#if this au were conducive to it

[softquietsteadylove]

How about them going ice skating? Gil is pretending he can’t ice skate so Thena helps him and guides him but then Thena challenges him to skate alone but with every challenge there is an award right? So he says something like if I can skate to the other side without help or falling I get a kiss. And she agrees fully believing he can’t so he surprises her how naturally he can skate. Some fluff and humor :D

you choose wich AU it should be. The Thenamesh receptionist AU or the Thenamesh Ice Queen/ Tyrant King AU :)

Gil inhaled the cool, crisp air of the outdoor rink. There were other people skating, light chatter, the scent of zamboni fluid and hot cocoa in the air. It was perfect!

Thena gasped as Gil fell forward and flat on his face. She made her way back to him in her pristine white figure skates. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh," he groaned as she helped him pick himself up (which was never going to be an easy task in any form of skate). "Fine, just tripped over a chip in the ice or something."

The Ice Queen smiled, though. Maybe it was the light snow dancing in the breeze, or maybe it was the twinkling lights everywhere. But she took his hands in hers, gloves on gloves, and started skating backwards gently. "Just hold onto me."

Gil happily followed suit, moving at her pace, careful of his movements. How could he say no to that?

And sure, he didn't really need her help--not like this, at least. But who was he to say no to his Princess?--his Queen, rather.

Gil shuffled along, not really having to fake any clumsy movements when all he was really trying to do was stay as close to Thena as possible. She had a natural grace to her, as always, guiding him around the rink with his hands in hers. "Why haven't we done this before?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he shrugged, smiling at the stunning woman with her blond hair floating around her and the faux-fur collar of her coat on her cheek. "You are the Ice Queen, after all."

Thena rolled her eyes. "How did you become so respected when your jokes are so terrible?"

"Couldn't tell you, Sweetheart," he chuckled, happy to let his girlfriend lead him around. "When did you learn to skate?"

"When I was young," she shrugged, still moving blithely without a care to those who may be behind her as she led Gil by the hand. Everyone made room for them, anyway, between the intimidating beauty of Thena and the sheer size of him behind her.

Gil stared at her, though, eager just to keep holding her hands and hear her talk more. "Did you do it seriously?"

"No, it was just one of the many activities I was supposed to do," Thena mused. She didn't have to explain further, and they both knew Gil already knew what she was talking about when she brought it up.

Just like Gil came from a long line of people in the business, Thena's family also was the foundation upon which her current empire was founded.

"What else did you do?" he asked, hoping to hear more as he followed her around and around.

"I suppose the things everyone at boarding school did," she sufficed before looking up at him again. "Think you can handle it?"

"Handle what?"

Thena let go of his hands, turning away from him and leaving him standing on the half line. "You seem to be doing fine. See if you can reach the far wall and back without me."

Oh, it was a challenge. She hadn't even noticed that he didn't really need her help not falling. Well, if she asked, he would tell her that he had fallen for her a long time ago, and then she would roll her eyes, and pretend she didn't think it was funny, but she'd have that cute smile on-

"Gil!"

"Hm?" he blinked, returning his attention to the woman even shorter than him than normal in their skates. He tilted his head at her, "what do I get if I do?"

"Bribery, really?" she raised a brow at him.

"Come on, Princess, number one rule of business," he chuckled, leaning closer to her, "nothing comes for free."

"Fine," she sighed, leaning away from him primly. "What do you want?"

"A kiss."

"Just a kiss?" she raised her brow at him and he nodded as if she were promising him riches beyond belief. She shook her head at him, "fine, one kiss--go."

Gil took off like a shot, able to propel himself rapidly with the muscles he had. He made it there and back in record time, skidding to a halt just beside her so he didn't get ice shavings on her.

Thena stared at him, her jaw bobbing. "Wh-"

"Sorry, baby," he chuckled, coming right up to her and rubbing her arms with his hands, "but I can skate fine. I really did trip on something when we first got here, but you were the one who started leading me around."

"But-"

"And I wasn't going to say no to holding your hands," Gil shrugged innocently, perfectly accepting of it as she slapped his arm hard enough for onlookers to seem concerned. "Now, I believe I have a reward to collect."

"You are unbelievable."

"Hey, a deal's a deal, Ice," he grinned down at her, although he soon leaned down to be in a better position for kissing. "Business is business."

Thena's lips twisted as she leaned up and in slowly, and not steadily. Her eyes darted away a few times and Gil was delighted to see a soft and pretty blush in her cheeks. His Ice Queen had a shy side to her when it came to the smallest of affections.

Gil closed his eyes, always in bliss as Thena touched her lips to his. She pulled back, satisfied with the deal. But she didn't go far, and that was all the sign Gil needed to lean in, asking for another one.

Thena let him wrap his arms around her, her hands sneaking into his open coat and onto his chest as she leaned up for him. They parted again, her needing to breathe just a little more heavily than before. Gil pressed his nose to her cheek, their eyelashes brushing each other's skin as they hovered still entangled.

Gil smiled at her, letting her pull away just enough for him to get to see those killer green eyes again.

Thena did her best to feign some disapproval, "what did I tell you about kissing in public?"

"Hey, this was my prize to collect," he smiled at her, kissing her cheek, "no conditions apply."

Thena shook her head at him again, although she clearly wasn't exasperated enough to pull away as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Fine; pleasure doing business."

"Oh," he winked at her, "pleasure's all mine, Ice."

"Insufferable man."

"Excuse me," he chuckled, taking her hand in his and now the one to pull her into his pace, "but you still owe me a date, Ice. So I guess you'll just have to suffer through it."

[runtwithwolves]

Do you mind sharing your headcanons/au idea of Satan Stan and eldericth god Kenny?

It would also be nice to know Kyle's in that universe

Sorry for nagging you about this, but I'm super interested in this. Feel free to ignore this ask if you don't wanna answer

honestly its kind of just scattered things from the show that i take too seriously! but here are some random little thoughts!

Kenny:

- He was born while his parents were in the cult of cthulu (canon-ish) and in H.P. Lovecraft lore Cthulu is the child of this thing called Shub-niggurath who's also known as the all mother, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, AND IS ALSO in the south park fractured but whole game!

Shub is the outer mythos's god of fertility. When shub has a child theyre called a "dark Young" and Cthulu is techincally one of them. A common trait the dark young share though is they cant die- theyre really creepy and murderous abominations that spill from Shubs body, or theyre born from creatures who can become pregnant and are near her. But yeah a big thing is unless by the hands of an eldrith horror THEY CANT DIE

and whats a funky little thing about Kenny?

SO Kenny is a child of the outer mythos! It would explain why Kenny never stays in either heaven or hell, because OUTER gods soulds dont belong in that realm.

Also in my silly headcanon Cthulu and Kenny are brothers because of Shub! i imagine that once Kennys lived out the life of his human half (80 years or so) he'll have a final death and then join the cosmic war :)

(the cosmic war is the on going war between the outer gods to see whether the embodiment of peace or chaos will rule the mythos.)

Shub is also a lot of things, an evil force in the cosmic war, the mother of the embodiments of good and evil, but shes a GREAT mom!

The dark young are drawn to her and she to them so she can always find them

I like to think a lot of the crazy bad things that happen in South Park happen because Kenny is there! Shubs presence causes animals to go crazy and humans would become weird because she literally embodies chaos

Stan:

- A lot less complicated haha

Stan allows Satan to use him as a vessel in the episode "Freemium isnt Free" after Satan gives him a really earnest talk about addiction and how it can be genetic and how his enviroment isnt conducive to healthy living.

When hes possessed Stan gains a lot of power and can shoot fire out of his hands (sick) and also travel through hell

I like to headcanon that stan starts to conjure Satan more often as he gets older and talk to him about his problems kind of like an older brother haha

Then randomly on their adventures Stan allows Satan to possess him to help out in fights or situations

Satan and Kenny are also bros so its chill

In this same sphere of headcanon Kyle is more towards the light side of the supernatural! I got an ask of someone pointing out that Kyle made a light bulb explode when he got mad at the end of that episode where cartman pretended to be psychic, but ill have to think more on it to include kyle!

Cartmans actually just the most evil little bastard alive, thats kinda supernatural

[tgmsunmontue]

I'd know you anywhere - 5/5

Set when Hangman first meets Rooster. Bradley and Bradford Bradshaw are twins. Most people know this. Some people need to be brought up to speed. Quickly.

Explicit out the gate. Also an everyone is alive AU because I need the softness when I’ve got two other fics on the go with DADT and canon deaths.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR

PART FIVE

                “I think I’ll probably like your brother. Once I get to know him better,” Jake says, not sure what to say with Bradley just standing there staring at him like if he blinks Jake might disappear in a puff of smoke.

                “You just spent four months with him.”

                “I spent four months thinking he was you and we were ignoring the fact that we had spent the night together… Didn’t exactly make it conducive to polite conversation.”

                “I’m sorry. I did say I’d message you!”

                “Yeah, I’ve already told your brother that assuming you had an evil twin was definitely not going to be my first assumption when he brushed me off.”

                “So we both thought we’d been ghosted by the other. I’m glad you think he’s the evil one though.”

                “I’m glad to realize that no-one ghosted anyone…”

                “Yeah. That too,” Bradley says, his smile slow and it transforms his face and Jake studies it, notes the little divot that appears high in the apple of his cheek, one he’s certain Bradford doesn’t have. Another difference to file away. “Can I kiss you?”

                “I don’t know, can you?” Jake replies, and he’s smirking as Bradley steps forward, his hands reaching for him and Jake savors the touch, lets himself relax into it after months of heartache thinking that he’d been wrong. That he hadn’t been wanted.

                “You’re a dick. May I kiss you?” Bradley asks and part of Jake thrills, because it had been part of their banter, the teasing flirting name calling that had been playful and fun, tipping over into bed and he’s nodding his head without even realizing it.

                “Yeah, you may…”

                Then there are lips on his, a hand in his hair, another firm hand on his hip, holding and pressing close and Jake just hums and presses back; lets his fingers pull gently at the curls of Bradley’s hair. He thinks he keeps his hair longer, but it may just be the result of being gone so long.

                “Want to make up for lost time?”

                “Yeah. I do. Definitely.”

                It’s almost identical to the last time they were together, rushed hand jobs, lube spilled with over eager hands, laughter tinged with relief that they’re together. They don’t stop kissing each other. His skin is going to be so red and irritated and he gives zero fucks, wants everyone to know he got laid the night before and that he loved every second of every minute. Their clothes don’t even make it all the way off before they’re both coming, breathless pants mixed with little laughs that don’t quite tip over into hysterical giggles.

                “Fuck I needed that…” Jake murmurs, kissing Bradley again and wiping his hand on the bunched shirt hanging off Bradley’s wrist.

                “Glad to be of service.”

                “Want to clean up?”

                “Might need some help…”

                Jake laughs, but takes it for the invitation he suspects it is. He’s not ready to let Bradley out of his sight either, tugs him towards the bathroom, stopping every few steps to just give him a kiss and he’s pretty confident that the smile on Bradley’s face is mirrored on his own. Hopes that the bubbly feeling of combined happiness, arousal and pleasure are also being experienced by Bradley. They finally manage to get all their clothes off, Bradley kissing him continuously and Jake lets his own lips place kisses on whichever piece of skin is closest. It’s soft and intimate in a way that he’s not familiar with, but he likes, even with the accompanying feeling of vulnerability that leaves him feeling a little raw. That’s soothed by the way Bradley looks at him, can’t or won’t stop looking at him, eyes hopeful and warm.

                He eyes the shower cubicle skeptically, they’re not both going to fit comfortably, not without one person having to be pressed hard against one wall. He’ll make it work. The shower is, as expected, cramped as fuck. Neither of them seem to mind though, hands still exploring under the guise of cleaning. Discovering Bradley is a little ticklish is something he files away in his increasing collection of things he knows about him, licks water off him and doesn’t think he’ll ever get enough. He stands there naked, brushes his teeth, watches as Bradley just shrugs and uses a finger, eyes crinkling with amusement as they meet Jake’s in the steamed-up mirror.

                “Minty fresh…” Jake says as Bradley kisses him again, savors the breath of air across the bare skin of his shoulder as Bradley laughs.

                “Yeah, you’re a terrible host. No spare toothbrushes just lying around. Something we’ll have to remedy I guess.”

                “Yeah? Little shopping trip?” Jake asks, thinking about what Bradford had warned him about. If he can really consider it a warning. The idea that Bradley is just going to go all-in and that he has to let it happen. He wants it, all of it.

                “Yeah, get you one for my place while we’re there…”

                “Sounds good,” Jake replies, and the bashful look he sees briefly before Bradley is ducking his head into the crook of his neck to kiss makes his skin shiver and prickle all over.

                “Maybe buy some pajamas too… I’ll have to sleep naked tonight.”

                “Mmm. Such a hardship. I’ll join you in solidarity. Don’t want you to feel left out. And I’d like to think my bed is a pajama free zone anyway…”

                Bradley laughs and Jake wants to hear that sound every day. Fuck. He’s so far gone on this guy already and it’s as terrifying as it is exhilarating, making him feel like his first catapult takeoff, all tight pressure and wanting it so badly and all tightly wound anticipation after wanting it and hearing about it for so long. It’s finally his turn.

                “Mine too, but I like to have something comfy to pull on when I make you coffee in the morning.”

                “Promises promises,” Jake murmurs, lets himself be guided toward the bed.

                “Can’t believe I get to do this again,” Bradley says quietly, and he’s tucking himself in behind Jake and pulling the blankets over them both but it’s also confusing, because they haven’t done this before.

                “You didn’t do this last time…”

                “I’m not talking about last time, I’m talking about the future. When I get to do this again, and every time from now on that I think about this…” Bradley says.

                “Oh.” Jake is glad now that he was in fact warned, because it’s kind of intense and a lot and he just has to hope that he’s enough.

                “Yeah… oh. Fuck. Sorry. Too much? Too fast? I just… time together is going to be a scarce resource and I want to make the most of it when we’ve got it. So… if it’s any consolation I want to do this with you every day.”

                “I don’t know what world you live in where you think that this is somehow a consolation prize and not the fucking jackpot…” Jake murmurs in reply, wonders what kind of people Bradley has been with that have made him sound unsure that this isn’t what someone would want with him.

                “Oh.”

                “Yeah. Come on. Sleep time. Your brother knows exactly where you are. He delivered you to me, after all.”

                “That he did…”

…            …            …

                He’s not used to sharing a bed and he stirs awake at some hour in the middle of the night, can feel Bradley shifting and getting out of the bed and for the briefest of moments his heart twists and sinks before the more rationale part of his brain prods him.

                “Where are you going?”

                “Drink of water and bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

                “Okay…” Jake mumbles, blinking against the fact that sleep is trying to claim him again and he reaches blindly for his phone, wants to know the time and squints at it and waits for his eyes to focus. Half-past twelve. Not quite two hours of sleep, but also potentially several more hours of sleep ahead of them. Then Bradley’s cool naked body is pressing up against him, and he shivers against the sudden cold.

                “Asshole.”

                “Thought you could warm me up…”

                “Yeah?” Jake asks, and he definitely adds a suggestive tone to the single word.

                “No… well. Yes. But also just… want to cuddle.”

                “We can cuddle. I’m still asleep.”

                “Mmm. Sleep talking very coherently.”

                “I’m very talented,” Jake states, because he knows he is, and he has no shame in letting those around him know it too; but this is different, playful banter with the promise of more if they both want to but also just quietly holding each other. He’s not sure what he likes more, having sex with Bradley, or doing domesticated shit with him. He suspects he’s going to get more than his fair share of both and rolls over to face him, captures his lips in a gentle-soft kiss, hums happily as Bradley kisses back just as gently.

                They lay there, half-asleep but the fingers of one hand just exploring and stroking wherever they can find, Bradley seems kind of obsessed with the skin over Jake’s pelvic bone, his thumb just tracing back and forth rhythmically and it’s almost hypnotic how the feeling of it back and forth is making him feel drowsier and drowsier and he falls back to sleep.

…            …            …

                He comes to wakefulness slowly, the feeling of Jake’s body draped over him warm and calming and he doesn’t particularly want to wake him. He watches silently in the dim morning light, takes in the dark eyelashes and ridge of his nose, mouth parted in sleep. He can’t believe that Jake wants to be with him, he’d felt certain of it after their first night, but the four months had made him doubt everything. Even with the explanation a little part of him worries about it, and he guesses only time will tell. The fact that Ford seems to like Jake is already one hurdle out of the way though.

                “Good morning…” Jake says, voice rough with sleep and Bradley is pretty sure his heart just swells in his chest.

                “It is a good morning.”

                He’s going to have to find some way of thanking or paying back Ford for figuring it out and then quickly and efficiently setting up a meeting between them, one where there was no room for further miscommunication. Jake is shifting against him, Bradley can feel his cock, already half-hard and then he’s being straddled, Jake’s hand on either side of his head and Bradley pulls him down so he’s lying flush against him, can feel their cocks growing hard between the pressure of their bodies.

                “Going to make it a better morning…?”

                “Going to try…”

                “There is no try.”

