#nothing quite like being reminded how disposable you are

[snzluv3r]

i actually feel so incredibly uncomfortable and isolated in this space right now and i know that’s silly because of how many people there are just like me who share the same feelings but idk…the fact that people even think this is defensible behavior is making me feel sick

[phantasm-echo]

POV: you wake up in the middle of your own autopsy with force powers then immediately get brainwashed into falling to the dark side

I was reminded of the fact that I haven’t drawn inquisitor!fives’ autopsy scars in way too long so here I am, delivering a few too many Fives 💀

Anyway I know I don’t post much about the AU on here so props to anyone who knows what’s going on here even slightly, I’ve decided to nerf siren!echo (who WAS part of this AU yes I know quite random) but since him being turned into a siren kinda limits what I can do with him story wise he is now an AU of the AU.

That means the name I came up with for the au (dead mean walking/swimming or dmw(s) as I’ve been tagging it) is kinda irrelevant. I’ll just call this the inquisitor fives AU but if you have any AU name suggestions feel free to drop them.

Here are some of the major factors of the AU:

It gets worse before it gets better

(WARNING: there are quite a few heavy topics covered in the AU such as torture, dehumanisation and su*cidal thoughts, so pls read at your own discretion)

- fives wakes up in the middle of his own autopsy with force sensitivity, then gets brainwashed into falling to the Dark Side by Palpatine. As an Inquisitor, he does not remember anything about his life because those memories were blocked by Palpatine.

- Palpatine discovers that Fives is essentially immortal, and any injuries inflicted on him will heal no matter how bad.

- when echo gets rescued from skako minor, he is recalled to Kamino for experimentation, first of all so they can figure out what the Techno Union did to him, second of all to see how he survived his injuries. Nala se, who knows that fives came back to life, theorises that since he and echo were tube twins they share the “immortality”. He is kept on Kamino for VERY extensive experimentation where terrible things happen to him (cough vivisection cough lobotomy) and so never joins Clone Force 99 even if he did work with them on Anaxes.

- Fives in this time is sent out on many missions by Palpatine that involve him unaliving many people, and after the rise of the Empire he hunts a few Jedi.

- Fox, who throughout the war had experienced many blackout missions where he woke up afterwards covered in blood, is the last living Coruscant Guard commander. (Thorn dies, stone vanishes one day, Thire mistakes Vader for a Jedi and pays the price) Despite the best efforts of his son secretary Dogma (no way!?) Fox has very little will to live, is extremely depressed and borderline suicidal, he would like nothing more than to bite the dust, but still feels he has a duty to the very few remaining corries and so tries to keep it together (he is failing)

- one day Palpatine decides he doesn’t need Fox to do his bidding anymore since he has much better assets at his disposal (Fives), and decides it would be ironic to sic his pet clone inquisitor onto Fox. Fives still doesn’t remember anything, and only knows that Fox is responsible for the main scars on his body and believes fox is the reason he doesn’t remember most of his life, and so sets out to kill fox. They battle it out (ref to that one animation wip I posted) and fives is on the verge of killing fox (who didn’t really try to fight that much, like I said he would very much like to die and dying at the hand of the vod he “killed” seems fitting to him) when he gets a sudden vision of echo.

- all fives knows is echo is extremely important to him and must be rescued and that snaps him out of palpatine’s control. He knows he probably can’t rescue echo alone, and since fox has already been betrayed by the empire he decides “fuck it” and basically kidnaps fox and they run. They make a deal, that once echo has been found, Fives will put Fox out of his misery (fox feels that fives should be the only person to kill him, and only goes along with the plan because he refuses to let anyone else kill him)

- fox and fives proceed to go on an intergalactic road trip to “rescue echo” even though neither of them know how to do that. They become closer friends throughout, and fives slowly regains bits and pieces of the Before

- meanwhile during the destruction of Kamino, the bad batch stumble on echo and rescue him and he stays with them for a little bit before leaving with Rex

- meanwhile Dogma helps the rest of the remaining Corries desert, kills too many storm troopers, and tries to go after his buir fox and the bastard inquisitor who kidnapped him

This is the main stuff you need to know for the AU haha so if you’ve got new name suggestions I’m all ears ty!!

[uranometrias]

✮ꜜ : ❛ you're still a traitor : criminal minds x fem! reader [ pt. 1 ]

pairing: aaron hotchner x bau! reader (unrequited) | spencer reid x bau! reader | s7 team x bau! reader (platonic)

summary: being in love with your boss was hard. especially when there were so many factors surrounding you that made the possibility of being with him, out of the question. for starters, there was your age gap, and hotch was a stickler with baggage that he couldn't quite disclose to you. hotch was a fantasy, always out of your grasp, that is until emily dies. in the four months that followed emily's death at the hands of ian doyle, you found yourself living a life that you'd only ever dreamed about. hotch was careful, but the proof was right in front of your face as he went out of his way to care for you while you grieved. how stupid of you not to realize something was horribly wrong. but now emily was back, and hotch was back from reassignment in pakistan, and you were all on trial, and absolutely nothing makes sense except for the bitter understanding that you were a pawn in a game that in so few words was "way bigger than you." but at least you had spence.

content warnings: this is literally a barrel of angst. reader breaks the skin of her palms with her nails. mentions of slight! anxiety. follows the plot of "it takes a village" aka the iconic "this is calm, and it's doctor" episode. flashbacks x present day! spencer has been crushing on reader for as long as she's been crushing on hotch. hotch is NOT romantically interested in reader. slight! hotchniss vibes (but that's up to your interpretation. jj x reader angst! reader does not react to emily's return well. mentions of unit transfer / bureau resignation. spencer confesses to reader... open ending making room for a part 2! heartbreak, drinking, crying. best friend! penelope garcia + derek morgan. reader has a sister & niece.

read part two right here.

Your leg shakes violently as you sat just outside the court room, hands balled into tight fists as your nails press deep into the callousing skin of your palms. You couldn't say you were nervous, as far as the previous case was concerned you'd done everything you could to save Declan. You'd take whatever suspension they'd throw your way without batting an eye. You didn't regret the part you played, no, you just regretted the team that you were apart of.

It had been a crazy seven months. You remembered when things turned left, back when Emily started acting weird. She was shorter, snappier, she had less patience with any of you. Long gone were the days of wasting your time with jokes and innuendos. She had a lot on her mind, a lot none of you were privy to, and you remembered how you'd stretched yourself. You'd all tried so hard to show her you were there, to let her know that you could be trusted.

Your face contorts into a scowl, it had become your new resting face in the last few weeks. God, you hated how stupid and naive you'd been back then. Now that everything was out in the open, it was almost too obvious where the deception began. What was the point of taking care of people who had no trouble treating you like some disposable pawn piece to be moved to fit their whims. Damn. You were crying again, you'd been doing that a whole lot too lately.

You scrub furiously at your face, and you hate your teammates a little bit more. JJ had gone first, face devoid of any timidity or uncertainty. Long gone were the days of Jennifer Jareau the Liaison, she was a profiler now, one of you. When she'd come back, you'd been ecstatic. The unit hadn't been the same since she was transferred, you'd missed her so gravely. But now, now the sight of her just reminded you of the secret you'd been holding on the tip of your tongue.

Hotch wasn't the only one who had known about Emily.

You feel a hand moving to rest on the top of your thigh, and you flinch violently. You sniffle audibly, eyes moving to rest on Penelope, your God-given solace. Your best friend. She, Derek, and Spencer were the only ones who wholeheartedly understood what you felt. But even still, Hotch hadn't used their feelings to make them blind, the way he had done with you. He'd played you like a goddamn fiddle, and you'd let him. Because you were weak, stupid, grieving, and in love.

Hotch had never been in the cards for you, not that you weren't beautiful, gorgeous, an amazing agent. You had the stamp of approval of both Agents Gideon and Rossi. Erin Strauss had been (by your request) rejecting every request of transfer any other unit had tried to offer. You were an asset to the bureau, and a major part of this team. You'd been around since the beginning. You'd witnessed doe-eyed Spencer Reid join at age 23, full of facts and anxiety.

You'd seen Derek blossom and break out of his play-boy persona, and become someone that other branches of the law fought to have. You'd been around for so long, you'd witnessed so much, and Hotch knew that. Which you suppose is what you allowed yourself to believe was the reason he'd never shown signs of reciprocating your feelings. He was respecting your future, leaving your options open. But those were the delusional musings of a girl in love with someone she can't have. Hotch wasn't into you, and you knew that.

So why, why, why did you let him convince you of the opposite? For even one measly second? And, yes, of course in the grand scheme of things you understood why he did what he did. But it didn't make it hurt less. In fact knowing his duty to Emily outweighed his duty to anything else just made this whole ordeal feel more like a slap to your face. Penelope gives your thigh a reassuring squeeze, and you're pulled from your running mind. You blink, registering her worry.

"Are you alright?" she asks, and it's the first time anyone's asked you that since the first day. You know they were giving you space to cope, which only seemed to reaffirm your feelings of betrayal and loneliness. "We'll get out of this, alright? And we'll-we'll be able to be a complete family again." she proceeds, and serves you right for believing someone understood what was going on. They'd all misunderstood you. They thought your behavior was fear of the team being dismantled. Some profilers you were surrounded by.

"I'm fine, Garcia." you say, and you can't bite the snippiness if you wanted to. "I just want to get this over with, and get the hell out of here." you add, and you're standing up, Penelope's hand dropping limply as you move your seat. You find a more isolated corner, plopping back into the uncomfortable seat, as the legs squeak slightly. Your leg is back to shaking, only now you've taken to chomping on your bottom lip. You don't imagine Penelope's hurt expression, you know without a doubt that you'll cave. And you can't.

Not this time.

Your phone chirps in your pocket, and you jump once more. Your jumpiness was a new attribute triggered by the amount of sleep you hadn't been getting. Pulling it out you see that it's a call from your big sister, and you curse under your breath. You were supposed to be watching your niece so your sister could pick up an extra shift. None of you had really expected for things to go this far.

"Hey..." you wince, because you can hear the heaviness of your feelings ladled over your words.

"Hey, are you alright? I got a call from Spence." and you're surprised. You look up, searching for the brunette anywhere in the vicinity, and find that he hasn't shown up yet. It's a bit of a shock, especially for someone as punctual as Reid. You did however spot JJ still meandering about, and she's not looking tense at all. Despite your anger towards her, you couldn't deny that she'd quickly fallen into the role of a profiler. It fit her almost like a glove.

"Spencer called you?" you ask, and you hear the tension in your sister's sigh. You imagine that she must be exhausted. Your sister did a lot, and managing a blossoming family was hard. Your niece was five, and she had a new addition to the family on the way. Which was why it was so important for you to be there on the days she needed you to watch your niece.

"Yes, he said something about..." your sister lowers her voice. "Emily." she questions, and you find your head nodding despite the fact she can't see you. "Are you alright?" she asks again, and this time she emphasizes how important it is for her to hear directly from your mouth the state of your wellbeing. Your sister seemed to always see right through you, it was a wonder she wasn't the one in the FBI.

"I'm-" you trail off before you can lie. "I'm sure if they could they'd disband the unit." you whisper, and you look up just as Derek is exiting the court room, Penelope looking terrified as she takes his place. Derek scans the room before he spots you, and his eyes soften. JJ approaches him and the two seem to chat animatedly. Still they look so serious, there was no room for smiles and banter today.

It's not long though before they're looking at you again, and you know that they know. Your self isolation wasn't something you were exactly being subtle about. You immediately look away, focusing in on what your sister was saying. "Bad decisions or not, they're no good without your unit." she says, and pride still manages to swell up inside of you. "You guys do good work. You work because you're together, everyone plays their role." she proceeds, and it's then you shatter.

Play your role. What role exactly did you play? Hotch was the stoic leader that somehow seemed to play the role of pseudo-father so well for every member of the team, with the exception of Rossi and Derek. Derek, was the shoe-in for promotion. The older brother who teased you relentlessly, but would fight til his last breath to protect you, and he always did. JJ, the pretty girl. The one who everyone on the team at some point had been attracted to. But more than that, she was resilient, a subtle glue that kept your unit running.

You quickly slot through everyone else's roles in your head, and huff. What were you except the odd-woman out. The dummy with a crush on your unit chief, and too much knowledge for your own good. You supposed that was why Hotch had to distract you with exaggerated gestures. If you got out of your feelings and really thought about it, you knew that if anyone on the team was going to see through the smoke, and uncover the truth about Emily, it would be you.

So he had to handicap you. What better way than by hanging the possibility of a romance in your face. Still, it was cruel. Just more proof that this was not the family you made them out to be. "Yeah, I'm not so sure." you reply, and you can hear how disgruntled you sound. It smacks you like a ton of bricks, and it's then you truly realize just how hurt you were by everything. Your sister sighs deeply, and it makes you second guess yourself. Were you being irrational? Unfair?

