#i wanted to see her interact with more people damnit

[cerealbishh]

"I called in a favor for you... with the Innocence Project."

"For real? I'm getting a retrial?"

"Eh. They're just reviewing your file for now. Baby steps."

"You did that for me and you said nothing. Why?"

"Didn't want to get your hopes up."

"(...) Then we'd better get my lawyer off this hill."

[billskeis]

ᡣ𐭩 under the mistletoe w bill

“thanks for coming! we’re so glad you were able to make it,” simone kaulitz opens the door to welcome in you and your mom. they were close friends ever since becoming coworkers and you visited the kaulitz home quite often.

“y/n dear, the boys are just inside the kitchen.”

you nod at her after embracing her hug, running into the kitchen there you spot the twins drinking hot chocolate. they look up from each other whole conversing after hearing the patter of your foot steps.

“y/n!! you’re here!!” bill smiles brightly, you can’t help but cheese at his excitement. he’s so cute. truth haves it that you have the biggest and fattest crush on bill. it’s been like this since you’ve first met.

upon first meeting, you weren’t to keen on meeting the people that lived within your neighbourhood, especially your mom’s coworkers. it just was never in your interest.

it also didn’t help that you didn’t get along with the kids your age. known for your deviance and resistance to conformity, parents leaned towards influencing their kids into not interacting with you at all.

bill and tom on the other hand? it was as though you’ve known them for a life time. the three of you had always caused trouble in school, yelling at teachers, pulling pranks on the kids. just overall, bad behaviour.

it wasn’t until you realized your crush on bill that the two of you hid in the school’s closet together that one time you pulled a prank that would’ve left you into another suspension.

the close proximity of that cramped closet had you and bill extremely close, it left you to examine bill’s features up close and god was he just attractive. let alone the fact that he was constantly asking if you were okay and apologizing for the situation he put you in even though it was a shared effort.

getting up from his seat he wraps his arms around your waist pulling you into a tight hug. this catches you by surprise but who are you to deny a hug from someone you REALLYY like.

“it’s nice to see you bill, hi tom,” he waves at you smirking, to then making kissing motions with his hands behind bill’s back. tom is full aware of your crush on bill, and despite the desperate attempts in asking his twin brother how bill feels about you, all tom could do was shrug, damnit tom.

letting go, he looks at you, now rubbing the sides of your arms, “hot chocolate?”

“yes please,” you say putting your hands on bill’s neck, they’re cold from the walk you made to his house, not living that far apart. “y/n! that’s really cold—tom could you make y/n a cup?”

a groan is heard from the table, “ughhhh why do i have to—ok fine don’t kill me…” tom puts his hands up in immediate defeat after seeing bill’s reaction to his attempt at retaliation.

getting up from his seat, he makes you a cup of hot chocolate. “whipped cream and marshmallows?” tom asks to which you nod obligingly.

shuffling, bill walks you over to the table to sit down beside him, hand in yours. you can’t help but blush and just allow him to do whatever he wants.

“sooo y/n! any other plans for christmas?” he asks, fully anticipating your answer as his attention is wholeheartedly on you. “hmm, nothing much, being here is enough for me..” you look at bill waiting for a reaction.

he can’t help but fiddle with his fingers, a little more timid. your words struck bill a little more than they should have, a deep pounding now felt in his chest as his ears flush a slight pink.

“your hot chocolate y/n,” “thanks tom!” he nods at you and takes his cup to exit the kitchen, presumably going upstairs to leave the two of you alone.

taking a sip of the drink, you can’t help but gush at how decadent the beverage was, tom made it really good you thought. “yummy?” bill asks, “mhm!” giggling, you almost chug the drink as if it was your last.

placing the mug down on the table, bill snorts at you, “what..?” using his fingers, he wipes the top of your lips to then bring his fingers to his lips, “just some cream.. no worries,” “o-oh! uhh thanks.”

a silence was now met in the kitchen as the two of you didn’t know what to do or say. it never was like this, whenever you came over to theirs, there was always something to do.

but this awkward, tension, just cannot be eased.

“y/n…” “yea?” “can we talk?” you nod at him, not wanting to say anymore. he’s making you nervous now. swallowing a hard lump, you wait for bill to speak.

lips dry, bill smacks his lips together. he seems nervous, and that nervousness you sense is killing you. “sooo like—i don’t know why i feel this way but all i know is that you mean a lot to me and i wanted to ask you if you felt the same about me.”

holy. shit. did bill just confess to you?

“i.. i..” damn, why can’t i get the words out? the sudden upbringings of heartfelt left you speechless. that was until you heard a small jingle from above you.

looking up, all you could see was a plant on a stick. the greenery bear that of white berries, tied together with a red ribbon. you look to see an extended arm that held the mistletoe.

oh my fucking god it was tom.

snickering, he smiles, what a little shithead. “oh wow—oh my god how did that get thereee,” he teased, leaving the two of you to look up at the plant, and then back at each other. you internally panic at to what just happened.

the traditions of mistletoe was not unknown, and time and place didn’t help either.

“tom? what the hell are you doing you’re making y/n uncomfor—” you didn’t want to hear bill lecture tom who basically helped you make your next move.

cutting bill off, you placed your lips onto his.

it was a quick peck that you honestly didn’t think meant much. it was short but sweet, his lips were slightly cracked due to the dry weather, but you could really care less. you hoped that such a gesture helped bill confirm how you felt about him.

“y-y/n!?” “i feel the same, bill. i felt it ever since i first met you.” tom ran away screaming ‘YUCK!’ as the sound of jingling became more distant, bill couldn’t help but hold his face within his palms.

“you like me?” he asks, “i do like you,” “like—more than friends?” “wayyy more than friends bill.” “wow, i would’ve never thought… i’m so happy right now i could die.” bill then hugs you tightly.

“b-bill.. you’re squeezing too hard..” “sorry! sorry.. just, excited you now.” he holds your hand, his face now a beet red. yours can’t help to match his you giggle at how adorable he is.

“i knew it!” simone exclaimed, clapping her hands together, “it was cute to see how much they pined over each other,” your mom chimes in. from afar away from your peripherals, the two were watching the interactions between you and bill unfold.

“what do you think tom?” “i think i’m gonna be sick…” tom fake throws up as the two laugh at his antics.

[flowersandbigteeth]

So you said your requests were open so ill take a shot at this. I would love to see more yandere orcs. Maybe reader is a merchant in a small town and the orc is a solitary man who lives in the mountains and rarely comes to town but when he does he only interacts with reader and buys small stuff just to talk to her. One day he comes by after winter is over (he couldnt risk traveling while winter was in cause of the cold and shit) and the reader is saying that she is getting married in a month and that sends the orc straight to kidnapping her and locking her up in his cabin to be his little house wife and mother of many little orclings. (Breeding kink please)

I think I got something close to that, lol This request was a lot to fit into just a few thousand words so I tried my best... ^_^'

Orc (Moth) x female reader

Word Count: 3k

W: nsfw monster smut, breeding kink, outdoor sex, kidnapping, forced marriage

“Damnit, this damn thing,” you grumbled at the rickety sign hanging over the door of your shop. Instead of swinging like it was supposed to, some tall bastard had bumped their head on it and now it was stuck flipped up. You hopped, trying to reach it. 

“What the bloody hell are you doing?!” your father growled, poking his head out of the door of your little apothecary, “the boy’s gonna be here soon! You can’t greet him looking like that! Go put on one of your mother’s dresses.” 

You pointed up to the sign. 

“Forget the damn sign, this is far more important than that,” he growled. 

He had a lot riding on the meet cute you were about to have with the fairy lord Darold he was hoping to arrange your marriage with. Why Darold was even coming you had no idea. Apparently he’d seen you walking through the market and immediately had his men find out where you lived so he could approach your father. Your father was hoping to negotiate some sort of sale or something to hand you over. It was all very dreary when you thought about it so you tried not to. You were hoping he would meet you, quench his curiosity, find out you were very dull, and leave.

A shadow passed over you and there was a squeak as the sign was righted. You glanced up and smiled. 

“Moth!” you said, greeting your friend, “it’s been a long time! I hope you had a peaceful winter! You look quite well.” 

The handsome orc smiled at you. His hair had gotten longer and was pulled up in a ponytail and his green skin looked healthy and glowing. Your eyes drifted over the tattoos on his bulky arms, biting your lip. He was always a treat in the tight leather pants he wore and rather small vest that showed off his sculpted chest. No Fairyfolk in all of Fairy had better bodies than Orcs in your humble opinion, at least this one. His bright brown eyes burned for a moment, before they were drawn away by your father. 

“Moth, my boy!” he cheered, scrambling through the door, “so glad to see you back! Got a couple things around the place that need fixing!” 

Your father had gotten dependent on Moth’s kindness. Every spring he came back down from the mountain where he lived to load up on supplies. He needed lots and lots of medical supplies to last him through the season, before he returned again before the winter, so he was one of your father’s favorite people, spending a lot of money all at once. 

Whenever he came down he offered to fix things up around the shop. He’d fixed your roof, some floorboards that had come loose, and all sorts of other little things. You had no idea why he offered, but your father didn’t turn away his help, coming to rely on it as he had gotten older and less limber. 

“Hurry! Hurry!” your father said, “we’ve got a guest coming and I don’t want the place to look like it's falling apart.” 

Moth’s eyes drifted back to you and you pointed to the sign and mouthed “thanks” which got you a smile. Following them inside, you hurried up the stairs to do as your father said and find one of your late mother’s dresses. You weren’t at all the same size, but they were the only fancy things you owned. The rest of your clothes were simple, but durable wool dresses for working in the garden. 

You split some seams and tightened others, fastening everything with pins, to get the dress to look halfway decent on you before you returned. Since you lived in a few rooms above the shop, you didn’t have a proper place to meet so you hurriedly set up a small table and some chairs outside near the garden before rushing back inside to start some hot water for tea. All this time you were mulling over the injustice that you had to do all this work to prepare for someone you didn’t even want to see. 

You were too flustered and busy to notice that Moth had slowed his work on the back window and was watching you. He was always watching you, that’s why he offered to do chores for your father. Otherwise he wouldn’t have an excuse to hang around your shop. He liked to see you smile when you helped customers with your soft, gentle hands and flit around the garden collecting plants for potions. It made him imagine those soft smiles were for him and his children and you were enjoying the garden he’d been steadily building for you and your family. 

He carried those memories with him all season when he was back in his lonely cabin in the mountain, working on adding new rooms for the babies he planned on filling it with and building you a greenhouse so you could still have plants in the cold winter months. He knew as a hedgewitch that was very important to you.  

