#like. GAH. many thoughts. head full

[astrolavas]

So, I have a theory that at the end of Thanks to Them when Hunter absorbed Flapjack (that’s the best word I can think of but you get it) he also gained Flapjack’s powers and to use them he turns into a similar form to Harpy Eda I thought that would be cool but what’s your opinion?

yeahhh, it's a popular theory and i'm 👁👁 !

tbh i feel like what is CERTAIN is that flapjack is a part of hunter now and we're definitely... gonna see more of him, in some form. i can imagine that he's a part of hunter's mindscape (similarly to how palismen consumed by belos were a part of his mindscape, except in this case flapjack willingly sacrificed himself; so i imagine his experience would be pleasant: being able to exist in his favorite boy's mind knowing this sacrifice saved his life, as opposed to being tormented by having your soul trapped in your killer's head... oof), especially when we take this crew member's ig post into consideration:

"For Flapjack... See you in our memories." AND IT'S?????? a mystical-looking forest, flapjack's (empty) staff stick, and (hunter's?) hooty mask? okay...... OKAY. i see what you're doing....

flapjack being a part of hunter's mindscape is also a way for us to get an actual look into the past, cuz we still haven't seen what happened between caleb, philip and evelyn directly (we have an idea thanks to, for example, all the hollow mind paintings, but what they showed us in the last episode and how they showed it to us makes me think they're definitely setting it up to fully reveal what happened sometime in the next episodes). so i think hunter is going to get a look into flapjack's memories, since they're literally connected now, and he's gonna see what exactly happened with caleb, philip and evelyn (that's how he's gonna find out clawthornes are descendants of caleb as well), from flapjack's pov. (hoping that if we enter his mindscape, then we also get some more direct look into hunter's past and some of his pre-canon memories 🕯🕯🕯 but like, we're definitely seeing some of flapjack's imo, that's for sure)

so.. tbh what i wonder is..... what's next.

we do know that grief is one of the main themes of season 3 (or, even the owl house as a whole). we're shown different ways grief can manifest and diff ways it can be approached.... luz, camila, darius, flapjack, even belos in a way..... hm. and now hunter.

luz and camila lost manny and we see it's affected them a LOT. we see this grief throughout luz's character journey, throughout camila's too. we see how painful this loss was... but they've also dealt with it in a rather healthy way. they carried on and got better, and even though they're forever going to miss him, they went on with their lives and adapted to that loss. and luz got azura from her dad and read it thanks to him, and now part of this big special interest of her also comes from and reminds her of her dad's love. and it's sooo so 🤲

we see that darius cared abt and respected his mentor a lot, to the point where he thought hunter wasn't worthy to be the next golden guard and was taking that feeling out on him, thinking he didn't deserve to inherit such title after his mentor had died. (hoping we see them talk abt the mentor and other golden guards in the next eps tbh cuz.... come on, they have a lot to talk abt still.)

belos.......... it's hard to call it a typical grief but it IS in some way, maybe has even been since the moment he saw caleb with that witch, cuz that's when he died in his eyes. this grief manifested into almost an obsession, where he keeps re-making caleb over and over, obsessed with the idea of them being witch hunters together, wanting to make a version of his brother that wouldn't "betray" him even though that's sth that is always always ALWAYS going to happen, it's inevitable. refusing to let it go and spiraling more and more... HM.

and now there's.......... hunter. hunter who already went through so so much, and who just lost his best friend, someone he loved the most. hunter who definitely feels guilty, but he also knows it was BELOS' doing, and he wants belos to pay for what he's done. hunter who.. was finally FINALLY happy, yet had all of his happiness taken away just like that. hunter who knows flapjack sacrificed his own life so that HE can live, and that he's forever going to be with him; his palisman soul.. but also the memories they made together. hunter who's clearly so so shattered, but trying not to focus on that pain he's feeling, cuz then he'd completely break. hunter who's angry at belos, who isn't going to rest until he gets some justice for flap. hunter who's going to have to go through this grief and loss... just.

there are so many ways his grief can be approached. especially comparing it to other characters' ways of dealing with grief, especially belos'..... showing how unhealthy holding on to sth we've lost might be.. showing acceptance of loss, a healthy way of letting go... showing that even if someone is gone, they're still going to be with us forever.... showing the anger and the feeling of unfairness that often accompany the feeling of grief.......... hm.

so i feel..... there are a few things that can happen.

the probably saddest but realistic scenario is that... hunter gets to have a final goodbye with flapjack. he gets to talk to him, gets to find out what he's been hiding from him, he gets to experience flapjack's love again and build a happy last memory for the future. and then.. flapjack is gone. and it's sad as HELL.. but promising for the future, cuz then hunter can healthily move on with his life. he can keep on, feeling less guilty, less heart-broken, with a happy last flapjack memory to accompany him. it's.... extremely sad, but when it comes to losing someone..... having that chance, to say goodbye, to have your last memory with a person you love be a happy, full-filling one, it can do wonders for grief. it doesn't make the loss hurt any less ofc but..... it makes you feel like you can go on, like there's no "unfinished business" weighing down on your heart. 

the other still rather sad scenario is that yes, they do talk, etc. etc. but flapjack DOES stay with hunter forever, as a part of him. i'd say it's bittersweet, cuz then flapjack IS alive, in a way, he's not gone, he's forever able to communicate with hunter, he remains by his side til the very end. 

sth abt flapjack having been alive for hundreds of years, all alone, but then finally finding a new person to love, and deciding to sacrifice his own life in order to save that person, deciding to stay with that person forever. it's so— OUHHGHHGGG. there's this bittersweetness here cuz then hunter doesn't lose flapjack, not completely. but he's still..... gone in a form that hunter would prefer. flapjack's with him but they can no longer fly together. he's never gonna tuck hunter in after he falls asleep reading a book in the middle of the night anymore. he's not going to tug on his hairstrand or annoy him (cutely). he's never going to race with other birds or catch an early rattle-worm anymore, he's never gonna sing in the morning. and it's SAD, it's extremely sad and tragic and.. sad. but he's with him, so it's also sweet. and it works as (a bit more literal but..) a metaphor of "even when you lose someone, they can live on in your heart, and in your memories". but... ouch.

there's also the theory that hunter may find a way to carve flapjack back, since he has his soul inside of him (and maybe it's "extractable" somehow??), has expressed the want to learn how to carve palismen, and eda does have that palistrom seed, and he might have to talk with clawthornes anyway (since he is gonna find out they're.. kinda sorta related, and i feel like the clawthornes would like to know abt that too so jxjsk). 

one of the big enigmas of that scenario, though, is the question: "how would he go around doing it?" would he carve him out identical? would he give him a new shape, a completely new form? or would it be a completely “new” palisman but with a bit of flapjack’s loving soul inside? would hunter form “flapjack” with a new "goal"/"intention" in mind? since they previously bonded by hunter's shared-with-flapjack desire to be free and able to make his own choices, so... . AND, if flapjack could just be carved back out like that, wouldn't his sacrifice feel.... more weak/kinda worthless in the end? this just feels a bit too easy but... HM. i can’t imagine it would be easy, though. there’s always sth that’d make it a challenge, and tbh.. even if it wasn’t, at this point hunter DESERVES to have sth good happen to him, even if unrealistic or “too easy”, but yeah. that’s what makes me wonder if they’d go for this writing choice.

.....there’s also the fact that “re-making”/”bringing back” someone you’d lost is exactly what belos has been doing, albeit in a very different way and with very different intentions, but with a similar end goal, so i could see them going for a contrasty parallel here; never moving on from someone’s death vs acceptance of loss. however, on the other hand, belos also never cared abt any of the golden guards, he wasn’t bringing “caleb” back out of love. so i COULD also see the contrasting scenario in which hunter would be able to bring back flapjack, but because he’d do it out of love for him, it’d be a genuine second chance in life, a successful happy ending. sth belos could never even realistically achieve, because he’d only cared abt himself and his own forced vision of what he and “caleb” (the idealised version of his brother that he had in his head) would do together, not abt what the actual caleb (or hunter, or any of the previous grimwalkers) actually wanted or who they actually were; he couldn’t care less abt that. so yEAH, this specific idea has so many “what if”s and “what about”s, narratively it could either work or not, depending on what direction they decide to go with hunter’s grief but...... HM. yeah.

i’ve also seen ppl propose that flapjack sacrificing himself for hunter and “merging with him” gave him some actual magic and made him like a “full witch”, spell circles and all; and.. that'd be awful actually, sure hope the crew didn't go there. i’ve talked abt it before but, in general, hunter's arc as a powerless "witch" works as a strong disability metaphor. and it's just...... it's about acceptance, it's about finding self-worth, it's about accommodating your needs, it’s about becoming proud and comfortable in your identity, NOT.... about whatever the hell him actually permanently getting witch magic would be; it’d be a “fixing disability” trope, which is just..... bad. awful. so, so wrong for so many reasons. sure hope they didn’t go there cuz that'd be so pointless and take away so much importance from his arc.... but also i don’t think they’d do sth like this?? because eda’s arc (which serves as another disability metaphor) is written well and with care; they didn’t cure her curse or give her her magic back, so.. i doubt they’d give hunter magic, either. but, y’know, just to be safe and clear. (also, even symbolism aside, i don’t think hunter (who’s already made of palistrom wood) absorbing a palisman’s soul/magic/energy would result in... him becoming a “real witch” and being able to create spell circles, like? 😭😭 i doubt it’d work that way)

NOW, him getting some grimwalker-specific features/abilities unlocked, though? OR even being able to just do flapjack’s teleporty thing? that could work. him getting at least something nice out of this whole situation, still having flapjack with him, without having the metaphor behind his character erased, would be soooo nice.

now, as for harpy hunter! 

it honestly makes a lot of sense too. belos, having consumed palismen, gained his whole..... y’know, goo form, which is a clear indication that absorbing palisman magic/having palismen as a part of your mindscape may change you physically. the way he’d gone about it, though, is he consumed many, MANY different palismen, and he literally..... sucked magic out of each one of them, after killing them. so i imagine that if hunter were to gain his own palisman-based form, it’d be more similar to eda’s harpy form rather than belos’ goo form, because it’d be based on flapjack only (rather than an amalgamation of all these different creatures) AND it wouldn’t have come from, y’know, sucking literal life out of poor little creatures, but from a loving friend’s willing sacrifice. à propos harpy eda, too, her harpy form obviously came from her facing her curse, bonding with the owl beast and accepting it as a part of her; so it feels like if hunter were to get a harpy form, obviously he wouldn’t have to “accept” flapjack (like that’s his little darling baby, that’s his bestie, that’s his sweet little bird), but he would probably have to deal with something in order for that to happen. the mechanics is different but.. in both instances, the “creature” (the owl beast and flapjack) inside of them is a part of them, exists in their mind (most likely/somewhat), and they’re able to somehow communicate with them and feel their presence (in hunter’s case it’s not confirmed but we may speculate that’s the case, based on what we saw in the last episode post-flapjack’s-death), so the mechanics also is sort of similar. different, yet... not.

so, in all technicality, it seems like harpy/red cardinal form hunter WOULD make sense, from the magical pov. it goes along with the logic of how some other characters’ different “monster” forms originate. although, the rules aren’t very set in stone, each of these situations is its own unique thing, so in the end it all just depends on (again) what direction the crew decides to go in.

however, the thing that makes me hmmmm about it is, i’m not sure if they'd.. implement the same metaphor as they did with eda, y'know? like, her curse and harpy form function as this whole symbolism of living with a chronic illness/disability, so hmmm would they go for the exact same conclusion/endgame with hunter? especially with the grief motif of season 3? not sure, not sure. they MIGHT though, who knows.

........there’s another thing that makes me think it MAY happen, though, and it’s like. hunter has this cursed tendency to say things that'll later come to haunt him in the MOST ironic way, like this boy literally projects on people in the most random ways and manifests every single unfortunate thing left and right, and i just 😭😭

"ew why are you touching it with your hands?" *touches a suspicious-looking substance with his finger with a FRESH OPEN WOUND on it and gets possessed* “because none of you can use real magic" *is magicless* “you don't tend to think things through, do you, human?" *never thinks things through* *is also technically partially human* "hello criminals" *becomes a criminal* "these things are made of wild magic, it’s dangerous" *is literally a grimwalker made of the same wild magic, like literally the same type of wood as palismen* LIKE..... BOY.   STOP SAYING THINGS. IT NEVER ENDS WELL.

so i just. 

that damn “at least i'm not delusional enough to think i can turn into a harpy" line is absolutely hysterical to me, cuz if he DOES end up being able to turn into a harpy, then......... 😭😭😭😭😭 look. a throwback to this line, a callback to this line.. it’d be so funny.

but yEAH.

there’s one more thing that makes me wonder abt where this all is going and it’s, like. flapjack basically counted as hunter’s support animal/disability aid. for someone powerless, having palisman while living in a world based around magic is... EXTREMELY helpful. hunter can’t fly without flapjack, he can’t play flyer derby without him (something he expressed he’d like to continue doing), he can’t teleport..

so, does he get a new palisman? because... there’s very little time for us to get attached to it and to kinda.. get to know it, if that’s the case. and also flapjack is still a part of hunter, so. hm. (unless that changes too, but. GAH) i feel like he loves flapjack so much, it’d be hard for hunter to replace him. he’d definitely feel so so happy being able to create palismen for others, or just for the sake of creating life, but creating a new one for himself.. that might be hard.  or does he get another artificial staff? because that is a thing that represents hunter’s time at the coven, time before he bonded to flapjack, before he realized wild magic is not, in fact, dangerous at all. so hm..... OR does he indeed get flapjack’s teleporting ability?? or the ability to turn into a harpy, and that replaces the use of a palisman? (+ starts using glyph magic) could he play flyer derby like that? i suppose he could..... i hope so. or does he not replace flapjack with anything, because he spends most of his time in the human realm? 

LIKE, IT’S JUST. GAHHHH. hunter... :(

i’m sure there’s gonna be lots of grief-related themes, some anger, some acceptance, some sadness, some justice, and finally some happiness in the end, something hunter deserves and needs just... so, so much. he deserves to heal, he deserves to be HAPPY. but it’s still just..... gonna hurt a lot first. 

there’s honestly so many ways this can go and so many things that can happen, so........ yeah. hm. thinking.

[dhampling]

little love girl!dadstarion, <1k

He doesn’t consider himself a clingy parent.  He just endeavours to spend every waking moment he can with her. - dadstarion watches dhampling sleep for a lil bit and has some thoughts about life. floof. wc: 724

Astarion watches her as he sits, legs tucked up under him; with a chalice on the endstool to his side. 

Despite his current book being one he’s looked forward to indulging for a while, he can’t lose himself in the pages quite yet. His eyes skim and reskim now familiar paragraphs while flitting to the small child asleep on the lounger. 

The room is full of impossibly green tangling plants, and glows shades of orange in the late candlelight; incense blooming from the clay holder on the sill. A small trinket dish full of corvid gatherings. The boarded shutters, the curtains parted at either side; the painted mural in place of the window. Lanterns of coloured glass spilling forest greens and oranges soft.

Elven-pointed ears twitching, the occasional small shuffle. Each and every sleepy inhale and exhale from her tiny little body feels like a victory.

He doesn’t consider himself a clingy parent. 

He just endeavours to spend every waking moment he can with her, hence her resting here now; in the den room, instead of her own well-loved bedroom. A wayward spider on the ceiling had turned into an evening of storytelling - a journal filled with tales of Grizzle the Arachnid in her spiky young hand. 

She’s swaddled in a big patchwork throw he’d made early into his freedom following the fall of the Absolute, just as the idea of tailoring had come to mind. The stitching is a little skewed in places but the untrained eye would glide right over it, he’s sure.

He could carry her up the iron wrought spiral staircase and tuck her in - and likely will soon - but being able to sit and just observe feels like an indulgence. A rare treat. 

A small part of him - he would never admit - was hopeful before her birth that she’d be his little nightling, although any lingering wants were blinded by unbridled joy at her ability to bask in the sun. He’d never expected the gaping hole in his undead heart at being unable to pick her up from a day of schooling, though. 

He trances through it every time, or he fears he’d disintegrate trying it on big occasions. Her first day, missed. Many more to come. 

He frowns. 

He does stay awake to do her hair each morning before she heads off, though. Before she’d even reached her first birthday he’d sequestered away a book on Faerûnian Braids from the Night Market; her ringlets barely presenting then now flourishing atop her dozy head.

You. She looks like you.

Astarion’s heart pangs. 

He misses you terribly. Dramatically. Wants to creep up the stairs in the style of Nosferatu and bite you in your sleep, fondly; doze the night away with his incisors reverently just beside your neck. His paramour. His well-bitten darling. 

Sometimes, he reads the gaudy vampiric fiction novels slighted from the market and hidden away in one of the rafters when clients leave the shop earlier than expected. He thinks one day he’ll play into the notion - the skulker, the grand gestures, the one who stole his heart - then realises his life is wholly a mirror of the pages.

Gah. He’s a cliche. A horrid cliche. He shakes his head yet can’t find it within him to do anything but smile.

Nothing about this feels horrid. 

It feels normal. Real. Home is home and it is the safest place in the world.

The dhampling stirs, stretching among the throw and rolling her tiny wrists. A small yawn tumbles from little lips.

“Darling?’

Astarion shuffles his leg from under him and turns his book, resting it on the lounger. Moves to kneel beside her.

‘Sweet thing. Come along, now.”

Her eyes open slowly. She looks at him with reverence. Her father. The balm of rest settles as a haze in this cosy room and nothing has ever felt so good.

Father. Him. Awful, nasty, terrible him. She could’ve been one of them, roaming the underdark in eternal childhood in another lifetime. He decides he won’t allow the thought to pass.

“Can you carry me?” She whispers, lifting her arms above her head.

“If I don’t; I fear we’ll be traipsing those stairs all evening, little love.” He speaks softly and gently lifts her sleepy self onto his hip.

She doesn’t understand his quips yet. She will, one day.

[dyns33]

The way to communicate

Being a while since I did a Din Djarin x female reader.

It was rare for Din Djarin to get angry.

It's hard to say if it was because of his creed or if it was in his temperament, but he did his best to always keep his cool.

Becoming the father of a little green gremlin who had a hobby of getting into mischief probably forced him to be even more patient than he was before finding the kid, or meeting Y/N.

Even when the little one put himself in danger, Din didn't scream. Maybe he knew it wouldn't have any effect on Grogu, but he gently picked him up, using an equally gentle voice to scold him.

“I already told you not to do that.” he often sighed, patting the child's head. "You know you risk choking if you swallow a whole frog. Especially since you've already had two meals, you're not hungry."

“Gah !”

"No."

Y/N watched the scene with sparkling eyes and trying to hide her smile, because a great Mandalorian warrior, no matter how patient, probably wouldn't like to be thought of as adorable. He was supposed to be scary and awesome.

When he was with Grogu, Din Djarin wasn't scary at all. He didn't scream when the little one drew on the walls, or hid in a corner, or played with the buttons. Never.

Of course, it wasn't the same with enemies or bounties. He didn't like killing, he would avoid it if possible, but he had no problem accomplishing his mission without the slightest remorse. It was the Way.

Honor, strength, and protection of his clan were his priorities. As he was patient, Din was discreet. A man of few words, preferring actions.

Because of this, Y/N wasn’t sure where she stood in relation to his family. After she helped him find a former Empire general, while risking her life to protect his son, they had stayed together.

At first, Din had considered himself indebted to her. Then, he offered her a job, seeing that she took good care of Grogu when he was absent and that she had some knowledge of mechanics, very useful when the ship had some problems.

But could she consider herself a member of the clan ? Y/N wasn’t sure.

It would have been easy to ask the Mandalorian directly. He would then have clearly answered whether he saw her as a member, or as just a flying partner who took care of his child.

Asking the question directly meant taking the risk of having to face reality and accept the possibility that she wasn't as important to Din as he and Grogu were to her.

She therefore preferred to say nothing and take advantage of the time offered to her with them, experiencing many adventures, as well as wonderful moments.

Until the announcement.

"There are no new contracts at the moment and Grogu needs some rest, so we'll head back home to Nevarro."

"Oh. Okay. I'll probably go to Coruscant then. You can contact me if necessary." Y/N said without looking at him, continuing to play with the kid.

"… I'll drop you off."

The silence in the ship grew colder than calm as they headed toward Coruscant.

Rather than wait to get there, Din decreed that it was necessary to make several stops to buy supplies, check that they had enough energy, that the engine had no problems, and lots of small details that wasted their time unnecessarily.

"We could do all of this on Coruscant. It's not that far."

“I don’t want to take a risk.”

"But we checked everything before the last mission and…"

“I said we were stopping for water !” the Mandalorian then repeated with a loud voice and violently placing his hands on the dashboard.

This made Y/N jump, but also Grogu, who stared at his father with wide eyes, full of surprise and fear. Visibly ashamed of his reaction, Din sighed before muttering that he needed to cool off, leaving them alone in the cockpit.

Things didn't get better when they arrived in Mos Eisley. Not really wanting to stay idle, Y/N took advantage of the little one's nap to go for a walk in the market, while Din chatted with Peli.

