#may be the only halloween post i have aha!

[verthu]

u run into them at 12am wyd

ft. sevennnnnnn by @sadnesshotline

[inlocusmads]

The Adventure of the Unquiet Dead

Nora and Trystan are sent on an infidelity case on Halloween and they are completely unprepared, for there are tax-fraud committing-ghosts, scheming poltergeists and a grave that isn't supposed to be there.

Featuring: Nora Rose, Trystan Thorne from Crimes of Passion

Word Count: 2.5k | No Warnings/Teen |

🎵 Listen to Chattering Nuns as heard on Good Omens.

A/N: First of the many case fics to come :) And this time, it is Spooky Season-themed.

It was your classic “infidelity” case. Tricia “Tracey” May was convinced her husband of twelve years, Roy May was cheating on her. Roy was last seen with the company of a younger woman several weeks ago and Tricia had proof, but it wasn’t enough to bring her husband to justice. She’d also mentioned he’d left abruptly on a “work-related” sabbatical of some kind and ever since she’d seen the scathing incident of her husband-who-might-not-be-her-husband next to a different woman who wasn’t her and she hadn’t heard from him ever since. 

Now, this case was interesting from the others, because not only did it cross the boundaries into a “missing persons” scenario, but it was equally thought-provoking, because the paperwork trail and the phone messages led Trystan and Nora down a long winding road through hurdles, pathways and other unexpected jolts of danger, before turning left and pouring into the St. Mark Cemetery which was under the throes of Halloween. Squashed between two gravestones was a jack-o-lantern, which was a perfect way to honour both Marsha Arnold (1952-2022) and Cynthia Arnold (1954-2021), who were either sisters or married wives. 

“Here he is! Aha! Found him! Roy Gerald Scott May, born 1979, died 2022. Rest in paradise.”

“That’s his name? Roy Gerald Scott May?” Nora stifled a laugh.

“I checked with Luke Watanabe’s records and everything’s where it is supposed to be.”

“So-- we’re dealing with a dead man. Interesting.” Nora rubbed her palms together, a devilish smirk occupying her facial expressions. “Dead men! I love the dead! So quiet-- but the actual problem is, according to Luke’s internet scavenging, Roy should’ve been in a motel in Brooklyn and he has indeed, taken a sabbatical. Now, Tracey is convinced Roy would be seeing this mystery woman there, because that’s what cheating spouses do, don’t they? Just bury the mistake.”

“He quite literally buried his mistake.” Trystan pointed at the gravestone. “The birthday, name, everything’s accurate.”

“Looks like a fresh gravestone. I’d -- you’re not supposed to lick it!”

“I agree. It appears to be straight from the manufacturer’s.” Trystan felt the bland sawdust-like taste on his tongue, before swallowing it with some warranted difficulty. “Tastes synthetic, almost. It can’t possibly be a gravestone. We’ve seen this happen in Drakovia. Lots and lots of times. The only way to dishonour someone long after their passing would be to put up a non-authentic grave stone. One made of, say, papier mache.”

“Well, it can’t be.”

“Only one way to--”

“We are not digging that grave! We’d get mud everywhere and do you want those gravekeepers to yell at us and send anonymous threats via the post? Plus-- there’s always the horror. There are maggots in that thing, isn’t it?”

“Maggots, Maggots. What’s the difference? We’d just have to find a proper shovel and--”

“What we are going to do now is--” Nora squared her shoulders and gave him a proper disapproving look, wanting to look as disapproving as her mother when she brought home an A rather than an A-Plus on her fractions test in third grade. “-- go through the records. That’s exactly where we’d notice small discrepancies. Mulling over the scene of the -- well, Not-Crime isn’t going to help one bit. There’s a cathedral right there. They’d have records for this sort of happening, right?”

“Of course. Cathedrals keep lots of records and don’t they have those scheming nuns?”

“You’ve been reading. And no, nuns work in coventries.”

“Just a little. I promise it is a wonderful book.”

“Well, don’t accuse them of that! We both know what happened to Mr and Mrs Reading.”

“Ah. The Reading Case. Wasn’t pleasant, no. But we got out of it alive and look at us now!”

The St. Mark cathedral was quite extravagant, with the tall ceilings and the stained glass windows of Jesus Christ depicted in various forms. Along the narrow hallway leading up to the prayer chamber, they spotted a nun walking down with a book in her hand.

“My God, you are right. But why have nuns here?”

“It’s a strange church.”

“That isn’t a proper reason.”

“Detective, you’re a detective. How many cases have you solved with “proper reasoning and a step-by-step analysis”, huh? You remind me of one of those annoying petulant pig-tailed children in a schoolhouse, raising their hand and shouting the answer regardless of how correct their logic really is. Sometimes you have to put some faith in the strangeness, how fictitious it can be.”

Nora lightly punched him in the arm.

“Ouch! Now, that wasn’t very nice.”

The two exchanged a brief grin, as if Trystan was indeed right and Nora should loosen up a little. Now, flirting is a rather polarised concept, because despite being hailed as a “throttle” of some kind to the “space shuttle” that is playground romances, it isn’t very well-received in cathedrals. You can imagine the nun’s horror, approaching the two of them; the black-haired one exerting violence on the dark-blonde one and them exchanging a chuckle as if only they knew what it meant. 

“Hello. Erm- is there something I can help you two with?”

“Hello to you too! We are looking for records of this man who might be dead, but he’s also alive at the same time. Quantum leaps, tunnels and so on. Long story, but I promise we are not joking. This remarkable woman here is a private detective and I’m obviously a very well-known former Prince. You might have seen my name prop up in the tabloids.”

“I have seen you! You’re Jimmy Rose’s daughter, aren’t you? Oh, how are you dear?”

“I’ve been better.”

“But--” Trystan started.

“Jimmy was everything. I remember when he was just a little rogue college boy! He’d come here often and help us out with the fundraisers. Oh, how I wish he’d just lived a little longer to see us throw this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations! We’re getting a big tree -- from Europe! Europe! And there’s going to be a high-tea breakfast, brunch and so many other wonderful things included. How I desperately wish he was alive to see the lighting!”

There was a brief pause, where Nora spent several awkward seconds staring dead and cold right into the nun’s dark brown eyes. 

“I was named The New York Whisperer’s Most Commendable Person of the Year.”

The nun let out a little chuckle. “That’s nice dear. Anyway, what are you here for, Jimmy Rose’s Daughter?”

“As Trystan put it, we need to see some records of the cathedral’s graveyard. It’s vitally important.”

“Ah. Records. I’ve been there too. There’s always this one aching thing--”

While Nora looked quite unfazed by the nun’s long monologue about her father, possibly trying to conclude to her own deductions inside her machined head, Trystan had a rather different approach to things, thanks to his experiences living for nearly twenty two years in the Land Where The Baltic Dragon Rests. Drakovia, albeit being a country full of uptight rule-followers with a strict monarchy, was also equally a country full of liars, crooks and swindlers and in order to carry out a murder-escape successfully, there were only seven or so methods to enforce it.

Trystan had carefully studied robberies in the past, mostly due to boredom and being stuck in his fancy “chambers” with nothing to watch on TV and he’d become somewhat of a half-crook himself; except he was trying to fight the bad, so maybe he wasn’t all that terrible after all.

The first was “handling” the object in question, whether it be a grave full of treasures or a rotten corpse in the back of someone’s truck. Taking the object wherever one went would be one of the many ways one could swiftly climb the Crook Corporate Ladder.

Second, “quick disposal”. Drakovia was a country situated in the mountains, so there were plenty of places to ditch and run and start a new life.

Third, “theft”. Theft is commonly defined as “obtaining something without someone’s permission” and it was an easy rule to break, because at some point in everyone’s lives, everyone would’ve taken something without someone’s permission and was quite prevalent among big cheats.

The fourth method involved “strategically moving it away”, as in taking a big chest of illegal treasure and moving it to an unincorporated place where Drakovia had no jurisdiction. Hence, they can never impose their laws on a land they haven’t occupied. (This has led to many sleepless nights for the Drakovian Border Architects redrawing borders and claiming several pieces of land as recklessly as they could, in an attempt to stop crime they dubbed, “The Buried Treasure Offence”)

The fifth called for “deception” of the highest order. Ultimately, the law enforcement officials were just people in the end and it was very, very easy to fool people into thinking something has happened, when really, it hasn’t.

The sixth, “misdirection” (also commonly referred to as Fifth’s Twin Sister) employed several tactics to stray the Law away from the Crook’s hidden moves. Sort of like an overcomplicated, unnecessary-detailed chess gambit, except it almost always succeeded in the end. Whether be it framing someone else for the murder of their fiancee, the crooks thought of everything, really.

The Seventh, also called “the switch” is the replacement of something else with something else. For example, during the 90s, a rogue team of bandits broke into the Royal Treasury and apparently stole nothing. Except they did and left a massive portion of chocolate coins covered in gold paper to fool the guards. It was funny until King Maksim imposed a nation-wide ban on “things that look like one thing but aren’t that thing” which led to a children-led walkout from schools.

Anyway, there were only seven ways to become a crook and it didn’t matter if you were a small-time fraud in Drakkos or a big-time thief in New York. Crooks always marched the same way, along to the same beat and to the same rhythm. And both Nora and Trystan operated under the assumption that Roy May was a big old crook.

Now, what did Roy May really do? It was a simple answer actually:

Roy May didn’t do anything, because he was already dead for several months now. 

So as these two brilliant “detectives” decided to listen to the nun’s long speech, waiting for the prospect of those records; Trystan being wonderfully great at remembering things but not knowing how to apply them and Nora being good at applying things and remembering things, but confusing them because they tied up to form an impenetrable knot that required a quantum computer to sort it out, let us take a look at what really happened.

It started with Tracey May, grieving the death of her “husband” in the month of September; somewhere close to the end.

In order for a New York courthouse to process all that death information, it took them precisely one-and-a-half months, because New York is a densely populated city if you already didn’t know and getting paperwork done was akin to queuing for coffee, because by the time you’re at the front of the line, you have aged at least ten years.

So Tracey had to do something. 

The first thing she did was employ handling the task, which typically involved “grieving wife behaviour”. First, she registered her husband’s passing, filled several forms, prepared the coffin ready to go and did everything she could. But unfortunately, it was nearing October, which was very, very close to the freezing season. Funerals are often best suited for the spring, which explained why Ben’s Amazing Graveyard Supplies closed for the entirety of the Halloween season (thanks to rogue teenagers getting them and scaring their friends and thus, depleting actual people in need of Amazing Graveyard Supplies of resources.)

So she had to resort to blatant theft, grabbing her neighbour’s paper-mache gravestone decoration, sending it out for some carving work and thus, couriering it to the cathedral for arrangements. (Her neighbour was extremely normal that way. Halloween decorations, three whole weeks before the thirty-first? See? Normal behaviour.)

Then, she employed strategically moving the problem away and quick disposal at the same time. One quick funeral later with just one priest present, Tracey was done. However, it wasn’t the most profitable outcome of all the outcomes. The funeral cost enough and now she couldn’t afford that beach house she’d wanted. And she had a long list of things too; from sun-hats to dresses, she wanted the dream.

By then, it had been a week already and the New York Courthouse still hadn’t processed the information. So Tracey looked into her book and searched for the next best thing: deception.

“Hello!” she’d called Phone One. “Please book a reservation on behalf of my husband! Yes! It is apparently a sabbatical. His name is Roy. Thank you!”

“Hi!” she’d called Phone Two. “Clarie’s Boutique? Oh lovely! Can you send a couple of low-cut dresses please? Pictures, yes! I’ll be visiting in a few days, it is my bachelorette party soon. Yes! Oh sure! Just send them over to this number! Preferably a model wearing it. It’s not opera season yet, but I’ll drop by Sydney whenever I can!”

“Bonjour, Pierre!” she’d called Phone Three. “Pierre, I have a huge favour to ask. My sister-in-law can’t make it to our big wedding, so I need you to help me crop her picture and put it up next to my husband’s. It’s the only thing I can do for him, hoping it’d be of some consolation. Yeah-- just a hugging pose will do fine! I want to frame it for him! Thank you! And of course I’ll visit Paris soon!”

“Attorney Ives? This is Tricia.” she’d called Phone Four. “My husband cheated on me and has run away. I’ve tried contacting him but he’s never here. I’ve done so many favours for him, loved him and cherished him to the point of metaphorical suffocation. Can I sue him for emotional damage?”

By this time, we're at Week Two. Now, any valid sane person would go, "Come on! Court stuff takes at least weeks and weeks to process!" and you might be right, but Tricia, engaging in several methods of fraud (that won't be spoken of here, as to not inspire anyone to commit several degrees of income fraud), managed to successfully pull it off.

Now, you might also be wondering, “But this isn’t possible! Roy May is dead! He can’t show up!” but according to the New York Courthouse, he is actually alive, until the Suited-Up people intervene and verify his death. And Tricia is one smart woman who moves fast. So what happens when the defendant ignores several court summons? You, the plaintiff, gets everything. Well not “everything”, because “things” are finite-- things, but the point is, you get what you asked for, after lying, cheating, swindling and stealing. 

Then again you might also, also wonder, “But that’s stupid! Tricia could’ve just taken things from her husband’s bank account! She’s his surviving partner.” and though, yes, everything could’ve been avoided, it wasn’t simply enough for Tricia. Getting his money was one thing. Getting even more compensation was another and though Roy was dead, his family wasn’t.

So, thanks to legal deception and pulling off several shenanigans, Tricia now owned everything- the May Family Estate, the entirety of the May Family’s wealth, their horses, everything, because the court ruled it was a perfectly reasonable demand and she did have Attorney Ives, who was the best crook in the business.

Before the Mays could accuse her of fraud, Tricia knew she required even more proof. The court bought into her shenanigans because of the one advantage she had: the defendant wasn’t present to make his case. But the Mays weren’t stupid (they were). They demanded to see the papers and try to settle the matter internally. So Tricia consulted the best consulting detective agency in the business.

“Hi. I’m a terribly lonely woman whose husband has cheated on me. Here is his information.” she’d called Phone Five. “Thank you, Detective Rose.”

It was inching closer and closer to the dreaded Two-Month milestone, which meant Roy would legally be declared dead on paper. But Tricia had one thing Roy didn’t: a life. And money. “Lots and lots of moneyyy!” as she put it.

The final move in her long gambit was the misdirection followed by the switch. 

“Hello, Sister Mary! Hi! You’ll soon be meeting a woman!” she’d rung up Phone Six. "And she is Jimmy Rose's daughter! Yes, so incredibly traumatised. You should ask her about it, talk about the Church's Trauma Programs. Oh Sister Mary, you are the absolute best! She is very -- very traumatised. Needs a lot of help. Yes. Thank you!"

So as you can clearly see, while Detective Nora Rose and her expert partner, Trystan Thorne were both caught up with the chattering nun, Tricia May bid a fond, permanent farewell to New York, grabbed the next flight en route to Sydney for the Autumn Opera Season on the 31st of October.

Sometimes Halloween is unpredictable that way. 

A/N: Inspired by this specific magic trick performed by Penn and Teller on their show, Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Go watch it! It is just, mind-blowingly amazing.

I hope you enjoyed this little piece! This one, specifically was a 3-AM Project, so if I sound weird, it is probably my stupid head acting up again. And if I get any bit of legality wrong, that is on me. So if I ever got it wrong, just let me know!

This is one of those cases which Nora & Trystan are both unable to solve. They eventually do solve it in the coming months, but the perpetrators are gone by then, so there really is no use barking up a tree that's already uprooted itself and had run away.

The title is a reference to a Doctor Who episode, which is coincidentally, very Halloween-themed, featuring ghosts from other dimensions and Charles Dickens.

Tag List:

Perma: @ofmischiefandmedicine, @quixoticdreamer16 @tessa-liam Crimes only: @aallotarenunelma @ao719

Please let me know if you'd like to be tagged for my works. Since I lost a majority of my works & my tag list in my "reboot", I have a hard time recalling things. You can always DM me, send an ask, reblog or comment or get the info to me any way you like. Currently there are 4 lists: Perma, Crimes of Passion only, Open Heart only & Wake the Dead only.

[daimere]

Nanowrimo update

Here I am trying to write this update for the third time. Here we go! I don’t remember what my last update was about because a few days later, I got hit with the flu hard. At that point, I had written 17k words with no plot to be seen. Well, other than boy meets girl. Or monster meets girl. Or really girl meets monster. In the middle of the feverish haze, I was like, “wow, does this story suck? Should I be writing this? Maybe I just suck overall.” I still don’t know where else to take this novel. I have a few good scenes left. In my daydreaming, I haven’t came across a “aha moment” that will fuel the rest of this novel.

Side note: I have written an entire book with no main plot. I had the b and c plot because this was book 2 in a 4-5 book series. I have an idea what I actually wanted for the main plot. It would be Nice Guy (tm) gets rejected and joins up with Bad Woman to cause FMC to have The Struggles(tm) while dealing with plot b and c. I just didn’t know what to do to create all that stuff between the b/c plot.

Back to the Nanowrimo 2022: I really don’t know where to go from here. I really wanted to try to query this to someone that was specifically looking for a high heat monster romance under 75k.

Here’s the current WIP lineup with some ideas: Saved by the Pirate: I did write a bit on this one this week. They still haven’t boned. They are currently fighting over their feelings.

Hitting the Boss: Haven’t touched this one. I roughly edited it and then posted a new episode on Kindle vella for Monday.

Don’t go to Sleep: I need to edit and upload a new episode for tomorrow or Thursday. This one also was roughly edited last week while I had flu. Editing this one is harder because I am having to shift a lot of things. This is #nanowrimo 2010? story.

Hunting his Prey: This one I last wrote on a week ago. I think she may be filing a police report to another wolf as her mate finds her again. So ya know rage ensues.

