his office in search of his fatui coat. He was supposed to be attending a harbinger's meeting and he was about to be late. He sighed in exasperation as he went to ask his segments if they have seen his coat somewhere.

"That ugly thing? No, I do not know where it is. But I did noticed darling dearest came inside the room a few moments ago before leaving quickly."

Is what the Theta segment answered, his focus was mostly on the report that was assigned to him and not bothering to glance at his creator. Dottore could only hum in return before leaving the laboratory, searching for your room.

He should have thought of it by now, he knew you would always try and steal his coat just to wear it. Dottore always wondered why you prefer wearing it when it's bigger than your figure but your reply was because it was warm and smells like him.

The warm part he understands but his scent on the coat? Ridiculously not.

Dottore finally reached your room with a huff before knocking on the door and calling out your name.

"Darling, it's me. I know you have my coat and I need to wear it for the meeting."

When Dottore didn't hear any reply from you, he let out a sigh before opening the door himself and entering the room. He noticed your figure on the bed as he walked up towards you. Dottore was about to scold you for taking his coat again but the sight before him made him stop.

There on the bed you lay, with his coat covering your small figure, your hands gripping onto the fabric. He did noticed the temperature of your room being more colder as of late, possibly due to the winter weather becoming more harsher the past few days. And with him always busy in his work, you didn't bother ask him to cuddle with to keep you warm and instead decided to use his fatui coat instead.

Dottore sat on the edge of your bed, tucking a few strands of your hair behind your ear that was blocking your face. He watched as you slept peacefully while being under the warmth of his coat. He would want to join you but he is required to attend the meeting or else Pierro will be scolding his ears off.

Lifting his mask up, Dottore leaned down and pressed his lips against your temple before getting up from your bed and leaving the room, deciding to let you keep his coat until he comes back from the meeting.

Quickening his steps, he made his way inside the meeting room where all his fellow harbingers are.

"You are late, Dottore. Where even is your harbinger coat?"

"Sadly, that coat got into such an unfortunate circumstance and I am never late Jester.. you and the rest of the people in this room are simply too early."

Dottore crossed his arms over his chest, not caring how he is the only one out of the rest of the harbingers who isn't wearing their traditional harbinger coat. Some gave him a curious glance while others only rolled their eyes at his remark. Pierro on the other hand, simply sighed before continuing the meeting.

"I am quite curious.. is the reason why you don't have your coat on was because of a certain someone? It has gotten quite chilly these past few days. Should I make a customised coat for your partner?"

Pantalone glanced at Dottore with an amused smile, noticing how the doctor himself isn't even shivering under the cold temperature of the palace.

"No need, Regrator. Besides, I doubt they would even accept your generosity over a new coat."

Dottore replied, already knowing the reasons why you wouldn't even dare to accept Pantalone's offer. He would rather let you wear his coat instead, besides he's already used to cold temperatures. And if he does get cold, he could just pull you towards him and hug into your warmth.

[tiyoin]

pt.4 | 📍pt.5

rewrote, edited and proofread chapter five cause I thought it was horseshit and you guys deserved more from me. 🫶

numb.

you tried to feel numb.

doing everything in your power to push down any kind of emotion that was ready to slip through your mask.

look ahead, stand tall, put one foot in front of the other so no one would know you were wearing a confidence coat that was 2 sizes too small.

don't breathe too loud they'll hear you.

don't step too loud they'll think about your weight.

don't blink too much they'll think you're fluttering your lashes at them.

don't tuck your chin in they'll think you're gross.

gross for what exactly? everything.

don't mess up the stepping pattern or else you'll look like a bumbling idiot as you try to get back on the rhythm.

don't clench your fists they'll think you're mad and unapproachable.

don't smile because you're not in front of a mirror where you can control how much you want to give away.

don't think too hard or else you'll become enraptured with your daydreams and you won't be able to take part in reality.

don't do anything with your lips or else some air will come in and create a sound that sounds similar to a fart. then they'll think you're extra gross.

all these rules you had to follow to 'be normal,' weren't an actual set of rules, but a lifestyle. you wouldn't get collared if you didn't do one of the rules, you wouldn't get yelled at or reprimanded.

you were okay. to your knowledge that is.

on the outside, you probably looked like you had a stick up your ass. always in a rush to get to where you needed to go. like one of those rolling backpack kids back in your world. whenever they would pass they'd take casualties with them. rolling over toes, pencils, teachers- there was nothing in their way they couldn't bulldoze through.

you were just missing the wheels and will of iron it took to be seen with such a… what’s the right word- atrocity, in public, let alone an all-boys school.

underneath the habits and self-induced numbness, past all the anxiety and fear there was a tickle. not an actual tickle, but a sudden feeling you couldn't identify. it wasn't rage or frustration. you weren't sad or envious... you think- it was something gentler than that.

something softer yet just as negative was infesting your heart and mind like a slow-acting poison. poisoning your thought process, your habits, your attitude, and your livelihood.

though the breeze and sunshine walking to class supplied your flesh with warm- there was a chill over your heart. the beams of warmth too short to reach into the many cracks and holes that were created. sometimes you thought there was a bug. a big, juicy parasitic bug that would suck away your hopes and feast on your memories. It had a sweet tooth that was for certain, only targeting happy memories as it kept you with the bad ones.

did you ever have happy memories?

there was nothing you could do about the pestering leech. it wouldn't go away with Kalim's warmth and silver's calm. two sides of the same coin.

but no matter how many times you flipped: heads or tails, heads or tails, heads or tails would never work.

yes, you would smile, you would laugh- put on a poor show to convince yourself and others that there was nothing wrong. Everything was okay deep down and inside your twisted little mind. 

sometimes, you weren't sure who exactly you were performing for. 

"why am I scared to laugh" you remembered asking yourself one night, putting down your jester's hat for the evening. 

looking in the dusty mirror, your eyes carefully roamed your face, ticking off imperfections as you scanned every feature, scrutinizing every fold, and every slight bump on your skin. saving the most obvious imperfection for last, you finally acknowledged the brewing red horn ready to grow on the side of your forehead.

you knew it was a normal thing that teenagers of all ages experienced. but you felt especially helpless now, with the lack of beauty supplies and makeup. but with a quick brush of your hair, the brewing red horn disappeared behind some tresses of hair.

"I look like a demon"

...

"though if it was on my nose, i'd look like rudolph"

there was no punchline. yet the observation- not even an original comparison, made you laugh. 

A tiny huff puffed from your chest. though the more you imagined yourself with deer ears and a bright lobster red nose, you could feel your thoracic region start to shake. trying to push the sixth sense of judgment the walls were giving you, you forced yourself to laugh. holding onto this artificial laugh as long as you could. you hadn't laughed in a while. hadn't smiled in a minute. you'd barely look at yourself in the mirror most days.

gripping onto the vanity you watched your eyes crinkle and smile stretch. tripping and stumbling over scattered objects in your room you were still clenching your stomach nonetheless.

you felt like a tumbling tornado. clumsily tripping over everything with no set destination or concern for the things in your path. a shoe got kicked up. a pen you remembered liking got stepped and rolled on. a book you read a few nights ago kicked to the door as you set your eyes on your bed. with a few more violent acts towards inanimate objects, you carried your shaking body to bed.

this was it. you were going insane, weren't you?

all you needed was a canvas and paints and you'd truly become insane.

flopping down unceremoniously you let it linger for a second. sighing in contentment as you stared up at the ceiling.

you loved laughing, it was fun! but you were afraid to laugh, to live. remembering Kalim's quote of 'Everything is fun when you make it fun,' you wanted to scoff at his naivety. but Kalim was right.

if you made things miserable for yourself that's how they'll be.

directing your mind back to your head, you blinked owlishly.

oh. you were so caught up in the daydream you forgot you were in the hallways.

peeking through bumping shoulders, you tried looking towards the wall to check the room number.

"shit"

making a giant u-turn with as many 'excuse me's' and 'pardon me's,' you rerouted yourself back to your class. never having walked this way to class you were a bit hesitant. what if you walked by it again? what if someone is watching you and making fun of you for being a daft idiot?

breathe.

but what if you're late for class? crewel will have your hide- skin? doesn't matter what it is cause it'll be his. what if they all laugh when we're late-

we're not late yet it's only-

but when we get to class we'll be late!

perking up when you noticed the assigned numbers to your class, you weaved through the chattering sardines and beelined it to class.

no bell. no expectant crewel. no eyes besides from the easy-to-ignore front row. perfect.

the sigh you were holding in finally set itself free as you adjusted the grip of your books, and you strolled down the isles.

don't walk too fast they'll think you're strange.

but also don't walk too slow so they don't think you're lazy.

head down absent-mindedly adjusting your books, you followed your hand's cue and put your attention on a fixed thing. aka: your books.

but to your relief, you soon found your seat. with a huff, you unloaded the cargo pulled out some loose-leaf paper, and started writing.

writing what? not even you knew. but it made you look busy and that was important.

you didn't lay around in bed all day. you didn't continuously scroll through your phone to distract yourself. you didn't cry at night looking at everyone's socials, wishing it was you having fun. envy bubbling like a nasty tar in your bloodstream as you scorned everyone for having fun when you're miserbale-

"y/n!'

"oow"

sliding in next to you was silver. hair disheveled and tie ever so crooked, though he still looked really good-

pervert a voice whispered. tensing, you looked around and saw no one paying attention to your little corner.

"I tried calling you in the hallway." his boyish smile eased a beat in your rhythmic heart, only for it to take 2 more beats.

"y-you did?" you gulped.

silver nodded as he organized his books. "Yeah, but it's so chaotic and loud I'm guessing you didn't hear me" you nodded in agreement, tongue slipping over itself as you tried conjuring up an excuse.

"I- uh I'm really sorry I didn't hear you. I didn't even know you were there! I was kinda worried about not being elbowed to death." you didn't know why you were chuckling at the end but it felt scene-appropriate. you weren't sure if you believed what you told silver despite it being the truth.

was he going to refute it? was he going to give you a once over and mentally think 'how dare they ignore me' because all the diasomnia students you'd interact with had that very haughty, entitled personality?

 but to your slight dissatisfaction, silver only nodded in understanding.

"I'm real-"

"There's no-"

you both started at the same time, sharing a shy smile at the pause.

"you can go ahead" he nodded. Waving your hands, you disagreed. "you were talking first, I'm sorry, go ahead"

even though you gave the green light, silver still heisted to go. giving the air another few seconds before he started talking.

"there is no need to ask for forgiveness. I understand if you couldn't hear me, I'm not the most vocal after all. if only sebek were here" he mulled the last part. wincing at the name, you wanted to pinch yourself for slipping up. damnit you showed that you didn't like a person he was friends with- he'll hate you now. you're screwed, you screwed yourself. don't you understand that he's probably planning on running to sebek as soon as you leave? then everyone in diasomnia is going to hate you-

you nodded, tiny little yellow sponges in white shirts and red ties ran around your brain as a fire roared throughout- wherever they were inside your head.

you tried to push the flood of incoming thoughts into a box, a big red crate with a crab lock to be exact. you were feeling antsy, looking for anything to focus on besides the silver-haired upperclassman in front of you. 

sometimes you wish you were a computer. unable to feel and to only run on logic. it seems easier that way.

a thought bubble popped into your brain like an internet pop-up ad. 

did they even have computers in twisted wonderland? duh of course they do, they have phones after all.

the thought of twisted wonderland's technology started to swarm and hijack your train of thought. effectively taking out the conductor and changing its course.

did they also have an Industrial Revolution like the United States had? what was the start of it? which kingdom had it first? was there something to set off the alleged revolution? How is it the same and how is it different from your world's?

did magic have allay in it? of course, it did. but how did magic make it different than-

"y/n"

snapping your head at the familiar voice. you looked to silver. only able to take in physical information as the new conductor saw a hole in the tracks, pulling the breaks almost immediately.

"you okay there?"

slowly you nodded, as a few members of the hijacking team jumped out of the train- some ideas and questions with it.

"yeah.. sorry about that, kinda got lost in my train of thought there"

nodding with understanding, silver started talking about how he would sometimes start nodding off when he was talking to someone. half paying attention, half trying to save the train- your brain was split in half as you took in all internal and external information.

until you heard the magic words everyone loves to hear: "what were you thinking ab-"

"The Industrial Revolution"

"... pardon?"

anddd you failed, the train fell into the deep deep gorge that the tracks would normally allow the said train to glide over... but alas! they were gone! blown to smithereens as it guided the train into the deep cavern. a big explosion followed soon after. 

"dont worry about it" you brushed him off. saved by the bell as Crewel stood up, riding crop in hand yelling out orders like a drill sergeant.

silver scooted closer. you scooted back, the original distance between you two doubling. you were focused on writing your name, date etc & etc, on another loose-leaf paper.

the dreamy-eyed second-year made some noises before he knew what he was going to say. he started softly "are you okay"? but then grew slightly louder as unease set in "from... last class? I mean I know yuu told me it was a touchy subject but... i just wanted to check in"

your pencil screeched to a halt as the words 'yuu told me-' chanted in your head. it was the only thing you could focus on because what did he mean 'yuu said-'. "what did yuu say." you spoke, voice stable for the first time that morning.

silver's tongue tied itself as he fixed his hair a bit. "well..." he straightened up slightly, "after you stormed... no, escape is a better word. after you escaped the classroom yuu followed before i could. but crewel ended up stopping me before i could even move. and i asked yuu what happened the next time i saw them and asked how you were doing.. to sum it up: they told me you get nervous around new people soo"

dread set over you like a fast-approaching shadow.

oh no. he thinks you're a weird socially inept loser doesn't he? he thinks you're some kind of loser that doesn't go out weekends, weekdays, any day for all that matter. he probably makes fun of you with sebek. right?

"ah well," you cleared your throat. a lie already on the tip of your tongue "I mean it's like- a yes and no kinda thing. I didn't have a lot of guy friends when I was younger so being thrust" you thrust your hands in emphasis "into an al guys school has been quite the adjustment."

quickly, your mind conjured up a painting of a small house in a meadow filled with wildflowers. it was the only thing you could see for miles. it was a nice house with a straw roof, a smoking brick chimney, and a little garden outback. the only problem with the house is that you blew it up.

 with nuclear missiles. 

and the intensity of the blast was so strong that it created a small crater in the earth, no traces of the house were left as it's entire existence was reduced to ash and rubble all because of you.

the urge to bash your head into the nearest wall like intruding hornets slipping through a crack in an attic to terrorize a small family. there goes your social life right?? what soil life? you killed it before you could even nurture it!

your mouth and mind were running on autopilot while your conscience went blank.

your mouth was a fountain that spewed water everywhere. trying to get yourself out of the hole you dug yourself- crater, more specifically.

"but uhhh yeah, no you're good! you're different and I'm quite glad I got partnered with you since you're not as..."

