#ngl i was terrified when they started to go this direction

[icharchivist]

But honestly, Maleagant's speech moved me to tears. Just. Being subjected to all of that horror just because of the way you were born. Being ostracized and hated and treated as less than human just because of the way you are... As a LGBTQ person, that hits close to home. That's really relevant in today's times and I'm glad the subject matter was treated with respect and they weren't made out to be the villains because they retaliated against the oppressive system. It was just really good. cries

honestly yeah, same. it genuinely messed me up.

i don't really talk about it on here but hhh my Mom is of Jewish and French&Algerian descent, and while she didn't pass down anything culturally speaking (she considers herself atheist and she did everything in her life to conceal our heritage, so i don't know as many cultural stuff that isn't just. the Trauma:tm: or just things my mom unconsciously passed down), the conversation, especially, about how much our family had lost to the holocaust when her family lived in France, and then to the Algerian war after they moved there have been.... a lot. this is something we talk about a lot.

like. i think it's why i also kinda flew off the handle a little at receiving dick jokes out of it because to me it's just. Yeah. Yeah i those are conversations that hit extremely deep especially in term of generational trauma, and, of course, current politics as well.

I think it's also like. something i'm kinda eyeing Lancelot about in case his Valiant heritage ever happen to be relevant. Because i know i've seen people brush it off like it doesn't matter because Lancelot doesn't seem to feel anything with the dragons around him or not but there's... definitely something to be had with a heritage to a culture you weren't taught anything about and yet still the ghost of knowing it could fall down on you at anytime.

I think it's really hard to find a story that really talk about genocide while also being like. fair to the victims. More often than not fantasy stories in particular end up falling into the trap of saying that there was a reason it happened, actually, or that well it's from the past you can't punish the people now :/ or stuff like that and it's. wehh.

Personally, it made me think especially about the Ainu people in Japan. I am not really well versed on the topic, but there was basically a whole genocide on the Indigenous people of Hokkaido, and i know in recent years, Japan has been trying to take some lands that belonged to the Ainu in order to build in some themeparks, and when the Ainu survivors tried to make their plea heard and have Japan acknowledge their warcrimes, the government denied it fully. (and it's not to mention how Koreans have been asking for the past decades for Japan to recognize their warcrimes and the gov still fully in pure denial it even happened. which is a similar topic that is worth mentioning)

in the past few years Japan has been under fire for their complete refusal to address the genocides and warcrimes they had commited, and there's been a really big public outcry around the world about the state denial going on and the way it also transcribe on how those genocides are... well... /not/ taught.

so i do think it's like, extremely relevant to Japanese politics. I even saw a seiyuu mention how topical this event is. This is an event that directly criticize the current Japanese policy of constant denial and stuff.

and, obviously, it can apply to any other situation where rights are denied to people for various reasons, which is extremely relevant all around the world because of the rise of fascism and the way most governments these days are completely lost in the history revisionism sauce, and it's genuinely alarming. Look at any country's politics and all of them are trying to rewrite history in some way and it's sickening.

I personally immediately connected to it because, on top of my history awareness, it's just like. conversations i regularly have with my mom when we discuss our family's past. It stung extremely close from home. even if i'm also LGBT+ this was where my thoughts immediately went.

but therefore, it's something that applies to any experiences of oppressed people who are currently having their history erased by fascist government that are trying to get rid of "the undesirable"

i genuinely think granblue dealt with the topic with a lot of grace, and Maleagant genuinely managed to pass down the politics, the pain, the history, the old hurt as well as the new hurt, just so well.

it really struck a cord with me. It was really well done.

so yeah feeling you fully on this one friend.

I think this event was pretty graceful at addressing this topic while also really anchoring itself as anti-fascist and it was honestly a breath of fresh air.

[ambrosialdesire]

what are your thoughts on yandere levi 😩

my thoughts are: HELL YES

assuming that this is captain levi you're talking about, he's an already pretty terrifying force to be messing with in the first place, whether you are part of the corps or the enemy. to add on the yandere trope onto his character, you're in deep trouble LOL

ngl for me, it really varies on what kind of yandere he is depending on who he's interested in. for now, i'm only going to be explaining the instances and scenarios of reader either being a survey corps low-ranked soldier, marleyan captain enemy, and civilian.

i didn't mean for this to be so long but levi's been one of my favorites since middle school (literally was insane for him back then before reiner's s4 glowup lolol)

this is written as a gender-neutral reader sorta, no pronouns are used but it's slightly implied that this is a fem reader.

tw: manipulation, abuse of power, inappropriate touching, possessive behavior, implied non-con, implied mind-breaking

if you're part of the survey corps but serving as a low ranked soldier compared to levi, he constantly abuses his power over you. it doesn't show at all that he likes you, it's him mostly making you do things for him like you were his personal secretary. he takes you out of training to clean his office instead (he'd make you do it over and over again if it's not up to his standards), takes you away from your lunch group so you can boil his tea for him, sometimes just pulling you out of anything you're doing just to hang around him. at first, you were excited to take any job from him, after all, levi's one of the top soldiers in the corps. it was completely out of respect for the man until you begun to realize that he's just using you to only do "desk-jobs". you start getting sick of doing meaningless jobs for him but you're terrified of even saying anything about it to humanity's strongest soldier. levi's never going to be the really touchy type in any of my renditions of him being a yandere, but you've occasionally felt his faint touches around certain parts of your body as if a ghost had brushed past you; other times, he sternly grips your forearm or shoulder whenever he's in a not-so-pleasant mood. since him and erwin are buddy-buddy, he turns an eye with his behavior towards you, telling you that he would report the mistreatment to the higher-ups but really just throw away the files. he doesn't want his best soldier to falter anytime soon and you being a little special treat to satiate his appetite is nothing short of a itty bitty loss in the ranks. he's manipulative, wavering the threat of forcibly having you dishonorably discharged when you don't do as you're told. you wouldn't want your family to know that you're a shameful excuse of a soldier, would you? so be a good little pet, get down on your knees and beg for his forgiveness by any means necessary.

if you're a marleyan enemy soldier, especially a captain like him, FUCK there's so much tension between the two of you. his paradisian devil soldiers made a complete mess that night, killing many of the underlings and your coworkers, incapacitating the warriors as if they were nothing short of pests. you saw the absolute speed of that man who tore through one of the hinges of galliard's jaw and completely cut down jaeger's beast titan form, swearing nothing but completely hatred for that demon. levi thought you were interesting the moment he spotted you witnessing his attacks, eyes wide with admiration but stewing with disgust at the same time. there was a certain kind of fear that he's never seen before and the two of you shared a long stare before you took a shot, barely missing your intended target: him. a frustrated scream ripped out of you as you had to powerlessly watch them leave through one of the many blimps in the air. you didn't realize that he soon shot his ODM spears towards you, zipping in your direction and kicking you down to the ground. it was like he teleported in front of you as he stood over your body but you were soon knocked out with the butt of your own rifle. you woke up tied to a chair, hair being pulled back and gaze focused on the blinding light above you. he started asking questions, hitting you around like a training dummy but you refused to budge no matter how much pain you were in, spitting and laughing at his face. one of his comrades told him that it was useless trying to make you spill out anything, that they already knew everything that they needed to know from the marleyan defectors and zeke. part of his motivation for this (at that point in the anime) is because he's so sick of losing everyone important in his life so having someone to control, knowing what the outcome is because their future is strung by his own hands, it made the pain easier to deal with. on your side, for some godforsaken reason, he refused to let you go or kill you. oh no, no, no. he wants you to break. he wants that terrified, but idolized look in your eyes again. levi wants you to completely forget the person you are and who you served, only becoming his sweet and obedient marleyan prisoner.

if you're just an average citizen, it's a slow build-up of when levi began to take an interest with you. it was on accident but he starts to occasionally spot you whenever the scouts come back from outside expeditions, eyes wandering over the injured with a sullen expression. he couldn't decipher whether you felt simply ashamed of their loss again or that you felt bad that they had to keep doing this to themselves. that's usually only the few times where he sees you, usually trying to keep to himself and ignore the other bystanders. you were always there however, as if his eyes were automatically always darting to the same spot when he looked over into the crowd. when hange forced him to get out of the stuffy corps building and out into the city, he found himself staring at you while you serve drinks out to customers. it's filthy the way you brush your hand against theirs, winking at them to rub it even more. it was reminiscent, as if he was back watching an underground whore working for better tips. it felt strange seeing you outside of something he was used to, especially if it's something as deprecating as this back-alley bar. levi couldn't stop himself from standing up and trudging over to you when some pig put his hands on you, more so from what you're obviously comfortable with. it felt like he was back in the underground, the way he dug his fists into that sorry son of a bitch's face, fighting the group of men that he was with as well. hange eventually joined in as well, cheering in joy as they threw a beer glass into some guy who was sneaking up behind him. as the fight started to get more insane, he snatched you away from the scene when the moment was right (he may have left hange behind but they're more than capable of handling themselves in a fight). you thanked him profusely and offhandedly mentioned that you were definitely not working back there again after what happened. it could've been the traces of alcohol in his system or the adrenaline, but he kissed you right there. you pushed him away of course, completely shocked that the humanity's strongest had literally just kissed you unwarrantedly. he wanted to take his time to get to know you, he really did. yet levi realizes that he's no different from the disgusting man that he had just beat his face in, his grip around your arm tightening as he forces you against the grating wall in the dark alleyway.

[bonefall]

Since you mentioned only cats and a few other distant animals are sentient, does this mean foxes are getting their sentience removed? Midnight can talk to foxes in the books and even convinces some foxes to leave a patrol of cats alone (the foxes are WEIRDLY violent and talk about eating the cats too lmaoo).

I assume Hollyleaf's changes mean the Fox Cub Incident is either being moved or just removed entirely, I always found that small plot point interesting in face of all those "Non-cat in clan" AUs. Seems like something that could be interesting if an "us vs them" argument was formed from it, especially if it was targeted against Midnight and calling her unholy yknow?

Yeah, that sapience is gone completely. In this universe, language is limited only to humans, cats, and some distant animals that are far outside the range of Albion (elephants, bottlenoses, some parrots, etc)

And Hollyleaf's story especially. Ngl to you, I don't like that fox idea. Or anything about Hollyleaf's Story. I think it was the worst possible route to take.

"Hollyleaf will be a mother to this evil creature to learn what it's like to love something that hates you. It is so sad to be your mom Leafpool (Squirrel-who?). Don't you feel like a shitty daughter now, Holly? Let's not ask any questions about the code btw, or how you were already filled with crushing shame from it. Or how it made you so disgusted about the idea of pregnant nuns that you flipped your shit and ruined the lives of your entire family. No, what really mattered about this situation was maternal empathy. Also here take the nearest male character we can find to ship you with, we accidentally made Cinderheart too gay when she was upset about your death lmao"

But, digressing, putting my distaste of that novella aside,

WC is profoundly xenophobic already with just the cats, and I think it was a CATASTROPHIC mistake to make it so every animal is secretly intelligent but speaks animal language. Now every conflict between cats and their predators is an ethnic dispute! You're chasing out groups of people perfectly capable of reasoning if you bridged the language barrier, but they're also ACTUAL PREDATORS.

AT BEST; It's the same uncomfortable situations that Zootopia and Lion King ends up tripping over. In Zootopia, predators are used as an allegory for oppressed groups... but predators are MADE to eat prey. A rabbit is RIGHT to be terrified of a fox, twice its size with a jaw made for catching bunnies. In Lion King, lions have divine authority to rule over their dinner/subjects, and chase out any animal based on their personal ideology... which just so happens to only be leveraged against rival predator species.

(Nerd preemption: yes i know about lion guard. I do not think diverse Lion Cops were the solution you think it is.)

Carelessly adding sapience to "natural systems" often ends up accidentally justifying bigotry. Bigotry doesn't MAKE SENSE, it's bullshit we made up and perpetuate through culture, but food webs are completely logical. The rabbit fears the fox because the fox eats rabbits. The lion hates the hyena because they compete for the same food. Gazelles don't happily submit to an overlord who is divinely capable of deciding who should live and who should die, it's just nature.

But it gets even worse-- because it's actually WORST CASE; the Erins saw that complicated moral problem and went, "don't worry! They're actually born evil! Foxes just talk about food and killing things :)"

like... my brother in cats, YOU gave them language in the first place! What was the fucking point if they were just going to be evil barbarians anyway?!? For ONE scene where Midnight could show off her Duolingo streak???

So to summarize,

It was an awful idea to start with

It was executed in the worst possible way

In a series that is already plagued with xenophobic sentiment, this somehow made it even worse and more direct

If it was completely nuked it from the story, the series would be immediately better with minimal change. Holly caring for what is essentially the clan cat-equivalent of an exotic animal like a chimp or a tiger cub would have done the same thing

There is not even a glimmer of an idea here that justifies the poison that full sapience does to the wider implications of the series.