                “There is only do…”

                They laugh against each other, the sound turning to gasping moans as they grind against each other and he runs his hands down the length of Jake’s body, fingers digging into the cheeks of his ass as he pushes up, the increased friction making his skin feel tight all over. It’s going to be dry and dirty because he has no intention of letting go of Jake, wants Jake to use his body to bring himself pleasure, and the thought is enough to make his cock jerk and his fingers grip Jake’s ass a little harder.

                Jake is making little gasping uh, uh, uh sounds against his neck and he turns his head, noses against cheek roughly until he can capture Jake’s lips in a rough kiss, curls his fingers into Jake’s hair and holds him, urges him on, their bodies rutting against each other and his entire body feels like a live wire, frayed and sparking where it’s being touched, just waiting to ignite. It feels so good, and he’s looking forward to having time to talk and figure out what they might be better at doing in bed with each other. God he cannot wait to find out. He doesn’t try and hold back his orgasm, drinks in the sounds Jake is making, savors the taste of his mouth and skin under his lips, his gut coiling and sparking as he comes and he continues to thrust and grind, urges Jake on closer to his own completion. Then Jake is shuddering and he feels the sticky warmth spreading and squelching further between them and god sex is so fucking gross but so fucking good. He kisses him again, gently and softly as they both come down, bodies both twitching a little and he grins again Jake’s mouth.

                “We need another shower.”

…            …            …

                Another shower, separate this time, and they’re sitting at the tiny table, hands curled around mugs of coffee but bare feet touching and ankles crossed with one another’s beneath the table. Bradley is wearing Jake’s clothes, the jeans are inches too short, a dark henley stretched over his slightly wider shoulders, underwear also Jake’s, but that had fit perfectly and he’d never thought putting clothes on a person could be just as sexy as taking it off but he suspects he’s going to learn a whole lot of new things with regards to himself with Bradley around.

                “So… Kanga and Roo? You want to tell me what that’s about?”

                “Ugh. If I have to… there’s two versions. Which one do you want?”

                “Both of them. I’m not going anywhere.”

                The smile Bradley gives him is bright and Jake can’t help smiling back. Shit. Javy is going to give him so much shit about this when he finds out.

                “So, when we were born there was something called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, which basically boils down to Ford being a greedy fucker and being a lot bigger than me when we were born. I was small and pale and wrinkly and silent, while Ford came out fat and red and screaming.”

                “Oh.”

                “Yeah, obviously I’m fine. But my Dad pretty much lived with me strapped to his chest with this pouch thing, and he called me his joey, because that’s the name of a baby kangaroo, and then it morphed into Ford being Kanga and me being Roo, because I was so much smaller.”

                “You said it was from a book?”

                “Yeah. Winnie the Pooh. Have you really not heard of Winnie the Pooh?”

                “Oh… The bear?”

                “Yeah.”

                “There’s a kangaroo in there?”

                “Yeah, two of them. Mother and child. Kanga and Roo. My idiot brother really nailed his callsign because it would have been BamBam, because his first carrier landing he hit the deck and then fucking bounced and he got the name Kangaroo and had to live with people telling him that decks weren’t made of rubber…”

                “And your callsign?”

                “Well, I was already getting called Roo, and someone asked if it was short for Rooster because I was a bit of a cock. I had a bit of an attitude a few years ago.”

                “Just a few years ago?” Jake teases, and Bradley laughs and shoves his toes into his shin and Jake just reaches for his hand, is watching his face when he catches Jake’s wrist and twists it, face falling as he looks at the time.

                “Is it seriously almost eight o’clock?”

                “Yeah. W– ” he starts, but Bradley is pushing his chair back, swearing over and over.

                “Oh my god, I’m meant to be doing breakfast with Ice and Mav…”

                “Okay, we can catch up later.”

                “No. Well, yes. But I mean… Come with me? Please?”

                “Uh. You sure?” Jake asks, because he has no idea who Ice and Mav are, but they’re obviously important enough that he wants to introduce Jake to them. Probably friends given the nicknames, so maybe even fellow naval aviators.

                “Yeah. I want them to meet you. Want you to meet them.”

                “Okay,” Jake nods, and at least he’s properly dressed. There’s a flurry of activity as he grabs socks and pulls them on, slides his shoes on and pulls the laces tight. Grabs his wallet and keys and then looks at Bradley in his ill-fitting borrowed clothes of Jake’s and he grins as he follows him out toward his borrowed fleet car.

                “You sure we don’t have time to go back to your place?”

                “No, we definitely don’t. I cannot be late. I’ll never hear the end of it. Come on. They hate it when people are late.”

                “Well, you’re lucky you invited me to come with you. You’d have no transport otherwise.”

                “Oh my god, thank you. We’re just meeting at the officer’s mess…”

                “Officer’s mess? Okay. So, who are Ice and Mav exactly?” Jake asks, and he’s driving, knows the way without asking but his curiosity is spiking.

                “Oh, my godfather and his partner. Ice is Ford’s godfather.”

                “Okay. So… meeting the family huh?”

                “Shit. Yeah. What if I promise you a blowjob?”

                “At breakfast?”

                “No! But another time and place…”

                “Really?”

                “Well, it’s not like it’s exactly a hardship. I like your cock…”

                “Good to know. I’m kind of fond of your whole package,” Jake says, and he grins at the little embarrassed look Bradley shoots him. Yeah. He’s definitely gone on the guy.

                They don’t quite run, but it’s a definite hustle from the car, Bradley’s phone dead and unable to send an apology message that they might be late, even if it’s not quite eight and Jake isn’t quite sure who is quite so pedantic about a couple of minutes. It’s breakfast, not reporting for duty. He follows Bradley through, getting waved in by an amused looking woman at the door and then they’re coming to a stop at a table set for seven and he frowns, wonders who else is maybe joining them. And where they are if it was meant to start at eight. There are two men sitting there, both sipping hot drinks and looking very at ease. Jake would put money on them being Navy.

                “Hey Mav, hey Ice. This is Jake, my boyfriend. Jake, my godfather Mav, and Bradford’s godfather Ice.”

                Jake blinks at the casual use of the term boyfriend, he’s never just been dropped into something like this without a discussion first. Not that the past discussions have gone particularly well as it was usually just before Jake deployed and each relationship dissolved into nothingness while he was away. Speed running a relationship. He can do this.

                “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

                “Are you the reason he’s late?” Ice asks.

                “Uh…” Jake starts, looking between them. Bradley is rolling his eyes, so is Mav, who has kicked out a chair for either him or Bradley to sit in.

                “They’re not late Ice, leave them alone.”

                “Just because they’re the first to arrive doesn’t make them any less late.”

                “It’s just gone eight. Bradley is perfectly on time. As always.”

                “Thanks Mav,” Bradley says, and he holds the chair out for Jake and it’s right beside Ice and he sits down, a little nervous and the assessing look he’s getting.

                “Hmm. Although I see you shrunk your clothes in the wash again…” Mav says, and his eyes are sparkling with amusement and he’s winking at Jake like he knows exactly who the clothes belong to. It’s as reassuring as it is mortifying.

                “Shut up. I was either on time and dressed like this, or very late and suitably attired.”

                “For a given value of suitable attire,” Mav says, still grinning.

                “I suppose we should be grateful that you’re dressed at all…” Ice says, and Jake takes a second to realize that he’s teasing as well, it’s just a quieter and drier sense of humor. Then he turns to Jake and looks at him over his glasses, points to Mav –

                “Captain Pete Mitchell, callsign Maverick. I’m Vice Admiral Tom Kazansky. Callsign Iceman.”

                “Holy shit,” Jake breathes, because he knows those names of course.

                “I take it he didn’t warn you?”

                “No sir.”

                “Does it make a difference?”

                “No sir, none whatsoever,” Jake says.

                “Glad to hear it. Coffee?”

                “Thanks.”

                “Who are the extra chairs for?” Bradley asks, sitting down and pulling his chair close to Jake.

                “Your brother and your parents.”

                “What?”

                “Bradford seemed to think you’d want to have everyone here…”

                “Evil twin…” Jake murmurs and feels Bradley’s hand on his thigh, his head banging gently against his shoulder.

                “Oh my god, I’m so sorry…”

                “It’s okay. Not your fault. Just Bradford getting his own back. You can rub the fact that you got laid in his face.”

                “Oh. I like this one…” Mav says, and Jake flushes, a little worried that he’d already sort of forgotten that he wasn’t alone with Bradley.

                Ice is rubbing the little space between his eyebrows with his thumb.

…            …            …

                “Hey Bradford!”

                “Hangman… Holy shit. You can tell me apart from Lee by my ass can’t you?”

                “Sorry man, I know who has the superior ass and it’s not you!”

                “You’re an ass!”

                “Definitely sometimes and proud of it.”

…            …            …

                “I got an interesting message from my brother…”

                “Uh huh…?”

                “Can you really tell our asses apart?”

                “Bradley, baby, I’d know you anywhere.”

[nolarkey]

Lol, I turned Haze and Grey into Mewtwo.

Why not?

I was pretty inspired by Tc and mewtwoandme.

TW goes into dark subjects regarding experimentation and lobotomy

With Haze or 'Amp', I had to add in another phobia to put more depth into the hapnephobia, despite the fact that they aren't canonically afraid of needles because as this is a Pokemon Au, there's some elements of their story that doesn't fit into a universe like this and should be handled tastefully and carefully.

With Grey or 'Alain' and the reason he is Mute in Canon Universe is because of a Curse.

Permanant Curses don't really fit into the pokemon Universe, especially how complex these ones are, so I added more to Experimentation horror by adding researchers attempted to lobotomise Alain to make it easier for them to handle his defensive behavior.

Whether they were successful or not isn't known as a pokemon saved him from before it got worse, but it affected his typing in a way he could no longer be psychic and changed to Dark, what those researchers did to both parties were beyond the boundaries of legallity and morality.

Amp and Alain only ever had each other in that horrible place before being broken out by a rescue team. They both are practically siblings.

I'm really anxious about posting this but I'm proud of it and want to show off, I go into pretty morbid and dark subjects in my ocs as a horror fan but usually for whats conducive to their stories and charecters and tackle sensitive subjects tastfully or at least try my best to, I don't think I've done anything wrong so far, anyway this is just a AU. Made for fun.

Now I have to figure out what Pansy(water) and Asphodel(fire) would be, Mews? Or more Mewtwo?

[youthguk]

Next level | jjk gamer au

pairing: gamer! jungkook x gamer! reader

genre: rivals to lovers, smut (in further chapters), gamer au.

words: 2.4k

summary: Is fate playing with you when your one-night stand turns out to be the rising esports star, Jeon Jungkook, from your lifelong rival team? However, something tells you that Jungkook’s also not done playing with you as both of you will do anything to make your teams win.

author’s note: the game in this fic is just a figment of my imagination (just like everything else what will happen in this fic), inspired both by genshin impact and league of legends.

Chapter 1. Like a moth to a flame

The idea of spending your last free Friday evening at a party was ridiculous and Jisoo knew that. But when she heard about some peculiar game-themed party hosted by someone from your university, she knew that it was a match made in heaven!

And you couldn’t say no even though night outs or parties never were your thing, simply a waste of scarce resources which time is, you always said. And you couldn’t afford that squander. However, gaming was your thing. Almost part of your personality at this point and maybe even a dream vocation.

And if your ride to the destination was full of hesitation and even guilt (you could have been studying or practicing instead of this), all of that was gone the minute you stepped into the house party.

The living room decorated with all possible Vision of Fate themed items left you in awe. You didn’t even try to suppress your sudden squirm when you saw your favorite game characters on cupcakes. Looking around the room you’re faced with groups of your peers: some are interested in simply getting drunk, some are playing PS5 and no one seems to pay attention to the little corner of VoF in the kitchen the same way as you do.

Even the loud music isn’t bothering you once you’re able to catch the familiar theme song from VoF remixed which makes it almost unrecognizable yet quite conducive for the party. Weird choice but you are almost intrigued by the dedication of the party's host to the game.

Somewhere on your way to the kitchen, you lost Jisoo in the crowd of people as she waved to you “I’ll find you later, have fun!”. Well, with all this food and PlayStation, you might spend your time here with joy.

“Finally someone’s going to try these.” you were so immersed in choosing between cupcakes with your favorite in-game characters, that you didn’t notice a tall brunette approaching you. “I was looking from afar, wondering if those will be tasty.”

You toss a look over your shoulder, taken back by a sudden comment from a stranger. You eye him up and down, making sure that this boy is not someone you are supposed to know. Of course, how would you know anyone at this party? Your life consisted of university classes and gaming practices. Somewhere in-between — your household duties. You are sure that Jisoo, who isn’t even from your university, had more acquaintances here than you.

“So, you think I can actually eat this?” You try to sound unbothered, suppressing sudden excitement and nervousness in your voice. You find the stranger quite good-looking and, even though you’re reluctant to admit that, getting his attention might make you feel things that you have long forgotten.

It feels like ages since the last time you’ve encountered anything closely resembling flirting, and maybe tonight's the night for allowing yourself a little bit more of what you’re already spending your evening at a weird university party.

“Wouldn’t make sense if it was just for the decor,” replies the stranger, leaning on the kitchen counter; you feel his gaze studying you.

“What if you just wanna see me make a fool of myself?”

“Mmh not really into that type of shit,” the brunette casually blurted. He takes a quick bite of one of the cupcakes that you were choosing between. The taste of it leaves his brows drawn in a frown and you expect him to complain about the savoriness of the pastry but instead, he adds, “I’m Jeon Jungkook, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Jeon Jungkook.” You introduce yourself too, gaining some confidence to ask the question that’s been weighing on your mind, “You play VoF too?”

“Not really, just got interested in this little corner,” he firmly replies. Met with your overt disappointment, Jungkook quickly adds, “And you? You like this?” he asks while motioning to all the themed designs and goods.

“I do play, actually…” you answer hesitantly as his piercing doe eyes are watching you. “But now the more I look at this, the more ridiculous all of this looks,” Jungkook shot you a questioning glance, to which you hastened to add, “I mean, this is definitely not a place for this.”

“You seemed to like the theme at first.”

The excitement from finally socializing has quickly faded with a wash of crippling anxiousness as you find yourself trying to predict his reaction to your words. You are seeing him for the first and, probably, the last time in your life, yet you are seeking his approval.

“Yeah, I did but I play the game and love it, others definitely don’t give a damn about all of this and came just to party,” the moment the words fleed your mouth you again want to not seem even more judgemental, “Which is also totally fine, just feel like the target audience isn’t here.” you force a giggle, looking around awkwardly.

“Well, you never know,” his words go almost unnoticed by you, as your eyes wander around the room, hoping to find Jisoo by some miracle. Your friend is totally MIA. Maybe Junngkook notices your discomfort, because he suddenly adds, “are you looking for somebody?”

“Yes, my friend dragged me here.” Your eyes are finally back at Jungkook and for a moment you are startled. He was looking at you this whole time, his discerning gaze never leaving you. Jungkook is handsome, you think, and immediately get annoyed by yourself. Is this the right time to think about it? “But now she’s nowhere to be found.”

“Jisoo is a big girl, I doubt that there’s something to worry about,” he sighs heavily.

“You know Jisoo?” you raise your eyebrows in surprise while leaning in closer to Jungkook.

“Well, sort of… I’ve heard of her,” he pulled at the back of his neck, his eyes darting behind you surprisingly avoiding eye contact. Preceding further questions from you, he clears his throat and adds with no confidence, “she knows a friend of mine.”

You nod, contemplating if you should ask questions any further. For some reason, Jungkook didn’t want to talk about him being acquainted with Jisoo, which is currently the only thing that you have in common that you know of. And by the way his body has tensed you would even assume that he is slightly regretting that he’s mentioned.

Being usually the only introvert in any friend group made you accustomed to other people always trying to get you talking and doing the small talk. But if you and Jungkook were competing for the prize of the timidest person, he could definitely give you a run for your money. His erstwhile cockiness is long gone. Still, he isn’t going anywhere and you allow yourself to assume that he actually enjoys your company.

“I haven’t been to any parties for years, this is the first in a while, ” you decide to take the initiative for the sake of curiosity. You wonder where this all can lead.

“Glad you gave it a shot,” you catch a glimpse of a sudden spark in his eyes. He didn’t want this to end either. “You know if you are such a gamer girl, I have an offer that might be hard for you to decline.”

You shoot him a cautionary gaze, “I’m not playing games. Whatever that means.”

“Oh, something tells me you’ll like that,” Jungkook wets his lower lip, a snug grin plastering his beautiful face that leaves you smitten.

The new-made friend of yours beckons you to follow him and you look around at your surroundings, mulling over the idea. The loud music is starting to grate on you and getting drunk is not on your to-do list for today’s evening. The beloved PS5 in the center of the party has been taken by some wasted group of friends, which also makes your blood boil. Well, whatever Jungkook has to offer you cannot be worse than this.

As further Jungkook drags you through the endless corridors of this big house, the more alert you are. Jungkook isn’t a stranger, after all, he knows Jisoo and you trust your friend’s circle of acquaintances. Not to mention that Jeon Jungkook is quite attractive and being around him feels ecstatic, and you want to hold on to this long-forgotten feeling for as much as you can. But you’re not some naive person to let your guard down either.

