#i'm not one for violence but oh my jeez

[phyrestartr]

Divine Favour | Sukuna x Kitsune!Reader (Pt.4 | END)

W/C 7.2k #NSFW, male!reader, top!reader, bottom!sukuna, ABO elements, heian sukuna, typical kitsune shapeshifting, jp mythology, canon typical violence, morally grey reader, unhealthy relationships, questionable relationships, power imbalance, ABO elements, gojo/megumi/yuuji/nobara cameos, yuuji/megu/nobara are early 20s, sukuna is controlling/possessive/obsessive, rough sex, not edited enough (oh well) Note: It's finally over (dies like Noctis)

tags: @kamote-kuneho @kamote-kuneho @nyanwko @kamote-kuneho @better-imagination-9 @3zae-zae3 @chibiduck @kiiyoooo @lukaijah @memedealer-exe @f0th3rr @boretheral @cicithemess @paastaboi @someone0vx

“Google says kitsune are usually attuned to one of the thirteen elements,” Nobara prattled, scrolling through the random Japanese mythology website on her phone. “Itadori, what's his element, huh?” 

Yuuji pursed his lips, face growing deadpan as he thought and quickly realized he had no clue.

“Uh…” 

Nobara grimaced. “Useless.” 

“Hey, I didn't know they were all, y'know, elemental-y, okay?! Jeeze!” 

Megumi sighed and shook his head. “We're supposed to be keeping an eye on him, not arguing about garbage you found online.” 

The two country bumpkins followed Megumi's gaze to where you snoozed under a tree. It felt a little strange seeing you donned in one of college's spare uniforms, but you seemed quite pleased by the modern take on fashion and aesthetic. Yuuji wondered if you'd take to modifying the plain, black clothes the way you'd done so in the past.

“Oi, kyuubi!” Nobara called as she wandered in your direction, much to the chagrin of Megumi. “I got a question for ya.”

You spared her a sleepy glance before sitting up and stretching with a wide, toothy yawn. It almost took the three aback, seeing how sharp and distinctly not-human your teeth were.

“You and everyone else, evidently.” You hummed and combed your tail with your fingers. “Speak.”

“Is it true that your kind are, like, elemental or something?” 

Megumi sighed as he rolled up beside her. “She means to ask if kitsune are elementally-attuned, whether it be to fire, water, earth–that sort of thing.” 

“I literally just said that!” Nobara hissed as she smacked Megumi's arm. The raven didn't react in the slightest. 

“Yeah!” Yuuji piped up. His face grew red as soon as your lazy stare flicked to him. “I-I, uh–like, y'know, fire. Or…you talked about fire?” 

“You are so tactless. It's starting to get sad.” 

“Can it, Kugisaki!” 

You smiled. “It's true, more or less. I was taught my sort usually falls into one of the thirteen elements: celestial, wind, spirit, darkness, fire, earth, river, ocean, forest, mountain, thunder, sound, and time.

“Then, there are the broadly ‘bad’ sort, nogitsune, and the ‘good’ sort, zenko. Most say only zenko reach total divinity, but that's not always the case.” 

“Yikes, so the bad kitsune can be gods too?” Yuuji asked as he sat down with you and pulled at the grass idly. “Isn't that, y'know, bad?”

“Gods are all inherently bad, as far as I'm concerned,” you said.

“Gojo-sensei mentioned you were one,” Megumi offered as he and Nobara sat, too. “A god. The people revered you.” 

You snorted and covered your mouth the way you might have if you had the long sleeves of a kimono to aid you.

“They didn't mind me. I don't think they particularly liked me, considering what company I kept.” You hummed and straightened out your sleeve. 

“Yeah, but…you're not him, so what's the point in hating you?” Yuuji asked, and you couldn't help but feel more weight and worry behind the words. 

“I don't care what they thought of me. I only cared about what the palace residents thought. They were my family, in a sense.” 

“Even Sukuna?” Megumi asked. 

“That's such a stupid question, oh my god. Boys are so stupid,” Nobara said with a deadpan.

You smiled, though, and kindly still answered. 

“Especially Sukuna.” 

“Hey, hey! Sorry for the wait!” Gojo called across the field as he made a show of sauntering on over before teleporting in the blink of an eye. “So? Are we all–oooh, are we gossiping?”

“What, no?!”

“No.”

“No.” 

Gojo pouted. “My students always leave me out. Thankfully, my sweet, pious, precious (Name) is nice to me!”

“You're late, Satoru,” you sighed as you stood, tying back your chopped hair into the tiniest of ponytails. “What is the reason?”

Gojo whined and trotted up to you, rubbing and petting your ears to bring you back to his side of the issue.

“It's not my fault! All the higher-ups are sooo annoying and yap sooo much!” He shuffled behind you and played with your three lush tails much like a toddler would. “Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy that's not gonna get mad at the Gojo Satoru?” 

You sighed and flicked your ear, thwacking him in the forehead with it. “Let's not waste any more time, cretin.

“What're we even doing, Sensei?” Yuuji asked, rubbing the back of his head after raising his hand like he was in class. “You didn't really tell us anythin’.” 

“Yeah, I thought we were just watching the fox until he had to go back in his cage,” Nobara said, arms crossed and expression sour. “Seems kinda stupid. He's not even a threat.” But Yuuji knew there was little truth to that statement.

“I'm guessing the meeting was about relocating (Name).” Megumi looked at Gojo. “So what's the plan?” 

–

The five of you walked endlessly through the vast forest surrounding the college. Your gaze traveled up sky-scraping trees, admiring the ancient song of life only you could hear through the soil and air. Wind danced across the verdant canopy above, scattering beams of molten sunlight across the forest floor and dappling the shoulders of the sorcerers before you with golden kisses–a sight you so sorely missed from your tenure at the palace. 

The land was not crying here. You'd heard the distant sound from the concrete jungle resting far below the rise of the college, and it shrouded you with jaded confusion and contempt for what had been done to the world in your stead; if you'd been smarter, wiser to the plans of one, could you have prevented this? Or were humans simply inevitable with their evolution? Perhaps it was up to the Earth to find the yang after the yin.

“Okay, this is it!” Gojo called, snapping you from your rampant thoughts. 

You looked to where he gestured, and found a simple building. It was reminiscent of the college in its design–modern, but clearly inspired by traditional architecture–and it looked fairly new. A bell attached to a rope stood at the forefront, as did a well for mortals to throw their offerings before ringing the aforementioned chime. Beyond that, the shrine lacked character and decoration. It was a clean slate. 

You blinked owlishly, and tilted your head. “This is…?”

“A shrine! For our new on-campus god! How fun is that, huh?” Gojo smiled, proud for a reason you couldn't decipher. “You get to make it home!” 

The younger three all deadpanned, looking between each other, trying to parse if their teacher was delusional or just being a menace to society and doing this behind the council’s back. Honestly, it was up in the air. 

“I–is that even–” Megumi tried, but gave up and rubbed his face instead. 

“So…(Name)’s gonna be, like, our resident god, or something?” Yuuji wondered, feeling his heart pitter patter just a little faster. 

“Haha! Sure, if you want to think of it that way.” Gojo smiled and looked toward the blank canvas of a shrine. “In exchange for divine favour, we grant sanctuary. Home. A place to call your own.” 

You didn't say much, but your tails swished and flowed as you stared at the humble abode–your humble abode–and inhaled shakily. 

“I suppose this will do,” you conceded, still too unwilling to give Gojo the satisfaction of knowing he'd touched your heart. “It's a bit stingy, however.”

“STINGY?” 

“Indeed. Now, begone–I have work to do.” 

– 

Sukuna reached for you when he dreamed. He didn't need to sleep, he had no use for it as he was now, but he convinced himself into the realm of the unconscious regardless, searching for the doorway leading to your mind. 

And he tried night after night, day after day, searching and sitting outside the palace of your inner realm once he found the entrance. The door was the same as the one leading to your chambers in your shared home; a simple, sliding door of wood and paper. Beautiful. Comforting. 

He knew the door wouldn't open for him, not yet; he deduced what may have happened, and what that would have meant for you all and himself as a result. He'd have to be patient. Wait for you to let him in to confront him, or seek his comfort. 

But he didn't expect the door to open so suddenly behind him, sending him rolling onto his back and staring upside down at the most magnificent sight he'd ever beheld–a kyuubi, sitting poised across the room, dressed in a haori several sizes too big, waiting with his back turned as candlelight flickered and lulled the room into a lazy, sleepy haze.

Sukuna righted himself and stood, spirit flailing and tearing itself apart in his uncontrollable want for you, for a desire to return back to the simplicity of this time. But he couldn't go back. Maybe he could recreate it. 

“Fox,” Sukuna murmured, excitement igniting the small, human body he'd been forced to mold his soul into. It felt so much worse in this form, his want being so much more fucking unbearable and burning a hole in his damn chest and skull. 

You shifted, head turning the slightest toward him yet refusing to give way entirely. But, then you stood, and Sukuna suddenly understood how you felt in the presence of his overwhelming power. 

You stood tall. Proud. Powerful. Your ears pointed towards the heavens while your tails fanned against the gates of hell when you turned to face that lover of the past, the one you held so dear for decades. 

Sukuna almost felt weak in the knees (or was that somehow Yuuji interrupting his delusions?) when bright red markings caught the light, shimmering in divine sparks of orange and teal in the firelight–and your eyes. Your eyes. They burned with higher purpose. With unreadable certainty and alien understanding. You made Sukuna's gut coil with need. 

“My Sukuna,” you whispered to the room. You took a step forward, and Sukuna eagerly met you the rest of the way. “You look so…small.” 

He looked up at you–yes, up--and admired your face and godly stature and just how fucking tall and unearthly and powerful you were looming over him. 

“Stuck looking like this fucking runt while I'm in his body,” Sukuna explained bitterly. He reached a hand up while he spoke, and you graciously leaned down to let his skin touch yours. 

An ache curled under Sukuna's skin, flushing his complexion with heat and suffocating him in those unbearable sorcerer uniform garbs. His pants strained too tight, his jacket and hoodie made his core swelter and his mind grow fuzzy. It was torture. 

“He looks so much like you,” you drawled, holding Sukuna's face in kind. You hummed with sympathy when he moaned and leaned into your touch, only abandoning his own rediscovery of your features to hold your palms against him, to indulge in everything so wholly you. 

“Forgot what I look like, huh,” Sukuna huffed. “This brat looks like a beaten monkey.” 

“So did you.”

“Hey.” 

“But I adored you anyway, did I not?” 

Sukuna scanned over your face slowly, methodically, wondering. 

“Adore. You mean ‘adore’.” 

“Perhaps.” You smoothed a thumb over his cheekbone. “It's been some time.” 

“You chose me. You belong to me.” Sukuna's lip curled as he growled and forced your hands into his skin firmer as though to leave scars. “Mine. Only mine.” 

Your lips quirked upwards and Sukuna pulled you down to kiss you. His voice reverberated between your linked bodies as your tongue licked into his mouth far enough to nearly make him choke. You kindly pulled him flush against you, wrenching more pleased, needy noises out of him with no effort at all. 

“You're as starved as Yuuji,” you whispered as his hands fumbled with your ornate clothes, yanking and pulling at them with reckless abandon. 

“Shut up.” His grumbling lessened just a bit when you eased your robes open, exposing your perfect skin to him once again. 

“I believe it'd displease you if I stopped talking, no?” You tore the clothing off the other's body as he pulled you down to the floor with him, suddenly so eager to submit. 

Sukuna scoffed. “I–just touch me, fox.” 

It was your turn to purr and keen, basking in the soft tremble of anticipation the all-powerful choked on as he spread himself bare beneath you, your garbs cascading all around him like a waterfall–only you would get to see him, chest heaving, eyes swirling with lust and need, hidden behind a curtain of embroidered flames.

“Poor thing.” You dug your nails into his hips and dragged him toward you, prodding your aching length against his unprepared heat. “You've been so long without touch. Without love. Do you still think it's meaningless?” 

The curse snarled, and you caught him by the throat, pinning him in place and jamming your other hand's fingers down his throat before he could bark back at you. And just that simple torture had the king's hips twitching and bucking, slowly falling into time with the rhythm of your digits slipping in and out of his bratty mouth. 

“F-fuck you,” he gasped once his mouth fell empty. 

You chuckled smoothly. “It's simply food for thought.” You pressed two fingers into him and worked inside with ease despite the crushing heat clamping down around you. You didn't know if his sweet, little body wanted you to stay put or fill him faster. 

“Fuckin'--annoying, shithead, bratty fox–” he cut off with a ragged moan as you pressed against his prostate and rubbed against it slowly, firmly, deliciously. His eyes fell shut and his brows twitched up, a vivid look of desperation and concentration making him look far too vulnerable and breedable for his own good. 

“It's strange,” you hummed, working him a little faster and jamming your fingers against his sweet spot over and over. “I never thought you'd willingly submit.” 

“I need it,” Sukuna growled, fisting his hand around his weeping length and stroking to the beat of your fingers. His hips bucked forward and back, unsure of what searing pleasure to lean into more; luckily for him, you were keen to up the ante. 

Your fingers slipped out and Sukuna snarled, crimson eyes snapping open to brand you with frustration. You felt the whip of desperate commands about to crack off Sukuna's tongue, so you wasted no time filling him back up, stuffing him beyond his limits. 

The man almost gasped, though it could have just been the force of your cock punching the air out of his lungs. You pulled him against you, seating him to the base with a little effort and brute force. You knew he liked the pain. Pleasure was closely acquainted with it, after all. 

“This is what you wanted,” you murmured as you rocked into him. 

The curse didn't know if you beckoned an answer from him, or simply stated the facts. So, he didn't answer you. He instead gripped onto your shoulders to keep himself steady while you effortlessly drilled into his core with each and every thoughtful roll of your hips. 

And it felt good. An uncomfortable, searing stretch accompanied the deep plunges filling him beat after beat. His body tightened and clamped down around you, forcing your length to rub against the weakest, most sensitive spots inside of him–places no one would ever dream of hitting inside the unruly king. None besides you, of course. You were different. Better than the rest. Fit to fuck and fill him if Sukuna so desired it. 

“(Name),” he groaned when you changed up the angle, aiming to rub up against the ceiling of his insides with every thrust. You tortured his weak spot, and made a casual show of forcing his stomach to bulge and distend whenever you bottomed out entirely, and Sukuna reveled in it. He wanted to be yours. Just yours. 

“You're so sweet when you submit,” you cooed, leaning down and nuzzling against his neck as you fucked into him harder and faster. “You should have done so sooner.”

Sukuna should have clapped Back, but he couldn't; he was too busy trying to angle himself to somehow get you deeper. He was too busy trying to pull you closer, to graft his thick thighs to your scar-riddled sides like a branch on a tree. He couldn't spare a single braincell on your arrogant Teasing when all he could think was, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me–

“Now he's lost his voice,” you sighed. “Such a pity.” Your hips hit particularly hard to punctuate, and Sukuna grunted. 

“Again,” he choked out. “Fuck me like that.” 

You branded a smile into his skin with a hum. “Are you sure? I won't stop if it's too much.” 

Sukuna opened his bleary eyes and spied your nine tails fanned out, cloaking the ceiling from sight. It felt like staring death in the face. Maybe he'd been in its clutches this entire time. Maybe he wanted–needed–you to be the end of him.

Your hand found his throat again, and Sukuna nodded as best he could, too overwhelmed and overstimulated to get words out of his open mouth–but grunts and groans had no issue bursting through as you left mercy by the wayside and destroyed him as thoroughly as he requested. You were, after all, a selfless god.

Sukuna's eyes rolled back as his head tilted in kind, mouth left agape as you burned him alive; every push of your body into his lit new fires, and every second you stayed connected, more of his soul exhausted itself before rising from ashes once again. The tightness coiling in his stomach grew unbearable and insatiable, hungering for more and more and more until–

“There's no shame in coming undone,” you cooed, your lips and fangs replacing the hand in his throat and peppering apologetic kisses. “Unravel for me, my love.” 

My love. My love. My love.

“Fuck,” Sukuna gasped. He clung to you, and you raised your head to kiss him, swallowing his strained noises to keep them a secret from the outside world and himself. 

He grabbed at your shoulders and arms as his head tilted back and a hoarse cry left him–just as his body clamped down and sent him over the edge, he realized pushing in and out had become more taxing. Perhaps because of his cumming, or perhaps because of the ungodly thing swelling at your base and ripping him open. 

You worked him through his high, never thinking of pulling away from him when he needed you most. Because this was bound to end. He was bound to wake up and feel cold where your hands now touched. He was stuck in the body of another with no hope of reaching you unless he somehow, some way turned the tables on all those weak sorcerers and broke free. 

But he would. He'd claim his vessel and walk amongst the new world, autonomous and untouchable. It was only a matter of time. 

–

Though Sukuna was selfish in chasing his own pleasure, he soon found immense satisfaction in yours.

The number of times he'd trap you against a wall and finger you until your legs gave out and your voice ran hoarse was too great to count. He couldn't help himself; that bewildered, wide-eyed look you gave him every time you were let go to fix your robes and catch your voice screamed, what was that for? And boosted Sukuna’s ego. He reveled in the glory of being the only one to do this to you, to being the one who forced you to lose composure. 

In his chamber, he indulged further. He'd work thick fingers deep inside of you while his other hands roamed and touched, stroking, pinching and rubbing wherever he deemed needed attention. And you were putty in his hands, absolutely melting into everything he did to you, even if accompanied by a shock of pain. 

Because you were a creature who only knew sex for the sake of bearing children. Beyond that clan using you in an attempt to create half-breed sorcerers, your primal nature influenced you to only seek out a mate for the purpose of bearing children, and not necessarily for pleasure. 

But Sukuna was the opposite. He never thought of siring children. He only thought of pleasure of another's body and the thrill of total domination over them, never the idea he'd suffer the consequences of an heir; he had those women drink a special tea to prevent that for a reason, especially when a handful had come to him, offering their bodies in return for fame and perceived power. 

With you, he could entertain the idea, however. 

Yes, the mere idea of watching you walk around the gardens, properly swollen with his children, with physical proof of his ownership and coupling with you, sparked something akin to greed in his chest. Though it was a little warmer than just that, admittedly.

–

Yuuji liked you. There was no escaping it, no denying it–he liked being around you. He liked your smile. Your tails. Your ears. The way you scared the shit out of him the first time you properly met. You were just…weird. Interesting. Kind of like Yuuji himself. 

But you were kind, too. The times he wandered out to meet you at your shrine to “check up on things,” or because he was bored, he always found you tending to your gardens, talking to the passerby wildlife, dozing at the entrance, and his heart would do something funny in his chest. 

Then his mind would rot until all he could see was you sprawled beneath Sukuna, singing the king’s praises while he fucked you into the tatami and bred you. 

It wouldn't stop there. Sukuna would taunt him, poisoning him with sinful thoughts and diabolic urges:

You think that fox'll give you the time of day? You, a petulant runt with not a shred of experience beyond your hand? Hah. 

Consider it a blessing--you'd probably cum too fast to enjoy him properly. You'd embarrass yourself to death.

I know you think about him when your hand's around your cock. You wish he'd warm it, no? Wish you got to watch his ass take you in? 

Go on, why don't you just try? Fulfill your fantasies! Maybe he'll act the part of a pious, pitying god and throw you a bone. 

Yuuji, for as airheaded as he could be, knew Sukuna wanted to indulge in you through his vessel. Or, he truly believed Yuuji wouldn't be able to hook up with you and live to remember it. Maybe he was right. 

But the young man thought you had a soft spot for him; he wasn't great at reading people by any means, but he thought you always gravitated to him before the others. You always held more warmth in your eyes when they fell upon him, and your preening touch constantly found him, your hands always smoothing out the creases of his uniform while deft fingers fixed his hair and pleated his hood into more attractive folds. 

Maybe your touchy-ness toward him was a culmination of your need to parent something. Yuuji didn't fully understand it, but Gojo mentioned something about you wanting children, but you couldn't have them. Not anymore. And so those urges manifested in other ways. 

But the young sorcerer wasn't so sure anymore.

“My Yuuji,” you cooed when he came to visit. “You're back again so soon. Is everything alright?”

Yuuji smiled and braced for impact, bowing his head the slightest bit to let you bonk yours against his in greeting. It really reminded him of the way cats would welcome each other. Thankfully, you didn't seem too eager to mark him with a dose of spittle, though. 

“Yeah, everything's cool. Just–dunno. Wanted to come see what you were doing, I guess.” The sorcerer shrugged and pocketed his hands after you'd finished lovingly headbutting him.

“Mmh. Well, I certainly don't mind the company.” You smoothed back his hair and fixed the wild flare of one of his eyebrows before stepping away and meandering back towards your shrine. “It feels like something's going to happen soon.”

Yuuji's stomach flipped. “Yeah? You think so?” He followed you, watching the hypnotic swaying of your tails and hips and ass–wait, wait, wait, no, no, no–

What? Am I wrong? Sukuna's voice purred. Looks downright breedable, doesn't he? He said it more like a want than a taunt, this time, like if he were in Yuuji's shoes, he'd jump on you and pick up where you left off. 

Shut up, shut up, shut up, Yuuji chanted, trying to calm down. Don't ruin this!

Ruin what? Your sad attempt at courtship, brat? 

Yuuji said nothing. Sukuna howled with laughter. 

“Natural disasters cannot always be predicted,” you murmured, bringing Yuuji back to the present. “And they can never be stopped.”

The younger frowned and rubbed the back of his neck as he followed you inside. “Eh, I mean…we can stop a lot with sorcery, can't we?”

“And if that disaster is born of sorcery? What then?” You snapped your fingers, and every candle in the room ignited with amber flame.

“Uh…I mean…” He sighed and rubbed his face. “I still think we can stop it. We'll figure out a way!”

You sure about that, brat? 

You laughed, soft and kind, bringing a smile to Yuuji instead of a ticked off frown. You had a way of settling his nerves and relieving the tension from tightly wound muscles. Is this the effect you had on Sukuna? Is that why he cherished you so much? 

“I admire your optimism, Yuuji. Perhaps I should aspire to be like you,” you said. 

Yuuji's face flushed. “E-eh? Wh–no! You're awesome the way you are! And, uh, you're–y’know. You're good!” Smooth. Eloquent. Exceptional.

You hummed and wandered further into the back rooms, allowing Yuuji to follow you to your chambers to relax. “Well, I'll trust your opinion, then.” 

“Okay. Yeah. Cool.” The sorcerer cleared his throat and messed with his hood as he followed your lead, admiring the tidy, comfy space you welcomed him into. Pillows and blankets were plentiful and all bunched together on a futon, so much like the nests Yuuji often saw in his dreams. It felt a bit…intrusive to see it in person. 

“Hey, uh,” Yuuji started, “I–can I ask something?” 

You seated yourself down across the small, simple kotatsu, and gestured for the younger to join you. “Of course.”

The sorcerer sat down across from you. “You and Sukuna. Were you guys–did you ever…y'know.” 

You tilted your head, curious. “Go on.”

“Were you, like, in love? Or something?” Yuuji's face burned red at the words. Talking about love was so damn awkward for some reason, especially when it had to do with Sukuna and the fox Yuuji himself pined for.

“Ah.” You tilted your head the opposite direction, and hummed. “I was in love, yes.”

Yuuji's chest ached. “Even now?” 

