#it helps because it serves as a good human disguise

[katkalis-the-fanartist]

Thought about what would happen if he put on a mask,

But then wondered if it was already wearing one.

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Sweetest Nectar

Yandere Sundew Plant Man x Gender Neutral Luna Moth Fae Reader CW: Noncon, no pain, drugging, aphrodisiac nectar, lured in, bondage, reader done gets violated by the tentacles, overstimulation, multiple orgasms, reader rides that dick like a cowboy, making out, french kissing, general yandere behavior, seed oviposition Word Count: 1.4k (Comm I got late last night. Wrote half before 5am this morning and the rest tonight. The name Lasio comes from the sundew subgenus Lasiocephala. Hope you all enjoy <3)

The only sound you could hear was that of the wind as it whooshed by while you fluttered without a care in the world through the purple sky. Partly cloudy, a nice breeze, no bothersome humans in this realm at all. A lovely summer evening in the realm of the fairies.

You were a luna moth type fairy. Your large pale jade wings and antenna serving as a dead give away. Not that it mattered when you were away from the land of the humans. When you were on Earth you could easily disguise yourself though, so it was never a problem. But here you were totally free to be as nature intended.

You flitted between the great flowers, many as great as trees, collecting various types of nectar to feed on later. You went at this task for a couple hours before deciding to feed on your spoils in a nice clearing near the crystal creek.

After a nice day fluttering all about it was nice to sit down and begin to relax. You sipped from one of your many vials of nectar and enjoyed the birdsong all around you. It was so peaceful here. A true paradise. You tried to spend as much time as possible here, avoiding the human world as much as possible.

With a heavy sigh you willed yourself up and readied yourself to collect more nectar and maybe some pollen for tomorrow. It took much to sustain you. It seemed you were in luck. As the wind shifted, before you even took to the sky, you caught the alluring scent of nectar.

It was the most alluring floral scent you had ever experienced, there was probably quite a lot of fresh high quality nectar. Your antennae were twitching like crazy and even though you had just had a snack you had to wipe away drool from your mouth because you were salivating so intensely.

You leapt up and began flying towards the wondrous aroma at once.

It didn’t take long for you to find it. A long vine with lovely red globules of nectar. You tried to collect one but found that they were quite a bit sticky. Terrifyingly sticky… no matter what you did you couldn’t get free. What’s more you found yourself wrapped in the vine the more you struggled.

Soon you found yourself covered in the sticky goop, its heady aroma practically drowning you. Your head grew dizzy as a heat pooled in your crotch.

Just what was this stuff?

You were stuck for a while longer and found yourself actually grinding into the sticky vine that held you, you knew you should be trying to think of a way to escape… but you were so horny… you needed to cum so bad. It was all you could think about. Your antenna vibrated with agitation at your inability to get yourself off in your current predicament, with your hands held uselessly at your sides.

Once you started to cry it became evident just what mess you had found yourself in exactly.

A man stepped out of the brush. A plant man with long sticky tentacles sprouting from his head and another mass of them branching out from his tail. They were green at the base, transitioned into a lemon yellow, and were tipped with the red globules you found yourself ensnared in.

Due to your drug-like effects of the sap you had been coated in you did not even realize the danger that you were in.

“Ah~ Pl-please help! I need help. Stuck.” You kept fidgeting. You needed to touch yourself so badly!! You couldn’t even put together that this man standing before you was the one who had trapped you in the first place.

“Of course cutie! I’m your new boyfriend, Lasio. And I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I didn’t help you out~”

You did not even question what he had said, you were just too needy by that point.

At Lasio’s whim the sticky nectar became slick and slippery, but before you could get your hands to your aching crotch the vines of his tail wrapped around you tightly and drew you closer. You whimpered due to being denied the use of your hands but it quickly turned into a moan as the tip of one of the vines dipped into your pants and rubbed you thoroughly.

It pressed and massaged your entrance and you cried and begged for more. He was inclined to oblige you. The slippery appendage slid into deeply, coating your insides with the potent fluid that had already made you lose control.

You writhed and squirmed in pure sexual bliss, more stimulated than before.

But Lasio didn’t stop there, he brought your squirming form close and stilled you with a touch, his hands holding your head steady as he kissed you deeply. His tongue slipped past your lips and caressed your tongue before exploring your mouth. It was dripping with the same sweet substance that had covered your body and been deposited into your hole.

You sucked at it eagerly as you moaned softly. You absolutely couldn’t get enough.

When Lasio withdrew his tentacle like vine from you you were ready to cry in protest. It left you so empty and hollow. So needy to be filled up. Then you saw why he had removed himself from you. His cock was fully erect. It was bright yellow with a sweet looking bead of amber nectar dribbling out.

There was nothing you wanted more in this world than to be plowed by your brand new boyfriend. And there was nothing in the world that Lasio wanted more than to sink his cock into you and fill you with his seeds.

Lasio sat down on a soft patch of grass. He grabbed you gently with one of his tails and guided you over to him then pulled you down into his lap.

You understood what he needed and sat down on his cock, your well lubed hole taking him just as perfectly as his cock filled that void in you. You steadied yourself with your hands on his muscular green pecs. Your antenna twitched and lightly touched him as he grabbed your hips in his strong hands.

The sensation was indescribable as you moved yourself up and down on his prick, riding him and doing most of the work in your desperation for release. With a dazed and far away look you stared at him but you weren’t really paying much attention to anything other than the physical sensation of impaling yourself on his dick.

Lasio pulled you close and nipped at your lip gently then pressed his lips against your passionately. Reveling in the feel of your soft lips against his had him almost as intoxicated as you were.

You rode his cock until you were simply too spent to keep moving. You had already cum several mind shattering times by that point but even in your exhaustion you were no less desperate to continue making love with your wonderful partner.

“You’ve done so well for me, let me take over now my sweet moth.”

Lasio, priding himself on being the very best boyfriend ever, would never deprive you of your needs. He grasped your ass firmly and thrust into you over and over. You melted into his chest, body pressed against his with your face nestled comfortably into his neck as he thrust into you. This entire time he hadn’t yet came but he was getting close, his movements gradually became fast and sloppy as he chased his own release.

He grunted and his spasming cock flooded you with more than just semen but also many small literal seeds. The feeling of his dick twitching inside you made you squeal before going limp against him. Finally you felt sated as you wrapped your arms around Lasio and kissed him lovingly.

“Mmm, I bet you’ll grow my seeds just as well as you took my cock~”

Of course you would! You’d happily bear your lover’s children. As many as he needed you to! For once an insectoid fae had tasted of the sundew man’s nectar and then got themselves seeded by him their love for one another would be eternal.

[inbarfink]

So the thing about Tak’s Holo-Disguise is that it specifically might not be an example of Tak using more advanced technology than Zim.

The implication in “The Nightmare Begins” is that Zim maybe also have access to Perfectly Realistic Human Disguises, probably similar to Tak’s Hologram - but he intentionally rejected them because he saw them as too ugly. He deliberately chose his shitty little costume because he thought that was the only one that looked ‘good’.

And these terrible disguises are also pretty consistent with how the actual official Invaders disguise themselves. If anything, Zim’s got the best costume of the lot!

So with Zim dismissing the more realistic disguises as being ‘ugly’ and ‘stinky’ and those being… basically the most common insults he throws at humans. ..I think the implication here is pretty clearly that Zim’s (and the actual Irken Invaders’) disguises are bad because he doesn’t want to look too human because Irken Imperial Indoctrination has taught him every other species in the universe is revolting and so he cannot stand the idea of looking too match like the people he is trying to infiltrate.

So it is interesting that the one Irken who actually uses their advanced technology to actually look like another species is Tak. Maybe she’s just being a bit of a show-off overachiever. So driven by the need to prove how competent of an Invader she can be she decided to suffer through the indignity of Using a Competent Disguise. 

Or maybe there’s sort of an implication that Tak doesn’t really buy into Irken Ideology that much?

Like, obviously, she’s not, like,  some sort of anti-Imperial pro-alien advocate or anything. She’s still trying to gain the respect of the Tallest, she still wants to become an Invader, she is still willing to sacrifice an entire planet in order to achieve her goals. 

I’m thinking more, like, Zim is 100% a true believer in Irken Imperial Ideology. He wants to be an Invader at least in part so he could use his ‘amazingness’ to contribute to the conquests of the Irken Empire. And he legitimately believes the Tallests are superior beings worthy of his admiration. And he legitimately believes Irkens are superior to all other sapient beings in the universe in general and to humans especially.

Meanwhile, Tak’s main goals might just be to gain as much power and prestige as she can - no matter what or who stands in her way. If she lived in a society that valued dentists above all she would’ve become a dentist. But she was born in the Irken Empire, and the most prestigious not-height-dependent position available to her in Irken Society is the one of an Invader, so that’s what she dedicated her life to. Not out of any ideological commitment to help the Empire's conquests.

She tries to gain the Tallests’ favor because she knows she needs them to get ahead in life, not necessarily because she craves their tall, superior approval the way Zim does. She can kill a lot of non-Irkens on her way to ‘greatness’, but it’s more of a general callousness towards other people - rather than loyalty to the superiority of the Irken people. 

That might also explain why she’s the one Irken with the sense of individuality to customize her uniform

And design her own version of the Irken Empire Flag, based on her own look.

Because maybe she’s not trying to serve the Irken Empire, maybe she’s just trying to serve Tak.

[dcartcorner]

a fantasy/dnd au because i can't help myself and the thought of ancient blue dragon simon who disguises himself as a human brings me joy.

please enjoy this small one shot ft. s1 adventuring crew (please excuse any errors, writing is not my strong suit!)

Rumours at the Tavern Characters: Tim, Simon, Sasha, Martin, Jon Ships: none

It wasn’t what Tim would consider a nice tavern. He had performed in nicer ones, ones where the counters were meticulously cleaned and the patrons were at least passably polite to the serving staff, and a mug of ale would set you back a silver piece. This place was not quite like that.

Then again, Tim had been to worse sorts of dives.

The Lazy Storm sat right smack in the middle of the two kinds of taverns, perched on the cliff side overlooking the choppy seas of the western coast, amidst the fjords in the town of Killn’s Rest. Not a bad place, not a good place. Just a place, somewhere to  find some warmth, a quick meal, and something to drink. It was also the sort of tavern that didn’t take fire hazards all that seriously, if the number of people making merry that evening within its walls was any indication of the owner’s outlook on safety. It was busy, to the point where crowds spilled out onto the street even though the summer had come to a close and the winter, with its biting chill, was fast approaching.

Perhaps that’s why Tim noticed him - the old man. Because he was sitting on the bar top. 

There were few other seats around. Sasha had managed to charm their way to a table of their own earlier in the night while Martin tried to see about rooms, and their party had stayed planted at said table all night as the crowds slowly but surely filtered in for the evening. They were lucky, in this regard, as many other people were forced to stand shoulder to shoulder. Not that old man, though. Perched on the edge of the bar like a bird, smiling kindly at the person next to him.

And his choice of seat was not the only peculiar thing about him, Tim thought. He wore clothing that Tim could only describe as ornate. If this was one of those nice taverns Tim had played in, he might have expected that sort of the look, but this wasn’t one of those places. This was the Lazy Storm, and that man was incredibly overdressed. 

“It’s weird, right?” Tim said aloud. Martin looked up, then glanced around. Sasha craned her neck to look at him. Jon didn’t look up from his book. Tim nodded in the direction of the old man. “Someone dressed like that in a place like this. That’s odd, isn’t it?”

“Not really,” Sasha shrugged.

“Where?” Martin asked.

“Good on him, getting dressed up to go out for a night,” said Sasha. 

“I think it’s weird,” said Tim. Because it was. 

“Where?” Martin asked again. “Oh. Him? I mean. I suppose it’s… well, it’s a little odd.” The twist of a frown at the corners of Martin’s mouth. “Someone should offer him a seat.”

“Seems happy enough where he is,” Sasha said with a huff of a laugh as the other man at the bar leaned closer to the old man and whispered something to him. 

