#obviously for the human girl child they would have to suck it up and be good grandparents anyway but they’d have no clue what they’re doing

[compacflt]

what dog would icemav get?

im guessing no mangy devil chihuahuas or rescues (compacflt can't be seen with anything but a purebreed) golden retriever might be too on the nose, how about a malinois or a german shepherd maybe an english bulldog (ugly)

idk. i don’t really have a dog in this fight (i don’t care) (pun intended). but it definitely would have to be like a Real Dog. yeah nothing smaller than 70 lbs. a Real Dog. other than that i don’t have any opinions. could be a mutt or a rescue! but it would have to be, you know, handsome and upstanding and like, a Real Dog that you can, like, do stuff with. it is very cliche and on the nose and maybe im only saying this bc i, like, don’t care at all about dogs but ice does seem like the white lab/golden retriever guy and mav strikes me as a german shepherd guy. there are many reasons i don’t think they would ever have a dog (what would they do with the dog?) but not being able to agree on the breed might be one reason they never get a dog. arguing and bickering etc

[xan-from-space]

Honestly if any Dungeon Meshi character deserved an expanded role in the series, it should have been Rin. She's the character to me who most feels like her story is incomplete and glossed over...probably the one instance where the manga actually frustrated me with its refusal to engage with her as a character in favor of Kabru.

I mean, the backstory Kui gives her in the extra content is, like all of them, really well thought out, but in the manga itself a lot of the time she kind of just exists as an accessory to Kabru? Like, she's the Girl who Likes Kabru to Establish that Girls Like Kabru...there's a couple moments in the manga where we see hints of a deeper character, but most of her story is relegated to the extra content...which sucks because I think her role in the story and especially her history with the elves is so incredibly important to understanding the wider world.

Because we mostly learn about the elves through the eyes of Kabru, and while Kabru didn't have a great experience with the elves for sure, he was doted on, a golden child. We do learn that Rin was treated terribly by the elves in the manga, but again, we learn it through Kabru's words and it's not really something that's focused on. I think Kabru has genuinely good intentions and cares a lot about humanity, but unconsciously he has a tendency to treat people like pawns in a similar way that the elves do; part of his character arc is learning to be actually genuine with people, but that only actually happens once he's separated from the rest of his party, with people he barely knows. It makes sense for him and the place he's at, but I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been for Rin, who doesn't really have anyone else. She's trapped in an unresolved character arc, left in this limbo space of chasing after someone who just doesn't have the same reliance on her that she has on him.

If I were writing the manga, I would have made her a character of equal importance to Kabru. Rin would balance out his role in the story...she's more pessimistic than him, for good reason, and despite or maybe because of the ease in which he traverses the social and political worlds, in many ways I think she understands the world better than him. I want to see the world from her perspective, to learn more about what her view of the dungeon is and why she's supporting Kabru in his quest to become the next dungeon lord, to see her grapple with her trauma, for her to have to learn to lead the party when Kabru isn't there, for her to come into her own as a character. I also feel like she just would fill out the main cast in a really satisfying way...she could easily be a narrative foil for so many characters, Kabru obviously, but also Marcille, Izutsumi (God, think about the potential interaction between Rin and Izutsumi), Thistle maybe, there's probably more if I spent more time thinking about it

Also kind of going on a tangent here but she's sooo ignored on the fandom side. Frankly I think that whatever Rin and Kabru have going on is just as interesting if not more so than the relationships between Kabru and Laios and between Kabru and Mithrun, but I don't think I've seen a single post or art piece on this website where she's present in his life at all (or even not present in an intentional way that would serve her character.) To be clear I'm not saying that I ship them or whatever (kind of hate that word tbh) or think they should end up in a romantic relationship (I really do not think they should end up in a romantic relationship). But like. Come on. They're so important to each other's characters and she can't just be written out of his story.

[milunalupin]

— tale as old as time

a/n: welcome to my beast!remus x beauty!reader series ! i hope you come along this journey with me and enjoy!

chapter one

remus lupin x reader ★ 1.4k words

Gowns and music filled the ballroom, the castle's servants walking around with silver trays of the most luxurious desserts in France. Beautiful and wealthy people danced around to the sound of the piano and the most famous opera singer money could buy in all of Europe.   

The ballroom was decked out in glimmering jewels and fresh flora, the smell of roses strong in the air.  In the middle was Prince Remus Lupin, twirling countless girls about, a smirk on his handsome powdered face.  The Lupins ruled the Alsace region, their wealth apparent by their acres of meticulously landscaped property, the glimmer of the sun on the enormous castle blinding. Remus was an only child who was raised by King Lyall and Queen Hope, until the queen passed away from an illness many years ago, leading the Prince to grow up with the influence of his cold and selfish father.

Staff members were forced to turn a blind eye when they would see the young master walk through the castle with watery eyes or badly hidden bruises. No matter how much they pitied him, his father would rid them of their job in a heartbeat if they dared speak up about it. With every passing year, Prince Remus grew to be increasingly more his father, prioritizing status over everything.  Remus' life was filled with anything he wanted, and obviously once you have everything, things get boring. So, he constantly hosted balls and invited only the most beautiful and influential people in France. Men and women came from all over the country dressed in the most lavish of outfits, trying to gain the attention of the young Prince. 

In a silky yellow tailcoat stood the royal family's head of kitchen staff, Sirius Black. He let out an exaggerated sigh as he stood along his colleagues, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.  "How many girls will leave crying tonight, do you think?" 

James, dressed in all white with embroidered lapels, rolled his eyes and frowned as he watched the Prince.  "He'll never get married if he keeps acting like this, never form a true bond with anyone." 

A huff came from Peter, who looked the worst out of the three of them (according to Sirius), in a simple brown waistcoat. He held his prized pocket watch in his hand, constantly checking the time to ensure the party was running smoothly.  "The prince's love life isn't really any of our business, Sirius." 

Peter Pettigrew, to say the least, was a suck up, and nothing but loyal to the royal family. It was in his blood; his family having served the royal family for decades. Naturally, he started working under his father in the administrative department and moving ranks until he was appointed head of house, managing the rest of the staff as His Highness' right-hand man. 

James Potter credits everything he has now to his beautiful mother, Euphemia, who was an incredible seamstress who worked in the castle years prior. Now, James assists the young master with his clothing as well as leads the housekeeping staff with his mini assistant Harry, who's favorite thing to do is fold the towels into swans. 

Sirius met James when they worked together at a pub in town before James accepted his position among the royal staff. He was an orphan who had run away from his abusive foster parents. Euphemia felt for the boy and had immediately taken them in like her own son. Cooking meals with his new family ignited his love for food and with help from the Potters, had gone to culinary school. Later, with James's help, began as a waiter at the castle turned kitchen manager. 

Prince Remus, to be frank, doesn't love, not really once his mother had passed. Once under the orders of his father, his image, and the people he surrounded himself with became a priority. Being human was being vulnerable, and being vulnerable was being weak. That's why he found himself surrounded by attractive women, knowing that each one hanging onto his arm believed that they would be the one he fell in love with, inheriting his fortune and power. His arm was around one of the maidens' waists, loosely spinning her as his eyes scanned the room for someone more interesting. 

"My lord, I can't help but believe you might have an interest in me. this is the second time we've danced tonight; you need not be so shy." 

His eyes dropped back to Amelie? Emily? who blushed under his gaze, looking up at him through her fluttering eyelashes. He scoffed and retracted his hand from her waist, pushing past her towards another, ignoring her pleas and attempts to grab his arm. As much fun as he had being the center of attention and being the one everyone wanted to be with, he despised the desperate ones, none of them being worth his actual time. 

-

"Papa, I brought the napkins you asked for!" 

Sirius, James, and Peter turned to find Harry, James's son, holding a stack of cloth napkins up to him with a bright smile, his glasses sliding down his nose. James grinned as he took the napkins from Harry, pushing his glasses back up his nose and fixing his hair. 

"Great job Harry, now run along." 

"You've got him working already Potter? A chip off the old block, that one is." Peter chuckled, smiling along his colleagues as they watched little Harry skip away. 

The doors suddenly burst open, a woman in a cloak falling to the ground, her hood slipping and exposing her ratty grey hair. The maidens closest to the door gasped and squealed as they backed up, trying to distance themselves from the old woman. The music has stopped, Prince Remus weaving his way through the crowd to stand before the elderly intruder. 

"Who let you in, peasant? This ball is invite only." 

The woman looked up, her cloudy grey eyes looking into the Prince's. She held up a single rose, offering him the flower for temporary shelter from the cold. Prince Remus scoffed, rolling his eyes at the woman. The party goers laughed at the old woman from the other side of the ballroom. 

A smirk appeared on the old woman's face, as her body under the cloak began to glow a warm yellow, what seemed liked enchanted haze spreading towards the aghast party goers. Flower petals began to float around the woman as she transformed into a younger, more beautiful version of herself, her now bright blue eyes staring into the Prince's. The guests screamed at they scrambled to escape the sorcery they've witnessed, polished shoes trampling over expensive fabric and rose petals. 

The royal staff looked on in fear, not knowing how to help their master in this situation. James weaved through the people rushing out and found Harry hiding in a corner. He picked him up and turned to head out the door but stopped when he heard a deep growl coming from the center of the room. 

The cloud of magic enveloped Prince Remus, his bones cracking and expanding as his body slowly transformed him into a large, furry monster. His perfect silk robes tearing and falling off the Prince's new body. Large curved horns grew out of his head, and his perfect teeth evolved into sharp fangs. His once perfect appearance turned into one of a menacing animal. 

The young Prince had failed his test from the enchantress. He had not shown kindness to a stranger in need and had confirmed his own selfishness and entitlement. He was mean and ugly on the inside, so she had turned him into who he really was, a beast. Adding on to that, she left a powerful spell on the castle and villagers, turning the royal staff into household objects for allowing the Prince's behavior, and erasing all memory of the royal castle and its inhabitants from the villagers. The curse was infinite, unless the prince managed to make someone fall in love with him. 

Over the years the castle grew colder, lonelier as Remus and his staff became more hopeless for a chance to end the curse. Snow had fallen over the crumbling castle and grounds, the bitterness of the cold outside matching what Remus was feeling in his heart. 

 He was doomed, turned into a disgusting monster for the rest of his days, because who could ever learn to love a beast? 

[justmeinadaze]

Children of the Night Part 9 (Steddie X You)

Warnings: Daddy Vampire Eddie/Switch Vampire Stevie and Sub Human/Vamp Fem Reader, SMUT, dp, dirty talk, light spanking, light choking, blood drinking (obviously), slight roughness but more passionate, FLUFF, these three weirdos love each other so much <3.

ANGST, ANGST, ANGST!!

Domestic abuse and Child abuse triggers (we learn everything about the reader here including the abuse she's gone through including gaslighting and physical abuse) It's briefly touched on how the police didn't help her. Personally I felt like this added to her mistrust of authority like that mixed in with how law enforcement handled everything that happened with Eddie in Hawkins.

S4 things are touched on including Chrissy and what happened with Lucas, Erica, and Gareth. Brief conversations with readers mom, Wayne, and Mr. Harrington (the latter being an asshole of course). I think that's everything. The main thing I wanted to focus on was the abuse triggers. I know that can be triggering especially since some of the dialogue with the mother is lifted from things my own abusive parent said to me.

Love you guys! Enjoy this final piece.

Series here/ Buy Me a Coffee :)

Word Count: 7400

StokersGirl86: “Oh my god. I’m so excited. What do you think they are going to do?!”

Dannyalwayshere1: “I imagine it’s going to big after everything going on in the news right now.”

Minaismygirl: “Eddie better release Y/N so she can come find me. I can take care of her!”

StokersGirl86: “Oh please. You really think she’s innocent in all this?!”

StokersGirl86: “She was a fan just like us. No matter what her criminal mom preaches on tv.”

LivingDeadBoy24: “Like mother like daughter :P.”

Living DeadBoy24: “Maybe Eddie will sacrifice her the same way he did Chrissy Cunningham. I’ve been reading about what happened. It’s amazing.”

Justice4ChrissyCunningham: “You all should be ashamed of yourselves! An innocent girl was murdered and another may be kidnapped! They don’t need to be put up on a pedestal. They need to be behind bars!”

Dannyalwayshere1: “I see you think Steve Harrington is guilty to?”

CaliforniaPD: “This is the California police department and currently we seem to be having trouble disconnecting this stream. That being the case, we do highly recommend that everyone log off this site and do not engage.”

VampQueen91: “Yeah sure. Nice try whoever you are. I thought the police already had their location. Yet they can stream??”

Minaismygirl: “Because California PD sucks lol But who knows, maybe they just need them to stream to catch them…”

The video feed begins counting down and as soon as it ends three faces illuminate everyone’s screens. Both men were shirtless with hair frayed every which way as their black eyes starred into the camera with a small smirk painted on both their lips. 

“Hm. I see everyone’s here and already has opinions.”, you growl as you quickly take in everyone’s words that flew across the screen. “We wanted to come on today to set the record straight about a few things. First and foremost, Edward Munson and Steven Harrington are dead. YOU killed them when you placed blame for something they didn’t do.”

Justice4ChrissyCunningham: Edward Munson murdered Chrissy in his trailer in cold blood. 

“Oh, sweetheart. I can’t imagine how much you must be hurting, Andrew. You lost three friends in the span of a week to such odd circumstances. Of course, it would just be easier to blame Eddie. It’s the only thing that would make since right? Not that some other man come in and hurt her.”

Justice4ChrissyCunningham: I don’t know who you think I am but—

His picture suddenly flew up onto the screen for everyone to see. 

“Normally I’m not one to display people’s personal business this way but after everything I’ve read and the things they told me, you can go fuck yourself. I see here while Eddie was missing you and Jason Carver assaulted a young man named Gareth in his garage. Police report says you and your friends jumped them while playing hero; broke the young man’s nose.”

The long-haired vampire growled deep from his chest at the accusation. 

“It also looks like in March of 03, you tackled a middle schooler and threatened to break her arm if she didn’t tell you guys where Eddie was. That seems to be the same night Mr. Carver also beat up a young man while he was trying to protect his girlfriend. Hm. How odd that you were there for the last few deaths.”, you muse as you glance towards Steve who continues to glare forward.

“The night Steve went missing his blood was found mixed with two other jocks about your age. Friends, Andy? He tells me they were there to hurt him because he missed the man he loved. Kind of seems like violence is normal for athletes in Hawkins. Maybe that’s why Chrissy felt more comfortable with Eddie. I can’t imagine how angry that made Jason feel. Maybe angry enough…to kill?”

The count of people in the stream both drastically dropped including Andy and then suddenly increased with a new flux of people. 

California PD: “Miss Y/L/N if you are in danger we can help you. 

“I don’t need your help. I’m not a hostage with these men. If anything, I was a hostage growing up with the mother that you all so quickly rallied behind including you, Officer Williams. I spent my whole life dealing with people like you. Willing to believe any narrative that fit your agenda. I have been beaten and abused by almost everyone in my life but these men have done nothing but love and protect me! And you want to punish them for that?”

California PD: “Last chance Y/N. Tell us where you are and we can save you.”

“I told you… I’m safe right here…with Renfield and Dracula. My name… is Mina.”

With that both vampires bared their fangs and bit into either side of your neck.

##############

2 Weeks Before

Eddie didn’t say a word as he got up and angrily stomped back towards the bedroom. 

“Baby, please.”, you pleaded as you watched him pull out the suitcases from their closet and throw them on the bed. “We had to have this conversation at some point—”

“No, we don’t. The answer will always be the same. No. Fuck no. Hell no. Take your pick.”

“Why?”

“Because I fucking said so. Now, start packing your shit because we are leaving in 30.”

“No.” The vampire paused as he slowly turned to face you. “No, fuck no, hell no. Take your fucking pick.”

Stalking towards you, he stopped till his nose was hovering just above your own.

“Get you shit and get ready to leave.”, he rumbled.

“You sound like John right now. You don’t command me, Edward.”

“Yes, sweetheart, I do. That’s what you agreed to, remember? You and Steve are mine—”

“In bed.”, Steve interrupted, coming around the corner. “In bed we belong to you. She’s still her own woman and is allowed to make her peace. Let’s hear what she has to say.”

“Steven, you and I didn’t have a choice. She does—”

“So you’re going to make it for her?” The long-haired vampire’s jaw clenches as he places his hands on his hips. “You’re right, I didn’t have a choice which is why we never had to have the conversation she wants to have but I always thought about it. If I was still human, you would have remained the same and I would have grown old. We would have lost each other again…”

Eddie’s glassy eyes glance his way as he sighs and takes a seat on the bed.

“After the last time she left and we didn’t have her…I’d rather not experience that now or even 50 years from now.”

“I guess we know what your vote is.”, he sasses. 

“I think we can do this in a controlled way so what happened to us doesn’t happen to her especially since we would be doing it without her being hurt or wounded.”

“Fuck. O-Ok but I do it and we can change her after we get where we are going—”

“There’s no rush. I genuinely don’t believe they know where you are and are banking on us streaming again but we can find out. I can find out which guys are working the case and go through the digital file. I didn’t do it before because I didn’t want to put us at risk if I didn’t have to.”, you respond as you sit beside him. “I…I also think we should stream you changing me—”

“That’s a fuck no and I’m not budging on that. I don’t care what you both tell me.”

“I actually agree with him on that one, honey.”

“No, no. I mean we should do this together privately but make our fans and police believe you’re changing me. It will keep them invested to keep the revenue coming no matter where we go and show the police that we aren’t afraid of them. We now know that we can suck each other’s blood so…”

As Eddie sighs again, you wrap your arms around his shoulders and kiss his cheek. 

“I love you, Eddie. I trust you and I know I’m safe with you; both of you.”

Turning to face you, he kisses your forehead and holds you to him. 

“Do what you have to do, babe, and we’ll start getting things together.”

***

While the guys packed and ran out to grab some extra blood packs, you did some research into the people hunting for you three. You were right that they hadn’t found you yet but they were getting closer. One of the officers grabbed one of Dustin’s pings he created and traced it to the next town over. 

“Hey pretty girl.”, Steve cooed as he slumped down onto his knees beside you. “What did you find out?”

“We’re still ok. They haven’t found us yet and from what I see here they most likely need us to stream again. Now this is a new development.”

Moving the mouse, you click on the news website in the background and play the clip you stumbled on earlier that day. 

“So you say, Mrs. Y/L/N, you saw Y/N with Mr. Harrington and Mr. Munson?”

“Yes! Oh my goodness.”, your mother sobbed. “She came to visit me in the hospital because I was sick. She was always such a sweet girl. They threatened my life and then dragged her away. They are awful people.”

Feeling your anger, Eddie swished into the room as the other vampire petted your head. 

“If you could say anything to your daughter, what would it be?”

“You monsters let my baby go! I love you, Y/N! So…so much…I can’t…”

“That’s not all I found.”, you whisper, clicking another link and pressing play. 

“Mr. Munson! Mr. Munson! How do feel about the content your nephew is posting? Do you think he’ll kill Y/N like he did Chrissy?”

“Get off my property! My nephew…my nephew is dead. Haven’t you and this town sullied his memory enough!”

“Police seem to have strong evidence that this is Edward Munson.”

“Well, if he is alive…I hope he stays away. He can be happier with Steven away from these fuckers!” Eddie’s uncle pauses before entering the house the reporters were following him to. “I also want him to know that I love and miss him. I hope your happy, son.”

Steve grabs his partner’s hand as his stoic features faulter and tears begin to slowly fall that he quickly wipes away. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Harrington! Anything to say about your son?!”

“We’ve made a statement already! Go away!”

The vampire’s eyes narrow at the sound of his dad’s voice. 

“You really don’t think that’s your son in the videos?”

“I know for a fact that’s not my son. No son of mine would engage in that behavior nor be in a relationship with a freak like Edward *beep* Munson. Now leave us be so we can grieve our son in peace!”

“I’m sorry.”

“No reason to be, honey.”, he sighs shaking away the frustration. “We, um, got some more blood and we got you some more clothes. We found a house up north; I just need to—”

Eddie’s lips cut his boyfriend off as he cupped his face in his hands and pulled his body closer to his own. When he finally pulled away both boys were panting heavily. 

“I love you, Steve Harrington.”

The pretty vampire smiled softly as his fingers lightly moved some of the other man’s hair out of his face. 

“I love you to, Eddie Munson.” His mouth gently kissed him again as he began to sing making the metalhead breathily chuckle. “I’d give up forever to touch you. Cause I know that you feel me somehow.”

“You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be and I don’t want to go home right now.”, he sings back. “We don’t have a song for Y/N.”

“Oh, I don’t need one. It’s ok.”

“No, no, baby. Let’s see what we got.”, Steve smiles as he pushes the button on the stereo and starts searching through stations. He and Eddie cringe as a few come through that aren’t suitable in anyway making you laugh. 

“Hey, wait. Go back.” After the vampire does what he asks, you three listen as the long-haired boy grins and bobs his head.

“And I wonder When I sing along with you

If everything could ever be this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when She sang…”

Taking ahold of your hand, Eddie spins you as you both smile and he sings along.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one before.”, Steve muses as he watches you two dance. 

After letting you go, you grab a hold of his waist and he circles his arms around you as you sing.

“Breathe out So I can breathe you in Hold you in And now I know you've always been…”

Smiling, his lips kiss your forehead as you press your head into his chest. 

“I love you both so much.”

“We love you to, sweetheart.”, Eddie replies as he comes behind you and holds you both tightly.

***

“What if I kill you.”

“You won’t, baby. I trust you.”, you try to comfort as you cup his cheek. 

Nodding, he tilted towards you, placing soft tender kisses on your lips and along your cheek to your neck. When you feel him hesitate, you run your fingers through his hair and whisper adoration for him as you wait. 

When his fangs bit into you, you were surprised how fast you blood left your body. Steve’s worried eyes watched as the color left your face and the sight killed him. Your eyes rolled shut and a tear left his eye as the memory of finding Eddie in the upside down flashed through his mind. 

The vampire wanted to calm him but he couldn’t. 

He had to focus on you. 

After releasing his hold on you, he hurriedly wiped your blood from his chin and bit into his wrist offering it to you.

“Come on, baby girl. Come on. We need you to drink.” Just as Steve’s had, your eyes snapped open as the sweet taste hit your lips and you began to drink from him. “Fuck…good girl, princess. Mmph…There you go.”

Abruptly, you detached from his arm and passed out against the pillow as Eddie began to dizzily fall back. 

“Whoa, honey. I got you. Are you ok?”

“B-Blood, Steve. I need… please.”

He didn’t waste any time, running to the kitchen and back as he tore the bag open for his partner to take. 

“What happens now?”

“Now, we wait.”

Neither man left your side as they kept a diligent eye on you. Eddie held your hand while Steve kept his palm on your chest to make sure you were still breathing.

“It’s weird…I can’t feel her anymore.”

“When she wakes up you will and it will be more in tune. When you woke up that feeling was incredibly strong.”

Hearing the sadness in his voice, Steve reaches over runs his fingers along his face. 

“What are you thinking about, baby?”

“Everything.” Eddie glances his way and his boyfriend’s loving gaze fills him with warmth. “I never thought about the future. I guess because I was stuck like this…it didn’t even occur to me that you two would age and I wouldn’t. When would you have asked me?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know how to bring it up. All I really wanted was for us to have what we always talked about. A happy, simple life away from all the bullshit in Hawkins.” Steve grins when his partner chuckles. “A nice two-bedroom home where we could settle down and have a family. Three boys and three girls you and I would spoil rotten. I would work some office job with so-so benefits and brag about my rockstar husband who was on tour but coming home soon.”

