#or give him more mortifying awful backstory

[positively-peachy-143]

TW mentions of ED

I feel like Johnny either eats like a bird when he's with the Curtis' and they feed him bc he's used to not eating much, or he absolutely inhales any and all food they set in front of him because he gets like actual table scraps at home. Overall I feel like he has a very unhealthy relationship with food in general and always feels sick after eating regardless of it being a lot or a little. Also has trouble trusting food coming from anyone but the gang.

[nomazee]

keep my blankets warm and my name in your mouth

after a night of soaring through belobog's liquor, you finally face the consequences of it on the floor of your hotel room. thankfully, dan heng has experience with taking care of idiots (i.e. you)

dan heng x gn reader — drunkenness, sweet and sappy and sarcastic, dan heng is probably ooc, reader is trailblazer but this is set vaguely in canon & lore doesn't matter, stupid people who love each other but never say it, are they dating or are they toeing the line of cohabitation in the middle of a hotel room?

sequel here

notes: oh gawsh hey guys... yeah yeah it's been forever since i posted but i giggled at all the requests i miss and then instead of doing those i wrote this, but TRUST i am getting back to all of you in a timely manner i love you all thank you so much for sticking with me, i'm coming out with a follower event once i hit 1k (soon) so be excited! love you guys and enjoy

—°+..｡*ﾟ｡*ﾟ+.*.｡.—

Dan Heng is an awful caretaker, really, and you should’ve known this because of his deadpan and often awkward nature. It just never really occurred to you until he’s truly saddled with taking care of a living, breathing thing—i.e., you, drunk and vomiting into a trash can after a spree through Belobog’s bars. 

In your defense, having no memories means having no experiences to your name (other than everything you’ve been through on the Express so far, which is maybe more near-death experiences than you’d like to have), and you heard that being drunk was just something everybody experiences at least once. 

Then, Pela texted you that one time asking for quick tips to sober up, and it dawned on you that you don't even know what that feels like, and then—who cares, really, you don’t have half a mind to think of your tragic pre-drunk backstory when you’re trying not to die of embarrassment as Dan Heng maneuvers you in a way that won’t get vomit on your clothes. 

The cold tiles of the Goethe Hotel en suite bathroom aren’t enough to bring you to full awareness, so you let Dan Heng ragdoll you into kneeling over the trash can and pull any dangling accessories away from your, um, line of fire. 

“Why would you guys let me do this?!” you wail in disbelief, trying to hold back a mouthful of bile but ultimately failing as you cough into the bin again. You’re truly betrayed at the thought that your closest friends wouldn’t warn you of things like alcohol poisoning, and pacing yourself, and how many drinks is too many drinks. 

“I didn't let you do anything,” your friend retorts, because he’s evil and mean and awful at comforting you, “I told you it would be a bad idea. You’re the one that still went out.” 

“Did I puke in front of everyone?” 

Dan Heng pauses, which is always a bad sign. It means he’s thinking, really thinking about what to say. “At the very least, you puked in the snow and not inside the restaurant.” 

A desperate wailing noise escapes you yet again. Life is cruel, and Dan Heng is crueler. He should’ve told a sweet little white lie and you would’ve been none the wiser and a lot less mortified. “Himeko laughed so hard when we found you that Welt had to make her leave.” 

“Just kill me,” you whisper into the trash can, full of your hopes and dreams and the remnants of your dinner and drinks. “I can’t go back to the Express. Execute me and give me a gentle death.” 

“No need to be dramatic,” he says, annunciating his words in that odd little way he does, and it makes you want to kiss him and read a dictionary to you, cover to cover. “You need to drink water, and then brush your teeth. I don’t trust you showering right now so you have to wait until the morning.” 

“Oh, Dan Heng,” you keen, with the grief of a spouse watching their partner go off to war, “you don’t even want to wash my hair for me?! You just think I’m— I’m a drunken slob!” 

“Be quiet,” he commands through his teeth, embarrassment warming him up—you can feel it, the way the tips of his fingers go a little bit warm from where they rest on your shoulder and the side of your face. “You— I don’t think that. You need to brush your teeth.” 

You definitely are not brushing your teeth tonight. You tell Dan Heng as much but he just rolls his eyes and compromises with a travel-sized bottle of mouthwash that he pulls from the cabinet under the sink. He’s so prepared. Or maybe that’s just the hotel staff. Regardless. 

You rinse your mouth out once you’re fine enough to let Dan Heng pull you up to your feet and rest you against the counter of the sink. He has to remind you multiple times to not swallow the mouthwash, and you bat at him childishly for thinking you’d ever do such a thing—except, you definitely would have drinken down an entire mouthful if he didn't say anything. You can’t bear to look at your reflection in the mirror. You just pray to whatever Aeon is listening that there’s no awful stains on your clothes, and that you don’t smell so terrible that Dan Heng goes running the minute he lets go of your arm. 

“Where’s March?” you whine out as he leads you from the bathroom to the main hotel room, trying to gently set you down on your bed but giving up once you immediately fall into it like an ungraceful rock. “She would be so much nicer. You’re mean. Do I smell bad?” 

“I’m not mean,” he tells you, sure of himself and the twist of his mouth as he avoids looking you right in the eyes. “You don’t smell. You need to go to bed. And lay on your side.” Petulantly, and not without some kicks of your legs and flails of your arms, you find yourself situated under the sheets of the hotel bed, sock somehow off your feet now as Dan Heng pulls the blankets right up to your shoulders. 

“I’m on my side now. Do I get a reward?”

“Why would you need a reward?” 

A disgruntled tsk escapes you and you look up at Dan Heng with an exasperated expression. It’s pitiful enough to guilt him into kneeling down beside your bed so that he’s at eye level with you. “Because I went through so much tonight,” you slur out, words starting to mix with each other as a result of your remaining drunkenness and the exhaustion of the night hitting you. “I’ll take a, um— a gold star, or something.” 

“I can give you a cup of water in the morning.” 

Another dreadful wail escapes you. You’ve never faced evil more potent than Dan Heng, and by the stupid twinge of a smile on his face, he knows what he’s doing. You hate how endearing he is, and how he dangles little treasures like this in front of you. You’re brought back to the heat of his fingers from earlier, the gentle touches he left on your shoulders as he let you puke your guts out without even flinching. As much as you joke, you know Dan Heng’s kindness comes from a lack of evil. Comes from a supporting weight against your arms, comes from travel-size mouthwash, comes from staying in your hotel room until you fall asleep and double-checking that you’re on your side. 

In the morning, you’ll take the cup of water, and you’ll take him out for breakfast, too.

—°+..｡*ﾟ｡*ﾟ+.*.｡.—

[letteredlettered]

What’s Love Lock about??

This, like too many of my H/D stories, is an amalgamation of several stories I wanted to tell. I couldn't really figure out how they fit together, which is why I stalled on it.

One aspect isn't really a narrative story; the premise is that Harry is the nicest guy you will ever meet. I am tired--so tired--of people saying that Harry is thick, and stupid, and clueless, and cruel, for not loving Draco back. So tired. By the Grace was an attempt to write a story that shows why Harry might not immediately fall in love with Draco, in case you forgot that Draco bullied Harry and Harry's friends, not to mention tried to kill them; in case you forgot that Draco was classist and bigoted and awful. Anyway, that story still had people saying that Harry was a dick, so the petty part of me wanted to see what happened if Harry was even kinder and more supportive but still happened to not love Draco.

In the story Harry's in love with Ginny, who broke up with him a long time ago. Harry has accepted that she doesn't love him the way he loves her, but he believes he will never move on from her. She was The One for him, and he hasn't ever had feelings or even been attracted to anyone else since, so he just assumes that he's not really made to love more than one person in his life.

The next element of the story is teaching at Hogwarts. I often make Harry an Auror, because I really think that even though he would not be happy being an Auror, he thinks that's what he wants to do, and Harry is stubborn, and also not super emotionally intelligent. Like I think it would take a long time for him to realize that he doesn't love it. Meanwhile I really struggle to make Draco an Auror, because I just think that he would be so bad at it, and that he wouldn't want to, except to get into Harry's pants. I can believe that Draco would try to be an Auror in order to redeem himself, but that requires a lot of backstory, when all I really want is coworkers-to-lovers stories over and over (I think that's probably my favorite kind of love story).

So anyway, it's hard to think of scenarios over and over where Harry is an Auror and Draco is not, but they still cross paths all the time, and I had never written a professors-at-Hogwarts story, so I thought I'd give it a try. And with Harry being Mr. Nice, I realized that you could tell some really interesting stories that show how Harry has grown, become aware of his own abuse, and is able to really connect with some children as a result of that. He's really good with children who are outcasts and have anger issues, and Draco goes melty every time he sees Harry Potter talking gently to some grumpy third year.

After writing Away Childish Things I got very into the idea that Draco has always had a mortifying crush on Harry, and I'm not clear why that's not a staple in H/D fics. For some inexplicable reason, it's way more often Harry who has always been in love, an idea which I find somewhat repellent. I find myself really frustrated at what fandom has done with the "Harry was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy" line; Harry was obsessed because he thought Draco was a Death Eater and would maybe kill someone, which by the way, Draco tried to do--several times!!! Like yeah, definitely, read gay into things all you want, but next to Draco's behavior, Harry has no more interest in Draco than a rock in his shoe. Draco, meanwhile, seems to only think of Harry in years 1-5, seems to shape his whole existence around getting a rise out of Harry Potter. This is someone who is obsessed, who rapidly became obsessed years ago that day on the train.

Anyway, I wanted to write a story that explored that kind of obsession, which is not necessarily love but is perhaps a little more than lust. I wanted to show how Draco hated it in himself and was ashamed of it, and kept trying to destroy it, and yet there Potter was, always being strong and brave and hot, and Draco could just never stop himself.

Anyway, I wanted to show that this obsession had a lot to do with Harry's image and how Harry comes across, and that once Draco comes to know Harry when they both teach at Hogwarts, Draco understands that Harry is not only strong and hot and brave, but also sincerely kind and just and good. That's when the real trouble begins, because Draco falls so hard in love that he knows he'll never recover, but here Potter is still holding a torch for Ginny. Still, Harry and Draco become quite good friends; they confide in each other; they do things for the students together; they all around enjoy each other. Harry knows that Draco is gay, and Draco knows all about Harry's feelings for Ginny.

The problem is that this story--Draco falling for Harry while teaching at Hogwarts and the two of them becoming friends--has a lot of little plots involving Draco and Harry helping and caring for the students, getting involved in their little woes and victories. So while the only big, overarching plot is Draco falling in love, there are many many little narratives within.

The reason this is a problem is that was all supposed to be backstory.

The present day story is a love potion accident + bonding; it not only makes Harry fall in love with Draco but makes it so that Harry has to be in Draco's proximity or else he falls dangerously ill. Harry also feels much better when being touched by Draco. Hopefully you can imagine Draco's torture, being so in love with Harry but knowing that it's not real; not only is it not real but Harry loves someone else; not only does Harry love someone else, but Harry is his friend, and taking advantage of him in this state would ruin that friendship. Harry, meanwhile, has trouble understanding that loving Draco is a spell at all; he confesses that he really admires Draco and likes him and that he believes he's fallen in love. Draco refuses to believe this and furthermore states he has zero interest in Harry so there is no possibility of physical romance.

The cure takes a really long time to invent.

Then when Harry does get the cure, it becomes obvious that loving Draco really was just part of the potion. However, some weeks later, Harry confesses that he's never really thought about his sexuality and that the potions accident made him realize that perhaps there were aspects of himself he hasn't explored; he confesses that since the cure, he's been thinking about Draco in a new way. He knows that Draco isn't into him in that way, given how Draco acted when Harry was under the influence, but Harry tells Draco how he feels and asks if he could become interested; he asks if they could try something like dating and see how it goes.

Draco says no. He's convinced that the potion, though it is cured, addled Harry's brain and made him think he's things he's not; Draco's so terrified of taking advantage of Harry that he refuses to even consider it.

Time goes on. Harry decides to try dating other people. He dates a man. Draco has a nervous breakdown. Then Draco and Harry get together; the end.

[cantalouupe]

curiosity

nsfw!!! kaeya x f!reader

prequel to this drabble

hand & finger kink, semi public sex except you don’t have sex with him he just makes you suck on his fingers

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The knights of Favonius weren’t a group of people you mingled with. While you had no quarrels with any of them and had even spoken to some before, they just weren’t people that you considered friends.

There was nothing you held against them, no vendetta you had. Your feelings of them were just neutral. Pleasant conversations are easy to have with the ones stationed around town, where they’re willing to help you with really anything you need.

That’s probably why you’ve never really had to interact much with them. You’ve never been in danger and so help from them wasn’t something you had to seek out.

The higher ups, though, were a different story. You’ve also not interacted with any of them, but heard of them incredibly often, seen the outrider around town.

But that was all.

You had understood they were busy with all their work and obviously didn’t expect them to come out just so they can talk to you, a random citizen - still, you were curious. With all the big talk of them they were bound to be quite an interesting few people.

Sara, who worked at The Good Hunter - a little restaurant near the center fountain in town that served amazing food - had told you about them. The interesting honorary knight that travels with a little fairy in search for his sister, the outrider that you’ve seen before, the librarian who apparently was incredibly intimidating when you don’t return books, and even Jean, the acting grand master. You’ve heard about all of them, your curiosity causing you ask around for stories.

The first time you met any of them was on a sunny day, not unlike any other. You were out on the trail, foraging mushrooms as per Sara’s request, when you ran into a suspicious looking group of hilichurls. The odd creatures were entranced by an odd looking sigil on the ground that glowed a faint purple.

