#like. they're so good... found family in the dungeon. who will they eat

[zehecatl]

DunMeshi perfectly nails the found family trope, by the way. every character is equal, but distinctively different and makes up a part of the whole. Senshi feeds the party, because that's what he's good at, and what he knows. Chilchuck might scold everyone for being idiotic and stupid, but that's not because he's their dad, it's because that's his personality. there's no hierarchy or structure, no roles for the characters to fall into

it's a family by choice, and i fucking love to see it

[syrupfog]

When Sanji runs from Germa, he doesn't make it far. He hides away in the brig of a merchant vessel for a short time, but as soon as he's found, they recognize him, and don't want Judge's wrath coming down on them, so they dump him the next time they make landfall.

The island he ends up at is one that's felt the threat of Germa for years, and they too recognize him, whether Sanji tries to deny it or not. Afraid of the omen that they see him as, they send him to an old manor at the edge of town and lock him away. 

He grows up there.

Like the dungeon, he's again alone and despised. 

But he tries to make the best of things. He can see the sun here, can wander the halls without fear, can cook what he wants from what the town delivers to his doorstep, which is often a little rotten but edible. 

He lives.

He assumes this is as good as life will ever get for someone in his position. There is nowhere he could go that they wouldn't know and fear him, despise him; at least here he's free from his family. At least here he can breathe fresh air. 

And then, one day, a man appears.

"Appears" is maybe a generous word. He comes crashing through the front door, armed to the teeth (literally), a sword in each hand and one in his mouth. Sanji, who had been simmering a bouillabaisse, comes running at the noise, spatula in hand for defense. 

The man looks at him.

He narrows his eyes. 

He charges right at Sanji. 

Sanji yelps, ducks behind his spatula as if it will protect him, and cowers. At the last second, his childhood training kicks in. He manages to dodge a swipe and RUNS for it. 

The man, who has made a crater in the wall, follows.

The manor has a maze of rooms, but Sanji's closed most of them off. It's just him here, after all. He runs into one of the first doors he finds and is faced with cobwebs and dust as he slams it behind him. 

He hears heavy footsteps behind the door slow to a stop. 

"Open up."

Oh he is NOT doing that. 

"Hey," says the man who has broken into his home with SWORDS. "I'm not going to attack you." 

"I do NOT believe that," Sanji shrieks. There's a spider in here and he's trying not to run screaming back into the hall. 

"I should've knocked," the man says.

Sanji stutters. "Swords!" he manages to get out. 

"They said there was a monster," the man says. "Paid me fifty thousand to kill it." 

...Oh. 

"Well," Sanji says. "They're right, that is me." 

The townspeople have probably put up with him for long enough. 

He opens the door.

The man is down to just one sword. He eyes Sanji. "Don't look like a monster," he says. "What, you transform in the moonlight?" 

Sanji snorts. "Nah, this is all there is. Was just born a monster. Surprised it took this long for them to try to get rid of me." Cowards, he thinks.

Maybe he's a little bitter. Maybe something inside of him still dreams of something better. T

he man cocks his head. "Pretty shitty monster," he says, sliding his last sword back into its sheath. "I don't need beri enough to cut down someone who defends himself with a spatula."

Sputtering, Sanji realises he's still holding it. "Shut up," he says. "What would you spend it all on anyway? A FOURTH sword?" 

The man shrugs. "Or food," he says. "Got washed up here a week ago, didnt exactly have a lot of pocket change on me." 

And, well. That's the magic word.

"I have food," he says. The bouillabaisse is still simmering. 

The man grins. "Not going to turn you down," he says. "I'm Zoro." 

"Sanji," Sanji says. "If you're not going to kill me, what do you know about fixing doors?" 

"Absolutely nothing," Zoro says.

Zoro... doesn't leave. 

Sanji feeds him, and Zoro has NO manners. He eats like he's never known what it means to be full. He's not talkative, although he's quietly hilarious. In return, Sanji's conversation is stilted. He's not used to talking, especially not to a real person.

But Sanji feeds him and he feeds him again, and Zoro doesn't leave. He leaves his dirty shoes on the carpet and cleans his swords on the kitchen floor while Sanji cooks. When they do talk, the words jump between polite niceties and petty arguments. 

It's... It's good.

Sanji's so happy. He hates the way Zoro seems to live in a state of mess, even while having come into the manor with nothing but the clothes on his back. But he loves the arguments, the verbal sparring, every word an acknowledgement that he's not alone. 

It's too good to be true.

Zoro doesn't talk about himself much, just that he's got a crew out there somewhere. Sanji wonders but doesn't press, an instinctual fear that if he pushes Zoro will leave. Zoro doesn't ask him much either, except for when the food shows up. 

"Cook," Zoro says, "That's rotten."

Sanji picks up a tomato, blackened on one side. "We can cut those bits off," he says. The produce is actually better than usual. 

"They send you rotted mush every week?" 

"Sometimes they skip a week," Sanji says with a shrug. "On holidays, I think." He doesn't own a calendar.

Zoro frowns, but shuts up. Sanji makes stew. 

He makes chili. 

He makes ratatouille. 

They live in companionable silence. Zoro trains and Sanji yells at him to not use the kitchen utensils as weights. 

It goes like this, for weeks. Good weeks. 

But good things don't last forever.

Almost two months on, someone comes crashing through the front door of the manor. For a moment Sanji thinks it's Zoro again, somehow, but remembers Zoro's napping in a sun puddle. 

Knife in hand this time, instead of a spatula, Sanji sneaks around the corner to the front door.

There's... a LOT of people pouring into the house, but front and centre is a man with a scar and a straw hat. He points at Sanji with a serious expression. "Are you the one who killed Zoro?" 

Sanji blanches. "N-no?" he asks. His knife isn't going to defend against NINE people.

Suddenly, from behind him, comes Zoro's voice. "Shut up, Luffy." 

"Zoro!" the man shouts, bounding past Sanji and wrapping himself around Zoro an unnatural number of times. 

"Told you he wasn't dead," a man with a long nose says. "Townspeople are terrible liars."

"Come on, Zoro," a redhead says. "We've got places to be and we just spent two months tracking you down." 

Sanji's stomach sinks. 

Of course. 

These are Zoro's people. His crew. These two months have been the best of Sanji's life, but for Zoro they've just been a waiting game.

He's had people out here looking for him this whole time. He has a world outside these walls. He's going to move on and live his life and forget about this little moment in time. 

This moment that Sanji will think about, dwell on, treasure, for the rest of his life.

He steps back, considers hiding in the pantry until they're gone. Before he's able to entirely flee the room, though, Zoro turns to him. 

"Luf," he says. "This guy's coming with us." 

Sanji stops. "Uh," he says. 

"He's a cook," Zoro says. 

Luffy turns to him. "Yeah?" he asks.

"I-" Sanji shakes his head. "I can't leave," he says. 

"Yes you can," Zoro tells him. "You're staying here because you think you deserve this." 

Luffy, standing between them, looks back and forth. "Zoro knows what he's talking about," he says to Sanji. "I trust him. You coming?"

"I'm a monster," Sanji says, because that's what the townspeople call him. They sent Zoro to KILL him, they know he's a monster. 

