#like. kids are still fully formed people they just haven't been around long enough to experience as much or develop yet

[tranakin-skywalker]

Not enough about the clones being children and adults at the same time. They're 10 years old. They're fully grown. They're still little kids. They never got to have a childhood at all. They're terrifying soldiers. They hardly know anything about the galaxy except how to fight and how to take orders.

I want clones that have this childish wonder at the world, but being terrified to show it. Clones with the sense of humor of 10 year old boys. Clones who don't really understand what death is, not really. Not until they're on a battlefield and dying in droves.

[thecatundertheladder]

FSM during march of the oni, how they feelin'?

Eeeeeee I'm so glad you asked because the thoughts I have had about this.

First of all some (potentially unnecessary) background info.

1. So Mystake is one of The Oni Warlords. This is canon. What isn’t canon is which one. While I haven’t fully decided on which one she’s going to be I’m leaning towards Venge because of a whole backstory and character arc that I haven’t written yet. But it’s not overly important right now.

2. Mystake and the Fsm have a parent-child relationship in this au. Mystake is also one of the people he learnt to fight properly from.

3. In this au the Oni Warlords are gods. But unlike Fsm, who simply can't die, they can be killed. However their deaths aren't permanent, and they always find a way to return, whether its by healing their own bodies, or by simply constructing new ones. Though depending on who kills them it might take longer to come back.

4. Because Mystake is a Warlord herself, it the other two they took around a thousand [the time may change] or so years for them to come back after she killed them. As a result, there was enough time between the Warlords leaving to chase the Fsm across The Sixteen Realms, and all three returning to the First Realm, that The Omega had time to rise to power. However, they were no where near as as powerful or beloved as the three Warlords were, so it didn't take long for them to be overthrown again, and The Warlords restored to power. The Warlords, along with the Fsm, ended the war between the Dragon and the Oni.

But The Omega had already gained a following of Oni who either did not want the war to end, or were outraged at The Omega being overthrown. So they bided their time, waiting for the perfect moment to get revenge on The warlords beloved half-breed. This revenge, of course, involved invading Ninjago. The reason there is such a large gap in-between the ending of the war [while I haven't got an exact timeline yet, I'm thinking it ended a few thousand years before Garmadon was born] is because they were waiting for a) the Fsm to be out of Ninjago and/or distracted (the Overlord's return fits this category nicely) and b) for a natural pathway to open between the First Realm and Ninjago (like the one in the Wailing Alps.)

5. Garmadon never died, and Mystake never died either (not that is would have been permanent if she had).

6. Wu and Garmadon lost their powers when Garmadon got banished to the underworld (this is also what caused the rapid aging). Since the Overlord's second defeat, they've slowly been coming back. But during March of the Oni they are on the same power level as a regular elemental master, otherwise the probably could've have taken out The Omega's army themselves.

So as of March of the Oni, the ninja are all fully aware of both Fsm being alive, and Mystake being an Oni Warlord. However, when the Oni attack, both of them are taking a vacation in another realm, so Ninjago City is still covered in darkness.

At this point Wu and Garmadon have switched to their true forms but with their powers being weakened, it only helps a bit. They are also trying desperately to contact either their father or Mystake through either prayer or magic. However, they don't succeed until they've already been barricaded in the monastery.

When the Fsm hears his children screaming in his head for help, he is understandably worried, it's not often that their kids are in true peril after all. When they finally manage to get the story out of their kids, they are furious in a way they haven't been in thousands of years. They quickly explain the situation to Mystake, who is (almost) as livid as Fsm, before teleporting them them to the monastery.

(They cause a lot of commotion once they get to the monastery. The civilians who had sheltered had not expected two massive beings to randomly appear in there midst. Especially since one looks similar to the beings they just escaped, and the other resembles the children of God. So it's up to the ninja to calm them down. Unfortunately telling them that the First Spinjitzu Master himself has arrived has the opposite effect, but at least they're less scared now.)

Upon arrival Fsm is momentarily thrown off by the civilians in the monastery, but they have spent their entire life being noticed and stared at, so the awe and fear that the civilians express doesn't bother him.

Fsm quickly transforms their clothes into proper armour (think crystalized style) and launches themself over the monastery walls and into the battle (Mystake doesn't follow him, she knows better than to get in the way of her child when he is on a warpath). Fsm proceeds to absolutely thrash The Omega and their army; burning them, freezing them, and throwing them off of the mountain. He makes the Oni regret ever conceiving this idea. The Fsm pays special attention to The Omega, and rips out their heart with their bare claws, because how dare The Omega think that they can just take his home, his family from him. They will pay for this in the life and blood, and no being in the sixteen realms can help them now. He will wipe them from the face of Ninjago.

And for the first time, The omega truly realises that just because the First Spinjitzu Master put an end to the war, it does not mean that they are a pacifist. It does not mean that they cannot rage with all the fury and savageness of a full-blooded Oni. They are balance incarnate, this does not make them good, and it's The Omegas fault for assuming that they were.

And so the Oni are banished and destroyed by the god of the land they sought to conquer. When the fighting stops, Garmadon creaks open the monastery gates to look outside. Fsm is covered in the Oni's blood, looking (and feeling) like one wrong move from someone is going to send them into a fit of madness. But they relax a bit at the sight of their eldest child safe. After making sure Garmadon is all right, the Fsm stalks back to monastery to find the rest of his family. And also to change out of their armour and clean up because there is blood in the seams and on his face and it's gross.

Once he enters the monastery he herds Garmadon, Wu, Lloyd, and even Mystake into the monastery, and they are wise enough not to argue with him. The First Spinjitzu Master is understandably agitated, and Mystake, Garmadon, and Wu know him, and their general Oni instincts well enough, to understand that they will barely be let out of his sight for the next few days (Lloyd, at this point, hasn't really experienced the full might of an Oni's possessiveness, but he will just have to get use to it).

Eventually the rest of the ninja sort out the civilians, and set them up in a nearby village while Ninjago City is still covered in darkness (the monastery has enough room for all of them, but the ninja aren't willing to find out what the First Spinjitzu Master will do to any "intruders"). At some point, Mystake sends for the other two warlords, who clear Ninjago City of the dark fog.

So yeah, Fsm is absolutely enraged that The Omega is attacking their home, and ends up reverting to the base instincts of 'defend your territory', 'defend your pack', and 'destroy anyone who harms them'. After he calms down he ends up a bit embarrassed about how he handled it, but before he can dwell on it too much he collapses from exhaustion.

But what a way to re-introduce themself to the wider population of Ninjago.

And in case you’re wondering where Morro is in all this, he's busy vibing with Nyad, who has all her memories because this au is incredibly self-indulgent.

[uhgood-girl]

i haven't had a chance to fully form this thought yet so bear with me while i explore my own brain but my immediate response to this is i think two things can be true at the same time.

this is me playing devil's advocate with both you and myself, tbh. if you do not enjoy borderline pedantic over thinking, i recommend you turn back now.

i watched the entirety of standing next to you with my jaw on the floor. beyond seeing jk in what i would consider to be the epitome of his element, the arrival of all that experience and hard work and raw talent finely honed, culminating in the absolute pop perfection that is both that song and performance... well, i've made a joke on here before about my brains inability at this stage to not insert jikook into things. i could maybe help it if i wanted to (i can stop at anytime, says the alcoholic 🥴) but i don't want to because i'm having fun and i've made friends with the brain worms. they're my brain worms, who are you take them from me.

i have also mentioned jikook being it's own form of pattern recognition drug for mine, obviously, and probably other's more neuro-spicy tendencies. once you have seen and unlocked the code, it's really hard to turn the goggles off.

so let's talk about patterns. what is a pattern? a pattern is lmao no, i'm kidding, i don't think i need to define this for you but i guess when i say pattern here i'm referring to what a lot of people often call coincidences. (have i lost you already bc of this word? i know people throw it around often here, but again, bear with me) coincidences can become patterns if they repeat enough. how many coincidences does it take to form a pattern? three, i believe, is the universally accepted number but that feels so small when i type it out, much less think about it, tbh. but i suppose in the discourse of coincidences, something that reoccurs without apparent connection, (traveling strangers who keep ending up in the same cities together, you and your friend always texting each other at the exact same time, two people in a band who keep mysteriously referencing things that connect them in a particular sort of light) bc of the unlikelieness of their serendipitous nature, it makes more sense. and because i want to discuss this in a more tangible form and i believe humans to be meddling by nature, i think coincidences become patterns, beyond the number three, when intent enters the equation.

was that a very long way to say that despite the fact that jk didn't write any of the lyrics himself and is quoted in the article above as telling people to not take things too literally that i'm still going to intuit some autobiographical meaning from them? well, yes. i guess so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

because ✨context✨(glass closet and comp het in particular). a context that i fully admit i am abscribing to the situation myself but if you're reading this i assume you're already in this boat with me, it's your context too, at least tangentially (GUILTY, your honor) by association. the entirety of any jikook argument has to exist in this space and to have gotten here at all required taking some liberties, a certain reading between the lines that is a tightrope of wanting to respect what someone says outloud and at face value while being aware few things are ever black and white (minus the infamous couple in question bah bum tiss 🥁).

if it feels different to you bc it's something he explicity expressed, that's totally fair. i've been back and forth about it a few times myself and maybe i'll feel differently tomorrow. but rn, this is where i'm at and this is all just spitballing at the end of the day, no?

in an attempt to not be accused of only picking and choosing the lyrics that suit my (gay) agenda, it feels worth pointing out that the lines i find applicable to jikook are not literal. as in while i fully believe jk could probably do anything he set his big, beautiful heart out to do, leaving someone's body golden like the sun and moon is unlikely. ( the jikook relevance is in it's choice, why that particular metaphor) and despite being more in the realm of possibility, i don't really believe he's fucking seven days a week either. his agreeance to the use of female pronouns in some songs and even the women in his music videos are a. the comp het standard for this worldwide pop boy takeover (inarguably) and b. don't automatically negate any potential underlying queerness of the artist himself. so when he sings she (is there even anything in the lyrics beyond the pronoun itself that could only refer to a cis woman? hell, does "she" only have to refer to a cis woman in this day and age? jimin is v in touch with his anima these days, don't kink shame :P) I'm taking that as an artistic liberty the same way I'm taking something like it's deeper than the rain. and the latter rain line only stands out to me because, again, broader context.

he didn't write any of the song lyrics but he was there for every step of the production and still approved what actually made it on to the album. he didn't write there for you, the song in gcf tokyo either but i dare you to go find a jikook argument about that video that doesn't list that song and its lyrics as evidence. he didn't write them but it's definitely something he cares about and is very aware of. i doubt anything was chosen without some degree of thought. which brings us full circle back to coincidences vs patterns and intent.

do i think the lyrics a lot of us collectively recognized as jikook coded, even if you respectfully don't want to read that far into it, were a coincidence this late in the game? ain't no way lmao. our jikook roads are paved with these sort of "coincidences." you think they weren't apart of the appeal? helped boost it right to main track status? maybe if it had just been the lyrics, without any of the imagery in the video (i would love to know how much creative direction he had here too, i hope we find out) to back it up, but between that not straight red line of fate, the black swan like wings, the dancing in front of the sun painting, the two households, both alike in dignity, in fair verona where we lay our scene aka the forbidden love vibes, etc. - it's too much for this sad little hyper-fixated romantic queer, personally lol.

so, i think two things can be true at the same time! i'm sure a lot of the songs and their implications have no autobiographical meaning to them beyond a universally relatable conversation and narrative about love, i do believe him. i think based on all the responses and feedback his first releases got, making a statement such as the one in the article was a good? pr move if nothing else too and definitely in line with what we have come to expect around an industry that bts is both sort of moving away from but still restricted by at this stage. if you've read any of my other ramblings so far on this site, you'll know i operate from a place of the more smoke screen around all this (this being a potential romantic relationship between jikook) the better, bc at the end of the day i want all of bts more than anything safe, happy, and free to pursue whatever creative fancy they can dream. them building a level of plausible deniability into this sort of stuff protects them. i will remain a broken record on that point.

but bc of the larger context of jikook as a whole and my belief that jk is both clever and also a romantic at heart, i'm going to take these crumbs and go. 🚗💨 i'm not in any sort of who can be the more superior, rational delulu competition, we're all in our own little clown cars no matter your chosen dressings until proven otherwise. that's the nature of this whole shebang, bby. 🤠👉👉

def feel free to come respectfully argue with me though, i'm never here to convince anyone but i enjoy these conversations and i love other people's perspective. are you ignoring the standing next to you jikook bait?

[discet]

So what's the trio like in the Scorched Earth AU?

Aw man, Im glad people enjoy the SE!AU Edit: Wow this post got long. Context for the AU

The trio in the au grew up in the small settlement of Old Saint. All are 15 (everyone is 2 years older in this AU.) Born within a season of each other, the girls I think were raised together probably from infancy.

Anne's parents ran the Inn/restaurant in town. They are good doting parents, though a little strict with Anne trying to keep her safe.

Sasha father was a woodsman while her mother raised some kind of chicken-adjacent animal. They weren't divorced but they reaaaaally should have been. Sasha has a reasonably

Marcy's father was a kind of town tinkerer: forging tools, fixing stuff, etc. Marcy's Mom was a trader, often doing circuits around the valley delivering some of the tools and inventions her husband makes. Very attentive to her education, but are often busy for most other things.

Timeline

Age 5: The three of them are fully conscious kids and are adorable little kiddos running around and being sweet.

Age 8: All learning bits and pieces from their parents trade. Anne learns to forage for spices and herbs in the forests around Old Saint and cook some of her family recipes. Sasha is taught how to identify tracks in the forest to avoid monsters and how to handle an axe. Marcy learning tinkering, math, and figures

Age 10: Starting to grow more independent and exploring the forests around Wartwood. The Trio sets up a kind of secret hideout in one of the natural caves a short distance out of town.

Age 11: One summer just before the summer melts the mountain pass Marcy's parents approach the Boonchuy's and ask if they can look after Marcy for the summer. They and a few other merchants from the valley have joined together to form a little caravan to head to a major settlement to trade outside of the valley they should be back before the winter. Marcy and Anne were of course on board, summer of sleepovers. The Boonchuy's are of course happy to look after her. Marcy gives her parents a big hug as they head off.

Age 12: The summer and fall pass by but they don't return. Then the valley gets cut off again and now Marcy is with them for the winter. But it's probably all right. They got waylaid or delayed... but then the summer comes again, the pass melts and Marcy's parents still haven't returned. So Marcy just... doesn't really leave and the Boonchuys carve out a little bit of their home for her to make her own. (They never get news of what happens, but some time during the road trip I think they find the remnants of the caravan, destroyed and looted). Marcy ends up starting to help out keeping the books and fixing up things around the Inn

Age 13: Sasha has had enough. Now an important detail for this AU, Sasha has pretty good relationships with her parents individually, but has been in a cooking pot of toxicity since she's been five. In the middle of two people she cares about as they snipe and hurt each other. She blows up at both of her parents just unloading years worth of repressed frustration with the both of them before storming out for the day. She goes and retrieves Anne and Marcy from the Boonchuy's and they all go off ranging for the day in the forest so she can just be somewhere else. Night comes and as the trio is finally deciding they should head back, they see a bright light coming from the town along with smoke rising.

It was the herons they're told, came in, wrecked a great deal of the town. They find Sasha's parents among the wreckage, and Sasha has to deal with the guilt that the last thing she said to her parents was that she "hated living in this house with you!"

With no other place to go, the Boonchuys of course step up and take Sasha in as well. Sasha helps out around the inn as a waitress on busy nights and provides meat for the kitchen thanks to her new obsession - monster hunting.

Sasha becomes possessed by the idea of killing the herons who killed her parents. Marcy and Anne narrowly convince her to not just storm straight into the valley to look for their nest. Eventually landing on the argument that she should work her way up so that when the time comes she'll be ready. Which is how Marcy and Anne get kind of dragged into her obsession and we get a bit of that toxic dynamic from canon. With Sasha pushing her friends into ever more dangerous situations and dismissing their concerns about them.