“Eternally.” 

“Do you want him back?” 

You didn't answer right away, and the festering pain spread from his chest to the tips of his fingers; of course you wanted him back. Of course you wanted your ancient, all-powerful lover back. Why would you ever accept Yuuji in his place? A weak, mortal being?

Before Yuuji could retract the question, you'd shuffled around to his side of the table and held one of his hands in both of yours. The younger couldn't bear to look at your face, and so kept his eyes trained on your elegant fingers smoothing over his rough, scarred knuckles. 

“I would not trade a soul that walks amongst the living for a soul that has already lived its life,” you said. “Sukuna has lived. And he has died. He may rise once more, but I do not seek to aid it; he chose to die in hopes of living forever. He must accept what his decision brings, as must I.” 

The storm inside of the sorcerer calmed the slightest bit. Sails no longer whipped and frayed; they caught wind and led his heart back to placid waters, though the depths of the oceans could always threaten future treachery. For now, however, Yuuji found safety.

“Man, you really are like Yoda,” He laughed, filling the room with renewed brightness.

You blinked owlishly. “Yoda? What that is, I do not know.” 

Yuuji laughed harder and clasped his hands around yours. “Nah, don't worry about it. It's a good thing, though. From one of the movies Gojo-sensei made me watch.”

“I would strongly advise against taking lessons from that man, Yuuji.” Your brow creased as your hands clutched his in a death grip. “He’s not normal.”

Yuuji grinned, then, and held your hands just as tightly. “Yeah, he's weird. But he's smart, too! One of the strongest guys alive, y'know?” 

“Even the strongest can make mistakes,” you said. “Even the strongest can lose, Yuuji. Always be careful, even if victory is assured.” Your careful touch graced the curve of his cheek. “I would hate for your visits to stop.”

The sorcerer's heart beat in double-time. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”

–

The leaves crinkled and rustled, flashing shades of amber and ruby in the dwindling daylight. Gone was the warmth of Summer's smile; now, the cold, fierce nip of Autumn cut through the air, whispering secrets about the first frost and what it would do to devastate the green around you.

But you were a god. A creature of fertility and good luck. And so, the grass did not die, and the forest did not wither under the coming winter's threats. 

It seemed your gifts could not reach into the depths of your soul, however. Perhaps you weren't to indulge in the privilege of what you brought the world--the mortal things around you could make use of a blessing from the divine, but could the divine themselves? Could you bring yourself a remedy to your loneliness the way you brought life unto the ground beneath your feet? 

You didn't know.

–

The end of October came, and the world trembled with the force of thousands of lives ending in misery and terror. You beheld it from your home, the sight of the clouds turning orange and red as hellfire devoured all. 

Bless me ‘n wish me luck! Gojo had said last time he swung by. Definitely don't need it, but you're my favourite cheerleader, y'know?

That was not too long ago, perhaps a day prior. Maybe it'd only been twelve hours ago since you last saw him. Three hours ago since you last felt his celestial presence upon the earth. 

“I would hate for your visits to stop,” you murmured, and your chest froze with the cold. 

–

Winter brought with it snow and darkness. Kuraokami had his ways of slipping his icy presence through the slivered cracks of wood grain no matter the time or place; the great dragon would be heard and seen if it was his final act upon the earth. 

Not even you could keep him out, the lesser deity you were. But you didn't mind the company; the cold breaths against your skin woke you from nightmares and empty blankness when you dozed and dazed, feeling the days slip by and blur together into one grey smear of solitary existence. 

Something had happened. Ever since the sky lit ablaze in a familiar scene of ungodly strength, you felt a shift in the state of existence. In your relevance in the grand scheme of the college and history. 

Your sorcerers lost their way to you, you realized. The cushions around the kotatsu stayed fluffed and untouched save for one. Five of the six clay tea cups gathered dust as they waited, hopeful, like you. 

–

You woke to the feeling of hollowness. It jostled you to consciousness, in fact; those two little unborn lives swirled and stirred, clawing at your stomach before vanishing in an instant. 

Maybe they'd grown too sick and weary of the loneliness and snow, too.

–

Sukuna had walked down this path too many times. And too many times he'd been unable to move, unable to claw his way out of the prison of his vessel to get back to you–but things were different now. 

He held a bundle of blankets close as he wandered toward a speck of verdant green amidst the snowy whiteness blanketing the forest, and remembered a distant past he yearned to return to:

Sukuna was a restless creature. He often distracted himself with challenges, duels, leafing through stolen knowledge of other clans–but, on rare occasions, none of that would appeal to his tumultuous mind. 

You always appealed to him, however. You, with your lavish tails, your exquisite appearance, your superior poise and prose, you always enthralled him, made him wonder and stare. 

Maybe it was because you were always doing something. If you weren't tending to his women, you were meandering around the palace, admiring trophies earned in whatever form they came in: art, weapons, bones. If you weren't doing that, you might be in the garden instead, fine-tuning the patterns drawn in the zen garden yourself and feeding the massive koi. If not that, then you might be asking Uraume to teach you to cook, or you could be fiddling with your loom or–well, it could be anything. 

Sometimes, you’d choose to  lay with Sukuna and keep him warm and content throughout the dreary haze of winter. 

You didn't hate winter yourself, no, but Sukuna most definitely did. The snow and ice were a pain in the ass, and they always threw the garden into a messy disarray of dead foliage and slushy mud that'd have to be tended to come springtime. And it was cold as hell outside. Who asked for that? No one. 

“My love,” you cooed as you stepped to his side while he stared out the window. “Glaring won't make the seasons change.” 

Sukuna scoffed. “That a challenge?”

“Not at all.” You reached up and smoothed his hair back, stopping pesky, rebellious strands from tickling his forehead. “I'd hate to see what you'd do in an attempt to play god.”

“I'm already a god,” he countered as he snatched your hand from his hair and looked down at you.

“Not a god of the seasons, I'm afraid.” You held his hand and pulled it down to kiss his knuckles. “But a god amidst men, nonetheless.” 

Your beast hummed deep in his chest. You had a funny way of setting his roiling soul at ease with your effortless praise and acknowledgement. 

“Knew there was a reason I kept you around,” the man purred, leaning down to touch his forehead to yours. 

You leaned up into the soft gesture like a cat too eager to be pet. “You'd be quite bored without me.” 

“No kidding. I'd go fucking mental if I didn't have you to entertain me.” His voice was a murmur, then, and softened even more when your warm hands cupped his cheeks like he was a priceless, fragile artifact: precious, special, breakable.

“Yes, yes, I go insane in your stead, loved one.” You touched your nose to his, then, before placing the softest of kisses upon his lips. 

A light, sighed grumble slipped past Sukuna's lips when your skin left his. It was his turn to nudge his nose against yours, earning himself a petal-like smile from his prized possession, before he blessed you in return, trying to match the kindness you'd met him with. 

You held the front of his garbs as you leaned up into him, and his hands all found their places on your smaller frame in return, pulling you closer, keeping you against him. He hardly wanted anything like this in the past before you came along and tore his mind and soul to pieces before hunkering down in the hollow of his ribs and setting up shop. It was aggravating. Captivating. 

“Come,” you softly beckoned, slipping away from his desperate hold and leading him back to the bundle of blankets and linens he’d learned to accept as a bed.

As always, he had no choice but to follow, abandoning his mad-dogging of the outside world to join you and the infinite warmth his personal Amaterasu brought him. 

“You’re lazy as hell in the winter,” Sukuna noted as he sat himself down in the middle of your nest and let you get to work adjusting blankets and such around the both of you for optimal comfort. 

“You're free to traipse off into the snow if you so wish.” You settled yourself by Sukuna's side and tucked under his heavy arms. “I will remain here. Warm. Dry. At peace.” 

Sukuna rolled his eyes and pulled you close to his side, squeezing a chirped purr from your chest. “Think I'll pass on the snow.” 

You smiled to yourself, feeling warm and content with the settling silence engulfing you as the snow engulfed the world. Winter was the only season where he'd stay by your side, so you often indulged in it, bothering him and sticking to him like a needy pet until spring inevitably rolled around to ruin your happy spell. Because Sukuna was more wild and feral than you. He had to go wander, to go fight. Otherwise, he'd have no purpose. 

Unbeknownst to you, he may have another purpose in mind. 

His hand breached your clothes and reached down, stopping just above your navel to your surprise. There, he drew gentle, thoughtful circles against your skin. You felt pulses of cursed energy flicker and feel, searching for something neither of you yet knew of. 

“What is it you're looking for?” You murmured, knowing full well what he sought.

Sukuna inhaled deeply and exhaled just as heavy. “How long does it take to get one god knocked up, huh?” He tutted and looked down at you, holding an annoyed look while you met him with doey, lovey eyes as you leaned into him more. 

“I'm sure you'll be the man who finds out.”

Sukuna grinned to himself and adjusted the lump of blankets he held. Arrogant pride blossomed in his chest alongside his bolstered ego; if he could do this as a mere man, what could he do as a curse? 

The king sighed as he breached the warmth of the halo surrounding your humble, comfy abode. He was getting sick of the shit weather in the games, all the cold and emptiness. Being near you was what he needed. 

“Oi, don't make a fuss,” Sukuna grumbled lowly to the whining duo he adjusted in his arms. “You wanna get inside or not?” 

But before he could make use of his newly freed arm, the doors slid open before him. 

And you stood there. Tired. Disheveled. Eyes big and hopeful, yet rimmed with disbelief and shock as you stared at your man and the package he brought to your doorstep. 

Sukuna would be lying if he said he didn't melt, too. Being here, standing firm and whole and so very real and untethered in the spot other sorcerers stood in their attempt to spirit you away from him–it was the reason for his existence. 

And so was your arms wrapping around him and holding him close. 

“Ho? So you did miss me, huh?” He hummed, looping an arm around you and pressing you closer to him. “Sure didn't act like it earlier.”

“I didn't wish to believe in something that felt untrue,” you murmured into his shoulder. “Even now, you're not…entirely yourself.” 

Sorrow stained the undertones of your voice. Whether it was for the fate of Fushiguro Megumi, or for the state of your lover, Sukuna did not know. 

But he was here. He was tangible. He was in control. Finally. 

“At least I'm here, yeah?” He said. And you nodded. 

You led him inside and into the room filled with comfort and warmth. Works of embroidery lined the once-unremarkable tapestries draping down from the ceilings and walls, and the wooden pillars now boasted intricate carvings in various states of completion. Seemed like you'd gotten quite bored in your wait. 

Sukuna sat with you, being the man to finally make use of the fluffed cushions around the kotatsu as he dragged it to your side to stay close. You needed it. He thirsted for it.

The bundle whined and cooed as soon as Sukuna’s ass hit the cushion, and he sighed. “Think you can take care of this, fox?” He teased, but felt a rush of something overtake him when he caught you with your ears perked, tails swishing, back straight as you stared down at the bundle. 

He eased them into your arms and, with shaking hands, you pulled back the wooly linen to find two perfect little treasures staring up at you with big, red-lined eyes. One held the colour of yours, while the other took responsibility for sporting Sukuna's hues, but both boys’ eyes glimmered with divine flecks of gold and amber. Their hair blushed with the colour of sakura petals, and two, itty bitty tufts of soft onyx ears dotted both of their heads like chocolate chips in strawberry ice cream. 

Two perfect kits. Your perfect kits. 

“You seriously wanted these things?” Sukuna asked, teasing and rude, but softer and warmer than the fire burning in your chest. “Gotta say, they're pretty fucking annoying.”

You swathed your tails around them and purred with the ferocity of an avalanche as you leaned into your partner and doted on the teeny tiny babies he'd somehow brought back to the land of the living. A part of you felt guilty for what this could mean. The rest of you screamed, I don't care. 

“Look at them,” You whispered, tracing the roundness of their cheeks with a gentle touch. “They're beautiful.” 

“Well, lookit who their parents are.” Sukuna chuckled and held you against his side, which you eagerly melted into. “Kenjaku had a plan for them too, turns out. Who woulda thought?”

“You never told me,” you said. “Why did you not tell me?” 

“You would've been pissed,” Sukuna said, voice matter of fact. “Better to just do it and reap the benefits later.”

You looked up at him, and found his gaze locked onto you. “That's quite selfish.”

“I'm a king. I can do whatever I want. I can have whatever I want,” He reminded you. “As soon as I take care of a few pathetic, loose ends, everything'll be in place. Right where it all needs to be. And life goes back to normal." 

Your heart did something funny when you read between the lines. “Must you–”

“Don't question me.” Sukuna grabbed your chin and forced you to look down at your snoozing babes. “You’ll lose this. All of this. You'll be left with nothing all over again if I don’t finish this off. That what you want, fox?” 

“You know the answer,” you murmured, too content to let him guide you and sway your reason. He tugged your chin toward him, forcing you to look his way again.

“Tell me anyway.” Tell me what I want to hear.

How could you refuse? 

“No matter the case," you murmured, soft as forgotten winter snow, "you will always have my favour, Ryoumen Sukuna.”

–

Forever to be loved, herein lays a God's young,

Imprisoned by none, held dearly by the Disgraced One. 

[kopilot-pop]

[Are You Mine?] 18+

- Giselle x G!P Reader

Summary: You and your girlfriend, Aeri, decided to have a night out at the club with Jimin and Minjeong. Everything starts off great, until Aeri decides rub at your jealous side.

Warnings: MDNI, g!p, jealousy, violence, daddy kink, rough sex, oral sex (r recieving), praise kink, dacryphilia, size kink if u squint, etc.

A/N: I just made y/n really stronk. Hope y’all like it :3

Word Count: 1,114 words

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Jealousy doesn't come to you often.

You're confident in saying that you're one of the most open-minded partners that Aeri could ask for. You don't mind when your beautiful girlfriend wears those tiny skirts that barely cover her thighs, you don't care if your pretty girl wears that stupid fucking crop top showing off every goddamn part of her body, dancing next to some bitch-

"Hey man, you're gonna break the gl-"

The whiskey you've been drinking for the half-hour shatters into pieces as the liquid pours down your hand.

"Jeez, you've been hitting the gym?"

Jimin laughs as she gently takes the broken bits from your hand. You've been sitting at the bar with her for 2 hours - two whole hours - just watching your girlfriend dance, swaying back and forth, and grinding against a random dude who decided it was okay to put his hands on her hips-

"FUCK! You know what-!"

You let out a frustrated groan as you wipe your hand on your jacket. You march towards the man, grabbing his suit jacket, and pushing him backward. He stumbles and almost bumps into another group of girls right behind him.

"What the-"

"Back off."

You stand taller than him, watching with a scrunched-up face as he tries to gather himself.

"Y/n!"

Aeri quickly tries to intervene as she places a hand on your arm, but you glare at her. Just as he stands up, you grab him by the collar and pull him towards the entrance of the club. He coughs and tries to get a hold of you, but fails in the end.

You finally throw him to an empty space next to the exit, and other patrons worriedly move out of your way.

"Get your dirty hands off my girlfriend."

"What? She's your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, so fuck off."

He's on the ground trying to fix his tie. You grimace and just decide to leave. Well, at least you tried to.

"Fuck, sorry man. I thought she was just a whor-"

Your fist collides right into his jaw before he can finish his sentence.

In the midst of chaos, you could hear the heavy footsteps of the bouncers, rushing to stop the fight, and after a struggle, Jimin finally managed to pull you away from the fight.

All three of you are now banned from the club.

"Y/n!! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Aeri screams as she pushes past Jimin. Your friend gives you a nervous look and quickly leaves to find Minjeong.

"What's wrong with me? Are you out of your mind!? Why would you let that piece of shit touch you like that!"

"We were just having fun!"

"FUN? Oh, alright then. Why don't you go back in and let him have more fun with you? Yeah, that sounds fucking logical-"

"Ugh, fuck you!"

She tries to walk away after shoving you.

"And you know what Aeri?! I might just go and find another bitch to have fun with, too!"

That makes her stop and turn back to glare at you.

You huff angrily, walking towards her. You grab her wrist, dragging her towards the parking lot.

"My car's that way."

"I'm not going with y-!" She struggles to pull away.

"Fine."

You pick her up over your shoulders as she lets out a surprised scream.

"L-let me down!"

You carry her towards your car and drop her into the passenger seat. You start up the engine as she angrily looks out the window. You sigh and look at her.

"...What's gotten into you?"

You're not mad anymore. You honestly were more mad at the man that touched her than her. The only thing you felt towards Aeri was disappointment.

And you knew she could tell.

Her face softens, as she looks down at her lap. "..."

The drive home is mostly silent with the quiet sound of Aeri's nervous tapping.

As soon as the two of you pass the front door, Aeri pushes you against the door and kisses you. You stumble straight into the door, surprised.

You can feel her red lipstick rub off on you, making your eyebrows slightly twitch. She leans her whole body towards yours, grabbing your shoulders and rubbing against your thigh. You grab her hips as you slightly push her inside the apartment.

Barely past the start of the hallway, she pulls away and drops to her knees. You watch as Aeri fumbles with the hem of your pants.

"What are you-?"

"It's an apology." She mumbles, nervously looking up at you.

'Fuck..' You can feel yourself slowly harden at the sight.

She pulls down your briefs and grabs a hold of your cock, gently pumping with both of her hands. When she's satisfied she starts to lick the tip.

Aeri lets out a satisfied moan when she sees you leak precum.

"Hurry up..."

You grab the side of her head with your right hand - almost covering her whole head - and push her mouth towards the base of your cock. She opens her mouth wide, easily taking you down her throat.

It's not her first time after all.

She lightly scratches your thigh when her nose reaches your pelvis, closing her eyes while trying to adjust. After a few seconds, she lightly bobs her head, purposely letting out loud noises.

You watch her face as she struggles to keep her jaw open - clearly not satisfied.

"You said this was an apology right?"

Your girlfriend's eyes snap open, nervously looking into yours.

As soon as she lets out a hum, you quickly snap your hips into her throat - making her gag.

You keep her face up with your hands, staring directly into her eyes. She lets out small moans as you continuously pound into her throat.

"Good girl, you're doing so good.. You wanna make it up to daddy right?"

She lets out a small whine, tears streaming down her face as she struggles to keep herself up on her knees. You let out a loud groan and finally spill into her throat. You gently pull out your softening member from her, looking with awe at the lipstick mark left at the base.

Aeri coughs, but tries to swallow every drop of cum in her mouth.

"Are you sorry baby?

She whimpers.

"Hmm? You don't think that was enough?"

You help her stand up and watch adoringly as she shakes her head. You wipe the corner of her mouth with your thumb.

"Oh really? But I do sweetheart."

She lets out another whimper, shoving her face into your shoulder. You naturally hold onto her waist, and lean down to whisper in her ear.

"Strip."

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A/N: Y'all want more?

[estcaligo]

Problematic post, dark content, if you don't like dark topics - skip this

I have this absolutely masochistic desire to read a series of fics with each twst character, theme: rejection. + upd:some general headcanons

Reader conferences to them and they reject prefect's feelings. 100% angst, no comfort, some disturbing warnings too.

Specifically I want to see :

Hanahaki with Sebek. He wants to be with you but can't because duties. OR he doesn't even want to, he's 100% focused on duties and you're a nuance, go disappear, useless dirt. (I have 10000+ sad scenarios for Sebek...)

Humiliation, degradation, bodyshaming with Vil aka "Have you even seen yourself? What was going on in that ugly head of yours that you could even consider such possibility? No, don't touch me with those ugly fingers."

"You're not a match for me" with Leona.

"Very funny. But I AM a prince after all. What can you offer me? Are you an important ally? A monarch from any country? Maybe you're a valuable business partner? No? Didn't think so. Now move, you're blocking the sun."

"We belong to different worlds" with Malleus. Everything here screams doomed romance. Your life is so short - it's like a second for him. He's a prince, the heir to the throne, a powerful fae, the mighty dragon and one of the strongest mages in the world. And you? You're a grain of sand in his life. Useless, bleak, weak grain of sand.

Manipulation and gaslighting and even enslaving with Azul. Manipulating you into dating, making you fall for him and then sign a bunch of horrible contracts. The contents of those contracts? Trust me, you don't want to know....he makes you do horrible things. Disgusting things. Truly sorry for you.

Public humiliation and playing with your feelings - Ace.

"I was just messin' with ya. Did ya think we were a thing? Are you that naïve or actually stupid? Nah why r u crying rn. It's not my fault you're so fucking stupid lol"

Ghosting with Idia. It was clear from the start - it wasn't going to go well. You're too different… No, it's him who doesn't deserve you. You tried to make it work, but… Idia just can't communicate well. And you're kind of tired of it, too. At first, you did try to reach out, you asked him to talk about it… but he just kept ghosting you. Not a single word to explain why he doesn't want to see you anymore. It's unfair. It hurts.

Jack? Your presence makes him uncomfortable. You just irritate him. You're so unserious. everything is a joke to you.

"Even now you're joking, right?" he said when you tried to confess to him. "I will never think of you as my partner. You're not a match for a wolf. Not with that attitude. I bet you can't even imagine what a lifelong partner means." He didn't mean to be rude, just clear. But it hurts, because you truly love him. And yet, he will never even look at you that way. The best decision would be to never see him again.

Lilia is mischievous, everyone knows that. But you didn't think he would do this to you. Play with your feelings just like that. All that occasional teasing, random hair stroking, small kisses on the cheek… he made your heart flutter every time. But when you decided to confess?

"Fufu, young people are so hopeless these days. Sorry, little bat. I'm not interested."

Not interested. That’s what he said. After doing all this to you. Luring you in and then breaking your heart like it was nothing.

Spoiler: it leads to suicide and not Lilia's.

not rejection, just some headcanons

Floyd - Kinda dating but with much much physical abuse. Domestic violence. Rape too. You're bruised 24/7 in those relationship. Consent? Never heart of it. He's touching you where he wants, when he wants. Your opinion doesn't matter. Say a word and he'll break your ribs again. You're so annoying, jeez. You were supposed to be fun, why're you nagging all the time...Blood suits you now, dear.

Jade - Oh, he he was so charming at the beginning. And by charming I mean fucking mind games, but it was so captivating and you just couldn't resist his charm and by charm I mean manipulation. In the end - makes you his test subject. He kills you and grows mushrooms on your corpse. Scary but eco friendly!

Rook - It started with stalking. He followed you everywhere, he "occasionally" stumbled upon you in every corridor. You constantly felt someone's gaze wherever you went. Eventually, he confessed, but you made the mistake of rejecting him.

"Sorry, Rook, I think Cupid's arrow missed this time" you tried to joke. Too bad.

"He might miss sometimes, but I don't."

Yes, he shoots you because "if you don't want to become 'us,' there will be no 'you' at all."

[runningfrom2am]

cold nights // part seventeen

summary: you showed him colours he knows he can't see with anyone else.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 3.8k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: tribute!reader and mentor!coriolanus, r is very sweet (too kind for this world. literally.), sunshine x grumpy trope kinda, he falls first, violence typical for the source material, depictions of mental illness (r has a panic attack), she's is very smart (as she should), district twelve!reader.

a/n: this is the tea guys get ready for a LOADED chapter. also,, i apologize.

my asks are also open to talk about this series! (i do have emoji anons open now too!)

send me any and all of your thoughts! here!

series masterlist // playlist

Coryo wants to ask you who that guy was- why he made you so instantly uncomfortable, and he wants to, but he's cut off before he can get a word out by someone shouting your name. You tense under his hold, freezing on the spot. Then your name comes again, and as Coryo turns to see the face of whoever it is, he was met with the very same blonde boy just a few feet away.

