#i waaaant to do it now but not enough to actually do it

[kissmethroughthebone]

that broke unemployed guy has been sending me multiple messages trying to reject me after I already rejected him, it's been multiple hours..... like dude get a grip

It's amusing how men can hear a "you're nice but that doesn't sound intentional enough for me, but that's fine, I can tell we'd connect great as platonic friends though, also I am busy on the days mentioned" and think that requires any further messages

their egos are fragile.

anyway i think to myself, "we are dodging mutual bullets! i like men with money who are willing to worship the ground i walk on, you like down-to-earth girls who are able to date your unemployed poly ass!"

I already have a roster of platonic and romantic connections who can get me food and movie tickets, I'd rather not have one more that can do even less, but I appreciate the offer!

[sheikfangirl]

Just wanted to ask, did you see the new Zelda Lego set? What do you think of the BOTW Zelda/Link minifigures?

Hey it's a nice coincidence you are asking @nintendofan4ever, I was actually on my way to make a post about the Lego set 😂

Something to know about me in real life: I am a Lego enthusiast, and I do have a decent collection. (That's a couple of my models, but my 8yo son's collection is bigger) 🤭

Yup! I saw the Deku Tree Lego set alright! I fact, I was happy to finally see pictures without watermarks because the set actually leaked online last year and Lego groups were talking a lot about it.

The mini figs? They are GLORIOUS!! Gotta love Lego Zelink my friend! Their hair, accessories....The little Sheikah slate, the Shields. My only nitpick is their hand color. I think they should be colored like their gloves. I might switch them if i actually buy the set. Yeah...i dont know if i'll get it. I expected the retail price to be expensive but 400$ CAD?! It's insane for the amount of pieces...the majority of them being leaves. I got enough Lego xp to know this set will be quick to build... Also, since the set leaked last year, i have kept ALL my Lego VIP reward points for THIS SET. I got freakin 10 000++ points and it is still overpriced. But i waaaant iiiiiiitttttt! It's really a fight between my heart and my reason, i don't know who will win yet.

...but one of the reason i want the Deku Tree Set is that its also a set from my upcoming 18 pages Zelink comic: "The Message", a title that is absolutely not spoiling the plot, right? 😂

I now have an official deadline to release it publicly. I have to beat the Lego set hahaha. I will want to see stop motion versions of my damn comic!

Here is another teaser, just for fun! It's ugly rough sketches time!

Cheers!

[lizhly-writes]

so this was supposed to happen in that miraculous ladybug au i wrote like 3 years ago but i never got to that point. i found this in an old file here you go

Bihyung massages his forehead. "Look. Flu shots are important because they mean you're not going to get the flu. If you get the flu, you're going to be coughing and cold and probably vomiting everywhere. It's going to be terrible. You know that. I know you know that. Neither of us wants to deal with that."

"But I don't waaaant to," Biyoo whines.

The thing about Kim Biyoo is that while she might have, at one point, been fifteen years old and still technically possesses memories from that time, it doesn't change the fact that she's actually a tiny child. Physically and mentally.

Bihyung looks at Biyoo's tiny stubborn face and weighs his options. While he could pick her up and carry her to the pharmacy for her shot, it would not stop her from kicking and biting and otherwise making a fuss. A teenager struggling to keep his hold on a screaming and squirming child is not a good look.

He bets Kim Dokja would be able to do it just fine. Biyoo likes Kim Dokja better, she would definitely hold still for Kim Dokja if he asked her to. Unfortunately, Kim Dokja is not here right now because Kim Dokja is an irresponsible little shit.

"What if I buy you ice cream after?" Bihyung says wearily.

Kim Biyoo brightens. "Really?"

"Yes. Really."

"Thanks, dad!"

"Please do not call me that," Bihyung says flatly. He's fifteen years old, he's too young to be a father of any kind. This is Kim Dokja's fault, anyway. Why does Bihyung have to put up with this? If Kim Dokja was going to magick a child into existence, Kim Dokja should be the one taking care of it to begin with.

Maybe this is just life now. Constantly cleaning up after Kim Dokja's messes. That's a terrible life, he wants a refund.

Instead of nodding and/or otherwise conveying she will comply with his wishes, Kim Biyoo looks up at him and... smirks. It's a really, terribly familiar smirk. It fits too well on her tiny, too-familiarly smug face.

Bihyung plants his hand over it and pushes lightly. "You're picking up bad habits from your father, I swear," he grumbles.

"Yes, mom," Kim Biyoo says, her voice muffled but still clear enough to make out her mockingly sweet tone.

Bihyung physically recoils. "That's worse. Do not call me that. At all. Ever."

"Sure. Dad."

"Eurgh. Why does it have to be mom or dad, can't you just call me hyung or ahjussi or something? Do you just want to see me make this face whenever you -- oh that's exactly it, isn't it, you little brat."

[nonnui]

Design Home

When I started this sideblr it was called "Imaginary Money", because the reason I was playing so many phone games in the first place was in order to earn game currency for a game I was playing recreationally.  Eventually I ran out of worthwile offers of imaginary money, and then not long afterward I ran out of actual imaginary money.  It was no longer as much fun to play the game when I was no longer rolling in oodles of dollars and diamonds.  I put it down and did other things when I wanted to play a mindless game.

Until Now.

So, coming back to it after all this time, how does Design Home, a phone game about interior decoration, stack up?

Quality Of Life.  Design Home could be better here.  Its enormous catalog of pretend furniture can be filtered, but neither sorted (e.g. by price) nor searched (e.g. for the name of the accent table you remember liking way back when - oh, yeah, it turns out it's not just IKEA that names its furniture, practically everybody does that apparently).  You have to restart the game to get up to date results on how well your submitted rooms have performed in the voting.  It's not unheard of to need to delete an article of decor to see one that was hidden behind it and be able to tap it to replace it.  You can only have two items you don't "own" ("own" five-at-a-time uses of, that is) in a room you're working on simultaneously, which is only usually enough to make informed purchasing decisions.  And it waaaants your non-fictional money.  It's not the worst offender in the space, but it's no free browser Tetris either.  It would like to remind you that you can purchase a package of attractively coordinated pretend objects in the color of the week for only $5.99, and that you have earned twenty percent off on their tie-in merchandise store that doesn't even sell real versions of their beautiful store brand virtual rugs for some reason and just has, like, pillows.  Mediocre.  3/5.

Throughline.  Not a strong point, but it's not actually trying to do anything like have an arc, here.  There is something like it in the relatively early game, where you can furnish "your" "houses" in addition to the challenges in "client" homes, and you get progressively larger and fancier additional abodes to fill in until you're picking colors for your helicopter.  Eventually you run out of these, and I did so before I put the game down way back when.  By the equivalent Coherence standard of Imaginary Money's rubric, though, it's stellar.  Not a hair-on-goathide-storage-ottomoan out of place.  There is the stuff you put in the rooms, and there is the currency you use to get the stuff, which you get by showing up and by putting the stuff in the rooms.  There are no insipid minigames.  There are no extraneous features.  There are a few gimmicks - they're doing a thing where they present rooms as being inspired by zodiac signs, for example, and there are incentives offered to complete more of a given gimmick as opposed to the same number of unrelated rooms.  But you go there and you put the furniture and you pick a rug and you do the next one, same as with anything else.  5/5.

Pacing. Design Home is one of those games where you start out with a very generous signing bonus and fritter it away making entry-level decisions and choices, and later you are poorer but better at the game and have more things unlocked.  The leveling is, unusually, not exponentiated.  The leveling is, also unusually, based entirely on the price tags of the items you use in the rooms you're submitting, which creates some odd in-tension incentives (at least if you have to buy the items out of pocket - many are available as prizes), but you can level up pretty often if you do most of the rooms.  There is very gentle deadline pressure on the challenges, each remaning available for a few days whereupon it goes down to be voted on.  I think that, the usual grumbles about currency generosity aside, the pacing in Design Home is... good?  It's actually good.  5/5.

Aesthetics. God, it is so pretty.  At least at phone-size, everything is photorealistic.  I have spent enough time playing Design Home that I can now walk into actual situations with furniture from the same brands (they use real brands in addition to stuff, mostly rugs and objets d'art), and go "it's blorbo from my mobile game!"  There's a brick and mortar SOBU store across the street from my masseuse and I went into it once to see my blorbos.  They were all fantastically expensive and uncomfortable to sit on; it was a fun time.  I have recognized specific chairs in Zillow postings.  I have spent more than four seconds considering buying something from AnthroLiving.  What's more, I think that it may have actually... taught me anything about interior design.  Like, I have to take it with a grain of salt.  The rooms that perform well in the voting are going to look like the rented staging decor in real estate open houses, with staging furniture and a strategic bowl of plastic lemons and a few wicker spheres on a bookshelf in lieu of books.  No one lives like that.  Real people keep books or at least those organizational bins on their shelves.  Their cat destroyed all their wicker spheres last year and they couldn't think of any reasons to buy replacements.  Their lemons are fruit.  Real people also, I believe, do not tell their interior designers, "put a black industrial marble cocktail table, but like, I don't care which one, which part of it is black, or whether it costs $785 or $4,509.  Oh, and throw in an item, any item, from Pottery Barn.  Not their kids' line though.  That doesn't count."  But... staging furniture looks good!  That's why they stage it that way!  And I know now more or less what considerations are going into those decisions.  I have developed an aesthetic flinch about blavy; I have looked up shagreen; I have learned to see that thing people talk about when they say a rug "really ties a room together".  I have to adjust for the display size, but still.  Playing Design Home isn't not an artistic endeavor.  5/5.

Charm. Well, they have incredibly cute April Fool's challenges.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they do this year; in the past they had a dollhouse, a fishtank, stuff like that.  Sometimes they'll do exciting fantasy or sci-fi themed sets, peculiar though it is to imagine a witch filling her cottage in the woods with name-brand occasional chairs and a space station sourcing its seating from Scout Design Studio.  Otherwise, though... a little short on charm.  There are blurbs about the "client" behind each challenge and they are uniformly tired; I can just see the copy-writer dragging one hand across their keyboard, checking off an entry in their big list of cities in the world that they haven't used already this year with the other.  "Design a..." (throws dart) "French style bedroom for a..." (rolls dice) "professional air guitarist, in" (spins wheel) "Quito, Ecuador.  He wants a..." (consults bird entrails) "weathered wood console table... no, why would it have to be French?"  None of this information is available when it comes to voting, so trying to use it as an input into the details of your item placements doesn't usually make sense and accordingly the successful players don't.  The voters will not be checking your room over for hallmarks of belonging to an air guitarist or brands regularly available in Ecuador or Frenchness and will not have a meaningful opportunity to do so even if they were to put in the work.  2/5.

Nonnui™.  Well, I did quit the game that one time.  I appreciate creativity-under-constraint as an activity, but there are enough other constraints built into the game that being poor too takes it down a fair few pegs in entertainment value.  But... it isn't not an artistic endeavor.  The time I decided to spend my jury duty money on Design Home diamonds because imaginary rugs would make me feel better about having to get up early and be away from my children was an art supply splurge, a way to make something pretty without needing steady hands or uninterrupted time or two free hands or table space.  I can probably get better returns buying fun stuff for me and the children I teach art class for to play with together.  But I can't fit all that fun stuff so fluidly into the spaces of my life.  This is what's good about phone games.  And Design Home is good at being an art tool within the phone game niche.  4/5.

[rouge-the-bat]

~Tag Nine People You Want To Get To Know Better~

i was tagged by @l-lawliets-pussy owo thanks for taggin me :3!!