Today, though, you weren’t your usual happy self. Your brow was creased and you were dressed in a hideous dress that didn’t fit you properly but was covered in ribbons like the ladies in town. When you hurried around the corner to go look for something in the storage shed he pulled you behind the corner of the house, away from your father’s eyes. 

“What’s wrong (Y/N)?” he asked, “you look upset.” 

You blinked up at him, the tears that were hovering on the edges of your eyes threatening to drop. 

“I’m supposed to meet with some silly fairy to get married,” you pouted, “it’s not fair. I don’t understand why I can’t help father run the shop! Why does he want to send me away?” 

Moth’s normally gentle face was suddenly furious. 

“He what?” he growled. 

You took a step back, not expecting him to respond so strongly. It wasn’t his problem. 

“It’s nothing,” you said, moving to retreat, but he stopped you with a thick arm against the wall of the house, blocking your path. 

“Who is he?!” he snarled, folding his body down to your eye level. 

You trembled in front of him, confused by his sudden intensity. He’d always been such a gentle giant around you. The thick scent of his musk rolled over you on the breeze and your eyelashes fluttered. 

“I-I don’t know…he said he saw me in the market or something, I’ve never even seen him before,” you replied. 

The last few words seemed like the right ones, because he relaxed just slightly. Only instead of backing off, he scooped you up in his arms and started walking swiftly away from the shop. 

“Wh-what are you doing? I have to get ready for Darold,” you said. 

He growled at you, a sound you felt against your body pressed to his chest. 

“Don’t ever mention him in my presence again,” he snapped.

Your eyes got large. You still weren’t completely clear on what was happening until Moth loaded you next to him onto his cart and started driving away from town. 

“Moth, are you kidnapping me?!” you finally asked, now confident that’s what was happening. 

He eyed you with his flaring brown eyes. 

“Do I have to tie you up?” he asked. 

Your eyebrows went up and you shook your head. You peered behind you down the road that led in and out of town. 

“Aren’t you worried they’ll come after us?” you asked, “my father is going to realize we’re missing pretty quickly.” 

He looked at you and smiled, winking. 

“I have a secret,” he said, pulling a chain from underneath his shirt with a large purple crystal on it, “I have a teleportation crystal for emergencies and this must be what I’ve been saving it for. It won’t get us all the way to my mountain, but we’ll get far enough away that we can't be followed.” 

You looked nervously behind you seeing clouds of dust building on the horizon. 

“Well you should probably use it soon,” you murmured, as the black spots of riders were just becoming visible through the dust. 

Moth turned around and, much too slowly in your opinion, made sure everything in the cart was situated. 

“Moth…” you murmured as you got the first glimpse of your would be husband cresting the hill on his horse, his bright orange hair flaring in the sunlight. He wasn’t at all your type, though he was traditionally quite good looking, skinny with pale skin instead of Moth’s rich, beautiful green. You heard shouting as his men spotted you. 

Glancing up, the orc beside you threw the crystal on the ground smashing it into a million pieces. Purple smoke surrounded you invading your lungs and you coughed bitterly. The horses whinnied, not at all happy about the magic being foisted on them. Did it work? 

The smoke took far too long to clear, but the first thing you noticed was the quiet sound of birds chirping, not the yelling of guards. The horses had settled and Moss gently coaxed them forward out of the cloud of smoke and on to a peaceful looking road. You glanced behind you, worried someone would emerge to chase you through the smoke, but it just got thinner and thinner drifted off on the breeze until nothing but the road in the other direction remained. 

“Where are we?” you asked Moth, who was looking quite pleased. 

His eyes flashed at you and you realized suddenly this was the first time the two of you had been truly alone together. 

“We’re deep in the forest leading to the mountain,” he said, pointing to the shadowy mountain ahead of you, “there’s no one around for probably a hundred miles…” 

“There’s truly no one?” you asked, slipping a little bit closer to him to his surprise. 

“Um…yeah…no one…” he murmured as your hand drifted to his leg, sliding up the sinewy muscle pressed against his pants. 

“So…now that we’re a couple…we should probably talk about how many babies we want to have,” you said, letting your hand drift higher and higher to the slowly hardening monstrosity that was pressed down one pant leg. 

That was the exact sort of conversation Moth wanted to have and he couldn’t hold in his smile, tusks shining in the balmy afternoon sunlight.

He scooped you up in his big hands that could lift far more than some little fairy, and tossed you into the back of the cart, where you landed in a soft pile of some linens he’d picked up for your bed and any little ones you may have before he made it back down the mountain. 

“We’re a couple?” he asked, still feeling a bit shy, though he could hardly hold himself back. He just wanted to hear it again. Just to be sure that you really wanted this. He wouldn’t have let you go if you didn’t, but it was all the more sweet that it seemed you did. 

You smiled and cupped his face in your hand as he hovered over you. 

“I certainly hope that was your intention when you kidnapped me, or this is going to be a very awkward trip,” you giggled, “Yes, we are a couple. You went to all this trouble…”

He hushed you with a heavy kiss, his tusks brushing your cheeks. Your skin sparkled as his hot mouth dragged away from your lips and he nibbled your earlobe. 

“I’m going to make you round with five little green babies,” he purred, making you melt underneath him, he chuckled, “unless you want more…we can make more…” 

Your fingertips found his chest, dusted with dark hair and you smoothed your hand over it. 

“Six is a nice even number,” you whispered back as his kisses dropped lower and lower down the column of your neck. 

“I can give you six,” he rumbled into your skin, “but first you have to give me something…I bet you can guess what it is…” 

You heard the fabric of your dress tearing and in a moment you were bare in the afternoon sunlight, while Moth showered your body in kisses. His greedy fingers dug into your flesh, pinching and squeezing your soft places. 

“Mmm, please,” you pleaded with him, bucking your hips, “take it.”

As eager as Moth was to do just that, he was much too large to go slamming into you. While he sucked a nipple into his mouth, his hand dropped lower to feel your puffy lips. A sense of satisfaction washed over him as you opened your legs for him, inviting him in, asking for more. 

Slipping his fingers through the wetness he circled your clit with a digit, smiling into your breast as you moaned for him, writhing. Tugging your nipple with his teeth to get your attention, he thrust a finger inside, opening you up before pushing in another. 

“Moth, please…breed me,” you groaned, love drunk and dizzy. 

He’d never heard sweeter words, scissoring his fingers inside of you to stretch you a bit, his anticipation building for your sweet pussy wrapped around his cock. 

“I’m gonna fuck six little orc babies into you, sweetheart,” he murmured between kisses as he made his way down your body, “pretty ones just like their mama and strong ones like their papa.” 

You keened when his tongue reached your clit and he covered it with his lips. He needed you gushing if you were going to take him. 

“Come on, mama,” he groaned into your pussy, “give papa what he needs.” 

He thrust his fingers extra hard inside you and you fell apart on them sobbing his name. 

“I need you inside of me,” you were quickly begging despite the glittering orgasm you’d just had. Your pussy was spasming around his fingers, but you knew you could be fuller…much fuller. 

He smirked, torturing you with long laps on your pussy to taste your nectar. When he was finally satisfied and you were limp and dripping, he inched himself inside you a bit at a time. His girth burned at first as it stretched you, but soon it turned into a good burn as he gently bottomed out between your warm folds. When he was fully sheathed he kissed you, his tongue tangling with yours. 

By the time he’d pulled away he’d lost any semblance of control, your tight, wet hole squeezing him, begging to be rutted. He tried starting out slow, giving you a few firm strokes before his pace quickly increased and you were mewling underneath him, your ankles almost behind your head as his big hands forced them down. 

“I’m gonna keep pumpin’ you fulla cum ‘til your belly’s nic’n round,” he slurred, his pretty brown eyes glittering at you, chasing that goal, “gonna be sucha pretty lil mama…” 

A finger found your clit, swirling it as his cock battered you, stretching you to hit all the right places. He was fucking the words out of you, all you could do was glow up at him and moan. You’d fantasized about this so many nights. Moth’s big body, moving on top of you. It was so much better than your naughty dreams. You came in absolute bliss, your cunt clamping down on him. 

He roared, slamming into you a few more times before he unloaded his hot load into your womb. Rolling his hips into you gently a few more times, he didn’t even want to pull out of you. He could stay buried in you for eternity, but he couldn’t keep you folded in half forever, so he reluctantly slid out of you and rolled to your side, letting out a satisfied breath. 

Rocking himself back over, his eyes drifted down to the mess leaking from between your thighs and he used a thick finger to push a big drop back in. 

“I think we made baby number one,” he purred, slipping the same hand around your waist and dragging you to his chest. He buried his nose in your hair, just to sniff you. He never wanted to be away from your scent.

Since it was very unlikely that anyone was going to happen upon you on this empty stretch of forest, the two of you napped in the sunlight until you continued your long journey home.

[sunandmoonseisai]

Hitsuhina just kill me. Cause at the beginning of the soul society arc, their relationship was such a driving force for each other's character. Toshiro wanted to get stronger for hinamori. He went to become a shinigami partly to be by her side and protect her. Hinamori was forced against her childhood's friend and it broke her. Their relationship was at the center of aizen's abuse and manipulation. We saw many cute glimpse into their past that gave us so much hindsight into their characters. I rerember toshiro protectiveness being described as "ardent passion" in the official guidebook (at least in the french translation)

They used to be a big deal damnit!

And you're telling me that after that

They just stop interacting?!! At all?!!!

All we get is one glance from hinamori when toshiro get his bankai back?

For fuck's sake, I didn't ask for much. Just a little acknowledgement of their bond and how much it suffered at the hands of aizen. For how much I ship them, I wouldn't even care if they ended up with other people just as long as they got a little closure.

The way you get these two polar opposite characters who love each other's deeply and are forced to hurt each other against their will by a manipulative asshole... And then you just never acknowledge it again? We don't get to see them rebuilt their relationship or break ties or acknowledge each other's existence more than a single time? Cool? Cool.

[italicized-oh]

hi oh my gosh welcome back!! glad to hear you finished your dissertation omfg congratulations!! for prompts, idk how specific you wanted/what you were looking for, but how about jace and porter getting caught by one of their coworkers while theyre "on a date" in bastion city (theyre actually there for [handwavey evil plan reasons] but yknow. they need a cover)?

oh rip i did not finish dissertation i finished one part of it 😭 but i am putting her aside now bc im sick of her. we're getting a divorce so i can come back to her door in 2 months weeping. but i digress

mmmmm. yes. i love this prompt it's delicious for me in particular. In my head this is early in their, um, collaboration. Jace doesn’t quite have the hang of manipulating Porter yet, but boy does Porter have his number.

Jace has a headache. This isn’t surprising, because he’s out with Porter on a school night in the godawful sports bar they always go to because it’s the best place to not be overheard. Which means that it’s so fucking loud in here he can feel the sound in his teeth. Which means that he’s approximately twelve minutes away from swallowing down a surge and fucking up his blood pressure. Again. 