"Hey, leavin' already?" He asks, tilting his head at you as you turn. He doesn't even spare a glance in Coryo's direction. "Didn't even say hello."

"Oh, well, I'm just... not feeling well." You reply, dropping Coryo's hand in favour of shielding yourself around your waist.

"Oh, that's a shame. Can I walk you home?" He offers.

"I've got it, actually." Coryo answers stiffly, straightening his shoulders as he takes in the boy's attire. Blue slacks, a white T-shirt, and a buzzcut. He's a peacekeeper.

The boy looks him up and down, a smirk forming on his lips. "This is your mentor. Saw him on TV with you, I didn't realise that was a... permanent arrangement."

"Coriolanus just came to visit. He's a good friend." You say quietly, hardly to be heard over the Covey band playing in the background.

"Oh! A friend. Of course." He laughs, speaking to you, but his eyes are locked with Coryo's; unafraid, taunting. "And here I was thinking you had a type."

"Y/N has never mentioned you." Coryo states, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep himself from throwing a punch. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Right! Sorry, I'm Cole." The blonde boy replies.

Coryo could laugh. Clearly, he was local. "Should I take a blind guess at where your father works, Cole?"

His jaw tenses in response, but then he laughs. "Yeah, yeah. You'd probably be right." He reaches up, running his hand over his jaw. "You know, if Y/N isn't up to giving you a tour, maybe I could take you out in the woods and show you where your father was murdered. How does that sound, Snow?"

You look up at your friend, eyes wide. Coryo doesn't know what to say or do, but he looks pissed. "Cole, enough." You state, trying to steady the shake in your voice. "That was cruel and you know it."

"Oh, was it? Sorry." He apologizes, but he's looking past you at a seething Coriolanus. He can only hear his heartbeat in his ears, and he wants nothing more than to beat this guy to a pulp right where he stands.

"Coryo, let's just go, please..." He can suddenly hear your voice, and feel your hands against his chest, trying to urge him out the door.

"Yeah, you two head out." Cole chuckles, lifting one hand in a wave. "I'll give you some advice though, bud, you're not getting anything from her by walking her home. I've been down that road and jeez- it's really not worth it."

Coryo didn't care anymore if you were trying to get him out; he steps past you and is throwing a fist right into Cole's nose before you could make a move to stop him. Bringing up his father was one thing, saying something so disgusting about you was totally another. Coriolanus would not look past that and be a pacifist right now- even if that's what you wanted.

You stumble back with a gasp, hands flying up to cover your mouth. You stand frozen as Coryo knocks him down, laying punch after punch onto a boy you once thought of as a friend.

Hit. After. Hit.

You couldn't see his eyes. You weren't sure why you were looking. Deep down, you knew you wouldn't like what you saw.

You back up. Back, back, back until your head hits the wall and you can't keep going. You didn't realize you were breathing so fast until you started to get dizzy. People are shouting, a crowd is forming. Too many people, too much screaming- the music has stopped, and you watch from outside your body as Sejanus wraps his arms around Coriolanus's waist and yanks him back so he's standing upright again.

He wipes his bloodied mouth on his wrist, then promptly pushes his hair back out of his eyes as he spits the blood in his mouth down on Cole as he lies on the ground. Time is moving so slowly that you're not even sure he's moving. Is he dead?

Your eyes flit back up to Coriolanus again, and his eyes catch yours. You try to take a step back again, but the wall is still there. Shades of red cloud the edges of your vision, and you're stuck making eye contact with him. Frozen, and terrified.

"No- no, no Y/N, wait-" He starts to speak to you. You wonder if you're dreaming. If this was another nightmare- worse than the others. It was personal. "Y/N- hey, don't look at me like that. Come on, don't look at me like that. Talk to me." He's saying, pleading with you, and you can only read his lips as tears fall quick and heavy from your eyes.

He takes one step with empty but bloodied hands held out in front of him, and you're running. It's the worst kind of deja vu. You don't know where to go- you can't go outside. He knows where you live, where your family lives, and it's too long of a walk to be able to make it. He would catch you if you tried to run home alone.

You're trying to sprint through a crowd of drunk people, many of whom are fighting as well now, and you almost don't even notice when you take a hit to the side of the head with someone's elbow as you try and get to the back room. You don't have time to care. You look back over your shoulder, shoving your way through as quickly as you can. He's following you. You can see his blonde hair in the semi-cleared path you made for yourself.

You can't look back, you have to look forward as you dart down the dark hallway, praying that the Covey's makeshift dressing room has a lock on the door. You didn't even realize you were screaming until you slammed the door behind you, scrambling for the lock and sliding the rusty metal shut as you barricaded the door with your body.

"Y/N! Y/N, wait!" Coryo shouts, shoving his way through the crowd behind you. You can't hear him, even when he catches your eyes. That same fear behind them made his gut twist.

He only just clears the crowd behind you when someone is standing right in his path, grabbing his shoulders and shoving him back. Lucy Gray. She wasn't strong, but she needed to be. "What have you done!" She's shouting right in his face, pushing him back again, but it does little to move him. "Why would you do that in front of her?! Get out of here! Now!"

"No, no, Lucy Gray I need to-"

"Coriolanus Snow if you don't get away from her right now I swear to god I-"

"No, you don't understand I-"

"I understand damn fine, thank you!" She huffs. "Sejanus, go get Lennox."

He didn't even clock that Sejanus was holding onto him, keeping him from getting any closer to you even though you were locked behind that door he could see just feet away. He could hear you screaming, sobbing, and he only wanted to help.

"Okay, yeah. I will." Sejanus says, turning his grip onto Coryo's arm. "Come on, you gotta go."

He had seen Sejanus angry before, but it was never directed at him. "Sejanus, please, I have to help her, I can't go through this again I really-"

"You can help her by leaving."

Coryo's heart sinks in his chest, but he lets Sejanus pull him away, and he stares hopelessly back over his shoulder at the door as Lucy Gray knocks on it, talking to you through the metal barrier protecting you from him.

"Y/N/N, hey, it's me. It's Lucy Gray. You gotta let me in, sweetheart. Come on, open up." She's trying to stay calm as she knocks on the door, repeatedly trying the handle on it. "I'm alone, I promise you're safe, Y/N/N. Open the door, please."

You can hear her, but everything besides your broken sobs sounds distant as you're curled up against the opposite wall. There's not enough air in the world right now to keep you conscious- there must not be a window back here. You force yourself back onto your feet, stumbling as you try to stand up and you can hardly see. It's hot.

You look up, there's no vents. The ceiling is too high. Somehow, that makes you feel more claustrophobic.

You make your way over to the door, your palms against it and feeling soft knocks coming from the other side.

"Lucy Gray?" You sniff, unsure now that it was even her voice that you heard.

"Yes, sweetheart. It's just me, can you let me in, please?"

You take three deep breaths.

"Y/N/N?"

With a shaky hand, you reach up and slide the lock open.

She tries the handle again, looking back over her shoulder when it cracks open this time.

You step back quickly as the door is slowly pushed open, almost falling back with the urge to run. You hardly remember why you would open the door.

"Hey, hey, just me." Your best friend says, quickly closing the door again and locking it behind herself.

She eyes you carefully, and your arms are wrapped tightly around your midsection. You don't look like yourself- eyes wide with nothing more than terror behind them, like you're physically holding yourself together and it's not really working as your chest rises and falls so fast she can almost see your muscles straining to keep up. She wants nothing more than to pull you into her arms and tell you it's okay, but she's not sure touching you would be wise. "You okay, Hun?"

You look at her with tear-filled eyes, shaking your head.

"That's okay." She nods at you, understanding and filled with worry. "Do you want to sit? I'll get you some water and we can talk, okay?"

You nod, swallowing over the dryness you didn't even notice in your throat left over from all the screaming and crying. If you didn't know better, you would have thought you swallowed a full box of cotton.

Lucy Gray nods, double checking the door is locked before going over to her bag in the corner and grabbing a water bottle. You watch her the whole way and her calmness slightly soothes you, just enough to sit down at the bench and table beside you.

Lucy Gray isn't scared. You're safe here. You have to remind yourself over and over that you're safe now.

"Your brother is on his way." She assures you, sitting down across the bench from you and holding out the water she just opened for you.

"Okay." You say quietly, taking it and just holding it in your lap. You try and take a deep breath, your head falling back as you shut your eyes, trying to force the fear to leave your body.

"There you go, good. Keep breathing." You hear her tell you and you swallow again. "Can you talk to me? Tell me what happened. No one can hurt you here, I promise."

"Coryo, go home." Sejanus instructs him, turning him in the opposite direction, as if he couldn't do it himself. He had absolutely zero interest in going back to that cold empty house they had borrowed for the month.

Especially after what he had done to you. Again.

He promptly turns back around in the street. "No, I'm coming with you."

Sejanus sighs, rubbing his hands down his face. "I don't have time for this-"

"I agree. Let's go get him."

"Don't you get it?" Sejanus laughs bitterly, eyes wide with exasperation as he shakes his head. "Don't you know what you've done to her?"

"Of course I get it!" Coryo shouts in response. "I've ruined everything! I know that!"

Sejanus opens his mouth to speak, quickly shutting it again.

"I'm killing her! I'm killing her and I can hardly breathe right now and I need her to know I didn't mean to scare her and the only way I can show her that is helping her now. That's the mistake I made last time, and I won't do it again. I won't." He shakes his head, reaching up and pushing his hair back out of his eyes.

"She talked to me, on the last night I saw her. She screamed, and cried, just like that," He gestures vaguely toward the building you're still trapped inside, "and she asked if that's who I was and I couldn't tell her no. She asked if I regretted it and I do, more than anything, and I'm pretty sure she's the only damn reason why and she doesn't know that!"

"I can't lose her." He adds after a moment of the two boys just staring at each other. "Not again, Sejanus. I'm scared of who I'll be without her."

Sejanus shakes his head slightly, looking up at the stars as he takes a deep breath. He was mad at Coryo for scaring you, but he was his friend, and if this is how he wanted to help, he couldn't bring himself to push him away after he was sure that Coryo had never been so honest in his life.

"Okay. Let's go."

There are still lights on in the house when Sejanus knocks on the door. Coryo is standing at his side, chest tight. Your brother already didn't like him- he knew this wouldn't go well at all, but he couldn't walk away from you now. If it was your brother you needed, he would get him for you.

The door opens and they're lucky to see that it was Lennox who answered.

"Where's my sister?" He asks immediately, noting that you weren't with them.

"Something happened, and Lucy Gray asked us to come get you." Sejanus answers, and Coryo's breath hitches as your brother's eyes lock on him.

"What did you do?" He spits, and for a moment Coryo wonders how you could even be related.

He feels himself go pale. "I'm sorry, I really am..."

"Pa!" Your brother shouts back into the house, not giving him the chance to explain further. "We gotta go get Y/N/N, somethin' happened to her."

"What?" Your dad's voice comes next, panicked and frantic as he hurries to the door, not even bothering to grab a coat as he and his son push past the boys on the porch.

Coryo hadn't had the chance to meet him yet, and the fact that this is his first impression makes him feel ill.

"What happened, is she hurt?" He asks, stalking quickly down the front path and they follow hastily after.

"She's not hurt." Sejanus assures him quickly.

"She, uhm, maybe..." Coryo says, embarrassingly non-confident. Everyone looks at him. "She caught an elbow to the head, I couldn't stop it. I'm sorry."

"You're Coriolanus?" Your dad says, turning to look at him only briefly.

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you for coming to get us." He replies, nodding to him. "You did the right thing."

Coryo has to ignore the glares Lennox is shooting into him. He must be the only one who knows.

"We didn't know it would be unsafe for her, but we should have. I apologize." Sejanus says, and your father slightly shakes his head.

"She's got a smart head on her shoulders. She wouldn't've gone if she thought something would happen. Can't blame anyone." He replies. "There's no guidebook on how to live with this stuff."

"I have a good idea of what not to do." Lennox cuts in, and Coryo catches him staring at his bruised knuckles. He quickly tucks his hands into his pockets.

Peacekeepers had cleared out the Hob by the time they got back. Coryo recognizes the other kids in Lucy Gray's band as they stand outside, presumably waiting for her to come out. She was still with you, maybe that was a good thing.

"Tam Amber, is Lucy Gray with her?" Your father asks the boy, who nods in response.

"They won't let you in here, but go try the back door. Goes straight to our room, that's where I saw her go."

"Thanks, Son." Your father nods, lips pursed together as he pats his shoulder and quickly brushes past, rounding the side of the building.

Coryo tries to follow, but Lennox stops him abruptly with a hand on his chest. "You better go."

"Listen, I, I don't know what she told you, but-"

"She told me everything I need to know about you." He says, looking back over his shoulder at his dad knocking on the door, ear pressed to it as he calls out for you and Lucy Gray. "And I know that you being here will just make it worse. So go."

Coryo nods, running a hand down his face. "Listen, I get it, I do, but I can't lose her again. I can't. I have to explain-"

"No, no." Lennox cuts him off. Coryo is sick of people cutting him off. "Can't you just let her be happy? We're doing everything we can to convince her she's still alive- that she's safe and it was hard enough already before you showed up. Literally every night she has nightmares about you, because she trusted you. Completely. You've been here less than a day and you hurt her all over again- I can't just stand by and let that happen."

"I did it because that guy said something horrible about her- I just, I couldn't let him get away with that!" Coryo protests, scared that no one would actually give him a chance. "Last time I didn't get to talk to her and I think that's what she needs."

"Oh, you think that? That's spectacular. She'll be cured!" Lennox laughs dryly, rolling his eyes. "We don't need you to fix her. I really don't have time for this, Coryo."

He practically spits the nickname at him, laced with venom as he turns on his heel to go to the door.

Coryo groans, running his hands down his face again as he watches the door open for your brother and father.

"It's like," You take a deep, shaky breath, squeezing the water bottle you're holding in your lap. "It's like he is a different person, Lucy Gray. Do you get it now? Did you see?"

"I believe you. I always have." She nods, looking into your eyes. "I saw it, but..." She sighs, breaking eye contact with you. "I don't think he's a vicious person, Y/N. And I don't think you think that either."

You chew your lip, shaking your head as your eyes fall to the floor.

"Can I give you my opinion?" Lucy Gray asks after a moment, reaching out to hold your hand.

"Truth is truth to the end of reckoning." You say plainly, nodding and gripping onto her hand.

"There's no reckoning, love, okay? I'm your friend first and foremost. I want to help you, and I will always be honest with you." She assures you before continuing. "But I think... I think he's just a normal boy. Boys get in fights all the time-"

"Lucy Gray you didn't see it."

Your best friend is calm, despite you interrupting her. You never did that, but she knows better than to fault you for it now. "Okay, alright. What didn't I see?"

Your hair falls into your eyes as you shake your head, and you quickly push it back with your free hand to look at her. "His eyes."

"His eyes, okay... What about them?"

"He gets... It's scary. Like he wants to do it. Like he enjoys hurting people and, and-" Just recalling it makes your heart rate increase.

"Okay. I believe you." She nods, placing her other hand on yours. "But I think this is more about you than him, sweetheart."

Lucy Gray can see the confusion that knits itself into your creased brow. "It was a scary, traumatic time for you, and I think you're still recovering and that's okay. You may never be the same and that's okay. But I don't think he'd hurt you. I really don't. I think he's a good person."

"I want to think that..." You sniff, shaking your head. "but just as easily that could have been me in the arena. And just as easily that could have been you out there, or, or..." Your train of thought dissipates. "I just mean it doesn't seem that anything is stopping him."

"I don't think it could have been you. He cares about you. You told me that, remember?" She smiles softly. "I think it was inconsiderate of him to act that way out there, but I think you were just reliving something you shouldn't have to. The games can make anyone do bad things."

"Maybe..." You mutter, second-guessing yourself now. You didn't even see his eyes tonight, not until he was looking at you and begging you to listen when you couldn't. He looked just as scared as you, as soon as he realized what he had done.

"Are you sure you saw that today?" Lucy Gray's question shocks you, but it's exactly what you were thinking. "His eyes, I mean. Did you see it again or did you just expect to after last time?"

You jump at the rapid knocking on the back door. Lucy Gray stands up, making her way over to it. You hear muffled voices for a few moments before Lucy Gray returns. "It's your family, I'm going to let them in, okay?" She pats your leg and you nod, and she smiles at you reassuringly before walking away.

You hear the door creak open and you stand up, brushing off the front of your dress and turning to face them as your father and Lennox rush in.

"Honey, are you okay?" Your father asks, quickly gathering you into a hug and you nod, biting back more tears.

"Fine just fine." You whisper. "I'm sorry you had to come all this way..."

Lucy Gray catches a glimpse of Sejanus and Coryo standing outside as she lets your family in, looking back at them talking to you when she slips out. She gently closes the door behind herself and walks up to them. "I thought I told you to go home."

"I know, I know, but-" Coryo looks between her and the door. He sighs, deciding to give up on defending himself. "Is she okay?"

Lucy Gray looks at him, arms crossed over her chest as his hair falls in his eyes and he doesn't immediately fix it, more concerned about you than anything else. "You need to cut your hair." She states plainly.

He's confused, opening his mouth to argue when she speaks again. "You need to cut your hair so she can see your eyes. She'll feel safer with you then." She turns on her heel, nodding to Sejanus before heading back for the door. "When we get her out of there you better be gone- she can't see either of you tonight." She pauses, hand on the handle. "But yes, she'll be okay."

taglist: @soulessjourney , @that-veela-girl ,  @dreamyysouls, @rockstarbfs , @maysileeewrites , @baybieruth , @kitscutie ,  @fratboyharrysgf0201 , @totallynotkaibiased , @stelleduarte , @secretsicanthideanymore , @bejeweledreverie , @drewsandsebastianswife , @niicole-87 , @queenofshinigamis , @innercreationflower , @nallasstuff , @scorpiolystoned , @iovemoonyy , @thatmarvelchick19 , @wearemadeofstardust0 , @regulusblackcore , @puredreamagination , @fantasticchaosthing , @becauseseaotters , @secretsicanthideanymore

okay suddenly tumblr isn't letting me tag more people than this so i just made some cuts unfortunately :') i just left the max amount of people i could whose users i recognized and see in my notifs all the time :) if you're not on here and you should be i'm so sorry!

also this taglist is closed now!! if you’d like to get a notification when i update, turn on my post notifications!! i promise i won’t spam y'all :,)

[fl100r]

✦𝘾𝙀𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙄𝘼𝙇 𝘼𝘿𝙈𝙄𝙍𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 ✦

||ᴋᴀᴛꜱᴜᴋɪ ʙᴀᴋᴜɢᴏᴜ x ɢᴏᴅᴅᴇꜱꜱ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ||

・┆✦ʚ Chapter 1 ɞ✦ ┆・

"𝙄 𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩"

"𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙒𝙝𝙮?.."

"𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩. 𝙙𝙪𝙙𝙚"

༻✦༺ ༻✧༺༻✦༺༻✦༺

Bakugou is so depressed after war shi happen so god game happen to him too, meet a gyatt goddess wow fell in love real? or cap?

{ Slowburn }

tw: Violence, rape.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ .

⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣

Two days had passed since the War of Ravager's Crusade. Returning to his kingdom, Bakugou saw the ashes and broken homes of once-smiling children and families, now reduced to rotten, burned bodies beneath the rubble of their own homes. He felt a deep disappointment in himself for failing to protect his kingdom, even after promising his parents he would continue their legacy and be like his mother, the Queen of the Crimson Bones. He had lost everything he swore to uphold, and now he lay in his room, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Hopeless and unsure of what to do, the realization hit him hard: his army, his village, his kingdom, his family-they were all gone. A tear rolled down his cheek, landing on his wrinkled, rough bed. He cried quietly, his sobbing filled with regret. He longed for revenge but felt utterly useless.

Katsuki Bakugou, the Crimson Warrior, was supposed to win this war, but instead, he had lost the souls of those who loved and admired him. He had managed to kill the leader of the Crab Clan without magic, which was impressive enough on its own.

Wait... magic. Magic had been forbidden in his kingdom. His mother had outlawed it, believing that no one should rely on the "easy way out to victory." She felt that those who used raw strength alone were worthy of respect and honor, with the sole exception of healing magic, which was revered for its usefulness.

But now... maybe he could use magic to bring some of his people back. The bodies weren't too far gone yet. Dark magic could be the key.

Bakugou quickly rushed to his library, searching frantically for dark magic spells.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧Meanwhile... At The Abyssal Sanctum (Y/N's Realm).. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ . ⋅ ˚̣- : .

"Y/N, you've got to stop your people from using your magic to revive the dead! Ugh! People in heaven are starting to disappear. We don't want our world to overpopulate!" An angelic but rough voice shouted angrily. It was Azariel.

"Erm... you're overreacting, dude. It's just a couple of people. It's not like a billion people got revived," you replied, unbothered by Azariel's concern and his constant ranting about the "overpopulation theory."

"My point still stands! Oh, Great Heavens, you infuriate me! Please get rid of the spell, since you and your family invented dark magic! YOUR MAGIC IS SINFUL AND EVIL!" he yelled, stomping away angrily, clearly annoyed by your stubbornness, and slammed your enchanted, huge doors behind him.

"It's just reviving, though. What harm does reviving someone cause? And sinful and evil? Alright, buddy, my magic doesn't have morality... it just is what it is," you muttered, feeling annoyed. He kept complaining about people showing up in heaven almost every day, which was apparently tiring for him. Then, when people used your magic to bring loved ones back, he complained about that too? It didn't make any sense.

While you were deep in thought, your doors suddenly burst open. Your best friend came rushing in, beaming with excitement.

"Oh~ HERE COMES THE GODDESS OF LOVE! WORSHIP ME, AND THERE'S A 50/50 CHANCE YOU WON'T DIE ALONE! Heheh! Y/N! GUESS WHO'S GONNA BE THE HOST OF THIS YEAR'S 500TH ANNIVERSARY GAME!" Koemi cheered, her happiness radiating.

"It's you. I know," you replied, unamused.

"Oh..." Koemi's tone dropped, sounding disappointed by your flat response.

"You could've maybe pretended.. To not know.. Jeez you always like this even when we were mortals." Koemi said annoyed.

"What? I'm stating something that I think is correct based on your reaction Dumbass."

"Okay.. Okay anyway you already know I'm gonna be the one who host this game event, so I've been thinking maybe we can bring the mortals into our little game. Can you guess why?.." Koemi said excitedly.

"We're gonna invite them to tea or something?..." Y/N said, still unimpressed.

Koemi huffed in annoyance. "You've known me since diapers in the mortal world. Jeez, it's like I'm a character introduced in your story mode, but the most forgotten character ever... Anyway, no. I have an idea! So, we do this game event where we pick our mortals-without looking into their past or future-and then make them fight for a single wish! A wish that can grant anything! Like, really anything! They can even join us as a god! What do you think?" Koemi asked, excitement bubbling in her voice. She eagerly awaited Y/N's opinion, even though deep down, she expected something simple-yet sharp-that would probably hurt her feelings.