Three Ships

shadouge and kurahi are my entire life ♡♡♡ i love them SO MUCH i can never get enough of them >w< theyre so PERFECT

as for a third one uhhh idk what other one to pick alongside these two since all other ships of mine pale in comparison fjdjjf my love for those two kinda eclipse over everything else. ig ill just go with the ddlc polyship of the four girls, which i like to call "club of hearts" hehe~ i like moniyuri of the group in particular tho :3

First Ever Ship

uhhh man idek tbh? ive been shipping for as long as i can remember. it coulda been shadouge, but if not it was probably something like mareach, zelink, or sonamy. i really cant say for sure.

as for first ship ive ever actually made content for, and first ship i actually fell into HARD, thatd absolutely be shadouge.

Last Song

oh thatd be caprice of the leaves from genshin impact! i looked it up after i skimmed through the songs available for the rhythm minigame in the new event n saw that one. its so FUNKY i love it !!!

Currently Reading

uhh book-wise? nothing lol. all ive been reading lately has been just about anything in the kurahi tag on ao3

Currently Watching

like my third watch of yu yu hakusho gkdbfkd im watching it alongside my bro right now bc i wanted to show it to him!!! were in the semifinals of the dark tournament rn owo

Currently Consuming

well just a bit ago i had a microwave bowl of teriyaki chicken (with stuff in like like rice, broccoli, and pineapple)! pretty good for a microwave dinner

Craving

smmmoooootthiiieeeee 😭 im always craving smoothies theyre so goooood. i need some fruity shit NOW. basically any kind of fruit smoothie i waaaant itttt

and nowww to tag ppl hmmmm... ill do @megalo-station @transgaykurama @catfuyus @aroaceamyrose @yoko-kurama-the-sex-god @timestruehero @shining-bewear @fenwis and uhhhhhh im skimping out on one and just saying whoever sees this can consider me tagging them :3

[shunsuiken]

Me, before 3.2 and 3.3: Lol why do people even like Scaramouche? He's so unappealing as a villain and he looks silly with his big-ass hat

Me now: BABYYYYYY ❤ OMG BABY DIDN'T GET ENOUGH LOVE??? 🥺 BABYBOY WANTS HIS HAND HELD??🥺 HE'LL DO ANYTHING TO PAY US BACK BECAUSE HE THINKS EVERY ACT OF KINDNESS HAS TO GET REPAID AND THAT HE DOESN’T DESERVE IT??🥺 LITTLE MEOW MEOW IS COCKY AND BRATTY BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT TO ADMIT HE HAS FEELINGS?? 🥺

I actually feel so stupid rn ahaha 🤡

NOOO STOPP BECAUSE THIS IS EXPOSING ME SO HARD RN like ok i always knew he was hot but that was just it to me

then 3.3 happened and i

NOW I WAAAANT HIM WANT WANT WAAANT HIM and thats how i made the impulsive decision to pull for him <3

[seekerstone]

“just do ur homework a day early” very good advice thank u. i will not take it bc unfortunately it will be missing deadline panic. instead i will fritter away the day & then stay up until 3am to do it then. thanks for understanding

[pageofheartdj]

What do you do early in the morning instead of getting back to sleep? Of course think about the monkeys XD

I just dhjjgd love Wukong and Macaque and god they are both a mess!

I am pretty sure Wukong has ADHD with his legendary impulsivity and just forgetting things the moment they aren’t in front of him(like, it was years when he left his monkeys to find immortality XD) And now I am pretty sure he is depressed. His jttw crew probably died, since sealing his former sword brother DBK under mountain caused him to just dissappear. He isolated himself for hundred of years and nothing in the show indicates that he talks with anyone aside MK and maybe his lawyer. The man is the social butterfly yet even when MK’s friends were right there to talk he leaves. And I am preeeetty sure he developed an Atlas syndrom, caring all the responsibilities on his shoulders and feeling like everything is his fault.

And then there is Macaque. Oh boy. This man is an enigma. Like what do you waaaant?xD So start with simple, he actually misses the old days with Wukong, his play sounds melancholic, until the bitterness flows in. I am pretty sure that is self sabotage. He doesn’t allow himself to let go and actually fix his relationship with Wukong. There is a burning mix between ‘He abandoned me, it’s his fault, I hate him!’ that leads his motivations and “I was not good enough, I hate myself’ that passively crumbles him. Pretty sure he perceived them like a whole with Wukong being the better half. It’s not hard to fall into bad behaviour if you are already believe you are bad.

Now to their fall out. You see, I don’t believe Wukong would have attacked unprovoked. In JTTW he killes him, in LMK he attacks him hard enough to scar, but doesn’t kill. I also don’t believe that Macaque attacked Wukong cause he was evil all along. They were best friends. The play is Macaque’s pov. There had to be a misunderstanding between them, mixed with their personal issues. Wukong probably didn’t notice the growing distress in Macaque with how quickly Wukong was gaining power to the point that Macaque was sure he didn’t work for it at all, while Macaque struggled to at least keep up. And then to Macaque... what would be the reason for his attack from JTTW, since I think LMK still would follow the basic chronology. Why would Macaque snap? And then it hit me. What if Macaque, like Wukong, has an unchecked... issue. Something like NPD, narcissism. Narcissists can’t admit they are wrong, that they made mistake. There are insecurities deep inside that push these people to crave love, attention, the need to be always right, to be the best. They have harder time empathising with others. And also... they tend to put this one person onto pedestal. To idolise them, love and adore. Until they do something wrong, something different and suddenly the pedestal crumbles and instead of love there is hatred. Wukong’s journey changed him, but Macaque doesn’t see it like that. He sees a personal betrayal for more power.

‘You abandoned me for this?! Then I will take it away from you for myself!!’

[fandom-necromancer]

A little Distraction Part 4

This has been prompted by a lovely anon! I still can’t believe how many of you like this story, I hope I can do it justice XD Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 | AU: Reverse AU (Warnings: mentioned abuse, but you know the last part,so...) Link to part one no longer available [Part2]   [Part3]   [Part5]   [Read complete on AO3]

‘I-I-I’m still embarrassed about it.’ Richard looked at Gavin sitting in the passenger side lips quirking up. ‘Hey, don’t be’, he laughed. ‘Connor and Hank won’t mind, and it was nice seeing you relax for once.’ ‘Holy shit, I m-m-met you yesterday!’ ‘I guess’, Richard shrugged and drove on. ‘Hey, don’t overthink it. If you want to, we can all pretend it never happened.’ Gavin staid silent for a while. ‘I don’t think I want that.’ ‘Hmm?’, Richard hummed in question. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘I mean that it f-f-felt gooood. Wouldn’t want it to never have happened.’

‘Then try not to worry’, Richard suggested gently. ‘I didn’t mind it. I enjoyed that evening a lot.’ They both drove in silence for a while, then Richard hesitantly asked: ‘You still want to come back home with me? Or did you change your mind?’ ‘No, I… I stand by my word. I would… I think I just want to belong somewhere, and you might just work.’ Richard smiled to himself, nodding. ‘Right kind of weird for you?’ ‘Right kind of normal’, Gavin disagreed. ‘But yeah, you get the essence. Let’s just get back.’

They arrived back at Richard’s house and took their share of the leftovers back inside. Connor had packed Gavin an extra portion of the thirium cookies and he didn’t really know how he should feel about that. Still, as he sat at Richard’s table over an unfinished puzzle, munching on them. ‘You r-r-r-really enjoy doing this?’, he asked sceptically. ‘Yeah’, the human nodded. ‘But it’s just a pictuuure. It’s right there on the p-p-packaging too.’ Richard huffed. ‘Yeah, I guess it’s pointless. But it’s fun and something to keep you busy. I always got at least one on Christmas because the grandparents didn’t really know what to get me. Connor and I always finished one the days in between the years. I like to hold up that tradition.’ Gavin frowned and took a random piece from the heap. He looked at it, then at the picture on the box and placed it in the middle of the empty space. ‘Th-th-this one belongs there’, he said without much interest.

Richard looked at it and laughed. ‘You need to find pieces that fit together until you have the whole picture, Gavin.’ ‘If I continue liiiike this, it will be finished too.’ Richard sighed and handed him the piece. ‘Try find a piece in there that fits with yours.’ Gavin took it and looked at the box until the human took it away. ‘Without cheating’, he demanded. ‘I’d have to try every single one!’ ‘Nah, you can sort those out that don’t fit by colour’, Nines shrugged. ‘Only then it’s trial and error.’ Gavin shook his head and searched the heap, occasionally flicking pieces a bit too far when his hands glitched. Apparently, he had found one and tested it out. The piece fit perfectly. ‘This is pointless’, he commented, searching for the next one. ‘Maaaaaybe this is just a human th-th-thing.’ Richard grinned. ‘Maybe. Any other idea? What would you rather do?’

Gavin was thinking, trying to find the next piece. His hands glitched stronger suddenly and he had to momentarily stop. ‘We… I went for a walk with m-m-my f-f-family baaaack then. The day after Christmas.’ Richard stopped, attention focussing completely on the android in front of him. ‘Th-th-th-the kids loooved the snow. Alwaaays went to the Grand C-c-circus park and build a snowman or…’ This time it wasn’t his voice-box giving in. Gavin just stopped speaking. ‘Do you want to go there?’, Richard asked carefully. ‘I could drive us there.’ ‘I don’t actually know’, the android answered. ‘Maybe?’ He looked at Richard uncertainly. Nines tried to be reassuring and stood up. ‘I’ll get the keys. We can go and if you don’t like it, we simply drive back. I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs a bit after Hank’s food.’

-

Less than half an hour later, they stood at the entrance of the park. The trees were clad in festive lights and shone on the pathways in the beginning dark. Quite a few people were walking about, but it wasn’t at all crowded. Richard wrapped his scarf closer around his neck to keep out the cold and put his hands in his pockets. He looked around, breath coming out in little clouds and he smiled. ‘It’s nice here.’ Gavin just nodded and hesitantly followed the human in. Maybe it had been a bad idea to come to a place loaded with memories, but when he watched Richard smiling at the lights all around and locating the nearest trailer that sold coffee, he was almost ready to change his mind on that first impression. He quickly joined him and a cup of warmed thirium was pressed into his hand. Confused he looked at it. ‘Hey, you think I’d only get myself something?’, Richard chuckled. ‘How’s that saying? If you’re cold, they are cold?’ ‘I b-b-believe that’s for dogs’, Gavin complained. ‘Androids can’t get cold.’ ‘Then pretend this stupid human doesn’t understand and is concerned.’ ‘Urgh’, Gavin groaned at Richard pampering him, but still accepted the warm drink, sipping on it.

‘There’s a free bench over there’, the human pointed out. ‘How about we sit there and enjoy our drinks, hmm?’ ‘Th-th-the whole point oooof this is to move a bit after eatiiing a lot.’ ‘Are you complaining about everything today?’, Richard asked, but the soft smile on his face told Gavin he didn’t mean it. ‘I just like complaining’, Gavin shrugged. They sat down on the bench underneath a decorated tree and just watched the people walking by and the decorations. After a while though, Gavin’s eyes found their ways to the person sitting next to him. There was a certain spark in those grey-blue eyes as they looked up towards the night sky that still held a few stars even with all the light pollution. Richard caught him staring the next moment, but Gavin didn’t avert his eyes. He was still thinking about how to put everything he felt right now into a simple thank you, as someone came running up to him.