Monster at the Haunt: I haven’t written more on this but I am not forgetting this story in case I get accepted into the monster anthology that I applied for. Fingers crossed!

Untitled Holiday Short story: Okay, I just thought of this a few days ago. I don’t have any holiday themed stories on vella. Since I was already thinking of doing a set of shorts to complete between bigger stories to make a bigger book in the end, this could go there. Idea is that a woman (supernatural or human, I am not sure) goes to a silly Halloween party in December party. She hooks up with a supernatural or monster of some kind. What monster? I don’t know! But falling in love ensues. Is this an awful idea?? I could probably do something with this in a week to start posting December 1st.

Monster under my bed: he just ate the guy. she told him to pay rent. And now I have to figure out what happens next.

The Alpha’s Demon: They also haven’t boned. I need to update inkitt/wattpad. I have gotten two reviews this week. I haven’t forgotten it. I just haven’t had a moment. And I am kind of lost. Like when will they bone? The sequel will be a why choose with Ruby. That will be a mmmff.

And I got my kindle vella bonus today and I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for a little more than I got. I only made 4 dollars more than my first month. Then again, I didn’t get any crowns this month and I don’t know if I will ever get another crown. I don’t have a fandom yet.

[beepboop358]

Hey! im the anon about Mike telling the others about Will's episode, I get your point and I agree on that, but I was actually talking about the scene in episode 4 that season, where Mike tells them that Will saw a shadow in the sky, that's wha tI meant wth Mike telling the others. But I guess it has a similar reason to the one in episode 3.

Thank you again ♡

Hey again anon!

whoops, I'm sorry! Here's the scene you originally meant :) I guess this will be like a part 2 to the other post aha <3

So at this point Will has already been possessed by the mindflayer, and Lucas and Dustin are aware he possibly has true sight. After his "episode" on the field, where he gets possessed, Will doesn't show up to school the next day, which worries Mike.

Mike feels like he needs to say something to Lucas and Dustin about the shadow, in order to figure out if Will is in danger, or if anything bad has happened to Will already.

Dustin then goes on to explain that in D&D having true sight can't let someone interact with the other plane, just see into it. And Mike worries that this may be different, and that Will is in real danger.

In this scene, Mike still doesn't reveal details about the episode on halloween. He doesn't mention everything Will tells him, such as that the shadow was alive and Will felt like it was coming for him:

That information stays between them, which shows that Mike is committed to honoring Will's wishes, and doesn't share more than absolutely necessary, and he only shares the necessary information out of genuine concern for Will.

thanks again for the ask! I hope you're well xx <3

[noonaishere]

Work of Art [J.JH] - thirty-four | the salon is open

“The salon is open!” You held your gloved hands up and shook them. Taeyong and Eunji did the same. “You didn’t have to copy me.”

“I wanted to,” Eunji said like a little kid who was just spoken to sternly.

“I wanted to too,” Taeyong nodded.

“Oh, well…” you did it again and they both did the same. “Anyway. Eunji, I think we’ll start with you so the bleach can sit since you have *so much* hair.”

“Okay,” she smiled.

A few moments later you were carefully applying bleach to Eunji’s hair - quite a lot of it, because it was so long - and Taeyong sat at the table playing Animal Crossing. 

“Won’t Jack look a little weird with long, bubblegum pink hair?” You asked.

Eunji  laughed and played with the hairdresser's cape. “I’m going to get a wig for it.”

“Aha,” you nodded. “Is Jungwoo wearing a dress?”

“Of course. I’m going to make him the prettiest girl any of you have ever seen.”

You smiled and went back to her hair.

“If you don’t fall in love, I’ll be offended.”

You laughed.

“Oh,” Taeyong paused his game and sat up. “Can I put us all into a group chat together?”

“A salon group chat?” You asked with a wry smile.

“Well, so we can organize next time we want to ask you to do our hair. Then we can all hang out at the same time again.”

“I might have to start charging for my time, then.” You laughed.

“Aww,” Eunji pouted.

You laughed.

“I just mean, it’d make it easier to organize a day.” Taeyong explained.

“Yeah, it’s a good idea. Go ahead and put me in it,” you said, wiping bleach off of Eunji’s ear.

“I really like this green,” you said, painting it onto Taeyong’s hair. He was now in the cape and Eunji was playing Animal Crossing with your account on Jaehyun’s Switch, cape still on and her hair in a showercap as the bleach pulled the color out of her hair.

Taeyong nodded happily and you pulled the dye brush away for a moment so he couldn’t accuse you of getting any on his ear this time. “I think it’s a good punk Frankenstein color.”

“Mhm,” you said as you went back to painting.

“Would it be really hard to get it out after?”

“After what?”

“After Halloween.”

“You want to change it right after?”

“Maybe not right after…”

You laughed softly. “Well, we can wait until most of it washes out and then try a bleach bath to get the rest, but green stains really well in my experience. So you may or may not need a haircut at some point. Or a color that can cover it.”

“Hmmm…” He trailed off as he thought.

“What do you want to do next?”

“Oh, I saw a picture someone posted to instagram of a two-tone look their stylist did, and I wanted to do something similar.”

“What colors?”

“I was thinking pink and purple?”

You stood in front of him and narrowed your eyes for a moment as you imagined it. He looked at you expectantly.

“You might have to go blue then purple then pink to get rid of the green, but I think I know what we’re going to do.”

“You know?”

“Mhm.”

You went back to putting the green on for him.

The door opened. “Why does it smell like--” 

Jaehyun looked into the dorm to see Taeyong and Eunji, both with dye on their head, playing Animal Crossing together at the table, and you lying on the floor on your back.

“...Okay.”

You looked over. “Hi.”

“Why are you on the floor?”

“My neck hurt from all the…” you gestured the idea of putting bleach and dye on hair “...looking down from bleaching and dying, so I’m laying down to straighten it out.” You lay your head back.

He nodded and looked at Taeyong and then at Eunji. “Is that my Switch?”

“Sorry, y/n said I could use it.”

You looked up again. “Sorry, I’ll take it back if you don’t want her to.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine.” He laughed, “Is she playing your character?”

You nodded and laid back.

“You’ve outsourced your labor?”

You laughed. “Only by accident.”

He nodded and smiled. “Okay, I’m going to my room, then.”

You nodded back. “Nice seeing you.”

“You too.”

Jaehyun walked around you and went to his room.

The alarm you had set went off and you sat up. “Ooof. Okay, who wants to get washed first?”

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Tag list: @tansyfleurwhisper​, @sista7-7​, @hey-thatslove

[If you’d like to be added to the taglist, just ask :D 🍑]

[vvishes]

“Friends forever, ‘kay?”

🫐﹕𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐎 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐘𝐔 (non-timeskip) , 𝐆𝐍!𝐘/𝐍

🫖﹕𝐘𝐄𝐒 (chapter 60-61 ; ep 20-21)

❕﹕𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓 (recap of chifuyu and his dead friend)

🗒﹕aha hello , this is my first writing post some fluff and a bit of angst. i feel this may come into two parts as you can’t immediately feel comfortable with a friend.

You could say that Chifuyu is a clingy person. And by clingy, he’s very, very clingy. Ever since 1st Divison Captain passed away during Bloody Halloween, he was left with nothing but emptiness and sorrow. But one day, that emptiness and sorrow felt like it had just blown away with the breeze.

L/N Y/N. A daring human they are. Not only are they quite clever when it comes to situations, they’re bold. They stand out from the crowd. That’s the type of person Chifuyu likes to hang out with; and lucky for him, they’re miraculously both in the same school.

It was a Thursday afternoon and you were walking through the hallways after hours of tedious work. Moments before passing the school gate you see a figure in the corner of your eye. It must’ve been your imagination. No, it couldn’t be, you’ve seen that person somewhere.

Backing up slowly you lean back on one leg to see a person laying in front of a tree. Indeed you had seen the person before, was he a second year? Now, you were a very curious being, it wouldn’t hurt to ask who they were, would it?

It took took a few steps to reach the boy and when you arrived at his gaze, he looked up with a slightly confused look.

“Erm, hello,” he greeted awkwardly.

“Uh, hi, are you Matsuno-san?” you asked, tilting your head. The boy sighed as he stood up from the grassy floor, hands in his pockets. “Yes, I’m Matsuno Chifuyu. Also, have you not heard of personal space?”

You back up a little, guilty for your nosy choices of approaching the fake-blond. “Ah, sorry. You just seemed.. how do I put this in a non-harming tone? You looked sad in a way.” He faintly smiled to show that he is fine when deep inside, he wasn’t. “Don’t worry, it’s just about a friend of mine.” A friend of his, I wonder what happened, you think. “Ehh, what exactly happe— oh my god! I’m so sorry for barging into your personal life!”

You started to think that coming up to Chifuyu was a bad idea until you hear a small chuckle. “Don’t worry, there’s no need for apologies. Have you heard of Baji-san? Baji Keisuke?”

Little did the introvert know, you had no idea who this Baji Keisuke person was. Many questions filled your brain, resulting in a carousel of assumptions—but all you could do in reality was cock your head.

Chifuyu, realising that you have no clue to who he is, leaned on the tree behind him, crossing his arms. His lips formed a smirk, “he is.. he was a very badass person, I looked up to him with my soul.” Now this just made you intrigued. You wanted to know more about this Baji Keisuke person. “Well, what did he look like?”

“Wow, I don’t know where to start! Jet black hair, brown eyes that could probably pierce your soul, ooh and don’t forget those sharp canine teeth!”

You couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s rambling and how much he adores Baji, it’s almost as if he was created in his imagination.

“You must be very good friends then! I really want to meet him now!” you say, grinning, only to be disrupted by Chifuyu’s expression. Indeed he was sad, his eyes starting to cloud with tears. You look at him sympathetically, but what really was going on in your head was you asking yourself Did I do something wrong?

You try asking him if he was okay until you were stopped by Chifuyu rubbing his eyes, preventing any tears from trickling down his cheeks. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Baji-san is currently busy right now.” He lied, and for sure you could see it too.

“Liar. You just don’t want me to meet him, huh?” You regretted what you said, knowing that Chifuyu is human and humans have feelings. Things are going on in the world that others don’t know about—and that’s what people forget about.

Chifuyu looked at the grass, trying not to make eye contact with you because he knew he’d just start tearing up. “Personal reasons, I don’t really have time to say what they are.” He said whilst taking his phone out of his right pocket. “Well, I better get going now; I need to feed Peke J. Uh, what’s your name?” he asks, looking back at you. “L/N, L/N Y/N.”

“Well, see you tomorrow, L/N-san.”

again , i feel there should be two parts because yk , comfort within others doesn’t happen immediately. i recon ‘fuyu should get y/n to come over because it’s a more private space. but either way , hope you enjoyed this :D

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #361

“the world is a vampire, sent to drain”

Have you ever been through a phase of thinking emo guys were hot? A phase? Hunny, they're still hot lmao. Have you ever dated someone that could play an instrument? Yeah. Juan could play guitar, and Girt played I think the tuba in band. What’s so horrible about wearing leggings like pants? I've actually never understood why people freak about this. Like so long as they're not sheer and fit you fine, why exactly is this a problem...? Weirdest picture you’ve ever taken of yourself? Oh dear. When someone claims to be suicidal, do you take them seriously? FUCK you if you don't. Honest to god, fuck you. This is NOT something you just don't even blink at. Even if it's surprising to hear from that person, you take that shit seriously and try to talk to them about it. Ever been kicked out of anywhere? Colleen's house. Ever had Skittles vodka? No, but that shit sounds good. Ever punched someone in the face? No. If you haven’t, do you want to now? Uh, I'll pass. Do you truly HATE anyone? No one I know personally, but people like rapists, pedophiles, etc., I sure as hell do hate them. Most historical/famous landmark/building you’ve been to in your country? No clue. Favorite flavor for most things? Strawberry, watermelon, or blue raspberry, depending on what the thing is. Ever taken pictures in a photobooth? Who with? Yeah: Summer, Jason, and I'm pretty sure Sara and I did? What is the closest book to you? It's a full collection of Poe's poetry that Mom got me. Are you reading it or someone else? I'm not right now. I may eventually. Milkshakes or Sundaes? Hm, I gotta go with milkshakes. Do you like watermelons more or cherries? I'm not a fan of either, but I'd definitely pick watermelons over cherries. Who was the last person you ate with? My family and I went to Ichiban (a Japanese steakhouse that we have here where they cook directly in front of you) yesterday to celebrate Nicole's graduation. Do you prefer broccoli or asparagus? Broccoli. I hate asparagus. Do you have any bug bites? No. Do you have any flowers in your room? No. Do you know anyone that owns horses? Loosely, anyway. It's a family I took pictures for, and I still have the mother on Facebook. When you were little, did you ever go to feed the ducks? Yes, I LOVED doing that. Don't feed ducks bread, by the way. Have you seen any of the seven wonders of the world in person? No. Have you ever won anything out of one of those crane machines? Yeah. Can you remember being taught how to ride a bike? Was it hard for you? Yeah. I don't THINK it was too hard. Did you get carded the last time you ordered an alcoholic drink? No. Do you know anyone who uses medical marijuana? No, it's not legal here. Do you know anyone who’s died in childbirth? No. Which was the worst phase in your life? 2016 was. Towards the end of '15 was the breakup, and through aaaaaaall of 2016, I was just dead inside and totally useless. Every day I wanted to be dead. Can you remember your last dream? I had a nightmare some stupid kids were fucking with my snake Venus, so I was trying to protect her. Do you ever use Snapchat? No, I don't have one. What’s your favorite musical? I don't like musicals. What happened at the last party you went to? Summer prepared some little Halloween treat bags for us guests, we watched a horror movie, and everyone but me smoked some weed. Are you more comfortable sitting or lying down? I would assume everyone is more comfortable lying down... Have you ever been a fan of N*Sync? Yeah, as a kiddo. Favorite kind of cake: Red velvet, yum yum. What is your middle name? Marie. TV shows and anime you watch regularly: None. Do you want to have a big family in the future? Just a big family of pets with a spouse. What was the last thing you did that gave you a rush? Oh boy, I couldn't tell ya. Is Vegas one of your must-see places? No. Pet rat: yay or nay? YAY!! I've had many, but I don't think I'll get any more. I've just had bad luck with them, save for one that died of cancer at an old age. Would you call yourself a writer? Written any stories lately? Yeah. I haven't really written any big RP posts of the late, but I did recently write a poem. Are needles something that you’re afraid of? Okay, so this is super weird. Tattoos and piercings? No problem. Little prick, getting blood drawn, that sorta little stuff, no problem. I am, however, NOT a fan of big needles, which used to not be an issue. It's actually kinda recent, and it's why I'm nervous about my second Covid shot coming up, aha... What was the last unexpected hug you gave/received? I really haven't had an unexpected hug since Jason asked for one before he left my house after our final talk. Who was the last person you held hands with? Either my niece or nephew. Have you ever been in a parade before? If so, was it on TV? No. Do you have a fear of rollercoasters? If so, were you ever forced to go on one? If you don’t, what is your favorite rollercoaster? I have a big fear of them, yeah. Post a picture of you from a recent time. Don't feel like it. Who was the last person to give you some of their food? Miss Tobey let me try one of her dumplings yesterday when we were at Ichiban for dinner. The last person you met, what was your first impression of them? I actually didn't quite like her. Have you ever been to a football game? Yeah, because my sister was a cheerleader. Do you like the snow or rain better? Snowwww. Have you ever faked sick? Yeah. What is your blood-type? A-. Have you ever eaten a bug? Not knowingly. The last time you were in the fridge, what were you looking for? Salsa. Mom got these veggie chips at the store and they apparently taste better with salsa, which it did. They weren't great, though. Are you listening to anything at the moment? It's Gab Smolders' turn for me to watch her Resident Evil 8 upload, haha. I'm literally watching three different people (Mark, John Wolfe, and her) play it. Can you take a bra off with one hand? I haven't tried, I think? I doubt I could, given that I'm not exactly small. Do you have an innie or an outie bellybutton? Innie. Can you crack your neck? NOOOOO AND DO NOT DO IT AROUND ME YOURSELF. Are you donating your organs? Yeah; what am I gonna use 'em for? It just seems like a waste otherwise. They're just gonna decay. When was the last time you talked to you mom? Before she left with Tobey to go to the store. Do you like pumpkin pie? NO. I don't like pie, and I hate pumpkin. Do you own your own computer? Yeah. Did you ever have to share a room with one of your siblings? Yeah; growing up, my little sister and I did. Is there any piece of technology you want to buy? I REALLY want a PS4. Did you ever have a night light when you were a kid? Yeah. What TV show had you hooked from the very first episode? Meerkat Manor, 100%. I had to know that Shakespeare was okay. What is your least favorite Sour Patch Kids color? Orange or red, can't pick. Have you ever seen the movie Matilda? YES! I love that movie. What is the weirdest chant you have ever heard? Uh, idk. How are you feeling? Annoyed and hurt as fuck because shit Miss Tobey says without thinking for a single goddamn second. I'm honestly beyond sick of this woman. Do you know anyone with a unibrow? I don't think so. Doughy or saucy pizza? Doughy. Do you have anything that’s limited edition? Yeah. Do you have an air freshener in your bathroom? If so, what scent? I... think we do? If so though, I just don't notice it. The bathroom doesn't smell like anything in particular. Do you like Jalapeno Cheetos? Oh man, I forgot about those! Love 'em. Are you a fan of salads? Yeah, they're fine. I have to be in the mood for one, though. What’s one random thing that you don’t like? Uhhh carrots. What’s one random thing that you like? Shrimp. Do you like chicken noodle soup? I don't. Is it easy for you to accept loss? NOPE. I'm the absolute worst with it. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? I really wanna see Sara, so take me to Illinois. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? No, but a former best friend had her birthday the day before mine. Is there someone you just can’t imagine your life without? Not anymore, honestly. After Jason, I stopped that "I can't live without you" mindset. Truth is I'm going to lose people through life, and I'm not attaching my ability to happily exist to anyone. Are you wearing a ring? Two. Have your friends ever stopped by your house just to say hi? In the past, yeah. Do you like Chinese food? Not really. I only ever get pork fried rice and eggrolls from Chinese restaurants. Have you done any shopping for something in specific recently? No. Do you still live in your hometown? No. What was the reason behind the last time you stayed up all night? I don't recall, honestly. I haven't done that in a very long time. Have you ever had a UFO sighting or a sighting of strange lights in the sky? A very strange light, yes. Have you ever seen your mom or dad drunk? Yes to both. Seeing Mom drunk is very, very rare though. My dad was an alcoholic when I was growing up, so I saw him drunk plenty. Do your parents vote? Mom does, idk about Dad. Who’s the most romantic person you ever went out with? Jason. What restaurant has the best fries? Nowhere has anything on Bojangle's, y'all. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? No.