"Okay that's good." That's it? You fucking piece of shit koemi said in her mind. Well it's fine anyway she's your best friend and she acts like this its fine! Koemi said in her mind, rambling about Y/N and her friendship, lost in her thoughts now.

"Soo.. When will the games begin? Since were gonna pick our own mortals whats the rules? We can pick any mortals right? So some of the gods can just pick someone who' better than everyone else and win the final fight"

Y/N said questioning Koemi ideas if she got a planned for those will use this advantage to just win unfairly in the event.

"Well here are rules of course!" As Koemi make a contract appear out of thin air with her magic,

(If you can't read it)

Welcome to an intense and fiery competition where mortals are subjected to extreme conditions and trials. Selected by the gods, these mortals, driven by lofty ambitions and desires for greatness, will face a crucible of challenges designed to test their determination and resourcefulness. The gods watch from their celestial thrones, relishing the spectacle as these chosen mortals confront their destinies. The gods and goddesses who participate in this grand event shall be rewarded handsomely for their involvement.

Rules and Regulations:

No Handpicking Mortals: Deities are strictly prohibited from personally selecting mortals for participation. The selection process must be predicated upon a divine trait or power inherent to the gods, ensuring that mortals are chosen based on their intrinsic qualities or motivations aligned with the deity's domain.

No Assistance Beyond Emotional Support:Gods are forbidden from utilizing their divine powers to aid mortals directly or indirectly. Any form of intervention, be it through supernatural influence, guidance, or manipulation, is prohibited. Only emotional support, such as encouragement or moral fortitude, is permitted.

No Manipulation of Mortal Trials: The divine entities must refrain from altering or manipulating the trials and challenges faced by the mortals. The integrity of the competition must remain unblemished, with each trial designed to test the mortals' innate qualities without divine interference.

No Breach of Confidentiality: The gods must maintain absolute confidentiality regarding any internal deliberations or decisions pertaining to the selection and challenges faced by the mortals. Any unauthorized disclosure of such information to the participants or external entities is strictly forbidden.

Punishment for Breach of Rules: Gods or goddesses who violate these rules shall be subjected to the most severe of divine punishments. The offending deity will be exiled from their divine realm and cast into a void of endless darkness, where they shall experience the profound isolation and despair of being cut off from divine powers and companionship.

-Koemi Ramírez.

⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚.

"bravo.. The goddess of Love and Lust actually thinks for once!"

Koemi's face expresses just 😐. "Sorry. I know you're not the goddess of lust only love.. Just a joke.. Anyway let me see the contract.." Y/N said as she reads it. "Make sure to signed it if you want to join the game!" Koemi said.

"Alright that looks good, I signed it. Did you already have other gods signed it?" Y/N asked

"I did just now-almost all of them have signed it!" Koemi said enthusiastically. "Anyway, I've got to find my mortal! Good wishes and love to you, my dear friend! You won't die alone-"

Before she could finish, Y/N snapped her fingers, and Koemi vanished from the realm with a soft pop.

Y/N let out a sigh, shaking their head with a wry smile. "Good luck with that, Koemi." She muttered to the empty space left behind, the air still crackling with the remnants of the goddess's departure.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . Meanwhile... Katsuki Bakugou. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒

"Fuck... I can't find anything in this damn library. I want my people back..." Bakugou muttered as he stood up, the chair creaking as it was pushed by his back. He walked through the empty hallways of what was once a lively and grand castle. Now, it lay in ruins, with rubble scattered around and burned curtains and carpets.

"Goddamn it... Why couldn't I just... protect them? They played dirty with me. I've searched through every book, but not one is related to dark magic..." Bakugou sighed, his eyebrows furrowing deeper, his expression a mix of frustration and sadness.

He stopped in front of a large mirror in the long, desolate hallway, gazing at the scars and burn marks that littered his body. He stared at his reflection, seeing someone tired and stressed-every word in the definition of exhaustion and depression. Once a great king, now... someone entirely useless.

"I should leave this place... The food here is stale. I can't survive another day without eating properly." Bakugou packed quickly, determined to leave the place he once called home, vowing not to return until he could restore honor and bring back the souls and bodies of his people.

As he ventured deeper into the woods, he heard a rustle in the bushes behind him. He gripped his axe, ready for anything, but kept walking forward.

"WAH! GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!" A creature with purple balls for a head leapt out at him. Bakugou swung his axe, purposely missing, the blade landing beside the creature.

"OH SHIT!-YOU! OUH MY GAWD-Y-Y-YOUR MAJESTY! UH, UH... SORRY! I THOUGHT YOU WERE THAT HOMELESS MAN WHO STOLE MY SILVER COINS, SIR!" The creature immediately dropped to his knees and bowed before Bakugou.

"Tch..." Bakugou scoffed, placing his axe back on his shoulder as he continued his journey.

"Mineta, buddy! You done yet? Did you kill that homeless man? It's getting dark-Oh! Hey, stranger. Did my buddy scare ya? Sorry, dude!" A yellow-haired man walked into the scene just as Bakugou was about to head toward the nearby town, which seemed to be having a festival.

Bakugou walked past the two boys toward the town. As he entered through the open gates, he noticed people celebrating. Decorations hung from house to house, and in the middle of the town stood a statue of someone, though Bakugou couldn't really see it due to the crowd. He made his way around the large crowd and headed for the food area.

"Ah! Hello, young man! Would you like to buy some bread? I've got all types-never old, only fresh!" the bread seller joyfully exclaimed.

Bakugou remained quiet as he picked a freshly baked loaf.

"Young man, I'm guessing you're not from around here, hmm?" the man asked.

Bakugou nodded. "What are you people celebrating?" he asked, his tone curious but still rough.

"Ah! We're celebrating our goddess, Koemi Ramírez.-the goddess of love. She lived in this town 500 years ago, but she left on a journey to gain more power and to help the people here. That's all I know... If you want to kno-"

Bakugou left, placing a block of gold on the man's counter before he could finish. He moved on to another food stall, buying more food. He didn't know exactly where he was heading after leaving, but his goal remained clear: to find a dark magic user or learn dark magic himself.

"Hey, well if it isn't the Goated Man! Hey, uh... can I get some bread?" the yellow-haired man asked, but was immediately cut off.

"Denki, you didn't help with the festival decorations, or anything really... No aid, no gain for you. Wait... is that how the kids say it these days? Hm... Anyway, no, get outta here," the bread seller replied.

"Can you at least tell me who that was? I bumped into him once near the woods after Mineta lost his coins because of a homeless man. He looks pretty tough! Is he a royal?" Denki asked.

"No idea, well just ask him. Anyway, move along, you rogue thief. Heh!" the bread seller laughed.

Denki rolled his eyes playfully and followed the man with ash-blonde hair.

"Hey! Your Majesty!" Bakugou ignored the sudden yelling behind him-on purpose.

"Can't you hear me?! Hey!!..." The footsteps grew closer. "Hey, Your Majesty! Hehe, sorry for interrupting your shopping, but can you please help-wait, hey man! Stop walking past me! Okay! Wait, I have something you're looking for!"

Bakugou stopped in his tracks and looked back at the yellow-haired man. The man pulled out a medium-sized diamond.

"Isn't this yours? Hmm?" the man said.

Bakugou glanced at the diamond, then back at the man's eyes. "Yeah. Get lost."

The man was shocked. He had stolen a precious, medium-sized diamond from him, and those things were very valuable-at least to people like him.

"Please, I'm Denki Kaminari, the Rogue of this town! You can trust me! Tell me what you want! I really need your help!" Denki pleaded with Bakugou.

"Ugh. Find me a dark magic user, or give me a book with dark magic spells."

Denki was stunned. Dark magic... It was ancient and illegal in many towns, cities, and kingdoms. He couldn't find something like that.

"...uh... Hm, I can't find you a dark magic book, but-"

"Ugh, of course..." Bakugou scoffed.

"B-but! I can lead you to someone who knows more about magic. Maybe there's a chance they have a dark magic book or know a user!"

Bakugou glanced at the dunce-faced man.

"Just help me with something... And I'll lead you to the person! Deal?" Offering a hand to Katsuki, Bakugou hesitated. "Fine.. what is it? as they both shook hands.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟMeanwhile... At The Sanctum of Eternity｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ

"Azariel, did you find your mortal yet?" Y/N asked.

"Why do you care? Since you don't care about the mortal world..." Azariel replied, a touch of annoyance in his voice.

Y/N rolled her eyes but then smirked. "Yeah, you're right, dude. I don't really care about the mortal world, even when we were mortals ourselves," Y/N said playfully, trying to annoy Azariel on purpose. Even though she was a goddess, being immortal could get pretty boring fast.

"Sigh... Did you find yours yet?" Azariel asked, referring to Y/N's own mortal puppet.

"Found what?"

"I-no, I hate you. You know exactly what I'm referring to, Y/N," he responded, filled with annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, no. Not yet at least... I thought there'd be more people using dark magic who are worthy of my attention."

"What about the people who worship you?" Azariel asked.

Y/N stared at him as if he had offered his own beating heart on a plate. Y/N might as well have eaten it.

"Hell no. I don't want more people worshipping me," Y/N said.

Azariel looked shockingly confused. "Wait, what? I thought you-"

"What? You think my family and I invented so many dark spells and stuff because we love being worshipped? That's just racist to us creatures. Plus, some of us actually want to die-some of us are pretty much suicidal," Y/N said.

A portal suddenly appeared in the realm, and animals began to come through: bunnies and deer. Following them was a beautiful woman who emerged from the portal, reminiscent of Snow White but dressed in a more provocative outfit.

"Great entrance, Yui," Y/N said, recognizing the newcomer as Yui, the Goddess of All Animals and Creatures.

"Now that I think about it, why do gods need such sexualized clothes? Even you, Azariel-aren't you supposed to be holy? Why are you wearing a tight-ass corset?" Y/N teased.

"Okay, I-" Azariel started to respond but was cut off.

"Yeah, Azariel, why do you have that? But I have to say, you look stunning in it!" Yui chimed in, her voice gentle.

"Oh, thank you, so I-" Azariel began, but was interrupted by a loud sound coming from another portal. This one was pitch black, almost like Y/N's portals but with a more ominously emo ahh.

"Is the meeting starting yet? I want to go back to sleep," said Death, Y/N's older cousin.

"Hey, Damien, you look edgier than me as always. The meeting hasn't started yet-" Y/N began, but before they could finish, a bunch of portals appeared, each a different color and type of magic. Gods and goddesses began to come through, and the ground of the sanctum shook. Thrones emerged from the ground, forming a circle around a table made of gold, jewels, and crystals.

"Alright! Hello everyone, welcome! Welcome to the Gods' Contest of Valor! You may all sit down on your thrones, of course! I am Koemi Ramí-"

"BOOO! WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" a voice interrupted loudly. Sounds like Y/N.

Koemi sighed and continued, "Alright, alright, settle down. As I was saying, I am Koemi Ramírez, the Goddess of Love, and I will be hosting this grand event. We are here to select mortals who will compete for a single wish, one that can grant anything they desire, even the chance to join us as gods."

Another god shouted, "Get on with it! We don't have all day!"

Koemi smiled through her irritation. "Very well. The rules are simple: each of us will select a mortal from the pool of candidates. We won't look into their pasts or futures. The mortals will then face trials designed to test their strength, cunning, and resolve. The one who emerges victorious will earn the grand wish."

A goddess in a shimmering blue gown raised her hand. "Are there any restrictions on what the wish can be?"

Koemi nodded. "No restrictions. Anything goes. The only limit is their imagination. Now, I know everyone here has already selected their mortals-except Y/N!"

Y/N glared at Koemi, who smiled triumphantly, clearly enjoying embarrassing Y/N. "Okay, tomorrow we'll mark our mortals with a gem placed on their chest, close to their heart. It'll be implanted there and visible to other mortals in the competition. Of course, if they're wearing clothes, you won't see it. So, Y/N~ pick your mortal faster or you might get disqualified~ :3"

Y/N groaned and rolled their eyes at Koemi, visibly annoyed. "That's all, folks! Thank you so much-"

Before Koemi could finish, the gods began to disappear in clouds of enchanted colored smoke, leaving behind their magical residue. "Ugh... so disrespectful..." Koemi muttered as she, too, began to depart, leaving only Y/N behind.

"Fuck... I can't seem to find anyone who's good at dark magic, except for my family who's still alive, but I'm too stubborn to support them. Well, it's not mandatory for the mortal to have dark magic as their power; it can be their tendency. Sigh... I really need a strong candidate for this event. I keep losing to the others in past events..."

"Meow~ You gonna pull a Disney Wish song out of your ass?" Y/N's cat, perched atop the throne, meowed.

"What the-dawg, where have you been? And hell no, you know I wouldn't," Y/N replied.

The cat jumped down into Y/N's lap and settled in, purring contentedly. "How long have you been here?" Y/N asked, petting the kitty.

"Purr~ purr~ Hm, since the meeting started," the cat replied. Y/N petted the kitty more roughly, pulling back its fur and causing it to look mildly annoyed.

(Example cuz why not)

"You fucking rascal, I've missed you, buddy. You haven't been visiting me in my realm, always going into the mortal world," Y/N said, clearly annoyed.

"Just find me then! Jeez, woman... I've heard you've been-struggling to find a mortal. STOP PULLING BACK MY FACE, LADY-" the cat protested as Y/N continued to pet him, pulling back his fur. "Ehehe- it looks funny, Anyway what did you say?" Y/N asked "I marked some mortals I found, i think they might be worthy for you" "AWH you FUCKING JUST AGHHH!!"

"STOP PULLING BACK MY FURRR!!!!!" the cat yowled.

Y/N stopped petting him and giggled. "Alright, tell me the ones you marked."

The kitty barfed up a tiny crystal ball onto Y/N's hand and Y/N of course gagged a lil. "Here, just watch them and pick who's worthy!" he said.

As the tiny crystal ball began to shine, it summoned a mirror, revealing on the glass the mortals the kitty had marked.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . Meanwhile... Katsuki Bakugou. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ - : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒

In an abandoned church, Kaminari said, "Whew-kinda spooky, heh!"

Bakugou rolled his eyes as he scanned the surroundings. Kaminari had mentioned that a buddy of his got lost in the church basement, and when Kaminari was close to finding him, he heard a scream and ran like a coward. So, Bakugou was helping him find his friend.

"So chilly... uhh, right this way! Erm..." Kaminari said, leading Bakugou into the darkness. The only source of light they had was Bakugou's lighter.

"Okay, where the fuck is your rascal? My lighter is running out. Why were you he-" Bakugou started to ask, but before he could finish, someone placed a piece of cloth over his mouth from behind. Kaminari watched with a look of regret in his eyes.

Bakugou struggled and managed to knock the person behind him with his elbow he tried to punch kaminari, but the cloth had some chemicals on it, making Bakugou dizzy. He eventually passed out.

"Ugh... What the fuck." Bakugou looked around. He was chained to a wall, his wrists cuffed. He remembered how Kaminari hadn't helped him and had watched him pass out. Without any of his belongings, Bakugou cursed his decision to team up with the rogue.

The room was cold and bleak, with hard concrete and bricked walls. A set of stairs led up to a closed hatch with a lock. "Urgh... ugh..." Bakugou grunted as he tried his best to break free from the metal cuffs. After a struggle, he managed to get them off and rubbed his wrists.

Bakugou climbed the stairs and, using his strength, managed to force open the hatch. The crimson warrior had no trouble with a simple wooden barrier. As he opened the hatch and climbed up, he was confronted with a horrifying scene.

People were caged up-some of the women were helpless and naked, while some of the men had bruises and cuts on their bodies. Bakugou's concern grew as he walked up to one of the cages. He examined a woman who was curled up facing the wall, seemingly lifeless. As he inspected her, he noticed that her private parts had been brutally torn apart. The woman had an umbilical cord leading up to her arms, indicating a baby had been born, but both the baby and the woman were long gone.

Bakugou's heart raced. What the hell was going on in this place? He needed to find out and put a stop to whatever horrific activities were happening here. Can't believe he made a deal with a person maybe responsible for these people.

The room was filled with caged individuals, and Bakugou noticed a set of stairs in the middle of the room. He was about to ascend them when he heard footsteps. Quickly, he hid at the bottom of the stairs.

A pair of red boots began descending the wooden steps. "Ehe... Denki, thank you so much for tricking THE Crimson Warrior! Haha! I can't believe he fell for your obvious act!" said a man with black hair, an almost shaved beard, green eyes, and a golden coat. To Bakugou's shock, the man was wearing his red cape, a gift from his mother when he was a child.

"Eheh... Yeah..." Denki replied, his tone nervous and regretful.

"What's wrong, kid? You got half of what we earned-aren't you grateful?" the man in the golden coat said.

"What? No, no, sir Gardinier! I-I just... can you please- I-just..." Kaminari stammered, clearly unsure of how to voice his concerns, knowing that Sir Gardinier is a powerful man.

"Spit it out," Gardinier's tone grew ominous.

"Can we bury the people who got caged up in here? I just... I want to pay respect to them. I know they didn't pay their debt on time, but please-" Kaminari's voice quivered, revealing his inner turmoil.

Gardinier's expression darkened, and he stared at Kaminari with cold eyes. "Bury them? They were criminals. They had their chance. They chose their fate."

Kaminari looked down, unable to meet Gardinier's gaze. "I understand, sir. I just... feel it's the right thing to do."

Bakugou, still hidden, clenched his fists. He knew he needed to act quickly. Gardinier and Kaminari's conversation had revealed the depth of their cruelty and the true nature of their scheme. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Bakugou planned to intervene and put a stop to their vile activities.

"Check on the crimson guy. I don't want to speak of this again," Gardinier ordered.

Kaminari, squeezing his way through the cramped space of the cages, approached the hatch with a look of horror on his face as he saw the lifeless forms of the people inside. He was shocked to see Bakugou had broken free.

"Denki! What's taking you so long? Open the hatch, I'm not hearing a cree-AGH! WHAT?! ERGH!" Gardinier's voice turned to panic as Bakugou pinned him down onto the hard wooden floor.

"ERUGH! You bastard! Get off me!" Gardinier yelled, struggling as Bakugou punched and pushed him onto the floor.

"SOLDIERS! HELP! URGH!" Gardinier shouted in desperation, but before he could call for help, he felt a sharp pain.

In a sudden twist of fate, Denki appeared, his hands gripping a bloodied sword. With a grim expression, he swung the sword with precision. Gardinier's head rolled onto the floor, his body collapsing as blood pooled around him. The crimson warrior's fierce struggle had come to an end, and Denki, though visibly distressed, stood over the fallen villain, having taken a dark step to ensure justice was served.

"Why... why did you help me?" Bakugou asked, his crimson eyes still burning with anger.

"I... I just wanted to help. I-" Kaminari began, but his voice faltered under the weight of his guilt and fear.

"SIR GARDINIER! WHERE ARE YOU? SIR!" A voice called out urgently from outside the room.

Bakugou's eyes narrowed as he glanced toward the sound. "We don't have much time. If more of them come, we'll be in serious trouble. Why did you really help me? What's your angle?"

Kaminari, visibly shaken, took a deep breath. "I... I couldn't stand what was happening here. I knew I made a mistake helping Gardinier, and I wanted to fix it. I just... I wanted to make things right, even if it meant risking my own life."

Bakugou's expression softened slightly, though his anger remained. "Well, you've got a lot to make up for. But right now, we need to get out of here before more of them show up. Can you help me free these people?"

Kaminari nodded, his resolve firm despite the fear. "Yes. Let's get them out of here."

Together, they moved swiftly to unlock the cages, working to free the imprisoned individuals as quickly as possible. The sound of approaching footsteps grew louder, heightening their urgency to escape and ensure the safety of those they had rescued.

As Bakugou and Kaminari worked to free the captives, the distant sound of heavy, booted footsteps grew louder.

"Move faster!" Bakugou barked, his fingers working furiously to unlock the last of the cages. The freed captives, though disoriented, began to escape towards the exit.

The heavy door to the room crashed open, and a squad of armored soldiers stormed in, their weapons ready. Bakugou's eyes blazed with a fierce intensity.

"Looks like we've got company," he growled, grabbing a heavy iron bar from the corner. Kaminari, his sword stained with blood, braced himself.

The soldiers charged, but Bakugou met them head-on with a brutal ferocity. He swung the iron bar with bone-crushing force, his blows landing with sickening thuds. The first wave of soldiers fell, their armor caved in and their bodies crumpled under his relentless assault.

"Come on, then! I'm not done with you!" Bakugou roared, his voice a harsh growl as he smashed another soldier's helmet into his skull. Blood and metal flew, and the floor became slick with gore.

Kaminari, though still rattled, fought alongside Bakugou with a grim determination. He swung his sword in wide, lethal arcs, slicing through armor and flesh with ruthless efficiency. Each strike was precise, severing limbs and opening gaping wounds.

The soldiers fought back with desperation, but Bakugou's rage was unstoppable. He swung the iron bar like a battering ram, crushing ribs and splintering bones. His attacks were unrelenting, each swing a brutal testament to his fury.

"Stay out of my way!" Bakugou shouted, deflecting a soldier's strike with a violent twist of the bar, sending the soldier sprawling. He grabbed another soldier by the throat, lifting him off the ground and slamming him against the wall with a sickening crunch.

Kaminari, his face set in a mask of grim resolve, slashed through the soldiers with cold precision. He drove his sword into the chest of one soldier, twisting it before yanking it out and moving to the next target. His blade was a blur of deadly steel, cutting through the enemy ranks.

The soldiers, overwhelmed by the brutal onslaught, began to falter. Their numbers dwindled as Bakugou and Kaminari pressed their attack. The room was filled with the sounds of violence-metal clashing, screams of agony, and the heavy, thudding blows of Bakugou's iron bar.

One soldier, seeing the carnage and realizing the battle was lost, attempted to flee. Bakugou, with a feral snarl, intercepted him. He hurled the iron bar with deadly accuracy, pinning the soldier to the wall with a sickening thud. The soldier gasped, struggling weakly as Bakugou approached, his eyes cold and merciless.

"You think you can run from me?" Bakugou growled, delivering a final, crushing blow with his fist that ended the soldier's suffering.

Breathing heavily, Bakugou surveyed the aftermath of the battle, the room littered with fallen soldiers and the splattered remains of the once-proud soldiers. He turned to Kaminari, his expression hard but focused.

"Is everyone out? We need to get moving before more show up."

Kaminari, his face smeared with sweat and blood, nodded vigorously. "They're all free. Let's go!"

With a final, contemptuous look at the carnage, Bakugou and Kaminari led the way, guiding the freed prisoners towards the exit. The distant echoes of men of Gardinier and the harsh sounds of their escape faded behind them as they made their way out of the hellish scene.

Bakugou and Kaminari sprinted through the dense forest, the moonlight casting eerie shadows across the underbrush. The night was still, except for the occasional rustle of leaves and the distant calls of nocturnal creatures. Their breaths came in ragged gasps, the adrenaline of the battle still coursing through their veins.

"Keep moving!" Bakugou barked, his voice barely audible over the sounds of their pounding footsteps. The forest was dense and twisted, with gnarled trees reaching out like skeletal fingers. Branches snagged at their clothes, and the undergrowth crunched underfoot.

Kaminari glanced over his shoulder, eyes wide with fear. "Are we clear? Did they follow us?"

"We're far enough away now. Wait... damn it, my stuff," Bakugou said, frustration clear in his voice.