‘Gavin!’ He flinched at the touch, but recoiled even more when he saw who stood there, a hand on his knee. ‘Kathy?’, he breathed the name in question, disbelieving and panicking at the implication of the child standing here. ‘Max! Max, Gavin’s here!’, the girl shouted, and Gavin’s heart sank as another familiar face appeared smiling as he recognised him. ‘Gavin!’ The android just stared at them wide-eyed, unable to speak. ‘Kathrine, Max, where are you? Get back here!’ Oh no. He knew that voice. ‘What- Get away from that man, you two!’ Gavin looked up in the face of the man that pulled his children away from where they had stood before him. And the man stared right back. They both were likely the same level of shocked, but Gavin was freezing completely over. He couldn’t move and at the same time trembled in glitches, while his LED was stuck on red.

‘Err… Kathy, Max, please go back to your mom, okay?’ ‘But that’s Gavin!’, the girl protested. ‘Yes, let daddy talk to him for a while, okay?’ The man turned around, watching them run back to their mother before facing Gavin again and swallowing. The android still was unable to do anything but stare. ‘Gavin… is it really you?’ The android nodded jerkily. ‘Yes. It’s me, John.’ The human took a step back, breathing heavy. ‘Oh, God.’

Richard looked at the encounter from the side-lines, needing no explanation to what happened here. ‘Oh, God, Gavin, I’m so fucking sorry. I panicked and I wanted to keep them save and I- I… Fuck, I didn’t know you were alive. I did horrible things to you. Truly horrible things. I can’t even imagine how you must have felt and fuck. I’m sorry. I- I didn’t know, I-‘ ‘IIIIt’s o-o-o-okay’, Gavin pressed out just to make the man shut his mouth. ‘No, it’s not. I fucking beat you almost every day! And when I was afraid you were alive and would turn on me, I just dumped you telling you to wait. Although I knew I’d never come back for you.’ ‘It’s okaaaay’, Gavin tried again. ‘I d-d-d-don’t waaaant to th-th-think about it anymore.’ John looked at him, brows furrowed in confusion. ‘Why?’ ‘B-b-b-because I have my ooown family now.’ It was the first time, the man even acknowledged Richard sitting next to him, coffee long forgotten. ‘What?’ ‘R-r-richard. He found me at the scraaaapyard and t-t-t-took me hooome. I haaated you. I waaanted to c-c-come back. I missed you. Th-th-the kids. You were my faaamily. But I waited l-l-l-long enough for you. I want to st-st-start again now. With Richard and h-h-his family.’

John swallowed hard and got to his knees, ignoring how the snow soaked the fabric of his trousers. Carefully, he took Gavin’s hand in his and nodded. ‘Okay. I understand. Just… I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought you were a machine that didn’t feel anything. I… I still shouldn’t have, and I know it. I’m sorry I did this to you. I want you to know that. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that because of me. I’m… I’ve sought help for my problem. The kids and Helen, they are safe from me. And I wish you all the best in your life. I hope we never meet again.’ He stood up and took a step back, facing Richard and he could see the man was really meaning it. ‘Treat him better than I did. Promise me.’ Nines nodded. ‘I will.’ ‘Thank you. Goodbye, Gavin.’

Richard watched the man hurry back to his family and Gavin sip on his thirium with shaking hands. They had long left the park, when he dared to talk to the android again. ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Not r-r-really’, Gavin answered. ‘I think I would like to go home now.’ ‘Of course’, Richard spoke gently and guided him up and towards his car. ‘I’ll drive us home.’ The sound of the engine made Gavin ease up a bit, but it was only when they arrived at the man’s home, that Gavin dared to release all the built-up tension.

‘Thank you.’

Richard looked up from where he had put away his shoes. ‘For what?’ ‘Everything. Being nice and caring. Picking me up to beeeeegin with. I think even if he did come b-b-b-back to get me, I wouldn’t want to go back with h-h-h-him.’ ‘You don’t have to thank me for that’, Richard sighed. ‘Maybe not. But I feeelt like I had to.’ ‘I understand’, he nodded. ‘What now?’

Gavin looked over at the table. ‘You still have to finish that puzzle, right? And maybe a m-m-m-movie afterwards?’ Richard smiled at him and Gavin really could get used to seeing that. ‘Sounds amazing. Let me just heat up Hank’s leftovers from yesterday and we can get right to it.’

[>next part]

[seeds-of-the-garden]

Another one: Lance saying that Pidge is "just a (best)friend" but his actions/behavior to her is *in not just a friend way* ;)

Okay, so there is a small comic out there by kororoko where this exact scenario takes place, except it is a college AU. I think about the comic a lot and if Koro sees this, know that this is entirely because of their comic. ;-D 

                                    _____________________

                           You Say One Thing, I Hear Another

“I’m all alone Hunk.” True to his ever dramatic ways, Lance draped himself over Hunk’s tool table, effectively blocking any more progress he was about to make on Keith’s Planet Hopper’s engine overhaul.. 

Keith, who had joined Hunk halfway through the overhaul process, let out a loud snort. 

“You got something to say to me, Keith?” Apparently Lance was testy as well as ‘lonely’,  Hunk moved to break up the altercation before it could begin.

“Guys. Please.” He held his hands up between the other men.

“You’ve got ten minutes, Lance, to elaborate. After that, I’ve got to get back to this engine.” Hunk suspected ten minutes was hardly enough time for Lance to get going. “First, why do you feel you’re all alone?”

Lance nodded, a little pout on his lips. He took a moment to glare at Keith before starting. “Why don’t I have a girlfriend? I waaaant one.” 

Behind him, Hunk heard Keith snort again.

“Alright, let’s go!” Lance pushed past Hunk to grab at Keith. Keith didn’t even flinch. 

“There’s no reason to be angry. I just think you’re being dramatic for no reason. You’re not alone. You’re literally here with me and Hunk right now.” Keith calmly moved Lance’s hands from his shirt front.

Lance made a frustrated growl. “That’s not the same, bro. Didn’t you listen. I. Want. A. Girlfriend.” 

Awareness, then confusion, dawned on Keith’s face. “Isn’t Pidge your girlfriend?”

Hunk was feeling giddy at Keith’s question. Honestly, he’d been wanting to ask Pidge and Lance the same question for a while. He just never found the right moment because one or the other would take off to hang with each other.

“What!?” Lance looked shocked, then started to giggle. “Nah man. I see where you got confused. Pidge is a girl, and she’s my friend, one of my best friends actually, but like, a girlfriend is different.” He patted Keith’s shoulder in pity for how obtuse his friend could be at times.

“I’m not an idiot, Lance. I know what a girlfriend is.” Keith gave Lance a deadpan look. “I just assumed Pidge was your girlfriend. I’m actually shocked she’s not.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lance crossed his arms.  

Keith shrugged.

Hunk tapped his chin, his mind going a mile a minute trying to unravel Pidge and Lance’s relationship.

“Aha!” He put his finger up. “Since we established you’re not alone. What do you want a girlfriend for then?”

“So we can go on dates,” 

“Don’t you already go out every day with Pidge?” Keith interjected.

Lance rolled his eyes.

“And?” Hunk prodded.

“And have dinner together.” 

“Don’t you eat dinner with Pidge pretty much every night?” Keith sounded like he was getting annoyed.

“AND Hunk. I eat dinner with Pidge and Hunk most nights. You know we can’t leave Hunk out when we go food exploring.” Lance made a ‘DuH’ face at Keith.

Hunk nodded, “And I do thank you for that. But you wouldn’t just go out to eat with Pidge alone?

“Oh, nah, I would. We go out all the time without you when you’re too busy.” 

“Okay. What else?”

“What else is there?” Keith asked. 

“What else is there!? You’ve clearly not had a girlfriend either. What else is there indeed.” 

Hunk chuckled to himself. His friends were really hopeless. He bet Keith never even thought about having a relationship, he definitely didn’t seem the type to prioritize something like that.

“Yes, Lance. What else? So far you’ve listed stuff you do with us all the time.”

“Okay. I want to take her in the lions to go see all the amazing sunsets on all the planets we’ve been to. It’d be so romantic.” He clasped his hands at his chest and batted his eyes.

Keith spoke up again. “Didn’t you and Pidge do that already?” Hunk thought Keith knew an awful lot about what Lance and Pidge do considering he wasn’t on base very often.

Lance waved his hand in dismissal. “Yeah, but that was to prove a point. She said sunsets were lame, so I proved otherwise to her. Now we even look for a new planet a week to go watch a sun (or suns) set.”  He folded his arms, a smug look upon his face.

“You still haven’t proven to me that Pidge isn’t your girlfriend.” Keith gave a smug look right back to Lance. A spark of challenge in his eyes.

Hunk watched between the two. “Lance! What else?”

Lance tapped his chin in thought. “I mean, I would tell her how cute and pretty and amazing she is every day. How her eyes were just like the sunsets we watched, and how smart she is and how much I just love being around her.” 

Keith moved to speak again, but Hunk purposefully interrupted. “You don’t think Pidge is adorable and pretty? I can’t believe that.”

“No, I do think she’s pretty. But I can’t tell her that. She’d kill me. So I need a girlfriend so i can get all these feelings out.”

“What feelings?” Hunk’s curiosity kept getting more and more piqued.

“You know. The ‘wanting to hold someone in your arms feeling’. The ‘if I just leaned over a little bit our lips would touch’ feelings. The ‘so what if we kissed a few times, it didn’t satisfy me and I keep wanting to come back for more’ feelings. You know, usual girlfriend stuff.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re clueless.” Hunk watched as he stalked out of the room. His mind caught up with what he just heard. 

“This list seems awfully specific. Is there someone you had in mind?”

Lance looked up at Hunk with confusion on his face, then his eyes widened, his cheeks turned red, his mouth made a little “oh” sound. 

Hunk smiled. “I think you just solved your own problem.” He turned back to the engine to continue his repairs. He hoped Keith ended up having as much success with Pidge.

[just-absolutely-super]

Attempting Love Potions

@soulxmakaweek

Day 7: Magic. And what’s more magical than love potions lmao. Yes, I'm pulling the old, "Love Potion No. 9" cliché. BUT WITH A TWIST! Read and find out what that twist is!

Summary: Kim's up to no good, brandishing a love potion guaranteed to make your unrequited love requited. Shame it doesn't seem to work on her intended target...

FF.net // AO3

"C'mon, Maka. You know you waaaant to!" Kim tried to entice, wiggling the little pink vial of liquid in her hand.

The scythe meister scowled at the young witch. "No, Kim. I've told you a thousands times already: I do not want any part of a love potion!"

Maka ignored Kim's pout. Ever since Kim revealed a witch acquaintance of hers had brewed up a love potion guaranteed to make your—quote—"unrequited love requited"—unquote—she had been bugging Maka nonstop to use it on Soul.

The blonde didn't even understand why Kim was so insistent on it. It's not like she liked Soul or anything…

Okay, fine, she'll admit she may be developing feelings for him that may or may not be romantic. HOWEVER, she refused to play Kim's game and force her weapon to develop the same affections toward her.

It was practically inhumane! And probably illegal as Kid hadn't figured out all the details when it came to using forms of magic in this new DWMA/Witch alliance yet…

Kim groaned, "Maka! Everyone knows you and Soul are, like, endgame! Why don't you do every single one of us a favor and speed up the process a little?"

Maka pushed away the proffered drink, "No, Kim. Please stop pushing this. It's making me mad."

She was not above Maka Chopping a friend—ask Soul and Black Star.