[miguel-manbemel]

Thomas’ Spooky Halloween-y Date

It’s Halloween, and as I promised, here’s the Halloween one-off special Sanders Sides story I promised two weeks ago. It is out of the main narrative of the Aspects & Fanfics story, and it’s also formatted in regular prose instead of the habitual script format the main story follows. Before you read it, know that the plot is set two months after the latest Sanders Asides, “Flirting with Social Anxiety”, so if you haven’t watched it yet, don’t read any further until you watch it or you’ll get spoilered right from the first line. But it’s been more than two weeks, so I won’t be marking it as spoilers anymore. I hope you enjoy this spooky but romantic story and I’ll see you in two weeks, back to the regular posting schedule with the main story. Happy Halloween!

WARNINGS: It’s a romantic story featuring moments of drama and death mentions. It’s impossible to avoid them if we set the story on Halloween, though, and expect also mentions to ghosts and spooky creatures.

Thomas parked the car in front of Nico’s door. There were children everywhere, going from door to door with their trick-or-treat. He always loved that day of the year, ever since he was a child. He would always enjoy that day no matter what, but this year, it was his first Halloween since he started dating Nico, and the first Halloween he wouldn’t spend single since he had forgotten how long. He knew this year would be special. When Nico phoned him to come along for Halloween, he wouldn’t even hesitate. He always enjoyed his company and spending Halloween with him couldn’t be a better plan.

“I wonder if he’s prepared something for Halloween.” Thomas thought to himself “Nico is the most romantic guy I have ever met in my life and I’m sure he’s gonna make this day spookily fantastic. He loves Nightmare before Christmas, I’m sure he enjoys Halloween just as much as I do.”

“Of course he does, Thomas!” Roman said from the backseat.

“Oh, Roman, you startled me!”

“Sorry. But what are you waiting for inside your carriage, Thomas? Go to his door already and knock! Don’t keep him waiting!”

“Easy, Roman.” Virgil said, appearing next to him. “First, Thomas must check that he’s looking his best. You don’t want Linda to ruin his appearance in front of Nico, do you?”

“I checked myself already, Virgil. I combed my hair carefully and used gel so that Linda doesn’t visit us tonight. Wow, I made Linda sound as if she was the Oogie-Boogie Man.”

“She can be more terrifying, Thomas, especially in romantic occasions.” Virgil said “Are you sure you look okay? Check yourself again in the mirror.”

Thomas sighed and looked at himself in the driving mirror. There was no sign of cowlicks. At Roman’s suggestion, with the telephonic guidance and advice of Talyn, he had put a little dash of natural-looking makeup on his cheeks, and his face looked brighter and healthier than ever, with no visible trace of the ugly green pimple in the middle of the forehead he had woken up with that morning. Nope, he was looking his best and there was nothing to be worried about. Nico already liked is regular appearance, and tonight he was going to fall in love with him again.

“I look fine, Virge, please settle down, at least for tonight. I wanna have a calm and lovely Halloween date with Nico and I want everything to be perfect. Please, I beg you, grant me that wish, at least for tonight.”

“Okay, Thomas, I’ll try. You know I don’t work like that, but I’ll try for you.”

“Thanks, emo friend.” Thomas said, smiling at Virgil through the mirror. “Okay, my face and hair look fine, I just put on my best perfume, and I brought a little bag of Halloween candy that doesn’t include candy corn. What could go wrong?”

Thomas got out of the car and walked to the door. He rang the bell and waited there. He couldn’t help smiling when he noticed a bunch of creepy pumpkins next to the front window, full of cobwebs.

“He truly lives Halloween just as passionately as I do.” he thought “If soulmates do exist, I think he could be my own soulmate, or at least the closest to a soulmate I could ever get. We’ve been dating only for a couple of months and I’m feeling closer and closer to him each and everyday. I… I love him.”

The door opening interrupted his train of thought. Nico appeared there, with a skeleton makeup and a tattered black suit full of dust. The gloomy makeup couldn’t conceal the brightness of his smile. Thomas smiled back.

“Uh… trick or treat?” Thomas said, handing the bag of candy. “You should have warned me to come in a costume.”

“It’s okay,” Nico said “I wouldn’t have wanted you to come any other way. You look gorgeous as usual.”

Thomas smiled bashfully. He had forgotten the feeling of his appearance being complimented on a regular basis and Nico always knew how to boost his moral and make him feel like the handsomest man in the world. Since he had met him, he had started to forget the feeling of doubting his self worth. Nico always reminded him of how important he was, how much worthy of love he was and how much his presence in the world mattered, no matter what, and that’s what he loved the most about his boyfriend: that first and foremost, Nico reminded Thomas of all the reasons he had to love himself on a regular basis and pushed him to love himself above all else. Thomas felt really lucky to have met him at the mall. It was a chance in a million and Lady Luck, for once, had been generous with him.

“Thank you, I guess. You’re gonna make me blush.”

“I’m only saying the truth, Thomas. But don’t stay there, come in… if you dare…” he ended this phrase with a creepy voice and an over the top spooky laugh that made Thomas chortle.

“Of course…” Thomas said entering the house. “Did you have any plans for tonight?”

“First and foremost, dinner will be ready in no time. I made pizza rolls. Didn’t buy them, I made them from scratch. They’re in the oven right now.

“Homemade pizza rolls? That sounds delicious!”

“I know they’re your favorite food and since you’re now following healthy habits and you don’t eat them as often anymore, I wanted to make them just for you, for this special occasion. I just hope I haven’t messed up with the recipe and that I don’t end up burning them.”

“Gosh, Nico. You’re always thinking on me and on what’s best for me. I really feel so lucky to have you in my life.”

“I am the lucky one, Thomas. Your sunshiny disposition always makes my day a thousand times brighter. Of course I want you to have the best of the best, because you’re the best of the best for me.”

“I love you, so much.”

“Not as much as I love you.”

“Is this a competition about who loves who more? Because I intend to win it.”

“I won’t make it easy for you, honey.”

Nico kissed Thomas. Then they stared at each other for a couple of seconds, as if the world had stopped around them. Roman and Virgil, a couple of steps afar, watched the scene. Roman was crying out of emotion. Virgil’s eyeshadow couldn’t be shinier in purple.

“Gosh. Could he be any cuter?” Roman said, squealing.

“I really think Thomas’ life has only got better and better since we met him. I wonder if there’s a top for this turmoil of excitement he makes me feel every time Thomas is with him.”

“Glad to have you aboard the romance train, Virge. This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for you, so thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Roman. I don’t regret that push at all, and…” suddenly Virgil became really serious and his eyeshadow suddenly turned black. “Wait, wait a second… What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Roman inquired.

“Don’t you sense that smell?” suddenly panicking “Something’s burning! Quickly, set the alarms! Everybody save yourselves! Thomas!”

Thomas’ suddenly perceived the smell too.

“Nico, something’s burning!”

“Oh, no!” Nico said, scared, running to the kitchen.

Thomas followed him. There was black smoke coming out of the oven. Nico quickly tried to open the oven, but in the rush, he forgot to wear a glove and burned his hand.

“Ouch, my hand!” he yelled, in pain.

“Be careful!” Thomas said, grabbing the glove on the counter next to the oven. Then he opened the oven and took the tray out. All the pizza rolls were completely charred and black. He left the tray in a safe place on the counter, coughing a little bit out of the smoke. Then he opened the window to let the smoke out and turned the oven temperature off.

“Aw, my hand…” Nico said, grimacing in pain. “This looks like a bad burn.”

“Let me see” Thomas said. There were blisters on Nico’s palm. “This doesn’t look good. Put your hand under the running tap. Cold water may be helpful to relieve the pain.”

Thomas opened the tap and Nico put his hand under the water stream.

“I’m so sorry, Thomas.” Nico said with a sad face, also grimacing in pain at times “I think I lost notion of time and I messed everything up…”

“It’s okay, Nico. It was an accident, and the most important thing for me is that you’re okay.”

After a couple of minutes, Thomas turned the water off and dried Nico’s hand carefully, then they both went to the living room. Logan appeared next to the couple and examined the wound.

“The burn doesn’t look bad enough to call 911, but it’ll need a little bit of care. Has Nico got some bandages?”

“Have you?” Thomas asked.

“Have I what?” Nico said, confused.

Thomas remembered that Nico couldn’t hear or see Logan as he was in his imagination.

“Oh, sorry, I was thinking to myself and forgot to speak aloud. I meant if you have some bandages.”

“Oh… Yes, in the medical kit, on that closet under the stairs.”

“Okay, you sit down at the table and I’ll go fetch the medical kit.”

“Do you have medical knowledge, Thomas?”

“Only the basics, you know, first aid assistance and all. I took a couple of courses when I was in college studying chemical engineering. Cause you never know, they could come in handy at any time. And see? The time has come.” Thomas got the medical kit from the closet and carried it to the table, then examined its contents. “Aha! Here are the bandages… and look, here’s some burn cream.”

“An aloe vera burning ointment… A wise choice to treat burns,” Logan said, “much better than the traditional oil-based burn ointment which can do more harm than good depending on the type of burn.”

“You really got this thought out, didn’t you, Nico?” Thomas said.

“Well,” Nico said, bashfully, “let’s just say that this is not the first time I burned myself while trying to cook. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone by trying to cook something for you but I messed everything up. I should have simply ordered a pizza, but I didn’t want to do something so dull for our Halloween date, I wanted it to be special.”

“Don’t worry, Nico. I’m not the best cook either and I appreciate the love you put into this… Okay, here I go. Are you ready? This might hurt a bit.”

“I’m ready.”

Thomas applied the burn cream, spreading it over the burn as gently as he could. Then, he started wrapping Nico’s hand with the bandage. Sometimes, Nico grimaced in pain, but most of the time, he just stared at Thomas with a loving glance. Thomas didn’t notice as he was focused on applying the bandage as painlessly as he could. When he was done, he tied the edge and secured the bandage.

“Done. You should see a doctor, though, as soon as you can so that they can advise better on that wound.”

Nico didn’t answer. He just leaned over and kissed Thomas on the cheek, staining the cheek with his white skeleton makeup.

“Thank you. Sorry I stained your face.”

“You’re welcome.” Thomas said, smiling back. “Well, it seems that we can’t eat these little pieces of coal in the kitchen. Do you want me to order some pizza?”

“I’d be glad. I’m sorry I can’t give you more.”

“For the last time, I don’t need you to give me more. I came here to spend time with you, not with your food. And besides, I adore pizza, I don’t mind at all to have it for dinner. So…”

Suddenly the sound of the oven bell ringing startled him.

“What was that?” Thomas said.

“That… that was the oven… the sign that I should take the pizza rolls out…”

“How much time did you program on the oven, Nico?”

“The time specified on the recipe. Look.”

Nico showed Thomas his phone and Thomas read something on the screen. Logan read the screen too.

“This doesn’t make any sense, Thomas.” Logan said, “The time specified on this recipe is totally safe. It would have been impossible that the pizza rolls had got burnt if they’ve been in the oven for this time only. If anything, it would have been the opposite, they would have come out a little raw and would have needed a little more time.”

“How is it possible that the pizza rolls got burnt when they spent so little time in the oven? Are you sure you didn’t introduce something wrong on the timer?” Thomas said.

“Yes, I’m sure, Thomas. I’m not the best cook, but I can read, and I double-checked that the timer was right.”

“Then, how could the pizza rolls get burnt? This doesn’t make any sense…”

Suddenly all the lights in the house turned off.

“What the…?” Nico started saying.

But he was interrupted by the sound of something made of glass crashing on the floor in another room followed by a creepy voice laughing and yelling with a squeaky voice: “Who broke this vase!? Hehehehehehe…”

“Okay…” Thomas said with a trembling voice “…if this is your idea of a creepy Halloween, I commend you for your creativity… but I beg you to stop right now, this is too scary for me…”

“I don’t have any part on this, Thomas…” Nico said with an equally trembling voice “I don’t know what is going on.”

Logan looked around.

“All of this has a strangely familiar look, just like that voice. I think I know that…”

Suddenly one light turned on in the middle of the table where Thomas and Nico were sitting. Remus was there, dressed as a zombie, with one eye hanging and blood all over his body.”

“AAAAAYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!” Remus screeched demonically.

Thomas screeched, scared, before he recognized Remus. Nico just stared at the apparition, and with the same gesture and no words coming out of his mouth, he flopped down on the table, unconscious.

“Nico!” Thomas yelled “Nico, are you all right?”

Thomas checked Nico. He had simply fainted.

“What is going on here!?” Thomas yelled.

“Hahahahaha! I surely scared the sh*t out of your boyfriend, didn’t I? Both of you in fact, you should have seen your faces! Hahahahaha!”

“Shut up, Remus! For starters, how in the world could Nico see you!? I thought you were just a figment of my imagination and that only I could see you!”

“Well, you thought wrong, Thomas! Not tonight at least! Tonight is the night where all nightmares become real, and tonight I’m your worst nightmare, Thomas!”

“Remus, will you stop these ridiculous antics!?” Logan said. “You could have killed Nico out of a heart attack! You know we’re not supposed to interact with other humans, it’s against the rules of Sides!”

Remus shifted back into his normal form.

“Oh, to the hell with rules! No rules can bind me, and you know it!”

“Wait, so all of you can become visible at will?” Thomas said “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked.” Remus said with a mocking grin.

“It’s a little complicate, Thomas.” Virgil started saying, until he was interrupted.

“Nico, are you all right!?” Patton yelled after rising up, with a grimace of fear and an over the top concern “Please, talk to me!”

“Okay, okay, guys, enough is enough” Janus said, appearing “What will happen if now Nico starts seeing us? You’re endangering Thomas’ relationship, and bearing in mind his streak of luck, he’s not in a position of wasting relationships…”

“Yeah, I want to keep Nico as our final prize, I don’t want to lose him!

“Oh, brother, you don’t have to worry about anything. You, Light Sides, didn’t know it, but for us, Dark Sides, it was a secret common knowledge that if we never shared it with you, it was because Janus wouldn’t let us.” Remus said.

“What do you mean, Remus?” Roman said. Logan and Patton also looked at Remus, in confusion.

“Can I, Janus?” Remus inquired.

“Only if Thomas wants, Remus, you know the rules.” Janus said.

“Oh, I do want,” Thomas said “I want to know what Remus means.”

“Okay, go ahead Remus.” Janus said.

“Thank you, snake boy. If Nico can see us, then that means that…”

Suddenly, Nico rose his face from the table. Everyone stared at him in silence. The first thing he saw was Janus and his snake face.

“Hi, Mr. Floresssssss” Janus says, hissing with his forked tongue.

Nico immediately fainted again.

“Guys!” Roman yelled “Are you trying to make Thomas a widower before he even marries!?”

“Preposterous.” Logan said “To be a widower you need to be married beforehand, at least legally.”

“That’s the intention,” Roman said “if he reaches the altar alive, that is!”

“Enough!” Thomas yelled. “Everyone get out of sight, now, before he sees you again!”

The Sides shrugged and turned invisible for Thomas, all of them except Remus.

“You too, Remus, you’re the cause of all of this and I don’t want you here! Well, I never want you around but much less right now!”

“Aww, too bad that you’re not my boss, Tommy Boy! You can’t force me to do anything as you remember.”

Thomas sighed.

“At least, could you please become invisible for Nico? Please, he’s survived two strong impressions in a row. He has a young heart, but still, a third shock like that could be fatal for anyone!”

“Okay, I will. But only because I think Nico’s hot and I don’t want him to die yet, not at least before you two…” and he completed the phrase with a lot of… expressive words that this narrator is not willing to quote.

Thomas ignored Remus and started fanning Nico with his hand.

“Nico, are you all right? Wake up, please! Nico!”

Nico started waking up. At first he showed a face of confusion. Then he suddenly showed a face of fear and looked around, anxious.

“Where are they? Where are they!?”

“Uh… where are who?”

“That zombie on the table, and then the snake-man! I remember very well I saw them, and so did you!”

“Uh… well…” Thomas said with a stuttering nervous voice.

Nico looked at Thomas right in the eye, then he went serious and started speaking.

“You’re hiding something from me, Thomas. I can feel it. You always get into that nervous attitude when you’re trying to conceal something that bothers you. You’re not a very good liar, no matter how hard you try.”

Janus watched the scene a few steps behind, invisible for them, frowning at Nico with an offended face.

“Listen, I wouldn’t push you to tell me secrets you don’t want anyone to know, but if I know you, and in just two months I think I know you well already, you only put that face of remorse when you think I should know something but you don’t tell me because you’re afraid or ashamed. If that’s the case, please, open up to me.” Nico held Thomas’ hands “I love you. You don’t need to be afraid and your secret will always be safe with me, I promise. No one will know through my lips. Please, trust me.”