"Oh right... your stuff is-wait, it's with me!" Kaminari said, seemingly nonchalant. Bakugou looked at him, confused, since Kaminari was only carrying a decently large shoulder bag, not a backpack.

Kaminari suddenly pulled out Bakugou's big axe from the bag. Bakugou's eyes widened in shock. "WHAT THE-"

Kaminari grinned, his nervousness barely concealed. "Here! It's from my-just kidding! I didn't actually put it there. I really did grab it before we left."

Bakugou, still stunned, reached for the axe but hesitated as Kaminari's joke sank in. "Seriously, don't mess around like that. We were almost killed back there. I needed this axe!"

Kaminari's smile faltered. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean to add to the stress. I thought it'd be funny, but I see now it wasn't the right time."

Bakugou grabbed the axe, his irritation evident. "Just don't pull crap like that again. We're lucky to be alive.. How'd you pull my axe from that tiny bag?!..."

Kaminari shifted uncomfortably, but tell Bakugou The reason, "So, uh... I'm one of the chosen mortals. By the Goddess of the Stars and Cosmic Guidance. She enchanted my bag, but she didn't tell me what it was for. I figured out that it has infinite storage. I wasn't sure how it worked at first, and I didn't want to bring it up until I was sure I can trust you. I thought it might be useful in a pinch. I just didn't expect it to be this useful."

Bakugou glared at Kaminari, his eyes cold and unforgiving. Kaminari's face was a mix of regret and relief. As Kaminari opened his mouth to speak, Bakugou cut him off.

"I still don't trust you. I don't forgive you for what you've done," Bakugou said, his voice sharp.

Kaminari's head hung low, guilt evident in his posture. "I understand," he mumbled.

"But if you want to keep breathing," Bakugou continued, his tone low and dangerous, "tell me where that person is who knows about dark magic. And give me the rest of my stuff from your infinite bag. Maybe then, I won't kill you right here."

Kaminari nodded quickly, scrambling to retrieve Bakugou's belongings from the enchanted bag. "I-I'll tell you everything I know. I'll lead you to the person Like I promise!" Bakugou took the items from Kaminari, his expression hard. "Lead the way," he said, not bothering to hide the hostility in his voice. "And if you try anything funny, I won't hesitate." Kaminari swallowed hard, nodding vigorously. "Understood. I'll take you there. Just please, let's move before we draw any more attention." as they walked Kaminari leading the Way, Towards the Mysticland of Scales Where dragons is very uncommon there.

Thank you! ❤

Chapter 2 , Chapter 3

[kg2hub]

🎭 Kindergala Starter Prompts!

here's a collection of prompts you can send into people's ask boxes to interact with them if you don't know what to say, or find it easier to just copy & paste something and send it!! :D

ofc, feel free to change, alter, or expand on these prompts if needed! these are all for different scenarios, but i'm sure you can figure which ones are which from context :'''D

❝Your mask is cool! What's it supposed to be of?❞

❝Ew. What are you doing here?❞

❝Are you... supposed to be me?❞

❝Oh my god. I am so sorry! I didn't mean to spill my drink on you!❞

❝This is really weird... You remind me of someone I know. But different.❞

❝Have we met before?❞

❝There's so many people... I'm getting kind of nervous.❞

❝What are you doing all by yourself? The party's over there.❞

❝Is it really you...? I thought you were dead!❞

❝Oh no, you are not getting the last slice of cake if I have anything to say about it! It's mine!❞

❝Fancy seeing you here. I didn't think we'd meet again.❞

❝I didn't know they let plebians in.❞

❝Why are you so old?❞

❝I remember being that young. I wouldn't ever go back to that.❞

❝Excuse me? I don’t think that's a very nice thing to say.❞

❝I noticed you staring at me for a while... Why?❞

❝I thought I should say hi to everyone here! So hi!❞

❝What even is up with all this multiverse stuff... Have you ever thought about it, like, on a philosophical level?❞

❝So... any mysteries from your world you can spill about to a total stranger?❞

❝I'm under a lot of stress here, so can you stop being so annoying!?❞

❝Do you think past lives are real?❞

❝How do you feel about dying?❞

❝I wish I got a better mask... Mine doesn't fit me that well.❞

❝You're carrying a lot of food there! Need some help?❞

❝Man... I hate the 'no violence' rule. Do you know what I'd do if that wasn't a thing?❞

❝You look like you're having fun! Can I join you?❞

❝You just look like you need some company. I can sit with you for however long you need.❞

❝Did you bring a date for the gala?❞

❝I'd really like to dance with you... Do you feel the same?❞

❝So. We're in the void, huh? I've never been here before...❞

❝You have a nice outfit. Very fancy! I want your style so bad!❞

❝I feel kind of silly, all dressed up for something like this... How about you?❞

❝I came here alone... Can I hang out around you and just be friends for tonight?❞

❝Whoa, hold up! What are you doing?? Isn't that dangerous!?❞

❝I'm about to pull the biggest prank ever, but I need some help. Are you in?❞

❝I bet I can chug all the punch in less than a minute. Wanna watch?❞

❝I'm glad I'm here with you. I'm glad we're here. Coming to this place with you was the best idea, truly."

❝—Wait, is it your birthday? Happy birthday!! Good place to have your party, huh?❞

❝I didn't actually want to come... I was dragged here, kicking and screaming.❞

❝I didn't think I'd have this much fun, but I am!❞

❝Hold on for a second— Your mask is crooked. And there's no mirror nearby... Can I fix it for you?❞

❝...Have you been in the bathroom this whole time?❞

❝Where have you been!? I've missed you!❞

❝Hey, my favourite song's on! Have you ever heard of them?❞

❝Do you think we'll get kicked out if we put ghost pepper powder on all the food and drinks?❞

❝There's so much space to run around and be free! Let loose a little, okay?❞

❝I guess we can't play hide and seek here... Unless you can turn invisible or something. —Wait, can you turn invisible??❞

❝I challenge you to a duel!❞

❝I wanna dance so bad... I'm so scared, though. I'll probably look terrible. I have zero sense of rhythm! I can't dance!❞

❝My group needs someone to take our picture! Can you do it? We'll treat you after, if you want!❞

❝I can't believe I cancelled plans for this.❞

❝Wow... How are you so cool?? I can't believe I'm meeting someone like you!❞

❝What did one mask say to the other? 'I got you covered!'❞

❝I don't think I've been this... calm... in a long time.❞

❝You have such a beautiful smile.❞

❝Jeez, you look like you really need to talk to someone. Like a therapist, maybe?❞

❝I took too much food at the snack bar... Do you want some? Please? I'm begging you, I seriously can't eat all this myself—❞

❝Do you ever know someone, but you don't really know them?❞

❝We might have gotten off on the wrong foot. Can we start over?❞

❝You just arrived? Welcome to the Kindergala! You're a bit late, so the dessert might be all gone if we don't hurry—!❞

❝Did anyone lose a wallet?❞

❝—Hey, is this yours? You dropped this while you were walking.❞

❝I am not cute. Don't you dare call me that.❞

❝I always do something funny before a picture is taken so the smiles are more genuine.❞

❝I thought there would be more adults here. Why is this a daycare??❞

❝The real question is... Where's Waldo?❞

❝...I can't read this. Can you read? What does it say?❞

❝...Sorry, who are you, again?❞

❝Come on, don't look at me like that!❞

❝Coming here was a lot nicer than I thought it'd be!❞

❝This place is so... away from everything. Like, in a good way. It's cozy and quiet— Can I stay here too?❞

❝Would anyone notice if we just take a nap, right here, right now?❞

❝I... brought a gift for you. I hope you like it! Here you go!❞

❝You should let your hair down more often.❞

[skz317cb97]

Street Fighter

Jeongin x Female reader

Word count: 2K

Synopsis: When your friend Jeongin shows up at your door with a black eye you insist on him explaining why he's playing real life street fighter again.

A/N: 18+ ONLY! Just a quick lil Jeongin fic that was inspired by some pictures in an ask I received. To anyone with a request I promise as soon as I'm back in the swing of things completely I'll be working on them again! Thank you for your patience. In the mean time if you all enjoy this story please give it a reblog, like, comment, shoot me an ask, I just love you guy's feedback! As always warnings and smut below the cut!

Warnings: 18+ ONLY MDNI! Cursing and strong language, mentions of fighting and mild violence, oral (m&f receiving), deep throating, gagging, breath play, unprotected piv sex, rough sex, choking, strength kink, Jeongin is a little possesive, praise, pet names (good girl, gorgeous, goddess), little degradation (Jeongin calls MC his slut/whore a couple of times), cream pie. I think that's everything but if I ever miss something please let me know and I'll add it immediately!

“Why the fuck do you have a black eye?!” Was, of course, the first question out of your mouth when you saw Jeongin. He sighed and walked through the door you had just opened. 

“Can I come in before you start giving me the third degree, please?” You gave him just as heavy of a sigh. 

“Can you not show up to my door after another fight club match with no explanation?” He gave you an incredulous look. 

“I’ll tell you jeeze just let me put some ice on my face and I’ll explain everything.” You followed Jeongin into the kitchen and stood there with your arms crossed as he got a hand towel and some ice and pressed it against his face. He looked over at you and you gave him a look that said, ‘Well?’. 

“Okay, okay! I was leaving the convenient store and I was on the way here when I ran into Sam.” You looked confused for a second. 

“Sam?” Jeongin rolled his eyes clearly not a fan of ‘Sam’. 

“Your ex.” Oh yea. You tried not to think about that one, it was bad. He was verbally abusive and he scared you. So you got away before things could get physical. 

“Oh that Sam.” He nodded. 

“Okay well what’s that have to do with your bl-…" You stopped and sighed. 

“Please tell me you didn’t.” Jeongin grabbed the back of his neck. 

“I just couldn’t help it. I thought about the last things he said to you and I saw red. I shoved him and he got a cheap shot in. We fought until a couple other guys split us up and we went separate ways.” 

“Again? That's like the third time you’ve gotten into a fight with one of my ex’s. Are you gonna beat up every guy that breaks my heart?” Jeongin looked at you seriously. 

“Yes...” You were about to say something but he cut you off. 

“Yes, I will. Until you finally realize the guy you should have been with all along.” Your brow was furrowed in confusion again. 

“Wha-what do you mean?” Jeongin put down the ice filled towel and walked over to you. 

“Do you really not see...” He grabbed your hand. 

“I mean I’m waiting for you to realize that I’m not agi ppang anymore. I’m a man, and I’m in love with you. It should be me you're with. I’d never treat you like any of those other guys. I’d treat you like a queen, worship you like the goddess you are.” He kissed your hand. 

“I.N... I... I didn’t know you felt this way.” He took a chance and wrapped his arms around your waist pulling you closer to him. 

“Well now that you do, how do you feel about it?” You put your arms around his broad shoulders and carded your fingers through the hair at his nape. 

“I feel like...” He nodded a little smiling softly at you. 

“I feel like I want to kiss you right now.” Jeongin chuckled and didn’t wait any longer. His lips found yours gently slotting together at first before quickly starting to nibble and trace your tongues along the others. It wasn’t long before you were grasping at each other frantically as you made out. You pulled away long enough to pull Jeongin’s shirt off over his head. 

“Wait are we gon...” You cut him off with your lips. 

“Stop talking and fuck me Innie.” He nodded and pulled your spaghetti strap top down, freeing your breasts then kissing you hard. You grabbed at his belt but before you could undo his button and fly he lifted your legs and wrapped them around him before slamming you against the fridge.  You could feel his hard cock pressing into your throbbing core. It made you clench. 

“GOD! YES! FUCK! Jeongin!” He kissed down your jaw and neck, biting a little harder each time. 

“Fuck you sound so pretty. Make some noise for me gorgeous.” He bit you again, hard. 

“OW! JEOn-” He rolled his hips into yours rubbing against your clit through your clothes. 

“Fuck!” You grabbed two hand fulls of his hair and pulled as he started to nip his way down your neck again, more gently this time. You tugged and tilted his head back before sinking your teeth into the crook of his neck and shoulder. 

“Mmmm, okay, I deserved that.” You both laughed and Jeongin gripped your ass and carried you to your bedroom. He tossed you on your bed and you laughed again. 

“Get those shorts and panties off.” You smirked. 

“What panties?” Jeongin’s mouth watered. 

“Such a bad girl. No panties? Let’s see.” Jeongin grabbed your shorts and pulled revealing you in fact did not have any panties on. When he saw your glistening folds, he licked his lips.  He took his fingers and spread you open then spit on your pussy before leaning down to lick it up. Your head flew back and you moaned at the contact. His warm wet tongue slowly, gently exploring every inch of you. Going down on you was as much for him as it was for you it seemed, the way he moaned into your cunt when he gently sucked at your clit. You gripped his hair tightly again. 

“Ohh my god Innie fuck! You're doing so good god please! Fingers please!” Jeongin slurped at you and pushed two fingers inside. He started slow pumping them in and out, stretching you but when he started to get really excited his tongue worked faster and he finger fucked you harder. 

“Yesyesyesyessss! Holy fucking don’t stop I’m gonna cum!” A guttural growl came from Jeongin as he curled his fingers inside you pushing you over the edge. You had never cum so hard in your life. Your legs shook and attempted to trap Jeongin between them only stopped by his strong hands pinning them down to the bed. He gave you one more lick from bottom to top and then kissed his way up your body. He kissed you so sweetly and then looked into your eyes. 

“How do you feel about choking on my cock beautiful?” Truthfully your mouth watered at the idea. You got on your knees and Jeongin stood in front of you. You finally unfastened his pants and pulled them and his underwear down at the same time. His cock sprung out hard and ready. You grabbed him and gently licked the tip. Then again, then again. 

“Don’t tease me now, or remember, payback is a bitch.” You smiled looking up at him then took his tip into your mouth swirling your tongue around him. He patted your hair. 

“Such a good girl. Go on. More.” You took more of him into your mouth sliding down the shaft of his dick, coating it in plenty of saliva. The first time you went down enough to gag on him Jeongin let out a soft moan. 

“That’s it. Deeper.” He thrusted when you went down, pushing the tip of his dick deeper into your throat. You gagged again. 

“You can do it beautiful, choke on it.” You hummed and Jeongin held your head as he thrusted deeper into your throat, over and over, fucking your face as you drooled, spit dribbling down your chin.  

“Look up at me. Fuck! Yes my pretty little slut! Open up and let me fuck that throat.” You opened your mouth and Jeongin’s cock squelched as he punished the back of your throat. He gripped your hair tightly and then pushed you all the way down on his cock, pressing your nose into his pubic muscle and then pinching it closed. You gagged and struggled a little and he let go allowing you to pull off him. 

“God damn fuck yes you are such a good girl, a fucking goddess! Get that sexy ass up on this bed I’m fucking you stupid right now!” He practically lifted and tossed you on the bed again.  

“Bend over.” It wasn’t a request and you weren’t going to argue anyway. You bent over and Jeongin gave your ass a smack. 

“Fuck yes my good little whore listens so well, sucks so well, I gotta fill her up good.” You nodded leaning down into the mattress, your ass perched up high for Jeongin to admire. Both hands rubbed your ass cheeks and he gave one a smack again. 

“God fuck me please!” Jeongin lined up with your dripping hole and started to push the tip in. You moaned out as he sank all the way into you. When his balls were pressed against you he let out a grunt. 

“You’re so fucking tight! How are you this tight gorgeous? Those assholes weren’t even fucking you right huh?” You shook your head no, honestly none of your ex’s fucked you well. If you got off it was because you were on top and you got yourself off. Jeongin had you seeing stars already. 

“Don’t worry this is my pussy now.” Just like with his fingers Jeongin slowly started thrusting into you from behind. After a minute his grip on your hips tightened and he started to go harder. 

“God yes fuck me like that, hard!” If you told Jeongin to fuck you hard then he was going to do just that. He started fuckin you harder your face pressing further into your mattress with each thrust of his hips into yours. He felt divine. You couldn’t speak it felt so good.  

“You already fucked dumb beautiful? Hmm? Come on let me hear you.” He pulled you up so that his chest was pressed against your back and his cock was so deep inside you all you could do was scream his name in pleasure. 

“JEONGIN! FUCK SO DEEP! YES!” He felt you clenching and shaking, as your orgasm approached he grabbed you around the throat with both hands and started to squeeze, when you started to get a little bit of a head buzz Jeongin let go, you took a breath and came out of nowhere. 

“Good girl cum on my cock. My little whore likes it deep and hard. You like it when I choke you?” You nodded as you reached back and gripped his hair with both hands holding on while he slowly grinded up into you and you rode out your high. Once you had clarity again Jeongin whispered in your ear. 

“On your back gorgeous. I wanna see my goddess’ face when she creams on my cock this time.” His breathy, raunchy words made your body erupt in goosebumps and you shivered. Jeongin pulled out and you fell onto your back and spread your legs. 

“Fuck that’s the prettiest pussy I’ve ever seen.” He rubbed the tip of his cock up and down your swollen cunt then pushed it inside you. 

“Ohhh god yes!” Jeongin fit inside you perfectly, rubbed you in all the right places. He gripped your hips and went rough straight out the gate this time, slamming his hips into yours hard and deep. He leaned down over you, wrapping his arms around you and holding your shoulders as he fucked you harder, making you take all of him. All you could do was lay there and let him take you there. He let go of you and propped himself up over you. He slowed down and started rolling his hips, then one of his hands was wrapped around your throat again pressing with a deliciously perfect amount of pressure. Your legs started to shake and Jeongin knew you were close again. 

“Go on, cum for me baby, give in, give it to me.” You exited your body for at least sixty full seconds before you felt Jeongin’s hips falter and his warm cum fill you. 

“God yes beautiful fucking take it all!” You both shook and trembled through the last bits of your orgasms and then Jeongin fell on top of you sweaty and out of breath. He was heavy and crushing you. 

“Innie, can’t breathe.” You both laughed and he rolled off of you.  

“Sorry.” You giggled and scooted in close.  

“It’s okay, you’re allowed to crush me after fucking me like that... just...” He raised an eyebrow at you. 

“Refrain from crushing other men because of me please. I don’t like seeing you hurt.” Jeongin nodded, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you closer.   

“I will refrain from crushing anyone but you.” You laughed and kissed him. 

“There’s no one I’d rather be crushed by.” 

Please do not repost or translate any of my works. My blog and stories are NSFW and 18+ ONLY! Minors, ageless, and blank blogs will be blocked!

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[nexxocatt]

ETM ACT 1 RANTS

So, I thought, since ACT 1 of ETM is now officially done,,, why not talk abt it? Y'know, for fun? Cause I have some thoughts😇 Let's begin, shall we?

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Also; TW: Mentions of death, violence, swearing (I think that's all. If you feel triggered, feel free to click off!!)

TROY SAGA

I have a love/hate relationship with 'The Horse and The Infant' tbh, like YEAHHH NEO AVENGE THE HELL OUTTA ACHILLES!!! But also oh Jeez, Zeus wtf man. Also when I replayed the whole ACT I was really scared that it was playing 'Monster', since they start with the same opening😭😭 (And yes it was on shuffle)

I FUCKING LOVE THE VOCALS IN 'JUST A MAN' Like oh meh Gods who possessed Jorge to sing like that, holy moly (hehehe refference). But yeah, very heartbreaking song, especially when that "when does a man become a monster?" part hits. AND THE "FORGIVE ME"S😭😭

In 'Full Speed Ahead' I love how Ody says "Polites!" cuz like THAT'S HIS BESTIE!!! YAYYY :D Also, I saw a tiktok that was depicting the last part (when Ody tells Polites to get ready cuz they're going over to that island, and Eury is like we don't know what to expect) as the trio with the 'Pessimistic Realist'(Eury), the 'Realist who doubles as a Sunshine Protector'(Ody) and, ofc, the 'Sunshine'(Polites) ((And Ody lowkey becomes a mass murderer when Polites gets hurt))

I swear 'Open Arms' will forever be my fav song on this Saga, I just LOVE how Polites is like a supportive bsf to Ody and is trying to get him to approach the world differently. The Lotus Eaters were probably so happy to get them to face Polyphemus so that they won't have to worry abt him

I hate & love at the same time how Ody shows one act of kindness and Athena's like "🤨📸 Are you slacking off work??? Nahhh, not on my watch." But also the hopeful "Goddess and man, bestest of friends!" and then the broken "Okay :')" break me everytime cuz like Ody really just wants to get close(platonically) to Athena😭😭

THE CYCLOPS SAGA

I hate how Polites is like "I can't believe there's so many sheep here, just for us! :D" like buddy, do NOT believe it😭 Also I believe in the headcannon that Polyphemus was really about to let them go before Ody hit him with the "Eye to Eye" verse

Didn't realise that in the opening of 'Survive', the ensemble sings the sylables of "POLYPHEMUS" before a video pointed it out (I believe the name was 'Epic: The Musical but only when someone's name is said' and it had the opening of 'Survive'). Also can we just agree that the broken "captain" in 'Survive' and the several "CAPTAIN!"s in 'Ruthlessness' are gonna haunt Ody forever😭🙏

I truly believe that in 'Remember Them', Ody was really about to just leave before Athena showed up and he decided to reveal his name, home address, and social security number to one of his enemies🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ But can you blame him tho?? Like I find it pretty reasonable to let your defeated enemy know who they messed it, so that they won't fuck with you or anyone you hold close again.

Even before 'My Goodbye', when Athena said "don't dissapoint me" in 'Warrior of the Mind' I was like "Then don't be dissapointed! How 'bout that???" (As you can tell I'm fed up at Athena's reasoning for leaving Ody. And then she has the AUDACITY to call Telemachus her friend and then disregard viewing Ody the same way🤨📸)

THE OCEAN SAGA

I relistened to 'Storm' during a school roadtrip, when it was raining heavily, and LITERALLY AFTER the song was done, the rain stopped😨😨 Also love the addition of trumpets to show that it was Poseidon who started the storm(cuz trumpets are his signature instrument if I remember correctly)

I feel like 'Luck Runs Out' is heavily skipped troughout the musical, but it's a really cool song that just radiates "Odysseus No. Odysseus YES" energy

'Keep Your Friends Close' is my fav song in this Saga bc I really love whoever sings Aeolus' role😍😍 Also the "Everything changed since Polites" line made me audibly and visually scream😭 Like okay, BOLD😤😤

I will always laugh at the "ALL I GOTTA DO IS OPEN THIS BAG" "WHAT" part😂😂 Like he just lost 557 men and he just BOLTS IMMEDIATELY. And I was really confused when Poseidon said "I mean you totally could've avoided all this, had you just killed my son", cuz like, wasn't it in the prophecy that ody was meant to blind Polyphemus, not kill him?? (This is not meant to show hate to this specific part, only to show hate to Poseidon, bc he gave PTSD to my fav boy and was wrong at the same time😤)

THE CIRCE SAGA

I immediately started crying at the start bc the opening instrumental sounds like the "Watch where the birds fly, they will lead us to land. There we'll hunt for food, my second-in-command" in 'Full Speed Ahead' and it really shows that now there's just the two of them, Ody and Eury, 'cause they lost Polites(whom I'm still mourning). Also the "What" and the "Damn" Ody says during Eury's explaination are giving me life😭🙏

I saw in an animatic of 'Wouldn't You Like' by Ximena Natzel on YT that at the last chorus Hermes was just throwing Ody around in the air and I feel like the "Oh-woah"s Ody sings are him going along with whatever Hermes is doing and he's enjoying himself🥺 (But not for long)

I have no idea what to say for 'Done For' other than I think it took over the entire fandom when it released on Feb 14th. I love how Circe immediately knows that Hermes gave Ody the Molly flower and Ody's like "Alr ya caught me, but hey, Imma still defeat you"

I also don't know what to say about "There Are Other Ways" other than the "Or maybe the world will need a puppeteer more!" part is making me question my sexuality😳 (ofc I won't steal Talya from Jay but I'm just saying). Oh also the "12 long years" part definitely took over the fandom at that point😭

THE UNDERWORLD SAGA

I made the BIGGEST mistake of listening to this Saga on a school roadtrip (the same one I was on when relistening to 'Storm') and almost CRIED MY HEART OUT when I heard both Polites and Anticlea's parts😭😭 there's also a sound on TT where it first shows Polites' part in 'Open Arms' and then in 'The Underworld' and I'm crying so hard😭😭😭😭

I love Mason's voice when playing Tiresias so much ong. Also: "Who?" Odysseus asked calmly. LIKE FOOL IT'S YOU!!!!