Eddie couldn’t hold it in anymore as the last couple days events hit him and he began to cry. 

“I know, honey. I know”, he cooed as he held his free hand. 

#############

The sound of something crashing to the ground startles both vampires as they sit up and jump out of bed realizing you were no longer between them. They could feel you though; fuck could they feel you.

“Jesus, Eddie…”, Steve groaned as his head lulled to the side.

“I-I know. Stay focused. We need t-to get our girl back first.”

“I don’t know if I can.”, the vampire whined as his palm began absently grazing the bulge in his pants. 

“You will because I told you to, little boy. Do you understand?”, Eddie hissed. 

“Y-Yes, Daddy.”

Slowly moving down the hall, they searched every nook and cranny before something loud in the kitchen caught their attention. They found you on the floor balancing on your heels in your bra and shorts they had laid you down in. The sound of your growling filled the room as you continued to bang on the refrigerator door with your palm. 

“Y/N.”

Jumping at the sound of Eddie’s voice, you fell on to your butt and pressed your back to the cabinets as your black eyes glared his way. 

“Sweetheart, everything’s ok. You’re alright.”

It took you moment but something in your face softened and your crawled towards him, pushing him back slightly before banging your hand on the door again. 

“Daddy. Hungry.”

“You’re hungry, baby?” Reaching in, he takes out a bag and tears it open, handing it to you. Your wide eyes watch him as if he’s figured out a riddle you had spent thousands of years trying to solve and when he offers you what you want, you take it from him without question and chug it back. “Good. Good girl.”

After three blood packs and a peaceful smile on your face, even Eddie could still feel a hunger within you.

“What do you need, pretty girl? Tell me.”

Steve couldn’t control it any longer as his eyes darkened and his own hunger took over. Grabbing his partner’s shirt, he pushed him to the side as he began to crawl towards you. In your state, you perceived the action as hostile and practically roared as you tackled his chest, pinning him to the floor.

“NO! Bad boy…hurt…Daddy!”

His wrists tried to push against your hands but you were much stronger than before. Eddie couldn’t help but be utterly fascinated as he watched you both interact. 

“Say…SORRY!” When he hesitates, your nose presses to his as you growl in a low voice that makes them both hard. “Now.”

“Sorry…Daddy…Sorry, honey.”

At the term, your eyes blink in surprise as you sit up slightly to gaze along his features. Steve’s own black irises search your face for recognition, finding it in your sudden shift of demeanor.

“Steve…”, you coo as lean down and run your nose up his bare, hairy chest to his neck. “Boy…hungry?” He nods emphatically, literally ripping your shorts from your body after pulling down his pants enough to free his cock. “Ask.”

A small whine leaves him as he turns to face Eddie whose eyes were now also black as he stroked his own length while watching you. 

“Daddy…hungry. Please?”

He growled in response, hastily coming up to take his place behind you and runs his tongue up your spine to your shoulder. You mewl as you lower yourself down onto the man beneath you, gripping his neck to pull him up so you could press his head into your chest. Clinging to your hips, the metalhead guided himself into your ass and your head fell back onto his shoulder as they both roughly thrust into you.

When their fangs pierced your skin, you clenched around them causing them both to grunt and hold you tighter. 

“Steve…Eddie…fuck.”

As your fingers tangled into his hair, you bit down on the pretty boy’s shoulder and his moan reverberated through the house as his body shook while releasing his seed inside you. The metalhead circled around to rub fast circles into your clit and you came off Steve with a heavy pant as he fell back onto the floor.

Taking ahold of his arm pressed to your chest, you brought it to your mouth as you bit into the skin. Eddie’s head flew back as your pussy quivered around him and you came hard. Yanking your hair, he shoved your face next to his boyfriend’s as he chased his high and with a few more aggressive thrusts warmed your insides. 

Heavy breathing filled the room as both boys passed out beside you. 

#################

5-year-old you pulls her knees to her chin as you hid under the kitchen table listening to your parents fight. 

“Fuck you! You want to leave me than fucking leave and take that little brat with you.”

“I can’t! Jesus, you never listen! Marnie, doesn’t want kids right now.”

“Oh, oh. The slut doesn’t want kids so I guess whatever she says goes. I didn’t want kids either yet here we are!”, your mother slurs. 

You listen to the sound of his footsteps as he stomps out the door leaving you behind. Glass shatters as the beer bottle she threw hits the wall before she falls to her knees and sobs. 

12-year-old you cries as the police officer lifts you into his arms and tries to carry you out of the foster home you were physically fighting to stay in. 

“Y/N, come on! You need to go be with your mom.”

“NO! I want to stay here! Please don’t make me go back!” You kick the officer, hitting his stomach causing him to drop you to the floor. As fast as you could you get up and run to the woman you had been calling mom for over 6 months. “Please! I’m sorry. I’ll be good. I promise!”

“Sweetheart, listen to me.”, she empathetically murmurs as she sinks to her knees. “It’s time for you to be with your mom. Who knows maybe things will be different this time.”

“It-It won’t. It never is.”

You and your boyfriend panted as you tried to catch your breath hiding under the pier. 

“Woo, that was close!”, he laughs as 15-year-old you grins up at him. “But hey, now we can eat.”

Tossing the wallet to the side, he takes out the money and reaches for your hand as he guides up the bank towards the stores above. After purchasing a burger and some fries, you both share it as he lights a cigarette and stares off into the distance.

“I love you.”

“I love you to, babe.”, you smile as you bite into a fry. 

When his fingers reach out to touch your face, you can’t help but flinch when his thumb grazes the cut on your lip from when he thought you were giving him attitude. 

“I really do. Things are going to get better, Y/N. I promise.”

She couldn’t even make it three months. The police had brought you back home and as soon as they left your mother went off about you running away and how that made her look. By the third month, you tried to leave again and she stopped you. 

“What happened to your arm, Y/N? You said you fell?”, the doctor asked as he began wrapping the cast around the limb. 

You didn’t move or say a word as you stared off into the void. What was the point? The cops knew how she was yet they kept bringing you back. Even if you told this doctor the truth it wouldn’t matter.

“Sweetheart, I can help you. I just need you to tell me what happened.” The man sighs when you remain silent before whispering under his breath. “You don’t have to say anything just nod your head, ok? Did you fall?”

Your eyes meet his for a brief moment before autopilot takes over and you shake your head. 

“Did your mother do this? Did she grab you?”

You nod.

“Ok.”

You stare at the screen in front of you as two men known as Renfield and Dracula make love to each other before biting his neck. A heavy sigh left you at the action and the human boy’s moan hit straight to your heart down to your core. 

You had been watching them for over a month now and you couldn’t explain it but something about them just pulled you in. Hearing their voices and watching how they took care of each other made you feel safe. It’s part of the reason you kept coming back even though you knew if John ever found out you were seeing this he’d probably kill you. 

That following day you were surprised when a message from the site appeared when you signed in from the creators themselves inviting you to a private session. 

When their faces illuminated your screen, a little sigh left your chest. They were both so handsome up close. Because of the technology, you weren’t able to really see their features before but now you could see them in all their glory. Dracula’s eyes fluttered slightly behind his mane of hair. 

“Hey Mina.”

Renfield glances his way in surprise as his partner spoke. Usually, he was the one that did the bulk of the talking so when he initiated, he was taken a back. 

InnocentLittleMina: Hello.

“Hey, honey. We, um, we just wanted to reach out to you because we see you pop up from time to time. You don’t talk or engage very much.”

InnocentLittleMina: Yeah. A lot of the people here are kind of rude.

“Ha. Yeah they are. We were wondering and we understand if you say no but would you want to work for us? Dracula says a moderator could really help us get some control over these people. You don’t have to tell us your name or anything. We can send money straight to your account.”

InnocentLittleMina: You’d pay me?

“Yeah, honey. Of course.”

“However much you want.”, Dracula adds again making his partner’s head quirk to the side. “You just…seem like a kind person with a good heart.”

InnocentLittleMina: You don’t know me.

“We’d like to.”

His words flow through you almost as if you can feel how genuine they are. What’s the worst that could happen?

InnocentLittleMina: “Ok. I’d love to help.”

***

Both men groan as their eyes open and take in the scene before them. After what they saw, they couldn’t care less. They just needed to find you. 

Rising to their feet, they power walk down the hall to find you closing a suitcase and quietly taking a seat on the bed. Your eyes lock with theirs as you softly smile and shrug. 

“See? I told you I had experienced real monsters.”

“Sweetheart.”, Eddie breathed as he sat beside you and pulled you to his chest. “I’m so fucking sorry you went through all that. We would never ever fucking hurt you like them.”

“Or let anyone hurt you like that.”, Steve added as he knelt in front of you. “How are you feeling?”

“Calm. Clear. It’s weird. I’ve never felt like this before. I feel like I’m…home.”

“Because you are, baby.”, the pretty boy cooed as he kissed your palms. 

“While you two were asleep, I packed up some clothes for us. I’m not sure what else we need.”

“Let me see if that relator guy called.”

After he disappeared, the metalhead cupped your face in his hands as his eyes ran along your face. You still looked like the girl they fell in love with but you seemed to have this air of confidence surrounding you that made him fall even harder. 

“I wish I could have seen your life the way I saw his and you two saw mine. I think it’s because him and I are new…”

“Oh, baby girl, trust me. You don’t want to see that. Not all in succession like that. Everything kind of sucked till I met Steve. Before him it was a blur of heartache and anger.” When he sighed, your palm circled around the back of his neck and brought his forehead down to yours eliciting a small, nervous chuckle to fall from his lips. “Fuck…are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”, you murmur. 

“Y/N, I’m a jaded asshole.”, he laughed. “It takes me a while to trust anyone and feel safe but the feeling running through me right now… God it’s so quiet. I can breathe.”

“Because that’s how I feel with you two, Daddy. You’re feeling me.”

“Fuck, Y/N.”, he groaned, his lips falling to the side of your neck. 

“Wait…Wait, Eddie. I need to show you both something first.”

####################

Present Day

“Ok, Williams, we’re right outside the door. Going in, in two.”

The officer paces around his desk as he glares at the screen watching both men continue to feed while blood drips down your neck. 

“Good. They’re still streaming in front of their computer. Be careful! They shouldn’t be armed but I’m not sure if they’ll react hostilely.”

“Entering in, 3, 2, 1. GO, BOYS!”

As soon as the door kicked in, a little box appears at the corner of your current feed showing the raiding team running through the house. Everything was still in its place including the blood staining the floor by the fridge. 

“We have all eyes on us, guys. Go slow.”

When they find the bedroom, they scream into the void for you three to get down… 

Only to find now one there.

The swat leader walked towards the computer, tearing off the note that was taped to the screen.

“I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never could have imagined might have rested there.

Our souls are knit into one, for all life and all time.

-Mina”

“FUCK!”, Officer Williams shouted as he kicked the chair in front of him. 

CaliforniaPD: You can keep running all you want but you are just making it harder on yourselves! We found you once and we can find you again!”

You whine as your head falls against Steve’s chest and your black eyes flash towards the screen with a small smile. 

“Good luck with that. I’m sorry to say, for you, we’re a lot stronger now than we’ve ever been.”, Eddie rumbled sarcastically towards the camera. 

As you pull away to lean against the metalhead’s shoulder, the other vampire growls low with needs as his head follows yours for a moment before hesitating to focus on the camera. 

“We don’t want any trouble. We just want to be left alone to be happy together but we will gladly do this dance again to keep ourselves protected and keep her safe!”

Your palm ran down his back, calming him as he tilted his head to place open mouth kisses on your shoulder as his own hand absently traveled under your shirt to run along the skin of your stomach. Eddie growled at the action as both vampires glared at each other. Grabbing his throat, the long-haired boy pulled his boyfriend’s lips to his own passionately.

“I think you all have had enough of a show…and I’m…hungry.” At the last word, your tone drops and after you wink towards the camera, you move the mouse, and shut it down.

***

“Did you guys see that? Over one million people were watching us!”, you giggle excitedly.

“Mhmm.”

Both vampires were still distracted as they detached from each other to kiss your neck again. Grinning as you bit your lip, wind messed their hair as you flash ran towards the other side of your new shared bedroom. 

“Oh, come on, boys. Now focus.”

Trying to run after you, you hastily sprinted away, your beautiful laugh filling the new house you three were going to be living in. Eddie was the one to catch you first, practically tackling you to the ground in the living room and pinning your wrists beside your head. 

“Hi, Daddy.”

As you beam up at him, he can’t help but smile down at you before bringing his lips to yours. Your hands flex in his grip but he remains steadfast as he kisses softly down your body and over your blood-stained shirt. 

 Steve crawls towards you both on his hands and knees, falling onto his tummy with his hand grabbing your cheek to turn your head so he could kiss you. Letting you go, your hands remain where they are as Eddie pulls down your panties and tosses them to the side. 

His strong palms dig into your thighs as he lifts your legs over his shoulders and you moan against the other man’s lips as Eddie presses his face into your cunt wasting no time as his mouth devours you. 

Your legs close around him and he mewls into you as your back arches off the floor. 

“Fuck, Daddy! Your mouth feels so good.”

Maneuvering behind him, Steve spreads his partners legs a bit wider and his groans vibrate through your core as the pretty boy runs his tongue between Eddie’s cheeks. You grin blissfully as you watch the sight before you and you run your fingers through the metalhead’s hair. 

“That’s it, honey. Fuck. Make our girl cum. Jesus, Y/N, I can feel how good he’s making you feel. Daddy’s so fucking amazing with that mouth isn’t he? It’s why he never shuts up.”

Eddie’s growls turn into moans when his boyfriend effortlessly slides two fingers inside him while pushing his head harder against your pussy.

“Oh, god!”

Your eyes roll back as you grind your hips against the vampire’s tongue till you tumble over the edge and cum. Releasing him from your grip around his shoulders, you pant as you try to catch your breath, shuddering at the feel of Eddie’s heavy exhales fanning your dripping core. 

You’re not sure if it was the dominance within him or just how sexy both men looked right now but something inside you bubbled forward and you rushed towards them, tackling Steve to the floor. 

“Hungry!”

Abruptly an arm wrapped around your stomach and pushed you back against the hardwood. 

“No.”, the long-haired vampire hissed as his hand clung to your throat. “You ask, little girl. The rules haven’t changed. Not yet anyway.”

“Want…boy!”

“Beg me, Y/N.”, he cooed in a sultry voice that had both you and the other man whining. “Beg Daddy, baby girl.”

“Please, Daddy. Want…” You pause as you blink, trying to clear the fog and intense need from your brain so you could focus. “I want Steve. Please, may I…have him.”

As the black irises disappear and your natural eye color returns so does his as he smiles before giving you a tender kiss. After moving out of the way, he ushers Steve between your legs and helps lift your shirt over your head. 

“I’m sorry if I hurt you. I didn’t mean to grab you like that. I just couldn’t—”

“Control yourself. I know, honey. I understand. You’re doing a lot better than I did though.” He taps his cock against your sensitive clit a couple of times making you jump and you both let out a strangled moan as he slides himself inside of you. “Shit. Always so fucking good.”

Falling on to your chest, he rolls his waist as you cling to his shoulders, leaving little pecks along his skin. When you bite into his flesh, he grunts loudly and snaps his hips hard, punching his length deep inside your heat. 

As he picks up his pace, you release him and he pushes up onto his knees, looping his arms under the back of your own so he can hold your legs open. Feeling someone near him, he opens his eyes to be met with his boyfriend’s cock in his face. Steve opened his mouth willingly and Eddie’s mouth fell open as he bobbed his head, taking him as far back as he could. 

“That’s it, sweetheart. Such a good boy. Jesus, I love watching you two together.”

Threading his fingers through his hair, the metalhead groaned as he fucked his partner’s face making you whine and clench around his own cock every time you heard him gag.

“Mmm—there you go, Steve. Make our pretty girl cum.”

Shoving Eddie’s stomach, Steve growled with need as he pushed him out of his way and wrapped his arms around your back, lifting you up till you were face to face with him. Hugging him to your chest, you used his neck as leverage as you bounced and grinded against him.

When his fangs pierced your skin, your eyes squeezed shut as you did the same, taking him in as his hands grabbed the meat of your ass, guiding your movements till you trembled and came. Steve grunted at the feeling, pushing you back down onto the floor and pounding his cock into you so deeply you swear you could feel him in your stomach, through your heart, and into your soul. 

“Fuck!”, he growled in his deep vampire tone as his movements stalled and you whined as he pumped his spend aggressively into your cunt.

You couldn’t help but breathily giggle as Steve continued to run his lips and tongue along your body. Pushing his chest, you disappeared from underneath him but Eddie anticipated your move, running ahead of you and slamming his palm against the wall as his arm shot out to stop you. Before you could run the other way, he blocked you and pinned your front side to the hallway.

His hand playfully spanked your behind and you both mewled as he guided his cock into your entrance. 

“Oh, fuck, Daddy.”

Intertwining his fingers with yours, Eddie held your hands above your head and thrust his hips roughly against yours, his humid pants in your ear turning you on even more. 

“Shit…baby. Your little pussy is…so fucking perfect. J-Just like you.”

Hastily, he pulls out, turns you around to face him, and lifts you into his strong arms as you reach down to slide his length back inside you. You cling to him as he fucks his cock deep into your core leaving you both grunting into the other face. Not being able to wait, you bite into his neck and he growls loudly before doing the same. 

After dropping one of your legs, Eddie balances his forearm on the wall next to your head as aggressively takes what’s his. Your body shakes as the coil breaks in your tummy causing the metalhead himself to fall over the ledge as he thrust his release inside you. 

As you slump over in his embrace, you feel wind move your hair as Steve runs to the bathroom to turn on the shower and Eddie lifts you again so your legs are wrapped around him as he carries you that way. You can feel it in their energies, they are just as exhausted as you, leaning against you, each other, or the wall to keep from falling over. 

You barely even feel it when they dry you and carry you over to the bed. 

#############

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I don’t know. I think…I think something’s wrong with Mina.” Eddie sighs when Steve turns away from him and focuses on the computer in front of him. “She feels…alone. I don’t like it, Steven. It reminds me of how I felt growing up with my dad.”

“There’s nothing we can do, Ed.”

“We can—”

“No. We’re not having this discussion again.”

“Why?! Why would it be so bad to bring her here? It feels like she’d be safer with us than wherever she is now!”

“Eddie, have you taken a look around? We’re on the run, you’re a vampire, we do this internet stuff for money. It’s not exactly lavish!”

Both men glare at each other as their computer pings informing them that you were online. 

“Hey, Mina. O-Oh my god. What happened?”, Steve gasps as he and his partner take in the slowly forming ring around your eye. 

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m so clumsy and fell. Thankfully John was here to help me.”

“Yeah…thankfully…”, Eddie growled towards Steve as his heart broke for you. 

“I’m…I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

“Why?”, you giggle as you shrug. “You didn’t do this to me, Renfield. I did it to myself.”

***

Your glassy eyes take him in as your boyfriend huffs around the bedroom before kneeling in front of you to place an ice pack on your cheek. All you wanted him to do was leave so you could talk to Renfield and Dracula. 

You had no idea how you were going to explain this new wound to them. It was so weird having people in your life who genuinely cared about your wellbeing and you found yourself lying to them more than you ever did to keep any of your toxic partners or family calm. 

They were your friends…you didn’t want them to worry…

“This is your fault. Why do you push me like that, Y/N?”

“I just asked you when you were getting off work…”

You jump as he tosses the pack hard against the wall. 

“See? It’s that fucking attitude!”

“I’m sorry.”, you whisper, fully giving up and accepting blame so all this would end. 

Sighing, he runs his fingers along your arm as his own eyes scan you over. 

“Will you be alright?” 

He takes your nod as enough confirmation, rising to his feet and finally leaving your house. Gradually, you stand as well and head to the bathroom to wash your face.

Sitting in front of your computer, you stare at the screen as you debate on rescheduling with them but you are so desperate for a kind voice to say something…anything…to comfort you from the current hell you’re in. 

***

Your eyes slowly opened just as the sun was beginning to descend behind your black out curtains, smiling softly when they land on Steve’s gentle yet sad expression. 

“It’s ok.”, you murmur as you reach out to caress his cheek. 

Catching your hand mid-air, he brings it to his lips as he scoots closer to your frame. 

“It’s not. You could have been with us this whole time.”

“Steve, you didn’t know—”

“But I should have. Eddie saved me from my father and took me in when everything was falling apart in my house. He always told me he understood and I was always grateful for that. I should have known the first time he felt something.”

“But you’re here now.”, Eddie replied groggy from sleep as you rolled onto your back so you could see them both. “Y/N, if ever you don’t want to play rough or anything like that, you know we’d still love you. I don’t want to trigger you or—”

“No, baby, no. You’re not.”, you assure him. “With my mom and my exes… I never had any kind of control over what was happening. With you two, even last night, I know you’d stop if I asked. I can feel it.”

Eddie sighs pleasantly when you place your palm on his chest. 

“Speaking of last night, you were really sexy, Miss Computer Hacker, hiding those skills under that beautiful head of hair.” You laugh as he leans in to tenderly kiss your neck.

“You’re both safe with me to. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

Steve tilts down to slowly kiss your skin as well making you groan as you turn into Eddie’s chest making him chuckle as he presses you to him. The other vampire’s hairy chest grazes your back and you grin as you listen to them kiss above you. 

“What do you want to tonight, honey?”, Steve whispered as his fingers ran up your arms. 

“We seem to be drifting into unknown places and unknown ways.”, you recited making the metalhead laugh again. 

“So did you just memorize the book or?”

“It’s one of my favorites.”, you beam up at him as you kiss his lips and crane your neck to do the same with the other man. “We can rewrite the ending though.”

###################

@chelebelletx @mandyjo8719 @nailbatanddungeon @corkadymu 

@lemme-slytherin-that-dick @she-collects-smut @dashingdeb16

@bexreadstoomuch

[thechaoticdruid]

This Bites (6)

Pairing: Astarion x Fem! Chubby!MC

Plot: Astarion gets to know Winnie's little step sister Vanessa as the trip to the carnival date grows near.

Content/Warnings: Fluff, mean vampire threatens smol human, smol human is annoying and asks too many questions, smol human's dad is a bigot, Batstarion abuse.

Chapter 5: Long ass chapter

Chapter 6: We here.

Chapter 7: Uhh......

“Shit.” Astarion breathed out, staring at the little girl with shock. This was not good. Winnie had busted her ass to make sure no one in the house found out about Astarion. Winnie shot up from the ground, eyes widened with horror as she saw her stepsister in her room.

“Vanessa! What are you doing in MY room?” Winnie snapped, arms crossed. 

“I couldn't sleep!” Vanessa complained before her eyes stared at Astarion, taking in his features. 

“He looks like the vampire from that game all my favorite YouTubers are playing!” 

“Ah…Well, he's just a big fan!” Winnie said nervously before elbowing Astarion in the shoulder.

“Oh! Yes! I am just absolutely captivated by him! He's so beautiful and dreamy.~ It's as if he was carved from stone by the gods themselves!~” Astarion put his hand over his heart, lacing every word with some dramatic flair.

“Okay, I think she gets the point.” Winnie rolled her eyes, as she huffed at Astarion's ridiculous and frankly egocentric theatrics. 

“You sound just like him too!” Vanessa said, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “And are those fangs in your mouth?”

“He's a cosplayer and he just so happens to be very good at impressions! Seriously Nessa, don't tell me you think he could actually be a vampire. You know they aren't real, silly.” Winnie said, laughing nervously as her anxiety began to spike.