Age 15

Start of story. The trio have become pretty adept monster hunters in the intervening years. Marcy specializing in trapping and knowing the weaknesses of various creatures (many a late night in the archives equivalent to make sure they were prepared for anything they meet out there). Anne with her athleticism is on scouting duty and more often than not in charge of leading creatures into the ambush. Sasha of course is the muscle, dealing killing blows when the plan goes right and straight up fighting when things go wrong.

Bee and Oum are of course concerned about this new hobby, and not just for Anne's sake since they've come to see Sasha and Marcy as their own. But its hard for them to raise too much of a protest since by this point they've probably saved various folks around town and driven off some predators together. They're just relieved when the three of them come home at the end of the day.

Also just some quick outfit ideas.

Anne wears mostly lightweight clothing to stay agile on her feet, with a chitinous breastplate to keep her organs safe. Maybe a hunting spear to hold monsters at bay.

Marcy doesn't wear a lot of armor herself instead relying on mossy looking cloak to camouflaged her. Wields a heavy crossbow she fashioned for herself to aid a fight from afar.

Sasha wears armor Marcy fashioned for her of furs and chitin and wields with her father's woodcutting axe.

[stingslikeabee]

Niran leaned back in his seat, chuckling. Chubby fingers swiped for his sunglasses again, swatting uselessly at them. Rikina babbled at her father in disappointment, tiny feet balanced on Niran's lap. He patted her diapered bum beneath her outfit affectionately and scrunched up his nose at the one - year - old. Soon, the girl was laughing at his comedic expression.

The Kobayashi Maru was being serviced for a few weeks at a Federation port. Her crew was granted that time off to relax. Niran would normally remain onboard the ship in spite of the given break ; it allowed Yuna to continue working in her lab. However, on this occasion, the little Akiyama family had decided to take their vacation. The port the Maru sat at was only a shuttle ride away from the beautiful planet that Niran's beloved extended family retired to recently.

While Yuna tended to the last of arrangements needed for the three of them to settle into a nearby hotel, Niran entertained their daughter outside. It was the reason that the Maru's First Officer saw his aunt approach first.

"Hey, Aunt Mel!" Niran said, grinning. Rikina leaned into his chest as she turned around to look at the newcomer. "My better half is checking us in. I'm glad that we could make it ; I feel like I haven't seen you or Uncle Daigo in forever. A few years, at least, since the ship's been out."

Rikina suddenly recognized the woman that her father was speaking to and yelled excitedly, arms extended forward. Niran held the baby steady and laughed. "Yeah, sweet apple ?? You know who that is ; you've just never met her in person before. It's your Aunt Melissa, too."

unscripted asks . always accepting

It was a very beautiful morning on Thetis I - well, most mornings there were quite pleasant; it was one of the reasons why Melissa had retired with Daigo to that former terraforming colony, now fully able to support life indefinitely, as long as the new inhabitants were kind to their home. Kazuya had tipped their parents off when the last stages of the project were about to end - real estate there was still affordable and it had very beautiful beaches and the type of nature that his parents seemed to enjoy being around.

It had been a few years since they arrived - their home was built from the ground up, an exercise that Daigo appreciated from planning to execution while Melissa remained in charge of most decorative affairs. As a result, their home was situated close enough to the beach, a few minutes' walk from most of the commercial center and not that far either to the resort where Niran had told them that they would be staying at.

A good thing he had shared that information with his figurative uncle and aunt earlier; Melissa had promptly called them and cancelled the reservation. She was not allowing Niran, Yuna and their sweet baby girl to stay anywhere on Thetis I but at their own house - Daigo had included additional bedrooms in their own home to have people around; mostly their own kids (and hopefully grandchildren), but also Azumi and Shun (if they ever need a break from watchful eyes) and their offspring, too.

Melissa found Niran's lanky and charming figure easily enough - the Inadian did not age as fast as a normal human, but the hair strands were starting to turn grey in a very well-timed occurrence to match the ex-captain's. Dressed in a light and floral blue dress, the woman pushed the hair away with the assistance of old-fashioned sunglasses and smiled at her nephew, honeyed irises warming at the sight of the newly formed family while waving hello at them. The sound of her bracelets clinking was swallowed by the rustling of the leaves around them, but at this point it was nothing short of a telltale sign of the telepath's presence and the respect of other people's mental boundaries.

"Kaere, how are you?" Melissa first greeted Niran, smooching the boy affectionately on both cheeks as if he was her own son; a giggle followed when she did the same with Rikina, and the baby cautiously traded arms while the Inadian adjusted her hold and released the father of his parenting duties for a moment, "I'm here to say that your reservations at the hotel are cancelled - I saw to it myself. The three of you are staying with Daigo and myself, I just won't take no for an answer."

Despite the humorous tone to her voice, Melissa's smile told Niran plenty - it was a futile struggle to deny his aunt's wishes. Even if the boy could make use of the additional abilities included in his blood, telepaths were just much more work than it was worth, not to mention that upsetting the mother of his best friend would be something to haunt him later. From any angle Niran looked at it - he had already lost the battle.

The only reaction he had was to open a wide, toothy grin before breaking out in a laughter - a very familiar reaction because it so often happened with his father. Akiyama had the same way to show resignation, particularly when it was a fond one - the ex-commander had also fallen victim to a number of similar theatrics, too.

"Well, Aunt Mel, if you say so - who am I to change your mind, eh?" Niran asked with a mischievous grin of his own, getting Melissa to chuckle in return while she rocked Rikina in her arms sweetly, clearly enjoying the opportunity to have a child around and also the company of those who were about her own son and daughter's age; it was no secret they visited Kazuya frequently and Daigo would also be delighted to serve as a stand-in for a father again, his old struggles with parenthood and family ties now long buried.

"That's the beautiful boy Azumi and Shun raised you to be. Don't worry, I will not ruin your reputation, sweetheart. If anyone asks, I'll say you put up a formidable fight before giving up," the woman winked and offered Niran a hand, the two of them moving to retrieve Yuna from the hotel reception before she got further confused with the cancellation, "Let's go rescue your wife and apologize for her trouble. I'll take you both to our home by the main road - such a beautiful view of the beaches from there, too," the telepath pressed a kiss to the baby in her arms, who suddenly appeared to be fascinated with the colorful jewelry around Melissa's neck, "We'll find you a pretty gift too, kaere."

[frostcorpsclub]

I'm super curious about Antoine and Paloma's deals since I can't remember seeing much of anything about them. I'm mostly curious how they met the Frosts/January and Jasper?

Don't worry you're not misremembering I haven't made content for them yet skskkss that's part of the reason I put out feelers so I could get the motivation to actually do stuff with em

I could totally answer this for you though!

Antoine first!

His parents Khenan and Tashelle Hill are scientists! Specifically cryptozoology, you have to remember that in this universe that's an actual justifiable field and not pseudoscience. Despite how many mainstream academics feel they're both qualified and fully trained. This isn't about them so I'll say more in the future but let's just say they raised him with a very open and adventurous mind.

Antoine is less of a scientist and more of an athlete with a scientific persuasion. He's usually a very rational person but his fun-loving side gave him the crazy idea of going into cave-diving. The ocean is a terrifying and demanding mistress but he'd love her til the day he died. He's a very compassionate person but not the type to let his emotions override logic. His level head allows Antoine to successfully be a diver who retrieves the bodies of his fallen peers. Ant is fully aware of how dangerous his profession is and he does his best to be careful, it'd eat away at him on the other side to know he left his parents to grieve. He's very much a homebody so despite needing to be near an ocean a lot of the time he still travels with his parents for their research.

This was how he met January.

His parents were looking for the Colorado Slide-Rock Bolter so he had the time to go swimming and diving in lakes he had never been in before. January often went back to visit the asylum that Juniper and Jane took over since it had the largest lake nearby. Coincidentally, the pair often crossed paths.

Well...more like January used her advanced swimming skill to stalk him like she usually did with humans while he went about his business. Yet she found she could never bring herself to devour him. She had plenty of opportunities to do so but January learned she'd rather watch him swim around like a kid with a goldfish.

Then one fateful day as Antoine swam he made a rookie mistake, he was too far down to swim back up quickly enough, his breathing tube was cut on a rock.

He was quickly losing oxygen and the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was an apparition. She was so pale her skin was nearly clear, with eyes as black as the deepest parts of the sea.

Antoine imagined that this was his brain playing tricks on him while he was still able to form thoughts.

Yet he awoke on the ground coughing up water about half an hour later. He was definitely terrified of January once he got a real look at her but, in addition to saving his life, Ant had to admit something about her was hauntingly alluring.

The pair got to know eachother all night long, one of the things they had in common was wandering out by themselves to explore after all.

January was enamoured that a human could be as brave and strong as he was, despite being clearly scared of her the way he spoke about his life experiences showed that he had reverence and respect for "people" like her. Antoine was excited to hear her perspective. She could swim anywhere she wanted without having to worry about coming up for air. Not to mention her usual overly-serious way of wording things matched the way he felt about the water, it's majesty, it's power.

Antoine would still have to move along but January would follow and the pair would meet up at the closest body of water. She even made the rescue missions he would embark on a whole lot safer, it's not like any of them were alive, she was doing it for her man she didn't mind. They realized they would have to tell their families eventually, and they would but that's for another time.

Paloma

please remember this is a horror universe i am not promising im writing perfect healthy relationships with perfect healthy beginnings lmao this one requires more context

Jasper is not the best at talking to people. His love story takes place many many years in the future and he's in the middle of his 20s

Paloma worked at a GameStop that Jasper would frequent using his cryo-invisibility, he was there to steal games to play tbh but getting to see her and learn more about her from the conversations she would have with her co-workers was a huge plus.

It was amazing! So far he knew that she was soft spoken like he was, an introvert, yet she always knew how to talk someone into buying a new game or some dlc. It made his heart flutter the way she saw nuances in Warhammer or Skyrim that he thought only he could....even if he did have a bit of an "um achtually" complex about them. He paid attention to when she would go on her breaks and began to leave her things he felt might brighten her day. Candies and cakes, even a small figurine once or twice, he didn't want to make her feel like she was stealing from anyone. Paloma just seemed so sad. So tired all the time and he had no clue why. Yes he's a bit of a creeper but he never thought he would get the courage or the opportunity to actually talk to her, if he knew she was so open minded at the time he would have.

Before the unfortunate circumstances of their true meeting.

This all took place at the time the Frosts had moved to their home at The North Pole. Since there are no permanent human populations there they often have to leave to eat. Sometimes Santa will take them but the sleigh is VERY obvious so most times they either use a hell portal or just...swim, it's their element after all. For this same reason they no longer picked off a few people at a time but whole families.

When they went back to their very first stomping grounds, the neighborhoods you could find wandering away from the asylum, Paloma's family was chosen. Some were killed before they left some weren't it didn't really matter but Paloma was left alive.

She was incredibly shaken but managed to hide herself in a corner. She wasn't forgotten about but at the very least while the rest of her living family was being picked off these monsters weren't focused on her.

Jasper of course came up to see what his parents had brought home for dinner and instantly was put through a rollercoaster of emotions. One second he was thinking about how horrible it was that a girl like her would meet a fate like this, then another he tried to convince himself that there'd be other girls, only to go back and (rightfully) beat himself up inside for thinking like that. So acting on impulse he went invisible and dragged her down the basement.

After a long period of eerie silence he brought her as many blankets and pillows as he could find. He asked her her name and she reluctantly gave it to him.

When she soon found out that he was the one who had been making her days for so long she got even more upset. This was what made her go off on him, she aleady assumed he brought her down here to get her all to himself and now it seemed as though he planned this all for weeks.

Her happiness was a lie and now the closest opportunity she had to freedom was her death.

Despite tucking his tail between his legs so to speak Jasper did choke up the courage to ask her what she meant by this. She wasn't in the mood to explain and just turned away from him. He urged her to at least listen to what he was about to say next and explained that the reason he had done what he did didn't matter now (he didn't want to make her feel like she owed him) and that now he just wanted to make sure she was safe.

She opened up a little more but mostly just to poke holes in his plan. How was he going to get her there? How was she gonna survive in the mean time? Most importantly, how the fuck was she going to live on her own once she got back.

The other questions would have to be answered later, Jasper held up a claw to ask for a second before leaving the room. Paloma took the time he spent upstairs to inspect, finding the tiniest silver lining in the familiarity of her surroundings. He left his computer open and Paloma, not giving much of a shit about manners during her kidnapping, was going through his games when he returned.

He explained that he told his family he ate her all on his own, yeah they were pretty pissed at him but nobody would be looking for her.

To make a long story short Paloma did open up to him more. He wondered why her reaction to what she had seen was more self centered than anything and he found out they had more in common than he thought. Neither of their families really understood their interests. Jaspers family at least tried to be supportive but Palomas family saw her as something to be ashamed of, she was embarassing and not living up to what they wanted from her. That was why she took so many shifts at work, it was the closest thing she got to being in a place she was comfortable with people who liked her for who she was even if she wasn't allowed to keep the money she had earned.

It was decided she would have to stay there for a while but the more her and Jasper hung out the less she minded. He tried not to get in her space, he truly wanted her to be able to get out and live her own life, but they couldn't exactly ignore eachother.

She was envious of the stories he would tell her about his family. Despite how much she was enjoying spending time with him being cooped up caused a lot of animosity too. Jasper reacted immaturely at first but he came to understand her perspective, he could go anywhere he wanted and the best she could do was walking around the basement and only if he was around to hide her.

Jasper knew it was finally time to take their chances no matter what he had to do.

[stonewallsposts]

16 personalities questions: 22-24

I may post two of these per day since I'm getting through them more quickly than I thought. I had originally planned to do 3 statements per day, but I'm nearly a week ahead right now. 

22. You are definitely not an artistic type of person 

I beg your pardon! All kidding aside, I'm not sure where on the spectrum of left brain v right brain I fit. (I know, I know, there's no such thing... but in the common parlance.) I feel connected to almost any creative outlet that I come across and as a professional artist, I am absolutely an artistic person. But I also have a connection to the logical part too. Admittedly I'm not as adept at logic, found in its purest form in math, at which I'm terrible, as other people. In fact, math and I haven't been on speaking terms since 5th grade and long division. We traded some words, hard feeling ensued... I'd rather not talk about it.  

But I don't fit fully on the creative side either. There are a lot of traits of creative people, such as wanting to dress up for comic-con, that I don't seem to have.... at all.  

I went to NY once for work, where I was attending a training on drawing the Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan series. I knew one of the other invited artists through some work I had done at LeapFrog, and so we decided to spend some free-time hanging out together. He told me that even if he weren't being paid for art, he would still be doing it anyway since he loved it so much. He mentioned I probably felt the same way. I thought about it and said probably not. I don't know if I would be doing art if no one were paying me for it. Now I know artists who do almost nothing else. Even in their downtime, they are drawing, painting, working on projects. I do this stuff because I get paid. But I don't do it on my free-time. I have other things I want to do.  

But I love music, and it was never enough for me to just listen to it. I had to want to play it. I play guitar and bass, and I used to mess with keyboards when I lived at my parents' house. But since I don’t have the time to try and restart the keyboard, the one I have now is just sitting in my closet. In fact, I should sell that... but I digress... 

I was always good at the creative writing and literature part in English classes, and terrible at the sentence diagramming.  

23. You think the world would be a better place if people relied more on rationality and less on their feelings 

Well, having looked at the question in more detail now, I really don't accept the binary presented here. I do think that in general, we need to be more thoughtful, and particularly more respectful and forgiving in dealing with others, especially those with different viewpoints. Even if I don't agree with someone, I should start from the position that they aren't idiots and have reasons for why they believe what they believe. Listen to them and find out. It might even further inform my own position. 

24. You prefer to do your chores before allowing yourself to relax 

I'll lean slightly towards this statement.  

When moving, I can't really stop until everything is set up. 

When eating, I tend to eat the stuff I don't like before the stuff I do. I used to eat all the wheaty parts of the lucky charms first, so I'd have all marshmallows left. When I eat pop-tarts, I eat the edge that doesn't have any frosting and leave the frosted parts until the end. Now that I'm older and my mom isn't around to make me eat everything before I can get up from the table, I'll just eat what I want and toss the rest, but even now, if I like everything, but like one thing more, I'll tend to save it for last. I think this all  translates into a general desire to get the parts I prefer less out of the way. And I definitely prefer relaxing to chores.  