Thankfully, the witch backed down, but Maka could tell she was displeased.

"Fine! See if I try helping you gain a love life in the future!"

Maka rolled her eyes, "I don't need anyone's help, thank you very much. If I want a boyfriend, I can get one."

Kim snorted, eyeing Maka up and down, "Not with that figure you ain't."

Maka felt a vein about to burst. Maybe she should go ahead and Maka Chop her. Sure, Kim might get revenge on her in some way, but it wouldn't be anything major considering she knew Kim somewhat feared the scythe meister. After all, Maka did kill Arachne and went toe-to-toe with Kishin Asura.

"Who cares what anyone thinks about my 'figure'?" Maka huffed, "If they were worth anything, they wouldn't care. Anyways, even if I did want to 'speed up' my relationship with Soul—which, by the way, is none of your business—I wouldn't use something as underhanded as a love potion. I want Soul to like me because he chooses to. It's really sleazy trying to force feelings onto somebody, and Soul would never forgive me if I did that to him."

Kim held up her hands in defense, "Okay, okay. I won't bother you about it anymore. Geez, no need to get all noble on me…"

Maka nodded, "Thank you for understanding. I gotta go meet up with Soul now, so I'll see you in Stein's class later today okay?"

Kim waved at her friend's retreating back, "Alright, see you then."

As she watched Maka round the corner, Kim turned her gaze back to the love potion in her hands. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. She spent a good amount of money for this bottle!

When her friend Winifred sent out that notice that she had brewed "the perfect love potion," Kim couldn't help but jump on the opportunity. All the students at the DWMA could tell that Maka and Soul were taken with each other, so this felt like the most logical thing to do.

Sure, it may be an…she'll say unorthodox way in getting the two together, but she figured that if Soul started acting desperately in love with his meister then it would kick start his actual real feelings for her.

All the romcoms with love potions ended in happily ever after, who's to say this wouldn't turn out favorably?

Putting the love potion in her pocket, Kim leaned against the wall, waiting for Jackie to meet up with her so they could go to their next class. Across from her she noticed a soda machine. As she stared at it, she felt an idea pop into her head.

Well…Maka did say she didn't want to use the love potion. She never said anything about Kim using it for her own goals.

Goals that happened to involve her two friends getting together, that was.

Letting out an almost sinister giggle, Kim reached into her pocket to locate some change.

----------

Maka and Soul made themselves comfortable in their seats as they waited for Stein to enter the room to begin class. In the row below them, Maka noticed Jacqueline but not her meister.

"Jackie? Where's Kim?" Maka inquired.

The demon lantern shrugged, "I'm not sure. We were on our way here when she told me she had to do something really quick. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her, but she declined and told me to save her seat."

Maka hummed, feeling unease in the pit of her stomach. She hoped this didn't have anything to do with what the two discussed roughly an hour ago…

"Here I am! Sorry for making you wait, Jackie!" Maka was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of the witch's voice.

She looked normal enough, a bright smile painted on her porcelain face. In each hand were bottles of Coke. Maka felt herself smile. She supposed she was being paranoid over nothing.

"I got us some drinks. Here!" Kim said, placing one bottle in front of her on the desk before offering the second to her weapon.

Jackie frowned, "Kim, you know that I cut out soda from my diet after I got that kidney stone last month. I can't drink that."

Kim's mouth formed an "o" as she dramatically smacked herself in the head, "Oh darn! I completely forgot! Oh well…"

She then turned around, eyeing Soul and Maka…particularly Soul.

"I don't want this to go to waste, so…Soul! Would you like this Coke?"

Soul gave a nonchalant shrug, reaching for the drink, "Sure, whatever."

It was when she saw Kim's triumphant smirk that it hit Maka what game the witch was playing at. Widening her eyes, she reached out to her weapon as he opened the bottle to take a sip.

"Wait, Soul, stop!"

"Yes, Soul, drink it!" Kim exclaimed, grabbing Maka's hand, so she could prevent her from stopping her weapon. She then used her grip on Maka's hand to pull her forward so Maka was the first person Soul saw.

Seeing the strange reaction in front of him, Soul stopped drinking the Coke to give his meister an incredulous stare. "What's the problem?"

Maka blinked at him, biting her lip in anticipation of something happening. But after a minute passed and the only reaction she got out of her weapon was his usual bored expression, Maka felt herself relax before breaking away from Kim's hold.

Kim, on the other hand, gaped at the scythe in shock. "Wait, what?! You look and act the same!"

Soul blinked, his lips turning downwards, "Am…I not supposed to?"

Kim forcefully grabbed the bottle from his hand and sniffed it. Humming in thought she turned back to Soul.

"Did this taste any different to you?"

Soul narrowed his eyes, "I admit, it's a lot sweeter than I thought it'd be. Why? Did you do something to it?"

Kim ignored his questions, chucking the Coke across the room as she ranted and raved about "scams" and how she was going to skin alive some person named Winifred for "making a fool out of her." All the while everyone in the class stared at the pink haired girl as if she had gone crazy.

Soul turned to Maka, confusion clearly written in his red eyes, "What the hell just happened?"

Maka frowned. She knew exactly what happened. However, like Kim, the outcome was not something she expected. The young witch obviously put the love potion in the drink she gave to Soul. Her plan was to trick him into drinking it so it would have the desired effect on him. Only it didn't work.

The question though, was why didn't it work?

Why wasn't Soul in love with Maka?

"Hey, earth to Maka. I asked you a question."

Maka returned Soul's gaze, searching his eyes. They were the same. He really wasn't affected by the magic of the potion.

Before she could explain, she heard the faint rolling of Stein's chair and the subsequent crash of him falling over, indicating the beginning of his class.

"I'll tell you later." She said, hoping by the time the lecture was over and they made it home she'd have come up with an explanation as to why her weapon wasn't head over heels in fake love with her.

----------

An hour and a half later Maka still didn't know the answer.

She and Soul were walking back to their apartment after school was over (the weather was so nice, Maka had begged Soul to forgo using the bike for today). Maka was concentrating silently on her thoughts while Soul trudged afterwards, glancing at his meister every now and then.

"So you gonna tell me what was up with Kim or what?" he asked.

Maka furrowed her brow. In theory the love potion should have worked. Soul didn't love her, so therefore if he had drank the potion he should be acting out of character right now as his emotions were forced to recognize her as the object of his affections. Keyword should. The reality of the situation was that Soul was acting the same, indicating that there was a flaw somewhere in Kim’s plan.

Maybe the potion was faulty? She couldn't imagine a witch selling Kim a product that wouldn't work, but witches were very crafty, so it couldn't be too off the mark.

"Hey, Maka! Are you listening to me?"

Maybe the ingredients of the soft drink messed with the composition of the potion? That seemed like a reach, and she didn't feel the urge to perform experiments in relation to whether carbonation affected your hormone levels or not…

"Maaaaaka!"

Maybe the potion didn’t affect weapons? Or maybe Soul’s Black Blood had something to do with it? Like maybe it protects him from magic and spells. But, wait, then all the magic the witches they’ve faced in the past wouldn’t have affected him either… Ugh, she was getting a headache from all this analyzing.

"Maka Albarn is a scrawny, nerdy bookworm who definitely loves her Papa!"

"Excuse me?!" Maka cried out, halting in her stride. She glared at her partner, feeling the familiar urge to reach for a book.

Soul gave her an infuriating grin, holding his arms over his head in protection of a possible Maka Chop, "I had to get your attention somehow."

She pouted. "What do you want?"

"I want you to tell me what was up with Kim in class this afternoon. You told me you'd explain, so start explaining."

Oh, right. Of course. Even if Maka didn't know the full explanation as to why Kim's plan failed, the least she could do was tell Soul what said plan was.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But don't get mad at me about it because I specifically told her not to do it!"

Soul waved her off, "Yeah, sure. I got it. Now spill."

Maka took a deep breath. "Kim purchased a love potion from a witch friend of hers. She's been wanting to use it on you as a…prank."

She'd rather die than tell him the real reason for why Kim wanted to trick him into drinking the potion.

Soul blanched. "A…love potion?"

Maka nodded. "Yeah, she wanted to see if it would work and make you fall in love. I guess she thought it'd be even funnier if it were me you fell in love with…"

She averted her gaze away from his, unable to handle the look of disgust he must have on his face. She already knew he didn't have feelings for her, no need to rub salt into the wounds at his vehement protesting for why he would never fall for her, ever.

"I can't believe it…" he said, shock lacing his voice. Suddenly she heard him growl, "That meddling little bitch!"

While Maka didn't usually condone Soul's harsh language toward their comrades, she admitted he was justified in his name-calling. After all, she was thinking the same thing when she realized what Kim's plan had been with that Coke.

"I know. I told her it was a bad idea."

"A bad idea?! She was basically gonna drug me!"

"I know! It was definitely not cool!"

"Hell no, it wasn't! And she actually thought her stupid little plan was gonna work? As if!"

Maka felt herself wince. Okay, now she was hearing the part of his rant that she didn't feel inclined to listen to. Again, he was justified in his anger, but it didn't make it hurt any less that he didn't want to fall in love with her.

"I mean, of course I didn't fall in love with you after drinking it! I'm already—"

He immediately fell silent, his teeth audibly clicking together with how strongly he snapped his mouth shut. Maka blinked in shock.

"You're already…what?"

Sweat began to form on the Death Scythe's brow. "Nothing…"

Maka narrowed her eyes, "No, you were going to say something. What were you going to say?"

He began walking again, his pace picking up as he swiftly moved passed her, "I wasn't going to say anything, let's just drop it!"

"Hey, wait up Soul!" she called after him, practically running to catch up to him.

"I'm feeling pasta tonight, are you? What would you rather have, fettuccini or spaghetti?"

"Quit avoiding the subject, Soul!"

"What subject? The only subject I'm talking about is pasta!"

Maka screamed in frustration.

Why did she have to fall in love with this moron?

----------

"Uh-huh… Yeah, okay… I get it now. Sorry for bitching at you earlier, Winnie. I'll see you at the next Witch Mass… Okay, bye!"

Kim sighed as she closed her cell phone. She and Jackie were sitting at Death Bucks, having a quick snack before heading back to the girls' dorm.

Jackie sipped her chai tea, "So what did she say?"

Kim stirred her iced mocha, "Winifred's potion wasn't a scam like I thought it was. Apparently, if the person drinking it lays eyes on the person they're already in love with it then there's no effect. Something about their love cancelling out the fake love or whatever."

Jackie nodded, "So it does work, you just have to be sure your target really doesn't love you."

"Yep…" she trailed off.

The two were silent for a second, sipping their respective drinks before Jacqueline spoke up again.

"Isn't this a good thing though? I mean, that means the reason Soul wasn't affected was because he already loves Maka. We now have concrete proof."

Kim nodded, but she still looked peeved, "Well, duh, of course I'm happy that the number one pair at the DWMA is practically one step closer to being a legit couple—fucking ecstatic actually!"

"But…?"

"But I was robbed of wacky hijinks!" Kim bellowed, "That emotionally constipated scythe was supposed to act stupidly in love with Maka! Think of the blackmail, Jackie! All the glorious blackmail!"

Jackie sighed. Sometimes she wished her meister didn't have such a devious side. "Well, maybe Maka will figure out why the potion didn't work and she and Soul can finally be together."

Before Kim could retort, they were distracted by the sudden appearance of Soul who was sprinting at impressively high speeds passed their table.

The two girls blinked, flabbergasted. Before either of them could comment on the strange occurrence, another figure barreled by.