“He literally has no reflection.�� Vanessa said, pointing to the mirror in Winnie’s room. Just to add to their shit luck, the two of them had been standing at the perfect angle for her to notice. 

“Fuck.” Winnie cursed, stomping her foot and covering her face in her hands. 

“Well…Looks like we'll have to kill the child.” Astarion said with an annoyed sigh, clenching his clawed fingers.  Vanessa tensed up and backed up against the wall as the vampire took a step forward. Winnie quickly moved in front of him and blocked the way to Nessa.

“No no no! We are not murdering my stepsister!” Winnie put her hand on his chest. 

“I can't believe there's a real vampire in our house!” Vanessa exclaimed, sounding way too excited about a blood sucking undead being hiding in her home.

“You are not having the appropriate reaction to finding out a bloodsucking monster-” Winnie was cut off by Astarion clearing his throat,” right sorry LIFE CHALLENGED INDIVIDUAL is in your house.” 

“Well, you obviously don't seem afraid of him.” Nessa exclaimed, “and if he was dangerous why would you bring him into the house?” 

“I am very dangerous, thank you.” Astarion scoffed, crossing his arms with a slight pout.

“He is my friend and I'm taking care of him…” Winnie began to say. 

“Dad has no idea he's here does he?” Vanessa raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

“No and I want to keep it that way.” Winnie said sternly. 

“I can't believe there's actually a video game character in front of me!” Nessa squealed in excitement. “Wait, how is this possible?” 

“I've been trying to get to the bottom of that.”Winnie rubbed her temples, “look the bottom line is you can't tell anyone about him being here, understand?” Vanessa ignored Winnie and immediately went over to inspect Astarion.

“So what's your name?” She asked curiously.

“It's Astarion. ~” The vampire replied with a dramatic little bow. 

“Astairen?” Vanessa repeated, pronouncing the vampire’s name incorrectly. The elf sighed and rolled his eyes.

“A-star-rion.” He corrected her. 

“Ha! You sound like a Pokemon!” Vanessa giggled.

“A what?” The vampire was completely confused. 

“Vanessa.” Winnie huffed, “listen to me.” Vanessa eventually turned back to look at Winnie. “You cannot tell anyone about him, understand? Especially not your father.” 

“I won't tell anyone! I promise! I've just always wanted a vampire friend!” Nessa exclaimed with a twinkle in her eyes. 

“Let's not get carried away…There are very few people in this world I consider ‘friends’ and you are certainly not one of them.” Astarion said in a sassy tone, face scrunched in disgust. Winnie quickly elbowed him.

“Be nice.” She scolded him. 

“Ugh….If I must…” Astarion groaned and looked over at the young girl. “…I may consider becoming friends…” The vampire said the last word as if it would make him vomit.

“Don't take what he says too personally, Ness. He's basically a cat on the inside.” Winnie said calmly, causing Vanessa to giggle. 

“This is going to be so cool! I have so many questions!” Vanessa said with excitement. 

“Ah yes well, it might be best if you hold off your questions for tonight. I'm really tired.” Winnie said with a yawn, stretching out her arms.

“But come on! Just a few minutes! Pleaaassse!” Vanessa whined. Winnie groaned in annoyance before sitting on the bed and kicking off her shoes.

“Alright. You got ten minutes.” She said with a sigh. 

“Okay okay! Can you fly?” 

“No.” Astarion replied.

“Can you hypnotize people?”

“No.”

“Can you see the future?” 

“No.” 

“Read minds?” 

“No.”

“Do you….sparkle in the sun?”

“Not sure…Usually I'm too busy burning to death to check.” 

“Well, you're a boring vampire!” Nessa huffed.

Astarion rolled his eyes,”I can rip your heart out and eat it. Is that exciting enough for you?” 

“Kinda gross, but okay.” 

“Alright you've asked enough questions. Now go to bed.” Winnie sighed. 

“Fiiiine.” Vanessa finally gave in before leaving to go back to her room. 

Winnie let out a groan of annoyance once her step sister left her room. She rubbed her temples in frustration as Astarion sat down on the bed beside her. 

“God, I hope she doesn't tell anyone…” Winnie muttered before suddenly feeling clawed hands on her shoulders. Astarion began to rub her gently. 

“Since you won't let me kill them I dearly hope you have a plan brewing in that pretty head of yours? In case our little secret gets out.” The pale elf said as he continued to massage her shoulders, thumbs moving down to rub circles around her shoulder blades. 

“We'd have to move out I guess…..Which is just a problem in itself. There's no way I can afford my own house and an apartment is too crowded. You'd never be able to sneak out and hunt without the possibility of being seen.” Winnie hummed, unable to help but let out a slight groan at the vampire’s touch. 

“Our own home does sound wonderful though. Just you and me living together. It'd almost be as if we were married.” Astarion hummed. The subject of marriage made Winnie go pale. She hoped he wasn't trying to drop some kind of hint? They'd only actually been dating a few weeks. They haven't even kissed yet for pete sake!

“Ah…Let's not get carried away now. I'm still a bit too young to be thinking of marriage.” Winnie huffed before pulling away and laying down on the bed. 

“Ah..Yes of course. I only meant that it would be similar.” Astarion replied with a sad smile as he noticed Winnie facing away from him. He didn't want to make her feel pressured into anything, but he couldn't help but long to be closer to her. It was hard for him to understand that what seemed like years of companionship to him were only days, weeks at most to her. Winnie was completely infatuated with him. But love, real genuine romantic love was still such a foreign concept to the young woman. It was something she never thought she'd ever receive. She had to be smart about it and not rush into anything.

“Are you upset with me?” His saddened voice immediately made her look back.

“No, no! I'm just really worn out. Today has been tiring.” Winnie explained looking up at him. She let out a deep sigh before patting the space beside her. “You can ... .lay here if you want..” she murmured shyly. Almost as if on command Astarion immediately slotted himself beside her, arms pulling her against him. Astarion smiled, nuzzling his face between her neck and shoulder.

“Goodnight my love.” Astarion whispered in her ear. Winnie blushed a bit, returning his embrace as she closed her eyes.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

“So you can turn into a bat, but you can't fly?” The twelve year old girl looked up at the vampire who stood in her room. Ollie the dog was curled up by her feet, sleeping.

“Technically I shouldn't be able to turn into one at all, but yes flying doesn't appear to come instinctively.” He rubbed his chin, glancing around the child’s slightly messy bedroom in discomfort. Vanessa sat down on a bean bag chair, dressed in a yellow Sonic the Hedgehog hoodie and blue jeans. 

“Then it's probably a good idea to practice! My dad won't be home until four so we have the whole house for you to fly around in! I can get you a little tiny bat helmet if you'd like?” Vanessa exclaimed as she hopped up. 

“Are you always left home alone this long?” Astarion asked, curiously. 

“My dad says I'm old enough to be here by myself.” Nessa exclaimed. “And Winnie said I need to keep an eye on you while she's at work so come on!” Nessa got up and quickly grabbed something from her drawer before leading Astarion out of her room and into the kitchen by his hand. Astarion rolled his eyes but complied with the girl’s wishes, not wanting to hear her whine. Astarion followed Nessa into the kitchen before taking his bat form, disappearing into a cloud of red before reappearing on the group as a little white vampire bat.

“Aww you're so cute!” She cooed before putting a tiny pink doll helmet on his head. “Okay now I'll get you started, and you remember to flap your wings!” The girl said before picking up the tiny bat who let out a few squeaks of annoyance. The sandy haired girl held him over her head before suddenly launching him into the air. The poor little bat let out a terrified squeak as he was slung through the air wings flapping frantically. Ollie shot out of Nessa’s room, hearing the bat’s squeaks. He immediately began to bark and snarl at the little creature. 

“Ollie no! Leave him alone!” Vanessa scolded, but the untrained pup just ignored her and snapped at the little bat, hopping up to try and bite him.

 Astarion hovered above the dog, just safely out of reach as he flapped his wings in desperation. 

The dog continued to lunge at him until Maddie poked her head out of Winnie's bedroom. Almost immediately she charged at the dog, a nasty growl left the feline's mouth as she came close, ears straight back and fur puffed up.

“Merrrrooow…” Maddie's vicious yowl caused the dog to turn tail between his legs before he ran off into Brian's bedroom. Astarion huffed, gradually slowing his flaps before dropping down onto Maddie’s back.  

Astarion let out a sigh of relief before hopping off Maddie's back and transforming back to his elven form. The little helmet falling off his head as he did so. 

“Alright, I think I've had enough of flying for one day.” Astarion dusted himself off before noticing Maddie rub against his legs. 

“Awe come on! You were doing so good!” Vanessa pouted. 

“Darling, you're completely impossible. If it wasn't for your sweet sister I would have drained you dry already.” Astarion scoffed. 

“Darling,” Nessa mocked, “you sound like a girl hehe.” 

“Oh such a cruel clever insult! However, will I possibly recover?” Astarion's words were dripping with sarcasm as he held a hand over his heart dramatically. Vanessa looked at him curiously and blinked.

“Are you gay? My dad said guys who act like you are gay.” The twelve year old asked bluntly. The vampire looked back at her, not quite understanding what the rude child was asking. 

“Not at present. I'm rather annoyed actually.” 

“No I don't mean happy gay. I mean do you like boys?” The young girl asked.

“Gods, you're a nosy child.” Astarion rubbed his temples.

“I just wanna know. Dad said I shouldn't talk to gay people. Not sure why though.” The child shrugged. “So do you like boys or girls?” 

“Hmm…I much prefer adults rather than boys and girls….” Astarion finally answered with a grimace. 

“Ah! That's what I meant! But what gender do you like?” 

“Must I choose?” Astarion chuckled before his pointed ears twitched and he heard someone pull into the driveway. He peeked his head through the door to the livingroom and spotted Winnie through the window. She had gotten off her motorcycle and was walking back to the house. Astarion grinned before entering the living room.

“Hey!” Vanessa whined and followed him. 

Winnie walked inside, she looked exhausted, hair messy and her uniform had a bit of dirt on it. 

“Winnie.” Astarion smiled at her sweetly,“welcome back my sweet.” He quickly pulled her in for a hug, nuzzling his face in her neck. Winnie nearly fell over, but the vampire held her up. 

“Darling? Are you alright?” He asked with concern.

“I'm exhausted. Work was hell today.” Winnie huffed, leaning against him. 

“Oh my God. You guys are dating aren't you?” Vanessa piped up.

“Ugh ...Not now Nessa. I don't have the energy for this.” Winnie said and pulled back from Astarion’s arms. Astarion smirked a bit.

“Winnie and I are partners, yes.” He said, smugly.

“Astarion.” Winnie glared at Astarion slightly.

“What? I'm simply being honest with the kid.” Astarion said with an innocent look. Winnie rolled her eyes before walking into her room. The messy haired female laid on her bed and took a deep breath. She laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling in silence. Eventually Astarion came into her room and sat on the bed next to her. 

“Love, I brought you something to eat.” Astarion hummed, setting down a plate with a sandwich on it. He looked down at her tired face and gently caressed her hair.

“Some crazy lady screamed at me today.” Winnie began suddenly. “She was pitching a fit because we didn't have any of the dog food she wanted. Becca wasn't working today so I had to handle it by myself.” 

“A pity I couldn't join you there during the day. I'd be happy to dispose of anyone who gives you trouble.” Astarion said with a smirk, clenching his free hand into a fist and cracking his knuckles. 

“You'd get arrested in a heartbeat.” Winnie chuckled, finally grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite. It was just bologna between two pieces of bread. No cheese or condiments. So incredibly bland. Well, she had to give the vampire some credit for trying. Winnie ate the sandwich before tossing the plate in the trash and laying her head on Astarion’s lap. 

“It pains me how little faith you have in my skills, my love.” Astarion said as he continued to stroke Winnie’s hair.  

“Honey, I've told you already. It's not like how it is in Faerûn where you can just dump the body in a ditch somewhere and no one will ask questions. People keep track of everyone who goes missing here. You will get caught.” Winnie mumbled, snuggling her head against his thigh. 

“Well, actually they do begin asking questions in Baldur's Gate. Of course I still managed to get away without being caught.” Astarion said smugly. 

“Makes me wonder if I should be involved with such a dangerous, dangerous man.” Winnie teased. 

“Oh don’t worry, pet. I'd never hurt you. Not unless you wanted me to.~” Astarion tapped Winnie on the nose with a flirtatious wink. Winnie rolled her eyes and just relaxed with her head on his lap. 

“Anyway, we have a lot to look forward to. We're going to meet up with your friend for a date in a few weeks, aren't we?”  Astarion reminded her.  Winnie’s eyes widened as she remembered they were supposed to meet Becca and her boyfriend at the carnival for a double date.

Shit.

Winnie turned and buried her face into Astarion’s thigh as she thought of all the things that could go wrong. 

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The carnival came to town much sooner than Winnie expected. It didn't take long before Nessa was begging Brian to let her go before she had to go back to her mother's house.  Winnie had called up Becca a couple nights back to make sure they'd meet up after sundown. She told her friend that her boyfriend couldn't get off of work until then. Everything was in place for the evening. Winnie wore a black T-shirt and ripped skinny jeans along with a pair of black converse. She brushed her hair out as best as she could while she stood in front of her bathroom mirror. Once she finished she put her glasses on and left the room, grabbing an old leather jacket from her closet that she barely wore as she let out a sigh.

Red eyes looked her over as their owner sat on the armchair, brushing his snow white locks. He was dressed in a sleeveless dark purple turtleneck which covered the bite scar on his neck. With it he wore black skinny jeans and tennis shoes.  

“You're going to get cold wearing that, you know.” Winnie hummed. 

“Well then, perhaps you'd be so kind as to lend me one of your coats if you're so worried about little old me.~” Astarion hummed, hopping up and moving a stray hair out of his face as he followed his lover into the bathroom.

 “I already told you, Star. My jackets won't fit you right. You're too tall and skinny to fit in my clothes.” Winnie said with a sigh as she began to brush her teeth. “Besides I already bought you your own jackets.”

“But yours are so much softer and more comfortable.” The vampire replied, fiddling with a bag on the sink counter. He took out a small purple tube of mascara before applying it to his lashes. Astarion put the mascara back before grabbing a black eyeliner pencil. 

“You're ridiculous but I-.......Where did you get that make up?” Winnie said as she looked back at him and blinked.

“Oh this? I found it in your mother's closet the other day. Looked like it hadn't been touched in a while so I thought it best not to let it go to waste.” Astarion replied as applied the eyeliner under his eyes. 

“Don't steal from my mom. You know you can ask me if you want something right?” Winnie let out a sigh and kept brushing her teeth. She spat out into the sink before rinsing the sink and her toothbrush off. Then she walked back into her room, picking her backpack up off the floor. 

Astarion came out and swiftly grabbed Winnie’s purple hoodie from the closet. He pulled it over his arms and let it hang off his shoulders before following his love out the door. 

Theys snuck out of the house quietly, making sure to lock all the doors behind them before leaving. Winnie hopped onto her motorcycle with Astarion getting on behind her as the two set off. It was 8pm by the time they reached the carnival. The rides were all illuminated up with bright colorful lights. The sound of screams of excitement filled the air as did the delicious smell of fried foods. 

Astarion glanced up at the strange contraptions with curiosity and a slight wariness. This wasn't like the circus as he predicted it would be like.

Winnie smiled a bit, memories from past trips to the carnival flooded her mind, filling her with joy and sudden enthusiasm. Perhaps this would actually be fun? She quickly shook her head, she needed to focus! There was another reason they were going here! 

Winnie got off the bike and led her vampire up to the entrance. He kept an arm locked with hers as they purchased their tickets, heading inside. Winnie checked her cellphone to see if there were any messages from Becca. 

“Okay, Becca's here. She’s with her boyfriend waiting for us by the snack stand.” Winnie hummed before looking over at Astarion.  His eyes scanned around the crowd. There were so many people and a sweet alluring scent hit him like a brick.

“Hon? You alright?” Winnie asked curiously before noticing some random guy had fallen on the sidewalk and skinned his knee, drawing blood. Winnie placed a hand on Astarion’s face. 

“Star…Look at me.” She said softly, causing his blood red orbs to snap back to her. “You haven't fed for a while have you?” 

“I tried going out and hunting but the last few nights prey had become rather scarce…” Astarion admittedly. 

“I told you, you were going to eat the whole forest. Look, hold on until we get back home and I'll let you feed from me.” Winnie said with a sweet smile. 

“Thank you my sweet.” Astarion returned the smile before Winnie tugged him along. 

“Now, let's go! Becca and Anthony are waiting!” Winnie exclaimed. They wandered through the carnival, marveling at the sights and sounds. The more they saw, the more Winnie began to grin, mind constantly slipping away from her main objective. 

“Yo! Winnie!” Becca's voice snapped Winnie out of her thrill fueled trance. “Over here! Come meet my babe!” The redhead called. Sitting next to Becca was a tall lanky man with messy black hair and green eyes. He had to be about mid twenties and was dressed in a sleeveless blue hoodie and shorts. 

Winnie walked over and smiled shyly, Astarion still holding on to her arm. 

“Hey…I'm Winnie and this is Star…” Winnie introduced them.

“Star? So that's his name, huh? You know I can't quite put my finger on it but your boyfriend seems really familiar.” Becca scratched her head.

“The vampire from BG3! He looks kinda like him!” Anthony spoke up.

“Oh shit, you're right!” Becca exclaimed, “dude's even got elf ears on! Wicked!” 

“Yeah, he really loves cosplaying!” Winnie said nervously. Astarion just stared at her in confusion.

“Cos-what?” He murmured. 

“It's an amazing costume. You look pretty hot in it too!” Anthony grinned.  Astarion smirked with a smug look.

“You flirt.” The elf rolled his eyes.

“He really is. It's part of his charm.” Becca giggled.

 Winnie looked at the two with a slight discomfort, but shook it off.  It was all harmless banter. “Anyway! Let's get this show on the road!” Becca hopped up with a grin.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Druid here! I hope I didn't make Vanessa too annoying, honestly I'm really just trying to portray her as a mischievous naive child though I can understand if she isn't well received. I'm going to New Orleans soon so it might be a while before the next chapter is dropped and I've also got some Winnifred The Druid oneshots to do.

Hope you guys liked the chapter! Next time we'll have some drama at the carnival!

~Druid

Taglist:

@seradyn , @plimsim, @astarioffsimpmain , @marcynomercy , @iamsexytrash , @gaymistakeboi , @divineknightmare , @tinyfreakgirl , @misscrissfemmefatal, @gianchan-de @jaksfanficsaver , @the-disaster-in-waiting , @hp-art-studio , @im-just-a-simp-le-whore , @dajeong , @iamnotokei

[adorawritesalot]

The Cafe

hi everyone! my first ever kpop one-shot (and my longest one ever)! spare me pls

pairing: widowed father!bangchan x cafe owner!fem!reader

word count: 3.5k

warnings: mentions of death, about five curse words, two idiots in love, overthinking, the L word, lmk if i missed anything

STORY UNDER THE CUT

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Chan was a regular at your cafe. And by regular you mean he comes by every day, 3:12 pm sharp. You would be stupid not to notice him; he’s too beautiful for his own good. His dark brown curls rested peacefully on his forehead, blissfully unaware of the effect they had on you, and his chiselled jaw looked like it could cut through diamonds. It didn’t matter if he was wearing a T-shirt or a coat, you could see his well-built body even through his clothes. He just looked so dreamy to you, and maybe that’s why you were thinking about him on your Sunday shift. One of the two days that he doesn’t come by the cafe. It was hard to wake up at the ass crack of dawn at the weekends long before Chan started going to your cafe. But ever since he first showed up in a black sweater and his hair unruly, asking for an iced americano to-go, waking up for your weekend shifts was even harder.  

“You need a coffee.” 

Snapping your head up quickly, you smiled at your friend tiredly, “Thanks, Hwa. Just what a girl needs at 9 am on a Sunday.” You quickly started making his drink to wake up at least just a little bit. 

“I’m just saying,” he shrugged, “you probably haven’t gotten many customers anyway. Had a long night?”  

You turned around with a fake scandalised look on your face, making him laugh. “You make me laugh, Park Seonghwa. I have a child to take care of!” you cried out jokingly, flailing your hands around. It made him look around the cafe and ponder on how far you’ve come. He had known you for quite some time now, meeting you at one of the many college parties his friends dragged him to. Back then this cafe was real only in your imagination, and he can remember the mental picture of the cafe he had when you first told him about your dream quite well, seeing as it was standing right in front of him. Well, besides the autumn decorations on every surface imaginable. He felt proud of you, and he would come to this cafe even if the coffee sucked. 

“I know, babe, but don’t you think you deserve to at least go on a date? And before you say something,” he put a finger up, making you turn back around, “maybe you can ask a hot customer, ‘cause I know damn well you don’t go anywhere else than your flat and the cafe,” he looked at the back of your head pointedly. 

You keep your eyes trained on the coffee in front of you as you think of a certain customer. Obviously, you’ve thought about asking him out, but what if he was taken? He looked to be older than you, and honestly, it would be a crime to leave that man single. And the second problem was even worse; you couldn’t, for the life of you, function properly when he was just on the other side of the counter. Yes, that may be because you haven’t felt the touch of another human being in quite some time, but you told yourself that it was just because of his stunning looks to keep your sanity.  

“Your coffee’s ready,” you turned around, smiling at him sarcastically. 

“You really don’t wanna talk about it, huh?”  

“No, not really.” 

He looked at you plainly in silence before softening up. “Just hit me up once something happens, please. Or even when nothing happens. You know that our door is always open for you, y/n.” 

“Of course, Hwa. We still have to plan the sleepover, anyway. Now shoo before the Sunday brunchers start coming,” you laughed, and it made him check his watch. 

“Oh god, I left Wooyoung in the car alone for fifteen minutes.” 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

3pm on an October Sunday had never felt as good as that day. Cleaning tables after a long day of being alone at the cafe mixed with your playlist playing softly in the background sounded like music to your ears. Even though it wasn’t by far the busiest day that the cafe had lived through, it felt like it. Your Sunday part-time worker texted you yesterday evening that he got the flu and could barely even stand up, so you told him to get well soon and then cried for an hour, like the responsible boss you are. 

After you finished cleaning up, you set the cleaning timer on all coffee machines to 4pm, turned off all the lights, put on your coat and grabbed your stuff. Stopping the music, you looked at your phone, only to see 3:10pm written on it. That means you can still catch the earlier bus without running to the bus stop and then start that series you’ve been itching to watch half an hour earlier. You add a little skip into your walk to the door, opening it. Just as you stepped out, a body stepped right in front of you. Yelping, you step back slightly, looking up at the stranger who wanted to come into the cafe, only to find Chan standing right in front of you, in that black sweater of his that you saw him in for the first time. 

He took a step back. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” 

You nodded at him with a laugh, “yeah, of course. I’m sorry, too. You just really scared me.” 

He then looked at your hand, which was holding the keys to the cafe, and then inside the building behind you, seeing the lights off. His expression falls and a little frown makes its way onto his face instead. “You’re closing? I thought you were here ‘till 5 today.” 

Your expression fell too, “oh my god. I forgot to put up the autumn schedule on Google,” he giggled a little at your expression, “in autumn and winter, we close at 3pm on Sundays. I’m so sorry, this is totally my fault. Do you still want coffee? The machines are not going to start the cleaning process until 4, anyway.” 