“I do trust you, Nico. And I don’t want to have secrets with you. It’s just that I never thought I would ever need to tell you this, to you or to anybody at all. And I never told you about this, because I feared that you would think you were dating a weirdo. What am I saying? I’m probably a weirdo anyway…”

Nico frowned at Thomas.

“Thomas, I forbid you to speak about yourself in these terms! You’re not a weirdo! You’re the sanest man I’ve ever met and I will physically fight you if you say otherwise!”

“Heh… physically fight me? It’s not the first time I heard someone say these words. And it’s only appropriate that you mentioned them just now. Maybe it’s true we are soulmates after all…”

“You’re diverting, Thomas. Please, tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Well… promise you won’t freak out or think I’m mad?”

“I’ve already promised. Go ahead, please.”

“You see, all of my life there’s been this exercise I made when I wanted to put my ideas in order, or I wanted to analyze my train of thoughts carefully to find solutions to the dilemmas I regularly face in my life. I imagined that the different aspects of my personality, you know, my morality, my logical thinking, my anxiety and my creativity and romanticism, where, like, different people. I visualized them in front of me and sustained conversations with them, and imagined that the thoughts in my head were actually words said by them. It helped me to externalize these thoughts and view them critically and as objectively as I could.”

Nico just looked at Thomas in silence.

“Well, up to a minute ago… I thought that all these people, who I called the Sanders Sides, you know the sides of my personality, were imaginary and only in my head. But Remus… that’s the name of my forbidden creativity, the thoughts I try to repress in my mind which show up as intrusive thoughts… decided to prank us… and showed up in the middle of the table dressed as a zombie. I thought only I could see him… until you fainted out of the impression. I never knew other people could see them if they wanted to. Heck, I don’t even understand how they can do it at all. I’m so sorry, I should have told you earlier. I’ll understand if you’re mad at me, and if you don’t want to date me anymore, it would kill me, because I love you with all my heart, but I’d accept your choice. Well? What do you say?”

Nico kept looking at Thomas. Slowly a face of surprise started appearing on his face. Thomas showed a face of fear.

“You have Lados too?”

“What?” Thomas said, stunned. He didn’t expect that answer at all.

“Yes, Lados. That’s how I call them, it’s the word in Spanish for Sides, which is what you call them. I… I thought I was the only one who had them!”

Roman, Logan and Patton stared at Nico, with their mouths wide open. Remus just smiled mockingly and said:

“That’s the secret I was trying to tell you before he woke up. If Nico could see me, that means he also has the ability to turn his thoughts into Sides, which means he has his own Sides too. Not all humans can see us, only those who have Sides can.”

“Wow, I should have known earlier, you know?” Thomas said, looking at Remus.

“I’m sorry I should have told you… Wait, who are you talking to?” Nico said, confused, noticing Thomas was staring at an empty space.

“Oh, I guess he’s still invisible to you now… I was talking to Remus, he’s over there, even if you don’t see him.”

“I see… That’s an expression, of course. Remus, wherever you are, that was a good prank, you really scared the crap out of me.”

“Thank you, Nico!” Remus said, startling Nico after suddenly becoming visible for him “I love that you’re a guy that can take pranks, unlike other people I know, and I’m not looking at anyone.” Remus said, looking at Thomas right in the eye.

“Yes, today Remus seems to be in a mood for pranks.” Thomas said “But, Remus, even though I know you never listen to me, you could be more careful, look at Nico’s hand, he burned it because of you.”

“Wait, what?” Remus said, confused “What are you talking about?”

“That joke with the oven, accelerating it and making the pizza rolls burn before they were made? You could have set the whole house on fire, and I would have never forgiven myself. Don’t do that again.”

“I recognize that would have been a very funny prank, Thomas…” Remus said, still confused “…but I didn’t take part in that.”

“What? You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, I’m not, Thomas. You know me well, you already know by experience that I would never hide anything to you. For once in a lifetime, I’m an innocent little lamb.”

“You wish.” Patton said.

“No, I don’t, daddy. Feeling innocent is disgusting and it’s not like me at all, you know? That’s more your thing, not mine. Me, I’m more of a guilty-pleasure addict.”

“I’d rather not think what you mean by that…” Patton said, uncomfortable.

Thomas looked at Remus, totally confused.

“But… if it wasn’t you… then who…?”

A demonic long screech started resounding all over the house, and the lights started flickering on and off.

“What is going on!?” Thomas said, scared, yelling over the screech to make himself heard. “Is it one of your Sides… of your Lados, by any chance, Nico!?”

“No, it isn’t, Thomas!” Nico also had to yell to make himself heard. “I don’t know where that screech is coming from!”

“Ugh, that screech is hurting my ears…” Remus said “I’m getting out of here.”

Remus sank down.

“Ugh… this is so horrible, not even Remus could stand it…” Thomas said “But then, what is going on?”

The screech stopped. Then, a demonic voice started speaking.

“You will regret coming into my house… Both of you… will pay… with blood!”

Thomas grabbed Nico, shaking from head to toe.

“Nico… I’m scared…” Thomas said.

“Me too…” Nico said, hugging Thomas.

Then, the lights went off. Roman’s female scream was heard.

“What was that!?” Nico yelled in horror.

“Roman, was that you!? Are you okay!?” Thomas said.

“Yes, it’s me, sorry, Thomas.” Roman said with his own voice “I still hate the dark…”

A demonic laugh startled everyone in the dark.

“A… a ghost… It’s a ghost!” Patton’s whining voice said in the dark.

“Okay, guys, everybody calm down.” Logan’s voice said “There has to be some logical explanation for all of this.”

“Don’t try to explain this rationally, Logan!” Roman said “For once, there’s something not even you can explain, so don’t pretend to know better, Teach!”

“There’s only one explanation” Virgil said “This house is haunted and there’s a ghost living here. Our only hope is to get out of this house, get in the car and drive as far away as the gas level allows us, and pray that the ghost doesn’t follow us to torment us for the rest of our lives.”

“I can’t just leave my house… whoever you are.” Nico said.

“He’s Virgil, my anxiety, always a source of positivity as you can see.” Thomas said, ironically.

“Have you ever experience this kind of… paranormal activity in your house, Nico? And my name is Logan, by the way, I’m Thomas’ logical thinking.”

“Well… no, Logan, I haven’t. Up until today, this house was perfectly normal, no sign of spirits meddling around in my life.”

“How long have you been living here, if I may ask?”

“Well… I moved to Gainesville at the end of last year. I got this job in the University of Florida, teaching Spanish, you know? I got this house around November, to start the semester in January, and I’ve been living here happily and peacefully, until now.”

“So you didn’t live here by Halloween last year, right?”

“Right. Back then, I still lived in Orlando, although I was already preparing to move to Gainesville and looking for cheap rent houses.”

“Then that explains it. The ghost that lives here only shows up on Halloween, for some reason.”

“I thought you were looking for a logical explanation, Logan.” Roman said. “Have you changed your mind about paranormal events?”

“I got a logical explanation. If you’re meaning a “rational explanation”, well, that’s a different story. This isn’t rational at all, but with the information I’ve got, I must bring up any possible theories, even if they go against the scientific method.”

“You do realize that doesn’t make any sense, right?”

“If it doesn’t, it’s because we lack information to understand this phenomenon, Roman. But to try and retrieve the missing data, we must explore any possibilities, no matter how mad they may sound.”

“So you’re saying that you need me to complete this theory, right? Thanks, Teach, I knew you wouldn’t resist my talent one day or another.”

“No, I…” Logan started saying, but then another demonic screech interrupted them.

“Guys” Thomas said “While you’re here theorizing, that demonic entity is still wreaking havoc. Stop trying to find out what it is and start looking for a solution to get rid of it!”

“Yes, even if it’s only for one night, or so you say, Logan, I don’t want an evil spirit on the loose in my house! I’d never sleep in peace at night ever again!” Nico said.

“My house!” the demonic voice said “This is my house and you are intruders! Go away!”

“I’ve already paid a good year of rent!” Nico said “This is my house until I can’t pay my landlady anymore!”

Another short screech was the only answer.

“Did your landlady ever tell you about this happening?” Thomas said.

“No, she didn’t. But Mrs. Howard is a very nice, old lady, she would never hide anything like this to me on purpose. I’m sure she doesn’t know anything about this.”

“Then tell her! I want her to come here!” the voice said. Except that this time it was the whining voice of a child.

“Wait a minute…” Thomas said “The ghost is… is a child?”

The lights turned on, and the couple and Sides saw a little boy dressed in 1960’s fashion. If it wasn’t for the paleness of his face and his anachronistic outfit, nothing would have distinguished him from any other boy like the many others doing trick-or-treat outside. Well, to be fair, he could have indeed blended in with these boys now that they were disguised as spooky creatures. The ghost child stared at them with sad eyes.

“I want her back… Why did she leave me behind?” he said.

“Who left you behind, kiddo?” Patton said.

“It’s weird to hear Patton using the word kiddo right for the first time…” Virgil said.

“My mom.” the ghost said “That Mrs. Howard he mentioned… She’s my mom.”

“My landlady is your mom?” Nico said, in shock. “Oh, my goodness!”

“She promised she would never leave my side. She promised she would always be with me until I got better… but she left me. Why? Why did she lie to me? Why didn’t she want me!? I feel so alone and lost…”

“Oh, gosh…” Virgil said, emotional. “He doesn’t know he died. His mom probably was by his side as she promised, until the kid passed away, but he doesn’t remember the moment when he left his body and he thinks his mother abandoned him. Oh, this is so sad…”

“Okay, kiddo, what’s your name?” Patton said, after concealing his tears, with his most tender fatherly voice.

“Patrick.”

“Nice to meet you, Patrick, I’m… Patton. And these are my friends. We’re sorry if we have bothered you. It wasn’t our intention. Could you accept our apologies, kiddo?”

“Stop calling me kiddo! I’m eight years old, I’m a strong grown up!”

“Of course you are, Patrick!” Patton said.

“Eight years old…” Thomas said, emotional “It isn’t fair, no one should die so young.”

“My mother needed me to be strong, because she’s all alone and has to take care of us, me, my little brother and my little sister, and I need to get better to help her. But where is she? How can I help her if I don’t know where she is?”

Patton looked at the others. He was clearly overwhelmed by the emotion and getting choked up. He silently begged the others for help since he couldn’t speak anymore. Janus decided to step forward.

“Listen, young man. Because as you said you’re a young man, correct? Your mom had to… get away from this house, you know? She had to move somewhere else to take care of your siblings.”

“Then why didn’t she take me with them? Didn’t they want me anymore, because I was sick and they thought I would be useless?”

“No, of course not! Uh… I’m sure your mom loved you with all her heart. It’s just that she couldn’t take you with her because… um… the place where she moved to only allowed two kids, and she had to choose… and she chose your two little siblings, because they were younger and more in need of her care… and you are a strong and capable man, aren’t you? She knew you could take care of yourself better on your own than your siblings, that’s why she left you here, because she also needed someone to help her take care of this house while she was out, you know? She loves and trusts you so much that she left you right here in this place to fulfill your duty. You should hold that trust she has on you with pride.”

“I… I guess… but why didn’t she tell me? And why doesn’t she ever come here, at least to visit me? I miss her so much.”

“She can’t right now, young man. But rest assure, she would love to visit you. And in due time, she’ll come for you, when you least expect it, and then she’ll release you from your duty and take you to a place where you’ll never be away from her ever again, and then she’ll give you all the love she couldn’t give you all these past years and more, you’ll see.”

“Dag nabbit…” Thomas said with tears in his eyes “This snake is making me cry.”

“Me too…” Nico said, also crying, with foggy glasses.

“I… I understand.” the little ghost said. “Will I have to wait for too long until she comes for me?”

“It may take her some time… but each year that goes by will be a year closer to her, so wait for that day with hope and one day, you’ll have your reward. You’ll see.”

“Okay… thank you sir.” the ghost spoke to Nico “I’m sorry for burning your food, sir, and also that you hurt your hand because of me. That was rude and I apologize.”

“It’s okay… totally okay, don’t worry.” Nico said with a trembling emotional voice.

“I feel so much peace now that I know that I’m going to see her again…” the ghost said while he started becoming translucent “I think I know where I truly need to go to wait for her… I think I remember it all now… Thank you so much, kind people. You listened to me when nobody else would and freed my soul. I’ll forever be grateful to you for that.” he smiled with a face of peace and happiness “I can see my dad! He’s there with open arms, calling me! I gotta go, I missed him so much too! Goodbye, everyone! Dad, I’m so happy to see you again! Are you proud of me?”

And with these words, the ghost disappeared. They all stood there looking at the empty space for a few seconds in a silence only broken by Thomas and Nico’s faint sobs.

“I don’t know if his dad will be proud of him, even though I believe he totally is…” Patton said “but I’m certain of who this dad, and I mean me, is proud of. I’m so proud of you, Janus.”

Janus snorted trying to act cold.

“I was only being me, telling the kid a bunch of lies to fool him and push him to the other side, where he wouldn’t bother us anymore, that’s all.”

Thomas smiled at Janus.

“You’re a liar…” he said “…but you’re my liar and I love you, liar and all.”

“Eh… whatever.” Janus said, with his human cheek blushing red and his human eye full of emotional tears.

Nico looked at Thomas with a tender smile.

“What is it, Nico?”

“It’s nothing” Nico said. “It’s just that I’m so thankful that you decided to overcome your fears and talk to me at the mall. Otherwise I would have missed knowing you.”

“Oh, well… I…” Thomas said. “Why are you saying this right now?”

“Your Sides are you, aren’t they? Just like my Lados are me. And your Sides are all so great, each and everyone of them, therefore so are you. I love you so much.”

Thomas got emotional and smiled lovingly at Nico.

“And I love you too, Nico.” he said.

And then they kissed. After the kiss, Thomas said:

“Speaking about your Sides… I mean, your Lados, when am I… are we going to meet them?”

“In time… but tonight, I want this night to be just for us, if that’s okay with you. We’re still on Halloween date, aren’t we, and I don’t have the intention of squandering it.”

“Okay with me?” Thomas said, blushing again “Being with you will always be okay with me. I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else in the world ever again.”

They kissed again. Remus appeared rising his arms in triumph.

“Yes! Finally!” Remus yelled “I was beginning to lose hope that they two would…”

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, Remus.” Roman said. Now the couple couldn’t see or hear the Sides anymore. “I’m sure after so much agitation and horror today, not to mention Nico’s wound, their only plan for the night will be getting a well deserved romantic dinner and watching some Halloween light horror movies.”

“But after the dinner, there always comes the dessert, doesn’t it?” Remus said, wiggling his eyebrows. Then he sighed in frustration. “If only Thomas wasn’t so romantic-driven that he needs to feel that romance in order to go to the next base. It’s boring having to go through all that long process and waiting for him to be ready before we get to the juicy stuff.”

“Well, romance is also good for Thomas’ soul and well-being,” Roman said “and I know, deep inside, you also want what is best for Thomas, even if you try to get it through your gruesome ways. On the other hand, we are brothers and part of a whole, Remus. As much as it is a pain for us both, if we want Thomas to be happy with Nico, we’ll have to work as a team, and our task is to help Thomas find out when he’s ready to move forward in the relationship. And who knows, maybe working as a team will give us an opportunity to rebuild our relationship as brothers?”

“Don’t build your hopes too high, Roman.” Remus said “Right now you can consider yourself lucky that we can work together without me having to pull out my mace.”

Roman chuckled.

“It’s a first step.” Roman said “and all the best adventures always start with a first step. I wonder where this adventure will take us both, brother.”

“If you say so…” Remus said, shrugging. “…brother.”

Roman smiled while Remus pretended he didn’t care. Then they both sank down with the others back to the Mind Palace, giving the couple some well earned privacy while they started ordering a pizza and checking Nico’s collection of Blu-Rays to find the perfect movie for the night.

[opalai-pixel-witch]

Merry christmas pal! ^^

“the idea of War with a kitty companion is sooooo cute ;;u;;”

War usually works outside, so if she sees a kitty, she will pet it, it´s a very cute and weird image: a skeleton with weapons that was killing someone a few seconds ago, stops short and walks towards a kitty to pet it X3

“I don’t feel bad for him at all, he killed Ramsey and tortured Balder and tried to hurt my son so he gets no sympathy from me >:|”

He wanted us to dislike him, how dare you hurt our bois?! >:,v

“Aha, that makes sense >.> So maybe people are giving them to him less because he’s Death and more because he sucks at being Death? :P”

I wouldn´t say he sucks being Death, he doesn´t matter directly, you know, the working conditions are very bad, that is, no motivation to work, also that his work is boring, if Death would do his job well, almost never he would come out of hell since he only has to guide the lost souls in the Hell

“Oddly enough, I don’t think he has a scythe at all in MS…I wonder why :o”

I guess they wanted to get out of the stereotype of Death, Idk

“Once again, your drawings are absolutely amazing!!!! I looove the one with Balder and Ramsey, sooo cute >u> And it’s interesting to see Famine off-duty too o.o”

Thanks a lot! Your drawings are great too! I saw the one with Milky replacing Sam in the robotic suit and Death looks very cute, it makes me want to touch his face, but he has no face XD So I better hug him, he looks so cute! X3 I love this boi! I don’t think I show it XD

I really liked the Bjorn and Pesto dolls, and I loved the comic where Pesto rips off Bjorn’s arm and she doesn’t understand what happened and Bjorn is there like: “Not again… :T ”

And I love Pesto and Bjorn Halloween Hustle/Holiday Hustle drawing X3 ♥ ♥ ♥

And speaking about drawings (I noticed that you like Milky a lot (by the way, how many fictional boyfriends do you have? XD), and there is a drawing where I put him as the bad guy in the story, but it’s not that I don’t like him, but I see him wanting to avoid the apocalypse, and the only way to avoid the apocalypse is to eliminate the horsemen, and well, there came that scene that appears in Helluva Boss and it seemed perfect, weird things, I don’t know XD):

https://sta.sh/22aj2xyaqwj3?edit=1

“Sometimes I wish that Helheim Hassle had a more popular fandom

But then I think about all the absolutely cursed shit that could happen

And then I think “yeah, this is okay” ”

I also think it would be fun to see more Perfectly Paranormal fans and then I remember fandoms like Villainous, Invader Zim, Eddsworld, where there are so many people, that it´s extremely toxic and uncomfortable to be there, it’s like the most important thing there is the sexual orientation of the character and not its personality or its role in the story, I like what you do, which is more based on friendship and you respect the personality of the characters, I remember that once I found an user who said he had drawings +18 from HH, I’m glad he respected the rules and didn’t post them, I want to continue seeing my bois like cute little characters :3

--------

Helloooo! Thank you so much!! Same to you, my friend! ^___^ May today be a fantastic one for you!