Jungkook is slowing down which signals that you have probably finally arrived. “You know this place so well, is this your house?” You finally voice the doubt that has been crawling on you while trailing behind him.

“I’m just close with the owner,” he abruptly looks over his shoulder to assure you.

He stands before a door motioning you to take the first step into the room

“Ladies first,” he holds his hand for you while holding back a laugh.

You chuckle, “This house is ridiculously enormous, why would anyone—“ you cut off, gazing in awe at the room before your eyes.

An arcade room with a wide variety of games and machines opens up to you. You leave all your concerns behind carefully stepping forward. You don’t know who the owner of this house is but you feel a niggle of jealousy. How could someone live such a lavish lifestyle that they own the finest Arcade room that you’ve ever seen? The design of the room was surely inspired by the Japanese 80s cyberpunk aesthetic with all the lanterns and neon lights ornating the walls.

“I knew you would like it here,” Jungkook is right behind you, giving you time to look around a myriad of arcade cabinets, claw machines, and even VR games.

“At least it’s quiet here and I can properly hear you,” you don’t know how many tries you will have here, so you weigh on between playing the mini bowling or racing games.

“Can you hear me well now?” You feel the sudden warmth of Jungkook’s body behind you.

Not even trying to resist the urge to meet his mesmerizing eyes, you turn around, now facing Jungkook. Even through the dim lights of the Arcade room, you are able to catch the entrancing sparkle in his doe eyes that reel you in by the second. Your eyes flicker to his lips and you notice a cute little mole right beneath his mouth that sends warmth through your body.

And before it’s too late, your stare darted around the room hoping that Jungkook didn’t notice anything. Well, you’re sure he did, as a smirk spreads all over his face but maybe he decided to be a better person and doesn’t tease you about it.

“So, what can we play here?” You innocently ask, blinking up at him.

“Anything that you’d like,” he spreads his arms, and you can tell it took some willpower for him to fight the urge of answering your question not so innocently as he did.

You bit your lip, excitedly running from one machine to another as a little kid in a toy store not knowing what game to start with.

“But I thought, maybe you’d like to start with this one,” Jungkook’s smug voice reached out to you from the far side of the room.

He was leaning on a vintage arcade cabinet and at first, you were confused why he suggested this one in particular. That was until you came closer, recognizing the design of characters that you loved since you were a little kid.

“Is this for real the original Legends of the Wild arcade?” You find yourself glued to the machine, not willing to keep your hands to yourself. “Jungkook, this is literally what sculptured me into the person that I am today!” You both laugh as you continue examining the old arcade, getting ready to finally play.

You weren’t exaggerating for a bit, this game was profoundly responsible for your lifelong love for games. The minute you laid your hands on Nintendo’s joysticks, determined to play through the Legends of Wilds until you find out how the in-game story ends, was the minute your love for beautiful and meaningful games was found. And then later you stumbled upon an online game Vision of Fate which later made you a player of a rookie esports team where you met your best friend Jisoo. And your little esport romantic nature always wanted to even have a look at the original game’s arcade which was discontinued for a very long time.

But here it is, right in front of you, and your hands are tightly gripping the joystick, trying to score as high as possible. And it’s all thanks to Jungkook, who was a stranger just an hour ago that you might have never even crossed paths with, but for some reason you did. And now he sort of made one of your dreams come true while absolutely being clueless about games? Maybe it was fate, coincidence, or just an inevitable course of life that made you meet here someone who knew this house so well, while Jisoo left you…

“Shit, I totally forgot about Jisoo!” Your sudden wave of guilt leaves Jungkook in absolute shock.

“Didn’t she abandon you in the first place?” He kindly reminds you, which is technically true.

“That’s not how friendships work,” you take a step back, leaning on a table right next to the arcade. “I should at least text her,” you pull out your phone from the back pocket typing in the message, “You can try and play by yourself”.

You text a quick “where are you, everything’s fine?” message and click “send”. When your attention is back to Jungkook, you see the infamous “GAME OVER” plastered on the screen. You let out a chuckle, hurrying to save Jungkook.

“Need help?”

“Yeah, would be nice,” he beckons you to come closer to his side. And when you follow his instruction, he says, “Feel free to guide me however you want.” His smirk is irritating but you’re way too uplifted to think about a witty answer.

Plus, you can’t complain about having to stand in such close proximity to Jungkook. Not when everything about him is so ravishing.

You gently place your hand over his palm that is holding the joystick, fully ready to guide him. Was this ridiculous? Yes. Was this really necessary? No, Jungkook wasn’t even into games. But the warmth of his toned body right behind yours and his wide shoulders brushing yours were keeping you right at your spot.

When he leans in closer to you, his hot breath brushes your ear, as he mumbles hoarsely, “You are very good at this, Y/N, you know it?”

To be continued

[moocowmoocow]

Another ficlet prompt: AU where Margo takes Aleida in as a teenager (Sergei could be involved or not involved) and there’s some interesting or dramatic situation involving Aleida’s love life that she has to deal with

Even if Margo lived life in a way conducive to or possessed the ability to be a guardian to a teenager, there was no way she could take Aleida in without breaking some laws and putting her career at NASA in jeopardy. But she convinced Aleida to stay in her office until the Apollo crises were done and they would find a solution.

And the two of them found a work around. An immigration group introduced Aleida to an informal network of homes willing to take her in and she found one she felt comfortable. Margo continued to tutor her once a week and they’d have supper somewhere afterwards.

One night during Aleida’s Junior year in high school, Margo noticed that Aleida wasn’t eating but rather pushing her French fries through a mound of ketchup. “OK. What’s wrong?”

“I had sex.”

Margo liked Aleida’s new boyfriend from the Kennedy school much better than her last one. “Did you want to?”

Aleida rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

Aleida shrugged. “Parts of it.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want to get pregnant.”

Margo didn’t want her to get pregnant either. “Did you use a condom?”

Aleida shook her head.

Margo blew out a breath. “OK, come to my office tomorrow after school.”

She took Aleida to Planned Parenthood. While her own sex life was a touchy subject that she felt uncomfortable discussing, things were so much easier with Aleida. It boiled down to a set of facts: Aleida was brilliant. Aleida wanted to have sex. Aleida must not get pregnant.

After some negative tests, Margo noticed Aleida’s shoulders visibly relax. A few educational lectures and a prescription later, Aleida started smiling again.

“You’re lucky that you have such a responsible older sister,” the nurse told Aleida as she left.

The two of them looked each other and started laughing. “Yeah, Margo, when I do have kids, you’ll be their tía.”

“Many years in the future, hopefully,” Margo replied.

[cityofmeliora]

How do you think Terzo and Copia’s relationship would change if they had been raised together? Or any of the emeritus brothers for that matter. Would it be better, would it be worse, would it change at all?

hmm. i had to chew on this one for a while...

(i'm guessing the context for this ask is my post about how i think Terzo and Cardi would be rivals if Terzo was still alive)

so. my headcanon / what i think, is that none of the brothers were raised together. they didn't meet each other and didn't learn they were related until they were already grown adults who had basically already lived their whole lives without each other. and this is really foundational to my interpretation of their relationship dynamics.

there are lots of cases where people meet long-lost siblings as adults and form good relationships. this is not one of them. it seems that Primo, Secondo, and Terzo have a somewhat decent relationship. but the circumstances that finally brought them together are weird. and Cardi's not a part of that for reasons that are fucked up. and Cardi's twin has been out of the picture for reasons that are probably somehow even weirder and even more fucked up.

because like. the lore of Ghost is about an evil satanic cult. and even more than that, the lore of the Ghost is about a dysfunctional showbiz family from Los Angeles.

the Ministry's business model of having one brother be the frontman of the band (which, y'know, is to advertise / promote a cult) until he gets tossed aside for the next brother to take his place, with the expectation that he should outdo the previous brother, is uh. not conducive to a healthy family dynamic. the way things are in canon, i feel like they all see each other more as coworkers than family.

so in a version of events where the brothers were all raised together, i think the real determining factor in whether their relationships would be better, worse, or if they even change at all, is how fucked up Nihil and Sister are as parents. in a "the brothers grew up together au" they could very easily be just as fucked up as in canon. there's a good chance they'd be even worse. (Sister has a very obvious favorite and least favorite Emeritus brother. it's possibly giving Wicked Stepmother.)

in a better world, though, i could imagine Terzo being a very good older brother to Cardi + the twin. very encouraging. Terzo is about 7 years older than them and he loves children.

[snelbz]

Better Or Worse {Chapter Five}

Nessian. Angst. Modern AU.

@snelbz x @theladyofdeath collab

Better or Worse Masterlist

Cassian —

True to my word, I’ve continued to sleep in Feyre and Rhysand’s basement. Now that it’s Monday, I have my bags in the backseat of my truck as I drive to this damn counseling session. As long as this doesn’t completely blow up in my face, I’ll be going back home with Nesta. 

I was surprised when she showed up at Feyre and Rhys’s, begging me to come home, to go to marriage counseling. A year ago, even months ago, I would’ve agreed to marriage counseling without any hesitation. But I meant what I’d said. I’m tired, and I’m past trying. 

At least that’s what I keep telling myself, but yet I’m here, pulling into the parking lot of some fancy little office on the far end of town. 

Nesta’s already here.

I see her car parked right next to the door. She’s still inside, but her car is off, and I find myself wondering if she’s just as nervous and unsure as I am about this whole ordeal.

After cutting the engine, I grab my wallet out of the cup holder and make my way to Nesta’s car. At first, she doesn’t see me, so I knock on her window and make her jump. She greets me with a scowl. 

Even when she’s mad, even when I’m pissed at her, she’s gorgeous.

“Come on,” I say, as she throws open her door. “We’re about to be late.”

I turn and walk towards the front door of the office building, knowing she’ll be a step behind me. Sure enough, I hear the clipping of her high heels on the pavement a second later. “I’ve been here since 9:45. You’re the one showing up one minute until ten.”

“You said our appointment was at ten,” I said, opening the door and holding it open for her. “So I’m here at ten.”

She glared at me as she walked into the building, but the waiting room was not a conducive place for the type of conversation we were prone to having recently, so she let it drop.

For now.

She headed right for the young woman at the receptionist’s desk, leaving me at the door, giving me a minute to appreciate her. The sweater she wore was loose and baggy, hiding her full breasts, but it was tucked into a pencil skirt that showed off her round ass. It was made of lace, with a shorter skirt beneath, showing off her long, toned legs.It was the kind of obscene balance that Nesta brought to everything in life.

I could barely tear my eyes off her ass, off those legs that hadn’t been wrapped around my waist in far too long, but once I did, I noticed the sweater was an old one of mine.

A knot of emotion caught in my throat that I cleared away before joining my wife.

“Dr. Berdara will be with you shortly, if you’d like to take a seat.”

Nesta gave a curt nod and swiveled to a set of chairs by the window. I quietly followed after a kind smile toward the receptionist. 

Nesta and I sat in silence for five awkward minutes before a door opened and our names were called. The therapist was around our age, maybe a year or two younger, which I thought was strange. Surely she had never been married, and if she had, she couldn’t have been married long enough to know all of the answers.

She seemed nice enough though.

Her and Nesta made small talk as they walked ahead of me down the long hallway and into an office overlooking the parking lot.

She gestured to a small leather couch for us to sit on opposite of her desk, which we did before she sat herself and smiled.

“It’s so nice to meet the two of you,” she said, sweetly. “I’m Gwyn.”

Wants us to call her by her first name? Another red flag.

“Not a fan of going by your title, Doc?” I asked, and I admit that my hostility may have been showing a little too much. I can practically feel Nesta’s eyes on me.

“I prefer a more casual approach when I’m first meeting new clients,” she explained. “Start us all out on even ground, rather than anyone above the other.”

Before I could reply, Nesta jumped in. “I think that’s a wonderful way to start out. I’m Nesta.”

The two of them looked at me, waiting. I started drumming my fingers on the arm of the couch. “And I’m Cassian.”

“As I said, it’s wonderful to meet you both.” Gwyn gave us another sparkling smile. “Cassian, why don’t you fill me in on why you two are here today?”

My fingers froze. “Why me?”

“Because Nesta made the appointment,” she said, nodding to my wife. At the same time, she nonchalantly flipped open a notebook and reached for a pen. “So since she took the first step by reaching out, I’d like to hear from you.”

“Pretty sure I took the first step when I told her I wanted a divorce,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. I can feel her go rigid next to me.

Gwyn jots something down in her notebook, either oblivious to the tension between us or used to the uncomfortable situation thanks to her line of work. 

“And what led you to that point?” She pushed, her voice gentle, which only makes me more agitated. “What made you ask her for a divorce?”

Alright. I guess we’re jumping right into this fucking train wreck.

“Nesta stopped caring about our marriage,” I answer, shrugging. “So now I have, too.”

“I didn’t stop caring,” Nesta snaps.

Gwyn gives her a smile. “You’ll have your time to respond, but let’s let Cassian finish.”

Well, shit. Maybe I don’t hate her.

Gwyn turns back to me. “What makes you think that she’s stopped caring?”

“In the last year, we’ve barely spoken to one another. We’ve barely spent any time together. When we do talk, it’s about bills or our schedules or her work, which I think is great, she’s great at what she does, but we don’t need to be constantly talking about deadlines and edits. Every time we’re in the same room together, she gets annoyed and snappy. Every time I ask her for a night off, where we can just be together, she refuses.”

Gwyn nods thoughtfully. “So you feel the root of your issues lies in her work?”

“I think she’s addicted to her work. It’s clear she cares more about it than she does me,” I answer honestly. “She definitely puts more work into her career than she ever has in our marriage.”

Anger is radiating off of Nesta, but she doesn’t say a word. 

“I hear you.” Gwyn writes something else down. “How long have the two of you been married?”

“A little over nine years.” Nesta worked on the night of our anniversary, but I don’t bring that up.

“And your issues just began a year ago?” Gwyn asks.

I hesitate. “I guess I don’t really know exactly when our issues started, but about then, yeah.”

“This may seem like an obvious question, but I’d like as much background as you're willing to offer.” She folds her hands over one another on her desk and looks between us. “Did anything happen around the time things changed? Was there a catalyst or an incident that led to what you both see as a deterioration in your marriage?”

Before I can even decide how much I want to divulge, seeing as I met this woman less than five minutes ago, Nesta answers for us both. “No, nothing.”

And then Gwyn is writing again. “No infidelity or skeletons in closets that came to light?”

When I look over at Nesta, I find her eyes already on me, her gaze pleading.

I wanted to be pissed that our marriage counselor was almost accusing me of cheating on my wife, despite knowing she was asking an innocent question. I wanted to be pissed that Nesta had lied to her face, despite being the one who suggested we come here to work on our issues. This was where she’d finally open up about what had happened that night, when our world had gone dark, after pleading with her so long to just talk to me.

But it wouldn’t be today. Nesta wasn’t ready, the panic in her eyes was evident enough.

I turned back to Gwyn just as she looked up from her notebook and lied, just like Nesta had. “No cheating. No skeletons. Nothing happened.”

Gwyn looked back and forth between us, skeptically, but nodded. “Alright. Well, finding a turning point is a crucial part of this process, so let’s start from the beginning. How did the two of you meet?”

“Freshman year of college,” Nesta says, and I don’t care that she’s suddenly taken control of the conversation.

“And you started dating?”

Nesta nods.

“And what was it that drew you to Cassian?”

The question throws me off guard and I hate how much I want to hear the answer.

Nesta clears his throat. “He was…wild. Confident. Sarcastic. And frustrating as hell.”

Gwyn smiled. “And you found that attractive?”

“I found him intriguing,” Nesta said, wistfully. “He could piss me off and make me swoon within a matter of seconds. I’d say that it was his passion that drew me to him, at first.” 

“And Cassian?” Gwyn asks. “What drew you to Nesta?”

I stare at my outstretched feet. “She challenged me. Captivated me. I was used to dating…girls with low self esteem who just wanted me to prove that they could have me, but Nesta was smart. Confident, too. I don’t know. I guess that I liked that she was different.” 

“Different how?”

It was a much more difficult question to answer than I would have thought. Not because I didn’t have an answer, but because it was hard to put it into words. “She pushed me. She made me dig deeper. There was substance, not just a pretty face, she helped me grow, I guess.” 

Nesta sits silently beside me, staring at her hands, and I tried not to notice that her eyes line with tears. 

“And when did you get married?” Gwyn asks, still watching me.

“A little over a year later. We married young. Both just turned twenty.”

“And did anyone oppose your marriage? Considering you were both so young.”

“My father,” Nesta answers, quietly, “but we’ve never had a great relationship so I didn’t really care what he thought. He came around afterwards.” 

She didn’t mention that he died a few years ago, but I can hear the pain in her voice as I often do when she talks about her dad, although rare. 

“Tell me about your wedding day.”

“It was small,” Nesta says, and it nearly sounds like she’s smiling, although her face remains neutral. “Just our closest friends, and my sisters. Our friend Rhys got ordained online and married us on the beach.” Unable to help myself, I chuckle. Rhys was the worst officiant of all time. He was drunk, which did make the awful speech he had concocted a little bit better. “I wore a dress that I found online for thirty dollars and we were barefoot. It was nice.”