You had chosen to mentally mark where you were and turn back to go to town and report it. Hilichurls close to town was already a safety hazard, but them acting the way they were felt off and made a pit of worry grow in your stomach.

The guards at the doors of the Knights of Favonios Headquarters had questioned what you needed when you ran up, and you explained the situation, requesting to speak to Jean if possible.

Guilt ate at you when you pushed despite them telling you she was busy with work already. “I really would like to speak to her directly,” you told them.

They were going to shut you down again, but from behind them the door opened and out came an infamous face.

Of the many people you’d been told about, the Cavalry Captain was among them. Kaeya was very popular in town, apparently appeared at the tavern on most nights to chat with the townspeople. There was a lot of mystery shrouding him and his backstory but despite that he was a favorite of many people.

He looked as he’s been described to you, with dark hair and tanned skin, one eye covered with a black eye patch. His bare eye, beautiful and piercing blue met yours and you looked away immediately, feeling as though you were seeing a myth in the flesh.

“Like I said,” your eyes, probably a little wide from seeing the captain, fell back to the two guards you’d been talking to. “I think it’s a good idea if I talked to Jean directly.”

You hadn’t meant to alert Kaeya as he was leaving the Knights Headquarters but he seemed to hear, voicing out an “is everything okay?” as he approached the three of you.

“I’m not trying to be any trouble,” you tell him once the situation was explained.

He watched you shrink slightly under his gaze, pretty eyes staring up at him - and shook his head. “It’s understandable to want to report something like that immediately. I can take you to her.”

Obviously he had some sort of authority over the guarding knights because they had nothing to say about that, stepping back to their spots on either side of the stone stairs leading to the building.

You mentally let out a breath and nodded up at the blue haired male, thanking him quietly and apologizing again for making a fuss.

“Come on now,” he smiled down at you, calming your nerves a bit. “Stop apologizing for trying to keep Mondstadt safe. If anything we should be apologizing to you for not catching it before you did.”

The short walk inside the Knights Headquarters was quiet, and you took the few silent moments as a chance to get a better look at Kaeya. It was weird seeing him in front of you after only hearing about him for so long.

His clothes were much different from the other knights, from the fur on the shoulder to the color of the clothing. A small blue glowing charm hung from the side of his hip - that’s right, he had a vision.

When he opened the door to Jean’s office, you caught sight of his fingers that peaked out of dark gloves. Fingerless gloves?

“Are you going to come inside?”

Oh no, you weren’t standing here gawking at his hands, were you? You blinked at him like a deer in headlights and you wanted to melt into the floor at the amusement written on his face.

You ducked your head in embarrassment, slipping passed him silently.

Your shame was short lived, however, when you stepped into the room and saw Jean. Now you knew for a fact awe was visible on your face. It’s not every day that you get to see the grand acting master herself.

She was kind and genuinely concerned about you after you ran through the scene you saw for a third time in that day. The abyss order have been causing some trouble for the knights and they had been trying to track down more about them and their plans. What you saw didn’t give away much but Jean reiterated that it was an important bit of information and she thanked you for coming to her for it.

You preened at that, glad you could be of help to her.

Before you left, she thanked you again and assured you that you didn’t need to worry, the knights would take care of it.

And that was the end of it. Nothing else regarding that situation happened and life returned to normal.

The next time you ran into one of them it was at The Good Hunter. You were chatting with Sara while waiting for your food to finish cooking when a very familiar pair on hands came to lean against the counter you ordered at, with a very familiar voice accompanying them.

“I’ve been wondering about you,” Kaeya muses.

Wondering about you? You had to take a moment to process that, forcing out a small “Why?” to which he didn’t respond.

“Eat with me,” he responds instead, smiling at you and he is nice and a knight so who are you to decline.

So, you two eat together. He’s just as charming as people have mentioned, voice smooth and easy to listen to. By your wonder, he tells you in more detail about the Knights of Favonius, and you soak up his words like a sponge.

He is able to describe specific stories that you didn’t otherwise know about, along with other people that you hadn’t heard much about.

You find it fascinating and ask more specific questions - about visions. He answers every inquiry thats thrown at him, about his own cryo power and that of others in Mondstadt.

“Does the fingerless gloves have something to do with your element?” You ask him, and he laughs lightly at you.

“You like them, huh?”

Does he remember your lingering gaze on his hands at your last meeting? God, that’s mortifying. You hadn’t meant it to be a weird question.

When you gape at him, sputtering and trying to grasp a suitable response, he reaches out and taps a finger on the underside of your chin. “Cute,” he murmurs, before taking his leave, claiming he has work he should go attend to.

You stare at him while he leaves, reeling from his actions.

Things move more quickly after that.

You don’t know who really started it, but Kaeya’s hands become somewhat of a teasing point. It wasn’t a serious attraction at first but now his hands are the first thing your gaze catches on.

In turn, he’ll tease you for it, brushing the back of his knuckles against you or tapping a fingertip on you like he did that first time.

It boiled over one day in the Knights Library, you alongside him, curiously looking at all the different titles that were offered. Kaeya reaches out to grab a book and your eyes zero in on his hands.

Bare hands.

He wasn’t wearing those gloves today, skin fully on display and that shouldn’t be as important as it is but there you are, staring at them.

“You’re not-“

He has to know. Theres no way he accidentally forgot to wear them on a day he would be with you. Another tease, definitely.

“My gloves? Didn’t think you’d notice something like that.” Oh, he knows.

Cocky as ever, he taps his finger into your bottom lip - as he has before - and your mouth parts in response. An invitation.

The taste of clean skin bursts on your tastebuds, two of his fingers sliding inside.

“Ah, I knew it,” he murmurs, moving so you were situated in the corner of the wall and bookshelf, his body shadowing yours to shield you from any possible onlookers.

Your knees buckle from under you when he presses down onto your tongue, a whimper sounding from your throat.

“Look at you,” he coos, head leaning in so his lips brush against your ear. “How was I supposed to hold myself back when you want this so bad?”

Your hands find purchase on his biceps, gripping them to ground yourself while he rubs the pads of his fingers against your tongue. Saliva pools and threatens to spill over your lip, and Kaeya knows it, fingers moving so that it drips down out of your mouth and onto your chin.

“You know,” he starts again, fingers sinking deeper into your mouth as his other spare hand wraps loosely around your waist. “If you’re so good like this I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when I fuck you.”

Another noise leaves you, fingers digging into his arms. Your head knocks back into the wall right behind you and your eyes flutter.

You feel lucky that you cant speak because you know you wouldn’t be able to trust yourself to not beg him to fuck you right here in the library.

It feels filthy, the drool on your chin and his breath against the side of your face while he tells you these things. You felt hot and if your eyes were opened your pupils would be blown out.

“You’ll have to come see me some time, so I can really take you apart with my fingers.”

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 12 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Funsies) 

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

After locking Wei Wuxian into some comically large chains, Wen Chao has him thrown into the dungeon, with an unpleasant surprise.

This Fucking Dog

Being a fan of The Untamed involves occasional second-hand embarrassment, like when they fly on their swords, or the zombies all have the same wig, or a fight sequence moves slower than everybody’s granny. It's ok because each of these things is offset by excellence in acting, story, costumes, weapons, sets, etc.

Then there's this fucking dog. 

The department of questionable practical effects really outdid themselves with this thing. Just seeing this awful creation on screen gives me so much cringe squick I can barely look at it. But for you, dear readers, I FORCED MY EYEBALLS to watch the entire dog sequence OVER AND OVER. Then I applied some brightness adjustments and looked at it EVEN MORE. 

Let's get desensitized! I’m going all in on this monstrosity.

First, this dog does not ever move its body or its feet. Its legs are totally immobile. It appears to be made of a big sawhorse with a stick for the neck. The head swings up and down and side to side. That’s it.  

“Animatronic” is too generous of a term for this thing. The animatronics at Chucky Cheese learned to play musical instruments and host birthday parties decades ago. This dog cannot play an instrument and it has to wait for Wei Wuxian to walk over to it before it can attack him. 

When it falls over after Wen Ning K.O’s it, it’s like a chair falling over. It just topples to the side, legs sticking straight out.  

(more after the cut)

Next, It has a mouth full of teeth, which opens and closes. And it has drool the texture of Astroglide Extra-Thick Gel. But...no tongue.

Seriously you guys, it literally does not have a tongue. They just sculpted a little bump at the at the bottom of its mouth, despite dogs being known for, like, lolling their tongues out of their mouths at every opportunity.

Moving along, it has dull, lifeless eyes, and its eyelids are visibly disconnected from the rest of its head, like a doll that mechanically shuts its eyes when you lay it down to sleep.

Finally, its fur looks like a fucking muppet, and it has random shiny spots all around its eyes and lips. These are probably supposed to be body fluids of some kind, but they just look like someone was careless with the cra-z-glue.

Xiao Zhan gamely tries to act opposite this ridiculous fail prop, but there is nothing remotely scary about it.  

Here is Wei Wuxian being scared. I replaced the animatronic dog with a reversed clip of my dog Pepper asking for a piece of cheese, and I think it looks more convincing this way. 

Ok, let's be done with this stupid fucking dog. Wen Ning knocks it out, Wen Chao criticizes it in the morning, and nobody ever speaks of it again. 

Wei Wuxian is so mortified to have endured this farce that when Lan Wangji asks him, much later, “why are you afraid of dogs?” he does not say “don’t you remember that time I got chewed on by a giant animatronic dog at Wen Chao’s place?” but instead pretends that this never fucking happened. 

Wen Ning to the Rescue

For contrast, the next dungeon scene is a really touching and important encounter between Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian. 

Wen Ning comes and knocks out the creature, and gives Wei Wuxian medicine. 

Wen Ning is doing this in defiance of his clan and his sister, simply because Wei Wuxian is his friend. Yes, he feels indebted, but Wen Qing saved WWX’s life once, so the tally is already even. Wen Ning is just super attached to Wei Wuxian, and vice versa; WWX calls him Wen-Xiong in this scene. 

When Wen Ning explains how to use the medicine, Wei Wuxian changes the subject to ask how WN and his sister are doing. He is bleeding, chained up, high on adrenaline and fear, and what he really wants is to hear how his friends are doing. When Wen Ning talks about Wen Qing’s troubles, Wei Wuxian wishes she would accept help, instead of always going it alone. 

Wei Wuxian thanks Wen Ning formally, and tells him no words can express his gratitude. Whether this is a literally correct translation, the gratitude both of these young men feel toward each other transcends words. It will become a driving force in both of their lives as they save each other from increasingly awful situations. 

Wen Ning tells Wei Wuxian about the burning of Cloud Recesses....the burning of the half we never visit. It would suck to damage that exquisite set, so I’m ok with that production choice, but creates some cognitive dissonance when characters get upset about the fire. 

Wei Wuxian reacts to the news of Lan Wangji’s injury by punching the concrete floor of the dungeon, which is dumb but also highly relatable. 

After Wen Ning leaves, Wei Wuxian decides to save the medicine for Lan Wangji, who might not even need it, while WWX is bleeding right now and definitely needs it. No matter how bad things are for him personally, Wei Wuxian is always thinking about ways to help the people he loves, and constantly seeing his own needs as less important than everybody else’s. 

Breakfast Time

After his night of terror and maiming, Wei Wuxian emerges as chipper as ever. Almost like he is already an expert at hiding his trauma from the people close to him. 

Lan Wangji gives him a careful look, taking in the sight of his ripped clothes and bloody neck and hands. 

Jiang Cheng is angry at Wei Wuxian for joking about his injuries, so he shoves him, potentially causing more injuries. 

Wei Wuxian laughs off the signs of torture and attempted murder and everyone goes along with it. Nobody knows what happened to him other than "dungeon" and what he looks like right now, and they’re all just like, okey dokey, I guess you’re fine.  

He’ll carefully laugh off his months in the burial mounds in the same way, later, and Jiang Cheng will accept it nearly as readily as he accepts this. But by that time Lan Wangji will see right through him.

Nie Huaisang mentions the Lan Clan in the course of discussing breakfast, and then everyone pauses awkwardly because they know that mentioning this will make Lan Wangji think about the recent attack on his home and the deaths of many of his fellow disciples. Whereas if nobody had mentioned it, he totally wouldn't think about it. That's how grief works, right?

Insult to Injury

Wen Chao decides to spend some time gloating about battles and insulting people's families, which he does with Wen Qing standing behind his eyeline so that she can warn Wei Wuxian not to let his brother go off. 

Jiang Cheng is not going to let anybody who isn't his mother insult his father like that, but in a reversal of their normal roles, Wei Wuxian restrains him and helps keep him from doing something rash.

Monster Hunting

Wen Chao makes everyone read out loud until Nie Huaisang wisely faints and gets carried off. Then he gathers everyone for a monster hunt.  It's unclear why he wants to go monster hunting but he sure does, and bringing the hostages along might make them all die, which would be a nice bonus.

The cultivators wander around en masse in a small section of forest, thoroughly covering every inch of it. This is a great way to hunt for a dead body but not so good for living prey. 

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng stand around like bitchy queens at a dance club, talking smack about Wen Chao and his girlfriend. 

Wei Wuxian brings out a salty phrase and Jiang Cheng wonders what websites he's been going to. 

Dude. Lighten up.

Leave that Boy Alone

Wei Wuxian notices Lan Wangji struggling, and now that he knows the backstory, he's determined to help. Jiang Cheng is determined to stop him.

This is, once again, the fundamental disagreement between the brothers, and it's never going to be solvable. Jiang Cheng's specific dislike of Lan Wangji may be rooted in jealousy, but his belief in not helping outsiders runs a lot deeper than that.

For Wei Wuxian, there is no such thing as having helped enough. If someone is his friend, he will never stop helping them, and he has a lot of friends, and makes new ones wherever he goes. He's always going to be giving something of himself, to the detriment of any conflicting obligations. 