Which means, of course, that the only thing that could make this planning session-cum-torture hour better for Jace is if someone saw him and Porter together, in a booth, on a Thursday, heads bent together, very obviously not watching the pro bloodrush championship something-or-other that every other person is screaming their heads off about.

“Jace, Porter, how lovely to see you!” Jace grits his teeth together even harder at the smirk already curling across Porter’s lips, allowing himself one moment of sheer, blind rage at the cruel whims of the universe. And then he puts on a smile that says just how happy he is to see his coworkers outside work, because he is a kind and genuine person and definitely not fighting a migraine and plotting the end of the world with Solace’s newest god of rage.

“Lucilla, darling, how are you? You look stunning, as always,” Porter kicks Jace under the table, “and Zara, of course, hello.” Jace lets more of his teeth out into his smile as he turns to Zara, because she, at least, should know better. She’s wearing a smug grin and has her arm wrapped around Lucilla, toying idly with the taffeta bunched at her hip. Eyes dancing, Zara glances between Jace and Porter, and Jace can watch in real time as she starts connecting dots that do not exist to be connected.

“Love, I think we’re interrupting–” is all Zara gets out (that bitch, Jace is going to hex her shelf in the faculty lounge fridge so all her blood turns into Kool-Aid) before Lucilla is gushing about Ruben’s recent developments to Jace.

“Really, he’s made such progress, I can’t thank you two enough for taking him under your wing. I–” Jace tunes Lucilla out, smiling and nodding in all the right places, and subtly Messages Porter.

If you don’t have a way to end this in the next fifteen seconds I’m going to kill everyone in this room and then myself. Porter sips at his beer, seemingly unaffected, having some kind of nonverbal something with Zara, which really shouldn’t make Jace as upset as it does, except he has a headache rapidly developing into a migraine and is being forced to engage in niceties about Ruben Hopclap of all his students, why not one of the competent Rat Grinders, or even Kipperlily. Gods, how is this his life.

Porter. Do. Something. Then a third Message, just for drama. Please.

It’s always a little creepy to Jace when Porter turns on the charm, because even from their relatively few interactions so far, Jace knows that charisma means very different things to different people. Case in point:

“Ah, Lucilla,” Porter says with an indulgent smile (indulgent? What the hell does he have to indulge?). “I’m afraid Ms. Sool is correct; as wonderful as I know your company is, Stardiamond here gets tetchy when people interrupt our alone time.” 

(Gods. fucking. damnit. This is what Jace gets for letting Porter do the talking. Next time, Jace is just fucking Teleporting away or something.)

Porter’s hand covers Jace’s atop the table (fully covers, Jace does not observe, because why would he) and presses down with just this side of too much pressure as he continues. “It’s a full time job keeping him satisfied, you know, or I’m sure we’d love to keep chatting.” Jace feels the bones of his fingers creak as Porter increases the force of his hand on Jace's. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” 

Jace barely manages a nod, his brain fuzzed over in some mix of confusion, fury, and- probably nothing else.

Lucilla’s eyebrows creep up her forehead (almost as high as Zara’s have), and she turns a fascinating shade of periwinkle. Putting a hand to her chest with a (truly unnecessary, if you ask Jace) gasp, she says, “Oh, oh, dear, thank you for saying something, Porter, you know how I ramble on, I’m just so impressed by– oh, and there I go again!” Lucilla’s laugh is musical, because of course it is, and her whole body ripples with it.

(Jace isn’t watching, of course, but he is watching Porter watching, which he refuses to think about until this weekend. Maybe next.)

“Anyway, we’ll leave you two to it, won’t we, babe?” She turns into Zara’s arms, and Zara throws a triumphant wink Jace’s way as they depart. He stares daggers at her back, already weighing whether or not to make this a thing he has to talk about with Porter, whose hand is still covering Jace's.

At least, Jace thinks, his maybe-fractured fingers are distracting him from the throbbing pain in his skull. Fucking hell.

[tigsbitties]

norm for the character opinion ask meme? :>

Sexuality Headcanon: I think Norm is technically bisexual. I say technically bc i one: do think he’s mostly into women and two: don’t think he’s really the type to use labels. Just not something that appeals to him personally.

Gender Headcanon: Uncomplicated cis guy. Or at the very least if there’s anything else going on there I don’t think that’s a journey he’s going on anytime soon.

A ship I have with said character: NORMGINGI FOR SURE easily one of my top dialtown ships. I will say I think they’re “dating” per say. I think they have an emotional bond that sort of transcends that? out of all of the datebles Norm and Gingi have the most emotionally intense relationship but also the one that’s least well defined. Also because I think Gingi calling Norm their “boyfriend” would make him die of embarrassment. he’s too old for all of that he had a wife and kids damnit .

A BROTP I have with said character: I think his interactions with Randy are super cute, especially in the dtf segments. His relatively likeable sea urchin with the heart of a champion<3 I really like Mich’s headcanon about Norm building a house near the woodsy outskirts of the funfair and Randy occasional leaving her post to go bother him. I’m so sorry Mr. Allen sir I had the chimp dream again and I don’t think I can be alone right now knowing there are around 2,000 known chimps in the US.

A NOTP I have with said character: I don’t really care for when people ship him with Mr. Dickens but it’s not something I have any kind of active distaste for either. To me it just feels like one of those ships that exists to fill a quota? like back when a lot of people thought norm was super old for some reasons but still wanted to yaoi him with someone they had to go with the old man™️. I could definitely be misinterpreting things though. I’m sure someone could do something interesting with it (i know dogman has mentioned wanting to write a short thing about a hypothetical dynamic between the two of them, which i unironically think would be super interesting to read) I do think the two of them could have a lot to talk about— i just haven’t seen anything shipping wise that’s caught my eye just yet. maybe some day.

A random headcanon: less a random headcanon that spawned from the ether and more of an observation but i love that he lies about not believing in evolution. Makes perfect sense to do that in the 1960s i’m sure but now it makes him look genuinely fucking insane. Oh Norm you make me giggle

General Opinion over said character: I love him sooo muches you don’t understand it’s kinda of embarrassing. I see him and immediately transform into a teenage girl in a movie writing her crushes name a million times in her diary and encircling it all in hearts. Dialtown Chapter 3 and Norm by extension are super important to me I get really sentimental thinking about it. Visual Novels are good you guys.

[milksuu]

ur aphelios fic w solari priestess reader was soooo good, i can't stop going back to reread it bc i'm eager for pt 2 if you do end up writing one 😭😭 but there's so much potential for this man bc hello ?? enemies to lovers(?uh) ?? i really like the idea that they're on opposite sides bc as a lover of solari n lunari lore, it feels much more taboo. especially considering how scornful the solari people are of the lunari people which is clear in how the reader treats him 😕 a bit unjustified but it's nice that we aren't exactly a blank sheet of paper in this bc ofc we'd still have to abide by our morals and views 🩵🩵 i also wonder what alune thinks of this if she ever found out, would she even in the first place LMAO "i fear your brother nonconned me 😓😨🧟‍♂️" HDHDHDHS whenever there's an aphelios fic alune always pops into my mind afterwards since she's so dear to me, would the reader ever interact w her through aphelios? bisexuals really winning w this champ 😔

LKJSDVGBFLJHSDFVLSH!! omfg thank you for thinking so much about it. im cryiinnngggg!!! and yeah, im totally writing a part two. I'm at 1.8k words right now. sorry I bounce around a lot so i take a while to write lol.

BUT UGH YES. i definitely wanted to do an enemies/lovers kind of feel. (although i think in phels perspective reader's more 'lover' by his terms because well he's pretty unhinged in his perspective. what can we expect from a guy born and raised as a religious assassin who only ever interacts to his sister?? yeah his 'social' skills aren't going to be the best lmfao)

and like you stated anon, them being lunari/solari just adds the extra layers of drama, depth, and juicy plot potential. all in all, quite a banger.

as far as alune goess, I'd say she 100% knew. only because, alune is a Seer that shows aphelios' path, and directs him on missions. basically the moon told alune "yeah this is going to happen" then alune was like "heyyy soo....you're going to have to do this bro" and then ofc phel was somewhat conflicted the whole time but hey FAITH is never questioning and doing what you're told cause it's supposedly 'right'. and he definitely wants the believe it was all for a 'good' reason. Like him and reader are destined lovers since otherwise, why would the moon have him do that instead of just kill her? kinda like getting a gift for always being obedient to his faith (the copium is strong with this one). but yeah, phel made sure the toxin wore off so that his poor sister didn't have to endure that. (but assassinating people is totally fine obvs!)

alune and reader would have some sort of relationship a bit later. reader is technically a priestess, even though a solari one, she'd still be able to have some way to connect to the spirit realm. or reader can feel the ethereal vibrations emanating from him, but not fully understand/hone in alune's presence. but i think slowly over time, readers growing connection with aphelios will have her gradually connected with alune at some point.

and I want to say the moon goddess has a plan as to why that had to be done to reader. not sure how far i'll actually get to reveal it or develop it, since honestly, i had no intention of continuing let alone build any lore (THIS WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE SMUT DAMNIT HAHA) but we'll see.

whew, kinda went on a tangent, but i hope i've given you some good context anon! again, thank you for rereading my fixations and wanting more. as you can see, you've set off my dopamine receptors with this post lmfao. <3

stay tuned for part 2. ;3

[randomgentlefolk]

CPC CHAPTER 164

I'm crying on the ground. Sobbing with my cat yet again. I feel so peaceful and destroyed at the same time.

Lambcat really said we should start the year with a breakdown huh

I'm gonna hold my breakdown until I talk about the moment.

Lance to the rescue!! Man I love that guy. I also really love how he looks in the panel I put as my pfp. He looks so soft and gentle :')

The interaction between Lance and Lorena is rising my hope that they will still be friends after the chaos ends.

This did caught me off guard lmao 😭 I'm sorry for saying this but is he implying that he has a thick skull because nahh he did himself dirty

Y'ALL IT'S THE MOMENT WE'VE (or at least me haha) ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. Lance!!! Fighting against his kingdom!!! I'm so proud of him YOU GO LANCE!!!

Huge respect for Lance and his friends tho for CARRYING THAT HUGE PILLAR LIKE WHAT. Remember when I said something along the line of "if Frederick say he's weak while he can carry an entire llama, then I'm terrified of what Lance can do"? Yea this just proved my point.

Also I'm going to keep saying that Lance is going to have a sick scar with that x mark.