Ahh, I see o: I kinda wanna draw War with a bunch of cats now, but I’m afraid I’m not too good with drawing animals ;;o;;

So not cool of him >A>

Ah yeah, that’s true, my apologies o.o That also makes sense, it probably didn’t go with the feel they were trying to achieve either?

I’m glad you liked them!! Yeah, I’m not sure what compelled me to make that one :P Death is to you what Bjørn is to me, it would seem |D

Thank you!! I was a bit worried that a PP/LBP crossover would be weird…LBP fans coming across those pics in the tags must be so confused at the whole arm-being-ripped-off thing >o>

Ahahahaha! I’ve made it quite obvious >///> (To answer your question…4 or 5 o///o)

That’s an interesting concept! A heroic antagonist Milky sounds super cool :o Honestly I’m really curious about what Milky’s deal is and I hope we’ll get more info on him in the next game!! And it would be cool if he discovered how the system in Hell really worked and maybe realized that the horsemen really aren’t inherently evil and are just trying to do their jobs (except maybe Famine, his intentions are…debatable >_>)

Big fandoms seem to be a blessing and a curse, it would seem o.o I’m more worried about the type of content that might come up if it became more popular, I don’t wanna find any fetishy NSFW fanfiction about it >A> But I’m really happy to hear that you like what I do! To be honest there are times where I feel like I don’t really fit in well with the fandom (like I don’t “belawng” if you will :P) so I’m glad that that’s probably not the case! I enjoy seeing what you make too, as well as talking and sharing headcannons and stuff with you ^_^

[gingerdrab]

Trick or Treat

Ship: Wonwoo x Reader Genre: Fluff, Halloween shit Word Count: 2.8k Summary: Wonu, a shy, quiet boy in your class, overhears you saying that you’ve never celebrated Halloween before. He makes it his mission to change that, since he loves Halloween, and just may have a thing for you… Writer’s Notes: breh I forgot to post this damn sorry lol, i got so super busy with work omgggg. also, I wrote this before the Halloween Vlive so wow thanks Minghao 4 wearing this costume and messing up my fic ugh lol jk ily anyways, hope u like it, this is my first ever Seventeen fic so yeah and it was rlly rushed tbh

-

“I can’t believe you’ve lived your entire life from childhood, into adulthood, without ever celebrating Halloween.”

Dara, the rather annoying, loud-mouthed girl who sat next to you in your poetry class, stared at you in utter disbelief after you had casually mentioned that little fact about yourself.

“I mean, it’s really not that big of a deal? It’s just not really a thing where I’m from and it’s my first year being an exchange student here so…”

She continued looking at you as if it were your fault that the entire season of Autumn chose not to exist where you grew up. Class had just ended and all the students were piling up behind you, eagerly trying to get through the doors and out into freedom. It was Friday, who could blame them? You cleared the door and tried to lose Dara in the crowd (lord forbid you’d have to listen to her drone on and on for another minute), walking quickly towards the library.

“Never celebrated Halloween…. Hmm….. But are you gonna celebrate this year, though?”

The question this time, belonged to a deep male voice. One you were sure you hadn’t heard before.

You stopped abruptly and spun around, causing a tall dark-haired figure to almost crash into you. You stared at him in surprise and mumbled an apology. He shook his head quickly, a small smile on his lips, and pushed his round glasses higher up his nose.

“You’re Y/N, right? I’m Wonu.” He introduced himself, his voice quiet and low.

“I…. didn’t know you talked to people” you replied, trying to remember when you’d ever seen him interact with anyone before. He usually sat in the back corner of class and almost always had his nose buried in a book.

“Well, I was curious. About your Halloween situation, I mean.”

“You know, I don’t see what the big deal is. But whatever, I have to go now anyways. Bye.”

You turned around and continued your quest, still a bit confused as to why the shyest boy in the world had chosen to talk to you about something he just randomly overheard.

As you walked onto the courtyard, you wiggled deeper into your scarf, the cold air biting at you. You noticed a shadow growing behind you.

“Are you following me?” You slowed down till you were walking side by side with Quiet Boy.

“I’m going to the library.” He said softly. “But you still haven’t answered my question, though. Are you gonna celebrate this year?”

You began walking up the library steps together. You felt most amused than annoyed by his persistence, so you continued to entertain him.

“I wasn’t planning to. Why are you so interested anyways? Are you the Pumpkin King or something?”

“Aha! So you do know Halloween things at least!” A look of almost victory playing across his face.

You both sat across from each other at an empty table at the end of the deserted library. You studied the boy as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a very worn out novel. You’d never seen him this friendly, or even happy. It looked good on him. He was a handsome guy, you supposed; with his short, messy raven locks, pretty lips, and dark, mysterious eyes. Really handsome, actually. You wondered why you’d never paid him much attention before now.

He looked up at you, your eyes meeting for a while.

“I just really like Halloween. And I think you’d like it too. You should go find some books about the history of it. I know you like that stuff.”

He quickly averted his eyes, blushing slightly from his oversharing.

“How could you possibly know what I like? We’ve literally never spoken before.”

His cheeks and ears turned a deeper shade of red. He looked into his book and replied, “I read your blog. And I always see you in here. You sit and research and write for hours.”

It was your turn to blush. “I-I didn’t think anyone I knew even read my stuff…” you muttered, heavily embarrassed.

He smiled again. “Well, to be fair, you didn’t really know me.”

“Wow, so you’re like a fan then?” you joked playfully. You both giggled, and you couldn’t help noticing how cute he looked.

You started thinking about what he had said. You actually knew quite a bit about Halloween, and you were totally willing to participate in some events. The problem was: you didn’t actually have any friends. Unless you counted Dara. (Which you totally didn’t.) This was only your fourth month here, and you’d been really focused on adjusting to school, and life in general, and hadn’t really had time to make friends. You knew a few people around campus, but not enough to call them friends. You wondered if Wonu had friends. What would he be like with them? Laughing and smiling? Funny? Serious? …..Cute?

Your phone buzzed in your pocket, forcing you out of your little daydream.

[4:01PM] Dara: I saw you talking to that creepy boy from class. Just be careful.

Creepy? You looked up at him, his eyes focused on the words in front of him, barely aware of what was happening around him. Creepy how? Yeah, he dressed all in black every single day and didn’t speak to anyone ever. But you definitely weren’t getting a creepy vibe from him. You ignored the text.

Wonu turned a page in his book, unaware that the way you were staring at him could probably bore a hole into his skull. You looked at the way his eyes flitted across the words, and how his tongue peeked out between his teeth. He was totally caught up in his own little world. It was adorable. You felt content, and finally reached into your bag for your laptop so you could write, thinking to yourself “ohmygod he reads my blog?!”

-

Somehow, your library visits together started becoming a regular thing. You’d both just ‘end up’ at the same table after class, him reading, and you writing, a comfortable silence between you two. It was a week after your initial meeting, and you both sat in your usual spots, this time, feeling just a bit too distracted to do any actual work.

“So you’ve never decorated for Halloween? Visited a pumpkin patch? Carved a pumpkin? Nothing?”

This again. You shook your head for each activity he mentioned.

“You’ve never been trick or treating?”

You laughed. “It’s not really a big deal! Besides, I’m too old for that one anyways.”

Wonu paused, looking at you incredulously. “Excuse me? Too old for dressing up in costumes and collecting candy? That’s the best part of Halloween! I can’t believe you’ve never done it before.”

You smiled at him and leaned your chin into your hand. “I guess I used to want to, when I was younger. But there was nowhere I could, and no one to do it with.”

The small smile growing on Wonu’s lips had a glint of mischievousness to it.

“Let’s go trick or treating, Y/N.”

He looked like an excited puppy. You, on the other hand, were simply confused.

“I’m serious! There’s gonna be a Halloween event on campus. We can dress up and walk around to the different departments… I think we’re all just trying to reconnect to our childhoods here, you know?”

“How do you even know about this?”

“I’m the Pumpkin King, remember?” he said with a smirk. “I’m kidding, my friends are the ones organizing it.”

So he did have friends.

-

Monday morning was fast approaching, your weekend had been a blur. You and Wonu had grown even closer via text, but you kinda wished you had gotten to see him over the weekend. You were simultaneously looking forward to your poetry class, and also dreading it. Dreading it, because there would be a randomly selected Haiku presentation, and you hated reading your work in front of anyone; but you were looking forward to sitting next to Wonu.

You got to class slightly earlier than usual and chose the seat next to the one he usually sat in. You knew it would be empty anyways. “Uh, Y/N? Why are you sitting there?”

It was Dara. Ugh. She looked from you to the door that Wonu had just started walking through and quickly got the picture. Quiet Boy reached his spot and stared at you, a faint blush rising on his cheeks.

“Mornin’” he whispered, while sitting next to you.

“Hi!” you replied, a bit too cheery, embarrassing yourself. Dammit, I seem too eager, don’t I? Your thoughts were racing. The majority of class passed with you sneaking looks to the boy next to you, constantly finding yourself blushing, and once or twice, catching his eye and seeing him turn slightly pinker. Your professor’s voice pierced the room suddenly, interrupting your sweet daydreams.

“Presentation time! Who’s going first?”

His eyes scanned the classroom, searching for either volunteers, or just someone unsuspecting to pick on. You kept your head lowered, anxiety wringing your insides, when you heard the seat next to yours creaking.

Wonu was standing up.

“Uh… I’ll try…”

You stared at him, a mixture of surprise and interest dawning on your face.

“This is… a, uh…. autumn-y thing, I wrote. Um, the theme was kinda open so… I just went with it-

In summer, I saw

Her in the sea of faces.

In autumn, I fell.”

-

Dara wouldn’t stop talking your ear off at lunch. She had heard about the Halloween event that would be taking place on campus and was gushing about what she was going to dress up as and who would be there and other boring things you tried not to take notice of.

“You should come with me! It’ll be your first Halloween thing! You can be something really cute and sexy!”

You turned to look at her, putting on your best annoyed expression.

“I’m already going. With Wonu.”

Dara faked a smile. “I thought you’d say that. Are you two dating or something?”

You sputtered, red tinting your cheeks already. “Wha- No. That’s – no – just stupid. Haha. No!

We’re friends. And he’s not creepy. He’s just… quiet.”

“Hmm. If you say so. I figured after that super obvious poem last class… Whatever.”

She walked away in a huff, much to your pleasure, leaving you to grow steadily more embarrassed just thinking of the poem and of dating Wonu. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you weren’t almost totally smitten by him. And even you had thought, or at least hoped, that the haiku he had written really was about you. Was he falling for you too? Did he even mean it like that? As if summoned by your thoughts, the Quiet Boy himself appeared at your side, taking a seat and grabbing some of your chips.

“Hey. I just got out of class.”

You almost choked on your drink. He was so friendly now, it made you both exhilarated and nervous.

“Hey! You nearly killed me, thanks.”

“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I wanted to ask you about the party.”

“Hm?”

“Did you.. have any ideas on what you wanted to dress up as?”

You definitely had at least 17 ideas. You’d never gotten to dress up for Halloween before, so you’d been toying with the idea of some classic costumes. But then, of course, there were the funny costumes. And memes. Would it be lame to try to make it cute or sexy? Stockings, mini skirt, and push up bra? Would it be weird to make it extra scary? Fake blood and gross scar makeup; the full works! You weren’t sure, but you knew whatever you picked, it had to be good.

“I don’t know yet. What about you?”

Wonu hesitated, shifting his gaze from your eyes and onto his hands. “I do. But it’s super cheesy.

It’s, uh, kind of a couple costume.”

You blushed a deep scarlet shade. You knew exactly what he was thinking.

-

Saturday evening found you standing in front of your mirror, applying blue makeup to your face. The costume Wonu had gotten for you was a perfect fit, and you couldn’t help getting more and more excited while you put yourself together. The doorbell to your apartment rang just as you were finished securing your long, red wig. The butterflies in your stomach became frantic with the realization that you were practically about to go on a date with your crush. (I mean, basically, come on)

You raced down the stairs and pulled open the door.

“Hey Sally”

Wonu stood in front of you with a smirk on his lips, looking absolutely handsome in his black and white striped suit and his face in matching paint.

“Hey Jack”

You giggled, feeling a bit ridiculous.

“Is this too much? We’re probably gonna get made fun of, aren’t we?” you questioned, locking your door and getting ready to head to campus with Wonu.

“Probably. But’s it’s definitely worth it. Don’t you think?”

You hummed in agreement, dropping into a synchronized walk with the tall guy.

You arrived on campus to see what could only be described as the Most Extra little Halloween village, complete with carved pumpkins everywhere, fairy lights strung from the trees, skeletons hanging on every corner and cute, spooky ghosts propped up against the walls. The place was crowded with college students mostly in costume, drinking, dancing to music, and just hanging around. A large number were making the trick or treating rounds, collecting candy (and sometimes shots of vodka lmao.) Wonu reached for your hand, and you felt your heartbeat quicken. You looked up at him to see him smiling, a soft blush rising on his cheeks.

“You look so excited. It’s way too adorable.”

He was right. You were the cutest right now, nearly bursting at the seams with delight, and now, even more so as he held on to your hand.

“Let’s go!” You both walked down the makeshift street, which was just the decorated hallway, stopping at each makeshift ‘house’, which were in actuality just classrooms. Each time you stopped, he let you be the one to knock and shout “Trick or Treat!” while almost erupting into laughter each time. At each of the ‘houses’, cute guys stood, giving out treats. They were introduced to you as Wonu’s friends, and without fail, they all teased him about the hand-holding thing. (And yet, he never let go.)

After visiting all the houses, and meeting all his friends, you settled on a bench at the end of the Halloween Street, already half-way through your third candy bar.

“So… I didn’t realize you were this popular. You’re so quiet all the time.”

He sat next to you, reaching over for some chocolate.

“Yeah, I just like to keep to myself. I mean, other than those guys you met, I don’t really talk to anyone else. I know most people from my classes think I’m some creepy guy.”

“I don’t think you’re creepy,” you said, smiling up at him.

“Even with the skeleton makeup?” he laughed.

“…it’s kinda sexy actually.” You felt your cheeks grow hot at your own boldness. Ohmygod, you actually said that.

You took a tentative look at Wonu next to you, who you were happy to note, was wearing a blush that matched yours exactly. He cleared his throat before fidgeting profusely and then said,

“So I … I hope you’ve figured out that this was a, um, date.”

You felt yourself growing braver and more playful at his returning shyness.

“A date? Well you never officially asked me, so I figured ─”

“Remember the haiku I read in class?” he cut you off. Your heart pounded a little harder, your previous glimmer of hope growing much larger in your mind.

“That was about you.”

Your heart practically stopped. In your head, you had turned into a teenage girl fist-pumping in exhilaration.

“Are you saying that you ─”

“I’ve been thinking about you since I started reading your blog. And since I started seeing you writing in the library.”

“Definitely a secret admirer then,” you smirked.

“Definitely. So can this be a date now then?” he questioned you, staring directly into your eyes, suddenly seeming braver than before.

You stared back at him, your gaze flickering briefly to his lips. He was close enough for you to feel his soft breath on your face. The makeup he wore over his eyes and cheeks honestly made him look hotter than usual, which was saying something. You nodded and were barely able to finish saying yes, when he moved forward, closing the space between you, and pressing his lips to yours. You leaned into the kiss, reaching your hand around his neck, and burying your fingers in his hair. You pulled apart from each other, after what felt like an eternity of innocent bliss, smiling widely.

“Good. Cause I really like you, Y/N” He stated, with the most confidence you’d ever seen from him since you started talking. He reached for your hand again, this time intertwining his fingers with yours.

You leaned forward slightly and pulled him in for another kiss. “I really like you too, Pumpkin King.”

[sorasunao]

~the Gazette - interview for Vif Music about the [NINTH]~part 3

- So, tell us, please, what has changed a lot, what were the biggest obstacles encountered?

AOI: As for guitars, before, both guitars used to sound in unison. This time we didn’t try to bring their lines to each other ideally. We gradually tried different instruments, even those that we don’t have, and thus brought melodies and their parts up to the most expressive progress. Until now, what will be the sound, was solved like this: "Uruha, what are we going to do with the sound?", but now I began to pay more attention to guitar phrases added by me,  deciding how they will sound better. Just when I was working on the sound, sometimes Uruha wasn’t around. Since time immemorial, we have always worked on this together, so I didn’t really understand how to do it.

REITA: Because there was no one at all.

AOI: I worried a lot. And Ruki was busy writing lyrics, so he didn’t come. I recorded with the thought: "It's not good. What will I do if I had to record something completely different?"