She made that thirty dollar dress look a million bucks. I still remember exactly how she looked, with her hair braided like a crown around her head. I remember how I felt. It had been the best day of my life and I couldn’t believe that I was so lucky to marry someone I was so in love with, my best friend.

“You look lost in thought. What are you thinking?”

It takes me a second to realize that she’s talking to me. Nesta is watching me, expectantly. I clear my throat. “It was a good day.”

I’ve somehow said the right thing and the wrong thing, all at the same time. Gwyn gives me a smile and looks poised to jump onto her next question when Nesta speaks. “That’s it?”

I don’t respond immediately and neither does Gwyn, which leads me to believe she’s going to let this one play out, rather than intervene.

Thanks, Doc.

I turn towards her, unsurprised to find her eyes already on me, storm clouds brewing within. “I said it was a good day, Nes.”

“But that’s all you have to say? It was a good day?” She genuinely looks offended and my short fuse is getting incrementally shorter by the minute. “Meeting your brothers for a drink after work is a good day. When you find a twenty on the street, it’s a good day. And all you have to say is that it was a good day?”

My jaw locks and my fingers flex. “What do you want me to say?”

Pure rage flashes across her eyes. “I want you to say something meaningful.”

Something meaningful. Jokes on her. She’s the one that hasn’t said something meaningful in months, years, who can’t recall how to have a meaningful conversation if her life depended on it. I take a deep breath, then another. Those deep breaths are the only thing keeping me stable, keeping me grounded. “Something meaningful?” I repeat. 

“Yes,” she snaps.

Gwyn remains quiet.

My lips snap shut and I bristle, eyes planted on a pen sitting on Gwyn’s desk. “This is stupid.”

“It’s not stupid.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Just talk, Cassian!”

My eyes snap to hers, and the second we make eye contact, I’m gone. I can see the emotion, the rage and sadness and hope, and that’s rare for Nesta. Especially lately. Lately, I’ve barely gotten anything from her, but now…she’s listening. She’s waiting. She’s hopeful.

“You want to talk about our wedding day?”

“Yes.” A tear falls down her cheek. She quickly wipes it away.

“The day I married you was the best fucking day of my life,” I say, looking away from her. “I loved you, Nesta. You were so damn beautiful, walking towards me with that overpriced bouquet. I had no doubt that you were the woman I was supposed to marry. All I wanted was you. I didn’t give a fuck when or where I married you. All I cared about was that you were mine. I meant every word I said in our vows. I’ll always love you, always protect you, always be there for you…” I shake my head. “I meant my vows, Nesta. But your vows were shit. Over the last year, you’ve proven that you didn’t mean a damn word you said that day.”

The room is silent, save for the occasional sniffle from my wife. She doesn’t respond and I’m sure as hell done talking for now.

Gwyn lightly taps the end of her pen against her notepad. “Can you tell me what you mean by that, Cassian?”

“I mean she hasn’t stood behind her vows, the promises we made to each other.” My voice is quiet now, all anger sapped from me as Nesta dabs at her eyes with tissue she produced from somewhere. I’m just tired now.

Reading through her notes, Gwyn says, “You’ve told me there’s been no infidelity, so in what way do you feel that Nesta hasn’t upheld her vows?”

“She’s never there.” I hate explaining this. It’s the same shit I’ve explained to my brothers for the past six months and nothing ever changes. “It’s like I don’t exist. All that matters is her books and her deadlines. She doesn’t put any effort into our marriage or even into our relationship.”

Nesta is noticeably silent now. Good.

Gwyn pushes. “Nesta, would you like to respond to that?”

Angrily, she swipes at a tear. “My books are my livelihood.”

“And you were my whole life.”

I don’t realize I’ve spoken the words aloud until both Gwyn and Nesta look at me.

I sigh, rubbing at my temples. Trying to move past the fact that I’m letting feelings I want to suppress out, I say, “Look, I’m proud of Nesta. Okay? She’s a damn good writer, and she’s living her dream. I get that. But since her career has taken off, she’s either working or stressed, and wants nothing to do with me, because I’m just another thing on her plate that’s already overflowing.”

Nesta doesn’t bother saying that I’m wrong.

“So you’re saying that Nesta needs to focus more on you,” Gwyn says.

“I’m saying that as long as she’s too busy working, our marriage is nonexistent.” Gods, I didn’t even want to come and now I can’t shut up. I lock my jaw and stare at my hands.

I feel Nesta looking at me but I don’t care to look back at the moment. 

“And how do you feel about what Cassian has said, Nesta?”

My wife is quiet for a moment, then she says, “I don’t know.”

I scoff and Nesta glares at me, but Gwyn is patient. “Do you not know, or are you unsure how to put your emotions into words?” 

Nesta shrugs, and I know she’s frustrated but I can’t find it in me to care much. “I guess I didn’t realize I was working so much, at first, but now I’m just used to it. I’m used to waking up and working until I go to bed. Ignoring Cassian was not my intention, I just wanted to be successful.”

“And now it’s a habit?” Gwyn asks.

Nesta nods.

“Would you say that you’re addicted to your work?”

Nesta hesitates. “I guess so. I guess it’s all I think about, yes.”

“Do you still enjoy being an author?” Gwyn asks, and I find myself intrigued by this question. For the first time in a while, I look at Nesta.

She’s staring at her wedding rings. “I don’t know. I love to write, but it definitely feels more like a chore than it ever has before. I don’t like the editing process. And sometimes I’m so stressed that I have writer's block and I go insane trying to write anything worthwhile, only for it to get torn apart during editing. My deadlines are getting closer and closer together and I struggle to meet them, because I’m always so stressed. And I know it affects Cassian. Then I feel guilty, but if I’m being honest, that guilt just makes me more stressed and withdrawn and frustrated and miserable to be around.”

The words rush out of her; her eyes never leave her rings.

“There may be a conversation that needs to be had with your publisher about the amount of work your putting out,” Gwyn muses, never one to give orders, just suggestions. “But as of right now, Nesta, I want you to think about how you used to balance work and your time with Cassian before. We’re nearly out of time today, but I want that to be what you consider until we meet again. Cassian, I want you to think about the amount of work Nesta does and how you can help.” I immediately want to protest that I know little about the written word, not like Nesta does, but she shakes her head. “I don’t mean in a literal sense, but to alleviate her stress. How can you help?”

I nodded. If we were here, I was willing to try.

“I want you two to go on a date before our next session.”

I blink at her, not sure that I’ve heard her right. “A date?”

“Yes,” she replies, closing her notepad and smiling at us both. Nesta’s expression is as confused as mine. “Dinner, maybe a movie or some dancing, the activity doesn’t matter. As long as the two of you spend uninterrupted time together, without work or deadlines, cell phones or emails, that’s our goal.”

Uninterrupted time with my wife.

The idea terrified me.

I hesitate, but it’s Nesta that says, “Okay.”

I don’t know why I’m so shocked by this, by her quick acceptance, considering this was all her idea, but I am. I’ve been trying to spend alone time with her for months, and I’ve gotten shot down every time. As soon as someone else mentions it, she says okay.

I tell myself not to be pissed about it, but I am.

Still, I say, “Okay.”

Nesta —

It’s been three days since Cassian has been back home, and it’s been…okay. Quiet, and there’s still not a lot of interaction between the two of us, but we haven’t been fighting. Although I guess it’s hard to fight when you barely speak. 

It hasn’t helped that he’s been working a lot this week. He’s a few men down at his restaurant so he’s picking up the extra slack, as you do when you’re the head chef, until they return. 

Still, when he’s gotten home we’ve had a small conversation about our days then we tell each other goodnight before Cassian makes his way down to the couch to sleep.

I hate being in our big ass bed without him, but I don’t mention it, not yet. 

Cassian got off earlier today, so we decided to take up Gwyn’s challenge. We’re going on a date. I’m nervous as hell, which is ridiculous, but I can’t help it. I want it to go well but I feel like I have to tiptoe around everything to avoid another screaming match.

I can hear Cassian humming to himself in the shower as I slip into a little black dress, one I haven’t worn in a really long time, and look in the mirror. I’m hot, I can’t deny it. I curled my hair and did a full face of makeup, which I also haven’t done in a while, and honestly? I feel confident looking at my reflection, more confident than I’ve felt in…shit, too long.

After clasping a simple diamond pendant around my neck and closing my jewelry box, my eyes fell on the cracked bathroom door in the mirror behind me, a bit of steam billowing out. The only thing I lacked to be completely ready were my heels, but seeing what occurred last time I walked in on Cassian in the shower, I respected his privacy and waited. I sat down on our bed — the bed I’d been sleeping in alone — and waited.

It was absurd, giving my husband privacy and space after being together for a decade. We were the couple no one shared their secrets with, because what one of us knew, the other did as well. We didn’t do it to gossip. 

We just didn’t keep secrets from each other.

I didn’t know at what point that changed, but I knew I was the cause. It all seemed to be my fault lately.

“You ready?”

My head snapped up. I’d been so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t heard the shower shut off or the door open completely.

And my husband stood before me in nothing but a dark blue towel, water dripping off his hair and running down his muscular body.

I watched as one particular droplet trailed down his neck, over his broad chest and well-defined abdomen, before absorbing into the towel wrapped around his hips.

“Nesta?”

Cauldron, boil me, I was ogling my own husband.

Tearing my eyes from his body, I met his gaze. I wasn’t entirely surprised to find heat there, simmering beneath the wall he’d put up between us. It had been a long time since I’d taken a moment to appreciate his body, a body he works hard to maintain, and I know he was as affected by our distance as I was.

Once I’d looked my fill, I cleared my throat, completely forgetting what he’d asked. “What?”

“Are you ready to go?”

I shook my head. “Almost. Just need to grab my shoes.”

He nodded, heading for his dresser, opening the top drawer, where his socks and underwear had always been tossed in with no rhyme or reason. As he began to rifle through it, I hurried into the bathroom, the steam already dissipating, and into my closet. Finding my heels was a matter of a few seconds and I was back into the bedroom before Cassian had even found a matching pair of socks.

“I’ll be downstairs,” I called, the straps of my shoes dangling from my fingers.

I only got two steps down the hall before I heard his voice call out behind me. “Nes?”

I turned, finding him standing in the bathroom doorway, a pair of black boxer briefs clutched in his hands. “Yes?”

“You look beautiful.”

A sudden pang of nausea swept through my stomach, fueled by excitement and longing at his words. I knew I was blushing. “Thank you.”

His smile almost reached his eyes as he disappeared into our bathroom and I hurried downstairs, Greg on my heels. 

My beautiful, fat cat hopped onto the couch next to me in the living room as I put on my shoes, trying to control my shaking fingers. 

My mind wanders back to my husband in a towel, as well as what lies beneath as I stand, my heels securely fastened. I take one last look at myself in the hallway mirror and take a deep breath as I hear Cassian coming down the stairs. 

When he comes into view, I want to run up to him and kiss him deeply, but I stay where I am. He’s wearing black pants and a dark crimson button down, both of which are perfectly fitted to his gloriously sculpted body. The top few buttons are undone, and I can see glimpses of his chest tattoo. But the best part? His hair hangs loose. 

“Ready?”

“Yes,” I say, nearly breathless, which makes him arch a brow. I clear my throat. “I’m starving.”

“Me too.” He comes near me, where his wallet and keys sit and snatch them up. He smells delicious, like that cologne I got him last Solstice. Once everything is in his pockets, he holds out his hand.

I blink before realizing what it is he wants.

Cassian is nothing short of a gentleman when it comes to a date.

I slip my hand in his and realize just how long it’s been since we’ve touched.

His fingers curl around mine as pulls me to my feet and we turn to head for the kitchen and the garage beyond. He drops my hand as he locks the door behind us and I’m surprised when he takes it again as we walk to his truck. It’s a short walk, but he’s apparently decided it’s been too long since we touched as well.

After closing me in the passenger side of the truck, he circles around until he’s sitting in the cab with me and starts it up. It roars to life and he backs out of the garage and the driveway.

As soon as he’s on the main road, he reaches over and threads my fingers in his.

I don’t say anything about it and neither does he, both of us silently enjoying the contact we’ve been denied for months.

“I made reservations at Sea and Vine,” he said, once the quiet in the cab was starting to feel less comfortable and more stifling. “I know how much you like their wine selection.”

The soft snort leaves me before I can stop it. “The wine selection, eh?” When I glance over at him, his ears are red. “Nothing to do with their cannolis?”

“Don’t hate on their cannolis,” he mutters, and I catch the hint of a smile. 

The rest of the car ride isn’t bad. We make smalltalk, which feels strange and unnatural, but not awful. We make our way to Sea and Vine, and park at a parking meter a few streets over. As soon as we’re out of the truck, he takes my hand again and pulls me close.

The heat radiates off his body, and now that his hair is completely dry, I admire the thick waves. He hasn’t shaved in a week or so, and a steady scruff has captured his cheeks, his chin. I love it when he’s not clean shaven. I think it’s sexy.  

Part of me wants to pull him into an alley and have him pin me up against the bricks. I want to revisit that heat we had when we were dating, when we were engaged, when we were newly married. There was a time when we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, when we would sneak away no matter where we were and fuck each other senseless. 

I’m just now realizing how long it’s been since we’ve even been on a date. The whole concept feels foreign, and I’m almost unsure of what to do.

It’s all so ridiculous.

When we make it to the restaurant, we’re ushered to our table and Cassian pulls out my chair. Once he’s seated across from me, we fall back into our small talk. We share about our days, and how things have been going at work. I order my favorite wine and nearly melt in the deliciousness of it. Cassian asks them for a cannoli before we even order dinner. 

To my delight, I’m enjoying myself. And, I’m hardly thinking about work, which is rare. I feel like I’m thinking about work every waking moment. It’s a nice change of pace.

“Gwyn seems nice,” Cassian says, once our food is placed in front of us. He has a plate of steak and pasta, while I have shrimp scampi. 

“She does,” I agree. “I like her approach. Very casual.”

Cassian nods and pops a bite of steak into his mouth. “I have to admit that I wasn’t so sure about counseling…but, I didn’t mind it.”

“It’s nice, having someone there to play the mediator,” I say, jumping right in. We can tiptoe around our problems or we can face them head on. After months of awkwardness and half-assed conversations, I was ready to get back to who we were. I just had no idea where to start. “Someone to let us finish our thoughts when the other wants to jump in.”

He says nothing, just takes another bite of his exquisite steak and raises an eyebrow, indicating I’m the one who needed the reminder more than he did.

Which, to be fair, was true.

I can’t help but chuckle as I eat, swallowing my food before I speak. “I’m just saying, having an outside party is helpful.”

“I don’t disagree,” he says, twirling his fork in his pasta, not looking at me. “Especially when it comes to shit we don’t want to talk about.”

Immediately, my walls started to go up, not liking where he was leading the conversation. I swallowed harshly, but there was no food in my mouth.

Clearing my throat, I started, “I’m going to make an effort to be home more, Cass—”

“I’m not talking about your work, Nesta,” he pushed.

My jaw clenched and I stared at my plate, still full of food. Cassian’s chewing slowed as he watched me. 

“I thought my work was the biggest part of our issues,” I began, slowly.

Cassian continued to eat, apparently able to eat through any sort of tension. “I think it’s a part of our issues. It’s not the only part of our issues, although it’s apparently the only part of our issues that you want to talk about.”

I’m quiet for a moment, pushing around my pasta on my plate. “Can we not? I want to enjoy my night.”

“I’m not trying to ruin our night,” Cassian says, his fork halting. “I’m just saying—”

“Well stop,” I snap, and instantly regret it. My eyes wander back to my plate. “I don’t want to talk about that tonight.”

“You don’t ever want to talk about it,” he mutters, and drops his fork. “It wouldn’t hurt to talk about it, Nesta.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We have to.”

“Not now.” The tone of my voice is final, and I see the hurt in his eyes. I know that what happened didn’t only affect me. It affected him, too, and we never had closure. I get that…but I can’t talk about it. I’m not ready. Even after all this time. I’m not ready. 

We’re quiet for a moment, and I wonder if anyone at the tables surrounding us have picked up on our awkward choice of dinner conversation. 

“I’ve lost my appetite,” I say, at last.

“Yeah.” Cassian’s not looking at me. All of the sudden, the mood has changed and we’re strangers again. “Me too.”

“Call for the check.”

His jaw locks but he gives me a stiff nod. With barely any of his food eaten, he motions for the server to come our way and asks for the check.

I feel guilty.

I also feel angry.

Uncomfortable.

Sad.

We sit in complete silence as our check is retrieved and we’re brought to-go boxes. I dump my shrimp scampi into one, and he pushes his steak into another. 

We barely make it out of the restaurant before he says, “I’m sorry.”

“About what?” I ask, as if I don’t know, which seems to make him mad.

“Don’t do that,” he says, stopping under a streetlight to glare at me.

“Don’t do what?” I ask, unable to stop my act, not knowing why. 

I can tell he’s frustrated, can tell he’s getting pissed. I notice he’s not reaching for my hand this time. 