"I know what Hotch did." she begins, "And it was awful to play with your feelings like that." she expresses, and you feel validated. "And nobody's expecting you to just welcome Emily back with open arms after months and months of thinking that she was dead. You were deceived, and I want you to feel however you want, okay?" she says, and you don't respond, mostly because it feels rhetorical. "Just don't do anything rash without thinking it through alright?"

You don't know what she means by that so your eyes roll. "I think we're well past that, if they find us guilty I could lose my job." you remind her, and she chuckles. You don't find it funny, you can't. Your love for the job outweighed a lot of things, so it had been a no-brainer to help Derek seek out Ian Doyle. You wanted his head spinning on a pike, and you weren't planning to take no for an answer.

two weeks prior.

You were sitting across from Derek, steaming mug of coffee in your head that was more french vanilla creamer than anything else. You held the staged photograph of Declan and Louise. Derek's holding an identical photo, a heady sigh escaping him as you both rack your brains for some sort of bullseye. Something that would point you right in the direction of Declan. "Okay, Emily needed to get Declan a new identity." Penelope says as she walks into the office. She sits in the chair right beside you, arm full of stress balls and files. "So she must have used someone that she trusted." she proceeds.

"Alright, well that's a short list, but it's probably not even written down." is Derek's tired reply.

"Even if it was, she's been so many places, with so many different points of contact. " you speak up, and you take a sip from your coffee, praying it kicks in and wakes you up a bit. "It's not gonna be super easy to track and narrow them all down." you say, and you realize your mistake just as Penelope is placing a file in your hands.

"Oh, tell me about it. Two columns, domestic and imports." she says as she passes the other to Derek, who's looking at you with an amused smile stretched across his face. Serves you both right for underestimating the genius of Penelope Garcia. "I accept your apology, cutie." she says, leaning into you as you grin, smacking your lips in a kiss.

"Hey." JJ's at the door of the office, all three of you turning to look her way as she beams brightly. "Have you guys seen, Spence?" she questions, and you remember how you'd offered to bring him a coffee as a respite from the garbage water they served in the bullpen. He'd shut you down politely asking to reschedule as he was going to be spending his day at the Firing Range. You understood the need, he wanted to protect himself, and the team. He had to get better.

"He's at the firing range." you and Penelope speak in unison, making eye contact, as hers narrow. You knew instantly she would have questions about why you of all people knew Spencer's whereabouts.

"Again?" JJ questions as you shrug your shoulders, her eyes flitting towards you.

"Ever since Prentiss died, he..." Penelope speaks your thoughts.

"Right." JJ nods her head. "Uh... did you guys just get a new case?" she questions, hands clasping together in front of her.

"It's just an old one." Derek answers.

"Do you want some fresh eyes?" she asks, and it's painfully clear that she's still figuring out how to feel more like the team again.

"Not just yet." Derek denies, and he's polite, but you knew why he was being this way. You were all for keeping anything related to Doyle under wraps until you were further along.

"Ok. Um, well let me know." she hums, and then she looks back at you. "Y/N, can I..." your eyebrows raise as she trails off. "Can we talk? It'll only take a second." she hopes, and you look to Derek and Penelope for a moment.

"We won't do anything big without you." Derek promises, and you nod, closing the file, and handing it off, before you stand to your feet. You follow JJ out of the office, and down the hallway, stopping just before you reach the heart of the bullpen. You look to her expectantly, a bit confused, but not on edge. You had missed JJ, and in the two months she'd been back, it'd been pretty hard to get some real time with her. You'd hoped a break in the case would help to change that.

"Everything okay, Jaige?" you ask, and you witness how she exhales in relief right in front of you.

"God, it is now." she says, and your eyebrows jump up. She seems to understand the confusion on your face as she lets out a chuckle, dispelling more of her own tension. "You've been calling me Agent Jareau since I got back... not JJ and definitely not Jaige." she explains, as it seems to register for you. "I guess I was just a little worried I'd done something to make you mad at me." she admits, and she's clearly sheepish.

"Oh." you chuckle yourself, and you reach out to hold her shoulder. "No, you've done nothing wrong." you promise. "I've just been a bit in my head these last few weeks, but I'm really glad you're back." JJ beams at your words, and all the remaining tension in her posture dissipates instantly.

present day.

"Hey, everything alright?" you look up, pulled from your thoughts at the presence of Spencer Reid. He's holding a medium cup of a steaming liquid that you can only assume is coffee, and you find yourself smiling despite yourself. "I remember you asked me a few weeks ago about coffee." he holds it out, and you're quick to press your phone to your shoulder, neck craning slightly as you take it.

"Thanks, Spence." you mumble, and you can practically hear your sister's smirk from the other line. "Could you just give me one second, I'm talking to my sister?" you question, and Spencer nods his head, eyes widening in understanding. You smile politely, and he beams back at you, pretty eyes seemingly brightening before he's making his way over to Derek who's smirking like the nuisance he is.

"Hey." you mumble once he's gone, and your sister is snickering. For some odd reason she'd been dropping hints that maybe the guy on the team you should be setting your sights on was Spencer. To your defense, it wasn't like he wasn't attractive. You'd be an idiot to deny his boyish charm and good looks, but after he'd sat you down and admitted he had a crush on JJ, back during his second year, you'd sort of blocked any potential attraction towards him out of your head.

Now he was just Spence.

"Hey, I should go. I just wanted to check in, Spence made me aware of everything so I've got everything figured out on this end." she promises you, and you nod once more despite yourself. "Just think about what I said, alright? It'd be a shame for you to leave behind such a good job." she finishes, and you don't know how to respond to that, so you don't. "Call me later?" she questions, though you know she's telling you more than asking.

"I will." you reply, and she sounds pleased as she exhales.

"I'll talk to you soon." and then the phone is clicking. You adjust your grip on your coffee, using your free hand to grab your phone, and place it down on your lap. The coffee smelled good, it was from that cute shoppe that sold different pastries and always smelled like cinnamon. You'd been there with Spencer and Penelope a handful of times, and they always made your coffee exactly how you liked it. Still, Spencer had never ordered for you so you await a mishap.

The first sip warms you up instantly, and you're knocked flat on your ass by how on point the drink was. Your eyes snap upwards, looking across the lobby towards Spencer, who's awkwardly sitting in a seat, Derek beside him. JJ was gone now, but you figured she was probably with Hotch and Emily, the three of them had been attached at the hip since the team was "back together". You're certain them being gone was what led you to standing to your feet.

You walk towards Derek and Spencer quietly, slipping into a seat next to Spencer as Derek leaned up against the wall. "I didn't know that you knew my coffee order." you whisper, and Spencer turns to look at you. He offers a half smile, you were certain you'd be passing a lot of those back and forth until the court proceedings were done with.

"Of course I do." he shrugs his shoulders. "I pay attention when you talk." he promises, and you wonder why he had to like JJ, and why you had to like Hotch. On paper, and off paper Spencer Reid was the perfect candidate for boyfriend, plus he never pretended to be into you to keep you from finding out the truth. You both fall into silence, there's not much else to say, but you let his words repeat in your head. I pay attention when you talk. It makes your stomach twist.

"You alright over there, pretty girl?" Derek's voice barely reaches over a whispered volume. It seemed you all were feeling the dreary aftershocks of an ordeal like the one you'd found yourselves in. You look up at Derek tiredly, and you don't understand why he's asking you this, not until you feel the scalding heat of hot coffee singing your skin. Two sets of worried eyes are drawn to your cup, it's squished in your palm, brown liquid streaming everywhere.

"Shit." you hiss, and the cup falls to the floor, you're quick to clutch your burnt hand. God, you were really torn up over this.

"I'll get this cleaned up." Derek promises, and he looks at Spencer as if he was communicating something he didn't want you privy to. Spencer falters, only for a second before he's reaching out for your forearm, and guiding you to your feet. You trail after him, walking down the long corridor, listening out for the telltale sign that Penelope was done, and they'd be calling you next. On your route you pass JJ who looks concerned as she looks between the two of you.

"Spence, Y/N?" she says, and you avert your gaze, you're not sure if you're more angry or embarrassed.

"Sh-she spilled some coffee." Spencer explains, but he doesn't stop walking. "Shouldn't be more than a first degree burn, if she soaks her hand for five minutes, everything should be fine." he is passive as he speaks, eyes never quite meeting hers as he continues to lead you.

"Let me take her." JJ offers, and both you and Spencer are quick to offer denials. She looks hurt but masks it quickly. "It's not like you can go into the girl's bathroom with her, right?" she says and it's then you both realize you've got no other choice. He looks to you, trying to gauge how you'd feel about it, and you sigh. Maybe this was for the best, you could finally get things off your chest with JJ. It was only fair. He seems to clock the instant you've decided, and concedes.

"I'll be right out here." he promises, and you nod slowly. He looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn't get the chance to.

"Spence." JJ says his name a bit more sternly, and he resists the urge to cut his eyes in her direction. He ignores her long enough to take in your ailed hand, he saw the way the skin began to redden and swell. He seems cross as he passes you off to JJ, and you feel a bit silly being fussed over for something as minute as a coffee burn. JJ's earnest in the way she takes you to the nearest women's restroom. You hiss the second the cold water comes in contact with your skin.

You don't say anything to JJ though, losing your nerve the second the two of you were alone. She looks like she's waiting for you to say something though, eyes brimming with some sort of unease. She was reading you, using her new skills to profile you. You suppose that's exactly what pushes you to finally speak. "We said we'd never profile one another." you remind her crossly, and she's sheepish. "Just because you're doing it in your head doesn't make it any less invasive." you keep your wrist in place, hissing silently.

"If you would just talk to me I wouldn't have to go that far." she counters, and you blink. Fair, but you had every right to keep your distance from her. Just because the rest of the team was still more or less unaware of JJ's role in harboring the secret of Emily, you'd read right through her.

"What's there to talk about exactly?" you ask. "None of us want to be here dealing with this." and you take the route of the naive girl.

"I'm not talking about with the trial... and the senators." she shakes her head, and she's almost pleading as she tries to catch your eyes in the mirror. "I'm talking about Emily." she deadpans. "Everything that happened?" she proceeds. "You've hardly said a word to her since she came back." she doesn't want to come off like she's scolding you, and so she takes in a breath before her tone can become defensive.

"I don't speak to ghosts." and it's a quiet little dig that she hears all the same. It forces a tense silence to wash over the restroom, the only sound slicing through the awkwardness is the water rushing from the spout. JJ clears her throat, blinking a few times as she adjusts your wrist, allowing the water to evenly coat your burn. Only a few more minutes of this and you could make your grand escape.

"That's not fair." she finally voices her thoughts with a deep sigh.

"Isn't it?" you snap. "Seven months we thought she was dead." and you suppose that was a mistake of hers, getting you started. "Pretty lucky that you were off at the Pentagon, right?" you ask sourly. "Or was it lucky that you were in on the whole scam? I mean you were at the funeral, but you didn't have to cry, you didn't have to grieve." you accuse, and JJ's jaw slackens, clearly surprised at your outburst.

"I lost my friend too, okay?" she counters and you scoff.

"Did you?" you argue. "All those nights I called you crying, all those texts, those check ins... how long did you know Emily was still alive?" you demand, and JJ's feeling cornered, and her heart rate is picking up. She knew there'd be mixed feelings about this, but she'd never expected to ever be at odds with you. You, Spencer, and JJ rounded out the younger crowd on the team, it was your job to stick together. "Answer me." you insist, and you sound so crushed as you speak.

"I knew the whole time." she answers, and you nod your head, because of course you already knew.

"Exactly." you sneer. "You're a liar." you hate how angry this whole thing makes you, but you can't deny it. They'd played with your feelings, all of them, and now you were meant to behave like nothing was wrong. "Did you know about Hotch?" you ask, and JJ flinches. She doesn't answer for a while, and the water seems to rush even louder in your ears.

"I told him it wasn't smart." she finally answers. "But we needed to ensure that Emily wasn't at risk, it was harmless... just some flirting to keep you from getting too close to the truth." and JJ is speaking as if this wasn't some major breach of your position as coworkers and alleged friends. "He'd never cross the line." she reminds you, and the reminder that yeah, Hotch would never be with you makes you wince.

"And he didn't." she says this like she knows for certain. "It was flirting, Y/N. it didn't mean anything, we just needed you to..." and she trails off when she sees how destroyed you look at her admission. "Y/N..." she trails off, and you inhale sharply.

"Don't." you exhale, and you snatch your hand from her grasp. The cool air of the bathroom immediately attacks the welts blooming on your hand. You don't have time to pay them any mind.

"We just wanted to protect you... and keep Emily safe in the process. The more of us that knew Emily was alive, the more of a liability we'd be while Doyle was still on the run." she says, and you suppose in the grand scheme you understand. As profilers, as special agents working for the FBI they'd done great work. As your friends, as people you'd considered family for years... they'd betrayed you.

Plain and simple.