She didn't want to go to Coruscant at all and all these stops might have been a blessing, but like with a bandage, she knew it would be better to leave right away rather than torture herself like this.

It was normal that the clan wanted to go home to rest. It was normal that she wasn't invited since she wasn't part of the clan.

What was less normal was Din's behavior, who seemed to avoid her as much as possible and be tense whenever they were in the same room. He had no reason to be angry with her, who continued to work normally despite her sadness.

The situation was also complicated for Grogu, who felt that something was wrong between the two adults. The poor kid ate less, sticking to Y/N every chance he got. It was almost impossible to get him off.

So Y/N wanted to take advantage of this little moment alone to get out of the ship and clear her head.

She didn't expect to be caught by bounty hunters who had spotted the Mandalorian's arrival. Despite Moff Gideon's death, there were still some people who wanted Din Djarin's head.

Since he was training Grogu to be a fighter, Din had also shown her some techniques, so she could defend herself if needed. Although he always added that it wouldn't be necessary, since he would be there to protect her.

Fighting a nice Mandalorian who held back his punches was one thing. Trying to do the same thing with three guys who didn't care about hurting her was something else.

Fortunately for Y/N, when she had just taken a blow to the nose which had made her fall to the ground and the leader of the gang approached to pick her up, Din arrived at that moment, quickly shooting the brigands without missing a target.

He then ran to pick Y/N up and take her back to the ship to tend to her injuries. Wanting to help when he saw her bleeding, the kid used his powers before his father had time to grab the first aid kit.

The panic subsided, a long silence returned, only broken by the little noises of Grogu asking to be carried by Y/N. But when she moved to lean towards him, the Mandalorian spoke.

"What possessed you to leave alone ? Without a word, without saying where you were going ? You were lucky that I noticed your absence and went looking for you."

"I didn't think I needed permission. And I didn't ask to be attacked."

"That's not what I said. But you could have gotten kidnapped ! You could have died ! Why didn't you tell me you were leaving ?! I thought… I thought that you left us. That you had gone to find another means of transportation to Coruscant."

“Why would I do that, since you’re taking me there ?”

“Don’t pretend to be stupid !” Din then shouted, pointing at her, almost scaring her.

The gesture probably scared Grogu more than her, who knew he was going to do nothing but scream like an idiot, but something happened that they would have thought impossible.

With his powers, the child pushed his father against the wall of the ship, as far away from Y/N as possible, then he jumped on her knees, clinging to her while moaning in fear.

The two adults remained frozen. Even though she couldn't see his face, Y/N could guess Din's shocked and hurt look, who understood that his son had thought he was capable of hurting the one he seemed to consider his mother. He saw fear in Grogu's eyes.

"No, I… I shouldn't have shouted." he whispered as he sat on the ground, lowering his head in shame. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know you weren't going to do anything."

“Obviously he doesn’t know.”

“He doesn’t like shouting.” Y/N said, stroking Grogu’s head to comfort him. "He doesn't like arguments. We should go to Coruscant quickly, it would be better for everyone."

“You really want to leave us so quickly ?”

Din's voice almost broke at the end of his sentence. Y/n stared at him, but he didn't raise his head to look back at her, thus not seeing that she didn't understand his question.

"… You're the one who wants me to leave. So you can return to your home to Nevarro."

"… I meant our home. Grogu, you and me. I thought… I thought you understood, Cyare, but you rejected the invitation. I thought I misunderstood and that you didn't want to to be part of our clan."

“You mean… I’m part of the clan ?”

"Of course." the Mandalorian whispered, finally looking at her. "Mesh'la, we have traveled together for so long. We fight together. We raise Grogu together. I know our customs are different, and we haven't taken our vows yet, but…"

"Our vows ?!"

"… Yes. I've been courting you for a while. You accepted the gifts. You train with me. You let me kiss you. I didn't think it wasn't clear. Forgive me, cyare, I shouldn't have had any illusions."

Words were less important than actions to the Mandalorians, even if they had certain songs and rites. Y/N totally didn't understand that receiving a weapon and touching the helmet with your forehead had special meanings, and Din hadn't told her that.

In his corner, Grogu had only understood that his parents loved each other, because that was obvious, and they just needed to be together to be happy. The rest didn't matter.

All it would have taken was for Din to take them back to Nevarro without opening his mouth, and Y/N would have been surprised but delighted to be welcomed into their little home. Instead, he had tried to communicate, and it had been a disaster.

Now the son was afraid, trembling against Y/N who was processing the fact that Din had been thinking about marrying her for some time, until he realized that he had done everything wrong.

He had yelled at his clan, even if it was because he was afraid of losing Y/N. He hadn't known how to protect them properly. He was covered with shame.

"I don't want to go to Coruscant."

Since he didn't move, too busy determining if he had poked his head by being thrown by the Force, Y/N slowly got up, keeping Grogu close to her, to join him on the ground.

"I was disappointed that you didn't ask me to come. It wasn't clear to me that I was part of the clan, but it was my dearest wish. To stay with you and the little one. If you still want of me…"

“Cyare !” Din sighed, taking her hand. “Nothing would make me happier.”

“Bah ga ba !”

Grogu stirred then, patting his father's hand insistently so that he let go of Y/N's, his large eyes piercing the Mandalorian's berskar.

"... I have already apologized."

“Pato !”

"… I'm sorry for scaring you, and for yelling at Y/N. I won't do it again. I will never hurt any of you. And I'll make sure there are no misunderstandings before drawing conclusions."

“Aaaaaaaah.” was Grogu's response, who smiled again, holding out his arms to be picked up by Din, who complied without hesitation.

This made his parents laugh. They hadn't laughed in a long time.

The ship's coordinates were changed to go directly to Nevarro. No need to make any more unnecessary detours, since all the stops they had made so far were useless. Din was only trying to buy time, not knowing how to get Y/N to stay.

“So, you talked about vows ?” she said shyly as they landed, the kid sleeping on top of her.

"Later, Mesh'la. My request wasn't very romantic."

“Mandalorians worry about romance ?”

"No. But I imagine it will please you."

Y/N could have said she didn’t need all this. Knowing that he saw her as a member of his clan, as the mother of his son, was enough. But she didn't want another misunderstanding that might hurt Din, and she would be happy to be his wife, so she just nodded.

There was no more arguing, no more shouting. Not even when Grogu swallowed the ring that Din had the Armorer make. He simply sat down in a corner, grunting while tapping his helmet, while the little one hiccupped, regretting having eaten the little shiny circle.

“We can get it back in a few days.”

"No."

“We’ll clean it up.”

"Cyare, there's no way I'm giving you a gift that was eaten by the kid and which passed… Hmm !"

Luckily, the ring was spat out, but it took a while for Din to agree to take it back, and then officially offer it to Y/N. He insisted on going to Mandalore to purify it in the waters, while announcing to his peers that he would soon have a riduur.

He didn't bring Y/N and Grogu with him on this trip. The little one was too tired, and someone had to watch over him.

“Karga could have kept him.” Y/N remarked when Din had returned.

"He would have ended up losing his mind after Grogu destroyed everything in his office. I don't think the kid would have liked to be left alone either. Besides…"

"What ?"

"You are beautiful, Mesh'la. Some Mandalorians might have wanted to take you. I would have had to fight and kill them to prove that you are mine. I preferred to avoid that."

It sounded ridiculous, but he said it very seriously, his tone quickly becoming dry and somber.

Din Djarin did not often get angry, except when it concerned the protection of his clan, when someone tried to hurt them or take them from him. He hid his anger and jealousy beneath his armor, but it was there, ready to come out against those who had the audacity to confront him.

But never against Y/N and Grogu. Only for them.

[radio-navlee]

Not so tough now huh?

I really wasnt expecting the poll to get so many votes!! Heres what you guys have voted on <3

Lee!Jax Ler!Ragatha

Summary: Jax finally pushed Ragatha over the edge causeing her to find something out about the annyoing rabbit.

Jax smirked to himself, setting up the most diabolical prank on his dear ol’ friend.

He’d been planning on getting Ragatha for weeks. He had completely transformed the rag dolls room into something you’d seen out of home alone.

String and marbles practically covered her room. Foam balls, feathers, water buckets and paint set up to hit her as she walked in.

“3…2…1” Jax counted down watching Ragatha close her door behind her. He could hear a muffled, ‘What the?’ Come from the doll herself. The marble rolled into a small hole triggering scissors to cut string sending the bucket of water over her bed, the water spilled everywhere and into a lower placed bucket below activating the foam balls to sore through the air hitting targets around the room. Finally it ended with a bucket of paint spattering on her head with another balloon filled with feather to pop.

“…..JAX!!!” Ragatha screamed causing Jax to chuckle to himself already booking it down the hall.

Ragatha, surprisingly, cleaned herself off quickly and darted after him

“JAX YOU JERK!!”

“THAT WAS SO WORTH IT!!” Jax yelled back

After 5 minutes of Ragatha chasing Jax, he started to get tired. He felt like it was the longest game of tag, where Ragatha was it and he was playing for his life.

Jax, now starting to panic, realizing that Ragatha was not slowing down. Regatha was so determined to catch him. Every time Jax would fumble over himself he would scream. Scared to what would happen if he did fall with the doll hot on his trail.

eventually he backed himself into a corner. He spun around to try to run but Ragatha was already there.

“Raggs…. Please… it was…. Just a joke!” Jax panted, catching his breath

“Oh that was no joke, that was a prank! A prank you fully thought out!” Ragatha pointed out

“Look, let’s… talk about it! How about we make a deal?” Jax suggested

“I’m listening”

“Okay, how about this! You let me go….” Jax inched his way slowly trying to get past Ragatha, “and I promise…. TO RUN- EuGH!” Jax ran full speed thinking he was getting away, only for a plushy hand to stop him.

“Not a chance” Ragatha said holding Jax by his upper arm.

“Let go!” Jax tried to pull away

“No!” Ragatha squeezed his arm causing Jax to let out a yelp

“…..”

“…Jax?”

“..what….” Jax face got hot, he didn’t know he could still be ticklish after entering the digital world!!

“Jax what was that?”

“.. a cry for help?” Jax tried to excuse. Ragatha squeezed again causing Jax to yelp again

“Are you-?”

“No…”

“Because you sound like your-”

“I’m not..”

Ragatha smirked, "You're not what?"

"uhhh.." Jax blanked, too embarssed to say anything just in case it wasnt that. Ragatha spun Jax grabbing both arms pinning them both above his head. Jax gave her the most panicked look he could give, seeing as Ragatha didnt give him the 'you ok?' look, Jax was doomed.

“So if I do this” Ragatha pinched at Jax’s sides “you’re sure you're not..?”

“gAH- Rahahags!!” Jax nearly jumped out of his skin. He started to squirm and giggle as Ragatha continued to tease and tickle him

“Oh so you are ticklish?” Ragatha smiled moving her way up and spidering across the poor bunny’s ribs

“NohOHO! WAIHAhaeheHAT!!” Jax complained and groaned through his giggles, he shook his head frantically as Ragatha moved up.

“Somebody’s sensitive!!” The doll teased, tickling right below where his ribs meet his armpits. The anticipation was literally eating at Jax.

“RAhaHags!! PLEheEase!!” Jax panted, trying to make himself sound as tired as possible.

“Shouldn’t have set that prank up, this would have never happened!” Ragatha growled, remembering the mess she gonna have to clean up when she gets back.

Jax shut his eyes as the rag doll massaged into his armpits. Jax nearly screeched, he turned his head into his pined up arms to try to muffle anything. He’d hate it if somebody came looking for them to find the predicament he was in.

“RAHFAHFAHGS!!” He stomped his feet below himself to try to diffract himself from the tickling

“Sorry, am I in a bad spot?” Ragatha teased

Jax sighed as Ragatha slowed down her torturous hand. Jax’s cheeks turned pink straight out of embarrassment. Just as Jax thought Ragatha was done, she put her hand on the side of his neck. Crap

“Wha- what are you doing?” Jax asked nervously

“Take a wild guess rabbit!” Ragatha stated as she tickled into his neck

Jax squealed scrunching up his neck and throwing his head back. Ragatha immediately noticed how Jax no longer wanted to muffle his laugh. Jax just chucked freely as Ragatha moved her hand to his ears.

“AH- Waitwaitwaitwait!! Ragatha!! Ihavetowarnyounowpleaseimgoingtoscream WAIT!!” Ragatha held his two ears in place and slowly blew air onto them. Jax screamed followed by loud laughter, he squirmed and shook his head but he couldn’t shake her off

“RAGAHATHAHA!! *Squeal* GAHAHA!!” Jax, now more embarrassed than ever, sat there laughing seeing as there was nothing else he could do. Ragatha tickled the tops of Jax’s ears, still blowing onto the bottom part.

Jax was in practically in pieces giggling and taking deep breaths when Ragatha would inhale giving him time to breathe before she would exhale again. Ragatha stoped once Jax started to get wheezy

“You ok?” Ragatha asked as Jax sat on the floor

“I uhh, *HIC* ohmygod” Jax completely shut down covering his face with his hands while his embarrassment covered his face

“Did I go to far?” Ragatha giggled, she never saw Jax like this. She laid her hand over his shoulder causing Jax to jump as the sudden contact

“No uh *HIC* you’re good it’s just- *HIC* these damn hiccups.” Jax explained, his frustration only getting worse as he continued to hiccup

“Stay here, I’ll get you some water” Ragatha smiled. She was back to her old self again, Jax didn’t complain and watched her run off.

He rubbed his ears free of the ghost tickles, bringing one down to his vision. ‘Weird’ he thought. He leaned up against once of the walls and eventually fell asleep.

Jax shot up, expecting to still be sat up on a wall, instead he was in his bed. He looked around confused, until spotting a glass of water and a note on his night stand. He sipped the water and opened the note

“Hey Jax,

I saw you were passed out so I brought you back to your room. I also brought you the water I said I was going to get. You might have been confused how you got back in your room, that’s why I’m writing this. I’ll be in my room tidying up YOUR mess.

-Doll Face”

Well, that solves that mystery…Jax grabbed a pen and paper.

He opened his door carefully looking to see anybody, but nobody was there, good. He found Ragathas door and crouched down. He slid the note under her door with a knock and booked it back to his room.

———————

Ragatha heard a knock on her door while cleaning up the mess Jax’s prank caused. ‘Probably just a dig dong ditch’ she thought hearing the sound of feet running away. She looked over to the door anyways, ‘a note?’ Ragatha walked over picking up the note and opening it up.

“Hi Rags,

Thanks for not leaving me in that corner and I guess thanks for the water. You better not mention this to anybody. I mean it. It was already embararsing enough,

-Jax”

‘he missed spelled embarrassing’ Ragatha giggled. I guess he was right, he did look really embarrassed. But this is the first time he’d thank Rags for something, this was once in a life time.

Ragatha looked at her trash can, then her storage box. She thought for a minute, then put the note in her box.

(I AM SOOOOOO SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS TOOK😭🙏 lots of stuff has happened but do not worry! Your goul is back🩷)

[atlaskrr]

HOLY SHIT I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO SEE THE NEW SPIDERVERSE MOVIE TODAY AND GAH DAMN

Here's a penny for my thoughts:

The animation team continues to impress me with the animation and in this movie more so than the first cause of how they made each universe feel

THAT OPENING (love me ambiguous openings where you slowly piece it as it continues)

Spot = traumatized silly guy turned into very dangerous traumatized guy

We all thought pavitr would be ✨TRAUMATIZED✨ but I'm so glad miles was able to help him save both (maybe he is traumatized if his universe is destroyed but let's hope not since he's so blorbo)

Love his silliness with his whole introduction introduction the romantic tension comments and "Oh he doesn't know about hobie" like a whole romantic drama is about to play out

I thought I was gonna hate hobie with how much police he was talking but I grew to be amused and fond of him (the true mvp)

Idk if this is controversial or not but even though miguel o'hara is traumatized I still don't like him (if it's not clear I hate it when people try to be "the system". Looking at you light yagami)

THE COLOR THEORY ON THIS 👏✨🙌

Like the color shifts in gwen's universe and the inverted colors on the scenes of earth 42 and gwen's universe is another on point moment

There is so much more that I can't possibly mention of the top of my head at the moment but all the visual symbolism (not just in color) is *muah*

PARALLELS (that's all I have to say)

MAYDAY 💞 is. so. ADORABLE AND CHAOTIC.

I love peter b. parker having a child cause he liked the idea of raising his child to be like miles... cause he's a good person

Also peter b. parker is SUCH a father figure towards miles

Speaking of miles THEY REALLY CANT LEAVE THE POOR BOY ALONE WTF (give him a break man)

The humour in this movie. PEAK. (Idgaf what you say)

I love all the cameos and references of the many spiders and will deffo pick apart every scene once I can get my hands on the full length movie on my pc

They make every spiderperson's attack feel unique and get creative with techniques and styles

I love the 2d-3d look it has as always

I love miles' parents and its nice to see gwen reconcile with her dad

GOOD OLD PARKER TRAUMA

EARTH 42. ITS ALL CONNECTED. THAT REVEAL WOAA.

I'm glad they brought back the old spiders that miles first met into the squad

GOD DAMN THE CLIFFHANGER

i LOVE all the details in this movie

I also love the theme and characterization

[heizlut]

So This is Love

cw: angst/misunderstandings

tags: fem!reader from natlan, kaeya being kaeya, angst/comfort/smut, diluc is heavily mentioned, venti and jean are also mentioned, mostly proofread

a/n: don't ask how many words this is, it's a lot😅

m!list here

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆ ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛

Kaeya would do anything for you, why couldn't you just see that? He didn't understand since he had been so attentive towards you, even after that one night where he witnessed something from outside the window of Angel's Share that made him feel too many emotions at once. Was he just not enough for you? Did you move on? Even worse, did you truly choose Diluc? These thoughts consume him constantly and tear at his aching heart.

So, in this moment, Kaeya is standing there soaked from the pouring rain in front of your door as you look up at him with a mix of confusion and concern. His gaze full of turmoil as he stares down into your eyes, seemingly unfazed by how the rain continues to pelt his tanned skin and drench him completely. "Please... Will you please listen to me?", his voice is soft but with so much desperation and heartache.

But how did you two even get to this point? Had things always been this way? No, they hadn't. And Kaeya was more determined than ever to have you by his side.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

Being in Mondstadt was certainly quite the culture shock for you since you had come from Natlan. Mondstadt was a far-cry from the scorching heat and endless wars that consumed your nation. Everything here was so peaceful and freeing. There seemed to be no archon ruling over the place finding joy in calling for constant war between its people. In fact, the archon seemed largely absent here but many people still held faith for him.

It was...nice. You felt like you could breathe without smelling the stench of death and fire. You certainly turned heads when you arrived here since you did not look like the people who resided in this nation nor did you dress like them. Maybe if you had gone to Sumeru instead, less heads would have turned at your appearance, but you wanted to get as far from Natlan as possible.

The guards at the gates leading in Mondstadt City looked at you warily while you looked at them with curiosity. "Who are you and what is your purpose here?", one of the guards spoke. You blink a couple of times as your brain processes the language difference and makes the switch to their tongue, "I'm here for refuge." The two men cast sideways glances at each other before looking back at you, "And how long do you plan on staying?" You frowned slightly as you thought, "For as long as I can."

The guards looked skeptical of you and one narrowed their eyes at you as he spoke, "Come with me. I'll escort you to the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius where you can meet with the Acting Grandmaster." Just as he turned around to lead you, Venti seemed to pop out of nowhere with a bright smile and curious eyes, "Who's this?" The guard jumped, startled by Venti's sudden appearance and put a hand to his chest to keep his heart from jumping out of his chest from the innocent scare, "Gah!" He clicked his tongue, "If it isn't Venti the bard... We have someone new here and I was going to escort them to the Knights Headquarters."

You looked at Venti curiously, trying to figure out if he was someone you could trust. It was a habit you didn't think you would be rid of anytime soon. But he only smiled happily at you then back at the guard, "Let me take her. I have nothing else going on right now." The guard hesitated for a moment, then released a deep, defeated sigh, "Fine. I shouldn't leave my post anyways." Venti's bright smile seemed to get even brighter at his relentence. He looked back to you, "Come and follow me!" You only shrugged and began to follow after him.

Walking through the main city beside Venti, you felt many eyes on you. Some wary of you while others just looked on in curiosity. Maybe they would relax if you had walked with a small smile on your face, but alas, resting bitch face was your default unless you were among close friends (which you could count on only one hand). Venti chattered away endlessly as you followed him as if he had known you for ages, but you hardly listened. The only thing that caught your attention was the towered statue of the nations archon. You paused as Venti continued to speak, until he shortly noticed you had stopped, "Huh? Is something wrong?" Your eyes go from the statue to him, back and forth a couple of times before you finally spoke, "Do your people not realize that you are their archon? Why do they call you the bard and seem to disregard you?"