He interrupted you with a laugh, “you really don’t have to apologise, it’s nothing. But, um,” there was some hesitation in his voice, “but would you, maybe, no pressure, really, I don’t want you to feel like you have to, um.” He looked down at his feet and then back up at you with a nervous smile. “Would you want to go somewhere? With me. If you’re not busy, obviously.” 

You laughed out of shock, “Oh, um. What? I mean, really?” He smiled, his dimples on display, and nodded.  

“Yeah, sure. Sure, I would love to.” Were you dreaming? “Do you want to go in, then? O-or-” 

“No, no, I was thinking maybe, um, get street food and just go to the park around the corner? Because I don’t want you to spend time making something? Actually, scratch that, that’s just plain and stupid, maybe I should plan something fancier,” rambled Chan, combing his hand through his hair. 

“No, I think that sounds good,” you said, maybe a little too quickly, “I mean, uh, yeah. Sure, sounds good. Perfect, even.” 

“Okay!” There was that smile with the dimples. 

“Okay,” you smiled up at him sweetly, “oh!” Turning around, you locked the door quickly before turning around. “Shall we, then?” 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

The food wasn’t necessarily good, but you would honestly eat worse if it meant you could spend more time with Chan. You were sat on a bench, a first date friendly distance between your bodies. You’ve gotten to know random things about him in the past hour and a half; he is 30, just seven years older than you. You also found out that he works in the local firm that’s ten minutes away from the cafe, which is why he comes to the cafe at the same time every day, and that he likes to make music with his friends. What mattered to you more, though, was how attentive and awfully nice he was. Paying for your food, walking on the outside of the sidewalk, and actually listening to what you had to say came to him naturally.  

“I’m sorry, y/n, but I’ve gotta be somewhere at 5, so I’ll have to go,” he exclaimed after laughing at your previous statement. His words made you check the time on your phone, seeing that it was, in fact, nearing 5pm.  

“Oh, wow, I didn’t even notice it was already 5. Time flies by when you’re having fun, I guess,” you giggle at the hopeful look in his eyes once you said you had fun. 

“I had fun today, too, y/n. I’m glad you had time for me. I’ve been meaning to ask you out for a while now, and I’m happy I finally managed to do it. You’re a great person and even better company,” he stood up and look at his feet, red tinting his ears. 

“Chan,” you started, also standing up, “could I get your number before you go?”  

He looked back up at you for the second time that day. He thought you wouldn’t want anything more with him, maybe just chatting when he gets his coffee, but that’s about it. He let his insecurities cloud his judgement. He thought you were the one who saved this date from being a complete disaster, not knowing that this was the sweetest date you have ever been on. 

Maybe this whole dating thing isn’t as hard as he remembered it to be. Or maybe it’s just your presence that’s making it easier for him. He doesn’t know, but he thinks exchanging numbers with you could be a good idea. 

And as you part ways with him, he waves at you with a giddy smile, dialling the 3racha group chat. You wave at him with a giggle and a bright smile, calling Seonghwa quickly.  

“You won’t fucking believe what just happened.” 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

It’s been almost a month since your first date with Chan. And to be honest, you were in deep. You have been texting him almost all the time, and every time he would come by the cafe, he would stay a little longer, just to see you smile. You’ve gone on different dates in the past month, but your favourites were probably the museum and the aquarium date. 

But today marks the day of the biggest, and in your opinion the most important, date so far. You will be going to a respectable restaurant, dressed in your finest clothes. Seonghwa told you, that he thinks Chan might finally ask you to be his girlfriend, something you aren’t too sure of. Sure, you’ve fallen for him, and you would love to think he’s in the same predicament as you, but your overthinking mind cannot help but worry.  

Especially since he texted you at half past ten in the morning that he can’t go on a date today, because his work will probably keep him busy until late at night. So, you texted him that you understand and that you hope he doesn’t stay in too late, and then took a break to cry in the breakroom. Your mind was screaming at you from every corner of your brain. Why are you crying over this? It’s nothing personal, you’re sure, Chan wouldn’t do that to you, but you can’t help but worry. What if you are just another girl to him, while he is the main topic of your conversations with your best friend? 

Trying to push those thoughts away, you got up from the floor and cleaned up.   

At least your part-time worker doesn’t have to close by herself, you tell yourself to feel better about this whole thing. 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Chan felt like an asshole. He accidentally put his daughter’s recital on Saturday instead of Friday in his calendar, so he made plans with you. Turns out, the recital is, in fact, not on Saturday. His daughter was talking about it all the way to the kindergarten, all while he was silently cussing himself out. What is he supposed to tell you? Oh god, what if Jisung and Changbin can't come today? Nari would probably stop functioning if she saw two empty seats next to Chan. And then her teacher, who already didn’t like Nari for some reason, would be mad at her. This was bad. 

Then he remembers that he’s talking about Changbin and Jisung, the two guys who were by his side every step of the way. They wouldn’t miss Nari’s recital for the world. 

You, on the other hand? He was planning on telling you everything today at dinner; from his daughter to his feelings for you. And now he had to call off the date. Driving to work had never seemed this long. His mind was running through all the possibilities. He wasn’t stupid, he knew he should’ve told you sooner. Chan was just too scared to say anything. You were probably the best thing that’s happened to him ever since the death of Nari’s mum. What would he do if he fucked this up, too? 

Brushing it away as best as he could, he texts you that he won’t be able to make it to the date due to work and that he’s sorry. Because he truly was, and all he could do was hope that you wouldn’t take anything personally. 

Thankfully, his day at work went by quickly. Nothing out of the ordinary popped up, and so he could leave peacefully at 3 pm. He really wanted to see your smile and get coffee, but he knew he couldn’t, so he drove past the cafe to Jisung’s place, where he would be picking him up. Thankfully, Jisung lived quite close, so the drive didn’t take too long. Chan pulled up to his friend’s house like he had a million times before, unlocking the car as he saw Jisung standing there. 

“Hey, Chan,” he greeted enthusiastically, receiving a greeting back, “you excited?” 

“Hell yeah. This is Nari’s biggest recital so far. I just hope everything goes well.” 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

“Excuse me, sorry, excuse me, sorry,” he muttered as he passed people to get to their chairs. 

Changbin looked at all the parents around them, “Gods, when did these people even get here? I thought we were gonna be the first ones here.” He received an enthusiastic nod from Jisung. 

“Well, we were, but then Channie hyung just had to talk to Nari’s teacher,” Jisung rolled his eyes jokingly. 

“Sorry I care about my daughter.” 

A beat of silence passed through the group. Changbin and Jisung held eye contact with raised eyebrows until Jisung averted his eyes to look at Chan, “you okay?” 

“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I be?” 

All three of them knew he was fucked with that response. 

“Is this about y/n?” Changbin asked, already knowing the answer. 

The lights started to dim, “we’ll talk once the recital ends.” 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

He stood up, clapping proudly as he looked at his daughter. She waved at him with the biggest smile on her little face, and he knew he had to make things right. He turned to Jisung. “Could you go to Nari? I have to talk with Bin.” 

Jisung nodded sombrely, seeing as he wanted to hear this conversation, but ran off happily to his niece.  

Changbin sighed, “so, what did you do?” 

And so, Chan tells him. Changbin knew that he hadn’t told you about Nari, but he didn’t know Chan wanted to tell you today. Chan tells him how he lied to you, and how it’s slowly eating away at his conscience. And mainly, he tells him, “I don’t want to love her, Bin. I don’t like what that means to me.” 

“What do you think it means, Chris?” 

“It means I have something to lose again, and I’m not strong enough for that anymore,” he whispers harshly. 

“Well, if I can, I’ll tell you what I think it means,” Changbin started, “I think that means having someone who can help you bear all your problems. It means having someone who is here for you all the time. But mainly, it means having someone who loves you unconditionally, Chris. And from what you’ve told me, she’s great at all of these things. And she would probably be great with Nari, too. Nari would love her,” he paused, wondering if he should say it, “Nari will love her. But you gotta let her.” 

“But, Bin,” Chan tried to reason. 

“We both know she would want you to be happy. And if that means being with y/n, which I personally think it means, then she would want you to be with her.” 

Chan finally looked back up from his shoes to his friend. Chan knew he was right. Changbin was always right. But what about you? Would you even want him? 

“Stop overthinking and go tell her how you feel, please. I’ll cry if you don’t,” Changbin joked. 

“But Nari-” Chan began, only to get interrupted. 

“We’ll take her home. Go make things right,” he replied, pushing Chan to the entrance of the building. Chan only smiled before he took off, taking long strides to his car. 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

You sighed as you wiped down the last table. It was almost 5 pm, which meant you were closing for the day. It wasn’t your normal schedule, but it was the annual maintenance day, so your customers knew about this.  

All you wanted right now was a tub of ice cream, a cheesy romance movie to make you feel even worse, and three boxes of tissues to cry into. You knew this was stupid to cry about; after all, it was just a cancelled date. But what if this was just one out of many? Maybe he just didn’t want you anymore, or he never wanted you in the first place. 

And maybe you could just cry over a man on a random Friday night. 

You stopped the playlist sombrely, turned off the lights, and grabbed your things, seeing it was eleven minutes past five. You were supposed to be sitting in the best restaurant in the city right now. 

A ring of the bell above the cafe’s door interrupted our train of thought. “Sorry, we’re closed for the day,” you turned around, only to see him standing there, dressed in that damned black sweater of his. 

“Chan,” you breathed out, “what are you doing here?” 

Chan froze for a second. He was finally here, after sitting in the traffic for ten minutes. He had plenty of time to think about what he was going to say and do. Problem was that he forgot all of it the moment he saw you. And so, his heart took over. He took quick steps towards you. He stopped just short of you.  

“I’m so sorry, y/n. I need to tell you so much, but first I want to apologise. I haven’t been truthful with you in every aspect and,” he took a breath,” I’m just so sorry. Could we sit down?” 

And as he told you about his late wife and his daughter Nari in one of the cafe’s booths, you felt like a complete asshole for overthinking this. Of course he didn’t tell you, dumbass. You wouldn’t tell yourself either. A few minutes of silence were all it took for you to realise what Chan had just said. 

“Chan,” you started, trying to find the right words as you stood up, “be honest with me right now, please. Do you see this thing between us going somewhere serious? I get that you lost your wife a few years ago, and I’m really sorry to hear that. And I get that you have a daughter, so you probably won’t want her to meet me this soon or anything, but-” 

He kissed you. 

He kissed you, and it felt like all the tension from your shoulders fell right between the two of you and then dissipated into thin air. His kiss felt like a breath of fresh air although you were losing your breath slowly, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. Your hands found their way around his neck as his hands traced your waist, bringing you even closer. 

You then parted; you were both breathing heavily, but Chan’s face had that dimpled smile you’d fallen for.  

“I’m sorry, I just had to shut you up, y/n,” he giggled, “I do see this going somewhere and I do want you to meet Nari as soon as possible, because I don’t think I can handle another day without letting you know I love you. I love you, y/n.” 

The smile you had on your face could probably brighten any of Chan’s dark days, and he just wanted to kiss you again. 

“I love you, too, Chan.” 

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

THANK YOU for reading! friendly reminder that my asks are open!

asked to be tagged: @bangtancultsposts

[cinemaseeker]

Let's Review: Barbie

FAIR WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Barbie.

No other singular female name invokes quite as many various feelings, to such varying degrees, as Barbie. And very few names are quite as ubiquitous as Barbie (no really, name anyone you know who's never owned a Barbie at least once in their lifetime). And as with any ubiquitous entity, people are going to try and take their best shot, hoping to bring them down to our level.

Make no mistake, this movie is meant to reintroduce Barbie to a new generation of consumers. You will, more likely than not, want to buy a Barbie doll or other Mattel product either before or after watching this movie, either for yourself or for any child you know. This movie effectively serves as a mass market rebranding of Barbie, pivoting her from the poster girl for unrealistic body image/impossible feminine beauty standards to a vehicle for individuality and female empowerment.

Barbie is now all things to all people (anyone can be Barbie!), but all those things are still Barbie. However, as most of us know, a friend to all is a friend to none. If you are all things to all people, then you are effectively nothing, an empty vessel for others to project themselves onto. And indeed, even this new re-vamped Barbie can be validly viewed as a vapid vehicle for the consumer's own dreams and desires, leaving very little to no room for Barbie to have any dreams of her own.

And yet this movie still dares to ask: can a corporate capitalist product, whether it's a mass marketed toy or a Hollywood movie starring that toy, ever be a good thing, a force for positive change? Can subversive feminist messages stick stronger with audiences, especially its youngest and most impressionable viewer, if we cover it in a pink candy coating? Just give it a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down?

After all, this new Barbie now comes with her own existential crisis and has to deal with scary realities such as cellulite, aging, and *gasp* FLAT FEET (a hilarious bit of family-friendly body horror).

Not to mention a growing awareness of mortality.

To answer Barbie's question: yes. Yes, I do think about dying. We all think about dying at some point. And perhaps more importantly, our kids are starting to think about dying. I would not be surprised if there is even a single kid out there who has asked this question during playtime through their own Barbie. And for many good reasons. The world is a mess right now. Don't even get me started.

It feels like kids and adults alike are more anxious than ever and this new Barbie can certainly relate to that anxiety, even if it's not necessarily her own (it belongs to the girl playing with her). But it turns out that it's the girl's mom Gloria (America Ferrera) who's really struggling and needs Barbie's help, if only by using Barbie as a means of working through her own dissatisfaction as a working wife and mother.

This movie reminds us that we don't stop worrying about things just because we grow up. If anything, we find more things to worry about as we get older. But adults often don't get the same kind of comfort that we give to children; we're just supposed to suck it up and tough it out, but sometimes all we wanna do is stay in our rooms and play with our toys, just like we did when we were kids. Especially if we're girls, since the world is significantly much harder for us to deal with in a society that constantly polices and critiques girls and women (Gloria's speech about the impossible, and often double, standards imposed upon women is a highlight of the movie and should be required viewing for all humans)

But Barbie helps us feel like kids again.

Throughout the entire movie, Greta Gerwig and her team manage to recapture the joy of playing with Barbies with an obviously loving attention to detail. Barbie Land is that now-rare fantasy world that doesn't require a factual explanation but runs on a strong engine of internal logic that makes sense if you've ever played with dolls.

But enough about Barbie.

What about the men?

They're the ones who really have it rough here. Having to deal with all this girly stuff.

Now guys, this might come as a shock, but this movie might not be made for you in mind and therefore you may not get it. You may find yourself confused about why women in this movie are hogging the spotlight and not letting the men do anything important.

But, it's okay, don't worry guys, Ken's got you.

Barbie may be the star, but Ken gets the real emotional journey here. You see, he keeps getting friend-zoned by Barbie, who would rather hang out with her girlfriends and maintain her autonomy than spend the night with him. But once he follows Barbie into the Real World and discovers a magical society where men are in charge and women have to respect them, Ken brings some of these ideas back to the Kens in Barbie Land, thus subjugating all the Barbies to the awesome new patriarchal rule of "Kendom".

Now every night is guys' night.

Folks, go give bonus points to whoever had "Ken gets a villain arc" on their 2023 Bingo card. And while you're at it, add an extra 5 if they also included "Ironic use of a Matchbox Twenty song on the Barbie soundtrack".

Ken's story arc is a powerful reminder of why it's important to critique feminism when it doesn't work.

After all, Barbie Land's matriarchy may seem utopian at first glance, and may even be super inclusive to Barbies of all shapes and races and abilities, but ultimately it is exactly the same as our real world patriarchy, only gender-swapped, with women holding all the power and men being treated as useless accessories. This doesn't balance the scales, it just tips them all the way in the other direction. The only way to achieve true equality is for both men and women to have equal power in society. A conclusion that, thankfully, the movie reaches on its own by the end.

And although Barbie shouldn't have to apologize for not wanting to spend time with Ken or for prioritizing time for herself and her friends, I do appreciate that she was able to make things right with Ken without having to fix things with a kiss or kowtow to his desire to make her his girlfriend. Instead she helps Ken realize that he needs to figure out who he is outside of Barbie, cutting right to the root of toxic/fragile masculinity, which is usually the result of men with low self-esteem just wanting to be heard and respected.

But while Ken is hilariously drawn as a pouty, mostly innocent man child who just wants to be loved (ideally by Barbie), it's a lot harder to laugh off his antics when they result in the Kens actively stripping away constitutional rights and taking over the Supreme Court of Barbie Land. This moment especially should hit just a little too close to home and inspire us to take action.

Thankfully, this movie is not only entertaining and hella meta, but also serves as a practical instruction manual for how girls and women can deal with toxic men and take their power back, whether it's from men in power or obnoxious film bros who constantly espouse the virtues of films like The Godfather and the Snyder cut of Justice League (there's nothing wrong with enjoying these movies, just don't be a dick about it).

It has been a long, time honored tradition in Hollywood for "chick flicks", which is usually code for female-centered films, to be looked down on and mercilessly mocked while elevating more masculine movies to prestige levels. Hopefully Barbie will be the movie that helps us see that "chick flicks" can be just as powerful and impactful as "dick flicks" and then help us reclaim hyperfemininity in our fight against the patriarchy.

After all, would it really be the worst thing in the world if the revolution was not only televised, but also pink?

Listen, if you laugh during this Barbie movie and it happens to make you question and effectively challenge the patriarchy, then all the better.

So will Barbie be that radical watershed movie that inspires a whole generation to believe that the future truly is female or will it just pay lip service to a feel-good you-go-girl message while still maintaining the status quo?

As with any seed we plant, the best we can do is nurture it, give it time, then wait and see what grows.

Come on, Barbie. Let's go party.

[bluedino15]

Undertale Yellow AU/UT and DR based-Ideas Ramble Post

You know, I haven't posted on this account for anything in YEARS besides reblogs and one Paper Mario: Origami King rant...

Anyway, had random assorted Undertale yellow AU and post pacifist/wider Undertale/deltarune world--related ideas I felt like spouting for fun because I'm back into Undertale brainworms and Twitter would suck for this, especially since I keep updating this. Feel free to use these ideas if you somehow see this and get inspired. Credit would be nice (at least cause I would like to see anyone turning these rambles into ideas) but really isn't necessary. These can easily veer off from the canon/creators of yellow and various AUs referenced (I've been really bad at keeping up with generally accepted versions of aus and the story for official ones), and I do not in ANY way want to imply my ideas are good or "proper" add-ons, just fun what-ifs that might break the rules. Also, I'm bad at coming up with good endings or full casts descriptions for a lot of these concepts (sorry Dalv) so feel free to do them yourself

UNDERTALE YELLOW SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

*Undertale background (and yellow lore ideas):

-Clover is the first human to fall after Flowey's "birth"

-if Berdly has an unseen Undertale counterpart (he's the only one who never has a reference or family member referenced unless you think the drunk bird in grillby's is related), martlet is like his way older cousin.

-martlet stole the serum from true lab while everyone was still fallen down, soon after alphys made the first injections, hence why alphys is willing enough to chance leaving the lab open and why martlet isn't as shocked/traumatized as she might have been if she saw amalgamates. She wasn't familiar enough to recognize kanako/a child resembling chujin (how she might have expected them), but she was also focused on sneaking in and out so she wouldn't have paid much attention until reflecting during pacifist.

-Kanako is part of the amalgam that tucks in frisk, since she remembers it being comforting when she was a kid. Also, this is just a story idea but I can imagine her being a bit special/unique when everyone started melting, perhaps the first to get up and last to melt or vice versa (I think the former cause her soul was probably holding on a bit longer since because of the boss monster and existing determination injection sustaining her longer)

-undertale yellow takes place just before the monsters who became amalgamates woke up (since alphys said she called everyone and probably wouldn't have been so chipper in the journal if one monster wasn't still getting up, and Ceroba says she hadn't heard anything and there's no mention of other monsters getting news of their relatives) and subsequently melted. In other words, amalgam kanako doesn't happen until after the events of pacifist (that said, I wrote some au ideas on the idea of her amalgamating before anyway)

-the snowdin attack took place in upper snowdin, which is why there's way more guards stationed there. Additionally, that was one of the last events of Undertale counterpart rudy's life, and he helped asgore restore trust and calmness in the days after the event. His girls were too young to remember. Lastly, sans and papyrus briefly drew suspicion for their human frames, but both pretty quickly disarmed residents of suspicion.

-The reason that Clover was the only one to ever travel through yellow locations (the other humans may have at least explored other parts of the underground and just died in Frisk-explored locations) is because they're some of the farthest possible places from the Castle. Even slightly more direct routes would have gotten them killed, hence Flowey pushing them on a roundabout path

-Undertale's Gaster (I have a seperate pet theory about how there's one from Undertale who fell into Deltarune, and another who originates there) made the core but fell into Deltarune before clover arrived, and there he has some major interaction with sans and papyrus that follows them back in Undertale where they get here after Clover

-The boss monster gene is normally inherent only in goat-esque monsters, so by default they're the only boss monsters, but it can be transferred from goat monsters to non-goat monster children (normally undetected), and it was in Chujin's family for years (this is mostly just me coping on my different definition of boss monster)

-Ceroba's family were naturally gifted towards magic and one of the more important families on the surface, to the point that a few remnants of their tradition remained aboveground where they eventually become (one of many) inspirations for Mew Mew Kissy Cutie (without the humans knowing the monster background), hence the bell motifs both share. Underground life has kind of quashed most boundaries that aren't "the royal family," but Chujin was marrying above his paygrade (both had a strong mutual love)

--As a combination of the above, Kanako would probably have been one of the most Naturally gifted/powerful monsters short of the Dreemurrs thanks to both her mother's magic and father's boss monster DNA. However, she probably wouldn't have had a need to significantly develop those powers (kind of like how Toriel is naturally powerful but not really a warrior).

-Ceroba has a slight Japanese accent (like someone who has both mastered English and speaks it commonly enough) that's usually burried underneath the underground's default (like every species had some dialect and accent pre-Ebott that's faded over time), but if she gets angry it FLARES up

-Likewise, Starlo has an exaggerated cowboy accent (I personally think of Mad Dog in the Live a Live dub with the southeastern-slant given his showmanship), but when the mask (and hat) drops, it turns into softspoken midwestern farmboy.

-Chara only bonds to Frisk because they share an affinity for determination and Frisk landing on their grave was close enough to hit something. Clover isn't attuned enough for that to happen.

-sans, alphys, and Asgore know about all the Yellow locations (though Alphys is too shut in to ever visit anywhere besides the mew mew arcade machine), Undyne has been to the dunes and mine and is old enough to know of the steamworks but never visit, while she respects the Wild East just enough to avoid visiting herself and causing trouble (personally, she probably thinks they're just a bunch of slackers who aren't helping out monsterkind given her views of mettaton, but she can at least respect their passion ). Papyrus doesn't know about the steamworks but has been out to the dunes once or twice. Toriel has been shut in and away too long to know of the steamworks and doesn't know the dunes dried out.

*Undertale yellow post-pacifist (and just Undertale post-pacifist):

-Flowey left his main save after Clover's death, after realizing both neutral and any pacifist didn't get anywhere, and due to a mix of pity/respect (though he wouldn't admit it, clover sacrificing their soul for monsterkind reminds him of Chara) and pragmatism, he keeps his ("main" if reular flowey has multiple) save file permanently after their death even if he CAN reset to his creation. (Of course, he's still toyed with the timline THOUSANDS of times before Clover fell--since they only fell after he already tried everything and just waited, he's not too torn up about never going back while he plays around with his new circumstances for a while)

-The only ones who know most of what happened to Clover are Martlet, Starlo, and Ceroba. They told Asgore that Clover was a good kid, but nothing about how they steered Ceroba off her path

--likewise, no one but Clover and Ceroba (and Flowey) knew that Ceroba is responsible for Kanako falling down. Starlo (and some of the rest of the Feisty Five) has suspicions Ceroba hid SOMETHING about the nature of Kanako falling down beyond what she reveals out loud in pacifist, but would never suspect what happened, and both he and Martlet were knocked out for the fight (plus, Clover was seeing a memory) so neither caught what happened. There is absolutely some angst potential of Ceroba admitting what happened and it temporarily straining her friendship with Starlo.