"Congratulations, you did exactly what you meant to." you say dully, and you sniffle, though no tears are set to come. Instead you feel more anger blossoming in the pit of your gut. "I hope it was worth it." and it's dramatic, but you deserve the dramatics, sidestepping the blonde and leaving her behind just as Emily is stepping inside. She looks at you wide-eyed, before she sees JJ standing there seemingly frazzled.

"Is everything okay?" she questions, and you don't offer her an answer, instead leaving the restroom as your earlier words ring in your head. I don't talk to ghosts. And you don't, and despite your history you'd never allow yourself to. You find your way back to the seats that led to the courtroom, Derek was gone, the only person still there was Spencer. He stands up as soon as he hears your shoes.

"Where's Derek?" you ask quietly.

"He left with Garcia." he answers quietly. "I guess they're dismissed for now. They're in with Dave now." he explains, and your eyes shift to the door. More than likely you or Spencer would be next.

You sit down, and Spencer follows you, sinking back into his seat as his legs just barely brush against yours. "Are you scared?" you ask, and Spencer's head shakes.

"Are you?" he shoots back, and you look away from the door.

"Not of this." you admit. "But of what comes after." you add and Spencer's pretty brown eyes are swimming with confusion. "Can we really all bounce back from something like this?" you ask, and it's rhetorical, but he answers you all the same.

"We've come back from worse." he reminds you, and that faint smile is worming back onto your face.

"Sure we have." you agree numbly. Spencer's eyes drop to your hand.

"How does it feel?" he asks, and you follow his gaze with a shrug of your shoulders. He doesn't look pleased by this approach, and it makes you sigh.

"Just feels like I ran some water over it." you admit, and Spencer chuckles. "A bit anticlimactic if I'm honest with you, Doctor." and you're partly teasing, mostly because it's so easy.

"You'll need some sort of petroleum jelly... there's some pretty good products that aren't at all carcinogenic like the leading brands." he begins on a tangent, and it makes you smile a bit bigger. "That with some gauze is the perfect remedy for such a mild burn." he proceeds and you look down at it. There's a moment of silence between you, before he's talking again. "Can I ask what happened?" he whispers.

You hum, almost like you're pretending you can't hear him.

"With the coffee? Was it not good? I tried to follow your order exactly." he says and you squeeze your eyes closed.

"It wasn't you or the coffee, Spence." you promise him, and without thinking you reach out, small hand resting on his shoulder. "The coffee was perfect." you insist, and he relaxes, but not enough. "I guess I'm just thrown about all of this." you proceed. "No matter how much I try to remind myself that they did this to protect Emily... that their deception was for a good reason, it just makes me angrier. Why is it that I have to rationalize being angry?" you question.

"I have to reign my feelings in for the sake of the team." you're careful not to grow loud. Spencer's eyebrows are pressed inwardly, head shaking.

"You don't." he denies you quickly. "You shouldn't." he corrects.

"You're right." you agree, and your silent for only a second. "I wish everyone could be like you, Spence." you say, and your words surprise him. He feels this familiar wave of adoration that always seems to swallow him whole whenever he was around you.

"Really?" he knows it might be pathetic, to be hopeful for something like this. The chance to hear what popped in your head whenever you thought of him.

"Yeah." you say firmly, and he tries not to look too eager. "You're so smart." you tell him, and he knows this, but it still feels nice hearing it from you. "And you're always nice to me." you add with a quiet laugh. "And you'd never lie to me would you?" you ask, and in truth, it's not a fair question. Spencer wasn't in the position the others were in.

"What do you mean?" he asks, and he fears it may be the wrong response. You don't even react, at least not that he can tell.

"Nothing." you settle on, head shaking from side to side. "Forget I mentioned it." and he doesn't really want to remind you that his memory quite literally makes that impossible. "I heard that you weren't fighting the suspension." you say conversationally, and he's surprised, mostly because the only person he'd told about that was Derek. Which meant you had been talking about him when he wasn't around.

"I guess I just stand by everything we did." he tells you, and your hand still hurts a bit, but it's definitely a problem for a later version of you.

"Me too. I'm glad we got Doyle, and Declan's safe." you exhale, and despite your anguish towards the team, you meant every word.

"And the team's back together." Spencer himself doesn't sound so convinced. You look over at him at this, your own unconvinced expression slowly cracking through his attempt at a cool facade.

"Is it?" you ask, and Spencer's face softens, a small little frown taking over his otherwise usually content face. He couldn't admit it now, mostly because it didn't feel like the right time, but he paid attention to you. He knew all about your complicated feelings for Hotch "I don't want to be on a team with people who purposely keep me in the dark about things." you ask, and Spencer pauses.

"I'm sure they wouldn't if they had another choice." he offers, and it's not how he feels at all, but it's what you need to hear.

"You don't believe that." you deny, and Spencer can't fight his chuckle. "Or maybe you do, you've always been good at seeing the best in people."

"Oh, do you think so?" it's a bit of a surprise. With your job description it would've made more sense for you to tell him that he saw the worst in people. He felt it was a fair thing to say that he was exceptionally good at his job, but it's then he recognizes what it is you're truly saying, or at least alluding to. It makes his face heat up immediately, cheeks blossoming a rosy red that makes him want to roll his eyes.

"Of course." you promise, and then you're looking at him again. Your face is one of the prettiest he's ever seen, and it's not even subtle. You seem a bit uncertain of your own allure though, which to him is a major shock. "You're like the best person ever." you add, and he expects you to snicker or show some sign that you were joking, but you don't. Bad for him, because his deluded mind full of fantasies starring you would take words like those the wrong way.

"I think you're the best person ever..." he's whispered this, but you hear it all the same, and he's lucky enough to witness the way your entire face morphs. Despite the bleariness in your eyes, you beam brightly. He hates though, that you start to cry. It starts with one tear slipping down your cheek and dripping into your lap. The onslaught comes right after, and before you know it, you're choking on sobs.

"God..." he hears the bitter tang of self-loathing that attaches and weaves itself into your otherwise honey-filled tone. "You're making this so hard, Spencer." you huff, and you scrub at your face harshly. He doesn't understand, but he's too frozen in place to ask you what you mean. Lucky him, you seem to know that you've got explain a bit, so you do. "I'm gonna resign." you say this quietly, sniffling as more tears fall. Spencer feels like he's misheard you.

He wants to have misheard you. He flounders a bit, and he's mentally scolding himself, because he has to hurry the fuck up and say something. "You can't!" and he's scolding himself again for sounding too eager. You jump a bit at the outburst, and he winces right along with you. "We just got everyone back." he reminds you, and you exhale, head nodding in understanding.

"I know." you promise him. "Why do you think this is so hard. You think I want to be the asshole that turns the unit on its head?" you ask. "But I can't stay here and pretend that everything's fine... or act like I don't feel thrown about all of this." you proceed, and of course, Spencer understands, he's upset he was lied too as well.

"I understand." he admits with a sigh, and you let out a quiet noise of relief, almost like you were worried he'd be upset with you. He assumes this is just him being delusional again. You look like you have something sitting on the tip of your tongue, so he stays silent to give you the room to say all that you need to.

"Have you ever had feelings for someone?" you ask. You chuckle at the look he shoots you, "Not just for a second, Spence." you proceed. "I mean like... take your breath away, kind of almost-in-love feelings." you indulge, and Spencer's keen to shut his mouth. Yes, is the loud and resounding answer that rings in his head, because foolishly he'd allows you to captivate him like the siren you were almost three years prior. He'd be a dummy to tell you such now though.

"I-" he blinks harshly, eyes feeling too dry. "I can't say I have." he lies, and he remembers your words from earlier, how you'd praised him for being someone who would never lie to you. You don't seem to notice his deception though, and if you do, you're too in your own head to comment on it.

"Good." you say with a shuddered breath. "They're nothing but a headache, especially when the person doesn't want you back." you exhale the words, and it's like a dagger is being lunged into his chest. How dense could you possibly be with all your super smarts?

"Did something happen with Hotch?" he asks, and now it's your turn to be embarrassed, face pinching up as you choke on a breath. "I don't mean to pry, if it's personal... it's just that-" he trails off, seemingly waiting for you to berate him or tell him to back off. You don't, instead your nose twitches, and you begin to look at your shoes. "Y/N?" he nudges you with his elbow, and it's light.

"No." you finally say, head shaking. "I thought maybe..." you trail off, more embarrassment slicing at you as you cringe. "But it was all a ruse, just a way to keep me from getting too close, and figuring out everything about Emily before they wanted us to know." you say and Spencer's eyebrows furrow.

"They?" he pries, and you look at him like he's silly.

"Hotch and JJ." you answer plainly, and it takes Spencer a second. JJ who he'd went to for comfort for ten weeks? He blinks at you, and you shrug. "So you see... anyone that could take my feelings and use them to manipulate me... are they really worth sticking around for?" you ask, and Spencer doesn't want to validate you in this way. He wants to be selfish, he wants you to stay on the team.

He thinks about how devasted everyone would be. How devasted he would be to walk into the bullpen and find that your desk was empty.

"I don't want you to go..." he admits, and it's quite pitiful, the sadness that soaks the words like gasoline. You find yourself chomping on your lip again, nails pressing into the cuts of your palms, and Spencer's catching your bad habits in real time.

It's a bit invasive, the way his hand surges out, and stops you in your tracks. "Please don't do this." and you're not sure if he's talking about leaving the unit, or if he's referring to the gashes littering your hands. When he holds your palm out flat, and rubs his thumb across the bleeding indentations, you find that you understand quickly.

Every few seconds it's ebbing with more droplets of blood, and he's quick to wipe them away like they offend him. Just as he's moving to say something else, the doors to the courtroom are opening, and Dave Rossi is exiting, his eyes immediately on you and Spencer. You must look foolish, hands intertwined as you stare wide-eyed at the team's senior agent. It's probably why Spencer is dropping your hand as you're snatching it away from his grasp.

You still find that your eyes are quick to appraise one another. He's looking at you, and you're staring back, mouths parted as if you'd been caught. Had you been caught? Had there really been anything to catch? You don't have time to answer, because you're being called next. You frown at Spencer, standing to your feet as he feels his pulse threaten to leap to disrespectful speeds.

"Y/N..." he calls after you, and you stop for a second. Eager eyes fall back on him, and he's trailing off, because the look in your eyes says it all. If you got out of this without being fired, you could imagine a world where quitting the FBI no longer made you sick to your stomach. Silence befalls the space, and he shakes his head after a beat. You look disappointed but not surprised, inhaling deep and audibly as you march towards the court room.

Spencer doesn't know what you're going to say, but he hopes recalling all you'd been through in the last few weeks will be enough to make you stay. At least until he has the courage to ensure that you leaving the team doesn't equate to losing you entirely and completely.

[under-lore]

First impressions on the new Asriel letter

So...

It seems we finally have some new Chara content in 2024 !

At the end of the latest newsletter, Toby shared one more letter with us, which contained some very interesting things.

Let's try and dissect it a bit.

First, to start with the obvious, this is a letter written by Asriel about Chara. We can see this from such as things as :

Using the term "best friend"

But also because 9 is already a number associated with Chara.

Of course, it is present with them rather strongly during the genocide route. Such as during its ending, but also through things like the statistics given to some items associated with them in the route.

The same can also be said for Narrator Chara too. Such as how new special dialogue appears from the narrator if one were to attempt to talk to Asgore precisely 9 times.

The idea that it would be their favorite number thus comes fairly naturally.

Next, the few following lines rationalise this association, all the while phrasing it in a way that reminds of their speech at the end of the genocide route.

Finally, we have a few more minor implications.

Asriel & Chara with flowers together may call back to this image :

But it was also a very old concept, that could be found way sooner in Toby's concept arts for the game.

While Chara's "creepy faces" are openly mentioned in-game.

The friend is also refered to as "they", which may be noteworthy.

As for laughs...

The letter ends with

...But alright, what can we learn from it ?

Quite a few things, actually.

First, obviously, Chara's favorite number being 9 feels more like confirming some trivia or association that had been noticed by fans a long time ago than actual true new information.

But it isn't the only noteworthy thing in this letter.

Here are some lines that i had cut earlier on :

The last few lines feel somewhat unprompted from that initial context. But they may have secondary meanings.

First, they may be used to indirectly refer to a type of numbness brought upon by killing mentioned by Sans in his neutral judgments.

However, while that hint may have been intentional on Toby's part, it surely wasn't the main thing that the "in-world" Asriel who wrote this letter was trying to suggest.

The main "in-world" intended meaning of this section was far more likely refering to this :

While Chara did not ever tell Asriel exactly what happened in their past, Asriel seems to believe that the humans they had known did not make a good impression on Chara. Suggesting that they may have been abused or even have come to the mountain to disappear because of them. Regardless, this was all something that had worried Asriel regarding his best friend.

Of course, in the original game, those things remained mostly implicit or speculative. Asriel did not know these things for certain. And neither did we.

But bringing it back up today after so many years certainly feels like a very interesting choice on Toby's part...

Of course, this is all still from Asriel's point of view, which is limited. But metatextually, this is saying more than it looks.