Jiang Cheng tells him that Lan Wangji won't accept his help, and Wei Wuxian says that's not the point. 

What other people think, want, say, or do, is not going to have any effect on whether Wei Wuxian does what he feels is right. This is a bit of a problem where a person's right to self-determination conflicts with Wei Wuxian's need to help them, as Jiang Cheng will eventually discover.

Jiang Cheng's least effective argument is the one he relies on most often when they disagree: other people's problems are not our responsibility. He's saying this to an orphan who was eating trash and stealing scraps from dogs before Jiang Fengmian came into his life. 

Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to realize the underlying logic of this argument. If it's wrong for Wei Wuxian to help the people he cares about, it was also wrong for Jiang Fengmian to help Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng loves Wei Wuxian and would willingly die for him, but he, like his mother, rejects the philosophy that brought them together in the first place.  

Wei Wuxian walks away from an upset and shocked Jiang Cheng to offer a piggyback ride to Lan Wangji.

...who won't accept it, but who will remember the offer forever.

Writing prompt: Thoughts of an animatronic dog

Soundtrack:  Five Nights at Freddy’s by The Living Tombstone

[smutty-ki113r]

🎥It’s been so long 🎥||

Comfort one-shot reader x creepy pastas (Slenderman, Jeff, Toby, E.J, BEN, Sally, Masky, Hoodie, Jane and L.J.) ((Beauty and the beast spoilers))

Inspired by: The living tombstone

The following morning you got ready to go to Hollywood studios. It was pretty chilly so you wore a jacket, bunched up in the car with everyone else. On the way there BEN wouldn’t stop talking about the new Star Wars exhibits.

Parking in one of the spots you all rode the tram to bring you to the entrance. All of the creeps stood in awe at the decorations at the entrance. Slender had to shoo them to disperse before they could hold up the other people coming in. Jeff looked irritated, probably cause he left his knife at the hotel as instructed.

A lot of people were dressed as people from the 50’s and such for Halloween weekend. Some of them gave strange looks at your groups’ costumes, but there was definitely compliments too. At least L.J was happy because there were less annoying children.

First up was the tower of terror, which you guys had a hard time finding since it was to the farther side of the park. BEN kept whining that he wanted to go to the Star Wars rides, but Jeff and you were pretty headstrong on wanting to go on this one.

The line was long too, about an hour in the hot Florida sun. Thankfully it was windy, and you sat on the ledges for the wait. Hoodie and Sally opted out since she was too short and he had a slight fear of heights. Slender could actually fit this time so he was pretty excited.

Jeff was pretty restless the whole time, fiddling with his hands in his hoodie pocket. BEN sat next to you on the ledge with his head on your shoulder, he seemed tired. Probably because he brought his Nintendo and played it all night even though you advised him not to.

Eventually you all made it inside where you looked at the “spooky” decorations. If slender had a face he would have one of disgust at the cobwebs. There was no comparison to his mansion, not creepy at all -in his opinion.

“Spooky does not mean unclean” he kept muttering to you guys telepathically.

Jeff rolled his eyes and Masky nodded his head, his arms crossed as you guys moved along. Then you were moved in to a separate room to watch some recording giving a backstory to the hotel. You were really focused on the video, there was even ominous music in the background.

There was this annoying whirr in your ear, you had to swat off the wind blowing on it. If the place really was haunted you were the victim. You felt a pair of hands grab your waist and you jolted, looking behind to find a cackling BEN.

“YOU SHIT” You slapped his arm- obviously- he deserved it.

He kept trying to fend you off until Masky gave both of you a really dangerous look. At least you didn’t need to be scared of ghosts anymore, Masky was the scariest thing there. Plus, BEN wasn’t exactly a terrifying ghost with those cute ears of his.

Finally it was time to get on the ride, slender looked really excited in his own way. He had his hands over his lap, the seatbelt buckled securely. You sat on the end with Jeff next to you and BEN next to him and then Toby after.

LJ was on the row behind you with Masky and EJ, you gave them a look as the cart moved. Then the doors opened and there was a stiff in the movement. Abruptly it shot upward, staying still for a second. You got to look at the beautiful view of the whole park before it dropped.

You felt your stomach drop as you clenched your hands on the handles, screaming along with LJ in the back. Glancing at him you saw the feathers on his shoulders fly up at the fall, Slender had his arms up, it was adorable. Toby was CRYING, holding onto the handles for dear life just like you.

After a few times of rising and going down Jeff started yelling at BEN, “STOP TAMPERING WITH THE CONTROLS”

“I’M NOT” he screached, holding onto his hat and trying to shake off a clingy Jeff. The outdoor daylight flashing onto his face, making his wide smiling face illuminate.

“STOP IT BEN” he kept repeating until there was one last drop. He gave a sigh of relief.

The people on the opposite rows looked mortified, scooting past you as you checked the pictures. They were absolutely hilarious, Jeff was gripping on for dear life to BEN, with Slender blocking the family in the back row and there was an open mouth shot of you.

It was a bit dizzying, so you held onto BEN until you regained your balance. He was a bit shocked too, a look of terror displayed at how Jeff yelled at him 50 feet in the air. Toby was pretty petrified too, his ticking increased and you had to rub him on the back to calm him down.

“I liked it” E.J said, shrugging at the picture and moving to the exit. Masky agreed with him, going to find his buddy Brian outside.

Toby needed something to take his mind off of the ride, so you took him and Sally to the Beauty and the Beast show. E.J tagged along too, which was pretty bizarre but hey maybe he liked theatre. The others went to the guitar ride while you waited for the next show to start.

The four of you sat in a back row to have the whole view of the stage. Needless to say that Toby and Sally really enjoyed themselves listening to the actors sing. When the conflict started Sally got anxious and you had to hold her in your lap.

Jack was quieter than usual watching the show, occasionally shushing Toby’s whimpers so he could concentrate. Gaston got on stage and started singing about killing the beast. You looked over at EJ who had his fists balled up in rage, he was really getting into it.

Giving a snarl when Gaston killed the beast but a huff of approval when he turned out to be okay. He didn’t say it but he kinned the beast, and he secretly wanted the happy ending. When the show ended you could have sworn there was tar rolling down his mask, you have him a little pat of affection.

He smiled at you under his blue mask and stood up, excusing himself for a moment. You shrugged as he went behind the stage, probably to get a snack. Leaving the gaston actor with one less kidney than when he started the show.

Then you pushed him out of there with the other two creeps, going across the road to find the rest of the group at the guitar ride. Slender was outside waiting with Hoodie and Jane, Sally ran up to give him a hug.

“They’re in the line for another round” he sighed, “go join them” he called to you and E.J.

You swerved through the other people, excusing yourself because you had to find your group. They told you all about how exciting it was, in the dark and super fast. Jeff was ranting, impatient once again. When you got inside BEN played with the marbles on the door, Masky was shooting him a disapproving look.

Jeff and BEN went in the cart in front of you, you went with L.J who wouldnt stop grinning. It would have been creepy if you weren’t used to it, but the lady making sure you were buckled seemed pretty terrified. Masky and E.J were behind you.

The car took off with a blast, music bursting in your ears as it climbed the tracks. You were overwhelmed with glowing decorations and unplanned curves, taking loopdy loops and hearing BEN and Jeff scream in delight.

You had to give heavy pants when it finished, catching your breath from all your screaming. You laughed along with L.J, whose hair was messed up. Reaching over to make it neater as the cart reached the exit point. The pictures made you cackle, especially since Masky and E.J on the same row had the same void expression.

After that you all headed to the toy story world. Admiring the green army soldiers and amazing childish scenery on the buildings. There were giant abc building blocks and gears making it seem like you had really shrunk.

Upon seeing the Toy Story mania BEN was teething. For some reason Jane too.

Finding out soon enough when she made you ride with her. Basically it was you and Jane in one cart with Jeff and BEN in the next.

She ignored the objective of the game and instead focused on shooting Jeff with the lasers. You kept telling her she had to shoot them at the targets but she shoved you off.

“I need to shoot this fucker” Jane kept muttering.

“You’ll never get me Jane!” Jeff yelled back.

Jeff aimed his cart towards you guys and started fighting back with the light filled lasers. You and BEN looked at each other like 😐, it was useless to break them up.

So you tried to win as much points as you cold but eventually BEN got more, he probably cheated. He did a little victory dance as you exited, you would definitely hold that against him later.

Slender wanted to go on the movie ride, which Jeff protested against but he wasn’t given much of a choice. Slender really liked the infographics and the interactives. Appreciating the realistic scenarios from the Indiana Jones movie and the Wild West.

Jeff did have a laughing fit when he saw the Alien from the Alien movie, saying it looked just as bald as slender. You were sure to give him a smack at that too. Overall though, you all enjoyed it, even Masky did too.

Next was the muppet show, so you all headed that way. While you all waited for the next viewing to start Toby was playing with the 3-D glasses. He kept walking with his arms out and pretending to be dizzy. Then he started “accidentally” bumping into Masky, poor Masky.

Thankfully for him, the doors opened and he sat as far as possible from Toby. You were sandwiched in between him and BEN. You guys lightly chattered until the lights dimmed and you had to put on your glasses.

L.J was having a laughing attack during the show, joined by Sally who actually really liked it. Then there was a part where the little muppet started spitting water, landing onto the audience. Now here was the part where a certain someone started screeching like a little girl, and it wasn’t Sally.

Benny was shivering in fear trying to cower on the floor, your ears rung as you tried to calm him down. You had to assure him like 20 times for him to come back, drying his seat so he could go back. Jeff was laughing but you quickly shut him up.

“It’s gonna be ok BEN, the show’s almost over” you said, giving him your jacket to warm up.

To compensate for BEN’s panic attack you convinced Slender to go to the Star Wars world next. At least BEN was pretty excited for that one, so you managed to diverge his attention to that instead.

His eyes widened and he started jumping up and down when you guys got there. Since there were so many rides you guys started just by walking around. It was pretty incredible, like straight out of the movies.

The architecture was amazing, with rusted technological buildings and the makeshift rocky terrain. The roofs of each buildings were domes, most of them were circular and extraterrestrial.

The stone was so realistic, some the walls were painted with a light aquamarine and some buildings with a yellow. The roofs were made up of a chipped bronze.

Even the ship which stood at the center was unbelievable, Slender made you and BEN take a picture together. You could see the grin of a lifetime on his face follow as you waited in line for the live action ride.

It was so fun! Even slender loved it, he knew he intimidated the storm troopers and if he could grin it would be a smug one. The design of the ride was amazing, the inside was like the real ships.

After you bought BEN a green milk and got a Blue one for yourself. It was sweet on your tongue, cold like a slushee too. You let BEN try yours after he gulped his own down and then he nagged you until you let him have the rest of it.

The next ride was the interactive one, this time you went with Masky and Hoodie. He had been quiet most of the time but this really fired him up. It was a three person ride, the mission was to get to a certain planet in the galaxy while escaping an evil ship.

Masky took all the control on this one, he was the pilot. He put Hoodie as the repair guy and you were the ammo man. He was solely concentrated on maneuvering that ship, swerving left and right like a pro. When the other ship started attacking he began commanding you too.

“SHOOT” he yelled back at you. He sure was bossy sometimes. “ARE YOU SHOOTING?”

“I AM” you said, pushing the button a million miles a minute to see the red laser shoot out on the screen.

Your wrist hurt from how hard you pushed it time and time again. “SHOOT THE GODDAMN SHIP” he said before you landed a good shot and got it out of the way, giving a sigh of relief that he would stop telling you what to do.

Hoodie was on repair duty so he just made sure you guys stayed a flight, silent and concentrated on his task.

Coming out of the Star Wars world you guys moved on to the Indiana Jones show, leaving Toby and Sally at the Frozen sing along with L.J as a chaperone. He was in literal hell, with so many little kids. He did like any reasonable adult and left, leaving the irresponsible person and Sally alone.

The Indiana Jones was one of the evening showings, probably the last one of the day before the main event. The whole thing was really thrilling, full of action and suspense. It was very exciting, and Jeff got a little too hyper.

He saw the weapons and started bouncing his legs on the floor. You eyed him suspiciously for a bit, he got so pumped he started raging. Luckily you covered his mouth before he could start yelling.

The smiling killer gave you a deadly look as he took his illegal knife out if his pocket. The very knife he promised he left at the hotel. You wondered how he snuck it in, probably his pants this time.

“You fucker” you deadpanned, moving out of his knife range. This was all while Indiana Jones was rolling over makeshift buildings with that dramatic music in the background. Thank goodness for the music, or else people would start calling security.

“BEN, E.J, HELP ME” you whisper yelled at them. They took Jeff by the arms and made him calm down, through your hand he gave muffled remarks.

His lidless eyes only widened as swords came into view, he simped over those blades like no other. Pulling and fighting for you to let him go, he wanted to cause rampage with his knife.

“I COULD BEAT THE SHIT” he paused to lick your palm which you made a squirmy face at but refused to let him go “OUT OF THOSE GUYS” you took his knife at this point.

You had to keep him restrained until the show ended, meeting up with the other half of your group then as you were walking to the restroom your group was encountered by a double line of storm troopers.

They stopped to make a round, approaching Masky and E.J, since they had masks. First was E.J, where they interrogated him with questions about if he with the first order cause or not.

“Are you part of the resistance” the trooper asked in a filtered voice.

“No” he said calmly.

“How can we know for sure?” the man in the white suit asked.

“I’m not one of the good guys, trust me” he said with a light chuckle. You laughed a little too and they moved to near Masky.

“Trooper get back in line” they said. You almost levitated, it was so funny you had to take a picture. Side by side his mask kind of resembled the storm troopers’.