-Undertale is about 2 years after (I normally headcanon that it's decades apart for humans but for this game I'd let it slide). There's not much obvious aging or change outside whats apparent in the credits from character development (dalv is a little more outgoing, Ceroba starts to live a little, starlo goes back to the farm more often) but Martlet is probably marginally more organized and a tad more matured in terms of appearance.

- The cast is mostly uninvolved with UT, but at least one of them (probably martlet or Dalv--ceroba is still a little bitter about mettaton costing Chujin his job and Starlo might avoid the show out of respect to her) catch Frisk on Mettaton's show with clover's gun and hat. Your call whether they respect that Clover's tools protect another kid beyond the grave or see that moment as disrespecting their memory (Martlet is probably the most understanding, Starlo the least), but after the barrier is broken they at least appreciate that Frisk used Clover's belongings to achieve justice for monsterkind

-During the photoshop flowey fight, clover was kept on lock the longest since he knew more of what their soul was capable of.

-The Wild East/Dunes and steamworks aren't used as hiding spaces in genocide because even if clover was pacifist, monsters know humans have gotten there before, and Alphys isn't taking chances compared to how true lab can be locked down.

-the souls can briefly "sense" clover while everyone is absorbed by Asriel, and toward the end of the fight as monsters inside gain their memories back, they don't exactly "talk" again but at least gain a sense of closure and fulfillment from Clover. No one quite knows what happened after the fight, but the gang feels a little better about Clover for some reason.

-Ceroba meets amalgam Kanako in both the evacuation and post-pacifist. At first, she'd hold it against Alphys (after the initial despair at seeing her daughter transformed), enough to even attack alphys, but she comes to admit what happened is just as much her responsibility. On post-pacifist, Kanako is calm enough (thanks to Frisk) and sentient enough for it to be a real reunion, and like most amalgams doesn't hold it against alphys enough to lash out, which at least eases Ceroba.

-toriel gets some closure on what happened to clover when she wants to honor the fallen humans and asgore directs her to ceroba. She doesn't get the full story but enough to know they gave their soul up willingly. Even though the two in the past probably would have disliked each other (Ceroba disliking Toriel for giving up on her husband, and Toriel for what Ceroba did to both kanako and Clover), Ceroba would have mellowed out enough to respect toriel's decision. Toriel would be more standoffish but at least sees Ceroba as less of a coward than asgore who was motivated by love of her family.

-any monsters who befriended previous humans plus yellow's main cast and toriel hold a funeral for the humans who died (Asgore may attend out of penance, and other monsters out of guilt but not as the primary attendees), Toriel is probably the only one (besides family if any are left) that cares for integrity sadly...

-On the surface, Starlo becomes involved in those western town recreations, and Martlet still doesn't quite have a direction to take her life in and winds up in various odd-jobs for a while, but she appreciates the newfound freedom. Dalv isn't quite a pro yet, but his organ playing nets him the occasional music festival appearance, and in-between he works on his kid's books. Ceroba would mainly be occupied just trying to keep amalgam kanako happy (though if there's a connection between her background and Japan, she at least visits a few shrines together) and when she doesn't visit her friends, she's working together with other amalgam families on treatment.

-Honeydew inn becomes the main nature resort of the underground for surface visitors (comparatively snowed Inn is more of a rest stop for tourists travelling and not so much staying)

-The connection to the surface eventually results in the resources for reflowering portions of the dunes, and the mines remain a source of mineral wealth for monsterkind.

-The steamworks gets "restored" (cleaned out of important tools and research properly, and physically repaired but out of practical operation outside as a museum) post-pacifist. Most robots choose to stay in the only home they know (and could operate in) but any capable of moving at least have the freedom to leave, and it's now run as a historical location with Axis occasionally involved in tours (when he's not exploring the concept of freedom himself). Alphys contributes to the restoration work due to a combination of guilt for "faking" mettaton's nature and putting a lot of scientists out of a job, and Ceroba realizing she's still one of the best tech specialists left in the underground and asking for her help (and alphys naturally feels she owes it to her as a family member of an amalgamate).

*General AU Idea I had regarding Kanako as Flowey/an Equivalent

-Kanako takes on a similar role to Flowey after a combination of Ceroba's soul essence injection and alphys' determination injections (Ceroba never told Alphys that there's already some injected in her) overload her past the amalgam point and her body melts too much to even hold together, eventually dusting and settling into a white flower from the steamworks that Alphys had been loaned for an experiment. She grows the same lack of empathy and desire for thrill/power that drives flowey as lack of emotions and the ability to reset erodes her unwillingness to kill (as usually develops as a result of gaining reset power: see meta narrative on Frisk/Chara/the player). Eventually, this drives her to seek the souls and see what she could do with more power. her philosophy outside of those goals is that people only ever use each other as a means to an end, and trust or faith in others is a painful dead end (Chujin's plan and Ceroba's work hurt Kanako and she cynically sees it as an attempt at creating/clinging to legacy, she realized Alphys faked her credentials and was using the DT injections just for reputation, and she eventually realizes Asgore doesn't reaaaaally want to free his citizens the way he promised them but is too afraid to be honest and destroy their trust). There's an element of "kill or be killed" but based more in the belief that inherent selfishness means those who don't use others will be used. The integrity soul human themself isn't really present, but their LV, though filtered, made it easier for Kanako to start hurting others.

-outside her general philosophy being a bit different and putting down her parents and their friends a bit more (similar to Flowey holding more cynical views of his parents) her actions are like flowey for most of the game (so she largely masks her philosophy and her personal belief that she and Clover are trying to use each other). the only noticeable difference is that she's less reliant on pellets and more on energy infused attacks given the nature of the flower she's attached to. Part of her snapping in neutral in addition to just generally being angry clover won't open the way to killing asgore after years of trying to get them there is that she's PISSED clover would be so "stupid" as to throw their safety away by trusting Martlet. The inside of her head would have less of Flowey's self-harm elements and be marginally less twisted (it "helps" she isn't dealing with lingering remnants of Chara's mentality or death from humans like Asriel did) but instead there'd be a sense of loss of self from the amalgam experience she briefly felt manifesting as melty, goopy horror, and the fear she felt both then, and as a child when integrity attacked (and subconsciously, the fear Integrity held as Axis blew their head off).

-despite the Asriel comparisons I also really wanna try not making her mostly just "Asriel but UT yellow character." (which is also why I can't come up with an ending scenario since I feel it could rip off Asriel too much). I do think flowey's role in UTY works really work because it IS flowey and not someone like him (whether like his UT or UTY selves), I just also had the idea kanako might be flowey during my playthrough and I REALLY wanna explore that .

**variation of the above but placing the timeline further back.

-I have a less developed idea that sees this as part of a larger AU where yellow takes places before flowey or alphys. Chujin loses his job due to the core shutting down steamworks labs and the axis prototype incident ensuring he doesn't get to work as an individual researcher. The Integrity attack happens when kanako was just a baby, then a decade later is when chujin dies and Ceroba starts the serum plan. After kanako becomes fallen down, Ceroba does another injection since she's desperately clinging to the belief that chujin's idea HAS to work.

-That much human soul essence contains enough DT for it to partially melt Kanako and seemingly destroy her sentience, but her boss monster DNA (and the fact that it's not pure DT but filtered through human essence like its supposed to) keeps her soul and form resilient enough to survive as solo amalgamate. Ceroba keeps her locked in the Ketsukane house out of a mix of shame, fear of losing all her friends, and fear that Asgore would ask other scientist to poke at Kanako's soul (Ceroba herself would admit that she really isn't sure herself which one dominates her thinking, but it's probably more selfish than she would like). She tries her best to at least talk to her, feed her and comfort her while maintaining the facade of a normal life (she tells everyone Kanako got sick and passed away, and it was too much to bear to bring anyone to her funeral) Kanako slowly becomes less and less responsive. Months before Clover falls, Kanako's body comes into contact with a white flower from the steamworks, and the remnants of her soul jump into on after sensing a stable, "living" body, awakening as her time's version of flowey.

-I don't have too much of an idea for the ending of Clover's journey, but in this version Ceroba has at least given up on using Kanako for a monster soul and instead is aiming for Asgore's. Part of the shock of the Ketsukane household portion would not just be the tapes, but the fact that Kanako's now motionless, amalgamated body can be found right after. It's initially assumed to be from Chujin's research before the truth comes out.

-this probably breaks a TON of rules of both undertale and Yellow, so if anyone has a less stupid sounding version of this, it would be neat (and also how it would somehow end in such a way as to not interfere with Undertale)

*species swap/overtale yellow/monster clover:

- clover is a fox monster for a kanako parralel just as how Frisk and Chara are commonly goat monsters. Their aesthetic still leans on western cultural ideas about foxes as opposed to kitsune elements, with the hat over their ears plus scarf over their nose in populated areas hiding enough facial features to pass as human.

-martlet's wings are a carpentry invention she made to make her job easier. They aren't exactly the most reliable equipment...

-All the robots are largely the same (since they aren't monsters), though there's an implication that integrity's monster counterpart's dust has had some unnatural effect on Axis' personality (nowhere near asriel's rebirth). Chujin had BADDLY underestimated how fragile monsters can be.

-one of the uncomfortable facts that clover is confronted with towards the end of each route is that if the monsters who fell (or however your take goes) died, there would be no real way to know what dust is theirs or where they are.

-part of the reason clover stands a chance is because their gun, unlike the rest of clover, is not magic but instead physical with a bit of extra kick from magic infusion. And a murder-high/genocide route naturally gets a little bloody... (though most would at least be "clean" enough shots through the chest)

-in each route, clover undergoes their own "undying"-esque transformation based on overwhelming justice that feeds into determination, resulting in the equivalent of their big shot mode. In neutral, flowey reducing them to their soul in his mind means their magic is no longer tied to a body or the danger of the real world and can desperately concentrate on self defense, in pacifist, Ceroba lands a clean hit and clover's sense of betrayal and desire for a just end pushes them to take one last stand (regardless of pacifist outcome, they don't have a strong enough soul for it to last forever). In Geno, axis manages to land the same killing blow he did on integrity, and clover is strong enough to spend the remainder in their undying mode. Asgore manages to actually land his own fatal blow, but clover survived long enough to kill him and take his soul, leaving it ambiguous if it saves them.

*what-if: Ceroba succeeds in capturing Clover's soul

-basically what it says. Ceroba manages to get clover all the way to true lab (including pushing past alphys and mettaton) before Starlo warns them (or alternatively, if for some reason Flowey didn't reset the timeline when she takes Clover's soul in the pacifist fight). After the initial shock in true lab, Ceroba realizes one of the amalgams is Kanako. Even though part of her admits her plan won't work with the state her daughter's soul is in, she's too desperate to reverse her daughter's condition and after coming across Alphys' entry 17 (unused in-game, but her speech on how monsters can't handle DT), backstabs Clover in the hopes that their soul can act as a weight on the determination that overloaded the amalgam's body. Flowey's aversion to true lab plus the speed and chaos of events happening make him too slow to control the timeline since the amalgamate has enough determination to go beyond his file (a full human soul plus a DT injection plus a human essence injection plus boss monster DNA plus other monsters). The body stabilizes into a chimera, and all the monsters in the amalgam plus clover have their own sense of self and degree of control over their body (picture Asriel + Chara but way more chaotic, with kanako and clover as the ones most commonly in control). Everybody is confused and terrified, and Angst and tragedy ensue. Kanako isn't really happy that an innocent human had to die for her sake, and Clover is caught between anger at being betrayed, and their own recognition of the injustice Kanako and all the amalgamated monsters have endured.

*"Ketsukane Reborn"/Clover shares a soul with Kanako

-not my idea at all (there are quite a few cool takes on this), but yeah, clover shares their soul with Kanako similar to Dreemurr Reborn. Kanako has less angst about Clover giving up their soul (they're still sorry of course, but they didn't ever try to hurt Clover, and clover gave their soul up since it wouldn't be just to let them suffer so they're okay enough with what happened) and the two can be surprisingly in-sync with a mix of Kanako's enthusiasm (Kid was hopeful enough that her parent's serum would work) and Clover's desire for justice, compared to Asriel/Frisk being a bit more solemn and differing

-Since both of them keep their eyes open, the main way to tell who's more in control is the eye hue: Brown for Kanako, and Yellow for Clover.

-The monster side of the soul offers support in shooting sections with the same additions that ralsei and susie provide during spamton Neo (with the protection closer to Ceroba's diamond shields).

-Ceroba absolutely broke down SOBBING in a mix of joy and sadness to have her daughter back and for how much Clover gave. Clover assuring her it was okay was one of the first times they manifested.

-If they ever actually meet Dreemurr Reborn Asriel/Frisk, Asriel talks with Clover a lot apologizing for all he put them through, and Kanako talks with Frisk thanking them for not fearing her in True Lab.

-the human essence in kanako was the only reason why her body was even stable enough to absorb Clover's soul (clover confirmed this themselves before they gave it up), but even still, she does feel that it's unfair she got a second chance that no other amalgamates did. As they get older, the two search the world for the history of monster souls to see if there's any cure.

*Underswap yellow:

-I don't have ideas for most swaps since the cast mostly don't come in pairs, but in a role but not personality swap AU, Ceroba would swap with starlo and goes full weeaboo running the Far West. She's not anime weeb (though that's her equivalent to western movies as research material) but more like, glorious Nippon, edo-era, ken-sama shit. Starlo is a peaceful enough farmer who packs a gun after seeing its power in his interactions with human culture (if clover swaps, he got the gun they left behind). Ceroba is moreso putting on act of overblowing what is "tradition" while making it more "trendy" based on human trash in waterfall in order to appeal to other monsters even though she wants to honor her family's legacy (not just her immediate family but ancestors), and Starlo leans into it more than Ceroba does for him. The culmination of the arc would more be her frustration with a self-imposed obligation to put up an act that celebrates the human alterations and ignores how her family really was, compared to Starlo getting too caught up in the act

-If clover does swap with another human, it's either patience (a la their items appearing in the ruins in ts!underswap) or integrity (as the major human of yellow's backstory). Whoever swapped with clover is the one going through the journey with yellow's cast and theming is closer to their soul, while clover went through the events the original human they swapped with did.

-Asgore, Toriel, undyne, napstablook, and Temmie are mostly the same as however you view/prefer their underswap selves. Running with the doll idea, neutral ending Temmie's memories feature a lot of ripped apart and mutilated dolls and stuffing, and an "odd" focus on a lack of arms... On Geno route they get absolutely ripped to shreds as their plush's body parts come off.

--Alternatively, going with the Asriel and Chara swap (the other one I usually see), then Chara-as-Flowey would DETEST Clover the instant their mask slips in neutral/genocide. They still wouldn't reveal their backstory, but there would be hints at the fact that they're pretty familiar with humans and have a VERY low impression of humanity (Clover's counterpart not excluded), even if circumstances have lowered their empathy for monsters as well. During true pacifist, Clover's counterpart's act of selflessness for the sake of monsterkind earns their begrudging respect, while during Geno, Chara-flowey promises them that they aren't all powerful and will have consequences some day like all humans (I've never really seen a consistent elaborated form of this swap so I kind of just ran with my own ideas of it, without too much personality swapping)

*Underfell Yellow

-I forget the general plot/backstory people go with and I haven't seen the original version in YEARS so I don't have much for Undertale/fell cast members who appear, aside that flowey was genuinely siding with Clover most of the journey and sends them away from toriel for their safety (from Toriel or the rest of the underfell underground is your call). Clover gives him the okay to move on without them once they realize there's no route in which Clover escapes without massive amounts of dustshed, but he's still shaken by losing them and it affects his relationship with Frisk on top of Frisk's connection to Chara.

-Martlet is motivated by a desire to climb the royal guard's (or their underfell equivalent) promotion ladder by ANY means for the power and prestige it brings. she tries to fake being clover's ally but is really, really bad at hiding her intentions so they usually avoid any backstab easily enough. She really shouldn't be qualified for the job, but she managed to cheat the initial results and competition for a position.

-starlo I already saw a cool bandit concept for and there is no improving on that

-ceroba's life went on a downward spiral ever since she married chujin only for him to become a disgraced, laughingstock of a scientist and leave the family broke, and then went on to focus all his efforts on soul and robotics projects with no care for the family before he had the "decency" to pass away. Ceroba is baddly shaken, and without realizing it, starts emotionally manipulating Kanako with the idea that her mother works very hard, is very tired, and needs more help to care for her child (not untrue, but Kanako thinks it's her fault). After discovering Chujin's serum idea, Ceroba becomes borderline negligent trying to create the injection, with Kanako finding out and putting herself forward as a test subject in the belief that anything to help her mom is good. Ceroba at this point is too desperate to even question if she shouldn't do this, and we all know what happens next (though Kanako coming under the care of Underfell alphys is pretty bad...). All she has left is a degrading existence as a paid assistant to starlo's gang, having given up on her husband's plan or that Kanako might recover, but Clover's pure soul has given her a new plan that might salvage her family's dignity

-chujin has actively tuned up axis to be as much of a human murder machine as he can be after the first murder, partly to spite asgore and the royal guard by showing his creation is superior to anything they could ever hope to do, and partly out of a burning hatred of humanity. Axis has a sympathetic personality from his initial creation when chujin was less bitter and exploring the potential of artificial intelligence for good, but it's buried amongst data screaming at him to kill humans, and little is left for monsters or robots besides indifference (in a bit of blatant symbolism, his heart never lights up or flashes), In his more comical moments, think of abridged android 16 if he didn't have a bird interest.

*Outertale Yellow:

-Okay I really have nothing for this except the fact that at least one "star fox" joke with the Ketsukanes (and also Martlet, froggits, and any rabbit NPC) would be very funny to me.

*Storyshift Yellow:

-This one I don't have real ideas for at all (especially because I'm embarrassingly behind on the reboot and I don't wanna put lazy headcanons on it), but if Clover somehow fell before Chara (considering how neither of the skeletons are referenced in UTY), their fate would influence how the Dreemurrs attempt to keep Chara alive.

-Sans immediately pulls out his instant kill cage on clover in flawed pacifist unlike asgore having dodgeable attacks, and admits how blatantly unfair it is. On Geno, he would normally try to put up a fight during genocide even if recognized he would eventually lose, but he sees Clover's fight with Martlet's equivalent and admits he can't even hope to delay clover or make them reset enough as soon as he realizes they have counters for his tricks (laser during his turn which makes it much harder to dodge, attacking outside of battle, the natural advantages of resetting) after one or two reloads. He does manage to leave them with a comment asking whether the slaughter and chaos and hatred that will follow was worth it or just.

*Inverted Fate:

-I don't really have anything concrete for this either since I admittedly missed a lot of backstory, plus the creator already said Clover's journey would be incompatible with the the AU (and I'm not creative enough to imagine where/"when" most of the yellow cast would be in IF's world). That said, as a what-if, I do think It'd be neat if Flowey went through Yellow before the timeline reset and that a part of Asriel was still affected by that time with Clover (if only for how they weren't Chara, just as how he's dismissive of Frisk, as further evidence to himself of Chara's importance and specialness).

-I do think Martlet could also be interesting to examine due to anti-human sentiment becoming much more normalized thanks to both the backstory and Undyne's actions. Martlet would be a more dedicated member of the Royal Guard (and a little older than she is in UTY) who wouldn't be as friendly to frisk, but she can't help but have doubts.

*Poketale Yellow/pokemon themed AU where everyone is a Pokemon/Mystery Dungeon choices:

-Clover is a Jolteon

-flowey is a sunflora

-decibat is noibat,

-Dalv is crobat (I could find surprisingly few vampire-esque pokemon)

-martlet is quaxwell (she evolves in Geno route. and I know she's not a duck but I found surprsingly few good blue bird pokemon besides ducklett)

-bailador is Hawlucha,

-starlo is like a junior Solgaleo (mainly on account of his parents, and I just can't see cosmoem or staryu working well. Feel free to make them work or come up with a better fit like a special solrock or minior)

-Ceroba is Ninetales (she usually hides her tails outside of battle, and they only show in full for the pacifist final)

-chujin is thievul

-Kanako is a vulpix, but she has a few traits of a thievul

-axis is golett.

(Feel free to put any of your own ideas for them, i'm sure i missed some new pokemon that are better fits. I just like Jolteon clover to go with Eevee frisk)

*Dreemurr/Ketsukane Swap (including Chara with the Dreemurrs).

-The dreemurrs aren't royalty, but rather "just" the monster equivalent of nobility, while the ketsukanes sit on the throne. King Chujin has a much less trusting view of humanity, but the Dreemurrs pleaded to him that an exception be made so long they ensured Chara never hurt anyone. As there was less pressure to be the "future" of monsters, Chara never developed the same sense of responsibility or duty to destroy the barrier for monsterkind. Their hatred of humanity remained though, and combined with their exposure to more average monsters and the sense that they were a burden on monsterkind, they wanted to be part of a "weapon" for all of their family's fellow monsters. They convinced Asriel to go ahead with their plan hoping that their fused soul might contain the essence necessary to empower all monsters to take revenge with a source of near infinite determination. Asriel/Chara stayed hidden from society after convincing asgore and Toriel that Chara died of a natural illness and the fusion was an accident, and begging that no one find out what happened lest they become saddled as monsterkind's saviors (really because chara wants all monsterkind to be powerful enough for war first and doesn't want them to have false hope until the power is in their hands). They secretly worked together with Chujin to extract the essence of their soul after convincing him of the potential and banking on his general distrust of humanity and faith in science to free monsterkind. Chujin realizes it's risky but after Chara already sacrificed themselves for this plan, he can't refuse.

- As kids who didn't fully think things through and a king working in secret without other scientists, the plan did not work at all. The Raw energy of Chara and Asriel's determination basically went berserk in response to an extraction attempt, leaving the fusion as an amalgamate constantly melting and reforming from attempts to save and load. Chujin was too guilt-ridden to tell the truth of what happened to Asgore and Toriel, so he lied to them that Asriel/Chara broke into his personal lab and tried the experiment on themselves and died, begging the Dreemurrs to tell everyone else it was a disease so that no one questions the sudden disappearance of a human. The body is too well hidden for the Dreemurrs to question anything at first, and they leave to grieve.

-Asgore is the first to realize something is off and eventually finds the amalgamate. He comes close to killing Chujin in rage for hiding his children's survival and mutation, but is stopped at the last second by Asriel (just sentient enough to protect Chujin since it was partly his and Chara's fault, but unable to communicate that to Asgore) Chujin swears that he thought finding them like this would be worse than thinking they died, then promises that if Asgore keeps this a secret to everyone, then the two can work towards a cure. Asgore hates that he was lied to, but still believes that Chara and Asriel tried to extract the essence on their own, so he accepts the proposal as Chujin's form of apology. Asgore works himself ragged through tests on his soul seeing if the growth between boss monster parents and children or a stable boss monster soul might reform the children, far past the safety point that Chujin recommends, but nothing works. As his condition pushes past the point of no return, Chujin finally realizes that another human soul would be the only thing powerful enough to restore the children, and bitterly passes the information on to Asgore, believing it's hopeless one would appear like Chara.