Venti's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed, "Oh... That's um..." You raised a brow at him, "Why do you hide your identity?" Venti paused again, but recovered by clearing his throat, "I would rather the people have full freedom then feel the need to bow down to me, I don't want to go into details." You simply regarded his words with a shrug, "Well, that's your choice, I guess." Venti blinked at your nonchalant acceptance but quickly smiled his usual bright smile, "Anyways, that's enough of that tour. I'll take you to the Knights of Favonius headquarters now."

It wasn't long before you both arrived to HQ and entered through the grand double doors. Venti approached the first door on the left, "And this is Acting Grandmaster Jean's office." Venti stepped aside to allow you to enter first, but before you hand could even turn to handle, the door flew open. A hard mass ran into you and the next thing you knew, you were on the ground. Your nose scrunched up from the fall and a smooth voice sounded out, "Oh my! I am so sorry. Please, let me..." The voice trailed off as you looked up at the source.

Light periwinkle eye met yours. You studied the tall tanned man before you as he looked at you, not with wariness, but with pure awe. Venti stared at the interaction and then let out a light knowing giggle which snapped both you and the man out of it. The man cleared his throat and held out his hand out towards you and you took it. After you were pulled back to your feet, the man gave you a charming smile, "The name's Kaeya. Calvary Captain of the Knights of Favonius." His smooth voice made you feel as though you were being wrapped up in a soft blanket. "I'm y/n", you replied then looked down at where his hand was still holding yours, "You can let go now..."

Kaeya's cheeks reddened immediately and he let go of your hand, letting out an awkward laugh, "Sorry about that." A blonde woman peeked behind Kaeya's shoulder, "And who might this be?" Kaeya stepped aside to allow both you and Jean to get a better look at each other and Venti spoke up, "She's new here and will be staying here for awhile." Jean smiled softly at you, "Then, please, come in. We can discuss any questions you might have and I'll find you a good place to stay while you're here." With that, you entered her office and discussions began.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

After Jean had escorted you to your new home, you were finally alone again. You laid flat on your back against the small, soft twin-sized bed as you stared up at the wooden ceiling. "Things will be different now... Things will be better... At least I hope so...", you spoke aloud to noone. Since it had become late in the day and you were too exhausted to prepare a meal for yourself or purchase clothes that better with this nation, you resigned yourself to head to the tavern Venti spoke so highly of.

Making your way through town as the sun hung low in the sky that casted pink and purple hues over everything, you push open the door to Angel's Share and were instantly greeted with music from a bard you didn't know and drunk patrons laughing and talking loudly throughout the cozy space. Your eyes drifted over to the bar where you spotted a tall, broad-shouldered man with fiery red hair. Your heart instantly jumped in your chest at the sight of a familiar hair color that the majority of your nation bore. He made you feel a small comfort with something so familiar.

Without much thought, you strode over to where he was and sat on one of the bar stools that creaked slightly underneath you. The sound caught the man's attention, he paused his wiping of the drinking glass he had been cleaning as his crimson eyes met yours, "What can I get for you?" His voice was deep and almost monotonous, but there was a sense of comfort tied to it. He studied you with a brief curiosity before he apparently decided your different appearance didn't matter to him.

"I'll take a Queimada", you replied instantly earning you a quirked brow from the man. "Apologies, but we don't serve that here. From that choice though, you must be from Natlan, correct?", his question wasn't wary, simply curious as he took in your appearance yet again. You nodded once, "That's right." There was a bit of an awkward pause that the man had no intention of filling, so you were the first to break it, "I'll just take what specialty you serve here." With a nod, he made your drink and set it down in front of you, the golden liquid looked bright and sweet, "Enjoy."

You took a sip and it wasn't long before you had downed 3 more glasses of what you learned to be dandelion wine. You finally cracked a little smile at the brooding man and introduced yourself, to which he finally casted a glance your way for the first time in a while, "I'm Diluc, the owner of Dawn Winery and Angel's Share." His response was gruff though you could tell he meant no harm by it. You both had been fine with the silence between the two of you as you drank what he served you, but with the alcohol that buzzed beneath your skin, you longed for more conversation. Before further conversation could ensue, you heard a familiar sing-song voice calling out to you, "Y/n! Come join us!"

Diluc groaned which made you turn to see the one who called out to you. It was no other than Venti who sat with a smirking Kaeya. You quirked a brow at Diluc to which he gave you a defeated and narrowed look, "Those two cause too much disturbance. It would best if you didn't get too wrapped up with them." But you being you, took that as a bit of challenge, "I can handle it." Diluc rolled his eyes at your response and didn't spare you a second glance as you strolled over to the two men who desired your presence.

Kaeya got up and pulled the chair out for you. One corner of your lips curled up as you gave him a teasing look, "Such a gentleman." He bowed dramatically, playing along, "Of course, my dear~" This display pulled a laugh from you that caused Kaeya to feel a tug on his heart, but he hid it behind a cheeky smile and sat down when you did as well. The night went on and whenever Kaeya got up to retrieve more drinks for both you and Venti, the girls seemed to flock to him. You couldn't help but watch as he never turned down flirtations from the girls and expertly charmed them in return.

You weren't close enough to Kaeya to feel any sort of jealousy, but part of you silently admitted you hated what you saw. That small part of you hoped he treated you and only you like that. What a silly thought to have for someone you had just met earlier that day... Without your knowing, Venti took in your very subtle disheartened look whenever Kaeya charmed someone else. Not that he would particularly do anything with this new information, but he didn't like seeing you unhappy.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

Weeks seemed to pass by quicker than you had expected. Some of the people of Mondstadt were still wary of you and kept their distance, not that you particularly cared much. You were happy with your small group of people you were now considering your friends that consisted of Kaeya, Venti, Diluc, and Jean. You remember being with Jean when you decided you should probably purchase clothes that better fit with the style of Mondstadt. You looked at her as if she were crazy when she came over to your place and handed you an off-the-shoulder long sleeve top, a brown corset, and dark green pants.

She insisted that you put it on and relented with a heavy sigh, going into your bathroom and changing. When you stepped out in the new outfit, Jean looked so proud, "Come on. You should be out and about in this!" You felt awkward leaving your home in an outfit that felt foreign to you, but when the two of you came across Kaeya by the fountain in the center of the city, you felt differently. Jean looked up at him expectantly, "Welllll? What do you think?"

Kaeya stood there stunned at the way you looked. His eye trailed your figure, taking in the swell of the top of your breasts and the way the corset hugged your figure tightly and oh... the pants.... He felt his cock twitch involuntarily and a slight blush crept to his tanned cheeks, "You look more beautiful than ever." You weren't entirely sure of how genuine his words were since the tone of his voice was the same tone he used to charm every other woman who approached him with flirtatious intentions. That small part of you whispered to you that you wanted him to only say those words to you in such a tone, but you knew from what you had observed, that wouldn't ever be likely. Kaeya seemed to belong to everyone.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

As months passed, you felt yourself longing for Kaeya's attention, but he always seemed just out of your grasp even if he spent most of his free time with you and the others. You knew it seemed foolish to have that desire, but you couldn't help how you felt towards him. You two had grown quite close and even shared moments where you felt as though he felt the same way towards you.

One memory you can recall of such an instance is when he insisted on walking you home late at night after quite a few rounds of drinks. The warm air felt comfortable as it brushed through your hair and his as you both walked. The streets were mostly quiet besides the sounds of frogs croaking somewhere in the distance and bugs singing their nightly songs. There was a brief moment in which your hand brushed against his and you muttered a quick apology. Kaeya chuckled softly in response and told you it was fine.

Part of you wished you were brave enough to just take his hand in yours, but instead you were a coward. Once you reached your doorstep, you turned and looked up at Kaeya who gave a soft smile down at you, "Goodnight. Sleep well." His voice and the way he looked at you made you want so much more. You stood there lost in him, wishing he would kiss you.

You were snapped out of your thoughts when Kaeya tilted his head ever-so slightly, eyebrows furrowed, and lowered his voice, "Are you alright?" You blinked and gave a half-hearted smile, "I'm fine. Must've just had too much to drink..." Kaeya visibly relaxed at your answer, "Well, have a good night then. I should be going now." You kept your half-hearted smile, "Yeah. Goodnight, Kaeya." He gave one more soft smile and turned, walking away into the night.

Another memory you were quite fond of was another time were it had been just you and Kaeya. You were sitting on the edge of Starsnatch Cliff letting your legs dangle as the wind threaded through your hair. "Need some company?" a smooth voice spoke out to you. You turned your head to see a smirking Kaeya approaching. You gave him a slight smile in return and he sat down next to you. His shoulder brushed against yours, but neither of you moved away at the feeling.

Kaeya broke the peaceful silence between you, "Do you come here often?" You barked out a laugh that turned into genuine laughter, “Does that line usually work for you?" Kaeya raised a brow at your response, but once the realization struck him he laughed, "I've never had to use that line before, so you tell me..." He gently grasped your chin and leaned in dangerously close with a smirk, his voice lowered, "Did it work?"

Your eyes widened and your cheeks turned crimson at the closeness and the gesture. You quickly came back to yourself and swatted his hand away, turning you face back to the sprawling view in front of you, "You'll have to try a little harder. Lines like that don't work on me." Kaeya looked amused but also faced to view that captured your attention and spoke nonchalantly, "Guess I'll have to be better next time."

Later that evening, you came home to find three cecelias tied together on a blue string with a little note that read: Hopefully this is an improvement from cheesy pick-up lines. Your heart skipped a beat. This certainly was better than any cheesy pick-up line.

From then, your heart seemed to ache for him even more. But seeing the way he was with every other woman really made you feel like shit, so you turned to the one who knew him best, Diluc.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

It was evening when you made the decision to ask for Diluc's advice, strolling into Angel's Share with a disheartened look. Diluc's crimson eyes met yours as soon as you walked in and his eyebrows furrowed when he saw the look on your face, "What's wrong?"

You sighed and plopped down on one of the bar stools, immediately crossing your arms on top of the bar and resting your forehead down on them. "This is so stupid. I'm so stupid. I hate this...", your voice came out muffled from the position you were in, but Diluc caught the gist of your grumbles. "Come on, lift your head up. How can I possibly help if I can't even hear what's troubling you?", his voice was stern but was mixed with genuine worry. Though Diluc wasn't one to be generally close with others, he felt that all those times he spent around you that he was comfortable with you.

You finally lifted your head and Diluc's somewhat stern expression morphed to pure concern when he saw the tears pricking your eyes. Immediately he announced for everyone to get out of the tavern, stating they were closing early for the night. People grumbled, not wanting their drinking shenanigans to end to early, but they left as they were told. As soon as the tavern was empty, he came from behind the bar and sat next to you, his voice low with worry, "Tell me why you're crying."

You sniffled as tears threatened to spill, "This is so stupid. I shouldn't even be crying." Diluc frowned, "No. Whatever it is, it's making you cry. Not once have I seen you cry while you've been staying here in Mondstadt. So tell me." You bit the inside of your cheek and then relented. As you explained your feelings about Kaeya, the only thing that kept Diluc from confirming that you were indeed stupid to even have feelings for his brother were your tears that continuously rolled down your cheeks.

In a soft gesture that Diluc didn't do for just anyone, he gently wiped one of the tears from your cheek with the pad of his gloved thumb, "Your feelings and concerns aren't stupid, even if I don't agree with you having romantic feelings for Kaeya, I can't disregard them just because I personally dislike him for my own reasons." You looked into his eyes and knew he was being genuine with you, "But what do I even do? I hate feeling like this..." Diluc frowned as he tried to come up with a proper response for something he had never dealt with before, "Try to distract yourself. Put your focus on yourself and when you're ready, start to focus on someone new."

You pondered his words for a moment with shaky breaths, "But what if I can't?" Diluc gently grabbed your shoulders and leaned closer to you, "You can. You're a strong woman, so don't doubt yourself." For some reason his words made you cry again, perhaps not from sadness, moreso from feeling too much at once. This startled Diluc and he did what he thought would be best to calm you. He stood up and brought you into his arms in a warm, comforting embrace. He held you and smoothed your hair as you cried into his chest.

One thing the two of you did not know what Kaeya was there just outside the tavern, having watched this exchange from the front window. He didn't know what had been said between the two of you, but seeing the way Diluc wiped your tears in an intimate gesture and held you against him in his arms made something twist in Kaeya's stomach. So, you had supposedly chosen Diluc. Maybe you wanted Diluc this whole time. Kaeya witnessing what had just happened seemed to bring a sense of finality to his question. To him, you chose his brother.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

Ever since that night, you had noticed that Kaeya seemed to be avoiding you which made you feel incredibly worse. You wanted to listen to Diluc's advice and push past your feelings for Kaeya since he seemed so unattainable. Kaeya would still spend some evenings with you and the others, but more frequently began to find excuses for why he couldn't join you all. When he was around you, he still had that mischievous charm, that sweet but sly smirk, and kind compliments that he gave to you. He seemed the same as ever, but with the growing distance, you weren't sure what to think.

You made yourself believe that you were fine with this. Diluc said to keep your distance as well so you tried to not let it get to you whenever Kaya couldn't join you are the group. But fuck, it did bother you. So fucking much. Will this heartache ever go away? No.

Apparently you were only getting ready to be completely heartbroken.

You couldn't have known what you were about to walk into. How could you have? You had gone to the tavern as usual, already accepting that Kaeya said he wouldn't be able to make it for whatever made up excuse he came up with this time. You sat at the bar having some light-hearted conversation with Diluc and throwing back a drink or maybe more than just one. Your brain was swimming with the alcohol you had consumed and excused yourself to the bathroom to splash your face with water to sober up a little.

Before you could even make it there, you heard a familiar laugh.

Kaeya's laugh. Your first thought was that it was a comforting sound only for your second thought to come barrelling in. What was he doing here? He said he couldnt make it so why the hell were you hearing his laughter? With the alcohol flooding your mind and heating your body, you went to find the source.

The sound of his flirtatious, sultry voice could not be mistaken for someone else's. The voice carried you to the second floor of Angel's Share. And there he was. He wasn't alone. Some pretty little blonde stood there, leaning over his table and propping herself up on her elbows as her ass stuck out in the position she put herself in. You couldn't hear what either of them said because the pounding of your heart filled your ears.

You stood there in some kind of stupor, frozen in place. The next thing you knew, the girls lips were on his. You didn't stay to see what happened next. You raced down the stairs. This caught Diluc's attention. The sight of you racing towards him looking as though you had seen a ghost. He didn't hesitate for even a second when you begged him to take you home, claiming that you couldn't bear to be alone right then. Tossing the tavern's keys to Charles, who caught them effortlessly and took over as if this was nothing new to him.

Diluc held you by your waist protectively as you both walked quickly out of Angel's Share and towards your home. He didn't speak, feeling it wasn't the right moment to ask you anything. As soon as you both entered your home and Diluc shut the door, rain began to pelt against the windows and you threw yourself in his arms and sobbed.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

Diluc held you for what seemed like hours as you wet the front of his shirt with your tears, your fingers clutching the fabric as if he were your lifeline. He didn't mind it so much, he just wanted you to feel better and if holding you and letting you cry against him was what you wanted, he would stay like just like this.

You meant something to him, even though it wasn't in a romantic sense, you were deeply important to him. After what seemed like forever, he tilted your head up gently so you would look up at him, “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. But just know that I’m here and I’m listening.” You drew in shaky breaths, your body trembling from all the crying, “He was there. With someone else. She… They… They kissed.”

Diluc's expression of concern morphed to anger and he held you close once again as you began to cry once more, but softly this time.

Why was his brother so fucking stupid? Didn't Kaeya know what you felt for him? Couldn't he even tell?

It took a long time for you to calm down, but with Diluc keeping his arms wrapped around you as you listened to him breathe and softly soothe you helped immensely. When you looked up at him again he gave a sad smile, "Will you be alright by yourself tonight?" You wiped your tear-stained cheeks and let out a breath, "I'll be okay... You've done enough for me already...”

He brushed away a strand of your hair that was stuck to your wet cheek, "Are you sure?" You gave a smile that didn't quite reach your eyes, "Promise. Now go home. I've kept you long enough." Diluc huffed at your answer but he wouldn't push you to change your mind.

If you said you would be okay, he would believe you. He gently grasped you shoulders and spoke in earnest, "Don't hesitate to come to the winery if you find you can't be alone later. My doors will be open for you." You smiled slightly at that and thanked him. Diluc pressed a soft kiss to your forehead before turning on his heels and heading out into the pouring rain.

❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ❅*ִ

You change into a nightgown, get a fire started in your little fireplace, and make yourself a cup of hot tea. You hold the warm mug in both of your hands as you watched the steam rise. The rain didn't seem to be letting up any time soon, but that was fine with you. It suits your mood. You take a sip of your tea and let the warmth fill your body as your eyes trail after a raindrop that was rolling down your window.

You nearly jump out of your skin when you hear a desperate knock on your door. Your heart clenched tightly when you heard the voice on the other side, "Y/n. It's me. Please, please let me in. Let me talk to you." It was Kaeya. A small part of you held a flicker of hope when you heard it was him, but the other part of you felt even worse. The knocking and desperate pleas to be let in continued as you weighed whether you should open the door and hear what he had to say.

A crack of thunder reminded you that it was pouring outside and Kaeya must be absolutely soaked. You would feel bad if he got horribly sick, so with a heavy sigh you open the door.

There he was, looking down into your eyes with a gaze full of turmoil, seemingly unfazed by how the rain continues to pelt his tanned skin and drench him completely. "Please... Will you please listen to me?" his voice is soft but with so much desperation and heartache. You frown up at him, but step to the side to let him in without a word. Kaeya steps in and water droplets roll off of him, dripping to your wooden floors.

You set down your mug on the small wooden table that still held the now dried-out cecelias he had given you some time ago, "Let me get you a towel." Before you could turn to do as you said from your bathroom, his large hand grabbed your wrist. Kaeya pulled you back towards him, almost making you stumble, "No, let me speak first You blink up at him, opening your mouth to protest, but you quickly close it and sigh heavily. The fire crackles to your left and you decide to speak, "Let's at least sit in front of the fire. ... don't want you getting sick because of this." Kaeya let go of your wrist and nodded.

You both sit on the intricately designed rug as the fire crackles and casts a warm, orange glow on both of you. You avoid looking at him, staring at the flames instead when you speak softly, "I don't really want to talk to you right now, but you seem to have something to say. The least I can do is listen." Kaeya runs a hand through his damp blue hair, "I'm sorry for avoiding you occasionally." You huff, "No, I get it. You were seeing someone else so-" "What are you even talking about??", Kaeya cuts you off.

You finally turn your head to look at him with an incredulous look, "Seriously, Kaeya? I saw you tonight with that girl. You were kissing." Kaeya groans and pinches the bridge of his nose, "It's not like that." "Then what else could it possibly be?", you snap. "If you're seeing someone then just say so, I'II be fine." His jaw clenches, "Of course you'd be fine, you're with my brother." Your jaw drops at the words,"What are you saying? I'm not with anyone, certainly not Diluc for that matter. We aren't together."

Kaeya scoffs, "Well you sure looked awfully cozy when he wiped away your tears and held you some nights ago at Angel's Share. And you seem to spend an awful lot of time with him these days." "That only happened because I was crying over my aching feelings for you!", you raise your voice and immediately regret letting your words slip so easily. Kaeya stares at you in shock for a moment before speaking softly, "..What?"

Tears threaten to prick the inner corners of your eyes, but you turn to face to fire again, "My feelings don't matter. As I said earlier, you have that girl." Kaeya leans in towards you, "Look at me." His voice was soft, but with a commanding desperation. You finally spare him a glance, tears welling up in your eyes. He puts his palm to your cheek and caresses it, "I'm not with the girl that you saw. I didn't even know who she was.” A tear rolls down your cheek and your voice breaks when you speak, "Then why did you kiss her?"

His thumb swipes away the rolling tear and his forehead presses against yours, "She kissed me and I pushed her away right after she did that. You can ask the others that were up there, I'm being honest here." A few more tears fall and he holds you face with both hands now, forehead still pressed to yours as he speaks in a hushed voice, "You're the only I want. The only one I've been wanting since you came here." Your teary eyes search his eye, looking for any trace of dishonesty but you could find none, only truth. His breath fans against your face as he speaks again, "You're the one who has my heart. No one else. I mean it, truly."

You don't even think, you just act. Your lips press against his, startling him at first but he soon melts into it. His lips move in rhythm with yours. Your arms wrap around him, pulling him closer. Your nightgown getting wet as you pressed against his rain-soaked body.

The kiss becomes more desperate and you find yourself laying flat against the rug with Kaeya caging you in underneath him as the fire crackles and pops beside the two of you. "Tell me you want this just as much as I do", his voice came out almost shaky between heavy breaths. Your soft hand caresses his cheek and down to the back of his neck as you pulled him down to you, "More than anything, I need you."

That was all it took for him to hastily unbutton his shirt and and shrug it off his body, his pants came off just as swiftly. You lay there in awe of his tanned, muscular body and your eyes trailed down the light blue happy trail that led down to a small tuft of tangled blue and a heavy, throbbing cock with a pink, leaking tip. If you had been just anyone, he would've smirked at your reaction, but right now was not the time for teasing. He made quick work of you nightgown, tossing it unceremoniously behind him. Your breasts moved in time with you heavy breaths and he took in every inch of your body, "I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you...” His voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke.