Asriel associating Chara's favorite number the idea that with it, "Nothing can hurt you anymore" is a much more direct way of saying that he believes Chara was hurt by humans in their past than we'd seen before.

Again. This content comes from Undertale's 9th anniversary. It was pretty much Toby's one special occasion to show us content about Chara again. Which he actually did with this letter.

He only disposed of a limited number of characters or lines to either tell us something new about them, or give more precision/information about something which he believed was important for us to see.

From the metatextual context of asking "What was Toby trying to do by showing us this letter ?", him choosing to give more detail on Asriel's belief that Chara may have been abused of all things would serve no other purpose than to volontarily insist on pushing forward his line of reasoning to the fandom.

This suggests that Toby is very likely trying to tell us that Asriel is at least largely correct, and thus that the idea of Chara having been hurt in some form by the humans in their village is now significantly more likely.

Indeed, this had been an issue in some parts of the fandom. While that interpretation had been largely popular amongst most of it for a long time, there had been some voices calling out to the lack of clean proper evidence pointing to that which weren't somewhat speculative. So this seems a lot like Toby attempting to point us in the right direction. Seems like the simplest answer may be the right one, Occam's razor strikes again.

A new questions also now asks itself : Is this meant to suggest that this was Chara's motivation for power ?

Having power, so you are no longer weak ?

Not being weak, so you can no longer be hurt ?

A way of feeling "in control" ?

There were already some implication of Chara disliking to show weakness to others in the past. This would be coherent with those.

In such case, the genocide route may be a macabre recontextualisation of this original motive on Chara's part.

It might also be made relevant in the context of Chara's plan, though that deserves its own future post.

Besides, Asriel saying this highlights how much he cares about Chara. Which is always nice to see.

As a side note :

Between the demo and the final version of the game, the flavor text for the faded ribbon was changed from a regular one to one which raised a few eyebrows :

While some people had tried to use this line as evidence of Chara having been abused, many other voices had (fairly rightfully) pointed out that this piece of "evidence" was quite fragile, due to things like other interpretations of it being just as plausible, the fact that it specifies " 'monsters' won't hit you as hard" which wouldn't fit Chara all that much, or simply the lack of other similar implications elsewhere in the game.

Now that we do have such implications, this argument, whilst still a bit of a long shot, is at least not quite as far fetched as it used to be anymore. The item is a thing which gives you DEF (increases your numbers), and prevents you from being hurt.

We are not quite done yet, though :

These lines feel like they also have meaning.

Once again, there is an indirect reference to the genocide route, with 99 being the maximum value for things like HP, or the next required EXP to gain LOVE. When you have them, you cannot get any more. It is the absolute.

However, there seems to be another strange connection to make here.

What is the opposite of a so called "good memory" ?

The bad memory is an item obtained from the memory head amalgamate.

It feels noteworthy as it, along with the "Last dream", are the two items in the game who's effects are theorised to have something to do with NarraChara in the way they are presented/work. (Suggesting that the memory/dream may come at least partially from Chara.)

For a reminder, the bad memory is a item that actually decreases HP by 1. Unless it is eaten on the brink of death, in which cases it restores all HP instead. Bringing it to the "highest number".

On top of that, this item also had a strange specificity to it :

It is impossible to drop it.

With this additional context, one may draw parallels between the Bad memory item's effects and what Asriel is saying, only in a reversed way, and applied to Chara.

In the same manner as previously. The previously existing theories trying to tie the bad memory to Chara now find themselves being rendered more plausible. In fact, given that these lines directly follow the previous ones, you may even associate them to make the argument that the memories could be of Chara's past on the surface hypothetically. Though that would likely be stretching it.

Also :

39 left.

Pretty impressive, the way every last line in this letter can be read as a genocide route reference one way or another.

And... the code of the page describe the contents of the page as "Here's a letter".

This is also the wording used in the lines with which Toby introduces us the letter.

This wording of this feels very significant considering who the letter is talking about...

So i suppose that makes for even more NarraChara fuel to have Toby writing down such things.

For one last thought, those couple lines.

If one were to follow a certain interpretation of things such as "Mr Dad Guy", the "future of humans and monsters", and Chara's relationship with the concept of "efficiency" & "usefullness", then they might be readable as an allegory for pre-death Chara's view on their role within monsterkind & one of their motivations regarding their plan. (along with their hate of humanity).

And this odd insistance on the term "happy" throughought the message..Is there a chance it could be refering to those secret lines, stored within the game's code in the echo flower room number #9999 ?

Some of the things mentioned in this post are somewhat stretchy admittedly. I am not yet certain of which ones of these would i actually argue for and which are only a product of first impression brainstorming.

Nevertheless. There are many many new ideas to explore regarding Chara now.

Thanks, Toby !

[bella-goths-wife]

Hi! Love your work! It's always so good! And how I feel the Vees' reaction to finding out pet reader is dating. Especially another "lowlife" demon (so most of hell lmao)-

Val: (If they're attractive, he tries to convince them to work under him. If not, he'll shoot them then tries to convince Vox if he can punish you for being a bad girl~)

Velvette: Ew, gross. Even you can fucking do better than that! *Beats you.*

Vox: *Is already hiring bounties and threatens to kill them if they fail. Reprimands and revokes what remaining privileges you had left. You get locked in your room with electrical burns too.*

Hiya, thank you so much!

I’m gonna do crushing instead of dating because let’s be honest here you’d never get as far as them complimenting you without the Vs sniffing your partner out and disposing of them :)

The Vs reaction to pet having a crush

Warnings: abuse, dark content, SA mentions, murder, punishments Valentino, hypocrisy, possessiveness, forced hair cutting, maiming, forcing reader to watch SA

Vox:

Vox noticed something was different about you

You had been quite….. cheery lately

You had requested to have more days working with Vox, and when he questioned you on it you had just stated that you knew it was his busy season since the extermination will have destroyed many technological items

Vox was ecstatic, and so so proud you were finally coming around to your role and wanting to learn about the business and help

Every meeting he had he would introduce you as his doll of an assistant, even if the client had seen you a thousand times over and had probably seen vox abuse you at one point

Vox’s enthusiastic bubble was quickly burst when he came back from his coffee break and heard you talking to one of his camera men

He even heard you let out a giggle with a blushing face as the lowly demon made some sort of off joke about your fawn ears and called you his little fawn

His? His little fawn? How dare this lowly little demon boy presume to call voxs possession his

You are vox’s daughter pet and that had to be respected

Vox acted like nothing happened and quietly dismissed you for the afternoon as a ‘treat’

He then called the your little crush into his office and threatened him with all sorts of things until he agreed to stay away from you or be insulting to you until you lost interest

If the demon refused, he’s dead

He’ll be killed torturously before his body is left in display in the basement, where Vox will take you to see what happens when you try and get cozy with other demons

Vox will lock you in the room with the body until his skin begins to rot and the smell makes you pass out as punishment

You’ll also be getting the shock collar treatment for a few months afterwards, just to remind you of your position at the company

After that, he’ll lay you in bed and strokes your head while he tells you that that demon didn’t want you for anything other than your body, just like the men and women from when you were alive

He places a fatherly kiss on your forehead as he tells you that he only does this stuff to teach you your lessons, and to make sure you remember that your owned and can never exist outside of him and the Vs

You’ll be watched carefully after that, to make sure you don’t get anymore ideas about having crushes on demons who weren’t worth the dirt under your shoes

Velvette:

She thought you must be an idiot or insane to think you could form a connection with a demon outside of her and the Vs

She assumed you wouldn’t be that stupid

But imagine her shock when she sees you blushing bright red as you talk to one of her newer models

She even heard you let out high pitched giggles at the models pathetic jokes

And she practically saw red when she saw the model use her filthy fucking hands to touch you and move a strand of your hair behind your fawn like ears

She lost it at the sight and demanded that everyone but you, her and the model left the room, and they all scurried out like rats to avoid her wrath

She berated you for trying to outsmart her and crushing on a lowlife demon who wasn’t worth anything

She hit you over and over again until she say you in the chair and turned her attention to the model

She made you take hold of some scissors and forced you with threats to cut all of the models hair off, and after fear got the best of you, you did it

You cut off her hair, but that wasn’t good enough for velvette

She took the scissors from your hands and slashed across the girls cheek, leaving what would be a deep scar as she claimed that no one would want to take her on now

She grabbed your crying figure by your shoulders and laughed about how you could ever let yourself be attracted to such an ugly lowly demon, you obviously did not laugh along

You had to wear her collar for the next few months with the lead attached, velvette claimed it would stop you acting like a bitch in heat and costing her more models

Velvette never liked to share anything, even her pets weren’t an exception

So it’s fair to say that whoever your crushing on at any time will be destroyed by velvette, mentally and physically

Valentino:

Valentino had hired a new camera man for his newest videos, claiming that he needed a fresh eye

So it was one of the rare occasions that Vox allowed you into Valentino’s studio during filming since Valentino had tasked you with showing the new guy around as he was far to busy with his little angel dust

So you had done just that and showed the new guy around, you just didn’t think he’d be this handsome and charming

His words melted you like butter and he practically had you wrapped around his finger

At first it was amusing for Valentino to see his little pet so lovestruck and foolish when he returned from his little play date with angel

But it quickly turned into a jealous annoyance as you gave the demon genuine smiles that Valentino had yet to receive after you working for him and the Vs for many years now

He squeaked in annoyance whenever he’d see you laugh at the camera man’s jokes or you’d smile at him while looking at him with lovestruck awe

So when you went off to do your daily tasks, he approached the camera man and stated that he had a new offer

He offered the camera man a job to film a video with him being the star and Val being his co-star

The camera man was extremely against the idea but after a lot of money was offered and coercion from val, he eventually accepted after much pressure was applied

So the camera was in a gruelling filming session and after it was done, he couldn’t look you in the eyes when you passed him in the hall

You became very confused on why he was avoiding you, and you became even more confused and dread filled when Valentino had called you into his office for an impromptu editing session for his newest video

You were disgusted as you watched your crush be practically assaulted as Valentino forced you to use your ability to edit the sounds

You threw up multiple times, but Valentino still forced you to watch and edit

After you were done, Valentino caressed your face and stated that only he and the other Vs would care for you as everyone else just care about money or fame

He patted you on the shoulder before handing you over to a very pissed of Vox for a punishment for your lovesick actions

Any punishment Vox gave you felt like nothing compared to having to watch the person you had made a connection with get assaulted by your abuser and having to edit the sounds

You stayed away from Valentino’s workers after that, you even avoided angel for a few months after the incident

You feared what a jealous rage might do to them, and to you

Taglist:

@the-faceless-bride @perkypeony @sparkleyfishies @lilyalone @ivebeenthearchersstuff @rerarlo @cherryflavoredblood @idontreallyexistyet @repostingmyfavs @buttercupfangirl @corvid007 @fandomaddict505 @hazbinhotelxreader

[dragon-ascent]

Geo resonance

Zhongli and geo vision reader

★彡some ramblings, use of 'wife,' geo is alive and well in MY heart

Archons don’t exactly grant Visions, but that doesn’t stop Zhongli from being ecstatic – and a bit of a braggart – about you having a Geo vision. "My wife is an allogene of the Geo element," he tells anyone willing to listen, even if the conversation has nothing to do with Visions - he'll still find some way to squeeze in the fact that you wield his favoured element. It's a little embarrassing, but when you see how Zhongli's eyes twinkle with mirth at the mere mention of your vision, you can't help but blush.

Literally ANYTHING you do using your powers, Zhongli will be praising you. "Beautiful work, my beloved!" he'll say as you summon shining gemstones to pierce monsters, infusing your weapon with glimmering Geo energy. Heck, even if you simply dispose of a mere hilichurl, your husband will smile approvingly and mention how much he enjoyed the technique you implemented.

It’s a mutually beneficial thing; when the two of you fight together, geo resonance kicks in. Zhongli’s shield becomes even more indomitable than it usually is, and you get stronger as well. Fights are already generally short (perhaps mostly because of the literal god fighting by your side), but geo resonance just makes things even easier.

It is true that physical contact is different when an allogene touches you; for instance, the touch of a Pyro user is unusually warm while a Cryo user's touch is quite cold. As for Geo users, there is often a pleasant vibration, like listening to the veins of the earth sing a sleepy melody. So when you two hold hands, Zhongli loves to simply close his eyes and press your intertwined hands to his cheek, listening to the steady and gentle hum of contact. It serves as a reminder to him that this beloved companionship is as steadfast as stone, one he will cherish forever.

[theamityelf]

(Mini THH AU Masterlist)

When they get to the beach house, Nagito finally shows Makoto the student files. He shows him that all of the senpais used to be despair.

"Wait," Makoto interrupts. "First of all, this could be a trick!"

So Nagito calls Monokuma to verify whether it's a trick or not, and Monokuma basically says that what is written in the files is true of everyone except the traitor. Then he vanishes.