-This whole time, Asgore kept everything a secret from Toriel even as she became worried about his health. On his deathbed, he admits the truth (as he knows it) to her and apologizes for lying about their children since he didn't want her to see them so disfigured, but with no hope for recovery they have been secretly transported home without chujin's knowledge (leaving him constantly afraid they may one day reappear). Asgore begs Toriel to keep the same promise of secrecy and tells her that a human soul is Asriel and Chara's only hope. Toriel is infuriated with Chujin but out of Asgore's wishes, she never tells anyone and keeps them hidden, while planning to take a human soul should the chance ever arise

-Toriel DESPISES herself for the killing she's planning to do even if it's for saving her kids (that it's for them is the only reason she even takes this path), and though she believes that Asgore and Chujin both lied to her (the later not receiving any sympathy), she still blames herself for everything that led to the transformation even though she really is innocent ("if only I paid more attention") and is caught between her protective urges and her mission. She fights with a cult-like animal mask based on a goat (like a stereotypical image of Pagan, fertility European religions), giving her longer horns and a generally demonic appearance.

*Deltarune / Deltarune Yellow (whether it's the Yellow Cast in regular Deltarune or in Hometown's past is your call, but most of these apply to the former):

-Martlet is stuck doing a bunch of odd jobs around hometown since she hasn't really decided on a careeer or college. She's related to Berdly as a way older cousin, and the age gap that puts her in higher end of asriel's age group means they don't really hang out much.

-Dalv is another shut-in, though he occasionally submits anonymous organ recordings and children's books to the library.

-Decibat is one of the workers at the library and can be most counted on to shush anyone, even anyone else trying to shush someone.

-Starlo runs a movie watching club focused on westerns. The rest of the feisty five put up with it but each has their own genres they prefer

-Bailador runs a really weird dance aerobics program at a local gym.

-the Ketsukanes would be one of the more notable families in town like the Dreemurrs and Holidays (like how Toriel runs the school, asgore ran the police, and Noelle's mom is the mayor) due to chujin being a capable inventor (in his case, less authority in town and more out of town fame that trickles back home) and his and ceroba's families both having lived there for decades, but he had a pretty big falling out incident with Dreemurrs regarding their choice to adopt Kris (he didn't trust having a human in the community, let alone the chief of police having one). After that public blowup with Asgore, Kris was mysteriously attacked in the woods while alone, and while there was no official evidence of who did it (Kris was too young and too hurt to remember) and no one was charged, rumors quickly singled out chujin and his reputation was destroyed, since no one wanted to be friendly to someone who hurt a Dreemurr (though most townsfolks are more worried about Toriel, asgore, and Asriel's feelings than kris'). The family moved away to a city where he works with the tech and robotics companies he already designed for. They generally dress more like a "modern" Japanese family (e.g. Kanako wears a school uniform), though chujin isn't quite a salaryman.

-Ceroba occasionally visits to talk with her old friend Starlo and pay respects to family buried in the town cemetery, but otherwise she's grown distant from most of the people living there and has awkward talks about her family's new life which are mostly done out of politeness obligations. She isn't distrusting of Kris like Chujin is, but given the nature of Chujin leaving, they're naturally not comfortable around each other (she wishes Kris could remember what happened that day and exonerate her husband, while Kris knows it wasn't chujin and feels guilty for being unable to absolve him, but they still dread thinking about that attack and being reminded of those who refuse to accept them as part of other monsters), and Toriel is very cold toward Ceroba since that's the closest person to chujin she can take out her anger on.

-Kanako was pretty young at the time (she's currently Asriel's age, and left when she was just 7 or 8 when Kris was a newly adopted younger sibling), so she's not too close to Asriel and Dess' school group and she never really knew Kris' school group (she's never met Susie before the events of Deltarune, and she only saw Kris once or twice due to her father's hostility--she mostly knows Noelle and catti thanks to her time with their older sisters). The rare times she visits with her mom during summer is her mostly just her seeing what's changed, telling her old class what city life is like and awkwardly trying to get to know the town's teens as an older teen/young adult (most of them are weirded out since they don't really know her except from their parents talking about chujin unfavorably, Kris is too quiet and too uncomfortable about what happened to get close, and Noelle's own problems with Dess make it hard to talk since the original in-between point for them is now gone). She might have ended up as Asriel and Dess' friend or at least someone they occasionally talk to online since they were too young to fully get what happened or blame her, but Dess' disappearance left just Asriel and kanako, and the ketsukane-dreemurr family history made it too awkward to talk as just the two of them, so they stopped keeping up around high school.

- Some of Chujin's old concept sketches on an automated police robot that can still be found in the station's files are basically axis without the steampunk pipes or heart design. If one file was part of the dark world it would resemble a sleeker axis insecure about being incomplete, with the spare requirement being to "finish" him (if you do so, he ends up falling in love with the machine to thrash your ass). Noelle's cool robot face is needed to briefly placate him since his facial recognition concept was never exactly well developed (blame chujin's biases for making him associate human faces with criminals, and not really working out a monster face)

-clover is a kid in asriel's age group who happens to both go to the same college as him, and was friends with kanako in high school (ironically, as much as chujin didn't want a human in hometown, he accepted that in a city would realistically be impossible to keep kanako away from any. Most what keeps him away from hometown is his pride + sunk cost fallacy at this point). However, clover doesn't realize Asriel and kanako knew each other for a while since they (clover) never saw a need to bring up one to the other, and the two of them didn't ever mention the past (and kanako herself goes to a different college). That connection would only come up as part of any storyline you do

*Deltatraveler yellow:

-note: I know that deltatraveler has a set plan of chapters, and I doubt this could freely drop in-between any of them with no trouble--this is just a what-if I can see happening towards the end of the journey, but at least before toontown. Also, I would not assume by default that Kris Susie or Noelle know any of the Deltarune counterparts I imagined above, since they're coming from a universe closer to the Deltarune we know.

-Neutral: Kris, susie, and Noelle all get dropped into the steamworks (at a point between its shutdown and Clover entering) and accidentally turn on Axis. Shenanigans ensue, including Noelle pulling out a cool robot face that manages to placate Axis multiple times as Kris sneaks away and Susie getting pissed off at the lab puzzles. She and Noelle get stuck in the factory and they come out with the guide robot screen stuck on susie's weapon. Kris gets stuck in the lab and deals with both Axis and Yellow's Flowey who's confused about how his Determination is being overridden and tries to kill Kris, though before a fight can happen Axis interferes. The rest of the gang doesn't entirely realize they're in a version of the underground (no monsters besides sans, and they aren't familiar enough with the references to other people/places) until Kris tells Susie they ran into Flowey again, and on cue he appears. Since he's a different flowey who doesn't know the rest of them vs the main one tailing them, Susie can instantly cut the bullshit with him and tries to take him out, but once again Axis interferes, and UTY flowey leaves. After the encounter, the main chapter 1 Flowey appears unbeknownst to anyone and plans to use the experience with his counterpart to get a better read on how to deal with Kris, Susie, and Noelle.

-sans takes the place of Mo and mentions he hasn't ever been here even though it feels familiar to him for some reason but also...not. (he's alluding to the underground as a whole, and that he's not from Yellow's universe/timeline).

-pacifist: Ceroba appears early on after noticing one of Chujin's objects in her home went off (it was linked to Axis activity) on upon realizing there's a pure human soul (she really sensed it before the gang sees her, and it's implied she avoids them on neutral as a result to leave the job of killing Kris to Asgore and the Guard since she doesn't need the soul or care much for the plan if it's 5 souls so far) and very cautiously approaches as an ally to get the gang to Hotland and the royal scientist (Susie is annoyed that she won't fight unlike the rest of them). She recognizes Kris' soul is odd, but she's confident enough in it being "pure" and keeps trying to pull them to the side to earn sympathy points while seperating them from Susie and Noelle and just generally being a bit of a control freak which puts Kris, Susie, and Noelle on edge. She accompanies Kris through the factory and "accidentally" gets cut off from Susie and Noelle, during which time she really tries to butter up Kris as an ally. Susie and Noelle catch up soon after the lab and accidentally trip an alarm that alerts the underground to the group's presence, causing Ceroba to panic, grab Kris, and run for it before getting separated from Susie and Noelle in Axis' arena. After repelling Axis, Ceroba tries to make a play for kris' soul, but they make it clear to her their soul cannot be trusted or controlled even if they were comfortable letting her use it. The gang is angry that she lied to them and tried to kill one of them, though at least Noelle can't help but feel sorry (without agreeing) after she admits her desire to uphold her family's legacy. In turn, once she hears the trio has their own family to get back to, she promises to grab the royal guard's attention and hold them off, stating the royal scientist might recognize kris' soul wouldn't work for the kingdom's needs.

-obliteration: Because the soul forces the group's way into the steamworks without turning it on, Ceroba isn't alerted at first and Axis is force booted in safe mode. The soul destruction scene includes Mo making a brief appearance (sans ain't gonna help you outside of key locations, so mo ends up running into the group none the wiser while attempting to scrounge around for stuff to sell), and for trying to kill someone that doesn't even pick a fight and still tries to help after the first threat, Kris slam dunks the soul into the pink goop. (Alternatively: during the lab portion Kris pours the acid on the soul if you attempt to make them drink it). The rest of the gang is a mix of desensitized and tired enough to let the Soul destroy Axis ("helps" he's just a robot to them) in the second encounter if Kris is forced to catch him in time--failing to do so drops obliteration. The final fight is with Ceroba after Axis' danger signal manages to trigger one of Chujin's devices, and she realizes you're not only destroying Chujin's work, but a threat to the whole underground (and kanako in particular since you're going in the same direction where Kanako currently is) while bitterly noting that of course the next human would be impure. She uses shields, red attacks, the steamworks itself, and a partner to put up a hard fight against kris, susie, and noelle given how powerful they are at this point. From there I can see two different partners

--If it's still pre-clover, Ceroba is accompanied by Starlo since he refused to let her explore alone and together they can put up a hell of a fight in sync (especially with starlo getting more serious, and providing more unpredictable attacks to counterbalance Ceroba's). If Ceroba dies first, the full weight of the situation hits him and he starts bringing out some magic based on both his farm background and his astral nature. If Starlo dies first, Ceroba curses that she sees yet another person close to her die and pulls out her mask, going into a lighter version of her pacifist phases (she's more righteously angry, but can't hold onto the same hope for chujin's legacy that pushed her in pacifist). I feel like Ceroba would go down first since she could shield any attacks plus starlo never gets a "hard" fight, but I could also see him trying to jump in front of a heavy attack meant for Ceroba that she wouldn't have time to shield up for.

--If it's closer to Yellow (perhaps because the grind takes so long that the events in steamworks go from corresponding with right before Clover to the Dunes and Wild East?), Ceroba is accompanied by a pacifist clover who tagged along despite her insistence not to (If they either die or somehow win, her plan is impossible to fulfill, plus she has enough basic decency to be uncomfortable putting a child up against killers). If clover goes down first, she naturally goes rage mode at losing both an innocent child and her plan (and the soul/Kris sense that "someone"/Flowey tried to reset but couldn't), and she goes diet pacifist like before. If Ceroba goes down first, clover's LV jumps to 8 in rage and they pull out big shots and dodges (they aren't high enough LV for the laser, but will spam big shots late in the fight) alongside attacks based on Undertale Yellow's attack system and the yellow soul portion of photoshop Flowey. Susie and Noelle flat out refuse any participation the second Clover gets involved, and when it falls to just clover they outright assist them against the soul (Susie and Noelle will force spare themselves but they can't spare clover since Clover is too enraged to back down from the fight). After landing the killing blow, clover's soul slowly starts charging the laser in a last ditch attack, but it shatters before it can fire, and they collapse. In this case, I think Ceroba would always die first thanks to protecting Clover, but I want to consider the possibility of her surviving as a what-if. The gang can't exactly fall much further than killing Ness and Paula (plus whatever happens in Ts!underswap with Chara), but being unable to stop the soul from forcing a kill on clover even with their assistance would be one of the second-to-last straws.

-the elevator to Hotland proper is a grey door. The gang is...a tad exasperated by this (Susie: "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?") but accept that they have no real choice since the way before the arena is blocked and either the commotion from axis or the obliteration route has notified the guard to their presence.

Doubt anyone will read my ramblings or be seriously inspired, but I just love this game, and I love to imagine it together with all the other cool stuff in Undertale and fandom

[littlewomenpodcast]

Laura Dern Is The Worst Marmee

Niina: I think it was Greta Gerwig who said” Oh we admire these girls because they don’t want to grow up and I am like No Amy wants to grow up, if you read the book. She wants to know what it is like to be a woman. She wants to become a mature person. A true lady, but then when I watched this movie, I wished that I hadn’t seen it. That moment when Aunt March comes and she says ”Amy is going to go to Europe with me, just so you know”. There isn’t any explanation why Jo can’t go, because they didn’t include

the scene from chapter Calls, but Amy is like ”Why nobody is happy for me?” and then Marmee goes like ”My poor Jo. You really should have gotten the trip”. I wanted to smash the screen when I saw that. It is so completely opposite to the book because in the book Amy feels bad for Jo and Marmee says” No Jo. You caused your own misery. You were rude to the aunts, that is why you lost the trip”. It is so confusing because, we are supposed to see Amy as this mature person, who can handle things, and then she just complains that nobody is happy for her. I can not admire this Amy and I can not admire this Jo. It is the woman-child trope that I hate.

Christina: There is not even a half-pass line like ”Oh well I am taking Amy with me to Europe because Amy and I get along better than you and I ever did. It is true. That is something that at some point someone says in the book, whether it was Aunt March or Jo, they say we wouldn’t have gotten along better. There is not even that kind of..yeah it is just very abrupt. ”Amy is going with me and it sucks to be you, Jo”. Amy really did not again, gain any sympathy from me, when she was there like ”Why is nobody being happy for me”? The film is so confusing for me. I like Laura Dern. I think in general she is a wonderful actress but all I can say is that Marmee in this one is like a soccer mom. ”I am not like a regular mom. I am a cool mom”. When Laurie first comes and meets Marmee. He says ”Oh hello Mrs March” She is like ”Oh just call me Marmee. Everybody does”. ”What?” ”No!”. The one moment that really gets me regards on how Marmee reacts to something. In the trailer, we see the girls messing around in their own home and Marmee says to Laurie ”My girls can be a bit of a handful”. Okay, let's say that at home they can be wild little animals. Then what happens in the movie is after Amy hurts her hand and she is babbling to Laurie and whatever is weird. She and the sisters, The Marches, and Marmee are obviously there too. Go inside the Lawrence house and they are all jumping all over the place, screaming. They are acting like banshees. I don’t care if it was back then or today. No good parent would just allow their kid to just go nuts. Jo is over cushions, and they put their hands on everything without acting respectfully. Marmee is just like ”Oh yeah, this is just how my girls are” and I am like, if I had acted that way in a stranger’s house, I probably would have had a whipping. I would have probably been grounded. No tv for a week, or something like that. I got a second-hand embarrassment from just seeing that. How do you…especially in that time period? how do you sit there and just go” Oh yeah, this is totally fine”? Marmee would have never allowed it because she still wants them to act like respectable people. Obviously not to dampen their spirits or to take away anything. Act like adults? act like human beings! That moment.

Niina: I had so many problems with that film. We talked earlier about Uncle March, but you know how in this movie Aunt March is supposed to be a spinster but then, this really bothers me, if she is a spinster, why is she constantly trying to marry off these girls? According to Gerwig, she is supposed to be this model for an independent woman for Jo, but then she constantly wants the girls to marry rich. Isn’t that contradicting?

Christina: It is! The other thing too is, that it makes Aunt March seem even meaner because if she is not ever married and she is rich. I am thinking of that moment when Aunt March is like ”Oh you need to marry rich” and Jo is like ”You are not married” and she is like ” That is because I’m rich”. It makes Aunt March seem even meaner because if she is rich by whatever means it is, why isn’t she helping the family? Versus her being married into it? You know what I mean? it just kinda seems like. I presume… I don’t really know much about the economics of the marriage. What it was back then. I feel like marrying into money, even if you are a widow, you still have very limited access to your husband’s money. Whereas in this it seems like ”Oh yeah I got the money on my own but I can’t give you the money for whatever reason, because I am a Scrooge McDuck type of person. That is what it felt like to me. They were clearly suffering financially and she was just not helping in any way. It made Aunt March a lot colder than I think she should have been.

Niina: Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense to me, because if she is this rich spinster, why does she want everyone to get married? All the listeners who don’t know, Aunt March in the book, had a husband whom she loved millionaire. She is not happy in very much and they had a daughter who died and that made her a very grungy lady. Even though she is a book, because of that.

Christina: You can almost kind of see her wanting to push the girls to marry as sort of her seeing the girls as her own daughters. ”I want to make sure you are okay”. I just immediately think of this movie from Betty Davis called ”Old Maid”. Great movie. For the time when it was made, at least in my opinion, it was a little scandalous, how they managed to get away with it but her character, has a child out of wedlock and she goes to live with her sister-in-law who has taken care of her daughter and she has no idea she is her daughter and she pretends to be like this aunt who is very stern on her. She is worried that she will let it slip somehow. Even being affectionate towards her that she is the mother. In some way I always see Aunt March being that way like ”I can’t show how much I care” because she worries that something bad will happen if she does or ”I got to be stern. That way I can lead them into the direction they need to go” but I have never seen aunt March being this wholly unfeeling individual. Just kind of stern and want what is best for the girls. Here I just kind of felt like, she wasn’t as nice as she could have been.

Niina: You know, there was an older version of the script where it didn’t have this split ending but Jo did end up with Friedrich and he was German and I read that script before I watched the movie and then I was very confused because it was completely different. I heard that there were many different versions of the script. There was one script where Jo, wanted to punch Amy when she heard that Laurie and Amy were engaged.

[thedelusionreaderbitch]

Inej Ghafa x fem! Reader - Sea Creature

A/n: I wrote this around 2021, I tried tweaking it but it's like 4000 words long so it might be more similar to my older works whoops! Also the sea creatures in this fic are basically look the same as the ones in Luca because I'm way to lazy to try and fix that.

Warnings: slavery, buying people is mentioned, Inej's trauma/past from the menagerie is mentioned, being an outcast mentions, fighting, drowning, child/human trafficking mentioned, men suck, I think that's it? You have been warned!

Summary: Inej has slowly grown to love you, yet as a slaver ship attacks the Wraith might it be to late?

The three P's:

[Pronouns used: she/her] [Pov: 3rd person (Inej)] [Pairings: (romantic!) inej x reader, (platonic!) crew of the Wraith x Inej/reader]

The seas were an unforgiving place. Inej doesn’t have many good memories of the ocean, funny how she’s on a ship being a slave hunter yet some part of her still resented the sea. Simply, it’s like the buildings she used to jump to and from, just a way to get around. However this time it’s her city, not Kaz Brekker’s. 

“Captain Ghafa! There’s an oncoming slaver ship coming our way!” One of her crewmates Y/n L/n shouts.

Y/n is one of Inej’s most valuable mates on her ship, she’s quick on her feet, she knows her way around a ship, and she’s an excellent fighter. Even more, the sea seems to call to her. Honestly, she should make Y/n her first mate considering she is probably one of the best out of the crew. Of course, everyone had their strengths but Y/n just seems to have prowess with the ocean waters. They bent to her will, but not quite the same way as Tidemakers looked at the water, it’s like the water is her friend, not something to control. 

It made Inej uncomfortable and suspicious around her, Inej just couldn’t get it out of her head that there is something Y/n is hiding. Not only that but there is something familiar about her, almost as if Inej had seen her before, she just couldn’t get the girl out of her head. It’s a good thing Y/n is fairly newer than most of the other girls because if she wasn’t then other people would have been skeptical of why she hasn’t flown through the ranks yet, although Inej doesn’t have very much time before it would start being suspicious. 

“L/n, warn the crew and tell them to get ready for an attack! Make sure all the kids on the ship are secured!”

They had previously just attacked a slaver ship two days ago and were on their way to drop the kids off at their home or give them shelter somewhere else or even on this ship. Although Inej is pretty sure she is going to have to start to build a fleet with the number of talented people she let be part of her crew, some did leave when the time was right for them. 

“Aye, Captain!” 

Inej can’t help but laugh at the girl’s antics. “What did I tell you about saying ‘aye’ Y/n?” 

The girl’s eyes light up like the sun, and a wide grin splits across her face. “You called me Y/n!”

Inej rolls her eyes and places her hands on her hips. “I didn’t, I called you L/n you must have misheard. Now go!” 

She doesn’t say anything else to Inej and how she very obviously said Y/n instead of L/n she just runs off to tell the crew the news. Inej lowers her head and whispers a prayer, she is utterly surprised that her prayer includes Y/n in it. Yet she shakes her head, she can ponder about that later right now she has to go get ready for another attack. 

The enemy boat seems to fly straight toward them as they start to load their canons and guns. Inej can’t help but feel like something is going to go wrong nevertheless she gets a grip on herself. Likely she is just jittery after talking to Y/n which usually happens. 

“Can anyone identify the slaver ship!” She shouts to any member of her crew that is in her near vicinity. It’s always important to identify the ship because then they could guess if there would be any Grisha on the boat. If it’s a poor model they probably couldn’t afford Grisha, she hates the fact that she has to think about Grisha like property. Nina would probably be cringing, but it is for the safety of her crew and the kids. It still didn’t make her feel all that better though.

“I can!” Y/n raises her voice through the controlled chaos. 

Of course, it had to be her, anyone but her. 

Howbeit no one else yells over the crowd, only Y/n did and they were all looking at her in anticipation. Closing her eyes Y/n seems to be in some sort of trance as she places the tip of her middle finger in the water. Her eyes fly open and she analyses the enemy ship once over before nodding her head. 

“It’s a three-mastered vessel Captain! It’s primarily used for exploration and can hold around 50 crew, it’s a rich ship but it looks worn down. Meaning they probably won’t have very many Grisha, two at the most. Much less a heartrender or tidemaker. Since it’s an old model they won’t have very good canons either Captain!” Y/n’s voice is passionate as she declares her summary, her voice sounds like it’s woven out of silk with the way she speaks so confidently and surely. 

The overload of information is astonishing but also doubtful. Not that it wasn’t accurate, with that much information no one could be making that up, but how did she achieve to know that much? She has to have a secret that she is hiding from Inej, she just knows it. 

“Good work Y/n! Now you heard her, get to your stations and prepare for combat!” Inej loathes how she sounds like she is preparing soldiers for war, looking around her maybe she is. 

The fight is in full force now, it’s sure that the other side is losing and everyone can tell that the crew is entirely confident in their abilities to win. Nevertheless, Inej didn’t want to get cocky yet because there could still be girsha on the ship, and if there are she’s sure they’re waiting to use them till the last second when her crew is worn down. 

Still, the fight went on and nothing out of ordinary happened, it becomes apparent that the other side is retreating with bad losses. Inej prays that they can get their redemption in the afterlife. 

When the slaver’s boat can’t be seen anymore the crew cheers and Inej can’t stop smiling. In her fatigued body, she doesn’t seem to fully register her surroundings, but it’s all right because her first mate and her gunner (nicknamed pistol because she had saved Inej with her guns [which didn’t really surprise Inej later because she’s Jesper’s long lost sister]) could take care of the crew, kids and ship for her. That is her mistake. 