"boisterous?" silver quipped.

you nodded. silver chuckled, leaning further away from you. "yeah me too. if I got paired with one of your friends only the sevens know how much damage that'll do to my physical and mental well-being"

you both discreetly looked over at the rest of the class watching as all pairs seemed to be in some kind of chaos. whether it's floyd being impulsive, grim trying to add the wrong chemical into a potion. (you didn't even need to know what they were making to know that whatever he's trying to sneak in- doesn't belong there.)

and you were thanking whatever god the people of twisted wonderland worshipped that you weren't paired with one of the adeuce combo. ace would try to take control of the project, pretending he knew what he was doing while simultaneously giving you backhanded compliments on your intelligence. only to ruin the entire project and somehow find a way to blame you for it. 

meanwhile, deuce and you would be two peas in a squished pod: not knowing what you're supposed to be doing and ultimately winging it as you tried to match your hot barbie pink potion to crewel's muted blush potion. knowing the both of you, it would end up navy blue and when crewel went to fix it he would add a pinch of fleabane- a literal pinch, and it'd be fixed. embarrassing the both of you for all eternity.

"I wonder which group is gonna blow up the lab first mused quick to shut your lips, you were quick to wish for a sewing kit to forcefully shut you up.

but a small voice whispered 'it's better to take risks than stay comfortable.'

and silver seemed... nice.

silver looked out at the crowd for a moment longer, turning to you he started slowly, "while the yuu, grim, and ace trio seem to be the most obvious choice...." he thought carefully, "epel and deuce seem to be at a loss of what to do and are about 6 shade off. which surprised me since epel is in pomfiore"

"he's actually sh- really-" you started again, taking a moment to think over what you were going to say "I heard that epel's not that great at potions despite being under vil's careful watch...." silver's eyes widened, replying with a soft 'really?' as he looked back to the groups with newfound interest.

you to yourself "never judge a book by its cover" you shrugged, immediately turning to your work. anxiously, you waited for a response. 

although circumstances are vastly different- is this how people felt when in the talking stage? if so it was a dreadful experience. 

before your pessimistic thoughts could even start, silver responded with a chuckle, enviably agreeing with your statement. you could almost sweat with relief as an invisible weight got lifted from your shoulders.

silver seems nice...

a new voice, meek and unsteady although louder than the usual pessestimic ones in control. and for once, you allowed yourself to feel the slight comfortable tingle it gave you.

the hope and drive to that you haven't felt or experienced in a while.

you wished to get closer to him.

taglist : @abell2029cluster @a1-ic3 @ars-tral @xingyunny @creamsweets @skei2p @dn4su @jjsmeowthie @h0rr0r-10ver-69 @nefe-kav @d3sperate-enuf @y2unagiz @im-here-for-the-fun-of-it @mel-star636 @7yu @lucky-whispers

[gravitycavity]

Sunshine (Pomni x Ragatha) Chapter 6 - Radiant

[Click here to read from the beginning on AO3!]

Cover art by @blukiar

Vanilla and dried leaves and crisp morning air. 

Ragatha savored the feminine aura that enveloped her, hands shivering as they strangled the silky fabric of Pomni’s tunic. She leaned in, pressing harder. A delightful, breathy sound snuck out of the corners of her mouth as Pomni’s lips yielded to hers. They were soft. Sweet. The warmest thing she’d ever tasted. 

“Pomni…” Ragatha drifted at last from the cozy embrace, breath shuddering in sync with the rest of her body. Her good eye peeked open just a crack. Her hands turned slack and listless. One-by-one, her fingers lost their grip on Pomni’s tunic until, inevitably, she felt herself falling. 

Pomni caught her, of course — Ragatha knew that she would. 

Safe and secure in the arms of her fearless knight, Ragatha pulled her legs toward her core, making herself small. Her eyelids dragged fully open. It had felt like an eternity since she’d last looked at that gorgeous face, and she couldn’t stand to wait a single second longer.

Pomni’s hesitant smile, framed by her perennial blush, regarded Ragatha from up above. Ragatha’s face bloomed to match it. The jester brightened, too — just a little. 

God. Radiant. 

“Um…” Pomni’s expression dimmed again as she swallowed, her pupils wandering here and there. “How was that?”

Wonderful. Absolutely, unbelievably, impossibly wonderful. Ragatha had never felt this particular kind of rush before — the kind that made her head feel fuzzy, that made her limbs start to tingle, that made her heart beat so quickly and unendingly that it actually hurt. 

If any of her past romantic rendezvous were any indication, Ragatha had been sure that all those romance novels she used to read on her lunch breaks had been exaggerating. She didn’t think it was actually possible to become breathless at the mere thought of another person. Or that a single pair of eyes could actually make the whole world cease to exist — yet here she was, cuddled up in this little woman’s big, strong arms, stupidly in love. 

There was no chance in hell she’d actually say any of that sickeningly-saccharine fluff out loud, though. Goodness gracious, could you imagine? No, Ragatha’s love language was a little bit more subtle than that — and, contrary to her usual way of conducting herself, a tad meaner, too. 

“Hmph.” Ragatha crossed her arms, pointing her face toward the ballroom’s lofty windows. She pursed her lips to conceal a sly smirk. “Just as I suspected…”

Pomni crinkled her brow. “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, it’s nothing! Just…” Ragatha spun her ankle, “Nevermind.”

“Nevermind!? What do you mean ‘nevermind’? You can’t just leave me hanging like that!”

“I just did.”

“Ragatha!” Pomni stamped her foot, “If you’ve got something to say, then say it!” 

“Well, alright. If you insist,” Ragatha pretended to force out a hard sigh; in reality, she was barely able to contain her boisterous laughter. Teasing this girl would never, ever get old. “Don’t get me wrong. Kissing you was a dream come true, but,” she paused, “and please don’t take this the wrong way—”

“Spit it out, already!”

“— I wouldn’t call you a particularly…gifted kisser.”

Pomni thrashed backward; her face was fully boiled. “WH-WHAT?!”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Sweetheart, but I’m too nice to lie to you. That kiss could have gone better.” Ragatha smirked, seizing hold of Pomni’s tunic once again. She tugged her body closer, utterly captivated by the nervous panic spreading across the jester’s cute little face. “I have a lot to teach you…”

“W-Well…!” Pomni squirmed, sweat beading on her brow, “You are pretty good at that! Teaching, I mean…”

“So I’ve been told~” Ragatha laid down a trio of smooches across Pomni’s cheek, giggling all the while. With each gentle embrace, Ragatha’s lips treaded closer to Pomni’s until, at last, they briefly met again.

Pomni squeaked. 

“Now, then,” Ragatha broke off her smooch, “We’ll start with the basics, and work up from there. How’s that sound?”

Pomni was as red as a tomato. She responded with a dazed, stilted nod. “S-Sure…”

“That’s the spirit.” Ragatha bopped Pomni on the snout, despite her steadfast efforts to resist.  This girl was just too cute. “First things first. Your kiss was great — very warm, very passionate, very genuine — but I have to say, you seemed awfully nervous.”

“Nervous…?”

“Way too tense. It’s a kiss, Sunshine, not a job interview. Just relax, hold me close, and press your lips to mine. That’s all there is to it.”

Pomni chewed on her lip for a few silent moments. Soon, her dominant hand was wandering up the length of Ragatha’s back, settling firmly between the ragdoll’s shoulders. Then, exploiting her new leverage, Pomni moved her face closer.

Ragatha was fully prepared to swoon, but something strange — the slight pang of discomfort simmering behind Pomni’s eyes — gave her pause. 

Ragatha drifted away, consciously or not. Her face reflected Pomni’s uneasy mask.

The brightness with which Pomni’s eyes had shined mere moments ago had dimmed almost completely.  Was it anxiety? Reluctance? General melancholy? Was Pomni just playing the part of her usual worrywort self, or was something the matter…?  

No, no. Don’t overthink it. It was probably just nerves. That dorky new girl just had her first kiss, after all — people always get that stupid look on their face their first time.  

Ragatha’s train of thought skidded to a halt, however, as Pomni clumsily shoved her lips into hers. Twice as quickly, and thrice as ungracefully, the awkward jester tore her mouth away from Ragatha’s like her very life depended on it. 

“Th-There.” Pomni wiped her mouth. Her eyes diligently avoided any contact, “Better?”

Ragatha cleared her throat. Somehow, that was even worse. Maybe even the least satisfying kiss of her entire life. How to let her down easy…? 

The dolly helped herself to a few patient breaths. “Let’s begin with the positives. You took the initiative this time, which was nice. And there was less, um…” Ragatha squinted, “...suction. Always a plus. As for the things you could improve…”

Ragatha rocked her head back and forth, starting, stopping and re-starting the same sentence a half-dozen times before finally finding the right words. “Sweetheart,” she finally said, “do you think you could try giving me a little bit…more?”

“More…?” 

“Look, I don’t mean to split hairs, but that was more of a peck than a kiss, don’t you think?”

“I… guess so.” Pomni deflated, looking more like a lost puppy with every passing moment. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m cut out for this. I should’ve never even asked to kiss you in the first place—”

“What? No, no, no! It wasn’t bad, Pomni! I just wished that it had lasted a little bit longer. You pulled away so quickly, I barely had any time to enjoy it.”

“Y-Yeah…” Pomni sighed. 

Ragatha tilted her head with a soft, reassuring smile. “Let’s try again. I’ll lead, you follow. Before you pull away, try counting to two in your…”

…her voice trailed off, suddenly distracted by a strange sensation. Pomni’s arms were trembling. Trembling hard.

“Oh, dear,” Ragatha’s mature voice cracked with compassion. There was something wrong. Pomni, what’s the matter? Your arms are…”

“N-N-No, th-th-that’s-s-s n-n-not m-m-me!” Pomni stammered — and for once, her pesky nerves weren’t the ones to blame. Wobbling on one foot like a clumsy cartoon character, she craned her neck forward, trying to see the ground over her hefty armful.. 

A dissonant aria of creaking wood sounded as a slight, but persistent tremble shook the stage. A handful of musician’s chairs toppled over around the girls, solidly-crafted frames harshly smashing against the weathered timber floor. A half-dozen music stands fell over next — a prelude to the disjointed melody that disgraced the air as a handful of musical instruments crashed, clanked, and clanged against the floor. 

But in no time at all the quizzical trembling was all said and done.

Pomni just stood there in the aftermath, utterly dumbfounded, wearing the world’s most clueless expression. Ragatha did much the same. 

“Well,” Ragatha scratched her temple, “that was weird—”

A second, dramatically stronger earthquake — so that the stage beneath the girls to suddenly crunched in half — rocked the digital plane. 

“Pomni!” Ragatha yelped like a frightened kitten, clinging to Pomni’s waist as needle-thin splinters sprayed forth like wooden shrapnel. 

“D-Don’t worry! I’ve got you!” Pomni held Ragatha as tightly as she could, planting her legs in a wide stance. Taking a moment to find her balance, she dashed away from the swarm of timber shards, leaping off the collapsed stage with total confidence. 

Unfortunately for her (and by extension, Ragatha), that confidence was in no way earned. It was far easier to leap than it was to land, and Pomni, not exactly being the athletic type, did so in a heap, skinny frame roughly impacting the hard marble dance floor. 

Ragatha grunted in pain, feeling a few more stitches pop as she tumbled out of Pomni’s arms. She rolled across the floor and came to a rest a stone’s throw away. 

Eventually, the world stopped spinning, and the dazed dolly blinked her eyes open. For a moment, she was seeing double — but a quick rattle of her head cleared up her topsy-turvy vision.

Pomni practically launched toward Ragatha. “Oh my gosh!” she fell to her knees, “Ragatha! Are you okay!?”

Unable to stand up by herself, Ragatha could only lie on her back, staying motionless like a discarded ragdoll on a playroom floor. Painfully aware of what made that hilariously sad, she tried not to laugh, staring up at Pomni’s panicked face from her upside-down point-of-view. 

“Ragatha! Hello? Are you alright?”

“I am now.” Ragatha ended up laughing anyway, twisting a red curl around her finger. Maybe the blood was rushing to her head — or maybe she just felt like doing it. 

Pomni’s face was red. “Be serious!”

Ragatha snorted. “I’m okay! I promise you.”

Pomni let out a huff, brushing away a thicket of splinters that had embedded themselves into the many folds of her padded musketeer costume. Thankfully, none of the fibrous projectiles had managed to pierce through to the skin. “I’ll probably be a little sore in the morning, but I’m okay, too.”

“Well, that’s…good.” Ragatha stretched her arms and legs. “Hey, Pomni?”

“Yeah?” Pomni scooted closer.

“Your greatest fear wouldn’t happen to be earthquakes, would it?”

“Trust me. If I was bothered by earthquakes, you would know by now,” Pomni rubbed her chin, looking pensive, “To tell you the truth, I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“Nope. My fear is centipedes. It’s always been centipedes.” Ragatha shivered, quickly discarding the thought. She examined at the carnage around her — a stage split in two, dusty clouds sulking about, a hostile sea of shattered ceramic and broken glass drowning the dance floor. It didn’t add up. “So, then…what’s going on?”

“Maybe the earthquakes are just set dressing? There’s lots of things we’ve encountered that had no real significance beyond confusing us or creeping us out. Remember that room with the theremin-player?”

“He really did just sit in the corner, doing his thing.” Ragatha nodded — she had to give her that one. “But what if the earthquakes aren’t just incidental? What if they have something to do with the key puzzle? We still haven’t solved it, have we?”

“Oh!” Pomni perked up. “Oh.” Pomni frowned. “Oh…” Pomni’s face twisted into an exaggerated caricature of itself. “Like… maybe the room is telling us we did it wrong? Or maybe we’re running out of time, and the room is collapsing in on us?! Oh, God! And maybe—”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” The ether trembled, disturbed by the ghastly vibrations of a familiar, haughty voice. “Are you lot really that daft!?” 

Pomni and Ragatha let out a yip and a yelp, respectively. Both heads swiveled on a dime. 

Who but Margarethe MacGuffin — the malevolent matriarch of MacGuffin Manor herself — could be looming overhead? Practically snarling, the ghostly socialite cocked her signature book parallel to her face, ready to chuck the hefty tome through — not at — the nearest head. 

“You solved the puzzle! The. Door. Is. OPEN!” she shrieked like a ghoul, “It’s been open for five minutes! If you two sapphic scoundrels would quit necking each other long enough to look up at your surroundings, perhaps you would know that!”

Pomni nearly fell over backwards, hands splattered all over her beet-red face. “Uh…! U-Uh!”

Meanwhile, Ragatha squealed like a stomped chew toy, waving her hands frantically across the marble floor, “Miss MacGuffin! I don’t know what you think you saw, but we weren't—’ she stammered, “We aren’t—”

“Save your breath.” Margarethe squared her tome against her hip. “I couldn’t care less about your love life — what do I care about is my brooch, and I’m growing quite tired of watching whatever awful soap opera you two are dead-set on re-enacting. I mean, forgive me, but it is just terrible. Absolutely horrifying.”

Ragatha’s entire face contorted in horror. “You were watching us?!” 

Margarethe wagged her finger in Ragatha’s face, barely missing the ragdoll’s triangular snout. “Hold your tongue. I’m not finished.” Another small tremor shook the mansion. “I humbly suggest that you two pick up the pace before I end up kneeling before the gates of hell, begging to be let back in. And before you end up failing this entire mission.”

“Failing?” Pomni shot a panicked glance toward Ragatha, then flung her gaze back toward the phantom. “Wait, we can fail?! No one told us we could fail!”

“Hmph! So typical — absolutely no accountability taken.” Margarethe clicked her tongue, “Really, it’s my own fault. I shouldn’t have expected some pampered whelp from the swing generation to have a grasp on personal responsibility.”

Pomni squinted. “What year do you think this is?”