- You talked about "DOGMA" that guitars are off course for digital effectors (so-called "pedals") And what about the current album?

AOI: Oh, talking about things of two or three years ago... I'm the type of people who don’t look back (laughs).

RUKI: Just like a politician.

AOI: This time we used both analog and digital, as the case may be. But with "Falling" it was hard. With [Falling] we determined the further sounding of the album, and when we all together were going to do preproduction and start recording, it turned out that our initial idea of its sounding and its whole image definitely diverge. Couldn't decide the supply of the song... We discussed this and eventually decided, how it will sound better, but it took the most time. 

- When the issue with "Falling" was solved, the direction of the movement as a whole also emerged. 

AOI: Yes. And yet at first we make a lot of different treatments, and as a consequence - there are many unnecessary sounds of instruments. Much became clear only in the process of work, so at that moment I thought that we had finally moved on to the next stage.

URUHA: Approximately from the period of the last collection of ballads [TRACES VOL.2], I recorded everything through a virtual guitar processor almost without using real amplifier. Thanks to this there is a great deal of freedom of action, but since there are a lot of techniques I couldn’t decide: in my head everything sounded not good enough. The moment when I finally calmed down, there was a recording of [GUSH]. It was in the last quarter of the recording process. By that time we had already done a lot and made some mistakes. We rewrote already recorded parts, in which we missed purpose, and even after we finished recording [GUSH], again began to remodel something. It was difficult to cope with everything by having a virtual processor that I use. Everything rolled like a head, changing on the move, and we pretty much made trial and error. In the digital sphere there is a lot of everything, so after some time you want to try again, using some other options.      

- Uruha-san very much focuses on the sound quality, probably, because this part of the process was hard for you.

URUHA: Well, I end up achieving the style that truly reflects my idea, but it takes a lot of time. Honestly, when we were working with a ballad, I couldn’t understand the necessary sound. [NINTH] began, leaving behind unresolved issues, but to the stage of work with [GUSH] I realized that it was time to stop in my throwing.

REITA: I recorded in the studio till this time. And then, if possible, I tried to choose the sound until I understand that I'm on the right way. But in the studio there is always a sound engineer, who scans each audio track, and I, in any case, didn't polish my playing to the utmost satisfaction. But when you record alone, you have such an opportunity. In particular, if we talk about bass, then the volume of sound changes from the change of the strings. If you strongly distort the sound [by effectors], this is unlikely to catch your eye, but if the distortion is reduced to a certain level, it is very interesting to hear the difference in the volume of the sound. Therefore, you can experiment, recording the batch by raising and lowering the volume. I was able to do a filigree work, and on occasion, I want to repeat this next time.  

- Is this the first time that you have come so far into the work with sound?

REITA: Yes. If you do everything yourself, it turns out by itself. It takes a lot of time, but the ability to record everything in such a way as to remain completely content, plays a big role.

- Reita-san in social networks raised the question "What is a good bass sound?".

REITA: ... well, it was such a trifle.

URUHA: And what did he write there?

- "I thought that instead of the bass line sounding deafeningly powerful, it will be better if you can pleasantly feel low sounds. I want you not to hear, but to feel."

URUHA: AHAHAHA!

AOI: Are you sure you meant the bass?

REITA: It was a bot ... 

RUKI: I saw this post.

REITA: Stop it (laughs).

RUKI: But doesn't the bass have enough clear parts in the current album? Type of those where you use the bend* ? [* way of playing the guitar] Besides, I thought that you used to play that way often (laughs).

REITA: This varies from case to case! (laughing) If we talk about the orthodox style, then of course, this is my standard style of play, and depending on what kind of song, I use it. Is not it good !? (laughing)  

KAI: We had in mind that you shouldn't say such dubious things (laughs).

REITA: In moments of sudden insights, I begin to want to speculate. Just like an adult man (laughs).  

RUKI: Yeah (immediately responded).

REITA: So, now the adult man will speak. Abroad, this is not so, but in Japan, everyone who are in this sphere the bass of the middle setting is mainstream [*so-called "Mid bass" different from the high bass and lower bass] with a distinct sonorous batch. Among them I'm not like everyone else, that's what I wanted to say.

RUKI: For the moment when you think about it "And when did I become like this?", it's better not to say this? (laughing)

ALL: (laughing)

- And how did Kai-san go through the recording?

KAI: For [Falling] I was able to devote quite a lot of time. Until now, I almost didn't record on the real set in the studio, but I wanted to rethink the sound from scratch, and besides all of us together have decided to try everything, that we can, so I tried to record a batch of  drum-plates separately. Having done so, the groove [* rhythmic sensation in music, "swing"] turned out very good. Anyway, microphones are always aimed at the main drums, and when the plates come into play, the accent switches to the top [* the top plate in hi-hat], so at that moment there is such a sound breakdown. We had a conversation with a sound engineer that at such a time of entry [plates] it is somehow difficult to enter. So, I determinedly recorded separately the drums, separately the plates. I had experience of such a record earlier, but it didn’t turn out very well. And I thought that, based on that experience, this time I was lucky, and everything turned out.  

- Does this method of recording take a decent amount of time?  

KAI: Truly so. In conditions when there was no time, the drums were allowed a lot.

RUKI: If to think about it, the "Falling" took most of our time.

REITA: Aha. Perhaps even too much.

KAI: But if we didn't do all of the above, we wouldn't finish the album.

AOI: Uh-huh. Its creation was the point when we decided what we wanted to do, relying on the songs written earlier, so I'm sincerely glad that we made it.

◆ If only we could come up with something during the long tour to continue our activity (Kai)

- It's not surprising that we all look forward for the tour, because for the album we chose 12 songs, looking at the essence of the concerts. I heard that Aoi-san had a dream about the first day of the tour.

AOI: True, I saw it. Although the songs were not finished yet.

REITA: Such dreams are a typical problem for musicians. 

- And Reita-san had a dream about a video, where he was shot in a pose of a hanged man, right?

RUKI: He is the character who has such dreams (laughs).

AOI: Dreams about everything related to the group are harmful to the heart.

REITA: Moreover, the dream was so real. Although these are dreams, they are just like that.

RUKI: And I dreamed that I was terribly late for the concert in Toyosu.

REITA: It wasn't a dream! You were actually late (laughs).   

- Was it on Halloween? [*October’17]

REITA: Yes. And two days in a row.

AOI: You didn’t want to come? 

RUKI: I wanted to sleep (laughs). But I thought that if I was late, an incredible number of messages would come to me, but, despite the fact that it has already exceeded 13 o’clock, I only got two ones. I was such "What!?"... (laughs).

- So you fell asleep again.

RUKI:  No, I woke up (laughs). But in the first instants I didn’t understand what had happened.

- And what was Aoi-san's dream about the first day of the tour?

AOI: I told everyone: "I don't remember any batch!", but, despite this, the intro already sounded, and everyone stepped onto the stage. And I continued to ask: "Wait! Wait!.."(laughs)

RUKI: I often see such dreams. For example, that I didn’t have time to change the outfit.

URUHA: I also have such, about dressing up, when everything has begun on the stage.

REITA: And I once dreamed that I hadn’t put on my nose-bandage.

ALL: (laughing)

REITA: I thought in my dream: "The intro already sounds! Really!?", and didn’t see what happened next. Apparently, I woke up on this.

AOI: Also, there are dreams that the venue was moved.

REITA: Yes-yes, the place was moved, or when suddenly they say: "And this is a new song! Please listen to it! "

URUHA: And you just: "Whaaaat?! But I don't know how to play it!"

RUKI: Excuse me, but what "And this is a new song! Please listen to it! "?  (laughs) I would ask to leave it in a dream.

REITA: And let you will see these dreams by yourself (laughs). However, Kai doesn’t say what dreams he saw.

URUHA: Exactly, I didn’t hear a single story from him.

KAI: C'mon, I see them too.

RUKI: It's just that Kai has some other dreams.

REITA: For example, that he wasn’t paid. 

KAI: It sounds too real (laughs). In fact, I see the same dreams as you, just I don’t talk about them. Because I'm nervous most of all.

AOI: It's just that Kai is arid man. Because he is not such Kai, as everyone sees him (laughs).

ALL: (laughing)

- Unknown side of Kai has opened (laughs). By the way, the name of this tour «the GazettE Live Tour18 THE NINTH / PHASE #01-PHENOMENON-», but the title contains a number "01". Does it mean that it will be like with "DOGMA", when other activities followed after the tour?

RUKI: You asked this question, knowing perfectly well that the members won't answer for it (laughs). It seems to me that something will happen. But something concrete, as with "DOGMA", when the single was released after the album, no!

REITA: Forgive us for this.

RUKI: But, probably, on the second part of the tour Kai will quit. With the words: "I'll return to the third part" (laughs).

KAI: Ok, so we'll do it (laughs).

ALL: (laughing)

- The name "PHENOMENON" has a very wide range of meanings: phenomenon,  danger ...

RUKI: We meant the "phenomenon". Is not the phenomenon starting from the first concert day? Like, the very first concert of the tour can be considered as the specific phenomenon, which determines the whole tour.

- Usually your ideas coincide with reality?

URUHA: We have our own ideas, but that's what didn't confirm them, it's "DOGMA". If you imagine too much, it becomes difficult to match (laughs). We selected set list with such diligence, thinking: "Here is the ideology of Dogma!", but in fact it didn't fall into a heart.

REITA: Don't you think we a little bit overdid? Then the concert began immediately, without any introductions. We thought that it would spur the fans' mood, but they couldn't prepare for this. The next day, we immediately made an introduction.

KAI: And very quickly (laughs)!

REITA: We have an amazing ability to correct shortcomings (laughs). But this time I have no doubt that the concerts will be hot. In addition, the summer after all.

- Reita-san's bot, by the way, wrote that he wants the audience to start preparing their physical strength.

RUKI: And Reita often writes on Twitter "Rather kill me" (laughs).

AOI: He writes, writes!

RUKI: Always. "Kill me" or "I rather want to die at a concert" (laughs).

REITA: Ohhh, how awkward. I want to die, right now ~! ...  Maybe you will unfollow me?

ALL: (laughing)

RUKI: And "Kill me on the tour" does not write.

REITA: But I do not want to die seriously! (laughing) 

ALL: (out of laughing)

RUKI: Anyway, I want to make this tour fun. Something like one more memory, which can reshape the idea of our concerts. But when it starts, again, probably, it will turn out gloomier than I thought (laughs).

REITA: Surprisingly, there is such a feeling.

RUKI: Aha. Because with "DOGMA" there wasn't such impression. 

- I'm eager to know what this phenomenon will become.

KAI: That's for sure. As for some reason it seems to me that this tour will be long, there are also some doubts about the physical strength. In addition, after "DOGMA" 3 years have passed, and I, frankly, think that we have rested for too long. Of course, without forgetting what Ruki said: “I want to make this tour fun”, I hope that in the process of a long tour, we will think of something, what let us to continue our activity.

original on vif-music

translation from japanese to russian by haruurara-kazan on tumblr

translated from russian to english by me

as always thx for reading and sorry for mistakes ^^

[pudgy-puk]

all stormblood combat job AF ranked by how good drividot looks in them (1/2)

before we start:

1. all the af3 is in its default dye colors because jfc, NO, i refuse to unlock dyes on all of them. no.

2. non-combat af3 is not included because it’s a pain in the ass in to get and i already had my inventory and armory bursting at the seams to do this. maybe later.

3. i picked one backdrop and one /gpose setting and did all the af under those same conditions, this may distort the results because, y’know, different colors look different depending on lighting conditions. whatever.

here we go:

that is a dang good sword, shame about the shield though. i appreciate branching out from plate and mail, but i’m not sure about motif coherency on the ornamentation. color scheme mostly good for driv excepting the pinkish tinges (although careless gold and silver mixing is one of my least favorite things ever). i don’t know--it was super hype at first, but i think it outlived its novelty.

PLD: ⭐⭐1/2

well it’s the best war set on driv yet...? (that is not a high bar to clear). still appreciating the step away from full plate, but less confident that this works as well as pld’s tabard. mixing all the different colors and textures of metal here is a bold move, as is adding feathers. it could be worse.

WAR: ⭐⭐

ohhh, i am so very disappointed by this. the initial drk af was nearly perfect on drividot, so this had a long way to fall and well, fall it did. i wanted to like the purple half-tabard thing much more than i did, and this set’s departure from plate makes it look like a kid’s foam-padded batman halloween costume on drividot. it is at least consistent and coherent, though. the best thing about this set is the sword, as its three-dimensionality and asymmetry are genuinely fun and interesting.

DRK: 1/2⭐

this turned out much better than i was expecting--but honestly, most of that is the chestpiece. the gloves, trousers, and boots are all distinctly underwhelming, and i’m still confused about why the tiara introduces the glowing teal gems, a color that appears nowhere else in the entire set. as complements to an actually nice chestpiece, they are functional. and while i think aymur is a beautiful design for a white mage cane, it doesn’t go at all with the rest of the seventh heaven set--not remotely, not in feel, not in color, not in texture, or ornament. the seventh heaven chest piece is good, but it can’t carry the whole ensemble.

WHM: ⭐1/2

aha. now we are cooking with gas. this is much less daring than the above ensembles, true, but it pays off in consistent, solid good looks. the relatively limited palette avoids over-ornamentation and mixing trim colors, so everything comes together really nicely. the green even manages to look good on drividot, which is something i had worried about. and though there’s not much in the picture, the weapon is absolutely gorgeous, with so many little details and creative additions. i love it.

SCH: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

remember how i said that some of the pictures wound up suffering for my refusal to adjust backdrop and lighting (because if i fucked around to optimize for each one it would have taken hours and hours)? this is the first victim. this looks completely amazing on drividot in most situations, but alas, the colors don’t quite look right here. that aside, though, i love this entire set: intricate, good colors, highly aesthetic--the only demerits i really have for it are for how the orange sash doesn’t have a dye channel of its own, and the whole problems with AST af and gender changes that have been an issue since the job’s introduction. 

AST: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

in a reversal of the previous ensemble, i think that this set is actually being done quite a few favors by the lighting. as a whole, this set actually looks remarkably good on drividot, considering that it was optimized for character designs/aesthetics that are nothing like driv’s. it doesn’t clash horribly with his color scheme, and its flourishes and quirks (fur, fringes, asymmetrical elements) actually work in a way they didn’t with the various tank afs because they mesh well with and further the rough-and-tumble brawly-ness of MNK. also i adore magic-sigil fist weapons. can we have more of that? please?

MNK: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

the ultimate problem with all DRG af post-ARR is that they have to try and improve on the lvl50 DRG af, and that is really, really hard. and ultimately, this set doesn’t succeed at it, but strangely i find myself cheering for it all the same. the introduction of gold trim is very good, and it comes off as correctly spiky without being self-parodying. if drg af1 was the highest form of it, the peak, the fully parade-ready uniform of a knight dragoon, this af3 feels like a more “practical,” more “knight errant” on-the-road version of it. it honestly has grown on me since launch in a big way.

DRG: ⭐⭐⭐

hot DAMN. just. holy shit. there are some items in the game where i’m convinced the costume designers were thinking of red-headed dark grey duskwight boys when they designed them, this is the first time i’ve had that feeling about an entire set. from the color scheme to the cut to the slashing curves and points of the ornament, this straight-up looks like this was made for drividot.

NIN: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

this is another one that looks straight-up like they designed this for drividot--which was shocking for me, i wasn’t expecting to look good as a samurai. that being said, though, there are a couple things that disqualify this from a perfect score like ninja--most of all, that, like WHM, the chestpiece is doing 99% of the heavy lifting, with other pieces having only minimal presence. i really would like for the sandals and gloves to be better and more visible. and also i gotta say i hate the little chinstrap on the hat. (it’s petty, but i really really do).

SAM: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

[imaginefeawakening]

Thank you @tcongdraws so so so so much for drawing such a lovely cover art!!! It inspired me to give some love for the Hoshidan Princes and for our endearing Prince Chrom! Please check this post throughout Halloween for additions~ You may request prompts here or at @imaginefefates

Takumi: He spent hours being too self-conscious to even put his costume on. With a lot of puffing him up, she’d got him to shed his shyness and try it on. “Hey,” he turned around as he examined himself in the mirror. “Not bad.”

“See?” she puffed out her cheek and hugged him from behind. “You gave me a headache for no reason.”

“I’m a prince. I can’t go out looking like a fool.”

“Hasn’t stopped you before,” she grumbled under her breath. 

He pouted. “I heard that.” Thankfully, he was easily placated with a few kisses. “Well...shall we get going?”

“Yeah...hey, you didn’t tell me what you think of my outfit.” This time, Corrin was the one to pout. Takumi grinned and rest his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not so  bad yourself.”

“That’s all? Come on Takumi, we’ve been married this long, stop getting shy.”

“Fine,” his ears pinked. “You look really, really….hot.” She was expecting pretty, or cute. This was indeed out of left field.

“Takumi…” her ears were redder than his.

“What? We’ve been married this long, stop getting shy.” He had a shit-eating grin that tempted her to mess with his face. They continued ribbing and teasing each other until they’d arrived at the ‘haunted’ manor. It loomed tall and menacing, and it looked entirely too pointy, in his opinion. There was also a suspicious amount of fog around it for what was otherwise a clear night. Was he the only one that felt the intense sense of dread? Takumi gulped and looked at Corrin with unease. “Hey….I don’t think they’ve got candy here…”

“It’s Old Hallows Eve, Takumi. Don’t you want a little excitement? A spooky atmosphere would be perfect.”

“Haven't you had enough excitement for a lifetime? What with jumping down cliffs and all that…” He grumbled for a little while longer, until they’d reached the manor. “You know, I doubt it’s even open—“ His voice trailed off as she carelessly opened the door and pushed forward. The door groaned ominously, and Takumi swallowed.