Don't even get me started on the Badger Debaucle in TNP, which is actually in my top 5 for most vile things in WC

So if I don't explicitly say that a species in BB is capable of true language, assume it is non-sapient. Talking animals like Midnight and Rat Leader are magical individuals-- gods, curses, etc.

[goblinratman101]

back with another request for you <33

feel free to pick whoever you want for this one :)

haikyuu boys (or girls) with a partner who’s socially anxious or shy, like “terrified of asking for help because they don’t want to seem stupid” level

their partner is trying to find them after a tournament but some people from a rival school spots them and starts hitting on them, how would the boys/girls react?

| This is me fr fr. Sorry if it isn't exactly what you asked for |

| characters: Kyotani Kentaro, Yamamoto Akane, Akaashi Keiji, Miya Osamu, Aone Takanobu |

| Genre: Fluff |

Kyotani Kentaro

Let me start by saying Kyotani thought you were a spineless pushover when you two first met

He didn’t really like you is all I’m saying

Until one day he saw you feeding the stray dog he usually feeds

And instead of cowering in fear and running away like he thought you would do when you saw him

You smiled and waved him over saying he should come look at the cute pupper

And that was it for him you being too cute sent him into puppy love this is your fault! 😡

This boy is so protective I swear

If he thinks anyone is looking at you too long for his liking then he about to beat their ass

God forbid anyone that teases you about being too shy you have scary dog privileges use it

Now Aoba Johsai were going to a match so as the supportive partner you were you of course went to cheer your boyfriend on

Kyotani was currently taking a break while you were talking with him and he looked away for a second and you were suddenly swept away in the crowd

Kyotani = PANIC MODE!!!

The crowd was pushing you until you found a way out

Now to the real problem, where the hell were you

You didn’t have your phone on you since you left it in your bag that was sitting with Kyotani so you couldn’t call him

And your crippling social anxiety was ever present so asking someone for directions was out of the question

That was until someone had come up to you

'Are you lost? Why don't you come and watch me play. You're pretty cute'

Your anxiety has skyrocketed

‘Oh, n-no I’m fine’

You spoke trying to get this guy away while also trying to spot Kyotani in the crowd since he was probably tearing the place up looking for you

‘Are you sure I don’t bite’

He spoke leaning closer to you while trapping you against the wall right behind you

‘I do’

Looking towards the voice you saw your very angry boyfriend

‘Taro!’

You yelled out happily while Kentaro tried with all his might to not blush at such a cute nickname

He’s trying to be intimidating Y/N! Stope being so cute!

He then walked up to the guy and grabbed him by the collar

‘You better leave my partner alone or we’ll have a problem’

Kyotani warned as the guy nodded and hastily ran away

Immediately Kyotani looked you over and asked if the guy did anything to you

You shook your head then smiled up at him

‘You looked so cool Taro! Like a knight in shining armour!’

His face erupted into flames as he looked everywhere but you

Why’d you have to be so cute Y/N he can’t think anymore

He would just grab your hand still incredibly embarrassed as he walked back to where your stuff was

Kyotani wouldn’t mind if you got lost again so he could save you like a knight

Yamamoto Akane

Why does no one write for this cutie?! Look at her!

Honestly you two are so different everyone questions your relationship

The both of you are pretty cute

I can totally imagine Akane being super nervous around you

She just thinks your so cute when your shy

Especially if you ask her for help

She will not hesitate to help you with anything social

She’ll be loud enough for the both of you 😌

She has a hair clip and scrunchie collection that she lets you use and even gets the both of you matching hair clips and scrunchies

Onto the actual request tho

Akane is the captain of the cheer squad for Nekoma

Akane wanted you to see how cool the boys volleyball club was she also wanted you to see how cool her older brother was ngl

But with this being the first time going to the volleyball arena that was filled with people you were very nervous

It also didn’t help that your girlfriend had to arrive early to set up the cheer squad and make sure everything was perfect

So Akane was calling you to help you get to the right area where the Nekoma game would be

That was until some guy approached you

‘Hey you’re pretty cute! Do you wanna go out’

You immediately got nervous but was able to tell the guy you weren’t single

‘Really? You’re dating someone? I don’t see them anywhere though’

The guy spoke stepping closer as you also stepped back

‘I-I’m actually busy trying to find the volleyball arena…’

You spoke nervously as you were not mentally prepared to talk to anyone other than Akane her brother and the Nekoma teammates

‘Hey asshole! Get away from Y/N!’

You looked over to see Akane puffed out from running but still standing her ground

‘Who are you ? They’re friend?’

The guy spoke but Akane stomped over to you two and stood in front of you protectively

‘I’m their girlfriend so back off!’

It was honestly funny how Akane was almost half the guys height but still managed to drive him off with her enraged face

‘That’s right you better run!’

Akane yelled as you giggled taking her hand in yours

‘Thanks Akane for saving me there’

You thanked them gave the girl a kiss on her cheek

‘Y-Y-Y-Y/N! You can’t just kiss me so suddenly! Warn me first!’

She exclaimed red in the face then hugged you tightly while hiding her face in your chest

That was until Akane realised you two would almost be late for the game

‘S-Stop distracting me Y/N! We’re gonna be late for the game!’

Akane yelled tightening her grip on your hand as she full on sprinted to the arena as you tried to keep up with your energetic girlfriend

Akashi Keiji

Man dating Akashi Y/N

You’re so lucky, wish it was me

Let me just say Akashi is so understanding of your crippling social anxiety

He would speak up for you if you had a question and if you didn’t get anything in class he would explain it to you himself

This man is so incredibly patient he would wait an entire 15 minutes just for you to ask if you could get help with your homework

He has experience with Bokuto

He would try to help you with your anxiety but would immediately stop if you became uncomfortable or too nervous

But he is friends with Bokuto so you’ll have to get used to his energetic personality

So Fukurodani had just won against Nekoma so you wanted to congratulate Akashi for the win

Until you remember how confusing the layout for the arena was and you were currently lost

Luckily you were able to text Akashi where you were so all you had to do was wait until he arrived

That was until a certain setter came up to you

That’s right

Koganegawa Kanji

Bet you didn’t see that coming

This boy saw you looking real cute and probably got a crush, so of course he ran up to you to talk

‘Hi there! I’m Koganegawa Kanji. I’m a first year setter for Date Tech! Your really cute! What’s your name? Could we go on a date?’

Honestly you couldn’t keep up with what he was saying

Even if you didn’t respond to him he would still talk

You were kind of just awkwardly standing there as a golden retriever in human form was excitedly talking to you

Looking around you tried to find Akashi in the crowd, when you did you immediately called him over with a worried look

You didn’t really think Koganegawa would do anything you were just too socially awkward to say a word to him, and you were just overwhelmed with all this excitement on you that you were basically on the verge of a panic attack

Akashi immediately seeing this quickly walked over to the both of you and standing in front of you, then grabbed your hand and just dragged you away from Koganegawa

Akashi knew you were overwhelmed so he decided the best option was to take you away from the situation so you could calm down

‘Your ok now Y/N. I saw this ice cream stand on my way here, do you want to get some?’

Miya Osamu

I’m pretty sure Osamu wouldn’t really understand why you were so anxious all the time

He just didn’t really get it probably still doesn’t get it but he’ll try his best to help you!

Osamu is definitely in love with you though

I 100% believe this man would fall in love so hard, especially if you encourage him with his cooking dream and tell him he would be a wonderful chef

This boy would spoil you with so much food, you literally don’t have to buy food

He absolutely adores you and is extremely protective of you for how anxious you can get

Lets say you were hanging out with Osamu before the game started and noticed his water bottle was getting empty so you offered to refill it

Osamu would say he can do it but Atsumu got involved so a fight was bound to happen between the two, so you just decided to refill his water bottle and get back before he noticed

Now while the game was almost going to start you would assume that outside the arena would be very empty…

You assumed wrong…

Many stalls were around for merchandise as well as many people walking around the place, which honestly put you on edge with how many people were here

But you were on a mission to refill Osamu’s water bottle and you would not let him down! So after hyping yourself up you walked into the crowd and immediately regretted your decision

You were at least able to avoid people enough to refill the bottle but as you were making your way back you accidentally bumped into someone

A certain stingy germ fanatic

‘I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to bump into you! Here take some of my wipes, again I’m super sorry!’

You apologise bringing out your cleaning wipes and offering the packet, your hands would always be really clammy and sweaty from your anxiety that you now carry cleaning wipes to clean your hands

Now Sakusa seeing such a cutie worry over him and offer him some cleaning wipes he was totally blushing under his mask

‘T-Thank you… are you a volleyball player or manager? Do you hate germs? What school do you go to?’

Sakusa was asking so many questions he was just a nervous baby who thought you looked really cute

With so many questions you got a bit nervous but you managed to answer them all until you brought up you came to watch Inarizaki

‘Oh, so are you an Atsumu fan?’

Sakusa asked but you could tell he was upset when talking about the Miya

‘No, Atsumu is more… how do I say this nicely… Atsumu is a bit too loud for my taste, I prefer quite people like his brother Osamu!’

You spoke happy you were able to say a complete sentence without stuttering

At your words Sakusa lit up, you prefer quite guys! That’s perfect if he hadn’t of bumped into you he would probably be brooding in a corner quietly right now!

But before anything could happen Osamu was here to the rescue

‘Y/N! There you are, the match is gonna start soon’

While saying this with the most calm voice ever and glaring daggers at Sakusa

The both of them kind of had a stare off until you had to walk away and drag Osamu with you, the both of them continued to stare until they lost sight of each other

As soon as Osamu lost sight of Sakusa he quickly turned to you

'Y/N! I don't want you talking to other guys! You're too cute for your own good! I'll have to fight off every guy that looks at you!'

Even though Osamu said this he was fine with it as it was a way he could protect you and show everyone his yours and your his

Aone Takanobu

I feel like Aone can relate to you on this

Not so much the anxiety part

But he is 100% ready to sit quietly with you

Quite café or study dates are his favourite especially if you become more comfortable with him and get more loud and carefree

He would definitely intimidate anyone being rude to you, probably just stands behind you while glaring at the person

Aone would be your silent cheerleader

You were able to ask a question in class, you receive so many head pats

You talk on the phone with someone, boy Is very proud

Able to order lunch by yourself, Aone will pay and give you more food you deserve it ☺️

Now we all know Aone is basically a teddy bear, but when it comes to you bro is so protective

He just loves you so much and hates to see you stressed or uncomfortable

would literally stare someone down if they complimented you with ulterior motives or stared at you for too long

which is why he suddenly got so angry when he saw two guys caging you between the wall and themselves

He walked as quick as he could with his long ass legs to stand behind the two guys

Once the both of them noticed Aone's shadow towering over them they turned and saw the scariest glare they had ever seen

Of course the two guys ran away almost pissing themselves

You immediately wrapped Aone in a hug as you looked up to him

'Thank you so much Aone, no matter what I said those two wouldn't get the hint and leave!'

Your cheeks had squished up against Aone, after seeing this he lifted his hands and began to play with your round cheeks as he wore a smile

[acoraxia]

Mmm, the new au

How does Wukomg react to being betrayed by the people he thought he could trust? How did Macaque betray Wukong? What are the consequences of these differences that can be seen to the modern day? Is Nezha in the au? I definitely do not have a favourite

Also, is the Ivory Lady Guanyin? That's what I found online but I'm still not sure.

Anyways, your work is always really interesting and I love reading about the things you come up with

"I just wanna feel something, tell me where to go. 'Cause everybody knows something I don't wanna know."

first and foremost: the Ivory Lady is Lady Bone Demon before she went against Heaven to start her "journey" to complete her destiny.

When Wukong realizes people are betraying him — the first time isn't too bad, more or less, because he's sort-of betrayed by the Jade Emperor since he was lied to about his status. Second time is by Azure when he realizes he only used him to start a war against Heaven to try and take the Emperor's throne which cuts him deep enough to attack the Jade Emperor himself (directed blame/hate), third is by Erlang when he prevents Wukong from killing the Jade Emperor and the final one is by Macaque, which... kills a part of Wukong, ngl.

Nezha is involved in the AU and it's actually part of the reason why Wukong goes more berserk in the war against Heaven than he originally did.

Something, something, "you're just a boy... why is there a boy here, Azure, why did you send me to fight a child—"

(as for Macaque betraying Wukong, it involves a very selfish act based off the idea that Wukong was visited by Macaque when he was trapped under the mountain but those interactions were bitter)

Those consequences are... very evident in how people (yaoguai and yaojing included) see Wukong as an anti-hero instead of a normal hero. He's got a reputation of being powerful and praised, sure, but they're also terrified of him

also thank you sm!!! i wanna design the outfits and designs soon.. but idk when or how or when or how or if I should reuse the designs i already have for SWK and Macaque and.. yeah, anyways. TYSM!