"You're not," Zoro says. "Come on, Cook. Come with us. You can live, now." 

Sanji wants to live. 

It's all he's ever wanted. 

"Promise?" he asks.

"Fucking promise," Zoro says, and he grabs Sanji's wrist. 

Pulls him out the door. 

Into a world Sanji thought was beyond him. 

He follows nine strangers and a swordsman who attempted to kill him onto a ship and into the bright blue ocean and doesn't once look back. 

He lives.

[isekai-crow]

Dungeon Meshi Ep 2

The beautiful bouncy animation is soooooo good. So much sakuga and love has been put into this anime is so apparent from the very first scene.

ALSO MAN. THE FOOD and also FAT APPRECIATION IN THIS SHOW.

Not only are there characters of all sizes and body weights, with no body shaming to be found whatsoever, the fact that the wiki has everyone's BMI recorded, and there is a strong light shining on needing to eat full meals to function, and that your cravings mean your body is lacking something and you should listen are all great and important things, and I love that this show is highlighting all that.

And then there's fucking Laios.

Bless this man.

This is a lovely episode about book smarts vs street smarts, and both having their place, and that we are always learning new things.

And also lots of screaming.

Episode Spoilers Below the Cut

First off, good on y'all for fighting against the Basilisk, that was very cool teamwork with Senshi and Laios. Makes for some cool screen shots.

But Also.. This man is DYING of poison. And Senshi has the remedy, looks this man in the eye and is like, yah, nah, I'm using this for dinner.

Thankfully dinner is the cure. BUT FOR FUCKS SAKE.

Y'all PLUCK and ROAST a whole ass chicken that's the size and probably the weight of a roast pig... That's at least 10 hours of cooking, I'm sorry, that man dead lmao

lawl SUPER DEAD.

Next is Marci's experiment.

She's a little bookworm who trusts what she's learned in her classes and has to do things by the book! I love that she's not all talk though. She takes her time to set up and plan it, and executes it perfectly! She's just fine!

Juuuuuuuuust fine.

This whole after scene is delightful. I LOVE THIS SHOW. They're such a lovely little found family. Marcille being forced to be honest with her partners because she's been brain fried is good for a Tsundere, and them being reassuring to her is such a.. TTwTT lovely relationship.

THE CHICKEN IS THE TAIL. WHAT IS THIS SHOW I LOVE IT.

The other shining stars of this episode are Chilchuck and Senshi.

Poor Chilchuk, he's just a stressed out little halfling guy trying to keep his friends from dying, and not having to eat Roast Dwarf.

Senshi is full "I Will Cause Problems On Purpose" and "This Is Fine" all in one.

Capybara was like THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!! When Senshi just.. straight up had his finger in the boiling hot oil. Dwarves -> Forges -> Hot things are fine (・ω・)

perfect temperature reading. my brain often tells me to do this and I'm so glad I don't.

I love the ingenuity of using the traps to cook! Sasuga Senshi for the idea and Sasuga Chilchuck for making it a reality!!

I also appreciate that I will NEVER BE COOKING ROAST GIANT BAT, but that I'm getting a "Kewpie 5 Minute Cooking Style" recipe walk through.

Throwing in a screenshot here cause Capybara noticed how sweet it was that the Chilchuck's burnt kakiage was also lovingly drawn into the presented plate.

THE ENDING LINE QwQ

Bread can't replace meat. Nor can meat replace bread. But when they're together, they're more delicious. Both Food and People remain the same. Dungeon Meshi.

A lovely quote to wrap up the episode. The final bit could be taken a bit ominously (people are also dungeon food) but for now I'll take it with a grain of salt. (badumtsss)

[greypetrel]

ACBA, part 1.

Assigned Candy by Aisling (@dungeons-and-dragon-age I laughed so hard at this.)

There were some requests for OCs and I'll oblige…

Under the cut for lenght, but still. (Again if you're a mutual send words and you'll have your OCs some candies assigned to)

@dungeons-and-dragon-age: Lay, I will do the ones I'm most familiar with for now!

Adriel: A lemon hard candy. It's sour, you can't eat it quick because it's hard to crack, you have to keep it there… But oh damn, sweetened lemon? Yes, acquire the taste and go on.

Liam: Rum and Raisin ritter sport chocolate. It's wholesome and will get you going if your pressure gets low, it's warm and homey. Yes raisins aren't everyone's taste, but with rum they just taste so good!

June: Frizzy Pazzy. (Crazy Fizz?) This I have a hard time remembering the name in English. It's one of those envelopes that contains grains that just… Fizz when you eat them. They're sour and you can't eat too much at once because they will explode. But it's one of the funniest candies around and it's science.

Ari: 90% chocolate. It's dark and slightly bitter, most people won't approach because they'll think it's too bitter… It's actually the one chocolate that will be the most beneficial, won't hurt your teeth, once you get used to the bitterness you won't go back to milk chocolate.

@shivunin I hope I got them right!

Arianwen: after longs consideration and at least a whole day spent with Aisling following Wen around squinting, very very deep in thought Vampire teeth gummies. Aisling will tell you that she can't pinpoint it, but she thought of those and can't find anything that fits better. It seems fierce and not friendly but if you taste it it's really sweet. Add a Zevran in the background because I have the feeling that this scene would be funnier with him around to assist.

Maria: I think she would be a little indecisive. Chocolate, but flavoured either with chilli, or with salt. Some unusual combination that you won't often find or go for… But it's peculiar, it's surprisingly delicious, and you will remember forever of the time you ate it. (if we can space to cakes, the answer will be clearer: "A red velvet cupcake. Come on it looks just like her dress! With the lace!")

Elowen: Strawberries dunk in chocolate. Fruity and tangy, very sweet, but countered by the hard and the warmth of the chocolate. Something unassuming that you have to cook at home… But oh damn they're good. (it's meant as a compliment, Aisling would like Elowen a lot)

Emmaera: Parma Violet. I wanted something flowery for her, possibly with lavender. I admit my personal lack: I just hate lavender as a flavour in food and I don't know any lavender flavoured sweets... And none I found had a story as the Parma Violet has. It's a typical candy from where my family comes from: it's balmy and it's very flowery, violet are known for their calming properties as well, and as an essence it has a long story that goes back to the Duchess Maria Luigia d'Austria, very well-loved in the town and who loved the Violets so much she made it the trendiest perfume... That eventually slipped in the kitchen and in candies.

Salshira: Cinnamon candies. I have a precise brand in mind, the Leone pills. They're… VERY intense in flavour. But if they're your jam and the flavour isn't too much? They'll go down one after the other in quick sequence, they're warm and cozy.

@ndostairlyrium you're here too.

Elanor: Confetti. Those you find at weddings. It's something you don't find every day and it has a level of formality and noblety… They're the harder candies to eat, tackle them too quickly and they'll crack your tooth. But give them patience, wait a little and oh damn, they're SWEET and homey and really the bombonniere is already empty? :(

Kerry: See I was about to assign him the Frizzy Pazzy and not June. But then I thought better and thought that for Kerry, the Frizzy Pazzy lack a level of sweetness and homeyness that Kerry has. I'd say candied orange peels dunk in chocolate (again, coming from Aisling that's the ultimate compliment, anything citrus assigned must be worn with pride.). It's homey, they're not the prettiest candy on the market, not the one you'll link with something refined… And yet. And yet! Instant love they're tangy and sweet and fresh and sour and they'll just make you smile and taste like Christmas.