“I’m not one of you” he said, boiling with anger as a few other troopers marched their way over to him.

“So you’re a Jedi in disguise then?” Another asked, face inches away from Masky.

“No” he said, the boy was about to burst with rage, too serious to take this as a game and gripping his fanny pack in anger to refrain from punching the guy.

The commander in a black mask passed by and spoke “Cleared”, the troopers dispersed, leaving a less distressed Masky behind.

Jeff was laughing at least, and L.J too, who appeared behind you mysteriously. Slender towered over him and asked where Sally was, the monochromed clown just gave a toothy smile and told him he dropped them off at the little mermaid show.

When that was over you guys got good seats at the fantastmic show, with the exception of BEN who feared water and was still having flashbacks from earlier. He gave rounds on the guitar ride with Jeff who opted to skip out with him, its not like he could sit still any longer too.

You hoped they didn’t kill anyone (they probably did), while the show went on. It was a beautiful display of lights in the water. There was a story told on the mountain and then the dancers came out. You smiled at the sight, it was another heartwarming day spent with the creeps. Holding Sally in your lap as she squealed at the pretty lights you were happy and at peace.

[petra-realsnk]

Petra squad Headcanons I love them ! + some Rivetra

Sorry for answering so late! I’ve been so invested in writing that I barely can keep up with asks. I really do appreciate them, though 🥺💕

Petra’s squad headcons + Rivetra (sfw)

Edith Bisset (26-30 yrs old - she/her - 178cm)

- She was Petra’s age when first introduced. Her personality and appearance were heavily inspired by Hitch, although she has many more things in common with Petra. If they were in a modern au, they would surely be besties! These two enjoy shit-talking a little bit too much.

- She and Hugo were some of the first friends Petra made after being resurrected. They decided to transfer from the military police after being heavily deceived by its structure and realizing how much more they could bring into their society by joining their Survey Corps instead.

- Edith comes from a middle-class family in Wall Rose. Her father is a successful fabric seller, but his relationship with her daughter was somewhat conflictive, so she enlisted as soon as her age permitted it.

- She’s the mom of the squad with Petra, doing a fantastic job keeping the younger members at bay when their leader is gone. Her mature yet teasy personality makes her one of my favorites tbh. Edith would be that mean girl you’re afraid of until you get to meet her and realize she’s not mean at all. (She would roast you, though, but that’s just her sense of humor.)

- Her skills are awe-inspiring for someone who’s not an Ackerman. That’s why she was initially named second in command until Petra decided to split that position with Hugo as well.

- She solved a lot of cases while working on the Military Police. Her intelligence and deductive capabilities are some of the aspects that make her a valuable soldier.

Hugo Herrman (25-29 yrs old - he/him - 191cm)

- Cinnamon roll. He deserves all the rights. He tried to date Edith, but she ignored him (she kind of regrets it now). He comes from a modest family originally from Wall Maria. After he joined the Military Police, they were able to move inside Wall Rose. He was infinitely grateful for that decision after the fall happened. God knows if they would’ve survived otherwise.

- He has the most chill personality in the squad and behaves as an observer most of the time. His professional ethics and skills match with those of Edith, who is one of his best friends.

He’s a little bit of a “what if Marco was an adult man with a beard” character. Hugo is much more assertive, though.

- He and Petra bonded over their shared sweet nature.

- Irina had a big fat crush on him, but who wouldn’t? He’s probably one of the hottest members of the Corps. Unluckily, he’s too old for most of them.

Irina Moldovan (18-22 yrs old - she/her - 156 cm)

- The daughter of a Doctor who volunteered to tend the injured of the Survey Corps. Irina’s dad had a significant impact on her, and her peers greatly value her medical skills. She worked with Hange a couple of times before officially joining the explorers. Now, she still helps them during the shifter tests. Irina has probably tended everyone at this point, which means she knows A LOT OF SECRETS. Thank god she’s not that much interested in gossiping.

- She has the craziest personality. Irina is spontaneous, witty, and accidentally hilarious all at once. However, she tends to be a little bit clueless when it comes to reading between the lines. Nathaniel could flirt with her for hours, and the girl would never get a hint. He eventually gave up. Which is a lot coming from him.

- Evelyn often has to take care of her since she tends to neglect herself a bit whenever she focuses too much on something. Queen of hyper-fixating with Hange. You wouldn’t want to get trapped in a conversation with both of them.

-She’s a hugger while sleeping. Everybody knows that whoever ends up on her side is about to get squished into the realms of Hypnos. Nathaniel didn’t inform Levi about this for fun. The result was tragic, but he still laughs about it.

Nathaniel Brzenski (19-23 yrs old - he/him - 180cm)

-Flirtatious Himbo. Much more intelligent and emotionally mature than it might seem at first. He’s a bisexual mess who won’t stop trying to seduce everything that breathes.

- Sadly, he was the scapegoat child of the Brzenski family, a rich dynasty who had been investing in the army for decades. Of course, he grew with all the commodities, becoming the pretty rich boy who partied a little bit too much. His attitude was considered humiliating by his peers, who preferred his sister Rico, who became somewhat of the star child after joining the Garrisons. Finally, he gave in to the pressure and joined the Military Police, later changing to the Survey Corps still in hopes to regain the respect of his family.

- He excels at hand-to-hand combat.

- He was partially responsible for bringing together Petra’s squad with the 104th. This boy will approach everyone and make sure everyone stays friends, even at the expense of making himself the common annoyance.

- He’s not successful with women despite his nice looks. This is mostly because of his child-like behavior, although he would do much better if he showed his true self more often.

-He tried to hit on Levi more than once, and Petra watched in amusement each time.

Evelyn Lefebre (19-23 yrs old - she/her - 169)

- She’s one of the most balanced members of the squad, especially among its young members. Her family owns a small goldsmith workshop in Stohess that suffered greatly from the crisis provoked by the fall of Wall Maria. As a result, Evelyn decided to join the Military Police to help her family pay their debts. Like all the women in her family, she has a great passion for craftsmanship, giving her an excellent eye for detail.

- Tsundere.

- The first time Nathaniel flirted with her as a trainee, she actually took him seriously. She developed a crush for like 15 min before she saw him doing the same with Irina. Since then, Evelyn has shared a love-hate relationship with him. She finds his himbo self both endearing and exasperating and feels somewhat embarrassed over the fact that she stills harbors feelings for him.

- She’s that one girl who was described as “really mature for her age” and would probably describe herself as such.

- Don’t try to fight her. She will find a way to win even if she’s wrong. In this sense, she’s a little bit like Edith, with whom she gets along well. These two have EGOS in different ways. It would be terrifying if they got angry with each other. Nathaniel would find it hot.

- She’s the only one in the squad who can properly cook aside from Hugo.

Sabah Fadel (Ackerman) (20-24 yrs old - they/them - 153 cm)

- A long-lost member of the Ackerman clan. They lost their sister during the fall of Wall Maria due to an unfortunate intervention of Rico Brzenska. This led to a lot of resentment towards her and the Brzenski family, which made their first encounter with Nathaniel a little bit tense. Of course, he ended up becoming their best friend somehow. (Read full backstory here.)

- Everybody simps for them because they’re impossibly cool. When they joined the Survey Corps, Mikasa went into an existential crisis because nobody aside from Levi had ever equalized her skills.

- Serious, confident af, will call out and make you bite the dust 100%. Somehow, they’re dorky when you get to know them.

- Babysits everyone when they’re drunk, especially Evelyn and Irina.

- They have a stamp collection. Talking about their interests is a great way to get to know them.

Rivetra + Squad:

- Edith and Hugo were the first ones to suspect something was going on. They started to hang out with Petra before she became their leader and quickly realized how close she seemed to be with Levi. The moment they found out they were together, Edith couldn’t wait to scream, “I KNEW IT!” They’re totally professional about it but secretly wish to be able to tease her.

- The rest of the squad was a little bit louder about it, especially Irina and Nathaniel, who made sexual jokes when they weren’t around. It was certainly something to think about that pair together. They seemed total opposites from the outside.

- Levi was mortified when everybody found about their affair. He slowly got accustomed to it, but every time he approached her squad cringes at the thought. On the other hand, Petra got defensive whenever someone addressed the matter. Nathaniel once joked about it and ended up training until he nearly collapsed. Petra seldom applies harsh discipline, but whenever she does, it’s much worse than Levi.

- Levi and Petra like to make their squads compete during training. They can get really petty about it. They have fun roasting each other teams while hyping their own. Their units ended up realizing this, not that they can complain anyway…

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Hello! Love your works, if its not too much trouble, how about a Mia x Monty Hogwarts Fluff?

Ah thank you @richerthannoir I’m loving writing about Mia and Monty Potter (Minty) at the moment, so enjoy some Minty Hogwarts fluff!! As this is to celebrate a We Can Be Heroes  reader milestone on ff.net, it’s a reminder that in that story, I did say I would do a backstory get-together fic for Mia and Monty and I will do it at some stage soon!!

How Many Detentions Will it Take?

“Hullo, Mia.”

“Hullo, Potter.”

“Well past curfew, you know, old thing,” Fleamont Potter said, leaning against the wall in a relaxed manner.

“Oh, I’m well aware, Potter.”

Mia’s hazel eyes twinkled and he shook his head and grinned back.

“What?” she said.

“Nothing,” he said.

There was something about him, about his kind smile, his casual confidence and quiet positivity, that made her feel safe and excited, all at once.

“Are you not going to ask me what I’m doing out and about at this hour, Potter?” she smiled.

It was after midnight.

“Do I look like I want to know?” he said.

Mia laughed, her dimples showing.

“I’m willing to bet you and your fellow Buccaneers are up to something,” Monty said, idly twirling his wand.

“Oh never doubt that, Potter, The Five Buccaneers are always up to mischief,” she said. “You can take that as a given.”

“I’d rather not know the details,” Fleamont laughed quietly.

“Why’s that?” Mia asked, walking closer to him.

Their hands were practically touching. Mia’s strong, thick hair, cut in a bob (purposely, a muggle hair do, to cause outrage) shimmered gold against the torch light. Fleamont’s spectacles glinted, or perhaps it was his eyes shining, she couldn’t tell.

“I don’t want to have to give you detention,” he said.

“That’s cute, Potter,” she said, still smiling. “You gave me five detentions last month.”

He snorted and shook his head at her.

“That’s ‘cause you gave me no choice,” he said. “Almost like you wanted me to catch you red-handed.”

“Almost like I wanted you to catch me,” Mia repeated, her eyebrows raising theatrically. “Who knew?”

He didn’t say anything this time, just ran his teeth over his lower lip and laughed. She was quite sure she had managed to rile him up a little bit. But it was so hard to know, he was uncommonly good at appearing unperturbed. In fact, even now, she wasn’t sure he was even remotely interested.

“You Hufflepuffs are a menace,” he said eventually, running his index finger along the groove of the stonework. “Others always underestimate you.”

“You underestimate us at your peril, Potter,” Mia said, with a brazen wink at the tall, dark-haired chap.

He looked away as he smiled, bashful, just for a split second, and when he looked back at her there was something so pleased, so adoring, in his gaze, that her hopes rose. Maybe he wasn’t quite as nonchalant as he wanted her to think.

“I said others,” he replied.

His voice had dropped, lower, warmer.

“You’d think you’d have learnt your lesson by now, seeing as I’m always beating you on the Quidditch field,” Mia added.

She was almost embarrassed by her outrageously blatant teasing, her outright flirting. Almost. She did not do embarrassment. It wasn’t in her vocabulary.

His face took on a more confident grin, this was their usual banter, during inter-house games.

“You wish,” he said lightly.

“Gryffindor Seeker and Head Boy. Not bad, Potter,” she said, beaming up at him.

He was so much taller than her.

“Hufflepuff Captain and Rogue Buccaneer,” replied Fleamont, leaning his foot against the stone wall. “Not bad yourself.”

“Ha!” she grinned mischievously. “Pity my parents don’t think so.”

His smile dropped.

“Do they not?” he said.

He sounded astonished. But then again, his parents weren’t obsessed with pureblood nobility and the likes. Sure, the Potters were purebloods, but they didn’t appear to give a toss about such drivel as Sacred Twenty-Eights and other daft nonsense. Everyone knew it. In fact, despite being a very old and reasonably well-off family, they managed to remain on the outer fringes of respectability and quite outside pureblood elite circles. Lucky bastard. She was quite sure she had heard her father talking about what a disappointing, pathetic man Fleamont’s father was. It made her like Monty all the more. Just like she loved that he never called her by her surname.

“No. Hufflepuff was literally the worst House I could have chosen,” she said, determined to keep a light tone. “My parents think it’s the losers’ House. They were mortified. They said if I had been in Ravenclaw, they’d have accepted it, if Slytherin wasn’t an option. Gryffindor would have infuriated them, but there’s plenty of purebloods in your House. Mine is where most misfits, as my parents would call it, end up. You know – muggleborns and the likes.”

She rolled her eyes derisively.

“I’m sorry,” Fleamont said, genuine concern in his tone.

“Yeah, so am I,” Mia said.

She looked away pretending to fasten her cloak so he couldn’t see she was a bit upset. Only a bit.

“Anyway,” she said, after a pause, hoping he didn’t notice the tremor in her voice. “I don’t care. My father and I have never really gotten on. It doesn’t bother me what he thinks.”

Fleamont had been looking at her, tentatively, both feet back on the ground, one hand now scratching the back of his neck.

“I think my mum is proud of my Quidditch skills, but she’d never say it to me. The only time I hear from them is when I’ve gotten into trouble with the Professors. A Howler from my father. You’ve probably heard them.”

She wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted face, her laugh coming out all watery.

“A lot of them,” he said, smiling back.