[imagineanime2022]

Kite's Twin

Kite X Sibling!Reader

Requested: @mushroom-weeb

Request: Heyyyy I just found your page and love the sibling readers, could you maybe do a younger sibling with kite or morel?? If not I understand, thanks!💜😊

Warning: Canon divergence,

Kite tries to keep your existence within the knowledge of you to people that he trusts, not only for your safety but because your work called for a little more discretion than his, his team probably knew about it since you stopped by to annoy your twin whenever you had the time. You and Kite argued in an understated kind of way, you were a hunter hired for messier jobs (blacklist hunter) and he’d often argue about how you choose to keep yourself safe. Your ability allowed you to move from place to place as long as you could see it, you were working on moving people with you but it was still a work in progress. You were able to use a number of different guns though your favourite was the sniper as it leant well into your ability given the scope. Kite never really cared about you meeting the people that he worked with, he did worry about you scaring them though, in the end that was never a problem even when meeting Gon and Killua.

Kite had just ordered Killua and Gon to run, Killua grabbing his friend and running however as he moved through the trees he caught sight of someone in the trees sniper in hand as they aimed in the direction that they had just left.

You knew that Kite was going to get himself into trouble the moment that he entered the NGL and it took a great deal of effort to get your weapons into the country without detection and had a lot to do with a favour that Knov owed you. You were now positioned in the trees ready to shoot the creature that your brother was fighting, with a deep breath you let off the first shot hitting it in the leg, it jumped back allowing Kite a moment to breathe while you shot again this time through the shoulder as Kite started to retreat and the final one in the left side of the torso, you watched the creature stumble back of towards the nest that it had been guarding, you waited to make sure that it didn’t come back or anything like it. You turned away from the nest using your ability to move a safe distance, hiding the weapons that you had before heading for the border where you were sure that Kite and the two kids were heading.

When you got there Kite and his small team were there, you sighed as you saw there were no real injuries. “Are you going to tell me what you were thinking?” You asked. “Thank you for your help.” Kite said as he turned to you, you raised an eyebrow. “Alright what it is?” You asked. “A Chimera Ant, that seems to have fed on humans.” Kite answered. “I do remember you rambling about that being bad news if it ever happened.” You nodded “that thing felt particularly terrifying.” “Um Kite, who's this?” The boy with the darker hair asked. “This is my twin.” Kite answered, you waved, you looked them over recognising the traits of a Zoldyck from a mile away. “You must be Killua.” You guessed. “How’d you know that?” He asked. “I’m a Blacklist hunter and it’s common knowledge that one of the Zoldyck family children is running around unprotected. There are a few inexperienced newcomers that are trying to hire to have you killed, that being said half the hunters that are experienced enough to even attempt that have no interest in it.” You explained. “And the other half?” Killua asked. “The other half are your brother and his psycho clown pet.” You answered. “Hisoka…” The other kid muttered. “Correct.” You nodded. “What’s your name kid?” “Gon Freeces.” He answered. “Ahh, yeah I like him better than I like his Dad.” You decided as you looked at your brother. “I thought you would say that.” He grumbled as you looked at him. “You're okay right?” You asked. “Mmm.” He hummed. “Good then we should head back to the armed part of the world so we talk to some people about eliminating this threat before it becomes one.” You suggested. “No need to start giving out orders.” Kite muttered. “No one was ordering anyone.” You smirked as you turned to the boys “he’s so tetchy when things don’t go his way.” You whispered loudly, fully aware that he could hear you, Gon laughed and Killua smirked. “Come on.” Kite ordered. “Who’s ordering who now?” You teased as you followed him, just happy that everyone made it out of the first encounter alive.

Request Here!!

[raffe156]

Mate once again it has been a hot minute. So much has happened in my life including me graduating. That's right I officially owe the UK government a lot of money. Unywho just wanted to tickle your brain with a question if thats okiee. What did Price think of Tank when he first saw her? Not spoke but saw. I want to know that initial spark in his brain because I'm nosey. I know he mentions he handpicked Tank himself to Helen which implies he held her in high regard. NGL I like to imagine him first meeting her was during a fighting exercise with another rookie and Tank just annihilating them. Just Price feeling a mix of respect, horny and terrified <3

First off mate well done on graduating!!! I’m so proud of you, you clever little thing! 🤩💖✨

Love this!! So to celebrate you being back in my orbit it’s getting a little Drabble 💕

Well, it was more the second time seeing her he felt something stir.

Price first met Tank when he had a stopover at her base between missions, she was roughly 16/17 (Don’t worry) , he was a Lieutenant. He had heard of ‘Tank’ but didn’t exactly know who she was, just that she was a trouble causer, good but trouble nonetheless.

He was passing the mess hall one afternoon with Captain Doyle (picture Liam Neeson) and Lieutenant Falkirk (Christian Bale) who was Tanks CO at the time. The noise coming from the mess hall was what steered them towards the scene. A crowd of people had gathered around one table in the middle all shouting, yelling, fists in the air. A fight. Not one of the recruits had even noticed the 3 High ranked men. As they approached Price noticed a young female recruit sobbing on another table a few others consoling her. He immediately chalked this up to a lovers tiff, two lads fighting over the same girl things like that happen, but as they got closer a few of the spectators started to back away. Opening the table up to view and instead of two lads fighting Price watched as one lad lay on his back arms up trying to defend his face from the blows that rained down on him, from a much smaller female recruit. She was pummelling him, Price looked at her face the lad must of got at least one hit in. She looked feral.

“ALL RIGHT PACK IT IN NOW!!” Doyle shouted yanking one of the watching recruits out of his way. Falkirk rolled his eyes laughing as he climbed onto the table to pull the female off the poor lad.

“Come on Tank, he’s had enough” he was laughing. So this was the infamous Tank, she was shorter than he had imagined. She didn’t resist Falkirk she went calmly with him.

“What am I going to do with you?” Falkirk smiled, Price watched as he walked her away from the crowd. He followed.

“Ahh Tank, meet an old friend of mine this is Lieu…”

“Lieutenant John Price…I know who he is Sir…” She wiped her bloody hand on her T-shirt before she reached out to shake Prices hand.

“Nice to meet you Sir, I’d love to chat but think I need to head over to medical or just lay low…try to avoid Captain Doyle..” she looked to Falkirk to be dismissed. He sighed,

“Good idea, go on I’ll sort it out with old Doyle” he patted her shoulder. She nodded to the men before running off.

“It was nice to finally put a face to a name kid..” Price called out. She ran backwards a grin from ear to ear.

Falkirk let out a heavy sigh as he lit a cigarette running his hand through his hair.

“Now you see what I was talking about…she’s the reason I’m going grey John…I’m too young to be going grey! I have to get her in-line or else Doyle is gonna have my head on a pike an her out on her arse..” Falkirk started walking towards the exit.

“She does seem like a handful…but you said she’s one of the best recruits you’ve seen in years…”

“She’s not one of she is the best, she just has an attitude problem…” Falkirk scoffed

Price looked in the direction Tank had run off in, he always did like an underdog.

It wasn’t till years later that Price met Tank again in the field he hadn’t recognised her at first it wasn’t until Gaz embraced her calling out Tank did he twig. He looked her up an down it was hard to believe that the stunning woman stood in front of him was the same bloody faced little terror he had met all those years ago. He reintroduced himself, she probably didn’t remember him, the only change was he was Captain Price now not lieutenant. She smiled shaking his hand.

“Nice to see you again Sir…it’s been a long time…you look well shame I can’t say the same for Falkirk” She did remember him. Now a Captain himself, Falkirk walked in. His hair grey on both sides, a full beard he looked shattered.

“See what I mean” she laughed, Price liked the way it sounded.

Price watched as she commanded teams, set plans and went into motion, out on the field she was amazing he was in awe of her. She held her own. He felt a small stir in his chest, a feeling he hadn’t felt in a very, very long time. It terrified him. He looked at Gaz.

“She’s good your mate isn’t she..”

“One of the best boss…she’d be a great addition…”

Price looked over at her as she calmed a wounded squad mate.

“Think you right son, remind me to have a word with Falkirk”

And the rest is history! 😌

[the-heaminator]

Idk if you already been asked but girl give us your hcs on New Zealand. name, gender, relation with the other bitches

Ngl my New Zealand is mostly just stolen from @historia-vitae-magistras (I hope you dont mind me tagging you,) her stuff is GREAT.

But here it is in the shortform.

Name: Eleanor....ngl I dont actually have a last name for her??? I never realised that I put her as like 18-20 in the modern era

Height. Around 5'7-5'8, I want her to be tall, robust, and an inch taller than Arthur, better nutrition and all, shes...robust, no better way to put it, shes healthy, tall, and can and will yeet Jack, even as he is built like a brick shithouse. Only has to go on her tippytoes sometimes, mmmmm shes a very good hugger when she does hug, which is rare. Unless you're Jack, she hugs her idiot older brother a lot.

Relation with other bitches as you very concisely put it.

Jack is her sunshine demon of an older brother, she does have to reign him in sometimes, stop him from accidentally killing himself, he does the same for her on occasion, they ho drinking together. When pissed she gains a level of confidence that is frankly terrifying for someone as sharp as a whip as she is, they go surfing together. Zee loves birds, Jack is pretty much a reptile, man starts brumating when it gets too cold, she likes sitting in trees. Like a bird.

She bitches and whines a lot with him but like usually, not always, but usually in a good natured way and is not against physically knocking some common sense into him.

With Matthew it's like tender but also a little more distant than it used to be, he was basically the stand on parental figure for her while the kirllands were out doing fuck knows what, after she got her independence it is still very close and caring but not as much as it used to be.

She is also very blunt when she wants to be. Not something Matt is used to so she will go up and tell his lanky ass that he needs to eat, sleep, and lay off the fucking weed for a bit or he will end up in a ditch somewhere with a squirrel up his arse. Shes direct and a little scary. Matt usually listens to her because again she is not afraid to use blunt force trauma.

Her relationship with Alfred is odd, it is more a business type relationship, he was never really around for her upbringing so she doesnt see him as a brother or anything, more like a far removed cousin. But besides that they and matt absolutely love bitching about people together, like in a corner. It's kindif funny. jack does not join very often unless its winter, he's cold, and has to do official shit, then he gets awfully similar to Arthur and has soooooo much shit with everyone. Hes a little scary like that. Alfred kind of like, tries, to seem familliar bit it never actually works, so hes kind of given up, the business relationship is pretty good though.

Fuck this ask is getting long I need to shut up but I shan't

Anyways now the hard part is her relationship with the isles

She sees Arthur as a father figure, but like a distant one, hes warmed up a little in recent decades but still seems quite cold, even if unintentionally, hes just really really really repressed like that, but he is protective over her, he is protective over all of them but will personally raise hell if anyone touches a finger on his little girl even as she isnt all that little anymore, he tries but it isnt enough, but the sentiment is appreciated, he was strict with her, but not really in gender roles bc again Arthur is not really the type to be fussy about gender, bug he made sure she was s art, if not physically stronger she will be smarter, and she is, and is also strong so a win win for her.

Hes the softest with her when sober, like a little bit of him melts because shes the youngest, she's a girl, and he's kind if getting old now, but is happy to just sit in silence with her. With say Alfred they always have ti be talking or moving or something, Alfred got it from Arthur and it just kind of echoes back. With Matthew he has gotten more lax but still is professional with him, unless either or both are more rats assed then a scouser after a football match, with Jack he is nearly as soft as he is with her, just a little bit more restrained.

She finds it a little odd but not unwelcome that he is calmer with them, but sometimes his near inability to process feeling or feel sympathy or empathy absolutely drives her around the fucking bend. She gets angry at him a lot, for good reason too, historical and personal both. I wont get into them bc I'm nit that well versed in their history.

With alisdair it's very much an uncle situation, same with rhys, and a closer aunt with Brighid, unlike Matt who had Alisdair as basically a stand in parent while Arthur was drunk, or busy, or Jack who has called brighid mum before, they all feel somehwat distant, she likes Brighid but does find her a little intense, most people do but she isn't complaining too much, she has the widest emotional bandwidth of any of the isles and is also the best at comforting by far, Zee likes to feel physically grounded and none of the Kirklands can do hugs without being very awkward about it, closest is the slightly tipsy hugs that Alisdair gives when he sees her looking down.

I dont actually have much developed for rhys or alisdair. I'm sorry :,) and I probably do have other thoughts I just cannot be asked to type it out rn so I hope this is satisfactory

[furiousgoldfish]

My family are okay, and it could be a lot worse than it becoming more ... influenced these days? They've been listening much more frequently to gateway alt right stuff (in front of me at least) and gone a bit heavy in the religion aspect of stuff. Had a bit of a panic attack when they listened to some anti-lgbt stuff in front of me (in the closet)

They themselves were abused in their own childhoods (though they definitely wouldn't put it that way + normalized back when they were growing up) so maybe i should cut them some slack? Apart from occasional slaps on my hand and when i was younger they used to bang my head with knuckles a bit if they were really mad. Theyve apologised for it but do mention how back in their day it was way worse.