“Act like you never have any fucking clue what I’m talking about,” he hisses. “I need you to communicate, Nesta. I need you to talk to me, to be open to me, to give me something of substance. I’m tired of these surface, meaningless conversations, and I’m tired of you avoiding everything we have to get out in the open. Therapy only goes so far.”

“Why couldn’t we just have a nice night?” I cry, and I hate myself for getting emotional. “We haven’t had a date in forever. This was supposed to be good for us.” And now we’re fighting on the fucking street.

Cassian just shakes his head and shrugs. “It’s not my fault.”

“Oh, right, it’s mine! It’s always my fault. It’s my fault we drifted apart, it’s my fault that you want a divorce, it’s my fault that we can’t—” the words fade away from me, stuck on my tongue. A tear falls that I wish kept itself hidden. 

He stiffens. “Nesta—”

“Go home, Cassian.” I start to walk away, but he quickly follows me.

“Come on. Let’s just go to the truck—”

“I’ll find my own way home,” I snap, trying my best to hurry ahead of him. I don’t look at him. I hardly acknowledge his presence. I need to be alone.

“Nes—”

“Please, Cassian!” I spin around, meeting his eyes. I can’t stop the tears from falling, can’t stop the feeling of utterly falling apart. “Leave me alone! Go home.”

I hate the angst in his eyes, the confusion, the loss. “Where are you going?”

I shake my head, backing up slowly. “I’ll see you at home.”

This time, when I walk away from him, he doesn’t chase after me. 

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Pick a blorbo vibe!

In the Forsaken AU, Zelda and Gerudo Link are conspiring how to get Mystery Link to reappear after vanishing in the Lost Woods (Zel: Ok, so what we need is a damsel in distress--you'll do just nicely // Gan: I AM NOT PRETENDING TO BE A DAMSEL). They're whispering heatedly in Zelda's fancy royal tent (that Gerudo Link has to assemble for her) just outside the Lost Woods.

In Breath of the Sky, Cloud and Zel are slowly making their way over to the picnic that Princess and Champion set up for everyone. Champ is nervously eating all the food. Mipha is hovering in the distance hoping everything is ok. It's sunny and warm and pleasant outside, at least, despite all the drama.

In the Imprisoning War Era, Hemisi and Link snuck out of the castle while he's still sick because Link wants to spend time with Hemisi and she 100% plans to kidnap him to the desert (or at least to the Gerudo designated quarters so he can be taken care of until he gets better). Ganondorf is exasperated. Impa is too. Hemisi and Link look like drowned cats because it's pouring outside and they definitely were not crawling across the walls and roof of the castle haha nope!

In the Wild Spirit AU, Abel, Link, and Lyra are getting ready to fight Calamity Ganon. Abel hears his boy's voice again for hte first time, but there's a giant malice monster to deal with, worry about that later, Abel! The castle is dark and ominous and cold, it's starting to storm outside, it's time to get to business!

In a Hyrule fresh from the Calamity, Abel and Tilieth are starting to make plans for the next part of their journey. Abel definitely keeps waking Link up simply because he can, because he needs to after going to Blatchery Plain, and Til has to eventually get on his case about letting their poor son sleep. It's daybreak in Kakariko, it's time to hit the road again.

In Zora's Domain, a little four-year-old is about to explore the great world around him and his father will absolutely have a heart attack over it. But Link's ready to have an adventure!

In the Dad Squad, the dads are having an intense game of rummy and literally nobody can get the rules right. Abel's pretty sure Rusl's cheating, Rusl can't be cheating because Abel's playing it wrong, and Fierce just wings it while also wondering what the purpose of this entire ordeal is (this doesn't seem very conducive to strategy building, but perhaps it's for little immature mortal minds and the adults just do it to keep up the skills they learned as boys).

In LU in Healthcare, Sky's napping and therefore misses Wind frantically texting him about Warriors, but the rain is so gentle on the roof, the forest is quiet, and he's exhausted. Time, however, gets the messages before going into surgery, and soon it'll be time to pick up the pieces.

[gromlyn]

asoiaf au - Elaeor I Targaryen. more about him below :3c

he is very tired

his dragon's name is Jormundrax

he never expected to be king- he takes his job very seriously and tries to do his best, but at the end of the day he'd really rather be doing anything else

he was the third born son of six. growing up he and his siblings were all exceptionally close. he especially looked up to his two older brothers

when civil war breaks out between the dragonriding houses, Elaeor joins his father and brothers on the frontlines of the war

both of his older brothers die during the war. their deaths fundamentally change Elaeor as a person

this is also where he gets his facial scar

he also meets his future wife, Daenaera Sunfyre, during the war. she's also a dragonrider from one of the houses allied to Elaeor's faction. Daenaera essentially keeps him alive after the deaths of his brothers

when the dust finally settles and Elaeor's father takes the iron throne, he's quickly forced into the role of crown prince

he resigns himself to his fate pretty much immediately. given that he's just lived through a civil war that was spurred on by a notably bad monarch, even though he does not want to be king, he does not believe anyone else is suited to the task

his father rules for 7 years then abdicates the throne to him. at this point, Elaeor is 25

he and Daenaera wind up having 6 children. he absolutely adores his kids and enjoys spending time with them. his family is pretty much the only thing that keeps him going. man fucking hates his job

however, he's reluctant to abdicate the throne because the idea of forcing his eldest into the same position he was in causes him intense guilt. he really just wants his family to be happy and safe, and he knows damn well that being king definitely isn't conducive to that. he desperately wishes his kids had a way out. he fully views being of valyrian descent as a curse

[cowpokeomens]

Ayfuckingo, who’s stealing work👀👀👀 (Who thinks stealing someone’s hard ass work is fun? Wtf)

Yknow I thought abt deleting this ask and my post but I’m feeling feisty and fed up today, actually! This is not directly specifically at you anon 🫶 anyways read at your own risk lol

I’m not dropping names because I’m not a gossip blog, but I think the tendency of certain celebrated “authors” to dip into other people’s creative endeavors for their own work is gross and completely diminishes the whole point of fandoms. Like, this is supposed to be a community. Instead it’s turned into a competition that literally no one wants to be a part of where people say “oh yay, another _____ AU!” Instead of “wow, that’s awfully hyper specific and pretty flagrantly rips off of soemthing I’ve seen before?”

I think we, as members of fandom, have become soooooo wrapped up in the culture of needing to “consume content” that we disregard artistic integrity. We don’t care that the idea is stolen because we love the idea so much. I’m not talking about tropes (ie; enemies to lovers, grumpy!character x sunshine!character, fake dating) I’m talking about the actual creative thought that goes into making a fic. I understand loving someone’s creativity; I’m an artist, and I am constantly absorbing and thinking about art from other people. It’s inevitable that some ideas will trickle into your own work. But there comes a point where there is a clear difference between “inspired” and stolen.

I’m not trying to say this as some kind of writing authority - there are SO MANY talented and hardworking writers on this platform who make beautiful work leagues better than my stupid horny rambles. And like I said, I’m not naming names- the plagiarizers are fully aware of what they’re doing. But the way in which y’all treat fic is really disappointing sometimes. It’s not all about the next update, y’all. This is someone’s art. It’s not just a “good idea” in public domain for you to pluck and use in your own work as you please. It is someone’s art.

I just can’t help but feel like it circles back to a deeply ingrained need to devalue artists. If there was any respect for author’s and their work, this wouldn’t even need to be a conversation. Don’t fucking steal from people. Why do you value the work of an author so little that you feel it’s okay to take something they’ve worked incredibly hard on? Obviously you like it enough to try and pass it off as your own, so why steal at all? There’s a reblog button, you can add comments to let them know how much you love it. What are you gaining?

I’m coming from the position of an artist, not just a fic writer. This has nothing to do with my writing personally (as far as I’m aware, no one is trying to pass off my ideas as their own.) But as an artist, I cannot put into words how saddening and downright violating it is to have someone look at a thing you made, something you put your experiences and thoughts and emotions into, and think “it’s completely fine for me to take this idea and run with it.” That is insurmountably shitty.

Y’all are too damn smart to not notice. I think too highly of y’all as readers and creators to chalk it up to misunderstanding. You probably already had a fic in mind as you were reading this! I think we, as a community, really need to work on our intentionality and integrity with regards to art making. Stealing ideas is not conducive to making art or maintaining any semblance of community in fandom. Anyways this was long, I apologize for nothing, byeeeeeeeeee

[polyhexian]

Y'know that genre of TOH fic where Hunter stumbles through the portal a few years pre-series and gets adopted by the Nocedas? Okay so like, eventually AU offshoot that follows that premise, except Jasper and Hawk Hunter are there too.

The Golden Guard and the Martlet get blasted through the portal door during a fight and it closes behind them and they're just like, well shit. They have a brief standoff until it becomes clear that they don't have an immediate way back and Hunter is like "OKAY, we are stuck in the Human Realm and as much as it pains me to say this, we need to call a temporary truce so we can work together to survive and find a way home." Potentially this isn't long after that time the Martlet saved Hunter from those people who were attempting to ransom him so he's a little more willing to work with the guy at the moment. Hunter is being VERY MATURE by making the call to cooperate with this criminal, since they obviously need to join forces in this strange and uncharted territory, though once they get home they'll go right back to being enemies. Meanwhile Jasper is like uhhhhhh this is not an eventuality I prepared for but I maybe I can turn it to our advantage.

They make camp in the old abandoned house, because it's just sensible. It's free shelter and it's where the portal spat them out, best to stick around the area. It rains the very first night and there is brief panic followed by the awe of "oh wow it really doesn't boil!" while they stand in it and marvel, which quickly changes to "oh shit now we're cold and wet". They continue to marvel from the cover of the porch and stare at the non-boiling rain and the green grass and trees.

Hunter and Jasper: Wow, it's just like he said.

Hunter, squinting at Jasper suspiciously: Wait, like who said?

Jasper: Uhhhh hey, look, is that a jackalope without antlers?

That night they discover that the issue with old dilapidated houses is that they leak. They're lying on the one patch of dry-but-not-dry-rotted floor and Jasper is like "Hunter. Hunter, please, just give me the staff. I can fix the roof in sixty seconds tops and I promise I'll give it right back" and Hunter is like "THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM GIVING YOU THE STAFF."

The next few days are filled with wilderness survival skills, which is a little ridiculous considering they're in a small pocket of woods in the middle of suburbia, but like, those are HUMANS out there, we can't just APPROACH them! Unfortunately, suburban woodland is not conducive to foraging. Hawk Hunter is adept at catching antlerless jackalopes so they've got that going for them.

Hunter is trying to figure out how to get home, but Jasper is well aware that that was Eda's portal they went through and is pretty sure that it isn't gonna reopen anytime soon. He's also realizing that this could actually be the opportunity he's been waiting for. If they don't go back to the Boiling Isles, he has time to explain things to Hunter. Even if the kid refuses to believe him, what's he gonna do? He can't run back and tell Belos. Jasper might actually have time to convince Hunter of the truth.

(Idk how to justify the portal not opening for 1-2 years, but for the sake of the plot the portal needs to not open. Maybe Eda's taking a break from the Human Realm because the trash slug pickings are so good. Maybe she comes through one time and Jasper pounces on her and tells her she can ONLY DO IT at a predetermined time when he can make sure Hunter doesn't see it. Heck, maybe JASPER somehow has the portal key and hasn't told Hunter and is well aware that the portal WON'T open because he's got their only ticket home… And much later this leads to "WE COULD'VE GONE HOME THIS WHOLE TIME???")

After a few days Jasper's feeling pretty confident that this might actually work so he's like, okay, look, if we're working together it's not really convenient for me to wear this mask all the time, so…I'm gonna take it off. Uh. Please don't freak out.

Hunter: WHY THE FUCK DO YOU LOOK LIKE ME?

Jasper: Hey look, Hawk's brought dinner, I'm gonna go skin this byyyyyyye.

Inevitably, Luz discovers them.

And this is the point where I need to change gears, because tbh I'm having the most fun imagining this AU from Camila's POV.

Luz is like "Mama, I've made some friends! They're magic! They're living in the abandoned house out back! I'm taking them snacks!"

Camila is like MIJA WHAT? and runs after her. She's expecting criminals or delinquents and instead finds a pair of Renaissance Faire hobos. The man is very polite but his son is glaring at her and Luz suspiciously and they both hedge around basic questions like "why are you living in this abandoned house?" and "where did you come from?" with very unconvincing answers. Camila's realistic side is telling her to call the police, but her sci-fi side is taking note of their pointy ears, and the fact that their clothes look way more functional and lived-in than any cosplay she's ever seen, and how Luz keeps insisting that they're magic, and she's just like…y'know what, I'm just gonna leave this be.

Except she can't stay uninvolved because Luz keeps hanging out with these people and she's…glad her daughter is finally making friends, but she is also keeping an eye on them. She has…some concerns.

Camila: So what kind of hawk is that?

Jasper: Uh…brown?

Camila: …Do you have a falconry license?

Jasper: A what?

Camila is like, oh my god. Do I need to call the Fish & Wildlife Service?

She goes over to check on them one day and finds them in the middle of an argument amplified by non-magical staff fighting and she's just like, oh my god. Do I need to call Child Protective Services? Then she realizes that actually Hunter is inflicting most of the injuries here and Jasper's just kinda taking it while Hunter yells at him and she's like. Do…do I need to call Adult Protective Services?

One day she finds them skinning a deer on their front porch and she's like YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT and they're like what, why? and she's like YOU NEED A HUNTING PERMIT and they're like…why?

At some point Jasper decides to go scope out the town and maybe find a way to acquire some supplies. Camila sees him walking out of the woods by her house and she runs outside to stop him.

Camila: Jasper! You can't just walk around with a mask on!

Jasper: What? Uh…okay, I guess it is a little flashy, I'll just wear the face covering.

Camila: Jasper, you cannot go into town with your face covered, we don't do that here.

Jasper: But my face is going to attract a lot of attention I'd rather avoid?

Camila: You are going to attract SO MUCH MORE attention if you COVER YOUR FACE like a CRIMINAL.

Jasper: Okay, I'll just pull my hood down really far.

Camila: NO ONE WEARS CAPES OR HOODS, JASPER, ESPECIALLY NOT IN SUMMER. Look, how about I just drive you around town, and if anyone asks we'll tell them you're an avid hiker who survived a grizzly bear attack.

Jasper: What's a grizzly bear?

Camila: I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that question. Let me get my car keys. And grab you a t-shirt.

Hunter says something about how Hawk Hunter is an unholy creation of "wild magic" that needs to be destroyed and Camila's like "oh my god Hunter, no, animal cruelty is WRONG, and also all birds of prey are federally protected species" and Hunter's like "it's made of wood, Mrs. Noceda, it's not even really alive" and Jasper bursts out "HUNTER, THINGS THAT ARE MADE OF PALISTROM WOOD ARE DEFINITELY REAL AND ALIVE!" and Camila doesn't understand the resulting argument but while they're yelling she looks at Hawk Hunter and says "if you need a place to hide just knock on my door" and he scrutinizes her for a moment before giving her a solemn nod. She doesn't want to consider the implications of how she apparently just communicated with a bird.

She's really hung up on whether or not she needs to report a kidnapping. On the one hand, they're obviously father and son. On the other hand, Hunter has mentioned needing to get back to his uncle, who apparently raised him, and he doesn't seem very familiar with Jasper at all, and most kidnappings are committed by family members… But also Hunter's uncle kinda sounds like a religious extremist so…maybe Jasper has reverse-kidnapped a kidnapped child?

Jasper obviously cares about Hunter, but Hunter's acting more like an antagonistic roommate than a son. Though maybe that's just a teenager thing? He really doesn't treat Jasper like he's his dad at all though, Camila's pretty sure Jasper didn't raise Hunter. Best she can figure, after piecing bits together over time, Hunter was raised by his religious extremist uncle, who Jasper was also involved with somehow but managed to get away from, and he seems to want to get Hunter away too, but Hunter doesn't agree.

She becomes reasonably certain that they mean no harm (not that they're harmless, she has SEEN them fight), and she has to admit that she likes them, and she supposes she should be grateful that Luz is making friends. But Camila is WELL AWARE that Jasper and Hunter are, like, not…okay. She's not sure what Jasper's deal is but he clearly has issues. Hunter is a nice kid but he walks this weird line between demanding things like he has the power to requisition whatever he wants on a whim and being super nervously polite. Camila refers to Jasper as Hunter's dad one time, and Hunter turns red and shouts "HE'S NOT MY DAD HE'S MY ARCH-NEMESIS" and Jasper just grimaces and Camila is like I have no idea what you two need therapy for but you DEFINITELY need it.

Luz keeps running off to the woods with her Azura books. She says Hunter nitpicks them for everything they get wrong about magic but she doesn't mind because it sparks interesting conversations about what real magic is like. Camila finds herself wondering if Hunter would be more interested in sci-fi.

She starts digging around in her basement to see if there's any old junk they can use. Jasper's like "oooh can I take this typewriter?" and she goes "oh, sure! do you like writing?" and he's like "haha no it's for Hawk, he's upset he can't properly yell at me right now" and she's just like. Uh. Okay then.