“Change the subject all you want, it’s not helping your case.” Margarethe casually inspected her monstrous manicure, “nor is it going to change anything about your deliciously-dire circumstances.”

“What circumstances!? What case?! You’re not making any sense, lady!”

“Pomni!” Ragatha raised her voice. “Were you raised in a barn?! Mind your manners!”

“What are you, my mom?”

“If I were, I’d be ashamed.” Ragatha crossed her arms. “Now quit running your big mouth before we get into even more trouble!” 

Ragatha took a moment to compose herself before turning her attention to the ghostly hostess. The fact that she was still laying on the floor didn’t seem to phase her. “Miss MacGuffin,” she said with a calm, controlled cadence, “I’m afraid we don’t understand what you’re trying to say. Why exactly do we need to hurry?” 

Pomni rolled her eyes. “Kiss-@$#.”

Margarethe lifted her chin approvingly, cracking open her spellbook. “...See, I could try explaining with words, but your little pet here seems to be a few cents short of a dollar. How about I just show you — that way, her little peabrain has something exciting to look at while the adults are talking?”

A grimacing Pomni opened her mouth, but Ragatha, thinking fast, raised her voice to compensate. Pomni’s angry stream of grumbles fought for dominance as Ragatha shouted: “That sounds like a great idea, M-Miss MacGuffin! Gosh, you’re so hospitable!”

“Why, thank you.” Margarethe beamed with pride. “I try my best.”

The phantom flipped through the pages of her voluminous tome, then planted her nose inside. She squinted. Her voice took on a low, scratchy timbre as she uttered the hex inscribed upon the yellowed paper. 

“Hallowed spirits beyond the pale!” she bellowed, unable to defy the programming that commanded her to ham everything up to the highest degree, “Hear my call!”

The lights went out all at once, plunging the ballroom into complete darkness. One by one, they flickered to life again. A wave of rollicking flames lit the retinue of charred wicks garrisoned throughout the room — the candelabras upon the tables, the towers of wax planted in the sconces, the tea candles suspended beneath the chandeliers in little glass bowls. 

Ragatha rubbed her eyes. The light show was impressive, if nothing else. 

Margarethe’s spell continued on its course. “Oh, wise spirits, on this most terrible All Hallow’s Eve, lend us the unparalleled, awesome power…” the phantom cast a single, outstretched hand straight into the air, “...of the developer console!”

“The—” Ragatha did a double take, “The #$@&ing what?!”

Like magic, an old-fashioned film projector — paired with a matching typewriter —  popped into existence in front of Margarethe. The machines floated freely in the air, bobbing with a slight, satisfying rhythm. 

“Command….” Margarethe thought out loud. Her long, ghostly fingers loudly typed out a series of words on the typewriter, “Display…adventure…stats.” With one final, dramatic keystroke, a lengthy list of dull statistics was projected onto the wall in black-and-white. 

“There we are!” Margarethe draped her arm across Pomni’s shoulders; her ghostly aura dragged the temperature down by at least fifteen degrees. “Let’s have a look, shall we? Team one: Zooble and Kinger — Adventure status: Complete. Time elapsed: 3.9 hours,” she quoted the list aloud, “Team two: Jax and Gangle — Adventure status: Complete. Time elapsed: 5.3 hours.”

Ragatha glanced at Pomni. Pomni looked down at the floor-bound dolly, waving with an awkward half-smile. Ragatha felt her face take on a warmer hue as she returned a flirtatious wave of her own.

“Ah, look! Here’s you two!” Margarethe pointed, cackling precisely according to her villainous programming. “Team three: Ragatha and Pomni — Adventure status: Incomplete. Time elapsed: 13.1 hours.”

Ragatha balked. “Thirteen hours?!”

“Huh?” Pomni winced like she’d just stepped on a nail, “Is that bad!?” 

Margarethe snapped the makeshift computer out of existence, replacing it with a rusted, palm-sized pocket watch. “Well, it certainly isn’t good.” she said matter-of-factly. 

The mansion shivered with another soul-churning tremor as Margarethe calmly examined the ticking hands; ceramic shards and broken glass showered the floor as the ballroom’s finely-set tables toppled over two-by-two, three-by-three, four-by-four.

“I really have to spell every little thing out, don’t I?” The phantom clicked her tongue. “Ladies, thanks to your incessant indolence, your persistent procrastination, your dormant dilly-dallying…” she thumbed the timepiece closed, “I’d give you about one hour, give or take, before this whole mansion comes crashing down.”

“What?! You’re kidding, right?” Pomni’s raised her hands above her head, her teeth sharp and jagged, “You’re telling me there’s a TIME LIMIT!?” 

“So sorry to disappoint~” Margarethe batted a hand. “As much of a treat it is to haunt — er, host — you two, all good things must eventually come to an end. And I’m afraid our time together is fast approaching that inevitable conclusion.”

“But! But that’s not fair! You can’t just—” Pomni grunted. She grabbed Ragatha by the waist, holding up the ragdoll like a human shield. “Ragatha! Tell her!”

“Well-l…” Ragatha cleared her throat to make way for her ‘teacher’ voice — the gentlest, most placating delivery she could possibly manage. “I appreciate your passion, Pomni. I really do. But to be fair, I did mention this once before…”

Pomni shoved her face closer to Ragatha’s. “You did?”

“Well, just that there’s a time limit. I never explained why.” Ragatha said. She would do her best to explain it in simple terms. “The Digital Circus is a computer game — and not a particularly well-coded one. If I recall correctly, the game’s internal logic suffers from something called a ‘memory leak’, and because of that, adventures can only persist for a certain length of time.”

Pomni seemed intrigued.  “Memory leak…?” She said, finally getting around to actually picking Ragatha up off the floor. She hooked one hand beneath Ragatha’s back, and one beneath the ragdoll’s legs. 

“I think that’s what Gangle called it.” Ragatha said. Closing her eyes as she was lifted off of the ground, she took a moment to organize the ins and outs of her explanation.

“Think of a computer’s memory like your desk at work,” 

“Ugh.” Pomni rolled her eyes, standing up all the way. Once again, Ragatha was cradled safely in her arms. “Can we not?”

“No.” Ragatha huffed. “We’re going with the desk analogy, so listen.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you. Now consider this — you only have so much space on your desk to keep your things, right? If you run out of space, things pile up, and it becomes harder and harder to keep track of everything you need. Your staple remover gets lost, then your extra box of staples, then the stapler itself. You have to resort to binding documents together with paper clips like some kind of deranged lunatic, but then even those get lost in the shuffle.”

“Wow…” Pomni closed her eyes. Her breath ebbed and flowed at a gentle, meditative pace, “It’s like I’m really there…”

“The point is, you get overwhelmed trying to keep track of everything.” Ragatha said. “Computers work the same way. A well-designed game would free up the ‘desk space’ — or memory — it uses the moment it’s finished using it. But Caine’s adventures don’t do that. AI, physics, lighting — it all just piles up, never getting cleared away, until—”

“Until the adventure crashes?”

Ragatha nodded, wincing a little. “It’s not an issue as long as adventures get completed in a timely manner, but around the 13 hour mark, things start to become unstable…”

“And…” Pomni bit her lip, watching the crack along the wall grow longer,  “And what happens after a crash?”

“I…don’t really know, to tell you the truth. It’s never happened to me.” Ragatha glanced up at MacGuffin Mansion’s resident ghoul. “Miss MacGuffin?”

“Well, don’t look at me.” Margarethe crossed her arms, “13 hours ago, I didn’t even exist. How on God’s green Earth should I know?”

Another tremor rattled the mansion’s foundation. Windows shattered. Furniture fainted. A hairline fissure flashed across the western wall and began a slow, deliberate crawl toward the ceiling.

Holding Ragatha closely, Pomni peeled her shoe off the checkered marble, retreating by a single, wobbly step. “N-Not good…” she mumbled. Her pinwheel pupils tightened toward the centers of her eyes, smothered by a sea of white. “Not good, not good…”

“Ah! But fear not, honored guests — you may just complete this terrifying adventure yet!” Margarethe flew into the air, punctuating her announcement with another flamboyant spin. “For I, the great Margarethe MacGuffin, have graciously decided to lend a helping hand. A shortcut, if you will.”

“Shortcut…?” Ragatha placed her hands over her stomach — her stuffing was stirring.

Margarethe winked. She snapped her fingers. In the blink of an eye, Pomni, Ragatha, and their ghostly hostess zapped out of the ballroom.

A split-second later, they reappeared in an entirely new environment: A long, dark corridor, lit only by the moonlight peering shyly from the windows. 

Pomni flinched. “What?!” Her head snapped here and there as she tried to make sense of her new, dimly-lit surroundings. “Where are we?”

“Why, we’ve skipped to the good part, darling.” Margarethe’s cheshire grin stretched all the way across her ghastly visage. 

“G-Good part?”

“You see, I had some other rooms planned out for you two, but at the rate you’re going, you’d never, ever make it through them in time. So,” she shrugged, “seeing as you’re likely going to fail anyway, I might as well get some free entertainment before this pathetic attempt of yours crumbles to pieces…” Margarethe’s eyes lit up as another shiver shook the mansion. “...literally.”

Cracking up at her own joke, Margarethe keeled over, shattering the corridor’s windows with a high-pitched cackle of masochistic delight. “I’ll see you on the other side, darlings! That is…” she snickered, cupping her cheeks with childlike glee, “…if you survive!” 

In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

///

[First Chapter] [Next Chapter (Coming soon!)]

A bit of a shorter chapter this time! I decided to just post the one scene I had finished as chapter 6 and push everything else I had drafted for this chapter into chapter 7. So, on the bright side, Chapter 7 is almost finished, too! :)

Anyway, thank you for reading!

[michinekot]

What do u like about thistle?

I'll start off with his design because it's not so spoiler-heavy.

He's short, cute, a total menace and has the cutest evil grin ever. I certainly have a thing for villains... But also generally, jesters are fun and I usually love their outfits. Thistle is no exception, I love all of his looks (but I'm not gonna look for them all through the manga...) and how different he is after becoming the Dungeon Master. Also, white hair, purple eyes & outfit... (´,,•ω•,,)♡

I must also add, I adore how the author draws elf ears pointed upwards and how expressive her art is. Absolutely amazing, all the angry Thistles are great.

Now I'll get into heavy spoiler territory, I'll go over the ending too:

First off, I really like how he shows his love through "eternity", much like Marcille. Elves who love people of other races suffer because they will undoubtedly outlive everyone else. The way Thistle and Marcille are similar is so great to see... and I think it's great that Marcille wasn't made out to be a terrible, selfish villain and neither was Thistle. Through her becoming the Dungeon Master, we see how much this power changes them.

He meant well and his wish wasn't initially selfish. He didn't even wish for eternal live, just a peaceful one. Of course, the Winged Lion dug deeper into it and the selfish part came to light.

And because no one was aware of the danger, it became absolute truth to Thistle that he's doing the right thing and making everyone happy. His dream was everybody else's dream in his mind. And I think it's nice how much he must've paid attention to the townsfolk needs, because...

He must've done so much to make the Dungeon liveable and safe for the people he cares about. All those traps were to ward off people who (he assumed) must've been just like the ones who came to destroy the kingdom. On the other hand, he saw opportunity in the monsters and had people take care of them like they did with their farm animals. It was unnecessary, he didn't have to do that since they don't need to sleep, eat or drink. But he knew that they weren't happy doing nothing at all and put a lot of thought into the ecosystem (compared to Marcille, which is understandable, but y'know. I think it's great to see the difference since her monsters werent very, uh... thought out?)

It's been SO many years of stagnation, they can't even taste the food or enjoy anything.

He's aware, he'd enjoy a little change of pace too, he's open to it! but the desire to protect everyone wins.

He just... loves everyone so much. His platonic love isn't simple at all. He did so much for everyone. And after losing his desires... I feel like he hasn't lost his love for everyone.

I think that, maybe... he feels like everything was fullfilled? He's been angry and anxious for so long and now there's nothing to worry about anymore. I'm really sad for him, but there's no going back to "normal" after everything. But I'm glad Yaad doesn't hate him. I don't think anyone from the kingdom truly hates him.

Also this page makes me want to cry...... he's holding him so gently and Thistle only looks tired and like he wants to sleep. I hope he finds his place in the new world and lives out the rest of his life peacefully.

I haven't read much of the additional stuff yet, but I also think about Mithrun a lot.

I think Mithrun was extremely selfish in his desires and that's why, aside from them, his eye and ears were taken away. It might be just the demon's will because it wasn't exactly the Winged Lion, but all demons are technically the same one(? from what I understood...). The only desire left within Mithrun was about the demon, but in the end, it still seemed selfish.

But neither Marcille or Thistle were physically hurt after having desires taken from them. The Winged Lion also said something along the lines of "this is for everyone, I want everyone's desires to be fullfilled for all eternity". It didn't like Thistle because he stagnated, but it probably understood him a little bit, since he mostly thought of others. But there was no way to manipulate him into thinking about Anyone outside of the kingdom. Only Laios managed to talk a tiny bit of sense into him... but it still didn't work out.

So yeah, Dungeon Meshi is amazing and I generally love everyone, but Thistle speaks to me the most because... his top priority was protecting those he loves, freeing them from death and pain, living out the life they had on the surface forever. And this feels personal to me- I lost both of my parents and the friends I cared about the most left me. So like, if we ditch all the (totally right) talk about how there's no happiness without pain and such, I get Thistle. He meant well. He's a very well done character. :)

[vivwritesfics]

Jester Stole His Thorny Crown

Chapter Five

He never had a choice in his life. His dreams were nothing more that that. Dreams. But then he met a lounge singer at his brother club and everything changed.

Mafia!Au

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Series Masterlist

Her favourite days were the days that Arthur came to visit. She made him a drink as he sat at the bar, and leaned against it. "He didn't tell you he was getting lessons?" She asked as Arthur sipped his drink.

As soon as he put it in the bar, she took it from him and sipped. "You think Charles would tell me anything like that?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know him well enough to judge," she mumbled, letting her head fall into her hands. "Honestly, 'Thur, I don't think I want to get to know him well enough."

Arthur offered her a weak smile. "He'll get better, I promise," Arthur said, his fingers reaching out to touch her arm.

He pulled away and stood from the bar. "I've got to go," he said as he stretched.

"Work?" He nodded grimly and she walked around the bar to throw her arms around him. "Try to come back alive, okay?"

Arthur hugged her back. "I'll try."

He took his leave, walking out of the lounge and meeting his brother outside. Charles had refused to come in and now Arthur knew why. He was embarrassed.

When Arthur saw him, he wordlessly climbed into the car.

Back in the club, she walked over to the piano and sat herself down. She didn't play, not yet, instead letting her head fall into her hands.

This life wasn't the one she had envisioned for herself. Even when she was begging her mother to get her piano lessons, she never thought she'd be playing it for her career. She never thought she'd be performing almost every night in a lounge bar.

She never thought that lounge bar would be bought by a member of the Leclerc family.

She had moved to Monaco with the money her parents had left her after they had died. The lounge was supposed to be a temporary job, something to help her pay rent until she found her dream job, whatever that might have been.

Within the four weeks that she had been working at the lounge, it changed ownership. The young, cute guy came in and changed everything.

He redecorated, put in a newer, modern bar, new tables and lighting, and put in a new stage. He got rid of the stage and put in a brand new one, with these fancy lights.