"SOUL EATER EVANS!" Maka Albarn bellowed, "GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T USE PASTA AS AN EXCUSE FOREVER!"

Once the scythe meister had disappeared from view, Kim turned back to Jackie. Her face was passive, as if what had just happened didn't even faze her.

"Please! It's gonna take those two a miracle to get their shit together!"

[friendlyfrat-boy]

The Straw-Hat Among Us Ch.5

Green: Roronoa Zoro

”Nobody move,” Zoro barked.

He’d heard something. Something heavy and dull had hit the floor, and damn everything if he wasn’t keeping everyone calm and collected. If someone had been killed… Even if someone had in fact been murdered mere moments ago, in the midst of a fucking crowd, panicking would only muddle what little clues that had.

What they needed now was not to run around like headless chickens, it was to get the lights on. As the Electrician, this was his duty. “I’ll go fix the lights, nobody move a single step.”

Nobody answered, but the silence was enough for Zoro to know his words had gone through. The thump had come from right in front of him, a little to the right, so all he could do was hope that nothing too bad had happened. That could wait for later, though. At this moment, his focus was more on retracing the steps they took and returning to Electrical.

The door to the outside was closed again. At this damn time. Zoro fished out his ID-card and swiped it. The door gave a pssh and opened, allowing Zoro exit into the fenced outside, slightly brighter than the inside due to the flashing lightning above the reactors.

There was someone there, standing by the electrical box. Who could possibly be out and about? Could it be the killer? Or one of them?

“Ahhhhh, Zoroooooo! It’s good you came, I have no idea how these-,” Kizaru stopped himself, eyes falling on some undefined point beneath Zoro’s face. His hands stalled completely in shock.

“What the hell is it?” Zoro growled, maybe a little too irritated for his own good, especially since Kizaru hadn’t done anything.

“I, uh,” Kizaru stuttered, pointing a trembling index at Zoro’s chest.

In turn, Zoro glanced down.

And was promptly met with a vast expanse of still-wet blood. Parts of it had even dripped down the entirety of his suit, marring his boots and dripping into the snow below. There wasn’t any question of it any longer. Someone in there had been killed in a most flashy manner, and Zoro was absolutely covered in his blood.

He had to physically stop himself from desperately wiping at his suit. This was evidence. As much as he hated this, he couldn’t remove it without removing something that might allow them to catch the killer.

“...Kizaru, before we go about accusing, we need to get the lights back on,” Zoro bit out, fearlessly stepping closer to him. His boots left bloody prints in the snow behind him, but he tried to ignore it as best as he could. “Is that clear?”

“Huh? Uh, ummmm… Yeaaahhh?” Kizaru answered, stepping aside as Zoro got to work. Luckily, his hands were unsullied, meaning that he didn’t get any unidentified blood on the delicate wiring. “Um, Zorooooo?”

Zoro leaned his head slightly, keeping his eyes on his work. Someone had really had fun here. “Yeah?”

“What happened in theeeeere? Is everyone alriiiiight?” Kizaru asked, and going by the sound of it, he was genuinely worried.

Zoro shrugged. “We don’t know yet. The lights went out, I heard a thud, so I went out here and now…” And now he knew for a fact that someone wasn’t alright. Not that he could do anything about it at this moment. All he could do was connect a few severed wires, turn on the disconnected servers, and…

Light streamed into the outside from the inside, proving that the lights had gone on.

And in the next moment, a scream rang out, followed by gasps and movement. “-Fuck,” Zoro muttered. Can’t rest for a second. While he ran back to O2, he could tell Kizaru was following him, which was probably a pretty good thing. He didn’t trust him much, and not from how he spoke or anything, just… How could Zoro possibly know if Kizaru had been in Electrical to fix the wires or to tamper with them?

Zoro filed that little possible suspicion into another file. It could wait. Right now they had to-,

They arrived in O2.

Someone had died alright. Judging by the purple suit and the pale complexion… it must have been Caesar. Even when Zoro and Kizaru returned, no eyes turned to them. They were fixated on a certain man dressed in pink. His fists balled were his side, a dark tremble coursing through his body.

Zoro stared sharp-eyed as Doflamingo leaned down, hand reaching over to Caesar’s head to lift it ever-so-slightly.

It was a grisly sight, really. The head was only attached by a thin sliver of skin and flesh, stale blood dripping lazily from it. Eyes and mouth wide open.

Yet, Zoro stared not at Caesar, but at Doflamingo. His face had darkened significantly, the mere look in his shaded eyes bringing the rest of the group to silence.

“Who did this?” Doflamingo growled in a low, guttural voice, his bestial eye darting about the room, glaring deep, stabbing daggers into every single member of the crew, Zoro included. “Who killed him?”

Nobody spoke a word. Nobody dared so much as question Doflamingo. Not that anybody could answer him either.

But the silence could only go on for so long. “Calm the hell down,” Smoker said. “All you’re doing here is making things worse than they already are.”

“How can it possibly be worse?!” Doflamingo snapped, baring his teeth like a rabid animal. “I don’t trust you. You know why? You’re way too calm. People die, and you take over as leader like everything’s humpty-dory. Like the situation isn’t getting to you in the least, and that disgusts me. You act as-, as if nobody’s going to die again! As if we aren’t going to turn on each other and point fingers and continue this twisted little game!”

Smoker glanced away. A shadow flitted over his face. “I’m keeping it together.” He glanced down at Doflamingo where he sat in a pool of blood, pink stained with red, shaking and foaming at the mouth. “Someone has to.”

Doflamingo seethed, teeth grinding together noisily.

But things had already gone too far. “Nobody move,” Zoro repeated, finally getting some attention on himself. “We need to handle this calmly. And that begins with everyone taking it easy and looking around.” Zoro glanced down at the body. A wound like that wouldn’t leave anyone nearby unbloodied.

The eyes on him slowly drifted down. People noticed the blood on him, and Zoro could do nothing but sigh, shoulders dropping. Though, on closer inspection, he was hardly alone in being completely bloody. He was almost about to disregard Doflamingo as a suspect since he must have gotten this bloody while inspecting Caesar’s body, but that wasn’t entirely so. No, he had a few splotches on his back that couldn’t have come from going down on his knees.

The only other people apart from Zoro who were bloodied were Usopp and Buggy, albeit by far less than Zoro himself.

In other words, the only person there who wasn’t covered in blood was… Smoker.

Oh, and Kizaru, but he was too far away from the body to be a suspect to begin with. Then again, not suspecting him at all would be more foolish than suspecting himself.

“Z-, Zoro, you’re all covered in blood!” Usopp said, somehow not in an accusatory way, more so worryingly. “Wait, you too, Buggy!” And somewhere along the way, he must have glanced down at himself. “And-, and ME!!” Usopp almost collapsed right then and there, swaying and noodle-legged.

Zoro nodded. “Except for Kizaru and Smoker, we were all close enough to the murder to be sprayed. Logically speaking, one of us did it. Who, I cannot say.”

“I, uh, um, can I clean it off?...” Usopp gestured to the blood on his chest, “p-, please?...”

Zoro shook his head. “If you tamper with evidence, I’ll assume you’re the killer.”

Usopp gulped but didn’t say anything else.

“He was bit,” Doflamingo muttered, leaned over Caesar’s body. “Something bit into his neck, gouging out most of it.” He scoffed. “No surprise we’re all covered in blood. Almost more surprising one wouldn’t be.”

“Heeeeeey, I didn’t do anything!” Kizaru said in a meek defence.

Doflamingo clicked his tongue. “I wasn’t talking about you. Not that you aren’t suspicious in your own right. Don’t think I didn’t see that tunnel right next to your little hidey-hole. Bet in comes in handy for sneaking in and out.”

Kizaru crossed his arms, a little pout appearing on his face. “If you waaaant, you can see when I’m on the cams or nooooot. If I’m not there, the light isn’t blinkinnnnng.”

“Hah! As if you couldn’t have a ‘friend’ come over and take over for a moment! Your arguments are ridiculous, murderer.”

Tapping his foot, Kizaru turned away, actually a bit peeved over being suspected.

Usopp took a step closer to Doflamingo. “Hey-, hey, now, take it easy, there, we’ll figure this out! No need for any accusations or nothings!”

Doflamingo growled, clearly not above turning on the poor kid in turn. Oh, well. This had gone on far enough. Standing around here was almost disrespectful to the body, and even more so to the group as a whole. They had to figure this out, and not by shouting petty insults at each other.

Reaching down low, Zoro pressed the button on the side of Caesar’s broken helmet, and stood back up once the red light in his own helmet started flashing.

Doflamingo, who had been too focused on thinking up something suspicious about Usopp now jerked around, a ferocious glare sent at Zoro.

“Come on, let’s go.” With that said, Zoro stood up. People started filing out of the room without much complaint, but Doflamingo lingered around the body, shooting hesitating glances between the leaving crewmembers and the body. Zoro stopped, turned around, and established eye-contact with Doflamingo. “...Just take his body.”

He didn’t reply. Not verbally, at least. He stood up, clutched the body close to his chest, and carried it outside while Zoro followed.

A few minutes later, they were all collected in the Office, waiting for Doflamingo to return. Soon enough, even he returned, chest and arms smeared with blood. Zoro already knew that they wouldn’t see a smile on his face anytime soon. And with that, everyone sat in their seats, generally more spread out now than before.

And it wasn’t just their dwindling numbers either. No, even though Doflamingo should have been sitting right next to Buggy, he’d moved his chair a bit to take up the space Caesar left.

There were only six of them left. Barely half had died, and yet they felt so few. “...Let’s review the facts,” Zoro said, taking lead for no other reason than because it felt right. “To begin with, neither Kizaru nor Smoker are to be exempt from this ruling.” Kizaru seemed a bit surprised by this. “-The reason I say this is because of several little… reasons. Suspicions.”

“Let me guess, nothing concrete?” Buggy asked, eyeing the splotch of blood by his own collar and chest with no little apprehension.

Zoro shook his head. “Kizaru is suspicious on account of what he could do, what his role implies. There is no proof that he tampered with the lights, but if he did, he could write off his tampering as trying to fix it. Furthermore, with his role as Security Guard, he’d easily be able to know where everyone was, such as where Marco was or when Shanks left the Shuttle.” He paused for a moment, a thought striking him. “If I remember the floor plans correctly, the tunnel behind the CCTV room should lead to a hole beside the fence outside of Electrical.”

Usopp mumbled something, but once he received a number of looks, he repeated it louder. “Ah, erm, well, that isn’t quite proof, is it?”

“No, but it’s a damn good reason to suspect him.”

Beside Zoro, Smoker nodded as well.

“What about Smoker?” Buggy squinted at the taller man, “what’s up with him?” As it seems, the red-nosed clown was only asking it as a sort of formality. Everyone should be doubted, even those who really ought to be exempt. Smoker himself did not object to this suggestion, at least not verbally.

“The only thing suspicious about Smoker is how unsuspicious he is. There isn’t a spot of blood on him, despite being one of the three people closest to the body. Though, we should remember that this is no real reason to suspect him either. This isn’t the kind of murder that you can come out of without any blood on you.” At this point, Zoro noticed how Usopp was staring at his chest, not at his eyes. “-Everything alright, Usopp?”

“Huh? Oh, um! Uh… I just, well, if we’re going by the ‘someone-who’s-bloody-did-it’, aren’t you, I dunno, the most suspicious one here?...”