I once again wonder what is the legal age for alcohol in cpc? In US and the country I live in, the legal age is 21. But I think it's 18 in UK right? If it's 18 in cpc then that makes sense because Lance is 19 and Blaine is 20 (i'm saying this because of the beer pong comment by Lance's friend)

Sheesh, I hope Leland will be defeated from the king position soon. I don't want anyone to be executed. That would be disturbing.

Oooh!! Syrah and Saffron probably showing their fighting skill in the future episodes??? I hope so!!

Thank you Maria! It's nice to see that The pastel siblings now believe that Frederick truly loves Gwen.

Feeling like your legs are paralyzed whenever you're gonna face something you're terrified of is so real :( you can do it, Frederick! I believe in you!!

LELAND CHILL???? MAN YOUR HANDS ARE BLEEDING. Eat a snickers damnit. You're not you when you're going through a heart break xd

Oh. Okay. Ouch. Massive ow. Y'know when I said how the Monika's room episode and Frederick's monologue about what he wants really hits for me? Well add this to the list because wtfff.

Aww Gwegg :( She kept blaming herself even though it really isn't her fault. What Gwen said is pretty comforting though. Them apologizing to each other </3 It really is the shit when you realize you haven't treat yourself kindly. Like when you keep wondering why everything is wrong then you look at your inner self and go "oh. That's why".

GWEN SAYING "No matter what happens, I'll never let go of you again!" HAJWHSIWBS

INTOOOOO LEELATHAE'S BACKSTORY!!

*cue 1996 batman transition*

Aww the births of The Pastel Siblings! Though Leelathae's thought during each of the births...it breaks my heart :( it seems that she view the births of The Pastel Siblings as a way to apologize for her "mistake" (in which she didn't make any mistake at all), even though it shouldn't be like that at all...

I'm surprised no animals appear at Maria's birth lol. I was really expecting for a deer or birds to suddenly appear haha.

This IS making me a bit worried though. I don't know much about child births and stuff but while it is normal to still feel pain after giving birth, is it possible that there were some complications leading to Leelathae's dead 3 years after giving birth to Gwen and Jamie? I'll let someone more knowledgeable to figure out what is happening with Leelathae since I have no idea at all.

Anyway! Finally, a close up on Pastel Siblings as babies!! I know we've seen them before in the portraits beside Jack's bed, but it's nice to see them clearer.

Initially, I was worried how Leelathae would react to Gwen, but nevermind that

I'm so happy about this scene :') Leelathae realizing how beautiful Gwen is, even calling her the most beautiful in all the land. Also her saying as long as Gwen thinks she's beautiful, then what other people think doesn't matter makes me sob. Mother love is always something so touching.

On the other hand though, it made me a little confused now on why she asked Jack to lock up the children and never let them out. Looking at one of the fast pass episode's thumbnail, maybe it's because of the witch? We're nearing the end and there are still so many questions.

And now, INTO THE PRESENT! And the moment....

*cue 1996 batman transition*

I'M. I'M GONNA CRY. The fact that Gwen doesn't recognize Leelathae?? The fact that they're wearing the same robe???

WHEN LAMBCAT SAID THERE WASN'T ENOUGH GUT PUNCHES, SHE WAS BEING FR. I don't have anything to say about this scene, but at the same time I want to say a lot about this scene. Gwen's mom telling her that she's beautiful, Gwen crying without knowing why, I'm going to cry.

But hey, Gwegg is finally whole again! True love kiss is real after all ^_^ i love how Lambcat does a little spin at the classic true love kiss. But now that Gwen is finally awake...Well, let's just wish her, Frederick, Aurelia, and Celso good luck at dealing with the officially confirmed big bad wolf/serpent, Leland.

We kinda should thank Leland a bit, though. If he wasn't there ripping off all of the thorny veins, Gwen would get pretty hurt if she still wakes up while sitting up

Yooo the newest fast pass being the final chapter of Leelathae's diary? I hope we will have our questions answered!! And the fact that there's a witch in the thumbnail...hm.

That's it for now!

Mono out! (But still in to hear your thoughts)

[daincrediblegg]

lady terror question for you: 😊

do lady terror and francis ever argue with each other and how would they apologise/make up?

also how would you describe her relationship/interactions with the other characters, friendships etc.

OOOOOOOOH

OK OK ok... First? oh yeah. Without revealing too much, they have argued like HELL with each other throughout. And of course, as you can imagine, the worst of their arguments (with some of the most bleak and cutting words- from the both of them) occur during year 2 in the ice off king william land which... yeah. And I tell ya. Some anxieties and fears (and even love- weirdly and fucked up as the expression of it might be) are revealed through them (in fact- the "I have everything to fear of you" bit that I love hauling out all the time is the butt-end to one such argument. and it's so hot god damnit). As for making up? well... you'll see 😉(just know that it's sweet and tearful and cuddly). AS FOR OTHER RELATIONSHIPS??? OHHHHHH THANK YOU I'VE BEEN WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THOSE FOR A WHILE!!!! Bc I love her relationship with Francis but I've written just as much dialogue with her and other characters as well.

Thomas Blanky is easily the person that she vibes with the most on either ship- bc he comes from a very similar sailing background that she does (more merchant ship/whaling stuff than naval expeditions) and she’s much more appreciative of his kind of sense of humor and general outlook on things. It sets her at ease somehow, and also reminds her of her father. Not to mention that he also treats her not just with respect but with the kind of camaraderie that she experienced on her father’s ship- like not a lot of people on these ships would just… hang out with her? And exchange filthy jokes and limericks while they work. And have a genuinely friendly rapport that isn’t marred with all the victorian social trappings- which is what she wants at the end of the day. If anyone is her true bestie on this expedition, it’s gotta be Mr. Blanky 🥰

The second most important relationship is with Jopson. He was a bit wary of her at first, but the more times she spends on Terror, and the more she sees both her and the captain warming up to each other? Not to mention her concern for his well-being (which is something that no one ever really shows him)??? He kindof ends up seeing her as the elder sister that he’d never had.

James Fitzjames is, of course, her natural frenemy. Kindof like a Darcy figure honestly (watch this space). But I think they have some of the most interesting conversations I've written honestly. I think she catches on fairly early that a lot of James is a front- and James is unsettled by that because the thing that masculinity has afforded him is adiquate cover, but to be confronted by the feminine and be seen? Scares the shit out of him, but he still respects and cares for her.

Goodsir is her little Inuktitut study buddy and confidante on Erebus. Their cabins are even right next to each other. They're both kind of in the same position (just in different disciplines, ofc) , and they do try to look after each other as best they can. This man will bring her a cherry stone heating pad when she's having cramps, the absolute king that he is, and also pass on information to her that others wouldn't deem suitable for her ears. She even helps him out in the surgery every now and again when Dr. Stanley can't be fucked! They're rational critical thought buddies.

AND SPEAKING OF BUDDIES!!! SILNA!!!! god there's a lot going on there and I don't want to reveal too much but they are nb gal pals and there's nothing none of these stuffy old british bitches can do about it and that's all I have to say on the matter. 1000% a part of the 'respect indiginous folks' defense squad.

there is so much more. but these are sort of the major ones for me that I've fleshed out so far. (honorable mention to Bridgens, who is her book club buddy and who she loves having conversations with about this stuff. she endears herself to old farts like that what can I say?) More to come ofc when I finish this damn enterprise but THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!!!!

[quinn-loki-02]

COD characters on a car trip/in a car

Ghost

Ghost is more of a passenger than driver. Well... the team wants him to be a passenger.

When riding with him, you are not a passenger prince/princess but a survivor.

Curses at everything and everyone

“why the fuck is there someone crossing the street?” when it's actually someone walking on a crosswalk

If anyone has the guts to do remarks/suggestions about his driving, they will be left on the side of the road. Soap has learned it the hard way.

No one is able to sleep while he drives, he isn't the softest on brakes and the wheel.

Passengers glance at one another.

At least no one forgets about the safety belt

As a passenger, he is quiet and stares at the landscape. To him, everything is mesmerizing : neon lights, urban life, horses in fields.

Because of his rough childhood he hasn't experienced outside a lot and has social anxiety when he is in an unknown place with lots of people. Being in a car allows him to observe how people act/interact but with detachment from them. He is in a safe bubble.

Price

Is the dad of the group.

Has a bunch of snacks ready (peanuts, cashews, starbursts, chocolate chip cookies) and often asks the group if they are craving a sweet tooth. Same with drinks (water and a few sodas)

“does anyone want something? It's in the bag behind my seat.”

Is also the one checking for restroom breaks.

“if you wanna go to the restrooms, it's now, otherwise we won't stop until we arrive”

Of course, if any of them (especially Gaz) ask to go, he will find a way for him to go to the restrooms. Will probably grumble for a bit tho.

“I told you to go before. Damnit, we stopped 20 minutes ago. Next time, be more careful.”

If he is the one driving he will put music on to avoid any awkward silence. It won't be too loud so that if anyone wants to start a conversation/speak they can totally be heard. It's more of a backgound music.

Listens to radio mostly.

Has quite some difficulties to link his phone to the bluetooth but when he manages to do it, he will try to put on some music that everyone can enjoy.

Nothing too extreme, some classics (Queen, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC)

If he feels like it, he will hum at the tune.

“if you want to, you can change the music?”

Always tries his best to please everyone.

Soap

Always jumps on the opportunity to put music on

suggests playing all sorts of games :

-punch buggy

-I spy something with my little eyes that starts with the letter...

-truth or dare

-would you rather...

Name them, he knows them all

The car can quickly turn into karaoke.

Knows starship by Nicky Minaj and I knew you were Trouble by Taylor Swift a bit too well

His favorite karaoke buddy is Gaz. Will sing any song with him.

The team once came back from a bar and they both sang 7 rings by Ariana Grande. They denied it once they were sober but Valeria has a video. She often uses it as a threat to get Soap to stand by her side.

He is not a terrible driver but not the best either. He doesn't particulary like driving a car, except sports car. Has a weak spot for any Aston Martin car (DB 11 owns his heart).

When he has free time he actually enjoys going on circuit with Alejandro to see who is the fastest. Ghost once gave him a side eye when he said he had reached 200 km/hour on circuit.

Soap told him “you can't understand, it's a man thing”. Ghost didn't talk to him for 5 days.

If he is really bored, he will draw ; a street the car went by, one of the car passengers, or anything that has caught his attention.

König

Sleeps like a baby in a car. The car movments soothes him.

Asks if he can have the passenger seat to have more space for his legs.

Prefers big cars because of his size.

If he's at the back, he will try to get as small as he can. Is afraid of crunching others when the car turns.

He will gladly listens to others talking, but won't speak much. Not that he doesn't want to, but he is afraid to speak too much and bother others.

If jokes are made, he will let out a muffled laugh here and there or a

“good one”, “funny”

Gazes at the landscape. He loves nature and takes time to appreciate its beauty.