I dont know i guess ive been thinking much more about the future recently and how theyd HATE it if they found out some of the stuff i really think. Lots of yelling. Its embarrassing to talk about this with friends.

This sounds dumb when i put it into words but for years now ive been forced to keep a diary. I liked the idea of having one and writing down about my self so i went with it until one day i wrote about how mad i was at them. They read it despite me telling them not to and made me apologise and write down how sorry i was for doing that. There was a lot of yelling. I cried. They openly read what i write now and kinda force me to do it. ngl I kinda hate the thing now. Was that wrong of them?

maybe this is too vague for a checklist but request for one about signs your family is going down a conspiracy rabbithole/signs your parents are victims of misinformation would be nice. This ended up rambly im sorry.

Anon, I am so sorry, this sounds like an absolutely terrifying experience. You're blameless in all of this, you're perfect as you are, but your parents are actively participating in a hate group against your own person, in front of you, consistently exposing you to that narrative, and that is like being in the enemy's lair, isn't it? It has to affect your well being negatively, to hear those sorts of things, it's like you're forced every day to listen to perspectives of people who absolutely despise you, think you shouldn't exist or be the way you are, and who are ready to go and hurt anyone who is like you.

No, you do not need to cut them any slack. Were you any of their parents who did those things to them? No? Were you the founder of the culture where were hit, or force children to hit themselves? I don't think it's possible, since you weren't even born when that shit started. So your responsibility for this is zero. Yet these two people are coming at you asking you to be grateful they're not doing worse to you. Apparently by the logic of 'we had it bad, now you have to be grateful when we do bad things to you'. As if.

No person or being who was abused in the past, regardless of how badly, has the 'free card' to now inflict similar abuse on you. That is completely ridiculous and if that were true, than anyone abused would be going around hurting everyone else and it would be 'fine' because that person was abused as well. That kind of thinking only brings forth more abuse and trauma and nothing else. You did nothing to deserve any of that shit. If their parents hurt them, they should go ahead and take it up with their own parents. Except, they don't, do they? Because they cowards and prefer blaming and directing it towards their child.

If you had a kid, would you want that kid to be grateful you're hurting them slightly less than your parents are doing to you? It sounds insane, doesn't it. You'd want your kid to be happy and safe from ANY abuse, not paying for whatever anyone else has done to you in the past. Because that kid is innocent and did nothing to warrant bearing the burden of your past. And you are that kid right now, you are asked to bear the burden of the abuse that got absorbed into culture, abuse that your parents suffered and abuse they feel entitled to inflict onto you, and for what? It doesn't make anything better or fairer. It doesn't make the world a better place if you're getting hurt in it. If your parents think it's normal they can do it to their parents, thats none of your business. You're a kid brought into that family by no will of your own, subjected to horrifying shit and told you should bear it like it's normal. It's not normal. No child deserves this.

I also have to say that banging your own head with knuckles is especially vicious and victim-blaming abuse to do, I'm sickened by the very thought, and if they felt sorry for that, they would have never done it. It sounds like they'll do just anything in anger and expect 'sorry' to fix it. Sorry doesn't fix abuse. They shouldn't have slapped your wrists either.

The last part of your ask really had me in shock and horror, because that was such an intimate invasion of your privacy, and for them not even even feel sorry or ashamed for invading your private boundaries like that, but to be enraged you dared to feel anger? It's disgusting what they did. They should be so deeply ashamed. Any normal people would realize there's something wrong with them if their child is so mad and would take it as a sign to do some introspection and to evaluate whether they've been unfair, cruel, abusive or hateful to the kid, that is if they already went so far to read your diary without your permission, that they forced you to have!

Their reactions prove that they're so dead-set on controlling you, they even want to control your inner thoughts, convince you that you have no right to anger, no right to human feelings or human expressions, that you should be like a robot who only listens to commands and reacts in the way they want to. It's dehumanizing, disgusting and insanely cruel. You're a human being who's been hurt. Of course you're angry. You have the right to anger. You should have the right to express it in any way you want to, not just to write it in your private diary, but to yell and scream and fight back. But you got punished and had to take your own words back, when you did the least possible expression of it, writing it down privately.

Here's a post that feels relevant, explaining why it's wrong for parents to suppress anger in their children. Here's another one on importance of anger.

They know that any sign of your anger is a proof of their abuse, and that's why they're fighting so hard to suppress it. If they put that energy in trying to be good parents, they could have been great parents to you. They made their choices. Just based on this shameless and gross invasion of privacy and trying to control even your thoughts, it sounds like they have narcissistic tendencies, and they should not be trusted with a child.

I wish I could give you the checklist you asked for, but I have no experience whatsoever on parents, or people, who are being sucked into conspiracy theories, I think I've read articles about it, on topics like QAnon, explaining the phenomena, I'll try to find the post explaining why do people fall for conspiracy theories in general. Here it is. I hope it helps.

If anyone has more resources on conspiracy theories or knows about a checklist, please link it to this post.

[silvfyre-writings]

Will you just look at me, please? Pt. 1 (BSD Fanfic)

I apparently don't have enough fics to write, because the plot bunnies would not stop until I wrote this out, so here we go, a fic that is not centred around Ranpoe for a change. It honestly feels weird not to be writing them ngl, but I accept the challenge of writing characters I haven't written before. Besides, ranpoe's in this universe anyway sooooo, like, I'm happy!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this fic and the future chapters (I say six to be generous, but it will probably be shorter depending on how the plot bunnies go).

And don't be afraid to tell me what you all think!

Atsushi had made the decision to go to university, not only to accomplish something he could be proud of—because graduating high school was an expectation, but graduating university was an accomplishment—but also so he could help people. He’d made the decision late into his third year to apply to university, originally having no such plans of doing so. His intention had been to… well, he hadn’t known at the time, far too focused on his schoolwork to really think about his future. But one of his teachers had mentioned how he’d be suited to the kind of work that helped people, telling him that because Atsushi had enough empathy to fill the oceans of the world, he could do some serious good if he really wanted to.

At first, he hadn’t believed his teacher, because, really? Him? Helping people? He just couldn’t imagine it. He was the poor abused orphan that everyone took pity on and left alone in fear of catching his trauma, like it was some contagious disease he was trying to spread around. The part of Atsushi, the one that was just so tired of being treated differently, found it hilarious in that strange, dark humour kind of way, and there had been a few times where he’d coughed in a classmates direction just to watch them frantically try and get away from him.

Yeah, Atsushi didn’t have many friends in school.

But after giving it some thought, and talking to his teacher again, Atsushi had started to seriously consider it, even going so far as to ask for application forms, forms that had sat at the bottom of his bag for two weeks before he’d finally pulled them out to read them. And then another week passed before he finally felt like he had the courage to fill them in, and then it had been another week before he’d sent the forms off. He felt pretty proud of himself after doing that, treating himself to a pork bun after he’d done so.

And then, against all odds, Atsushi had been accepted, had been given a scholarship even, and—and—

He’d cried.

He wasn’t afraid to admit it either, and had even cried for a second time when he’d gone to tell his teacher the good news, thanking the man over and over for believing in him this whole time, both excited and terrified that for that something had gone right for once in his life. To the man’s credit, Atsushi’s teacher had stood there and listened to him babble for what felt like hours, but really, was just the entirety of lunch. And once Atsushi had stopped talking, the man had placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

“I’m proud of you, Nakajima. You worked hard.”

And for the third time in two days, Atsushi cried.

So, Atsushi had started his university life, expecting it to be pretty much the same as his high school life; hours spent studying, and no friends to hang out with, because that was just how Atsushi had always lived his life, and that was just fine by him—not really, he was a little lonely actually—because he’d always enjoyed the peace and quiet that it brought him.

What he hadn’t expected to happen, was for him to fall head over heels for the most attractive man he’d ever seen in his life.

“Here.” A pale hand held out the last of the books that Atsushi had dropped when he’d fallen to the ground, yet instead of taking them like any sane, normal person would, Atsushi continued to stare into the face of the man that had accidentally tripped him up, heart pounding with anxiety, and cheeks filling with an embarrassingly familiar heat that he really, really, hoped wasn’t visible on his face right now. Because the last thing Atsushi wanted was this stranger, this gorgeous and attractive man, to think he was some kind of weirdo that fell in love with the first person that looked his way. Because he wasn’t like that, not in the slightest.

He was gay, not desperate.

Atsushi realized that he hadn’t said anything when the stranger blinked, brow furrowing in what he thought to be annoyance, and just like that, Atsushi’s mind caught up to the present and he scrambled to his feet, snatching his books back. “Oh, um, thank you. S—Sorry, I didn’t mean to, um, run into y—you.” Great job Atsushi. He scolded himself as he fumbled over his words. He totally thinks your weird now.

“It’s fine.” The other man, who must’ve been a student because he didn’t look old enough to be a teacher, shrugged and turned on his heel. “Keep your eyes on the horizon next time.”

Only if you’re the sun on that horizon. Atsushi thought before he could help himself, and then immediately felt like crying, because why was that his first thought? Was he really going to be that person that fell head over heels for a stranger that had said no more than two sentences to him? Apparently so, because as the fellow student walked away, Atsushi couldn’t tear his eyes away, wanting to do nothing more than chase after this man and actually talk to him.

But he didn’t, he just continued to stare helplessly as the stranger disappeared from view.

Mostly because he was a coward, but also because he was late to class.

For the rest of the day, Atsushi had been unable to get his mind to stop focusing on the stranger that had helped him, and instead spent the entirety of his class daydreaming about skin that was paler than his own, the black hair that was tipped in white, eyes gray but sharp, and the distinct lack of eyebrows around those eyes which was what had caught Atsushi’s eye in the first place. And sure, the eyebrows had been what caught his attention, but they weren’t what had kept it; no, that was the man’s figure, because the clothes he’d been wearing screamed that this mystery student had money, and they were tailored to fit his form in all the right places. And while Atsushi was a firm believer in getting to know someone first before pursuing any kind of relationship—not that he actually knew anything about that—it didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate someone that looked as good as this man had.

Ugh, if only I’d gotten his name! I’m never going to see him again now!

The bell rang before he knew it, and Atsushi remained in his seat, blinking like an idiot because where had the time gone? He’d only just arrived after all, there should’ve been plenty of time, plenty to learn, because it was only the second week of university and already, Atsushi was drowning in assignments and notes. Seriously, his high school teachers had always said that university was much harder than high school, but he and his classmates had thought they were joking; which was easy to do when you went to a high school such as the one Atsushi had attended, where the teachers had mostly let them do whatever they wanted until exam time had come around and then it was all about cramming, and studying, and applying to universities.

But that was nothing compared to the workload his university professors had given him already.

And they were just two weeks into the academic year. How the hell was he supposed to survive the rest of the semester if he was already suffering now? The only consolation he had was that, during the first week of classes, the professors’ had assigned each of them a senior student to help them get settled in; a decision made after too many first years had dropped out after finding they were unable to cope with the workload. It was also a ploy to get new students who might not have had many friends in high school, to make at least one friend for their university life. And honestly, Atsushi appreciated it immensely, because the senior student he’d been assigned to was apparently the top of his class, but he also questioned what he’d done in his previous life to be saddled with the person that was Dazai Osamu.

It wasn’t that Dazai was a bad person, it was just that he could be a bit… much at times. There was no denying that the older student was a genius; the first time that he and Atsushi had met, Dazai had, in lieu of greeting him like a normal person, analysed Atsushi and his reasonings for choosing to study psychology almost as if Atsushi had handed him a piece of paper with the information on it. And that had just been the beginning. Because Dazai was as mysterious as he was smart, and there was something about him that drew Atsushi close—and no, it wasn’t because Dazai was attractive. Well, he was, but that wasn’t the point. There was just something intriguing about learning from a man that already had experience in the psychology field, even though it had been from the side of a patient; that was what Atsushi had heard at least, a few of his classmates pitying him once they’d found out he’d been assigned to Dazai.

“Wow, you’ve got Dazai? Good luck. Rumour’s say that if you take your eyes off him, he’ll find the nearest roof and try to nosedive off it!”

Atsushi had taken those words with a grain of salt, because rumour’s were rumour’s and he’d been through his fair share of them throughout his entire school life. None of them had been completely true of course, but rumour’s were always born from a twisted truth, so there was something correct in them, it was just a matter of what. He’d learnt very quickly that once upon a time, Dazai would’ve been more than happy to throw himself off a building and die, but he’d also reassured Atsushi—because Atsushi couldn’t help but ask, despite how rude it was—that that was in the past and he was doing better; supposedly, Dazai’s own reasonings for studying psychology were not only to better understand his own mind, but to help others going through the same urges he once had, overcome them.