A strong unnatural gust of wind pushes her off to the side of her vessel, she tries to grab onto the railing so she wouldn’t fall off while trying to find the invader squaller. Spotting the Grisha Inej lifts herself up and takes out her knife and starts to aim as the rest of the crew realizes that there is an enemy on the Wraith. 

“Squaller!” One of the crewmates yells while some of the other women start to get out their knives and other weapons as Inej throws her dagger. 

Sankta Alina goes flying through the air except it’s knocked off its course into the endless ocean waters, it throws Inej off her game for a spilt second and that’s all the squaller needs to knock Inej into the sea with their Grisha abilities. 

Trying to swim up she hears a desperate “Inej!” from one of the crew's voices. Her voice sounds like silk… Oh, it’s Y/n, Y/n is the first one to call out to her. All Inej can do is focus on her voice, it’s the sole thing keeping her from sinking into the endless abyss. Her voice is the only one she can focus on out of all the crew, yet it isn’t enough, it’s like an invisible force is pushing her down further into the ocean and Inej just can’t swim anymore. Perhaps it’s the squaller (they did seem very strong) or maybe her body just can’t take it anymore. 

Slowly she sinks and she can feel herself run out of air, it is a terrible feeling - drowning. Like someone pressing down on your neck as you try to breathe but all you can breathe in is water. Eventually, the sea took pity on her and she slowly feels herself lose consciousness. 

*Flashback(s)*

Inej was just a girl, she was on the slaver ship getting transported to Ketterdam. Snatched away from her family having no idea of the future ahead of her, desperation ripped throughout her body, and the young girl threw herself overboard. 

Along with some other things like tightrope walking, her parents had also taught her how to swim, it would surely be something useful that could help save her life in the future. Though nothing could prepare Inej for the ferocity of the sea, it was angry at the time. For what, she didn’t know, but young Inej could tell that the ocean was angry. 

Even with the odds against her she tried to swim, she didn’t know where she was going but she knew that she wanted to go back home, so that’s the way she swam. It wasn’t logical but she wasn’t thinking logically at the time with a muddled brain the only thing that she could think of was home. 

In time, though she succumbed to the water's grip and her tiny body just couldn’t swim anymore. 

Something had grabbed her and taken her to what seemed a deserted island, it didn’t make any sense because it was way too fast to be a person that had grabbed her but everything about this part of the memory was fuzzy because of her near-death experience. 

Finally, she had landed on the land where what looked like a young sea monster was standing up over her, soaking wet. The sea creature's hair was like soft beautiful orange plants with the rest of her scaly body fading into lighter colors of orange, to white eventually to an ethereal pink. What stood out to the young girl though was her y/c/e eyes. They looked nearly human to Inej, hell this creature seemed like an evolved human to her. 

Maybe it was a saint, a saint that had come to protect her from those evil people who had taken her away from her parents. 

“Santka?” She croaked her voice barely coming out of her throat. 

The young beautiful creature shakes her head and pulls Inej up from her position on the earth. 

“I am no saint Inej Ghafa, I am simply a calypso - a creature lost to the sea.” The girl smiled sadly at Inej. “I must take you back now, as your destiny awaits you and I should not interfere in the affairs of mankind.” 

“Wait!” Inej yelled before the girl could take Inej in her arms and take her back. Young Inej couldn’t even wrap her head around what was happening much less that the calypso had just told her that she was going to be sent back to the slaver ship. All she could think about was the saint-like creature in front of her. 

“What’s your name?” 

“Y/n, young liberator, my name is Y/n L/n.” The creature smiled as a ray of sun caught in her eyes and Inej Ghafa, no matter what the calypso had stated, was sure Y/n L/n was a saint. 

Another memory resurfaced as Inej sinks deeper into the deep blue;

Inej had just made her third kill not too long ago and she couldn’t take it, the feeling of the blood on her hands. The fact that it got easier every time made her feel worse, and there was no Kaz Brekker this time to comfort her with his odd presence. He had his own business to attend to, he did not have time for the quarrels of a mere spider. 

Usually, Inej would run to the rooftops but this time she just ran, she could somewhat understand why Jesper liked running so much, it just was so much easier. 

Be that as it may, she forgot that people in Ketterdam were cruel, so when a teenage girl was running near the dock some vile men decided it would be fun to push her into the harbor. 

Again she was drowning, but this time there were weeds near the docks that had pulled her underneath, and far away she could hear the men laughing at her. This was the kind of people this city bred, inhuman men ready to murder a fifteen-year-old girl for fun. 

This time she was under struggling akin to last time although this moment the fear of drowning was thrown at her with full force. She didn’t want to die in this city. 

Then, an orange-pink flash came before her eyes pulling her out of the foggy water. The female calypso had taken her to a secluded part of the dock as Inej coughed the water out of her lungs with the girl blinking in front of her. 

The young calypso was also a teenage girl with wide eyes that had also seen too much. 

“You’re real.” Inej breathed out gobsmacked. 

“You remembered me?” The teen in front of her spoke head titled to the side those beautiful eyes sparkling with something that looked like hope. Inej hadn’t seen hope in a girl’s eyes around here for a long time. 

“How could I forget?” 

The calypso giggled an absolutely beautiful sound and placed her hands on Inej’s knees carefully making sure she was comfortable with her touch. Amazingly she was, it probably had something to do with the fact that Y/n wasn’t exactly human. 

“Y/n, you saved me.” 

The calypso blushed and turned her head away from Inej. “You called me Y/n!” 

Inej looked down at her quizzically, “What would you prefer I call you, my calypso?” 

Inej didn’t realize what her words meant till after she had said them and in her head, she was criticizing herself. This beautiful creature had just saved her and she probably had just made her uncomfortable! 

“I’m sorry I-” 

“I would like that very much as long you promise to call me Y/n sometimes.” 

This meeting Inej could tell was different, the last time they had met it had been full of sadness and the cruelness of the world that had put Inej in her position. This situation although didn’t miss checking off the box that said cruel, it wasn’t as pressing as last time. Last time they had been but children, not knowing what they were feeling towards each other. 

Inej leaned in towards Y/n as she had taken her hands off Inej’s knees and pushed herself at eye level with Inej with her hands on the dock holding her up as Inej started closing her eyes. Inej knew for certain that she wanted this, she didn’t know if she would ever get the chance to see Y/n again and she wanted her first kiss to be special. Not what those horrid men had stolen from her - that didn’t count, no she wanted her first kiss to be on her own terms. And what could be more special than kissing the most beautiful creature that Inej had ever seen? 

The sea creature had leaned in and their lips touched briefly before reaching for each other again and pressing their lips together closer, firmer. The intimacy blew the teenager's mind as her passion won the battle of her insecurities and she bleed her fingers into her plant-like hair. It was soft, and although it definitely both of their first kiss’s it was chaotic but divine. Inej couldn’t imagine anything better. 

They pulled away and Inej was left gasping for air in a good and bad way, the good was that there was no air left for her to breathe because of the kiss. the bad was that she probably had pushed herself farther than she ought to. 

“Are you okay?” Y/n asked hurriedly as she shifted herself back slowly into the water. 

Inej grabbed her wrist before she could go down all the way disappearing from her sight. 

“Don’t leave me.” The unspoken words were again. Y/n seemed to frown a bit at her desperation but all the same, she pulled herself onto the dock next to Inej with eyes running all over the human girl. She didn’t mean to push her too far. 

Inej though had wrapped her arms around Y/n and breathed in her scent that smelt of the ocean, and for the first time, it was magnificent. 

“Tell me about your life,” Inej whispered in her ear. 

So she did, Y/n told Inej all about her lonely life as a calypso, everyday things that seemed futile to Y/n were whole adventures to Inej. Y/n even explained that she had a connection with the sea and that it could tell her things sometimes, on a very odd occasion the sea would act for her but she said that didn’t happen very often. Calypsos were creatures birthed from the sea she said as she told Inej the tale of how calypsos came to be and how they were always females. How they could form into humans though Y/n wouldn’t be able to do that until she turned eighteen. 

They talked off into the day Y/n cradling Inej in her arms till darkness came over the smoggy sky and Inej’s eyes got droopier just before they eventually fell closed. 

“Sleep well, my liberator, your destiny awaits.” 

Y/n didn’t tell her that she couldn’t be a part of it. 

And Inej had woken up on the dock that she had been pushed off of, not the one she was talking to Y/n on. Just like last time, again without her calypso. 

*Flashback(s) ends*

This time Inej opens her eyes under the water, the salt burning her eyes but she doesn’t care as she sees Y/n. The memories had come back to her in her nearly early death, she now knows the reason why Y/n was so familiar, and she knows the secret that Y/n has been keeping all along because she has been a part of it. 

Y/n pulls her up and out of the water and Inej coughs, and coughs, her eyes stinging as she swims back to the Wraith. 

With a delicacy that was inhuman Y/n pulls Inej onto the boat with one hand while the other held onto the railing, then she hoists herself onto Inej’s vessel and pulls the slave hunter into her arms. 

“Y/n?” Inej questions croakily as she reaches a hand up to place a feather-light touch on the calypso’s face. “You came back.” 

“I could watch over you this way, I’m sorry for not telling you but I didn’t want to mess up your destiny,” Y/n whispers cradling Inej’s face with the palm of her left hand while her right arm wraps around Inej. 

Before any of the two women could say anything more the crew of the Wraith gasp and get their weapons at the ready. 

“Sea monster!”

“Captain Ghafa!” 

“Get away from her!” 

Inej’s tired body fills with a rage she hasn’t felt in a long while, how dare they insult her calypso! But they don’t know any better, did they? To them, if it isn’t a human then it can’t be trusted. 

Y/n looks at the crew with sorrow and she lifts her head up to the sky muttering a few prayers before smiling down at Inej. 

Y/n thought this is the end. She’s terribly wrong. 

Adrenaline fills Inej’s body as she lifts herself out of the arms of the sunset-colored creature and faces her crew. 

“Stop! Don’t hurt her!” At that moment you could tell that Inej is a true leader and that anyone will need little convincing to follow with the way that nearly all of them concealed their weapons and listened to their captain. The ones who don’t merely lower theirs just in case their captain needs them, she has helped so many they will gladly return the favor. 

“She saved me, no one on this ship can ever hurt her do you understand?” Inej’s voice while understanding as a mother is also hard like boulders being thrown onto someone. 

“Good, now she is a part of our crew because she was before!” She barks. “Everyone meet your new quartermaster, Y/n L/n!” 

Nearly everyone pauses as Inej speaks Y/n’s name because how can the sea monster be Y/n? 

Then Y/n slowly transforms back into her human form as everyone on the Wraith gasps in shock, it is Y/n! 

Y/n slowly comes forward eyes darting around to make sure no one will hurt her before speaking; “I am a calypso.” 

That is a start of a long talk with Inej’s crew of women. 

Hereafter, everyone on the ship is informed of the calypso on the ship, most were in disbelief before Y/n came up to them and shapeshifted into her sea form. Most of the crew accepted her within a few days and it made Y/n the happiest creature alive because she hasn’t had very much contact with other living things that could talk to her other than the sea. And the sea only talks to her when it needs to. 

Although everyone is told to keep quiet (even the kids) Y/n doubts they all will and that worries Inej. Yet Y/n just shrugs her shoulders and says that no one will believe any of them, and she has her human form to keep her safe. Besides, it will just make slavers fear the Wraith more. 

“Oh, my liberator.” Inej turns her back to the sea to see Y/n (in her human form) facing her with a smile on her visage. She steps closer to Inej almost hesitantly before Inej pulls her closer as her back bumps into the railing with a grin on her face. 

“Hello, my calypso.” Inej tilts her head. 

Though she’s content there are still a few questions that have to be answered between the two of them. Slowly a dark cloud enters Inej’s mind; What if she’s leaving her again? She doesn’t think she can take it if she left her. 

“You’re not leaving, are you? Because every time you call me that you leave.” 

Y/n shakes her head, eyes twinkling and she cups Inej’s face. 

“I’m never leaving you, not again.” 

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Inej’s voice breaks. 

Y/n goes silent and pulls away from Inej with tears brimming in her eyes. 

“I’m sorry I left you before, but the sea showed me parts of what you could become, and those people, those kids needed you.” 

Y/n took a deep breath before speaking again; “I couldn’t interfere with that, as much as seeing you in so much pain and trauma hurt me, I couldn’t because you were going to be the liberator. Every time I saw a future where I stayed I would mess this up, the life that you built for yourself. I couldn’t take that away from you, as much as it hurt me- as much as it hurt you I just couldn’t do it.” 

Y/n turns towards Inej with tears tracking down her cheeks, “I’m sorry I made you wait this long.” 

Inej wraps her arms around Y/n albeit they are shaking she still did, as Y/n places her head inside the crook of Inej’s neck as Inej pushes her face into Y/n’s hair. 

“I would wait a thousand years for you my calypso.” 

After a while, Y/n’s tears finally stop, and Inej stops cradling Y/n and pulls away slightly. Y/n looks confused before Inej places her lips on hers. 

It’s as intoxicating as the last time they kissed, their lips shifting on one another, getting to know what the other feels like again. Inej’s arms wrap firmly around Y/n’s middle as Y/n cups her face to deepen the kiss. 

Inej couldn’t pinpoint one feeling because it’s truly just a burst of everything at once, it meant everything to Inej that she could just be there and kiss Y/n like the world is ending. 

“I missed you,” Inej whispers against her lips pulling away slightly to place their foreheads together. 

“Me too.” 

Words 4014

-thedelusionreaderbitch

Grishaverse taglist: @kaqua @rika90 @thefandomplace @musical-theatre-obsessed-dumbass @gallysonegoodlung @navs-bhat @sumsebien @dontjudgeabookbythecover @brekker-zenik @alohastitch0626 @brekkers-desigirl @emmsamultifan06

[bonefall]

Similar to how Storm felt like she was defending an abuser because victims do that, Thunder almost feels like a legitimate reaction to knowing you were abandoned and wanting to somehow make up for it as if it’s your fault even though it isn’t - and then the series is immune to Clear Sky being bad and Thunder’s rose-tinted glasses are just the narrative’s shitty lens. And like you’re right the dissonance between everybody acting like he’s great and his actual frustrating appearances is so strong it feels like it’s building to some kind of “actually he sucked the whole time” realisation and it just?? Isn’t. So like shit dude maybe if Thunder didn’t wanna be abandoned he should’ve simply been a cooler baby, obviously it’s not Clear Sky being awful /j

In my own family, there are two people in the generation above me who were abandoned by their father "I'm going out to get milk" style, and were adopted by a new man when he married their mother.

(also btw shitty biodad loved the taste of licorice alcohol which I think is the nastiest thing any human has ever invented so there really was not a Single Redeemable Thing about him. I'm gonna call him Licorice Biodad)

The older sibling, a boy I'll call... Hamilton, spent his entire life trying to get their biodad to notice him. They all lived in the same town, so there were times where Hamilton would work for him (not properly compensated obviously) or go out of his way to try and visit him. Saddest story I know is this one time the siblings walked across town to visit biodad's apartment, he answered the complex door, said "Ohh so nice to see you! I'll brb" and left them standing there. For hours.

Never came back out lol they had to walk home.

Licorice Biodad only died recently (survived covid somehow and died of old age). Hamilton spent his entire adult life trying to include the man in his life and never reconciled with how awfully he was treated. I never even learned the sad stories from Hamilton; I learned them from his mother and the younger, girl sibling. I'll call her uhhh.... Alexandria

Alexandria by contrast is what you imagine an abandoned child is like. She does not call Licorice Biodad by his name; she calls him 'sperm donor', is ADAMANT her adopted dad is her real, only dad, full of a lot of clear rage about how she was treated.

It probably factors in that every time Hamilton dragged Biodad back into their lives for brief stints of time, it always ended in Alexandria being dogpiled or humiliated in some way.

So, how I engage with adoption narratives is colored a lot by these two members of my family. Clear Sky's writer favoritism is uniquely painful. Thunder reminds me immensely of Hamilton, like it's a story trying to tell me that his destructive impulse was justified.

That the suffering he went through is completely correct because deeeeeep down, Clear Sky, just like Licorice Biodad, was actually a good person who needed the help to show it.

And I just think that's sickening. I think that's a disgusting thing to put in a series for young adults. They don't go far enough by just having Thunder leave his group and fight him at the first battle, because it's immediately undermined by framing Clear Sky as a sad boy worthy of forgiveness, despite his behavior not fundamentally changing.

It undermines my faith that these writers are capable of handling redemption arcs at all, when Clear Sky and Tom are the characters they think are redeemable.

[fairyqueentitana]

Twilight has issues

Like every other girl, I watched the movies and read the books and now I shall rant.

Isabella Marie Swan is a romantic idiot - Now I get that vampires are supposed to suck in their prey and in a way tend to hypnotise humans so much so that common sense is not that common but seriously who follows a vampire into the woods ALONE. Even with a friend, she would not have a chance but who does that. She finds out that she is a blood singer and thinks oh we can have a wonderful relationship. Sis your blood is his drug of choice you are his literal special walking and talking blood bag. Who chooses the walking undead over their family and loved ones. Mind you ladies and gentlemen I say nothing about money cause we all need money these days can't blame nobody for looking for stability. However, Bella was not looking for stability she was looking for the sparkly disco stick connected to her equals sparkly disco ball of her boyfriend.

Renesme is totally going to hate her mum - So for those that don't know Ragamuffin is the biological demon spawn of Edward and Bella half vampire/half human. She was imprinted on by Jacob Black now what is so off-putting by this is that Jacob was infatuated with Bella throughout the whole series until of course, he made eye contact with Renesme. I should point out he really wanted her dead until the dreaded eye contact happened and the imprint bond formed. Now Reenesme is a bit self-conscious about the fact she does not sparkle and Bella tells her "You're the prettiest" Edward being the dad of the year straight up says "I have to disagree" (those two should not be parents) The kid is obviously going to grow with an inferiority complex towards her mum how will she feel when she finds out not even Her Jacob wanted her initially and that he was in love with her mother.

Imprints - I noted this before with Renesme however I wanted to address something people love to ignore. The bond could be that of a friend, protector,brother/sister or lover so why in the world is everyone letting Sam and Emily off. Yes, Emily is his imprint but he was ENGAGED to Leah her COUSIN and chose to pursue her romantically and no one but Leah is mad at him. Emily tells him no a bunch of times eventually her harsh words cause Sam to lose control and stuff but after that, she starts dating him, They could not have chosen to have a platonic or family relationship no lets eventually date and throw that in Leah's face both of them are in the wrong. Next, if they imprint on a child then that should be an automatic big brother/sister relationship nothing more nothing less.

The Cullens cover story is just awful it is ridiculous seriously Edward, Alice and Emmett could have played their kids and Rosalie and Jasper their significant others who live with them due to family issues or being listed as guardians when their parents died in a horrible crash three years ago. They just had to use the most outrageous cover story out there and it shows.

Bella did one thing right - Bella ensured herself a comfortable future I mean the Cullens are loaded she will never be wanting for anything ever, unfortunately, she will have to continuously attend school for the rest of her immortal life.

BLOODLUST IS AN EMOTION AND SO IS HUNGER - Y'all Jasper is an empath and he lives with a group of vampires to be clear he lives with Edward who is struggling not to drain his blood singer on a daily basis. The Cullens owe him a huge apology that was not his fault.

Esme is the only one with a fully developed brain- Esme is the oldest out of all the Cullens she was turned when she was 26 years old one year after the brain is said to fully develop. No wonder she seems to be the sanest person in that family.

Stuck in time - WHile they have lived for a very long time and adapted the Cullens still maintain many of their learned habits from their times and as they are frozen at that age I would have to assume that they maintain certain thoughts and opinions of their time. I'm slowly hinting at the fact that Jasper was a Confederate solider so he may be quite racist..........

[official-zerg-fangirl]

how do you feel about kerrigan going super Saiyan in Legacy of the Void? what about the Amon plot in general?

(idk if you get notifications when a question is answered publicly, so @fall-warning hi, also THANKS FOR SENDING THIS. I LOVE ATTENTION I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY GIRL)

Oh, That Jean Grey ass Kerrigan transformation is half the reason my bio says "Starcraft 2 never happened, Metzen can suck my dick." *

*the other half is the Kerrinor Kiss, because on Official-zerg-fangirl, the running gag is I have an irrational hate for Raynor bcs I was one of Those middle school girls who would legit be jealous of a fictional character (I just didn't realize what i felt was jealousy bcs i didnt know i was gay)

I hate it! I HATE IT. IT SUCKS.

I am normally an extremely big fan of fire, and red, and phoenixes, and literal deities, and women being any or all of the above. But none of that should have been Kerrigan, and definitely not in the way it was handled. Fuck you, Blizzard. Fuck you for the insane bullshit happening behind the scenes, but also fuck you for what LotV did to my girl!

I refuse to play any part of LotV to this day! I don't fucking care! Sorry to the protoss stans, it's great that you got so much extra lore with Alarak or whatever, but absolutely FUCK what they did to my girl!

oh but I loved the amon plotline tho.

"m'am, why the fuck" it was validating it was powerful it is everything the character arc of the entire Zerg species was building up to and it turned Kerrigan into the antihero she was always meant to be, and LotV is probably great but that epilogue ruined it with a pointless second transformation.

[more deranged rambling below]

Look, Kerrigan's character arc in Brood War was top notch it was S tier it was great I wrote a literal essay about how I do sincerely believe Kerrigan in SC1 + Brood War had a heroic character arc, and I am of course correct, and the canon agrees, BUT WE WILL GET TO THAT,

now initially ofc i was like naw SC2 never happened. Obviously I've softened on that opinion (but saying it never happened is funny. so is acting like everyone is missing the point of Kerrigan except for me. this blog is the space where i get to play up an extremely cocky persona ok)

SC2's general insistence (at least that's my first impression) on treating her zergness like a boring corruption and "ooh Kerrigan was good before but she's evil now" bothers me. like they do this to her instead of, oh I don't know, she was abused and exploited as a child fucking soldier, she latched onto the guy who 'saved' her and was too wrapped up in the exhilaration of having someone who 'cared' about her that she couldn't recognize she was being used as literal fucking bait, and then he LEFT HER TO FUCKING GET EATEN BY ALIENS, and by the grace of fucking god, those aliens saw her value and potential in a way no one else ever could, they elevated her, made her stronger, gave her the means to break off the shackles implanted in her skull (remember the Amerigo mission???), and from that point on, all the anger she'd been harboring from all those years of abuse could run freely, so of fucking course she became impatient and vengeful!

Yes, Kerrigan was extremely destructive, spiteful, cruel,even! But you think someone who's only ever known violence and death and cruelty could ever be anything else? are we so naiive as to imagine a perfectly human Sarah Kerrigan would not become the Queen of Blades Her fatal flaw is wrath, you see how quick she is to anger when she fights Tassadar. To quote the man himself,

"So long as you continue to be so predictable, O Queen, I need not face you at all. You are your own worst enemy."

she is predictable because of her wrath. In her beginning as the Queen of Blades, she's too consumed by all her fury, by her newfound power that she can and will use to demolish everyone who's wronged her, and she hasn't yet learned the wisdom required to use said power. this is a flaw she overcomes in Brood War, wherein she delays her fury and rage to arrange a temporary alliance, to wait for just the right moment to have her vengeance and crush her enemies.

aaaaaand here's the Wings of Liberty campaign going like "Zerg turned her evil. yeah she's killing and infecting terrans bcs that's what zerg do. we need to redeem her by removing her zergyness."

like - no acknowledgement to the fact that the terrans are currently being commanded by the dude who used her and then fucking left her to die???? bro like of all people you'd think Raynor would understand why she's waging war on the Dominion HE'S LITERALLY DOING THE SAME THING, but Blizzard gonna Blizzard and the final boss is Kerrigan bcs Raynor's gotta work with the Dominion to neutralize the greater threat - which is somehow Kerrigan. Okay.