But I will also certainly take a break in the middle of a chore I need to do. So I do prefer to do the chores first, but I'm not compulsive about it at all. 

[cooliogirl101]

Hii I want to submit a prompt about TLM. So, it's a; what if Sayuri from the world where Sousuke lost his memory--yeah that one, got transported to the canon universe. When the Visored is already a thing, and she got like, dropped near Urahara Kisuke's place.

Well, I imagine she's not in a nice place mentally, but the floor is yours! Honestly I just want to see their interactions.... At this stage. Aha. I think Kisuke's perceptive enough to notice her similarity with Sousuke--and who knows what he'll do. But yes, the floor is yours. Thank you! Have a nice holiday:)

(Sorry for the late response! Also @rowanreader asked a very similar prompt, so I'm combining them here):

For the Lonely Ghost AU

(Takes place six months after the Grand Fisher incident and 5 months after Masaki and Isshin decided to tell their kids about the spiritual world)

“So. It’s just Sayuri-san, is it?��� Kisuke asked genially, leaning back in his chair. “No last name?”

“None that I particularly care to go by,” the oh-so-mysterious Sayuri replied. In contrast to his own slouched pose, she sat back straight and shoulders relaxed, posture perfect enough that she wouldn’t have looked out of place at a Kuchiki dinner party. She glanced at him. “I assume I have you to thank for my new gigai?”

“Ah.” Kisuke rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “There’s no need to thank me! Really, it’s the least I could do after you took care of Grand Fisher.”

“Mm.” Kisuke stilled as she looked at him fully for the first time, feeling her gaze settle on him like a weight. Something about those eyes--

"How are you finding it? No adjustment issues, I hope?" He asked.

"No," she replied. "Everything works perfectly. I haven't had any issues eating or drinking."

"That's good to hear. I was a little worried," Kisuke replied lightly. "I noticed you haven't touched your tea."

Something indecipherable flickered across her face.

"I haven't had tea in a long time. I'm afraid I've lost my taste for it," she murmured. Her eyes had gone distant again. "There's nothing wrong with the gigai, Urahara-san. Your work is perfect, as always."

Kisuke smiled, tilting the brim of his hat down.

"Such confidence in me already," he chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you always make such snap judgements of people?"

"You should be asking yourself that question, Urahara-san," she replied blandly. "I'm sure you've formed twice as many theories about me in the time we've been talking."

Kisuke laughed, more genuinely this time.

"Care to confirm any of them?" He asked, leaning forward.

"And ruin your fun?" Sayuri tilted her head to the side. "I wouldn't dare."

~~

"Curious," Kisuke mused, thinking aloud.

"You're talking about the woman Isshin brought in?" Tessai asked. "She's quite the mystery, isn't she? What did you think of her?"

"I'm certain I've never met that woman before in my life. Yet I'm equally as certain she's met me," he stated.

"Oh?" Tessai asked, surprised. "What makes you say that?"

"She's familiar with gigai. More interestingly, she's familiar with my gigai," Kisuke said. A shinigami who had never been in a gigai before almost always had trouble adjusting to being in a physical body. And most of them wouldn't expect to be able to eat, since that was a special feature unique to gigai designed by him-- Kurotsuchi hadn't seen a need to incorporate that into the design. That Sayuri had automatically assumed she would be able to eat and drink human food...well.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Kurotsuchi had a few of your old gigai lying around. Maybe she came across one of them?" Tessai suggested, somewhat doubtfully.

"Hmm. Maybe," Kisuke said noncommittally.

No, Sayuri's knowledge extended beyond his work-- she was familiar with him, personally. The only question was, how?

[yandere-wishes]

⭐Yandere Joestars⭐

(Parts 1-7 + Bonus Charcter: Joseph and Johnny’s characterizations are based off @dear-yandere​ ‘s interperations) I tried to write this mostly in the Joestars' POV. Their respective darlings resemble lifelike dolls rather than human beings to further illustrate how out of touch with reality the Jojos have become.

Warnings: Gore, kidnapping, dehumanization.

Edited: By the amazing Peri!! (@tealyjade-libran )

⭐Jonathan Joestar is possessive. ⭐

It's only when you lose something, that you start to cherish it...

It's an old saying, one that Jonathan remembers from an antique storybook his mother use to read him. It didn't mean anything back then, when he was still an infant too young and new, to fully comprehend what "owning" and "losing" was. But as the years ticked by faster than any clock could keep track of, things started to change. What had once been a passing quote in a chivalrous story about knights and dragons, soon turned into the epitome of Jonathan Joestar's life. 

Soon love wasn't about saving a princess or impressing the neighborhood girls with his boxing skills. No, all too soon love became about own and guarding. 

There may have been a time -long before "Jojo" and Dio met- when Jonathan was just like any other gentleman. Tender and sweet, flirtish at gatherings and charming in ladies' companies...but that was a Jonathan from a could-be-past that had been demolished the minute Dio Brando stepped foot onto the Joestar estate. From then on things depleted all so quickly. Everything Jonathan had come to unconsciously cherished had been so easily stripped from him by his beloved new "brother". 

Everything he loved had been killed, destroyed, or broken in some inhuman way. His friends had abandoned him, his lover had distorted him, his father didn't even notice him...

"It's only when you lose something, that you start to cherish it". The second time he hears that phrase, it freezes him to the pavement, his body star-struck like he just received a message from the heavens. Although it's rather peculiar, why "heaven" would convey a message to him in such an unholy place. 

With Dio having practically kicked Jonathan out of the mansion and countryside. Jojo had no other place to go but the back allies of London. Sure he still tried to be home for supper and bedtime and any other time his father may get an inkling of his absence. But when there was no need to 'appear' Jonathan took to the London streets away from Dio and his lackeys. 

In fate's bizarre game, it's in a backstreet that reeks of days old licker and rotting flesh of paupers that no one has bothered to bury. That Jojo hears that life-defining idiom once more. His dulling sapphire blue eyes follow the mist of those melodious words. Staring until they're practically itching to cut through his sockets and run after those little words. But they stop right before they can leave their eyelets, they stop and stare at the figure that strolls out of the shadows, in such a way, that would make Jojo's father slap him across the face for being "barbarous".  

It's luck or fate or maybe even destiny that leads the heir of the Joestar legacy to meet his darling in the slums of England. 

"How my heart resonates when I lay my weary eyes on your enchanting face..."

There's an odd sweetness about the naivety that surrounds his little friend. A sort of innocence that comes with not knowing about the hell that he's gone through. It's charming in a moderate way, his darling can't come to despise him if they haven't got a clue who he is. Keeping both his worlds as far apart as possible is really the only option left. Dio and his friends can't hurt his new friend? Lover? Companion? In actuality, Jonathan really doesn't know what you are to him. At first, you're merely a distraction from his crumbling, lonely shell of an existence. A sort of invisible pillar holding up London's bridge before it collapses into the  River Thames. Sure he views you as another person, unlike the other noblemen Jonathan has no desire to treat you as anything less than a respectable young lady despite your social statutes. 

 Dio can have the noblemen and ladies, he can have all of George's affection and favor, Heck Dio can have the whole goddamn world for all Jonathan cares. So long as he has his darling, his sunflower, his only means for living, then he will be content. 

Jojo lost everything he once loved, but he swears it to every star in the night sky that'll preserve his darling from the wickedness that runs this cruel world. He'll cherish her while she's still in his arms...

He'll protect her, just like the knights did in the old bedtime stories his mother would tell him. 

"...I swear on my honor as a Joestar that I shall never lose you to the likes of anyone, I'll be a true gentleman, a true knight and I'll protect you from any who wishes cause you harm."

⭐Joseph Joestar is Protective and all so patronizing.⭐

Why must Love hurt so much?

It's solitude, pure utter solitude that attracts Joseph to his darling. Oh sure, he must have known them from an earlier time in his life, back when the words Hammon and Ripple just sounded like fancy dessert names. Back when he was still a naive kid wishing on every goddamn star that he could just meet one of his parents for a fraction of a second. Back when life was easy when everything made sense. That's when he first met his darling. Although all so many years ago he probably just thought of them as the little sister he never got a chance of having. 

There's a numbness growing inside him now that his life has slipped off its axes, hurling into unknown darkness that plagues him in the form of Pillarmen and red gems. 

Everywhere he looks there's a reminder that nothing's going back to the way it used to be. No waking up to Granny Erina's voice calling him down for breakfast, no running around chasing Old Man Speedwagon. Everything is gone, replaced by Lisa Lisa's brutal training and Ceaser's endless taunting. 

Day by day nothing changes, but once he looks back every little thing is different. Ruptured and mangled into something unrecognizable. 

But then there's his darling. Someone -or rather something- that's still the same. Just like before. Her smile is still the same as ever, bright and cheery as she runs up to him wrapping her arms around his abdomen muttering about how much she missed her "Dear Big Brother".

(Y/N) is a comfort, a familiarity in a strange new world. She's something so frail and vulnerable, not to mention naive. Thrusted into a world where horror writers don't dare venture into. It's so likely that she'd be captured by one of Kar's zombie vampire things or -even worse- charmed by Caesar’s silver tongue. 

It's thoughts like these that haunt Joseph at night, keep him up and wandering into her room just to gaze at her sleeping form. He's lucid enough to know how it might look. Like he's the bad guy trying to take advantage of a defenseless little girl. But he can justify his actions, he's her big brother, he has to watch over especially when she's at her most vulnerable. If Ceaser ever tried anything or some vampire freak snatched her away in the dead of night, Joseph would never forgive himself!

But what does he get for all his efforts? What does he get for all his sleepless nights and hours upon hours of worrying? Just a small smile and a fleeting kiss on the cheek. No sincere, "Thank you big brother," or, "You're my hero Joseph!" Nothing, nothing worthwhile anyway. 

Now it's a competition, a battle to the death if it has to be -funny how he takes this more seriously than his match against Wamuu.- He's competitive by nature and he's willing to do anything to earn his darling's affection once more. He doesn't care who he has to beat within an inch of their life so long as he can have his darling back in his arms.

There is an aftermath to all of these, once all the fighting has ended and the battle's won. Once Joseph has finally claimed his prize. There's a certain way his darling has to act. She’s got to smile and play the role of the dotting little sister once more. Just so Joseph can justify his actions...

"And your next line is, 'I love you more than anything else big brother Joseph!'...at least I wish it was." 

⭐Jotaro Kujo is cold and sadistic.⭐

Never learned how to love...

A lover by Jotaro's book is nothing more than a walking, talking doll. Someone who cooks meals, irons clothes, and kisses him on the cheek before he leaves for the day. Sure they have other uses, in flares of passionate moments, they're something to hold onto, another pair of limbs to get tangled in. Something hot and solid, someone to push down, to weigh his force on. 

That's it, that's all there is to it...

A lover and a convenient toy are one of the same. 

He knows it's wrong to think about someone that way. To deprive a living thing of all their thoughts and feelings just so it's suitable for him. But at the end of the day who wants to hear idle chatter and gossip or go outside for walks in crowded areas. All too social, it's all so troublesome. All Jotaro wants is a closed-off life, away from the scums of the earth...away from people in general. 

It's such an inconvenience to seek out a lover, to hassle through dates and meetups in hopes of finding someone that clicks. Jojo would even go so far as to call it wishful thinking. So it has to be a pure accident that he even meets his darling. They're just someone who gets tangled in with the crusaders. A perfect living perception of 'wrong place, wrong time'. Someone who's life gets blown to bits and shambles just because fate decided to play a cruel joke on them. 

And that's what piqued Jotaro's interest. The desperate, depleted look of pain cemented over their face. The sparse dying gleam of determination that blazes within their eyes. Oh, what Jotaro wouldn't do to snuff that little ray of hope. To watch as what little purpose they have is ripped from their arms. What he wouldn't do to see them in pain...

Pain is submission, that's really all Jojo wants. A darling submits, not out of their own free will, but because every little thing they've ever loved has been slaughtered, all that they cherished has been stolen from them. 

But it's not enough 

It's never enough

Although Jotaro adores the looks of anguish that decorates his lover's face. There's something more satisfying about maltreating them. About leaving marks all over, about leaving bruises that never lose their violet glow. He's claiming his darling, physically and mentally. Not a single day goes that Jotaro doesn't remind his lover who they belong to. From verbal taunts that plague his darling's mind day and night, to punches that break bones leaving them paralyzed on the floor begging for help, to cuts that are just a little too deep to ever heal properly. 

Even when his darling is behaving, even when the poor little thing does everything her lover tells her to do, there's still going to be some sort of violence directed at her. Some backhanded remark about how useless they are just because they couldn't follow his mother's recipe. Some sort of blow just for greeting him 'too late'. Trivial things morph into punishments, just for Jotaro's sick amusement.

At his core, Jotaro is an unresponsive man, one with no regard for how others feel. He's distant, it's a trait he can't change. He likes how he does things, how there's no room for slip-ups when it's only him. Even his darling isn't someone he'd consider opening up to. Their opinion of him doesn't matter and their feelings are irrelevant. Most days he's gone until the last possible moment, leaving his darling an endless amount of time to mull over every word and scar. 

But here's the catch.

As the clock ticks by, as the nights and days begin to merge into an endless existence, as all hope burns in the pits of hell, darling's mind is also going to stray. Ever so slowly losing its perception of reality. 

'Maybe' spiders begin to spin webs of doubt through darling's empty cranium. The isolation begins to bite at her skin like the razor-sharp fangs of frostbite. They start to crave Jotaro's harsh touches, they start to miss the venom-like words. Every insult and slap to the face is welcomed, all the misplaced anger and death threats start to feel like sweet kisses and flowery touches. 

Poor darling no longer sees big scary Jotaro as a monster. They've lost the ability to see him for what he truly is.

And what happens when Jotaro does finally come home? Oh, how little (y/n) will ravish in the gut kicks and loathsome words. How she'll take every beating with a sweet sugar-coated smile.

Cause this is her life now. A meaningless existence that revolves around Jotaro and his bleak personality. A life that's only worth living when Jotaro is around.

Is it even a life?

"Yare yare daze you're such a hassle, be glad I keep you around...”

⭐Josuke is obsessive with delusional tendencies.⭐

Maybe I'm the one you'll fall in love with next...

Just like his "father" Joseph, Josuke is stuck in a perpetual state between diaphanous and phantasm.

There's something all too wrong with Morioh nowadays. The narrow streets and verbose buildings have started to feel like a transparent cage. The town has always been small, barely reaching a population of 3,000 despite all the new families that keep moving in.

Nevertheless, everything has dulled, faded, and withered into a monochrome collage. The layers of repetitiveness had finally begun to pick at Joskue's nerves...

And yet somehow, by some diabolical twist of fate. In the mists of the oceans of familiarity, Josuke’s eyes grab onto some shimmering pearl lounged into between the crowd of familiar faces. 

Sure he's seen this girl before, but he's never actually seen her. Never stopped to look at the odd way their eyes twinkle like newborn stars or how their skin shimmers with the glow of a thousand suns. 

One second is all it took, a fleeting compliment as you passed by Jojo in the peppermint flavored afternoon. Your hair flowing like a tapestry of the galaxy as you disappeared in the crowd of dead pulsars. Not a care in the world, not for him, not for anyone.  

Destiny was definitely up to its old cruel tricks again. 

He's not stalking. Josuke will swear on his grandfather's grave that he'd never "stalk" a harmless little girl, like some distorted maniac. He just happens to bump into you at the beauty parlor when he's picking up a new brand of hairspray. And it's totally an accident when he meets you out in the abandoned fields! Honest! It's not his fault fate wants the two of you to keep meeting, it's not his fault that you guys are meant to be!

It's not technically a friendship that you two start to build up, it's far from one. Friends don't dream about sugar-filled kisses behind school walls. Or about ice cream that tastes like scandalous touches and candy induced moans. No, Joskue isn't your friend, he NEVER wanted to be your friend. He knows that! He knows what he wants...but with each passing day, he's beginning to doubt that you know that. 

He'd never realized he's been so sensitive on you. So entranced by your out of tune voice that muttered rather than spoke. He's seldom been so eager to throw a punch and crack his knuckles on someone's skull, just for saying you looked "lovely today". 

Whenever his eyes don't land on you, a rage-filled volcano bubbles in the pit of his gut, uncontrollable anger that festers inside of him, like lava waiting to spill out and burn anyone that wanders too close. His palms itch with the need to hold you, to feel your soft skin rubbing against his. 