Ankh: Pocket Coffee. A sweet shell of chocolate that will melt in your mouth and explode in coffee. It's sweet, but it will most definitely give you a burst of energy to get through the day. It's the mix between sweetness and energy that's it, the one thing that will keep you going when you'd just want to lie down and sleep. You can rely on your pocket coffee in a rainy day.

Shaan: Ricola. Herbal candies that… That you have to like or to wait until the flavour grows on you. But! They'll save you from a throatache or if your voice is low. Can't lose a work day because you're sick with those!

[marvelmaster69]

More random headcanons about Marvel characters, all revolving around their mental health and sexual/gender orientation. This time it's Wanda, Loki, and Clint!

TW: Mentions of self-harm in Wanda and Loki's bit.

Wanda is also pansexual (Like Tony, if you read my other post). That's part of the reason she was so open to her feelings towards Vision, she just... doesn't really care? As long as they treat her well and are overall good people, it doesn't matter if they're human or what their gender is. She has severe anxiety, crippling depression, and severe PTSD. Since she got her powers, and especially since the event in Africa with Steve in CW, she's been incredibly afraid of herself and her powers. For the longest time after that, she refused to use her powers for trivial things like she used to, and even when on missions, it took a lot of encouraging to get her to use her powers unless absolutely necessary. She was trained in hand-to-hand combat by Steve and Natasha, and she was also taught how to use weapons like guns and knives by Natasha, so, for the most part, she could get away with not using her powers. Clint, who took her in during her hard times and basically acts like her father, also gave her a few lessons on how to use a bow-and-arrow, even if she's still not very good at it. I also headcanon that she self-harmed for years, mainly using cutting as her outlet for her stronger emotions rather than other healthier or worse coping mechanisms. Pietro never really found out about the extent of it, as she always wore long sleeves, and once he did find out, she simply stopped cutting her arms and moved to her thighs. She also picked up smoking a little before her and Pietro found Hydra, quit a little after AoU after a lot of convincing between Natasha, Steve, and Vision, picked the habit back up after CW and just... hasn't quit since, even if she really wants to. Somedays she can't even get out of bed just to get to the bathroom, relying on Vision or whoever else you headcanon as her lover to aid her in tasks such as eating, using the bathroom, showering or taking a bath, brushing her teeth, or other small tasks that take a lot of effort for her during her depressive episodes.

Now, this is canon, but Loki is genderfluid and bisexual. They use all pronouns, depending on how they feel day-by-day, so I'm going to be switching between he, she, and they. Loki has PTSD, severe anxiety, and severe depression. The anxiety and PTSD mainly is about his abandonment issues, coming from the way Odin lied to them and then threw her down into the dungeons. Loki is incredibly good at hiding her depression, though, always creating an illusion (no pun intended) of being this mischievous, sarcastic, rude person instead of the broken-down man that they are. Loki, like Wanda, has a long history of self-harm, alternating between cutting and burning. Whenever their feelings would get a bit too much for her to take, they'd pull out their trusty blade and mutilate their arms and, sometimes, his thighs or stomach. And whenever their feelings got way, way too much, to the point where cutting was no longer helping or relieving the mental pain coursing through him, the would turn to burning. In Asgard, there aren't cigarettes, but instead cigars and pipes. As the youngest daughter of the royal family, they always got the expensive gold-crested cigars. He would simply light the cigar up, smoke for a few minutes and maybe blow some of the smoke in Thor's face just to bother him, before scurrying away to his room and doing what he felt needed to be done. For years, he only ever wore clothing items with longer sleeves, but after a few years, they just... stopped caring if anybody saw his scars. She figured, if the general public just saw them as a monster, who'd care if they had scars?

Clint is obviously hard-of-hearing, and while that's not related to his mental health or sexual/gender orientation, I absolutely despise the way the MCU basically got rid of that part of his character until Hawkeye, so I'm gonna mention it anyway. Clint is straight but has ADD, severe PTSD, anxiety, and depression that can sometimes become crippling if triggered. The only people who understand the extent of his depression are his wife, Laura, and Natasha. The older Cooper and Lila get, they seem to notice when their dad won't get out of bed and take a shower or when he seems so... down, like he's just a shell of a person for a few months. Him and Laura are pretty sure they've figured out what's wrong with their dad and are trying their hardest to shield their little brother, Nathaniel, from seeing their dad like that, which Clint appreciates greatly. Whenever Clint gets in one of his depressive episodes, he tries to beg Fury for more missions and acts a lot more recklessly because of how lost in his thoughts he is during these times. Laura only clicks her tongue, sighs and debates whether it's even worth lecturing him about before lovingly patching up her husband's bullet, arrow, or stab wounds. Whenever Clint gets overwhelmed, he turns down his hearing aids or just entirely turns them off, handing them to either Laura or Natasha to keep safe because he always ends up losing them or breaking them and having to ask Tony to make him a new pair. His anxiety usually comes in when he meets new people, always thinking that they're gonna hate him and think he's the worst person to ever walk this earth. It also spikes up when he thinks of maybe the people he loves the most, like Laura, his kids, and Natasha, suddenly changing their mind about him and thinking that, because of his past mistakes, he's a horrible, horrible person.

That's it, guys! This is going to be a series of sorts, I think. So far, I've done Tony, Bruce, Peter, Wanda, Loki, and Clint. I'm also planning to do, in no particular order, Natasha, Steve, Thor, Rhodey, Sam, VIsion, Pietro, Bucky, Yelena, and Kate, along with a few other random characters that I don't personally consider Avengers. Anyways, Bye, see you all sometime soon!

[wild-houseplant]

Zev'n'Rho, 5, 7, 28

god this is so long I'm terribly sorry Anon but a bitch was on a ROLL.

Under the cut-- and thank you for stoppin' by!! I hope you're having a lush day!

5. How do they comfort each other when they're sad?

Ok so I divided this into regular upset (e.g. rough day, hurt feelings, tired-sad, hangry) and crisis mode (related to trauma in Zev’s case and autism in Rhodri’s), because I feel these two are vastly different. 

For Zevran, when it comes to the regular sads: Most of his troubles are born of a lifetime of horrible unfairness that absolutely no-one cared about- I think the true sadness of that has only reached him now that life with Rhodri has given him something to compare it to. To this, Rhodri responds by being someone he can talk to at length about it and provides genuine sympathy and validation of his feelings. Interruptions by other people are (politely) dismissed, so he’s always very aware that she’s as good as her word when she tells him listening to him is her priority. Doesn’t always fix the underlying issue, but to have someone at your side who gives a damn, he finds, does help an awful lot.

In crisis mode: So not to give too much away but because of… Blight things… I hc Zevran comes out of it with trauma that makes him quite prone to panic and teariness when it gets triggered. I don't think he lacked it to begin with, but he has far, far less ability to hold back the waterworks now. Partly because of a certain straw breaking the camel's back and partly because he has gotten into the habit of being perfectly candid with Rhodri.