"So you understand," Nagito says grimly. He's set up Makoto's sleep space on the table in the main room and arranged the usual assortment of pillows beneath, in case he should fall. He himself is kneeling on the floor, keeping to Makoto's eye level. "You understand it now, right?"

"I understand why you were upset," Makoto says carefully, "but Nagito, this doesn't change the way I feel about any of you. We don't know what happened, and...well, if you were 'despair' in the way Monokuma means it, then why would he have you guys killing each other? You'd be on his side, right? Whatever happened, I'm sure there's an explanation. I've talked to all of you; you're not bad people!"

Nagito blinks a few times. Doesn't change the way he feels? Does he truly forgive the unthinkable so easily? His heart twists with want, with need. He could be absolved by the Ultimate Hope, could pour himself into service and be washed of his filth. But the very desire to accept this naive kindness, this undeserved grace, just fills him with more self-hatred. For someone like him to take advantage of Makoto's generous soul, his misguided desire to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

He forces a laugh past the bile in his throat. "I see. You just don't understand yet! I'll do my best to explain. You see, those who give themselves to despair have no value in and of themselves. This was never about us. It was about you. Your class, but especially you. The Ultimate Hope. My classmates, as it turns out, were just as disappointing and disposable as I am."

"Nagito, the people who died in this game weren't disposable! And neither are you!"

The tight smile falls from Nagito's face. "You still...I'm sorry, I failed to explain myself. That's not good. You need to understand the situation you're in. How your innate kindness, your wonderful self, makes you every bit as unsafe as your tiny size."

"We've been safe with them all this ti-...Hey!"

Nagito has scooped Makoto into one hand, while his other hand steadies him, tidies his hair with a forefinger. "Safe?" he echoes. "You haven't forgotten Mikan, have you?"

Makoto...can't bring himself to answer that. The startled feeling of being suddenly grabbed, the reminder of what he went through with Mikan, and the growing despairful fervor in Nagito's eyes, focused squarely on him...He can't be afraid. Fear would just vindicate Nagito's...whatever this is.

"What she did to you," Nagito continued. "As soon as she had her memories back, she went out of her way to torture you. Don't you remember how helpless you were to stop her? So small and helpless. It took a mere illness to return her to her despairful ways, and the moment she did, she wanted nothing more than to hurt you. To tarnish you. Imagine if that was all of them. If every one of them remembered who they once were-"

"Nagito..."

"Do you understand it now? They don't care about the deaths of a few servants of despair. They don't even want the Ultimate Hope dead. They want to destroy everything that you are, to subject you to the most-"

"Nagito!"

Nagito putters to a stop. He realizes that he's shaking. He breathes deeply.

"I-If that were true," Makoto continues, "why would Monokuma let you know? Why would he give you a chance to protect me?"

"It doesn't matter what Monokuma wants. He's merely another stepping stone. What matters is who you are and who they are."

"So, you plan to just stay here forever?"

This time, his laugh doesn't sound forced...but it doesn't sound happy, either. "Oh, I don't think it would be quite fair to give the despair-soiled ex-Ultimates full reign of the island paradise and confine the Ultimate Hope to a little corner like this. Despair has no place on your islands."

"What does that-? Nagito. Listen to me. I don't want you to hurt any of your classmates. I don't want any of you to be hurt, at all!"

"Why do you keep saying that? How can you say that?" he whispers it, somewhat sharply.

"Because I care about you. Because you're my friends!"

"Your friends?" Nagito catches himself shaking again and quickly returns Makoto to the table before it can get really bad. He rests his own forehead on the edge, taking a minute to catch his breath as too much panic, bitterness, longing, despair, chase each other in circles within his chest. He is still shaking and feels ill when he finally raises his head to look at his kouhai again.

Makoto has been saying things to try to comfort Nagito, none of which have been effective if the look on Nagito's face is any indication. He looks like he's reached some kind of resolve within himself, but all of the turbulence is still there behind it.

"Hey, speaking of your friends," Nagito says, in a tone which approximates calm, "who would you say are your five favorite classmates?"

"What...kind of question is that?"

Nagito seems on the edge of saying something, but then he just shudders, and another laugh tumbles out of him. "Just curious," he says frivolously. "Hey, are you sure you're finished with your burger? There are drinks in the fridge. Can I get you anything?"

"You can't just change the subject like that!"

"Don't worry. After all the stress of the Funhouse, we should have a few hours to just process our predicament and our options. That means a good night's sleep for the Ultimate Hope."

"I can't sleep when my friend is upset."

Nagito loses his breath again. "I so appreciate your kindness. I swear on whatever parts of me are still worth anything, I will give it my all to repay you for the effort you waste caring about me."

"The only 'repayment' I want is for you to care about yourself."

"Ah, enough heavy talk. It's late."

Eventually, they both go to sleep. Nagito sleeps on the hard floor with just a blanket. He wakes early to the sound of seagulls swarming outside.

When he goes to check it out, he finds Kyoko, crouching under a seashell and warding off her avian attackers with a sewing needle.

[seraphofthesimps]

A Mechanic’s Manipulation - Yandere Draken x Reader

TW: possessive themes. Word count: 982

“Where the fuck are they going now?”

Over the past 3 days, the little red dot representing your car has traveled all across town, much to Draken’s dismay. A typically rather unbothered man, he hates when he gets like this. No, scratch that. He hates when you make him like this.

Well, it can’t be helped, for now. If you insist on being a pain, you can deal with the consequences. It’s better than him dealing with the excruciating pain he feels every time you leave with someone other than him without so much as a care. All he asks, without actually asking of course, is a simple check in to let him know where you are headed, with who, and why. It’s the least you could do if you honestly loved him half as much as he does you, right?

Thanking every God in the heavens he can that he had the foresight to know you would force his hand like this, he tries to calm down. He took counter-measures for this sort of thing at your last oil change 3 weeks ago. The GPS is only the first tool at his disposal. It has proven quite handy thus far but now it’s time for his trump card to shine.

“Hurry up and make it to a side street. Fuck, how long does it take you to make a turn? This is why I always drive when it’s the two of us,” his impatience fuels his agitation. However, that only lasts as long as it takes the red dot to travel through its current stoplight and into the nearest neighborhood. “There, this spot should do fine.”

One click of the mouse on his auto shop’s computer has him scoffing to himself, proud of how he’s sure to win this battle. You will probably have a bad day, but you did it to yourself. Traveling out of his boundaries, testing perimeters he doesn’t approve of — Whether you knew to ask or not is not of his concern. If you cared the way you should, the way you will one day, the way he’s going to make you, then you wouldn’t even have to think twice. Any second now..

His phone rings almost on command, your name bright across the display. A knowing chuckle leaves his chest as he answers, ready to play the knight in shining armor. All he needs is for you to beg a little. And beg you do, so pretty for him.

“What do you mean the car just shut off? Did you have any warning signs? Are you didn’t hear a noise or anything? That’s strange. Yeah, sure, I can be there in 15.”

Despite his anger with you, he keeps true to his word, leaving you none-the-wiser. As suspected from your Snap Story, you were with an unknown man, a lesser one than himself he quickly notes. Immediately popping the hood, he greets you with that same flirty smile that has you in this situation in the first place. It’s both cruel and humorous how you have the nerve to claim he has the most beautiful smile you have ever seen, yet you still refuse to be called his. No worries, he constantly reminds himself, because his smile is nothing compared to his determination. If he wants something bad enough, and boy it is quite the understatement to say he wants you, he will do whatever takes it to manipulate you into his arms. Like so.

Tinkering around with his wrench and a few bolts under the hood, he twists a valve to release a bit of steam with a dramatic hiss. It’s completely ordinary for that to happen, but he knows you don’t know any better. Your car has always been looked after by him so he knows it in and out. The only problem with it today is that he got pissed off and triggered the automatic shut off he installed last month. Greedy dealerships aren’t the only geniuses that can make use of that nifty mechanism.

“I need to get this back to the shop for diagnostics. I brought the hitch so we don’t need to call in a tow, but I can only fit the two of us in my truck with my tools. You didn’t tell me you had someone with you,” he looks to the eyesore on your left, “You don’t mind catching a lift from someone so we can take care of this right?” His smile fools you every time, telling you he only intends to help. His eyes make sure to do all the talking to your accomplice that is noticeably smarter, yet inadequate to do anything about it under Draken’s size and the false hero veil you allow him to so easily wear and abuse. Luckily for all of you right now, your friend, Draken’s self-declared competition, took the hint and says his farewell. Draken can't help but rumble out a low laugh at the way he sulks away, pulling out his phone to call for a ride as he disappears in the opposite direction. “Talk about a walk of shame,” he mumbles too low for you to hear.

The ride back to the shop is full of chatter, with Draken using the opportunity to pry into your personal life. As planned, he learns what you were doing, who the male you had with you is, and that he needs to make sure he pays him a visit to guarantee he stays far away from you. And as planned, you fall further and further into Draken’s carefully weaved web. Promises of a proper date and confessions of regret about not doing it sooner are what you graciously gift to him as a genuine thank you to your savior. Just like he expected, a little force and manipulation is all he needs to keep you right where he wants you.

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

I know you are tired of being reminded of the whole mess that’s been going on. I had no idea what was going on until foxyanon told me cause I asked. The shock that went through me when I was reading ems post. I was decent friends with bel and interacted a lot with her. Had no idea how vile those bloggers are, just damn right disgusting and rude. But I told em as well that I have nothing to do with what’s her face. I’m always here for you! This fandom needs some serious work done and rethinking. I’m screaming the biggest f you to her! I love your content even though I don’t say anything much. You’re wonderful and deserve better! 💗💗

Thank you for reaching out, and treating me like a human being. It is more than I currently deserve. I will place the rest of my response beneath a cut, as it will be quite long and I'd like to give people the option to scroll past, as they are doubtless tired of all of this, and rightly so.

Yes, the behaviour of that group is despicable, but I cannot downplay the gravity of my own in that.

I had a longstanding block with two users (I am not going to use their online nicknames, I do not deserve to), arcielee and sylasthegrim, I said disgusting things about both of them - the screenshots of my messages regarding them both on the post you have doubtless all seen are real (so is the final screenshot where I mention an anon I had received telling me to die in my sleep, the rest of the screenshots in that post have been falsified, doctored or snipped heavily out of context to make them appear hateful - the doctoring has been confirmed by two individuals well versed in Photoshop)

I hold my hands up and apologise to both those people, and the people that have seen those messages and been harmed by them. They are inexcusable, indefensible and were guided by a false belief that those two people were being hateful in turn about me, and actively going out of their way to harm and spite me. I am unsure what Bel thought she had to gain by exacerbating the animosity between me and Em and those two women, regardless, we should have done the mature thing and reached out directly to them. I will say, that I have never once sent anonymous hatred to either person. The extent of my vitriol was confined to that group chat.

Bel also used slurs in the group chat (I would like to point out that myself, Em and Fae did not). I won't repeat what these were. I do not want those ugly words on my page. They made me uncomfortable and I called her out any time she used one in particular, but she always laughed off my discomfort and carried on anyway. She is mixed race, I am white, in my mind it is not my place as a white person to tell an ethnic minority what is racism and what isn't. There are enough white voices shouting down others in online spaces. I know better now. I should not let my own discomfort silence me. I will call out hatred, bigotry and discrimination in every instance that I see it. My past inaction is embarrassing, it's offensive and I am devastated by the hurt I have caused to others. I am so deeply sorry.

I didn't speak up for a long time, because I have seen what these people are like when they have a grudge against someone. It's frightening, I was a coward. Yet despite staying silent on all of it, I have been doxxed just the same. I suppose perhaps that's karmic retribution?

I appreciate that people have felt my response has been lacking, however, I was out of the country, away from home, from the 14th until the 22nd, with only my phone at my disposal and with the expectation from my husband that I would enjoy the vacation we were on, and not be online dealing with all of this.

I would like the opportunity to atone for my behaviour, to make amends. Currently, I feel I am not going to be given the opportunity to do that, and understandably so. Emotions are high, people are raw from what they have learned and they do not feel comfortable being around me.

Seeing the screenshots of the people in their group passing around my personal photos and saying incredibly vile things about my appearance triggered a lapse with the eating disorder that I am in active recovery for. I then had another a few days later. I need to take some time away to get myself well, as the fear and anxiety of all of this is taking its toll. I also need the space to deal with the legal action I will be exploring with regards to Chris having doxxed me. I am not running away. I simply need to get myself into a space where I am stable enough to handle all of this, be accountable, and take responsibility without my own emotions diminishing other people's.

I know people hate me right now, but it pales in comparison to how much I hate myself. I am so very sorry for allowing this to happen.

[memoriapraeteritorumbonorum]

How are you doing? ☺️

I was wondering if you could write a fic/ headcanons for Maedhros comforting a elf reader during her period.