I love the song 'Monster' so much, mainly for the fact that Ody's asking himself if the other beings they encountered along the way feel as guilty as he does. I also feel like Astyanax is just vibing to the song and Hector's like "That's literally the guy who killed you???" And he's like "Womp womp. This song's fire!!" (Cringe, Ik, but you can't stop me)

On a last note: JORGE WHEN I CATCH YOU JORGE- /j

But seriously, you wound us, Mr. Jalapeño; YOU WOUND ALL OF US.

Hope y'all enjoyed my rant🤪🤪

[theboywithburninghands]

Okay. Executive decision. Posting the first chapter of my two-parter here, because I'm loaded with caffeine and I want you guys to see what I've been up to all week. Uh it's pure Funnybunny, so sorry if you wanted some Ragatha romance stuff... Uhhhhhh also like... it's a bit long? And character driven rather than romance driven. Hope you like it anyway! Oh and I'm linking the AO3 if you'd prefer that. T/W: Mild cartoon violence, self hatred, a sex joke

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55822147/chapters/141729268

Like Rhinestones, Falling From the Sky (Part 1)

he grounds of the Digital Circus had two states. Daytime and sunny, nighttime and clear. It was a constant that no one bothered to disturb. Caine could grant a lot of requests around the circus, but rarely in any way the asker might want. Ask for a few wildflowers to add some color on the grounds? Congratulations, now there was an entire field of flowers, flowers that smelled like cheap, nose-tickling perfume and grew so thick and snared that it was impossible to walk around outside. Ask for a cool, dim day because you wanted a nap? Hey presto, now the entire circus was engulfed in an impenetrable fog that made Silent Hill look like the Aouzou Strip. The performers all followed the same motto when it came to the weather:

If it’s already broken, don’t break it any more. 

Due to this motto being in place, it was a complete mystery as to why all the performers were shaken awake early one morning by a skull-rattling crash of thunder. 

Kinger was the first out of his room, bursting through his door with a melodramatic wail.

“They’ve finally arrived! The harvest has commenced! They want ALL of our garmonbozia!!!”

Zooble was out of their room next, screwing their head back on their torso and limping over to the eldest performer.

“Relax! Chill the f#%@ out, old timer, it’s just thunder.” they snapped, still not quite awake. 

As if on cue, another rapturous tremor of thunder tore through the air, Ragatha emerging from her room and staring worriedly at the ceiling before joining the group.

“Are you guys okay? That’s some crazy weather we’re-“

Ragatha let out an “eep!” as Kinger seized her by the front of the dress.

“Ragatha! We’re under attack! What’s Morse code for SOS?!”

Ragatha gently took hold of Kinger’s wrists and guided them off of her dress. She smiled and her voice took on a warm, fuzzy tone. 

“Hey… no one is attacking us, Kinger. It’s probably been ages since you’ve heard a thunderstorm, hasn’t it? There’s nothing to be afraid of.” she cooed.

“Unless that’s what they want you to think.” came a slippery voice from behind her. Jax leaned against the wall, one foot flat against it. He sported a tired but nonetheless smug grin. 

“Jax, quit it. Can’t you see he’s scared?” Ragatha chided, but Jax continued as if she hadn’t spoken, walking right up to Kinger. 

“Who knows, maybe they’re after your bug collection, Kinger, or- OW!”

Zooble silenced Jax with a single, well aimed punch to the cheek. 

“Can you shut up? It’s too early for your schoolyard bull#%&$.” Zooble drawled. 

Jax massaged his cheek and gave a petulant “Jeez…” under his breath. Pomni was out of her room next, stirred from sleep like the rest of them. Her black eyelids hung over her eyes like an eclipse, and she dragged her body over to the others as if it had weights tied to it. 

“Hey, morning, Sunshine!” Jax smirked, a hand still on the cheek Zooble punched.

“Go #%&$ yourself…” Pomni mumbled, staring off into the void. 

“YEESH, everyone is crabby this morning. I can’t even say hello withou-“

KRK-BOOOOOOOMMMM!

A peal of thunder like a boulder tumbling into a dump truck shook the air again, everyone instinctively covering their ears (or where their ears should have been.)

“Okay, we should see what’s going on! Maybe it’s part of a new adventure..?” Ragatha proposed as soon as the rumbling subsided. 

“Wait! Where’s Gangle?!” Kinger cried.

There was a soft click as the door to Gangle’s room was opened just a crack, the ribbon girl peering just one eye out and trembling like a leaf. 

“What’s happening…?” she mewled. 

Zooble pressed their foot on top of Jax’s to keep him from speaking up. 

“It’s just a storm, Gangle… We’re gonna go see what’s going on. You wanna come with?” Ragatha smiled and approached Gangle’s door, offering a hand. Gangle gulped and took Ragatha’s hand with one of her ribbons.

“Okay…” she whimpered. 

Jax made a “gag me” motion but remained quiet. 

The six performers headed out into the main room, nearly tumbling onto the chessboard floor from another apocalyptic boom of thunder.

“Does this sort of thing ever happen out of nowhere..?!” Pomni shouted, her crabbiness from lack of sleep bubbling over.

“Didn’t you hear Caine when you first got here? ‘THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS IS A PLACE WHERE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!’ Chaos is sorta par for the course.” Jax replied. His impression of Caine was actually pretty good, and might have made Pomni smirk a bit if she wasn’t so irritable. 

“Jax is right,” Ragatha chimed in from further ahead. “Around here you have to expect the unexpected, and prepare for what isn’t there.” 

“Yeah, but the way I said it wasn’t stupid.” Jax replied. 

The six of them reached the tent’s exit. It was zipped closed, but quavered feverishly. A small pool of rainwater oozed through the bottom of the flap, occasionally lit bright pearly blue by unseen flashes of lightning from outside. 

“Okay, so it’s definitely storming. Now we know.” Jax drawled, crossing his arms. 

“See Kinger? No one is coming, it’s just bad we-“

Another tremendous crash of thunder interrupted Ragatha, and a half-second later, all of the lights in the tent sputtered and died. The only light left was the heavily censored sunlight from outside filtering under the tent flap. 

“I f#%&$ng hate it here…” Zooble sighed. 

“Okay, no one wander off. Let’s all stick together and find our way back to our rooms…” Ragatha began.

Gangle jolted with a yelp. “Someone grabbed me!”

“Jax!” Zooble growled.

“It wasn’t me! I’m all the way back here, Hodge-Podge!” Jax retorted from the darkness. 

“It was me, Gangle! I grabbed your hand…” Ragatha interjected. “I’m sorry, I thought you would need a hand to hold.”

“Tha-That’s not my hand-”

The performers squinted as a corona of light bloomed in the middle of the room. From the center of the ring, Bubble appeared, glowing with an iridescent, rainbow colored light.

“And God said, let there be LIGHT!” he announced, his squeaky voice echoing throughout the tent.

“DON’T BE RIDICULOUS BUBBLE! IF ANYONE’S GOD AROUND HERE, IT’S YOURS TRULY!” Caine floated down from on high, emitting his own faint light, just enough so he could be seen clearly against the backdrop of darkness. 

“There is no God here…” Zooble muttered.

“Amen.” added Pomni.

“SO MY LITTLE SUPERSTARS! IT SEEMS YOU’VE ALL BEEN MADE AWARE OF OUR INCLEMENT WEATHER!” Caine unzipped the tent entrance. The sky was charcoal black and arcing with threads of lightning. Rain slashed across the grounds in great sweeps and the howling wind eagerly pushed its way into the tent, bringing in a spray of raindrops that doused the six performers, who covered their faces and demanded Caine close the tent again, which he thankfully did after just a few seconds.

“BUT NOT TO WORRY! WHILE I FIX THIS BROUHAHA, YOU ALL-”

He paused for another crash of thunder. 

“-YOU ALL WILL BE ENJOYING AN ADVENTURE!” 

“La dee da.” Jax drawled.

“SO, PLEASE ENJOY YOUR TIME IIIIN-”

Caine snapped his fingers. There was a moment or two of silence before Caine looked down at his fingers and snapped once again. Then again. 

“Huh. That was supposed to open a portal.” Caine said sheepishly. 

“Did you try turning it off and on again?” Bubble asked, squinting one eye.

“Havin’ issues there, Caine? It’s alright, it happens to guys your age.” Jax said with a grin. Pomni felt the corners of her mouth raise, despite herself. 

“I DON’T APPRECIATE YOUR INNUENDO, JAX!” Caine declared, brandishing his cane with a trembling hand. He tried a few more futile finger snaps. 

“So, we’re stuck here..?” Gangle asked, wringing her ribbons together. “In the dark..?”

There was an ill-timed crash of thunder that made her jump and squeak a little too loudly. She covered up her mask as bright pink blush marks formed under her eyes.

“Yeah, I’m with Ribbons, Caine,” Jax said, jabbing a thumb at Gangle. “Everybody knows monsters like the dark since it’s easier to hide.”

“Okay, cut the Twilight Zone bull$#!%.” Zooble scoffed.

“As someone who’s actually seen The Twilight Zone,” Ragatha piped up. “The quote is ‘There’s nothing in the dark that wasn’t there when the lights were on.’ So we’re fine, Gangle. It’s just us.” 

“Nerd.” Jax replied.

In the midst of this whole exchange, Caine had snapped his fingers a good two dozen times before clapping his hands to his face/teeth and bellowing in frustration. 

“Excusemeforjustonesecond!” he spat before disappearing in a flash of light and some confetti. Bubble looked around, barely managing a “Bye-!” before popping, dousing the light and plunging the room back into darkness.

There was a moment or two of silence before another peal of thunder shook the tent. Gangle let out a quiet, uneasy groan as everyone tried to get their bearings in an almost total absence of light. 

“I’m going back to bed.” Zooble announced flatly. The only indication that they were leaving was the sound of careful footsteps receding into the black.

“Wait, can you find your way there?” Pomni asked. 

“I’ll figure it out.” Zooble replied, nothing but a voice from the darkness. Pomni listened to their receding footsteps before she began to pace back and forth. 

“I can’t believe it, he just left us here. Not even a flashlight! Isn’t this place supposed to be magic?! How does the power even go out?!”

“It is the first time I’ve ever seen this happen since I’ve been here…” Ragatha admitted. “What about you, Kinger? You ever seen anything like this?”

“Right now I don’t see much of anything…” Kinger replied matter-of-factly. 

Another roar of thunder, Gangle making an unhappy noise and clinging to Ragatha. Since it was dark, Jax couldn’t see, and thus couldn’t tease her for it. Ragatha patted her on the mask. 

“I don’t want to go off by myself… What if something happens?” she whimpered.

“Come on, Crybaby, you’re not seriously worried about monsters, are ya?” Jax drawled. 

“You’re the one that put the thought into her head, Jax.” Pomni replied. 

“I was joking .” Jax snarked, as if it was the most obvious fact since “water happened to be a little damp.”

“Jokes are supposed to be funny.”

“Yeah?” Jax’s tone darkened. “Well unfortunately, Clownface , the funny guy-”

They were interrupted by a dry, metallic scratch and a spark of orange light. Kinger held a silver lighter in his hand, which supported a tiny yellow-orange flame. 

“…That’s my lighter.” Jax said after a moment. “Where did you get my lighter?!”

“Wait, Jax, why do you have a lighter at all?” Ragatha interjected. 

“None of your business. You need to stay outta my stuff, Hoo-Hah.” Jax took a few steps towards Kinger. 

“I only found it.” Kinger said, taking an equal number of steps back.

“Bull. I don’t leave my stuff layin’ around. Hand it over.” Jax stuck a gloved hand out. 

Kinger looked down at the lighter, then to Jax, who put his hand forward more insistently. Kinger snapped the lighter closed, smothering the fire and disappearing into darkness. 

“Hey! Where’d you go?!” 

“Kinger, wait! We need the light! Don’t go!” Gangle begged. 

There was a grunt and a crash somewhere in the dark, the thunder replying in kind. Another dry, metallic scratch and Kinger reappeared, illuminated orange and standing over by Gangle and Ragatha. 

“What was that?!” he cried, stiffly holding the flame out in front of him. 

“It was me, you moron!” Jax’s irritated voice called out from somewhere in the void. “I couldn't see my hand in front of my face! Now hand over my lighter before I-”

Kinger yelped and snapped the lighter closed again.

“Both of you, stop it!” Pomni shouted. “Jax, I don’t give a $#!% if it’s yours or not, it’s all we’ve got for light right now, so quit acting like a p&!€# for two god&@#% seconds! Kinger!” 

They heard the jester take a breath and soften her voice. 

“Kinger. We need the lighter to see. Can you please turn it back on so we can at least get back to our rooms?”

There was a pause, another rumble of thunder, and at last, a metallic flick as the lighter sparked again. Kinger’s hands shook. 

“Thank you…” Pomni said with a weary smile. “Lead the way, if you don’t mind.”

The five performers made their way towards backstage, slowly and methodically in the cavernous tent. They passed an overturned pile of brightly colored shapes, Jax delivering a well aimed punt to a mint-colored cylinder, which sailed off into the darkness and landed out of sight with a drumroll of thuds. 

“Was that the thing you tripped over?” Ragatha asked, her smile audible in her voice. 

“Felt like kickin’ something.” Jax replied tartly. 

After a few minutes of careful maneuvering amidst peals of thunder, the five of them made it to the corridor backstage.

“Well… what do we do now..?” Pomni asked.

“Do we have to do anything?” Jax replied.

“Well… not really. But I think it might be fun to have a slumber party!” Ragatha said brightly. 

“No offense, Ragatha, but I don’t know if any of us are really in a party mood…” Pomni said, rubbing her left arm with her right hand. 

“No, no, it doesn’t have to be an actual party. We can all just hang around in my room! I’ve got some candles we can light so we can see, and I’ll teach you guys how to make a blanket fort-” 

“You have candles?” Pomni interrupted. “Oh, that’s really good news… Now we don’t have to sit around in the dark. How many do you have, Ragatha?”

“Oh gosh, um…” Ragatha rubbed her chin with her hand. “30? No, 40!” 

There was a period of silence. Kinger held the lighter out so she was illuminated. 

“What?” Ragatha asked, putting her hands on her hips defensively. “I need to de-stress every once in a while too, y’know!” 

“If the tent ever burns down, we know who to blame.” Jax quipped. 

“Oh stop it!” Ragatha flapped her hand dismissively.

“Can… we have a few? Just to have a little bit of light around here…” Pomni asked, touching the tips of her fingers together. 

“Yeah! Absolutely, come on!” Ragatha led her fellow performers to her room, unlocking the door with a bit of flourish and motioning them inside. “After you!” 

The four of them entered her room, Kinger leading the way with the lighter. Ragatha’s bedroom was… on brand. In the dim light, they could make out some plastic furniture that would have been right at home in a dollhouse. A pink, squat tea table surrounded by some plush and frilly cushions. The table came complete with an old fashioned white China teapot and cups, a glazed pink and yellow flower painted on the side of the pot, and the rims of both the cups and pot were lined with gold leaf (or at least a serviceable imitation of it). In the opposite corner, a CRT television sat within a yellow floral patterned hutch, and a game console was hooked up to it. Her bed sat neatly made on the far end of the room, a canopy like Pomni’s, although striped with magenta and cotton-candy pink rather than red and blue. At the food of the bed sat at least a dozen stuffed animals, a teddy bear, a camel, a tiger, and more, all in a neat pile. While they should have looked cute and inviting in the light, in the near dark, they looked uncanny. Their shoebutton eyes caught the flame’s reflection in such a way that made them look insectoid, and their vacant, pleasant expressions staring off into nothing gave off the impression of someone who had lost their mind gazing into the abyss. 

Ragatha hurried over to the hutch, opening a drawer and taking out a brand new white candle. 

“Here’s my stash,” she chuckled, rummaging around in the drawer a bit more. “I have a couple that are scented too. Do you guys like… apple cinnamon or toasted marshmallow more? I’m more of a sandalwood gal myself…”

Jax made a noise of disgust. Kinger stared intently at a stuffed elephant, as if waiting for it to blink. 

“Nanny cam…?” he whispered to himself. 

There was a crash of thunder and everyone jolted. Gangle covered the top of her mask with her ribbons and Kinger fumbled with the lighter, managing to keep hold of it. 

“Good thing you have that, Jax. I just ran out of matches…” Ragatha sighed, setting up a neat cluster of candles 

“Okay, um, I think we should use a couple to light the hallway, if it’s okay with you…at least until Caine fixes things.” Pomni said. “Um, and if I could borrow one or two for my room-”

“Me too please.” Gangle chimed in, raising a ribbon. 

“I need to get my camping stove…” Kinger muttered, still engaged in a stare-off with Ragatha’s stuffed elephant. 

“K-Kinger, you have a camping stove?” Pomni asked. 

“The h@!! do you need one of those for?” Jax also asked, crouching beside Kinger to see what was so interesting about that and stuffed animal. 

“…In case the power goes out.” Kinger replied after a moment.

“This is the first time the power has ever gone out…” Ragatha admitted, but she smiled anyway. “I’m glad you’ve been thinking ahead though.”

Ragatha then gasped. “Oh! We can make tea! I have the best recipe I need to show you guys! It’s perfect for a day like today!”

“I’d like some tea. Something warm to drink would really hit the spot.” Pomni said with a faint smile. Gangle also nodded. 

“Hey, I got a suggestion too.” Jax called, raising a finger. 

In one swoosh, Jax snatched the lighter out of Kinger’s hands, closing it with a clink and extinguishing their one source of light. 

“Jax, hey! I can’t see!” complained Ragatha.

“My lighter, my rules. I’m heading back to my room.” he said.

“What…? Jax, you’re kidding. We need the lighter for just a little longer, then it’s all yours.” Ragatha insisted. 

“It’s already all mine. You stole it. So now I’m keeping it.” Jax replied from somewhere in the dark. 

“Jax, come on!” Pomni shouted. “Everyone could have light again if you would just-”

“Everyone will have light again when Caine gets the electricity working. Just be patient.” 

“But… But Jax…” Gangle began, her voice quavering. “I’m… I’m scared of the dark, please just let us light a few candles…”

“Nope. Your eyes should adjust soon enough.”

The sound of Jax’s retreating footsteps and the open and shut of the door were muffled by another churning rumble of thunder. Ragatha sighed from her place in the dark. 

“Well, don’t worry everyone. We can have a slumber party even in the dark. It’ll take a bit more time to set up and we can’t do as much, but-”

Everyone jumped at a sudden angry yell and thunk. Pomni punched the wall, then felt her way towards the door, throwing it open and stomping out into the hallway. 

“Pomni’s very angry.” Kinger said in a hushed voice. Ragatha set her candles down on the hutch, a few of them rolling off and clattering to the floor as she carefully made her way to her door in almost complete darkness.

“Pomni? Pomni, where are you going?” she called out into the hall. 

It wasn’t too difficult for Pomni to find Jax’s door feeling around in the dark, it was right across from her room, after all. Her right hand aching from punching the wall, she banged on his door with her left. 

“JAX! GET OUT HERE!” she bellowed. 

“Pomni, hey, it’s okay-!” Ragatha insisted, alarmed at the newest member’s sudden explosion of rage. 

“NO! No, it’s not okay! I’m sick to death of him acting like this! It ends right the #%@& now, you hear me?!”

Pomni shouted all this as she feverishly twisted the handle of Jax’s locked door. After several mighty turns, she scoffed and took a few steps back. 

“You wanna hide like a coward? Fine!” 

“What’s going on?!” Zooble’s voice shouted. They had poked their head into the hallway after hearing the racket outside. 

Pomni took another couple steps back until she was almost touching the opposite wall, then ran forward, barging Jax’s door with her shoulder. Thunder roared. 

“Pomni!” Ragatha cried, her voice cracking. “Pomni, what are you doing?! Are you okay?!”

Pomni took the same number of steps backwards and ran forward, smashing into the door again, eliciting a splintery crunch from the jamb. She backed up once again, both her right shoulder and right knuckle ached now, but she barely felt it. Truth be told she couldn’t pinpoint just one reason why Jax’s behavior had enraged her so badly. She was angry from lack of sleep, she was angry that Jax was being such a selfish bully for no reason, she was angry that he had the capacity for kindness and yet chose to act like this- 

Her rage burned blue-hot as she charged at the door, bracing her shoulder for impact. The impact never came. She sailed right past the point where she should have met hard wood, stumbling forward into a boneless somersault. She tumbled over herself and ended up in a sitting position. 

Jax’s room had incredibly faint daylight filtering in from his window. The sky was still the color of a dusty tire, mostly black with flecks of lights. Flashbulbs of lightning popped from within swollen thunderheads. 

Pomni heard the door shut behind her. In the faint light, she saw Jax turn the lock on his door before turning to look at her, arms crossed.

“You almost broke my door, newbie.” he said with almost parental condescension. 

Pomni didn’t say anything in return, only glaring. Anger prickled down her back. Thunder boomed. 

“You know what? Take it.” Jax took the lighter out of his pocket. It shined in the stormlight. “If you’re gonna throw such a hissy fit about something so tiny, you might as well have it so you don’t embarrass yourself more than you already have. Go on. I don’t want it anymore.” 

Jax held his hand out, the lighter on his palm. Pomni reared back and slapped his hand away, the lighter bouncing off the wall with a weighty thud, doing a few midair loops and finally skittering to a stop a few feet behind her.

“What the h@&&?! I gave you what-”

“SHUT UP!!!”

Pomni barked this order with such ferocity that Jax immediately fell silent. It seemed to have shocked the jester herself, as she took a moment to find her voice afterwards. 

“…Why? Why did you do that?” was all she managed to get out.

“I don’t like people touching my stuff.” came Jax’s reply. Despite his shock at being yelled at, he managed to keep his tone cool and even. There was a millisecond flash of lightning. Thunder rumbled.

“Not that. Just… why do you always..? I know you’re capable of being kind. I’ve seen it firsthand. They don’t do anything to you, Jax! So why do you just keep picking at everyone?”

“Because they let me.” 

Pomni felt her anger froth to the surface again. 

“Oh. OH. That makes perfect sense! So you’re cruel because you can be! Nice to know you’re just a sadist then! Ha! That saves me a lot of time, then! We’re through. Get outta my way.”