When he drives, he is rather focused. Others may talk to him but he won't respond much. He wants to be at his full capacities to make sure no car crash will happen.

He is afraid that he may cause a car crash and for others to get injured.

Alejandro

Can either be the best or the worst passenger. It all depends on who is driving.

If Valeria drives and he is on the passenger seat, everyone is scared. They will spend their time arguing with one another about the best road to follow, the speed limit, the next stop... ANYTHING.

If Soap is in the mood to have fun (getting murdered) he drops something like “pfewww... the sexual tension here is unbearable”.

He once took the wheel to take an exit on the highway from Valeria's hands, almost causing the car to roll over. Eversince, he is forbidden to seat next to her when she drives.

“puta madre, no sabe conducir y soy el cupable”

(“fucking hell, she doesn't know how to drive and I am the one blamed”)

However, they still argue even though he's at the back of the car. In fact, he could be in the trunk and he would criticize her driving skills.

If he is on the passenger seat when another member of the team drives, he will help them with the directions and ask if they need a break when he feels like they've been driving for long enough

“hey, you've already been driving for 3 hours, do you want me to drive?”

Does it in a very protective way. He doesn't want others to get too tired (except Valeria)

He drives rather calmly but if something/someone has irritated him, it's another Alejandro. He can sometimes be driven by his urges.

Valeria

What if she caused an accident and Alejandro unfortunately died? The thought has already crossed her mind a few times.

She is actually a good driver.

But the team is always afraid her temper gets out of control when she is behind the wheel. Especially when Alejandro is in the car.

What if she ran over Alejandro?

There is a deep hatred (love) between the two and insults in Spanish have become the new norm.

Soap and Farah have been trying to learn what they say and often quote Valeria or Alejandro

“puta madre” (motherfucker)

“pendejo” (dumbass)

“pinche pendejo” (fucking asshole)

When Valeria is a passenger, she enjoys scaring kids when the car stops at a traffic light.

If she is in the mood she will play some of Soap's game. Especially would you rather and truth or dare.

“would you rather get your two ankles broken or stabbed in the chest?”

“Alejandro, I dare you to get out of the car and come back to the base by yourself”

“Soap, is it true that you're a virgin?”

She knows how to push everyone's buttons

She is also able to read a book while the car is moving without being sick.

Her favorite books are cien anos de soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Misery by S. King.

Gaz

Is chilling on his phone as long as he doesn't feel sick when reading while the car moves.

Has a portable screen that he attaches to the headrest in front of him to watch a movie/series. It was Price who gave him as a christmas present

“you said you were bored during car rides, so I thought maybe you would like a screen to watch movies?”

König or Price will sometimes watch a movie/series with him.

Also enjoys listening to music. Has bluetooth headphones he connects to his phone. It allows him to be in his own bubble, and not having to listen to Soap bullshit all along.

He listens to Green day, Oasis, Queen. His guilty pleasure is listening to Harry Styles watermelon sugar

Has renamed Soap “Donkey” in reference to the Donkey in Shrek, constantly annoying everyone during car trips.

If he is the one driving, you will be a passenger prince/princess. He drives well, respecting the speed limits and road safety rules in general. Well, he respects them when Price is there.

When Price is nowhere in sight he will tend to go a bit over the speed limit and park in places he souldn't (family parking spaces, in streets, in front of people's doorway).

Graves

Skilled driver. Enjoys driving big cars.

Hates with passion manual cars

“why the hell can't everyone drive automatic cars?”

Cannot drive without music. Listens to Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and knows their songs by heart. He will not necessary sing them out loud but will think about them.

Country is the greatest music style to him, and if someone dare to contredict him, a whole debate could go on for hours.

As a passenger, enjoys kicking the seat in front of him, espeially if it's Ghost or Soap on it.

“It's not me. It's the car moving.”

He prefers taking his shoes off if the trip is quite long.

Needs a coffee break every hour.

If he has a chewing gum, he will chew it as loud as he can and wait to see how long it will take for someone to tell him something about it.

Hates the smell of fuel. It makes him gag. Whenever they have to stop to get fuel, he gets out of the car, goes in the shop and wait until the car comes pick him up once it's done.

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

hey cap! just wanted to say: last week was CRAZY so i only just got around to rereading panthera (500 pages in babyy), however i have a couple of notes! and a photo.

these are now pantheras gloves to me sozzles.

onto the notes from the top of my head!

absolutely love how fucking stupid rose was about being in love with juleka. like she really just. didn't notice for so damn long.

i like how you foreshadow events! like i know they are coming because yknow. read this damn thing about 5 times now. but i notice new things each time damnit!

you would not believe how vivid that scene from guitar villain of panthera going so hard is for me, like that is genuinely one of the images that comes up for me when i think about this fic

once again. foreshadowing. i actually didn't notice the first few times that Lilas mum says "the city of love" and then teases her about a romantic relationship, and the way Lila reacts?? excellent. love noticing new details

i actually fucking love anarka so much frfr, you got her character down so nicely, like she's not 'important' but she is and it comes through (also i will always always lose it over you using scottish slang, sometimes you use it in such a strange way and i love it)

onto the questions!

ok so people joke about it in the asks but will we be seeing Rose with a miraculous? i think the dynamic between juleka and Rose as she is transformed would be absolutely hysterical, but also seeing Julekas thoughts on Rose being in danger would be fascinating. (along with knowign which miraculous she would be getting)

is Marinette ever going to figure out who Panthera is? and to extend that question; what are tikkis motivations for identities being kept so secret whereas plagg doesn't care as much? or is it simply to stay true to some of the show?

I've noticed that Juleka sometimes has bouts of confidence (eg. horrificator) and acts more 'like panthera' but i have been curious on whether she would start to be more talkative in general, not that she has / should be but i've just been curious about that since i first started reading if i'm honest with you. (i find that panthera is similar to masking and how i view that so Juleka would probably be increibdly socially exhausted if she did so) i also ask because it would be really funny to see her casually flirt with friends really smoothly without the cat ears

will we be seeing more of Rose noticing Juleka and Marinette havign some sort of bond? before she realised her feelings it was explicitly stated (i think in numerical? replacement for reflecta.) that she felt jelous over their interactions and i am interested to see if that would continue (though i may be forgetting details! i am only 500 pages into a 1700 roundabout document)

On a bit of a time crunch rn and may appear again so thats all for now!

notes on the two 'new' chapters coming soon!

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Great to read your notes again! As for your questions...

We will eventually! In Season 4! She'll still be Pigella, because I love Pigella, but I'll be doing my best to keep it refreshing!

2. Eventually. I'll hold my tongue on saying whether she'll learn post canon or in the fic, I can't wait to show you all how my plans play out. As for Tikki- I'd like to imagine many of her ladybugs died because they let their identities leak. She's a bit traumatized.

3. 'Panthera' as an identity is very much Juleka's way of masking! I'm glad you picked up on that. At first i wrote it as a funny instinct but as I kept going the idea of Juleka literally taking that identity to mask well, yeah! It got depressing in Prince Shining but now that Juleka is more in tune with herself- I hope to play more around with the running gag of her being 'Panthera' when she's supposed to be 'Juleka.'

4. I apologize that it was a little plot thread that never got as explored as I had originally intended to so many years ago but!! Rose's thoughts on Marinette and Juleka's relationship will eventually make a return!

Happy reading!! Stay tuned for more!!

[bishiglomper]

Damnit

I can't sleep

I took a whole muscle relaxant but.... yeah

My brain won't stfu

I keep trying to run scripts

Being one of those self conscious autistics freaking SUCKS

I figured out how I could ask Amir stuff though.

I'm weird and can't curse IRL without some major effort so to just SAY "You don't have to fuck to be fab" is already hard enough without the extra layers of social anxiety that come with it. I was about to conceded defeat with that idea. But fuck it I'll just hand him a note like "Can you say this line as Alastor pls?"

Also I was kind of hoping for a-

"You dont have to fuck to be fab, darling!"

But then I thought if he did it more like-

"You dont have to fuck to be fab, my dear."

THEY HAVE SUCH DIFFERENT VIBES AND I LOVE THEM BOTH like a "let your freak flag fly" VS encouragement UUGH how do I verbalize that exkncbfjsn. Like honestly if he did the latter I might get teary fr 🥺

Also that would be fun to share with a panel and voice it at a mic but LOL like i could do that. 💀

Also. If I WERE to have the courage to use the mic..

I would want to pose a question to him as Alastor, and say something like "Do you consider yourself asexual? (a sexual)" (ty 🤭 @grownupchangeling)

But that's a very risky chance of Amir catching onto the wordplay let alone expecting him to run with it.

Though.....

If I can get a hold of him before the Sunday panel (which, I freaking hope I would) Maybe I could just run it by him and then he'd be prepared.. 👀

See, I told you, my brain just won't shut up. I'm so anxious lmao I hate speaking to people. I wish I could just emote irl. Sigh.

You know nephew is so different when he's in a mask costume. Pikachu or plague doctor, he loves interacting with people. He actually had the confidence to sit away from his family to join other kids at an interactive thing at the Ren Faire, and he sat himself at the edge of the road to greet and pass out gems to passerbys. He's just totally different.

My friends said her kid was like that too. With masked costumes, they're just more confident. And she can tell how comfortable they are by whether they're wearing their covid mask or not.

I. DO NOT HAVE THAT.

IT REALLY OFFENDS ME THAT I DO NOT HAVE THAT.

I cannot put on that type of mask, my self consciousness runs too fucking deep. I can't even play imaginary with kids. I can't read/sing aloud. Barely even alone. I feel like too much of an idiot.

One time anime club asked me to explain the plot of the anime we were gonna watch because they didn't see the first episode, but I had. The lights were off, I was in a corner, I didn't have to look at anyone and they didn't have to see me. I also knew beforehand that they were going to ask it of me. I did it but I felt like I was on fire. Even all that only helped by like 15%.

It is just. So bad. So, so bad. My online interactions are only marginally better. The think-to-text filter is a lot more forgiving than the think-to-speech one.

...........

So anyway, that's the trauma dump of the day ✨️💅 I hope you enjoyed your stay ✌️

[azol-otl]

I want to see more Robin!Jason and Batgirl!Barbara content. But like in a very specific way. I want Babs to be the unintentionally bad influence sibling. The chaotic sibling. Dick already isn't there (he is busy with the Titans who are falling apart every other day, his absence is understandable), so let Only Child Babs connect with Jason who's *at least* 10 years younger.

I want her to be the one who curses around the baby and then curses when she realizes what she just did. Like, "You see this shit Robin." "Fuck. I mean-shit fuck, damnit-"

She's the older sister who keeps Jason from drinking coffee by stealing it from his hands and downing the mug like a shot then smarmily being like, "Too much coffee is bad for you little bird," even though that's her fifth cup that morning.