Moments like these, Rhodri’s quick to step in, removing him to somewhere quiet where he can crumble away from the eyes of others. Lots of calm, repetitive reassurances to stop his brain from eating itself alive, and long, gentle hugs are the order of the day, and she’s got them in endless supply. Which is good, because he ends up fairly prone to clinginess. It gets a lot better with time, but he finds huge solace in knowing she’s always there when things get bad.

Regular sads for Rhodri is a hard one. Unlike Zevran, who’s had to be more focused on survival than self-worth, Rhod’s proud enough for two people. In following her father’s hard, strict rules on honourable behaviour– pietas, stoicism, and self-sacrifice– she passes the constant test of proving herself a virtuous, benevolent provider for her dependent family, and also gives face to House Callistus. Her entire self-worth is tangled up in it.

Stoicism, in particular, means here that whomever she provides for shouldn’t know anything of her personal troubles. They’re not in a position to help, being relatively powerless, and have issues of their own that she should be prioritising. To burden them with her own troubles is shamefully selfish, and diminishes both her and her House. As her spouse, Zevran is theoretically exempt from this, but she’s spent a whole year during the Blight keeping him out of that part of her life, and big shame dies hard. Even years into the marriage, her humiliation is palpable if he tries to do anything directly.

Comforting Rhodri requires not even hinting at whatever sadness she might be giving off while engaging in a way that builds her up. And Zevran, bless him, has found a way around that.

The trick, as far as he’s concerned, is giving her a low-energy request that she do whatever she needs for him, in something that would require some mutuality to it. Take me out for peanuts (you buy some, too- I don’t want to eat alone!). Hold me (I want to hold you back). Let’s do a massage (and once you’re done with me, it’s my turn). She comes out of it doubly better because she’s been a Good Provider and has enjoyed the benefits of free peanuts/snuggles/massages. Feeling? Better. Face? Given. Absolutely top.

Crisis mode is Rhodri having a meltdown/shutdown. These are quite rare (outside of the Tower dungeons, anyway) and slightly different for her, because no matter the size of her outburst, her father never shamed her for it, or any other aspect of her autism. That’s one thing Aurelio got very right. Though she is still very embarrassed by them (she is, after all, a proud sort and is physically vulnerable during and afterwards), it’s nowhere near the crisis of character she gets when she breaks one of her father’s ‘moral rules.’

If it’s because of too many surprises, Zevran will sneak her off somewhere quiet, pull her into his lap, tug and rub the scruff of her neck, maybe hum some song she likes until she’s in a state to think about next steps. She rarely sits in the laps of others or lets herself be snuggled, but in those moments she’s all over him like a rash. 

If it’s sustained physical overstimulation, he’ll get her away from the stressor and, if needed, let her scream and rage it out. She’s usually too tired and empty to do much of her own volition after that, but lying down somewhere soft and taking a nap with her usually sees her tangled around him like a climber vine within the hour.

7. Favourite date activity?

This makes me laugh a little. Rhodri’s shit at this because they hadn’t done dates during the Blight and she can’t make head nor tail of the concept. Eat dinner together? Go somewhere new? Novel activity together? They did those on the reg during the Blight year, so by that logic, the latter half of 9:30 Dragon was one long date.

Rhodri couldn’t give a fat rat’s what they’re up to, so long as it’s together. So, passive as it may be, she doesn’t really have one. Bonus points if the date ends and she’s a bag of peanuts richer, though. 

Zevran’s pretty chill about it, too, but. Now that he’s actually had the chance to learn about himself, he’s found he likes to be spoiled, and he has the gall to ask Rhodri to do it. 

I hc Zevvo as a fellow who has a very keen sense for the finer things in life, so falling arse-backwards into a fabulously wealthy family has been a boon. Stuff that floats his boat involves trips to the opera or theatre, getting whisked away for a long weekend to explore a little town close by, trying fancy food (in portions of a size worth the money tvym). 

Perhaps a favourite, as the magpie man is particularly keen on precious stones and metals, is scoping out new jewellery stores and seeing what’s good there. Also helped along by the fact that Rhodri has a terrible weakness for him enjoying finery. In his experience, whatever piece of jewellery he likes the most has always coincided with her blush being at its reddest. They always leave with it, and possibly the pieces he liked second and third best as well, if Rhodri can wangle it. She usually can.

28. Are there any similarities your OC and LI’s relationship have to one you have had IRL?

Oh, yes. When it comes to Zevran and Rhodri, their friendship is what I love the most. They were good friends, best friends even, before they became romantically involved. They were already devoted to each other, already discussing a life together, already perfectly joyful and content in each other’s company. They put the time and effort into understanding each other, proving their loyalty and reliability, showing time and again that they have the other’s best interests at heart, appreciating each other, and– most importantly of all– being complete and utter tits together. I don’t think pairing up did much except slightly alter the context in which they expressed all of those things (and forced me to change the rating on the AO3 fic). Their friendship did the vast majority of the heavy lifting.

Where this concerns me is that I feel much the same way about my own platonic relationships. They’re people I will never feel anything romantic for, but I would happily spend my life with them. When I picture myself in old age, all I hope for is to be near them as we continue to grow and look back over our shared life together with great joy. They are, quite simply, my paradise. That’s Rhodri and Zevran. That’s me and my friends (one of whom I did end up falling for and marrying!).

[talkfastromance4]

Let’s talk about each of the guys babysitting the kids on their own (no partners, I want to see how they handle it) Like who would be the fun uncle that would let them break the rules and who will try to follow what mama said to the T and who would end up calling for help?

The relationship that was build between the kids and the guys, as well as the connection with mama is just so amazing, I love that so much ❤️

they're all one big huge family!!💞🥰

Okay, I'm gonna break this down by uncle:

Ashton: I mean it's only a given that he doesn't call nor text because he knows how to handle himself (he did 'parent' michael, luke and cal) and also helped raise his own sibings, buuuuut he also knows how to have fun. When it was just Lily and Posy, he did have a few questions beforehand because it's been a while since he's babysat an actual baby. When it was time to change Posy's diaper, he'd ask the bestest helper, Lily, and she'd show him where everything was and which toy Posy loved to play with while on the changing table. When it became three kids instead of two, he eased into best babysitter role no problem. Being a drummer he's good at multi-tasking so as he's making Oliver's bottle and rattling off words for Lily to practice on her spelling test, he's also watching Posy do a dance she thought up on her own. He's the one that makes pillow and blanket forts in the living room so they can watch Disney movies and snack on popcorn (after the desired dinner made by Luke and mama). He has them all in bed when they're supposed to be and even sneaks in one more story for Posy, he can't resist her when she asks. Luke and mama come home to him cleaning up the blanket fort with the dishwasher running.

Calum: He called almost every hour the first few times he babysat. When Lily or Posy would cough, he'd think they'd have pneumonia and would freak out while they both stared at him with doe eyes. He read and reread the notes mama wrote until he had them memorized but almost always reverted back to them. he folded and unfolded it so many times the paper became crinkly and soft in his pockets. he keeps his eyes on them at all times and especially Oliver because of his health problems (even though his health has been steady). He loves his nieces and nephews so much, so he wants to make sure they're safe and secure under his watch even if he is damn near having a heart attack the whole time. He loves playing dolls and tea party with the girls and peek-a-boo is Oliver's new favorite thing, so Calum does that until he's giggling. He takes video and sends it to Luke and Mama while they're on their date. When Calum babysits, he's found with all three kids asleep on the couch when Luke and mama come home, him included.