Kaeya lowered himself down and spread your thighs gently. His breath is hot against your sensitive pussy and makes you long for him even more. His uncovered eye flits up to your face and just as quickly as he look up at you, his tongue began to flick against your clit. You draw in a sharp breath as your back arches off the rug in time with a sporadic pop from the fireplace. He groans with need when his tongue licks through your folds and laps at the taste of you.

Your legs begin to shake from the intensity of it all and you tangle your fingers in his still slightly damp hair, pulling him impossibly closer. Your grind your pussy against his tongue as he pushes you over the edge into white-hot bliss. You cry out his name when his tongue gives one more flick to your now overly sensitive clit. When he moves up towards your blissful face, you can see your own juices glistening against his lips. You don't even care that you can taste yourself on his lips and tongue when Kaeya kisses you with a deep passion.

His aching cock rubs against your wet pussy as his tongue dances with yours. Kaeya pulls back just enough that your lips still graze against each other as he speaks, "Please.." That's all he says with a breathless voice as his eye gazes into yours with so much love and desperation. You nod once and it was all it took for him to be lined up with your entrance and pushing in slowly. His eyes squeeze shut and he lets out a broken moan as he pushes his length into your warm, wet walls.

You wrap your arms around him, holding him against your body tightly as you release breathy moans. Once fully sheathed, Kaeya stills inside of you, letting you adjust to his thickness and length that were foreign to you. He presses a soft kiss to your neck as he pulls out slightly then slams back into you, making you dig your nails into his shoulders. He hisses at the feeling but doesn't stop his movement, "Fuck, you feel so good. Tell me you're mine. Please, angel, tell me you're mine." His voice was so desperate as he spoke between deep thrusts and whining groans. "I'm yours, Kaeya. Always was yours. Forever yours", you cry out as tears spill from your eyes yet again but for an entirely different reason.

Your heart feels like it is overflowing with emotion that you can't even begin to put into words. Kaeya's lips meet yours feverishly as he thrusts relentlessly into you. His cock hitting the deepest parts of you and you wrap your legs around his waist. "Gonna cum, angel", he breathes against your lips and soon your name becomes like a prayer falling repeatedly from his lips. Barely a moment later, Kaeya moans loudly and his cock throbs and twitches erratically as hot, white ropes of cum fill you. Your pussy contracts tightly around his in response as you hold him even tighter and cry out in time with the booming thunder outside your home.

Kaeya relaxes on top of you, his chest heaving and sweat glistening in the glow of the dying fire. He rolls off of you but turns towards you. You turn your head to take in his features and he tucks a strand of your hair behind your ear, "So this is what love feels like, huh?"

Your heart flutters in your chest and you turn your body fully towards him. He wraps his arms around you and holds you close against him. You press your face against his chest and he kisses the top of your head. You finally speak, your voice soft, "You must be right."

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆ ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛

a/n: i went through all the stages of grief while writing this🥲

[waitmyturtles]

Well — I can’t believe it’s over. Moonlight Chicken was… I’ll get the words for it. Satisfying is the first one that comes to mind. And MC was my first beginning-to-end fandom on Tumblr. The big brains, the META, the psychological and cultural analyses! I’m a peon in a sea of passionate geniuses here. I love this community so much.

Where do we start. Moonlight Chicken, episode 8/finale thoughts and impressions. As usual, quick hits first, then the big thinks.

1) So much wonderful fan service. And I know that fan service can often take a show out, and when fan service is included in a script, I’m sure that at times, it makes directors and screenwriters grit their teeth. But I’m REALLY THANKFUL for all the fan service with all the couples, and yes, I’m including First and Khao here, because — come awn, the way these two almost OVERACTED their relaxedness at the bank and the food truck at the end, I was giggle-crying. Had we seen Alan smile any bigger at any other point in the show than at the food truck? THE SWAPPING OF THE CHAT IDs? THOSE CUTE LOOKS? KHAO’S little head shakes? THE TURN AFTER RECEIVING THAT MYSTERY CHAT? THANK YOU, AOFFFFF, thank yoooouuuu! Thank you for knowing exactly what you were doing for us and our ships, ha.

A dear anon recommended My School President to me, and I’m gonna definitely watch it, because I’m officially a GemFourth stan. More on this later, but I absolutely adored that their storyline took up a huge chunk of screentime. Besides the storyline interweaving beautifully with the major theme arcs of this last episode, their chemistry just could not be better. It’s been well documented how Fourth has been EATING his role, but Gemini, too! The TEXTS! The knowing looks! How much Gemini is able to communicate just by looking at Fourth. SO SATISFYING AND FULFILLING, GAAAHH.

And, and, and — forgive me for being sentimental. Because I’m still so new to this wonderful world of Aof’s work and Thai BLs, I didn’t have to wait as long as so many of y’all in the family for Earth and Mix to reunite in such a good script. But I was still feeling the nostalgia early in the series at seeing these two together, and I felt it so strongly in this episode. Jim FINALLY breaking out of his shell. Calling Wen his boyfriend. Leaning in to make a move (on the wonderful couch). Holding Wen’s hand and squeezing it in response to Wen. Gah. Too great.

Just, like….. how are these GMMTV couples SO GOOD? HOW ARE THEY SO GOOD TOGETHER? (Yes, not quite accurate to call AlanGaipa a couple, but shhhhh.) Anyway, sighs of happiness.

2) LENG. Gossipy. Luv u. Sneaky b.

3) I know we kinda despise her (and by “we,” I mean all of my inner children who want to grab these guilt-stricken, “what do I do nowwwww” whine-whine parents by the throat), but umm, Jam’s a 10! She cute! I liked her mall outfit, I cannot lie.

Jam came full circle. She admits to her shit. She figures out how to come thru in the most sensible way she can. I’ll offer more thoughts in a bit, but I’m actually a little glad that we didn’t get the rage scene that I so WANTED to see in episode 7. She’s ready to pony up for school. That’s the best way she can help, and I’m glad she was written as figuring that out.

What did I see happen to Jam? She leaned into the kind of parenting and family building that she could manage at this point in her life. What she was CAPABLE of, she did. She created a family table for ALL her family. To show that kind of blended family, eating all together, at peace, with a small child in their presence…. to have created a warm environment where Jim could finally, comfortably come out without judgement. She replicated the same table that Jim himself had created at his diner. She’s paying her dues back to BOTH her brother AND her son, both of whom she rejected and abandoned.

I have to hand it to Aof. My inner child’s heart is wrecked at this, but I have to hand it to him. He treats bad parents with compassion. ATOTS, Bad Buddy, and now here. He doesn’t blame bad parents for who they ARE — he instead skewers WHERE THEY CAME FROM, the culture from which these styles of parenting are borne. God, Aof. That’s not necessarily emotionally purging for Asian kids traumatized by the unexplored impact of filial piety. But it’s much more of a realistic artistic meditation, a FAIR one. I see what he did with Jam, and I ultimately have to appreciate it, even if I was dying for a rage episode. I appreciate that Aof, as an artist, will not succumb to base emotion simply because it’s the surface feeling. He will always dig and layer what ends up truly working as an emotionally balanced meditation.

4) Big themes. Once again — a return to the balance between old and new cultures and perspectives, and how us oldies get pulled along into the new age. But also, in this episode, we were reminded of what youngsters bring with THEM, from THEIR pasts, into their future.

This episode focused on Jim’s movement and Li Ming’s movement. Oh, my heart. I’ll start with Li Ming.

Li Ming is really a hero of mine — I think what he demonstrates for me is that youthful FEARLESSNESS towards change that we admire youngsters for so much — while us oldie parents are also worried about them, we fear for them, because we know that there are potholes and pitfalls when change can happen quickly and blindingly.

I think that's what Jim was referring to when he says to Jam that Li Ming helped him (Jim) find his maturity. That was at the core of the night talk that took place in episode 7. I think Jim saw, in Li Ming, what Jim *needed* to see in Li Ming to trust Li Ming with Li Ming's own growth. Jim needed to see that Li Ming could consider his options, and be more emotionally sophisticated and aware than Jim ever has been.

And, I think -- that helped Jim TRUST Li Ming. That wonderful short conversation between Li Ming and Jim, where Jim confirms with Li Ming that Jim is just *worried* about Li Ming, like a parent.

When Li Ming says, "love isn't that big of a deal." When Li Ming talks about other ways that life needs to be sustainable.

Li Ming KNOWS Jim, and knows HOW TO TALK TO JIM.

How brilliant is that, to see that in someone so young, just dominate you, an older person, by way of emotional knowledge and sophistication? Jim had no choice, in my read, but to trust Li Ming -- and, maybe, take some inspiration and take that sophistication, and internalize it, so that he (Jim) could begin to relax and find happiness as well.

5) The other story about Li Ming's movement is between him and Heart, and as I said before, I'm just totally sold on GeminiFourth as a pairing, because their dynamic was really perfect for the growth that needed to be demonstrated between the two of them.

HEART! We saw Heart shoot his shot, dang it! HEART! With his wanting a boyfriend, with his parents learning sign language, with PEOPLE AROUND HIM LEARNING HOW TO TALK TO HIM. On multiple levels, even if we didn't see all of it actively (like with Heart's parents), Heart made demands and shot his shots, just like Li Ming did with his own family.

GOOD GOD -- could Aof have used this motif more wonderfully, so EFFICIENTLY? Young people get shit done! No holds barred, they can bolt through their own obstacles, their own barriers, to get shit done. Young people aren't held down by the past, like some old uncles we know.

And yet. Young people CAN ALSO RESPECT THE PAST, AND BRING LONG-STANDING CULTURE WITH THEM -- as Heart and Li Ming showed at the temple, as Li Ming danced as a lion, bringing in the Lunar New Year (FULL CIRCLE from when the series premiered, y'all!) AND THAT'S GROWTH. That's how the world spins, that's how Pattaya spins -- a place caught in the middle between the old and the new, the historic and the modern. Just like Li Ming and Heart, they are always growing, always maturing, and fast, like young people do, before they get stagnant-ish and older-ish, like Uncle Jim.

6) And then we see the growth paradigm with Jim, as reflected in the mirror of Li Ming. We see Jim -- finally -- loosening up. We see Jim come out as paired up with Wen to his sister. We see them on a date, a romantic date on the beach. (Sure, Jim is still an old dad, complaining about the food or whatever, geez, Jim.)

We see him close the old place, and open a new place. We see that new place as a new and modern way to hold over the old culture -- khao man gai, outside, under the stars, the way it's supposed to be eaten in an equatorial country.

I'm borrowing the following screencap from @hummingbirdsinjune:

We see Jim, finally, reflecting. We see him reflecting on how people were able to move forward, people like Jam and Gaipa, while he reflected on how he was held back. We see him figuring out how he won't hold himself back, and won't LET HIMSELF BE HELD BACK, anymore. He cancels the lease to let go. He, finally, wants to be in control. He sells the car, one of his last links to Beam. And commits to moving forward in so many ways.

And he stays in Pattaya. So we know -- he's still going to be connected to the old ways, the historic culture, of Pattaya.

And when Wen choose to decline the job. When Wen -- AND JIM -- decide to build a home together. Home isn't anything modern. Home is HOME. Home is history. Home is building history together. Jim is both leaving things behind.... and leaving nothing behind. Because he's building all he needs in his life once more.

The building of home with Wen. That's what ultimately took me out about this episode.

7) I believe I finally got the khao man gai analogy to the show that I long wanted before the show premiered. As with Jam's table at her husband's house, when the guys were sitting and eating at the diner before the diner closed. Jim's family, Jim's community. How food brings everyone together. That was a presage, I think, for the home he was going to eventually build with Wen. Y'all know I wanted this, and I'm so glad I got it. Yay, chicken rice.

I'm totally going to have more thoughts over the next few days, but this is what I got for now. I'm so in debt to Aof as an Asian fan of his dramas for giving us such unbelievable commentary on culture and family. We are INCREDIBLY LUCKY to have this artist making these shows. They are so important to me as an Asian, as a lover of my culture and Asian cultures, as an Asian child and mother also struggling with the balance of old and new values and cultural rituals. Aof's shows teach me so much, about extra- and introspection, and Moonlight Chicken was absolutely no exception.

[tklpilled]

gold rush

(jesper/wylan)

summary: wylan won't admit he likes tickling. jesper's going to make him, one way or another.

a/n: commission for @ticklishraspberries !! thank you soso much i loved writing these two

[this is a sfw tickle fic!]

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

The house is always filled with a variety of sounds, much to Jesper’s enjoyment. He hates the silence, hates how it gives him too much room to think and think and think. He’s eternally grateful for the constant humming, or the gentle notes from the piano and Wylan’s flute, so that when neither of them are in the mood for talking it doesn’t leave them in an uncomfortable quiet.

Jesper loves how much more comfortable Wylan has gotten with him. It’s not that there was anything wrong before, but Wylan is—he’s very awkward, and he flusters incredibly easily; especially, it seems, when it comes to relationships. Jesper doesn’t mind, not at all, but he can’t deny that he rather enjoys when Wylan will give him a sharp remark where he used to stay quiet, and how he initiates things more than he ever had before.

Still, not everything has changed. One of the first out of many reasons why Jesper fell for Wylan is that he’s just so fun to mess with. It’s incredibly entertaining to watch him stiffen and stammer, eyes widening as he immediately grows defensive when Jesper finds the right thing to poke fun at. Of course, Jesper’s not mean; he stops as soon as Wylan starts to show any signs of discomfort, but until then, he’ll take great pleasure in toying with the boy.

And, really, this time it’s Wylan’s own fault for being so ticklish.

“Gah—Jesper!” Wylan squeaks, spinning around to face his boyfriend, who’s just poked his sides.

Jesper grins. “Yes, sunshine?”

Wylan’s cheeks redden. “Don’t call me that,” he grumbles, looking away.

Jesper puts a finger under Wylan’s chin, tilting his face up. “Aw, don’t be like that,” he teases, and jabs a finger into the boy’s side again as he moves away.

Wylan, predictably, squeaks again. “Jes!”

“Problem?” asks Jesper, using both hands to repeatedly poke up and down Wylan’s sides, nearing his hips and ribs but never straying far. Wylan nearly collapses into a fit of giggles, curling in on himself as he tries to bat Jesper’s hands away.

“J-aha! Stohohop it!” he begs, nearly squirming away before Jesper pulls him into his chest. 

“Oh, hush,” teases Jesper. “I already know you like it when I tickle you.”

Wylan turns beet red. “Th-thahat’s not—I do nohot!”

Jesper raises an eyebrow. “You don’t?”

“N-nohoho—Jespeheher!”

Jesper stops, stilling his fingers but keeping him held close. “Alright then.”

Wylan makes a few sputtering sounds, as if he’s going to protest, but then he decides against it. “Y-you…”

“Me?” Jesper pulls away just a bit to look at him.

Wylan flushes. “...Nothing.”

Now, Jesper knows full well that Wylan doesn’t mind being tickled—in fact, he even likes it, craves it from the right person. It’s pretty clear to anyone who watches—the way Wylan hardly even tries to fight back, the way he leans into the touch rather than away. The thing is, though, that no matter how obvious it may be, Wylan just won’t admit it. Jesper has tried. But this time, he’s taking a different approach—don’t tickle Wylan until he admits he likes it. It seems easy in theory, but Wylan can be stubborn.

So, here they are, a week after the incident, and Jesper is mourning the loss of one of his favourite sounds. The house is quieter without Wylan’s laughter filling the air, but it’s not enough to make Jesper be the first to give in. He’s going to make Wylan admit it this time.

Holding himself back is…much more difficult than he thought it would be. Jesper doesn’t realise just how often he tickles Wylan until he can’t do it anymore. When Wylan stretches, scrunching his nose as he reaches his hands high above his head; when he’s trying not to laugh at Jesper’s jokes, but he’s not doing too great of a job; when he gets embarrassed, and his face turns that pretty shade of pink that Jesper just adores. If Wylan doesn’t confess soon, Jesper might just die due to lack-of-Wylan’s-ticklish-giggles. 

Lucky for Jesper, it doesn’t last much longer.

Jesper’s hands are on Wylan’s bare skin, under his shirt and running up and down his sides. Wylan flinches, once, when Jesper strays too close to a sensitive spot—which was genuinely an accident; Jesper can forget just how ticklish his boyfriend is—and when Jesper notices, he stops, just as Wylan had asked him to do. He doesn’t miss the small whine that slips from Wylan’s lips.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” says Wylan, a little more focused on the ceiling. 

Jesper hums. “I heard you make a noise.”

“You heard wrong.”

“You’ve made that noise before.”

Wylan blinks, his expression blank. “No, I haven’t.”

“Could it be that—”

“No—”

“---you want something that you’re too afraid to ask for?”

The ceiling can not be that interesting. “Wh-what kind of thing would that be?”

“No idea,” says Jesper, returning his fingers to the same spot. Wylan twitches.

And Jesper, rather than his usual choice of making Wylan squirm even more, does nothing.

Wylan grumbles. “That.”

“Hm?”

“Th-that,” stumbles Wylan, cheeks beginning to heat. “You keep stopping.”

“Oh?” Jesper wriggles his fingers for a moment. “You said you didn’t like it.”

A tiny, frustrated noise comes from the back of Wylan’s throat. “...I lied.”

Jesper snorts. “Did you, now?”

Wylan covers his face with one hand, turning away as he hides his blush. “Just—go ahead.”

“I want you to say it.”

“You—!”

Jesper kisses him softly. “Come on, Sunshine. It’s not hard.”

Wylan sputters, bright red as complaints rapidly fall from him.

He soon realises Jesper is serious.

He whines, way too embarrassed than should be legal. “I don’t—I don’t hate it. T-tickling,” he tacks on at the end, in case Jesper tries to make him say it (he would have).

“So?”

“So!” Wylan is somehow even redder. Jesper thinks he might actually explode. “You…don’t have to stop.”

Jesper laughs, before he lays across Wylan, limiting his movements, then grabbing both wrists and pulling them over his head. “I thought you’d never say it.”

[mysticmindsartisticlives]

19 Days: Chapter 423

I feel like this chapter followed the slice-of-life theme from that official beach art. It was so fun and yet had SO many interactions happening at once! We'll start with Momo's invitation:

The elypses in his speech and the absence of any eye contact expressed Mo's uncertainty in his own suggestion. He was likely embarrassed and a little shy to present his vulnerable desire for companionship so plainly in front of his friends.

By their looks of astonishment, JianTianXi were caught way off guard lol Zheng Xi has the decency to call his mama and give her the 411 on his evening plans, while Tian and Yi immediately jump into nuisance mode.

Just look at the annoyed expression He Tian dons during this entire exchange. He really thought they’d continue where they left off that one night he gifted Lil Mo the earrings. Boy had some dirty deeds in mind, ya hear?

They head to the market for some fresh ingredients, and in true fashion, Jian Yi embraces gold-digging 101. Thankfully, Xixi scolds him - probably because he knows they can't just throw everything on He Tian's tab now. I love how Xixi keeps Yi in check. Sometimes, I feel that he just loves to see his big baby pout for him.

Meanwhile, we've got lost puppy Tian about to get sweet-talked into spending his rent money on a whole fish. Guan Shan can't take his eye off this one for a second.

They finally get their groceries and are heading back to the crib, when titties enter the chat. I mean...

Gah!! Damn!!! Daddy! 🥵 I'm with Mo on this one

I 100% believe Momo was still squinting at them milkshakes lol

Qiu titties aside, I was not expecting Papa Qiu in this chapter 🤗 Look how happy he made the babes! My heart is so full after this chapter 🥰🥰🥰

[sanddusted-wisteria]

A Builder, a Researcher, and a Rooftop, Ch. 31: Emesis

prev | next | index

I am studious. I am logical. I am reliable. I am rational. I am honest. I am genuine.  I am a researcher.

CW/TW: Vomit, panic-attack-like symptoms

(Arguably not a full blown panic attack? But just to be safe)

Also on AO3

——————

Qi panted over the toilet, bracing for another nauseous wave. The bitter, acidic tang of the already-upheaved vomit in the toilet bowl invaded his nose, not helping in the slightest. Nothing was helping. Not the labored hefting of his lungs, not the sheen of sweat clinging to his pores, not the rushing pound of his heart, not his utterly shattered thought patterns causing mayhem in his mind, irrationality reigning as his mind’s eye leapt frantically to the temple, the soldiers, the nightsticks, the guns, the muzzle, the cannon, the builder, the builder, the builder the builder

the builder’s eyes widened with fear

the builder’s limp body on the ground

the builder’s head on a pike, paraded through the streets with lifeless eyes

Qi buckled over as the bile spilled over again, retching until the last several heaves turned up dry. His head collapsed onto the seat that he’d neglected to put up, breathing faster and shallower. He seized a brief flash of lucidity to try and rein in his thoughts, focusing hard on the movement in his chest, the dull pain in his knees on the hard tile floor…and Ernest standing a little ways outside the bathroom door.