“Could we please focus,” Jon finally interjected, shutting the book. 

Tim rolled his eyes as he took a swig of his drink. It wasn’t silver coin ale. This was a copper-piece-per-tankard-ale, and it tasted like it. Which was to say, it tasted like a good night in the making.

“Have any of you actually asked anyone about any jobs yet?” Jon said.

“Asked just about as many people as you,” Tim said. By this, Tim meant: none. 

“There’s a rat problem in the sewers,” Sasha said, “according to one guard. Doesn’t pay well, but at least it pays.”

“There are bandits, too,” Martin added. “Uh, just out east of here. Somewhere. Apparently they have a den in the woods? But I think someone might’ve already taken that one.”

“Mm.” Jon was not impressed. He looked over at Tim. “Anything?”

Tim raised his hands. “Don’t look at me, I can get a job whenever.” Plenty of people out there who were willing to pay for some good music. “Or did you forget who bought the rooms and drinks?”

Jon leaned his elbows on the table and put his face in his hands momentarily. Then looked up at Tim and said, “Could you please just. Ask.”

“Jon, maybe we should just… take a night off?” Martin suggested. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing…”

Jon shot him a look and that was the end of that conversation.

Well, didn’t matter. Jon didn’t have to join them in having a good night if he didn’t want to. Tim wasn’t going to let it bother him, and he got up to go order another drink with his own hard earned money, ignoring how much lighter his coin purse was compared to earlier that day.

Why was it his problem anyway, that they didn’t have much in the way of coin? He wasn’t going to let it get to him. It wasn’t getting to him. He and Sasha and Martin were just some poor souls dragged along on Jon’s pointless quest to find some answers that had nothing to do with any of them. So why did it matter?

It didn’t matter.

Dammit. 

The old man was not the first person he asked that night about a job. As he waited for a drink he asked the person to his left and to his right, but neither of them were keen on talking - and it took him a little too long to realize they were part of their own adventuring party based on the matching bands on their arms, and wouldn’t be sharing any information with him. He tried to ask the bartender as well, but she was too busy to give him any answer that was not a look of inconvenience. 

Tim sighed. And he kept asking, until finally his route around the tavern brought him to the old man at the bar. Sat there, dressed strangely, looking for all the world like he should be just about anywhere else. 

“Are you quite alright?” the old man asked him. Tim blinked. “Not that I mind, but I’ve been told it’s rude to stare.”

Had he been staring? “Sorry,” Tim said. The old man smiled at him.

“Something I can do for you?” the old man asked. 

Tim looked around briefly. The other person with whom the old man had been speaking earlier that night was gone. “Don’t suppose there is,” Tim said. “Unless you know of any get rich quick jobs around this place.”

The old man chuckled. “Well now, I can think of a few, but I’m not entirely sure those are the type you’re looking for,” he said, resting his hands on the head of his cane which he had propped up on the empty edge of one of the bar-stools. “Tough times, out there. Or so I hear. Something about the supply and demand of it all, I think. Too many adventurers, too few problems that need solving! At least around these parts.” The old man sighed thoughtfully. “This coast isn’t what it used to be. Time was you couldn’t take two steps on the road without running into bandits or cultists or a proper mountain troll. Now you’d be lucky to find a good sized rat nest to clean up.”

“Yeah, well. Killing rats doesn’t pay well,” Tim said. 

The old man smiled, watching Tim over the rim of his glasses. His eyes were sharply blue, Tim noticed. “No,” the man agreed. “No it doesn’t.” He tilted his head. “Terribly sorry, but I’m afraid you’ll have to go further afield to find anything.”

“Thanks anyway,” Tim said, defeated. 

“Although,” the old man said as Tim was turning away. Tim paused and looked back at him. “I’ve heard a rumour. There have been a few ships that have come into the harbour with some particularly strange news out of the Shivering Straight. Up north. Word is there have been a handful of whaling ships that have gone missing around Helkelson Bay. Only a couple of survivors. Those that do manage to best the frostbite say… well. You know how sailors can be, always creating the most fanciful stories. A ghost ship, they say! The mayor of Helkelson isn’t altogether convinced it’s anything so peculiar as that, though I hear he’s offering a handsome reward to anyone willing to… solve the problem. Whatever that problem may be.”

“Helkelson?” Tim said. 

“That’s right,” the old man replied with a smile. “Ask around the docks, I’d say. Plenty of merchant ships coming and going that way. Of course, it’s only a rumour.”

Tim smiled back. “Better than nothing.”

It was at that moment the old man’s companion returned and gave Tim a wary look. Tim took it as his cue to leave with a nod of thanks and an imaginary tip of the hat before he returned to the table to join his companions. 

“Let me start,” he said to them, “by saying you’re welcome. Now, any of you been to the Shivering Straight?”

[mari-lair]

Kou never mistakes Hanako for a human, and I find that interesting.

He heard about Amane from Nene, who had front roll seats to his past and gained an intimate wake up call that "Hanako is not a 'magic being' from a fantasy book, he was a student, who is now dead"

His death is not a conflict for Kou though, is just who he is. He is well aware the ghost is dead, so what Nene shares isn't a revelation, is just small pieces of the puzzle that is Hanako: the understanding he used to study here.

Kou has no real link to Amane, he never met the guy. Even when explicitly talking about Amane, Kou has no mental image of this 13-year-old who killed his own brother, he can only picture Hanako, the ghost.

Kou doesn't interact with 'Amane' in Picture Perfect either, the very few interactions they have are super short, and always started by Hanako in his Amane disguise.

The one time Kou approaches him is because 'Amane' was carrying an unconscious Nene, so he gets curious, and shows that he doesn't trust him.

But when he learns it's Hanako, he is delighted. It doesn't matter that Mitsuba is acting weird, and that he still didn't get any answers, cause is Hanako! Hanako his buddy!

He never had a wish for Hanako to be alive, to be his classmate, so he doesn't feel any desperate attachment to the idea of 'Yugi Amane' like he did with the idea of 'Mitsuba Sousuke' only ever seeing him as a wrong version of Hanako from the start. Is not real, so of course he doesn't trust him.

His view of Hanako cannot be separated from him being a ghost.

Hanako is the one who properly introduced Kou to the world of supernaturals and served as an informant on the Far Shore when Teru kept him in the dark. He teaches Kou about rumors, boundaries, supernatural festivals, and introduces him to the complex feelings some of the dead may have about lingering on the Near Shore.

There are two main mentalities Kou has when it comes to Hanako, the first is 'I don't know enough about Hanako to tell if he is a threat, he is so weird, I want to learn about him' The second is 'he helps me and Nene. He looks after us, he is our friend.' and usually he focuses on the second.

But the "i need to gauge if he is a threat" mentality is just as important as his attachment to Hanako.

It's what makes him keep an eye on him and occasionally act like a judge, trying to figure out what is going on with him, which is a hard task.

Hanako does a lot of good and bad things to Kou.

He sealed his exorcist staff, which debilitates him through basically the whole manga, but he helps and saves him and Nene when called, he lies and is selfish, but he seems to only lie for silly things or what Hanako seems to believe is the greater good (the tears eye drops, Nene's lifespan). He seems guilty and burdened by his murder but he did murder someone. He is important to Nene, he is important to Kou, and so on.

Is too much to keep track of. Too hard to give a judgment.

So he focus on his feelings way more than logic, and he is very inclined to have a positive view of Hanako. He wants Hanako to be good. To be a friend.

He does notice his slimy behavior and he does change his perception of Hanako, slowly understanding him better and growing more wary of what he says, more careful when trying to read him.

But his doubts aren't nearly as heavy as his hopes for Hanako: He believes he wants the best for them.

If we go back to the scene where Nene is talking about Amane, there is something she says that sticks with Kou, something that immediately catches his attention "Maybe I shouldn't be his friend"

Unlike his death, this is a conflict Kou relates to.

He is making donuts for Hanako as they speak, absorbing everything he learns about the guy and using the information to help Hanako because he wants to cheer up Hanako.

Hanako being important to Nene is important to Kou. They are a group to him, and he isn't alone in his uncertainty.

Kou keep this mentality of just doing what he wants for a while, childish as it is, but slowly, he is forced to give Hanako more thought, to take him seriously.

His view on Hanako has been tipping to the negative recently. He always knew about Hanako being strange and full of secrets but he can't dismiss it anymore, since the ghost started lying about big things, like trapping Nene in a fake world and exchanging Aoi's lifespan for hers without Nene's consent. Is not like his usual avoidance and silly lies, he is getting harmful.

Hanako gave Kou plenty of glimpses into his more 'inhuman' mentality. He has shown Kou a lot of hints that pratically scream "Stop trusting me kid."

It piles up.

It becomes harder to know what is a lie. What isn't. What is okay and what shouldn't be forgiven.

Kou keeps trying to understand him and give him the benefit of the doubt , he truly doesn't want to believe Hanako is just an 'evil spirit' after everything they've been through. He is a supernatural but he is his teacher and friend too, that got to mean something.

But he doesn't have a clear answer. He can think as hard as he want, he still has no idea what is going on inside Hanako's head, he just wants to believe is something for Nene's sake. Because even if he isn't sure what Hanako thinks of him, he wants to believe he wants Nene to be happy, that his care for her is strong and genuine.

Besides the conflict between "he is an apparition, he is a friend" There is also the way Kou is dependent on Hanako.

Hanako is extremely helpful, he gives him all the answers related to supernaturals. Even when Kou didn't trust Hanako, the ghost already took the role of 'the guide' in the group, offering Kou something he always wanted: Information on supernaturals. A ticket to be part of a world Kou had always wanted to be part of, but his brother had sheltered him from.

Kou always goes to Hanako when he is in trouble. Regardless of how shady he acts, Hanako always helps.

So when he tells Kou he is incompetent, it gives him a wake up call.

Kou always had an inferiority complex, but this puts into perspective how he relies a lot on Hanako. He doesn't solve anything by himself, he either follows Hanako's lead, or faces a dead end.

Kou has a lot to think about after that. He doesn't want to keep relying on Hanako, he wants to take action himself, to be something that doesn't follow Hanako or Teru's lead.

He focuses mostly on Mitsuba, convinced the supernatural needs him, but also goes back to the promise he made with Teru.

This 'what do you want to do?' moment gives insight into a lot of relationships, but I'll only focus on what it says about Kou's view of Hanako here.

Kou is usually very sweet with Nene, but he is direct to the point of being cold here, he calls Hanako "The evil spirit of a murderer" as he had when he first met him all the way back in chap 3, It feels like an ultimatum. A judgment.

Hanako is dangerous, he needs to exorcise him. Part of him wants to exorcise Hanako. But he doesn't want to exorcise his teacher, his friend.

This brings me to his wish on the Red House.

Before talking about his wish I want to point out what his wish isn’t: Kou doesn’t want Hanako’s help, advise or support. He doesn’t want Hanako to give up on trying to help nene either, so he is still depends on Hanako's actions to save Nene to some extent, he doesn't believe he can do it himself, nor does he want the pressure of being believed.

He wants Hanako to be a problem that’s easy to deal with, an evil spirit that’s undeniably evil.

Things would be much easier if Kou could exorcise him: It would prove it to himself, teru, and Hanako that he can be an exorcist, it would eliminate any possible anxiety about what Hanako will do next, and it would give Hanako what he wants, Kou wouldn't disappoint him again.

When he pictures Hanako, he is happy and sweet looking, almost innocent. He may have decided he need to exorcise Hanako at some point, that is the right thing, but he doesn't really... want him gone.

He consistently has exorcism in mind when it comes to Hanako post-severance, but he also consistently pictures him happy and friendly. .

"I want to be a bigger help" implies he wants to work with Hanako, so the two help Nene instead of him being the sole person in charge of her lifespan, which is a big big difference from his self-destructive desperation to be the one to help Mitsuba.

"I need to get to the point where I can exorcise him." As it is, Kou does not believe he can exorcise him. He realizes he should, but also that he can't.