Michael: of course, he's the crazy fun uncle who only has one rule of having fun. He's the one that always brings sweets to the kids and even makes sweet treats when he babysits. there's a lot of cupcakes, cookies, cakes, brownies, one time they even made their own rock candy. And while he loves getting them all hyped on sugar, he knows to respect mama's wishes (Luke's too but he doesn't want to get the wrath of mama bear) of not eating too many sweets, he makes sure to save the treats for after dinner or lunch or both depending on how long he's watching them. He does have some questions because he's an only child and the only kids he's been around are Luke and Cal. Sometimes he'd even call up Ashton for help on how to get Posy to listen to him when she's being difficult, Ashton would usually have to talk to her. He loves going outside with them and exploring the backyard or going to the park where he watches them like a hawk. they all hold hands as they walk from the car all the way to the playground set. He loves to color with them and tries to explain a game he likes to play called dungeons and dragons, Posy seems intrigued but Lily is confused by it all. the kids end up going to bed a little later than normal when he babysits but that's okay because Luke and mama knows he tries his best and it's always with a lot of love. (when crystal has the twins he's calling luke and mama nearly 24/7)

[catrasredemption-moved]

Can see this being fuel for hurt/comfort and angst: Catra and Adora finally give Finn "the talk". i.e. the talk where Catra and Adora explain their history from before and during the war. Could start with a preface that explains why they're having this talk with Finn, possibly way earlier than they wanted to. Maybe something like Finn overhearing talk of the war from someone in Brightmoon or, even worse, overhearing things about Catra from people who still resent her.

((Finn’s probably like... twelve, so assume this is the universe where they adopt him))

They didn’t go to Salineas much.

Finn didn’t know why - it was awesome there. The beach was great (as far as they and Adora were concerned, at least - Catra hissed at the water), the food was great (all three agreed on that), and Mermista was one of the best princesses (which was apparently a controversial statement. Finn had to assure Aunt Glimmer that she didn’t count because she was the best queen, and Adora was different because she was only a princess sometimes and she was the best princess mom).

But Catra always got weird when they went to Salineas. She kept her head down and eyes on the ground, held Adora’s hand a little tighter, and only seemed to relax when they were in the safety of the palace or the little private cabin they sometimes stayed in on the beach (it was technically Mermista’s cabin but she didn’t use it and, it gave Catra and Adora one less excuse for why they couldn’t take a vacation because they always had  somewhere to go). Despite loving the food in the kingdom, Catra almost always made up a reason for why she couldn’t go to the restaurants with them, usually something work related. 

Finn had been confused for a long time about why Aunt Glimmer would let Catra work on vacation - sure, she was the queen’s adviser, but did the queen really need her to help Mermista with things when she was supposed to be relaxing? - until the last visit, when they had gone back to the throne room alone to get their forgotten jacket and overheard a whispered conversation definitely for their ears.

“Stop using me as an excuse to get out of going to eat with them. Finn’s gonna start hating me for making their mother work on vacation.”

“Please, you’re their favorite. I just... don’t want to go out there, okay?”

“It’s been ten years, Catra. You can’t hide from everyone who might hate you forever.”

“I’m not hiding, I just don’t want Finn to get caught up in things. It’d be different if it was only me and Adora, but Finn’s a kid. They don’t need that.”

“You mean they don’t need to know about the Horde.”

A long moment of silence had followed. “Yeah,” Catra finally muttered, sounding ashamed. Mermista sighed.

“You gotta tell them eventually.”

“I know.”

Finn had returned to Adora without their jacket, frowning slightly. “You okay?” Adora asked when she saw the look on their face.

“Yeah. I think I left my jacket at the cabin.”

Thankfully, Adora had a terrible memory when it came to things like that and didn’t question Finn.

They knew about the Horde, of course. Everyone knew about the Horde, and about how She-Ra had saved the entire planet. That wasn’t quite the whole story, but Catra had very firmly told everyone involved to leave her part out of it. Adora could have the fame and glory.

But Finn knew everything. Or they thought they did. What was Catra hiding?

All of that had led to where Finn was now, sitting in front of a large mural of She-Ra and Catra, holding the sword together. It was probably the only physical proof that Catra had anything to do with how the war ended.

“Finn?”

They jumped, looking up. “Hi Aunt Glimmer.”

Glimmer settled in beside them, tilting her head. “What’s up? You look upset.”

“I’m not, I just...” They looked back at the mural. “Mom doesn’t really talk about the war.”

Silence followed. Glimmer’s next words were obviously very carefully spoken. “The war was hard on both your mothers.”

“I know, but Mom just... tries to keep her name out of everything.” Finn waved a hand at the mural. “I’m surprised she even let this exist.”

“Oh trust me, it took a lot of fighting for her to give in,” Glimmer said dryly. “I’m not gonna lie, Finny, Catra’s part in the war was... complicated.”

“But she and Mama saved the universe, right?”

“They did, and it was amazing. But a lot happened before that.”

“You’re not gonna tell me, are you?”

Glimmer shook her head, smiling sadly. “It’s not my place. Catra has a hard time talking about the past, and I know it’s frustrating, but you know the parts of the story that are important. She saved me at the cost of her own life, and she helped Adora stop the Horde Prime. She’s just as much of a hero as Adora is, no matter what she thinks.”

And that was good enough for Finn, for awhile. They loved their mothers, and they knew both of them were good people. Besides, the past was the past. It could stay there.

At least until their next visit to Salineas, nearly six months after that conversation with Glimmer.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Finn heard Adora whispering to Catra as they bounced ahead of their parents, eager to get to the restaurant. Catra had finally agreed to get food with them, though somewhat reluctantly. She was currently clinging to Adora’s hand, their arms pressed together as they followed their child at a more sedate pace.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m tired of disappointing Finn.”

“You could never disappoint Finn.”

The restaurant was busy, which wasn’t surprising - it was the best place in Salineas. They were seated by the smiling host and given menus, and Finn immediately started searching for what they wanted to try this time. Another table next to them was filled soon after by an older couple who kept shooting glances at the family. 

Finn wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but their ears were sensitive. “Can’t believe the princess lets her just walk around the kingdom.”

Catra’s ears twitched. She focused harder on the menu, brow furrowed as if reading some complicated document. Adora, unfortunately, lacked the same hearing as the rest of her family. “The salmon was pretty good, right Finny?”

“Yeah! I think that’s my favorite.”

“I didn’t know you could pick a favorite food,” Catra teased, relaxing. Finn stuck their tongue out at her. The waiter came to take their orders, and Finn was distracted for a moment with talking about going sailing with Sea Hawk the next day, until the couple began talking again.

“I didn’t know they served Horde scum here.”

“She should be rotting in dungeon after what she did.”

“Pardoning a warlord... I knew the queen was young, I didn’t think she was also an idiot, though.”

Finn finally looked at them, completely bewildered; Catra stood at the same time, taking a step toward the table. “If you have something to say, you can say it to my face,” she informed them. “Instead of whispering like a couple of cowards in front of my wife and child.”