Ah, right. This was Ernest’s bathroom. The one that happened to be closest to the front door of the apartments. The one that Qi had unceremoniously barged into as soon as the soldiers’ guns went down. Ernest was glancing in at Qi as he nervously clutched one of his many notebooks, looking almost unsure whether his face should be showing disgust, pity, or some mix of both.

“Sorry,” Qi croaked, almost hearing the scent of vomit in his voice.

Ernest’s eyes darted sideways. “No…no problem…”

“I heard puke!” came a bright cry from the hallway. Burgess’s even brighter head poked in, brow scrunched with worry. “Everything—Oh no, Director! Are you—gah! No, you’re not okay, what am I thinking?!”

Qi hardly knew how to respond to Burgess and his trifling surveys even without the threat of war. He just stared back at him, and Ernest’s gaze flicking between the two.

Ernest broke the silence first, thankfully. “I think at least the worst is over for him…” he muttered.

Burgess nodded rapidly. “Oh dear, I hope so. Let me get you a rag or something to clean up!” He disappeared back into the hallway.

Then he poked his head back in. “Remember to rinse your mouth out!” Then he went back out.

In again. “And drink some water!” Out again.

In again. “Not too much though!” Out again.

Qi stayed on the floor for a moment longer, trying to even his breathing out a little more. He finally stood up and flushed the vomit down the toilet. Then he turned on the sink, rinsing several times to flush the taste of vomit out completely, before cupping his hands under the tap and drinking.

“Uh, you want a cup with that…?” Ernest suddenly appeared over his shoulder, holding out an empty mug.

Qi froze mid-slurp. “Oh…no. I’m fine.” He drank one last handful and turned off the tap.

Just then, Burgess reappeared holding a washcloth. His brow shot up when he saw Qi standing up, drying the water off his face with his sleeve. “Feeling better?”

“...Marginally.”

“Better than not at all!” Burgess said with a laugh that bordered on desperate. He held the washcloth out to Qi, who declined with a wave of his hand. Thankfully, only his face got dirty.

The second that Qi indicated that he was okay, Burgess blurted out a hurried apology and rushed out the door, presumably to check on someone else. After all, he had to take care of…wait, how many people?

Qi looked out Ernest’s door into the building’s common room, getting his first real glimpse of who he was now captive with. Almost everyone seemed to be engaged with the soldiers stationed around, blocking the front doors and watching the halls. Their wardens.

Grace appeared to be chatting amicably with one of them. No doubt with the ulterior motive of gathering intelligence.

Catori and Dan-bi, on the other hand, were ganging up on another, meeker-looking one. It was hard to hear from where he was, but Qi picked up some thinly-veiled threats, either involving a solid smack from Catori or a vague notion of the monstrous “Ri-ri.”

Andy was making faces at another one, taunting him in the way children do. The soldier just let it play out, bemused.

Pablo was peering at one helmeted head to another, tsking and shaking his head.

Burgess flitted between all of them, trying to get a status check on everyone, though he was mostly ignored.

“Looks like we’re really stuck here…” Ernest muttered from behind Qi. He turned back from the door to see the grim look on his face. “I wanted inspiration for my action scenes, but not like this…”

“I suppose we’ll have to manage,” Qi muttered back. “I doubt that this army has any vested interest in letting us out any time soon.”

“Well, what do we do now, then?”

Qi shrugged. “Continue to survive, I suppose. I hope. Beyond that, I have no idea.”

Ernest shuddered. “I just wish they’d at least tell us what’s happening out there. Why can’t these bad guys just lay out all their evil plans in their evil monologues?”

Qi felt another lurch in his stomach. Would he even want to know?

“GUYS!” came a sudden shout from outside. Burgess was standing up tall on one of the couches (with his shoes off, of course. Couldn’t get it dirty), a most unusual sternness to his demeanor.

The room fell dead silent.

Burgess’s brow shot up. “Oh, um! I didn’t think that would work!” He cleared his throat. “Uh, but anyway—! I know everyone’s feeling a little tense right now, and we all wanna get some idea of what’s going on, but we all just need to take a deep breath and—”

“Calm down?!” Dan-bi shouted. “They’ve trapped us in here! Innocent citizens! We gotta make an uproar!”

“Yeah, we gotta raise the roof!” Andy cheered. “Let these suckers know who’s boss!”

“Alrighty now, pipe it down!” barked the soldier that Grace was talking to. “Yous just gotta stay in here, all nice and quiet-like. No ruckus. Orders don’t say we can’t cuff ya if we needta!”

“Oh yeah?” Grace jumped in. “Oooh, I bet you’re itchin’ real bad to cuff us. Maybe ‘orders’ will let you give us a smackin’ if we’re realll bad…”

“Tsch!” The soldier rolled his eyes. At least, that’s what it seemed to look like with the visor on. “Oh, missy, I wish. Apparently, they want us to do it clean. Not a finger on yous unless absolutely necessary. Still, we’ve got the food around here, so if ya don’t wanna get acheys in ya tum-tums, ya better start listenin’!”

Murmurs filled the room. No one was hurt?

“Are they bluffing?” Ernest hissed, voicing Qi’s immediate thought.

“Not sure,” Qi muttered. “Do they have a reason to?”

“I-I can…sort of agree with that guy!” Burgess piped up again. “We should all try to settle down for a bit! It won’t do us any good if we freak out! N-no handcuffs, though…”

“Aw, but I liked freakin’ out,” Andy whined.

“M-maybe when all this is over, we can have a little, tiny freak-out…in a nice, controlled environment… But for now! Le-let’s just take a breather for a bit. Just check in with each other… Maybe think about how we’re gonna do lunch?”

Uneasy muttering filled up the room again, but people seemed to do as Burgess suggested. They gradually drew away from the soldiers and towards the couches and the kitchen, talking amongst themselves.

Qi and Ernest exchanged a glance. Ernest shrugged. They slowly made their way out into the common area. Qi’s eyes scanned the room, looking for a good place to situate himself. He shuffled towards a quieter corner. Somewhere out of the way. Somewhere hopefully people wouldn’t notice him.

As his continued bad luck would have it, he didn’t escape Catori’s attention. “Everythin’ okay, Director? Sounded pretty bad back there,” she called with a furrowed brow.

A chorus of other voices rose up in concern at the question.

“Yeah, everything okay?”

“Make sure you fill your stomach back up…”

“Hey, let him be, he’s having a hard time…”

Qi froze in his tracks. “Ah…um. Yes. I’m fine.” He fidgeted, unsure of what to do with everyone’s eyes on him.

The concerned rumbling continued, but quickly faded out as he averted his gaze. If he made himself look like he wasn’t in the mood to talk, people would comply. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, unsure what to do with his antsy hands. No equipment to handle. No pencils to write with.

No builder to hold.

He winced at the thought. Was it true? Were they really safe? Was he really going to take the word of some random Duvos grunt?

“Hey.”

Qi’s head snapped up from staring at the floor. Grace had suddenly appeared in front of him, taking a seat on the sofa arm nearest him. Her expression was neutral. Diplomatic. Not like the smug, self-assured smirk she got whenever she thought she had the upper hand in an argument of theirs.

He glanced away again. “…What do you want?” He was in no mood for the frycook’s typical jabbering.

“They’re alive. I know it.”

Qi shot her a glare, trying to ignore the shred of hope in him that desperately clung to her words. “On what sort of grounds?”

“Think about it,” she hummed, jabbing a thumb towards the soldier she was talking to earlier. “Someone like him’s not gonna lie about something like that. You saw how I provoked him, right? He was pret-ty pissed. If he was lying, you bet he’d be jumping to cuff us. At the very least. But he didn’t. So that means…” She raised an eyebrow.

“…That he only could have been complying with orders from somewhere on high,” Qi mumbled, eyes widening slightly at the revelation.

“There you go,” Grace nodded, a nearly-imperceptible lift on the corner of her mouth. “Good. Your brain’s half-working today. Welcome back down to Earth, ya spacecase!”

Qi huffed. “Is now really the time?”

“There’s never a bad time.”

Before Qi could think up a good retort, there was a SLAM from the front door. A hush fell over the room.

“Alright, now where’s that director…?” Qi felt his stomach curdle at the sound of his title said in that voice.

It was none other than Yan, #1 on the builder’s shitlist (their term, not his) and bane of all Sandrock’s productivity. He strutted into the room flanked by two soldiers, peering around to spot Qi.

“Ah, there you are!” Yan exclaimed as he found him. Qi grimaced. “I’ve got a real special request. An offer you can’t refuse! As in, literally, you can’t refuse. This is an order.”

All he got in response was a bunch of unamused stares.

Yan coughed. “Ahem. The great and esteemed, most illustrious Commander Lefu, Duvos Army, 4th Division, has handed me a most exclusive task!” he bellowed, chest puffed out proudly and gesturing grandly to the ceiling. “And by me, I mean you. You’re gonna do this. He wishes to have a jacuzzi!”

On any other day, Qi would feel insulted at the notion that he was once again branded as a furniture designer. But today, he was both insulted and infuriated. Here was the former so-called “President” of the Commerce Guild, strolling about at the whim of Duvos, while his subordinates no doubt languished once more under his thumb. That they had just escaped from, no less.

What is he doing to them…?!

Qi’s hands clenched, bunching his sleeves. If only he had the physical strength to thrash him… Perhaps the others could assist…

“Oh, real smart.”

Qi’s anger suddenly vanished in surprise. Everyone’s heads whipped towards the source of the sound: Catori, standing with her hands on her hips, frowning at Yan like he was a pesky expenditure column on her financial calculation tables.

“Ya give the man a nervous breakdown and put him on house arrest, and now ya think he’ll draw up a diagram for you just ‘cause! Real fuckin’ smart,” she sneered.

Burgess hastily blocked Andy’s ears, who just snickered. “Yeah, real—” Grace shot him a pointed look. “—heckin’ smart! You’re gonna make the guy who designed a killer robot draw a picture of a bathtub for ya?! What, you so stinky you forgot what one of those look like?!”

“Wh–! It’s not for me! It’s for—” Yan balked.

Pablo snorted. “Hmph. No amount of bathing would be able to clean off whatever’s on you, Mr. Yan,” he hummed airily. “And I’m not just talking about that horrid mustache.”

Yan turned on Pablo. “What’d you say ‘bout my mustache?!”

“It’s horrid.” Pablo put his hands on his hips. “Disgusting. Abhorrent. Disgraceful. And about 20 other words I can’t say in front of a child.”

“I-I-I also have to agree!” Burgess piped up, wringing his hands. “Er—n-not with the mustache bit, the whole jacuzzi-bullying-Director-Qi-city-invasion-is-bad bit! Um, not only does a jacuzzi go against the town creed of ‘conserve water,’ and you really should’ve asked Director Qi nicer, but uh, the whole invasion thing goes against pretty much every scripture in the books! And just think about people’s mental health!!”

“What makes you think he’s gonna work for you, anyway?” Grace jumped in from her perch on the couch. “Technically speaking…you’re no longer part of the Commerce Guild and have no authority over him. Plus, I think there’s some kinda special stipulation in the researchers’ regulations…something about ‘coercion’and ‘duress’ and ‘right to refusal…’”

“Listen here!” Yan yapped, shaking his fists over his head like some kind of toddler. “I don’t care what kinda fuddy-duddy rules you suckers follow, I’m callin’ the shots ‘round here! All the shots the Commander asks me to call, anyway…”

On and on the group squabled, poking and prodding and jeering and teasing as Yan’s face gradually grew redder than a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, a distant bemused part of Qi’s mind murmured). Qi stood at the edge of it all, staring blankly as everything and everyone in the room seemed to blur together. Absent of his previous rage and terror, he could feel the gears in mind start to turn again in the way that he was used to—rational, efficient, vigilant.

“You saw how I provoked him, right?”

“Will you be fabricating this device?” he said suddenly.

Everyone shut up abruptly and snapped their gaze over to Qi.

Yan blinked. Then he exploded into an ugly, annoying cackle. “HAAA! Me?! ‘Course not! See, when you’re the President like me, you get to do a little thing called ‘delegation!’ Mark of a great leader! The newbie’s gonna take this one! I mean, once they hear that you’re workin’ on this thing, they’ll snap it right up.”

Something sparked in Qi’s mind at those words. Everything in his brain seemed to wake up, millions of action potentials finally set off.

The builder was alive. And safe. Relatively. At least uninjured enough to work.

Qi’s jaw clenched. “Fine.”

Shouts of protest immediately rose up.

“Y-you don’t have to, Director!”

“Oh come on! Are ya just going to let him have it?!”

“Yep, that’s coerced consent alright…”

“Bathtubs are lame!”

“Don’t let him win, Director!”

But Yan just twirled his mustache with a smarmy grin. “Glad to have you on board, Director! Now, if you’ll just follow me and my pals here…”

On cue, the two soldiers behind Yan moved out, the heels of their boots clacking hard enough to still be heard through the carpet. People drifted out of their way as they approached Qi.

“Hands behind back,” one ordered, pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

Qi had no choice but to comply. He heard the jangling of the cuffs behind him and felt the cold metal against his wrists. He swallowed, willing his face to remain dignified and neutral.

A hard, gloved hand came down on his shoulder. “Move.”

And he did. Silent stares bore holes into his back as he, Yan, and the soldiers left the apartments behind.

——————

Qi blinked a couple times as he emerged into the bright noonday sun. The streets were barren and quiet, bar the occasional Duvos soldier. Some were stationed on street corners, some were marching elsewhere. The only conversations to be heard were exchanges of orders. Not much damage though, Qi noticed. There were only several stray bullet holes in the walls, probably left by the rooftop snipers. All of the truly destructive combat must’ve only happened on Main Street and the town square.

He fought the twist in his stomach that rose again at the thought of the cannon.

Finally, they arrived at the Research Center. One of the soldiers threw the door open with a BANG (No respect! Qi thought.) and nudged him inside. Once the door was shut, he felt the cuffs come off. Each of the soldiers stationed themselves in front of one of the exits, blocking any chance at escape.

Yan tapped his foot impatiently. “Well, what are ya waiting for?! Get to it! Chop-chop! I don’t have all day!”

Qi swallowed and walked over to his workbench, examining everything in his lab. Everything seemed to be in order…no messes, no signs of tampering, nothing confiscated. Interesting. But good.

“Whatcha starin’ at?!” came Yan’s loathsome voice behind him. “I said, I don’t have all day!”

Qi bristled, igniting a brief flash of courage. “Yes, you do.” Yan sputtered. “I am merely inspecting my laboratory to make sure you and your pals have not tampered with anything.” He turned around to face him with a firm stare. “You are lucky everything is in place. Had anything been manipulated or misplaced, I would potentially be completely unable to make your diagram. If you want something with any amount of quality, you will wait.”

Yan scoffed. “Yeah, yeah, you and your precious lab. Now’re you gonna make this jacuzzi or what?”

And so Qi got to work. Luckily he had an old remote-fill bathtub design in one of his folders. It was a very early one of his, made all the way back in Vega 5 as a concept for remote-control technology. Using the remote, one could start filling the tub from across the house with the press of a button. They could even control the temperature of the water. Incredibly rudimentary by his current standards, but it would do. He could just repurpose some of the electronics and add a few motors.

He ripped out a blank sheet of paper and got to work. After sketching some of the basic shapes, he noticed Yan close behind him, peering over his shoulder. He paused and looked back. “Must you stand so close?”

“Just makin’ sure you’re not sending any secret messages or something. So don’t even think about trying to write a love letter in there or…whatever it is you two do.”

Qi leveled a glare at him and turned back to his work, drawing slower now to spite him.

Hours ticked away like that. Occasionally he would hear Yan groan with boredom or complain about his back and walk a small circle behind him, before going right back to leaning over Qi again.

Meanwhile, Qi let his hand take the reins, gliding slowly, deliberately along the page. His eyes followed the tip of his pencil, drawing out the curves of the tub before they were marked on the page. He knew most of this diagram by heart already, just like every other diagram he’s made in the past. He didn’t really need to think too much about it. The exercise was…therapeutic, in a way. It felt good to be making a diagram again like he always did, no matter how trivial. While he was at his desk like this, the chaos of the world outside his walls could fall away.

“Ugh, do you really gotta draw that slow?”

…Until he was abruptly reminded.

“Patience,” he replied placidly. “Your commander is certainly demanding, and it is important that you meet his high standards.”

Yan just grumbled and went back to pacing in circles.

Oddly enough, as maddening as his presence was, there was something about Yan that also added to the therapeutic effect. Not Yan himself, sweet hallowed Science, no. Rather, it was Yan as he was in contrast to Qi. Everything that Qi was that Yan could never even hope to be. It was reassuring, almost empowering in a way, while he was stuck under Yan’s thumb, and especially in contrast to the helplessness he felt earlier.

I am intelligent, he thought as Yan complained about how many parts were needed for the jacuzzi. You are not.

I am patient, he thought as Yan groaned for the hundredth time about how slow he was going. You are not.

I am meticulous, he thought as Yan wondered aloud if septuple-checking the diagram for errors was necessary. You are not.

I am professional, he thought as he signed the finished diagram, right as Yan was snatching it out of his hands. You are not.

I am dignified, he thought as the cuffs were placed back on his wrists, trying to tune out the sound of Yan rambling on and on about how glorious the commander was and how much money he’d be making from the whole deal. You are not.

I am respected, he thought as the hostages in the apartments perked up when he appeared in the doorway, immediately asking him how he was doing, and several throwing another jab at Yan for good measure. You are not.

I am studious. I am logical. I am reliable. I am rational. I am honest. I am genuine.

I am a researcher.

And you are not.

——————

A/N: Might be a while until the next chapter again bc real life is busy and stuff :P Still, hope you enjoyed!

prev | next | index

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Yes, all of it) - December 1952

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

Dec 6, 1952

Heh.

Dec 8, 1952

Honestly it's not a bad look.

Dec 9, 1952

Did that just make him cry?

Dec 11, 1952

Gah! Please never do that again!

Dec 19, 1952

No no no! If you just outright lie then of course he will brush you off without a second thought. You've got to start with something somewhat true and then slowly work in the bullshit over time. Maybe throw in a death threat and a passive aggressive snipe at his sexuality to twist the knife a little.

God, it's like you four year olds from 1952 have never even been on social media.

Dec 21, 1952

I mean, it's more than I've gotten this year.

Dec 23, 1952

One of many things that I think sets Peanuts apart from other strips is how well Schulz depicts depression (probably because he almost certainly suffered from it). You might think depression is just a sad feeling similar to grief but it's actually more of an irrational pessimism coupled with a persistent sense dread. Your brain doesn't exactly lie to you but instead tells you the most negative version of the truth possible which can lead you to some very irrational conclusions. You feel fine, it's the ~world~ that's broken (and keeps giving you these useless pennies).

Er, not that I know anything about all that.

Anyways, Schulz perfectly captures this in a way that's honest and sincere but also entertaining and kid-friendly. Which is pretty damn impressive when you think about it.

Thoughts:

End of the year character design recap time!

Again, not doing every character every year for my own sanity since the cast will be getting very large. CB and Snoopy will be constants but the rest will get rotated in/out:

Charlie Brown

October 1950

December 1950

December 1951

December 1952

Snoopy

October 1950

December 1950

December 1951

December 1952

Lucy

March 1952

December 1952

(why can't I make this one picture smaller? Am I doing something wrong?)

Linus

September 1952

December 1952

Schroeder

May 1951

December 1951

December 1952

The main thing I'm noticing is that everybody looks twice as old as they did last year while the expression work is getting a bit more complex and nuanced. Charlie Brown's head is literally half the size it was in 1950, Schroeder has aged up into an actual character and has shed a lot of his UPA stylization, Snoopy's face is becoming a bit more blocky and angular, and Lucy's eyes no longer make her look like some kind of cursed doll. Big improvements all around I think.

Linus... got a shirt. Look it's only been 3 months what do you want from me?

There's also a lot more detail in the backgrounds now which is creating a wonderful sense of these characters existing in an actual environment. Schulz is also surprisingly good at drawing plants and nature which adds a nice organic softness to his world. It's all actually making me kind of annoyed at the animated adaptations because they always go for something loose and minimalistic for their backgrounds and I think they would have really benefited form the contrast something more solid and detailed would have provided.

Finally his paneling and compositions are god tier. I mean, god damn.

Anyways that's it for 1952, I hope you all enjoyed it. Next up: 1953!

[its-wabby-stuff]

The Day the Resistance Fell

1300 hours. Resistance meetings. Led by Master Leonardo. Greeted by little engagement. Everyone left is just tired.

1428 hours. The meetings ended early. People returned to their free time. A couple returned to embracing each other, soaking in whatever moments they may have left together. Miwa beat her family in poker, likely for the 50th time, one member of their party missing. She’d lost family too. Commander O’Neil was talking to Big Mama and Sensei, who must’ve noticed Casey Jr’s stares as he excused himself and walked over to the kid.

“Case.”

“Sensei.”

“What’chu working on?”

“I’m just- looking through old files.”