And Atsushi found that admirable.

He just wished that Dazai had a… nicer personality, to put it simply.

“Oh, Atsushi, what I wouldn’t give to be you right now; a young and fresh university student crushing hard on someone he couldn’t even speak a proper sentence to. How cute!” Dazai clapped his hands together as he invaded Atsushi’s personal space, getting far too close to the point where he had to lean backwards to avoid the older student. It was just a little bit unnerving, especially when Dazai was staring at him so intensely and probably seeing deep into his soul, as Atsushi had learnt very quickly, Dazai was very good at doing.

“I regret even telling you in the first place.” Atsushi huffed and raised a hand to push at Dazai’s chest until the other finally leaned away from him. Really, he didn’t understand why he kept hanging around Dazai when they were polar opposites of each other. “Besides, I am not crushing on him. I merely asked you if you knew who he was. Nowhere in that question did I ever mention a crush.”

Dazai let out a sigh and flopped to the ground with his hands coming to act as a pillow for his head. “Now, now, Atsushi, you should know by now that you can’t hide things from me, let alone the wonderful aspect of humanity that is feelings.” Dazai paused to roll onto his stomach, throwing Atsushi a grin that had him fearing for what was about to come. “And what I see in front of me is a lovestruck boy, desperate to find out who it was he ran into this morning so that he can find him and hopefully get a date out of it.”

Atsushi wanted to be mad, he really did, but Dazai was correct as usual. Well, mostly correct, because he did want to know the mysterious student’s name, and would like to talk to him again—if only to apologize for running into him again—but there was no way he wanted a date… or did he? Atsushi groaned and folded in half with his face hidden in his hands, not ready to even try and deal with whatever feelings he was feeling right now; he could barely figure out regular human emotions, let alone love. “Just tell me if you know who he is or not.”

“I know who he is.”

Great, now can you tell me?. “And…?”

“I’m not telling.” Dazai’s grin widened as Atsushi’s head flew up to glare at him. “Ooo, careful there, Atsushi, wouldn’t want to break a bone moving so fast.”

“I hate you so much.” Atsushi let out another groan. He really was regretting even mentioning that morning’s incident to Dazai in the first place; the only reason he had in the first place, was because Dazai somehow knew everyone at the university, whether it be teacher or student. It was both scary and impressive.

“And yet.” Dazai rolled across the ground until he bumped into Atsushi’s knee and looked up at him. “You continue to hang out with me rather than befriend the people in your year. So how much do you hate me, really?”

Atsushi sighed, and rather than answer Dazai’s ridiculous question, he pulled out his textbooks and placed them heavily on the grass. “Okay, don’t tell me then, but please help me understand the class I just missed before I fail.”

“Atsushi, relax, you won’t fail, so stop stressing.” Dazai pulled one of the textbooks towards himself, along with the folder that contained his rubric for the semester. “You’re still learning about how people use their brains to process information and stuff; it’s easy stuff, so not paying attention in one class won’t kill you.”

“Yeah, but my professor might.”

“I highly doubt that, but I’ll help you either way, so pay attention.”

Another week passed before Atsushi ran into the mysterious student again, and this time, it wasn’t because he’d collided with the man; this time it was much worse. Well, by Atsushi’s standards it was worse, but by anyone else’s, it was probably was… also worse still. Because the previous week, when he’d run into the stranger, it’d been a mutual run-in, where in their haste to get their classes, they hadn’t been watching where they were going. But this week… this week, Atsushi had tripped down the stairs after missing a step and essentially tackled the poor man to the ground.

And only because Atsushi apparently had the worst luck imaginable, did he crack his skull against the ground and knock himself out.

When he awoke, he found himself in the nearby hospital, with the mysterious student sitting beside his bedside, look rather unimpressed with the current situation—not that Atsushi could really blame him because if he’d essentially been tackled to the ground, he’d probably be a little upset too—with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He couldn’t immediately tell if the stranger was sleeping, but he didn’t have to wait long to find out, because the stranger’s eyes opened the moment that Atsushi shifted in the bed; glaring straight at him.

Oh no. Atsushi recognized the look on the man’s face as someone who was seriously pissed off, and he was quick to duck his head to avoid eye contact, hands clutching the blanket pooled in his lap so tight his knuckles began to turn white. He could feel those gray eyes burning a hole straight through his skull, and really, really wished that the ground would open up and swallow him whole, because of course he managed to piss off a complete stranger just by existing. “I’m sorry.”

The stranger scoffed, and the scrape of a chair against the floor told him that the man had stood up. “Instead of being sorry, how about you watch where you’re god damn going, like the last time I told you?”

Atsushi’s cheeks burned from embarrassment, especially when he realized that this stranger—this stranger that he most certainly wasn’t crushing on—had come with him to the hospital and wasted however many hours it’d been, just sitting with him whilst he’d been unconscious. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying you’re sorry. Anyway, now that you’re awake, I can take my leave and go back to my classes. Since you decided to forget how to walk and tried to kill the both of us, I’ve missed half of them.”

“I didn’t try to kill the both of us.” Atsushi lifted his head and returned the strangers glare with one of his own, very much annoyed that this person he still didn’t know the name of, was trying to pin the blame entirely on him. It wasn’t like he’d asked to trip down the stairs after all. You may be attractive, you may be handsome, and I may be crushing on you just the tiniest bit, but you have the worst personality ever.

The stranger rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.” And just as quickly as their first interaction had been over, their second one ended in much the same way, with the man walking off and leaving Atsushi on his lonesome. Atsushi watched him go, and waited to be sure that the man was out of earshot before he let out a groan and collapsed back against the bed, his heart threatening to leap out of chest, and for once, it wasn’t from anxiety.

What did I do to deserve this?

Thankfully, Atsushi’s stay at the hospital turned out to be a brief one, because somehow he’d managed to escape a serious concussion despite knocking himself out. He did get a lecture from the doctor about being more careful, and to slow down around stairs, but after that he was discharged with instructions to rest for the remainder of the day, and told to return if he suddenly felt unwell. Atsushi nodded, fully intending to go back to his dorm room and not leave it until the morning at least, but he was going to make a quick pitstop by his professor’s office to ask—beg actually—for the notes on the lessons he’d missed.

And then resort to begging Dazai for help in understanding the lesson’s he’d missed.

Thankfully, again, his professor was understanding on the matter, even as Atsushi bowed and held out the medical note to prove that he was in fact, not lying about being at the hospital, and soon enough he had the notes on hand. Now all he had to do was find Dazai, and that wasn’t going to be fun, only because Dazai had about fifty different places he liked to hang out at whenever he wasn’t in class, and he never gave any sort of idea about which one he would be at. But there was something in the back of his mind, suggesting to him that his mentor would be at the tree that they’d been under yesterday.

And sure enough, as he approached the tree, he spotted Dazai leaning against the trunk of it, only…

He wasn’t alone.

Now, Atsushi was aware that Dazai had friends of his own, because they’d popped up in conversation occasionally, but he’d never actually met them before, and he wasn’t overly inclined to meet them either, because what if they were like Dazai? What is they were worse? Well, actually, they probably couldn’t be worse than Dazai, but they had to be a little strange at least if they willingly put up with Dazai and his shenanigans.

“Atsushi! Did you enjoy your free ride to the hospital this morning?” Dazai called out the moment he spotted him, waving him over with a lazy hand. His mentor grinned, and Atsushi just sighed; might as well get the teasing out of the way in the beginning.

“Oh, is this the kid that fell down the stairs this morning?” The only female of the trio turned her attention towards Atsushi with concern in her gaze, but also intense as she studied him. “You look pretty good for a kid that cracked his head open.”

“I got lucky—” Atsushi began to say before he was interrupted.

“He had a wonderful pillow to cushion his fall, thankfully.” Dazai leaned forward to rest his chin on his knees, that grin of his somehow growing even wider—the alarm bells were ringing immediately in Atsushi’s mind.

“Oh, that Akutagawa kid?” The other man, a serious looking guy who hadn’t even looked up from whatever it was that he was working on the entire time since the conversation began.

“Makes sense then, why he looked ready to murder when I saw him earlier. Although why was Akutagawa in the psychology building anyway, he studies forensic science, doesn’t he?” The woman questioned, but in that moment, all Atsushi could focus on was the fact that he now had a name of this mysterious stranger he’d had the unfortunate luck of running into, not once, but twice. And not only a name, but also what Akutagawa studied.

His luck had turned. Finally.

“Dammit, Kunikida, Yosano, you ruined my fun!” Dazai whined.

“What fun? Tormenting the poor boy by refusing to tell him the identity of who it is he’s crushing on?” Kunikida finally looked up to glare at Dazai. “You really are a horrible person at times.”

Atsushi froze, a meek smile on his face. “I’m not crushing on this… Akutagawa person. I was just curious as to who he was.”

“Oh hon.” Yosano gave him a look that could only be one of sympathy. “It’s kind of obvious that you’ve got some sort of feelings for him, even if they are minor.”

“Killjoy’s, all of you. It was so fun to watch him try and deny that he had a schoolgirl crush.” Dazai whined again whilst for the second time that day, Atsushi wished for the ground to open up and swallow him whole again.

This time, Kunikida leaned over to whack Dazai, eliciting another whine from the man, and a chuckle from Yosano. “You’re a sadist. An asshole, literally the worst person.”

“And yet you decided to befriend me, so does that make you a masochist, Kunikida?”

Kunikida let out a yell and threw himself at Dazai, the two friends—were they actually friends or acquaintances? Atsushi couldn’t tell at this point—beginning to wrestle.

“Don’t mind them.” Yosano sighed and patted the ground next to her, and Atsushi gratefully sank down next to her, drawing his knees to his chest so that he could rest his face against them. He felt a hand brush through his hair, fingers gently touching the bandage still wrapped around his head. “What’d the doctors say?”

“Huh?” Atsushi tilted his face to look at the woman, confused for just a moment before his brain registered what he’d been asked. “Oh, uh, they just told me to rest for the day. And to come back if I felt sick suddenly. Why?”

“Oh, no reason in particular. I’m a medical student, that’s all, so I like to hear about patient interactions with doctors. So many patients have bad interactions with doctors, so I want to do my best to avoid that. I want people to come to me for help, not be too scared to ask for it.” Yosano explained, a smile on her face as she spoke about her chosen course; until—

“Don’t fall for it, Atsushi, Yosano’s a sadist at heart.” Dazai said as he threw an arm around Atsushi’s shoulder’s. A quick glance showed Kunikida, in the midst of straightening his clothes out, nodding in response to Dazai’s words. “Just ask any of her classmates about what happened during their last dissection.”

“Dazai Osamu, if you say another word, it’s you who I will be dissecting next.”

“I’ll allow it, only if you make it painless. Dissection sounds like a fun way to go, don’t you think, Atsushi?”

Just what kind of people has Dazai befriended? Atsushi’s eye twitched uneasily, and he inched away ever so slowly. “I don’t think it would be…?”

“Just say no, lad, it’s the easiest thing you can do.” Kunikida picked up the papers he’d discarded earlier, neatening, and returning them to the proper order of which they’d been in before Dazai had decided to be a nuisance. “Anyway, Atsushi, was it?”

Atsushi nodded.

“I doubt you came all this way just to hang out with Dazai when you are supposed to be resting, so is there something we can help you with?” Kunikida asked, glancing up from his papers to watch him carefully.

And just like that, Atsushi remembered the whole reason why he’d even approached Dazai in the first place. “Oh, right, Dazai, I need your help to understand the lessons I missed today if you have the time to spare.”

Dazai pulled away from Atsushi to take the papers and look over them, eyes scanning the notes quickly. Before long, the older student was nodding his head. “I can help. Not today, I have class this afternoon, but tomorrow at lunch I’ll have some time.”

“Thank you, Dazai.” Atsushi sighed in relief, and took the papers back, holding them close to him. He’d been just a little worried about what would’ve happened if Dazai hadn’t been able to help him, because if his mentor couldn’t help him, then that meant he would’ve had to go his professor—or even his classmates—and ask for help. And that wasn’t happening, not after his accident that morning; it wasn’t that his classmates were mean or anything, it was just that… Atsushi really didn’t know how to interact with people well, which often led to many a failed conversation, the air filled with anxiety and awkwardness.

His mentor waved his hand. “Stop stressing so much, Atsushi, or you’ll go even more gray than you already are. I’ll see you here tomorrow.”

Atsushi nodded. “Tomorrow.”

When Dazai had told him to meet him at the same tree at the same time, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise when he showed up, only to find that Dazai was not alone; Yosano and Kunikida were also there, along with someone else that Atsushi thought felt familiar, but he couldn’t place a name to the face. Why did I expect it to be just us? Atsushi thought as he stopped dead in his tracks, not really wanting to hang out with the strange group again—really, once had been more than enough to last him a lifetime. But he forced himself to take another step, and another, because stronger than his desire to run away and study alone, was his desire to pass his classes, and that required Dazai’s help. There was no point in Atsushi trying to teach himself material he didn’t have the slightest understand of; it’d just be a waste of time that could be better spent actually getting help from someone who did understand the material.