The jealousy is always there, pricking at his skin like rose thrones. Until they inevitably cut through his flesh and make him lose his composure. He's ready to kick and punch and hurt and kill anyone that comes too close to you, anyone that saunters off their orbit and makes a beeline for you, disturbing the balance of solitude that Josuke so eagerly sets you into.

Sometimes in the dead of night, when the world has finally dozed off, Joskue's mind begins to wonder. He thinks the way he feels about you is the same way an addict feels about his drugs. Maybe to him, you're even more addicting than heroin and ecstasy...and yet he can't quit you, he just doesn't want to quit you. Nothing in this world could compare to your sweet voice that tickles his ear when you lean in, to whisper a secret, or the may your full lips move when you throw another honey-filled insult at him. 

He prefers when you're alone when he's the only one you talk to. 

Sure there are exceptions like everything in life, although in the end  

there's a sort of backhanded irony.

It's those exceptions that are going to hurt him in the. 

Josuke trusts his friends, he knows that Okuyasu and Koichi would never do anything to hurt him...

But you're not on that list and to be fair you're surely the only one who can truly hurt him.

You fall for a friend of his. Not him, not the boy that's been driving himself insane just to earn a smile from you, not the boy that let you get away with insulting his hair and poking insults at his look, not him never him, it just can't be him.

"You're like an older brother to me"...Did you wash your mouth with acid before you spat those words at him? Did you intend to lace your words with knives and blades and rubbing alcohol before you stabbed him? It's figurative, sure. But it might as well be literal. No pain, no cut, no punch from any stand would ever hurt so much! You really don't know what you do to him, do you?

"I'm happy for you," it's a lie, blank and simple. Automatic words that he's practiced in the mirror a thousand and one times. He'd rather watch you suffocate on your own blood than in the arms of another man. He'd rather break every bone in your body than watch you kiss one of his friends. 

How on earth had he ever come to love you? Someone as cruel and cold. Were you even human? You resembled some ice stand more than a flesh and blood person. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM.

He really hadn't meant for it to become an addiction, he hadn't meant to get all so used to the crunch of bones beneath his foot, and the bloodied lips quivering, shuttering out apologizes for having the gall to utter your name in his presence. But there's only so much a teenage boy can take, only so much torture that he can bury inside with a moonlight smile. 

Addictions really do funny things to semi-sane people, huh?

It's a split-second decision, done in the heat of an all so regular moment. It's just a simple half-hearted punch when you beat him at another videogame. Then another

And another

And another

Then a crack, another and another, and before either of you knew it you're on the floor screaming out in pure agony. 

Josuke vows he's not being cruel when he breaks your bones so delicately. He can justify every crack, every fracture. Although it's rather repetitive and in certain cases borderline petty. 

Five broken bones on your left leg just for "kissing" your new boyfriend. Your right leg is bent at an angle you're sure it's not meant to be. All because you hugged said new lover before going to class. 

Josuke's once liquidy blue eyes that held the softness of clouds have been dulled over by a sort of thick mania. His once soft touch is nothing but nails digging into already bruised tissue. His lips wobbling as stray tears flow past his eyes. Muttering apologies and stuttering curses at both you and himself.

It's not really like his darling can leave after that incident. Josuke is known around town as the boy with a diamond heart. There's no way in hell anyone will believe what he did to you. It's just better, safer, to stick close to him, to swallow the indignities and paint a loving smile over your face when you gaze into his depraved eyes. 

It's better to pretend to love him, rather than have another limb broken...

"Come on (Y/N), it's just a little crack. If you promise to give me a tiny kiss I'll let Crazy Diamond fix you right up."

⭐Giorno Giovanna is sneaky and manipulative. ⭐

Sono pazzo di te. Sei la cosa più bella che mi sia mai capitata...

There's a sleekness to Giorno, a cunning that's hidden behind layers of charisma and charm mimicking that of his birth father's. It's so easy for him to fool his darling into believing that he's a charming prince from a storybook. He's the good guy trying all so damn hard to make his dream a reality. He's admirable, he's noble, he's Giorno Giovana, the golden boy.  

It's not like he ever intends to hurt his darling. He'd never dream of laying a hand on them, he's all too familiar with the wounds that come from endless beatings. The bruises and phantom pains, that get worse as the days slip by. He knows real pain, and unlike all so many others on both sides of his family, Giorno doesn't want his lover to experience an uncia of it. 

He'd never repeat what his stepfather and mother did to him. He's going to try and do everything he can to make sure that his darling is safe...

Because isn't that what's important? To make sure the one you love is safe. To make sure they don't get swept off their feet by some masquerading drunkard or taken advantage of by some fanciful sadist. 

Giorno will do anything to keep his darling safe, even if it means tampering with their mind a little. Nothing too serious, he'd never even considered changing anything about them. Although isolating them isn't completely off the table and a few verbal threats are fine from time to time. Just for precaution...

Giorno is a rather determined boy, he'll go to any lengths to isolate his lover. Scaring away friends by letting Gold Experience give them a small out of body experience. If they're persistent then he can't guarantee that that out-of-body experience will simply remain an experience much longer. It's not out of malice, but it's what must be done for the sake of his darling, the only other thing he cares about.

There's a shift, a difference between the young naive Giorno Giovanna, the golden boy with starry eyes, and the new boss of Passione, the Mafioso who holds the whole country in the palm of his hand. 

Oh sure, as a simple Soldato Giorno was dangerous in his own right. But Don Giorno? He's the sort of monster written about in the grimmest fairy tales. Wearing the appearance of a true king but underneath the luxury suits and priceless watches, he's just another greedy, fire-breathing dragon.

As the Don of Italy's most influential gang, Giorno's manipulation tactics have gotten rather ....hazardous. He doesn't have time to waste getting rid of every single person that poses a threat to his darling. If someone looks their way, he'll send some goons to take care of them. 

Although it's so much easier to keep his lover locked away, he even has the perfect excuse now. He's the head of the mafia, he has all so many enemies who jump at the opportunity to hurt him in some way. So he has to keep his defenseless little lover locked away in some mansion that's all so far away. 

He's also a bit more violent now. Giorno's more physical, ready to break a bone just for a wrong word or a cracked jaw from a punch for even asking to go outside. He blames it on the stress of running an organization...although it's more likely that all the power from passion has begun to rinse away Giorno's caring side. 

"Cuore mio, Resta con me per sempre"

⭐Jolyne Kujo is clingy and obsessive and delusional.⭐

I can't stay away from you...

Jolyne is a rather condescending yandere. Her rough ragged exterior does little to hide the clingy neediness that writhes inside her shattered heart.

She's soft, dependent, desperate at best. Wanting her darling to approve of every tiny trifling thing she does. Needing their words of praise and approving smiles to have the courage to live another day. 

At times it seems like the only thing keeping Jojo alive is the  "good girl!" and "I'm proud of you!" her darling throws her way. Chanting the words of praise with closed eyes and fluttering smiles of anxiety. 

It's difficult to make her sweetheart realize how virulent this relationship is, far too hard to call Jolyne a Yandere. The derogatory term applies to someone who ceases all control from their lover, who locks them in a basement, and throws away the key. It applies to murders and 

stalkers and lunatics that roam the streets in the dead of full moon nights. It applies to those who were thrown into Green Dolphin for a reason.

 Not to some girl whose life has been demolished over and over and over again. 

Not to the girl with a star birthmark that follows her darling around like a lost puppy in the freezing rain. 

But even Jolyn has her limits. She's been let down time and time again, abandoned and framed by those she thought she loved unconditionally. From friends to boyfriends to even her own father, everyone leaves, they take what they want, and then they leave. 

Flesh like strings, stitched into a web of antithesis and distraught moods, act as a  solid, interchangeable reminder of who really holds the power in this relationship. Of how Jolyne can go from needing her darling to controlling her darling in just a fraction of a heartbeat. She loves them, she swears she does...but they need to stay close to her, they need to only think about her. 

Her addiction gets worse as the days tick by. It's less romantic, less loving. Morphing into a dependency, a compulsion. Rotting thoughts of her darling suddenly leaving, plague her every waking moment. The once semi pleasant conversations between her lover and her friends, get cut off like a severed limb. 

Even Hermes and Foo Fighters aren't "good enough" to be around Jolyne’s lover. She's all so, scared they'll try to take them from her. Stealing the ONLY good thing in her life.

There's a certain degree of control that Jolyne's willing to give to her darling. A sort of freedom to make, revolting appalling choices, so long as they include her. A freedom to boss her around and make her submit. Her darling is free, so long as that freedom revolves around Jolyne.

"(Y/N)~ don't look at them! You should only focus on me! I'm supposed to be your world!"

⭐Johnny Joestar is sadistic and manipulative.⭐

Arrogance disguised as affection...

It's all degradation, all harsh words that sting worse than bullet wounds. Glares from dull wicked blue eyes that might as well kill, cause it's better than the alternative. Smirks that make being alive so damn distasteful. Kisses that engrave the lingering taste of rotting lead into your tongue.

Johnny isn't sweet, he doesn't smile at his little sweetheart. He doesn't pat their head and kiss their temples while uttering sweet nothings into their blushing ear. No, his lover doesn't deserve a honey-coated life. They don't deserve to have what was stolen from him by his so-called "loved ones". Instead, he uses them as a living dart board, for both his acid-laced words and bullet-like fingernails. 

There's no love when it comes to Jojo. He doesn't want to waste time on something so frivolous as a "significant other". But he does like having someone -or rather something- to play with, a form of entertainment that bends at his will. Not a pushover, not someone who's too proud either. But a living doll that can take a few verbal spats and survive an armada of fingernail bullets through the stomach. 

Oh, sure he wants to break them, having a toy that's so conflicted, that questions their own sanity is so much more fun. But it's the intervals that count. Johnny wants to be the one to break his darling. To engrave the helpless look of distress into his memory. He wants to preserve every scream, every tear. That's the whole purpose of even keeping a darling. 

Johnny rarely lets his darling out of his sight. It's so much easier to play with their mind if he's the only one they ever talk to. They'll become so easily dependent on him if he's their only companion. Although sometimes Gyro can get a little too touchy and friendly. And there will be occasions when Hot Pants start to pry into the darling and Jojo's personal life. But the incidents are few and far between. Not like Johnny minds, if anything these minor secondary "meetups" are useful to the paraplegic jockey. They refill his darling with the most precious thing..." Hope". Just so Johnny can beat it out of them all over again.  

There's a darkness that resides deep within Johnny. A toxicity that laces his actions. His life is miserable and he's damn well sure it'll always be that way.....

So why not take his lover down with him?

"Don't you love me darlin' ? Cause I certainly don't love ya."

⭐Jorge Joestar is delusional and obsessive.⭐

What if we lost our minds, together?

A love story better than his parents, that's all Jorge wants. Flower field dates, and quick lingering kisses before midnight. Something sweet, that doesn't have a macabre end. A romance without body-snatching vampires and zombies that shed their flesh. Something normal, gentle, lovable. 

Although with the family he's been born into and the kind of things that keep finding him. Jorge doubts he's ever going to get such a hopeful love life. He's all so desperate to carve a life for himself outside of his family's shadow, but in the end, it's simply eager wishing. 

He's not exactly sure what he's even looking for in a lover. Someone sweet but strong-willed, an average answer. Someone who bears a sort of resemblance to Lisa Lisa. Not physically but rather mentally, he's not a coward, he swears he's not, but he just wants someone who can protect him. A fair exchange in his eyes. His lover will guard him against the bullies and freaks of the island and in turn, he'll protect them from the grim ghouls that run amok through the world. Although when push comes to shove he isn't sure if he'll really be 'protecting' his lover or running away and hiding somewhere with them.

He just wants to fall in love and not go insane, a reasonable request, if he hadn't seen the worst that the world has to offer. It's just wishful thinking, sweet dreams for a boy designed to attract trouble. 

He doesn't want to have conversations with his dead lover's head. He doesn't want to wear their skin and waltz around town. He doesn't want any of that creepy, supernatural stuff that destroyed his parent's love. 

He just wants normal. But as the years slip by Jorge's grip on "normal" slowly begins to decay.

Normal is something, but what that something is has become a blur. Normal isn't vampires and zombies and ghost clowns that throw nooses around people's necks...Yet on the other hand maybe it is? 

He's so far gone that he can't even differentiate between methodical and irregular. His brain's capacity to understand the difference has gotten so altered and broken.

Once he finds his darling he does try to act like the ordinary people of the Canary Islands or England, depending on where he's residing at the time. He tries to follow the mode, just to impress his lover. It's a façade, a bloody masquerade that's bound to deteriorate once he and his lover have settled down.

Although a poetic, domestic life had always been Jorge's dream, he soon comes to learn that it just doesn't suit him. Jorge's paranoia starts to increase. It's comical at first, the way his eyes dart to closed doors, half expecting a killer to emerge. Although the same paranoid tendencies can become rather smothering at times. He's all so certain something is going to jump out of the shadows, some creature with sharp fangs and knife-like claws is going to rip his lover's body to rags. 

He's gotten rather umbrageous now that he's the one who's married and living in the Joestar estate. His tendency to run away from any form of conflict has morphed into a rogue-like sense, much similar to a rabid dog barking at anyone who gets too close to its territory. He keeps his darling locked away inside, triple-checking the locks to make sure no one or thing can get in. He avoids the probing disquieting neighbors who still speak ill of his widowed mother and murmurs about the "curses" bestowed on the Joestar bloodline. Sometimes even getting physical when the insults shift towards him and his new lover. 

Punches are thrown.

Insults exchanged.

And then the door and windows are locked once more.

Leaving both Jorge and his darling in the chilling company of the semi alive shadows.

It's safer in the basement. It has to be safer down there. After all his mother kept his father's severed head down there for decades before anyone found it. So it's only sensible that his lover will also be safe, tucked away in the darkness of a brick room some few meters under the earth. He's not acting like his mother -and deep down he prays that this isn't something his late father would ever even consider doing- It's a thin line of justification, but he can reason with himself so long as he knows it's not something his other family members have ever done. He does try to keep his darling comfortable down there. Buying them the most luxurious furniture and comfortable bedding. Constantly bringing them new forms of entertainment. 

Keeping them in this preserved state is what any reasonable person would do. Not just another insanity driven Joestar.

"It's for your own safety" he's repeated that phrase an umpteenth amount of times, although every time the sculpted words leave his tongue, Jorge becomes less sure of who he's really trying to convince. 

Jorge is all so sure that he's doing all of this for both his lover's safety and to erase whatever misfortune follows around the Joestars, like an airy plague. Even his enrolling for the great war is done with this mindset...

Even though in the end it's also this mindset that gets him killed. Leaving his darling a wide window to freedom. 

"Darling, what do you think when you look at me?"

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[fullbushfemme]

Meeting the Mayans

word count: 1,804

summary: You thought you were prepared for anything. Growing up with four brothers, you had been bitten, beaten, thrown out of trees, concussed, stabbed, practically any violent act you could possibly think of, you had endured. For a kindergarten teacher, you were tough. You had the scars to prove it. That was, of course, until the day you met the Mayans.

unnamed mayan x fem!reader

warnings: brief mentions of blood, hostage situation, and a shooting.

author's note: I've had this idea in my head for ages now and I'm tempted to make it a series. The only issue is that I can't decide which Mayan I want to star (since they aren't named in this fic). I'm tempted to use this as a jumping off point for multiple fics, writing different stories from this initial incident involving different Mayans, but I'd love to hear any thoughts y'all might have :)

-I also haven't written anything outside of academic works in years so go easy on me <3

Santo Padre Septembers were always your favorite. It was sticky and hot, enough to make anyone want to jump into a pool fully clothed, but school was back in session, which meant you got to meet a new hoard of bright-eyed, eager five year olds. You had spent the last month preparing your classroom for their arrival. Nine am to one pm every day for four weeks was dedicated to decorating your classroom, making name cards, making sure every student had all the supplies they needed. Inside every desk you placed glue and markers and pencils and workbooks and scissors...everything a little kid would need to express themselves. And all of it out of your own pocket. You took it upon yourself to spoil these kids rotten.