“Is that right?” He took a seat next to him, pulling his real arm over Casey’s shoulder, and sinking comfortably into the wall. “You find out all of Donnie’s secrets yet?” He looked over with a smirk.

“Not all of them. There’s a lot on this thing.”

“Keep digging, and let me know if you find anything really good.”

“There's been a lot on here from before I was born.”

“Oh yeah, those were wild days. Never had a moment like this back then. We were always on the run from something- I don’t think I slept much those first years.” He spoke as he pulled his mask over his eyes and let out a big yawn, bringing his full weight down atop Casey.

“Hey, no sleeping on the job,” Casey jabbed him in the side.

“Gah.” He pulled away and lifted up his mask to see a big smirk on Casey’s face. “You’re asking for it little man.”

Casey tried to make a break for it but was pulled back into a bear hug to receive a noogie to the head.

“If you’re bringing it, I’m gonna give it right back, old man,” and Casey pulled Sensei’s mask right around his head.

“Oh this old trick?” Leo laughed. Casey tried wriggling out of his grasp. “Ohohoho, you’re not getting away that easily.”

“How about a new trick then?” Casey smiled, tapping a button on Leo’s arm that forced him to release the kid.

“No fair, that’s cheating!” Leo shouted as Casey crawled away.

“I thought it was ‘using my surroundings.’”

Leo raised his finger to retaliate, but came up with nothing. “Don’t think one arm left means I can’t beat you,” and Leo picked himself off the floor and charged for Casey again. Casey ran off laughing, looking back as Leo chased him. “Oh- Casey!”

He ran straight into an adult, and back toward Leo, who managed to catch him before he hit the floor. “You gotta watch where you're going, Case. You shouldn’t look back while you’re running.”

Casey rubbed his nose.

“Master Leonardo!” It was the angry guy. He was breathing heavily and looked terrified. “Krang! Spotted just west of here.”

“How many?”

“20 maybe 30, and they’re heading this way.”

“Sound the alarm, I want this place to be locked down!” Leo ordered the space, causing people to jump into action. “Let’s gear up an-“

A loud crash caused rubble to fall from the ceiling, and the metal walls to creak. Sensei pulled Casey close and steadied them both. Then the red lights began to blare, but no sound was heard.

“What the hell was that?” Leo looked over to the man who had brought the news. “I thought you said they were heading this way, not right on top of us!” Another thunk and people began to duck for cover. “How’d they get here so fast?”

Casey left Leo’s side to grab the things he had abandoned against the wall for the sake of fun. His mask and his hockey stick. When he turned around, Sensei had left the room. Casey started toward the door.

There was another crash, and more debris began to fall. Casey was stopped by two hands on his shoulder, pulling him back and turning him around.

“Casey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine Commander O’Neil. Where’d Sensei go?”

“He followed the scout to the observation deck.”

“I’m gonna go after him!”

He turned away, but April’s hold held firm, “Wait, Casey. I need you to come with me!”

April was sure to keep Casey close to her as they ran through the base. Others bolted past them in full gear, guns blazing, assortments of different weapons ready, and making their way out into the fight. Him and the Commander only headed deeper into the base.

“Where are we going, Commander?”

“Somewhere you’ll be safe.”

“Me?” Casey stopped, “But I can help!”

“I’m sorry, Casey! Leo doesn’t want you near this fight!”

“But-“

“We’ve got to keep moving!” She pulled him along.

“Commander- I can do more! Sensei-“

“Leo needs you to stay safe.” April turned him around, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do our own thing to help. You got anything in those files with access codes to Donnie’s Helicarrier program?”

Casey gave April a smirk.

“Then let’s kick some Krang ass.” She pounded her fist into her hand.

———————————————————

Just a snippet of something I’m working on.

Miwa, if you don’t know, belongs to @somerandomdudelmao s Apocalyptic Series. This is heavily inspired by that, but when is it not?

[desultory-novice]

MariPav Omake Ficlet - “...With Lingering Side Effects”

@driftwoodmfb drew the result(s) of what would happen if you fused MariPav's Marx and Magolor together and for some reason my mind went right to the classic "matter transporter accident" trope. 

So, I wrote a little script bit exploring that very thing...!! (It’s mostly fluffy with a side of thoughtful!)

---

<On the ship>

Magolor: "Muahaha... Now THIS is interesting...!"

Marx: "What?"

Magolor: "Did you know, Marx, that the Lor actually has a matter transportation function...for people!"

Marx: "Like a teleportation spell?" "I don't see what the big deal is. I can use teleportation magic. Doesn’t require an Ancient artifact.”

Magolor: "How wonderful for you. Have you considered others for once in your life?" "Now, what's interesting about this is that it's not listed among any of the ship's main systems. It's buried deep within the code. I'm not sure I would have discovered it had I not had to make so many custom routines to speed up data processing to deal with the extreme workload I'm putting on the ship given its power supply. Isn't life is full of little miracles?!"

Marx: "Mags...? Did you stop to consider this function might be hidden because they never got all the bugs figured out?"

Magolor: "We'll find out. As I'm testing it right now!"

Marx: "...Heh! Good luck not getting turned inside out!"

Magolor: "Same to you. Heh heh heh."

Marx: "...Huh?"

Magolor: "I'm teleporting us both! Simultaneously. For safety's sake."

Marx: "S-Safet--?! Hey, hey, hey! Hold up, you mad scient---!"

---

<BWEEM to just outside the volcano>

???: "...iiiiiist.......?"

???: "Huh. We didn't end up trapped inside a rock like I feared we would. But of course, I trusted myself the entire time. No I didn't? I thought that was insane. How long have I been living on this crazy planet that I've taken to experimenting with poor, innocent, positively-fascinating-though-often-annoying creatures like myself to... Hmm?? Why am I...both of us...?!"

Margolox: "Wha--ooh, hey, this is...fascinating!"

Margolox: "Also, I have...legs again. Except I've always had legs. Not...always...? Mostly, then. Mostly...?? Well, hmm, I'll just have to agree to disagree on this with myself, won't I? No, it's the hands are new. Are they really? Completely new? In this form? Yes, didn’t I explain that to myself? Interesting. Then I'd love to know what's different about them. Though I already know, don't I...? I know...so much... Two lifetimes worth..."

Margolox: "There are so many memories now. Conflicting ones. And ones that feel...frighteningly similar. And memories I don't want to touch. Are those MY memories that I'm afraid to revisit...or do I want to avoid them because they are MINE and I'm the one looking at them, not myself? Is it because I'm me and not me that I'm afraid to let myself get any closer to me? But...if I'd know that I was so much like me, maybe...I wouldn't have to be afraid to let myself in a little..."

---

<BWEEM to back inside the ship>

Marx: "...GAH!!!!'

Magolor: "...Ah..."

Marx: "What the hell, Mags?!" "...Huh? We're ourselves again?!"

Magolor: "...Yes. What, did you think I HADN'T planned for the possibility of this orphaned routine accidentally scrambling our data together and fusing us into an amalgamate being? (We have entertainment programs on Halcandra. I know my sci-fi tropes!)" "I set several failsafes and some very generous rollback code to restore us to our original physiological patterns after a set period of time if any of the expected anomalies occurred."

Marx: "Maybe you’re a genius after all? Doesn't make you any less of a mad scientist though!"

Magolor: "You like the fact that I play fast and loose with my morals."

Marx: "Who said I do?"

Magolor: "...Your mind."

Marx: "...!!!"

Magolor: "Though I need to correct you on your assumptions. It's not purely thrill-seeking on my part. My choices are born from necessity--"

Marx: "I know. I...saw...the the stuff you had to go through..."

Magolor: "...Mm......"

Marx: "It messes with your head to have other people's thoughts in there, I know..."

Magolor: "Yes... And yet...as galling as the invasion of privacy was..."

Both: " "..." "

Both: ((..I found it strangely comforting...))

Magolor: "W-well...I say we break on repairs for the day!" "The one thing I hadn't planned for was the, err, let's call it a mental toll. I may need some time...to sort through things a little."

Marx: "Same."

Magolor: "...Marx?"

Marx: "Yeah, Mags...?"

Magolor: "..." "Nothing."

<They head off in opposite directions>

Both: (( ...It was maybe the first time I didn't feel so alone...))

Both: (( ...now that feeling's gone...and all that's left is emptiness...))

<Later>

Marx: (My legs...hurt. My back too. Like I could never get comfortable. It hurt the whole time we were fused together. Magolor can’t be in that much pain constantly...can he...?)

Magolor: (Marx’s mind... It was so crowded with-...I don’t even know WHAT that was... But I don’t understand how he can concentrate on anything when his brain is always screaming...)

[belphegor1982]

Find the word in your WIPs

I was tagged by both @rose-of-pollux and @tuttle4077 for a "Find the word in your WIP" game! Here are the rules: Find the words from the list in your WIPs and post the paragraph they belong to.

Thanks a lot :D They both gave me different words, too, so let's go!

I ended up using What Nightmares May Come (my long HH fic) a lot, if only because it's so long (64k+ words, gah, if only the inspiration could come back!!) but also from The Message (the follow-up to Mon Pays et Paris), three The Mummy WIPs, and one word from a Legend of Vox Machina somewhat long WIP. And since it got so long, I'm putting most of it under a cut ^^'

Tagging @thisstableground, @tinydooms, @laurelindebear, @teashoesandhair, @kabbal and @kaantt 💜

List of (new) words: chase | average | fast | minute | whole

sigh (from The Message, Hogan's Heroes)

“Did you clear that up with Colonel Hogan?” he asked. LeBeau stuck out his chin in a familiar show of stubbornness.

“Of course I did,” he said just a second too quickly.

Kinch shook his head.

“Man, now I know why you won’t play poker with Newkirk. He’d clean you right out.” He sighed. “LeBeau, you can’t just take a radio because you feel like it. Do you know how many of the guys miss listening to the Andrew Sisters or the World Series?”

hint (from A Fifth of Glenlivet, The Mummy)

The tea was light and slightly sweet, with a hint of mint. Egyptian style. Rick – though more of a coffee guy – had to admit that for what he considered to be lightly flavoured hot water, it wasn’t that bad, especially without the obligatory splash of milk generally favoured by the British.

heart (from Manifold, The Mummy)

She waits a little, enjoying the wind on her face and the shade the balloon casts over them; then she asks without looking at him, her voice very low, her heartbeat very loud, “Whom did you fall in love with first: Elizabeth, or Tom?”

toast (from In A Mellow Tone, The Mummy)

“Good Heavens. And I thought my parents had their hands full with me and Evy.” Jonathan put his palm into his hand and grinned. “How much of a scamp were you when you were a kid?”

“Not that much,” Harry said with a sharp smile, “but I usually got away with a lot, even more than Nellie did. You see, I didn’t often let myself get caught.”

“Sound philosophy,” said Jonathan, raising his half-empty pint in a toast Harry met with his own. “So you have four siblings?”

operation (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

The conversation in Klink’s office seemed to be over, so Kinch unplugged the coffee pot and replaced the lid. They were all thinking the same thing; all operations would have to come to a complete stop. The absence of the sub already meant they couldn’t go through with their orders of ‘assisting escaping prisoners’; but this meant that the other part, about ‘cooperating with all friendly forces and using every means possible to injure and harass the enemy’, was nixed as well if nobody could set foot outside camp.

_______________________

That's it for Tuttle's words! Now for Rose's :o)

sea (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

“Let’s hope that your escape will earn him a one-way ticket to the Russian front,” Hogan grimly quipped, his eyes serious. “In the meantime, you get to stay at the… ‘guerilla Hilton’ for a couple of days, we fit you with civilian clothes and official papers, and you do a little cross-country ‘round the German countryside. There’s a British sub in the North sea, a little off Wangerland. You’ll be in England faster than you can say ‘fish and chips’.”

star (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

Hogan whistled between his teeth. “So they’re basically stuck here for God knows how long?”

“Basically.”

“No chance of a plane, I suppose?”

“I asked. Apparently, if our guests were two-star generals, they would consider sending one.” Hogan didn’t miss the discreet sarcasm in his radioman’s deadpan voice.

pleasant (from A Fifth of Glenlivet, The Mummy)

Something loosened in the set of Jonathan’s shoulders.

“Good. Because if you’re planning to steal more toolkits for my sister then it’s better if… Well, you know. She’s had a lot flung at her because she has the gall to be a scholar and a girl, and ‘only half-English’ to boot.”

Something told Rick that particular turn of phrase glossed over many others, much less pleasant. Which both siblings probably had their own share ‘flung at’ them, come to think of it.

walk (from Underture, The Legend of Vox Machina)

Scanlan let his hand fall and rolled his eyes.

“Look, you don’t need to get your panties in a knot. I can see better than you at the moment, so the way I see it there’s only one way you won’t fall behind and get lost.” He walked back to Vax and thrust out his hand with a grin large enough to be obvious even in the dark. “Wanna hold hands?”

linger (from What Nightmares May Come, Hogan's Heroes)

“Oh, perfectly, Major,” Klink muttered in an almost defeated tone, resisting the urge to rub his temples. The lingering headache had been small this morning, the inevitable result of a restless night, but Hochstetter excelled in the art of making migraines in other people’s heads grow in a way even Hogan did not.

Thanks again :o)

[lyranova]

Children of the Future: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 13: Something's Wrong

Hiya guys! I’m sorry this chapter is very late, I had some IRL things come up and got busy with the holidays so this got pushed back quite a bit. Not much happens in this chapter, but we do get some very sweet and wholesome moments (especially between Nozel and Kaiyo) and Sterling Faust and Josele Canty are not my OC’s, they belong to @loosesodamarble ! I hope you all enjoy~!

Word Count: 3,656

Warnings: Mentions of Blood

-------

The Next Morning

“ Asta? Is everything alright?”

Asta blinked slowly as he heard a familiar voice call out to him. His green eyes averted from the static screen of the communication device to the office door, where William stood with a worried expression on his face.

“ Huh? Oh, yeah everything's fine Capt-, I mean William. Gah! Why is it so hard for me to call you by your name!” Asta exclaimed as he ruffled his hair in aggravation. William chuckled and shook his head.

“ It’s most likely because you’ve been calling me ‘Captain Vangeance’ for the last twenty years, habits that have been around that long are very hard to break,” He said before humming in thought. “ How about, instead of calling me William, you just call me Vangeance like Yami does?”

“ Really?” Asta asked with tears in his eyes. “ Thank you, Vangeance!”

“ Not at all,” William waved away the Wizard King's thanks before turning serious. “ But may I ask why you’re not doing your paperwork and are instead staring so intently at the communication device?” He asked curiously, Asta blinked again before a sigh escaped him.

“ Just…I just have a feeling something’s wrong, so I was trying to contact Yuno to make sure everything was alright in Spade. But he isn’t answering…” Asta trailed off softly as he leaned back in his seat, his eyes going back to the static screen in front of him.

“ Could another snowstorm have swept through the area? Or perhaps Yuno is away and that’s why you can’t reach him?” William suggested, and Asta nodded.

“ Maybe…but still, if Yuno was away, he has the portable communication device. So he should still be able to answer me…” Asta muttered, and his gaze drifted from the screen to William again as the older man hummed.

“ You have a point. I’ll try to get a hold of Neva and see if it’s just that our communications are down, or if it’s something else.” William said, and Asta smiled for the first time that morning.

“ Thank you, Vangeance, that would be great!” Asta said, his tone full of relief as the other man nodded.

“ Now that that’s settled, shouldn’t you get back to your paperwork before the Captain’s meeting?” William asked with a raised brow, and he watched the smile fade from Asta’s face as dread entered his eyes.

“ Oh man, I forgot about the Captain’s meeting today!”

As William walked out of Asta’s office, which was now in chaos as he tried to quickly do his paperwork before the meeting, he hummed quietly and put a hand under his chin in thought. It was rare that Yuno ignored Asta’s calls, especially nowadays, so for him to not answer and for Asta to have a bad feeling…

William quickly walked over to his desk and began to try to call Neva, and his heart sank into the pit of his stomach as she didn’t answer.

Something was wrong, seriously wrong.

—-----

The Silva Residence

“ Dang it, I missed again!” Kaiyo exclaimed as she watched her ball of Mercury fly past the target and instead hit the stone wall that was many feet behind the target. She hung her head down low as she doubled over in exasperation, she looked up slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“ It’s alright, you just need to adjust your aim slightly.” Nozel said as he stared at where her spell hit. “ If you move it to the left, you should be able to hit the target.” He added, and he glanced down at his niece as she sighed.

“ I don’t think that’s going to help Uncle Nozel…” Kaiyo said with a sigh as she shook her head. She felt him pat her shoulder again, and she turned her head to see him smiling patiently at her.

“ How do you know? The only way to be sure is by trying.” Nozel said, his tone firm but encouraging. Kaiyo let out another exasperated sigh before standing up straight and nodding her head.

“ Okay, I’ll try…but when it doesn’t work I get to say I told you so!” The young girl pouted, causing Nozel to chuckle softly before nodding his head in agreement.

As he watched his young niece ready herself to try her spell again, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Noelle. When she was Kaiyo’s age, she would practice and practice controlling her water magic, but was unable to. Nozel recalled watching her many times out the window, wanting to go out there and help her or give her advice, but refrained due to Megicula’s curse. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he lost his baby sister the same way he lost his mother…so instead he closed the curtains, shut his eyes, and pretended he didn’t notice anything.

How he regretted doing that.

So when he found out that Kaiyo was also having trouble controlling her magic like Noelle, he was determined to help her learn how to control it. Not only was it a way for him to help preserve the legacy of their mother, the Steel War Princess, but it was also another way for him to make amends for his behavior towards Noelle. 

He did not want to make the same mistake with his niece that he did with his sister.

“ Okay, here I go!” Kaiyo announced as she stuck her hands out in front of her, Nozel watched as a steel ball form in front of her hands. It grew larger and larger until it was at least the size of a small boulder. He watched as she adjusted her aim to the left, just as he instructed.

“ Now, take a deep breath, and let the ball go.” Nozel instructed, his voice calm and steady. Kaiyo inhaled deeply, shut her eyes, and then let the ball go just as he told her to.

Nozel watched as the ball flew quickly towards the target, holding his breath as he silently prayed to whatever deity was listening to let her spell hit its target.

But his prayer fell on deaf ears.

At the last minute, the ball suddenly veered right and knocked down a nearby tree.

“ See? I told you so…” Kaiyo muttered softly, her voice full of defeat. But Nozel hummed and quickly shook his head.

“ I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” He told her seriously as he suddenly began walking over to the target, Kaiyo frowned but followed him.

“ Uncle Nozel, I think you need to have your eyes checked,” Kaiyo said in confusion as she stared at the still intact target that was in front of them. “ Because the target doesn’t seem to be hit at all.” She added as she tilted her head, but her uncle once again shook his head.

“ But it is, look right there, on its side,” Nozel told her as he pointed to the side of the target, Kaiyo’s frown deepened and she squinted her eyes.

Lo and behold, the target was hit just as he said! Although it was slight, and would be clearly called a ‘small cut’ it was still hit. Which meant her aim was getting better, and that she was getting closer and closer to full control of her powers!

At least, she hoped that’s what it meant.

“ I did it…I really did it!” Kaiyo exclaimed excitedly, and Nozel couldn’t help but let a small smile appear on his face.

“ You did, it might not be a serious ‘wound’, but it’s a wound nonetheless. Which means you’re making great progress in your training,” Nozel praised as he placed a hand on top of her head and patted it gently. “ You did well.”

“ Thank you, Uncle Nozel!” Kaiyo said brightly, a much happier smile appearing on her face. “ Since I hit the target, can we take a break now? Please~?”

Nozel chuckled but agreed that she deserved to take a small break, and so the two walked over to a stone bench nearby and sat down. The servants brought them water and sandwiches for lunch, and the two ate quietly for the next few minutes.

“ Where’s Auntie? I thought she was gonna have lunch with us?” Kaiyo said as she took a bite of her sandwich and looked around.

“ Don’t talk with your mouth full, and your aunt is busy with work right now, as are your cousins, so unfortunately they won’t be able to join us today.” Nozel explained, and he watched the young girl nod slowly.

“ Uncle Solid and Auntie Nebra aren’t coming either?” She asked, and Nozel frowned.

“ No…?” He asked, and he watched Kaiyo nod slowly before she put her sandwich down onto the plate. He watched her wring her hands nervously as her eyes stared down at her plate, it was as though she were wanting to tell him something, but was too nervous to do so.

As he opened his mouth to speak, Kaiyo suddenly raised her head and looked at him.

“ Uncle Nozel, can I tell you a secret?” She asked him suddenly, the nervous look still in her eyes. Nozel nodded slowly as he set his glass of water down.

“ Of course.”

“ You gotta promise not to tell mama and papa, though!”

“ Why?”

“ Because if you tell them, they’ll get sad…so please don’t tell them! Please~!” Kaiyo pleaded, her pink eyes wide and her hands clasped together in front of her.

Nozel sighed softly, but eventually nodded.

“ Last night…I had a really bad dream, I told papa about it…but I didn’t tell him everything.” Kaiyo admitted softly as her gaze drifted back down to her plate.