I want them to have their own nicknames for one another (I actually *like* the fanon tendency of having Jason calling Barbara 'Barbie').

edit: Turns out this isn’t fanon and just straight up canon from Batman Eternal and she called him Little Bird in Gotham Knights. Thank you anon who sent that.

I want Jason fake-flirting with Barbara where both of them know he's just fucking around. (And because his ability the flirt is inversely related to how much he actually has a crush on someone, it should mean that he's actually really good at it. Mostly so Barbara can make fun of Bruce and Dick that scrawny runt Jason Todd is a better flirt.)

She's the one who tells Jason all of the embarrassing stories about Dick.

Jason (12): "Why doesn't this costume have pants?"

Barbara (23): Because Dick's an exhibitionist.

Or

Jason: "I can't believe Dick never got mask acne that's not fair."

Barbara: *wheezing because she remembers the days Dick refused to leave his room because of acne*

She and Jason are patrolling and they do the fast-ball special because Barbara's like, "I was able to do this with Dick at this age still." But forgot to account for two things.

She's much stronger than she was at 16.

Jason is much lighter than Dick was at the same age.

So Barbara just accidentally yeets Jason off the rooftop.

I don't know if Barbara was already running for Senator but Barbara using her adorable baby brother to help get votes.

Senator Batgirl and Robin's adventure in figuring how who's trying to kill Barbara. Bruce is fucking around thinking it's the mob. It's actually just wealthy business owners getting rich off of exploitative practices Barbara is trying to shut down. All of them are legitimate business owners and at least a third of the Wayne Enterprises Board is involved. Barbara still ends up never getting re-elected because she was too leftist and most of the people who tried to kill her got off with a fine. (Am I trying to make a point that Bruce has massive blind spots and the people who are doing to most damages are the ones he grew up with along with the system that has afforded him the power to be Batman. Yes.)

I know Barbara was a mentor to both batgirls and Misfit etc. But I want to see her stumble first (but in a funny way). And Jason's Robin run was so isolated that even if Babs was retiring there's no way only Bruce and Jason could deal with a whole city and she would have been out more often than just the once. Plus these two should interact more.

[waywardstation]

the wild dissonance between how i percieved gaeric and how the game shows how he is is... so wild and also. entirely my fault tbh

because i somehow missed completely the hints at him being the least open of his clan and the more distrustful of outsiders with calaba (might have been helped by the fact that he is seen affably talking to the player and mai in the multiple outbreaks quest, even giving them some sticky globs he bought from choi - now with proper context its clearly a bit of a character arc for him as he interacts positively with people he actively and vocally didnt want anything to do with at first, but i didnt catch that) and instead focused like a laser beam on his protectiveness of Avalugg, who is a Giant Fucking Turtle Table that could easily level a mountain and also currently in an extremely dangerous state of Heightened Strength, Mass, And General Wrath

it made me think of him as a bit of? a very emotional guy? thinks with his heart before using his head in a passionately protective sense, even and especially when it comes to vaguely terrifying beasts who could kill him. yes he will fistfight a healthy angry Glalie but also if another equally angry Glalie is wounded/sick his stupid extremely toned heartstrings will be tugged and he will try to bring the fucking thing back to health as it tries to eat his entire arm. yes he is losing blood he will handle it later, now please pass me that medicinal leek while i pry these frozen maws over with my feet so that i can shove it down its throat to stop its whooping cough

however. with this clearer knowledge. it would be sort of funny if he indeed started off distrustful of ingo and maybe even thinking him to be a monster or pokèmon until the poor guy got rammed in by a beast and keeled over, at which point gaeric went OH FUCK I CANT JUST LET HIM DIE and whoops hes attached to him now ah damnit

You know, same here OP haha!! I’ve played through the game twice but that segment didn’t really stick with me (probably because it’s a cutscene right after you quell Lord Avalugg and I’m still sort of frazzled after that haha)

Also a lot of media I’ve consumed like fics and comics and artwork sort of depict him that way too, working off his protectiveness with Lord Avalugg, exploring who he was as Irida’s mentor, or even emphasizing him to be the equivalent of a gym bro with his workouts haha. Not bad at all, they just emphasize parts of his personality that we’ve seen! I just haven’t happened to see anything that focuses on the dialogue that Gaeric was the most hesitant of all with the protag and wondered what they were, so I sort of forgot about it.

But yes!! He does appear to grow past that very quickly with his content in the daybreak update, and I love that. It does help show why he became Irida’s mentor too; he’s very kind-hearted, just cautious (and now I am wondering if this caution and hesitance to new things is part of why Irida also learned towards “old-fashioned” methods familiar to the clan at first too; did Gaeric’s own behavior rub off on her during his guidance?) But Gaeric seems like a genuinely kind person and will put his all into the people and things he cares about! (Which makes me also think it’s why he allowed us to confront Avalugg despite his beliefs against it, for Irida’s sake)

And Gaeric doing dramatic 180°s in situations will probably always be funny. Going straight from “this guy’s uhhh weird don’t help him” to “HURRY HELP HIM FASTER” is a favorite comedic trope of mine haha

[khaleesiofalicante]

These chapter was just *SCREAMING TO THE VOID*

It was so, so, so, so good, and it made me so emotional I teared up on some parts (and just straight up cried with others)

I will just make a list bc it was A LOT!!!

I am loving Camilla's proposal already. I had thought about that too but in all this clusterfuck I forgot how there are other people like Marcus with a wrong diagnosis

Gigi is so smart I might cry😭 My girl is the only one asking the right questions!! If someone can figure the answers to all this questions is her!!!

Roman did make her a dress!!! He remembered🥺 LOVEHOLLOW IS THE SUPERIOR SHIP DON'T @ ME

I needed Maryse to say all that beautiful things!!!

Damnit, Achilles is already dating someone! I mean I'm glad for him but I am also in love with him lol

Every interaction Alec has with David or Anjali>>>

God the wedding scene was fucking perfect 😭 THEY GOT MARRIED!! FINALLY!!! I feel like a proud parent🥺🥺 and a bi mess

“Maybe if you were a few centuries old,” Rafael chuckled. Alec touched his head. He felt dizzy for a second there. AHHHHHH

Rafael worshipping Anjali's feet just made my heart stop a little bit ok??!!! Where do I find a Rafael here???

MALEC OMFG I AM EXPERIENCING INEXPLICABLE LOVE TOWARDS THEM💙💙 I wanted to know his name but at the same time it makes me so happy we don't know bc Magnus is his name and I just-

It seemed that Mexico had more entrances to faeries than most places. idk why this makes me kinda proud😌 and it actually fits with a lot of believes and cultures here!!

“But the prince will fall when the king shall rise,” Achilles’s voice was feather soft. “The Crimson King will be his demise.” I knew it!! The Crimson King is suppose to kill the Dark Prince!!! I am worried but I can't help but be proud!!

How the fuck do people know about the Crimson King????

Holy shit Olivia😍😍😍 SHE IS SO GORGEOUS WTF!!! HERONSTAIRS FINALLY COMMUNICATING AND MOVING IN TOGETHER??? IS THIS A DREAM??

Don't get me started on David's POV bc I don't have words. It was so many feeling in so little and so many info and I might pass out

Dear Max, he wrote on the piece of paper with trembling fingers. I will never forget- WHEN I TELL YOU MY HEART STOPPED!!!

I am so confused about the whole time travel thing (and I did watch back to the future, mind you)

The dots are connecting!! David is smarter than me bc I would have been confused af

If someone would have told me a year ago I would be crying right now on my room in the middle of the night bc Other Max took David to see Little Max and Little David, I would have found that impossible, but here we are

When David called him mong ange, and when he said I love you, and when he kissed him- I hope you know you have me crying in my bed at 3 am!!!

THEY WILL DIE TOGETHER SOMEONE FUCKING HOLD ME😭😭

He found a way to spend infinity with David. In a way to keep David mortality and his powers. This man is something from another world 🥺

“He is a demon. Not a cheesecake.” Cheesecakes are so delicious tho...

Mavid can't just say I love you, they take it to the next level "If you want infinity with me, then take it.” ??? Fucking iconic “I just want this one life. The one I have with you. Over and over again. For infinity.”??? perfection itself “I want every version of you that I can have.” ??? breathtaking,never seen before-

They are so obsessed with each other and I honestly same. THEIR LOVE IS JUST ON A WHOLE NEW DIMENSION 🥺💙💙💙

Ok, this turned into a long ass list, but it's your fault for writing such wonder!!

💙.💙.💙.

Thank you 🥺💙🥺💙🥺💙🥺

This is malec with Rafe and max

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 25

"He's not in the village," Tsunade deadpanned, stamping a form with more force than necessary. Her desk shuddered. Shizune slipped the paperwork out from her reach, tucking it into a manila folder and holding it to her chest. She gave her Hokage an admonishing look. Tsunade rolled her eyes and scrabbled around in her top drawer for an envelope. She labeled it in the same imperious, elegant handwriting that graced the invitation that Temari clutched awkwardly with clammy fingers. The office building was cold, damnit.

Gaara seemed momentarily speechless, staring blankly out the window behind the busty woman growling about the indignity about being strong-armed into mundane paperwork in front of snot-nosed diplomats when she was supposed to be impressing them.

Temari rather thought that not referring to her as "snot-nosed" to her face would have done more for her opinion of the woman than whether or not she was doing paperwork.

That didn't mean she was going to say anything about being offended, however. She wasn't stupid. The village she headed may have been full of sissies, but the Slug Sannin herself was rather famously ill-tempered and punch-happy.

At her side, Gaara gave a slight frown. Temari felt a little sorry for him—he must have been eager to see his friend again if he'd actually made the effort to get onto the mission roster. He'd never had a friend before, so this disappointment would be a new one. She steeled herself for a moment before reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. He turned to blink at her, gaze flicking down to her hand, posture relaxing oh-so-slightly.

Tsunade looked up irritably, pushing herself to a standing position and striding to the door. "Well, come on then, girl. I haven't got all day."

Shizune flushed a pretty pink, carefully not looking at the foreign guests lingering in the office doorway. "Please, this way please, Temari-san." She bustled down the hall towards a small conference room, then glance back uncertainly. "Will, um, Gaara-san be joining us?"

Surprised, Temari had to disguise her laugh as a cough. "Not if we're still hoping to negotiate peace," she deadpanned. Gaara didn't react. There was some truth to that statement. He had made significant improvement on social interaction in the months since he had re-examined his life. But negotiations were more suited to someone with more practice and a more nuanced understanding of rules like 'Don't kill someone who has something you want,' 'People don't like being reminded of their imminent mortality,' and 'Please don't smile like that, it frightens everyone.' (He had compromised by not smiling at all, which was still a bit unnerving.)