“They don’t seem to deter me from getting into mischief.”

“I’m glad,” he said.

She smiled and looked away again, her wand tracing haphazard patterns in the air.

“My father has already decided who I’m going to marry, you know…”

“Oh?” he raised his eyebrows marginally.

“Yeah, some creep called Casper Carrow, a committed pureblood, a Ministry of Magic official,” she said. “He’s nearly ten years older than us.”

She knew he had seen her shiver.

“Dad says I better change if I know what’s good for me, or the Carrows may decide to pull out of the agreement,” she said.

This time she looked at him, really looked at him, and he could see worry and resistance in her eyes. He stepped closer to her.

“I hope you never change, Mia, not like that,” Fleamont said.

He looked so sure, his grey eyes were burning, and she felt so much better when he was close to her.

“So, you like me, Monty?” she said, biting her lip, hoping she looked as confident and debonair as ever, that he couldn’t see the vulnerability hidden behind it.

He continued gazing into her eyes, steadfast, and brought his two hands to rest lightly on her shoulders.

“Of course I like you, Mia, you daft thing. I like you, an awful lot,” he said quietly.

“You do?” she whispered, standing on her tiptoes and wrapping her hands around his neck, pulling his face down closer.

“I do,” he said, his whole face lighting up now.

“Oh thank Merlin, I was resigning myself to daily detentions for the rest of the year, hoping you might get the gist,” she grinned, all traces of sadness disappearing.

“What gist is that?” he asked, teasing, his lips practically touching hers.

“That I like you back, an awful lot,” she said, radiant and triumphant.

They kissed, long and slow and full of hope, under the dim torchlight, bursts of tiny stars shooting from the tips of their giddy wands.

(Hope you liked it!)

Arranged marriage?   Minty   Minty fluff    Mia & Monty Potter Hogwarts fluff

[wallwriterstuff]

Anything You Can Do ||Demetri Volturi x Child!Oc||

Part 1: From The Doorstep 

Words: 3125

Warnings: None, just the usual parenting troubles

Summary: Part 2 to From The Doorstep (you can read this on it’s own I suppose but for the full backstory of how Demetri became a Daddy click the link to read From The Doorstep first!)

Demetri has faced many challenges since becoming a father, fighting hard for his little one every step of the way, so separating himself from her for a few hours a day is a lot more difficulty than he’d expected it to be. In short, this is what happens when mother hen Demetri sends Astraea Volturi to nursery! 

Demetri had never had a formal education like the kind the modern world provided youths nowadays. His education had consisted of lectures and practicing the practical elements of life; in so far as he remembered that often meant his father showing him how to knock an arrow or turn soil, then clipping his ear when he didn’t get it quite right. Still, it had served him well, and until the day Amun took him what little he remembered of his human life was successful. He had been healthy and his homestead was sustainable, he had done well for himself. Convincing him that sending Astraea to school was a good thing to do was therefore very difficult when he would have rather kept her home at his side, tutored by the Masters’ and other members of the guard.

He himself had degrees in geography, history and philosophy. Alec had degrees in all of the sciences. There was nothing in this world that she needed to know that they could not teach, but after reading through a few parenting books and websites (not that he was ever going to admit he’d scoured Mumsnet and various other mommyblogs – the torment would be never ending) he very quickly realised there was one thing he had failed to do as her father, one crucial element of growing up he had not provided for her in the five years she had been a part of his life.

He had not socialised her with other children.

At home, mixing with her found family, Astraea had no problems at all. She chattered happily with everyone that loved her and played nicely with the twins, but when they went out it was a different story. Demetri had noticed it more than once, her tendency to stay to herself when they went to the park or to cling to him until he pushed her to go a little further away to explore not something she shared with other children her age. After lengthy discussions about how much she had noticed about the coven and how much she might accidentally say to any school friends she might make, permission had been granted and Demetri had enrolled her in a local nursery. He hoped that meeting other humans from all walks of life might do her some good, but the first few weeks dropping her off in the mornings were hell.

Astraea’s first day had consisted of Demetri’s ears ringing as she sobbed and screamed at the top of her lungs, anxious about him leaving her in this strange new place with brand new people. He had held her close for most of that time, taking her around the room and trying to tempt her with some of the toys and activities on offer. No child had wanted to interact with the screamer clinging fast to her father’s hand and he had been forced to sit and listen to ridiculous, childish stories on a dusty floor surrounded by little humans all much more independent than his own Astraea was.

Day 2 was very much the same, the entire week passing by with little change until she surprised him by venturing a little further from him on the last day. They only spent a few hours at a time there but she knew the room well enough to know what she liked doing, and she’d sat at the drawing table on her own for a little while, checking all the while to make sure he hadn’t left her alone before she came back with a drawing for him. He felt awful that first week, like he had failed his daughter terribly, and it didn’t feel like it got much better for a very long time. She would traverse the room, but she wouldn’t talk to the staff running the nursery or the other children, selectively mute and never letting anyone but him hear her sweet voice.

It took a lot of slow progress, but after almost a full month, he was able to finally leave her for her first full day without him. Demetri had never felt anxiety like it. It clawed at the back of his mind, every minute dragged out into a small eternity as he waited for the moment he could pick her up, wondering if the other children were kind to her, if she was having fun, if she had injured herself with those oversized building blocks he had tried to steer her away from. It was a great relief to see her come streaking toward him when he came to pick her up, the venom stinging his eyes even though he could not cry as he cradled her close and pressed a lingering kiss to her hair.

“How was your day sweet girl?” he’d asked. Her answering smile was blinding bright, banishing his dark thoughts far far from his head – at least until tomorrow when he left her again.

“I think I have a friend now, but I missed you Daddy.” She’d replied. That was the first day that she had mentioned this friend, and it had been a welcome relief since it was what he had sent her to nursery for. Then one friend became two, and two became three, three became four, and suddenly there was a whole group that welcomed her every morning and said goodbye to her every afternoon. This is a good thing he told himself over and over, She is interacting with children her age, this is a good thing. So…why did it not feel like it?

Every night as the clock crept closer and closer to the dreaded time he would have to wake her and get her ready, a hollow would open in the pit of his stomach and it would grow and grow until it nearly consumed him whole. Demetri was forced to fake every smile he gave her as he helped her dress and tie shoelaces, and the hollowness was nothing compared to the bitterness that replaced it when he dropped her off each day. It was not jealousy, he was Demetri Volturi and he was not jealous of little humans, he was not! But she did seem to enjoy their company far more. She all but ran into the nursery room these days, desperately wiggling out of her coat to join her friends. Sometimes he had to chase her down just to get his goodbye cuddles. It took him a while to understand exactly what this horrible feeling was, and then it hit him.

She didn’t need him anymore.

The Astraea that clung to his legs when new people approached her was gone. She was more confident and smiled brighter. Even going to the park wasn’t the same as she actually got involved in other children’s games, and though Demetri wanted to be happy he had helped his daughter overcome the shyness he had accidentally instilled in her, he was quietly mortified by the whole process. He hadn’t realised preparing her for the world meant preparing her to leave him behind, and Demetri…wasn’t ready. Astraea didn’t even seem to notice his pain, his bubbly little girl far too excited about all of her new friends and school to register it.  

School was another thing Demetri was dreading. How much less would she need him once she started to formally learn to read, to write? How many more new friends would take her away from his side? Goodness knows what would happen if she wanted to sleep at a friends house. He might just sit outside the place on an opposite rooftop to keep an eye on her if that happened, he wasn’t sure he could cope. He wondered though if maybe school might also be better in some way, more structure and less play. It might knock out some of the odd habits she’d picked up from nursery at least.

He’d noticed it first a fortnight ago, after she’d asked to take something of his into nursery for something called show and tell and he’d given her an antique compass alongside a well-rehearsed story about how he travelled for work. When he’d picked her up that afternoon she’d reverently held his compass in her hands and had a grand old time “reading” it, giving him directions about which way to turn as she rode on his shoulders in their mission to find her after nursery snack. He had played it off as some lingering excitement and a fun game to play. They’d been looking at pirates in the nursery after all and pirates did love to find buried treasure.

A few days after that, he’d found his shoes had gone missing, and the scent in his room led him right to Astraea’s door. His first instinct had been to immediately stop her clomping about in his polished, far too big shoes, but then he’d paused and amusedly watched as she slammed her feet down to awkwardly waddle down her line of teddy bears, pointing to each one in turn and giving them orders. It was something she had seen him do with the lower guard, he and Felix in charge of their combat training and often talking to them about footwork and rules of engagement. Hearing them come tumbling from her mouth had almost made him laugh until she had repeated a few choice words from Uncle Felix’s repertoire he’d had to have a stern talk with both of them about.

It was little things like that that had added up over the span of two weeks that had confused and amused him to no end. Poor imitations of his growling, standing with one little arm tucked behind her back. She’d even copied the way he greeted Felix and other members of the guard in the halls, nodding at them with a quick enunciation of their name. The strange habit of mimicking his actions had extended to Uncle Felix to, and Uncle Alec and Aunt Jane, though he had to admit it was hilarious to watch her glare the young boy who had accidentally crushed her artwork with his foot as he stood from the carpet into submission, Jane’s signature smile on her lips as she did it. She looked almost disappointed that she hadn’t been able to make him writhe in agony as she did so and Demetri had had a quiet word with Jane about ensuring she didn’t use her gift in front of Astraea anymore.

It had all culminated in one silly little argument one morning as they got ready for another day at nursery, one of the last coming up before the Christmas holidays. Demetri was feeling the same hollowness he always felt, not in the mood for her to push his patience as she was, and it was all over a stupid necklace. He was crouched before her, hand outstretched as he waited with all the patience he possessed for him to place her coven crest back into his open palm. She held it clutched tight in her tiny little fists, small knuckles turning white with the effort as she shook her head vigorously, holding it close to her chest.

“No! I want to wear it!” she repeated. This was the fourth time she’d told him as much despite his protests.  

“Astraea Volturi I have been patient enough with you, you are not allowed to take it and that is final, now hand it back to me. Now.” Demetri ordered, curling his fingers for added emphasis.

“No!” she cried, lower lip protruding in a pout and trembling slightly. Demetri blinked, surprised by her reaction. He hadn’t expected his daughter to get this upset over it, but she looked genuinely distraught at the thought he might take it from her. He sighed, letting his hand drop and resting his forearms on his thighs, hands clasping as he studied her tight grip on the necklace. She hadn’t really worn it before, since it was rather large and she was still only small, so it would hang down her torso for sure and probably snag on things. He didn’t want her choking if the chain got caught on anything, or for her to lose it. It was a great honour to be part of their coven and she would cherish it in the years to come, but not at the tender age of five.

“Sweet girl, I worry you will lose it, or perhaps hurt yourself if it becomes caught on anything as you play. It would be safer to leave it at home.” He tried. Astraea shook her head again, turning her body away from him. He knew full well he could take it from her without any resistance but he had sworn to never use force on his daughter long ago.

“I’ll be careful!” she promised. Her small shoulders were all hunched up, so tense as she gripped onto her necklace tight. Demetri rolled his eyes skyward and took in a deep breath, mentally counting to ten before he exhaled slowly and checked his watch. They were going to be very late if this carried on.

“I am sure you would be, but that still does not mean it is safe to take it to nursery.” He reasoned.

“But I need it!” she whined. Demetri’s brows furrowed, mind racing as fear gripped him tight. She needed it? What had she said to the other children that required her to take in her coven necklace? Had she mentioned the crest? The Volturi?

“Why?” Demetri asked, keeping his voice as level as he could so as to not alert her to his underlying panic. There was a long moment of pure silence, neither of them saying anything as his anxiety grew till he was forced to press for an answer. When Astraea turned to face him, her puppy dog eyes made him falter.

“To be like you. You always wear yours.” She pointed to the golden ‘V’ visible against his chest, and Demetri subconsciously reached his fingers up to run them over the cold metal. His expression softened slightly and he lowered himself to the ground, gesturing for his daughter to come and sit with him. She hesitated for a moment before he motioned to her once more, her little legs carrying her right to his lap where she made herself comfortable. Demetri wrapped his arms around her, looking down at her inquisitively.

“Now why on earth would you want to be like me?” he asked. Astraea was everything to him. She was his happy, bright, gorgeous, warm, curious, sweet little girl, and he wouldn’t have changed her for anything in the world. To hear she wanted to be like him…well the most selfish parts of him relished in the news. She kept her crest in her lap now, looking up at him with a small frown.

“Miss Bellomo asked what we wanted to be when we were bigger, and I want to be a hero like you that protects people.” She said. Demetri felt his cold, dead heart shatter into a million pieces. For obvious reasons Astraea didn’t know the full scope of what he did, to her he was a security guard that protected the castle, and sometimes he had to go away to find people who had tried to get into the castle and give them a telling off. He was sure she’d be horrified if she knew the truth, that he was an executioner more so than a hero, but to see himself through her eyes was extraordinary and eye opening. Suddenly, all of the little things he’d caught her doing made sense.

Every gesture of his she had mimicked, she had done in an effort to be like him. Astraea had never left him behind at all; he was always in her mind, the protector and hero that was always with her. Demetri held her close, burying his nose in her hair to inhale her sweet scent. He didn’t care that it made his throat burn horribly. He simply needed to be close to his daughter and have a little time to compose himself. When he pulled back, he clasped her head to his lips and pressed a firm kiss against her hairline.

“Oh my sweet, sweet girl, no. Please do not try to be like me.” He whispered, voice raw with unshed emotion. Her little face fell into a frown again.