Love you! (　＾ω＾)

Maedhros comforting you during your period

Author‘s note: This is fitting, I actually just got my period last week haha. Love you too! Enjoy!🥰

-

Maitimo always notices when you’re not yourself or even just a little out of it

Taking care of people comes naturally to him, being the oldest son and firstborn prince, he’s used to it

So when you wake up this morning, curled into a fetal position, hiding underneath the blanket with your eyes shut in pain, he immediately knows what to do :)

He doesn’t speak much, makes a mental note to talk to you softly since there is a lot going on with you and he doesn’t want to agitate you any further

Mai is very observant. He always seems to know when to talk to you and when to leave you alone

Even when he has work to do, he’s always at your disposal, moving his affairs to the room next to your bedchamber just in case you needed something

He also makes sure to remind you that you don’t have to work, that you should take all the time you need to rest until you feel like you can be productive again

The second you call him he’s at your side, ready to bring you whatever it is you desire

“Mai?” your voice is weak, hands on your stomach as to calm the cramps shooting through your body “Yes, Melda. What do you need?”

He has had multiple trips to the healing quarters, asking the healers there how to help best during times like this because he wants to be a pillar of support as opposed to leaving you to suffer all by yourself

Mai is well-prepared, always ready to make your day better and seemingly never runs out of energy or patience

Probably because of his brothers and their shenanigans oop- Who wouldn’t have unlimited patience with siblings like that

When your cramps are particularly horrible, he sits next to you with a hot washcloth and gently wraps it around your lower stomach and back before opening the window

Even if you can’t move, he wants to make sure you get as much fresh air as possible

Whenever you have cravings, he makes sure to stock up on the specific items he knows you’ll ask for eventually

Cuddles are a must!!!

Mai always retires as early as possible during this time, so that he can hold you close for a while before going to sleep, because sometimes that is the most effective thing to do when you have mood swings

He can’t quite wrap his head around it, but whenever you snuggle into him, your entire being grows so much calmer and you seem to be in less pain

Maybe it’s his fëa comforting you from the inside <333

Either way, proximity and positive emotions on his part always prove themselves to be a huge help

All in all, having Mai as a personal comforter during your period is a 10/10, he really has everything under control and nothing seems to shake him and that’s on periodt see what I did there

[lino-jagiyaa]

far yet together — hwang hyunjin

genre: fluff + a little angst | pairing: boyfriend!hyunjin x gn!reader | warnings: slight swearing | words : 1054. | do not repost or translate ©︎lino-jagiyaa

a/n: in celebration of hyunjin’s birthday today, i wrote this little drabble!

💭 you and hyunjin are apart yet again on his birthday but he tries to make it up to you the best that he can until he comes back ♡

taglist: @dadonbabysworld @lynanist @lix-ables @strayingawayy @comet-falls

leave a reblog if you enjoyed my work <3 please do not spam like, you will be blocked.

—

—

hyunjin was scheduled to resume tour today so you wouldn’t be able to see him in person for almost a week until he was able to come home. it pissed you off to say the least. why couldn’t they schedule the tour dates so they consider the members birthdays? the question the plagued your mind every time your boyfriend or his band mates had long schedules on their special days.

if it was aggravating to you, then you knew it had to be for them as well. they often have to plan things ahead or push plans back a few days or weeks.

when hyunjin sent you a voicemail the night he was leaving, reminding you how long he’d be away, you had already fallen asleep.

hyunniebun ❣️: hi, love. just want to say that i love you and hope you sleep well. my flight is in half an hour and i know you won’t see this until the morning since you’re already asleep. i’ll talk to you as soon as i can, ok?

as soon as you woke up the next morning, you grabbed your phone to check for any messages and found the voicemail hyunjin had left. hearing the sadness in his voice as he spoke made your heart hurt. knowing he’s just as pained being away from you. you wish the two of you could run away together. to get away from all the hurt. never have to be apart for more than a few hours at most. but what you didn’t know was, hyunjin felt that he’d never be enough for you never being enough because he’s not always there for you physically. it hurt him to even think about letting you go, but he knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it seemed to quit his job, pack up and leave. he loved both of you and he didn’t know how to weigh in both at the same time. it was draining him mentally day by day.

he knew he had to talk to you about how he was feeling but he didn’t want to worry you. make you feel like he was leaving since that wasn’t what he truly wanted to do. he just needed to get the underlying feelings off of his chest because he felt like he would explode otherwise.

the sun had rose and fallen since you last spoke to him. and with not much to pass the day, you just sat at home after work awaiting his call. your cat, honey accompanying you as you tapped your fingers on the edge of your desk. you had your laptop opened to facetime so you’d be ready as soon as his contact popped up, with nothing else on your mind.

when your laptop flashed the call screen, you sat straight up in your chair and quickly clicked answer.

“hi, baby!,” hyunjin smiled as soon as he saw your face, “i miss you so much already, can’t wait to come home and give you so many hugs.” he frowned a little

“hyune, i miss you too. did you have fun at the first show?”

“mhm, stay had so much energy tonight. it gave me and the boys more energy as well.” he laughed

“that’s good. don’t want you boys falling asleep on stage. i know the jet lag must’ve been bad as soon as you landed, huh.”

“yeah, but we ended up taking naps, and soon after we got to explore the city a little.”

“ooh how fun, did you get to go to any gift shops and eat some good food?” you ask, curiously

“yeah! it was really fun, love. we even wet to an arcade and won some prizes. i’ll be collecting little trinkets and plushies to bring back to you.” his eyes turning to crescents as he smiled

“that’s great. i’m glad everyone is having fun and eating well. make sure to send me lots of pictures.”

“i will. i brought my digital camera and we also picked up some disposable ones. so there’ll be plenty to show you,” he trailed off a little, “besides all of that, how are you holding up?” he asked worridly

hyunjin could see the lack of sleep on your face. dark circles occupying your eyes. he knew it was hard for you to get good rest when he was away for so long.

“i’m doing okay, hyune. i’ll be fine, i promise.” you give him a tired smile

“alright, love. you know you can always talk to me if something is troubling you, right?”

“i know, babe. i promise i will.”

“okay. but there is something i’d like to talk to you about…” he trailed off again, but this time you noticed.

“what is it? did something happen?”

“no, no. nothing in particular happened, it’s just i hate being away from you and i hate it but i always feel like i don’t deserve to be with you. i-i’m not there with or for you enough of the time and i know it bothers you too. hell, you can’t even get proper rest when i’m not around and i hate making you feel like that. i’m so sorry i’m not there whe you need me. i wish-” he started to tear up. you could hear the shakiness in his voice.

“hyunjin. it’s okay.” you cut him off

“no it’s not. you know it’s not. i don’t deserve you. you don’t deserve to be treated this way.”

“hyune, baby. i love you despite all of that. don’t say you don’t deserve me, because you do. because i love you and only you and i don’t want to be with anyone else, okay?” your eyes now threatening tears to fall, but you pushed them back. wanting to stay strong for him.

he nods and sniffles before replying, “i know, i’m sorry. i just had a lot on my mind and needed to let it out. i don’t want us to break up either, i just hate having to be separated all of the time. it’s draining both of us so much. i love you too, always.”

“let’s figure this out then, yeah? we’ll get it sorted.”

“yeah. and i promise to plan a real date for us when i get home. something special, just the two of us.”

“it’s a deal.”

[thegapbetweengalaxies]

Why Nanami is one of the only people who can really understand Geto

Haibara was Nanami's closest friend and classmate. He and Getou were shown to be hit the hardest by his death. It probably made him realize the same thing as Getou: In their journey as sorcerers, not all of them will make it out alive.

Unlike Gojo or other sorcerers, Nanami feels tired of being one. Just as how Getou finds it difficult to keep consuming curses, Nanami finds it difficult to keep fighting them. He gets hurt and watches others around him get hurt too. He's not immortal or untouchable like Gojo. Being a sorcerer is tiring to him. He left the world of sorcery because he found no meaning in it, the exhaustion overpowering his will to protect people. He came back only when he realized that there are people he wants to protect like the baker, and stayed because of people like Yuji (who definitely reminds him of Haibara).

Nanami understands why Getou left, because his exhaustion overpowered his will to protect people too. Only, Getou didn't find people to protect again. Gojo and Shoko could both protect thenselves just fine. And to Getou, the people he was supposed to be protecting weren't worth protecting at all.

"I will never be frustrated by my own uselessness" - What saved Nanami from going down the same fate as Getou is his humility and understanding that he's "useless". He was never powerful to begin with, not powerful enough to protect Haibara let alone to change the world. So he developed realistic dreams rather than an idealistic worldview. He wants nothing more than to retire and live out his old age in comfort. He didn't want to fix the world because he understood that he had no power to do so. And yet, he understands why Getou sought to change the world through such drastic means.

I doubt that Nanami found Getou's reasoning to kill all non-sorcerers to be reasonable. After all, he cares about non-sorcerers the same way he does sorcerers, showing how his moral compass is strong. But he understands that what it feels like to be driven to the point where you feel like you have no other choice. Nanami's only option was to quit sorcery and Getou's was, well, massacre.

That's why he still respects Getou, even after everything the man had done. He understands the decision he came to make because he understands how painful it is to keep living in this kind of society where you're seen as nothing but a disposable cog in the system.

[skywritingrambles]

The Higher You Rise

Here's the first chapter of my fic about Alastor's rise and fall in hell! I'm not posting this on Ao3 until I get a few chapters in but I'll be posting a link here and on my blog once it's out.

Huge shoutout to @unmitigatednonsense for helping me work out the details of this chapter as well as giving me an excellent title for this fic, and their continued support throughout the writing process!

Onto the fic! (Tw brief cannibalism)

Alastor had never been one to believe in heaven and hell, or that people went anywhere after death at all, truly he believed it was silly. Consequences were only in life - and even then were only present if you got caught. Alastor never got caught, and it wasn't even due to being careful. He was calculated, sure, great at finding convenient ways to dispose of the remnants if he didn't feel up to doing so himself, but he lacked the patience it took to leave no mess. Quite frankly, leaving no mess would bore him anyway, he revelled in the thrill of the hunt and worrying about a small cleanup would spoil the fun. Of course, he still remained very meticulous about cleanup.

All of it to say, it certainly took some... adjusting when he arrived in hell.

Well, more than adjusting. After all, his entire worldview had been turned on its' head. Not even to mention the physical changes he'd endured. He still hadn't quite adjusted to the clopping of his hooves or reaching up to his head to feel antlers. No, he hadn't adjusted to the idea of hell either, or heaven, eternal damnation. What even constituted eternal damnation? Alastor was sure he would never meet the requirements for heaven under any circumstances, but it really had the mind thinking, didn't it? Who decided? How hard was it, how long did it take, did anyone deserving of one ever-

Alastor shifted uncomfortably and let out a breath, now was not the time for such, existential crises. After all, an apt target was perfectly in range.

Yes, they would make a fine meal. They were relatively small, the perfect size for one meal with nothing to waste or leave behind for anyone else. They were holding up a broken shard of a mirror, carefully trimming away at the ends. Not a worry in sight it seemed.

Alastor made quick work of them, utilizing a small knife he'd found days before. Usually he enjoyed relishing in his victims death, watching the fear enter their eyes and the light leave as they realize how much danger they're truly in. Only that simply wouldn't do, he didn't nearly know enough about the capabilities of the average sinner or hell spawn, he needed to get his bearings before having his fun.

He began at the soft muscle of their biceps, and the taste was truly divine. Somehow, he enjoyed the taste in hell even better than human flesh on earth, though nothing could compare to the sheer euphoria of his first taste. It had always reminded him of pork - he had proved true the many theories of what a person would taste like - but sweeter and softer. Sometimes he would spend great time cooking and preparing a meal with his victims, though often he preferred the uncontaminated taste.

A woman's shriek came from behind him, startling him back up to kneeling, away from his hunched over position. My, he'd consumed all but the face of the demon already!

He let a grin slide onto his face as he stood to approach the woman. She was beautiful, a true lady indeed - Alastor would have loved to ask her for a dance at a closed party when he was alive. Not to pursue anything romantic, of course, he simply loved to dance with a lady. Her eyes were completely black and she had an arsenal of sharp teeth like his own, (he was sure she must have had a gorgeous smile) and her dress perfectly framed her body. It flared at the bottom, and was bunched in such a way that if she twirled it would surely spin out. And of course, to top it all off, she wore a beautifully extravagant hat with pink feathers at the front and a black feather boa extending out the back.

It truly would be such a shame if he had to kill her to keep her from starting a fuss, he hadn't been able to tell how those in hell reacted to cannibalism yet.

"Your manners!" She practically screeched the words before Alastor had a chance to start a conversation. "Eating her just off the street like a rabid animal! You don't even have the decency to cook her into a proper meal, or at least- oh, I don't know, bring her inside! Having the audacity to eat my only reliable hair dresser and to not even respect her enough to cut her into a presentable dish! I can't believe your insolent lack of-"

She went on for quite a while. Despite the volume of her words she didn't seem angry. Surprised and offended, absolutely, but as her rant went on her volume lowered until she stopped herself to look at his forced smile.