Most of the performers were let go. Actually, every performer but her was let go. She didn't know why Arthur kept her on, but she was incredibly grateful.

She didn't know who Arthur was, didn't know who the Leclerc family was when she first started. Arthur didn't tell her right away. He waited until they were less boss and employee and more friends. When he told her, she didn't judge him. He had proven himself to be lovely and wonderful and she doubted he could hurt a fly.

But Arthur told her almost everything. Before she knew it, it had gone too far, and she knew more than she should have. There was no way she could have gotten out if she wanted to.

Until meeting Charles, Arthur was the only member of the Leclerc family that she really knew. After all he told her, she took time to research them. She found out that Lorenzo was the head of the family. He ran Monaco while trying to make his deceased father proud.

Charles was the ruthless, angry middle child. That was all she knew about him. Anybody who really, truly, knew what he did, well, they had a bullet in their heads.

Arthur was the protected little brother. He'd been on one job before, as far as she knew, and that was when he ended up with a bullet in his arm.

She couldn't help but be worried for her best friend when he left the lounge.

***

"Where are we?"

Arthur looked around at the surroundings as Charles put his car into park. The parking lot was empty, the Verstappen family nowhere to be seen. "We're headed there soon," Charles said. "I... I need to talk to you about something."

He'd never acted like this before. Arthur had never seen his brother, the brother that struck fear into the hearts of anyone that looked at him. "Are you dying?"

Charles glared. "Shut the fuck up. This is serious."

Arthur swallowed.

"Your pianist. How did you get her to like you?"

He let out a laugh as his brother's face went red. When Arthur had first introduced them, in a sense, he had a feeling that they would get along or that Charles would like her. It was a small feeling, and he certainly hadn't expected to be right.

"I can't believe this," she said. "I can't believe it. You have a crush on her! You actually have a crush on her!"

Charles's nostrils flared. "Shut up, I'm not a child," he growled.

Even Arthur was scared enough of his brother that he fell quiet. "I was just nice too her, okay? I didn't flash my guns and I didn't terrify her."

Charles simply grunted. He drove away once again, not speaking a word to his brother. The silence in the car was palpable. Arthur was almost too scared to breathe.

They got to the place where they were meeting the Verstappens. Max leaned against the car while Jos still sat inside. When Charles parked his Ferrari, he pushed away from the car and approached.

Charles and Arthur climbed out of the car. The older Leclerc took the hand that Max was offering him and shook. "Good to see you, mate," he said.

But he looked past Max, looking at Jos in his car. "Is he coming out or..."

"You got somewhere you wanna be, Leclerc?" Max asked with something of a giggle. But it wasn't a proper giggle, because future mafia bosses didn't giggle.

There was a minute where Jos didn't move. He stayed sitting in his car, looking forward. Charles often thought that, anybody who thought him to be terrifying clearly hadn't met Jos Verstappen.

When Jos climbed out of the car, Max returned to his fathers side and the meeting began.

It was the weirdest meeting Charles had ever attended. It was unclear whether Jos wanted to get out of Monaco or to kill them. He was angry, always angry, and he answered in mostly grunts.

Max did most of the talking. Charles walked them around, showed them what they needed to see in their warehouses. He wanted it over and done with as quickly as possible. He had a piano lesson to get to.

When they finally returned to the cars, Jos finally spoke up. "I thought I was to be meeting with Lorenzo," he said.

Arthur went to step forward, but Charles kept him behind. "Sorry, Verstappen, but Lorenzo had things he had to attend to." It wasn't a great excuse, but it was all Charles had. He had no idea what Lorenzo was doing, but he wasn't going to let Verstappen bully his way into a meeting with the head of the family.

Verstappen let out a breath. Wordlessly he climbed into his car. Before the door could shut, he snapped his fingers at Max, who climbed in after him.

Charles and Arthur waited until the Verstappen car had disappeared into the distance until they climbed into Charles' Ferrari. "I'm dropping you at maman's," he said.

"Why? Because it's close to the lounge?"

Charles didn't answer. He only sped up, driving expertly around other cars. When he got to their mothers apartment building, Charles quickly parked and gave Arthur five seconds to get out.

As soon as those five seconds were up he was speeding away again, heading to the lounge. There was maybe an hour before it opened for the night; he figured there was enough time for a lesson.

As he opened the door to the lounge, she was closing the lid of the piano. But, when she saw him, she stopped. "Mr Leclerc," she called. "Charles."

He opened his jacket, revealing no guns. "I come in peace," he called. "I thought we could have a piano lesson."

She nodded her head and he climbed onto the stage. He stripped off his jacket and sat beside her. "You you wanna try something a little more complicated?"

Charles copied her every note. For forty minutes he played at his best. She wouldn't admit she was impressed, she wasn't ready for that much conversation.

But, twenty minutes before the lounge was supposed to open, she stood up. "I'm really sorry, Charles, but we're gonna have to finish. I need to get dinner before we open."

Charles nodded, understanding. He stayed sitting at the piano for a minute more, still playing as she grabbed her jacket and went running out of the lounge. Charles wasn't going anywhere. He was going to stay and watch her performance.

When the rest of the staff started filing into the lounge, Charles stood from the piano. He wandered into the back office and took a seat at the desk. Arthurs desk. In front of him was a schedule.

It wasn't the staff schedule, but a schedule of the performers. And, for every night, there was one name on it.

Suddenly she was running into office. When she saw Charles, she stopped. "Charles I really need to get ready to go on stage."

"Arthur hasn't given you a night off."

"Well, who else do you think is going to perform here," she said as she pulled a black dress from her bag.

Charles clicked his knuckles as he stood up. He was going to have words with Arthur.

Permanent Taglist (CLOSED): @biancathecool @rewmuslupin @prettiest-at-the-party @hellowgoodbye @minkyungseokie @formulaal @hiireadstuff @urfavnoirette @goldenharrysworld @andydrysdalerogers @hrts4scarr @llando4norris @evlkking @lilymurphy03 @hollie911 @customsbyjcg-blog @honethatty12 @nikfigueiredo @darleneslane @avg-golden-retriever

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[blackopals-world]

So this is Love?

Ace Trappola x Jester!Yuu

Ace trying to understand what is happening to him.

Ace doesn't do relationships. He's tried before and yeah he was an asshole. He can't admit it but he was so bored. It was the first date and yeah, she was pretty but he was tired already.

It's not like he led her on. He just didn't pretend he liked her. It's so goddamn exhausting. Ace didn't pretend he was the good guy in this.

He assumed that love and relationships just weren't his thing. Which was fine, but now...now it's different.

Ace originally thought Heartslabyul was going to be so lame. All the rules and no time to cut back but damn that was before Yuu showed up. Someone who knew how to have fun. The saving grace of Heartslabyul, the royal jester.

Every room they enter everyone lights up. Waiting for them tella joke or do a trick. Always bloating around in those elaborate costumes and leaving a trail of glitter as they pass.

Their makeup perfectly framed their face. Their lips were painted the perfect Heartslabyul rose-red against lily white.

Was he going insane? Did he think that their clown was attractive? Seriously?!

Sure, they sang well, had a sweet voice, a silly way of talking, looked good in those gaudy outfits, did that thing with their tongue when they focused in helping frost cakes, looked adorable then they tripped over a paint can and somersaulted over it with a smile ad covered in paint. That didn't mean he liked them.

If anything it was purely physical attraction.

He could ignore these feelings.

Ignore every time they pulled him in for another cake heist, every dance they had during parties, every time they whispered a joke in his ear, every kiss on the cheek they gave away carelessly, every hug that made felt so warm and comforting it made him feel like his chest was being crushed.

Could he ignore every daydream that felt like a dumb teen romcom? Like going on beach trips together, going to concerts, going to a real dance together as dates, and being able to kiss them in front of the school.

But Ace is realistic. He doesn't do relationships.

He's sure of it.

Watching them sit at Riddle's side on the special seat made just for them made it clear. Yuu was an existence that didn't belong to him or anyone for that matter. Yuu was here to make everyone happy and his feeling were just a part of that.

Man, that's fucked up...

Because no rationalizing made the feeling go away.

He wished sometimes he had taken Riddle's place. Then at least Yuu would be his jester. That would be nice, but there's no use sighing over it.

Ace had chosen to be content with being Yuu's friend until he was faced with the most undeniable proof.

One evening he ended up staying out late but rather than being yelled at by Riddle or punished by Trey he decided to stay at Ramshackle for the night.

Ace had no idea who answered the door. They were kind of plain-looking. No makeup, no glitter, hair was worn loosely, and a pair of glasses. They didn't look anything like Yuu but it was Yuu all the same.

Ace felt out of place as Yuu welcomed him inside. Yuu looked so relaxed and less energized.

"I'm just making dinner for me and Grim but I made extra in case you're hungry." Yuu said softly their voice was a bit scratchy at the end. " Sorry, I usually don't talk much after work. I use it so much it tends to hurt."

Ace only nodded, he didn't think he could talk if he tried either. He was still in shock.

Yuu in their dressed down style looked so...cute. Ace acknowledged it bitterly.

Yuu wore a thin turtleneck sweater and jeans which reminded Ace of a librarian maybe or perhaps a studious academic. Both things are not like Yuu at all or at least how people saw Yuu.

They ended up spending the evening watching comedy shows while Yuu studied. Yuu was actually very dedicated to their craft and read books on many subjects like crafting, chemistry, music, and politics.

"A true jester knows how to entertain but also knows their role is also to advise." They said highlighting the text.

As the night went on Yuu changing into a set of stary Pj's and put Grim to bed. Then the two of them watched shows until they fell asleep on the couch together.

As he listened to Yuu's soft heartbeat and even breaths Ace knew he had to give up.

Ace didn't do relationships...until now. Because now he was in love.

[uglypastels]

Darling pls would u mind writing a fic with OPLA Buggy where the reader is like a big fan of him. The type that wants his autograph, likes his shows and stuff like that and so Buggy melts for his little supporter and tries to impress them more and more bc for once he’s loved 💗🥰

no but i absolutely love this idea!! thank you so much for requesting it

masterlist | inbox - requests open

warnings: drinking. slightly dark themes - it's buggy after all. but nothing explicitly mentioned.

His Biggest Fan

How he did not notice you staring was a miracle. You knew it wasn't right, but how else could you make sure that it really was him?

Well, it probably didn't require that much to figure it out. After all, how many other pirates had long blue hair, a red nose, and that kind of make-up? At least, around where you were from, none.

That is why you had never expected to see him walk into this dingy little bar with his crew. You watched him from your table, from the edge of your cup, switching glances between his figure and the wanted poster that hung on the wall- more as an accomplishment than a warning, really- among the many others.

15 million Berry. A pirate doesn't get such a bounty for nothing. You had heard the tales of the Flashy Fool, the Genius Jester. The Ringleader of the most notorious outcasts and freaks in the East Blue, and somehow, he was sitting only two tables away from you.

You kept your eye on him the entire night, constantly egging yourself on to just go for it, to walk up to him and say something, anything.

Finally, encouraged by another large drink, you decided to make your move and walk over to the table.

He was sitting at the head of it, looking unimpressed as his crew drank the bar cry, smiling but never laughing at the jokes being made, generally uninterested by the conversations, thoughts far away from the island you all found yourselves on.

You cleared your throat, trying to call out his name, but it just got washed out by the noise around you. After another lost attempt, you tried to tap his shoulder, but before your hand reached it, his hand snapped up, nearly slapping you in the face.

'What?' He snapped alongside his limbs, looking over at you. His eyes glared with anger momentarily before softening up the slightest amount when he realised who was trying to speak to him.

'I'm sorry, sir.' You did your best to stop your voice from shaking. Some of his crew had stopped their conversations to look over at what their captain was doing, and you tried to ignore them as much as you could. 'Are you the pirate... Buggy?'

The acknowledgement sparked something up in him, and the corners of his wide smile grew even larger.

'The one and only,' he nodded his head, pleased, 'and who may you be?'

Nervously, you introduced yourself and watched him mouth your name to himself, grinning that wicked grin of his.

'I've heard a lot about you- about the things you've done. It's- well, it is quite impressiveve.'

'Why, thank you.' He cocked his head to the side, almost in bewilderment at the fact that someone might have found his accomplishments noteworthy. 'So, is there anything I can help you with?'

'Oh,' well, now that you were here, you weren't really sure what you had expected from approaching the pirate. 'No, I just wanted to- I'm not really sure.' You laughed off your own nerves and the silliness of the situation.

'Now, now, honey, no need to get so shy with me.' He picked up his drink. 'Tell me, are you a pirate?'

'Me? Oh no,' you, who never had left your small island and lived your days working on your family's farm outside of town, where the only form of excitement was to meet the fascinating figures that sailed by the harbour. 'I'm just-'

'A fan?' Buggy filled the gap in for you. 'Admirer?'

'I suppose so.' Your cheeks flushed hot.

'Never considered just sailing off into the distance? Seeking treasure and fame? No?' He read your body language as you responded to him with a shaking head. 'No. I wouldn't think so.'

He smiled at you, and so the quick turn from this kindness to the manic yell he shot at his crew, who had been giving him interested looks, was startling 'What the hell are you morons looking at?' he shouted out. The shock of it was enhanced by the fact that he reverted back to you and his smile just as quickly afterwards.

It should have scared you. Perhaps it even did, but you easily could have mistaken the fear for excitement. There was just something so raw and refreshing about the pirate captain, something you had never seen in any man before.

Buggy leaned over the table to look up at you, knuckles under his chin. 'But I bet you would want to go on a big adventure, hmm?'

'Uhm...'

'Go out into the world, follow your dreams? I'm sure there is something out there you'd want?' But was there? Your world so far had been so small that dreams had never even felt like an option.

When you didn't answer, Buggy sat back in his chair. 'Perhaps not. The pirate life isn't for everyone, is it, sugar?' He chuckled. 'Anything else I can do you for? An autograph maybe?'

'Oh, I don't mean to bo-' you didn't want to seem like the annoying kind of "fan", after all, but Buggy wasn't having any of it.

'Nonsense!' He clicked his fingers, and someone at the other end of the table got up and ripped the captain's wanted poster off the wall. They handed it to him as Buggy pulled a pen from the inside of his coat, signing his name in large, scratchy letters. 'Anything for my... biggest fan.'

Another hot flash came over your face as he handed you the poster.

'Thank you,' you said, unsure. Surprised. For an infamous pirate with a bounty of millions of Berry on his head, he was nothing like you had expected him to be. Not with that smile he gave you or the wink he had sent you off with.

And so, you left the bar. A big smile adorned your face, and you thought of your interaction with Buggy for the rest of the night.

And he did, too. He kept you in his mind's eye as he listened to his crew's schemes on how to take charge of the island they had just sailed to. The plans they had for the citizens. He could already see it take shape. The biggest audience he's ever had, all sitting and watching him. Crying and laughing with him. With you, his number one fan, as his special guest of honour.

Oh, the plans he had for the two of you.

[mistkisbiggestfan]

.

Oh my God.

I had a very funny and slightly strange idea...

Imagine that there is mutual sympathy between the reader and Jax. In short, Jax has crush on reader, but the reader... don’t know it.(or just don’t see it)

So, a new person appears in the circus. It doesn't matter who it is, what it is, what their name is, etc.

So, the newcomer and the reader became very close friends. I mean, sleeping in the same room, hugging, holding hands...(I mean friends, no lovers)

Look, I just want to see Jax get jealous, okay...?