What he says when he fights Teru fits into that.

He doesn't agree with Hanako, and he denies the idea that he is doing this for Hanako, choosing to focus on his bond with Nene instead of his exorcism dilemma.

He and Nene have a simple camaraderie he can rely on, a mutual lack of understanding of what to do, but even this more 'safe' decision to be on her side instead of trying to keep discovering his own path got Kou the same reprimand Hanako had given him "You have big ideas but you can't back it up."

Both of the people he looks up to give him guidance told him he is useless. He can not fully relate to exorcists, or supernaturals, the path he is carving for himself, his beliefs, are unclear, easily shaken, and likely useless.

He still wants to be an exorcist, deep down, delighted when Teru gave him a chance. But he can't be an exorcist. Not when he thinks so much about the supernatural, unable to reject them but unable to truly understand or relate to them either.

It makes me sad that Aidairo pushed Kou and Hanako's situation aside, cause they still have a lot to explore, yet all we got recently is these crumbs:

Kou is keeping his eyes on Hanako, his attitude half "I am your friend, I care about you", half "I don't trust you anymore, don't scheme again, bastard" but they don't have meaningful talks with each other anymore.

Hanako will save Kou if he sees him in danger, I'm sure. And Kou will do the same. But their trust is... shaky... and they will never talk about it. Kou won't share that he wants but can't exorcise Hanako and Hanako won't share how much he values Kou. They won't seek each other for help either. Both will slowly yet consistently focus on someone else instead, like a weirdly passive attempt at detachment.

So I have no hope for more meaningful interaction between them. Not anytime soon at least... Is truly a shame.

[january-summers]

Just thinking about some AUs.

Like: Wash having served on a similar ship to the MoI pre-Freelancer. Similar, but ever so slightly different in lay out so he keeps trying to auto-pilot navigate and getting lost, and Alpha's watching on the camera feeds and at some point just hits "this is too pathetic, i gotta step in" like any back seat gamer watching a let's play, except he actually can... if he can figure out how to get away with it.

So he comms Wash, either through a direct link in his helmet or through a regularly intervaled wall radio. "Uh yeah, I'm... uh... you can just call me... Church? I work in the... uh... yeah don't worry about it but I can see you on the camera feeds, again, and man i gotta tell you for a bad ass space marine this is pretty sad. Tragic really, anyway, turn around, 200 meters and take a left-"

And it keeps happening, and sometimes they just hang out, Wash hiding in a storage closet eating contraband foods (the good chocolate) while Alpha drops some funny stories from the command deck.

And Wash casually mentions him in talk with the other Freelancers, but they never get to talk to Church, and Wash can't introduce him properly, so everyone refers to Church as Wash's imaginary friend.

(... and then no one can figure out why all the AI are low-key obsessed with Wash, like they need him to like them even though he's not their human operator.)

or like (possibly the same AU): There is no Epsilon, Alpha has a moment of clarity about what's happening to him, what's being done to him, and fakes a fragment in order to port himself out and get put wholesale (what remains of him) into Wash's head. It's still pretty traumatic for both of them.

And then they skedaddle, go into hiding somewhere no one would ever think to look for them. Disguised as a sim trooper in a box canyon in the middle of nowhere.

... also thinking about Price deliberately pushing Wash's buttons and trying to provoke his PTSD so he has an excuse to put him on meds, except the meds are (on purpose) meds that Wash knows messes with his head and leads to psychotic episodes and he wouldn't take them, damn the orders, if he knew what they were.

but he doesn't, and he gets into a fight in one of the communal kitchens without his armour on and the first thing the other Freelancers know about it is when they get called for back up to the kitchen to help subdue a man that just killed three other Freelancers (bottom of the pack no-name annoying assholes no one liked or would miss anyway).

'cept the other Freelancers don't clock that it's Wash, because he's out of his armour and Wash is almost never seen without his helmet, unlike the others, so they aren't used to his face, and when they think of wash they think of bright yellow and steady charcoal greys, not "holy fuck that's a lot of blood did he fucking roll in it!?!?" reds.

But by the time they get there, psychotic episode is over, and Wash is in a semi fugue state, kinda clock's Carolina's blue and that he might have done something really bad, so he just drops the knife away from himself and half collapses to his knees like a puppet with cut strings, manages to lock his fingers behind his head before they try to tackle him to the ground.

Wash gets away with a slap on the wrist, and like a months probation. (Director was in on the 'experiment' to begin with, and now they're already down three Freelancers, no need to make it four. ... also Director won a bet about whether Wash could take on/out more than two opponents at a time.)

[jedineedlove]

Legend VS LMK Characters:

Kui Mulang (LMK):

[Kaui Mulang, Guard of the Celestial Court, Mansion of the White Tiger, Devourer of Earthly Souls]

Korean: Gyumokrang Mandarin: The Wood Wolf of Legs

Former Celestial Guard turned Yellow-Robed Demon.

After Falling in Love with Jade Maiden and having their love rejected by the Celestial Realm. He gave up their immortality and he awaited for her to reincarnate. As he waits to make sure he will be there to see her he consumes mortal lives to longavit his own.

The 28 Mansions mentioned by him are part of the Chinese constellation system as to why there is so much star imagery is in his castle.

Kui Mulang (Ledgend):

Kui Mulang originated from the ancient Chinese worship of the constellations, a spiritual practice that combines Chinese mythology and astronomy. He is considered to be one of the 28 Mansions, which are Chinese constellations. These are the same as those studied in Western astrology. He appears in Chinese mythology literate notably the JTTW & Fengshen Yanyi.

He is linked to a historical figure called Ma Wu, a general who hailed from the town of Huyang in Tanghe, located in the Henan province.

Kui Mulang is associated with the constellation Andromeda, which appears in the sky in the middle of November. In this constellation is Kui Xiu, described as the "four-legged fish palace" of Heshansu (和善宿) because its shape is similar to a fish. Another constellation, the White Tiger, is also associated with this cluster of stars.

According to the novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi), Kui Mulang was originally named Li Xiong. After he died in the Battle of the Ten Thousand Immortals, Jiang Ziya deified him as the Wood Wolf of Legs, one of the twenty-eight stars.

In JTTW

Kui Mulang appears as a demon named Yellow Robe Demon . He lives the Moon Waves Cave on Bowl Mountain in the Kingdom of Baoxiang. In his past, the Yellow Robe Demon falls in love with the Jade Maiden in Heaven and decides to elope with her. He becomes a demon lord and the maiden is reincarnated from a goddess to a human who is named Baihuaxiu . She is the third princess of the Kingdom of Baoxiang. The demon then kidnaps the princess, though she has no memory of her existence as a Jade Maiden. He marries her and the couple has two children. Sun Wukong manages to defeat the demon, which mysteriously vanishes after his defeat. Wukong then seeks help from Heaven to track down the demon and learn his true identity. The Jade Emperor discovers that one of the 28 Mansions is missing, so he orders the remaining 27 to subdue the demon. The demon is revealed to be a disguised as Revatī, the Wood Wolf of Legs, a star deity in the heavenly court, and one of the 28 Mansions. The Wood Wolf is then subdued and brought back to Heaven. As punishment, he is ordered to become a furnace keeper under Taishang Laojun.

Jade Maiden:

Considering she is a huge part of Kui Mulang's life I thought maybe also some info about her as well.

[ Yunü / Jade Girl or Jade Maiden]

Yunü is a common designation for a beautiful woman or, in Daoism, for a fairy or immortal

A Taoist deity or goddess in Chinese mythology and Chinese traditional religion who, along with her male counterpart Jintong (Golden Boy), are favored servants of the Jade Emperor and Zhenwudadi. 

They are also believed to serve as guides in the underworld and the protectors of houses and temples. Some of the Golden Boy and Jade Girl pair could be found on some graves at Bukit Brown Cemetery as they are believed to serve as guides in the Spirit World or the Underworld.

During the spring festival, pictures featuring the two can be found on the doors of many households.

This couple helps virtuous souls over a golden bridge to paradise and helps souls whose good deeds outweighed the bad, over a silver bridge to paradise. Therefore by erecting the Golden Boy and Jade Maiden by the grave of the deceased, living family members hope that the deceased will not venture into the courts of hell but instead lead their afterlife in paradise. Yunü and Jintong have appeared in several stories since the Song and Yuan dynasties and have become important figures in Chinese mythology.

There are several mountain peaks bearing her name.

In Journey to the West, Yunü is a servant maid of the Jade Emperor in Heaven. She falls in love with a star god called Kui Mulang and decides to elope with him. However, she doesn't want to ruin Heaven's pureness, so she decides to reincarnate as a human. She enters the human world as Baihuaxiu, the third princess of the Kingdom of Baoxiang.

In Other Literature:

Specific examples are the southern opera version of the legend, Jintong and Yunü, In this context, Yunü is called Longnü and Jintong is called Shancai Tongzi. According to the Shenyijing, Yunü and her companions loved to play touhu, a Chinese game in which arrows or darts are thrown into a vase. In the Avatamsaka Sutra, she and Jintong seek enlightenment and are acolytes of Guan Yin. In this context, Yunü is called Longnü and Jintong is called Shancai Tongzi. Some folktales say that Xue Dingshan and Fan Lihua were originally the Golden Boy and Jade Girl. The Jade Emperor was furious with them and wanted to punish them for breaking the celestial utensils. Fortunately, the Old Man of the South Pole begged for their mercy and was demoted to the mortal world. In the Hanyi ji play, the protagonists Qi Liang and Meng Jiang are reincarnations of Jintong and Yunü. In most popular versions of The Butterfly Lovers, the protagonists Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai are human reincarnations of Jintong and Yunü who are expelled from Heaven Court by Guanyin or the Jade Emperor for their sin and forced to live as a thwarted couple for three or seven generations before being reunited and restored to their original status.

Thoughts:

Yunü has a lot of love and being kicked/leaving heaven tales.

But did love she was more than just known for this story alone.

The JTTW and LMK versions of Kui Mulang are not too different. However, in the retelling of their love tale he only mentioned himself ridding them of their immortality it almost sounded like in that tale she might have had second thoughts and he did it by force. But I hope not but we can never know because the LMK changed a lot of the characters and tweaked some backstories.

I think the real change in the LMK is that Kui Mulang captured Ao Lie before the JTTW. From the way he talked about the Jade Maiden, she had not been reincarnated or at least he had not captured her yet. For Ao Lie It had to be after his banishment of course because he talked about his powers causing damage he felt bad for aka when he burned his dad's stuff.

Well, I hope you, readers enjoyed:)

[lukislikecat]

Holy family of Au

I just came up with this au because these are my three favorite characters from The Owl House series. What if they became a family?

You know, this is a bad idea for King. He will serve as the collector's pet and best friend. Perhaps King and Collector can get along on some level But just like in the original series, he's clearly still Panicked and trying not to upset the collector, especially with Belos he was very careful with him because King knew Belos was something more formidable than the collector. Anyway, at least he's doing well As a pet dog in everyone's eyes, you don't need to worry too much about his fate

For Collector, this ending is not too bad, at least he is not deceived like in the original but it is also very bad because he is being led by a crazy kid. Collector plays the role of the son Belos's and is an active child, somewhat strange in everyone's eyes. He loves and considers King his greatest friend along with Belos. He always has an optimistic attitude Compared to before, he seemed to be more obedient to Belos because he had promised. He also knows how to value this "family" and if anyone hurts one of the members He will not show mercy to that person. Part of the reason why he's so Scary

Finally Belos or Phillip, this is a good ending for him. He was happy because his efforts over the past several thousand years had finally paid off. Although he needs time To adapt to the modern world. He's not too bad here in Au, after all he can feel a little affection.He was here after spending time with the collector and realized a little something called Trust, which is why he didn't betray the Collector. Also he found King and used it King to help the Collector out, he let go of convincing Luz and created the Grimwalker . He at least escaped a small part of his illusion and went with the Collector and king (at the Collector's request) to earth and Live .He used the idea of ​​being a family as a disguise and he acted as Collector's father. Now he has a stable job and has adapted to the human world.Surprisingly, he can get upset when his "family" encounters trouble and he will let the Collector deal with troublemakers as he wishes as long as it doesn't cross the line.