Pomni snatched the lighter off the ground and pushed past Jax.

“…I’m not a sadist.” he said without turning around. 

“You just said you’re cruel to people for fun. That’s the definition of a sadist!” Pomni unlocked the door to his room and placed her hand on the knob. 

“It’s not for fun.”

Her hand slid off the knob. There was a rolling growl of thunder. 

“So what is it then?!” Pomni turned back to Jax, walking up to him and poking him in the chest. “You keep changing your story! First it was ‘I want them to hate me instead of their situation,’ now it’s ‘I do it because I can.’ So what is it? Tell. Me. The. TRUTH.”

“You want the truth, huh?” Jax said. Half of his face was silhouetted in shadow, his tone steeped in frosty ire. 

“YES. Or you can forget about us. About all of this. It’ll be like we never met.” Pomni asserted. 

“FINE.” Jax hissed. He turned to the window, looking out on the maelstrom of clouds and wind and rain. Another blinding flash of lightning and grumble of thunder.

 “I… I hate myself.” 

For a good 10 seconds, the only sounds were that of the rain on the digital grass and the wind buffeting Jax’s window. 

“S-S-Say again?” Pomni finally asked.

“I hate myself.” Jax repeated, not taking his gaze off the storm. His affect was neutral, but his eyes were distant.

“You… hate yourself?” Pomni echoed. 

“Yeah.” 

The jester chewed on one of her gloves. A flicker of lightning and a softer, yet prolonged burble of thunder rolled across the grounds. She removed her glove from her teeth.

“How do I know that’s not a lie too?” she asked, looking intently at the floor. 

“It’s not.” Jax immediately replied. “I guess, just, believe me.”

Pomni continued chewing on one of her gloves. She jumped a little at an especially loud crack of thunder, but otherwise remained rooted to the spot. An excruciating minute passed.

“…Okay. You hate yourself.” Pomni finally conceded, throwing her arms out and letting her hands slap against her hips. “So?”

This query got Jax to turn towards Pomni. The icy glare on his face could have shriveled flowers. “The £@€# do you mean, ‘so?’” 

“Exactly what it sounds like.” Pomni shot back.

“So? You hate yourself so you treat everyone but me sometimes like trash?! What kind of excuse is that?”

The corner of Jax’s mouth twitched. She had prodded a nerve with that one. He turned back to the window, looking out on the storm-swept grounds. 

“Get outta my room.” he ordered.

“No.” Pomni said with a humorless laugh. “You seriously think I’m gonna go ‘Oh you poor baby, I didn’t know; all is forgiven?’ just because you said you hate yourself? It doesn’t work like that! I hate myself too and I don’t act a FIFTH as awful as you do!”

“What do you mean, you hate yourself..?” Jax demanded quietly. 

Pomni took a deep breath. Well, he had been honest with her. She waited for the latest boom of thunder to quiet down before continuing. 

“I don’t remember everything about outside… but I remember that before I came here I… I was alone. I never went out drinking or dancing; I had no one to go with. Hadn’t kept in touch with my college friends and didn’t associate with anyone at work. How could I? I never had anything to talk to my coworkers about, I never reacted right to anyone’s jokes, I only went to team building exercises if they were mandatory… But it wasn’t like they didn’t try! I got invited to dinner or to birthday parties, and I always said no, I was busy. You wanna know what I was doing?”

“Pomni-” Jax began 

“No! Ask me what I was doing!” 

Jax didn’t reply. Pomni finally shrugged after a moment and answered her own question with a phony smile.

“Nothing. £@€# all. I was doing sudoku, or watching a movie I had already seen, or scrolling on my phone in bed. And I hated myself for it! I would cry into my pillow, I was so lonely! I would tell myself how stupid, stupid, STUPID I was, and how I was an idiot who didn’t deserve friends! I had every opportunity to get out of the hole I dug for myself, and I didn’t, because I was scared they would hate me even more than I thought they already did.”

Pomni felt her anger rise once again.

“Uh huh. But guess what? I never picked on anyone. I never made anyone else feel worse! I hurt so badly some days I wanted to DIE and I still tried my best to smile and treat everyone around me like a PERSON! You hate yourself? SO F#%&ING WHAT?! That doesn’t give you the right to make everything around you worse!” 

Pomni panted, doubling over to catch her breath. She braced herself for some sort of projectile Jax might throw at her. Instead, he only stared at her before turning back to the window. Thunder rumbled. 

“I’m… sorry you hate yourself. Really. It’s the worst feeling. But it’d be so much better if you just… didn’t hurt people. Let them in and helped you heal. It’s what I needed, and now that I have friends…”

Pomni stopped herself. She stared down at the floor again. She hated eye contact already, eye contact after an argument was like staring at the sun.

“So… why do you hate yourself?” Pomni asked after some more silence. 

“What does it matter?” Jax replied. 

Pomni scoffed. “Don’t give me that. Has it occurred to you that I actually care about you? If I didn’t, why would I even be asking? Why would I have kissed you after you made me salmon a few nights ago? I like you, Jax. But you can be a real p&!@% sometimes, and that isn’t okay, even if your pain is real. Why do you hate yourself?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Jax said firmly. 

Pomni let out a protracted sigh, chewing on the finger of one of her gloves and looking down at the floor one last time before looking back up at Jax. He was looking out at the storm.

“Okay. Thanks for at least giving me a real answer. I’ll bring your lighter back in a bit.”

Pomni headed for the door once again. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she practically jumped out of her skin with a sharp gasp. She whirled around and took a few steps back, Jax pulling his hand back in shock. 

“W-What?! Don’t… don’t touch me!” she snapped reflexively. 

“…I’m…” Jax began. 

Pomni crossed her arms and waited, looking everywhere but in Jax’s face. 

“…I’m…” he tried again. “I’m not being… I’m not just being difficult. I don’t remember.”

Pomni quirked an eyebrow. “Don’t remember what?” 

“Why. I don’t remember why I hate myself. It’s just gone. Poof, right along with my name.”

Pomni licked her lips. She was thirsty from all the shouting. 

“You’re… being serious right now? You aren’t just trying to weasel your way-”

“No. No, I’m- I’m totally serious.” 

Pomni managed to look into his eyes for a moment. They were big, but his pupils were tiny despite the extremely low light. Just the way he’d looked after she had seen him have a nightmare. Scared. 

“…That’s horrible.” Pomni said, looking away after she began to feel itchy. “I… can’t imagine how horrible it must be to hurt and not know why… like a pain in a phantom limb.” 

Jax didn’t say anything, looking back out at the window. Lightning flashed, a bright pink-white splinter across the clouds, and there was a tremulous rumble of thunder that followed. 

“But… you shouldn’t take it out on people. Even if it makes the pain stop. There are other things you can do…” Pomni added. “And… And I’m willing to listen to you whenever you’re hurting. Even if I’m hurting too.” 

Jax looked back at the jester, who immediately stared down at the floor. 

“Why? You barely know me. You said it was so hard to make friends back in the real world. What makes me so special?”

Pomni swallowed. She really needed something to drink. 

“I know. That it’s bizarre for me to like you when I’ve always had such a hard time. But… I want to help you anyway. Isn’t that weird?”

She managed a smile and to look him in the eyes again. Jax gave a short “heh…” and looked away this time. 

“Thanks, Pompom.” he said.

“Anytime, Bunny-Boy.” 

The two of them shared an awkward chuckle. Pomni cleared her throat.

“Um… do you want to come with me? I’m gonna go have tea with Ragatha and the others…”

“I think I’m okay…” Jax replied. 

“Jax, come on. It’ll be fun… Please?” 

Pomni offered a hand. 

“Alright, alright. But only ‘cause you said please.”

Jax took the jester’s hand, Pomni sparking the lighter and leading the way back to Ragatha’s bedroom.

[vshthestmpede]

Hi there! So...I wanted to make a request about an Imagine about Vash x Reader. The Reader is a like Bayonetta, a witch who has lived so many years (same as Vash). A great fighter with guns on her heels and also very flirty and sexy with him (even gave him the nickname "puppy" 'cause she thinks he's such a cutie). They're already in a relationship but Vash sometimes blushes so bad when she makes a compliment to him. On the morning, she even wears his jacket trying to be seductive to him...with a compliment like "You're a clumsy fool...but you never fail to impress. My clumsy, lovely fool"

the plant & the witch

word count; 1,159

warnings; guns, canon violence

note; today's ep made me so sad ;-; ty so much for your patience with this one!! i was so excited to write this one, i really took my time with it haha <3 i think i took a bit of both vash's personalities here, not just stampede lol i wanted some ballsy out of him but i can't help it our timid 2023 vash is so sweet. i also never touched a bayonetta game in my life, so i do apologize if i didnt write this to standards! i will always take criticism!! :)

cross-posted to ao3

the air was still hanging heavy as the group departed from the windmill village, vash walking considerably quicker than the rest.

meryl sidled up to wolfwood, nudging him with her elbow to catch his attention. he attempted to ignore her but caved as she switched from elbowing him to outright poking him in the arm and face.

"stop that, jeez. what could you possibly want?" wolfwood smacked her hand away, grumbling as he adjusted the cross on his back.

"you should go and apologize to him," meryl offered, nodding towards vash. "he's like, the ray of sunshine outta all of us and it's super depressing to watch him sulk like that."

wolfwood looked to vash then back at meryl, who raised her eyebrows in a way that said go on, test me. sighing in defeat, wolfwood picked up his pace until he caught up to vash.

"oi, needle nog-"

wolfwood stopped short at the sight of a figure suddenly appearing at the top of the dune right in front of them. immediately getting a very odd feeling, a feeling that what was looming over them wasn't human.

"stay back." wolfwood put one arm out to stop the group from advancing, his other hand ready to unsheathe the cross on his back at any moment. the figure began to descend the dune in a very graceful manner and wolfwood pulled vash behind him. "keep moving and i'll shoot!"

the figure stopped short just a bit of a ways away from the group, allowing wolfwood to realize they looked human but he was still apprehensive. he took one step forward, still ready to pull his weapon out and blow this person away, but faltered when they disappeared and suddenly reappeared right behind him.

"wha- !"

"oh, my love, how i've missed you." the figure had scooped vash up in their arms, holding him tight and kissing all over his face. "i'm so glad i found you."

vash, both thoroughly embarrassed and elated to see you again, buried his face in your neck and allowed you to carry him as you looked over the rest of the group.

"who're all these people, pup?" you asked as they all stared at you with wide eyes. "are they being mean to you?"

"pup?" wolfwood echoed as vash shook his head quickly. "what the hell is this?"

vash climbed out of your arms but stayed at your side, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke up, "(name), this is wolfwood, meryl, and roberto. guys this is (name), my. . .partner."

you poked at his reddened cheek, cooing over him as the other three shared a look amongst themselves.

"how did you find us?" meryl asked, breaking their stunned silence.

"well, after vash and i got separated, i made my way to jeneorah." you started to walk again, looping your arm through vash's to pull him along. "they, um, told me everything about what happened. i wasn't all too welcome there myself so i gave what i could and went on my way."

"gave what you could means what, exactly?" roberto inquired, taking a long swig from his flask.

"didn't want anything to do with my magic so i gave them the rest of my rations," you responded casually. "like i said, i wasn't too welcome given my relationship. left as quickly as i arrived, then made my way to yet another place i know he needed closure from."

"wait, did you just say magic?" wolfwood pressed, jogging in front of you and turning to force you to stop. "what are you, exactly?"

you chuckled and patted his shoulder, brushing by him. "one fine ass witch. at least, that's what he calls me in bed."

vash didn't say another word until you all reached the car, only speaking to bid the rest a good night as he climbed into the car's backseat to curl up. you decided to stick with the rest, joining them at the makeshift fire.

"how long have you known vash?" meryl asked, the journalist in her poking through as she wanted to know everything she could about a witch.

you tapped your chin in faux thought, enjoying the curiosity of this human. "about a hundred years now, give or take."

meryl's eyes widened as she leaned towards you, starstruck. "you don't look a day over twenty-five!"

"oh, dear, aren't you a sweetheart," you cooed. "is there anything else you wish to know?"

"yeah, what's this whole thing about magic and witches and all?" wolfwood interjected, clearly still perturbed about being brushed off so casually earlier.

"well, mister undertaker, i told you already. i'm a witch, i can do magic, what else do you want from me?" you stood, hands on your hips as you looked him up and down.

instead of looking directly at you, he was looking behind you and you felt the muzzle of a gun being pressed into your back.

"give us everything y'all got," a voice demanded, "or they're toast."

your eyes darted from wolfwood to the two other bandits who came around from behind you, eyeing the car. as soon as one reached for the door handle you whirled on the bandit behind you and kicked him in the chest, knocking him over. before anyone could react, you hastily summoned malphas and his wings sprouted from your back. you took the bandits' shock to your advantage and took to the skies, avoiding their shots when they turned their attention fully to you.

"they're toying with these bandits," roberto murmured as he and meryl took shelter behind a nearby boulder. "magic, huh. never thought i'd see anything like this."

you laughed as the bandits fruitlessly shot at you, watching as they drained themselves of their ammo. within the second they ran out, you were on top of them, the guns on your heels dealing with the trio as you effortlessly glided through the air. as the sand settled you landed next to wolfwood and rolled your shoulders, the wings disappearing.

"is that enough for you?' you asked, yawning. "man, i am tired. good night, everyone!"

you made your way to the car, stopping short as a clearly startled-from-his-sleep vash barreled out with his gun at the ready.

"wha- what happened?" he asked as he lowered his gun and you chuckled, climbing into the car with him and closing the door.

"you're such a fool, my love," you murmured, pushing him to lay back as you climbed on top of him. "a clumsy fool, yet you never fail to impress me with your antics."

he watched, red-faced, as you shed your cloak and replaced it with his signature jacket that he had set aside when he first laid down. you leaned forward, one hand on his chest and the other cradling his face, basking in the view of your red-faced boyfriend as he grinned up at you like the lovestruck dork he was.

"my wonderful, clumsy, lovely fool."

[peemanne]

my favorite quotes that have totally been said in the yakuza series:

"Again? Can't tell if you're a charity worker or a sadist." "Just have a Force Addiction, kyodai." > Yakuza 0 "The man you once knew... While you were in the joint, he changed his Ideal For Violence." >Yakuza Kiwami "It's just you an' me here, Kiryu. We've only this Scattered Moment to lose." >Yakuza 2 (the original one specifically) "Uncle Kaz, which letters are part of the first 4 in the English alphabet?" "Oh, even I know that. It's D2A." > Yakuza 3 "Why do I even fight? Heh, it's quite simple, actually. I fight For Faith (Instruments)" > Yakuza 4 "A tough opponent like you? I'm gonna need The maximum ill luck to even stand a chance." > Yakuza 5 "Jeez, aniki... Can ya at least go easy on us a little bit? Yer like a damn Town Bully!" > Yakuza 6 "Well, Ichi? Are we gonna run?" "In this party? It's only Yakuza: Like a Dragon OST - Yokohama Battle Theme (Yokohama Crackhouse)!" > Yakuza: Like a Dragon "Kaito-san, look, a trail of blood. The Threads of Sin... This should lead us straight to him." > Judgment "Then what is it all for, Akutsu?! I'm sure you know it, you're nothing but a Lost Judgment OST - K.O.G (Daimu Akutsu Theme) in the machine!" > Lost Judgment "I have not played Gaiden yet nor have I listened to the soundtrack so pretend I just had Joryu say the funniest thing imaginable here" > Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

[setagaya-division]

ARB Birthday Special: Elliot Shimizu

~~ August 8th ~~

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man."

Login Lines:

*Pants* "I'm late!" *Pants* "Oh no... I promised my boss I'd be there in five minutes! I hope whatever he wanted isn't serious! ...Still, I wonder what the 'emergency' is? ...Finally, I'm here! ...Wait, why is it so dark in here? Where is everyone?

"SURPRISE!!"

"Ahhh!! What the?! What's going on?! ...'Happy Birthday, Elliot'? ...It's my birthday?! Oh jeez, I forgot... again!"

Voice Lines:

"That surprise party was like something out of a dream. To think that I, who often felt like a shadow in the lives of others, would be the center of such a heartfelt celebration. It's... it's a strange warmth that fills my chest, a happiness that's both foreign and intoxicating. For once, I feel seen, acknowledged. I... I don't know how to feel about it, exactly. It's not... bad. Actually, it feels pretty good."

"18. I can't believe it. The number feels so... heavy on my tongue. It's a milestone that marks adulthood. ...Yet inside, I don't really feel any different. There's an expectation that with this age comes a certain maturity, a sense of having grown or changed. But as I look in the mirror, the same old Elliot stares back. It's... it's a really sobering thought, realizing that perhaps I haven't evolved as much as I should have over the past year."

"As the day progresses, a familiar ache settles in my chest. Two years have passed, and the mysteries of our pasts, mine and my siblings, they still remain just that: mysteries. The fragments of memories I hold are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, scattered and incomplete. The truth about who we are, about who I am, seems just out of reach. But the search for answers is a path I'm committed to walking, no matter how daunting it may seem."

"Nee-san. ...Thank you. I'm glad you took time out to wish me a 'happy birthday'. ...Yeah, truthfully, it was my co-workers at the vet who reminded me. ...No, don't feel bad, Mina-san. Sometimes, like you, my birthday... it just feels like another day. ...Thank you, Nee-san. Like you, I'm glad I got to know you too."

"What's this? ...Oh, a journal? For... writing down my conversations with animals with? ...Gee, thanks Mina-san. Still though, I feel even if I do this, I don't think anyone will believe me. Half the time I don't even believe myself when I say I'm talking to animals. ...Yeah, you're right. Thank you, Nee-san. Thank you, really and truly."

"Yorii-kun. ...How does it feel to be 18? I don't know. I've only been 18 for one day. I imagine it feels no different than 17, I guess. Give me some time, and I'll explain it. ...Responsibilities? You mean, like making sure you're awake for school? Making sure we have food in the fridge? *Sighs* ...I'd say 'don't ever change, Yorii-kun', but... never mind."

"So, what exactly is this? A... murder mystery jigsaw puzzle?! Yorii, you know I dislike anything that revolves around violence and/or murder! ...Oh, so it's suppose to be used to solve a murder? Still, I don't know if that's any better. ...I guess I can give it a try, but still... if this gives me nightmares, I won't be happy. ...Right. Thank you, Yorii-kun."

Mina Lines:

"Happy birthday, Elliot-kun. ...Did you forget today was your birthday? ...I see. I guess I can't throw stones. I'm not even sure my birthday could be considered a 'birth' date. It just seems like it's another day. ...Thank you, Elliot. I know I don't say this often, but... I really am glad I have you as my sibling."

"By the way, here's a birthday gift. I had to rush to get one cause I couldn't out during the day. ...It's a journal, ya' know, for writing down your personal thoughts and such. But... I also figured you could use it when you want to record your conversations with any animals you pass by. ...It doesn't matter if anyone believes your gift, Elliot. I know it's real, and so do you. If the people out there don't believe, that's their problem. ...Your welcome. And happy birthday, once more."

Yorii Lines:

"Hey, Big Bro! Happy birthday! So, how does it feel to be 18, huh? A legalized adult? ...Hey, don't knock 18, bro! Like I said, you're an adult now. Which means you've got all kinds of important responsibilities! ...Uhh, yeah, kinda. *Laughs awkwardly* ...Me? Change? Ha, in your dreams, bro!"

"Anyway, here's my gift to you! ...It's a murder mystery jigsaw puzzle! ...Hold on before you go crazy, Big Bro! It's not horror-filled. It's more like that board game you and Kanra-chan's older sister like to play. Cluedo or something. ...Just try it out, and I promise you'll like it. ...Ha, we all know you'd have nightmares, regardless. But I promise you'll like it! ...No problem, bro! Happy birthday again!"

[tinylongwing]

For the top 5/top 10 meme: top character arcs!

Oh jeez! Okay this is awesome, let me dig deep into my brain. Also there's no way I remember every character arc I've ever witnessed so this is just gonna be the first good ones that come to mind, haha.

For my Lord Huron folks, I'm going with Lee Green as one answer. Girl!! You champion! Takes off on her own to try and make a career work for herself in the big city of Los Angeles after bailing on 1960s Detroit and her loser boyfriend. Winds up hooked on vide noir while in the clutches of Z'Oiseau who basically just collects pretty girls as temporary trophies because he's some fucking cosmic horror creep I guess, but somehow she gets out of that? Kicks her addiction, takes back her stage name and releases multiple albums and lives her dreams. Lee, how did you manage this when basically every other character winds up dead or suffering or missing. Good heavens.

And no okay I can't resist, I'm putting another LH-er in here because my boy Johnnie Redmayne is too ridiculous. Is this even a character arc? Yes. Kid lives a life of joyous violence and hedonism in a gang, risk-taking coupled with a need to support his friends and family monetarily leads to his kidnapping and murder, but then he's like fuck that, death sucks! I don't want to die, that's boring and also getting murdered via cosmic horror drug overdose is a real big nightmare which probably unlocked some really terrible secrets he'd rather not reflect on. Nope, better to just come back, now undead, out of sheer stubborn refusal to accept death! That's way cooler. Party on, haunting desert travelers forever. Child, you're doing great and I support you.

Okay, One Piece is also like ridiculously chock full of amazing characters with the world's most unnecessarily fleshed out and traumatizing backstories, and everyone who knows me knows that I'm very much here for Trafalgar Law. Yeah yeah, and Rosinante, but look, Law is the actual major character here who grows so much as he sees his whole world burning down around him as a child, goes from self-destructive and nihilistic to learning to trust and love people again to the point where he will always put himself in harm's way before even letting anyone touch a hair on his crew's heads. Such a wholesome goth. So much found family.

Having relatively recently watched Twin Peaks (FINALLY I know) I have to put Dale Cooper in here. This is not a positive character arc, this is a man whose joy and brilliance and successes against some really dark forces led him to thinking he was capable of anything in the pursuit of justice and truth. Turns out that was probably wrong! Whoops! And now he's possibly doomed? Look, the ending of Twin Peaks is massively open-ended but Cooper is very much a deeply tragic character and I'm kind of obsessed with tragedy and bad endings.

And I'm going to stop at five or I'll never get any work done, so fifth here will be.... hm. You know what, Seo-bi from Netflix's Kingdom. I can't get enough of characters in a scientific or medical sort of role in period dramas, I think that's very very good (and Goodsir from The Terror was a very near fifth choice here for some similar reasons). But I love Seo-bi in particular because she has knowledge, she uses it, she perseveres despite so many challenges including politics and also literal zombies, and the show continually throws a couple of characters at her that look like they're supposed to be love interests and she's always like NO! Fuck off! I'm doing important medical work here, I have no time for kissing!!! And that's very powerful of her and I love that for her so much. I'm sad that this series appears to be on hold maybe forever now.

[mentallyshattered]

This is part 24 of the "What if Yuu didn't want to go back?" Series!

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

We're late. Shit. Only by seven minutes, but there's a lot of gossip in the Backstage Room during seven minutes. Damn!

Luckily, we still have plenty of time for our skincare routines. Grim gets brushed a little faster than usual, but we're good. "Breakfast can be eaten on the way to class," I mutter to myself as I speedwalk down the hall.