A fair point. Looking at the people present, it’s obvious who got the most blood on them. Doflamingo got a small bit on his back, Buggy and Usopp both got loads on their chest and collars, and Zoro is almost completely covered from the chest and down, although his legs mostly got covered by the blood running down his legs. “I would be, if I was the imposter.”

Doflamingo shot a dark glare at Zoro. “He was bit in the neck, severing the large arteries. The one closest to the body would’ve gotten sprayed the most. The closer, the more intensely. The speed of it would cause a large amount of blood to run down the length of their body. Going by the blood patterns,” his eyes sharpened, “you would be the most suspect of us all.”

Zoro raised his hands in surrender. “I would be, if I was the imposter, which I’m not.”

“Hah, sure!” Doflamingo said with a cackle. “Just as your partner told you, no?”

Crossing his arms, Zoro felt a glower twist his face. This vengeful bastard would be the death of him. Literally, too! “You’re suspicious too, you know.”

Doflamingo cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, really now? And why is that?”

Luckily, Zoro actually had an answer there. “We can’t assume you’re acting faithfully. You could have bided your time this whole time, strengthening your alibi through Caesar until you disposed of him. Then, once the lights came on, you could go down to his side and smear the blood already on you by using his body as a paintbrush. If you left some sort of proof on the body, you could have also disposed of it just no-,”

“HOW DARE YOU!?!” Doflamingo roared, flying to his feet. “Implying that-, that I’d slay my fellow man! For what? For the sake of the kill?! You insignificant tapeworm, speaking as though you evade suspicion!”

Zoro scowled, readying himself for an argument before Buggy stood up, stopping any such turn. “Calm down, you flashy idiots! This is the time for-, for logical debate, not name-calling!” He sat back down, leaning back with his arms crossed. “Sheesh, going at each other’s throats like rabid animals.” He soon received the darkest of glares from a certain Doctor. “Oh, um, sorry. It was in poor taste.”

“Bet your fat, red nose it was.”

“WHAT WAS THAT YOU-,”

“B-, Buggy! Relax!”

Surprisingly, at Usopp’s gentle coaxing, Buggy visibly relaxed, though it was clear his anger seethed just beneath the surface.

“And him, then?” Doflamingo asked, gesturing to Buggy. “Tell me about why he would be suspicious.”

Zoro shrugged. Honestly, he hadn’t given it much thought. “It could’ve been the same situation as with you, but… Usopp is alive, and apart from the blood, there’s nothing incriminating about him.” Much like himself, that is.

“What about Usooooooopp?” Kizaru asked, breaking his silence after a long while.

Zoro tilted his head. “-What about him?”

“What about him is suspiciouuuuuuus?”

Furrowing his brows, Zoro had to give it some actual thought. Usopp was alright, wasn’t he? He was covered in blood, but going by the way he glanced at the blood on his own and Zoro’s suit, he obviously wasn’t very happy with it, unlike what some inhuman alien would be. Sure, he could just be a great actor, but Zoro could tell that this wasn’t just all faked. He knew his friend well enough to know that.

N-, not that he didn’t not trust him or anything! “He… he’s covered in blood, but that’s the only reason to suspect him.”

Kizaru seemed somewhat unsatisfied with the answer, but still nodded.

Out of pretty much nowhere, Smoker raised his hand. “Final question before we get into the meat of the discussion… should we assume Teach was an imposter or not?”

An entirely necessary question. As they had been discussing earlier, whether or not Teach was an imposter was unconfirmed until they got the other one. If they killed the other imposter and the killings stopped they would know Teach was the one, but until then, they can’t know. “-We’ll assume he wasn’t the one, but still discuss the what-if’s of if he was an imposter, which he hopefully was.”

Smoker nodded, happy with the assessment.

“To begin with, Zoro said, turning to Kizaru. “We’ll assume for the sake of argument that Kizaru was an imposter and that he caused the blackout.” Zoro ignored the upset “hey!” he got from the mentioned member. “If that is the case, who did the actual murder? The one who did it had to have been liable for having part in all other events, meaning that Buggy, Usopp and Doflamingo are off the table since they were in duos before this.”

A beat passed before Zoro realized what he said.

“-Still, I didn't do it. If-, if we assume Kizaru wasn’t it, then it's possible that one of the two duos included both imposters, and since Caesar’s dead, that would mean that Buggy and Usopp are both imposters, in which case-,”

“But that isn’t possibleeeee? I was watching them the whooooole time,” Kizaru drawled out, his calm eyes containing an odd, sharp edge to them that Zoro hadn’t noticed before. He swallowed hard.

“Well, okay, it isn’t Buggy or Usopp. Then, if it was just one of them, like Buggy, for example, working together with one outside member, they could-,”

Doflamingo drew a sharp breath. “You really don’t want to accuse Usopp, do you?”

“Wh-, what?” Zoro turned to Doflamingo, face dark and flushed.

“Just a thing I’ve noticed. Buggy is one thing, but when it comes to Usopp… Oh, you’d rather accuse yourself.” Here his voice turned cool, icy cool, a frozen razorblade. “Why is that?”

Shit. There were so many eyes on him. Not many, not as many as those that had turned on Teach, but the emotion was the same. “If… if we assume that Kizaru and Smoker worked together-,”

“Or,” Smoker said, turning a half-lidded eye on Zoro, “how about we assume that you and Kizaru did it? Or you and Usopp. Even better, you alone. How would that pan out?”

Zoro stammered. “I-, it, stop that! I’ve done nothing wrong, damn it! I’m not the killer, stop looking at me like that!”

“Um, Zoro?...” a meek, faint voice Zoro knew all-too-well asked. He turned to Usopp. The younger man glanced between Zoro and his blood-stained chest. “Did-, what did you do to the real Zoro?...”

His eyes widened. He simply couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was a lot he could believe, a lot of suspicions he could face, but from Usopp?... “You too?...”

“I damn well knew it,” Doflamingo spat. “I knew you’d be the one. I should’ve voted you off before you-, before this all happened.” He turned to Smoker, to Buggy, to Usopp, and to Kizaru. “Let’s vote. Don’t listen to that cold-blooded killer. He’ll muddy your mind with uncouth thoughts.”

Zoro couldn’t even reply. The voting mechanism came up.

He stared at it as if he was drowning, a hundred feet below the pulsating surface, looking at his single thread of life. His lifeline. If he voted right…

He pressed skip.

This had to work. It had to.

Otherwise, not only would they be voting off an innocent man, but they’d be doing it instead of a guilty one.

The projector came on, and the results were shown. Zoro’s heart sank on the spot, his shoulders slumped and he stared at the ground with such vengeance that one might have thought it hurt him personally.

There were three votes for Zoro, one from Doflamingo, one from Buggy, and one from Usopp.

Two decided to skip, namely Zoro and Kizaru.

Smoker, unlike last round, voted for Buggy. Considering that the only one who voted for Zoro last round was Smoker, this was a bit odd. It was obvious Buggy took this personally and wanted to lash out at him, but at the moment, nobody was light enough of heart to allow it.

Everyone stared at Zoro.

He stood up, and walked towards the exit with large, confident strides, passing by the card-swiper and ID-reader. Behind him, the rest of the crewmembers meekly followed. He glanced at the machine that read the vitals of everyone aboard. Four dead. Grey lines among green, jagged peaks and valleys. Soon he’d be one of the flats.

He grit his teeth, and continued his dance with death. The pit of lava stretched out before him like a red carpet. Four souls lingered in there, the smell of sulfur and nitrate emanating from it.

Zoro walked out onto the plank, and turned around. They were staring at him. Asking him to do what they couldn’t tell him to.

He reached out his arms at his sides. A trembling smirk crowned his face.

“I will die facing the heavens!”

He took the plunge, falling backwards into death.

Facing that clear, empty sky.

[ggukkiedae]

- 𝘁𝗮𝗴 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲: the interview

Tagged by: @ateez-elena thanks daisy 🥰 luv this aksjdhdbdn

1. Why did you choose your url?

weeeell it’s a combination of jungkook and daehwi bc i was going through it for then at the time

2. Any side blogs? If you have them, name them and why you have them?

i do but i don’t use them? ggukkiedaerecs for recs, ggukkiedaeau for my writing that isn’t about my ocs (i had a plan for the dreamies aksjjdf it’s called crush chronicles but i kinda just left her in the drafts) aaaand ggukkiedaeblogs to rb stuff

3. How long have you been on Tumblr?

four years now? yeah but i’ve only been active here for like 1 and a half

4. Do you have a queue tag?

uhhhhh what’s this? akshdhf

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

originally this was bimiltokki where i’d rant about secrets aksjdjf if you scroll back far enough you’ll see me ranting about my old crush but now my accs for my ocs!

6. Why did you choose your icon / pfp?

bc i love han jisung and that’s that 🥰

7. Why did you choose your header?

idk it was cute and i like fairylights

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

uhhhhhh odd one out had 74 notes i think?

9. How many mutuals do you have?

not that much but i love them and support them im just really bad with starting conversations but hi moots! i’m supporting you from here 💖

10. How many followers do you have?

640 and i’m still so shookt aksjdhf thanks for caring about my ocs guys 💖💖💖💖💖

11. How many people do you follow?

116 mostly my moots, update accs, a few other non-kpop related accs as well just because 😊

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

i... i don’t think so?

13. How often do you use Tumblr each day?

i’m here quite often actually aksjdhf i lurk when i have no ideas or when i’m too stressed out over school work

14. Did you have a fight / argument with another blog once? Who won?

i don’t think i have? someone once reported someone copying hannah buuuut i don’t think i really engaged in that mostly bc i’m babie and can’t do confrontation, partially bc they never gave me the url aksjdhf

15. How do you feel about ‘you need to compare this’ posts?

uhhhhhh compare what???

16. Do you like tag games?

yupp! they’re fun 🥰

17. Do you like ask games?

very much yes, i’ve been wanting to try but i’m shy akshdhd

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous?

all my oc creator moots!!! honestly they’re all so good with what they do that’s why they’re so popular aksjdhfhhd

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

nopeeesss

Tagging: @1-800-enhypenbibi @multifandom-01 @moondaii @nct-aria @h0neyjaehyun if you guys waaaant

[avionvadion]

Forest Deep: a fanfic mixing Secret of the Cursed Mask and the actual Inuyasha anime itself. https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115702/chapters/58056064

Summary: Naraku had one goal- to destroy Inuyasha. Now with his new companion he has an idea how to make that happen. Brought to the Feudal Era by an unwanted Summoning, Irene's in search of her older sister and the one who brought them there. With the help of her new friends she might just find them, but it's hard getting through battles- nonetheless the day- with her lung problems. Why is this Naraku so cruel? What does he gain from hurting people? Who is his new friend- and what's underneath that mask she wears? Irene doesn't know. But she'll find out- one way or another. She just wished she had her sister beside her as she did it.

The first drawing is basically the story cover. I drew it back before Irene’s hair had a consistency and I had a better grasp of the art style XD The second image is from the end of chapter 20 and the last one is for chapter 15. 

Story: 

"I-It's…" Oh gods. "It's a saying where I'm from. Just- Just ignore it. I speak nonsense. Um. Look. You don't want to stay here, right? I don't want to stay here either. I have a sister I gotta make sure ain't dead, some friends to get back- granted… they probably don't want anything to do with me anymore, and an evil half-demon to stop, so~!" I huffed and stood, brushing some dirt off my pale blue jeans. I walked over, holding a shaky hand out to her with a grin. "You can come with or you can stay here and go crazy! Your choice."