"Oh, darling, pardon my outburst! You must be new, you don't look like one of mine, and I'd certainly remember striking a deal with a fellow like you." She stuck her hand out with a wide smile (Alastor was right, it was a lovely smile) and he took it without a second thought. "I'm Rosie, ever so pleased to meet you."

[missy-0-piink]

VIRGIN FEDYA MY BELOVED

YES YES YES I WAS THINKING ABOUT WRITING THIS

But ooc but oh well

Virgin fedya who seemingly ignores your advances

But the truth is: he doesn’t know what to do

He’s never had anyone interested in him, people too scared of his ability, and he never cared to be interested, his work and missions always put first

But you were different

You didn’t flinch at his touch, you actively engaged physical contact, and recently

You began to flirt with him

Every time you called him handsome “in jest” and to tease him, he malfunctioned, freezing up

His face would lightly blush, but he easily hid it, and he wouldn’t know what to do

So he pretended like he didn’t care, that he was continuing his work

But then mykola got involved.

The innocent compliments were turned into suggestive remarks, Mykola fueling them

“I think you’re quite handsome actually” you’d say, and Nikolai would then chime in “you’d probably think he’s even more handsome in bed with his di-” “Mykola” fyodor would warn, and kolya would just giggle in return

And despite himself, his mind would immediately jump to the image of you in bed, of you naked, how plush your body would be and how good you’d feel pressing up against him

No matter how hard he tried to shake the thoughts and focus on his work, they’d plague him

It made him even more flustered

He starting touching himself at the thought of you, something that he used to only do monthly now turning into multiple times a week.

And it felt so good, cumming into his fist at the thought of you wrapped around him, be it your pussy or your mouth

But he was ashamed

He couldn’t look you in the eye

The times that he would, salacious thoughts flooded his mind and he’d get hard too quickly

(Poor baby is so frustrated, and so desperate)

So one day when he excused himself to his room,

You followed, intending to talk to him about one of his plans

In his rush (Mykola had said something, again), he left the door unlocked.

You knocked, but there was no response

And you, being the nosy thing that you were, opened the door

And nothing could have prepared you to see the great fyodor Dostoyevsky, the demon of the rats and dead of angels, whimpering into his hand as the other one worked his cock furiously

He was so into it, he didn’t notice you at the door,

You thought this was the height of your surprise, but then you heard it, a quiet (and frankly adorable) moan of “(name)” coming from his mouth

Oh, oh,

you were going to ruin him.

You cleared your throat, finally alerting him to your presence, and you watched as he jumped in surprise before quickly attempting covering himself with the sheets

“(N-name)! What are you doing!? Get out!” He said, nerves making him stutter as he looked at you with wide eyes

“What am I doing? My dear fedya, what are you doing? Moaning my name as you touch yourself, I must admit I wasn’t expecting this”

The reminder of the situation he was in made his flush a furious red, and he couldn’t help the way his lips quivered as he tried to come up with a response

Usually, he’d have the entire dictionary in his head at his disposal, using sweet words to make people join in his cause and see his ways

But this time his head was alarmingly empty

it just ended up with him staring at you in silence, like a deer in the headlights

You sighed, making your way over to the bed

“Do you want me to help you?”

He might faint

He was so light headed, all his fantasies coming back at him full force

“I…”he said as you looked at him, making eye contact- which he was quick to break,

You’d never seen him this flustered before, and it was so cute

But this kind of nervousness was familiar, you noted, as your finger made brushed along his chest, making his shiver

You leaned in, your breath hot against his face as you asked “may I kiss you”

He reluctantly nodded, but it wasn’t good enough, “use your words baby”

His cock throbbed at the pet name. God he was so horny

“Yes- you may-”

You couldn’t have connected your lips faster, and he was clumsy, uncoordinated and something was lacking on his side- completely lacking- which only confirmed your suspicions

“Don’t tell me fedya… you’re a virgin?” You said incredulously, but it made sense

“What makes you say that?” He said defensively as he looked away from you, brows furrowed and face obviously embarrassed, he couldn’t bring himself to straight up lie with you studying his face so intensely

“Oh baby, it’s ok, just makes it more worth it to see your reactions”you purred into his ear

He huffed, giving up the act, “ I won’t be able to.. pleasure you the same…” he said, voice hesitant

“It’s ok, having you to myself is all the pleasure I need” you responded, quickly pulling him in for a kiss

You swiped your tongue on his bottoms lip, the sensations making fyodor open his mouth in reflex. You took this opportunity to slip your tongue inside of his mouth, surprising fyodor and making his moan

He was getting so lost in your mouth, that he didn’t notice your fingers slipping down his torso, until your fingers started palming at his hard cock

He jumped, whimpering in surprise when you circled your fingers around the crown of his dick

He was so sensitive, body shaking and hot beneath your touch

You two parted for breath, and you started slowly kissing and sucking at his jaw, then neck, making sure to leave a mark

He shivered at this, and was woefully unprepared for what you’d do next

You grabbed his hand, leading it to your pussy, and pushing his fingers against your clit

“W-what-“he was so flustered, tripping over his words as his eyes were captivated by the wetness gathered at your slit

“Like this, fedya” you said gently as you showed him how you like it, with him quickly getting the hang of it

“Now stick your finger inside, yeah, just like that” you said, moaning as his long fingers slipped in with no resistance,

He gulped at the wet heat he felt, imagining what it would feel like wrapped around his cock

He was so hard.

He never thought this would happen, or at least, so soon

Well, he wouldn’t have to imagine much longer

After you made him add another two fingers, one at a time, and you deemed yourself prepped enough, you placed yourself over his dick

“Do you want this?” You asked, looking into his eyes for any sign that he didn’t want this

You found nervousness on his face, but it was filled with lust and arousal

“Yes, yes I do-“ he was practically drooling, watching as you placed the tip at your entrance, before slowly sinking down

You moaned, he whimpered, his eyes clenched shut as he instinctively bucked his hips up

It felt good, his cock long and thick, stimulating against all your sensitive spots

“Mmngh!” He moaned, unable to hold it back

“Yeah? Feel good baby?” You rasped, looking at the way his face was screwed up in pleasure as you started moving, choosing a quick and hard pace

You chose this pace intentionally, you wanted him to be overwhelmed with the feeling, and lose himself

And that’s exactly what happened

He gripped the sheets, moaning and trembling

It was so much, so fast- he couldn’t think straight. But he kept his hands to himself, and you knew why

“It’s ok baby, you can touch, nothing will happen” he whined at your words before he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close and whimpering into your neck, hiding his face

It didn’t take long for him to cum, oversensitive as he was, and he tensed, hips bucking once, twice, and finally a third time before stilling, his seed spilling inside of you

He held you close as he came down from his high, light-headed and panting. You stroked his hair, which made him practically melt into you.

You let him slip out of you, laying down next to him

“What about you (name)? You didn’t get to finish?” He said, and you found it cute that he was worrying about you

“Don’t worry about it” you responded

“I cant have that, it would be improper to leave you unsatisfied,” he paused for a moment “let me use my tongue” he responded, as he slowly made his way between your thighs, “you can show me how”

“Very well then, fyodor” you chuckled petting his hair, “let’s get started”

@rosemary-onacross

I’m gonna cut it off there because I don’t know where I’m going, but yeah

Virgin fedya 🤤

[your-divine-ribs]

Ice Cold Part 9

Words: 3.4k

Ice Cold Masterlist Main Masterlist

"You know I've dreamt about this," Van mused. "What I'd do to you. If you were mine."

I felt the smooth wood of the corkscrew handle in my palm, tried to grip it tightly despite the clamminess of my skin, slick with perspiration. I looked up at Van. He towered over me when he was this close, a predator staking his claim. I let my gaze drop a little, down to his neck. The chain of the gold pendant he wore and just above, his Adam's apple, right next to his jugular vein. That was my target.

"And make no mistake Lyla... you are mine." He continued, completely oblivious to my murderous intentions. "You can keep on fooling yourself for as long as you like but I know exactly what you want..."

He reached out both hands, placing them on the counter top on either side of my hips, his head dipping down low, so close that his lips brushed my ear as he spoke. "And I'm going to give it to you..."

Fuck... the way he said it sent shivers through my body for an entirely different reason than the fear that I’d been gripped with. But I had to be strong. I couldn't let this ridiculous fantasy distract me. It was quite obvious he was toying with me. I was under no illusion that he would take pity on me and spare me just because of some lustful attraction. He more than likely planned to use me to satisfy his own desires and then dispose of me like I was nothing more than worthless garbage.

"Guys like you just think they can take what they want. But it's not happening." I said, aiming for a strength I didn't feel.

I had to strike, I couldn't hesitate. The longer I left it the more I could feel my resistance ebbing away. Or maybe the way I was feeling had nothing to do with my loss of courage. Maybe it had more to do with the feeling of his hot breath fanning against the skin of my neck as he lingered there. Maybe it was the way his fingers had edged along the counter top and found their way to my hips, the only thing between his fingertips and my bare skin the sheer lace of my underwear.

"Now I hope you're not gonna give me any trouble tonight..." he warned, his lips lightly grazing my neck, making my breath hitch. "Because that wouldn't be very smart of you."

God... I so desperately wanted to feel his hands on me, but I had to be strong. I just needed to get him to raise his head so I had a clear path to my target. The feel of the cool barrel of his handgun pressing against the skin of my thigh was a stark reminder of how dangerous he was despite his seductive tone. I had to keep focussed.

"You don't scare me," I blurted out, and that was all the provocation he needed.

To Van this statement was a challenge. He obviously got off on being this intimidating force but I wasn’t going down without a fight. He lifted his head to look me square in the eye, his eyes flashing dangerously. And that's when I struck.

With a swift and precise action I raised my arm, gripping the corkscrew so tight I could barely feel my fingers. My eyes were focused on his neck and the vein that I could see there. It all happened in a flash, but to me it almost seemed like a slow-motion freeze-frame movie. The deadly glint of the sharp metal coming into contact with his skin and the feel of it yielding. His eyes widening in disbelief a split second before his whole face contorted in rage.

What I wasn’t counting on was the speed at which he reacted. His hand shot up to his injured neck with a motion so fast I wasn’t able to inflict the deadly damage I needed to, the corkscrew just breaking the skin but then flying away out of my grip across the kitchen.

"What the fuck?" He growled, his body pressing into me with such force it knocked the wind straight from me, his hand shooting out to grasp my throat.

If I hadn't been in mortal danger before, I was now. I could tell with a terrifying certainty as I saw his eyes blazing with lethal intent. I tried to scream, but his choke hold on me was so tight it came out as a strangled gasp. I couldn't cry out in the hope of alerting my neighbours. So I did what I’d been trained to do. I fought back with everything I had.

I raised my knee with as much force as I could muster and it connected with his groin, hard. His grip immediately loosened and he folded in half, a roar escaping him as he sank to the floor and dragged me down with him. I shot out an arm to grasp on to something as I fell, but my hand simply thrashed against the counter-top, knocking two wine bottles off which smashed on to the floor as my body also connected with the tiles, the broken glass stabbing at my bare skin.

"Why d'ya have to do that, huh?" He raged, the full weight of his body now pinning me to the floor, rendering me helpless.

I heard the catch of the gun engaging before I saw him raise his arm and this just gave me the tiny element of the advantage I needed to grasp the barrel and direct it away from its intended target, but my fingers mistakenly closed around the trigger as I grappled with Van. The shot fired across the top of my head with enough proximity that I fancied I felt the wind caused by its trajectory. At this proximity the noise was an acute pain in my ear, and the shock and sensation stunned me.

"Just stop fighting me! You're not gonna win!" Van snarled, and he dropped the gun, immediately grasping my wrists and forcing them up above my head where he secured them effortlessly with just one of his large hands.

"Get off me, fucking get off me!" I cried, trying to thrash beneath him, but I’d missed my chance. I could feel it now. His grip was vice-like and I couldn't move, all I could do was lie there and watch the awareness flood his features as he felt my struggling tail off helplessly. He knew his power over me had been restored and he revelled in it.

He reached for the gun again with his free hand and I felt the barrel pressing under my chin, forcing my head back.

"I should blow your fucking brains out!" He growled, digging the gun in hard enough to make me wince. He looked furious as he loomed over me, his face just inches from mine, his jaw tensed whilst he considered what to do with me.

It seemed like a long moment passed as I lay there under his scorching gaze, and despite the gun pressed under my chin I became more and more aware of how his hips felt against my own as he pinned me down against the cool tiles.

His fury gradually seemed to recede and it was replaced by something else. A spark of fire lit in his eyes, a shift so slight that it was almost imperceptible, but I saw it.

I tried to move my body but this just made him push himself into me even harder, his denim clad thighs sliding between my legs, forcing them apart. A gasp escaped me unbidden as heat flooded my body at the feel of his warm and heavy weight pressing down on me.

"Fuck..." he breathed, almost a groan, but then all of a sudden his face twisted into rage again, and he released my wrists, pushing himself up and away from me like he'd been burnt.

He was on his feet with the gun pointing down at me in an instant, looking angrier than ever. "Get on your knees... now!" He ordered.