"Y'ain't gawt classes t'day! Jeez, yeh jus'a lil' too awn edge 'bout yeh grades, ain't'cha? Cawlm yerself, 's awll awrigh'," says Epel, voice drawling along as it does to add a w into some words that wouldn't normally contain them this far north. I laugh along with him. We were really in such a hurry, and for what? Club doesn't start for a long while today.

In walks Korrak. Mandible is on his shoulder, as usual, and they look... as fatigued as always. Do they know? I can't tell. Maybe their evident exhaustion is from normal causes, whatever those are.

Well, I'm not going to risk it. Those two have never looked fully rested as long as I've known them, and using my signature spell last night showed me that's not a recent development. Even on the day of the entrance ceremony, they looked like there had been about two hours of deep, undisturbed, uninterrupted sleep between the two of them.

...Actually, they look way better now than they did then. I suppose Rook and Vil's care has really had an impact. Good. They deserve it.

Is the same true for me? Did I look like some kind of abomination when I walked in this world for the first time? Thinking back to day one, absolutely. Grim and I actually got taken into the Backstage Room first, and our housewarden spent over an hour and a half on detangling my hair alone- after he spent another thirty minutes on cutting it without breaking the scissors. Maybe I overestimated the difference between me and the boy with the dark blue opossum.

Ok, definitely. I definitely overestimated the difference between Korrak and I. Then again, we're from entirely different worlds, so is that a crime? I hope not.

Oh, well. Korrak isn't looking at me or Grim like anything's different, so we're probably fine. Probably. There's definitely an ethics factor, but I'm choosing to ignore that. For now.

Speaking of problems I'm aware of but choosing to pretend I'm not because the stress of that issue is pressing and I never learned to properly cope with anxiety in any way but ignoring it until I can't and it breaks me, I've heard of a spring and winter break when students go home. What do I do then?

Perhaps my impending doom shows on my face, but It doesn't matter if so because nobody appears to have noticed, and I don't see Rook. That doesn't mean he doesn't see me, though. Good ol' Rook.

He'll find me later. There's a good chance Grim and I will be taken to Vil's room to discuss that, and perhaps my signature spell. I need to get better at using that. There, that's something to do today.

I don't know when I sat down, nor do I know when Korrak and Epel started talking about combat, but it's oddly comforting to hear someone talking about fighting whilst drawing many of their 'a's into 'aw's. All becomes awl, on becomes awn, and so forth.

Did I have these moments before? Of peace, of contentment, of calm? Of simply sitting on a couch and listening to friends speak of violence in familiar voices and tones? No, I didn't, not even that last part. It's nice to know things can improve with as little as... well, not little. Still, it's nice to know things can improve.

I need to start with learning how to trigger Memory Lane. I think it was accidental last night, but I can't recall enough about before to even guess how I set it off then. Perhaps I have to be asleep? Does Grim has to be asleep? How close do I have to be to the person whose memories I'd like to rummage through, physically? Does physical space even matter? How well do I have to know them? Do I have to know them? Can I swap between targets without leaving the spell's area, or do I have to cast it twice for that to happen? Where does my physical body go? Can I take other people there?

I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first: how to start using Memory Lane. No, wait, first is breakfast. I'm almost done with that, so I'll head into the woods to train. I'll probably have to register that with Vil and maybe the headmage, but that can wait. I'd like to learn more about this spell before I tell.

"You look like you've got a plan," murrs Grim. "What're we doing today?"

"We're figuring out that spell," I maow back. Grim grins, sharp little teeth slightly dirty with minuscule chunks of salmon and toast.

"Y'all ain't all that subtle when yer up ter somethin'," teases Epel with a roll of his eyes before he gets up to stretch. "Best I git goin'," he starts again, smirking. "Cain't masta spelldrive without practice, after awll."

With that, Epel is gone, and Mandible turns to chitter at Korrak about something- I don't know what; I don't speak opossum- who then nods, scarfs down the rest of his food, and makes a break for it. He is stopped by Rook, who probably wasn't there a moment ago if my eyes are telling the truth.

"No running in the lounge," he chides gently. "Now, then, follow me!" I assume that has to do with club activities and think nothing of it. We ought to be going, too- daylight only lasts so long.

The forest is quite pretty again, leaves crunching beneath my feet as I step through the rug of orange, red, yellow, and brown that only parts for trees, their roots, and large rocks. The air here is crisp and fresh, good for clearing your head. I'll probably need that to pull this off, but I'm not sure. Can't hurt, at least.

I inhale, holding the air in my lungs and picturing... someone. The breath escapes me. Who should I go for? Myself, perhaps? Grim? Korrak again? Myself, I'll try myself first. Worth a shot, at the very least.

I try again, holding my breath in my lungs with an image of me, as reflected in the Backstage Room's wall-length mirror. My eyes close. My breath exits me in a quiet whisper: "Memory Lane."

I open my eyes to a Grim-grey path beneath my feet and a slightly blueish sky. Not blue-grey, but blue-brown, like the sky was shifting from a brunette brown to an overhead midnight expanse and I walked in on it midway through. The "stars" are small, black dots and streaks that have scattered themselves across the expanse, more numerous than in Korrak's and somewhat grouped into rows that make me think of a river spreading itself over the landscape it cuts through, as if I walked in on them, too.

The trees are willows, not the weeping kind- at least, not until I look close enough to see their branches are held up by vines with stems that match the path and leaves that match the flames in Grim's ears. The trees themselves are the dark, colorless color of my familiar's trident tail, and their leaves vary in color like confetti- some are the signature Pomefiore purple, some are the same blue as the leaves on the vines, some are a different shade of violet I've seen in Vil's eyes, and some are the green of ferns, moss, and Rook's irises. These willows do weep, but the vines prevent that. Interesting.

I wonder what that says about me.

In front of the comforted willows are more memory screens, though mine appear less like floating screens and more like... what's the word? Like those big, fancy graves with something built from smooth marble atop them, honoring the dead by creating something beautiful in their name. Crypt? No, those are underground. Tomb? Maybe.

Mausoleum, that's it. Though, notably, only the memory portal things a little ways away have them- these are nestled in the willows themselves, once low-hanging branches held away from the screen by the vines and slightly obscuring my view of the past anyway. The farther and further I look, the more little white roofs I see.

"Funny," starts Grim, "I don't remember all this. I mean, the sky's bluer than before, the leaves on the trees are more colors, and the fancy buildings are new, too." He dips his head down, eyes facing the ground near my feet. "Then again, it's been years, and my memory isn't all that great. I don't remember my family, just being cold, that striped ribbon, this place, and you." He curls into himself, soft stomach hidden from my sight, and I cannot help but forget for a mere moment that I am holding a catlike unknown as opposed to a newborn human in my arms. The thought soon evaporates like a drop of water on the surface of the sun, though my familiar's pose remains fetal.

"That's okay, Grim," I reassure, hugging him closer to my chest. "We have each other." I do not tell him the whispers of my childhood are blurry and mysterious like fog over the sea. I do not tell him he is all I clearly recall. I do not tell him I've forgotten the face of my reflection so much I thought I was face blind until I realized I only knew what I looked like when I saw myself. He does not need to know.

Nobody does. Not Mandible, not Korrak, not Epel or Rook or Vil or anyone but me. Those teachers are irrelevant now; this new world has new rules that they can't teach me. Those kids were never my friends; they just let me sit with them and tried to talk to me. Those parents aren't my parents anymore; I have new ones.

Methinks I need a distraction. My remedy is to walk a few meters to the nearest one, adjusting Grim in my arms as I do so, and touching the shiny white with my newly free hand. My familiar uncurls and turns his head to watch my fingertips glide accross the pristine, exact surface. Not one bump, dent, or crack.

The memory itself is of searching the woods for a stick to turn into a toy for Grim- it's clear and crisp despite the fact that I haven't touched it and don't intend to. Behind me, the next memory is of learning I had magic. It's just as vivid as the one before it.

Further down the path, though, memory mausoleums are fewer and farther between. It's nowhere near as packed along the sides as Korrak's- a testament to my poor memory, I suppose- or, perhaps it testifies for his being above average. Maybe even both.

I guess that's just my life- forgotten until recently.

Actually, if I look, there are a few. These ones are blurry, concerningly so, and some part of me says they need to be wiped down like soapy windows in a car wash, as though that would somehow improve the quality.

The farther back I go into the faded scraps of my own forgotten past, the fewer and farther between the memories get, and the ones we do find are notably worse than the last, though not by much. It adds up, though. After a while, they look less like life viewed through a dirty lens and more like splotches of color that were filmed through fog.

Then, I see it. This marblelike structure is huge; I'd have to stand on my own shoulders to see the top. What event could this possibly be?

I look. It's crisp like the most recent ones, with clear differences between even a grey, trident-tailed cat and an asphalt road.

Oh.

Oh.

It's... Grim's death.

...

Yeah, that... that lines up. When did I get on the ground? Oh, I've fallen. Grim is- alive. He's alive, and I'm not losing him. Not again.

It'd be comforting if I could tell myself that wasn't real, but it is. That happened, and it won't again. Not on my watch. I won't let it, no matter what.

"H-hey," starts my frantic familiar. "Yuu... um, look! Over there! I think there might be something under the trees! Let's go and look, okay?"

That's right. That's right. More to see. More to remember. Farther and further back into my faded past.

I stand and look. He's right; the branches are unusually thick here. And, right at the bottom, a rectangle cuts off, like a memory has been hidden by the trees and was revealed by the vines pulling them up.

Gently, slowly, I brush some branches aside. Harshly, suddenly, I am standing in a very nostalgic yard.

Grass. Clover. A mossy wooden fence that my startled mind remembers was willowwood, once upon a time. Grim was right. This is a memory. Speaking of Grim, there he is. In my arms. My eight-year-old, grey-clad arms. I recognize that hoodie- the grey of Grim's fur. It was my favorite as a kid.

Another child is walking down the sidewalk. Small me sees him- blond hair, forgotten eyes- and does not call. He sees small me right back, through the many large holes in the picket fence, and then he stops, his feet in dark cyan shoes I don't remember the style of. His mouth opens.

"Hey! Yuu!" I freeze. It feels almost as though he's calling out to me- not small me, but current me. That shouldn't be possible, and then small me shouts back.

"What?" My old, echoing voice calls back. The boy- Christopher- smiles like he's just been given a pack of gummy bears.

That's right. Christopher. His name was Christopher, and his favorite food was gummy bears. He sat with me at lunch.

"Are you gonna come over to my house this weekend?"

Small me lights up. "Sure!"

"Okay," Christopher shouts back, "see you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Small me turns back to Grim. I get a good look at him then, and he is visibly younger than the Grim of today. His trident tail, like the rest of him, is smaller, and the blue flames in his ears look more like embers than they do fire, as though they once roared and have been slowly softened by the neverending sands of time.

"Mreew," sqeals the exited bundle of fur.

Small me giggles, ecstatic and still learning cat. When did I master that language?

The door on the house behind me opens, faded paint flaking off in thin shards of what was once green. Young me turns to the obnoxious squeaking, and thoughts drop into my mind like rain into a bucket: That door was greener. Why is it so white now?

The paintless parts of the door are pale brown.

The memory cuts to the following day. Christopher's mother is cutting my hair, and, from where today's me is standing, it oddly resembles Vil doing the same. She's fussing over how it should t be this matted, and how this isn't healthy, and how she's going to call CPS. I can't even remember what that stands for. Did I ever know?

More thoughts flow through me: Their door is so quiet; mine is so loud. Their house is warm like the park is in summer. What color is this? It's like the walls of the doctor's office. Or snow.

I smile to myself. My elementary school was decently fancy when I was a kid, even though Night Raven has since blown it out of the water. Many of the kids who attended came from rich families, and my friends were no exception.

The memory ends, and I'm standing on the road again. It feels like something was cut out, like there was more to it that was lost to time. I guess I'll never know again. Thinking about that makes me feel a little faint.

We should head back. I can't tell the time right now, but we do have club.

I think I can just...

"Memory Lane."

There. Isn't that neat? With just the faintest of whispers and a little bit of magic, we're back in the woods- and my phone is buzzing in my pocket with messages. Specifically, texts from Ortho.

12:02

[This groupchat was created]

[Groupchat renamed to "Board Games Club]

8:34

(666-89-02740) Hi!

This is Ortho Shroud of Ignihyde

You are Yuu of Pomefiore, right?

And Azul Ashengrotto of Octanville

8:35

(534-82-42001) Yes, this is Azul.

Why are you texting us?

The lounge is opening.

(666-89-02740) Board Games club has been canceled for today

Idia is sick

And the club room hasn't been cleaned yet

Neither have the games

8:36

(534-82-42001) Okay, I'll be at the lounge if you need me.

(666-89-02740) Okay!

Yuu, respond when you see this

The first thing I do before I respond is add Ortho and Azul to my contacts. I don't know how Ortho got my number, but it probably has to do with the whole "Ignihyde is the tech dorm" thing. The second thing I do is look at the time, and the third is sigh with relief. We'd be late if it weren't for club being canceled.

10:07

(Yuu & Grim) We have seen this!

(Blue Candle) Got it

Thank you!

I smile. It feels like I'm connecting with this new world a little bit more at a time, and the thought is enough to distract from the still-drying tears on my cheeks. Grim is purring again, probably unintentionally.

And that connection with my old one is gone. Was it ever even there? My life was nothing special, except for Grim. I should know- interesting things stick in my mind. I lost a lot of then after the whole car-and-cat thing, but I remember some of Shakespeare's plays. They were interesting.

I only remember one of them, though- what was it called? The Ides Of March, I think that's it. All I really recall is the name and that some guy got stabbed.

I remember that play better than I remember my biological parents, and I barely remember the play. Did I even live with them? Did I ever know them? Maybe I was raised by a straight couple. Or a lesbian. Or two lesbians.

No matter. Right now, my "parents" are a pair of theater kids, and I'm happy with that. I like them. Vil personally dematted my hair when I first arrived.

...Hold on. I was raised by parents, not aunts or uncles or anything, I know that much. And I know they were alive and in the house. And I know parents are supposed to care for their children.

So, why was my hair a rat's nest when I first came to Night Raven? Why did Vil have to spend so long fixing it? Why am I hyperventilating?!

I hold my breath and pray to whatever will listen to please let me faint. That's what I always did back then... okay, maybe that just means this is a bad thing to do.

Maybe my poor memory is one of the ways I cope. I'll never know with what. That's the point, after all.

My phone breifly vibrates with another message, this one directly from Ortho to me with nobody else involved.

10:46

(Blue Candle) Hey

I can't find anything on you except school-related stuff

Like

Anything

(Yuu & Grim) Why were you looking for that?

(Blue Candle) The nurse asked me if I could find your medical history and stuff

You know

For safety reasons

Seems reasonable. Although, wouldn't it make more sense to contact Vil first? And then Rook? Or the headmage, even? Maybe Ortho knows her personally or something. Maybe she wanted to contact Idia, but he sent his brother in his place. Yeah, that makes sense.

10:47

(Yuu & Grim) Yeah idk lol

Good luck

(Blue Candle) ???

That does not help

(Yuu & Grim) 🤷

(Blue Candle) 😐

😑

😐

I don't send anything new, still processing my delight over the discovery of this world's emojis. By the time I look back, Ortho has sent another text

10:48

(Blue Candle) Meet me in the nurse's office soon so I can get your blood type and stuff

(Yuu & Grim) Ok!

"C'mon, Yuu! Let's go, I'm bored," meows Grim. I smile and nod. I can process this later, anyway.

@cenatour

[gayrobos]

there's something wrong with optimus prime <3

in skybound. like we all know this right. but I've been so interested in danj's art and how optimus is framed for the camera.

first of all, op doesn't really do facial expressions. other characters emote with their eyes! cliffjumper and the jets especially. but op is always wearing what I can only describe as a vacant expression:

(can you guess which of these are from panels where op has just killed an innocent creature or is in the process of beating someone to death with his own arm?)

by contrast, check out soundwave, who doesn't have eyes and in most continuities is one of the most stoic decepticons:

it's possible that I'm just super tuned into soundwave bc I'm in love with them, but whatever. the point is op only emotes when someone's dying.

oh hang on. I mean, we got a facial expression but--

there we go.

delightfully, we don't even get a facial expression when op crushes the deer, which is framed in gestural language pretty similarly to bumblebee's death:

honestly when he's picking up the badly injured spike he looks more careful than upset, even though from the way he wailed on skywarp it's clear he is upset:

but like. watching him trying to kill skywarp about this is SCARY. this in particular is the panel that made me go "holy shit, danj is straight up drawing optimus prime as a machine that enacts violence."

he's occasionally framed as cool--

but most of the time when he's fighting I feel like I'm supposed to be thinking "jeez, I want him to win but this is a lot."

and as lee pointed out I think, op is mostly using unarmed combat where the decepticons are mostly shooting things with guns. the fact that he's so much less expressive than the jets despite the dynamism of his wrestling moves is impressive!

the decepticons are scary and malevolent, absolutely, but there's something very special about op. here's his first cool POW panel

where he looks to me like he's been victim of some kind of nanobot possession plot point that makes your friends plead with you to remember who you are.

anyway. it's fun to look at this stuff in conjunction with what we know about his personality!

he was "so young" when he became prime, and from the way he describes the beginning of the war, very naive back then. I really enjoy the bit where he's like "the decepticons have done ENOUGH to this world!!" (been here for less than 2 days, total death count 3) he's projecting <3

I really adore this economy of storytelling. he kinda reminds me of op from tfp honestly, who it's clear has lost almost all scruples over the course of the war. but it takes like 2 seasons for that to become clear and I feel like it's framed more as "oh optimus you're so brave and sad and badass" rather than "holy shit this guy is kinda scary!"

that's my meditations on optimus prime in the first 3 issues! danj's artwork is fantastic and it makes me excited to hear more about what the war was like.

[gingersnap1620]

Make a Memory

Dean Winchester x F!Oc

Summary: Dean and Sam get their asses kicked by a witch whose big green eyes Dean can't get out of his head.

Warnings: Canon typical violence

Word Count: 1.1k

Songs:

(You Want To) Make A Memory

Evil Woman

A/N: This is my first fic! This is the first part, and I hope you guys enjoy! My sister @gingernut1314 beta read this for me. Go check her out!

Prologue

Lillian 

~Year is 1676 in Scotland~

“You can't just leave us here Lily!”

When I decided to join the coven I had no idea of their plans. If I did then I wouldn't have joined and I wouldn't be in this situation. Leaving Scotland and my siblings behind for America. I feel like my mother, leaving them behind like this. My mother, Rowena, is a very powerful witch, so I guess that gave her the right to leave her seven kids behind.

“I don't have a choice, Fergus. You know what they're trying to make me do! Leaving is the only way to keep all of you and the world safe.” At this point, I'm just throwing the things I need in the only travel bag we own. It's big and brown and basically fallen apart. 

“I knew you would end up being exactly like her,” Fergus says, turning his back on me and walking away. Let's get one thing straight, I am nothing like my mother. She's a cruel, selfish woman. If I have to blame anyone for this I would blame her. She's the reason I have these powers in the first place. 

After I got everything I needed in my bag, I went around and said goodbye to the rest of my siblings. 

I didn't exactly have a ticket to get on the boat, but that wasn't going to stop me. I need to get on that boat. So carrying my bag on my shoulder I snuck my way onto the boat and down to the storage rooms to hide. 

As the ship started sailing off I looked out a small circle-shaped window and saw my home get further and further away. Saying that I'm scared would be an understatement, I've never been farther than the city. 

I'm going to stop those witches. I won't let them go through with their plan even if it's the last thing I do.

Dean

~338 years later in America~

Sam and I thought that this would be an in-and-out kind of vamp job, and it was until we walked past this door. 

“What are they talking about?” I whispered to Sam as the girl in the room paced back and forth with her hand on her hip. She has curly red hair and big green eyes. “This chick kinda looks like Rowena,” I whispered to Sam. 

“I know I was just thinking that.” 

“Hopefully she's not a witch like her,” I said that as a joke, but of course right as I say it the door flings open and we get shoved which leads to us toppling onto the floor. Before I could get up the woman squats down right next to me yanking the back of my hair to make me look up at her. Her green eyes pierced into my soul. 

“Who do we have here, shall we find out?” She asked the man who hadn't moved from his spot behind his desk since we came in.

“How about not.” I spit out.

Wrong move. 

She pressed her fingers on my head. The last thing I remember seeing before I blacked out was her eyes glowed with green light. 

“Well, well, well. If it isn't Dean Winchester.” She leaves me lying on the floor as she stands up. 

What the hell just happened? How does she know my name?

“So, that must mean that you're Sam Winchester.” She said, pointing at Sam.

“What the hell did you just do to me bitch?” She walks to the man behind the desk giving Sam and I time to get up. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again I fucking hate witches. 

“Nothing, I just looked into your head, jeez stop being dramatic.” She said, with a dismissive hand.

Oh, I'm being dramatic now! I don't think so! 

I pulled my gun out and pulled the trigger, shooting her right in her stomach. She snapped her head down to find blood oozing from her shirt, a shocked look on her face. Her green eyes snapped back at me, rage burning in her eyes. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I just got this shirt!” She flung my gun across the room as Sam pulled his gun out and shot her again, this time right in the middle of her chest. She looked down at the bullet hole, rolled her eyes, and flung Sam across the room. I watched him hit the wall and pass out.

“Sam!” 

“He’ll be fine.” The man behind the desk decides to pitch in. I forgot he was even in the room. Apparently, so did the red-haired witch because she looked surprised when he talked. 

“Oh! I thought I already took care of you, I guess not.” And with one sharp flick of her hand, the man's head fell off.  “Don’t worry he wasn't human.” She says as she walks around his desk to pick his head up and show me his fangs. 

“A vamp? What do you get out of killing a vamp?” 

“Oh nothing, he just wasn’t helping me out with my problem.”

“Problem?” I guess I asked too many questions because just as it left my lips she flung me into the wall, pinning me there. 

“I realize I haven’t fully introduced myself, my name is Lillian.” She was walking over to me. “I don't want to hurt you two, you're just giving me no choice” 

“You know it doesn’t really feel like that.” She stopped in front of me, placing her hand gently on my shoulder. Her eyes started to light up a dark green color. She must be pretty powerful. 

Great. 

“I'm sorry that I made you feel that way.” Her hand started traveling down my chest, where her other hand joined beside it. 

I closed my eyes tight, prepping for what was about to come. 

I felt her hands leave my body suddenly. My eyes flew open and I found Sam slapping a pair of silver cuffs on her. 

“Fucking Winchesters.” She spit out as we put her in the back of the impala. 

“Are you sure you don’t just want to kill her Dean?” Sam asked after he shut the door on her. I walked around the back of the car to get to the driver's side.

“Something about her just makes me think that she's important. I don’t know man.” Sam glanced back down at her through the window and opened his door.

“Alright, I trust you, but let's go, my head is still throbbing.” He then sat down in the car and closed the door. I opened my door and did the same. 

I flipped the radio on and “Evil Women” by Electric Light Orchestra blasted through the speakers. A smirk pulled at my lips as I bobbed my head to the beat. As I turned to look at the witch I noticed Sam shaking his head at me. 

“I hope you have good taste in music” 

“I have exquisite taste in music, but this is utter garbage” I shrugged in return, placing my hands on the steering wheel and whipped out of that place.