Her old sewing supplies are also discovered. Jasper and Hunter are pretty self-sufficient but Camila does help them out a lot and hasn't called the Human Authorities on them so they're always looking for ways to repay her. Jasper offers to mend the pile of clothes she hasn't had time to fix up and she just gives him all these supplies she hasn't touched in years. So he's sitting there with fabric and thread like, okay, it's been a while, what do I want to make? And then he just instinctually starts on the pattern he's made a hundred times before. Hunter walks in on him an hour later and does a double take and goes "Is that Sprig??" and Jasper stabs himself with the needle.

Luz keeps talking about how they're magic, but Camila hasn't seen any magic. Camila isn't going to comment on the alleged magic. Camila DOES notice that every time she goes over the house appears to be a bit more fixed up, and then it somehow has electricity, and Jasper has started bringing her various fruits and vegetables as thanks-for-not-calling-the-cops gifts, which he is apparently growing in the garden that suddenly grew up overnight. There's an avocado tree, of all things. It popped up the day after she invited them over for dinner and served something with avocado in it and commented on how much she loved avocados and how annoyingly expensive they can be. She doesn't know how Jasper managed to get an avocado tree to grow in Connecticut and she's not gonna ask. It's eventually joined by an orange tree and a lemon tree and a coconut tree and after that last one she casually leaves behind a field guide to trees and their growing regions the next time she visits. Jasper might take it as a challenge because next thing she knows there's a plantain tree, too.

Hunter has either decided to trust Jasper with the staff, or has hit the point where he can't stand living in a leaky old house in a woodland that has proven TERRIBLE for foraging and is willing to risk lending Jasper the staff if it improves their situation, or refuses to trust Jasper with the staff but is willing to let Jasper coach him through how to fix up the house and grow the garden. Hunter's like "do you even know how to fix a house?" and Jasper's like "of course I do, and it'll be nowhere near as hard as remodeling a cave without magic" and Hunter's like "okay yeah from the ten seconds I saw of it it was a nice cave" and Jasper's like "aw you remember the cave?" and Hunter's like "shut up."

Luz wants to know allllll about the Boiling Isles and Hunter tells her about how great it is and she sighs like "I wish I could go there" and Hunter's like "Well, once we find our way home, you can come with us! Maybe I could convince my uncle to let you work with me. The Emperor's Coven is great, we get to sleep in until 5AM and we get a whole day off every year and we help bring order and stability to the Empire!" And Luz is like "Never mind, your fantasy world sounds oppressive. Ooh, wait, are there rebels? You said Jasper's your nemesis, does that mean he's a rebel? Maybe I'll just join the rebels" and Hunter's like "If you do that I'm legally obligated to arrest you" and Luz is like "Hey, my mom hasn't gotten you arrested for squatting, you owe me."

Camila actually manages to wheedle answers out of Jasper one day while they're drinking spiked lemonade on the porch (his lemons, her vodka) and she asks "what is you guys' deal?" Jasper admits "I am desperately trying to deprogram my son from a cult" and she's like holy shit okay that actually tracks. Do you want me to get you some books? Do you want me to call Rick Alan Ross?

At some point Hunter storms into Camila's house and announces that he is staying for the night, and possibly the foreseeable future, and then tacks on an anxious "please." Luz starts squealing about a sleepover and Camila is just like "Is…everything okay with you and your father?" and Hunter looks really lost and doesn't answer and lets Luz drag him away. Camila goes to see Jasper that night and finds him sitting on the porch roof gazing up at the suburban light pollution and she calls up "Are you two okay?" and Jasper grimaces down at her and says "I might've…told him about how I created him?" and Camila's like yikes, I hope things don't go this bad with Luz when I give her The Talk. Meanwhile Hunter is laying in a sleeping bag next to Luz, staring at the ceiling and having a crisis.

Idk, I don't actually have any ideas regarding The Reveal or father/son bonding or how this all factors into the show plot or whatever, like, I'm exclusively hooked on Camila being extremely concerned and confused but ultimately deciding that she isn't gonna narc on her weird new neighbors, lol.

I guess regarding father/son things, since this is probably not long after Manny's death and Luz is grieving, we could say she probably talks to Hunter a LOT about her dad, and how much she misses him, and Hunter sits through all these monologues and considers how his arch-nemesis is actually, apparently, his father, and between Luz's grief and being stuck in the Human Realm with no way home and the fact that he has always wondered about his family, he figures he can maybe give Jasper a chance. So that could work.

But really it's like, in the background we have Hunter and Jasper dealing with their fantasy problems and navigating their newfound relationship, and in the FOREGROUND we've got Camila helping them settle in and pass as humans and telling them to stop poaching the local ecosystem, god, this isn't 1600s colonial Connecticut this is suburbia, if you want meat I'll get you some from the grocery store, you give me more than enough avocados to make up for it. Also she's quietly researching squatter's rights and digging into public property records and asking her elderly neighbors questions until she learns that the folks who owned the abandoned house retired to Florida and died 20 years ago and their son who inherited has apparently forgotten he owns the place.

I guess at some point Jasper and Hunter DO go look around town, which is when we get "Why is the Golden Guard symbol on this town's sign?" and then Hunter stares at a certain statue before calling over to Jasper "Hey, who's Caleb Wittebane and do you have any idea why we look exactly like him?" while Jasper is like "Caleb WHO?" and then five seconds later both of them looking at the other statue and going "Is that fucking BELOS?"

Luz: Why are you two suddenly obsessed with researching my boring town's boring history?

Hunter: IT'S IMPORTANT, HUMAN. Tell me everything you know about the Wittebanes!

Luz: Uhhhh idk, I think there was a reenactment at the Halloween festival last year? I didn't pay attention, reenactments are dumb.

Hunter: HOW do you know so little about the place where you live??

Luz: Dude, I've lived here for less than two years. Besides, historical witches are nothing like fantasy ones. They're BORING. That reenactment was a trial. Why would I want to think about the colonial legal process when I'm thinking about witches? Have you seen my report card? History is not one of my special interests.

Unfortunately for Luz, history has just become Hunter and Jasper's special interest, and she is their unwilling guide and provider of context for Human Things. They start exploring Old Gravesfield and she's like "whyyyyyyy are we wandering around an old cemetery full of dead people no one cares about anymore??" while Hunter and Jasper are taking note of old Puritan names on the headstones and Jasper is like "there are WAY too many of these that are similar to past Golden Guard names, that can't be a coincidence." They go to the historical society and low-key grill Jacob Hopkins for info (low-key because the guy is happy to talk and talk and TALK) while Luz is just dying in the background. They don't have ID to get library cards so they keep dragging her to the library to check out books for them. They're reading about colonial history and Puritan philosophy and Luz is just like WHY do you CARE, you guys are from a FANTASY WORLD that is SO MUCH COOLER than this boring old place! Hunter shows her his cloak like "Luz the Golden Guard symbol is on the historic seal of your town" and she's like OH WAIT MAGICAL MYSTERY?? and is suddenly a bit more interested.

Camila comes home one day to find Jasper facedown on her living room floor surrounded by books while Hunter paces around muttering to himself and she goes to Luz in the kitchen like "Uh…are they okay?" and Luz looks up from her phone like "Huh? Oh, yeah, I think they just found out they're Christian or something."

Camila is like. Um. What?

Luz goes on "But not, like, Narnia fantasy generic Christian, like. Weird Christian. I dunno, they've been taking a lot of notes about Puritan beliefs and Bible verses and I think something must've clicked because they both suddenly bluescreened. They haven't said much but I guess there's a lot of stuff that's really uncomfortably familiar to them?"

Camila tentatively says "I was under the impression that Hunter's uncle was some sort of fundamentalist" and Luz nods like "Oh, yeah, Jasper says Belos is like 400 years old and we have a working theory that he might be Philip Wittebane. I'm just waiting for them to finish reprocessing whatever trauma they just realized is probably religious so they can start infodumping what they just figured out."

(In the living room Jasper is like "He insisted on naming you Hunter. Oh my god. Oh my GOD. That witch-hunting ASSHOLE." Hunter is like "I never bothered to doubt the Day of Unity or 'the will of the Titan' but this 'predetermination' thing sounds very similar and also like complete bullshit. Saying it's the will of an invisible man in the sky makes it sound stupid, but with that perspective I guess it's also stupid to say it's the will of a visible corpse on the ground?")

Of course, Luz won't let them obsess over history forever, so they compromise and do other things too. Like watch nature documentaries, which are less boring for Luz but still helpful for Hunter and Jasper because suburban Connecticut is not a great example of the Human Realm's various ecosystems. Camila finds Hunter watching his fifth documentary about wolves and she's like "are wolves your favorite animal now?" and he's like "no, this is just…extremely important research" and she's like "of course mijo" and then gets him a pack of wolf patches that he sews on all his clothes. She doesn't understand why he and Jasper are so offended by giraffes, though.

Hunter also DOES turn out to love sci-fi. A lot. Camila lets him go through her Cosmic Frontier collection and he flies through it as fast as Luz flew through Azura. Camila isn't sure why he latches on to Chief Engineer O'Bailey so strongly but she knows a comfort blorbo when she sees one. Luz is like "ugh but why sci-fi?" and Hunter is like "the only reason your 'fantasy genre' isn't realistic fiction is because it's WRONG."

At some point Luz has to go back to school. Camila takes note that Hunter is not going to school. She asks about it one time and receives two blank stares in response and then Hunter's like "I finished my schooling years in advance?" and Jasper's like "yeah he's brilliant, he's got published papers in academic journals and everything" and Hunter's like "wait you know about that?" and Jasper's like "of course I know about that! they're really good" and Hunter looks a little touched by this and Camila decides she isn't gonna push the school thing cuz she's pretty sure neither of them legally exist anyway.

Luz complains about school and Hunter is like "You need to pay attention to your teachers and apply yourself to your education!" and Camila is like oh thank god, finally, someone being a positive influence on Luz's academic life. Except then Hunter continues like "Following the rules is the most important thing anyone can do for the betterment of society, deviating from the norm puts all of civilization at risk!" and Camila's like wait no not like that.

On the plus side though Luz does finally get good grades in history! At least for the Colonial America segment. Hunter is offended by her lackluster academic performance so he starts reading her textbooks and helping her with homework and Camila is just thankful that Luz finally has a supportive study buddy. Though she does have to put her foot down when she realizes Luz is trying to get Hunter to write her essays. You have to do your own work, mija; if he's really good enough to get published in academic journals that don't exist, that means your teachers aren't going to believe you wrote it anyway.

So yeah, this goes on for a year or two, and then TOH happens.

I don't really have any ideas regarding how this entire setup would end up affecting the series proper, but I guess it's like. TOH starts but Luz and Hunter and Jasper already know everything. They've figured out the Wittebane backstory and with Jasper's knowledge they've connected it to Belos. They don't know why a witch hunter has made himself emperor, but Belos is obviously evil so it can't be for good reason. Luz gets to the Boiling Isles and she's just like "AW YEAH the last couple of years were just my prologue, TIME TO BE THE MAIN CHARACTER!" while Jasper is like "Hunter please don't do anything stupid I am begging you" and Hunter is like "I JUST WANT TO ASK BELOS ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS ON DOUBLE PREDESTINATION!" (Hell, it's been a year or two, potentially Hunter storms straight into six-month-old Will and is like "oh my god" while Jasper is like "I TOLD YOU" and Will is like "this job gets more suspicious every day.")

Basically Luz, Hunter, and Jasper would end up speedrunning the entire anti-Empire part of the plot. Belos is like "wait what's happening" when the girl he thought he duped centuries ago ends up being super aware of everything he's doing, and Raine is like "wait WHAT'S happening?" when the Martlet suddenly reappears with plans to kill Belos, and Eda is like "ahaha what is HAPPENING?" when Marty and the two kids tagging along with him start causing chaos. (And Will can just be like "wait what IS happening? hmm.")

But meanwhile Camila is left staring at Vee like. Okay. I have a snake daughter now. My human daughter's run off to another realm but I can probably count on Jasper to make sure she doesn't get snatched up by Hunter's uncle's weird religious cult. I've already paid for summer camp so I'm gonna send my new snake daughter off to learn human skills and we'll figure this out.

And then she does her best to keep an eye on Jasper and Hunter's house and keep Jasper's improbable avocado tree alive while he's away. He'd better get back before the autumn frost sets in because she is NOT losing this avocado tree. This is her favorite tree in the entire world and it has done wonders for her grocery bill. Jasper has come over to her house in the dead of winter with a basket full of fresh-picked avocados on multiple occasions and she has never once pointed out that avocados do not grow in the cold, because she highly values her avocado access.

At some point the Day of Unity happens and the gang ends up in the Human Realm but at least Jasper has a house and a garden and knows how to operate here so that takes a lot of weight off Camila. And since the house is nice and lived in it's very easy to see the weird lump of sludgy goop trying to crawl out the door. Camila scoops it up into a glass jar and stares at the single blue eye that stares back at her and asks "Do I want to know what this is?"

"That's my FUCKING UNCLE!" Hunter snaps, snatching the jar from her and shaking it. "Alright asshole, I don't know HOW you survived but I'm glad you did because I have QUESTIONS. Dad, can you grab all my books on Calvinist philosophy? Luz, I need a notebook."

"Hunter I am NOT helping you go insane over Puritans again."

Camila figures they know what they're doing and leaves them to it. She doesn't really want to know how the sludge is Hunter's uncle, but she supposes it's fitting. And she has to admit that she can't really ignore the magic thing anymore. She has a snake daughter now. Magic is clearly real.

Though there's always going to be a small part of her that groans and wonders whyyyyyyyyy did it have to be fantasy? Why magic? Why couldn't it have been a spaceship that landed in the backyard?

Grabs u

Okay I am an angst goblin tho so IMAGINE they tumble through the portal for Reasons and like two weeks later while hunter is out foraging for mushrooms or something Eda pops up and jasper has to tackle her to keep Hunter from seeing, and he's like listen, here's the infodump on what is Up with me and hunter now. This is my best chance to deprogram him. I just need a little more time. So don't come back when he will be here to see you. And Eda is like oh okay sure. Only jasper just keeps pushing off the inevitable "it's time to tell Hunter we can leave" even once he actually managed to get hunter on his side regarding "Belos should not be beating you" and maybe even "the empire is bad-" and, you know. "He is lying to you." ONLY.... Eventually the cookie has to crumble, right? Eventually the bubble has to pop.

One day Eda pops in and pops out, but Luz followed her and left the door open. Just long enough for hunter to see it! And hunter is like omg a way back. But like. For whatever reason he can tell that jasper doesn't want to like maybe he sees jasper closing the door or something and they get into a huge argument and hunter realizes that jasper has known how to get home for YEARS and has kept it secret- so. You know. "He is lying to you." Then the door pops back open and vee comes through, only for hunter to be like fuck YOU and dart straight into the door and slam it behind him, leaving jasper and vee standing outside like HHHHHHHHH

Jasper desperately trying to keep things together like. He knows Eda will be back soon. Either she will toss the human back out or she will come for more crap in a few days. He can keep this under control. He tells vee to pretend to be luz, hey, I was also a slave to the emperor, yada yada ill protect you, just make sure Camila doesn't find out her fucking kid is missing. And he's like okay: I have three months to get back to the boiling isles and retrieve luz and send her home before Camila notices and also I need to find hunter and Also convince him not to hate me for this and ARRRRGHHHH this sucks.

Hunter doesn't know Eda but he DOES know Luz and like. Imagine the hilarity of after Luz and hunter being neighbors and friends for like three years where he has said he could use magic but she's never actually seen it he like, leaps in front of her as if to protect her from Eda with his staff poofing oh some magic armour like back! Away from my innocent human friend who cannot protect herself! And she's just like what the FUCK was that. Gimme that fucking stick right now

Of course once Eda realizes she's gonna be like shit I gotta go get your dad but Hunter is like DAD? and Eda is like wow he really hasn't told you shit huh yikes. But Hunter knows Eda is gonna turn him in now so he's gotta skedoodle. Time to be a weird homeless child occasionally bursting into the main plot because he IS friends with Luz but he's avoiding jasper and Eda and anyone who might turn him in. So he's also like in hiding to not be recognized. And then will exists as the current Golden guard and I'm sure he annoys the piss out of Lilith.

But also just imagining jasper and Camila as getting to be really good friends and he's been insanely cagey with his past but she has gathered a general idea. Finding out like. The Awful Details. Also Hunter is out here trying to protect Luz- maybe even by sending her home lol. Jasper at the owl house with Luz and Eda while he tries to find hunter... And at SOME point Darius is going to show up and oh my god you're ALIVE? you've been in another DIMENSION? YOU BEING IN ANOTHER DIMENSION WAS UNRELATED TO YOU BEING SECRETLY NOT DEAD???

And Raine like. Seeing jasper without a mask and knowing who he is. Finally knowing what's up with hunter and him. And now jasper is staying with Eda. And jasper knows TOO much of raines shit. He knows they're a rebel leader and that's dangerous knowledge! Ohhh it's so dire here....

[itsdragonfire13]

Young Justice Crossover Rec

Been reading Young Justice fanfics again and wanted to deliever some of my favorite crossovers with different fandoms. Almost none of these are on AO3, or at least I didn't find them on AO3.