"Well…" Shizune cleared her throat. "Then feel free to explore Konoha, Gaara-san."

"Just meet me at the apartment for dinner?" Temari offered, knowing that he'd do what he felt like. He seemed to shrug. Then he was gone in a wisp of sand.

The obviously civilian receptionist gave a small curse, clutching at her chest. Temari wondered at that- she had never seen anyone below Chuunin in a similar job back home. Konoha was strange.

One newly-promoted Sand Chuunin, even the daughter of a Kazekage, was hilariously outgunned in the company of a Hokage and her two apprentices. So of course, the room was also populated by two hulking ANBU operatives. Seriously, Konoha must have found goons that big with a specially placed ad. Temari felt her plastered smile falter and did her best not to look too skeptical of the ice gently rotating in the clear pitcher of water in the center of the table. Logically, she knew that if they wanted her dead, they wouldn't poison her. That didn't help much when she knew that she had been the only delegate sent so that Sand could cut their losses if the Leaf decided that the damage they had caused outweighed whatever benefits an alliance would give them. She was technically qualified for this mission, but if the elders had possessed much faith in it, they would have come themselves.

'Then again,' Temari remembered with a sideways smile that seemed to offend the pretty-boy sitting across the table, 'the elders really hate Leaf from the last war still. They may not want this alliance to work out.' If she could make that happen, it would be a resounding victory for whatever side she threw her support behind. She wasn't formidable enough to make a bid for her father's hat herself just yet, but she knew damn well that her words carried weight.

"It was nice to meet you." Aiko gave a short bow to Ken's mother, a voluptuous woman with a pixie cut and heavily scarred hands. The door shut on her face after they exchanged a few niceties- thank you for taking care of my boy, thank you for the tea, so on and so forth. As soon as the door was closed, she took the opportunity to discreetly adjust that damned vest she was wearing. It was uncomfortable and unflattering. She wasn't entirely sure she liked it, even if it did signal that she wasn't a child.

After they had gone out on their second run to the closest outpost, they had been mildly surprised to receive orders to run messages to the next two outposts. From what she understood, people were being pulled home and border security finally relaxed from emergency status. Understandably, people had been happy to see her team. Her team had been less happy about spending an extra six nights in the wild, although there was enough space for them to take up beds at the last outpost for a night. There had been a throw-down fight over first rights to the showers. Aiko had laughed herself sick when they finally figured out that the water was all cold—the luxurious of home were hard to get in a forest.

By the time they returned to the village, the genin were finally comfortable enough with her to get a bit sassy. Before, they had been nearly silent in her presence. They must have been closer in the Academy than most of her classmates had been, because they had tons of inside jokes that they seemed to find absolutely hilarious. She'd been a bit bemused when they gradually became comfortable enough to have conversations around her, but generally just stayed silent and learned about them.

It turned out that Ken was a third-generation nin whose grandparents had come from Sand. They'd immediately changed their last name to something more suitable for Fire Country, but the boy bemoaned that his grandmother refused to adjust her way of speaking and actually artificially emphasized her accent to show that she wasn't ashamed of her girlhood home. It came up because Ken ended up translating whatever she said to his friends when they came over. Occasionally, he slipped and used terminology or slang that he'd picked up from her, and the girls liked to tease him about it.

Akira had reminded Aiko of Ino, but it soon became clear that the resemblance was only a superficial one—they were both snappy dressers and moved with confidence. Akira was actually very mature, and thought that her peers should be as well. Naruto might have liked her—she loved animals as much as he did. For her, that manifested in learning about them instead of catching and snuggling them as it did in Naruto (bless his heart). She could list the technical names and dietary habits of just about every creature native to Fire Country and kept a scrapbook of photos. To serve that end, she kept a camera with her at all times, lovingly wrapped up in a waterproof leather pouch. Her family must have a lot of means—such a thing was not cheap.

The student that Aiko had most misjudged was the last one. Emiko had seemed sweet and shy and dressed as bashfully as Hinata. Apparently, her daddy was a single father and wanted a little princess. The girlish wardrobe was his doing, not hers. Additionally, it soon became clear that her mind was sharp and her tongue even sharper. Her peers hadn't caught on yet, but every third bashful statement was in fact a veiled insult at their expense. She tried not to laugh too hard and instead made comments about Emiko's excellent vocabulary.

The last of her genin returned safely to their homes and mission report firmly in hand, Aiko was slightly travel worn and thirsty. She was also surprised to spot the boy who would be Kazekage looking a bit lost in front of Hokage tower, watching passers-by with an intensity that made several of them hustle. Shamefully, some of them were even ninja.

It was pretty funny, she admitted to herself. He wasn't even letting off killing intent. Maybe it was the month-old blood stains on his clothing that put them off. Or the dead-eyed stare. Or the fact that he had a Sand headband and appeared to be roaming unsupervised (she knew better. Tsunade would have ANBU tailing him).

For the first time, she realized that she knew very little about what happened to Gaara in the time between the Chuunin exams and his abduction by Akatsuki. Was he already the man who measured his words and hoped for peace? Did he still slip into madness? Or was he somewhere in between, in an amorphous state of becoming a man when he had been a monster instead of a boy?

'Only one way to find out,' she decided impulsively. It was a selfish decision to satisfy her curiosity, but a small one.

It was also possibly stupid. She held no grudge against him at all for attempting to kill her, especially since she didn't think it had been his fault. He wasn't responsible for Shukaku, or for her misusing what she knew about Naruto's nature. She had made the conscious decision to leap into the fray so that Naruto would find the strength to draw on the Nine-Tails and stop him, after all.

But she could hardly tell anyone else that she wasn't mad at him at all because she had just been using him to injure her, not least so because the Nine-Tails was kind of a taboo topic. Anyone with sense would probably be alarmed to see her spending time with him amiably.

Ah, to hell with it. She didn't care what anyone else thought.

Aiko idly crumpled her report and shoved it into a pocket, not minding the ugly way it bulged. She could take care of it later or something. 'The real question is how to approach him.' She was careful not to look at him too long and draw attention prematurely. Should she observe him from a distance? That could be dangerous- no ninja liked sneaky followers. Then again, he probably wasn't socially competent enough to have a regular conversation.

Then she rolled her eyes. 'What am I saying? If Naruto got through to him, being blunt and straight forward is my best shot.'

Aiko used shunshin to position herself at his side, already ready with a beaming smile and a raised hand when he turned slightly to look at her. "What's up, cutie-san? I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

He really was adorable when he gave her that mildly concussed stare, she noted. It was almost hard to believe that no one had ever flirted with him before. He kinda looked like a punk rocker, with the spiky hair and dark circles around his eyes. Granted, the fact that they weren't paint was a little off-putting when she really thought about it…

"You…" His eyes narrowed. "I remember you from the fight after the tournament. You are one of Naruto-san's teammates."

She huffed a surprised little laugh. "Uh, no," Aiko admitted, watching him carefully out of the edge of her vision while she channeled Naruto's sheepish head-scratch. "He's my otouto. I'm not really on his team, though." Apparently he didn't remember her from the tower… or that Naruto's team had lost their third member. Temari had known that and hinted at it to Ino—she'd raged about it later when she put it together—so Gaara must just not have paid any attention at all.

Somehow that didn't surprise her. When she'd last seen him, he didn't seem like a guy who spent a lot of time being interested in others' lives. It just wouldn't be compatible with a mindset that viewed killing everyone else as a good idea.

"So… you are one of his precious people?" Gaara examined her with unnerving intensity. If she hadn't intentionally manipulated what she knew of him to make him more amenable to her presence, Aiko might have been uncomfortable.

Instead, she pretended not to sense the awkward atmosphere at all. "Of course, and he's one of mine. Are you looking for something or someone?"

"No."

'Okay…' Aiko chewed on her bottom lip. It was awkward being the socially adept one in a conversation for once. He wasn't giving her much to go on, that was for sure. 'Well, fuck it. When in doubt, feed the boy.' It worked on such variant subjects as Naruto and Sasuke. Why the hell not on Gaara?

"Well then, let's go get smoothies. I just got back in town and I am parched." She telegraphed the motions obviously when she reached out to snag his hand and drag him along with her. The move was a risky but calculated one. Gaara might react violently to being touched, or he could view it as evidence that she wasn't treating him differently because of his demonic burden. Or he could just be confused by the presumption.

Luckily for her, the only sand she felt was the grainy barrier around his fingers like armor. The unnatural temperature made her grimace—touching what appeared to be a hand without body heat made her think of corpses.

"Your hands are cold," she complained good-naturedly, channeling her second favorite blonde now. Ino was a goddamn champion of herding around reluctant boys.

When he stiffened, she tightened her grip in apology. 'Right. The boy is sensitive', she noted. Then she mentally amended, dropping his hand to open the door to a café, 'More likely he isn't socially adept enough to know what to say. He's probably uncomfortable.' That wasn't the only possible hypothesis, but it was the one that best explained why he was susceptible to Naruto's particular brand of philosophy. Doubtless Naruto had never even noticed the bodily and verbal cues that indicated Gaara's mood and had barreled right over them. Gaara might like feeling normal—a feeling that could only be inspired by meeting another jinchuuriki who socialized much more healthily and gave him the realization that he could have friends and family like anyone else. She could take advantage of that desire by treating him as if he was anyone else, she concluded.

Lucky that had been her plan in the first place.

Granted, in treating him as if he were anyone else, she actually had to make exceptions. If she had met a random stranger who stared the way he did, was clearly uncomfortable, and spoke in near monosyllables if at all, she would have decided that the conversation wasn't worth the effort and disengaged. It was a bit like calmly holding a conversation with Gai—you pretended that the shouting was completely normal and parsed through the flowery language to get at the meaning and responded to only that. With Gaara, you pretended his reticence wasn't a faux-pas and drew meaning from what little he said and the volumes he didn't say.

It was an art form, she decided while pointedly not coaxing him to eat the peach and mango smoothie she set in front of him. She wouldn't acknowledge that he didn't know what to do with it or that he seemed to think it might be poisoned. When she picked up her spoon and began to eat in between absently maintaining a conversation about her ducklings, she noticed with some triumph that he focused a laser-like gaze on her hand for a few minutes before he picked up his own spoon and flawlessly imitated her.

She would have been confused if not for the fact that she had never seen a single spoon in Suna, only chopsticks. It just wasn't a cultural norm. Soup was eaten from a tilted bowl, and cold treats like ice cream just weren't likely to happen there.

After a while, when it became clear that he at least wasn't ignoring her talk about her team—both her duckling and team seven—she tried to get him to contribute to the conversation. Of course, that was tricky. He didn't have friends to tell stories about, and doubtlessly he was getting to know his siblings for the first time in his life. So she didn't dig too deeply.