Her eyebrows knit together. "For what reason did you desire the Magatama fruit? Most here are… filled with greed. They want its power for themselves. I, too, was selfish and… it brought me here."

"It…" I hesitated. Memories of the villagers falling came to mind. "I… I need the fruit to break a barrier. If the barrier doesn't break then… more people are gonna die. And… I don't want to see that happen."

"That's sounds awful…" Shizuno said, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "A-Are you certain that it's not another lie someone told? You could have fallen into a trap."

"I mean, probably?" I made a face, moving my head to the side and shaking it, shrugging my shoulders. "Buuut I have no reason to distrust him, you know? I-It's weird. Like, yeah he can be pretty shady when he wants to be, but he's helped me out this far and it's because of him I can talk to Shikigami spirits and heal people. So! I think he's nice. He did mention that this would be really dangerous and I was a firm believer I wouldn't survive. Was that a lie? Nope. Here we are! In a magical space surrounded by a bunch of crazy people."

"You are…" She frowned. "...strange. You speak of dire circumstances, yet you smile so brightly. Why do you behave so casually?"

"I just do." I was still so tired. "Life just sucks. That's how it works. No use mopin' about."

Unless of course several people had died. Damn it. I can still hear their screams, the children calling out for their parents as they ran for their lives. The blood splattering onto the ground… and staining Kohaku's kusarigama.

"Anyway! You never answered my question. You comin' with me?" I stretched out my fingers and wiggled them at her, staring at her expectantly. "You know you waaaant tooooo~! Far over the misty mountains cold~ to dungeons deep and caverns old!" My voice cracked and I coughed, hacking into my sleeve. My voice really could not go low. It was so distressing. The woman gave me such a strange look, but she reached out and took my hand. I felt so lightheaded. "Oh? Yay!"

She shook her head at me, folding her hands close to her chest. "We could be trapped here in eternal suffering," Shizuno told me, "yet you sing? Why?"

"Because if we're gonna be suffering eternally," I declared, holding an index finger up wisely, "we might as well have fun with it. Sadly I don't remember all the lyrics, but! It's a good song." I approached the mountain wall, staring up and squinting my eyes as I tried to gauge how far up we would have to climb before we reached the next ledge. My hands were all scraped up. "Okay… calm down. We can do this. You up for the climb?"

"Y-Yes, I suppose… what about you?" She stared at me, frowning. "Your skin is quite pale…"

"I'll be fine." I had to be. "My… My friends are waiting for me."

If they even still thought of me as one.

"And… your sister?"

I didn't answer. I wasn't even sure she was alive. "If I don't get that Magatama fruit… more people are gonna die. I… I don't want her to be one of them." I looked back at Shizuno, forcing another closed-eye grin, ignoring the lump forming in my throat. I had to be strong- for her. She was in pain as well. Her entire village was destroyed. "So we gotta keep going. Up and at 'em!"

I cracked my knuckles and reached up, grabbing onto a root sticking out from one of the rocks. This part of the wall was covered with vines, but there was no telling if they could all hold. Shizuno followed behind me uncertainly, grabbing onto a rock and climbing. "Th-This is very dangerous!"

Well, obviously. But I was convinced that we couldn't quite… die here? I've seen so many people wandering around and not one skeleton. At least there weren't any demons nearby in this spirit realm that could eat us. I don't think I'd taste very good. Ick. My mind flashed back to the mansion and I cringed, temporarily halting in my climb. Don't freak out. I had to stay calm. This is fine.

I'm fine. Always. Always fine.

I may be slowly breaking apart, but I'm fine. It's how I am.

This is just life.

It's my fault those villagers are dead, so I have to avenge them. Don't I?

Suddenly the vines I was climbing broke and I let out a small shriek, falling back towards the ledge below. The wind around me picked up pace and suddenly my descent slowed, causing me to blink. Then once I was close enough to the ground it stopped and I hit my head, crashing hard onto my back. "O-Ow! Frick!" I cringed and curled onto my side, bringing my hands up to the back of my aching skull. It was being put through so much abuse today. "Dude, that hurt!"

"A-Are you alright!?" Shizuno called down. She was at least thirty feet above me, clinging tight to some vines. "The wind just- how on earth-!?"

"Spirits." I hissed, wincing at the bump that was definitely going to be there for a while. The wind helped enough for me not to die, but wasn't completely forgiving to leave me free of injury. "Eugh…" That seriously hurt, but at least it wasn't fatal. This proved that one of my theories were right. Kazumi would have us wander forever in insanity, but she would not have us kill ourselves. "Frick."

I stumbled, wobbling over to the wall and leaning against it for a moment until my vision cleared. The world was trying to spin on me.

"Need to… keep going." I wheezed. This air spirit guardian person was such a sadist. "Have to… save them…"

My fingers gripped weakly at the roots. I wouldn't be able to climb in this state.

"Naraku… must be… stopped…"

I'm so dizzy. My forehead pressed against the rocky mountain side, eyes closing as I waited to catch my breath. That scared the crap out of me- falling like that. I hated it. After a few long minutes I grabbed at the vines again, fingers feeling numb and tingly, and I kicked at the wall with my bare feet. Being weak is one thing, but being stubborn was another. I was determined.

"I will… defeat him…" I wheezed, reaching up and grasping tiredly at a rock jutting out. It crumbled and I had to go for one higher up, stretching my arm painfully. "Barrier… it will break…"

Naraku sent Kohaku and Kanna after me, and why? Because Anastasia wanted my soul for some god awful reason that still wasn't explained. He made them attack the villagers that were helping me, and if Kagome didn't crack the mirror and force the souls to be freed so many more would already be dead. They tried to help me and Naraku forced Kohaku to kill them because of that. He was awful.

He was more of a madman than anyone else in this place.

The air around me seemed to grow gentler, my body becoming lighter and moving a bit faster. It was almost as if it was giving me a boost, but I knew that couldn't be the case. It was so aggressive earlier. After what surely must have been an hour I reached the ledge I fell from, reuniting with Shizuno who watched as I fell onto my front, eyes closed and breath heavy. "You are not the most healthy person, are you?" She asked.

"I wonder what… gave you that idea?" I wheezed, the sarcasm dripping off my tongue. "I told you… sickly human… didn't I?"

She gave a small smile, almost amused by my weird ways. "You did. Will you be able to make it to the top? There is still quite a ways to go."

"Yeah, just… need to… rest a bit first. Is that okay… with you?"

Shizuno nodded. "Yes… we have all of eternity, after all. Time does not seem to pass in this place. I have seen many arrive here, yet… they never aged. It is rather concerning, but there is nothing we can do. I fear many years have already passed since I was first brought here."

Wait, what? Oh no. My eyes widened and I sat up, looking at her in alarm and ignoring the rapid pounding of my heart. "N-No way… no, no, no! We… We have to hurry! I-I can't-!" I can't be trapped here forever. I have to get that fruit as fast as possible. If Maria was still alive then I can't be left behind. "The mountain! W-We have to… to climb…!"

I stumbled over, dazed and desperate, grabbing at the roots and struggling to climb. Shizuno dashed over and caught me when I fell, startled when she felt the heat radiating from my body. "I-Irene! You are feverish!"

"M'fine." I mumbled. "Have to get… to Sango…"

She, Miroku, Shippō, and Kirara are all up there dealing with the air spirit alone.

"Don't wanna see 'em hurt…"

I'm so sleepy. I want to take a nap.

"Gotta beat Naraku… and his dumb barrier thing…"

"Rest first. We have time." She said softly, voice so soothing. Shizuno carefully moved me away from the wall, keeping her arms around my waist, setting me down on the ground beside her. My head fell against her chest and my eyes closed, giving in to the comfort she gave. A hug felt so nice right now… yet her body was so cold. Her fingers ran gently along my hair, fiddling with the short strands. "You are fighting so strongly right now, are you not? It must be hard…"

"S'not… just… hurts."

"Why do you want to fight this Naraku so bad?"

"He hurts… people." I told her quietly, finding myself being lulled to sleep by her gentle touch. "They… helped me a-and he… killed them."

"He did?"

I nodded, making a small noise of confirmation. "He had… Sango's younger brother… attack. H-He's controlled by him, so he can't… fight back. She's always crying when she… has to face him. I don't like it. She's so much better… when she's happy…"

"I see. So Naraku is the one to blame."

Yes. He made Kohaku hurt them. It was all that evil half-demon's fault that the villagers are dead. "Naraku… killed them…"

"If that is so… then you should be able to climb the mountain now."

"...What?" My eyes slowly opened and I blinked, turning my head to look tiredly at Shizuno.

Her features seemed to change as the wind around us blew stronger, her long black hair shifting into something shorter and more white in color. I yanked myself off of her lap, watching as her colorful kimono become a pale blue, a white cloth draped over her shoulders and wrapped around her arms. As I stumbled into an upright stance, standing and backing away slowly, her dark eyes became an icy blue, lips dark and almost purple in color. I hadn't seen her entire appearance before, but I was certain now as to why Shizuno looked so familiar.

"K-Kazumi?"

…

"Where did she go!?" Sango demanded, whirling around to try and locate where the air spirit disappeared to. They were just talking when the mist became stronger, the entire area around them being covered in fog. The demon slayer couldn't see five feet in front of her. "Miroku! Shippō!"

"Here!" The fox demon informed, about ten feet back.

"I'm over here!" The monk shouted somewhere from her left side, sweeping at the area around him with his staff. "I'd use my Wind Tunnel to suck in this mess, but I might anger the spirits further if I did and cost Irene her life! Sango, what should we do!?"

"I-I don't know!" For once the demon slayer was at a loss. There was no enemy to fight, no goddess to appease. Only a spirit set on challenging their friend to a test of truth. "I… never realized she felt so guilty for what had happened…" Sango said after a moment, looking down at the hiraikotsu in her hand, closing her eyes with a pained expression. "I was only focused on myself. Miroku, I…" She rested a hand over her face, ashamed. "I'm a terrible friend."

"No, Sango, don't blame yourself." The monk shook his head. "I, too, did not notice. I was believing us to finally be able to close the gap and become proper allies, and yet…"

"She's always blaming herself!" Shippō stated, frowning deeply. He appeared greatly bothered. "Irene has such a guilt-complex for some reason! I don't get it! She's always apologizing for every little thing, no matter how small it is! Inuyasha was always yelling at her for it!"

"I-I thought she was just shy." Sango admitted. "But… I guess there's more to it. What do you think, Miroku?"

"Anything could have caused it." He informed them, something unsettling forming in his stomach. The monk always had been unable to refuse helping a young woman in need and the one in trouble now was a friend. Yet how could they protect her if they didn't even know what was wrong? If they couldn't even reach her where she was now? Why did Irene feel the need to place the blame on herself? "I'm afraid we'll just have to ask and pray she will tell us when she returns."

"I hope so…"

…

"H-How did you-!?" I pointed at her, dumbfounded, then gestured to where the brunette used to be. "Sh-She was just- hah? Gah! Shapeshifter!"

I took several more steps back. The woman's expression became blank once more, resembling more of the air spirit I had met earlier. "She was nothing more than an illusion. I created her as a guide, just as I have done time-and-again for those who come up this mountain. A rare few have ever been able to accept their truth and continue forth up the mountain. They were always too trapped in their greed, their selfishness… and would never think twice about abandoning someone else if it meant reaching their own goal."

What is she saying? I don't understand. My head hurts so much from this; I was still so dazed.