“You can hold my hand if you’re scared…” Corrin grinned at him and patted his cheek.

His lips pushed into a pout, but he took her offer in the guise of holding it so she wouldn’t get scared. With that settled, they wandered further inside, to Takumi’s dismay. They strolled through the parlor and examined the dusty tomes. “Ooh these are interesting…” Corrin picked one up to show Takumi, who proceeded to begin sneezing.

“Ahh...ahh—choo!” He sneezed, and just then the fireplace came alight with life, albeit for a moment. “Wah!” He leapt and hugged Corrin with all his might. “Wh—what was that?!”

She cocked her head to the side. “What was what, Takumi?”

“The fireplace! It’s lit—huh?”

Just like that, it was dark and dusty, not even a single wisp of smoke remained. Takumi dared not look at her expression. “I swear…”

“You might be a little too spooked...let’s go somewhere else.”

He took “somewhere else” to mean somewhere outside and as freedom. He did not expect it to be even deeper into the mansion. Corrin sat down at a piano and began playing the piece on the left behind sheet music. “Ah this is a duet...can you play, Takumi?”

“‘Fraid not,” he mumbled as he looked around the room. He was poking around the room to keep his mind off how creepy it all was. Just act like it was an old part of the palace...yeah...he chuckled nervously and looked down at the ground. “Huh…” it looked different than from all the other tiles. He curiously nudged the center with his foot and was about to greatly regret doing so.

Corrin bit her lip as the piano harmonized with her. “How are the other notes playing...I think we should get out of here, Takumi.” She stood up and looked around for her husband. “Takumi? Takumi! Where are you?” She hurried around the room until she came upon a giant hole in the ground. “T—Takumi…?” He couldn’t possibly have….

“Don’t you want a little excitement?” He called out mockingly, though his voice was so wracked with terror that his sarcasm came out as weak whimper. “A spooky atmosphere would be perfect! Aha...ha…..ha…..sniffle…”

Oh dear. He’s lost it. “I’ll save you Takumi, hold on!”

“I’ll be here...in the dark...and cold…” He continued to whine as she ran around looking for some very, very long rope. She ran from one end to the manor to the other, with no such luck. Perhaps it would be better just to find where he was imprisoned and free him there. As the thought occurred to her, a white puppy with droopy ears nipped at her feet.

“Oh hello!” she knelt down to scratch behind its ear. “Do you know where I could find my husband?”

It barked in what she hoped was affirmation. With a wag of its tail, it lead her down into the basement to catacombs she didn’t think even existed. It was frightening but she had decided to trust the young canine. It was her biggest lead to finding Takumi after all.

They’d finally arrived at a row of jail cells, and sure enough, Takumi was gripping at the bars and shaking like a child. Corrin groped around in the dark for the keys, and freed him immediately. “Corrin!” he just about bawled and flung his arms around her neck. “I thought I was going to die in there.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen..my poor dear, are you hurt?”

“My ass is completely sore…”

“You seem to be fine,” she sighed in relief. “Let’s go home now..” A faint grumbling from him signaled his assent and they went back upstairs. When they reached the landing Corrin had stopped to thank the pup, but it had vanished. She thought it better to not question it, and they made their way outside to the refreshing, crisp air.  

“Worst. Idea. Ever,” he complained as he cling to her arm.

“I’m sorry...what would you like to do instead.”

“Well...were all dressed up...you can, ahem, spoil me once we get home.” He nudged her shoulder with his, his crooked smile slowly returning.

“...Takumi…”

“Hey!” he huffed. “I nearly died back there!”

She smiled and kissed his cheeks, slightly darkened by soot.

“I know. I just wondered how you’ve got such a one-track-mind, dear.”

“I told you, you look hot in that,” he insisted, and grinned as she blushed once more. He recovered back to his usual sassy self by the time they went home, and wasted no time asking for kisses and special treatment once they made it to the safety of their bedroom.

Chrom: “Oh,” he looked down at himself with great amusement. “This is less...freeing as usual.”

“Bear with having both sleeves intact for a night,” Robin said with mirth. She’s careful to not poke at his fashion sense so much, but Chrom pouts anyway.

“Be nice. What am i, again?” he rubbed at the pointy teeth you’ve saddled him with, she swatted at his hand.

“Hey, it took a while to get those on. You’re a vampire, Chrom.”

“‘’Tis a strange beast indeed. Doesn’t look frightful other than how, erm, exposing it is.” The way he covered his arms was reminiscent of a maiden guarding her chastity, and she giggled at the resemblance. His collarbone was displayed handsomely, in your opinion, and she told him just that.

“Ah. What else could I have expected from you, Robin.” He laughed, and then examined her outfit. “Whoa there.” She smiled innocently, just as he finally took in what she was wearing. He swallowed hard, and his eyes widened comically. “W-well I see you’re showing a fair amount of skin yourself….” His eyes lingered at her cleavage until a flick on his forehead brought him back to his senses.

“Chrom. Relax.”

“But…”

“I’m yours, despite how deep my neckline plunges.”

“I...ahem, I see. And what exactly are you?”

“A devil.”

He mumbles something under his breath that probably earned a smack or two on the head. But she let it pass. “Now, shall we go, my vampire?”

“Yes, my little devil,” he said, his eyes back to her chest.

“Perhaps you’re the devil here,” she rolled her eyes, but allowed him to keep an arm around her waist.

“Maybe I’ll show you later.”

-

After a few hours of trick-or-treating with little Lucina (who was a little ladybug, courtesy of Frederick’s tailoring skills), her parents had dropped her back home to sleep so they could have a little more fun of their own.

“So...I’ve always been curious about these. But Frederick would never let me do this...he’d pull back me and Lissa by the ear and lecture us about the consequences of kidnapping.”

“I expect that his purse wouldn’t be able to afford your ransom. A test of courage, huh? I don’t recall ever doing one. This’ll be a first for the two of us.”

“Brave enough?”

“For the both of us,” said Robin airily as they went hand in hand to the spooky woods on the outskirts of Ylisse. It was eerie, and a very small shrine sat at the entrance. Chrom pointed to it with a hopeful look. It was then, that Robin realized, that he actually looked nervous.

“A shrine...that’s a good sign, yes?” He smiled confidently, but there was no hiding the sweat drops that dripped down his neck.

“Chrom, I doubt there’s any ghosts actually here.” She pulled him into the forest with no fear, his clammy hand wrapped tightly in hers. The first ‘test’ was a hollow pumpkin wrapped in white scraps of fabric and paper that swung around in circles by propulsion of the wind. Robin had to admit that she was startled, but Chrom, ever reliable, jumped in front of her and swung out his sword,  slicing the pumpkin in two. “I think that was one of the decorations…” Robin coughed, her hand on her heart still.

Chrom turned to look at her slowly, as he sheathed his sword. The now skewered pumpkin rolled around pathetically at their feet. They shared a nod and scuried forward before someone discovered that their hard work is now mush on the ground. Bits of pumpkin guts squelched beneath Chrom’s boots, and his nose wrinkled with distaste. Just as he opened his mouth to complain, something hit the back of his head. “What the?!” He turned on his heel to look for his assailant, but all he saw was darkness, and now a thing fog, for miles ahead. He looked up at the trees, and spotted no one either. Nonetheless, he tightened his hold on Robin, his jaw set and his feet rooted in a defensive stance.

“What is it Chrom?” Robin tilted her head to the side.

“Something just hit my head…” He picked up a pumpkin slice and showed it to her.

“Someone’s really mad at us huh...Maybe we should go ba--” Before she could finish her sentence, a large gust of wind blew over them, The crickets stopped chirping and a wolf howled in the distance.

“M-maybe just some elwind magic..?” Chrom offered hopefully.

“This is no work of a tome,” said an ominous voice from above.

“Ch-Chrom...was that you…” Robin clung to his side and looked upwards. She needn’t look at him to see the frightful shake of his head.

“There’s...no such thing. This is a prank. There’s no such thing, there’s no such--”

“What do you want, a new pumpkin? We’ll wrap it nicely for you if you leave us alone.” Another gust passed and they screamed. Chrom and Robin clung to each other for dear life, though he had taken out his sword again.

“You will do no harm to my wife! We’ve defeated a dragon, and we can take you on. That said--” He scooped up Robin rather dashingly, and ran at an inhumanely fast speed. “We’ll be taking our leave--”

“Just run, Chrom, run!”

They tried to run back to where they started, but a few more swinging pumpkins blocked their path and they had to backtrack. They returned to following the arrows to go out the other way but after a while of running they had realized they had passed the same moss covered rock about six times.

“It’s hopeless, Chrom. We should sit down and think of a plan…” She hopped down from his arms and kissed him gently to thank him for carrying her around the whole time.  

“Y-you want to stay here longer?!” His eyes darted nervously as though they were to be attacked at any moment.

“Well...we haven’t made much progress just running aimlessly….Let’s go find that stone again...perhaps we’ll find a way north out of here.” She took Chrom’s hand and they wandered aimlessly until they found their goal. Common sense was on their side finally, and they began seeing the light outside the forest.

“Finally, a way out of this hellish pls—AAARGH—“ Chrom scooped up Robin once more and least backwards, though he brandished with Falchion with a determined finesse. “H-Halt!” he said to a silhouette that was marching towards them.

Robin took out a pocket tome of thunder, and aimed it towards the spooky figure. “We’re not afraid to use this!” She spoke with a shaky bravado, and they heard an all too familiar sigh.

“Milady. Milord. It would do good not to dismember your knight.” It was a very, very weary Frederick who held Gaius and Henry by the ear. “I believe these two scoundrels have been harassing you?”

“You!!” Robin glared daggers at Gaius. “You’re the reason I lost years of my life? And what say you, Henry?”

“All the kiddies went home, so I couldn’t scare ‘me anymore.”

“And they stopped giving out candy...I got chased out with a rolling pin. So we got bored. And knew you were coming here.”

Frederick was the next to offer his explanation. “I pried it out of Lissa. Milord. I told you, you might get spirited away here. And did you listen? And you’ve endangered your wife too. You should be good examples for Lucina.”

“Never mind that...yet,” Chrom added hurriedly under the intensity of Frederick’s stare. “How did you find them..while we were running for our lives.”

“No one messes with Frederick,” Gaius said, still looking like a dog who’d gotten caught marking his territory on the furniture.

Robin glared at him again, with a look that said that he would regret messing with her. “Let’s...let’s just go home.”

“Agreed.” Chrom mumbled, holding his wife close to him. As the others nodded along, a strong gust of wind passed over them. The pair glanced at Henry who looked as perplexed as he did. “Cut it out with the elwin’s…”

“Nya ha! Elwind? I’m just the pumpkin decorating guy.”

Gaius claimed innocence as well.

“Wait then...the voice in the forest…”

A horrifying realization came to them, and it was then that they only had one option.

“RUUUUUUUUUUUN!”

Ryoma: After a long night out and about, the royal couple had just returned to their quarters. Ryoma, dressed as a Tengu, had begun to change out of his robes and discard his wings. But Corrin stopped him just as he’s exposed his torso.

“Wait...I like you like this.” She smiled and hugged his waist, and rest her cheek against his sculpted chest. “Stay dressed up a little longer?”

“Ah my cute witch...how can I deny such a request.” With warm eyes, he gazed at her. He slowly bent down to meet her height, and just as he cupped her chin for a kiss…

Bang! Went a noise outside their door.

“E—eek!” Corrin hid inside his robes. “Wh—what was that?”

“Let’s find out...ah, you’ll need to…” He gently pried her face away so he could tie his robes back. “Will you wait here?” She shook her head and held his hand. “Then we go together.” He squeezed it reassuringly as they slid open their bedroom door and ventured outside, each taking a weapon in hand on their way out.

On the floor was a grimly red splotch of red. “Blood…” Corrin whispered, her eyes wide.

“Mm...perhaps we’ve an assailant in our midst? Stay close to me, love.” He switched from holding her hand to keeping a protective arm around her, as they crept through the hallway.

“Do you think anyone’s…” She glanced back at the stain with worried eyes. Ryoma gave a quick squeeze of her shoulder to reassure her.

“It’s too light to have been anything too serious. don’t worry, everyone here is far too capable to be cut down.” He gently pecked her head and smiled st her, though she didn’t miss the slight strain in his eyes.

Another band came from just a little down the hallway, and the two broke into a sprint. Following that was some yelling and thumping noises that sank their stomachs.

There was another bang, and they discovered that these noises were resounding from Kana and Shiro’s room. They wasted no time and charged in, their swords ready to decapitate anyone who dared harm their children.

Instead they found Kana and Shiro shrieking and hugging each other, both staring into the ends of their parents swords. “Uncle, uncle!” Shiro shouts, pushing Kana behind him.

Ryoma and Corrin immediately lowered their swords and exhaled in relief, before proceeding to regard their children with stern stares. “Just what are the two of you up to? Do you know how scared we were? And why are you unprepared, should a real assassin have come you would be skewered in a matter of moments, is that any way to—“

“Easy,” Corrin put a hand on Ryoma’s chest to stop his tirade. “Children...do you have an explanation? What are those red stains, are you hurt?”

Kana bashfully showed a tray half full of raspberry tarts, some broken into crumbly pieces. “Sorry Mama...the firecrackers kept going off on our way here.”

“And we dropped our goods a few times,” Shiro pointed at their candy stashes.

“Well...all’s well that ends well...oh unfurrow that crease, Ryoma, it’s halloween.” Corrin stood on her tiptoe to smooth out the wrinkles on his brow. “And weren’t we going to have some fun, too?”

“Like what, mama?” piped up Kana and Shiro covered his ears, as the dutiful older brother he is.

“Never you mind. Now...good night then,” Shiro coughed awkwardly and kept holding on to Kana’s ears, Kana who wriggled around to free himself.

Ryoma and Corrin sighed in relief once more and returned to their room. They’d barely set foot in the room before Corrin returned to where they’d left off. “You should dress up like this more often, it suits you.”

“Would you prefer a tengu or a prince as your husband?”

“Why can’t I have both?” she smiled at him sweetly and slowly covered his jaw and neck with kisses. “This is my treat, for tonight.”

Fred: Frederick was adorably disgruntled. His brows furrowed together like usual, but this time with confusion rather than irritation. “Is this not a mere class change? Although you’ve...emphasized the sinister aspects.”

“Don’t you look dashing?” She messed with his pointy hood so it shadowed his face even more, and drew some whiskers on his face as a personal touch.

“I look like an evil sorcerer about to kidnap your first born and toss him into a cauldron. Boil, boil, toil and trouble,” he added in a deadpan.

“Then I’ll be sure to keep Morgan away from you, my scary husband.” Morgan was currently attending a small halloween party hosted by Lissa, who was in charge for taking care of everyone’s sprouts for the night.

“Do you think he’ll be fine? Should we go check on him?” Frederick’s worried ramblings began again, and she quickly hushed him with a soft kiss.

“Let him have his fun. He grew up well in one timeline already, no?” She smiled at him assuredly and kissed him once more. “Now then, shall we have a nice night in?”

They left out a bowl of candy to let the children help themselves to (little did they know that Gaius made off with the bowl when he stopped by their house). The lights were dark, and the only lighting that emanated windows were some well done jack-o-lanterns, carved courtesy of Frederick.

Robin and Frederick spend the evening huddled together under blankets, exchanging spooky tales. Some she’d heard from others, some Frederick had picked up over the years, and some that they spent a while crafting together. But the spookiest were most certainly Frederick’s. Before Chrom had seen any battles, Frederick quietly dealt with the horrors that had gone on in people’s lives. Scary occurrences with no explanation, ruthless monsters that murdered and tortured for fun. Just as Frederick finished his most frightening tale yet, it was time to go collect their little pumpkin from his patch. He stood up abruptly, as if on clockwork, and a high pitched yelp escaped Robin.

“S-sorry...I suppose I’m a bit jumpy…” She held a hand out so Frederick could help her on to her feet, though she still clung to his arm for balance.

“Good heavens,” he cupped her cheeks in his hands. “You look ghastly. I’m sorry...I didn’t think I would frighten you so much.” He stroked her hair gently, and carded through it until some color returned to her cheeks. Not wanting to appear childish, she smiled like her usual self, though it still wobbled a little bit when she remembered the more terrifying bits from his stories. “Perhaps I should get Morgan mysel--”

“No!” she yelled hard enough to make him flinch. “I--I mean, he’s expecting both of us, right? She clung to his arm and smiled nervously. “Can’t let him down.” Though it was apparent that she was frightened to be on her own, Frederick mercifully did not tease her one bit, and they strolled together in the dark. The children had mostly gone home, and there was a certain eeriness in the air, when surrounded by wooden goblins  and trolls. She was fidgety, despite how much Frederick rubbed her arm in reassuring circles. Mentally, he made the resolution to never scare her again, no matter how much she asked.

“Robin...are you…” Frederick had tried asking, when they heard a rustle.

She let out the loudest shriek when a cloaked figure moved in the bushes beside them. Frederick not missing a beat to protect his wife, clobbered the poor bastard who had chosen that unfortunate location to eat his goods. “H-hey ow! What the hell do you think you’re--?” Of course it was none other than Gaius, Gaius who still had the gall to hold the very bowl of candy he had snatched from their residence.

“Gaius! Why are you there?! And is that ours?”

“Candy break. And, nuh uh,” he said, quickly thrusting the bowl under his cloak.

“I carved our names into it. Hand it over.” He snatched back the wooden bowl that had become sticky from Gaius’s gorging. “Now go home, or I’ll have your wife hear about your mischief.” He gulped in response to that and quickly took his leave. Frederick’s shoulders slumped as he sighed, and rest his hand on Robin’s head. “Nothing scary. Just this idiot thief. Better now?”