“Why can’t I be like you?” she asked. Demetri stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“You cannot be like me because I need you to keep being like you,” he replied, “Astraea, my sweet girl, there are so many people in this world who would seek to change you, the way you look or the way you act, but never let them. You are kind and strong, and smart and funny…to be anything other than yourself is taking away so much good from this world. Do you understand?” He knew she most likely didn’t, not fully, but after a minute to process it, she nodded, curls bouncing around her face.

“So…I have to be me?” she asked. Demetri nodded.

“Yes. You must always be you. I love you very much as you are. You are my hero, my sweet girl.” He kissed her forehead, the adoration he felt for his little girl ten times stronger than it had ever been before. She beamed up at him, throwing her small arms around his neck to hug him close to her. Demetri returned the hug whole heartedly, vaguely noting that hollowness that had plagued him was entirely gone now. She was certainly a hero, she’d saved him from himself.

“Will you keep it safe for me?” she held out her coven crest to him and Demetri stared down at it for a long moment before gently curling her fingers back around the metal.

“How about we compromise? If you promise to keep it in your nursery bag and not take it out for any reason, you can take it with you.” He suggested. Her eyes sparkled and she nodded vigorously.

“I promise I promise!” she cheered. Demetri chuckled.

“Okay then. Let’s put it in your bag now and go, we are already late.” He watched her bounce up from his lap, bounding over her to small backpack with all the eagerness of an overly excited puppy. Demetri had never expected that when he enrolled his daughter in nursery, he would be the one to learn something new. Sometimes parenting required you to step back, not too far, but just enough so you could watch your children thrive from a distance you could easily cross when you were needed, and Astraea still very much needed him, even if it didn’t feel like it all the time.

[ghoste-catte]

multiples of 3 ✌🏼-sgmdrcklee

@sagemoderocklee you’re really trying to kill me lol

This got long as heck so I’m throwing it behind a cut. Read on for answers and fic recs! (Mostly the fic recs)

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

This is a tough one to answer for me generally because I tend to spit words onto the page and once I have written them I no longer remember writing them. And 2020 has stretched on so long that as I’m looking at some of the stuff I wrote in the beginning of this year, I hardly remember what’s even in it. I think at one point someone (@goblin-draws maybe?) mentioned a line in Sleeptalk with Me where the innkeeper calls Kankuro “chubby boy”, and I was like “Oh ... did I write that? Yeah, sounds like something I’d have someone say to Kankuro ...” 

It might be easier to talk about this in other terms. One of the scenes I worked the hardest on this year was the fight scene in Chapter 3 of Skeleton Key. The original draft of the scene was a lot shorter, and a lot of the backstory for Misaki’s revenge quest was elided. The scene as originally written was clunky, confusing, and as my lovely wife/beta put it sounded “like a Naruto villain” was doing the dialogue, when previously she’d found Misaki sinister and intriguing. Which wasn’t what I wanted. I basically entirely overhauled the scene and re-wrote it several times. I wouldn’t call it a ‘favorite’ scene (I hate writing fight scenes generally; having chosen to immerse myself in a fandom about ninja where much of the drama comes from battle is my eternal regret), but it is a scene that I put a lot of effort into, and I’m moderately satisfied with the improved product that resulted.  

6. least popular fic this year

By far my least popular fic by kudos ever is Pitch Perfect. Which makes complete sense to me. It’s a fic where I’ve written 2 characters who are men in canon as cis women, which pushes a lot of uncomfortable buttons for a lot of people. It contains F/F smut, which is something that a lot of people who choose to read GaaLee probably aren’t out there looking for. And people comment and kudos less on smutfics, I assume because they don’t want their username attached to porn or because they’re embarrassed (which I totally get, no shame there). It’s a modern AU with a sports twist, and AUs are often less popular than canonverse in my experience. I will say though that it has a surprisingly high number of private bookmarks compared to other fics with comparable hit and kudos counts. So I assume people are just a bit more shy because the premise is so ‘out there’. I will say as far as my fics go, it’s one of my personal favorites and probably one of the most intimate and true-to-life things I’ve written? So it actually is a little comforting to know that something so vulnerable has relatively little attention. 

9. longest wip of the year

If we’re going based on stuff that’s partially published but not complete, my Gaara-adopts-Shinki fic On My Way Home is my longest in-progress fic at just over 20k words, although technically I started it in 2019. It will probably end up being right around 40-50k when it’s complete, which might end up situating it as my longest fic ever? 

12. favorite character to write about this year

Okay, this is an easy one. I love writing Kankuro. I think he is hilarious. He is the devil on my shoulder and a creature of pure id, and every time I write a line of dialogue for him it’s the summation of my rudest thoughts about a situation put in the crudest possible terms. If there were a megaphone directly from my unfiltered brain giving running commentary, that would be Kankuro.

15. something you learned this year

I have learned SO much this year! This is only my 2nd year properly ‘focusing’ on writing fic and investing any substantial time into it. I think the biggest thing I have learned, though, is how to overcome a lot of my self-consciousness about writing stories with NSFW elements in them. Starting out, I was so extremely shy and mortified about writing fic at all, much less things like hugging or (god forbid!) kissing. So taking on the smut prompts I took this year and really buckling down on learning to write the mechanics and emotions of sex has been a massive learning experience. (And sorry, by the way, if I haven’t gotten to a prompt you sent me in January yet. I do intend to write all of them eventually!) 

18. current number of WIPs

Ah. The call-out question. My general fic process is idea -> outline -> wip -> edit -> ready to post (where the final draft sits in my docs until I gin up the courage to actually post it). So skipping fics that are just “ideas” on the big mega-list, I have 3 fics in the “outline” stage, 13 fics in the partially written “wip” stage, 1 fic in the “editing” stage, and 2 that are complete but yet-to-be-posted. So, like, 19 total in the offing. (The “ideas” list is even worse lol.)

21. most memorable comment/review

This is such a difficult question because every single comment I get makes me do a little dance for joy. That’s not an exaggeration btw I really sit there and like bounce around in my seat for a moment before I open the Ao3 email. I am not an especially emotive person irl, but there have been times I’ve been brought near tears by comments. I’ll also occasionally show them to my wife like !! look at this nice thing this person said !! and she’s indulgent enough to actually read them. There have been a couple comments that have really stuck with me, that I starred in my inbox and return to frequently, but I don’t want to bring attention to someone else without their permission. I will say there was one person recently who mentioned (not in the comments on one of my fics) that they had found someone who does physical binding of fanfiction and they were about to ask my permission to do that, but then the person who does the binding only does certain ships that she likes ... so that, just, absolutely floored me. The idea that someone might actual want a physical copy of my stupid little ninja fanfictions is, like, so truly immense and completely overwhelming?

24. favorite fic you read this year

You can’t make me pick just one!! (For reference, I have bookmarked right around 180 fics in the past year, and that’s not including fics that I just read, really enjoyed, but didn’t think I could ‘handle’ a second time around.) So, skipping over the ones that AREN’T Naruto ... here is a brief sampling of some faves:

Silica by deepestbluest (rated E, GaaLee, ShikaTema, and Kankiba) - An absolute emotional powerhouse of a fic that manages to skillfully interweave three complex relationship dynamics, satisfactorily resolve them, and give you ALL the sandsibs feels in just over 10k words. 

Childhood Not-Friends (series) by MegaWallflower (rated G, KakaGai) - @megawallflower is a KakaGai god for good reason. Absolutely adorable relationship development fics (five of them!) with the premise that Kakashi thinks he and Gai have been dating since they were kids ... Gai just hasn’t been clued into it yet. These stories will give you heart-eyes.

The Bright Side by gidget_goes (rated T, GaaLee) - This is the Buffy AU I never knew I needed, because I’ve never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But truly you don’t need any Buffy knowledge to enjoy this fic. @gidget-goes command of imagery is masterful, and the way they manage to snap from snark to tugging at your heartstrings is awe-inspiring. Gaara breaks my heart in this. And did I mention Kankuro wears a 10-gallon hat? Because Kankuro wears a 10-gallon hat. 

Nature vs. Nurture by Bidiza (rated T, GaaLee) - So introspective and so poetic. This looks like a WIP but it’s actually multiple oneshots, although by the end of the second one you’ll be dying for the rest of the promised series. 

I’m a Fool to Want You by BeelieveRosemarie (rated M, GaaLee) - Turns out @tuttiefruttiegaalee isn’t just an amazing artist, they’re a writer, too! Slow-dancing that will break your heart. Listen to the Frank Sinatra song while you read this for extra tear-jerking effect.

Let Love be Known (series) by TenTomatoes (rated G, GaaLee) - This is the twist on the arranged marriage trope and Beauty and the Beast that I didn’t realize this fandom was missing. I’m absolutely obsessed with their concept of Gaara as the Beast

I Could Be by LilacNoctua (rated T, GaaLee) - I know I big up @lilac-writes Worthwhile series a lot (deservedly so, because it’s so good it makes you look at the series and go “Why the fuck didn’t Kishimoto make this canon exactly like this?”), but this story made me absolutely die between the butterflies in my stomach and how hard I was laughing. There’s one line--you’ll know it when you read it--that absolutely bowls me over every time I re-read this. 

And Then Continue by EgregiousDerp (rated E, GaaLee) - Obviously I’m biased because this was a gift, but @egregiousderp writes some of the the best characterized porn I’ve ever read. You will read this and go “Wow! This is exactly how it would happen!” It’s such a tender, beautiful exploration of Gaara’s insecurities and a very real feeling first time, for all its soft edges. 

Cake by citronelle (rated E, KanKiba) - I don’t even know what to say about this one other than ... phew, this is extremely well written, extremely hot, and extremely in character. Just read it. I promise it’s worth it. 

Saudade by YumKiwiDelicious (rated M, GaaLee) - I’ve run around reccing this to just about every person on the face of the earth at this point. If you’re in the GaaLee Discord you probably saw everyone salivating over every new update of this fic and with good reason. The twists and turns of this fic will have you on the edge of your seat, second guessing every single moment. And it will break your heart in the meantime. What more could you want?

the love potion commotion by floating_cats (rated T, NejiSasu with background GaaLee) - One of those fics where you wish the author’s sense of humor was your own. So many hilarious moments in this story, and it brought me a new appreciation for a ship I never would have even considered. 

Finger Lickin’ Good by whazzername (rated E, GaaLee) - Whazz is another one of those authors where I literally want to rec every single thing she’s ever written, she’s just that good. (Speaking of which, if you haven’t read Fools Rush In and its sequel Degrees of Separation, you’re missing out on the best possible Metal origin story of all time. Don’t deprive yourself of this.) But this story is just ... so incredibly in character for a situation that reads like crack. It’s handled with the utmost straight-facedness and it’s so. freakin’. good. 

heart lines by winterberry_holly (rated M, NejiTen and GaaLee) - I don’t even have the words to describe how perfect this fic is. It’s a truly beautiful exploration of Tenten’s relationship with her palmistry hobby and with the people in her life. My heart ached with every single line. 

Standing on Ceremony by kuroashi (rated E, GaaLee) - This is just ... such a beautiful wedding story. So lovely, like getting the best possible warm hug from someone you love. If that love one was slightly strange and socially inept, because, well. It’s still Gaara doing Gaara-things. @baphometsss is another one of those authors whose handling of smut scenes is so stupendous it makes me wildly jealous. 

Thrall by RokiRiot (rated T, GaaLee) - Idiots-to-lovers with a magic AU twist! This is such a wonderful story, and Gaara’s internal monologue is absolutely amazing. And Lee is Deaf in this fic, which I never ever get to see and which absolutely made my entire day/week/month/life. 

Make-Out Consequences by LuxaLucifer (rated M, KakaGai with background canon Boruto ships) - I laughed so hard reading this that I had to take a breather to stop crying. That’s not an exaggeration. The characterization in this fic is impeccable and the humor is to die for. Naruto’s buffoonery truly shines here, and the author’s wit is just beyond anything I could even properly summarize. Hysterical. A++. 

Thirteen Strokes by Luna_Lee (rated T, GaaLee) - Again, like, if you aren’t reading literally everything @sagemoderocklee writes, are you even really a GaaLee fan? But this fic is beyond even for one of Eeri’s incredibly excellent writings. The worldbuilding in this, the cultural notes, the imagery ... it’s all so lush and so fulfilling and so beautiful. It’s a story about love and it’s a story that you can tell has love poured into every single line. I can’t recommend it enough. 

Checkmate by shadowstrangle (rated G, GaaLee) - The pettiness vibes ... this is so funny. Such a cute story and I love Gaara’s sense of humor here. Not a lot of writers give him a sense of humor, but I love how @shadowstrangle gives him a slightly odd, slightly left-of-center take on humor that still manages to be so funny. 

To Court a Village by FanFictionEngineer (rated G, GaaLee) - Another one where my bias is perhaps slightly obvious, but the premise of this fic is amazing. I love cultural misunderstandings, and the idea of Lee trying his hardest to court Gaara ineptly is just so perfect. 

affliction of feeling by theformerone (rated E, SakuHina) - One of those ships that it would never have occurred to me to seek out but that absolutely works with how the author’s set it up. The dynamics here are delicious. It’s so rare to find good F/F porn but this is one of them for sure. 

Tried and Tested by twentysomething (Rated M, KakaIru with background canon Boruto ships and GaaLee) - Iruka’s narration in this story is just incredible. I haven’t laughed this hard reading a fic in ages. And the concept alone (that Naruto can’t be promoted to Hokage until he passes his chuunin exams ... as an adult ... and Sasuke gets dragged along for the ride) is just brilliant. Amazing concept, amazingly executed. 

a fireside waltz by winterberry_holly (rated M, GaaLee) - I really tried not to rec a single author more than once here but for this one I had to. I got about halfway through this fic and immediately started running around ringing the town crier bell like READ THIS FIC! READ THIS FIC! An absolutely smoldering Regency AU with such beautiful, intimate dance scenes. My heart was racing every single time their fingers brushed. If you don’t read anything else on this list, at the very least read this. 