Two weeks into class, you already knew everyone’s names, their favorite color, their pets, and whether or not they were allowed to watch TV after six o’clock. You knew who was friends with who, who couldn’t eat peanut butter, and who was most popular. This year’s class was going to be great, you just knew it.

It was a humid Friday afternoon. The room smelled like Elmer’s glue and pencil shavings, with stray scraps of construction paper strewn about the floor after the kids decided this week’s art project was going to be making dinosaurs out of construction paper and glitter. You were staying after class to clean up and vacuum, and to take the class rabbit home with you since no one had signed up to care for him this week, when you heard a knock at your door.

You looked over to the open door, squinting into the sun, trying to make out who it was. But no one was standing in the doorway. “Forget something?” you called out, thinking that a student must’ve left a lunch box or notebook and was feeling shy.

“Not exactly,” a deep voice responded, sending a twinge of fear through your body. You knew that voice. “I was hoping my baby sister could help me with something.”

A lump had formed in your throat that you tried to swallow, to no avail. “What are you doing here?” you choked out, standing from where you were picking up paper scraps.

“I need you to help me hide. Quickly.” Your older brother stepped into the classroom, gun in hand, pupils wider than you had ever seen them. He must’ve been high, you thought, panicked. What had he gotten into now? All four of your brothers were known to be trouble-makers to varying degrees. A few had been to prison for petty crimes, but the brother that stood before you had gotten wrapped up in drug trafficking years ago. He scared you the most. They had all promised your parents that they would keep their lives separate from yours, that they would never put you in harm's way. But it didn’t last. It felt like every other week you had a bruised or beaten brother on your doorstep, begging for help or a place to stay. And today, it was to ask you to hide them.

Your eyes flitted to the large windows overlooking the grassy courtyard where a few children sat waiting for their parents to pick them up. Hide. Hide from what? Who was coming after him? Would they hurt the kids?

“N-no,” you stammered, taking a step backwards. You couldn’t risk putting any kids still on campus in danger. “You can’t hide here. You have to go. You have to go right now.” You could feel a pit in your stomach begin to form as your brother took slow, long strides toward you.

“No?” he spat, completely dumbfounded by your refusal to help him. You had never turned him down before. He was family. You never said no to family.

You swallowed hard before repeating yourself. “No,” you responded, with more conviction this time, although you knew he could see right through you.

You took another step back, but ran up against your desk. Your phone was in the top drawer. Could you reach it fast enough? If you even could, who would you call? The police? That was a good way to get murdered and leave a teacher-shaped stain on the floor for the kids to come back to on Monday. Gripping the edge of the table so hard your knuckles turned white, your brother broke the ominous silence before you could.

“I’m not asking you again, hun,” he spat, now so close you could smell him.

“I can’t,” you whispered, your eyes welling up. “The kids…”

He furrowed his brow for a moment, shocked at the idea that you could actually turn your own flesh and blood away. You had always helped him, no matter how many times your parents told you not to, no matter how many times your life was put in danger. He couldn’t grasp the idea that you would put your foot down when it came to endangering other people, when it came to endangering your kids.

“They’ll kill you, you know,” he seethed, looking back over his shoulder towards the open door. There was a low rumbling growing louder and louder, but that wasn’t to whom he was referring. He was talking about your other brothers. “I told them I’d go to my baby sister, that she’d help me. She always helps me. Why would she flip on me now? Why wouldn’t she help family?” His grip tightened around his handgun as he leaned in to threaten you. “If anything happens to me, they’ll know to come to you first. They’ll know you couldn’t protect your own family.” His breath was hot against your neck. “Now,” he sighed, “Help me hide. And tell them you haven’t seen me in months.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” a man shouted from outside, causing your brother to grab hold of your arm. Those tears you had been holding back finally fell down your cheeks as your brother pulled you in front of him, placing you between the stranger and your brother. You could barely make out any details of the man from outside because of the blinding sun, but you could tell he had a gun. And that gun was much bigger than your brother’s. As the man moved into your classroom, at least five more men appeared and followed him in, all with guns pointed at your brother.

At this point, you were frozen. The lives your parents had so desperately tried to keep apart were crashing together, their worst nightmare coming true. The two of you were stuck, with only one way out. And he knew it. He gripped your arm tighter, making sure your body could be used as an effective human shield. The barrel of his gun was shoved into your ribcage, his face buried into the back of your hair.

“See what you’ve done?” he seethed. You looked at all of the men placed around the room. Leather-clad men on top of a backdrop of crudely painted rainbows and dogs. You hadn’t brought these men here. You didn’t anger a group of gun-toting men. And yet somehow, this was your fault.

“We’re only here for you, kid,” a low, rough voice called out, a different one than before.

But he wouldn’t let them take only him. He was bringing you down with him. He was willing to sacrifice his own family to keep from going down alone.

The seconds ticking by felt like hours. Your heart pounded against your ribcage, desperately trying to break free. But you could do nothing besides stand still. All you could do is hope and pray that these men that had followed your brother here had enough decency not to kill a kindergarten teacher caught in the crossfire. But your brother refused to give them that opportunity.

“If I go,” he yelled, raising his gun to your temple, “she goes too.”

These words would haunt your every thought for the rest of your life. But in that moment, all you could think about was the weapon pressed against your skin. Your brother wasn’t just willing to bring you down with him, he was willing to kill you himself. And the thought of it made you sick. It made you want to curl up into a ball and scream on the top of your lungs. You opened your mouth to cry out, but your brother hit you across the head with the butt of his gun before you could.

The men opposing your brother yelled, harsh words were exchanged, but all you could hear was a ringing in your ears. Tensions rose. Guns were raised. Blood dripped down your face and mixed with your tears. Your senses were betraying you, one by one, blending every sensation into one incomprehensible nightmare.

And then, a single gunshot rang out, making you acutely aware of the severity of the situation once more.

A scream escaped your chest as you fell to your knees, free from your brother’s death grip. You brought your hands up to your ears and squeezed your eyes shut, hoping it would all be over.

But it wasn’t over. It wouldn’t end. No matter how hard you prayed, you were still on the floor of your kindergarten classroom. Your brother was still prepared to kill you if he felt threatened. Someone was shot...someone was shot but you couldn’t bear to look. You wanted to look, you had to look, to see if it was your brother that was shot. But before you could muster the courage to open your eyes, two arms wrapped around you and pulled you into an embrace. It couldn’t have been your brother, it was much too gentle. But if it wasn’t him, then who?

It took a moment to open your eyes, but when you did, you looked up to see who was holding you. His face was kind, with dark brown eyes filled with worry as he looked down at you. He opened his mouth to say something to you, and he probably did, but you couldn’t hear him over the pounding in your head. He was a stranger to you, and yet he clung to you to keep you from seeing the mess behind you. Like he truly cared for your wellbeing. He pulled you in closer to him, placing his chin on top of your head the way your father did when you were young. It felt...safe. And all you wanted to do was collapse into him and allow yourself to feel safe. You let your head fall into his chest. You let your head fall into this stranger’s chest. And just as you did, two white patches on his left breast caught your eye. Two patches that read: Mayans, Santo Padre.

[hkshirayuki]

The Mythical Creature

Marco x Reader

Genre: Fluff

This is the story of a Curious adventurer named y/n and The Phoenix.

Y/n is a well known Adventurer, she was a fearless woman. She face the great sea. To search the Mythical creatures she had read when she was a kid. It was her dream to meet a Dragon, Centaur, Giants and Yeti. But what really encouraged her to set sail to the wild sea is to see the phoenix.

It was a bird that holds immortality it says, It was a beautiful bird that is rarest of all. You can only see one after a thousand years had pass.

Y/n took the risk to look for a proof that phoenix exist. In her great adventure she encountered danger yet, she face them all. She experienced hunger and felt like she will almost die. But she survived somehow.

She been wandering around beating the people that bother her. She won't be called fearless if she is weak. They always look down on her as they judge her by the cover. Y/n is strong that her name become well known in Grandline.

The wandering adventurer y/n. She doesn't stay at one island she will wander around.

At the same time somewhere in the Great sea. A blond boy that eat a rare type of Devil fruit that he decide to fully transform into his phoenix form.

Marco just transform as a blue phoenix. As he tested out and fly to the sky. He was soaring up high. When he notice a boat, he just fly in a good distance to observe.

When he saw a person that is unconscious, he just landed to the boat.

"I can't see other people on board, only her, it seems she faint, I should transform back to normal" Marco thought to himself, when he tried to revert back to his human form.

He just shout.

"Revert back!" he shout to himself, but only the sound of bird were heard. He did call out but he can't revert back to his human form. He start to sweat as he forget its his first time to transform completely as a phoenix for a long time.

Mostly he transform halfway or he transform completely for a short time.

Marco just keep trying to revert back to his human form. He can't believe that he can't control his transformation. So he keep trying. Back to y/n and what happen to her before Marco arrived.

Y/n just wander around the sea for three days she haven't seen a island which she could get food, so she faint due to hunger. She been drifting to the sea for three days. When she woke up by the odd sound. A bird noise, she only open her eyes slowly to see a blue beautiful panicking bird in front of her.

She only stare it until she suddenly sit right up. Marco were only startled when he saw you sit right up. You were observing him closely.

Y/n felt like she is missing a important detail.

"what kind of species are you?" she mutter yet it's loud enough for Marco to hear what she said.

Marco just tried to speak only to know he can only make Bird noise.

"Roast chicken, Fried chicken, my very first meal after three days of hunger, Finally..."

"Oyaji! Help me," he thought to himself. When he heard her what she said.

Y/n though hesitate to eat the bird that is currently panicking. She just wonder, if it know how to fly but how did the bird came to her boat. Did it fell? Or its Injured.

She was debating to eat it, As she never saw a bird like that, she had seen a Pterodactyl a flying dinosaur. Giants in Little garden. Where she met and greet a Real living giant.

So she want to know what kind of bird is this blue beautiful bird before eating it.

"it would be nice, if birds can speak"

y/n said to herself. Marco just thought to himself. "I can talk though"

He was distracted by you that he didn't notice the chain you put in his feet.

"there, so you can't fly and I can observe you more"

"Crap! I got caught!" Marco thought to himself.

"now then, let's find a island first so we can asked, what kind of bird this is" y/n said but she collapse in the floor again.

"let's conserve energy first, I'm hungry, am I dying?" she mutter and Marco who is only stuck just thought.

"Why did she even set sail in the sea?"

Back to Whitebeard's ship.

"Oyaji! Marco haven't return yet" One of his son said.

Whitebeard just laugh while looking at the telescope as he found his son get caught by a girl.

He never see him act like that, after he become a his personal doctor.

Marco is always mature and calm. They always praise him for being mature. Thatch is older than him, but Marco act more older than childish thatch. So seeing him panicking when the girl caught him.

Whitebeard still thought Marco the little boy, he know is still the same.

"Gurarara, don't worry about Marco, his just hitting on a girl, he be back when his done" Whitebeard said.

"whoa, for real, Oyaji?! " thatch asked.

"Yeah, Gurarara"

"that's very rare"

The others just agree and laugh.

Back to y/n's ship.

Marco doesn't know what to do. He just stare at your unconscious body again. Just why did he landed on your ship. He could just fly back to his ship and asked them to help you. Now his stuck with you, How will he help you?

He is currently stuck to his phoenix form. He can't also speak. He can't go back like this, His crewmates will definitely make fun of him. So he thought of staying with you longer. Until he can revert back to his human form.

Marco finally stop panicking. He could easily break this chain, if he wanted to. But he just got curious on how did you surpass the sea. Like this, 

Day one

Marco and y/n only drift in the sea.

"okay, since I got my energy back! Let's look for a island to land!" y/n motivated said.

"Really, how did she survive like this, she isn't a pirate, what's her reason for set sailing?" Marco thought as he watch you.

"I can't always call you pretty blue bird thats too long to say, hmm"

"huh? What pretty blue bird? Yoi!"

"hmm?"

Marco only fume out at what you said. He just peck your forehead.

"ow! What's that for?!" y/n asked while rubbing the part he peck with his beak.

Marco just made an angry bird noise which y/n somehow understands.

"I see, you don't like me calling you, pretty blue bird?"

Marco just nod. She just smile at him.

"I see, hahaha, That's weird you understand what I said"

Marco were only stunned but he shake it off.

"I guess, it's not that bad to have a companion to sail with" y/n said. Marco just saw her make a sad face. He just flap his wings, and y/n just look at him.

"are you telling me to cheer up?" y/n asked. It's weird to talk to a bird that it doesn't speak. Marco were only flustered when he act like a bird.

The two just spend two days together in the sea. She were smart based on Marco observation. They finally got something to eat when she caught a lot of fish.

"I remembered that bird eat raw fish, here you go" y/n just give Marco a raw fish. Like hell he eat it, he just peck her forehead with his beak again.

"oww, your a smart bird, can you please stop doing that, when you telling me you don't like something" she said rubbing her forehead that is in pain. She only give Marco a cook fish that she cook.

"you sure are an odd bird, Ao" y/n said and Marco just tilt his head.

"hmm confused? I be naming you, Ao since your blue"

"Oi, oi, don't name me like a you got yourself a pet yoi" Marco said but give up as he only produced bird noise.

Y/n misunderstood and thought he liked the name Ao.

The next day, the two face a stormy weather, y/n just bring Ao to her room so he can be safe while she handle the boat. Marco can see how much you struggle in the sea. But your lucky that you overcome it.

After the stormy weather, she was soak wet by the rain and the splash of the sea waves. She only entered her room to change not bothered by the bird that give her a curious look.

Marco just blush hard when he realized that your going to change. You were unaware that you didn't hesitate to remove your clothes. Marco just saw it, he just saw it. He mentally apologies for trespassing your privacy. He tried not to peek on you. But you just walk in front of him.

"hmm? Wait ao, are you having a famous bird flu?"

"Put on some clothes woman, you shouldn't easily strip in front of a man yoi" Marco said he was still diverting his eyes somewhere else. but he was enchanted by you. You were gorgeous but sometimes crazy. He is annoyed he can't still revert back to his human form. It's been three days and he is still stuck.

"Oh so your a male bird?! That's a new info for me" y/n said seeing how the bird is flustered seeing her half naked. She only pat his head.

"My what a gentleman bird, hahaha" y/n mocking said to Marco.

He couldn't go against her due to how she look like.

Another day had pass and finally they saw an island.

Y/n just remove his chain. As she didn't want to get attachment to it. When she let go of it.

"Your free to go" y/n said and Marco just give her a confused look.

why is she freeing him now?

"I'm sure you need to return to your nest right? I can't grow attachment to a bird I don't know yet"

Marco just peck her forehead hard. It's too late now, after what you two share your abandoning him now?

"oww, what's with you, I am only returning your freedom"

"yoi really stupid sometimes!" Marco said and he just realized that he can talk.

"who are you calling stupid, You pretty blue bird" y/n talked back but her reaction sudden change into a realisation.

Ao just talk...

The bird just talk?!

"Did you just talk to me!?" y/n surprised asked but she still had a expression of disbelief.

"yeah, finally I can speak again" Marco replied but he mutter the last part.

"Just what are you?!"

"I'm Marco the phoenix"

"wait, you had a name?! Phoenix!!! You mean the Mythical Creature phoenix?!"

"whoa, whoa, what's with the sudden excitement yoi" Marco thought to himself.

"I set sail to the sea to search for Mythical Creatures, So awesome!"

"I never thought of her as a fan girl, yoi" he thought while you were staring at him with pure admiration.

"is it true you are a immortal bird? Or you can heal any wounds or injuries!? Are you a 500 year old phoenix? " y/n just bombarded Marco with her Questions.

Marco just put his claw in her shoulder and make her sit.

"Stop asking me unnecessary questions yoi"

"My bad, I got carried away, by the way, Why you didn't talk to me when you can actually talk! That's very mean of you!?"

Marco didn't respond as he didn't want her to know the mistake he did.

"Giving me again the silent treatment, I thought were friends" y/n said.

You think a bird as your friend?

You really are an odd person.

Well if it's really a bird, your a crazy person, but your lucky it's actually a human. So your only an odd peculiar person.

"Your really stupid, yoi" Marco said.

"what did you say!? Me? Stupid!? Your really a mean bird"

"I'm fine with being a mean bird, Rather than become a roasted bird, am I right, y/n?"