“ I told him that I dreamt that he and mama died, and that I got separated from Mizuki and Brielle…but there was a lot more than that…” She suddenly bit her bottom lip and Nozel heard her begin to sniffle, but he didn’t say anything, instead he sat there patiently and waited for her to continue.

“ I dreamt that everyone died…you, aunties, uncle Solid…all of my friends and cousins…everyone. And I couldn’t…I couldn’t do anything! Everyone was protecting me, and everyone was getting hurt, but I couldn’t move, I was too scared!” Kaiyo began to cry as the terrible memory resurfaced in her mind, she had wanted to tell her dad the night before, but after she saw the worried and terrified look in his own eyes, she decided against it. She didn’t want to make him even more upset.

She suddenly felt arms wrap around her and hug her close, and she looked up to see it was her Uncle Nozel.

“ I…I don’t want you all to die!” She cried as she wrapped her arms around her Uncle, and he quickly shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated.

Nozel wanted to tell her that it was only a dream, and that there was absolutely no way that they would all die. But he couldn’t. Especially since he had been around her age when he lost his mother. If he told her that it was only a dream, and convinced her that they were all invincible, then he would be lying to her.

And he didn’t want to lie.

So instead, he held and comforted her.

“ It’s okay, Kaiyo, it’s all going to be okay.” Nozel told her softly as he gently rubbed and patted her back as she sobbed. “ You will always be safe and protected as long as your parents, aunts, and uncles are around, and we plan on being around for a long, long time.”

“ Would you like to know one of my secrets?” He asked her softly, she sniffled a bit before nodding her head. “ I have bad dreams too, for a long time I had nothing but bad dreams, and every time I would wake up scared and worried, just like you.” He whispered softly, and he watched her lean back slightly to look at him.

“ Really?”

“ Really. See? Even the strongest and bravest of people get scared after having bad dreams. So please don’t be sad or ashamed of being scared, because it happens to everyone.” He told her softly, and he heard her sobs slowly turn into sniffles as she began to calm down.

“ Even grandma Acier?” She asked softly, and Nozel nodded.

“ Even grandma Acier.”

The girl nodded slightly before going quiet, the only sounds being her sniffles. But then she pulled away and looked up at him.

“ Thank you, Uncle Nozel. You’re the best uncle in the whole world!” Kaiyo exclaimed cheerfully as her bright smile returned to her face. He chuckled a bit before smiling softly at her and wiping her remaining tears away with the pad of his thumb.

“ Lord Nozel, Lady Noelle is here for Lady Kaiyo,” One of the servants announced, and the young girl suddenly jumped up.

“ Alright, we’ll be right there.” Nozel said as he stood up, he turned to face his niece and he held out his hand towards her. She quickly jumped up and took his hand before following him inside the residence.

“ Mama!” Kaiyo shouted excitedly as she saw her mother standing in the parlor, Noelle turned slightly and smiled brightly when she saw her youngest running towards her. She scooped her up in her arms and hugged her.

“ Kaiyo! How did your training go? Did you have fun with your Uncle?” She asked as she set her daughter down and pulled away from her slightly, and Kaiyo nodded.

“ I had lots of fun with Uncle Nozel! And training went great! I actually hit the target!” She said excitedly, and her mother's eyes widened as she turned to look at her eldest brother.

“ She hit the target?” And he nodded with a small, yet proud, smile on his face.

“ She did. It was only a slight graze, but she hit the target. So her aim and control is getting much better.” He told her, and Noelle hugged her daughter again.

“ That’s really great, Kaiyo, I’m so proud of you!”

“ Thank you, mama!”

The three Silva’s spoke for a few minutes more before Noelle and Kaiyo decided to leave and head home. As they did, Nozel went back and forth with himself, trying to decide whether he needed to tell Noelle about the rest of Kaiyo’s nightmare or not.

But eventually, he decided against it.

Nozel bid his sister and niece goodbye, and watched as they disappeared through a Spatial portal. He sighed quietly before looking up towards the sky, a strange and ominous feeling washing over him.

—-----

The Black Bull's Hideout

“ Aren’t you going to have breakfast? Hana and Einar are wondering where you are.” Charlotte said as she walked out onto the balcony that was attached to their room. Yami turned slightly to look at her over his shoulder before nodding.

“ Yeah, I’ll be there in a bit, I just wanted some fresh air.” He explained softly as he looked back out at the forest in front of him.

“ You’re worried about Hikari.” Charlotte stated as she came up to stand beside him, leaning forward against the stone railing, her blue eyes not leaving his face.

“ I am. But I’m also worried about the other brats too.” He admitted as he put a piece of hard candy into his mouth. Charlotte smiled a bit, ever since he quit smoking he had developed a habit of eating hard candy when he was worried and stressed, and judging from how many empty wrappers were beside him, he was very stressed.

“ Do…you think that they’re going to run into Cerberus again?” She asked softly, and he nodded.

“ I don’t know for sure… so far there aren’t any signs that the bandits in Hage are connected to Cerberus, but there’s just something about this mission that has me on edge…” Yami muttered as he turned to look at his wife.

As Charlotte stared into his grey colored eyes, she could see the worry and unease swirling in them. Normally, he never let anyone see what he was thinking or what he was feeling. But with her, he let her see everything. What he was thinking, what he was feeling. He allowed himself to be open and vulnerable with her.

Charlotte moved closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder as she gently rubbed his back, hoping to soothe his unease a bit.

“ If you’re that worried, why don’t you go up to Hage and take over the mission? Or I could go up there and help her out?” Charlotte suggested, and Yami scratched the back of his head.

“ I can’t go up to Hage now, Nacht and I have to take those papers he found in Lumi to Asta,” Yami said with a small sigh. “ And you aren’t a Captain anymore, so you can’t take over the mission for her.”

“ You’re right, I can’t take over the mission for her. But I can go and provide assistance.” Charlotte said with a knowing look, and Yami smirked a bit.

“ And how are you going to explain your ‘assistance’ to the Wizard King if he asks?”

“ Well, I went to Hage village to visit some friends when I suddenly ran into my daughter who happened to be on a difficult mission, and when I offered my assistance she agreed.” Sh explained simply, causing Yami to laugh and shake his head.

“ It looks like we’ve rubbed off on you Prickly Princess.” He laughed, and when he used her old nickname, Charlotte could feel her cheeks burn slightly as her heart fluttered. In a way, she had missed him using her old nickname.

As Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, she suddenly heard a loud boom ring out from downstairs, and a sigh escaped both her and Yami.

“ I think we’d better get downstairs before Luck and Magna destroy the entire Hideout.” Charlotte said with a soft laugh, and Yami nodded in agreement.

As she turned to walk back into the Hideout, she suddenly felt Yami grab her arm. Confused, she turned to look at him and was taken aback when she felt his lips press against hers in a quick, but sweet, kiss.

“ W-What was that for?” She asked in surprise, her face bright red as Yami grinned at her.

“ For making me laugh when I really needed it.” He replied simply and with a slight shrug before he walked past her back into the Hideout.

‘ That man…he really likes to surprise me, doesn’t he?’ She thought with a soft smile and a shake of her head. She quickly turned and followed him inside, silently hoping that Magna and Luck hadn’t destroyed the entire common area.

After Yami calmed everyone down and scolded Luck and Magna, everyone sat at the dining table and began to eat breakfast. Compliments to Charmy and Lovely began to ring out, and light conversation between everyone floated around the room. It was a typical morning…but Yami just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. Even as Einar sat on his knee and began to explain what he had planned for that day, he just…couldn’t shake it.

“ Looks like a storm’s brewing outside, Captain Yami,” Finral said as he began to stand up from the table. “ Maybe we should head to the Headquarters before it gets here.”

“ What? Scared you’re going to melt in the rain?” He asked with a raised brow, and Finral quickly shook his head.

“ N-No, Captain Yami, sir!”

“ Nah, he’s just scared he’ll get his hair wet!” Luck said with a small laugh, causing Finral’s head to snap in his direction.

“ That’s not true!”

“ Aren’t you using your Spatial magic? Why are you worried about getting rained on?” Gauche asked as he crossed his arms, and eventually Finral sighed and hung his head down in defeat.

“ You all realize that I’m your superior, right? You could all at least pretend to show me some respect…” He muttered in disappointment, but Vanessa chuckled softly as she patted her husband's head.

Suddenly, the door to the Hideout was thrown open, and Sterling Faust stood at the entrance. Her red hair was slightly messy, and her eyes were wide as she began to look around the Hideout as though she were searching for someone or something.

“ Sterling? What is it?” Nacht asked as he and Josele stood up and stared at their eldest daughter.

“ Where…where are they?” She asked, slightly out of breath. Everyone frowned in confusion.

“ Who are you talking about?” Josele asked in concern.

“ The kids…where are they? They’re supposed to be here by now…” Sterling breathed as she continued to try and catch her breath. But Yami shook his head.

“ They’re up in Hage right now, what do you mean they’re supposed to be here by now?” Yami asked seriously, and he watched the young girl's eyes widen.

“ If they’re still in Hage, then maybe it’s not too late, maybe we can still-!” Sterling began, but stopped short as a bright pink light suddenly appeared in the ceiling of the Hideout. Everyone looked up to stare at the light, and a soft gasp escaped Vanessa and Finral.

That bright pink light wasn’t a light at all, it was actually one of Ezio’s portals!

Everyone watched in horror as one by one six bloodied bodies began to fall through the portal and onto the common area floor. After the final body fell onto the floor beside the others, the portal closed as quickly as it had appeared. But no one moved, no one breathed, they all just stood there in shock.

Then finally, one of the bloodied bodies raised their head to look at the people in front of them, a lopsided smile appearing on their injured face.

“ I…I kept my promise…I brought everyone home safely, just like I said…I…would.” Ezio Roulacase said softly, before his eyes closed, and he fell back down onto the floor. That’s when everyone in the room realized:

The injured bodies… were their children!

--------

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

[itsuki-minamy]

"K - RETURN OF KINGS" (Novel)

CHAPTER 4: CHABUDAI ALLIANCE

* List of Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

"Haha!"

Sukuna jumped as he let out a light laugh.

A sickle wrapped in green electricity tore through the air and intersected with Yata's skateboard. The green and red auras collided violently and annihilated each other. Sukuna used that as a reference point to do somersaults and then launched a heel over Yata's head.

"Gah!"

Yata looked for him in a dangerous place, accelerated the skateboard and left. Just as he was about to chase after him, Fushimi cut him down as if to replace him.

"This time you? Ok, let's play!"

"Tsk...!"

As he violently fought Fushimi, Sukuna flicked his tongue in.

Yata is a skater who repeatedly approaches and backs up quickly as he lands powerful punches, while Fushimi possesses a method of attack with little chance to open up at both short and long range. No matter how many N-Ranks gather, it will be hard to stop these two.

But... Gojou Sukuna was a J-Rank, a top-peak player in "Jungle".

The extraordinary application "Grassroot Ver. 3.0" even controls the security cameras of the school. Even behind him, which was originally supposed to be a blind spot, he was in full view of Sukuna. Information is the weapon of "Jungle". And not having it is the weakness of these two.

Sukuna matched Fushimi's saber with his sickle blade. Almost at the same time, Yata ran in with his skateboard. Not knowing that he was a hole that Sukuna created on purpose.

"Sweet!"

Shouting, Sukuna swung his scythe around and jabbed the blade into the ground.

At the same time, he started the extraordinary application "Thunder Wave". Fushimi, who noticed a moment before, withdrew, but Yata, who started a sudden approach, couldn't stop himself. A "wave of thunder" that came from Sukuna passed through Yata's entire body.

"What?!"

"Thunder Wave" doesn't have much attack power, but it does cause considerable pain and paralysis. Sukuna slashed at Yata, who had stopped moving. Staff in hand, Yata barely parried the attack.

"Bastard!"

"Ahaha, your attacks are very weak!"

He easily blocked Yata's counterattack, and just as he was about to corner him, Fushimi's knife reflected into his electronically shielded field of view.

"These guys who have been secretly hiding up until now, they are not in high spirits!"

Roaring, Fushimi threw several throwing knives at him. Sukuna laughed out loud as he dodged and jumped to evade the attack that was precisely aimed at his vital points.

"Huh, you guys are red and blue number three, right? Is this all you have? It's not my hobby to score points with null games!"

As soon as he landed, Sukuna approached Fushimi in a single leap and raised his scythe.

"What?!"

"First of all, I'll go for the 4000 points!"

"Saru!"

However, the blade that was supposed to pierce through his heart was blocked by a skateboard that he sliced from the side.

A slight surprise ran through Sukuna's heart. Fushimi and Yata jumped back to keep their distance, while Sukuna also renewed his vigilance and readied his weapon.

Right now it was a blow that was sure to be caught. Yata, who should have taken damage from "Thunder Wave", should never have been able to support him at that distance and time.

Does that mean they have "something" to fill it? Sukuna noticed a smile on his lips as he studied it.

(It's cute. A game has to be like that.), Sukuna thought.

Sukuna takes no pleasure in oppressing weaker enemies. There is meaning and joy in overcoming strong and growing enemies.

Sukuna again took an offensive stance. To fully enjoy the pleasure, he lowered himself and put his strength into his legs.

"......?!"

He realized something.

He raised his face as if repelled by him and widened his eyes.

"That, no way..."

Fushimi and Yata were also looking up at the eastern sky with surprised expressions just like Sukuna. A giant sword of the "King" hanging in the distant sky.

"I know this sword... a year ago, at that time..."

"Silver... No, it's the "Silver King"."

The "Silver Damocles Sword". What his appearance means is that...

"He's the last boss, come on."

Mumbling a bit, Sukuna laughed again.

++++++++++

Kuro was dumbfounded and looked up at the red Japanese umbrella spread out in front of him.

(Is this a dream, an illusion?), Kuro thought.

It was a spectacle that he had seen in his dreams. One day, the man they have been looking for will return. How long have they waited for the day when they would greet each other with the same attitude, the same smile and return home together?

At that moment, Kuro couldn't accept the fact that that figure was right in front of him.

The back of Isana Yashiro, the man Kuro and Neko have been waiting for, is close at hand.

However, Shiro had a different appearance than before. Instead of a soft smile, with a determined look in his eyes, he surely is looking at the enemy.

At such a shrine, Mishakuji Yukari smiled charmingly and bowed respectfully.

"Nice to meet you. The first king, the "Silver King" Adolf K. Weismann. I am a J-Rank of the Green Clan "Jungle", Mishakuji Yukari."

A parrot flew from the connecting bridge pillar and landed on Mishakuji's shoulder. He spread his wings and let out a cry of affirmation.

Mishakuji's smile deepened as he stroked the parrot's chin.

"Please excuse my rudeness as a clansman. This here is my lord."

In an instant, his mood changed.

The parrot emitted a strong pressure that could be clearly seen even from a distance. Kuro crouched down clearing his throat.

He remembered that feeling.

Reisi Munakata. Suoh Mikoto. The same kind of aura they gave off.

That means...

"Nice to meet you, "Silver King". I am Nagare Hisui, the fifth king, the "Green King"."

The parrot's beak opened, and graceful human speech flowed from it.

Shiro narrowed his eyes and replied in a low voice.

"I guess you did this just to attract me, "Green King"."

"Yes. Now I can confirm that you are not a bystander like you used to be. It is a great strategic victory."

Mishakuji shrugged and looked at the parrot in wonder.

"So my little brother was used as bait? What a cruel king."

"That is also affirmative. It is a ruthless change of order. Please withdraw immediately."

"Oh, you should get rid of that big fish you caught, right?"

Mishakuji's smile was mixed with something cold.

He was still holding the drawn "Ayamachi" in his hand. If he felt like it, Mishakuji would probably attack Shiro right then and there. Fighting against the strong is his joy. Whether he is a "King" or not, Mishakuji does not hesitate to enjoy that joy.

(Let me...!), Kuro thought.

Gritting his teeth, Kuro grabbed the "Kotowari" handle again. He mainly he wouldn't use his sword. That is Kuro's pride and reason for existing.

However, the parrot's voice interrupted that determination.

"Withdraw immediately."

Kuro was distracted for only a moment. Meanwhile, however, Mishakuji was resheathing his sword. After looking at the sky with a theatrical gesture, he bowed deeply.

"Unfortunate. It is a pity, but if it is an order from my lord, there is nothing I can do about it. I apologize for this, "Silver King"."

Then, Mishakuji turned his eyes towards Kuro.

"Kurou-chan, I will entrust your life to the beautiful "Silver King" who ran for you, but next time, please entertain me more."

Narrowing his eyes, he said quietly.

"Otherwise, I'll cut you down like a dead branch."

"Guh..."

The next moment, his face was distorted with humiliation.

The parrot flapped its wings and rose into the air.

By the time the feather landed on the bridge, Mishakuji was nowhere to be seen.

"Phew..."

Power fell from Shiro's shoulders. Almost at the same time, the silver "Sword of Damocles" that he hung above his head vanished like smoke. With the removal of the Sanctum created by supernatural power, the "Sword of Damocles", the embodiment of that power, also disappeared.

The battle was over.

He couldn't do anything in front of him. He couldn't beat Mishakuji or protect his friends. Far from protecting his master from him, he was a loser who could only be protected by his master, so was Kuro now.

As he bitterly held that thought, Kuro looked down.

"Can you get up, Kuro?"

Shiro softly called out to Kuro.

A soft and warm gaze that was completely different from the one he was looking at the enemy before. It was exactly the same as Shiro's face in Kuro's memory.

The humiliation and remorse were gone in a moment. How long have you longed for a reunion with his teacher and friend? With that joy, Kuro squeezed his face as he tried to smile.

He is, after all, a member of the Silver Clan. There was a courtesy that had to be practiced before a friendly smile.

Kuro raised his head and dropped to one knee on the ground. He deeply bows his head at Shiro who is approaching him.

"Welcome home, my... Guwah?!"

Neko stepped on his back with all her might.

"Shiro!"

Involuntarily leaning forward, Neko stepped on the back of the neck and charged towards Shiro. It was a hard force to describe. Just as she was, Neko clung to Shiro's neck and rubbed his head.

"Shiro, Shiro, Shiro, Shiro! I missed you! Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why didn't you come back?"

Kuro heard Neko's words in rapid succession as he knelt on the ground. He jerked to his feet and clenched his fist in anger.

"Idiot, that's what I'm going to ask you now."

Still, Neko didn't stop talking. As if the feelings she had been suppressing until now had broken the dam and spilled over, Neko held Shiro's face in her hands and continued speaking.

"I've been looking for you, Shiro! I've been looking for you for a long time! We went to many places, and then the green ones came after us and defeated Kurosuke, they even kidnapped Anna and it was all on fire..."

"Yes."

"Even after that, I've been looking for you for a long time, so..."

Kuro's hands lost their strength.

Neko was also waiting impatiently for Shiro. No, just because Neko is purer, that feeling must have been stronger than Kuro's. They would meet one day, she was sure they would. Never before had Neko lost hope.

So Neko had the right to do it.

"Am at home."

"Welcome back."

As if relieved by Shiro's soft embrace, Neko buried her face in his chest and murmured.

Then, as she calmed Neko down, Shiro's eyes turned to Kuro. Feeling embarrassed by his sweet gaze, Kuro turned his face away from him.

"That's how it is."

"You're not being honest. This is a scene where it's okay to cry like you're hugging me like Neko. I missed you, Shiro!"

"Who would do that!"

The reason why he involuntarily retorted out loud was because he felt that he was being mocked for his anguish and conflict. Just as he was about to tell him how he felt while he waited, he suddenly put on a serious expression and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry."

"No..."

If he apologizes honestly like that, it would somehow become a bad atmosphere. Neko was looking at Kuro with a downcast look. Kuro cleared his throat.

"No, I'm glad you're alive."

Saying that, Shiro smiled again.

"I say the same."

"What about the current situation?"

"I know most of it. Otherwise, I couldn't come at such a good time, right?"

Kuro's eyebrows twitched. In fact, it was the perfect timing. Too good, he would even say. That means...

"Did you mean it was all intentional?"

"Well, what do you think?"

Shiro said that as a nonsense, but maybe it was true. From somewhere, Shiro was watching them, and he inadvertently jumped into danger.

Kuro relaxed his shoulders and smiled.

"You have not changed anything."

"Hahaha... I was wondering if I could do something on my own without involving everyone, but the Green Clan was moving faster than I expected. They pushed me and brought me out into the open. In the end, I guess I gave them all a bad experience..."

"That's right, idiot."

To put it bluntly, Shiro unexpectedly widened his eyebrows.

"If you only witnessed and shared both joy and pain with us, we wouldn't be having this conversation. We, Adolf K. Weismann, no, Isana Yashiro... are members of your clan, don't forget that."

"Shiro, you are our king!"

With a big nod, Neko placed both hands on Shiro's chest. Seeing Neko's genuinely happy smile and Kuro's smile mixed with wonder and relief, Shiro's expression gradually collapsed.

"Neko, Kuro..."