Thank you🫶❤️

Jealous! Jax (Romantic) + Pomni (Platonic) / Gn! Reader

Jax (romantic), Pomni (platonic) / Gn! Reader

A/n: Back on the grind we go!! Hell YEAH!! I actually like how this turned out, hope you like it!! REQUESTS FOR TADC ARE OPEN!!!

Summary: Jax may or may not have a crush on you and be very much jealous of Pomni being your close friend. Words: 1448 Request: yup!

There was always a spark between you and Jax, surprising? Absolutely. 

The thought that this deranged, unhinged, smooth rabbit man could ever feel such complex emotion as love was insane, at least to everyone except for you. 

Sure he has some bad qualities, but that’s normal. (Get a grip bro this man is beyond saving /j)  

He was here once you got into the circus, and that first time you met, both of you hit it off great! He was always smug and funny, but nothing too overboard. Of course everyone realized right off the bat, and Ragatha just came to you and was like: “How did you do it?” 

You were confused, Jax was always like that! A bit silly, and very charismatic. 

And so this feeling bloomed, but somewhere where none could see, not even you. You liked him a lot, surely, but he wasn’t the type to fall for a person, he was so sure of himself, you knew there was no chance of him swooning over someone, not like it’s a bad thing, but he wasn’t a type of person to beg for affection if it was to be taken away. 

Or so you thought. 

You let your crush take a backseat in this h#!! of a ride. But meanwhile, to Jax’s absolute demise and confusion, he found himself staring a bit too long, or laughing a bit too loudly at your jokes. He fell, definitely not first, but most definitely harder.

The thought process was quite simple really: “Absolutely no f*@/!n# way.” 

But oh well, he’s 100 % the type of guy to try to impress you every chance he gets, even at the expense of others.

Not like he cares about others though. 

What you might not realize is how under all that narcissistic and overall not the best person is someone who is like, very touch starved. 

He would die to even hold hands, but just with you.

That pisses him off slightly, he never had such problems, and it’s not looking good.

He has a way with words, but not a way with emotions. That concept is foreign and very, unsettlingly new to him. 

Then a newcomer comes around, a silly little jester – Pomni! Both of you become friends really fast, because unlike Jax, you’re actually one of two best comforters in the Digital Circus, the first-best being Ragatha.

That’s why Pomni always sticks with either you or Ragatha. 

At first it wasn’t that much of a problem – You were good at putting others at ease – Jax knew that, and with time, he also knew that Pomni hated physical touch.

So when he saw you two hugging or anything like that? My man is pissed. 

And it became an actual, apparent problem. Because the smaller jester stuck to you like glue, soon she was even sleeping with you in your room: “Because hers was too stuffy.” Yeah, he wasn’t buying that. (It was the truth tho lmao) 

And when Caine brought it up one time, asking you and Pomni if you were dating?? Fuming, you could really see the smoke coming out of his ears. 

Of course both of you quickly shut that down, saying that no, you weren’t dating, and were actually far from it. 

Part of him wanted to accept that, why did he even care? The other part told him to fuck up Pomni’s mind to the point of abstraction, one sentence could destroy her so why not?

It wasn’t hard to catch on with his emotions, you saw him pull pranks which were just getting more and more cruel. And there was no way you could let that slide. 

Especially since Pomni was coming to you for advice on love herself, since she had an eye on one, quite pretty ragdoll here in the circus. 

– Good thing this is just a dream, right Pomni? – Jax elbowed the smaller jester, leaning over her, he watched the product of his words show off in the girl’s eyes, as her pupils became dark and disorganized scribbles. Both of them stood somewhere near your room, everything happening because Jax saw Pomni walking to yours again. And he wasn’t having that, so he decided to mess with the jester who was stealing your attention lately.  Pomni stayed silent, making Jax snicker lightly, but something interrupted this $h!t show from going on further, light footsteps. The taller man turned around just to see you coming down the hallway, his smile widened. You focused your eyes on two figures before you. – Jax, Pomni! – You smiled at Jax, making him look away for just a second, before you turned to Pomni, smile turning into a frown. – Pomni? Finally stopping you looked at your friend who was visibly not doing so great. You spoke up again. – Hey Pomni, are you doing okay..? – The jester shook her head, breaking out of the trance, she looked at you, her pupils dilated. – What? Uh, yeah, you know what, I’m going to go. – She said quickly, before awkwardly speeding away from you two.  You sighed and looked at Jax, who was smugly looking at you. – What did you tell her this time Jax? – You questioned tiredly, anticipating any reasonable response from the rabbit. He laughed. – Oh nothing much you know, just typical stuff. – His grin widened.  – Jax. – You looked at him sternly, at times like this you wondered why you even liked him that much. That, seemingly brought him back to earth for a second. – Maybe something about this being a dream.. you know, just typical stuff.  You knew how Pomni was, h#!! she told you herself. Poor little thing, she was battling so many emotions right now, especially since she fell for one of the circus members, just like you – which you could relate to. And know you were looking at him, wondering why?  Looking at him, you mentioned for the rabbit to follow you. Finally, as both of you stepped into your room, you shut the door behind you and turned to him. – Jax, what’s up your @$$ lately? – You asked, mad.  Well that was anything else he expected from you, seems like you caught on to what he was doing, he sighed still smiling smugly. – What do you mean? – You know what I mean. – You said, crossing your arms on your chest, looking up at him.  – Not a single clue! – He played along, to a one sided game. You weren’t having that.  And then out of all things you could’ve done, you managed to surprise him, catching his breath in his throat, why? Because out of all things you attacked the weakest part of him – His crippling touch starvation – You caught one of the straps to his overalls and pulled him down so you and the rabbit were on the same eye-level, faces dangerously close to each other. And as he felt your touch on his body, he felt something clicking in his at the moment thoughtless brain.  But as soon as the touch came, it was gone, and he felt it linger long after you left the room, leaving him staring dumbfounded at one spot in front of him for far longer than what was deemed normal.  And now he was left with two options, mess with your new friend and get all this newfound and surprisingly great but still negative attention, or apologize and somehow get you to touch him again.  As he was leaving, walking along the halls towards his room to think, he saw Pomni down the hallway, she saw him too. She looked confused, caught up in this tricky territory called love, just like him. But this time, he decided to leave the jester be, which brought him one step closer to his new habit of longing for you and your touch. 

Did he apologize to you? Yeah, if you can call it that. It was a typical, Jax fashioned, half–@$$ed apology, but only because his ego didn’t let him go as far as saying an actual sorry.

But he did change! Well, kind of. He was less obnoxious towards Pomni, and let her adjust to this new hellish life she was forcefully pulled into. 

After noticing how the jester’s eyes literally turned to hearts when she looked at Ragatha, and when he overheard you giving love advice to her, he definitely gave up on making her abstract out of pure jealousy.

Instead, making it his goal to get you to touch him in any way, yes, he’s that desperate. 

But that made you just more in love, he was actually (a little tiny bit) nice!! 

Let’s just hope no new people come around, because jealous Jax is literally a walking death threat. 

[hugemilkshake]

Oh, I have an idea

Make a Shadow Milk cookie Yandere with the addition of HYPNOTISM.

Please 🙂

MMMMMM I was low-key going to do this like on my own but ya beat me to it but this will be structured like a normal yandere headcannon. But I did enjoy writing this it was fun :3

But I hope you enjoy your milkshake

Yandere Shadow Milk Cookie

Second part

-Romantic or Platonic insulation-

!TW! Under the cut there are themes like obsession, possessiveness, warping one’s reality and hypnosis

The Faerie Kingdom, it was a lovely sight to take in! All the faeries seemed really chill about you and your friends arrival

And you couldn’t help but marvel at the slivery tree that was right in the center of the Kingdom

The way the light shines on it was breathtaking, but little did you know, it’s history was not as pretty.

A dark evil was sealed into the tree eons ago.

Beasts. That’s all they will be. Beasts.

But you didn’t know that

You stood side by side with your friends as a rift in the once beautiful tree opened

A jester like character popped out of the tree like a Jack in the box.

The beast proclaimed that he was Shadow Milk Cookie, the world's finest playwright, poet, director, actor, clown and trickster

This situation was unsettling, this jester was able to snake his way into Pure Vanillas and the faeries minds, the same thing could happen to you…

You didn’t catch Shadow Milk Cookies attention at first

You were just a meaningless cookie, he was here for Pure Vanilla and Elder Faerie

But the way you were willing to help Elder Faerie seal him back up could be some what admirable

But what really caught his eye was how you put yourself in front of the young cookies in the face of danger

You were willing to put your life on the line for these cookies who are probably just dead weight

That’s something that could be used to his advantage

So once Elder Faerie Is out of the picture, he could finally start twisting your sweet little reality

But he wasn’t expecting to get an attachment to you in such a short amount of time

Now he could just make you into one of his shadow puppets and you’d obey his every wish and command with no problems

But that wouldn’t be fun would it?

You were walking with your friends when everything got dizzy

You swore you heard his laughter.

Everyone was worried, Pure Vanilla especially

“Y/N Cookie are you alright?”

No, no you weren’t fine

Pure Vanilla rested his hand on your shoulder

“Listen, when I’m around no one will hurt you”

His voice. It wasn’t his. It was Shadow Milk Cookies

You flinched away, everything was twisting and turning. You couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake

You… you needed space.

That was your mistake, you wondered away from the group… unprotected, unsuspecting.

Shadow Milk Cookie approached you, he told you lies, truths that were to good to believe.

You knew he was just toying with your mind, his offers were meant nothing to you, they were just empty promises.

When you refused his countless offers, he was annoyed. You could be a GOD compared to these… these FOOLS!

Shadow Milk Cookie didn’t want to have to do this but his deceitful nature was playing against his favor

He reached out and grabbed your face, forcing you to look at him, directly in his eyes

His eyes were so… hypnotic, you couldn’t look away…

You couldn’t look away…

Shadow Milk Cookies words were so… charming… you couldn’t help but think that your friends were in the wrong…

Well you thought that until you met back up with your friends… their voices pulled you out of that hypnotic trance

This ticked Shadow Milk Cookie off

You were supposed to listen to him, not any of those imbeciles

Well, Shadow Milk Cookie had to result to making you a shadow puppet, the easy way out

All you were now was a mindless puppet

How boring

You were by his side the whole time after that

He didn’t want your so called “friends” to take you away from him

Everything was PERFECT, he was free, he had a new best buddy by his side and all of the power he wanted at his fingertips!

Wlhat could go wrong?

White Lily Cookie… oh that CURSED LITTLE COOKIE

She sealed him back up…

SHE SEALED HIM BACK UP

Shadow Milk Cookie tried to take you with him, his strings were wrapped around you, desperately trying to pull you back into the tree with him

But your friends held you back, you didn’t get pulled into the tree

Shadow Milk Cookie looked at the inside of the seal, he was… devastated… not because he lost… but because he lost YOU

Shadow Milk sat there… unresponsive. Unmoving.

He was going to get you back.

Even if it meant destroying his fellow beasts in the process

[circusmania]

May i request some wholesome yandere pomni with Mime! reader who CAN speak but prefers to use sign language and gestures? ♡

(Wholesome) Yandere!Pomni x GN!Reader ⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ Notes: Sorry, this one is shorter 💔 I hope you enjoy it regardless!

Muah Muah ♡ ⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

Everybody knows Pomni as the skittish, shy and paranoid jester. Many are surprised she hasn't abstracted yet. She mostly keeps to herself; if she has to talk to anyone, it would be Ragatha. So, it was quite a shock when Pomni was the first to introduce herself to You.

You didn't speak to her, but rather waved back at her.

“Oh! No need to be shy — I mean not around me! I'm Pomni! What's-”

Pomni was harshly interrupted by an overgrown purple rabbit. He commented on your attire in a way that you couldn't tell was supposed to be a joke or just plain mean.

This made Pomni notice that your attire looked pretty close to hers. Except for the fact that it was in black and white, and you actually had pants.

Pomni tried to interject Jax, but her shyness overcame her. She only stood there as Jax continued to tease you.

This would continue for days on end. However, you really didn't mind his teasing, you found it actually pretty amusing. Sometimes you would put your hands on your mouth as if you were “giggling” like a high school girl. Or you'd wave him away with one hand while you covered your face with the other in “embarrassment”.

Though, one time, Pomni spotted you and Jax together. A twinge of envy penetrated her heart as she watched. Then, she saw you cover your face with your hands and lower your head. You were obviously faking it, but Pomni really thought you were crying. And that made her finally put her foot on the ground.

“Leave them alone, Jax! Can't you just stop being an asshole!? This is exactly why no one likes you!!” Pomni yelled as she got between you and Jax.

Silence filled the room as you looked up from your hands. Jax suddenly burst into laughter, clearly finding Pomni's outburst amusing. And while she did feel embarrassed, she quickly turned back to you, ready to comfort you. However, she saw your “shocked” expression instead of a tear-filled face.

“I… I… thought you were crying…” She stuttered, her nervous demeanour returning.

You made another “giggling” motion and kissed her cheek in amusement. You then strolled away, leaving Pomni a blushing mess.

From this day on, you never left Pomni's gaze. She kept telling you it's because she didn't want Jax to bother you anymore… But you knew there was something else to it. She always stayed close to you and chased away any Gloinks away on quests, made you avoid Jax, didn't let you listen to Kinger's crazy theories (from fear you'll abstract) and so on. You found it cute, to say the least.

This whole time, you had never spoken a syllable to anyone. Pomni at first thought you were just shy, but now she thinks you're just flat-out mute. So, it was much to her surprise when you finally spoke.

You both were lying outside the Circus, star-gazing.

“I miss the outside… I also miss seeing the real stars and not just a glowing moon with a face.” She sighed.

“Same.”

It suddenly became really quiet as Pomni processed what had just happened.

She quickly got up. “WAIT, YOU CAN TALK!?”

You simply faked another “giggle” as you went back to not talking.

Pomni would keep trying to get you to speak again, and you'll occasionally oblige.

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

[cookierunauprompts]

What about something with the reader being a siren who ends up luring one of the Beasts in?