Fear washed over me, ice cold, extinguishing any fire. He looked terrifying, a ball of rage, as I scrambled up and pushed myself on to my knees. The broken glass pierced my flesh but I barely felt it.

"Please don't!" I sobbed, dismayed to hear the fear and helplessness in my voice. "Don't kill me!"

What was I saying? This was a deadly assassin that I was dealing with, a cold, emotionless killing machine. And I was what? Begging? I’d always promised myself that I wouldn't beg. Not for my life if it came down to it.

Van swiftly moved behind me, pulling my hands roughly behind my back and I felt him securing them with something unrelenting and sharp which bit painfully into the thin skin around my wrists. I felt tears threatening to brim from my eyes but I blinked them away, tried to gain some sort of composure as he moved around once again to look down on me as I knelt before him.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," he said, his voice unsteady, cracked with an emotion I couldn't place. It wasn't anger, it was a kind of desperation.

"I... I'll be good... please..." I heard myself utter, and I wasn’t sure where the words came from. I was supposed to be strong, defiant until my last breath.

"I don't think you know how to be good." His voice was ragged and harsh. "I can't trust you. Not for a second..."

I sobbed then, watched Van's face twist into anguish. He shook his head as if to try and clear it, then he stepped right up to me and slowly raised his hand, the barrel of his handgun coming to rest right between my eyes.

I closed them momentarily, scared, but then I felt the smooth metal jittering against my head. He was trembling, and the realisation flooded me with a strength I didn't realise I still had. My eyes flicked open and came to rest on his. I held his gaze then, tried to summon up as much bravery as I could. He looked back, and this was a very different version of Van than I was used to seeing. There wasn't a scrap of his usual self-controlled demeanour. He looked tormented. I knew then that he meant to end my life and he was fighting with himself, a kind of inner turmoil. He knew he should but he didn't want to. I could use this but I had to be careful.

"Please..." I breathed, the plea not only falling from my lips but brimming in my eyes too.

Van screwed his own eyes shut, pressed the gun into my forehead even harder. It dug painfully into my flesh but I didn't falter, just kept looking right at him. When he opened his eyes again something seemed to snap inside him.

"Goddamn!" A strangled cry suddenly erupted from him, all anger and frustration.

He instantly tore the gun away and I exhaled at the loss of pressure, and he stepped away, whirling around and pacing up and down the kitchen, muttering to himself. "Why can't I just do it?"

But the question wasn't aimed at me. It was quite obvious he was involved in some kind of internal battle. This unpredictable and chaotic version of Van shocked me, he seemed completely out of control. I watched as he grasped the kitchen table roughly by the edge and overturned it in one swift motion. It smashed down on to its side with an almighty crash. Then the chairs were flung against the cabinets. One splintered and broke into pieces. I just knelt there, bound and flinching, trying to think of a way out of this impossible situation I was in. It seemed hopeless to even think about trying to bargain with him whilst he was in this state. I looked down at the floor, trying to maintain my composure and rein in my fear.

Heavy footsteps suddenly approached and I looked up to see him striding towards me, his eyes blazing. He grasped at my arms, pulling me up roughly on to my feet, pushing me back against the flat of the kitchen wall. One hand went to my jaw, tipping my head back against the wall. My heart thudded and my breath caught in my throat.

"I'm meant to kill you tonight," he said, his voice a low murmur. "End your life. Like snuffing out a candle... You and your lot are getting too close, in danger of bringing the whole fucking operation down. And they can't let that happen. If it's not me they'll just send someone else. And they'll come, and they'll keep coming. You need to get out Lyla..."

Disbelief stunned me at his words. "Why... why are you telling me this? I should be dead already."

He just stared back at me, fixed me with an intensity in his eyes that scrambled my mind and rendered me incapable of rational thoughts. He was close now, too close, his hips against mine, pressing into me hard enough that I could feel all of him.

"Van..." I began, but my words were cut off as without warning he suddenly moved in, his lips colliding with mine, stealing my breath.

I reacted automatically, something deep inside of me snapping and coming instantly unravelled as our lips connected, his hot breath filling my mouth as he pushed himself fully against me, a groan of desperate desire escaping him.

A dim part of my mind blared that this was wrong, but I couldn't control it as white hot need flooded my whole being.

"I need you so bad..." he breathed into my mouth, then he wrenched his lips away and they went to my neck.

My mind was a fog, overcome by the sensations as his teeth hungrily grazed my neck. I tipped my head back, no longer concerned with the rights and wrongs. I just needed him... nothing else mattered.

"I want you..." I heard myself gasp, and then he was reaching down, grasping my legs behind the knees and lifting me clear off the floor, grinding into me against the wall as his lips were everywhere at once.

I so desperately wanted to touch him, tear at his clothing, tug at his hair, but my hands were still bound. I threw my head back against the wall and that's when I noticed the lights. Blue lights reflected from outside right on to my ceiling. The unmistakeable sign of the presence of many police vehicles outside. Incredibly, Van still didn't notice, his attention fully on me as he rained hot kisses across the tops of my breasts.

My first thought should have been to keep him distracted of course, make sure he was occupied until I was rescued and he was taken down. I knew that if the police had been called to my apartment then someone from my team would also have been automatically alerted. They were probably outside right now. Maybe even stealthily climbing the stairs to the seventh floor, or creeping down the corridor, enforcer ram poised and ready at the door. I panicked. I wasn’t ready for this... whatever it was... to end.

"Van stop! Someone's called the police! They're outside!"

What the fuck was I doing?

His head whipped up and he froze. A moment of flustered indecision but it didn't last.

He quickly set me down, stepping back and shooting across the kitchen to retrieve his handgun, then he darted to the window and peered down through a gap in the blinds, curses hissing between his clenched teeth.

"There's a balcony... from my bedroom... it's at the back of the building. All the apartments have them. You could scale down, the apartment directly below me is empty. There's the service alley behind it that leads on to Brook Road..."

I spoke fast, calculating the escape route in my mind as if I was going to be taking it myself. I didn't even give much thought to the fact that I was giving this man who I’d been tracking so desperately for months a means to get away.

His eyes met mine, then he was scanning my face as if to see if I really meant to help him. "Why..."

"Just go... hurry!" I urged, cutting him short.

He faltered, torn, but only for a moment. I watched him go, a sick kind of dread mixed with fear. Fear for him. Fear for myself. Fear that I’d got myself so far deep into this twisted situation that I didn't even know myself anymore.

I heard the balcony door open, his footsteps moving across it, then silence. What now? I was no better than the criminals I’d devoted my whole life to bringing down.

I felt the sobs bubbling up from deep in my chest cavity and I slid down against the wall, letting my body crumple into a heap on the kitchen floor. Tears streamed down my face and I pulled at my restraints, but they just bit deeper into my flesh.

Minutes later I heard a loud scuffling noise at my apartment door. The loud crack of the ram as it was pounded rhythmically against the door. Once... twice... three times... four.... The door eventually gave and I flinched as I heard it crash back on his hinges.

They were quiet, hesitantly edging in. I could see them in my mind's eye. Bullet proof vests, backs up against the walls, guns poised, listening for danger, advancing slowly. Just like I’d been trained to do. Each one putting their lives on the line to protect me. They were upholding the law, not breaking it.

"I'm in here... it's all clear!" I shouted out, and within seconds my apartment was flooded with armed police officers, all milling around, guns drawn, cautious even though it was obvious that Van had gone. They knew of him well enough not to let their guard down, not even for a second.

"In here! I think he's gone over the balcony!" A shout went up, and several officers shot off in the direction of the bedroom whilst the others whirled around in the opposite direction, ready to leave the apartment and give chase.

Of course I knew their efforts would be fruitless. He'd have put enough distance between him and them by now. The thought pleased me and scared me at the same time.

A female officer came rushing over, a stricken look on her face as she crouched down in front of me. "My god you're lucky to be alive! Are you okay?"

"I'm okay... honestly... just... just get on after him. He can't be far away."

"He'll be bloody miles away by now. We'll never catch him!" A gloomy voice came from a huddle of officers.

"Well at least try!" I shouted, trying to inject some conviction into my voice. "And can someone cut these fucking things off my wrists? I can't feel my hands." I sat forward, bound hands lifted behind my back.

"I'll do that," a voice sounded, and my heart which was still beating wildly in my chest almost stopped.

Jason stepped forward from the hallway and came to a stop in front of me, looking down on me with an expression of distaste. "You lot go and do your jobs. Go on… there's a killer out there!"

No one moved for a second, and his lips curled into a snarl as he looked around, shouting loudly. "Well go on then. What you waiting for? A bloody invitation? You lot fucked up enough turning up here right outside all lit up like the fucking Fourth of July!"

There were mutters all around as the officers made their way to the door but the female officer hung back, eyes darting around until they came to rest on a coat hanging on the back of the kitchen door. She reached for it hurriedly, then bent down, wrapping it around my bare shoulders, trying to cover me up as best as she could.

"I could stay..." she began, but Jason glared at her, stepping forward.

"Get out there and do your fucking job, unless you want me to report back how you lot completely fucked up here!"

She took one last glance at me, then put her head down, scuttling out. Jason turned slowly to me, his eyes dark and scornful.

"Well, well Lyla... what the fuck have you been up to now?"

[softquietsteadylove]

If you don’t mind, I’d love to hear your headcanons for the Ice Queen X Tyrant King AU as well🥹🫶💕 thank youuu <3

More Ice Queen/Tyrant King headcanons! Let's go!!!

Little Heiress lives in Korea again. She will hate Gil and Thena both until the day she dies. But she has resigned herself to the fact that going after either of them again will result in her death.

Druig is a hacker, like one of the crazy impossible ones in the movies. He taps into surveillance like it's nothing, owns a bunch of networks and servers. He doesn't show up to many meetings in person, but he and Makkari get together when they can.

Speaking of the Lightning Thief herself, she has many talents, but she chooses to stay contracted as a petty thief. She thinks it's more fun and it offers her more variety and the freedom to travel. She has no permanent place, usually renting in small slots of time. When she's in town, she stays with Druig.

Makkari loves hanging out with Thena and Sersi. None of them had all that normal a childhood, so she likes having girl friends to hang out with. Sometimes she breaks into their homes when she wants to have a sleepover. She doesn't do it to Thena anymore, ever since she broke in and they were getting busy in the elevator again.

Kingo really played it down at the time, but he was the one to give Gil Thena's building passcode. He told him that she was miserable, moping around like she'd gotten her heart broken. His instruction to Gil was "fix it".

Imo comes to America a lot more often now, entirely to visit them. And by them, it's mostly Thena. She'll show up and Thena will drop all her business for the day to visit with her. Imo says she's a good daughter. Then Gil will get home, find out they've spent all day together, having tea or chilling or shopping, and he pouts about being left out.

Gil once asks Thena if he's losing his edge. When she asks what he means he pats his belly and says maybe he should quit drinking beer or something. She says she doesn't mind any shape he's in, so long as that shape is alive (and she says she's not romantic).

He does go to the gym though, that is on days when he's not beating people up and disposing of bodies, since rest days are important. It's mostly because, ever since that French guy, he's been even more aware than usual just how beautiful and desired his fiance is.

He's asked Thena once or twice what she wants to do for the wedding. She says that she thought he would have an idea. They haven't gotten very far past that, since they're already quite married in spirit anyway.

They both have their ring tattoos on the left hand, while the physical rings are on the right. Thena takes hers off frequently, whether it's because she doesn't want to get blood on it or because she doesn't want whomever she's meeting with to know she has a weakness like that. Gil never takes his off.

Thena's favourite foods are tteokbokki, carbonara and traditional Russian solyanka, all of which Gil knows how to make deliciously. She grew up with a lot of Russian and European cuisine of course, and even some central Asian dishes thanks to her various nannies and caretakers. But once Gil started cooking Korean food for her, she hasn't looked back.

Imo shows her some things when she visits, but Thena has confessed multiple times with embarrassment that she's a terrible cook. Imo says that's fine so long as she has other things she's good at, like running the business.

Imo is surprisingly violent. She's run the family business for a long time--the business Gil's father married into, she likes to remind him. Imo has enforced so much in her day that she used to get called the Red Queen. Thena only idolizes her even more for it.

Although it's rare, if Thena and Gil argue over the course of a few days, she'll threaten to call Imo. Things resolve themselves quickly.

Gil likes bringing home little treats. Thena always says she doesn't need them or she's not hungry after dinner or something. They're always gone by the next time he looks in the fridge.

Gil loves calling Thena little petnames like Ice, and Sweetness, and Princess, and she even lets him call her baby here and there. But he makes sure to take time to lean in close and whisper Thena at just the right times.

They still haven't discussed the wedding plans, but if Gil were to ask her to go through with a Korean wedding, she would still say yes.

Imo calls the office sometimes and Thena isn't in, but she likes talking to Kingo--thinks he's funny. Thena tells her not to taunt her personal assistant, but Imo is like an orca who enjoys playing with her food before the kill.