It just really rubbed me the wrong way. Can you tell that it rubbed me the wrong way?

but then it redeemed itself. Bcs the Amon plotline.

NO I AM NOT JOKING. FUCK YOU THE AMON PLOTLINE WAS GOOD.

"oh but it derails everything and now my simple slapfight between humans and two aliens has transformed into some sort of cosmic battle between good and evil" fuck no it doesn't it was foreshadowed back in Brood War did you forget Duran? the fuck you think that man was doing if NOT foreshadowing that some fucking hidden power beyond every race's leaders was controlling the situation specifically through the Zerg? Even BEFORE Brood War, the lore that the Zerg and Protoss were both created by the xel'naga and that the Zerg were specifically created with a mandate to assimilate the Protoss was right the fuck there. you know who said that shit? THE OVERMIND. Pay attention bro, Amon was there all along!

Could he have maybe been introduced in a less jarring way okay sure but he didn't derail shit, this WAS the rails, you just got too caught up in the surface level fighting to recognize what was happening!

also, the Amon plotline was (before that FUCKING EPILOGUE) so extremely validating to me, let me tell you a story about when i was playing HotS - no, even before HotS, whcih did a lot of good stuff, in fucking Wings of Liberty, a campaign I just spent a few paragraphs shitting on, it did one super good thing. it did the Zeratul missions. It did this shit:

oh I imagine a lot of Starcraft fans hated this cutscene bcs it was an out of nowhere messiah plotline delivered via literal exposition ghost, but, see, I'm smarter than your average Starcraft fan, I am a genius and I'm sexy, and I know my wife Kerrigan better than anyone, even the fucking Starcraft writers (suck my dick Metzen) and I see this cutscene at 7:33PM, April 29, 2021, and I ran into my friend's DMs and said "I FUCKING CALLED IT"

BECAUSE I WROTE A FANFIC (unfinished, novel-length, self-indulgent, OCxKerrigan, highly nsfw, no I haven't posted it anywhere I wanna finish it first I wanna perfect it).

AND IN THAT FANFIC I WROTE SOMETHING SO ABSOLUTELY DERANGED I FIGURED IT WAS JUST SELF INDULGENT ABSOLUTE SKEWERING OF THE CANON JUST TO RUN SHAMELESS ZERG APOLOGIA:

I wrote that the Overmind, before capturing Kerrigan at New Gettysburg, telepathically communicated with her, and very specifically said that her human psionic mind would resist control until the bitter end, that it would kill itself rather than accept forced subjugation into the zerg, and THUS he had to ask Kerrigan PERMISSION, that he couldn't and didn't want to strip her of her free will, and he specifically promised to her power, and purpose, and the potential to usurp his place as the leader of the Zerg, and he specifically welcomed that possibility-

and like that's stupid that's so fucking stupid, why would the zerg ever value free will why would the Overmind pursue to the ends of the earth a servant that he couldn't control, that he knew could and would one day usurp him? there's no way this is canon-compliant-

IT IS

AND NOT JUST CANON-COMPLIANT, IT'S FUCKING CANON. ACTUALLY LITERALLY CANON.

STRAIGHT FROM TASSADAR'S MOUTH, THE OVERMIND DID THAT SHIT. THE GODDAMN EYEMONSTER HAD PLANNED ALL ALONG FOR KERRIGAN TO HAVE FREE WILL AND THAT HE SPECIFICALLY VALUED HER FREEDOM.

The only reason I can't say I predicted the future is because I started writing this fic after WoL released, but I clearly had some sort of precognition I fucking knew I was on the wavelength my deranged apologia was canon I was right.

OH AND THIS AMON SHIT GIVES ME FULL JUSTIFICATION TO BE A GREATER APOLOGIST THAN I EVER COULD BEFORE. BEFORE IT WAS LIKE "c'mon the zerg aren't people, they're mindless demons of destruction" OHHH NO YOU DON'T MOTHERFUCKER! THEY ARE PEOPLE, THEY HAVE MINDS AND FEELINGS AND WILL AND THEY'RE BEING CONTROLLED BY THEIR CREATOR - NO, THEIR CORRUPTER, AGAINST THEIR BEST INTERESTS,

AND THE PRIMAL ZERG, THE PRIMAL ZERG! THEIR GLORIOUS PAST! ZERUS, THE GARDEN OF EDEN BEFORE AMON'S MEDDLING, WHERE THERE IS NO CONTROL AND NO DESOLATION, ONLY THE RULE OF THE HUNT! HERE, WE SHALL FORGE A VISION OF THE LIBERATED SWARM, REUNITE WITH OUR PAST TO FORGE A BETTER FUTURE, AND OH LET'S NOT EVEN TALK ABOUT THE PARALLELS BETWEEN WHAT AMON DID TO THE ZERG AND WHAT THE GHOST PROGRAM DID TO KERRIGAN,

BECAUSE THAT'S JUST IT, KERRIGAN IS THE SWARM, WHICH IS WHY SHE BELONGS IN THE SWARM.

SHE AND THE ZERG BOTH EXIST AS BEINGS OF INCREDIBLE POTENTIAL WHOSE FUTURES WERE STOLEN AND CORRUPTED FOR THE SAKE OF A HIGHER POWER'S TWISTED WAR GAME, TURNED INTO A LIVING WEAPON AND SET TOWARDS A CAUSE THEY DON'T BELIEVE IN, THEY ARE CHAINED AND THEY WILL ONLY ACHIEVE THEIR GREATEST SELVES ONCE THOSE CHAINS ARE BROKEN,

and this entire fucking theme of subjugation and of being transformed into a living weapon was in Brood War, too! That was what the UED did to the Zerg! This is why Kerrigan is the hero of Brood War, an entire species was enslaved and her, with her human mind, was the only hope anyone had of not submitting to Earth's slave army! Amon is simply the greater master who enslaves the zerg more subtly, with chains that are harder to break because they permeate across the hive mind link itself,

And by the fucking WAY, the revelations of that xel'naga relic, Zeratul's visions, the insight given by Zurvan of the primal Zerg, all bring such a delicious context to the entire wings of liberty campaign, and they make that campaign good and make everything I complained about earlier just an extra spicy flavoring and a dash of gray to our terran heroes, THEY MADE ME ACTUALLY LIKE RAYNOR???

bcs you know what, fine, perhaps Raynor does see the Queen of Blades as nothing but pure evil, perhaps he does choose to ally with the Dominion to destroy her, that is his human perspective, as someone who loved Kerrigan but knew her so briefly, all he can truly see is the Zerg as he understands them, the mindless living weapon, the infested terrans that beg for death as they seek to tear you limb from limb. We are imperfect, we aren't omniscient, perhaps I should forgive Raynor for his short-sightedness. He cannot concieve of harmony with the zerg because of what he has seen, so of course his dear friend is corrupted, infested, controlled, and he has to free her, and maybe he can make this deal with the devil. From his eyes, this is the best route he can take. He even knows he should not kill her, he knows what she's meant to be, and he has no idea how she'll go from the monster he sees now to the savior of Zeratul's prophecy, so he does what he thinks is best.

and as we see in HotS (and i think also LotV a bit?), Raynor's choice to use the relic was a mistake, it robs the zerg of their salvation and feeds so much energy into Amon's greedy maw... but also, it wasn't a mistake.

See, Kerrigan's temporary severance from the swarm frees her of the influence of Amon on her mind (though I am adamant that her actions have been PRIMARILY motivated by rage and vengeance and spite!), and when she sheds her humanity once more and properly returns to the Swarm, it is in the sacred birthplace of all Zerg, on the planet that obeys the law of nature, where hardship and violence are tools to produce an ever-greater self, and all that she has suffered will become her strength,

AND KERRIGAN ASCENDS - NO, EVOLVES - INTO HER PRIMAL SELF IN ORDER TO FULLY REALIZE THE OVERMIND'S PLOT OF LIBERATION. I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG AND SHE WAS A HERO, THANK YOU HEART OF THE FUCKING SWARM YOU REDEEMED SC2.

which just makes the fucking fire lady 'oh shes not zerg anymore she's xel'naga heehee' feel all the more bullshit???? Like, i thought it was bullshit before I knew anything abt HotS but now its SUPER bullshit, bcs primal kerrigan WAS her perfected self. She didn't NEED to become xel'naga. SHE IS ZERG! SHE IS THE QUEEN OF BLADES!

It's just so pointless. Nothing you could do to Kerrigan in this literal final hour of the entire Starcraft franchise could possibly be as thematically powerful as the Zerus arc, and you should've just continued those themes. leave Kerrigan's character arc concluded. Stop fucking with it. You had something amazing and you fumbled the bag at the literal last second. seriously, what the fuck? THAT'S how you end the series? What happened in the writers' room- other than the creepy misogynist bullshit we already know was happening, of course?

anyways yeah I hope that satisfied your curiosity. :D i don't wanna know how many words this was, I just know it took me like 2h to write. maybe more. I don't have a good sense of time. it's the autism.

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 180

Chapter 180: "Your Everything"

I can understand how the demon god says he can't kill Emma or any of her family due to the promise she just made, but what if he physically wasn't capable of doing so regardless? Sure, right after the reveal He mentions how He "doesn't intend to" which gives the implication that He could, but what if, despite all the power He has to change the space around him, people's fate and whatever else, He's actually harmless? It would be kinda a letdown if we spent all that time worrying for our girl's life for nothing, but I'd still be grateful. It would make some sense as to why he has the other demons harvest food for him instead of obtaining it Himself, aside from the fact he's a literal god who's well respected by them.

Let the real pain begin! Maaann, it sucks that we've come this far into the story and watched these precious kids endure such hardships and yet once they all achieve their goal, the stress and drama just keeps on coming! At the end of the day, I can appreciate the high stakes of the reward and how greatly it effects Emma and her family, but that blank look on her face always breaks me.

Demon god may take Emma's memories but I'm about to take Him out with a good whack to the head courtesy of Barbara's spiked bat.

We know Emma cares way more about her family than herself, so hearing that they can all safely cross over to the human world and be free is obviously the best kind of news she can hear, but damn honey, that sad smile makes me wanna cry.

Like Ayshe, it's a shame that Alex is introduced to us so late in the story because there's a whole lot more I wanna learn about him aside from what he tells Emma and what we can deduce from the photos he has hanging up on his wall. There's no possible way he could've been introduced earlier in the story, since arriving in the human world was the shared dream of all the cattle children, but I wish this arc lasted longer so we could've at least seen more of his growing relationship with Emma.

Aahh, she's trying so very hard to remember anything about her life. I hate seeing her look so defeated. Whenever our Emma felt lost or down in the past, she would have her family around to help her or even resort to that famous optimism of hers to get her mind back on track, but she's really got nothing right now. Yeah she eventually gets to a point where she feels better about her situation as we see her spend more time with Alex in this new life during this chapter, but such sad expressions don't look good on our normally cheerful leader.

As much as I love how Emma kept all the photos Ray once gave her this entire time, I hate how they've become completely distorted by the price of the reward. Demon god just keeps landing more critical hits on my heart. I do have to wonder if the WM pen still works at all or not though. Her and Alex had to be a little curious about a pen that doesn't work like an actual pen. But yeah, seeing a young teenager with a gun that size is definitely a red flag. Luckily Alex finally learns from Emma's family the reason why she had it in offscene026 (which isn't an extra page from the manga but can't recall where it's from exactly), along with all the other odd and impressive skills she retained because she was one of the cattle children, but until then the poor man believed she was an escaped child solider or secret agent, which doesn't seem too farfetched considering everything else that's happened in the story.

I'll never get used to seeing Emma without her ID. That 63194 is iconic damn it, whether on her neck or in song form! But bless Alex for being such a kind gentleman and practically adopting Emma without question. Undoubtedly one of the best parents of the series and quite literally the only one that's safe from any possible death threats (the one perk to being introduced so late I suppose). I also love all the patterns he has on his clothes and around the house.

Although I love the jacket she wears at the end of this chapter and the next, along with the outfit that's briefly shown at the start of the epilogue which gives me serious GP outfit vibes, Emma looks real good wearing all these cute patterns. I'm assuming these clothes once belonged to Alex's daughter and it's sweet he shares them with Emma.

I think I rambled on a little bit with this idea back during ch101 about the necklace and because of it resembling the dragon's eye (that's supposedly capable of seeing through everything), it managed to nullify the consequences of the reward, which is why Emma was capable of seeing her family in her dreams and eventually cause her to reunite with them by being sorta sentient in a way since it slipped off her neck.. somehow. Anyway, not really relevant to any of that, but the larger blanket on her bed always reminded me of a giraffe pattern which obviously suits our girl so well.

Having all her most important people call out to her and not remember a single soul, including herself, ugh.. I wish to lay down and sob.

As if the whole memory loss situation didn't already upset me enough already, let's add Emma crying in her sleep to the list.

I'm slow in realizing this, but this is probably the same church that was shown in Alex's photos.

Loneliness truly is a horrible feeling, but at least they can comfort each other. While I'm certain both of them would love to reconnect with their respective families again, having one person by your side is a whole lot better than no one at all.

As long as you keep your family and friends in your heart, they'll always be with you, so While Alex doesn't necessarily need to stay in one place to remember them, I understand that being around a familiar place where he shared countless memories with them would allow him to remember everyone easier. It's sweet of him to still be concerned of Emma's family a month later despite her having trouble thinking about them in the first place.

I get annoyed at myself whenever I say I'm gonna do something then forget the exact thing I planned to do just minutes after, so I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for Emma to remember nothing of her previous life. Well, I everything that doesn't directly relate to her family or the demon world anyways, such as firing a gun, her athleticism and all her habits, but to hell with the demon god. This reward is still so cruel.

Mhhhmm her optimism has slowly but surely been returning to her as well, just not in the way we would've wanted/expected. Even though I would love for her to remain hopeful that she could meet or remember her family someday, I'm proud of her that she decides not to dwell on her losses anymore and begins living a happier life.

The absolute joy I felt upon seeing Ray, Gilda and Phil being so close to finally finding our girl.. aaahh it just makes you wanna jump into the panel and shout at them to TURN THE HELL AROUND.

Favorite panel/moment:

I got this far and realized I actually chosen three different scenes, so.. I'm gonna cheat. Of course, I love this quick dream scenario of what Emma's life could've looked like had she arrived in the human world alongside her entire family without any compensation, as her number is still visible on her neck here. I also just really love everyone's different outfits! And I'm once again only noticing now that the patterns on Emma's shorts and the hood part of her shirt match the pattern that Alex had on his original jacket.

Remember way back at the end of ch1 when Emma declares that she wouldn't cry anymore? Yeah, well, obviously this Emma doesn't recall that promise to herself and proceeds to let out an impressive amount of tears while shattering my heart in the process. Aahhh, this is another moment I'm glad that was never animated because hearing all that emotion in her voice would surely make me cry along with her. And I praised the anime's use of a sunrise during the end of their interpretation of the ch122-123 balcony scene, so even though this chapter came first, I do enjoy how the rising sun has sorta become a symbol that restores Emma's optimism because it's shortly after this breakdown that she starts to act like her old self again.

Lastly, Alex giving Emma a head pat. I desperately wished this would've caused her to remember all the head pats Ray gave her in the past, or at the very least spark some kind of deja vu feeling, but alas, we weren't that lucky.

[myersesque]

CHUCKY AUTISM???? thats such a great concept i love it pls indulge me

OK OK SO SO SO! obligatory disclaimer that this is all based on my experience as an autistic person and therefore won't resonate with everyone, but still! here's just... off the top of my head, based on my autism-fuelled chucky character analyses:

special interests/fixations: was at least semi-fixated on peter pan from ages 8 to 14, if not longer. his childhood bedroom had peter pan stuff in it, his parents shared names w certain characters, he read it to the younger kids in the orphanage, he played games w the other kids based on it (w himself as peter n the younger kids as the lost boys), and he themed his second ever murder after it (turning an adult whom he hated/felt antagonised by into captain hook). sure you could maybe argue that this is just a Regular Interest, but i'm including it anyway. he also later insists that his interest in magic is "just a hobby", but fast forward a few years and he has the spells memorised, carries the book around with him everywhere, etc etc.

hyperexpressive: this is absolutely a side effect of being played by brad dourif (and fiona dourif emulating him), but as a human, chucky has THE most cartoonish and obvious facial expressions. he would suck at poker, his face is just too expressive. he's also pretty emotive in his mannerisms, which luckily carries over to his doll forms (e.g. the way he physically jolts forwards and throws his arms down when he's angry)

emotional dysregulation: ...do i need to elaborate on this one?

parroting/echolalia: definitely a little bit of me projecting with this one, but still. even when he's using his own voice, he sometimes recites lines of the doll's dialogue ("hi! i'm chucky, wanna play?" "hi-de-fuckin'-ho, ha ha ha" etc) - and sure, sometimes it's to freak people out, but i have that dialogue as a vocal stim and therefore relate just a tad. he also is rlly uncannily good at mimicking people (most notably nica) and whilst anyone can have that ability, i do find it's easier to pick up people's accents if you tend to mimic people by default.

caroline parallels: one of the characters chucky is paralleled against is caroline, who is openly autistic and has chucky as her special interest. she, like how jake is used to parallel teen chucky, is used as a direct parallel for child chucky. they also get along pretty well in the present day - chucky seems genuinely fond of her, plays video games with her, openly discusses his plans with her, etc. and seems to understand her in a way other characters don't.

self harm: gonna be as vague as possible here to avoid potential triggers. over 50% of autistic people are recorded as having self harmed for one reason or another. chucky has canonically done this since he was 8 (it's not discussed or shown whether he continued throughout the rest of his life, but given his therapist was actively attempting to make his issues worse, it wouldn't surprise me). again, obviously allistic children will do this as well, but i figure it's worth mentioning as it's atypical behaviour.

stims: kicking his legs around. that wiggly arm-wavey dance thingy he does when he's excited. that scene in the 80s of tiff stabbing that girl, and he's physically jolting back and forth and doing stabbing motions next to her.

eye contact: too much of it! he barely blinks, even as a human, and he stares people directly in the eyes. sure, this might be an intimidation thing, but i doubt he's self-aware enough for that. (he also wears sunglasses indoors, which you could spin as either an eye contact thing or a light sensitivity thing, depending.)

empathy: could go to either extreme with this one, tbh! depends on the chucky (and yes, this is where the soul-splitting complicates things).

morality: autistic people tend to be very moral, yes, but we don't always adhere to traditional moral codes. a lot of autistic people view intentional and accidental harm as the same level of severity, and therefore view harmful acts as less morally reprehensible than the average person might. chucky talks about murder as if it's something everybody does, and as if other people are no better than him for much less immoral acts. he still has morals (no killing kids, no homophobia, sexual abusers deserve the most painful deaths, etc), just different ones.

code switching: ok, full disclosure, i'm fully aware that this is a continuity error/a character choice being made later in the series - but still! chucky's accent throughout the franchise switches. between new jersey (assumedly his natural voice, since that's where he's from) and chicago (where he and tiff lived, and where he ended up dying). autistic people will commonly mimic the accents or speech patterns of people around them as a form of masking - it makes sense that when he's in chicago, surrounded by chicagoans, he drops his accent, whereas when he's with tiff, whom he met back in new jersey, he switches back. (again, the irl meta reason for this change is that chucky's new jersey accent was added later on to poke fun at don mancini, but if i had to argue an in-universe explanation for it, then this is what i'd go with.)

ok i probably have more to add later but i'm gonna stop there for now! again, this is all just headcanon and speculation, and obviously not everyone will agree, but yk.

[bheunjoo]

well well well! i finally live!! i'm yiska (she/her) and this is my antisocial problem child, eunjoo. her stats and bio are available on her page but will also be linked further below!! i need to make a fancy smancy connections page but in the mean time i'm going to just throw some broad plots and info about miss ma'am and we can brainstorm and go from there? i hope? haha. i have discord upon request, especially since tumblr ims seem to suck so much. anyway, without further ado, under the cut!!

sᴛᴀᴛs / ʙɪᴏ / ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴs

what can one say about eunjoo? she's a bit aloof and distant and can seem like a bitch and that's because...well she kind of is? can you even blame her? her parents and older family all treated her like a pariah and secret to be kept hidden away at the back of the estate and there aren't even plans to marry her off because who would even want her according to them??

in terms of her illness it's a bit made up and a hodgepodge of symptoms i pulled from different illnesses. a little bit of tuberculosis that has her always pale, frail, a lack of appetite, a persistent cough after exertion, fevers and bouts of flare ups that become worse and cause her to vanish for weeks at a time, especially when younger. but also muscle and joint pain and a limp that was caused by having her leg cut open because muscles atrophied and contracted and had to be cut away so she could regain mobility. the limp is noticeable and she always has her cane present when walking the grounds. at official events or for things more political and to show power, she'll often have a lady in waiting or someone to lean on as her parents don't like her cane or people seeing her use it.

like i said, she's a bit antisocial but it wasn't by choice. her parents had her shut in the back and all she had was books and siblings so she doesn't have great people skills and can seem blunt, direct, or even rude. she's doing her best, please help her. tell her people don't enjoy being spoken to in that fashion, especially since she obviously didn't learn kindness from her parents.

now that she's twenty five, she's got it in her head that it's time to do something, probably a dumb idea she got from a heroine in a book. she needs to leave the estate and grow and have experiences and break free from the oppressive grip of her family and their expectations.

maybe letting her read was a really bad idea because she's getting all sorts of ideas about how things should be and how they shouldn't and it really isn't endearing her to her family very much. hmm.

maybe a little revolt for lunch? breaking of chains for tea time? could happen, y'know!

she's very prickly and hard to like at the moment but please don't let that scare you. it's because all she's known is being a disappointment.

ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs

how would we feel about some found family? maybe someone who accepts her for who she is and doesn't see any of it as a flaw or reason to be ashamed?

who wants to plan a revolution or engage in shenanigans to throw off the status quo? do you need an inside source? a spy of high status that could get gossip, talk to those you can't reach, or spread rumors in your favor? eunjoo's your girl.

girlie has never had romance or a crush (on her or her on others) but i'd love for her to have a first love type of relationship. it doesn't have to be end game or serious, though it could be. just something where eunjoo feels wanted and safe and protected for once would be nice for her.

a rival/enemy royalty? maybe they're antagonistic to her about how her family sees her as a shame and so the two verbally spare and throw dagger stares and it's a constant tit for tat but behind the guise of courtly behavior?

someone who gets her out of the estate and treats her like a human deserving of human experiences? someone who doesn't treat her like a kang or as if she's about to break.

speaking of about to break, maybe someone who means well but is always hovering and worried about her health and so it's very uncomfortable for both because they both know her health isn't good at all but also eunjoo hates to be pitied or coddled and wants them to leave her alone!!!

someone who found her out at the wishing well or lost cabin and is confused why a kang family member would even be somewhere like this?? it must be a mistake?? but wouldn't you know it, she's here again. what's going on?

maybe your character has a crush on eunjoo but she's so scared or suspicious that it crashes and burns spectacularly and we enjoy writing the fallout of it all lmao

please just give this bookworm loner some love even if she's like an angry chihuahua with pent up anger and resentment for being cursed with the horrors of a chihuahua body!!