That is of course not all and this mental system is still very confusing but I will add more later.

[luzenber]

Even thought of an AU of the diamonds being Greek gods?

Well....not Greek but Western, it was one of my very first Au, where White was a god 👍

Summary of this Au (if you're interested)

I didn't name this Au :)

In this universe there was a place, a place for good creatures who have died and it is also the residence of the supreme god (White), she initially created Black (oc) in the hope that she would be the one succeeded her later, but Black was impatient so she tried to kill White to take her power. But White was originally a god, so she quickly defeated Black and Black was banished to a place for bad people (aka hell).

Later, when her anger subsided, White created a new heir, Yellow. Black creates a devil, Blue, and wants her to kill everything White created (including Yellow).

Many thousands of years later, White decided to create a new angel, Pink, to take care of the souls. But instead of studying hard to work later, she was playful, flying back and forth between planets and then fell in love with Earth. From then on, she always sneaked to Earth to play with humans (disguised as humans).

Black knew so she sent Blue to kill Pink. When Blue saw Pink from afar, she used her power to prepare to kill Pink, when a voice said: "There you are" causing Blue to stop and look in the direction of the voice, that was also the voice. was the first time Blue met Yellow. And, she fell in love at first sight (Yellow is very beautiful in this au :3)

As for Yellow, after discovering that Pink was not in her room, she went looking and felt an unusual dark energy. Ran over and saw Pink nearby, but she remained calm and called Pink when the energy disappeared. After observing and seeing nothing, she took Pink home (Blue had already left).

From then on, every time Pink sneaks down to earth to play, Blue will always hide around, just to see Yellow:3. But if the person who comes is not Yellow but another angel, she will kill them (other angels, not Pink). White soon felt strange so she asked Yellow to find out the reason. And when Yellow comes around, Blue shows up (she was following Yellow the whole time) they have a fight.

(This is actually an Au I created for Bellow, not really a slasher) XD

In the Pink part, after being discovered many times, of course she was punished and had to stay in her room. Because she didn't like being locked up, so she try to leave, but was caught again. This time, White got angry and took away her pair. Pink's wings. At the same time, she ordered her to be locked in prison, then later,Pearl (a low-level angel serving Pink) help Pink escape the prison and leave the paradise land.

From then on Pink stayed on earth and lived in human form until Black discovered her. Black sent another demon to kill Pink. When Yellow returned and heard the news, she immediately went looking for Pink, and found her cold body. Yellow thinks the devil who killed Pink is Blue so she hates Blue, but because she has no evidence, she can't do anything....

Later, Blue learned why Yellow hated her, so she got angry at Black and left. Blue then explained it to Yellow again. After much persuasion, Yellow believed and no longer hated Blue. She goes to find Pink's real killer and destroy that demon. Later, the two started talking and Yellow realized that Blue wasn't really evil, but because she possessed great evil power, everyone thought she was evil....

They gradually secretly became friends... at this point I stop the Au :)))

Maybe I will redraw this Au and post it later :b

[authorcofficial]

Scarlett's first encounter and how his relationship with the LI goes: Leander, Mhin, Alchemist!MC🌹

Leander

Scarlett actually heard about Leander from Vere, and what he heard from Vere there was not anything good about this guy. So he really needs to be aware of this Leander guy. But he also heard from a few friends of his that Leander was a very good guy which added more suspicion to him.

Leander may sound like the good guy of few people, but Scarlett trusts Vere's judgment even more than any other person, since he's the first person he got close with in Eridia.

He actually has an encounter with Leander but keeps himself hidden. So they never meet face to face with each other.

So Leander heard about an elf in red who likes to roam around in random times. Which made him intrigued to meet this little elf.

When they finally met each other, Scarlett had his usual smiling face like he did with other people but kept his distance since he knew not to get too close to a person he just met. Leander impression was an okay to Scarlett. I mean, hey, atleast he offer him free food and he accept it. (Which got him a scolding and a tiny 'punishment' from a certain fox man…)

For some reason, Scarlett felt like Leander being a little obsessed with getting close to him and tbh, he was a little bit scared. Well, he could've just eliminated him easily with his Scythe but he didn't want to do it, since violence was not his first ever option. But it's not the last either.

Anyway, yeah, they're grown pretty close to each other but Scarlett still has a suspicion towards him. He trusts him not to hurt him but not fully yet.

Sometimes when it comes to money, Leander is always there for Scarlett. Scarlett feels bad but he takes the chance, because he has a lack of cash at the moment. Because, he really doesn't want to rely on Vere on cash that much

"Here let me pay them for you"

"leander, again, I appreciate the help but I can pay them myself, you know?"

"Nonsense!"

"But-"

"No buts, I will pay them for you, alright? Now, choose what you want to buy, anything!"

"…fine"

But, it gets a little annoying when Leander keeps insisting on paying everything, i makes him like Leander the only one he likes to rely on. (Again, makes him gain more complaints and scolding from a certain fox). But, he tries not to think about it and takes the offer sometimes, but not always.

As for Leander, we know he's a mysterious fella, and Sus af. He may have some intention to trap the little elf into his trap, but he may or may not have got a little too attached to the elf.

Scarlett sometimes helps the bartender at the wick to make a little cash, so Leander always tells the bartender to always make Scarlett make and serve whatever he orders.

What Leander likes about Scarlett is how he is always so obedient to the orders of those close to him, and also how he is good at hiding his expressions from other people. But, he also really likes it when Scarlett is drunk, where he always leans towards him and the expression on his face that invites a lot of lust…

And he also likes Scarlett's sense of humor, where he is so fun to joke with and brighten up the atmosphere.

What Scarlett likes about Leander… Well, he really likes it when Leander helps around him with the bloodhounds. And whatever the reason for Leander's hatred of the Senobium, it can be tolerated I guess, since he also dislikes them. He's also a bit self aware when he's drunk that he's always lean on Leander even more, especially on his pecks. It feels like pillow…

But, even though they're close, there are still a lot of things that Leander needs to prove to earn Scarlett's full trust.

Mhin

Once Scarlett heard that there was a new face entering Eridia from Leander, he immediately became excited to know that he found a new outsider just like him.

Though, when he finally sees Mhin for the first time, he uses his little form to talk to them and wears a wig to disguise himself as a normal human child.

When Mhin saw him, he followed them around, which caused Mhin to feel annoyed and told him to go off.

"Can you stop following me?"

"You're new here, welcome to Eridia, Mx!"

At that time, he gave them a handmade rose. So for the little boy to leave them alone, they accept the fake rose and tell him to leave them alone. So he did, but he kept coming back to follow them.

One time, Scarlett finds out that Mhin dislikes monsters. It's a bit disappointing to Scarlett, since it's going to be hard to be close to them when they find out that he's not a human… How did he know? Well, he saw Vere's stab wound and he told him that Mhin did this to him.

But that doesn't stop him from keeping seeing them in his lil kid disguise.

This continues until one night, Mhin almost got killed by an unusual Soulless when they're hunting with the little kid who follows them again. Scarlett ran and immediately slashed the Soulless with his scythe right in front of them and killed the Soulless. This made him come back on his original size without himself realizing.

Mhin was surprised, of course. After that, they wouldn't even let Scarlett touch them and go away. Scarlett, once again feels disappointed and hurt, but what can he do? He can't just force them to like him, and they probably need time to process what just happened.

After a while, they met again when Mhin was stargazing. Scarlett quietly approached them and almost got stabbed by Mhin's reflexes. After settling things a little bit, Scarlett gets to sit not far next to Mhin.

He pulled a box of sweets he made earlier and gave them to Mhin. This caused a suspicion from them but he told them that he didn't have bad intentions. They accept the sweets and they may not want to admit it, but they actually quite like the sweets…

Okay fine, they love it.

Once Scarlett realized that the sweets in the box were empty already, he became happy since they seemed to like them, and he planned on giving more. So, they continued by stargazing together as Scarlett told them a little knowledge about the solar system that he knew.

After that night, they grew closer. Mhin still beware of Scarlett, but pretty cool with him. Sometimes when Scarlett saw them, he immediately ran and hugged them tightly. Making them suffer between his chest in embarrassment.

"Mhinnie~ i miss you"

"Let go of me!"

Let's be honest, they actually don't want him to go. One more thing, they don't like it when they see him hanging out with Vere and Ais.

Mhin's favorite thing about Scarlett is that he is probably the only monster they can trust over the others. They're not going to admit it, but they like Scarlett's company, how he always pays attention to them and how he still respects their boundaries.

Maybe they could trust them, just a little bit…

Scarlett loves to hug Mhin. To be honest, he prefers hugging people who are shorter than him than hugging people who are taller than him. But he doesn't mind hugging someone taller. He also thinks that Mhin prefers to be alone, so he doesn't really push their buttons, if they don't want to. He respects their boundaries.

Scarlett did warn him about the Senobium, but if that's their decision to go there to seek information for their curse, maybe it would be better if they found out themselves. But of course he will protect them when things got out of control.

The two of them sometimes look at the stars in the sky while relaxing and eating together at their favorite place.

Alchemist!MC (Can be viewed as romantic and platonic!)

Alright, so, the MC is actually the longest one who knows Scarlett.

They know a lot about Scarlett, but still not fully. To them, he still has a lot of things that he keeps in secret.

They both met each other when Scarlett took a stroll when he found them as a little child who seemed… lonely, hurt, and miserable.

They shouted at him when he was about to touch them. And there he saw, their arms. But, knowing Scarlett, he is quite stubborn to help them and touch them.

Nope, nothing happened to him, the curse didn't work on him for some reason.

That made him the first person ever who could touch them. He took them home, took care of them, fed them, protected and loved them. This made the MC scared of losing Scarlett, since he was the first ever person that they could call their home…

This goes on for years, and now the MC is a 17 years old teenager. A lot has been happening, like how there is a fucking portal that sucks them to another world, seperating them from Scarlett and making them go back to their child form again…

How did they survive until now…? Few reasons, but mostly to stop their curse and to find Scarlett again. They use some of the techniques that Scarlett taught them. The of course, learning from their teacher that used to study in the Senobium too.

Once the MC arrived at Eridia, after coming out of Kuras' clinic, they did hear a few people saying Scarlett's name… They thought it was just a coincidence at the moment, since a person named Scarlett was not just one in the world.

At the night when they met the people they've encountered that day, they just stayed silent after the incident with the roughneck fucker, a certain elf in red enters the Wick which causes their eyes widen.

"Woah, what happened here..? What did I miss?"

"You miss a lot, pretty one~"

"Oh…"

"S…Scarlett…?"

When the MC finally gets to see him, they suddenly hug him and the warm feeling of being home has finally returned. Now, the only problem is their curse.

The MC stayed with Scarlett for the rest of the night and bonding with him again for all the time they have missed.

Scarlett may not be the only one they can touch, but Scarlett is still their home. Where they found all the acceptance they wanted…

And they're not hoping to lose him again…

No, they WILL never going to lose him ever again.

Kuras, Vere, Ais

I'm back, lol

-Author C

[gerec]

i’ve had a shitty week so i was just wondering if you could recommend your favorite fluffy cherik fics 😭 i don’t care what they’re about i just need fluff

I'm sorry you've had a rough week Anon and I'm happy to help. I don't really read straight fluff but these are my favorite Cherik fics to read when I want a pick me up and I hope you like them!

One Hundred One Night Stands. by Sophia_Bee

Charles has a rule. Never fuck the same guy twice. When he refuses to see Erik again after a one night stand, Erik goes about trying to get Charles to violate that rule using accents and disguises.

Erik Lehnsherr's Guide to Parenting by keire_ke

Alex disapproves of school car washes, despite the abundance of wet bikinis on pretty girls. Erik doesn’t approve of his son shirking money-making duties.