"Is your team here too?"

That appeared to be a question he couldn't answer with either a nod or a blank stare, so she counted it as a success. Granted, "Kankuro did not come," wasn't going to be winning any prizes for eloquence, but it was enough that she considered it contribution to dialogue.

"Did you want to see any of the sights while you're in town?" she asked lightly. "There's a big merchant caravan that moved in about a week ago. They're only going to be here for another week. It's actually pretty cool. And one of the Academy classes is putting on a traditional dance performance as part of their infiltration final."

That had made her laugh until she was sick again. If her teacher had tried to do that, she would have caused him serious bodily harm. The dance and other similar classes were often taught by civilian experts so that they could be sure what they were teaching was both current and accurate. It wouldn't do to pass down ninja interpretations of civilian dance and ignore that things changed. They were often likely to consider public performance a necessary part of proving students had mastered the material- a faux geisha who was crowd shy would fool no one. Regardless of how intelligent the idea actually was, the students would probably hate it. She was pretty sure that the grumpy faces would be the best part of the performance.

Gaara looked at her as if she'd suggested they go streaking after they finished their treats.

"Or the water is really nice at the mixed onsen," she changed tracks, lips twitching with amusement. "I like to get a good book and soak for hours. I bet you don't spend much time relaxing in water in Suna."

"I do not," he reluctantly agreed. And that was all he said. The door to the café banged open, bells chiming irritably and roughly a half second later Aiko was blinking up at Inuzuka Kiba. It would have been a more pleasant surprise if he (and Akamaru perched on his head) hadn't been growling at Gaara, lips curled aggressively.

Aiko groaned, covering her face with her hands. And things had been going so well, too. Kiba was going to put Gaara back on edge after she'd finally coaxed him into relaxing slightly.

"What are you doing here?" Kiba placed both hands on the table and leaned forward into Gaara's personal space.

The redhead didn't take it well, trickles of sand beginning to agitate. His face remained blank, but he crossed his arms. It was somehow intimidating, even though he had to put down his ice cream first to make the motion.

"Whoa, boys," Aiko interrupted, placing a palm up. "Calm down. Kiba, it's nice to see you. It'd be nicer if you sat down instead of glared at us from up there." She scooted over and patted the bench next to her. Kiba's attention drifted to her, and a strange look crossed his face for a moment. Then it passed.

"I don't want to sit with him!" Kiba practically yelled, pointing at Gaara.

The other boy stood. Aiko noted absently that his full height was at least four inches below Kiba's. Of course, they were finally at the age where boys hit their growth spurts, so maybe Gaara just hadn't had his yet. Chakra swelled, and then Gaara was gone. Aiko blinked at the space where he'd been for a moment, not quite registering what had happened. Then she felt that damn twitch in her right eye and forcibly relaxed her face. Aiko wasn't entirely sure when she had developed a nervous twitch, but she was trying to catch it when it happened.

'It's fine.' She took a deep breath, pushing her ice cream away. 'Kiba didn't know any better. If I saw a peer sitting closely to someone who had tried to kill them the last time they'd met, I might demonstrate alarm as well.' Really, his concern for a peer who was a near-stranger should be used as evidence for the claim that Kiba was a good guy.

So instead of expressing her irritation with him—he'd ruined her information gathering session—she merely said, "Hello again, Kiba."

And then the weirdo blushed.

It turned out that Konoha wanted powerful allies slightly more than they wanted revenge. Temari had to swallow her pride, because at the moment Suna couldn't be a powerful ally to anyone, and agree to accept several personnel on a short-term basis to fill out their ranks and help them take all their mission requests. Nothing urgent or information sensitive, of course, but several administrators to help the hospital run more smoothly and free up medic nin for missions would be provided as well as a few lower class missions that would be sub-contracted out to Konoha.

That was a bitter remedy to have to accept—they desperately needed the money those missions could provide, but they couldn't fulfill them on their own. Konoha would be pocketing the money from those missions, of course, but this way they wouldn't end up failing to meet the terms of their arrangement with the Wind Daimyo by failing to accept all the missions from his people.

Because the Hokage was a medic, part of her terms had been sample specimen of a few plants and poisonous desert animals that Temari was vaguely aware Kankuro used in his poison compounds.

The elders would be infuriated—the move would cement their alliance by making it much more difficult for Sand to ever turn on Konoha. Their monopoly on many rare and deadly ingredients had been one of the things keeping them from being crushed under the heel of bigger villages. Without samples, it was almost impossible for remedies to be made for Suna poison.

But Temari had seen no other option. If she had rejected the offer, Konoha could have come in and crushed them and taken the damn plants anyways. It would be a pyrrhic victory—Sand was too inhospitable and entrenched for them to lose without taking out massive casualties, the only reason Konoha hadn't marched on them the day after that failed invasion. There was almost no chance that Konoha would lose, but they would be severely weakened afterwards and easy prey for other villages.

That knowledge was the only reason Temari knew she could negotiate from a position of strength as well, although her counterparts had clearly been hoping she was unaware of that nuance. It was possible for her to push Konoha into being obligated to start a war with Suna, but that was an unpleasant prospect for both sides. So she used that little leverage on issues that she found were important—like having Konoha maintain higher levels of border security so that Sand didn't have to. It was both a show of trust and so that Sand could free up experienced nin.

When she'd made that suggestion, the lady Tsunade's lips had twitched in amusement for the first time, and Temari thought she recognized a fellow predator. The Hokage had been raised to be politically astute due to her relation to a Kage as well. Very few ninja were—it was something that their civilian counterparts had mastered, but when villages were often led by those with the most physical power, well… often they were more likely to use their muscles than their brains.

Whatever the reason, Tsunade had accepted the proposal and several others. Temari knew damn well that the elders would be apoplectic with rage, but she wasn't going to support any one of them for Kazekage. They would find that out soon enough.

She had a different candidate in mind. Gaara had latched onto Uzumaki Naruto's goals with a one-minded focus, and was already a completely different person than he had been half a year ago. Having a direction was doing him good. Besides, he was really the only person in their village with the power to really lay claim to the title.

He wasn't ready yet, of course. But once she could be sure that he really had changed- she did owe that much to the citizens of Suna- and that his image was changing as well, she would speak to him about it.

Temari pushed the door open and flopped down on the couch of the luxurious, air conditioned suite she had been assigned as a diplomat, idly calling out for her brother. She didn't really expect him to be there or to walk into the room.

It was even less expected that he would be the first to speak. Granted, it was Gaara, so it wasn't an impressive start.

"You look well."

Temari blinked up at the ceiling, then tilted her head to make sure everything was in place. "Um, thank you," she said a bit dumbly. Then she cleared her throat. "The meeting went well," she informed, knowing that if she wanted to make him Kazekage he had to have some interest in goings-on like this. "Looks like we're allies for sure now. Did you do anything interesting?"

The last question was more for form's sake than anything else. It was Gaara- he never did anything interesting. He probably stared at the sun for a few hours, or people-watched, or just thought about the complexities of life. In fact, he probably-

"I had ice cream with a girl."

Temari sat up so fast she gave herself whiplash. That required some contextualization.

"Whuh… what happened?" she said weakly. Gaara with a girl? It almost had to be a misunderstanding. That didn't make sense.

"A boy showed up and was clearly agitated with my presence, so I left" Gaara monotoned. Temari was so baffled that she wanted to cry. That… that certainly sounded like he'd somehow gotten involved in a love triangle, or at least stepped on someone's toes by flirting with their girl. But that was the least Gaara-like thing she'd ever heard of. How on earth did he end up spending time socially with a girl? She'd never even been on a date—did that mean her youngest brother had been the first in their family to get a date? 'At least choosing to leave is a definite improvement over how he would have dealt with that a while ago,' some part of her brain noted. That was downright mature, actually.

Suddenly, the triumphs she'd made in the last day were less important than the fact that there was somebody out there Gaara had an interest in. Temari swallowed, hard. What monstrous kind of girl would Gaara find interesting?

"What," Jiraiya said flatly, unintentionally releasing a bit of killing intent. The dark haired man he'd been talking to stiffened reflexively, fingers twitching as if he wanted to reach for a weapon. He was intelligent enough not to, however.

It had apparently been a bad intelligence report to bring Naruto on, some distant part of his mind noted. Part of the stipulation for training Naruto had been giving him the chance to learn the trade and gain some of his own contacts. Jiraiya couldn't do it alone forever, after all. He'd thought that Naruto was ready to at least start sitting in on these meetings.

'Luckily, he's too clueless to realize who we're talking about,' the sannin noted with black humor.

The man who had claimed to be Akira (almost certainly a code name, even Naruto knew) carefully restated his last sentence. The one where he'd mentioned Rock had quietly put out a sizable bounty on a Konoha kunoichi using chakra chains, despite the fact that the countries weren't at war and she hadn't apparently done anything particularly offensive yet. It wasn't exactly politically appropriate, but the Rock had hated Aiko's parents enough that little things like that didn't stop them from wanting her dead before she hit her prime.

Aiko hadn't been named, of course. Akira probably hadn't thought the name important enough to mention when he had a copy of the bounty to hand over with all the pertinent information. Jiraiya snatched it up impatiently and examined the information, not sure if he was pleased or depressed to see that Uzumaki Aiko had been tentatively assessed as a B-rank shinobi with at least one A-rank skill. He'd never seen her in action, but she had two years more of field experience than his Uzumaki. It shouldn't be too surprising that she was stronger than her brother. If this was true, she was strong but not nearly strong enough to protect herself from the type of monsters who would be willing to take on a bounty like that.

He took a moment to hope like hell that Kakashi was keeping an eye on the kid. Hatake and Tsunade were the only two people other than himself that he'd trust to keep her out of that kind of trouble, and Tsunade was a bit busy adjusting to her new hat.

'Maybe this is what Itachi knew about?' Jiraiya hypothesized. But that didn't quite make sense either. Why would Itachi view Uzumaki chakra as a threat or worthy of notice? And it seemed impossible that Itachi could have known about Aiko's apparent ability before Jiraiya did (although he wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if he'd beat Rock to the clue party, even with the stigma of being a genocidal missing nin. Rock couldn't find their asses with both hands, generally speaking).

Surely he would have been told if the girl had managed to master chakra chains before he had taken Naruto. Wouldn't Naruto know?

He cast a glance to his student and suppressed a groan. For once, the brat was paying attention, knuckles clenched tightly and lips pressed into a hard expression. 'So maybe he does know what chakra chains are,' Jiraiya concluded heavily. Naruto might not know it, but any veteran of the last war would know to associate chakra chains with both the Uzumaki clan in general and Kushina in particular.