Justice League/Justice League Unlimited

How to Outrun Death by Lore55 Website: Fanfiction.net

Summary: Being dead was different from what he'd thought it would be like. In fact, as far as Wally could tell death felt an awful lot like laying on the snow in an insulated, friction proof suit.

Chapters 22; WIP. This is like the fic of Wally being the JLU Wally it's one of my favorites and I re-read it a lot.

They're Us by Goldenbrook15 Website: fanfiction.net

Summary: When the Young Justice land themselves in another dimension by accident and then manage to escape the entire Justice League (who strangely don't know them at all) and flee into the world outside, Batman can only come to one conclusion, "They're us, from a different world."

Chapters 27; WIP. The author did post their outline for the fic in the last chapter explaining how it was going to end, so in a way it is 'complete'

Better Late by Kyogre Website: fanfiction.net

Summary: In Endgame, Wally accidentally transports himself a universe or four over, into a world where there is no Flash or Justice League. At least, not yet.

Chapters 10; Complete. This is a short but still good one

We Meet Again by Takebuo Ishimatsu Website: fanfiction.net

Summary: Young Justice is accidentally transported to another dimension in which their mentors have no idea who they are. Things get complicated. Fast. YJ cartoon crossover into a world similar to JL cartoon.

Chapters 5; WIP. It's so good, but sadly only 5 chapters, even if the chapters are pretty long.

Of Masters and Students by monroesherlock Website: fanfiction.net

Summary: The Young Justice team wakes up trapped in another universe, one where their team has never existed. It's up to them to prove themselves worthy all over again to a group of rather unwilling mentors. AU TeamFamilyCentric

Chapters 28; Complete. This has to be one of my all-time favorite of the original Team getting sent to another dimension fics. I always love when I re-read it.

Return Stroke by viecamille Website AO3

Summary: No one in Young Justice has ever heard of the Speedforce. No one on Earth-12 has ever heard of the Flash. Super-speed isn’t always an easy power to handle. None of these facts are conducive to Wally’s return home.

Or: Wally’s stranded, Dick’s haunted, the JL are confused, and superpowers have a tendency to drive physicists insane. Oh, and Wally West is a founding member of the Justice League now. Whoops?

Chapters 1 WIP; Only 1 chapter so far, but it was made in March and it's so good.

Catching Icarus by Fantasyfire Website AO3

Summary: A bad encounter with magic banishes Superboy into another world. Stranded, the Kryptonian clone must deal with a whole new league and a much different Superman.

Chapters 13 WIP; I'm only on ch3 but I really love how it's going the relationship that building between JLU Superman and Conner is top tier.

Teen Titans

Brick by Brick by HookahPop Website AO3

Summary:

The Team was just trying to tie up loose ends. The light had been defeated, so they needed to make sure they stayed down. Robin was never supposed to be caught in the blast.

The Titans were just going on a simple mission. Control Freak would take two minutes tops, then they'd go out for pizza. Slade wasn't supposed to interfere and single Robin out.

The two Robins switch places, and no one is prepared for the consequences.

Chapters 12 WIP; A fun birdflash one, but also it's 12/15 chapters, so close to being finished.

Avengers/Marvel

Child Soldiers by McKennaC Website: fanfiction.net

Summary: When the Avengers investigate an illegal lab that's putting off radiation similar to the Tesseract, they find three young boys from another universe. While trying to send them home, they discover that the kids have abilities that rival their own. How can they handle having three child heroes in the tower?

Chapters 17; WIP. This is set before the start of Young Justice, by a few years, when Robin, Speedy, and Kid Flash were the only sidekicks.

Away From Home by JJ100051 Website: fanfiction.net

Summary: During a run in with Klarion, Young Justice is sent to an alternate universe where the Justice League doesn't exist, But instead the unorganized and scattered avengers do. Inspired by the great Avengers movie and Sparked by Canaryhowl

Chapters 10; WIP. Fun to see how the team would hold up against SHIELD when they let loose.

[angela-thefandomgirl]

Title: Night

Rating: Up to Mature

Categories: M/F

Fandom: Star Trek : Discovery

Relationships: Michael Burnham/Rayner

Characters: Commander Rayner, Captain Michael Burnham, rest of the crew inevitibly

Additional Tags: Kellerun Genocide, PTSD, Romance, Character study, Death, Grief

Notes: Whilst I fully support the canonical pairing of Michael/Book for the TV show in fan fiction I genuinely think that there is a goldmine with Michael/Rayner. I have issues with that pairing though. Books actions in season four would have left me feeling betrayed, angry, and lacking trust in the man. That would not be conducive to me for a healthy, sustainable relationship. I mean how do you get past the actions that almost created a war? Which is why I do support the Michael/Rayner pairing. It is why I, to write my fics I am creating a slightly divergent AU where the original pairing can stand on its own and separate, whilst still enjoying the exploration of a pairing that should have been explored. tagging in 2 of the people I know will appreciate reading @clearwerewolfsong @tinderbox210

Night

Prologue

Some nights were harder others, those were the nights that the screams of the dead were louder than the thoughts of the living. Those were the nights when the thoughts of the battlefield, and the battle arenas and the deaths of compatriots, kinsmen and women, of lovers and family and the things the Breen had managed to put a gun to their head to force them to do, to their planet, to each other, screamed so loud, and demanded to be paid attention. Growing up happened in the blink of an eye, childhood ceased, death became normal and living was an anathema.

He'd walked the hallowed and the accursed halls of Breen battle arenas, smelled the blood of his species seeping into any porous surface, and held he body of his wife of six days as she lay in his arms bleeding. She'd survived her battle long enough to be thrown back into the cells they had kept them all in. If she survived it would have been the next step to the next battle. She hadn't. The injuries were too much, the blood loss too significant. They had been but children themselves, but they had carved out something for themselves.

He had caressed her cheek and held her face in his hand as her head had gently lolled to the side, the energy had been too much to expend just to hold up her head. He gently pulled it back to face him, tears unshed in his eyes, tears falling silently from hers. No words could be spoken for what was there to say, they had known it wouldn't be long, but in the minds of the young, love demands to be screamed from the mountains, and can never be denied. So they had taken what they could for how long they could take it for, and this was the early, bitter end.

Blood spilt on a dirt floor of the planets premier battle arena, the smell of old blood, vomit and excrement poisoned thier sense of smell, the dark an oppressive force that surrounded them, cloaked them in a privacy, and stole their final moments to see each other properly. An ignominious end to be sure. Her final declaration of love was mouthed, her blood had spluttered out of her mouth as she coughed one last time, the air she needed making the blood filling her lungs bubble, and then her eyes had gently closed, her final moments hearing her lover and husband declare his love for her.

The guards had come for her body the next morning, he’d taken two of the Breen with his own hands before they had put him down. It had earned him an audience with Tahal that day. She had looked at him like a piece of meet, the feeling had made his skin crawl. He'd spat at her feet expecting to meet his wife shortly thereafter, but she had laughed instead, had called him her favourite, that he was almost a Breen in his ferocity. He had hated her in that moment and all the ones thereafter. His rage had become ice cold in that moment. He had felt it grow and take root in the heart that had once house the love for his wife.

Where once his ferocity had come from a single minded drive for survival, now it came from a desire for death, his own and theirs, a never ending bloodshed that would only end in his heart failing him, as his wife’s had. And then they had left. And Starfleet had come. When all had been said and done, and the tallies counted Kellerun was down 65% of it's population, the forests that once was, was no more. Its beauty razed and stripped for whatever the Breen wanted, habitable homes had been decimated, and there was Starfleet stepping in, helping. He saw his chance there, knew that joining up, enlisting as an officer would help him take the battle to the Breen someday. One day he would have his chance at Tahal.

The day he put on the cadets uniform, he had compartmentalised his feelings, built walls so high that he thought they would be forever impenetrable, and then there was a her, and a ship, and a crew that were as unrelenting in their belief in connection as he was in his desire to one day kill Tahal, and slowly those walls that he had built, those compartments has begun disappearing and suddenly nights like tonight, where he was sat in his bed, sweat pouring, anger racing in his veins and a grief so visceral that pain seemed a paltry word for how he felt.

It was nights like this, that he would seek her out, knew that of the 300 or more souls on the ship she would understand. she'd lost so much that they were parallels in a universe of individuals and chaos. He'd read her file, read her chequered history. He had seen the decision that had lead to the mutiny, had understood that she had greater information, that her Captain had made a different choice. He had agreed with Michael. He had understood her thought process, had known he would enjoy working with her, even on that first mission and now he was her subordinate, she worked slowly on tearing down the walls. And she was the only one who would understand nights like this.

@clearwerewolfsong @tinderbox210

[moreespressoformydepresso]

Guess who continues to make themself cry with their own ideas? This gal :)

This idea has been in the drafts for a long time and because @crazycriter was interested I’ve finally decided to finish this behemoth of a post and the sequel in my drafts I’m debating on posting as well. I hope this lives up to your expectations in ways my big fic likely will not when I (hopefully) post it somewhere next week 💜

A few months ago I made a biiigggg AU post starring Lamina and Treech, and in most of them they’re siblings because family angst and all that. But them being in a romantic relationship opens up whole new doors!! So lets talk about one of my 25th Hunger Games AU’s, and I’ll expand on another one like I said I would in that past post. This will not be random AU blurbs like the past post, this will be a pretty detailed plot synopsis because I may write this if there’s enough interest. Only after I’ve both posted the big one-shot and finished The Losing Battle We Won’t Stop Fighting, because I try to limit myself to actively working on 3 WIP’s and I’ve got one lined up to fill one of those two spots already. With that out of the way, let’s go! :)

Basic concept:

So I had two main ideas for an alternate first quarter quell. The one that’s relevant for today’s barrage of my madness is the AU where the tributes are picked from the families of the victors, to show that even the strongest cannot protect their loved ones from the Capitol’s might (and monstrousness). Well, how about we change that from being unable to protect their loved ones, to being unable to protect their lovers. The only exception is if said lover is also a previous victor, because the 75th games was the first time they broke the promise that victors wouldn’t have to go into the arena again. To truly hammer in the message, the victors won’t be mentoring this year. Instead, the gamemakers are going back to the original system where the top performing academy students mentor the tributes in the hopes of winning a monetary prize. Previous victors are not allowed to even see their lovers, let alone talk to them. As for what kind of tributes will fight in the games this year… Pretty much all the victors stay far away from love the first few years after their victory, because the deep sea of trauma that comes with watching 23 kids die in the span of days and knowing that you’re only alive because of their horrific fates isn’t very conducive to building a healthy relationship. Therefore, the people now eligible to be picked as tributes are all pretty far into adulthood, the wives and husbands of the victors of the first few games, mostly.

The part where LumberKids/LumberLove/Lameech/Treemina becomes relevant:

District seven has only had one female victor so far, which is Lamina, and she and Treech were in a relationship before she was reaped. If there are any gay victors, they don’t have a boyfriend anyone knows of. Her talking about him in her interview and her mentor sending people to district seven to interview Treech during the games are a big part as to why she won, since it gained her a whole bunch of sponsors. They’re both well-known and beloved in the capitol, and the fact that the people love their love story so much is the only reason Lamina wasn’t forced into the more… unsavory side effects that come with being a victor (side eyes Finnick Odair I think it’s pretty clear age isn’t a dealbreaker for them). Because of this, Treech is the only possible male tribute for the Quarter Quell, and due to the before mentioned usual mental health break from dating he’s also the only minor who becomes a tribute. The person closest to him in age is over 25, and due to him being from the poorer area (headcanon) of one of the poorer districts (canon), he’s also the least well-fed. He doesn’t live with Lamina, and despite her offering he refuses most of the benefits her victory gave her because he’d rather give it to his family. All the other tributes are living with their partners, and thus healthier than Treech is. Their brains and bodies are fully developed and they’ve got a lot more life experience than he does, so all the odds are against him here.

The reaping is a sombre affair, because for a brief moment the district rejoiced at not having to send in their kids for once. It’s still horrible, but even the girlfriends/wives that are now gonna have to fight to the death are okay with it because at least they had a good run on earth and, for one year, their daughters are safe. But then they remember that there’s only one boy who qualifies for the reaping, and the mood sours instantly. All the other districts get to send in adults, but they’re still gonna lose a child. It’s not fair. There are still two bowls, and after the oldest woman (roughly in her forties) volunteers, the escort tries her damnest to be cheery as she swirls her hand in the bowl for the guys. It’s almost like she’s trying to prolong the inevitable, because there’s only one piece of paper lying innocently at the bottom and there’s only one person standing on the right side of the podium. It’s impossible for her to not feel any sympathy when the only sound filling the square is Lamina’s muffled sobs. After she finally reads out the name, Treech steps forward, far past the initial horror. Reality hasn’t quite crashed down on him yet, but the claws have been sunk into his soul for long enough that he’s dissociated.

He looks like he does during the reaping in the movie, but while the escort gives out her little speech tears do shimmer in his eyes. More due to Lamina’s obvious distress and his inability to console her than the fact that he’s probably going to die. He feels… numb, on that front. It doesn’t quite feel real. When the escort takes the hands of the tributes to raise them in the air, Treech stares blankly for a second before wiping the tears from his face and raising his chin high because he knows how the games work. Again, Lamina won partially due to the sponsors he helped her get. If there’s anything he learned from watching her games it’s that if you want to win, you have to be interesting. If you’re not, people will only bet on your odds of winning, and those are decidedly not in Treech’s favor. Especially since his age is going to be a stigma that’ll make people hesitant to bet on him. No matter how skilled he is, the simple fact that he’s so young will hang over his head. He’ll have to twist the odds he does have control over to balance it out. The one advantage he has is that he’s the only tribute that the capitol already knows and cares about, and they really like him. He’s a capitol favorite, despite seemingly having very low chances of surviving even the first day in the arena, let alone actually winning.

For the opening ceremony, the district 7 stylists lean into the nature aspect of their industry rather than their produce. The female tribute, who I’ll call Ascaia, wears a long dress made of colorful leaves and flowers. She gets a flower crown as well. Treech, on the other hand, has a less flashy outfit. Green pants and a green, sleeveless top that look like they’re made of leaves. His arms are covered with what looks like vines, and his outfit has subtle golden elements to give it a little pop. On his head is a golden laurel wreath, a symbol of triumph and victory. Two nature spirits, one bold and wild, the other calm and peaceful. They catch attention immediately, and after the ceremony they’re introduced to their mentors.

Treech’s mentor ends up being Pliny “Pup” Harrington, who somehow met and befriended Lamina during one of her visits to the capitol, though Treech had never met him before. Pup pulled some strings to switch assigned tributes with another mentor so he could give his friend’s boyfriend the best help he could possibly get. Not that the other student minded switching, given how disastrous everyone perceives Treech’s chances to be. Pup tries not to get too attached, but they end up becoming close friends by the time the week is up. Aside from Pup passing messages between the two lovebirds, they discuss strategy both in the game and out of it. Pup’s dad has clout because of his position in the navy, and Pup is fully using that to his advantage. People jump at the chance of getting in his good graces, so quite a few sponsors warm up to the idea of supporting him, although most are still on the fence. They may be swayed by the training scores, and that’s where it gets a little difficult. Treech has to decide how to approach these scores, and he has to decide carefully. On one hand, he can play fully into the “underdog destined to die soon” act that he cannot escape no matter what he does by getting a score around 2 to 4, but that risks putting off the sponsors who don’t want to invest in tributes that have no chance of making it. Or he could lean into getting sponsors by getting a high score and risk putting a massive target on his back, which is a horrible idea because his whole strategy is to play the long game. Stay hidden, away from fights, and sneak around. Prepare to use the deteriorated state of the last remaining tributes to his advantage at the end of the games. It’s a lot harder to stay out of danger when people are actively hunting you down. Especially because a lot of the other tributes could body Treech no problem when it comes to raw physical strength. So, he and Pup decide to go with the middle option and aim for a mid score. Not low enough to turn off sponsors but not high enough to really stand out. I’m not sure at what point training was implemented, but for the sake of the story I’m gonna say there was a massive technological development in the 15 years between the 10th and 25th hunger games so training is pretty much just like in the 74th and 75th games.

During training, Treech spends most of his time at the survival stations. He’s already good at climbing and fire-starting because he’s from district seven, but the rest is mostly new. Most tributes gravitate towards the weapons stations, but Treech ignores them in the interest of remaining as far under the radar as possible. The second and third day the weapons stations are empty enough for Treech to use them in short bursts, mostly the knives (at Pup’s suggestion, since they’re very common and versatile). He deliberately flubs the ax station, balancing it so that he’s good enough to be believable (since he is from the lumber district) but bad enough to not be considered a threat. The private session comes, and Treech needs to choose one skill to show the gamemakers. It’s a tough choice between the edibles, axes, and climbing, but since he doesn’t wanna risk straining his muscles too much he goes with edibles. They saw him climb plenty during the open training sessions, as it was his way of not losing his muscle strength without showing all his cards to the other tributes. It lands him a solid 6, showing sponsors he’s not hopeless without being outstanding enough that other tributes will pay more attention to him.