Humane Society by smilebackwards

Once Erik finally allows himself to decide that Charles is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread, he spends the next week being incredibly bitter that he's Charles' cat and not his boyfriend.

Protect, Serve, Troll by keire_ke

Erik's fire department has a special relationship with the local university. They visit often. Sometimes, there even is a fire.

Not So Much the Teacup by thehoyden

“Charles is basically the bride whisperer. It’s like he can read their minds.” (wedding planner AU)

645 Riverside Drive by smilebackwards

Azazel clearly has yet to understand the shattering power of Charles' disappointment, so Erik takes one for the team, grabbing the cup and downing the remnants of the cappuccino like a shot while Azazel watches with morbid fascination.

Good manners (will get you far) by ximeria

Charles had been looking forward to the performance at the Met for ages. Little did he know, things would not go according to plan.

Oysters and Champagne by listerinezero

Erik is the extremely talented, extremely scary chef at one of the top restaurants in New York, and Charles, the head waiter, is the only person with the balls to stand up to him. Their fights are the stuff of legend, and their argument over the Valentine's Day menu turns into one for the history books.

'tis a far far better thing doing stuff for other people by whichisgolden

The X-Men: First Class Clueless AU that you didn't know you always wanted. Charles is a spoiled Beverly Hills telepath, Erik is his pretentious ex-step-brother, Emma is his best friend because they both know what it feels like for people to be jealous of them, etc.

Other Life Challenges by professor

“Why am I here again?” Erik groans.

“I need you to lift things and glower at people over my shoulder when I tell people that it’s not ‘politically correct’ or a ‘war on Christmas’ to have a non-denominational winter holiday festival,” says Theresa Pryde.

Well, at least those are two things he’s good at.

Making perfect by aesc 

As is the case with most trials in Erik's life, this one starts with Charles gazing beseechingly at him and asking him for a favor. Not that their going-on-three years relationship is a trial, even though it started with Charles giving Erik the full benefit of sad blue eyes and asking him if he wouldn't mind opening his car door since he'd locked his keys inside, but still.

love like toy trucks crashing by midrashic

Charles Xavier may be young, but he knows what it means to love.

soul of my soul by ikeracity

You can imprint on your soulmate anywhere — school, work, on the street, in a restaurant, on the subway.

Charles and Erik imprint on each other just in time for the holidays.

[thedemoninmywalls]

The Party

Rire brings Aro to a party with all his friends.

“By the way, we’re going to a party next week,” Rire said offhandedly. 

“Huh?” Aro glanced up at him. “What kind of party?” 

“A gathering of sorts,” Rire waved his hand dismissively. “For supernatural creatures like myself. You will accompany me as my consort.” 

“But I'm a human,” Aro said worriedly. “Am I allowed to come?” 

“You will come because I ordered you to,” he answered sternly. “Many of my acquaintances will be there, so it is important to make a good impression.” 

Aro thought about it. Besides Rire, she had never seen a supernatural creature before. It sounded exciting. How many humans had the opportunity to go to a party for magical beings? She couldn't help but be curious about what it was like. 

“Where will the party be?” she asked. “What kind of people will be there? Will food be served? Is it like a human party? What do you do there?”

“You will see everything for yourself,” Rire chuckled. “When the time comes.” 

In preparation, Rire bought a dress for Aro to wear to the party. It was quite revealing and she wasn't thrilled to be dressing like that in front of strangers. But Rire insisted she wear it or go naked, so she reluctantly pulled on the dress. 

He himself wore a perfectly tailored suit that was also revealing, but he carried himself with much more confidence than Aro could ever muster. 

When it was time to go, Rire still hadn't told Aro where exactly the party was taking place. 

“It is somewhere that humans cannot reach,” he explained. “But before we go, here are your rules: first, you are forbidden from speaking to anyone unless they speak to you first. Second, you will stay by my side at all times. Is that clear?” 

“Don’t talk and don't wander off. Got it.” 

“Very good. A lone human could be quite vulnerable here, but you’ll be safe with me. Now, brace yourself.” 

He covered her eyes and put an arm around her waist. Aro felt herself being lifted up and moving at an unimaginable speed, as though traveling through space and time itself. 

In a second it was over and she was back on solid ground. Rire uncovered her eyes to reveal that they had landed in a huge, beautiful ballroom with vaulted ceilings and atmospheric lighting. 

“Wow,” Aro gasped, marveling at the magnificent setting. 

But even more fascinating were the other party guests. Creatures of all shapes, sizes, and species milled about the huge ballroom, talking and laughing. There were fairies and ogres, werewolves and vampires and giants, sirens and zombies and ghosts. 

Some guests even looked human, but Aro suspected that was merely a disguise. Everyone was dressed as nicely as they could manage, in fancy suits and dresses. 

There was an open bar where Rire bought a couple of drinks, most of which Aro had never heard of. Her drink was sweet and bubbly, exactly how she liked it. 

Rire gallantly offered Aro his arm, and he swept her across the ballroom, greeting other guests and introducing her as his consort. Everyone was very polite and courteous. 

Most of Rire's talk was business, and Aro found it boring to listen to. Nobody seemed interested in talking to her, which was fine. She was much more interested in looking around at all the strange and wonderful people. Several times she wanted to ask questions, to learn more, but she knew better than to disobey Rire’s orders. 

As the evening wore on, Aro began to feel very sleepy. She had long finished her drink.

“Rire,” she tugged at his shirt. “I'm really tired. Can we go home soon?” 

“Oh, good,” he smiled. “I was wondering when the drugs would kick in.” 

A cold shiver straightened Aro’s spine. “What?” 

“I slipped a relaxant into your drink,” Rire explained calmly. “I'm sorry, pet, but I can't have you acting like a brat in front of everyone. They’ve been so looking forward to playing with you.” 

“Hey, Rire, is she ready yet?!” A large, muscled centaur called out. 

“Yes, the drugs are taking effect,” Rire answered. “Thank you for being patient. It's her first time, you know.” 

Several centaurs now leered at Aro with wide grins. Some of them approached her, carrying rope and chains. 

“No, wait!” Aro clung to Rire desperately. For the moment terror overrode her sleepiness. “Rire, please, don't let them take me!” 

“Don't worry, I will be right here the whole time,” Rire assured her, gently pushing her off him. “And you won't remember anything in the morning anyway.” 

“Please no! Rire! RIRE!!” Aro screamed as three centaurs grabbed her. 

They tore off her dress and manhandled her into a stretched position. Her hands were tied above her head and her legs were spread wide and shackled to the floor.

Aro’s face burned with shame and humiliation as she found herself naked and bound, on display in front of a whole ballroom full of people. Then someone wrapped a blindfold around her head, and everything went dark. 

But she could still hear everything, especially different voices as people gathered around. 

“Not much for looks, is she?” 

“Who cares about her looks? All that matters is her holes.” 

“Ha! Stupid human thought she was a guest, an equal to the rest of us! Gimme a break!” 

“Weak, worthless humans are good for nothing except as toys to play with!” 

“Everyone, line up in an orderly fashion,” Rire commanded. “You’ll all get your turn.” 

Rough, unfamiliar hands seized Aro’s breast and squeezed painfully. “Aw, did you mark her already, Rire?” 

“Of course. Just in case one of you forgets who she really belongs to.” 

“Please…” Aro whimpered sleepily. “Someone…help…mmph!” 

Something large and warm filled up Aro’s mouth, and she couldn't speak anymore. 

For the next few hours Aro’s body was used and abused by countless strangers. She was choked, fucked, cut, teased, edged, groped, squeezed, tickled, poked and prodded. Some of it hurt like hell and some of it she barely felt. 

The drugs made her mind hazy and her body pliable and submissive. 

All the while she heard the various grunts and moans made by the people using her, punctuated now and then by Rire’s warnings. 

“Handle her gently, Vincent, she's only human after all. They're terribly fragile and it's too early to break her.” 

“No, Lawrence, you may not cut her open to see her insides.” 

“Why, Celia! Are you going to fit that whole thing inside her? Well, you can certainly try…” 

“Strade, put the knife down. Put it down! Good boy.” 

“Ohhh, wow,” someone said close to Aro’s ear. “Look at how nicely she fits around my dick! She must be very well-trained.” 

“You know me, Cain,” Rire replied. “I like my pets to be broken in, but not too broken…she's quite a fighter when she isn't drugged up, you know.”

Aro was grateful when she felt her consciousness slipping away from her. She knew that she was drooling but didn't have the strength to do anything about it. The drugs gently pulled her into a deep sleep. 

Rire and the other party guests continued abusing Aro’s mouth and holes long into the night. No one seemed to notice when she fell asleep. —------ When Aro woke up the next morning, she had no memory of the previous night. This did not bother her as much as it probably should have. She was used to Rire manipulating her memories by now. She decided that she didn’t want to know what had happened last night. And she definitely didn’t want to know why her body ached more than usual…

[ironychan]

Scary Monsters

@dysphoria-sweatshirt @30spiders @sweatersexual @angrylittlesliceofpizza @writer652

Part 1/? - Rocco’s Closet

Part 2/? - School for Monsters

Part 3/? - The Waternoose Family

Part 4/? - The Terrifying Humans

Part 5/? - Hiding Places

Part 6/? - Nobody’s Fault

Part 7/? - Edge of Disaster

Part 8/? - Caged Monsters

Part 9/? - The Journey Home

About twenty minutes later, Helena Marcovaldo arrived at the door. By then Alberto, Luca, and Harry were seated around the kitchen table, with their rather distracted hostess serving them cioccolata. Harry had ended up standing on the chair, looking rather precarious with his many legs tucked underneath him on the small seat, but he didn't seem to mind. He slurped at the chocolate in delight, and was looking around at other objects in the kitchen with a smile on his face. When Dorotea's mother let Helena into the kitchen, he was thrilled to be meeting a second human.

“Luca!” Signora Marcovaldo said, coming at once to give him a hug. “Santo Tallegio! What's going on?”

“We visited another world inside Rocco's closet,” Luca replied, hugging back tightly. He didn't want to let go. Signora Marcovaldo, with paint-spattered overalls and her unruly red hair so much like Giulia's, was so wonderfully familiar. After those horrible days in the monster world it was almost as good as being back with his own Mom and Dad.

“You did... what?” Signora Marcovaldo asked.

Reluctantly, Luca loosened his grip and sat down again. Signora Molinari gave Helena a cup of coffee, and the boys began to tell their story.

Signora Marcovaldo knew that Luca and Alberto had been missing for a couple of days, because Giulia had told her on the telephone, but nobody had any idea that they'd vanished into Rocco's closet. The two adults looked more and more astonished and skeptical as the boys described how bedroom closets were a portal to another world and the monsters who lived there used screams for electricity... but every time they looked about to protest, they would glance at Harry and say nothing. He was clearly real, sitting there stuffing bombolini in his mouth, and they couldn't argue with that.

“So now,” Luca finished, “we need to get Harry back to his own world, and then we need to help Curtis and Louise. I think we should go back to Portorosso, and then find somebody else who has a monster in his closet.”

“You can't use Rocco's again?” asked Helena.

The boys shook their heads. “His door got wrecked,” said Alberto.

“They'd have to recreate it from scratch,” Harry explained, “and they won't, because he's probably not even scared anymore.”

“It'll be easier in Portorosso,” Luca added, “because people there don't mind sea monsters, so they'll have an easier time getting used to Harry. I think anybody who saw him in Genova would panic.” Signora Molinari had certainly come close. “We need to find a way to get him to the train station without anybody seeing him.”

“I want to see the city!” Harry protested. “It's full of humans.”

“You can't,” said Alberto. “You can see Portorosso, but in Genova you have to hide.”

“I didn't keep you locked up in Monstropolis,” Harry complained.

“You kinda did,” Alberto said. “You put us in that tiny room for the night, and we were too scared to go anywhere.”

“That's your fault,” Harry humphed.

Signora Marcovaldo looked dubious, as if she suspected people in Portorosso would mind these monsters very much. “How can we hide him?” she asked. “I suppose he doesn't do like you two and transform as a disguise?”