It wasn't just Kuro's imagination that made his eyes look wet. But he didn't want to follow him. Patting Shiro and Neko on the shoulder, Kuro said in a low but clear voice.

"Now we're back to normal."

"Yes."

Shiro nodded with a smile in his moist eyes. Seeing that face, Kuro finally felt a sense of reality. He really felt that Isana Yashiro had returned to them again.

++++++++++

"Huh?! What the hell are we going to do in this place from now on?!"

Fushimi Saruhiko clicked his tongue as he saw Sukuna suddenly take out his PDA and start talking on the phone during the battle.

The same thing happened with Yata next door. Being disrespected until now, he couldn't just finish. They split from left to right, with Fushimi grabbing a throwing knife and Yata grabbing a staff.

At that moment, Sukuna took his sickle out.

"......!"

Yata and Fushimi stopped moving at the same time. But Sukuna didn't even look at them. While holding his glowing green scythe, he said terribly bored.

"Hey, I'm tired of withdrawing from null games."

Saying that, tucking the PDA into his chest, Sukuna turned his back on the two of them.

"This...!"

Fushimi grabbed Yata's arm when he was furious and tried to chase after him.

"It's useless. Don't do it."

When Sukuna found out that Fushimi and Yata were visiting Gakuenjima, he launched a surprise attack. Naturally, he had secured multiple routes to retreat. There was no way they could catch up with him, even if they chased after him with blood rushing to their heads, and if they did it wrong, they might end up isolated and get hit.

At that time, they had no chance of winning from the start.

However, it seems that such a thing was beyond Yata's understanding. Yata violently shook Fushimi's hand and looked at him from the front.

"Saru, damn, are you scared?! Isn't it frustrating that a kid like that has bothered you?"

Tsu, he heard a sound around his temple. His anger turned colder, and Fushimi spat it out.

"Don't let that fool roar in front of you. That's why the greens make you dance like that."

"Yes, damn it!"

This time, Yata's face distorted with anger. Yata's wrist that was trying to grab his collar flap was grabbed in an instant, Fushimi looked at Yata coldly.

"Sorry, you're busy. Can I have a moment?"

Hearing that calm voice, the two of them turned around at the same time.

Standing there were Yatogami Kuro and Neko. And also, the "Silver King", Adolf K. Weismann... Isana Yashiro.

"You..."

"May I ask you to take a message to your kings?"

At that request, Fushimi and Yata looked at each other for a moment. They then moved away from each other and turned towards Shiro.

"What do you want to tell Anna?"

Yata's expression had the same amount of embarrassment mixed with wariness. A year ago, the person seeking his life was right in front of him, so it was only natural.

However, Shiro simply replied with a smile that didn't seem to matter at all.

"Hey, there's something I'd like to suggest. I thought there might be something we could do together with the "Red King" and the "Blue King"."

"What I can do?"

Almost at the same time that Yata bowed his head, Fushimi's PDA sounded a ringtone.

He pulled it out and saw the name of the person that was calling. Shiro guessed the name.

"Is it Munakata-san?"

Fushimi directed his gaze towards Shiro, who was smiling. Before Fushimi's eyes, it looked like Munakata's mysterious smile.

He received the call without answering, and when he put the PDA to his ear, he heard Munakata's smiling voice.

"Please connect me to the "Silver King"."

He clicked his tongue instead of answering. As it was, he tossed his PDA towards Shiro.

The sudden release of the PDA made him panic, and he received it after several juggling. Shiro greeted Fushimi with a big smile.

"Thank you!"

Fushimi felt even more irritated by his innocent attitude.

In the macroscopic worldview of the "Kings", he was nothing more than a piece. He should have known, but it wasn't nice to see someone so above him.

With both hands in his pockets, Fushimi muttered as if he was vomiting.

"That is why he is called the "King"."

++++++++++

Three "Kings" were gathered in that room.

"Third King, "Red Queen", Anna Kushina."

The girl closed her eyes quietly and sat quietly on the tatami.

"Fourth King, "Blue King", Reisi Munakata."

The young man observed the situation with a cold smile.

"And I, the First King, "Silver King", Adolf K. Weismann, Isana Yashiro."

The boy looked at the two of them alternately and nodded calmly.

"A group of prominent people gather around the same table... it's like a round-table conference."

And at that moment, Yata, who was right behind Anna, stomped down as if he couldn't take it anymore.

"A round table is a chabudai! This one is square!"

Receiving a reasonable remark, Shiro scratched his head and laughed.

"Sorry. But this was the only table we had."

"That's not the problem! We can't gather so many people, so there must be a better place! Why is the room so small!"

Yata's point was also valid, and it was stifling to have a total of 9 people, 3 people from each faction, in one room. The reason why Kuro suddenly stood up and opened the window was probably to change the air, even a little. It would be no laughing matter if the "King" collapsed from lack of oxygen.

Fushimi, who was standing behind Munakata, let out a sigh.

"It's like stuffed sushi. Don't make a fuss, it's hot."

"This is the formality, sloppy blue clothes!"

"I guess it's the same for you guys. Just like last year, it would be a nuisance if the thugs came in disorderly, so I purposely came to fix it."

"What?!"

Yata leaned forward in a fight, and Kusanagi grabbed his arm.

"Yata-chan, it's a place for VIP attendance. Can you hold it back for a bit?"

Almost at the same time, Awashima looked at Fushimi.

"Fushimi, please refrain from pointless provocations."

"I'm sorry."

Fushimi's apology lacked sincerity, but Yata remained silent. They weren't there to fight. At least, that was the common understanding of all.

At that moment, a timid voice entered from outside the room.

"Um... I'm sorry..."

A girl appeared who is a friend of Kuro and Neko, and a former friend of Shiro, Kukuri Yukizome. She was holding a large tray filled with tea for the number of people. Shiro smiled and thanked her.

"Thank you very much, Kukuri. I'm sorry you're doing all the work."

Originally, Shiro as the host should have entertained them. Kukuri, who appeared there by chance, said, "Is there anything I can do for you?", so Shiro could focus on the meeting.

Kukuri laughed happily and started arranging the tea on the table.

"Okay. Kuro-kun and Wagahai-chan finally got to see Shiro. It seems they don't want to leave."

Kuro cleared his throat awkwardly.

"This isn't that kind of thing, it's like a three-on-three form of conversation..."

"That's right, I can't leave you anymore!"

Without hesitation, Neko hugged Shiro and rubbed his cheek. Shiro and Kukuri let out a wry smile.

At that moment, Munakata moved.

He slowly raised his glasses and silently looked at Shiro. With just that gesture, the air in the place that was about to be released tightened with a crack.

"It's about time for the round table... no, shall we start the "Chabudai Conference", "Silver King", Adolf K. Weismann?"

Perhaps reading the atmosphere, Kukuri slowly slipped out of the room. Shiro turned to Munakata with a smile on his face as Kukuri gave a small wave and left.

"As for me, just call me Isana Yashiro, "Blue King" Reisi Munakata. "Red Queen" Anna Kushina, thank you very much for answering my sudden call."

Anna opened her eyes and smiled softly.

"I don't care. I wanted to repay your clan for their help."

"Nyahaha, Anna, thank you!"

Neko waved at Anna who also waved back. However, Munakata cut off the communication between the pretty girls.

"In that line of reasoning, I think we are forced to deal with the consequences... Well, let's put that aside for now."

Munakata turned her thoughtful gaze towards Shiro and asked a question.

"What is the purpose of setting up this meeting?"

On the other hand, Shiro simply smiled.

"I can't believe someone like you wouldn't have expected that."

"......"

Munakata's eyes narrowed. However, the one who answered his question was another "King".

"Countermeasures against the Green Clan. Nothing more."

Shiro nodded his head at the words that Anna leaked out.

"Good answer. It's an item on the agenda, but we have a reason to discuss it again here now."

Saying "reason" was discouraging in every sense of the word.

But Shiro had to say that. Unless everyone clearly recognizes that they are in a different setting, such a meeting would be pointless.

Saying that, Shiro breathed in and breathed out calmly.

"The second king, the "Golden King", Daikaku Kokujoji, is dead."

Shiro watched intently as the weight of those words slowly permeated the room.

Of course, the "Kings", Awashima, Fushimi, Kusanagi and Kuro seemed to have a clear understanding of the meaning and consequences of that fact. The only ones who didn't understand well were Neko and Yata, but they didn't say anything.

What Shiro paid attention to the most was Munakata's reaction.

"I see."

Looking slightly down, Munakata muttered a bit.

"Japan... no, the "Dresden Slate", which has hidden influence throughout the world, and the loss of the strongest "King" who is the pillar of the ruling system."

Munakata currently manages the "Dresden Slate". That means that all the responsibilities of the society fall on his shoulders.

The current social system was created by none other than the "Golden King", and the only way to act as his representative is by exercising royal authority. The "Blue King", the symbol of order, would be suitable for that, but Shiro could only imagine how strong the pressure would be.

Awashima muttered with a strong sense of concern.

"After all, the recent activation of the Green Clan..."

"Lieutenant... without the "Golden King", the "Green King" has nothing to fear. Ambitions and power no longer need to be suppressed."

Kusanagi raised his hand slightly and asked a question.

"But they were looking for you, did you hear that? Isn't that different from being afraid of you too?"

"I'm not a direct threat like the "Golden King", I guess. It's probably because I have the power to influence the "Slate" which is the core of its ambition, and the power of "immutability" which contradicts its "change"."

"We don't know when, where, or how it will be used, so are you saying you're a wild card?"

"Yes. The "Golden King" knew about it, so he hid me until he passed away..."

The "Golden King" Daikaku Kokujoji. For half a century, he was the only man he could call a friend.

Kokujoji tried to use the power awakened by Shiro for good to save that country. To save many people from suffering. He was carrying a load too great for one person to carry.

At the end of his life, he also tried to save Shiro. He truly cared for the man who had shunned his responsibility and placed it on him.

Daikaku Kokujoji was a strong, big and kind man.

With a slight shake of her head, Shiro dismissed the momentary feeling towards his friend.

"And now they have brought me out. From now on, the Green Clan will not hesitate to play while calculating how the joker will be used."

"To counter that, will the remaining three kings go against the Green Clan?"

"Yes."

Munakata muttered with a thoughtful face.

"Because there is no longer an absolutely strong "Golden King"... is that so?"

"What are you saying?"

Fushimi and Awashima, standing behind him, looked at Munakata with questioning eyes. Munakata answered clearly without looking back.

"Ok. Protecting order is the cause of our Blue Clan, "Scepter 4"."

"Captain! But are you sure?"

It was Awashima who quickly raised her voice.

The reaction is natural. "Homura", including Anna, were the opponents of "Scepter 4" in a large-scale conflict. At that moment, Munakata had the former "Red King" Suoh Mikoto in his hand. The "Homura" side couldn't understand how they were taking it.

Still, there was no hesitation in Munakata's expression.

"Awashima-kun, we were also busy dealing with the Green Clan. If we can get powerful reinforcements, then let's dare to accept some friction."

"Reisi."

The one who called out to him was Anna, sitting right in front of Munakata.

"I told you, I don't want to say thank you."

"......"

"But I also said that it was what Mikoto wanted, so I don't hate you. The Red Clan will fight alongside the Silver Clan and the Blue Clan. In the name of the Red King."

"I understand."

Faced with Anna's gaze filled with sincere determination, Munakata only replied that.

In response to that, the two Red Clan executives raised their voices in agreement.

"Three clans fighting together. Well, under the current circumstances, there is no reason to object."

"So let's beat all the green guys! We'll make it!"

Kusanagi muttered calmly and Yata raised his fist. Seeing that, Shiro breathed a sigh of relief.

If there is no resentment on "Homura's" side, the three-clan alliance will work out well. If the clan of "Scepter 4", "Homura" and as yet unnamed Shiro move under the same control, they should be able to keep up with the unseen "Jungle" clan.

However, Shiro had another concern.

He silently observed the state of Reisi Munakata, the "Blue King".

He could only guess what kind of thoughts were lurking behind that intelligent expression. Still, considering what had happened so far, he was definitely the key person in that alliance.

Reisi Munakata is the "king" of regicide.

Shiro knows all too well what triggers a regicide charge. In addition, Munakata also manages the "Dresden Slate". Being exposed to "Jungle" attacks, all clues of the events so far have been concentrated on Reisi Munakata.

What is he thinking and how is he trying to handle the situation? Shiro had to confirm that.

++++++++++

He never thought that would happen.

Kusanagi couldn't contain those thoughts as he slowly walked down the stairs of the bedroom with Anna.

Fighting together with "Scepter 4". A year ago it would have been unimaginable, and after that it would have been abominable to even imagine. If "Jungle" hadn't made such a provocation, he doesn't think it would have been an option even now.

After all, the "King" who rules the Blue Clan is the man who killed Suoh Mikoto.

He understands that it was inevitable fate. But understanding and feeling are often separate creatures. The "Homura" guys are more or less unhappy about being associated with the blues. The reason he didn't reveal it was because Anna was the one who made the decision and Kusanagi was the one who complied.

If Kusanagi agrees, no one can object. Because Kusanagi is the last of the top three.

Suddenly, a feeling of nostalgia rose in Kusanagi's chest.

(Me, Mikoto and Totsuka. "Homura" was a clan of only those three.), Kusanagi thought.

People gradually gathered in the small place they created. Some were drawn to Suoh Mikoto's overwhelming strength, others were touched by Totsuka Tatara's warm kindness and decided that "Homura" was their place. In doing so, "Homura" took shape.

Then Totsuka Tatara died.

As if he was chasing after him, Suoh Mikoto also passed away.

People disappeared from "Homura", like a comb with a missing tooth. He can't blame them. The clansmen swear allegiance to the King. But if there is no "King", there will be no meaning or reason to belong to the clan.

The "Homura" of today is not the "Homura" of the past. Kusanagi was the only one left from the start. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel sad about it.

But...

"Counterattack! I'll make those green bugs fly!"

"No Blood! No Bone! No Ash!"

Outside the dormitory, Yata and the clansmen were raising their spirits with their fists. Kusanagi let out a wry smile at the sight that hadn't changed since the old days.

He wondered what Suoh and Totsuka would say if they saw them now.

Mikoto could just smile slightly and not say anything.

Totsuka could happily blend in with them and raise their fists together.

Both are nothing more than Kusanagi's imagination. But even if they were there, they wouldn't deny the current "Homura". That's all he could say for sure.

What they did is still there.

While he was thinking about such things, Kusanagi separated from his companions and slowly walked away.

"As soon as the special mission returns to the garrison, check the alert posture."

"By the time the person in charge of the Red Clan arrives, prepare a reception system on this side."

"Yes!"

Under the command, the members of "Scepter 4" began preparations for withdrawal with rapid movements.

It is a well-controlled movement. Now that he thought about it, it was the first time he had watched their movements so closely. "Homura", who solves all problems with their spirit and drive, is unmatched in terms of control.

(And so on...), Kusanagi thought as he puffed on purple smoke.

"Well, I'm the only person in charge, but well, Seri-chan."

Kusanagi called out to Seri Awashima, the person in charge of "Scepter 4", who was next to him. Awashima responded to Kusanagi with a thoughtful look, as she was nicknamed "Woman of the Tundra".

"I look forward to your work. More importantly, what are you going to do with those documents?"

He immediately had an idea of what Awashima was referring to.

"Ah, I was on the fence about that, but I decided to give it to the "Silver King"."

Awashima's eyes shifted to Kusanagi.

"Yes."

After saying that, Awashima kept her mouth shut.

(Hm...), Kusanagi thought.

He was sure that he would listen to even a single complaint. Those documents, the research materials for the "Dresden Slate", would not have been possible without Awashima's cooperation. It was not an exaggeration to say that half of the property belongs to Awashima and by extension "Scepter 4". He did not think that the puritanical Awashima would consent to give it to a third party.

Kusanagi stared at Awashima's profile.

Hard and cold, but somewhere inside, hesitation lurked. Her silent and unspoken gaze seemed to be fixed on Munakata, who had yet to appear at the entrance to Gakuenjima's dormitory.

Kusanagi also directed his attention to the bedroom.

Reisi Munakata. The man who killed Suoh Mikoto.

Every time he sees that man, his heart trembles, not for reason, but for emotion. However, Munakata is also a "King", and there are many who worship him. Awashima's gaze, looking at Munakata now, was probably the same one he had towards Suoh a year ago.

That's why Kusanagi muttered as he looked ahead.

The "Silver King" is the first "King". If you leave it to me, it won't look bad."

Awashima also muttered without meeting Kusanagi's eyes.

"I hope so."

Kusanagi inhaled the cigarette smoke and exhaled again.

++++++++++

"Munakata-san."

Shiro prevented Munakata from leaving the entrance where the setting sun was shining.

He looked back. There was no expression on his face. Narrowing his eyes behind his glasses, Munakata opened his mouth nonchalantly.

"Do you still need something, Isana Yashiro?"

"Are you now managing the "Slate" instead of the "Golden King"?"

It was more of a confirmation than a question. The information that "Scepter 4" was going in and out of Mihashira Tower, where the "Dresden Slate" was kept, was also heard by Shiro through the rabbit.

Munakata naturally affirmed that.

"What about that? Since there are no other suitable candidates, I think it's a natural role."

"How far did you go with the "Slate"...?"

"Not as far as you, the "King" of the Beginning, but that's something."

Shiro didn't know how far that "something" was.

Even Shiro hadn't caught the full picture of Reisi Munakata, the "Blue King". It was clear to him that just because someone was a "King" didn't necessarily mean they were good, even without recalling the examples of the "Fox Mask" and Kagutsu Genji.

The ''Slate'', the source of supernatural powers, is accompanied by great power.

The problem is how those who manage the "Slate" will handle it.

"Are you going to be the second... Daikaku Kokujoji?"

"......"

Munakata remained expressionless and did not reply.

It seemed to Shiro that it was both affirmation and denial.

Shiro who found it knows the weight of "Slate" better. How painful it would be to bear it alone. If so, he might be able to help.

Shiro stepped forward and withdrew.

"If you don't mind, I'll help run the "Slate" as well."

"You who ran away once, do you want me to count on you?"

Without even hearing the ending, Munakata said that to him to push him away.

"......!"

Shiro held his breath.

There are innumerable mistakes he has made, and two things weigh heavily on his mind.

Waking up the "Slate".

And then, he irresponsibly left the "Slate" that he had awakened.

He still wanted to right the irreparable mistake. That is why Shiro has once again returned to this land.

But... Munakata didn't seem to allow even that.

"If it is a countermeasure against the Green Clan, I would greatly appreciate your cooperation. Well then, excuse me."

Munakata looked ahead and left. His back was stiff and cold, and it seemed he would never speak to him again.

A while after Munakata disappeared, Shiro asked with a big sigh.

"I wonder if this is also cause and effect... isn't it, Kuro?"

He looked behind him. From behind the wall, he could see the worried faces of Kuro and Neko.

"You realized?"

"Shiro!"

Neko hugged Shiro and looked up with wet eyes.

"Were you bullied by that bespectacled boss?"

Shiro smiled and answered.

"I'm fine, it's nothing."

"Really? Hey, is it really nothing?"

Shiro gently stroked Neko's hair who persistently asked him. After that, he turned to Kuro and reluctantly shook his head.

"In fact, I ran away. Even at that time, I didn't do what I could have done, and I was drifting in the sky the whole time."

"......"

Kuro couldn't answer that question. All he knows is Isana Yashiro, not Adolf K. Weismann.

"That's why I decided not to run away this time, but to face him."

Shiro's decision is known only to Shiro. Hearing those words that sounded like he was talking to himself, Kuro hardened his expression and placed his hand on his chest.

What he took out of there was a tape recorder.

Both Shiro and Neko had a blank expression on their faces. He had a bad feeling about it. In the affirmative, Kuro nodded once and pressed the switch on the recorder.

"One step at a time, jumping towards the path you chose, that's all you need."

What is recorded there is a series of haikus composed by Ichigen Miwa, who was Kuro's teacher and the previous "Colorless King". Kuro closed his eyes as if he gritted his teeth and spoke with a serious tone.

"Every time I hear it, it's a wonderful phrase...! Listen, Shiro. In other words, people have no choice but to follow the path they believe in, one step at a time, but never forget the fun and the fantasy of skipping at any time."

"Spooky!"

"What?!"

In response to Shiro's sincere reaction, Kuro's eyes widened in anger, but he breathed out his anger and pointed to the bedroom stairs.

"Go back to your room. There's horse mackerel and miso soup today."

"Hurrah!"

Neko raised her hands in joy and jumped down the stairs. Shiro said in a low voice as he walked with Kuro.

"...Thank you, Kuro."

"Hm."

"Both of us, let's go quickly! I'm hungry!"

"Yes."

With a wry smile, Shiro caught up with Neko.

"Oh, now that I think about it, my old room, did they even make repairs and a transfer contract to you guys?"

"I have to thank them for creating a place for you to return to."

"It was all thanks to the Lieutenant."

"Thank you, Lieutenant!"

Such a casual conversation made Shiro very happy. It was because he felt that he had finally returned to the place where he should return.