Lastly, it’s time for the interview. The only real advantage Treech has is that, again, the capitol already knows him. They loved Lamina, in part because they loved her relationship with him. He was central to her story and instrumental to her victory, and the Capitol adores him for it. And Treech milks it for all it’s worth. Most of his interview is spent talking about his life back in district seven after Lamina’s return, and his short stories about their hijinks with their friends leaves everyone aw’ing. He makes sure to also build up his own personality, sharing things about him that aren’t necessarily connected to Lamina so he comes off more genuine instead of making this sound like a shallow attempt at profiting from his girlfriend’s victory. So he’ll mention carving wooden figurines for her and shows everyone a small wooden box he made in the capitol as a gift to his stylist, to both reinforce his love for his girlfriend and showcase his individuality. It works, because Lamina won the 23d games (at 15. Treech is 16-17 during the 25th games) so he’s got a lot of room to work with. Their story happened recently enough that it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind, but long enough ago that it’s mostly smoldering coals for Treech to reignite without it feeling like a rehash of this sick reality show’s previous ‘plotlines’.

Treech manages to successfully recapture the hearts of the capitol citizens, and he becomes a favorite to win. Now he’s done all he can with his time in the capitol, and he’s a few hours away from going into the arena. Pup informs him that all the victors have to watch from back home, set on the stage so the entire district can see their reactions to their lovers fighting for their lives. In response, Treech carves Lamina one last figurine. A heart laid on a bed of dahlias and roses, symbolizing eternal love. From the top of one of the arches of the heart, a small bouquet of hyacints and poppies cascaded slightly over the edge. Hyacinths represent sorrow and regret, but also forgiveness, whereas poppies symbolize remembrance. The message was clear: “Our love is eternal. I’m sorry we didn’t have more time together, please forgive me for leaving you so soon. I love you.”

Just before Treech is taken to the arena, he gives the figurine to Pup and asks him to give it to his girlfriend for him. Pup agrees to give it to Lamina, but only if Treech promises he’ll do whatever it takes to be the one leaving that arena alive. Not just for Lamina, or for Treech’s family and friends back home, but for Pup as well. Treech promises to do what he can, and they both know he can’t do much more than that. They hug one last time, and then Treech is escorted to the arena.

Will he keep his promise? Will he live? Will he die in the first 30 seconds? Will he go insane? I know, but if you want me to write this as an actual story I’ll keep some details to myself :D

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Haunting With Dinosaurs (1)

Danny is summoned by a powerful occult practitioner named Victor Veloci, who wants him to bring dinosaurs back to life. It sounds absurd, but Danny is bound to him and cannot refuse, even though he can't actually bring dinosaurs back to life. Instead, he merges the ghosts of five dinosaurs with the bodies of the five human sacrifices Veloci used to summon him, restoring them to life as dinosaur halfas. And that's only the beginning.

Written for @crossoverdanuary Week, Day 4: Any Fandom Dino Squad | Element

Read it on AO3 also, Watch Dino Squad on YouTube it sucks (affectionate)

Danny is slightly aged up to be 18 and a recent high school graduate, also this is a ghost king Danny AU, and obviously Phantom Planet didn't happen, but other than that, no major changes have been made to DP lore in this fic.

As for Dino Squad, I've made some pretty significant changes, but they pretty much boil down to: This is a supernatural AU, so it won't have canon-typical Dino Squad made-up science. All other changes are explained in the actual fic as they come up.

I'm lowkey assuming that the majority of people who read this will not have seen Dino Squad, so I've made sure to describe all the DS elements a little more thoroughly than the DP elements so those of you who haven't seen Dino Squad can understand what's going on.

"Italicized dialogue" indicates speech that can only be heard in the POV character's head. (Caruso in this chapter)

Chapter 1: So, You're Finally Awake

Previous | Next

[Warning for descriptions of several different types of ritualistic deaths with varying degrees of detail, some of them being more graphic than others]

Caruso woke up slowly. That was normal.

He liked to stretch out in the warm comfort of his lush bed, breathe in the flowery sent of his air freshener, and adjust to the sunlight streaming through his window before he got up, did his morning exercises and started his skincare routine. 

Unfortunately for him, he did not appear to be in his lush bed. The air, still and stale, carried the sharp metallic scent of blood, mixed with mold and must. Definitely not honey-suckle and jasmine. And the dim, yellowish light cast by the single caged bulb above him was hardly comparable to the morning sun.

For some reason, as he tested the ropes that tied him to a wooden chair, he was guessing his skincare routine would have to wait. 

Still, it was a bit of an improvement from how he expected he was going to wake up last night, which was: not at all. Suffering a death by a thousand cuts was not typically conducive to waking up in the morning without a scratch on you. Too bad he couldn't say the same thing for his clothes, which were completely shredded and covered in blood. 

This was a silk shirt, too. There wasn't even enough undamaged fabric left to make a pocket square out of. Maybe he could use it for silk fringe on something. If he could get the blood stains out, of course.

When he finally looked around properly, he saw that he was one of five people, sitting in a circle of chairs with their backs to each other. He had to crane his neck to see the other four, but still, he recognized them. They were the same four people he'd been tied up with last night. The four people he'd watched die before he himself was killed.

Caruso jumped as much as his bonds would allow and whipped his head around as he heard a scream to his left. The girl sitting there was shrieking at the top of her lungs. 

She had thick, red hair, with blunt-cut bangs. He remembered seeing her last night. Watching her get disemboweled, her entrails spilling out over a black pentagram. He wished he could forget. 

They went to the same school... she was in his AP bio class, he thought. What was her name?

"Fi... Fiona," he said, hoping that was right. "Are you hurt?"

"I... I... no," she said. She was panting, frantically looking down at herself, shaking her head like she couldn't believe what she saw. "I was... I died. Her clothes looked undamaged, but the blood on the hem of her once-white T-shirt still looked damp.

"Yeah, I remember," Caruso said. It had been especially grizzly, but at least it had been fairly quick, comparatively. As the last to be sacrificed, Caruso had had the horror of watching the rest of them die before him. They weren't all lucky enough to bleed out in seconds. "I did too. Seems like we're fine now, though... somehow."

"How are you so calm?" Fiona demanded, sounding on the verge of hyperventilating.

"I don't know," he said. Caruso had never really been the type to freak out when something bad happened, but even for him, this seemed way too calm for what had happened.

"Death is inevitable," said a voice in his head. "It comes and it goes. It's gone now, so why bother about it?"

"Uh... what?" Caruso muttered.

"Caruso?" Fiona asked, and he turned back to her. "It's Caruso, right?"

He nodded.

"How are we alive?"

"I don't know," he answered. He nodded his head toward the three other people tied to chairs behind them. They hadn't woken up when Fiona screamed, but their injuries from last night were gone. "Are they alive?"

"I don't know," she said, craning her neck to look at them. "Are you also hearing a weird voice in your head?"

Caruso swallowed and bit his lip before answering. What he wouldn't do for some lip balm right about now. 

"Yeah."

A groan attracted their attention next. One of the others had woken up. This one Caruso recognized immediately. Max Maxwell, real name Rolf, poor guy. Varsity quarterback, big man on campus, and Caruso's sophomore crush—but he was totally over it now. 

Max had been stabbed last night, Caruso hadn't counted how many times. Not shallow cuts like Caruso, but deep enough that they could hear the bones crack. First his feet, then hands, then wrists and ankles, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders, abdomen, chest, and finally his eyes. He probably hadn't died until the killer reached his torso. 

It was no wonder he seemed so frantic and disoriented. That was a nasty way to go. To his credit though, he'd gritted his teeth though it and didn't give their murderer the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

"You linger too much. Focus on the present time. It is the only thing that matters."

"What... how... where?" Max said. Incoherent, but who could blame him.

"We're not dead," Caruso explained. "We're still in that freak's basement though, it looks like. He hasn't even cleaned up the blood."

"I'm not bleeding," Max said. "Nothing even hurts, how—what was that?!"

"Voice in your head?" Caruso guessed. "We've got 'em too."

"We don't know how we're alive and unharmed..." Fiona shuddered, "physically anyway—God knows I'm gonna have nightmares about last night for the rest of my life. I'd bet those voices are related, but mine just keeps talking about how much she craves fish."

"I think big guy's gonna wake up next," Caruso said, nodding toward him. It seemed like they were waking up in the opposite order that they'd died. He wasn't sure if that was significant or just the way the cookie crumbled. 

"Rodger," Max said. "He's the smartest kid in school, how'd he end up in this."

"Are you saying the rest of us are here because we're idiots?" Fiona shot back.

"No, it's just... I mean, if anyone could have avoided something like this, I would have bet on him," Max attempted to clarify. "I guess nobody could have."

Just as Caruso had guessed, Rodger woke up next and immediately started taking deep, gasping breaths. Nothing'll make a man savor oxygen like having his throat slit and drowning in his own blood, Caruso supposed.

"I'm alive," Rodger panted out. "This isn't a hospital. How am I alive? How am I talking already? Who said that?"

Almost the instant after the three of them had gotten Rodger up to speed on what they knew about the situation, their fifth and final companion woke up, screaming like he was still on fire. Neil Buzzmati, AKA Buzz. Him, Caruso recognized from school. He made himself pretty hard to miss. 

Whatever product he put in that hideous green mohawk of his seemed to have protected it from everything but the ashes. His clothes had been completely burned away, but whoever had tied him up had also had the decency to lay a blanket over him to protect his modesty.

"Stop screaming!" Caruso shouted. "You're fine!"

The screams gave way to panicked pants, and half formed questions and expletives. "I was on fire!" Buzz finally shouted.

"Well... you're fine now," Caruso amended.

They all fell silent as heavy footsteps started coming down the stairs.

"Is that finally all of you?" came a deep voice with a transatlantic accent they would not soon forget. "I didn't want to gag you, but your screams are disturbing my customers. If you can't stay quiet—"

"Why should we?" Fiona demanded, cutting him off. "We should keep screaming as loud as we can until someone calls the cops! You literally killed us last night!"

"And I can do it again," the man threatened. "So I strongly suggest you keep it down. Or do I have to gag you after all?"

No one responded. They just glared at him as viciously as they could.

"He brought us here. We trusted him. He would kill us?"

Caruso tried not to visibly react to the voice in his head. Did that mean the voice truly was connected to what had happened last night? It made sense, but there hadn't been any proof until now.

Their captor sighed. "You were supposed to be possessed, but you still seem to be quite in control of yourselves. We'll have to have a word about that."

Up the stairs, they heard a distant bell ring, and their captor sighed again.

"But I suppose that will have to wait," he said reluctantly. "Please excuse me, and keep your voices down... or else."

With that he retreated back up the stairs.

"That was the asshole who set me on fire," Buzz hissed out in a hoarse whisper.

"We know, we were there," Rodger told him. "When he was done with you, he moved onto the rest of us."

"Although, we didn't all get burned to death," Caruso said. "He used different methods for each of us."

"Why?" Buzz asked.

"He didn't exactly stop to explain."

"My guess is he was summoning a demon," Fiona said. "I mean, pentagram, black candles, human sacrifices? Classic demon summoning ritual, right? At least, that's how it looks in movies. Not that I'm much of a horror buff, to be honest."

"You're close," said a disembodied voice.

At first, Caruso thought it was another voice coming from his head, but then he saw everyone else reacting to it, too, and realized that couldn't be the case.

"It was a summoning ritual, but not for a demon," the voice continued. "He was summoning me."

Instantaneously, a person appeared just on the other side of Fiona. 

It hurt his neck a little trying to get a good look, but Caruso guessed the stranger was seventeen or eighteen, about the same age as the rest of them, and not bad-looking. He was on the short side of average height, sharp jawline, square shoulders, with wispy white hair and eyes that glowed an unearthly green. He wore a black jumpsuit with a white belt, white gloves and boots, and a signet ring. A crown floated above his head, flickering with green flames.

"Hi, Danny Phantom, ghost king, at your service," he introduced. "I'm the one who brought you crazy kids back from the dead, and I'm the one whose gonna bust you out of here. Keep it hush-hush, though, yeah? If the boss man hears you, he'll come down and tell me to stop, and he has me bound to obey him. It's a whole thing."

He stepped over to Fiona, who was closest, and all he had to do was touch the ropes that tied her down to make them instantly fall to the floor, freeing her. He went to Max next, and did the same.

"If you're bound to obey him, why are you letting us go?" Max asked.

"I'm only bound to obey direct orders, and only ones I'm actually capable of carrying out," the ghost king explained. "Aside from that, I can do whatever I want. He never explicitly told me not to free you guys, so here I am."

He went to Buzz next. "Wow, you look a lot different with a face," he commented.

"That is an absolutely horrifying thing to tell someone, thanks," Buzz replied.

"Sorry." The king moved onto Rodger, and finally Caruso. Their eyes met for a moment, and Caruso could swear his cheeks looked greener from this angle. "You look different too," he said.

"Yeah, well, that happens when someone isn't covered in a thousand cuts and a corresponding swimming pool of blood," Caruso replied.

"Jesus Christ," Fiona said, barely managing not to raise her voice. "Is that what he did to you? How long did that take?"

"Hours," Caruso said with a shudder. 

Their captor had counted out every cut, and he'd made sure that Caruso didn't actually die, or even pass out, until the very last one. There was no reason to tell them that, though. They were traumatized enough from their own deaths. 

"But I'm fine now, see? Too bad about my clothes, though."

"How do we get out of here?" Rodger asked. "There's only one exit, and it leads to where that psycho is."

"Exits?" the ghost king scoffed. "Where we're going, we don't need, exits."

"Did you just reference Back to the Future?" Rodger asked.

"Yup!" He grabbed Rodger by the shoulders and picked him up like he weighed nothing at all, then flew straight through the wall and out of the basement. He then returned four more times to collect the rest of them.

"Your majesty?" Fiona asked once they were safely standing in a back alley, where the greatest potential danger was tetanus and muggers, and not a monster trying to summon the ghost king.

"You guys can call me Danny," he said. "But go on."

"If you brought us back to life," she continued, "then can you tell us how you did it? Or why we all have these voices in our heads?"

"Voices in your heads?" the king, Danny, repeated. Based on his expression, that was not a good thing. "Hmm... that... was not intentional. But we should go somewhere else, somewhere more than half a block away from old Victor and his creepy magic shop. Luckily, I know just the place."

"Uh, any chance we can pick up some clothes first?" asked Buzz, who was still wearing only the blanket their captor had left him, wrapped tightly around his lanky body. 

It was only a few weeks away from winter, and his shoes were gone, too. He must have been freezing.

"Yeah," Caruso agreed. "And maybe a shower too?" He was basically decent, but he was pretty sure his clothes could completely fall apart on him any second, and he was still thoroughly covered in blood.

"I second the shower," said Max, who was similarly blood-soaked.

"Thirded," Fiona and Buzz piped up at the same time.

"Motion carried," Rodger tacked on.

"Motion passed," Danny agreed. "Seeing you all in the daylight... you obviously need a little TLC. You weren't taken from your homes, were you?"

"No, we got grabbed as we were leaving a house party, at least, I think we all did," Max said. "I didn't see Rodger there, though."

"I wasn't there, but I passed it when I was walking home from my DnD sesh, and got grabbed then," Rodger said.

"Great!" Danny said.

"That we got kidnapped by a witch?" Fiona asked.

"Well, no, but if he took you from someone else's house party, that means he doesn't know where you live, and that's good news," he said. "Let's see... can't exactly call you guys a cab when you look like that... hm... wait here a sec."

Danny vanished, and the five of them were left standing in the alley waiting for something to happen. A minute or so later, a while panel van stopped at the mouth of the alley, and the driver's side window opened.

"You kids need a lift?" Asked a bearded man in dark sunglasses. 

"Uh, no thanks, sir, we're waiting for a friend," Fiona said.

The man pulled down his sunglasses revealing glowing green eyes. 

"I'm just messing with you guys, it's me, Danny," he said, the man's deep gruff voice turning into Danny's own, much lighter one. "Hop in and I'll drive you guys home. You just need to give me directions."

"How are you doing this?" Rodger asked once they'd all piled into the back of the van.

"Overshadowing," Danny explained. "I just found a car that could carry all of you without drawing too much attention, no matter how much I wanted to take the one with flames painted on the side, and I took control of the driver. I'll top off the gas and take him back where I found him once we're done, and he won't remember a thing."

"That seems unethical," Buzz said.

"A) It's harmless, he'll be completely fine, and the only thing he'll lose is an hour, tops. And B) Would you rather walk home?"

"Fair enough," Buzz relented, adjusting his blanket over his lap.

Caruso got dropped off last, since his house was the farthest away. They'd all agreed to meet up at their school once they'd showered and changed, and Caruso lamented the fact that there was no way he'd have time to properly moisturize.

"I'll uh... see you later," Danny said as he dropped Caruso off behind his house so he could sneak in the back door and hopefully avoid his parents seeing him like this.

"Huh?" Caruso said.

The way Danny said it felt like he meant something more by it, but Caruso was too distracted by the thought of the shower in his tantalizingly near future to know or care what it was.

"Yeah, see ya," he said, and headed gratefully into his home.