Luca and Alberto shook their head.

“How much time do we have? Giada,” Helena said to their hostess, “when are Consalvo and the kids due back?”

“Any moment now,” Signora Molinari admitted unhappily. “I don't know what they'll think when they find him here. It took me years to convince Dorotea the first time that there wasn't a monster in her closet and if she finds out there was the whole time I might never get her to go to bed again.”

“Then we'll have to think of something fast.” Helena looked around the room, trying to get inspiration somewhere. “Do... do you have a baby pram?”

“We do!” Signora Molinari exclaimed, standing up. “Let me find it!”

She dragged the pram out of the attic, stirring up clouds of dust in the process, and found a blanket that could be draped over the top to conceal the contents. Harry rather reluctantly climbed in, and if he settled down with his legs tucked up under him, he just barely fit. Signora Molinari draped a blanket over the top, and the result looked surprisingly plausible. As long as Harry kept quiet, everybody would assume there was a sleeping baby.

They were just in time – when Signor Molinari looked out the window, she found her husband and children approaching the house. Helena grabbed her purse, and the boys fell into step behind her as if they were just leaving. Signora Molinari held the door for them as her family approached the house.

“Lovely to see you as always, Helena,” she said, her voice loud and false. “Oh, and here's Giovanni and the kids! Did you have a good day at the museum?”

“Yes!” Dorotea replied, running up to hug her mother. “Hi, Luca! I thought you went back to Portorosso for the summer.” She looked puzzled as she realized that Luca and Alberto were in their pyjamas, but did not immediately remark on it.

“We just came up to visit,” Luca said quickly, keeping the conversation off their clothes. “This is my friend Alberto. Alberto, this is Dorotea. She's the one who gave me the book about the tomb of King Tutankhamon. This is her little brother, Nino.”

Nino, six years old, waved.

“Piacere! Girolamo Trombetta!” Alberto shook the little boy's hand. If he continued doing things humans thought were weird, maybe they'd assume the pyjamas were just more of the same.

It seemed to work – but he couldn't distract them from the presence of the pram. Dorotea looked up at Helena hopefully.

“Can I see the baby?” she asked. “My friend Bella has a new baby brother, too! Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It's a boy,” said Helena, “but I don't think we should disturb him. He'll be very grouchy. Some other time, perhaps.”

Dorotea looked disappointed, but she and Nino waved goodbye as Luca and Alberto followed Giulia's mother out into the street. Helena breathed out, relieved.

“Are we outside?” Harry whispered from under the blanket.

“Yes,” Alberto told him.

The blanket moved.

“Don't!” Luca hissed.

“I just wanna see,” Harry whined.

“Here.” Luca folded a corner of the blanket back so that Harry couldn't accidentally drag the whole thing off in his attempts to peek out. One of the monster boy's many eyes appeared in the gap, and Luca dropped back a little so that Harry could get a better look around.

“Wow!” he heard Harry whisper.

The city of Genova was certainly very different from Monstropolis. The monster city had been built on very flat land, though with mountains visible on the horizon in the east and, according to one of the maps in the classroom, the ocean somewhere in the west. Genova had mountains to the north and the sea to the south, but the one butted right up against the other rather than the two being separated by a broad plain. The buildings Luca and Alberto had seen from bus and car windows in Monstropolis had been very similar to each other and generally very plain, as if somebody had decided to build as many of them as possible as quickly as they could. In Genova the buildings, arrayed in layers on the hillsides, were all different colours and different sizes, some of them with marker stones to show the date they'd been begun.

“It looks like a city made of Turkish delight!” said Harry. “Hey... is that ice cream?”

“It's gelato,” Alberto told him.

“Be quiet!” Luca urged. There were people around, standing outside shops and houses and talking to each other, or going about other business. Nobody was paying attention to Helena and the boys, but that might change at any moment.

As they passed, Harry turned to take in the freezer of brightly-coloured gelato flavours. The blanket moved, and Alberto and Luca grabbed at it to try to keep it in place.

“Is anybody looking?” Luca asked.

“I don't see anyone,” Alberto told him.

“Then it's okay!” Harry pushed the blanket aside and hopped out, scurrying up to the gelato counter. “Look at them all!”

“Harry! Harry, come back!” Helena hissed. She, Alberto, and Luca gathered around him as he gazed at the frozen treat, trying to shield Harry from the view of the people around him. It was too late, though. The man running the gelato stand had stood up and was looking down at them through a pair of sunglasses, and his pet dog was standing stiff, growling a bit.

“Tino!” the man said. “Basta! Don't scare off the customers!”

The dog, a small brown and white creature with tight curls in its fur, whined and looked up at his master, as if to ask him how he could possibly fail to notice the little monster excitedly reading out flavours. Luca and the others held their collective breath, waiting for the moment the man realized what he was seeing.

“What can I get for you, young man?” the vendor asked.

“That one!” Harry pointed.

The vendor chuckled. “You'll have to tell me the name,” he said. “I'm afraid I'm quite blind.”

Helena leaned on the pram in relief, so heavily it actually tipped back on its wheels. Luca had to grab Alberto so that he wouldn't simply fall over.

“Strac... stracky a...” Harry frowned, sounding it out.

“Stracciatella!” the man said.

“Strachy-a-teya,” said Harry.

“Stracciatella!” the vendor repeated. “Try again.”

“Stracciatella,” Harry got it closer.

“Close enough!” The vendor put a scoop of it in a cone. “It's sweet milk with chocolate.” He wrapped the cone in a paper napkin and held it out.

Harry stood up on the tips of his many legs to take it. “Do you want a son?” he asked.

“That good, is it?” The man laughed. “I'm afraid I already have two, and that's plenty!”

Helena bought gelato for Alberto and Luca, as well, and was handing the vendor a banknote to pay when a father with two children came up to take a look at the flavours. Alberto and Luca quickly moved in between this family and Harry so that Helena could get him into the pram unseen. The father was talking to the vendor and the two girls were staring at the ice cream, so it looked like they might have a chance – until the dog barked as Harry got too close again and the smaller girl looked to see what had scared it.

“What is that?” she shrieked, pointing. Helena quickly spread the blanket over the pram with Harry in it. The girl's father and sister both turned to look.

“Oh, Tino's a lagotto,” the blind vendor said. “He's awfully nervous today, isn't he?”

Tino the dog lay down, putting his head on his paws with a frustrated snort.

“Thank you very much, Sir! Have a nice evening!” Luca called, waving as they hurried away. The younger girl was gesturing frantically as she tried to tell her father and sister that she'd seen a giant spider eating ice cream.

“Don't you dare do that again!” Helena hissed to the blanket. “You were nearly seen!”

“Yeah, but I got ice cream out of it,” Harry replied, his mouth audibly full.

“That was purely to save face,” she said crossly. “Next time it may not go so well.”

Luckily, the gelato seemed to satisfy Harry enough that he was willing to remain in the pram, just peeking out from under a corner of the blanket, for the rest of the trip back to Signora Marcovaldo's apartment. She lived on the fourth floor of a block of flats, and the pram was slightly too big to fit in the tiny elevator, so they had to drag it up the flights of steps while Harry complained they were making him seasick. One of Helena's neighbours paused and offered to help them, but they refused, not wanting him to realize how heavy the pram was.

Finally they manoeuvred the pram down the narrow hallway to number forty-four and squeezed it through the door. For Luca, it was a relief all over again. After living in this apartment for eight months, Luca knew it almost as well as he knew his parents' farm in Portorosso Bay. The little kitchen with the old coffee pot that sat in the middle of the table, the view over the bay, the side bedroom where his and Giulia's beds were. It was all familiar and wonderful.

Nerone the dog came bouncing up to greet them, then stopped short, his ears pricked up and his tail raised. His nostrils flared as he sniffed, and it seemed the corgi would have agreed with his lagotto counterpart in not at all liking what he smelled. The hair stood up down his back.

Luca tried to distract him. “Hi, Nerone,” he said, offering the dog a hand.

Nerone ignored this, and his lip curled as he growled at the pram.

“No,” said Helena sternly to her pet. “Harry is a guest. Luca, put him in the bedroom, would you?”

“Yes, Madame.” Luca took Nerone by the collar and led the little dog firmly into the room he and Giulia shared. Nerone did not want to go, and while he was far too small to actually stop Luca dragging him out of the room, he widened his stance and kept his snarling nose pointed towards the pram the entire way.

“There!” said Luca, shutting the door.

Harry took that as permission, and snatched the blanket off his head. “Whew! I couldn't breathe in there!” he complained, and climbed out of the pram to start exploring the kitchen. The view from the little window immediately caught his many eyes, and he scuttled over to climb up on a chair and look out. “What's that?”

Luca came to see what he was looking at. “Oh, that's La Lanterna,” he said of the lighthouse. “It's four hundred years old.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” Luca couldn't help being eager to share the thigns he'd learned. “Do you have anything that old in Monstropolis?”

“No way,” said Harry. “The whole city's only half that old.”

“There's actually been a lighthouse there longer than that,” Luca added, “but it got old and fell apart, so they had to rebuild it. I've got a book about the history of the city somewhere.” He almost went to go get it out of the bedroom, but then he heard Nerone's nails scratching at the door. If he opened it, the dog would doubtless come barrelling out.

Signora Marcovaldo, meanwhile, had lifted the receiver from her telephone and dialed zero. “Hello?” she said. “Operator? Yes, can you get me Marsigliese's Drogheria in Portorosso? Thank you.”

Alberto and Luca both came a little closer as the phone rang. When Luca was in school, he'd arranged a time to talk on the phone with his parents every week, but calling unannounced was a little more complicated. Massimo didn't have a telephone of his own, so they had to call Signora Marsigliese, who had one in her shop that she sometimes allowed people to use, and he would go and get them.

“Hello, Carolina?” Signora Marcovaldo asked. “It's Helena in Genova. Good news, I've got Luca and Alberto!”

“What?” asked Signora Marsigliese. “How did they get there?”

“It's quite a story,” Helena told her, “but they're both safe and that's the important thing. Here.” She offered the phone to Luca.

“Hello, Signora Marsigliese,” said Luca, and his first question was, “how's Rocco?”

“Rocco? Rocco's fine,” Signora Marsiglese replied. “How are you? He told me his monster took you two away into the closet and that's all I've been able to get from him.”

“She did,” said Luca, “but it's okay, she's actually very nice.”

“Who is?”

“The monster. Her name is Louise, and I think she needs our help right now.”

“What are you talking about?” Signora Marsigliese wanted to know.

Harry had found Helena's birdwatching binoculars, which she kept in a drawer below the window, but was disappointed once he got a good took at them. “Do you have one with more eyes?” he asked.

“I'm afraid not,” she told him. “Two is pretty standard.”

Harry shrugged and fiddled with them, trying to match the spacing to one of his sets.

“We'll tell you all about it when we get back to Portorosso,” Luca promised. “Can you please tell Massimo and my parents that we're coming?”

“Of course, of course,” said Signora Marsigliese. “They'll be so happy – your parents have been absolutely frantic, and the Pescheria has been closed the whole time you've been gone.”

“Really?” Alberto asked, leaning closer to the phone so she'd be able to hear him. “Why was it closed?”

“Because Massimo can't catch fish when he's out combing the bay for you,” Signora Marsigliese told him. “I don't think he's slept, either. I've never seen him so upset.”

Luca couldn't imagine Massimo being upset. Signor Marcovaldo was in very firm control of his emotions, rarely showing surprise or fear or joy even when everybody around him was freaking out. If he were worried enough that people outside his family could tell, he must be very upset indeed.

Alberto clearly didn't know what to think about that. Even after living with Massimo for a year, he still found it hard to believe that his adoptive father was actually that attached to him, rather than just putting up with his presence. He had often thought that if he were to vanish one day, Massimo would probably be relived to be rid of him.