She nodded and leant up for a kiss, and fisted her hand into Frederick’s pointy and ‘sinister’ collar. “Thank you, my brave wizard, for protecting me, What would I do without you?”

“Be an utter mess. But, my dear, I would be too. Let’s keep each other safe and collect the little one?”

“I’m at your side...happy halloween, Frederick.”

“And a Happy Halloween to you too...let’s ease up on the scary tales next year,” he suggested and cleared his throat. “As adorable as you were, clinging to my arm all night.” Though bashful and embarrassed, Robin agreed.

[gutspoken]

     First Follower Appreciation & Giveaway!!!

      Hey everyone! I want to thank you all so much for following Masumi. Each and everyone of you, even those who I’m not mutuals with (you enjoying her content that much means the world to me, and I’m so glad you’re staying around). I always hoped she’d be well received. Masumi has been the most fun and creative OC I’ve ever made in a very long time. I’m so happy to make such amazing friends with her, have wonderful roleplayers on my dash and reading all the threads and amazing writing, and interacting with other ocs and muses to build so many interesting relationships.

     My friend who helped encourage me to create Masumi and helped me with any questions I may have (and any in the future as well) isn’t active on tumblr right now, but I really couldn’t have done this without him. I was worried about the response creating a trans oc because of awful stories I’ve heard and seen about how roleplayers are treated when it comes to their imagination and headcanons, but I’m overwhelmed by the positive reception I have gotten. This all really wouldn’t have been possible without him, and I hope someday he will be able to go back to his muse that he headcanoned as trans himself. Hate is ugly in every and any form and no one should be harassed or made to feel weird for how they choose to headcanon a character, or when it comes to Masumi, creating a trans oc. If you ever see this, I love you very much. To others who may be feeling anxiety about their headcanons and developing ocs, I hope you overcome them and let your creativity flourish as it was always meant to.

     That’s it with the mushy stuff, aha. Under the cut is info about my giveaway. MAKE SURE YOU READ IT. 

     DO NOT REBLOG THIS POST, ONLY LIKES, THANK YOU.

     Halloween Icon Giveaway

     At first it was a little difficult deciding on what to do to celebrate my milestone, but I came across Haru Kitsu, an artist, on twitter who is doing icon commissions. They are willing to do Halloween-themed icons, but if you just want a regular one of your muse(or anyone else for that matter) just say the word!  Here’s their website if you want to check out their art. Here’s the commission page specifically.

     How this works:

There will be two winners. The prizes are 1 simple cel icon for each winner.  I would do more but I’m poor and want to tip them as well.

You will like this post (ONLY LIKE, DO NOT REBLOG) to enter and I will decide the winners with random.org. 

This is only for my current followers. I know who my current followers are.

Giveaway results will be announced Monday, OCT. 2nd at 9:00 PM EST. Short period of time because I want you to have the icon for most of October if a Halloween-theme is what you want! I will be reblogging this a lot but PLEASE REMEMBER do not reblog this yourself.

Please make sure to read their TOS which you can look at by clicking right here. Please have a costume in mind for the artist to draw! References are needed. I will be filling out the commission form myself cause of my paypal email, but from there on its just between you and them which while figure out the best way to do that for you specifically! The winners are allowed to ask me any other questions so there’s no confusions. I’ll be going over it with them anyway, haha. Good luck!

[iraniq]

ONE EYE CLOSED XIV

‘What’s the meaning of life?’

- What … ?

‘You are supposed to answer with “beg you a pardon” and also you graduated philosophy you should know the answer, which is not 42, I assure you!’

- No idea … why?

‘I was wondering what’s the life installed for us?’

- Are you having … Something you regret doing?

‘All the decisions in my life … No, I am joking I regret nothing!’

- Really … because I do, a lot of stuff.

‘Why … they made you who you are, you shouldn’t be. When you first came at my doorstep you were scared, stupid … unable to step for yourself … look at you now, daring to say “no” to the one who granted your life back! It’s a long road for me!’

- Yeah, thanks … so … you are having philosophical entlighment while stealing clothes? How?

‘ “know yourself better”, a shirt I am definitely taking for you!’

- Ha … something more … no! No Paulo Coelho stupid quotes, nope! … what about this … oh come on, it’s the perfect coat, like the cool warlocks in the movies … please … besides, look at the Jedi hood on it … Bel … Bel?

‘Ancient clothes section… Halloween stashes, we are taking them!’

- All?

‘All!’

…

‘What is this?’

- A gift … a friendship shirt.

‘<That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die.> ... Lovecraft - The NAmesless City! ‘

- Yes!

‘Well, thank you!’

- Well, you are welcome!

…

- Bel I am having some … inconvenients  …

‘Like?’

- Like, food is tasteless!

‘Yes, I expected this to happen, sooner or later.’

- You … expected this? What about telling me!

‘I didn’t want to scare you, I know you have … certain relationship with food!’

- Relationship?

‘Face it Love, you were fat and nasty when you came, and as I say “nasty” I didn’t meant because you were rotting! … why … why you must always cry?’

- Why you must always be so rude …

‘Because I love to … from another point of view, I am only rude with you!’

- Yeah, and this is some weird nasty way of telling me you like me?

‘No, I am not telling, showing, not to mention liking you. It’s nothing, stop being obsessed with it … no one likes you, me the least … that’s why no one come to look for you here!’

- They have no idea I am here …

‘Really now? No one … Curiouser and curiouser! I bet they didn’t search for you at all!’

- Yes, they didn’t, you made sure I am informed about this … so you enjoy making me miserable?

‘Yes! You are so disgustingly alive! And cheerful …‘

- … cheerful around, I know!

‘Good girl! Now go and clean something of mine, will you! And be quiet while doing it!’

…

‘Didn’t I told you not to touch my books!’

- Technically this isn’t a book, it’s your … private magic journal! And I am just looking around. What are these languages? Latin, Hebrew … some ancient Aramaic dialect?

‘It’s called “Grimoire” I’ve already told you.’

- So … you read this?

‘No, I … made them, you can’t re-write spells.’

- Why?

‘Because you learn them form the source! If you try something new, or different you write them, otherwise it’s pointless.’

- I see …

‘No, you don’t, you can’t even read them!’

- No, but it looks pretty … oh, this is the Philosopher’s stone, the alchemical symbol of it!

‘You know?’

- Yes, I like ancient symbols … although Harry Potter fans draw it a little bit differently.

‘Oh, shut up! … they are so gross, twisting magic in … puberty movie for losers!’

- Ha, finally! A realistic opinion! Although I like the Basilisk.

‘The snake … ok.’

- What I like snakes and rats way better then bugs.

‘Well, at least you’ve got some good taste!’

- As you mentioned taste I made …

‘… I ate it.’

- Ha?

‘The chocolate cake you made, I at it, all of it!’

- But … it  was so much …

‘And so delicious! Made me some more. I’ll buy you the needed ingredients!’

- Ok … no blood tho, aw … you know there is an indian tribe call “Maasai” that have a ritual of drinking blood mixed with milk?

‘Oh … ruining the good blood, no … tell me, whose is the blood exactly?’

- Cow’s!

‘Oh … I changed my mind, I don’t want any cake.’

- But I want! That’s why I made it!

‘You ate enough, fatty!’

- Bel!

‘Yes, I am pretty, you are not!’

- I am not … I AM NOT! You said I am your masterpiece!

‘Yes, yes, you are, my beautiful baby, now stop whining … I’ll buy some fruits too, they will be fine with the cake.’

- Yes, no cream tho, I don’t like it!

‘Ok!’

…

- What about blood magic?

‘Too precious to waste it for this shit!’

- Shit … ?

‘My blood, necromancy … let’s say it’s not exactly blood magic area.’

- Why?

‘Because you asked!’

- Elements?

‘Won’t work on necromancy!’

- Why?

‘Because I fucking raise the dead! Elements are supposed to provide life, white light, you know.’

- No I don’t.

‘Well you should’ve! Besides that …  All magic coms with a price.’

- What’s that supposed to mean?

‘Nothing …

- How wise … I should write a diary … “a day with a necromant”

‘Please, by all means do! … Yes?’

- Can you kill a zombie?

- No.

Why, you are all mighty, the Chosen One …

‘… because zombies are already death! You can … double kill them … that was hilarious … why aren’t you laughing?’

- Believe me I do, inside, I am peeing my pants laughing!

‘Aha … ‘

- Am… well, what if you … reverse the zombie virus?

‘What if I … WHAT?’

- Reverse the zombie virus.

‘Come again … ?’

- You heard me!

‘Yes, I heard the most stupid thing in my entire life … a virus?’

- Yes …

‘HOW STUPID ARE YOU, LITTLE GIRL? … the undead are not some … venereal disease!’

- What …

‘Sex exchanged disease … You can’t … nevermind.’

- No, I saw it …

‘In the movies?’

- Yes … yes some stupid movies, but …

‘… the idea of a virus is to spread till it … possesses all of it’s host. A simple virus, can kill a person, but can’t bring it back to life, it can be in this … almost dead stage … but definitely  not acting like the ones in you STUPID MOVIES!!!!’

- Ok, ok! Fine, don’t shout at me, I was just asking … what if a zombie bites a living human?

‘Sick, not zombie. Most likely dead, after all they will be bitten by very dirty, like dirty in a meaning of lack of hygiene creature, and the wound will … No, no! If it’s in a half dead stage, all of the teeth will be gone, you know the hair and the teeth are the first to fail when the body is dying.

- Oh … well, I should be happy mine are well.

‘For now …’

- Bel! 

‘ Don’t Bel me! You are wakling dead body! Food is tasteless, you can’t sleep, you lose your focus, forgetting what was going to say, forget stuff in general ... you are dead! The soul is the one that keeps the body together, you don’t have one, you have a reflection of it, so deal with it! You have less than a year to live ... and if you are not idioitic enough to piss me off every day, we might have a lot of fun ... you are not this bad company fter all ... and don’t cry!!! ... Dammnit! She wasn’t supposed to have tears by now ...

________________________

http://iraniq.tumblr.com/post/166011966672/one-eye-closed

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@diyunho @rhina988 @nikkitasevoli @auntiemama1 @wolfgirl1074 @sookieblack12 @spillinginkwithlove @lady-grinning-soul-k @lylabell2013 @larissaivanov @jayded-dreams @cadeathens @fanalityfiction @lostnorthofheaven

[sandy-sims]

100  questions nobody ever asks! ❓

I was tagged by @sim-bubble! (and a few more people but I can’t remember who, I’m sorry!)

1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? I don’t have a closet! My bf does though, and we sleep with it closed.

2. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels? Yeah, if they’re from a fancy hotel!!

3. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? I didn’t realise people tucked their sheets in? :o

4. Have you stolen a street sign before? Nope.

5. Do you like to use post-it notes? Sure!

6. Do you cut out coupons but then never use them? Noo, couponing isn’t really a thing here!

7. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? A bear! Much easier to escape from. When we were in Florida we actually saw a wild bear right in front of our villa, we ran to the door and watched it from the window. 

8. Do you have freckles? Nopee. Freckle free since 98′

9. Do you always smile for pictures? Yep! If I know the picture is being taken!

10. What’s your biggest pet peeve? Oh boy, idk? I have so many petty pet peeves aha! It really annoys me when people don’t tip waitresses and waiters.

11. Do you ever count your steps when you walk? Not since I was little!

12. Have you peed in the woods? Yep! Me and my family go hiking and backpacking a lot! 

13. Have you ever pooped in the woods? Nope.

14. Do you ever dance even if there’s no music playing? Umm no I don’t think so!

15. Do you chew your pens and pencils? Yes, all the time.

16. How many people have you slept with this week? 1.

17. What size is your bed? Double!

18. What is your song of the week? I’ve been weirdly obsessed with this song, it has a great message and an awesome rhythm.

19. Is it OK for guys to wear pink? Of course.

20. Do you still watch cartoons? Yeah, I watch scooby-doo all the time! I still watch the simpsons too, if that counts.

21. What is your least favorite movie? Umm! This is hard lmao, I rarely watch movies, and only do if it’s something I really want to see! Me and my boyfriend went on a double date with our two friends to see Me Before You and all agreed it was terrible.

22. Where would you bury hidden treasure if you had some? Umm in my back garden? Otherwise I’d probably forget where I’d buried it. 

23. What do you drink with dinner? Diet Coke or wine lmao.

24. What do you dip a chicken nugget in? I like them naked.

25. What is your favorite food? Sushie, roast potatoes or yorkshire puddings lmao

26. What movies could you watch over and over again and still love? Any Scooby-Doo animated movies, Saving Private Ryan, Lord of the Rings/Hobbitt movies.

27. Last person you kissed/kissed you? le boyfriend

28. Were you ever a boy/girl scout? I was a boy scout for years lmao. In the UK we have ‘scouts’ and ‘girl guides,’ boys generally go to scouts and girls generally go to girl guides, but I hated all the girls I knew when I was younger xD 

29. Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine? Oh boy, idk? Never say never! 

30. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? Oh boy, probably the last time I wrote to my penpal, like, 3 years ago.

31. Can you change the oil on a car? No aha, I’m clueless. I can barely fuel up xD

32. Even gotten a speeding ticket? Nope, thank god omg. My parents would kill me. 

33. Even ran out of gas? Not yet!

34. What’s your favorite kind of sandwich? Plain ol’ cheese!

35. Best thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes at weekends, I make great pancakes. Me and Kit make European pancakes every Sunday lmao. But during the week I like Bagels with cheese, because it’s quicker!

36. What is your usual bedtime? Around 2:00am.

37. Are you lazy? Yep!

38. When you were a kid, what did you dressed up as for Halloween? Witch pretty much every time lmao.

39. What is your Chinese astrological sign? Tiger!

40. How many languages can you speak? I speak conversational Russian and French.

41. Do you have any magazine subscriptions? Nope.

42. Which are better: LEGOS or Lincoln Logs? What are Lincoln Logs? 

43. Are you stubborn? Yes aha!

44. Who is better: Leno or Letterman? I don’t know them I’m afraid.

45. Ever watch soap operas? I have, but not anymore.

46. Are you afraid of heights? Yes.

47. Do you sing in the car? Yes, all the timee.

48. Do you sing in the shower? Noo, weirdly enough. I prefer baths to showers tbh

49. Do you dance in the car? Not rlly.

50. Ever used a gun? Yeah, at a shooting range. I used to date a military maaaaaan who loved things like that. 

51. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer? When I graduated Sixth Form in May! 

52. Do you think musicals are cheesy? Nope, I love them!

53. Is Christmas stressful? I love Christmas! I’m not really involved in organising anything, so no, not stressful for me! Finding gifts can be tough though! 

54. Ever eat pierogi? Nope.

55. Favorite type of fruit pie? ummmmm I swear the only fruit pies we have here are apple pies aha! And I don’t really like apple pie.

56. Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid? astronaut.

57. Do you believe in ghosts? Yeaah.

58. Ever have a deja-vu feeling? Yep!

59. Do you take vitamin daily? When I was a vegetarian I did.

60. Do you wear slippers? Yes, I love them omg. They’re big fluffy white dogs.

61. Do you wear a bath robe? Yep! But we call them dressing gowns not bath robes! 

62. What do you wear to be comfortable? My pajamas lol I live in them

63. What was your first concert? Blink 182 I think, or Greenday.

64. Walmart, Target or KMART? We don’t have any of these things in the UK lmao, but I’ve been to a walmart and a target once.

65. Nike or Adidas? Adidas.

66. Cheetos or Fritos? We don’t have these.

67. Peanuts or Sunflower Seeds? Peanuts!

68. Ever hear of the group Tres Bien? Nope.

69. Ever take dance lessons? Noo, I am the least graceful person ever.

70. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing? Ummm not really, no! 

71. Can you curl your tongue? Yep.

72. Ever won a spelling bee? We don’t really have spelling bees.

73. Have you ever cried because you were so happy? Yeah!

74. Own any record albums? A few.

75. Own a record player? Yeah.

76. Do you regularly burn incense? Not regularly.

77. Even been in love? Definitely.

78. Who would you like to see in concert? The Beatles would’ve been cool.

79. What was the last concert you saw? I went to see Take That last month with my boyfriends mum.

80. Hot Tea or Cold Tea? Cold, I don’t like hot tea.

81. Tea or Coffee? Coffee.

82. Sugar Cookies or Snickerdoodles? I don’t know aha.

83. Can you swim well? Yeah.

84. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose? Yes aha.

85. Are you patient? Definitely not.

86. DJ or Band at a Wedding? Band!

87. Ever won a contest? Yeaah, I won a writing contest when I was like 13 and won tickets for an Olympic football game between Canada and UK!

88. Have you ever had plastic surgery? Nope.

89. Which are better: Black or Green Olives? Neither omg 

90. Can you knit or crochet? I can knit, badly.

91. Best room for a fireplace? Living Room defo

92. Do you want to get married? Maybe, one day, idk

93. If married, how long have you been married? 0

94. Who was your high school crush? I liked/dated a whole bunch of people during highschool omg. But there was this one guy that had a crush on me for a while, and I was always secretly quite fond of him too but I never told him. He was a very gentle soul and had a wonderful accent.

95. Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way? No aha

96. Do you have kids? Nope!

97. Do you want kids? Ummmm I really don’t know. Maybe.

98. What is your favorite color? Orange

99. Do you miss anyone right now? Some of my old friends.

100. Who are you going to tag to do this tag next? @simsomedia, @our-dazed-sims, @dreamteamsims, @tea-sims, @peonypyxels, @simssprout, @cinemasims, @noonicorn, @simwithsparkles, @scampsims, @nicotinc, @dank-owski, @zauglom, @theuniquepoutine, @vodkasims and @andromeda-sims! If you’ve done this already, or just don’t want to, no worries!