Requested Prompts #31 - 💓

It was yet another shitty day in this god forsaken tank, you missed your home in the ocean, hell, you missed your singing voice! If only that jerkwad noble hadn't captured you as some kind of 'fishing prize'. Doing literally anything would be better than being in this stupid tank! Your ear fins perk up in alert as you hear the echo of footsteps from outside your tank, two pairs to be specific. What was going on? Was that jerk trying to show you off again? You idly scratch at the magical collar on your neck, the one that restrained your beautiful song that would set you free from this hell. Of course, your mind then went to a territory that was a bit... darker. What if he was attempting to sell you? A horrifying thought, but not one that wasn't above him. Would you end up on some other rich jackasses plate? Or... would you get a fate considered worse than death? You're thoughts paused as you heard the jingling of bells. No noble would be foolish enough to wear bells, so then... Had the jerkwad gotten some new toy? You're thoughts were confirmed as you saw the jerkwad noble walk past with a blue-tinted jester in tow. The new cookie looked at bit tall, but not taller than the noble, and had fluffy white hair that had blue as an underlight. The Jester was decked out in blacks and blues and had little bells on his hat that resembled small berries. " And this," The noble begins, a smug smile on his face. " is my prized possession." You glared at the noble, yet also kept an eye on the jester who looked at you with something akin to bewilderment. " Is that a gem mermaid?" You heard the jester ask, calling your attention to him almost instantly. " Hah! I wish, this is actually just a siren." The nobleman grumbled, " Either way, Jester, you already know where your room is. And I've already told you the consequences for stealing and running away, so don't get any ideas." The noble then haughtily walked off, leaving you with the fresh meat inside this twisted mansion. You looked towards the Jester, who let out a groan. " Aaah... Man, I'm not really a fan of being owned." He complained, putting his arms behind his head and leaning back. " And I can guess you aren't really a fan of it either, huh?" Your brow perked up with curiosity, " No, not really." You decided to say, catching the jester off guard. " You can still talk?" He asked, surprised as he turned his head towards you. " Man, I thought that jerk would have had you completely silenced." " I... Think he's just a sadist, giving me my voice yet taking away the part of it I can use to escape..." You sigh, lazily swimming closer to the glass. " Let me guess, you lost a bet with mister jerk-face over there and now he has you as entertainment until he decides to kill you off." " Hm, I guess you could say that." The jester chirped, " But then again, I lost on purpose." " Why would you even do that?" You said after pausing to think for a moment. " You were forced to sign a contract, right? Like all the other jesters he had?" " Yep! The thing is, I didn't use my real name!" The jester hummed, stretching his back. Now that was odd, you knew that jerky mc-jerkface's contracts don't get sealed if the name is fake. So then... How? Unless this cookie was lying to you... " Impossible, he would have known and forced you to write your name." You stated, and apparently your statement was hilarious to the jester because he soon burst out laughing. " Well, the name did belong to me at some point, and it still worked so I guess it doesn't matter!" He chirped, bending over backwards to look you in the eyes. God, just how flexible was this guy? It was like he was made of jelly. " Anyways, what's your name? It must be lonely here, being trapped all by yourself." You don't even know how this cookie got you to open a conversation with him so easily, and yet, you were eager to find out more about this mysterious jester. Maybe he could aid in your escape somehow? hopefully? " ... It's Reader Cookie."

[nessinborderland]

V-E-N-U-S (01)

Pairing: Rafe x plus size!Reader

Genre: smut, dark-ish fic

Word Count: 6 ,7k

Warnings ⚠️ Mildly Dubious Consent, Enemies to Lovers, more like Enemies to Enemies That Fuck tbh, Rafe Cameron Being an Asshole, mentions of bullying, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Rough Sex, Mentions of death of a parent, Drinking, Drug Use, Rafe needs therapy asap, fatphobia, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

Summary: The nickname he had given you in 8th grade was supposed to be ironic. In Rafe’s defense, he used to be a pretty stupid and cruel fourteen-year-old, as most kids that age are. So yeah, nicknaming the fat and nerdy chick Venus – like the goddess of sex and beauty – had been pretty hilarious in young Rafe's opinion.

What he would've never guessed was how much that name would fit you now as a grown woman.

Notes: this is - hopefully - the first of more OBX fics written by yours truly. A joy to write really because Rafe/Drew are turning me into a mad woman and I desperately needed something to quench the thirst. So here, enjoy 💖

AO3 | Masterlist

Rafe was pretty sure he was about to do something he was going to regret. That, or go insane with desire. He could feel something sizzling in his chest the longer he stared at you, hyper-aware of the attention you were attracting. Attention that did not come from him and him alone.

"Wow," Kelce whistled beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts, "Venus looking thick as hell, man, look at that ass."

Rafe had been looking. Hard not to, when the red bikini you were wearing hugged your body like a second skin, showing off your curves in ways that made him wonder how nice it would feel to trace your soft-looking skin with his palms.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the only one with his eyes on you.

He gulped and took another sip of his beer – jaw clenching as he tried to not let his temper get the best of him over Kelce’s words. He couldn’t blame the other guy for staring when you looked that good, but goddamit, did Rafe feel the urge to punch him and every other ogler that dared to eye-fuck you.

His eyes never left your figure as you danced by the pool with the confidence of a young woman that had outgrown her teenage insecurities, a faint smile on your lips as you swayed your hips to the beat of the Latino song playing.

It was the sexiest thing he had ever seen, and – if you had been anyone else – he wouldn't have hesitated to approach you and charm you into his bed.

But he knew it would never work. Not on you.

It was the worst-kept secret that you disliked Rafe Cameron. No, not dislike; you hated his guts; you couldn’t even stand the mere sight of him, a scowl twisting your features every time you were forced to interact with him at the country club where you waited tables. He couldn’t really blame you for that though; not after the things he had done and said to you in high school.

Even Rafe himself was aware of how much of a nasty teenager he used to be; especially to you.

You just so happened to be his favorite plaything. Why, he had no idea, but young Rafe lived for the moments where you would avoid him like the plague during recess, just so he could hunt you down to bully you in the meanest way he could think of.

You had a crush on someone, and he happened to find out? He made sure to personally break your heart. You tried to develop a friendship? There he was to break it even before it started. You dared to tell on him to a teacher? He would harass you at your own home and bombard your phone with nasty texts until you dropped it.

He was king and you were his favorite court jester.

Not that you didn't put up a fight.

More than once you had punched and screamed at him, tears in your eyes as you pinned him down under your fiery gaze. He loved it. In a way, he wondered if that was what made him sink his claws into you in the first place. You scratched that urge in him for confrontation, for a good fight.

He still remembered that altercation between you that had turned into a slapping contest in the hallways, everyone around you urging you on until a teacher came to stop it. He could still feel the sting in his cheek, remember the way your hard gaze never left his even when his palm met your skin. That was one of the reasons why he couldn't stop bullying you, even when that inevitably got him in trouble.

Rafe knew that he used to be your worst nightmare, and, at the time, he hadn’t cared how it make you feel. Looking back, he regretted it.

He really had no idea how he had once thought of you as ugly. If he was being honest with himself, had he ever? Or had he just been a horny teenager with no idea of what to do with his feelings toward the ostracized fat girl? He couldn’t be sure. To be fair, you had been awkward in high school, always dressed in baggy clothes and worn-out shoes, with your glasses at the tip of your nose, which was almost always stuck in the pages of some thick fantasy novel.

But now? The only thing he could say was that you had finally learned how to dress and flaunt every piece of your body in the best way possible.

You had the body of a fucking goddess, an hourglass figure he could get lost in, all curves and wide hips and tits that he could bet even his large hands weren’t big enough to contain. More than once he had imagined your thick thighs wrapped around his hips as he thrust into you, your soft body pressed against his.

Ironically enough, you reminded him of the artwork ‘Venus and Adonis’, which he had seen during a visit to the Met as a kid.

But it wasn’t just your body that made his dick twitch with desire.

Your eyes still had that fire from when you were kids, and your gaze could smolder him on the spot if he locked eyes with you for too long. Your lips alone were enough to make him fantasize about you on your knees with your mouth stuffed with his cock, moaning around him as he came down your throat.

Fuck, did he want you. He was getting hard just imagining all the ways he could bend you over and fuck you until you were an incoherent mess.

A hand on his shoulder followed by his name snapped him out of his thoughts, and he changed his focus to the petite redhead staring up at him with a coy smile on her face.

“Hey, Rafe.”

“Hey, Amber, what’s up?” he greeted distractingly before redirecting his gaze back to you.

His brow furrowed as he noticed a guy approach you and start to dance right behind you, a hand going on your hip as he said something in your ear. Rafe could almost hear his jaw unclench as he saw you shake your head and bat the dude’s hand away, successfully making him leave you alone after that.

“What?” he asked, focusing again on the redhead that had said something to him.

“Was wondering if you have some of the… you know…” she shrugged and leaned against him before whispering, “The white stuff.”

“Got money to pay for it?” he asked straight, taking another sip of his beer as his gaze involuntary moved back to you, still dancing by the pool and thankfully on your own.

“No,” said Amber, her hand tracing patterns on his chest, “but I’m sure we can get to some kind of agreement…”

Rafe scoffed, her double meaning clear to him. It was not the first time she offered him a fuck or a blowjob in exchange for some grams of coke, and it wouldn’t be the last. Hell, any other night and he wouldn’t have hesitated to lock himself with her in the nearest room and let her ride his dick until he came.

But not tonight. She was not who he wanted.

“Sorry, Amber, no money no coke. That shit’s expensive.”

“Oh, c’mon, Rafe–”

“Just fuck off, will you?” he snapped, shaking her hand off of him. “Not in the mood tonight.”

He heard her gasp and curse at him before storming out, but he couldn’t care less if he had offended her.

Right now, you were walking towards him.

He took another gulp of his beer as he tried to act nonchalant; the last thing he needed was for you to notice his constant stare.

But then it happened. Just as you passed by him, so close he could see the beauty marks on your neck, you looked up at him and your lips twitched before you calmy broke eye contact and walked inside the house.

Rafe took a deep breath as he considered following you. You were trying to drive him insane on purpose, it was the only explanation. Why, though? That was a question he was dying to know the answer to. It didn’t even make sense, given your history.

But things had been… off for a while now. He hadn’t even thought much about it until you had smiled at him during one of your shifts at the country club, gaze bearing into his as you refilled his glass. You never smiled at him. Never. And you had definitely never looked at him with anything other than annoyance and contempt in your eyes. That look you had sent him though (so similar to the look you sent him just now), whatever it meant – and he was sure it meant something – that shifted something in him.

After that, it was like he was seeing you everywhere.

He was at the country club; there you were, catching his eye as you served drinks and took orders. He was at the beach with his friends; oh, there you were hanging around your pogue cousin and his pogue friends. But seeing you at a party? A party thrown by kooks, of all people? That was when he started paying attention.

Fuck it, he whispered to himself before downing the rest of his beer.

His feet were dragging him inside the house before he could register the decision to follow you, and Rafe passed by the other partygoers as he looked around for you. He ended up finding you in the kitchen, leaning against the marble counter as you sipped on a glass of water and checked your phone.

He hesitated for a second by the threshold, unsure of what to say, but it didn’t last when you finally noticed him, brows raising as he approached you with a smirk.

You were going to fucking end him.

“V-E-N-U-S,” he spelled as a way of greeting, “long time no see.”

“R-A-F-E,” you imitated in a mocking tone, looking at him with a raised brow. “You know your friends are doing coke in the living room, right? Not here.”

Your expression – together with the mocking movement of you wiping your nose – wiped the smirk off his face, making him bite the inside of his cheek as he tried not to let his temper get the better of him. He wasn’t expecting a conversation with you to go smoothly, but he wasn’t expecting such clear animosity.

He let out a fake laugh and tilted his head to the side as he took a step further into your personal space, suddenly wanting to make you as uncomfortable as you were making him.

“Ha ha ha, aren’t you hilarious. Nah, I was just wondering what a pogue like you does at a party like this…” he said, bite clear in his tone. “Your cousin doesn’t let you hang out with him and his loser friends anymore, is that it?”

Rafe grinned at the glint of growing fury in your eyes.

Let it all out, baby.

“Not that is any of your business, but this pogue is a big girl,” you said with a fake smile, hands on your waist as you stared up at him. “I can go to whatever party I want and, also, I’m not always around John B.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, biting his bottom lip as he looked down at your tits, “you’re a big girl, all right.”

Your eyes grew wide at his words, and you scoffed before crossing your arms over your chest, only giving him a bigger eyeful of your breasts. Fuck, he had to get his mouth on those.

“Fat jokes, Rafe? Really?” you said, raising a brow as he sent you a sneer. “How pubescent of you. You really haven’t changed, huh? Just the same mean rich kid.”

“Oh, c’mon Venus, are you still upset over high school? We’re adults now, can’t we put that shit behind us?” He offered you his hand in a clear peace offering and you scoffed, looking down at it like it had personally offended you. “Look, I’m sorry okay, for everything. Can you forgive me?”

He actually meant it, as odd as it was; especially if he got something else out of it. Rafe would apologize a thousand times if it assured him he would get a taste of you.

“Hmm...” you patted your lower lip in pretend contemplation, and Rafe had to control himself not to replace your finger with his. “Let’s see… besides all the things you said and did to me when we were teenagers – which, I confess, I’m still not over – you have tried to hurt my cousin one too many times for me to even consider forgiving you so… how about – no.”

Rafe dropped his hand with a sigh and an eye roll.

“Really mature of you.”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause you’re one to talk,” you scoffed as you purposely bumped against his side as you walked past him in direction of the sink to refill your glass. “Leave me alone and stop being a fucking creep, I know you and your friends have been staring at my ass all night.”

Rafe didn’t mean for the next words to leave his lips.

“Then maybe stop fucking walking around like you want me to spank it.”

A few seconds went by where neither of you said a word, your back still turned to him as you refilled your glass. He heard as you turned the faucet off, another moment passing before you slowly turned to look at him over your shoulder.

“What did you say?”

“What, is that not what you want when you lean over right in front of me at the country club?”

You snorted before taking a sip of your water and spilling the rest in the sink, setting the now-empty glass on the counter before sending him a very familiar look of disdain.

“You’re honest to god disgusting.”

“Okay, listen…” He took a deep breath as he chose the right words, seeing his efforts to get on your good side going down the drain. “I know that you hate me given our history, but–”

“Whatever you’re gonna say – don’t,” you stated, pushing him aside as you left the kitchen.

Rafe watched with mouth agape, brows furrowing and hands closing to fists as you pushed him aside and left the kitchen.

“You know what? Fucking fine!” he snapped at your back as he controlled himself not to go after you. “Be a bitch about it If you want, why do I care!”

Fuck you for being such a stuck-up and disrespectful bitch. No piece of ass was worth the way you backtalked. Screw apologizing, and screw you. You should be thankful he even looked at you in any way that wasn’t revulsion.

With a frustrated slap against the countertop and a growing need to punch someone, Rafe left the kitchen after you, set on making you regret your attitude by the end of the night.

«»«»«»«»«»

“Hey, bro, you all right?” Topper asked from his seat next to Rafe.

“Yeah, why?” the blond answered as he took a drag of the cigarette in between his fingers.

The party was still ongoing, with people dancing and getting drunker by the hour, including Rafe. His temper had subsided somewhat after another beer and some lines of coke, but the cogs in his brain were still turning as he concocted a plan that would make you swallow your words (and something else, if he was lucky).

He still hadn’t been able to stop himself from staring at you, but drinking was helping him not give a shit about it. He could look at whatever and whomever he pleased, and it was no one’s business – including yours. If you didn’t like it, you were more than welcome to leave his vicinity.

Rafe knew you knew he was watching you. You glanced at him from time to time, never giving him the satisfaction of seeing you squirm under his gaze. That was making his temper rise but, more than that, was seeing you sitting by the pool with some guy chatting you up (with his hand dangerously close to your thigh, he couldn’t help but note with a tick of his jaw).

“Just noticed you’ve been… distracted all night.”

“And? That a problem?”

“Not at all…” Topper answered nonchalantly, pausing for a moment before adding, “Venus looks pretty hot, doesn’t she?”

That made Rafe break his intense stare on you to focus on Topper, the other blond raising his hands at the confrontation in his eyes.

“Wow, man, easy,” he chuckled. “Can’t blame you for staring at her all night.”

“I haven’t been staring at her all night.”

“Sure, you haven’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rafe asked, starting to get particularly annoyed by the tone in his friend’s voice. “Just say whatever you wanna say, Topper.”