The couple was silent now, of course, staring at her in horror. Catra clenched her fists for a moment before sighing and turning back to their table. “I’m going back to the cabin,” she muttered, grabbing her jacket. “Get my food to go.”

“Catra-” Adora started to protest, but Catra had already disappeared. Finn glared at the couple.

“You shouldn’t say mean things about people. It just makes you look like jerks.”

Adora half smiled, reaching over the table to ruffle Finn’s hair. One hostess came over to move the couple to another table while another one apologized profusely to Adora and Finn.

“It’s... fine. Can we get our food to go?”

“It’s not fine!” Finn protested. “They were being assholes to Mom!”

“Finn, language,” Adora scolded them lightly. They had, unfortunately, picked up on Catra’s habit of swearing when stressed about something.

“And they were saying stupid stuff!”

Adora hesitated at that, looking around, then back at Finn. “What... did they say?”

“Something like they couldn’t believe Mermista was letting her walk around and how Aunt Glimmer pardoned a warlord.” Finn’s expression crumpled in confusion. “Why did Mom think they were talking about her?”

Adora sighed. “Let’s... get our food and go back to the cabin. We can talk there.”

Catra was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, Melog sprawled over her chest. Finn wasn’t even sure the alien cat had actually come to Salineas with them, but he had an uncanny habit of knowing when Catra was upset and when he was needed.

He mewled when Finn and Adora walked in, making room for Finn to join him. “Are you okay?”

“You mean other than being crushed?” Catra smiled weakly, ruffling Finn’s hair. Adora sat at the end of the bed, hand on her wife’s knee. Their gazes met; Catra nodded once and shooed Melog and Finn off of her so she could sit up.

“Can you start?” she asked quietly.

“Of course.”

Melog shrunk a little so he could cuddle against Finn. “Mom and I didn’t always live in Bright Moon,” Adora began slowly. “We were raised in the Fright Zone when it was still under the Horde’s control.”

Finn blinked a few times, stunned. “Really?”

Adora nodded. “We were raised to be Horde soldiers and taught the Rebellion was evil, and that it was our job to stop them.”

“That’s dumb,” Finn said bluntly. “Who would believe that?”

Catra coughed, trying to cover a laugh, while Adora blushed. “It’s different when you grow up hearing that kind of thing."

“So what made you leave?”

“Well... I found the Sword of Protection.” Catra stiffened slightly. “And Aunt Glimmer and Uncle Bow brought me to Bright Moon to help the Rebellion.”

“So you found out what you were doing was wrong and changed. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

Adora’s eyes flicked to Catra, who sighed heavily. “I didn’t go with Mama when she left the Horde.” Finn turned to look at her, eyes wide. “We fought on different sides of the war for a long time.”

“That... doesn’t make any sense.”

“It was complicated,” Adora said. “Mom was... very angry and caught up in a very bad situation. Her judgment sucked.”

“I made a lot of bad choices,” Catra picked up. “And I did a lot of bad things.” Melog nudged Finn’s arm and tuck himself beneath it so they were loosely hugging him. “Eventually I took over the Horde, and started doing worse things.” Her eyes were fixed on her shaking hands. “One of the last things I did was I lead a raid on Salineas that pretty destroyed the entire city.”

Oh. Finn swallowed, trying to figure out how they were supposed to feel about that. Catra’s behavior suddenly made a lot more sense. “You pretty much know the rest of the story from there,” Adora said after a minute. “Horde Prime kidnapped Mom and Aunt Glimmer and Mom risked her own life getting Aunt Glimmer back to me and Uncle Bow. And then we went back and saved her anyway.”

“But... you still helped save Etheria.”

“Not everyone is as forgiving as your mom and aunt and uncle,” Catra said quietly. “I spent a lot of time trying to fix my mistakes, and it was enough for the Princess Alliance to forgive me, but there are still people who think I should be locked up. And there probably always will be.”

“Is that why you don’t like Salineas?”

Catra chuckled humorlessly. “I think Salineas is great. I rebuilt half the city myself.”

“She’s not kidding about that,” Adora added.

“Salineas doesn’t always like me, though. And they’re not obligated to forgive me under any circumstances. that’s something I’ve learned to live with. It’s not worth getting mad about people whispering behind my back about me, because I can’t control them. Even if I do think they could be a little more tactful about it sometimes.”

Finn was frowning deeply by now, looking between their mothers, then at Melog, whose head was in their lap. “Those people were still being jerks,” they declared fiercely. Adora ruffled their hair, gently scratching their ears.

“I know we just told you a lot. Are you okay?”

Were they? Finn wasn’t completely sure. Finding out one of their mothers was sort of a war criminal was a lot.

She’s just as much of a hero as Adora is, no matter what she thinks.

Aunt Glimmer’s words echoed in their head, and after a moment they nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.” They wiggled away from Melog and threw their arms around Catra, hugging her tight. Catra was surprised for a moment before she wrapped Finn up, almost clinging to the child. “I still love you,” they assured her quietly. Catra did her best to hide her tears, wiping her eyes over their shoulder.

“I love you too, Finny.”

[belphegorbillickin]

Okay, but I can definitely imagine Barb/Dia doing that. It seems like quite a possibility. But wasn't dying mc's own fault though? Like,, Barbatos did warn,,, unless he knew this was gonna happen and mc was DUMB AND STUPID enough to show up to everyone like: "hi." and possibly be dumb enough to get killed. Idk lol I forgot this part.

But what you said about Beel, I really like that. I think you even mentioned belphie guilt tripping you in your yandere hcs, and trying to make you completely depend on him?? I like those possibilities. Mammon though,, too soft. Like you said, they've robbed him a lot. He could have had so much potential to be a dark character. Similarly Levi omg.

The brothers are the embodiments of the 7 deadly sins, yet, tbh, I haven't seen too much of this side of them. At least, not like how'd I expect. Leviathan, for eg. Envy. I don't recall seeing his sin playing out anywhere except in the TSL Quiz thingy. I mean, it's been toned down a lot for someone who's the literal embodiment is envy. Idk I just don't feel he's like that? As from what I found: Envy (Latin: invidia), like greed and lust, is characterized by an insatiable desire. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. The struggle aroused by envy has three stages: during the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another's reputation; in the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune"(if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails); the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred".[38]

Envy is said to be the motivation behind Cain murdering his brother, Abel, as Cain envied Abel because God favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's.

They toned him down a little too much?? If this game has actually been inspired by demons and the 7 deadly sins, they could at least make them similar to the demons, at least in some way. I'm not that far into the game yet, but so far that I've played, I haven't seen much. As for a demon who is the embodiment of envy... I wish to see more. Levi is capable of A LOT.

Similarly, Satan. I sometimes wonder why is he even called the Avatar of Wrath when we hardly see it?? The only time I remember is him losing his calm during the whole body swap event. The fact Satan got mad at us refusing a pact actually made me think that he was the sin "wrath", but idk now. And the way it was said that "every smile is an act", I really like that concept too. But I don't think I've paid much attention to see where it played out. Sigh now Satan simps for cats like,,, please show me your dark/evil side sir.