27. favorite fanfic author of the year

I really can’t pick just one. I am lucky enough that @egregiousderp passes me her drafts under the table before (or without) publishing, and getting to read those is a private treat of unparalleled proportions. Some of my favorite things I’ve read this year I can’t even rec because they’re her unpublished stuff. 

30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year

This is gonna come off strange because I just wrote such a long Naruto reclist, but I recently watched What We Do in the Shadows, and found an incredibly talented group of authors in that fandom with really amazingly good dialogue and narrative voice. I also read a lot of fic for the new It movies (even though I couldn’t watch the 2nd one for ~reasons~), and damn if there isn’t a talented crop of authors in that fandom, too. And finally with ATLA making its way onto Netflix, I had the chance to start watching that for the first time and found a ton of really good fic there as well! 

fanfic end of the year asks!

[shadowtongued]

long headcanon about the duality of love and the mahjarrat condition pertaining to it from his point of view. if you read all this babble i swear to god, i love you, i hope you have a good day. cw: sex addiction, child neglect, unhealthy coping, unrequited pains. reason for writing: hi i want to die bc of angst.

i think we all know even without playing medieval xp grind lore game, runescape, that sliske is old. very old. he tells us in endgame there's not much he hasn’t done with his life over thousands of years, even traveling to other planets and realms to just see what was out there and how far he could get. i’ve always projected his age as somewhere between more than 8,000 or even more than 10,000. we’re never given a timeline to how long the children of mah have lived. sliske has done a lot with his time; he’s killed a god, had quite a few elder relics in his grasp, SPOKEN to a elder god and managed not to die, mastered shadow magicks, has an excellent grasp on the shadow realm. he’s good with biology, chemistry, has a fair understanding of soul magic which is kind of a rare brand of knowledge, he’s tricked probably thousands into bad contracts to become wights in his army, understands the psychology and bad morals of people. he was a playwright, a high ranking officer, a spymaster. dude is just a determined polymath. you know what he hasn’t done? love. he’s never got to play with love.

mahjarrat are explained as having emotions, but dulled ones. they feel rage and pride apparently better than others. kharshai said after years of really believing he was a human, that when he came back to his true form he states “i  feel raw power coursing through my veins. i don't feel pain like i used to, and i'm sure my intellect has increased. but somehow there is something missing. a capacity for emotion that i can't quite put my finger on.” they aren’t equipped for the same range of positive emotions as others are. they feel it, but they don’t understand it fully, it has been said by developers. this whole bit is sadly funny considering in canon, sliske catches feelings. he doesn’t realize he’s attracted to the player character. it’s stated many times, in his journals, in dialogue, etc. he believes their fates are tangled no matter what. and the saddest bit is he probably doesn’t understand these feelings and it confuses him to the point of anger.  “ love! a mahjarrat in love? ... i almost wish that were true. it would certainly make the universe a more interesting place. ” “ so perhaps i have loved you. but that doesn’t mean i have to like you.”  sliske’s main goal started off as to take the players immortal, unable to be crushed by the divine, soul and give it to himself so he could live forever, as mahjarrats do not have afterlives, once they die they are done, evaporated into energy. but in endgame we learn something from him hidden in masks that refutes that;

“I love you for more than your soul.”

you STUPID fucker, you’re in love.

the remainder of this is a lot of NON-CANON, personal headcanon interpretation that pretty much only works on this blog. as a rough summary: sliske’s ol’ mum was not fond of her kids, half-brother wahisietel or sliske since she did not see them as powerful as herself and was disappointed that's what her legacy came out to. a short, beefy, average at magic son, she had another go and was still disappointed with this spidery, scrawny, gifted but absolutely annoying stick underweight child. his father, saw him once or twice in his life and that was it. dyeosuthua wanted nothing more than to make them disappear and try again until she got offspring she didn’t want to throw into a lava pit in secrecy, infanticide was against tribal law due to population issues. sliske’s mother’s neglect was so severe, ( by the absolute boundless joys of rp development and mutual heacanons ♥ ) that wahi and nabor had an attempt at raising him and keeping him from freezing to death. why is all this jargon important? because while all mahjarrats are raised by tough love, sliske’s attention deprivation from his mother was so severe, he grew up and still has a slew of reactive attachment, psychological, and social issues he still carries as an adult. several times she threatened to kill him and almost made good on it more than twice. when wahisietel had proven he was a survivor of the first ritual of rejuvenation, sliske became dyeosuthua’s  main target for abuse despite his gift for magic at a young age. nothing he did could impress her enough. and it left him constantly seeking approval and validation to an insecure mind.

the more he grew, the more confident he became mainly out of spite and to get attention. he’s loud, charming, makes you the only person in the room when he talks to you. he has an innate silver-tongued ability that persuades people to do just about anything. it was a front for his insecurities that he kept very very closed up. in the second age/senntisten capital, sliske had a pretty severe sex addiction as it was one of the few ways he felt validated and was able to get affection in a way he could digest. people with reactive attachment disorders often have sex addictions to fill the space of acceptance without having to commit.. easy, feel good intimacy without having to open up and let someone learn about your vulnerabilities and commit. it was pretty severe, considering mahjarrats find any kind of breeding or intimacies outside their ‘superior species’ as downright foul. sliske had always been the black sheep of the tribe and with his status as praefectus praetorio; head of secret police, really nothing put a damper on him trying to fill the void for affection he had. there wasn’t a species or individual he wouldn’t bed. he would easily take up propositions even for people who just wanted to fuck a mahjarrat because it was ‘exotic’ or because of his status as an officer, he now looks back on this and it bruises his insecurities even more that he allowed himself to do that. not out of pride for his species. but himself, being just a thing to be had because of rarity. azzanadra and his brother, wahisietel found out about it and while disgusted, partially understood what he was doing to negatively self soothe. at one point sliske and azzanadra, the champion of their god and head of the church, as well of one of the strongest living of their kin, had a lasting tryst for a few years and for awhile it made sliske feel very much self important in a way and alleviated his need to be needed so badly, this did not end well when sliske grew tired of their empire and wanted freedom. once childhood best friends and lovers had become absolute enemies once sliske became too unstable and azzanadra became too zealous. 

sliske gave up his sexcapades for a long time, thousands of years, his libido dropped when he became interested in other projects and self healing when he was hit with the idea that he hasd essentially allowed himself to be an exotic fling and still burned over becoming his god, zaros, scapegoat after all he had done for him. love was a weird concept to him and still is. despite being adamant love doesn’t exist for his kind, and his belief that he is flawed, unstable, and embraced the idea of ‘you want a monster? fine! i’ll be the monster!’. he expects no pity, not be forgiven to things he has done and even in game when you sycophantically try to cozy to him, he straight up calls out your text choice was awful considering some of the shitty things he might have done to you. to sliske, all attention to him is attention, whether you’re praising or insulting him. he’s on your mind, he exists, that’s all he wants.

backstory aside the real part of this headcanon is that sliske actually wants love. it’s the only thing aside from an immortal soul he hasn’t had. sliske actually has an attraction to humans because they are empathetic, curious, passionate, and determined. he has an easier time assimilating and being around them since he has ALWAYS had a better sense of humor, socializing, and happiness than his kin. he feels emotions a lot stronger than his fellow mahjarrats. it allows him to talk to and connect to humans and humanlike species better. others of his kind have told him there’s “something wrong” with him for that. he’s actually a romantic, even if he’s just mimicking romance stories, movies, and actions from others. he thinks the idea of settling with one person and loving them is both mortifying and interesting. opening yourself up to someone and giving them the hammer to smash your cherry-red painted porcelain heart and seeing if they do, to him might be the ultimate form of trust and biggest gamble of russian roulette. the stakes are so heavy he’s high on the idea. but it’s also horrifying. mahjarrat are prolific for not opening up, not allowing others in, vulnerability out in the open is a death sentence. they live in a kratocracy/meritocracy where they kill off the weakest link. it’s not pretty. being soft is a useless, unnecessary, weak gene to them. it dampers survival. 

but yet sliske keeps reading romance novels, writing his own confused poetry, and getting into unrequited one sided loves but practicing a backstabbing betrayal when one gets too close. i have to hurt them before they hurt me, betray and cut them down before they can do it to me. i think he wants to be loved. i think he kinda wants to be taught to love, for the emotions and the sake of knowledge. ( brb james newton howard’s ‘true love’s kiss’ from maleficent just came on spotify and i think i’m going to die bc i did not ask for background music thanks!!! ) he wouldn’t be the best at it, maybe a little too possessive with you, codependent, but very nurturing and fun loving. will sepnd a whole week spooning you.. people who hurt you past, present, and future may end up dead in mysterious ways or turned into a wight for you to beat the shit out of. but he’d try. he’s still got a broken child sitting behind his third rib. i think he would snarl the first few times someone genuinely got close to him, it would terrify him, being known on such a skinned, raw level. having gentle touches that are real and not a come hither to the bedroom. being known for something other than the confident, ego he has is death. he could be taught to be gentle for a crumb of consistent attention. might even cut down the murders and god killing down by 15%. love is not going to fix him, it’s not going to forgive the actual shitty things he’s done. it should never do that. but it will turn the lights on in a dark house.

love could really break him. i think so. i’d type more but this has gone on too long and i feel sad-happies. 

[warpinator]

the horror show

Rated: G

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, Uraraka Ochako

Summary: 

"It's not that weird, Uraraka, I haven't seen one either."

She gasps again, clutching her chest.

"You too Deku!?"

--

Neither Izuku or Shouto have seen a horror movie. Ochako seeks to correct this.

Uraraka gasps, scandalized.

"You've never seen a horror movie?"

She is staring at Todoroki like she's never seen him before. Izuku knows the reason that Todoroki hasn't seen a horror movie probably relates to Endeavor and decides to intervene before the other boy has to say anything.

"It's not that weird, Uraraka, I haven't seen one either."

She gasps again, clutching her chest.

"You too Deku!?"

She sounds so shocked that Izuku is taken aback. Surely it can't be that weird? He just never had because his mother hated horror movies and he hadn't really had any friends to watch them with when he became old enough to watch them. Izuku figured that it was probably pretty common, but judging by Uraraka's concerned gaze sweeping between Todoroki and he, there's the sinking feeling that it, perhaps, is not normal to have missed an entire genre of movies by the age of fifteen.

"That's it," she says, planting her hands on her hips, "we're watching one! Tomorrow night! You two are coming over to my room and watching a horror movie with me!"

Todoroki sends him a questioning look. Izuku just shrugs, it can't hurt, right? Besides, they haven't been able to hang out that often with internships in the way, so it'll be nice to just...relax.

"We'll be there," Izuku tells Uraraka, smiling. She pumps her fist in the air.

"Fantastic! Don't worry, I'll pick a good one for your first time."

Izuku tries not to notice the devilish slant to her smile. He's seen enough in real life that horror movies should be a breeze, right?

The next evening, Izuku meets up with Todoroki and heads to the Uraraka's room.

"So..." Todoroki starts, "You know why I haven't ever watched a horror movie, but what about you?"

Izuku doesn't really want to admit that it was because he had no friends to watch them with. The reasoning seems...petty in the face of what Todoroki has gone through. Plus he really just. Doesn't want to get into his pre-high school backstory, no matter how unfair that might be to the boy who has shared a ton of his with Izuku.

"I was always hyper-focused on heroes, I guess," is what he says instead, "plus my mom never wanted to watch any, so our movie nights never included them."

It's true, really, and a safer option. Todoroki seems to have no questions with his statement, regardless.

"Well," he says, "we should probably have fun while we can, since I'm sure things are only going to get harder here on out."

"Yeah!" Izuku agrees, smiling widely. Todoroki's right. Now that he has friends to spend time with, he better make the most of it. A warm feeling spreads through Izuku's chest, only growing stronger when he sees Uraraka fiddling with the television in her room.

"Hey guys!" She plops on the bed, patting the space beside her. Izuku sits in the middle, Todoroki on his left.

"I have popcorn," Uraraka motions to the table, the chair that usually sits by it pushed out of the way.

"Thank you," Todoroki says, taking a handful.

"So! I chose a ghost one! Classic and also hopefully not similar to any villains we've met," She pops back up, heading to turn the light off.

"That works for me," says the other boy, glancing at Izuku. Izuku's read a few ghost stories and those were fine, so this should be too, really.

"Me too," he says.

"Good!" She sits back down, sitting cross-legged on her end of the bed, "Now, this is a pretty spooky one, so I hope you enjoy it!" Uraraka clicks the remote and the movie starts.

The movie starts out fine.

The movie is not going fine. The atmosphere is terrifying. Izuku hasn't even seen the ghost yet, but he feels horrified anyway. The movie has the awful habit of just. Not having. Any music. Especially during the more tense moments. He wants to crawl out of his skin he's so tense.

And the worst part.

The worst part is that Uraraka is leaning forward in interest and Todoroki has his head tilted, obviously interested but not terrified. How are they not terrified? Izuku is trying to become an unnoticeable ball, the dark of the room making him jumpy.

Then the movie chooses then to pull its trump card then, because the ghost creeps onto frame with an unholy noise and Izuku yelps, shoving his head into Todoroki's side. He cannot. Cannot. Watch anymore of this. He does not see it. The ghost is no longer there.

"Midoriya?" Todoroki's shocked tone would be funny in any other situation but the horrible noises are still coming from the television, so he tries to burrow deeper.

"I, uh, don't think Deku is doing too well with the movie," he hears Uraraka say, her voice tight with mirth. Traitor, he thinks, uncharitably.

"Ah." Izuku can feel Todoroki put a hesitant hand on his back, patting it awkwardly.