Signora Marsigliese said goodbye and went to spread the news, while Signora Marcovaldo searched for something the boys could wear besides their stained pyjamas. She pulled out some of the clothes she'd bought Luca to wear in the autumn and winter – they were too warm for right now, but at least they were clean. Luca's things were too small for Alberto, so she knocked on other doors in the hallway and eventually managed to borrow something from a neighbour. This did not include shoes, but he was used to going barefoot.

“Do I have to get back in the pram?” Harry whined.

“I'm afraid so,” said Helena. “We can't risk anybody else seeing you.”

“But it was fine,” he complained.

“Only because the man at the gelateria was blind,” Helena reminded him. “If he hadn't been there's no telling what might have happened. Into the pram.”

Harry scowled as he climbed in, and Helena tossed the blanket over the top. She stowed her own bag in the basket under the pram, while Alberto opened the bedroom door just a crack so that Luca could get a hold of Nerone and put his leash on. The dog had calmed down a bit, but was still very unhappy with Harry's presence. The white was visible all around the dark iris of his eyes.

“Does everybody have their things?” Helena asked.

“We don't have any things,” Luca said. “We didn't take anything with us.”

“Sorry, force of habit,” said Helena. “Let's go.”

The area where Helena lived was a quiet part of Genova, and they didn't pass very many people on the street outside. First they dropped Nerone off with a neighbour who had agreed to care for him. Signora Marcovaldo and the boys all gave him some scratches and said goodbye, and Nerone whimpered as they walked away. He did not like that they were leaving him behind and taking away the intruder he was so angry about.

As they got closer to the train station the city became busier and busier, especially as it was starting to be late in the afternoon. Adults were finishing work for the day, and children, out of school for the summer, were running around shouting and playing. Harry, peering out from under his blanket, was transfixed.

“Look at them all!” he whispered. “Where are they all going?”

“Most of them are going home,” said Luca. “A lot of people in Genova work during the day.”

“What do they do?”

“There's museums, there's the trains and buses, all kinds of things,” Luca said. “Probably a lot of the same stuff monsters do when they aren't scaring people. Please be quiet.”

The train station itself was swarming with people, coming and going on the trains or visiting the little shops around it. Since it was hot out, Helena stopped to buy bottles of sparkling water for the boys. Alberto opened his, while Luca passed one under the blanket for Harry.

“What's happening now?” Harry asked.

“We're in line for train tickets,” Luca whispered back.

“There's music!” Harry squeaked as they neared the office. A radio was playing. “I didn't know humans had music!”

“Of course they have music. Everybody's got music,” said Alberto.

“Sssh,” Helena told him. She stepped up to the counter. “One adult and three children, for Potrorosso,” she said.

“The baby doesn't need a ticket,” said the clerk. She took the money and handed them the tickets, and they continued on their way. Luca stood up straight, trying not to look nervous. Alberto seemed to be doing alright, walking with what looked like a confident strut, but Luca recognized that as the other boy's attempt to prop himself up. Helena was not as good at pretending. She was looking around nervously, hunched over the pram a bit. Even when they made it to the platform and sat down on a bench, she remained bolt upright.

“Can I come out now?” Harry asked hopefully.

“No,” said Luca. “There's still too many people around.”

“You can come out in Portrosso,” Alberto added. “Like we told you, people there are used to us, so they can get used to you.”

Luca hoped Harry wouldn't be there long enough for people to get used to him. It would be one thing if Curtis or Louise or Sullivan ended up living there. They were grownups who could look after themselves. Harry was still a kid, and his mother was probably worried about him, just as Luca's parents and Massimo were worried about them. His father might be upset, too. Even if Mr. Waternoose was a jerk, Harry was still his son, right?

The train pulled up. People who'd been going to Genova climbed out, and the far fewer people who were headed east late in the afternoon trooped on. Once again, a man offered to help Signora Marcovaldo and the boys with the pram, and once again, they refused.

“We're managing just fine,” said Helena, false cheerful.

They found a compartment and sat down, and as the train chugged out of the station again, Helena leaned back in her seat, finally relaxing. As the train started moving, Harry pushed the blanket off and climbed out of the pram, standing on the seat to watch the station disappear behind them.

“I've never been on a train,” he said. “When we go anywhere that's too far to drive, we take Dad's private plane.”

“Your father has his own plane?” Alberto asked.

“Yeah. There's nothing to do and it's really boring,” Harry replied, watching the city pass by.

Helena got up and put her bag on the luggage rack, then shut the compartment door and moved the pram so that it would be in the way. It wouldn't actually stop anyone from entering, but it would hopefully slow them down enough that Harry would be able to hide. The train rounded the bay, and soon was chugging along the coastline towards Portorosso. There would be a couple of stops on the way at other small towns, but it would only be a couple of hours and then they'd be home.

Luca had been wide awake during his first train ride, from Portorosso to Genova almost a year ago. There'd just been so much to see along the way, all of it new and wonderful. When he'd gone home to visit at Christmastime, he'd been much more tired after the school semester, and had discovered that the rocking motion and rhythmic sounds of the train were quick to lull him to sleep. This had happened again on the next train ride, and again on the way back for the summer, even when he'd been very excited to get home. Now, after the last few exhausting days, Luca didn't have a chance. His head nodded, and his eyes drifted closed.

“What's that?” asked Harry, pointing out the window to something.

“That's a Vespa,” said Alberto. “Luca and I are going to have one someday. Right, Luca?”

“Uh-huh,” said Luca, his eyes still closed.

“How about that?” Harry wanted to know. “That looks like a scream station! Do humans use scream, too?”

“No,” said Alberto.

“That's a petrol station,” said Signora Marcovaldo. “It sells fuel for cars.”

“Where do they get it from?” asked Harry.

“I don't know. Hey, Luca.” Alberto poked him. “Where does petrol come from?”

“Out of the ground,” Luca said with a yawn. He moved a little, getting more comfortable. The city continued to pass by, and they eventually left it behind and got out into the countryside, where Harry found more things to look at.

“What about that? What's that?” Harry asked.

“That's a goat,” Alberto said.

“What are they for?”

“I dunno,” said Alberto. “The Paguros' goatfish lay eggs you can eat, but I don't think... hey, Luca,” he poked his friend in the shoulder. “Do goats lay eggs?”

“No,” Luca said with a yawn. “I think they give milk, though.”

“Cool,” said Harry. “Hey, what's that one?”

Luca groaned.

Late afternoon slipped into evening, and the train finally pulled up to the station in Portorosso. Reluctantly awake, Luca looked out the window and saw his parents, Massimo and Giulia, and Signora Marsigliese and Rocco standing on the platform waiting for them. His heartbeat quickened and he suddenly felt more alert. This was it! They were home, and he was going to be able to sleep in his own bed that night! He got to his feet, and helped Signora Marcovaldo get her back back onto the rack under the pram.

“In you get,” Helena said to Harry.

“But we're here now,” Harry said, and pointed to Luca and Alberto. “They said the humans here would be okay with me!”

“They said they could get used to you,” said Helena. “We don't want to spring you on them all at once. Get in the pram.”

Grumbling, Harry climbed in, and the boys prepared to help Helena bump it down the steps again. They were spared the trouble, however, when Massimo was there to meet them. He grabbed the other end of the pram to help lift it over the stairs, though he grunted at the weight. With that done, he turned to Alberto and offered his arm for a hug.

Luca didn't get to see the rest of their greeting, because he was all but bowled over as his parents came to scoop him up. Daniela Paguro held her son so tight Luca felt like she would squeeze the air right out of him, especially when Lorenzo joined her from the other side.

“I was so scared I'd never see you again!” Daniela said. “You are never sleeping in a room with a closet again, you hear me? Never!”

“I love you, too, Mom and Dad,” Luca said.

Daniela finally loosened her grip, and Luca was able to turn and see Massimo holding Alberto out at arm's length and smiling at him. Alberto grinned back with his eyes suspiciously watery – but he was spared the indignity of crying in public when Giulia tackled him from behind, putting him in a headlock and scrubbing at his scalp with her knuckles. This left Alberto laughing rather than in tears, and once she'd thoroughly messed up his hair, Giulia moved on to give Luca a much more gentle greeting.

“Are we done yet?” asked Harry's voice from the pram. “Come on, it's hot in here.”

Happy reunions stopped, and people looked at the blanket-covered pram warily. Signora Marsigliese had been told that Luca and Alberto were bringing a friend with them, and that this fried was even more monstery than they were, but until that moment everybody seemed to have forgotten about it. Now it was time to see if people in Portrosso really could get used to a monster.

“Everybody,” said Luca, “this is Harry Waternoose.”

Helena pulled the blanket off the pram.

Daniela yelped and thrust Luca behind her as if to shield him from an attack. Massimo was less dramatic about it, but he did step forward to be between the pram and his children. Signora Marsigliese gasped, and Rocco tugged on her sleeve and pointed as if to say, see? I told you so.

This only lasted a moment, though, and then everybody seemed to remind themselves that just because something looked odd didn't necessarily mean it was dangerous: the very same lesson Harry's father didn't want the people in the monster world learning about humans. Daniela laughed nervously, and offered a hand.

“Hello, Harry,” she said. “Luca always makes such interesting friends.”

“This is my Mom and Dad,” Luca said.

“This is my Dad,” Alberto added, gesturing grandly to Massimo. “And I guess this is my sister.” He stuck his tongue out at Giulia.

“And this is Signora Marsigliese and Rocco,” said Luca. “That's where Louise found us, was in his room.”

Rocco licked his gelato and glared at Harry. He did not feel like being friendly to closet monsters.

“Will you be staying long?” Signora Marsigliese asked Harry cautiously.

“Yes,” said Harry. “I'm gonna find a new dad and stay here forever, just like Alberto!”

[thebibliomancer]

Earth X #11

We’re getting really close to the end. Let’s wrap up some subplots while we can.

Before this series began, Black Bolt blinded Uatu the Watcher to conceal his actions and then set off a Terrigen Bomb that mutated all humanity into Inhumanity. He had his reasons.

Uatu recruited Aaron Stack, Machine Man, to be his seeing eye robot. Aaron discovered that Uatu was hiding a dark secret - that inside Earth there is a Celestial egg which will one day hatch and destroy the world.

Humanity has long been manipulated by the Celestials to serve as guardians for the egg. In fact, Uatu claims that everything that makes humans human was just a beneficial trait to make humans evolve the power to protect the world from outsiders and themselves.

A terrible psychic teen known as the Skull has risen up and brought thousands under his control. He shoved President Osborn out a window and plans to take control of everything.

The Skull, too, was part of the Celestial plan. Not that he knew it. Meant to bring the chaotic mutated population under control so in-fighting wouldn’t threaten the planet and the Celestial egg.

Cap raised an army to fight the Skull but failed because he tried a full frontal assault on the guy with mind control powers.

Now the world is basically the Skull’s.

Aaron has flipped Uatu the bird and gone to recruit Reed Richards, telling him all the horrible cosmic egg stuff.

Reed asked Black Bolt for a favor and then went to confront Uatu on the Moon.

He has a lot to talk to him about. Like how Alicia Masters is so cool that she proves humanity would still have worth even if they hadn’t been altered by the Celestial seeds.

Then, Reed realizes that Galactus was the natural balance against the Celestials but whoops, Reed turned him into a star.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Add a tally to the counter. Other stuff would borrow Earth X’s idea that Galactus’ role was to balance out the Celestials.

Peter Parker has suited back up as Peter Parker Spider-Man after seeing his daughter May/Venom in the Skull’s creepy clutches.

Fat Spider-Man is one of the things most known about Earth X.

In all honesty, Peter just has the middle-aged out of shape look. But deciding to wear a Halloween costume that’s many sizes too small isn’t a great look for him.

I don’t even know why he did it. His identity is public. A Halloween costume doesn’t offer any more protection than his civilian clothes they actually fit him do. I feel like this is in here because it was one of the concept sketches. So whether it makes sense or not, Peter has to wear a costume that doesn’t fit.

Honestly, maybe it was to psyche himself up. Let’s just say that’s the case.

Between issues, he has rescued Captain America from the Skull’s forces.