The way you said Barb and Dia took part in a torture dungeon, I want to see more of that too. If they're demons, wouldn't they have caused SOME sort of bloodshed in a way? Especially if they're the strongest demons. Killing humans, eating them, or I even like to think doing the same to their own race. Torturing... Seems like something that every demon's blood would contain lmao, I'm not answering questions bye.

And I believe so too. The human seems like a pawn... I feel the demons would use humans for entertainment and their own purposes, while keeping up the facade of loving them. It's easy, since demons are manipulative. In that case, losing the human whether by their own hands or not would go like: "Oh well, that's unfortunate. Time for another human."

But if they REALLY did love you, I feel they'd still be manipulative. Like you said. Corrupting/spoiling the human so much to the point that they'd just HAVE to depend on them. I feel they'd also have yandere tendencies, or be "protective". Like, then I feel they really wouldn't want to let you go, despite knowing how much it can ruin your innocence.

I also don't like how everyone is after mc like "uwuwu master". The human is still a weakling despite having pacts, plus, the pacts aren't even demanding the human's soul or anything. I don't get why they let mc walk over them when they are CLEARLY much stronger? If I were a demon I'd do the opposite lmao. Making the human seem as if they are controlling me, but it's the opposite. I don't think a mere pact can change the fact that the demon's stronger,,, esp if the pact didn't demand the human's soul/life/whatever.

Also, thank you! Things got better for me :)) and also,

💫✨💕send this to ten bloggers you think are wonderful. keep the game going 💕✨

Ofc you don't have to do this, but I got this, and it really made me happy, so here ^^

Oh btw in lesson...56 I think?? Just gonna tag this as a spoiler, but where for whatever reason Satan was "Sully" and the angel Lucifer asked him whether he liked books, let me just say I haven't even played it that far yet, but Satan going, "...Every book here is precious."

TOUCHED ME SO BAD LIKE. I DON'T KNOW IT REALLY MADE ME SOFT LMAO HE'S JUST SO okay I'll stop 🏃– 🍹

It's been a while since I've thought in-depth about the whole time traveling thing tbh, but couldn't Barbatos generally see the outcomes of the world?

We went back because they wanted to know who opened it, but considering Diavolo's the ruler of hell who turned Lilith human and Barbatos is basically the ruler of time & practically the universe I believe they already knew Lilith did it since it had to be "blood related" basically.

Barbatos also knows he can stitch together timelines and get of "extra" MCs essentially, so I believe he'd take that into account. I'm not saying MC getting killed was 100% part of the plan, but that they didn't care of MC was traumatized because they knew they could bring them back if necessary.

Imo the real goal wasn't to find out who did it, but to avoid breaking the family's bonds and devotion to Diavolo. The way it worked out was incredibly convenient and "coincidentally" a huge upgrade for Diavolo that kept the status quo and made him look good (or at least better) to Belphie and Beel without making Lucifer choose.

We see that kind of repeat later when Diavolo withdraws from the play because he was worried Lucifer wouldn't be as loyal. That's also why Lucifer gets that warning from Barbatos.

I think a huge part of why Levi's characterization is like that is because not enough people like him enough to tolerate it tbh. Even Mammon and Lucifer stans complain about the other characters hogging screen time and a lot of them admit to feeling bad for other fans. Levi is pretty much always second to last popularity wise.

I think he'd actually be more liked if they focused more on the jealously instead of making almost every interaction otaku/Ruri-chan related, but it's a bit too late now. I really, really hate how they just pretend otaku culture always existed and that's all Levi ever was. Like at least make him have an obsessive personality and be hyperfixated on novels instead of talking manga in an era before Japan even existed. It's so unbelievably lazy and really takes me out of the story.

Another problem is we only really see him interact with family or people that could enact severe consequences like Diavolo & Barbatos or people protected by the exchange program. He never gets a chance to shine or be cunning. The closest we get is things like him purposefully trying to ruin Christmas for random people online in his Christmas card. I think if he genuinely got jealous of MC and some random demon he would summon lotan almost instantly.

It's especially painful knowing what we had & being so excited to get more only for all of that to get dropped.

In an early devilgram, Be You, Satan gets jealous and feels bad about not having much unique to him and Lucifer comforts him in his own way when the others make it worse. Mammon is the most empathetic though ofc. They also talk about horror movies and Mammon says he doesn't find them scary (& the way it's framed sounds honest, idk if it's a retcon or a lie,) and Satan says "I'm sure we've all witnessed plenty of real-life horrors worse than anything in the movies."

Then when Lucifer asks for a time when he was really angry Satan first casually then gleefully talks about torturing a family to death because a kid set him up to get scolded by their parents. Meanwhile the brothers act wary of him and worry about him getting out of control while Lucifer tells everyone to take cover for their own safety with a smile. Satan happily talks about them begging for their lives and says he wishes they saw it too.

Levi also says he hates hearing about people being happy, but likes hearing about the negative things. While Asmo and Mammon are freaking out he also calls Satan cool. Which shows at least a little bit of his envy for once. Satan also says just the aura of his rage is usually too much for humans which is also interesting.

But back to Diavolo and Barbatos, I don't hate how the whole torture thing isn't super open, it makes sense imo, but I would like to see hints of them hiding it. Especially if Satan or even attic Belphie was the one you could go to to learn more about it. If anyone would defy Diavolo for that it'd be them trying to bring Lucifer down with them, or even just Satan rewarding the hunt for knowledge and not understanding the human psyche fully.

Imagine if instead of a paper thin lie about being human we got a Belphie manipulating us by pretending he was locked up because he was against hurting humans and the whole exchange program was a scam? Or at least if he told us things no one else would about Diavolo that were true so we wouldn't trust him and etc. That's the angle I'm going with in my fanfiction at least, the original story is just so lazy and boring imo.

Yeah I'm not a huge fan of how they handled pacts either, especially considering they don't even get MC's soul. It's way too one-sided to the point where I don't believe someone like Satan would ever offer it, even if the first offer was a trick and he'd get your soul or something. I agree on the whole manipulation thing too, like how is it partnership if one side has complete control over the other?

Even just making it so that demons can fight against if they really don't want to do something like harming each other and having it corrupt MC would make it a million times better.

And that's so sweet, thank you! You've made my days a lot brighter too. Not much makes me happier than infodumping and complaining about Obey Me rn lol.

I really liked Satan's line there too, although I did wish he had more a reaction to everything tbh. That whole section felt a bit too easy imo though, like I kept waiting for it to all go to shit or something. I am glad they went back into more story-based chapters too. I hope they keep that trend and expand on it.

[thatnerdwolfnell]

I'm calling the apprentice here MJ which stands for Main Jcharacter. I wanted to give them something of a proper name and my autocorrect hates MC anyway. They aren't my apprentice they're just supposed to be a generic MC for people to insert their apprentice in for. They are entirely androgynous and completely non descript. I just got sick of typing MC and I refuse to put y/n into shit I write because it looks stupid and keeps fucking with my dyslexic ass.