The first to notice Atsushi’s approach was Yosano, the medical student smiling and waving at him, which caught the attention of Kunikida and Dazai in an instant, and the familiar stranger didn’t react at all, just continued to lay with his head pressed against Yosano’s leg. Her boyfriend, perhaps?

“Atsushi! Glad you could join us!” Dazai grinned and patted the ground beside him a few times. “I hope you brought your lunch with you, because you get the wonderful experience of eating lunch with us today!”

“Dazai, I thought you were going to help me study?” Atsushi asked, even as he sat on the ground and placed his bag in front of him.

“We do group study sessions on Wednesday’s since all our lunch breaks align.” Yosano explained, her own textbooks in front of her. “Even though we all study different courses, it helps to have an outsider’s perspective sometimes when we find ourselves stuck.”

“Oh.” Was all Atsushi said. It certainly wasn’t a study method he’d heard of before—but then again, he’d only been a student for two weeks, whereas Dazai and his friends had been studying for a couple of years now—but he could see the appeal behind it, especially since they were all friends trying to help each other.

It made Atsushi wish he’d tried harder to befriend other students during orientation week.

“Come on, Atsushi, hurry up and get your books out.” Dazai whined, throwing himself back against the grass. “I’m sacrificing my precious time here.”

Atsushi opened his mouth to apologize, only to be interrupted by the one person in the group he didn’t yet know the name of, the man scoffing. “As if any of your time is precious, Dazai, when you spend it doing absolutely nothing.”

“As if you’re one to talk, Ranpo.” Dazai returned Ranpo’s scoff with one of his own. “Have you even picked up a textbook since you started studying?”

“I don’t need to.” Came the retort, before Ranpo rolled away from them. Atsushi found himself blinking, a little shocked and surprised at how blunt Ranpo was towards Dazai; his mentor’s other friends seemed so nice compared to this person.

“Don’t mind, Ranpo.” Yosano said, a fond smile on her face.. “He’s a bit grumpy when he isn’t feeling well.”

“I feel fine!”

It was Kunikida’s turn to scoff, although it was more like a harsh puff of air escaping his nose. “That’s hard to believe considering you just told us how much the world was spinning before. Why did you even come in today if you still felt bad?”

“I wanted to see Edgar, but he’s in class until this afternoon.” Ranpo whined. “And Fukuzawa was only available to give me a lift this morning, and I’m not nearly stupid enough to subject myself to the trains.”

Edgar? Is that another friend?

“Edgar is Ranpo’s boyfriend. His American boyfriend to be exact.” Dazai said, causing Atsushi to realize that he’d actually spoken his thoughts aloud instead of keeping them to himself like he’d intended to. But, at least he had an answer to his unexpected question.

“Dazai, I will frame you murder, don’t test me.” Ranpo looked over his shoulder, eyes opened just enough to be noticeable, and glared at Dazai.

“Ranpo studies law.” Dazai carried on without a care in the world, as if he hadn’t even heard Ranpo’s words to begin with. “And Kunikida is going to become a teacher. If he doesn’t give himself an aneurysm first.”

“I’m starting to believe that the only reason that would happen, Dazai, is because of you.” Atsushi deadpanned, eliciting a snort from Yosano, a smirk from Kunikida, and a singular laugh from Ranpo.

Dazai sputtered, face looking surprised for just a second before it disappeared, replaced with his usual teasing look. “Atsushi, you wound me! After everything I’ve done for you, too!”

“I’ll apologize if you help me study.” Atsushi said, emptying his textbooks and notes onto the ground in front of him. “You know, like you said you would.”

“Atsushi drives a hard bargain, but… okay. You better be ready to apologize once I teach you everything you need to know.”

“Good work, Atsushi.” Dazai patted Atsushi on the back, eyes running over the ‘test’ that he’d been given by his mentor; the test was nothing but a few quickly thought up questions on the material they’d covered, and Atsushi had managed to get each and every one correct.

He couldn’t help but straighten up from his formerly hunched position, mouth twitching upwards into a pleased look. If there was one thing that Atsushi was a sucker for, it was praise, and it didn’t matter who it came from, it always left him feeling warm and proud, because it felt like he’d actually succeeded in something for once in his life. And for once, Atsushi felt like he might actually be able to actually survive university life.

“Is that all you needed help with? Or is there something else you aren’t sure about?” Dazai asked when Atsushi didn’t respond.

Atsushi shook his head. “That’s all, thank you, Dazai.”

“Great!” Dazai threw his textbook onto the ground and leaned over, his face inches away from Atsushi’s own, and suddenly, he was thrown back to a few days ago, when Dazai had done a similar thing without any warning. And just like a few days ago, Dazai wore a grin on his face that promised nothing good. “So now that we’ve finished with that, how’s your little crush on Akutagawa going?”

I should’ve just studied on my own. Atsushi let out a groan and dropped his head to his hands, his face beginning to burn from embarrassment. “Why couldn’t life have given me a different mentor?”

“Ah, so not well, I see.”

“Dazai, how many times do we have to tell you to stop tormenting poor Atsushi?” Yosano scolded, the medical student glanced up from her own notes to give her friend a withering stare. “So what if he has a crush?”

“So what? Yosano, it’s all the what’s in the world!”

“Huh?” Ranpo, having finally dragged himself upright despite looking like he’d keel over any second, tilted his head. “What are you even on about, Dazai?”

“Oh, that’s right, Ranpo, you weren’t here to witness it—”

“You didn’t witness it either, you idiot.” Kunikida grumbled.

“—rude, Kunikida, I was there in spirit! But anyways, young Atsushi here, ran into our dear Akutagawa—”

This time, Yosano interrupted Dazai’s speech, “He’s not our dear anything, Dazai.”

“—will the two of you stop interrupting me so I can tell Ranpo what he missed—”

“Don’t need to.” Ranpo said, his eyes flicking open. “I already figured it out.”

At the law student’s words, Atsushi raised his head, more curious than embarrassed now. “Really? What did you figure out?”

Ranpo opened his mouth, only to slam it shut when all three of his friends turned to look at him; he puffed out his cheeks in a child-like manner and turned his head, grumbling under his breath. “That you were the kid that cracked his head open on the stairs yesterday, taking out another student in the process.

“Oh.” Atsushi wilted. “Yeah, that was me.”

“I also figured out that that wasn’t the first time you ran into Akutagawa, but the two situations were rather similar.” Ranpo continued to say, his head swivelling back towards the rest of the group. “And I also figured out that you most certainly have a crush on Akutagawa despite not knowing anything about him, because you think he’s attractive and whatever else you noticed about him, but you don’t want to admit it because admitting you have a crush means you have romantic feelings and you can’t decide what’s worse; having romantic feelings for a total stranger, or having romantic feelings for a man—which is stupid—”

“Ranpo, not everyone’s as comfortable, or open, with their sexuality as you are.” Yosano threw an arm around Ranpo’s shoulder’s to cover her friends mouth with one hand and effectively cut him off from whatever it was he’d been about to say. Not that Ranpo didn’t continue to try and talk, muffled words coming from behind the hand, but they weren’t distinguishable by any means.

“Is he…” Atsushi couldn’t help but point at Ranpo, trailing off from what he’d been about to ask, because he was both fascinated and horrified with how Ranpo had just spouted off all this information—that was correct mind you—without taking a single breath, and also without having actually witnessed either event in person.

“Always like this?” Kunikida asked, and when Atsushi nodded, he continued. “Yes, you’ll learn very quickly that you can’t keep secrets from Ranpo, because he’ll just figure them out in an instant.”

“Ugh, we’re getting off track! We’re not talking about Ranpo’s freaky deduction skills, we’re talking about Atsushi and his schoolgirl crush!”

Atsushi sighed. “How many times do I have to say I don’t have a crush, Dazai?” He’d long given up at this point in trying to get Dazai to stop bringing it up; he knew that Dazai was just trying to get a reaction out of him.

And unfortunately, it kept working.

“Are you sure it’s not you that has a crush on Akutagawa, since you keep bringing him up?” Yosano raised an eyebrow.

The look Dazai gave them was one of absolute disgust. “As if I’d ever have a crush on Akutagawa of all people. I have standards thank you very much.”

From the look that Dazai’s friends gave him, it was clear to Atsushi that none of them agreed with that last statement in the slightest. Dazai grumbled something under his breath before he clapped his hands together, throwing a smile back onto his face in an instant. “Right well, anyways, I have a plan!”

“A plan?” Atsushi echoed. “For what?”

Dazai’s grin grew wider. “To get you and Akutagawa together of course!”

What?

[mamamittens]

A Trembling Response (Pt. 6)

Main

First|Last

Finally an update for a bit of an older series, I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while, ngl

Warnings: Unseen creatures in the dark and a panic attack is featured heavily in this chapter.

Ft. Bandit(OC) all grown up!

Word Count: 3,361

Edit: Happened to look over it again and realized I accidentally copied part of chapter 5 as well as the prompt note for the chapter, I am so sorry for anyone that read it and was very confused. Word count will be updated to reflect actual length later.

Crouched in the corner of the far doorway of the room, just behind whoever was guarding her on the other side. Eyes that shined in the dark but gave off no light. Before, when she’d only seen ‘misfortunes’, they’d looked flat. Like they were reflecting light weakly with no distinguishing direction. But the reality was far worse.

She couldn’t sleep well anymore. Even with Stefan laying practically on top of her, she could see them.

Those eyes were like cut outs in reality in the dark. Tiny pinholes for something much larger than their physical forms. Not blind or weak but merely stalking from the shadows. The sounds they could make seemed strangely distant. Echoing like it was from across a large, empty room. Making the impression that their true form was much further away even worse. Because the bigger they got, the louder they were.

This one, maybe even the same one from the laundry room, was now considerably taller than herself. It’s exact shape obscured by the shadows it clung to as it stared her down. The weak lantern kept alight by her own request and it scared her to consider that it wasn’t actually doing anything at all. That the thing too big to be a ‘misfortune’ was simply biding it’s time. Stefan had taken to pinning her against the wall, placing himself deliberately in the way as he watched. As a result, he didn’t want to play during the daytime, choosing to nap with Whitebeard in a move that people were starting to notice. Particularly that she was getting tired too, dark circles under her eyes intensifying with every passing night.

No one had asked yet, but soon they would.

And she didn’t know how she was going to explain that the sweet dog was trying to keep her safe. That she was terrified about something that she couldn’t even begin to understand, let alone explain. And that her biggest fear is that whatever it was, that couldn’t be seen or felt by anyone but her and a dog, was going to stop waiting one day.

Somehow, though, despite being watched unblinkingly from the dark, she managed to fall asleep.

It was gone when she woke up, dark smears melting under the now bright light in a trail that led across the room, through the bars, and feet away from where Stefan had been guarding her. Like it had simply walked right through. She felt like crying but the cheerful smile of Captain Hektor stopped her, happily picking her up to carry her to breakfast.

Touko handed her a plate with a slightly worried smile, noticing the obvious lack of sleep. She smiled back, happily accepting the plate of pancakes as Stefan slipped under the table and quickly took a nap.

She sat up, cutting up her pancakes with her fork after drowning them in syrup gleefully. The thick mass dripping as she took a bite.

Stefan whined under the table and for a moment her heart stuttered, a cold sweat breaking down her back.

Was there one under the table? If she looked down, would she see Stefan looking directly into to a pair of horrible white eyes?

Stefan licked her ankle and she sucked in a breath, giggling on the exhale nervously.

No. Of course not.

Stefan just wanted her bacon. Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed a thick slice and offered it under the table, Stefan politely pulling it from her fingertips with a small lick. Touko grinned knowingly and offered a slice of his own as Thatch looked with light disapproval. She pretended like she didn’t know full well that he added bits of bacon to Stefan bowl and gravy.

Touko leaned over.

“Commander Thatch is making cakes to set overnight for a party later. Some of the guys were assigned to clean up after it but were wondering if you’d like to take it instead? You get to eat the leftover batter.” Touko grinned at her excited look.

She’d never eaten the batter before that she could remember but the prospect of a forbidden treat was tempting.

“Yes!”

Touko didn’t mention that this would be just after bedtime. Thankfully he stayed with her and Stefan to make sure they got back to bed afterwards, as well as helping carry heavy pans to the sink to wash.

“Commander Thatch doesn’t bake cakes often, don’t tell anyone but I think desserts scare him.” Touko winked, offering the batter bowl and a clean spoon. The batter had set a little but was no less delicious. All of them were delicious really, a startling amount of cakes were hiding somewhere in the kitchen fridges to cool.

The one they were working on ‘cleaning’ was a vanilla cake batter, the thick mixture tangy on her tongue as Stefan stood guard facing the door.