“Chill, bro, just noticed you seem pretty interested in her, that’s all,” he explained with a nod in your direction. “You guys made amends or something?”

“Nah, she still hates my guts and she’s still a major bitch.”

“Well, can’t blame her…”

“You’re one to talk, Top. As far as I remember, you were there too.”

“Yeah, but I’ve actually apologized for it like ages ago. She has been pretty friendly lately, that’s why I asked. Plus,” Topper paused to take a sip of his drink, “she has been staring at you a lot too.”

Rafe had nothing to say to that, just grunting in acknowledgment as he finished his beer in one swift gulp before standing up and stretching his arms above his head, sighing as his joints popped.

“Gonna take a leak, be right back.”

This time, he didn’t go back to his friends. No, he wanted to look at you closer, make sure you knew he wasn’t one to be played with. You weren’t kids anymore, but he could still make your life hell if he felt like it. If you wanted to be a bitch, then he would be a bitch back.

And that’s why he sat right beside you by the pool, so close he noticed you flinching when he sat down and his hip bumped yours, his foot also lightly touching yours as he submerged his legs in the heated pool water. You gave him no reaction besides that, your tone of voice unchanged as you kept talking and laughing as if he wasn’t even there.

“I actually don’t have the game, but I love watching playthroughs on Youtube,” he heard you say in an enthusiastic tone. “Would love to play it someday though, I have the books and they’re pretty great.”

Rafe leaned back on his hand and watched you both, a new cigarette in between his lips, chuckling as he noticed the little shimmy you did as you tried to move as far away from him as you could without sitting on the other guy’s lap.

“No way you haven’t played them!” the dude exclaimed, leaning closer to you. “I have them all on PS5. You know what, why don’t you come by my house someday, we can play together.”

“I would–”

Rafe snorted, followed by a laugh as you stopped whatever you were going to say. He tried to just sit there and breathe down your neck. He really did. But he couldn’t stand listening to that fucking guy anymore.

“Of for fuck’s sake, dude, will you shut the fuck up with that nerdy shit?”

He watched as both you and your friend finally shut up, the easy smile on your face being replaced by a scowl as you turned to him, mouth open to no doubt tell him to go fuck himself.

“Rafe, c’mon man, what’s your problem?”

Ryan. Or was it Brian? Rafe didn’t care what the dude’s name was, but he was pretty close to just giving it a go and trying to drown the guy for even daring to talk back at him. His dad was some distinguished surgeon or some shit, so Rafe knew that if he got into a fight with him consequences would inevitably come in the form of Ward, but honestly? He couldn’t care less right now.

“Me?” he asked in mock surprise, pointing at himself with a scoff before throwing his arm over your shoulders and pulling you against his side. “Oh, I got no problem. But I would really appreciate it if you would just fuck off so I could talk with my girl here. You know, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to fuck her right anyway. She’s, well, she’s not a small girl and I don’t see a lot of muscle on you so–”

Your elbow hitting his side was enough for him to let you go with a huff. Rafe just stared as you stood up in a hurry, the eyes of the people that had noticed the altercation following you as you stormed off.

He watched you go, content with himself, eyes darkening as he focused on the other guy again.

“Lucky for you,” he started, threat clear in his voice as he stood up, “I got more important shit to do right now.”

With that, he stormed off after you.

He found you by the front lawn, where you now stood in a pair of shorts and a fine jacket, your phone in hand as you no doubt called someone to come get you. Rafe didn’t even hesitate before snatching the phone from your hand, putting it against his own ear as the familiar voice of John B called your name.

“Yeah, sorry, she’s busy right now,” he said, not waiting to hear the response as he disconnected the call.

“Hey, are you fucking insane?” you exclaimed as you looked at him with wide eyes.

“Nah, just drunk,” Rafe laughed as he held the phone above his head and out of your reach, watching you jump and press yourself against him in your sad attempts at getting the device back.

“Yeah, I can see that,” you said with a swat at his chest before taking a step back and extending him your hand. “Give me back my phone, you asshole!”

“What’s in it for me?” he dared with a smirk.

“Not getting kicked in the dick, for starters,” you replied, still demanding your phone. “Also, can you tell me why the fuck did you act like a complete idiot back there? First, you insult me, then you keep staring at me like some perv, and now you just tried to… what, exactly? Embarrass me in front of everyone by causing a scene?”

“You should thank me, that dude had bad intentions.”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause your intentions towards me are so pure.”

He paused.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not some naïve little girl, Rafe. What, think I wouldn’t know why you’ve been staring at me like I’m the last cookie in the jar?”

“Okay, listen, whatever you think you saw–”

“What, embarrassed to admit you wanna fuck the fat girl?”

“Be careful, Venus,” he warned, eyes slanting as he took a step towards you. “Sometimes words backfire.”

“Oh, so you don’t want to fuck me?”

“I don’t know. Do you want me to?”

You did nothing but stare into each other’s eyes for what to Rafe felt like an eternity. He could see the fire in your gaze, feel the desire burning inside him as his dick hardened under his shorts at the sight of your chest right in his face and your lips so close to his. All he had to do was to grab you by the back of your neck and press his lips against yours. Just a simple move and he would know what your lips tasted like.

“You wouldn’t be able to handle me even if I let you,” you broke the spell, fingers touching his chest as you pushed him away, challenge in your eyes.

A moment passed. Then Rafe smirked.

“Bet.”

You shrieked as he picked you up and over his shoulder, and he huffed out a laugh as you screamed his name and thrashed against his hold. Sure, you were heavier than any other girl he had done this to, but you were nothing he couldn’t handle. With a slap to your ass and a hand on your shorts to stabilize you, he returned inside the house like a man who had just hunted down the big prize.

He ignored your screams of his name and your fists against his back, barely noticing everyone’s eyes on him as he took the stairs one by one.

He opened an unlocked door, commanding the half-naked couple in there to leave before throwing you on the bed without ceremony.

“Oh, I’m gonna make you regret this!” you shouted as he locked the door. “You can bet I’m gonna spit on every single one of your drinks from now–”

He shut you up by cradling your face and pulling you up into a deep kiss, tongue swiftly passing by your parted lips as you weakly tried to push him off. A bite on his tongue made him grunt and pull away, only to see you staring at him with wide eyes and a heaving chest, a small stain of his blood on your lips.

“I couldn’t care less if you spit in my drinks,” he said as his thumb grazed your lip to collect his blood before pushing it in against your tongue. “Now be a good girl and suck on it.”

He couldn’t say he was surprised when you bit him instead, pushing him away as you crawled further to the other side of the bed, a look of unease and want mixing in your heated gaze.

That look was enough for him to decide how this night was going to go.

“Touch me again and I’ll bite your dick off.”

“Do you imagine my dick in your mouth that often?”

“Ugh, you’re such a pig!”

Rafe took off his shirt in one swift move, throwing it somewhere in the room before getting on his hands and knees on the mattress, eyes never leaving yours as he crawled closer.

“I can be worse if you let me.”

“Rafe–”

“What?” he asked as he successfully trapped you under his frame, lips brushing against your neck as he whispered in your ear. “Is the big bad girl scared?”

One of his hands found its way to one of your tits, palming the soft mound over your bikini. His dick jolted as you let out a soft moan, and he laughed at how well everything was going. He never thought of you as the kind of girl that would just lay there while he, Rafe Cameron of all people, touched you like this. If he knew this, he would’ve had his way with you years ago.

Years ago. He almost wanted to hit himself from how stupid younger Rafe had been.

He took your mouth in his, smiling into the kiss as you kissed him back, hands on his shoulders pulling him closer instead of pushing him away. Rafe took that opportunity to get himself comfortable in between your thighs, moaning as his erection grazed against your core.

He had to get you naked.

“No, Rafe, we can’t… we should stop,” you mumbled against his lips.

But the blond didn’t stop kissing you, going from your lips to sucking at the skin of your neck as his hand wandered past the waistline of your shorts. You smelled so fucking good, and your skin was so damn soft he wanted nothing more than press himself against you as he fucked you hard and deep.

“Give me a good reason to,” he drawled in your ear as his fingers found your hot core.

You gasped as he pressed against you, and he couldn’t help but notice how your nails gripped his shoulders and your back arched at his ministrations. He rolled his hips against yours, smiling at your sudden lack of words. You wanted this as much as he did, no point in hiding that from him now. Not when he could feel how wet you were under the fabric of your bikini, not when your thighs shook, and your chest heaved like you couldn’t wait to have him inside you.

In one swift move, he sat back with his legs folded under him, pulling you with him in the process. You gasped as he sat you in his lap, legs on either side of his hips.

Whatever you were about to say got lost when he kissed you with the ferocity of a man that wasn’t about to let anything stop him from getting what he wanted. Even if that someone was you. He was going to fuck you tonight; of that he was sure.

“Be a good girl for me and relax,” he said as he slid the straps of your bikini down your shoulders, finally exposing your breasts.

Rafe nearly groaned as he finally got sight of them, big and soft and warm under his palm. He wasted no time in popping a nipple into his mouth, moaning as the bud hardened under his tongue. You yelped and put your arms around his head, caging him against your chest as you arched it against his face.

Good, he thought with a nib to your flesh, I could suck on these for days.

The hand that wasn’t busy kneading your other breast curled around your waist, keeping you close to his body as you swayed in his hold, your soft moans filling his ears.

“Do you have any idea of what you’ve been doing to me?” he asked as he grazed his lips and tongue over both of your tits, hands going down your body to palm your ass over your shorts. “You’ve been driving me fucking insane...”

You didn’t bother acknowledging his words besides a soft hum. He glanced up at you, biting his lip at the sight of your heavy-lidded eyes and parted lips. Everything in you was screaming at him to take you, fuck you so hard everyone in this house would hear you scream his name, pump you so full of his cum that you would have to leave this room with it dripping down your thighs like the whore you were. His whore.

After tonight, you belonged to Rafe Cameron, whether you wanted it or not.

You yelped in surprise as he pushed you back on the mattress, staring at him like you had just woken up from a dream. Rafe admired your tits bounce for a moment before focusing on unzipping your shorts, pulling them down your legs with no hesitation before hooking his fingers on the elastic of your bottoms and giving it the same treatment.

He licked his lips at the sight of your pussy waiting for him in between your plush thighs, gaze darkening as he noticed how you were already glistening with arousal. His gaze went up and down your naked body several times, drinking in your curves and rolls, beyond turned on by the vision that was you naked and blushing under him.

“Soaking wet for me, aren’t you?”

He touched your clit then, smirking at the gasp you let out as his fingers went up and down your slit before pushing two digits inside. He groaned at the feeling of you clenching around him. You were so wet he had no doubt he would be able to sink fully into you in one swift thrust.

With that in mind, he pushed away to get himself undressed, sighing in relief as his hard cock broke free from the confinements of his underwear. He was quick on going back to his place on top of you, spreading your legs open as he lined up with your core.

He was pressed against you – the tip of his cock wet with your arousal and lips on the curve of your neck as he readied himself to take you – when you slapped his shoulder hard enough to break him out of his lusty state.

“What?” he asked, starting to get annoyed by your constant interruption. “You’re regretting it now?”

“No,” you said before surprising him by pushing him onto the mattress and straddling his hips. “I just like to be on top.”

When you sank down onto him, your velvety walls squeezing his dick, he could swear he saw stars. Rafe gripped your hips as you started bouncing up and down his length, eyes locked on yours as he forced you down on him in sync with your movements.

“How many times have you touched yourself while thinking of me?” he asked, smirking at the look you sent him.

“I could ask you the same–”

You moaned as he slapped your ass, his fingers digging into your flesh only making you clench tighter around him. He was living the dream, buried deep inside you as your tits bounced in his face, your fucked up expression making something akin to male pride swell in his chest. You were enjoying having his dick inside you as much as he was.

His hands roamed your body as you fucked him, head thrown back in continuous moans and body shivering in pleasure as he started rubbing circles on your clit.

“Oh my god, don’t stop,” you moaned as you leaned over to support yourself on his chest.

Your moans and whimpers were like music to his ears, and he quickly realized he wouldn’t get tired of fucking you so soon; not when you looked and sounded like that while dripping down his cock.

He wanted more.

In one swift movement, he turned your body around, pushing you back on the mattress before grabbing your legs by the back of your knees and folding you in half. This was how he wanted you; on your back with your legs spread and ready to get fucked senseless.

“Oh fuck!” you moaned with a high-pitched scream as he sank back into you, filling you up to the brim.

The sound of his hips hitting the back of your thighs filled the room, mixing with your moans and whimpers as he fucked you at a ruthless pace, forcing your body up the mattress with every hard thrust. Your eyes were closed, and your head was thrown back, giving him full access to your neck as he lapped and nibbed all over your pulse and collarbone, enjoying your scent mixed with his.

“You take my dick so well,” he whispered in your ear, his words followed by a deep thrust that made you yelp his name. “Yeah, just like that, scream my name. Let everyone know who’s fucking you this good.”

He could feel your pussy clench around him like a vice at his words, sucking him in like you didn’t want to let him go.

“R-Rafe, don’t stop please, I’m so close.”

He obeyed your request, dying to see you unravel beneath him. Rafe didn’t stop fucking you even as you came, your legs shaking and pussy fluttering around him as you let out a muffled sob. It was the hottest thing he had ever seen. He wanted to make you come like that again.

You moaned when he pulled out, eyes opening to glance at him with a question on your lips before he surprised you by twisting your hips to the side.

“Get on all fours,” he ordered. “Ass up.”

“You’re way too bossy for your own good,” you mumbled, abiding by his order all the same.

He chuckled at your words with a loud slap to your ass, grabbing his glistening erection before pushing again inside your dripping folds. You both moaned in unison as he entered you, hands keeping your hips in place as he settled on a rhythm.

Fucking you in this position – ass jiggling as he filled you up and hand gripping your hair, completely at his mercy – made him almost slap himself from how stupid he had been in the past. He wasted all this time looking down on you only to now wish he had been fucking you from day one.

“I should’ve fucked you back in high school,” he growled in your ear as he pressed his chest to your back.

“Like I would’ve let you.”

“You’re letting me fuck you now, aren’t you? On all fours, taking my dick like the good little slut that you are.”

“Oh, shut up asshole. Just come already.”

Rafe chuckled at that, grabbing your chin and turning your face to him before giving you a rough kiss, teeth clashing and pulling at your lip before he promised you, “Keep talking like that and I might just put that smart mouth to good use.”

You laughed then, a moan quickly wiping the smirk off your face as Rafe started touching your clit again, fingers expertly touching you just as he figured out you liked it.

“Come around my cock one more time, baby,” he purred as he sped up his thrusts, his movements shallower as he felt himself near the edge. “Come around me before I stuff you full of my cum.”

“Come inside me and you’re dead.”

Rafe laughed, not at all threatened by your words. Nothing was stopping him from coming inside you, consequences be dammed. You would leave this room with something to remember him by.

He came undone as you orgasmed a second time, firmly holding you by the hips as he came inside you as deep as he could, set on riding both your orgasms for as long as he could.

You both lay on the bed when he was done, a mess of tangled and sweaty limbs as Rafe refused to pull out and drag himself away from you.

“Can you get off of me?” you mumbled after a moment of nothing but panting.