Kazumi closed her eyes, opening them only when her purple lips tilted upwards into a smile. "You have passed my test, Irene. You have accepted that Naraku was the one to blame for the villagers deaths. The children did not die because of you. I have seen into your mind… I know what you saw. I know how you felt. With this test I was able to attune your heart and I have come to the decision that you are indeed worthy… of a Magatama fruit."

"But… I literally didn't do anything?" I don't get it. I'm too dizzy for all this. "I just climbed a mountain…"

The air spirit looked amused by this and went on to explain. "Though they scared you, you tried to approach those wandering souls and save them. When you saw the apparition I created… you tried to give her the courage to go on. Though… unorthodox in the way it was done… you remained strong for her for as long as you could. But you are only human- and one who is prone to illness cannot keep on for long." She glanced up at the mountain, icy eyes following the path up. "The wind will help you on your climb up the rest of the mountain. You need not fear falling; now that your mind is clear of guilt… the roots and rocks along the cliff will not break."

I'm still so confused, but alright. "Um, thank you…?"

"Do not thank me just yet." She warned. "If you so much as waver in your thoughts you will fall once more down to the bottom, and your soul will wander here for all eternity like the rest." Kazumi waved her arm and then she was gone, replaced by nothing but more fog.

My eyebrows raised and I shook my head incredulously, unable to believe the audacity some spirits could have. Like, seriously? Jeez. Crazy lady. She was so much nicer as Shizuno. At least she was giving me some advice… kind of. Was this all because I blamed myself for what happened with Kohaku?

That's what I'm getting from that conversation anyway. Ugh, I have such a migraine. I want to go home.

I need another hug.

I walked over and grabbed at the roots, hands shaking. They didn't feel as weak and numb as before, but they were bleeding. I had scraped them up quite badly during my climb. That strange feeling appeared again as I tried to move up the mountain, like the wind was giving me a boost. I supposed it actually was doing that, as it was helping me move a lot faster than before. I reached the next ledge in record time.

I tried not to think too much, focusing on the task at hand, determined not to fall below.

My heart wanted to waver, to believe that the children's deaths were my fault, that everyone who died should have blamed me, but… Shizuno's words stuck. They may have been protecting me, but it was by Naraku ordering Kohaku that they were killed. I had no control over the boy's actions. It was not my fault.

It was his.

The fog slowly cleared away the closer I got to the top and the people wandering around had vanished. I huffed and trembled, feet and hands scratched up and blistered, legs and arms sore. If not for the wind pushing me up- as if trying to say hurry up, stupid human like an irritable spirit- I would have collapsed long ago. I dragged myself up to the top ledge where I had been thrown off when I first met the guardian spirit Kazumi, struggling to push myself forward, and wound up clawing at the ground.

My poor fingertips were all bloody.

"I-Irene!?" I recognized that voice. I fell on the ground and rolled onto my back, wheezing and letting out a few coughs. I was so exhausted. "Oh, thank god! Miroku, Shippō, look!"

"Irene is back!"

"She passed the test!"

I could see the group dash over to me, Sango quickly kneeling by my side and helping me sit up. I began to tear up at the sight of her. Wasn't she mad at me? "Irene, you're burning up again! How badly did you stress yourself out!?" She asked, voice almost going into a sisterly scolding tone before relief crossed her face. "I'm so glad you're back…"

She surprised me by leaning down, wrapping her arms around me tightly."I should have paid more attention to your feelings. I'm so sorry."

"I-It's okay." I choked out, awkwardly hugging her with my arms so not to get blood on her armor. I'm such an idiot. They didn't hate me after all. "I-I'm fine. You're the one who was upset, so…"

"But so were you!" She pulled away, gripping my shoulders tightly with her hands. "All this time you've been festering hate and guilt inside of you- and for yourself no less! Ever since I've met you you've been apologizing left-and-right for things you had no control over! Irene, it's okay to be selfish! Not everything is your fault!"

I couldn't speak, too stunned by what was happening. This day was so dizzying. "I-I just… want to help." I finally got out, stuttering on my words. Her eyes were so intense; it felt like they were boring into my soul. "I-I can't do anything useful, so…"

"What do you mean by that?" Miroku demanded, stepping up. Kazumi was still nowhere in sight. "You've helped us countless times; we've told you before. Just who told you that you were useless? That made you believe you could guilt yourself for everything?"

[pinktatertots99]

an unplanned plan V

One

Two

Three

Four

first night after a date? with a second personality attached to yourself? what could POSSIBLY go wrong???

synopsis: while in his travels to prevent her death ukyo ends up in a situation he really didn’t think he’d get into. he went down a route he never thought he’d go down…and entranced to go further down the spaded hole

the apartment was rather fancy and metallic to ukyo's minor surprise. ...a bit too much maybe if you asked him but he guesses this is what good money can go to as he noticed ikkyu pulled out two wine glasses.

"ah, where're my manners?" he said as he looked at ukyo. "you a drinker?"

"a-ah yeah sometimes, but uh, I dunno uh maybe not I mean I dunno I might be a bit exhausted but y'know-" good god why was he babbling?! ikkyu nodded in affirmation as he put them away. "that's alright. today was enough to tucker me out too. just assumed since you followed me back you had some sort of...alternate? plans~. if you will~."

at that the other was already feeling his slightly warmed up face getting hotter. all the layers starting to get too hot on him. "u-uh ah well n-no of course not! I mean not like I w-wouldn't but well I mean not right NOW but not to say never and well it-it doesn't mean I STALKED you though that wasn't my intention it's just well, when your mind goes all, wandering off it just and...'m sorry." he mumbled lastly hiding his face in his hat as ikkyu laughed.

"haha, you talk a lot more like this in this situation compared to our dates." he walked over and lightly tapped his hat, gaining the other to look up with embarrassed green eyes. "I think it's endearing. really."

oh god it's like he was purposefully getting to him. why was this even getting to him?! shuffling his feet he started walking away slowly. "I uh, iii need the restroom for a second excuse me." he stated as he quickly walked to one of the doors.

"that's the closet." ikki stated before ukyo could walk in. "eheh then again I guess there's not much difference between either of them right?" at that ukyo moved to the actual bathroom and closed the door, slowly moving down to the floor flustered.

“are you seriously getting this flustered over a stinkin crush!?” oh god that voice. why now? ukyo looked up, going to the mirror, splashing his face and sighing. "what'do you waaaant? this is annoying." he mumbled to himself.

"obviously TRYING to get you to get back to the real thing we're SUPPOSED to be doing! keeping our airheaded girlfriend safe instead of staying the night with some womanizer!"

"she's fine she's with kento."

"oh so we're just gonna take a vacation and go with this guy!?"

ukyo glared in his reflection. "we're gonna be fine."

"uuuuuuugh your an absolute PAIN to work with!"

"took the words right out of my mouth."

the door suddenly knocked causing the other to jump. "you decent?" ikki asked from the other side of the door. "yes if you are. no if your not. and silence if you wanna surprise me~."

"a-ah yes it's okay to come in!" ukyo yelped out, ikki opening the door to see him. "...hm no surprise. too bad but oh well. here." he said, giving ukyo a pair of pajamas. "just incase. but I don't mind if you sleep in less~." he teased as he closed the door, leaving the other flustered.

"....your such a softie."

"...that I can agree with."

the pajamas weren't too small or tight as ukyo thought once he left the bedroom. the pants do show more of his legs due to the height but the shirt is loose enough to breath. ...course, the idea of ikkyu wearing this had him slightly flustered.

"s-so, where's the couch?" he asked.

"oh no your taking the bed."

ukyo looked shocked. "y-you sure I don't want you to-"

"I don't want my guests sleeping on the couch."

he fidgeted lightly, looking to the floor. "b-but I don't want you sleeping on the couch."

"theeeen maybe we can, share? the bed?" ukyo looked up, surprised seeing the other was in his boxers. were these his only pajamas or something!? "heh, is your face always this red?" he asked, the other looking away embarrassed. slowly ukyo shuffled to the bed, the obvious loud voice in his head getting at him with this decision as he gets comfortable.

"you good? need anything?"

"mm. I'm fine thank you."

"alright. lemme know whenever okay?"

"thank you."

with that the lights were off.

[sweet-cynical-writer]

Ah, my first crack request coming from none other than the hat rack! I decided I'll do this just for ya.

Hope you enjoy this crack induced writing!

Note: The two may be out of character!

LET'S THROW HANDS IN THE MCDONALD'S PARKING LOT

Dazai had been whining all day for Chuuya to buy him food. He continued to nag and sigh with over exaggeration until the ginger finally gave in defeat to take him out. He wasn't too thrilled but secretly he was a bit peckish himself. The bandaged bastard raced into the restaurant, stringing the slow slug by the hand.

"YOU CAN STOP HOLDING MY HAND YOU STUPID MACKEREL!"

He filled the lobby with his shouting and the cashier sighed like this was going to be a problematic evening. Dazai snickered with amusement and tugged Chuuya to the counter to order.

"Hum... I waaaant.. twenty piece nuggets with sauce.."

"Sir, what kind of sauce? And would you like this to be a meal—"

"No, just the damn nuggets."

"But Chibi I'm starving! I want fries too and a drink!"

The cashier was putting him down for a meal and Chuuya growled.

"No just give him the nuggets. Dazai you idiot I know you won't finish all that food."

"Aren't we sharing? Oh and I want sweet and sour sauce!"

The tiny mafioso was getting agitated as the cashier was taking the order down anyway. The cashier didn't look too phased by his anger and stared at him.

"Would you like anything else, sir?"

"Ugh. I want a vanilla cone I suppose."

"Sorry sir, but our icecream machine is out of order at the moment."

The mackerel snickered seeing Chuuya get frustrated and just toss money on the counter. The cashier shrugged and gave them their order.

"Thank you, come again."

"Chibi~ You can pick the drink if you want!"

They both sat down and the ginger sipped on his soda angrily. How the fuck is their icecream machine always broken when they come by? It's bullshit he thought to himself then blinked when Dazai held a french fry to his mouth.

"Say ahh~"

"Get that out of my damn face! I am capable of feeding myself."

He hissed and Dazai pouted with puffed up cheeks. Chuuya parted his lips and the suicidal bastard grinned feeding him the fry.

"So cute Chuu-Chuu~ let me feed you more! You look so pouty after not getting any icecream~"

That made more than enough veins pop in the ginger's head as he grabbed Dazai violently by the collar of his shirt.

"Stop calling me disgusting pet names!"

"Or whaaat. Are you gonna fight me right here, Chibii?"

Dazai grinned and Chuuya let out a sharp tut as he pointed outside the restaurant.

"We'll throw hands in the parking lot. Right now."

He didn't wait for a response and dragged the stupid mackerel outside. Dazai whined about not finishing his nuggets then groaned feeling an unpleasant feeling hit his stomach. Chuuya already started throwing punches; and to his stomach nonetheless.

He avoided the next punch barely then gave a swift kick to Chuuya's head but the tiny mafioso was ready to catch his leg. The two went back to back throwing punches until they were covered in sweat and out of breath.

"I'm not... A fucking chibi.."

"Says the cute chibi that pouted because he couldn't get icecream so you ruined my nuggets—"

Dazai barely had time to take a sharp breath in while Chuuya slammed him against the wall of the McDonald's building, a sharp knife quickly pulled out to point at his throat.

"Call me Chibi again I dare you."

He remained quiet for a minute then let out a soft sigh. A smirk graced his lips because he knew Chuuya wouldn't dare to actually kill him.

"Chiiibiiii~!"