Touko looked between her and Stefan.

“Hey, kid… are you doing alright?” Touko asked, taking a thoroughly tasted batter bowl and rinsing it in the sink before dumping it in the ‘wash’ side.

She paused, spoon of batter still in her mouth. Slowly, she took it out and nodded.

“…yeah.” Touko narrowed his eyes in worry.

“Are you sure? You and Stefan have been really tired lately and I know you’re not staying up late cleaning or playing. I asked several of the ‘guards’ and they claim you don’t make a peep. What’s going on?” Touko kneeled down to be eye level with her. Dark brown eyes fixed gently on her.

How does she explain that neither Stefan nor herself could sleep because of the shadow monster staring her down from the darkness?

That there was now several looking at her from beyond the darkened doorway to the empty hall.

She shrugged, making useless gestures as she struggled to find the words to either lie convincingly or explain what was happening.

“Looks like I’m not the only one after a late night snack~” A soft, playful voice spoke, startling them both.

She looked to the doorway where a tall, fluffy racoon mink stood. They looked ruffled, light gray fur speckled with salt and pepper freckles, a mass of curly white hair tied back. Black and white stripped sweater hanging loose as their tail waved around behind them. She’d never seen them before but judging by Touko’s relaxed posture, they must be a crew member.

“Bandit! You scared the shi—hell out of us!” Touko scolded, the mink grinning with mischievous honey eyes. Their bushy tail twitched as they leaned against the doorframe. Several pairs of white eyes hovering behind them in the shadows. She noticed their fuzzy ears twitching madly, swiveling around like they could hear something.

“Does Thatch know that you’re having a kid wash dishes? A kid that’s supposed to be a guest?” Bandit asked in a low, smooth voice.

“I’m helping! Besides, they get to eat the batter, it’s not like she’s not getting anything out of it” Touko defended. Bandit perked up.

“Batter? Oh! I was here for bread, but if there’s batter, how could I resist!” Bandit skipped over, eagerly, tail swishing playfully across her face as they scooped up an untouched bowl. “Touko.” Bandit said, licking a whisk.

“Yeah?”

“Go get Thatch. I know he didn’t approve of the kiddo cleaning the kitchen.” Bandit ordered. Touko deflated a bit, giving her an apologetic look.

“It’s okay. I like cleaning things. Gives me something to do.” Bandit looked down at her before shooting Touko a look.

“Yeah? That why you’re so exhausted, kit?” Bandit asked slowly, eyes narrowing at Touko.

“No! That’s not why!” She defended quickly as Touko took off before Bandit could say anything more accusingly.

Bandit huffed, licking a spoonful of batter before setting it down.

They picked her up, settling her on their hip as they headed out to the hallway.

“Then what’s wrong, kit? I already know about the whole ship sinking thing, but that was a while ago. Is something else bothering you?” Bandit asked softly, tapping her nose with a clawed finger gently.

Bandit stopped just outside the kitchen door, the shadows pressing in all around them.

“… why are we leaving the kitchen? Doesn’t it still need to be cleaned?” She asked as a distraction.

“Well, I know Thatch pretty good by now. He’s probably going to hear from Touko what’s been going on and march right to the men he ordered to clean up and make them get out of bed himself.” Bandit declared. “You, however, need to clean up and go to bed. Marco’s been fretting to himself for days from what it sounds like.”

She glanced away from Bandit’s shadowed face and saw that they eyes were leaning in close. Something shifting in the darkness around them as Stefan gave a soft woof. Bandit turned away and looked around in confusion, ears twitching still.

“…I don’t like the dark.” She admitted, drawing their attention away from where a cluster of eyes watched. Bandit’s features softening as they smiled.

“Oh, kit, it’s alright. We can put in a nightlight or something. I don’t really need to worry about the dark cause I have night vision but this big old boat must be spooky for little kits like you.” Bandit teased, a rattling hiss echoing closer than ever before, her heart pounding in her chest as Stefan growled back.

“I’m not scared of the dark… I’m scared of what’s in it.” She whispered, looking directly at a massive pair of white eyes, horrified as what seemed to be teeth forming in the dark.

Bandit sniffed, going to say something before their fur bristled. Tail and ears twitching in agitation.

“There’s nothing in… the dark…?” Bandit said slowly, looking around as they held her closer, her hands gripping the soft sweater.

She thought she was scared before when she could see them watching her in the dark. When only Stefan seemed to notice their presence. When they started forming teeth—oh seas what if those are just sharp eyes?—but now she started to hyperventilate.

Bandit, somehow, could sense them.

And they knew it. Hissing louder as some dark, foul wind blew over her, instantly making Bandit’s fur bristle as they growled back to the unseen threat.

“Where the fuck are they?!” Bandit hissed, teeth bared as they looked around.

She couldn’t restrain the soft, desperate sob, tears obscuring her vision.

“We’re surrounded.”

Massive dark claws cut through the weak light from the kitchen and only just barely brushed across Bandit’s nose where the light hit directly.

The reaction was instant.

A wild yowl cut through like gunshot, arm pinning her to their chest as Bandit ran. Bolting through the dark as the sound of wet claws digging into the wood followed behind them that was too big to be Stefan’s smaller paws.

Stefan was also following, yelping in fright as he scrambled to stay with them.

Bandit seemed to lean down, nearly running on all fours as they jumped off of walls to gain speed down softly lit halls. Narrowly dodging Touko and Thatch, the former looking sheepish under the attention of the annoyed commander.

“The fuck?! Bandit?!”

“Stefan?!”

The sound of their shadowed pursuers still following as they left the two behind.

She sobbed, crying into Bandit’s shoulder in terror as they slammed into a door, scrambling to open it before closing it behind with a loud bang. Startling several voices in the room as Bandit yowled, curling around her in agitation.

“Bandit?!” She could barely hear Whitebeard over her own sobs, wailing and hiccupping uncontrollably. Her lungs aching and throat burning as she finally let it out, wholly unable to stop now that she started. Shaking and trembling in the mink’s arms as they tried to sooth the both of them.

She sobbed, wailing harder as they were lifted up, words warbling in nonsensical sounds as she tried to speak. Bandit chittering into her ear as he stroked her back.

--*--

Whitebeard held his children in worry, looking at the three nurses that were changing an IV just before Bandit slammed into the room making sounds none of them knew they could even make.

The small marine child clutching Bandit as they both struggled to calm down. The little girl obviously failing as she cried so hard it shook the two of them.

The nurses finished their task and shuffled out, allowing the three privacy as Whitebeard scooped up his frightened children. Stefan bolting into the room the instant the door opened to leap onto the bed.

While not the bravest of his children, Bandit wasn’t easily frightened.

Whatever had just occurred shook them badly. Bandit curling into his hand in a way Whitebeard hadn’t seen in years, claws shaking as they tried to sooth the little marine. She only sobbed harder, face red from the sheer difficulty she had breathing through her upset.

It made his chest ache in sympathy and worry.

If this was from a prank, there was going to be severe consequences.

He didn’t really step into small matters between his children, preferring to allow them room to manage themselves. But this was unacceptable.

“Bandit, my child, what happened?” Whitebeard asked, stroking down their back softly. Bandit let slip a small yip, wide eyes looking up at him.

“I-I don’t know! It touched me! Something touched me!” Bandit howled, fur bristling with their ears pinned down into the curly silver hair. “I couldn’t see it, couldn’t hear it, but I felt it! Sensed it—something was there, ‘Yaji! It was right there and it touched me!”

All the while, the brave little marine sobbed violently in Bandit’s arms.

The door opened again, a worried Thatch and Touko peeking in. The little marine peeking up and wailing louder, Bandit hissing as the two hurriedly slipped into the room.

“Oyaji, Bandit! What the hell was that?!” Thatch asked, running up to his younger siblings. Bandit heaved an agitated chitter but refused to speak, their tail moving in angry motions.

Whitebeard needed to get to the bottom of this… whatever this was. And whatever made his children so fearful they ran to his room for protection was going to regret it.

[limpnoodles]

So recently...I got a Venus flytrap. And I absolutely love them to bits. I was so happy to FINALLY get rid of the flys, but after searching a bit about them I learned that unfortunately they die off after they close multiple times.

So of course I'm devastated by this. That my pretty baby's are ganna die sooner than I thought.. BUT on the contrary, it has given me a new Willow headcanon.

------

So what if like one day... Luz and co. go to the store or smth. (Mabey a Menards, we're I got mine😉) And Luz points out the garden area of the store, and ofc Willow immediately perks up and drags Amity or one of the them over to it.

And then she just SEES these fricken CUTE LITTLE PLANTS WITH TEETH?! And like they eat bugs TOO!?

Girl freaks.

Full on fan-girl mode.

She would probably buy the littlest one, as I truly believe she would be happier to raise it on her own, and like just giggle. Cooing to it in the cutest way while saying VERY unsettling things. (And no ofc I did not do this too them when I first saw them)

And then Hunter and Gus just peek over her shoulder in confusion.

Of course Camila buys it for her, very happy the girl is smiling brightly again. And on the way home Willow is clutching the traps in her hands, so terrified their ganna break.

Oh and Hunter would definitely be helping reading the directions, and how much water and sunlight it needs, ect.

So daily, and mabey even more than that, she checks up on them. Even going as far to catch bugs herself and feed them with a tweezers.

And then just one morning, when the sun is shining, Flapjacks are singing, a scream is heard.

Now, everyone is fucking terrified. I mean ofc they are. And so when they all notice Willows empty sleeping bag..Hunter's the first out the door.

And all of them including Camila, are just bounding down the stairs, tripping each other in the process, trying to find there beloved Willow.

And they all just kinda stop when they see her knelt down right by the windowsill.

"Willow? Are you okay?"

Hunter's the first to speak, totting up to her worriedly, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.

And then she just looks up to him in absolute tears, holding her beloved Venus flytraps in her hands..

Oh.

And before the poor boy could speak, she flung her self at him developing him into probably a bone crushing hug.

Hunter let out a choked gasp, stiffing at the contract. But just as he was about to ease into her soft touch, she pulled away immediately. Sniffling, she wiped her nose on her arm sleeve.

"Im- I'm sorry Hunter, I didn't mean to I just got a little upset about-"

Her panicked gaze drifting to his eye before looking down in the floor in shame. But just as she, herself was about to respond with more apologies, she felt arms wrap around her.

"It's okay...it's not your fault." He would mutter, placing his head onto of hers.

Tears started to well up in her green orbs once more, before returning the hug, griping his sweatshirt. Small sobs escaped the witch, in wich hunter responded by running a soothing hand along her back, not caring how soaked his favorite sweatshirt would be after this.

-----

Look I'm not much of a writer but I love making headcanons.

And im sure everyone is confused as to why our strong and brave Willow is so upset about her plants?

Well it's simple really.

On her 14th birthday her father's got her a Venus Fly trap. Now take I to consideration on how a BOILING ISLES VENUS FLYTRAPS LOOK LIKE. NGL BUT THEY GOTTA LOOK LIKE THIS.

Anyways..I'm guessing she always wanted one when she was little, thinking that it's a great solution for her bug investigation. ( Oh god Clover-🐝)

But ofc, being in the abomination track her father's declined. So like when she finally got it she was probably so happy!! And the memories of her father's doing this for her?? Like come on.

So ofc she would be so happy to see a Little version of her baby's. But the guilt in seeing them die- like that's probably ganna hit her hard, and to think she can't even keep these alive how on earth will hers live, even after how much her father's paid for one!

So she's afraid. She's scared. She scared for her plants. She's scared for her FATHER'S.

So yeah, she broke because some stupid plants died..the same thing that reminds her of her father's back home.

[damn-oh-dread]

Assorted Chapter 16 - 24 thoughts

GALAD IS A WHITECLOAK NOW!?!?!? I really like Galad as a character. Crazy that he does the right thing no matter what and decided that that included joining the white cloaks.🤡 Very interested to see if he ends up protecting his sister and her friends therefore kind of supporting the Aes Sedai, an organization he is now theologically against, or if he hands them in, betraying the trust of his family which also seems like a big thing for him. Which side of right will win out inside of himself?

Gawyn * rolls eyes * I liked him at the beginning but ever since the Tower coup incident I do not like him at all. He’s so annoying! And the way he thinks he’s right about everything? No thank you. He and Egwene better not end up together or I will commit a crime. He does not deserve Egwene.

I’m really liking how this book has given us a lot of different perspectives! It’s refreshing to see what other characters are up to!

Elayne, Thom is basically your step-dad. Please, I am begging you.

Finally, the Black Ajah are going to be scary and not just a totally useless group of 12 people! I’m excited to actually be afraid of them. Absolutely loving Moghedien!

Glad to get the confirmation that Gaebril is indeed Rahvin.

The mind control/compulsion weave is super unnerving from the perspective of someone under the compulsion. The fact Morgase has months and months of fake memories is terrifying!