**trigger warning: suicide**

Lies

For @wilddarkchocolate

Asra was different before he left. Nobody acts like themselves these days. Well, that's not really true. I just didn't know them well enough, I guess. Asra's a caring person, I know he is, he can just act so damn heartless sometimes. When the plague hit everything light and airy about just became streamlined and sharp, calculated. It triggered the part of him that was still living on the streets, that taught him to prioritize. to be kind and generous and give everything you have everytime you can but be ready to cut your losses, and grab what you can and get the hell out. When things go to shit he picks his battles, prioritizes his objectives, protects what he can and damn the rest if he can get his people out alive. I didn't think he'd leave me too though. There's nothing more important to him than the people he cares about. I thought there was nobody on earth more loyal than Asra, that there was no bridge he wouldn't cross and we'd fight everything together. Die together if we had to. Apparently I was wrong. I guess it was selfish to assume that of someone.

"This thing destroyed several villages in the south, we saw it leave Nopal in shambles, and now it's happening here!" He had said. "Remember when we saw them hauling cartfulls of bodies away in Nopal? People rotting away in the streets? In their homes? Remember when I said if that happens here we're getting out? It's been happening here for weeks now! We've done what we can but there's nothing we can do!"

I sighed. "Just stay a little longer, Julian's close to finding a cure and—"

"NO HE'S NOT!" he shouted. "HES COMPLETELY LOST! HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE'S DEALING WITH!"

He flung a jar of sage off the counter letting it shatter on the ground like he was brushing away a mosquito. Like he didn't care.

"ASRA!" He just shook his head and leaned against the wall. Resigned. His face was red. He was crying. "What the hell are you talking about? You've been working on this for months you know that's not true!"

"No. I haven't. Because I can't. All I know is that it's something of magical origin and that it's way out my league. It's more powerful than anything I've ever seen in my life –or even heard of, and Julian's barking up the completely wrong tree."

I had known it had some kind of dark magic attached to it, but so does death. So does lots of things. With the amount of tragedy this plague had caused it wasn't shocking that it had a dark energy around it. But what Asra had said...

"What is it like a curse or something?"

He shook his head again. "No. I don't know. When I was little my parents used to talk about God." He wouldn't look at me. "Then they disappeared. And on the docks... I don't know, I stopped taking it seriously." He shuddered "But this? If it's not the wrath of God I don't what else it could be. It's like somebody knocked a cosmic balance into shit and now its just... spilling."

My hands grew cold. "Is there any way we can balance it?"

He scoffed "Not unless you're a fucking arcana. Or ten."

"Why didn't you say any of this before?"

He slumped down against the wall and sighed. "Well what good would it have done, MJ? I can't just tell them 'hey nobody can do anything to save your children have fun dying!' now can I?"

"You could have at least told Julian! He's been killing himself trying to find a cure! He'll blame himself for-"

"He'd blame himself for the damn RAIN if he could, MJ. I already told him and he said all that meant was there no magical cure, but SCIENCE still had the answer."

I paused. "He's crazy."

Asra wiped his face on his sleeve. "I know." He stood up pulling his bag back over his shoulder. "That's why we need to leave. Now."

"Asra..."

That was all I said. Just his name. How could go with him when people were dying? For all he knew Julian could be right. And there was still something I wanted... I NEEDED to do. I just didn't have the heart to tell him.

That was almost a year ago. We fought more of course, but we didn't really say anything after that. If I'm honest I don't even remember. Just the anger and the magic sparking from the raw emotion in the room.

I am so fucking sick of this dungeon.

Julian's already here of course. I doubt he even left, I don't think he ever does. He's muttering, reading some paper he wrote.

"Samples?" I say as I pass his desk.

He shakes his head. Which means I need to collect them myself. That's not really an inconvenience, especially since I'm going down to the cells anyway.

I haven't felt anything in months, but when I see those people in cages like animals slamming their faces against the bars shrieking at their hallucinations I can at least remember one part of me that's still human. The part that knows that this is fundamentally wrong. And I thought maybe it could be worth it if we found a cure, but now... Now there's nothing left to justify this.

Believe it or not, these are vesuvia's richest, the "lucky" ones if you will. The ones who's families could afford access to "experimental treatments" rather than simply dying surrounded by living corpses in the lazaret. I know I'm going to die here. It's only a matter of time before I catch it and maybe if I can do this, my life will have been worth something. Today's the day I get the plague. I should feel something about that. I don't. Like I said, I haven't felt anything in a long time. Still it took forever to get the guts to do this though.

I take the syringe and walk up to the first cell. I barely even hear the screaming.

"Hi, Miss Walker?" The woman in the cell freezes. Guilt twinges in my gut. It's been a while since anybody has used her name –or even addressed her directly. I actually had to look up her name in the file just now. "I have to take a blood sample, is that okay?" It doesn't actually matter if it's okay or not I have to take it anyway.

"NOOOO!" she wails. "ALEX YOUR FACE! YOUR FACE THEY'RE ON YOUR FACE!" Her cries fade into fitful muttering that I can't make out.

"Okay ma'am, I'm coming in now."

She's huddled in a ball in the back corner of her cell. I grab her arm in the standard method that keeps her from moving away, but she doesn't even react. Which means she'll probably be dead by tonight. I tuck the sample vial in my bag and take off my mask. This part is not standard procedure.

"Hey, you're okay." I try to use the most soothing voice I can. I'm definitely not the ideal choice for comforting people, but nobody else will do it, and I can't watch another person die like this. Scared and alone. I pull off my gloves and gently rub her back. She flinches. Maybe this was a bad idea but it's definitely too late to go back. I'm probably already infected. "You're okay. Where does it hurt?"

"My Alex!" Her hand swats weakly at my face. It was probably supposed to be a loving gesture if she still had her strength.

"Sure. Fine. It's me, Alex" I have no clue who Alex is, I'm just trying to make dying a little nicer.

"You're all grown up, why are you grown? They were eating your face..." She breaks down into sobs.

"Hey, hey don't cry it's okay. Alex is fine, I'm fine." She throws herself into my arms sobbing and blubbering. I pull her close into a hug and I feel her start to calm down. "Yeah I'm fine, we're all fine. it's okay."

"I-I love you –I miss you so much i-" she shudders.

I hesitate. This is what I came here for. There's not much left of her and she needs comfort. "Um...I love you too... Here." I do a quick spell that should take away her pain for a while. She sighs and closes her eyes. "Alright

You get some rest now okay?" She doesn't respond she's already asleep.

I continue down the row of cells in much the same way. Blood sample. Mask off. Lie. "You're okay", "See? No more pain.", "I love you."

I drop off the samples before heading over to the lazaret to do the same there. I'm probably just being selfish. Just trying to feel like a good person. Like this MEANS anything. Maybe staying here at all was selfish. Maybe Asra was right and this was all a naive ego trip to make me feel better about myself. Maybe this is the only way I can justify killing myself. Or the only way I have the courage to do It. I'm being selfish.

I feel nausea twist in my gut as I land at the lazaret.

Looks like I'm not leaving.

It's for the best.

"Hi, I'm MJ.", "Its alright, you're okay.", "You want to see something cool?" "Go to sleep now." "I love you." "Yes your mommy is right here." , "I won't leave you.", "You're not going to die.", "You're safe.", "I love you."

The last thing I remember is a toddler, or maybe a corpse curled up in my lap. Humming softly. I'm holding a tiny hand. I don't quite have the strength to do the spell that will make it hurt less. Not that I deserve it. God it hurts. Where's Asra? What happened to him? The small hand drops. And everything fades to red.