Rafe took a deep breath, not saying anything as he savored your body pressed comfortably against his, soft skin warm and damp like his own. He wanted to prolong the moment, knowing damn well that you would go back to despise him as soon as he pulled out of you. He didn’t want to admit it, but he would rather not go back to how things were, no matter how entertaining the beef you had going on was.

“Rafe…”

He sighed and pulled out without a word, sitting back against the headboard as he watched you stand up and start looking around for your clothes, giving him a nice view of your ass as you leaned over to grab your discarded bikini and shorts.

That familiar tension sat between you in the heavy air as you got dressed without any words shared between you. In the meanwhile, Rafe couldn’t take his eyes off of you, waiting for your next move.

No way he would let you leave as if nothing had happened.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked after he was fully dressed, watching as you texted someone on your phone.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because this was not supposed to happen,” you said with a shrug. “And it’s definitely not happening again.”

He held your gaze for a moment, taking a step in your direction as you made a move to leave.

“Oh yeah?” he said as he tilted your chin up. “Says who?”

“I do,” you said, batting his hand away before walking past him and opening the door. “Goodbye, Rafe.”

Rafe wasn’t an inflexible man; if you wanted to leave, he would let you. But if there was something he was, was stubborn. For tonight he would leave you be, but he couldn’t promise that tomorrow – or every day after that – would be met with the same leniency.

You would be his, and that wasn’t up for discussion.

«»«»«»«»

Part 2 ->

[scribble-dribble-writes]

Trapeze

<<<Prev(Tattooed kisses) (Silly Jester)Next>>>

Pairing: Buggy x female mermaid!reader

Word count: 2000

Warnings: none

Content: All is fair in love and war?

I guess why Buggy has won over the women of the Internet is because he's got pretty eyes, makes you laugh and just wants to be loved. So he will be given all the love in the world 😩

---

The dark water concealed your form, your tail masked in a dark fabric as you swam towards the location of where the circus was docked. The information you now carried filled you with dread, because if you didn’t reach your crew on time. They will all be gone. Buggy will be taken away. Arlong wanted to deal with the circus but for what?

You dreaded his presence. He ruled the part of the seas you were familiar with. His affection for his people only extended to those who looked like him, the same prejudice the fish men received he circulated that amongst other fish people. In his mind, your kind were more human than fish because of your facial features. And in the eyes of human beings, you only belonged to the ocean. So it was quite clear that the message for you was that you belonged nowhere, now the only place that housed you was in trouble. 

But your racing heart was also because of the other rumors you had picked up. Ones you didn’t want to believe. That Buggy’s true intent was to capture the new crew, to get the map. He would have told if that was the case.

If he was going after the coveted one piece, he would have let you in on his plans. Wouldn’t he?

You pushed it aside, your loud intuition telling you that you were a fool, the last night you spent with him coming into your thoughts filling you with comforting memories. His easy jokes making you laugh, his eyes that held affection but now all that was marred by doubt.

Did he really look at you like that? Or was it something you just believed because you craved it.

What if after all this time, he had double crossed you too?

You broke to the surface, the ship with the carousel still docked by the edge, the circus tent still having its flag flutter in the wind. You heaved a sigh, he was here just like he said he would be and you were on time. But the smell of charred wood over powered your sense of smell, the heat from the earth still fresh, when the dead town loomed ahead of you, you felt like throwing up.

It can’t be. He had promised. He had promised you he would raid another town.

You walked through the town gates to see that the people were weeping, some bringing supplies for hungry kids while a few others began to rebuild what had been burnt down. Their eyes fell on you and all you received were scowls. The very same expression that you received as an abandoned child, when you became a nightmarish story the townsfolk would tell their kids so they would beware the sea. You began to run as you pulled down your hood, what had happened here in your absence?

He knew well about your past and yet he was doing the same thing your captors had done to your home. Your heart began to swirl with every emotion you had kept bottled up, the love you felt for him now had to be locked up as your trust felt sabotaged. You wanted to jump to conclusions but you had to know for certain from him, so you navigated towards the circus tents.

It was too quiet. No music was playing, no rehearsals were being conducted. No one was working on their craft, the circus looked more still than the town. You walked in, the crunchy soil beneath your feet announcing your presence when you heard a mumbling voice in the corner. The only one you wanted to know was safe above all the others. His head wrapped in that bandana of his with his back turned to you as he sat above a crate, only half of him put together.

“Buggy.”, you called for him but it was mostly worry. Your nightmares had almost come true, of him being taken away from you. You were relieved and yet cautious as your mind tried to put together the facts you had collected.

His head snapped towards you, his eyes filling up with a sense of ease as you approached him.

“You’re back early.”, he perked up, his mask falling as he looked up at you. You took in his presence, the crates around him bobbing as though it had an animal locked up. Putting it all together, it was clear someone had trapped parts of his legs in different crates.

“Where are the others?”, you questioned. You couldn’t sink into his sweet devotion till you knew what had occurred. Till you knew the truth.

“The others? Oh just dismissed for a break. They’ll be back.”, he waved his hands about but the twitch in smile was further proof he was lying.

You pursed your lips as you unsheathed your dagger, his eyes growing serious upon witnessing your action. But you turned towards the crates to prop the lid open to free his legs. Your silence and lack of a reaction was beginning to unnerve him, as he tapped his fingers nervously, his eyes darting from your face to your hands as he thought of ways to know what was on your mind.

“What news do you have about the new pirate crew?”, he chirped again and it began to frustrate you. He was still adamant with keeping up appearances.

“Recent reports stated they were kidnapped by a bunch of pirates.”, you spoke, refraining to look at him, testing to see if he was going to catch your trick.

“What did I tell you, everyone’s after them.”, he shrugged his shoulders as he dusted his pants to get up.

“Are you after them?”, you cut to the point, his eyes flashed steel blue as he gauged your expression.

“Why would I be after them?”, he asked in return. His hat now sitting perfectly over his head. Now it was his turn to try and read your mind.

You took a step away from him and he grew tense, an anxious smile spreading across his face.

“Why did you send me away on all those missions?”, you asked, folding your arms defensively.

“You know why.”, he took a step towards you and you retreated from him. Pain flashed across his face as he withdrew his outstretched arm. His gloved hand making it more symbolic for all the schemes he had kept hidden from you.

“I don’t know. Enlighten me.”, you said, furrowing your brows as reality began to set in.

He grew quiet, there was no way of escaping from this now.

“I was just another pawn in you game, wasn’t I?”, you asked, your voice breaking to even think about all of it.

“No.”, he said quickly. His eyes catching yours and in the fog of all the illusion, this answer somehow felt earnest. But you weren’t sure if you could believe it.

“You were never just a pawn.”, he said as he stood taller but it wasn’t going to make up for all the damage that had been done.

“You sent me away so you could go after them yourself. To get that map.”, you stated and his face broke into despair.

“It's not what you think it is.”, he held up his hands, his fingers craving to hold you.

“Don’t play me for a fool, Boss.”, you raged as you got close to him.

“Don’t call me your Boss.”, his eyes narrowed as anger simmered in his tone. He only ever wanted to hear his name on your lips, nothing else.

“Oh yeah, what else should I call a man who conveniently tasked me with work just so he can go after what he wants?”, you were close to his face, you could hear his hurried breaths and notice the way his eyes slid to your lips.

“I did it for us.”, he said quietly. His eyes coming back up to hold your gaze again.

“We find the One piece and we can forget about the sea for the rest of our lives.”, he spoke but it wasn’t going to convince you, just as it struck you.

“You want to be king of the pirates.”, the statement felt foreign to even say it but as realization dawned and it shocked you.

His eyes widened and you stayed still. He didn’t deny it because that was the truth he was hiding from you. His gloved hand caught you wrist gently as he held you next to him.

“Yes.”, he said finally and you wanted to push away from him. He too had taken advantage of you.

You held the dagger up to his neck knowing well that it wasn’t a threat to him but the tears began to blur your eyes, you fought against his hold but he wouldn’t let you go.

“You can be my Queen.”, he smiled honestly, his eyes flitting between yours, the edges glistening as you fought against him, trying hopelessly to get you to see the possibilities in the vision he had.

“I don’t want to be Queen, I don’t want to be a prop in your act.”, you said as you stood still and watched your words pierce his heart. It was only fair, if he finally spoke the truth, then you could too.

“Do you think the world will uphold you as King after you’ve burned down their homes, kidnapped a few kids and caused for people to fear you when in the end you crave their admiration and validation?”, you asked and his grip on your wrist loosened, his eyes looking away from you to the gravel beneath.

“You can’t cheat your way into love, Bug.”, you sniffled as you said finally, your heart now turning into sea foam.

You let him to be, not willing to progress this fight any longer as he stood there in the silence, in the after math of his actions as you turned to leave, to dive into the ocean because you couldn’t let go of this sadness in the form of tears. As much you tried to lie to yourself, the truth had revealed itself.

“I wanted to win you your freedom.”, he yelled after you.

“but I guess it would have just been better for the both of us if I had never found you by that cove.”, he continued and you stopped in your tracks.

“Do you really mean that?”, you asked as you faced him. Tear stains leaking through the paint on his face. His hands clenched together in pain. His pale blue eyes glimmered even from this distance. He could make up for your tears by shedding your portion of it too.

His upturned lip and nonchalant shrug was part of the act, he stood here as the Captain of this dismantled crew. He had sent you away on those trips all in the hopes that even if he was caught in the execution of his schemes, you would be safe, away from all this.

His heart was broken in two, one the belonged only to you and the other that wanted the victory of discovery that treasure. To get back at Shanks and every other being that had looked down on him. The only way to do it was by winning that crown. But he couldn’t lose you in the process. So he reworked his plans endlessly and spent his sleepless nights trying to make sure nothing could go wrong but this plan of his had too many strings that now he was caught in this net.

So maybe this was for the best, that the inevitable had occured. To cut you lose, to make you believe his words as much as it killed him to say it.

“Being with you was all the freedom I needed, Buggy.”, he heard you say and he was sure he was going break away into pieces again.

It was becoming difficult to play an maniacal clown when deep down he wanted those nights with you. Where he felt loved and seen without any additional drama and flair. He wanted to have an easy and quiet life but now his whole world was complicated. He was in middle of it all, to get the map, to truly make himself into someone worthy. Worthy of respect and your love.

“Maybe you are the mask that you wear. After all these years, you’ve become the act itself.”, you scoffed as you gripped the slash of your satchel to spit out these words. He had betrayed you, the one  person you had stuck around this crew for so long.

“And I fell for it.”, you shook your head, a mistake you could never recover from because he gave you a home. He was your home. Now you were a vagabond again.

You turned away to continue down the path to the docks, to hitch a ride to another island or figure out a way to get far from here, to put as much distance as you could between the two of you.

But in the few seconds you had turned away he yelled your name in desperation. You ignored him and his attempt at faking agony but then he called your name again and this time told you to run.

You turned back to see him when you caught sight of his body on the floor, knocked out cold as a fish man stood over him. Panic filled your system when you remembered why you had to find him, the news about Arlong coming for him. Your legs wanted to run but you couldn’t.

Not when you felt a hit on your forehead and your head hit the ground.

[clemblog]

Caine’s Lesson - Part 2

•••

Pomni screwed her eyes shut as she found herself plummeting into the sticky chocolate lake. Luckily for her, the creature who resided in such was too busy munching on Candy Kingdom citizens to have noticed her appearance.

She groaned, tired and annoyed, as she dragged herself to the shoreline. Of course her punishment had to be making her way back to the circus. Alone. At least, that’s what it looked to be! A long lonely work back to the circus

So, she got to walking. Reluctantly. If she could, she’d have just laid down and waited for the monster of the lake to eat her. Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in her flesh. She probably wouldn’t die either. Just end up alive in some kind of stomach or digestive system like Zooble did with the gloink Queen. Caine would have to come save her and pull her back to the circus.

Which was the last thing she wanted right now.

So, she walked.

She walked until the distant sun began to set. She was surprised there was a sun at all in this kinda place, surely every thing would get a lot more sticky with the thing constantly blazing down. She’d have to ask Caine the logistics of that, once she got back to the circus.

…If, she got back to the circus.

Maybe Caine would get busy with everyone else and forget she was even here in the first place?!

That would be awful… but not unexpected. She had kinda snapped at him, a lot. Even if he had deserved it, it wasn’t exactly nice. Or nice.

He controlled her current plain of existence for [——] sake. It had happened again. Pomni had let her emotions get the better of her.

First with Ragatha…

Then… Gummigoo….

And now herself..

Her hands started to flap a little as she realised how much she’d [——-] up.

She wouldn’t blame Caine if he left her here.

She wasn’t cut out for his world anyway…

She let herself sit back against a boulder she’d stopped by. She wanted to sleep. To forget again for just a moment. But she had to be smart. Only Caine knew what kind of creatures must have been waiting for her now that night had fallen.

So, Pomni curled up in a little ball and crammed herself under the nearby boulder. It had a perfect Pomni sized space for her to do so.

The feel of the boulder was grounding, like the feeling of a big strong hug from someone as she slept.

It was exactly what she wanted right now.

So sleep was easy.

Pomni woke up to the sound of gummy birds pecking away at gummy worms. She groaned, rubbing at her face tiredly. Her sleep was fine, but the ground was still rough to sleep on. Honestly, it was lucky her jester outfit was so comfy and accustomed to fit her. Obviously, it made sense living in an AI simulation based world. But she’d never miss the grating feeling of clothing in the real world.

She got up with a stretch and started walking again. She didn’t need to eat or drink, so it was all she could do. Maybe she’d run into some of the citizen NPC’s or some other kind of gummy bandits!

…She missed her gummy bandit.

He’d made her feel less alone. Less crazy. More human. More okay.

Knowing Caine’s current mood, he probably didn’t exist in this world anymore.

He’d listened to her more than anyone else did. Instead of just yelling explanation after explanation or infantilising her. He’d listened and given his own thoughts, treated her like… a person instead of an inconvenience or a punching bag.

He was her… best friend, even if just only for a few moments.

Maybe she could find his buddies?

She hadn’t gotten their names, but they seemed nice enough!

She wouldn’t have to be alone that way either-

“Alright Pomni, you’ve got this. This is your plan now: find Gummigoo’s friends and hopefully… they’ll let you stay with them until Caine decides to bring you back.”

And so, she got back to walking again. It was the only thing she could do now, so it was peaceful and grounding. She had a plan. She could do this.

•

“You know, you shouldn’t let him treat you like that.” Hummed Zooble.

Gangle looked up from her notebook.

“I-I know… He’s just intimidating… a-and cruel, so I get scared.” She eeked out.

Zooble nodded at this, limping over to sit beside her. She’d crammed herself into a little hidey hole to escape Jax’s torment.

“You’re so brave Zooble.. I-I don’t know how you can talk to Jax normally..”

“He respects me.”

“…how?”

“Because I don’t give him what he wants. Acknowledgement.”

“O-Oh.”

“Besides, I think your drawings are pretty cool.”

“R-Really?”

“Mhm. You’re doing better than Rags over there. I don’t think she’s shut up since Pomni disappeared.”

“Mm… I- think she’s worried.”

“Obviously, anyways, enough about Ragatha. Back to your drawings.”

Zooble watched as Gangle gave a shy smile at this, happily starting to ramble about her art.

Being with Zooble felt safe.

Being with Gangle felt nice.

Sometimes nice things came about from bad situations.

Part 3