Y/n just sweat and sudden feel nervous as she try to play it cool.

"ahahaha, yeah, your right..." she said with a nervous laugh. She remembered that she said it out loud that she will cook him when she find out what species he is.

Marco just narrowed his eyes at her.

"don't tell me she is still planning to cook me yoi" Marco thought to himself.

"hey don't give me that look, I won't cook you! Now that I know what you are, well don't judge me, I was so hungry that time, that I couldn't think straight"

Marco just sigh now that he can finally speak. He can maybe transform back to his human form to end this humiliation.

Being treated as a pet and Bird.

"yeah, yeah"

"Your really are a mean bird"

"I'm not a bird! I'm a human! yoi " Marco said as he is already had enough of y/n calling and treating him as a bird.

Y/n just look at him more surprised than before.

"A-Ao! Turn into a pineapple human!"

------------------------------------------------

Here's the Continuation since I reached the limit words of tumblr.

here:https://hkshirayuki.tumblr.com/post/623895729724866560/the-mythical-creature-2

[mysticalmusicwhispers]

HELLO I'M BACK!! GUESS WHO HAS A TERM BREAK COMING IN A FEW DAYS I'M VERY HAPPY :D this ask is Very Long so i'm going to split it up into a few parts

part 1/2

But honestly, it would probably be something like “I’m going to bring a (dead) chicken to class for show and tell and you two need to act horrified and cause a ruckus because it would be fun and it would scare the other kids :)”. (this is probably bullying, so in an effort to make them slightly better kids, an alternative plot is that a stray cat has been coming to their school and in order to make friends with it, they feed it a whole-ass dead chicken Nyo China got from the butchers and was planning to cook for dinner. The teachers are horrified and confiscate Yao’s backpack for fear of germs and salmonella.)

hhhhhh the first idea is SO FUN my gremlin repressed anger eight year old self would've loved it. the idea of bringing a stinking plastic bag to school, opening it, revealing a dead, fly-infested chicken and then maybe playing a small game of lobbing the chicken around for funsies is both simultaneously horrifying and amazing. however the second idea is also amazing, one of my previous schools had stray cats and staff and students would feed and pet them (and i miss it :( ) and it was the Best feeling... or maybe they could do BOTH? but this time they're planning to bring a dead chicken to feed the cat (aw, even if yao probably gets detention. also a lecture from nyo china on what exactly you should feed a cat, including why you shouldn't steal the chicken she bought to feed it.) and the next time they can bring like. a bunch of dead flies to show their classmates but in a not bully way. i went once to this family friend's house in a part of the countryside that had an abundance of flies. (i literally haven't thought of this in years i'm remembering so many childhood things because of this omg) they had this paper covered with glue that the flies would land on and then be stuck on the paper. it was both disgusting and amazing to watch a black mass of bulbous bodies straining with their legs (which were probably thinner than my hair) to escape the paper. i also think that indchuran, being both little sadists in the making and having an abudnace of fascination like many children, would take great delight in watching an unsuspecting fly landing on the glue, watch it still, glancing around eerily similarly to when humans realise they have gotten themselves in a bad situation, and then start struggling with all their might to get out. but fuck the flies tho they landed on our food all the time there and it sucked. they can die :)

THE PROBELM is... how will they get that many flies in what i assume would be a gentrified ass area with frequent fumigation efforts given that nyo china would not accept anything than the best elementary education for her ward?? (i have a solution) maybe indus has friends in the countryside and she goes with aditya to visit them. and while they are talking aditya wanders about and discovers a few pieces of paper filled with flies. because he is a gremlin, he is Fascinated with these pieces of paper, and he takes one out to Further Examine. all the adults yell at him, but he is Fascinated and will not be stopped. and then a Thought occurs to him: who would probably enjoy this as much as he would? duh, his friends of course! good things must be Shared even if they're kind of disgusting! so what he does is he gets a disposable plastic tupperware like container, very gently places the fly paper into it, pokes a few holes for air, sprinkles some sugar because he thinks that'll keep them alive, and wraps most of it up in duct tape he found so indus can't see it. unfortunately most of the flies died on the way home because the container was stuffed into aditya's bag and the paper slid to the side + there wasn't enough air, BUT the dead flies are still a Sight to behold when he visits iran's house (which yao is /coincidentally/ visiting) to show them. then he brings it to school after the weekend, and everyone is Fascinated and thinks it is Very Cool, at least until the teachers see it and start screaming. they throw it away but indchuran get an Idea to put dead flies into the bags of people they hate (this is now just bullying) so that opens up a very few interesting weeks of attempts to collect flies in a fumigated city and Horror for the school. fun times for all!

😔 finding and reading that encyclopedia is probably one of my formative memories now and i wish it wasn't 😔 i bet yao during his teenage years would look back on it and be like "... oh my GOD." but i think he would appreciate her directness even if he didn't absorb all the information correctly or remember most of it lmao because it seems like only a very small percentage of the world has actually good sex ed and i don't think indchuran's school would be an exception. at least nyo china like you said instilled a good sense of consent with them 😔 also the idea of saying fuck in mandarin makes me break out in hives the AUDACITY of saying fuck in your first language but of course he would. he WOULD. nyo china probably wouldn't even have purposely taught him that which is why he doesn't know what it means, just that it's an insult, but once they come up to her to complain all she does is give them a Terrifying Contemptuous Glare and steer yao away from them. yao is her kid and therefore entitled to say fuck whenever he wants.

Prev

First things first I hope you had a good term break! this is... very overdue sorry about that :(

Second, ALSK:FJ:SLFDKSFDLKJSLDF the fly infested chicken is disgusting and I want so badly to intervene,,, they need hELP. Please learn about proper sanitation, children, I’m begging you T-T. Also, headcanon accepted: they’re ostensibly bringing it to feed the cats (which is hopefully allowed) but also they want to terrorize (or awe) their fellow classmates with this discovery. Watch the school call up nyo china about this, but she gets annoyed only because yao wasted human food in order to feed cats, not because he brought an inappropriately dead chicken to school that scared the younger kids and fellow classmates lol; what a great value system. Also this scenario def happened:  School: your child got in a fight. Nyo China: Oh no! Did he win?

I am both fully revolted and half fascinated by the flypaper thing because on one hand I CANNOT stand flies, and killing them is 178% gross. But also the way you described it is... very compelling and I would like to experience that, gross as it is lol. So yea I can definitely see those three nastily observing the flies getting stuck to the flypaper one by one... they all intently watch the flypaper with round and curious eyes and it really looks very cute from far away, three heads of fluffy hair close together and bent over something, carrying on an animated whispered discussion, until you get closer and see that they’re watching flies on flypaper •—•;; An even more gross scenario would be if one of them accidentally squashes one and they crowd around to see what fly guts look like 😭 bonus points if it happens during school. Also YES to Indus’s countryside friend; I feel like India would have a lot of fun exploring over there and would be able to bring back v cool stories for city slicker Yao, and also Iran (although I don’t know where they’d live precisely. I feel like they’d probably have a medium sized house with very nice art and Classy furniture (they got good taste from somewhere), but they’d also knows a lot about how rural areas work and stuff, so uh.. suburbs? Or something like that?)

“then he brings it to school after the weekend, and everyone is Fascinated and thinks it is Very Cool. . .” O—O sigh... three balls of absolute chaos. At least the other kids are fascinated this time instead of apprehensive ^-^ but the dead flies in lockers AL:KDSLFDSJF PLEASE NO me as an elementary student would have been absolutely horrified and I. really hope they get detention for that lol; Please Tone Down kids 😔 (also do y’all get flies in the lights at school? Because every single classroom I’ve been in has either had flies, wasps, moths, or some other black spots in the lights and they’d multiply as the year went on 😭 I never thought about it too much but... what if they linger around to watch the lights get cleaned? o-o)

“i bet yao during his teenage years would look back on it and be like "... oh my GOD."” YEAH there’s always a select few memories that make you realize “what even WAS that” and I think this is one lol. Yao just buries it in the back of his spacious mental closet and makes India and Iran swear not to bring it up again but inevitably they do :))))) they find it rather hilarious, actually. Also yes at least Nyo China did a good job in that department!

“also the idea of saying fuck in mandarin makes me break out in hives the AUDACITY of saying fuck in your first language but of course he would” lol I wrote that thinking he'd call someone a 王八* (because it could technically pass as a regular noun o-o. Who knows, maybe he was insulting someone for being slow like a turtle but it got out of hand due to word choice lol) but... the second scenario is quite something... I don't know whether I should laugh or cry. RIP the other parents who just have to fervently hope that disgraceful kid from next door grows out of his foul mouth soon (he never does, just gets better at pretending his language is elegant and not at all dirty XD)

*for non mandarin speakers 王八 is literally a soft shelled turtle, but is actually a pretty big insult in mandarin :)

[doyelikehaggis]

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Fleurdora/Delatonks | Nymphadora Tonks x Fleur Delacour

Requested by @halfthealphabet

The Order slowly trails into Grimmauld Place, one by one, all with the air of people living through a zombie apocalypse. Grim, weary expressions on every face.

Molly's bustling around as soon as she lays eyes on them, ushering them into the living room where the fire spreads a pleasant warmth into their bones. They certainly need it. Duelling a group of rogue Death Eaters is not exactly what any of them wanted to be doing at three in the morning, in the pouring rain.

Tonks is practically slumped as they join them, Fleur walking in beside them with Fred and Sirius somewhere behind.

"Damn fanatics," Moody growls, taking his frozen eye from its socket, motionless when it should be spinning.

"You'd think they'd have a bit of common sense considering their dark lord has been well and truly dead for a good year now," says George, flinging himself onto one of the crimson armchairs.

All of the old dark green ones (and pretty much everything that represented Slytherin, really) were thrown out by Sirius after the battle at the Ministry. Decided that if he was going to come that close to death at the hands of his own family again, he wasn't going to be stuck surrounded by constant reminders of them. Tonks happily helped him replace everything, since he needed someone who could actually leave the house. The tapestry is still proving to be a bit of a pain, but they've managed to rework it a bit, so it highlights the "disowned" and excluded members and has a majority of the blood-purists replaced with far more worthy members of the family they've created for themselves, or simply burned off instead.

Tonks shrugs their denim jacket off as Bill agrees. He looks the most tired out of them all, aside from Remus. He's not a full werewolf, but the full moon being only days away still seems to affect him almost exactly the same as it does for Remus, who becomes irritable and drained.

"They seem to think, he was "resurrected" to power once before, they can make it happen again," Bill says, shaking his head as he gingerly pulls his sleeve back to inspect the large patch of blood soaking through from a relatively deep cut; the work of a nasty jinx. "Too scared to desert after last time, in case he pops back up again and they land themselves on his bad side."

"They are idiotic," Fleur fumes. Her blouse has been severly singed around the collar and Tonks can't help but worry at a glimpse of blistering skin beneath it.

"Did you manage to get all of them?" Harry asks. "Anyone get away?"

Tonks had barely noticed he was there at all. He was just quietly watching in concern from a chair in the far right corner of the room, with Hermione in the one beside him next to the fire and Ron and Ginny between them, planted cross-legged on the floor. They seem like they were trying to keep Mrs Weasley distracted while the rest of them were out; now that Mr Weasley is back, her attention is fully captured, worrying over the cuts lining his face but with subtle relief shining in her eyes.

"Nearly," Sirius answers, with an undertone of bitterness as he adds, "One disapparated before we could get the bastard. Right after leaving me with this lovely little gift."

He grabs the collar of his shirt that's just as torn and burned and stained with blood as the rest of theirs, and yanks it down at the left to reveal a deep, long gash running right across his collarbone, stopping somewhere down his chest. It's not bleeding, but smoking. And it’s dark green rather than red.

There's an outburst of disgusted noises as well as gasps and a couple of cries.

"You git!" Tonks chides him, slapping his good arm lightly. "You never said they got you!”

"I didn't—you're—“ Sirius tries to say, sounding indignant, but he can't seem to find a good comeback.

Mrs Weasley's attention is immediately focused on him, pushing him towards the door into the kitchen before anyone can ask any further questions so that she can fix it up, something apparently too gruesome for any of them to bear witness.

"We'll catch him, don't worry," Bill says. The statement and the gentle smile seem to be aimed towards the kids. Having been advised to stay out of Order missions for the time being, to readjust and make up for their missed exams, they still look anxious, like they're going to be called up to fight at any moment.

But they seem to take some comfort in Bill's words. Everyone does; reassurances don't seem so false anymore now that missions like these are less common and haven't resulted in a fatal injury or even death since the Battle.

As the others fill Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in on what happened, able to joke a little more now that they're here and winding down from the fight, Tonks catches Fleur trying to assess the damage beneath her shirt as discreetly as possible.

Tonks moves over to her, gently catching her elbow and motioning her head to the door that Mrs Weasley and Sirius left through. They both leave the others in the room to head out into the hallway, where there is thankfully no longer the constant risk of setting off Walburga's shrieking portrait; took a while to find the right spells to remove it, but they managed in the end.

"Are you okay?'" Tonks asks, referencing the wound. "I didn't realize they'd got you. What did they hit you with?"

"I'm not sure," Fleur admits, but she's able to pull the corner of her shirt down better to get a proper look now that she's away from the rest of the Order. She winces, peeling the fabric from the wound, which sticks to it.

It comes away enough to reveal a marred patch of skin below her collarbone and spreading down far enough that it seems to have knocked the spell she usually has on right off.

"I thought something didn't feel right," Fleur says, and winces again when she lightly presses her fingers an inch from the area to test it.

Tonks grimaces in sympathy and only just manages to keep their hands away, having been instinctively going to reach out and offer some form of comfort that would probably only result in making it worse.

“Looks like a simple jinx,” says Tonks, “maybe even just a hastily fired Incendio. Seen a few people panic in duels before, just fire off the first thing that comes to mind. Luckily, it must have bounced off the spell already on you, else could it have been a lot worse than just burning your shirt and, well, this.”

Fleur agrees. “I am beginning to think I need a more permanent solution that that spell, though. It’s not exactly the most reliable, and, truthfully, I’ve never exactly been the best at Transfiguration.”

Tonks grins, pulling out their wand. “Ah, well, it’s not an essential subject.”

“Says the one who can change everything about their appearance at will,” Fleur retorts, but there’s a flicker of a smile on her face.

“True,” Tonks says, as Fleur carefully peels back a little more of her shirt. “But the mediwizards at St. Mungo’s do a pretty good job, too. I have a friend there, particularly skilled in more permanent solutions for trans wizards and witches, like I mentioned, if you wanted to give that another thought? Right, this counter spell.”

Fleur gives another grimace as Tonks points their wand a couple of inches from the wound. She steels herself though, pressing her lips into a line.

With the, thankfully right, incantation and wave of their wand, a small cloud of pale yellow settles over the burned skin. It clings around it for a moment long enough for Fleur to hiss slightly, then it sinks in and a new layer of skin forms over the top until it’s smooth.

Fleur lightly touches her skin, testing for any sign of pain. None seems to come. Her expression settles as she sighs, then a smile is back on her face.

“Thank you,” she says, lifting her eyes to Tonks.

“‘Course,” Tonks says, grin widening with a wink. “I’m your assigned Order partner, remember? I should have been covering you in the first place, especially as I’m also you’re... well, out of Order partner. There has to be a better way to say that.”

Fleur says nothing, just gazing fondly at them, her eyes twinkling. She lays a hand on Tonks’ arm and says, “I can look after myself. But I appreciate this. And the offer. I think I’m ready to take you up on it.”

Tonks smiles and nods. “Okay. Tomorrow, we can stop by, my friend should be in then. You wanna head home the now—“

At that moment, George pops his head around the corner, looks left down the corridor, then right.

“We’re crashing here. More rooms and all that,” George explains. “You two staying as well, or are we getting more coffee and Mum’s breakfast buffet to ourselves?”

Tonks scoffs immediately, then glances at Fleur, who rolls her eyes but nods in a silent confirmation. Turning back to George, Tonks says, “We’ll stay as well. I’m sure Sirius would say the more the merrier, right?”

Fleur makes a little noise, as if disagreeing, and George snorts. But they all make their way back in to join the rest of them, and Sirius and Mrs Weasley return shortly after, though with Sirius looking considerably paler and prodding at the now thin line standing out on his chest every few seconds then wincing. He doesn’t, in fact, mind some of them staying.