I would read an entire book about Morgase though ngl.

LINI!!!! I need Lini and Nynaeve to meet so bad. When she said, when you get to my age all sayings are old sayings, I lost it. I would die for Lini.

MORGASE WAS GONNA MARRY THOM SSFDDFSGSDGGDS

Wildly invested in this Morgase-Gareth-Siuan side plot.

I kind of want Morgase and Gareth to meet up before Gareth and Siuan just because I very badly want to see their exes reunion.

Ngl I have no idea what is going on with Padan Fain anymore. I was so sure he was going to be set up as a foil or some kind of parallel to Mat but he seems to be obsessed with Perrin now? Not sure why, but I’m loving his batshit insane vibe.

Something something Moiriane and her relationship to time. Her being like “I have no time” a couple of chapters ago to now being like your right your right we have time.

The Aiel honour system giving positive points to being Aes Sedai and negative points for being Cairhenin making Moiraine cancel out. Amazing.

Everytime Rand is forced to make a big choice I take psychic damage. Baby no... 🥺😢

I want to know more about Aiel Flower symbolism actually. What kinds of plants grow in the waste?

MAGIC SWORD MAGIC SWORD MAGIC SWORD I LOVE MAGIC SWORDS. The Cairhein sun motif just goes so hard. There better be a cool thematic thing that happens with this sword otherwise what is the point??? Also where is this sword from cause like I really doubt that Laman was a blademaster, man does not give me those vibes. SO HYPED FOR THIS MAGIC SWORD WITH A SORDID BACKSTORY!!!!

Just realized Mats thing has a raven on it. Does that have something to do with the Seanchan maybe? Like maybe the Seeker people with the raven tattoos? Or I guess it could just be cursed by the dark one or something. Mat would become un-possed just to go and immediately pick up another cursed object.

RAND BABY NO

What is up with that other doorway terangreal? WHY DOES MOIRAINE CARE ABOUT IT? I just need to know.

Nynaeve as the carnival book-keeper is everything I did not know I needed from life. Every second of screentime Nynaeve gets, I love her more. OF COURSE she says she's the book-keeper.

Everyone reading into everything Rand does as the madness. Me frantically pointing at mat: "is anyone gonna look at that???"

For real though, I don't think Rand is mad at all yet. The little bits and pieces of information we get from his past as Lews Therin are definitely starting him in that direction for sure but all of his choices have been well thought out and logical so far. A lot of characters are saying he's become colder and/or harder since starting on this journey that has now been almost an entire year and are quick to blame this change on the madness. But really all of his choices and decisions are of someone trying to gain trust and respect from those around them and doing what needs to be done. Like sorry Egwene but Rand has not become harder because of the madness. He has become harder because that's what he has needed to become to survive and gain followers.

[silverislander]

Hi Lee! For the ask game: 🔥, 🧡, and 🦚

🔥: how has the way you think about yourself changed since you realized you were queer?

oof,, kind of a lot lol. coming from a really christian upbringing i did originally start out fucking terrified? like other people could be gay, i wasn't homophobic necessarily, but bc i was a Good Christian Girl i personally could not like women or at least not only women. i figured if i also liked men then i could just... not date women :)) and that would be ok :))))) and i would never tell anyone and lie about it forever. the idea made me as miserable as it sounds and i figured out pretty quick shoving it all down wasn't gonna fly lol. pro tip you cannot just stop a crush by avoiding it and praying for it to go away! who knew!

so now things have COMPLETELY changed for me. for one i'm not religious anymore, but i'm also at a point where being a lesbian feels like the only right way for me to be instead of smth wrong and shameful. i can't really imagine myself being anything else?? it feels sort of like a way to make sense of the stuff that was already there too, like realizing why the thought of having a wedding in the future was smth that i didn't like thinking about or why i never got into boy bands lmao

🧡: how has the way you presented yourself (ex. clothing, hairstyle, etc) changed since you realized you were queer?

also a lot!! i was actually a. very girly kid lmao which surprises people sometimes. i wore a lot of pink/dresses/glitter and all that (in part bc i didn't really realize i had other options- i didn't know what being gay or trans was until i was in my teens and the idea of bein gnc was not presented as a good thing, and until i was like 14 my hair was literally down to my waist- i literally never cut it short before and had been intending on keeping it that length or more Forever

one of the things i did when i was trying to figure out my sexuality was reading abt other people's sexualities and their histories and experiences online, and when i figured out i was gay it clicked pretty fast that i also had Gender Feelings that made sense in conjunction with being a lesbian. aka i'm butch. we do not talk about the phase where i owned multiple snapbacks and wore them in public but i did do that. basically went as hard in the stereotypical masculine lesbian direction as i could as a young teenager at the time, chopped my hair off bought combat boots you know how it is

overall i think it went like Little Girl™ -> the Exact stereotype of a lesbian in the 2010s, flannel and bad hat choices etc etc -> kinda just some butch :) i like a jacket i like fun pins i basically live in jeans and t shirts. i'm honestly really happy looking the way i do now ngl

🦚: are there any queer books/shows/etc that you would suggest?

so ofc i just finished one last stop by casey mcquiston recently and it absolutely OBLITERATED me, 1000/10 loved it. i'm also almost finished out of salem by hal schrieve which has been neat!! there's a lot of really well thought out worldbuilding, the mc is a nonbinary zombie which i think is rad but i'm not Quite sure what i think of it yet lol. and the miseducation of cameron post meant a lot to me in high school despite how much it also hurts in a cathartic sort of way :") look up the tws if you're looking at that one but highly recommend tho

[lastoneout]

I feel like there is this mentality that people arent allowed to miss content they used to love when it turns out that the person making it was shitty and that...isn't good imo.

Like when Bon Appetit and Harry Potter had their big(and justified) cancel this year a lot of people were saying stuff like "I always knew it was bad" or "lol I can't believe people actually liked this crap anyway" or some other variation of "I was woke enough to realise this media was problematic before it was cool and now I'm gonna make fun of those who didn't" and not only does that read as performative as HELL(social justice has very much become a clout game) it also ignores the fact that we live in a deeply shit ass society and it's okay to be upset when something that made your life worth living gets ruined for you.

Maybe you weren't on twitter or didn't get the memo about Rowling or missed the dog whistles and now you have to grapple with something that brought you joy being vilified while the narrative around the discourse is full of people calling you terrible for liking it in the first place(I see you people who make jokes about adults caring about their Hogwarts houses and I am not impressed). Maybe BA was just something you switched on for a quick laugh and you were too tired to be on guard for the signs of problems. Maybe you didn't know what copoganda was or never had all the different antisemitic dogwhistles explained to you or were too happy with representation to think too hard about it's effects. That's okay. No one is perfect. Every day there are 10,000 people just finding out about something everyone else knew, statistically you're gonna end up in that group at some point. Do not shame yourself for not being versed in every type of issue from the start.

And when you do learn It's perfectly okay to mourn the media that helped you get through another day in this hellscape of a society. Really, it's natural to be upset.

Cuz I think we've all been there(and if havent your lying) and this purity culture idea that the only way to be truly woke is to have never liked the Bad thing in the first place and then openly tear it to shreds as soon as doing so will get you clout is so flawed and unrealistic.

I mean, for example, my freshman year of highschool was rough. I had just moved across the country away from my whole family and had no friends and was living in a studio apartment with my drug addicted neglectful dad and ngl, I probably wouldnt have survived if I didn't have Hetalia. I know now that it's problematic as hell and I do occasionally wish I had seen the issues sooner but I was also an emotionally abused lonely 15 year old and to this day I can't get on the hate bandwagon because any time I do see the mocking I think of that terrified teenager just trying to get though another lonely day with only US/UK fanfiction to look forward to and I just can't hate the thing that helped her survive.

And so if Harry Potter or BA or Voltron or whatever other problematic thing was your lifeline it's okay to be upset that it was yanked away from you by bigoted creators and racist corporations and bad writing. It's okay to mourn that thing, to miss the joy it brought you, to think back on the good memories you had of it, to not want to jump on the hate bandwagon, to be upset when people mock the people like you who cared about it.

Do not be ashamed of the life-raft that got you through the storm. Be critical, do not let it's problems alter your perception of reality, and cast it aside if it comes to that, but do not be ashamed to have needed it, and do not feel bad for mourning it's absence.

And if you're on the other side, if you see someone who is sad that a thing was ruined for them, maybe consider that they don't have malicious intent, that their ignorance was not on purpose, that maybe that thing was the only thing keeping them going. Consider how you'd feel if you had your lifeline snatched away from you, and maybe direct your hate elsewhere. Attacking random people who loved Harry Potter isn't gonna change the world anyway, trust me there are better ways you could spend your time.

[pianocat939]

Love me and Only me pt.3

(Hollyberry was just trying to chill but Tainted Vanilla decided to go batshit crazy)

Tainted Vanilla's back story is sad ngl.

I don't think there's any warnings but please read with caution.

Y/n cookie opened their eyes, waking up from their slumber. They groggily looked around their surroundings, unaware of the cookie standing right next to them. "Awake already? My, you must be energetic." Tainted Vanilla commented, pulling a chair over to the bedside. Y/n stares at him for a few seconds before realizing that they aren't in the kingdom anymore.

Frantically, they ask, "Wha- who are you?" They scramble to the other side of the bed, trying to distance themselves from him. In response, he softly smiles. "You've seen me before...I was the cookie you saw in the mirror a few weeks ago." His hands started to fumble with his staff. "I know you're probably scared and confused, but I'll explain in due time. Now, you're most likely starving, so I provided a feast for you in the banquet hall."

He stood up and sauntered over to the door, looking behind him to wait for Y/n cookie. They finally walked over, skeptical but nonetheless hungry for food. The pair heads to the banquet hall, where the other Ancients sit, waiting for the other two to arrive.

Y/n's eyes widen at the sight of the food. Upon the table lays heaps of; pizza jellies, stacks of desserts, bowls of assorted drinks and many more dishes. "Haha, is it your first time seeing so much food? Well, don't worry, because you'll be seeing it more often now. Tainted Vanilla laughs, taking a seat at the head of the table.

"Hello, I'm Black Lily. It's a pleasure to meet you." Black Lily bowed her head, amused at your fascination. The other ancients proceed to introduce themselves, and look at Tainted Vanilla for approval. "Let us eat." He announces, already piling food onto his plate. Only for a dog to climb onto his lap.

The waffle hound barks, nibbling onto some meat jelly while Tainted Vanilla pets him. "Brussels, you're not supposed to eat at the table! You have your own eating space right there!" Tainted Vanilla lightly scolds his waffle hound and ushers him to his dining area.

Brussels barks once more before scampering over to his table, devouring the meat jellies and biscuits.

Golden Cheese laughs and slams her hand against the table. "Your waffle hound is always a trouble maker huh?" Tainted Vanilla sighs in disappointment but continues to eat.

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

After eating Y/n cookie goes back to their room, struggling with directions but managed to go to their destination in the end. Closing the door they find Tainted Vanilla already chilling on the bed, holding a book in his hands. "Ah, there you are. I wanted to tell you why you're here."

"To begin, you're here because I wanted to rescue you. When I say that, I mean that there's going to be a war soon." The atmosphere grew dark, almost terrifying. "You should get comfortable, because what I'm going to tell is going to take a while."

"When I was a student I used to be friends with Light Enchantress cookie. Back then, her name was just Light cookie. We were partners in crime, with a ambition to help cookies all around earthbread...Except I wanted to know more. So, I decided to experiment on how cookies are created.

At the start, I just tried to make a cookie myself, but then I wondered why cookies break so easily. After a few months of research I decided to steal books about the creation of cookies, from the restricted section of my academy. I successfully managed to steal two volumes.

I learned a lot from them but it still wasn't enough.

After I graduated I decided to go see the process myself. On the night of the witches I entered their little gathering, only to find cookies being eaten mercilessly.

I was horrified at the sight of my own kind being slaughtered and turned into food. During my breakdown, a witch saw me and grabbed me from my place behind the sugar and threw me into a cauldron.

It burned, it burned my entire body but I slowly fell asleep.

When I woke up I found myself no longer being Vanilla cookie. I was now Tainted Vanilla cookie. With my entire dough being cursed inside and out by evil demons and spirits plaguing my mind every second.

Light Enchantress saw me in this state and ran away. Terrified at the sight of me becoming a monster...

And at that moment I had no one but my demons and resentment.

Of course, I have companions now. But I still lacked something, except it was fulfilled when I met you. Y/n cookie.

You somehow manage to lift my curse if your ever close to me, and that is the other reason why you're here."

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

"Mine all mine, ahahahah!" Tainted Vanilla yells, unaware of Hollyberry standing outside the door.

Unedited

(Btw, plz send in requests cuz I'm bored af. I prefer cookie run and Genshin rn but it can be anything on my fandom list.)