Now that he got his ass kicked again, Steve has an actual plan and goes to visit Thing to borrow Alicia’s living clay sculptures.

The Skull can’t control something that doesn’t have a mind.

And it’s not going to be several issues of globe-trotting to gather forces for a counterattack. Steve already burned through those resources!

On the Moon, Black Bolt attacks the Celestials.

Fruitlessly.

They blow him the hell up.

But his real goal, the favor Reed asked of him, was to use the most powerful voice in the universe to send an SOS from the Moon. Shouted into space.

To who? Dunno. Another mystery for later.

But we learned what favor Reed wanted and that Black Bolt’s face is kinda messed up from his body adapting to the rigors of space so that’s why he started wearing a mask.

Hope that SOS plot thread also gets a prompt resolution. We only have so many issues to go.

And there’s still dangling plot stuff like Mar-Vell or why Loki decided to help Aaron.

Cap vs the Skull gets a round three. The clay sculptures work great since the Skull can’t control them.

But they work best as camouflage.

Disguised as one of the clay statues, Captain America sneaks up on the Skull and breaks his neck.

Bye, the Skull. You were horrible but you were funny.

His particular brand of bratty menace has been stopped but the day is not saved. Actually, the day got worse.

When the Skull dies, the Celestials head towards Earth.

As Uatu explains in the appendix, the Skull was a fail safe to keep the people of Earth from threatening the planet. With him dead, the Celestials are going to wipe out all life on Earth so nobody down there causes more trouble.

(The appendices in this issue are particularly good. Uatu desperately wants to know what’s happening and Reed agrees to tell him if they trade questions and answers. Uatu reveals that the Celestial seed germination comes in different stages. Earth is mostly at stage 1 - just a chaos of different powers being triggered. Mutants, Hulks, Spider-Men, Fantastic Four. And so on. Stage 2 is where the Skrulls are. Homogenization of people and power. Interestingly, Uatu claims Reed himself represents what a stage 2 human would be. Given time, all of humanity would become Mr Fantastics. There’s a stage 3 but Uatu tells Reed to ask Aaron about it.)

Anyway, the Celestials are coming to wipe out all life because Cap broke a kid’s neck.

Luckily, Iron Man has a giant robot he got from Osborn and has been building an army of Iron Men for years to usurp the dude.

He never did it because Tony didn’t want to be in charge but it’s sure handy now that Tony has continued to be Tony. Ridiculously prepared.

Tony fighting Celestials in a giant robot? Another tally for Earth X.

[cornedbread]

i wonder if you please have me suggestions on what the bbau teachers should be what kind of youkai, if possible. i'm on art block😅

(p.s. i'm still learning japanese folklore btw)

I have a couple ideas! Hope they help you ^_^

〔Short Answer〕

Gonzalo & Faklex - Yurei (幽霊)

Faklex - Amanojoku (天邪鬼)

Viktor - Oni (鬼)

Tiara & Billy - Hannya

Billy’s Son - Chopiraku (チョウピラコ)

〔Long Answer〕

Yurei (幽霊) is a sub-type of yokai that are ghosts with unfinished business. All humans have a spirit, otherwise known as reikon, if given a proper funeral the reikon will join its’ ancestors in the afterlife. The ascended reikon will also protect its’ living family and the future generations. However if instead they are killed suddenly or hold ill feelings, the reikon will turn into a yurei and they will haunt the living until their unfinished deed or ill feelings are resolved. The more suffering a human experiences, the more powerful they will be as a Yurei.

There is a sub-type of Yurei that died at sea called “Funayurei (船幽霊).” They died at sea and they will forever haunt the sea. Funayurei have a unique fish-like appearance, basically mermaids. As their name says, “Boat Spirit,” they haunt the seas and cannot leave the seas. They fill boats with water to shipwreck and kill the passengers.

I think Gonzalo fits for this sub-type since he died at sea abruptly and probably with strong ill feelings since this was during the war. It’s also quite tragically fitting, the imagery of a reikon protecting its’ family being paralleled with a soldier protecting his country. But because of his ill feelings, this protection was more violent than defensive.

There is another sub-type of yurei that dies on land called, “Jibakurei (地縛霊).” As the name suggest “Earth-bound Spirits,” these are spirits that died abrupt deaths on land. They don’t have a unique appearance and could just be undead versions of the living person. They do not serve a specific purpose, only tied to a location or event.

The way Realex’s body is treated in the school by Faklex already makes it feel like he’s haunting the place~ Hidden away in a secret room with no door, and if Olivia finds she’ll receive a knife that she can use to, supposedly, kill Faklex or herself. Taking out the living the same way you died? Sounds similar to the Funayurei~ But that is pure coincindence, the Jibakurei is simply there to serve as a reminder of a tragedy. And Alex does that just fine, his corpse forever stuck in a cruel immortalisation of his suicide.

Speaking of Alex, what about our beloathed Faklex? Next is the Amanojaku (天邪鬼)! Amanojaku is a demon that encourages humans to do evil deeds. One infamous story is when Melon Princess was killed and then skinned by an Amanojaku. After eating her corpse, the Amanojaku was seen wearing her skin and impersonating her.

Sound familiar?~ I have a headcanon that the way Faklex steals bodies is by driving his victims to suicide, it would explain Alex’s death and the secret Olivia ending — or suicides are easy food, no need to kill if they’re already dead. Even though Amanojaku’s are focused on persuading people to commit sin, the Melon Princess story was too good to pass up. And besides, Alex is doing a great job being a bad influence on Scrina, Asmodena and Candice/Candy, forcing them to clean up and commit his murders.

Oni (鬼) are aggressive cannibal demons. They live in caves and disguise themselves as humans, they kill and eat them. They have a unique way of eating humans in one bite. Nowadays though they can be domesticated by being given offerings, in return they guard homes from intruders. They also give good fortune and wealth. The Oni mask is used to scare away disobedient children or discpline kids into becoming obedient.

The duality of an aggressive killer of human and a dilligent defender of humans reminded me of Viktor :) there is also a trope of modern Oni being troublesome and comedic, which is fitting for his cursed vr normal personality. When he is cursed he uses his human teacher disguise to befriend Angell, then hunts her down for even small mistakes. But when he’s normal he’s a jokester, but is very serious with making sure Angell survives and is able to escape or fix Infinity School.

Another member from the Infinity School is Tiara! Hannya (般若) is a sub-type of Oni. This demon was a human who was hurt deeply by her lover. Driven mad by her jealousy and pain, her spirit left her while she was alive and she turned into a demon. She now plays her revenge by targetting cruel men. Hannya mask represents destructive passion, in the shadows it either looks like it’s ugly crying or snarling angrily. Similar to Oni, the modern Hannya is much kinder. She brings protection and either good fortune or revenge.

I think Tiara would be the sub-sub-type Hanya Chunari (般若中成), this is the most powerful Hannya. Her body is still human but her face is fully transformed with a demon, with large horns. But she is not full-transformed, so it’s possible to save her with Buddhist prayers. This sub-sub-type allows Tiara to keep her opera mask and have her shadowey tarwill body be refrenced in the Hannya Chunari’s strong dark magic.

The fully-transformed sub-sub-type is Hanyang Honnari (般若本成)/Kiyo Hime (清姫), which is similar to Chunari exceot the body is now a serpent/dragon. She is found lurking manily in the ocean, unlike her other Hanya sub-sub-types. Since Honnari is fully-transformed there’s no hope of saving her, she is permanently a demon. There is a story where a monk manipulates a lady using her love for him, then makes a false promise that he will return home after a boating trip. When the lady found out he was lying the whole time, she was heartbroken and chased him to the docks. The monk left on a boat but the lady swam through the ocean, eventually emerging out the water as a Kiyo Hime and killing him.

There are two reasons I think Billy fits this: 1.) It’s a parallel to his family dying in the ocean during the war; 2.) The Monk x Lady story parallels Bob never returning home from the expedition, abandonment issues; 3.) His girlfriend is a deadbeat wife and mom. This is headcanon since there’s no official reason why Billy’s girlfriend/old friend is missing or replaced by a robot, maybe she died in child birth or Billy killed her! Idk! — After his girlfriend left him to raise his son alone, Billy was filled with alot of grief. Grief strong enough for him to build a robot in her image. And maybe grief strong enough to corrupt him into a Hannya? His only tie left to humanity — or artificial humanity — now being his son… But even that is gone too because-

Chopiraku (チョウピラコ) is a sub-type of Zashiki Warashi (座敷童子). It is the spirit of a child who was given a lavish funeral and shrine filled with offerings and their favourite toys and candies. Because of this they are much more difficult to take care of than Zashiki, but unlike Zahiki they give blessing of good fortune and wealth.

In BBEG:11YL we don’t see Billy’s Son again, I headcanon’d that it was because Son grew disillusioned with Billy’s obssesion of being “well-made” that he decided to leave and live his own life. But it’s also possible that perhaps Son died, which intensified Billy’s grief even more. And so all that remains is the spirit of a happy child stuck in the past, just like his father.

[apollogies-p]

Pt. 1

(I felt like making it one part would be too long 😭😭)

Apollon came out singing. Right from birth, all he ever did was make the people around him smile; it was all he ever wanted to do. It was the reason why he rushed out below Olympus and into mankind the moment he gained the domain of healing. Most of the times he'd disguise himself as a wise old man who was simply spending his time lecturing the newly made latros but occasionally he'd take his usual form of a young fourteen year old boy over excited to help in a major surgery.

But one day, in the middle of a procedure, he was summoned. Father had summoned him, and he seemed... agitated.

"Apollon," Zeus, his father, loomed over him. His eyes were as cold as the marble underneath his knees and held none of the warmth and pride that he had come to associate with his father.

"Yes, patér why-"

"You are to address me as your rightful king and lord of Olympus, impertinent boy!" Patér- Lord Zeus, spat at him, his words stung like as if each word had its own electric current.

"Yes, of course. Of course, Lord Zeus," Apollo stammered and licked his lips, a habit embarrassingly human, "I merely want to know why I was summoned, my Lord."

Zeus scoffed, "Don't act so coy, Apollon." Apollo fought to hide his wince when his father, no- his Lord, the king of the gods- called him by his name. Lord Zeus spat his name out like it was venom.

The king must've seen the confusion in his eyes because he rolled his eyes and looked at Apollo like he was as stupid as the sheep he tended to- and maybe he was.

"You are very close to invoking the wrath of my lighting bolts, boy."

"But- but why my lord?! I have done nothing wrong, yes? I was," His chest hurt, "I took the title of the Sun better than Helios had expected, did I not?"

His father bristled at the mention of the recently deceased Titan, and Apollo looked into his eyes expecting a mirror of the same grief he was experiencing, but instead, he found pure fury.

"You dare mention that- that fool's name in front of me?!" Zeus nostrils flared, and Apollo held back a whimper, "That Titan was given a fate that was more that deserved. He was a fool who let his pride be his main motivator." And with that, the king of the gods rose from his throne. "Like mentor, like pupil, I suppose."

"Paté- my Lord, I don't- I'm not sure what you mean."

"Tsk. You've become too friendly with those humans Apollon. You're disrupting the natural order; you're healing too much."

Apollo couldn't stop the nervous laugh that bubbled out of his throat, "Patér, I'm healing too much? In what world does that make sense?" The laughter got stronger, "Do you, do you rule too much? Do you serve justice and order throughout out pantheon too much? Patér this makes no sense." He continued to laugh in disbelief; this had to be a joke, right? Maybe Artemis was playing a joke on him or something like that.

Apollo swallowed his laughter and looked up into his father's eyes, only to be met with a sharp stinging sensation on the right side of his face.

"How dare you speak to me that way. How dare you laugh at your king's concerns, you insolent boy."

His mind was reeling. Did his father just- Lord Zeus hit him. He slapped him. Why? He was a healer. Was he not good enough?

"Look at me Apollon." Apollo flinched as Lord Zeus yanked him by his hair.

"You will learn respect."

Apollo saw the blue lighting too little, too late.