They remain in the living room for another hour or so, until the exhaustion kicks back in (or more accurately, when Ginny falls asleep and accidentally kicks an also sleeping Fred in the shin). Then they slowly split off to claim a guest room or head home. Tonks and Fleur takes the room reserved for Tonks’ visits, and are out cold within ten minutes.

[someonexsomeone]

To My Best Friend

Title: To My Best Friend

Author: SomeonexSomeone

Word Count: 1609

AU: BestFriend!Johnny

Summary: It’s soft BestFriend!Johnny hours, where you both have to learn that separation is a part of growing up.

Authors Note: Wow! Another story without pairing. This was sparked from my roommate and I realizing one day we will have to live away from each other, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Tweaked a little to fit Johnny, but the feelings are still there. As always, comments and criticism are welcome!

When they first left each other after high school, they made a mutual promise to facetime once a week. Usually, this involved watching movies or tv together, but sometimes it would just be quiet - only scratching pens or the keys clicking away to fill the void of conversation. It was just as good as being in the same room, right? But Johnny’s dream took him to Korea, working alongside other students as they all worked towards debuting into the music world. 

That day...it was impossible not to think about it fondly. The day that Johnny left for Korea was monumental for two reasons. One, Johnny Suh was accepted into his dream company and had a high likelihood of debuting with major success. And two, Johnny Suh was a sneaky genius. 

"There's a flight that leaves in two hours to New York City," Johnny offhandedly mentioned as the two of you stood in front of the departures. Johnny was finally heading off to Korea of officially start major training, and as his best friend, you would be accompanying him up until the absolute last minute. How could you not? Your best friend in the whole world was leaving for a completely different country for who knows how long. There was no way you weren’t going to at least party it up a little with him before he was gone forever (and by ‘party it up’ it meant sightseeing and trying not to cry about his leaving). So here you now stood, feet planted firmly in front of the ‘Departing’ board, trying with minimal luck to find your gate. You hummed at his statement, but made no further comment, still searching the board. "You should take it." That made you look up at him instantly.

"What?” 

"I said, you should take it. The plane. To New York City." Johnny's voice was still unreadable. You scrunched your nose at his tone.

"Why on earth would I get on a plane to New York?"

"Because it's the best location for you to go." You finally turned your body fully to your best friend, but Johnny continued to stare straight forward.

 "Johnny, we're supposed to be dropping you off at SM, not taking a surprise detour to New York." Johnny signed heavily, his hands coming up to rest gently on your shoulders.

"You're my best friend in the whole world, and I hope you know I love you more than anything. But your ass is getting on that plane." You opened your mouth in protest, but all it took was a shake of Johnny's head to get you to shut up. "The lease on your parent's apartment is up at the end of this month, which, may I remind you, is in 8 days. I know they would love for you to continue to stay there, but I know you hate how closely they watch you. And I know you haven't been able to find another place - don't say anything, I'm still talking - despite your lame attempts to hide it. New York has everything you'd need, which includes tons of opportunities just waiting for you. You need to take that chance and go for it. You'll regret it your whole life if you don't."

Would you regret it? 

Yes, it was true that you hadn't been able to find another place to live, but nothing you had looked at felt right. It just felt wrong to stay in Chicago without Johnny. And yeah, you were slacking on school. It had been months since college started but you had put off applying for so long, too wrapped up in lame excuses - I'm tired, I have work, I can't do it right now. And after your horrible manager fired you for a mistake you were wrongfully blamed for, you hadn’t been doing much. Maybe jumping straight in would be the best option. You would have no excuse to slack off...

"But how would I even live there? I don't have enough money to live in New York," you finally said. Johnny gave you a sly smile.

"I heard there's a lady who owns a building in Queens who is renting to poor college students. Apparently, she has a real soft spot for struggling kids. Something about being a good person or whatever.” Johnny reached up and ruffled your hair playfully. “And, you know, since I already did all this research you should also know that your plane ticket can be exchanged for another flight.” Softly, he added, “If you wanted to, that is."

"Johnny, this is crazy!” You couldn’t help it. Your voice came out shrill, but the surprise was too much to keep your voice calm. It echoed off the walls of the large room, so in a quieter voice, you continued, “You want me to completely drop my life just like that? What about the rest of my stuff?"

"Come on, the flight is in two hours. Plenty of time to get back to the apartment and pack. I know for a fact that all of the stuff you really care about can fit into a suitcase."

You were spellbound. Your friend - your beautiful, kind-hearted, absolutely bat-shit crazy best friend - had gone out of his way in the most stressful time in his life to make sure that his best friend was going to be okay. The tears couldn't be stopped as they started to roll down your cheeks - huge, wet globs that turned black from your cheap mascara and formed a Y shape around your quivering lips. You couldn't help it. You threw your arms around Johnny, sobbing loudly in the middle of the airport for all to see. Onlookers starred as Johnny smiled and patted you gently on the back, stroking your hair.

You did end up taking that plane to New York. You had to practically beg to live in the house Johnny recommended, and spent your first day in New York sending out as many resumes as you could. Full-time, part-time, internships - whatever you could find, you sent. Worked as a waitress at a horrible nightclub near the apartment for a month. Lived like you were in college, with no solid furniture or regular eating habits. Even lived without heat for a while just to keep the WIFI running. But, you were happy.

Across the world, Johnny was thriving in his new location. You called as much as you could, which was a lot more than Johnny was available. Still, just the happy melody of his tone was enough to keep you relatively worry-free. Johnny told you stories of the amazing people he’d met already, a boy named Sehun was particularly fun to be around, apparently, and he made you laugh with all the crazy things he somehow managed to get up to. 

Months continued on and you got an internship position at a company for something you were really interested in. Unpaid, for the first six months, but better than nothing. You still worked as a waitress, thankfully at a nice restaurant that didn’t have men leering at you the whole time, waiting to apply for a full-time position. But, even better, the college in New York accepted your application, a hefty scholarship taking a weight off your shoulders and the answer much too easy. You remember the smile on Johnny’s face, megawatt despite the dark circles under his eyes, and congratulated you a thousand times over. A few weeks later, a package full of Korean treats arrived in the mail, a beautiful handwritten card with almost completely illegible handwriting attached along with it that only read ‘love you bitch’. You still had it to this day, hung up on the wall among your other photos.

And when you finally earned enough money, Johnny flew all the way from Korea during his break to help you apartment hunt. It was, of course, exactly like the movies portrayed with blue skies, mile-high skyscrapers, and bustling streets - except every apartment was dingy and small and could barely contain a person, let alone a bed. But you still laughed along with the realtors, both desperate and otherwise (because let’s be honest - most people would live in a roach-infested apartment just to stay in New York), ate cheap hot dogs in between showings, and even managed to drive down to Chicago so Johnny could see his family (which was practically your family too). 

And, for the first time since high school, you and Johnny were able to eat together, hug each other, and hang out day and night in person, not keeping your relationship of fast facetime calls with blurry images and indistinguishable audio. You realized just how much you missed Johnny Suh, just how much your life revolved around your best friend, and how much of a comfort Johnny was for you. When no one else was there, Johnny always was, ready to hold your hand our of the darkness.

In that quiet, black night, you rolled over and hugged Johnny close, just one more time. In the morning, Johnny Suh and you would once again be across the world from one another. In the morning, Johnny Suh would be boarding his plane back to Korea and you would be signing a form to stay permanently in New York, and your lives will once again be separated. But, that’s all for the morning. For now, you will hold Johnny close, listening to his deep breath as he finally gets a good night's sleep, feel as his soft hair glides through his fingers, smile as he wraps his arms just as tightly around you, and treasure the moments you still have left.

Masterlist

[judgement-free-sideblog]

Ghost from the rainforest

James Conrad x Reader

Summary: A simple rescue mission will bring him back to a place full of nightmares, and maybe this time he could find redemption. Situated in 1975, 2 years after the events of Skull Island.

Warnings: Violence, blood, wounds, mentions of war, cursing, implied smut, smoking, angst.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 3: Those who never came home

At 4:35am you were already in the departures site, checking the truck was fully loaded and that there were enough food and water for the men that will accompany you.

It had been a long night, and you barely had any sleep since every time you closed your eyes you could picture Conrad's face laughing at you.

You shake those feelings away and lean your back in the truck, and close your eyes for a moment, the cold breeze of the early morning was more comfortable than the hot room you were staying. And suddenly you were on the edge of sleeping holding yourself standing against the dirty tarp covering the backside of the truck.

"Morning" His voice said suddenly and you frown with your eyes still closed "We are ready when you are Doctor" His tone was oddly professional and when you finally looked at him he immediately look aside, it hurt that he was in the same place as you, regretting what happened.

"Fine, who's driving?" You had the keys on your hand and look at the men with him, there were only three, apart from Conrad. "Aren't you missing people? I count five last night, Dr. Y/L/N" you said shaking his hands.

"Reles" Said the shorter of the four, he had a nice candid smile and brown skin. "Nice to meet you Doc, I must say you look nothing like your dad" That make you smile.

"Glenn Mills" Said the black men next to him looking embarrassed at his teammate behavior "Ignore him doctor, he doesn't know how to be around women." You only nodded in response.

"Ah Reg, I remember" You say at the youngest of them, before he spoke.

"Slivko is fine, those idiots run away, they say the won't be at the jungle for a month" He spoke as someone way older than he looked like, and you could figure they were another form of victims of the war, even when they were alive.

"I'm driving" James said, extending his hand to grab the keys.

"No you're not, they drive on the correct side of the road here" You said ignoring him, "You guys can handle the stick?" You ask the men holding the keys in front of them. Mills raised his hand and you throw them at him. "Let's go then".

Slivko and Reles got inside the backside to guard the boxes and you hop on the front seat next to Mills, and after a minute Conrad sit next to you, and closed the door careful to not look at you.

"I think there is plenty space in the back guarding the medicine." You said to him coldly.

"And I think I get paid to guard you not your boxes" he answered and Glenn was desperately trying to start the engine and ignore you two.

"Fine, but at least keep that thing away from me" you said rolling your eyes and then pointing to the large gun he was carrying with him. And you could hear a giggle on the back knowing pretty well that by now the whole crew knew about what had happened.

The way out of the town was boring and easy, after four hours there was only a country road surrounded by small houses and when it was time to eat you chose to stop at small village. You got something to eat and gave some medicine to the children that couldn't go to the main city to get a proper doctor, and you were back on the road.

"So what kind of doctor are you then?" Reg asked from the back of the truck opening the window that separated you.

"I have a PhD in Chemistry and Biology" You said to him taking the canteen he offered you "And work as a nurse in the 60's so I know my way around wounds and diseases" you said to him.

"See Captain?" Reles said to Conrad in a very serious tone "She is too smart for you" He add making Slivko and Mills laugh while Conrad only gave him a murderous look. "But for real tho, isn't it boring to spend all your time here? I mean don't you mis America?"

"Of course I do, but this is important, I mean the troops are leaving yes, but someone has to help clean the mess they made, no offense" you said and James nodded understanding. "Who's that by the way?" You asked pointing at a picture Glenn had attached to the windshield, where the four men were standing in some field with water to the knees, and next to Conrad an old man with a beard carrying what it seems to be a katana.

"That's Marlow, an old friend" Conrad said and you could tell it was true because there was a happiness in his eyes when he talked about him.

"Yeah, is like a crazy Santa" Reg said, "But anyone would have gone crazy after..."

"Is getting late, we should stop don't you think?" Mills interrupted suddenly and you could see how the three of them looked at Slivko with anger, he had been about to tell you something he shouldn't.

"Yeah sure" You said looking at the map, and then the road "We will be at our first delivery point in ten minutes, and we can sleep there". You haven't told them where you were delivering part of the medicine, you have done it several times and Noah's men never had a problem with it, but you doubt the Captain will be ok with it. "This people can be a little unfriendly" you start when the lights of the village were clear on the road. "Just do as I tell you and it should be fine"

"You don't sound convinced" James noted.

"Because I'm not" You said and you make your hands into fists on your lap praying at nobody in particular that things will go well.

A couple of kids with large guns were at the entrance of the village, you bend over Conrad's lap to reach the window and make sure the see it was you, they immediately let you go in and you get back to your sit pretending it didn't feel like heaven to touch his hard chest.

A man came out of one of the huts with a smile on his face, framed by a thick goatee, he wasn't bad looking but the AK-47 in his hands, and the ones he had put on other children hands was enough reason to hate him.

"I thought you said you hated militars" Conrad said offering you his hand to get down of the truck.

"They're are militia, nor proper militars" You said ignoring his help and jumping of the truck.

"Is there a difference?" He asked looking at the man waiting for you with a smile.

"Yeah, they're worst" You said and walk towards Shukri.

"Selamat kembali, saya isteri cantik saya" Welcome back, my beautiful wife The man said to you and tried to give you a hug that you didn't respond to.

"Santai Shukri, dan hentikan memanggil saya isteri awak, inilah yang anda minta." Relax Shukri, and stop calling me your wife, here is what you asked for. You pointed at the truck and Reg and Joe were already carrying down boxes helped by Shukri's men.

"This are not your usual companions" The man said then looking directly at Conrad who had been pending on your whole interaction since the beginning.

"No, they're not. Is safer don't you think? If we get use to the same people there could be snitches" You lied to him and he nodded approvingly"

"Ahh isteri, I told you you have to stay with me, I could use that quick mind of yours" He said and tried to pull you closer to him but then Conrand put his body between you two making both you and Shukri look in surprise, plus anger on his side.

"How many boxes are we downloading?" He asked and you could see some anger in his eyes.

"14, the ones that are marked with a black cross" You said still shock by his reaction.

"British? That's different" The guerrilla lider said behind his back and you could see Conrad shoulders tense and his nostrils move with fury.

"Yeah, and very helpful, right prince charming?" You said, and touch his arm softly trying to calm whatever the hell was going on in his head. "Put those nice arms of you to good use and help the boy will you?" It was not an order but a plea and he listened because he relaxed his back and start walking towards the truck. You indulge Shukri with a smile and remained close to him while the man take part of the medicine, after that they show you a hut where you could spend the night with two cots inside blankets and a couple chairs "Just that?" You asked him and could see a disgusting grin on his face. "We are five, three of us are going to have to sleep on the floor, I won't risk my men to get bit by a snake, a spider or god knows what"

"Thats all I have isteri, unless you want to share mine" He showed you a toothy grin.

"Hentikan memanggil isteri!" Stop calling me wife you shouted exasperated. "I will take my chances with the spiders, thank you" You said and walk inside where the tired men were resting. "Glenn take one of the cots, Reg and Reles you can take turns for the other" you took a chair and sit there, any hope you had about a civil conversation with Shukri was now gone and with that also your hopes to take a shower. That certainly was not something you will miss when you came back with them to america, if you go back, your mind corrected you.

"You are not sleeping in that chair Y/N" Conrad said, taking a pair of blankets under his arm. "Let's go Reg, the truck will be more comfortable and safer than the floor, we will see you in the morning" He said and reg followed him making it impossible for you to reply. "Also" He had holding the door open for you "Saya tidak percaya suami anda" I don't trust your husband He said putting a venomous inflection in the word husband.

"Oh please don't" You said tired and embarrassed "Do you speak Malay?" You asked when you were at the truck but you didn't come up and let Slivko in first. The night was humid and hot, and you couldn't believe you'll have to wait another two days for a bath.

"I told you I have been here before" He answered, and took a cigarette to his lips, and offered you another.

"Well at least that was true" You said and let him light the cigarette for you.

"Isteri?" He asked again, imitating the disgusting tone Shukri used, and you rolled your eyes at him.

"Let it go Captain" You said taking one long puff "Is just the delusion of a crazy man"

"I think there has to be an interesting story behind" He said facing you and looking you again with his perfect blue eyes.

"Well if you really want to know. I have been here for about five years" You started and look at the quiet village in front of you. "And at first I spend every little money I still had buying medicine from Noah, one day I was trying to help a kid from this village"

"The little guard that welcome us?" He asked throwing the cigarette butt to the ground.

"Yeah, precisely." You said mimicking his movements "Anyway he needed medicine and I couldn't find it, so I talk to the village lider, Shukri's father, and he send his man to "get" the medicine from a local hospital in Bandar. The boy lived and they asked me to check on the rest of the kids. And boy they were in poor shape. So I make a deal with him, I will take his money, and get the medicine peacefully from Noah, if they gave me enough to help others. So long story short I'm kind of a pharmacist for them"

"That's a compelling story" Conrad said rising a brow to you. "But doesn't answer my question"

"Shukri's dad died, and he is a crazy sociopath, who thinks he would take down the Malaysian government with drugs and weapons trafficking. He said to the people that he is their father, and since I take care of his sick children as a mother..."

"You are his wife" He said bitterly "That's a clever way to get a wife without the effort"

"He is just an stupid man" You said crossing your arms "And honestly you didn't have to literally put yourself between us, I have been doing this for long enough to take care of myself. But thank you" You poke his feet with yours.

"You are welcome" He said grinning at you and making a head gesture to you. And at that moment you wanted to forget you were suppose to be mad at him, maybe it was the tiredness or maybe it was how gorgeous he looked under the stars, but you feel the need for him to hold you again.

"Yeah yeah! Is all beautiful, can you two shut the fuck up and go to sleep already??" Reg voice shout from inside the truck and you realized how late it was.

"He is right, you sleep in there, I will be in the back so I can guard the medicine" He said and you agreed

"Captain" You said climbing in to the truck.

"Doctor" He gave you a wink that paralyzed you and walk to the back of the truck. You were glad you were in talking terms now, but you knew there was still a long way to follow to Borneo and you were certain he and the other men were not being completely honest with you. So you were not planning on lowering your guard, at least not yet.

[skys813]

Discovery

Chapter 5 (Arc Finale)

Me: Before we start, is there anything you'd like to say, Anxiety?

Anxiety: *gives me a hard look and then looks away* No.

Me: I see. Let's begin, then. Over the past couple of weeks we've been struggling to deal with a new possibility. I'm aware that in every happy reality Research conjured for us we were in a romantic relationship with implied sexual undertones. The new possibility suggests that we don't find a romantic or sexual partner in the future. Up until now it's only been a vague suggestion, however, after further examination, I thought it would be best to bring it to the council's attention as a legitimate possible plan for the future.

Anxiety: I don't see why this is relevant given that Sexuality is obviously a lesbian. Haven't we been over this already?

Me: Actually, we haven't. That was a suggestion you made, not a fact of life. Which brings us to our first issue; determining Sexuality's true orientation. I'd like to bring some memories to the front if you don't mind. Let's start with a few questions I asked after I first learned what sex was. "Do I have to? Can I be married without doing it? Can I have kids without doing it?" Our first reaction was aversion. Of course, that's normal at the beginning, but those feelings never went away. Instead, it changed to reluctant acceptance that this is what would happen to us. The truth is that we never felt sexual attraction towards anyone, regardless of their gender. We knew instinctively we wouldn't like sex in any form, but we pushed the feeling down and convinced ourselves that it'd be fine and we'd just have to do this for love.

Love: Is that not true? The only lifelong bond that allows us to be as invested and dedicated as we wish to be is a romantic one. Friendship can be strong, but it's not the same, Sky. We would not be prioritized the same way, you can't expect that of someone. If they have a romantic relationship with someone else, they have to prioritize that person above you, regardless of how close you get. Only a romantic bond guarantees you that level of trust and faith in each other. The exclusivity.

Me: I understand and accept that we wouldn't always be prioritized above the person's romantic relationship, but the rest is simply not true. It's possible. Research, if you'd be a dear, and pull up the definitions of a Queerplatonic Relationship and a Zucchini.

Research: A Queerplatonic relationship is defined as "a committed relationship that is neither romantic nor sexual in nature but is based on an emotional bond beyond friendship, often between aromantic and/or asexual people" (AVEN, General FAQ, Definitions). "A zucchini is a partner in a queerplatonic relationship. The commitment level between partners is often considered to be similar to that of a romantic relationship, but with platonic love. Zucchinis may be of any romantic or sexual orientation" (AVENwiki).

Me: Thank you, darling. As you can see, it's entirely possible. In fact, it's so possible and has been felt and established by enough people that there are terms to describe the relationship we want. That's what we were looking for all these years, not some romantic relationship, much less a sexual one.

Anxiety: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you've only proven sexuality is ace. Romance has been on board waiting for Prince to show up since day one. And we already agreed that Sexuality's orientation would be irrelevant to us in such a scenario as we would want him to be fully satisfied in the relationship.

Me: Romance hasn't actually been very vocal about her desires, she's been going along with whatever you and Research determined would be the best scenario. Again, let's pull up some memory files. First, there was her "crush," which she picked out for us much like one would pick out fruit at a stand, and is also a shared experience among other aromantics. We were never jealous of his relationship with our best friend or hurt by it, but instead helped them with arguments and were happy for them when they were happy. She shies away from any possible romantic partners under the guise of obeying our parents and religion when we all know full well we're stubborn and reckless enough that if we had ever desired such a relationship we would've acted on it by now. But we haven't.

Anxiety: Because no one has been worth the risk! We just haven't had the chance to meet the right person and it was never the right time before. We were too young.

Me: No one? When was the last time you saw Romance actually consider anyone as a potential partner?

Anxiety: That's because we're waiting for Prince, no one else is worth considering.

Me: That makes no sense and you know it. We can't find him if we never look. And Romance isn't interested enough to look in the first place. The fact of the matter is that she hasn't been active since we finally settled comfortably in our relationship. We might not use fancy terminology, but that's the nature of the bond we established with our best friend. The meaning we agreed upon for the relationship is the same as the one listed for queerplatonic relationships.

Anxiety: It's just too risky, it's irresponsible to put all your eggs in one basket like that. Friendships are fragile and fleeting-

Me: So is every other relationship. Friendships are not less than other bonds, they're equal and valid and they are what you make them. I believe in this one.

Anxiety: Fine. Don't listen to reason, whatever. But you might want to consider Love's needs and that certain aspects of our dreams would be off the table right off the bat if we went along with this madness, such as children and the home life we were so desperate to create one day. That's a dream you can't deny. You can't adopt children in a platonic relationship, so unless you plan on being a hypocrite and going out to have sex, praying not to catch an STD, and hoping to get pregnant that way, children would be completely off the table for us.

Me: First of all, it wouldn't be hypocritical, asexual people can have sex. But I do agree that that option is extremely unappealing all around. However, it wouldn't be as big a deal as you're making it out to be. Our motherly instincts can still be fulfilled if we add the found family element; we'd build a group of friends and mother them just like we used to. Love, how do you feel about that?

Love: I want children. We've always wanted children, I can't let go of that dream overnight. Mothering some friends isn't the same, I don't know if it'll be enough. I can agree to build new visions and scrap the old ones and incorporate Sexuality and Romance's identities, but you can't ever expect me to stop wanting children. I'm sorry.

Me: Don't be, it's who you are. Thank you for being so understanding. Research, what do you think?

Research: To be absolutely frank with you, I'm glad this is who we are. No husband to tie us down, fewer responsibilities, financial independence. It spells out a lot of opportunities to explore the world that we might not have had otherwise. And, no offense, Love, but children are expensive as hell. Our horizons just quadrupled without that financial and emotional burden. I vote yes.

*an awkward pause where Anxiety fumes on the side and refuses to say anything*

Me: .......Anxiety?

Anxiety: I'm the one who played the dreams. Are you happy now? You were right all along, and I was wrong. We're aro ace.

Me: I know.

Anxiety: *head snaps up* What?! You knew? How? And how long have you known? Why didn't you say anything?

Me: I think the meeting's done now, let's continue this privately. Love, Research, please act according to the council's decision and inform everyone of the verdict. Thank you. Anxiety, walk with me, darling.

Then.....

Sexuality blinks sleepy eyes open and looks around. Someone is by her bedside that she's only ever seen from afar. She tentatively lifts her hand and runs her fingers through Libido's hair. Her birthmate. What was she doing here? Libido stirs and murmurs something incoherent in her sleep before slowly opening her eyes to look back at Sexuality. Libido smiles softly.

Libido: You're finally awake. *jerks up frantically* Oh shit, you're awake! Oh my God, how're you feeling? Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Who do you want me to get for you? Do you want some water? Of course you want some water, what am I thinking-

Sexuality grabs Libido's sleeve as she makes to get up. Libido looks back, concerned and on the verge of panic. Sexuality shakes her head and tugs Libido back to her side.

Libido: Are you sure you don't want me to get you some food and water? You've been out of it for a while.

Sexuality shakes her head again and tugs Libido back down into her chair.

Libido: Okay, then. Um. Let's see, how do you usually communicate with Romance?

Sexuality: *gestures in sign language*

Libido: Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I don't know any signs though. Do you want me to get Research? They might be able to translate. Actually, they'll know what to do about all of this and what you need and-

Sexuality grabs and squeezes Libido's hand and she falls silent. Sexuality smiles briefly and shuts her eyes.

Libido: Oh. You're tired, yeah, that makes sense, too. Sorry about all that. Go back to sleep, sweetie. I'll notify the others when you're ready.

It was a while later before Libido realized that Sexuality had been fully aware and responsive during those few minutes without throwing up. On top of that, she'd made contact with Libido without any noticeable harm befalling her. Sexuality was, at long last, fully recovered.

Meanwhile.....

I walk with Anxiety down to his room. It resembles a library, but instead of books, there are notebooks, each and every one of them filled to the brim with scribbles and half-finished thoughts.

Anxiety: Welcome to my lair, oh annoying one. Have a seat.

Me: I think we need to discuss why you're so against us being aro ace.

Anxiety: I already made it very clear-

Me: The real reason, Anxiety.

Anxiety glowers at me for a few minutes. I don't look away and he finally backs down grudgingly.

Anxiety: *sigh* Do you remember what we were like when we were a kid? What we thought of ourself?

Me: How can I forget? I was the brattiest, most arrogant child I've ever had the displeasure of having to think about.

Anxiety: *shakes his head* I mean before Prince, specifically. We were in a low place and we had accepted that we would die old, bitter, and alone. I just don't want us to go back to that again. It was devastating enough the first time around for all of us. At least like this, it would've only hurt Sexuality and Romance.

Me: Anxiety, listen to me. We are not who we were five years ago. That vision of the future was built on self-hatred and hopelessness, that's why it looked like a doomsday vision. This time we're rebuilding to take care of ourself and every aspect of who we are. We don't have to sacrifice Sexuality and Romance to be happy. We can just build a future that makes all of us happy by accommodating them too. We would've never been happy if we'd tried to suppress them.

Anxiety: *shakes his head stubbornly* We can revert right back to where we were, not enough has changed, not nearly enough. I've just collected more reasons to hate ourself since then, there's no guarantee it won't happen.

Me: *eyes sharp, trying to casually scan the notebooks* There is one thing we could always do..... If you'd allow us, I mean.

Anxiety: *torn between hope and trepidation* Like what exactly?

Me: Burn them.

Anxiety: *stands up and positions himself between me and the nearest shelf* Get out. Get out right now!

Me: *stays seated calmly with my eyes fixed on his* Only the notebooks where you write all our faults. The memories would all stay intact. All your other notebooks would stay exactly where they are. I'm only suggesting we let go of the guilt. Those notebooks are as old as I am, cataloging every tiny mistake we've ever made, every embarrassing thing we've ever done, every regret. You're absolutely right, we can't move forward until we've let go of all of that. We have to move forward, Anxiety. The council has come to a decision. Something has to give or we really might revert back to what we were before.

Anxiety: Then we would've learned nothing! Do you want to repeat all the mistakes we've made?

Me: A gentle reminder that you're the reason we made some of the more serious mistakes.

Anxiety: Don't you think I know that? That's why I refuse to let go of them. If we never forget, if we never stop regretting them and feeling guilty for them, then we'll make up for it and we'll never do those things again.

Me: Darling, that's ridiculous. You do realize that you've written down things as small as chopping the wrong vegetable by accident at our job, right? And the serious errors in judgment are almost all from our childhood, from years ago. We've grown, we've changed, and we're past that now. We can't stay this way forever, hating ourselves for every tiny inconvenience we've ever caused anyone. Please, Anxiety, we have to burn those notebooks.

Anxiety: No. You don't understand. We can't! No! *clutches at his head and his breathing becomes shallow and rapid* I can't. You can't. I can't.

Me: Anxiety? *gets up slowly* Are you okay?

Anxiety: No! We can't! We'll never be good enough. We'll never be happy. You can't erase the past. We're horrible, can't you see that? So horrible. Horrible. Horrible!

I notice a smoky shape formed behind Anxiety, whispering in his ear and grinning at me. The time for conversation is over. I carefully sidestep Anxiety who is too wrapped up in his sobbing to notice my movement and try to punch at the shadow. My hand goes right through it. Right, then. Those notebooks need to burn. Now. I step behind them slowly. The creature turns to watch me but continues whispering to Anxiety. I reach for a random notebook to test out the waters. No reaction besides a widening smirk. Good. I quickly scan through the notebooks until I find the section I need before looking up again. The shadow is still, watching me with a contemplative frown while Anxiety drops to hug his knees and hide his face as he cries. I collect the notebooks loosely in my arms, carefully noting how tense the shadow is getting. It stands between me and the door. I had a feeling it would find a way to stop me if it wanted to, smoke or not. I edge my way back to the table and set the notebooks down. The creature relaxes. I sit down and pretended to start reading one. After a few moments, it loses interest in me and goes back to tormenting Anxiety. It starts to whisper faster, progressively more aggressive. When it looks to be distracted enough, I grab the notebooks and run. I hear a shriek of anger not long after but it doesn't follow me. I run and run until I reach the common room and dump the notebooks on the floor.

Me: Research, get over here! I need lighter fuel! Love, if you could grab a lighter for me, that'd be great! Now!

They get up from the couch without a word and go about getting the requested items as I start tearing the notebooks apart. By the time they get back, I've torn haphazardly through the notebooks and stacked them in a hollow pyramid shape. Research douses them all and I give Love a handful of paper to light before I carefully place them under the rest and watch the fire spread. Anxiety rushes into the room with a much-faded version of the shadow I'd seen behind him, but by then even the topmost of the pyramid had caught fire. The creature shrieks and Anxiety faints into Research's arms.

Research: *sighs* I should've known something like this would happen. I'll take him to the infirmary.

Love: What just happened? Who's Research taking to the infirmary and what did we just set on fire?

Me: Don't worry, Love, everything's going to be okay now. C'mon, let's sit down and I'll tell you everything.

Then.....

Romance jerks awake gasping and clutching at her neck and chest and starts coughing. Sensuality rushes into her room and gives her a crushing hug.

Sensuality: You're alive! You're awake! Oh thank God, I won't be left with just Aesthetic for company!

Aesthetic: Hey! I can hear you, you know. And good grief, get off her before you really kill her. Welcome back, Romance. How're you feeling?

Romance: *gestures for water*

Sensuality: I got you, just a second. *runs out of the room*

Aesthetic: *hands Romance her board and marker* Figured you'd have a lot to say after being out of it for so long. Wanna elaborate on the whole "help Anxiety" message you left? Cause it really didn't help, for the record. What'd you want us to do, tie you and Sexuality up and dump you in the basement for him?

Romance rolls her eyes as Sensuality comes back in and accepts a glass of water with a quick nod of thanks. She downs the whole glass in three giant gulps and sets it down before relaxing back against her pillows a bit. She starts writing.

You're both idiots, for the record. I bet you didn't even try to figure out what I meant, just sat around worrying as usual. It's alright, someone must've figured it out since I'm awake now. We'll all hear the story in detail, I'm sure. Right now, though, I'd much rather discuss Sexuality. Is she okay?

Sensuality: Well......I mean, she's definitely safe now, we made sure of it, right Aesthetic?

Aesthetic: *nods her head with a smile* Don't worry, Romance, we took care of our little sister. She's safe.

Romance: *relaxes a bit more*

Good. At least you did something right. Who's guarding her? Libido, right?

Sensuality: *shocked* Yeah, actually, how'd you know? I thought you'd be upset.

Romance: *smiles* *writes*

They were never meant to be apart. They're different, but they're still birthmates. You know how strong that bond is. They'll figure it out. They just need time. We all do.