"Do you want me to stop the movie?" Uraraka says and now he can feel her hand softly touching his shoulder. She pauses it in the meantime.

"No," he manages to choke out, "it's okay, you guys are enjoying it! I just...uh...it's scary"

He mumbles the last part.

"If it's any consolation," Todoroki says, "you were about ten times scarier than that ghost when you fought me at the sports festival."

"What!?" Izuku squeaks. The admission is one part flattering and one part mortifying.

"Yes," the other boy continues, "you really should have seen your face. Terrifying."

"Todoroki!" Uraraka scolds.

"Ah. You were terrifying in your fight against Bakugou as well, Uraraka."

"That isn't- ugh, Deku, it's okay! Ghosts aren't real!"

"I know that!" Izuku whines, "they just, uh, feel incredibly real while I'm watching this?"

"Do you want to stop?" She's serious, Izuku can tell, but he doesn't want to stop it for the both of them. He can do this!

The green-haired boy releases Todoroki from the tight grip he had on the taller boy.

"No. I can do this!"

Uraraka smiles at him.

"If you're sure?"

He nods, decisively.

"Totally!"

She unpauses the movie and Izuku rapidly realizes, no.

He cannot totally handle this.

The movie is still, for some reason, absolutely terrifying. Izuku just...handles himself better during it. He's tense, One For All held at the ready, even, for how out of his mind he feels at the moment.

Uraraka's hand is still on his shoulder, though, and Todoroki has let his hand slip down to cover his, so he is more settled. The ugly ghost and the appalling noises it's making still cause him to jump every time it's on screen though.

But Izuku does start to, not calm down , but feel less likely to jump out of his skin. That is until what probably is the climax of the movie.

The ghost, until now, has mostly settled for haunting the house and being seen like the creep that it is. Now it's choosing to attack the protagonist and at her scream Izuku can't help himself.

He grabs Uraraka tightly and hides in her shoulder.

"Deku!?"

"It's fine! Keep going!"

He can hear Todoroki snort, the bastard. Another scream and the ghost's rattling sobs cause him to cling tighter. Uraraka grunts.

"Deku, I can't breathe!"

"Sorry!" He tries to let go but there's a wet squelch coming from the screen and he clings desperately to her arm instead. Todoroki has returned to patting his back in a strange out-of-rhythm manner.

"Goodbye arm," says Uraraka mournfully.

"We'll hold a memorial," Todoroki is solemn.

"I hate you both!" Izuku whines as harsh sobbing and clinking sounds fill the room.

He holds position for a few more minutes, before Todoroki ceases his patting and taps him instead.

"It's ending, Midoriya, you can look."

He peeks over Uraraka's shoulder to see the protagonist facing off against the ghost, chanting something and waving a candle around. The ghost is dissipating, turning from its monstrous form to a beautiful young woman. The two hug before the ghost disappears.

Izuku heaves a sigh of relief, letting go of Uraraka to flop back on the bed.

"The future number one hero...afraid of ghosts..." Todoroki sounds like he's about to laugh.

"I am not afraid of ghosts! Just that.. .one. ..particular ghost is extremely scary!"

"If you say so."

Izuku grabs Uraraka's pillow and bashes it into the side of Todoroki's head. The other boy yelps.

Uraraka laughs at them both.

"If I had known you were going to be so scared I would've chosen something for kids," she says between chuckles.

Izuku gives her a bash of the pillow as well, ignoring her "oof".

"You both are so rude."

"It was kinda cute though," the girl says, straightening back up, "clinging to both of us like that."

He blushes furiously, hiding behind the pillow.

"Even though you did murder Uraraka's arm," Todoroki says. Izuku is tempted to hit him again.

"Yeah," Uraraka says, twisting her arm out, "poor arm, lost in the line of duty."

"Shut up," Izuku hisses.

The brunette sticks her tongue out at him, he returns the favor.

"Let's watch something sweet, to help Deku calm down," she picks up the remote flicking back to the opening menu, "I have a really neat space documentary, if you want to watch it?"

Izuku sighs in relief, the dark of the room is still unsettling to him and a chance to wind down before having to go back to his room alone...it's nice.

"Thanks, Uraraka."

"No problem," she says, getting up to get her other movie.

"I haven't ever seen a space documentary either," Todoroki stands to stretch.

" What !? You haven't! Todoroki is there anything else you haven't seen?"

"Plenty, but I don't mind catching up with you all," he replies to Uraraka's disbelieving question.

"We should do movie nights," says Izuku, "invite Iida next time. Just. No more ghost movies, please."

Uraraka snorts.

"Of course not."

"I don't know, it might be good to let Iida see how he reacts to them."

Izuku feels entirely justified beaning Todoroki with the pillow again.

[jeaneybean]

@raptorsquadblue

Here yo update on the Vera

We’ll go back to when she had the baby, which was back in the in world equivalant of November. I had a chart to roll on for how she’d act when she saw the baby, and when I rolled it was the awful ‘She loves him, but is terrified she’ll ruin him’ so the poor baby, who still doesn’t have a proper name, gets a bit neglected from mommy as she pulls into herself and tries to push him on everyone else. Havilah eventually gets some awful backstory when he tries to get her to hold the baby because it needs her and learns her dad threw her down a flight of stairs at one point and broke her arm. She doesn’t deal well with early motherhood, even less so when Bip detect thoughts on the baby to read his baby thoughts and he’s wanting her heartbeat because that’s the sound he’s heard his entire life.

Vera’s still struggling a month later when she gets a letter from home, from her father, disowning her. This is the first thing to really get her mind clear from how rageful she is. She lets Havilah read the letter (and he rips off the name portion, as does Amy to the prop Sam gave me) before going off to write a letter of her own back to him. She tells him that he can’t disown her, basically, and that ‘I have the echoes of your adoring parenting etched into my bones’ and ‘There is no power on this earth, not arcane nor divine, that can change that I’m your daughter’. and at this point is all on the ‘okay let’s go back to langly and beat the shit out of my dad’ route.

However it’s heavy winter in the country they’re in, and they get snowed in. No one is happy about this. Bip hibernates. Havliah’s like ‘aaaaaa’ Oz is like ‘why is the snow sticking around’ Vera is like ‘oh dear sweet redeemer NO’ and eventually talks her way into a werewolf run with her and bear to get out of the castle walls.

Once the weather’s good the caravan packs up and finishes our last business in the country (killin vampires) before getting out of dodge. WE have some more usual adventures and Vera crams the new law book her husband sent her (not at all looking at the law named for her family that lays out in writing laws against child abuse. Her twin brother had always been braver than she is, after all). They have some adventures with hags and meet another adventuring party, and they roll up to the grand town of Dragonport which is the biggest city in the world.

We have like a two month tournement arc, with a sidequest of a group of investors wanna meet with us and have us talk to the queen for them. They’re trying to get a postal service started. Turns out, they’re a group of Brass dragons that realized (unbeknownst to us) that they can get that sweet sweet goss from letters (that they magically re-seal after reading) AND people pay them to deliver. The party goes before high court and argues before the child queen and her advisors and the dragon post is started. Meanwhile the group fights in a tournement honoring the gods Mayana and Shepard. Havilah’s appendix ruptures and the enitre group is like a what is an appendex aaaah.

Jasna wins the tourney, and we also gain a new party member named Desert Glass, she’s a half blue dragon (and the entire party was INSTANTLY horny on main when she came out. Magnolia’s player is back and playing a different character.) and we head on ship to Langly. We have to make a pit stop in Spea, because despite paying insurance and having a contract, we’re attacked by Spea pirates. (It’s like. A government job.) We go to Spea, meet Oz’s mom, go to Oz’s college and yell at his headmaster, and we get on a boat and go to Langly. Vera’s baby Mishka says his first word, which is fuck. Vera: Oh right these learn to talk.

On the way to Langly we’re again attacked, this time by a plesiosaur from Dinosaur island that’s being followed by Sahaugin. There was a notable moment where Vera called over and asked these Sahaguin if they worked for Spea (because a lot do, in tandem with the pirates) and they were like FUCK SPEA GIVE US THE (thing that was riding on the plesiosaur). I beleive I narrowed my eyes and Taylor started snorting, because Vera does not like to be told what to do.

Oz turne his familiar Veli into an 11 headed hydra and sent her down to murder sahaguain. This was terrifying and amazing and it deserves it’s own damn paragraph.

A day before we land in Langly, Bip bips off to mainland and finds Vera’s husband and is basically like ‘hey getinto this bag of holding I’ll take you to your wife’ and Vera’s beautiufl idiot husband is like ‘oh okay’ and climbs in and wakes Vera up the next morning. 

When they land Mishti takes them around on tour, but eventually the baby (Mishka, as Vera’s been calling him. Her little teddy bear) starts fussing and Vera puts him into Bear’s saddle bag because baby is comofted by bear. Of course, Bear has never been to this city before and gets lost. With the baby. So they have to start tracking the baby down and go to the watch headquarters- which is in Vera’s house that she grew up in. (Grandmama, who controls all the deeds in the family, evicted Vera’s father and gave the building to the watch) So Vera’s gotta go up the stairs and greet Allahandra, a paladin in her order and the former queen, and get her dam baby back. THe baby swears at Allahandra delightedly. Vera is beyond mortified.

The next day Vera gets a summons from Grandmama asking her and her friends over for tea. Vera’s like ‘hey guys, here’s a rule: have fun where you can because no one has fun with Grandmama.’ Beofre they leave Oz stops MIshti and asks him if there’s any new developments that the family could use against Vera. Msithi admits a big one: Vera’s brother was also disowned. However, he’s ran away to join the Von Rothrine family. Y’know. The vampires we’ve been fighting in MOntesylvania. Vera reacts appropriately bad.

 When they go in to Vera Medvedeva the first’s tea room she has cakes and treats set out for everyone. They’re customized. Treats from vera’s favorate bakery, she makes traveler’s coffee when she sits down for Havilah, there’s citrus cakes from Spea for Oz, Mamoul and date candies for Desert Glass, sugary treats for Bip. Grandmama comes in and throws her weight around when she can, drops that Desert Glass is apparently a princess from the country of Dasadan, but she seems mostly interested in creeping out Havliah and Oz and also telling everyone about Vera’s past. Poor Girl. She wasn’t allowed to have friends, you know. Her father insisted. And did you know she couldn’t read until she was eight? I had to step in and get her a tutor. Vera SMASHES a sense motive and is like ‘We’re not killing dad for you, Grandmama’. Grandmama, for her part, seems amused by everyone.

They head out, Vera getting the butler to call her father down to talk to her. He’s still big like she remembers, and he tries to blame her for her brother being taken by vampires. (SHe brought this on the family. IF she hadn’t used their name it never would’ve come. they had to offer him up like a lamb to slaughter) and vera has a good moment where she’s basically like: stop blaming me for all of your problems, you’re a grown ass man and I know if you had a chance to grab any power you’d let them drain you dry.

It’s good she has that one moment, because that’s the last one she has for a while.

She gets the party together and is basically like: I wanna get my dad legally. I want to catch him breaking the law, I want him tried, and for once I want the lawt o work for me. So Bip and Oz start a mini crime gang (Because vera also is like ‘I have otaths i cannot crime) and Bip sets the house attached to Grandmama’s on fire because he’d followed Sieger in there through a hidden passage. Meanwhile, having a perfect alabi across town is Vera drinking in the watch’s favored bar. OUr entire party had a perfect alabai.

Vera gets a few more mental blows to go with the ‘my twin brother is going to be a vampire and when I scried on him he looked happy for the first time in years’ one she’s got going in the form of actually going to church and thinking the new pope hates her as well as a second tea with Grandmama. Meanwhile, Bip steals letters from the post box to find out Sieger’s been in contact with Anton Bellek, a vampire from Durmond that tried to get the party to work with him. Also: The first person Vera introduced herself to as Vera Medvedeva, because she didn’t want to use her marrie dname. Her father hadn’t been lying: she did bring the vampires to his door. Though, he’s been working with them. And he plans on leaving the city soon.

So the group takes this all to Vera, who takes the ‘you did in fact lead the undead to your family’s door and now your brother is going to be a shell of who he used to be’ B A D. She makes a decision that she refuses to let him leave the city  and get out into the world. She’ll feel responsible for everything else she does. If she falls, she falls.

The party: but you said specifically you didn’t wanan do that though.

So Vera leaves to go find her mentor, who’s over the moon because the pope, after meeting with Vera, approved him getting funding for his pet project inspired by Vera, which is a research division to help questing paladins. Vera’s like ‘I’ll unpack ths later’ and drags him into a room to ask him if he’s ever fallen. He had, twice. He tells her about both and she asks the question: Was it worth it. Hesitantly, he says it was, and all but begs her to be careful. She promises him everything will be okay.

Meanwhile, the party comes up with the only plan they can: The easiest thing they can get him to jail for is assault. Desert GLass had asked Vera if she’d be fine being bait earlier and she’d said yes, so the plan is to send Vera to talk to him and get him to punch her. They break apart like ‘go team’ and go to find Vera and Havilah, who’d pulled her into a talk where vera is like ‘I am totally cool with murder’ and he’s like ‘please let us help you not fall’.

SO back over to the family house and Vera’s like HEY HEAD BUTLER LET’S GO TALK TO MY DAD and gets let into his room where she basically acts like she owns the place. They argue, Vera being a vicious as she can, and eventually he grabs her by the arm and pulls her to her feet and throws her a bit, and when she refuses to retaliate he lunges. Before Havilah can get into the door he manages to do like 20 points of damage to her, all his unarmed strikes do a good ammount (and he beat all of her grapple checks, and one of hers was a 28. Curious) Havliah knocks him into unconciousness with one head crack into the floor (also curious) and they call the guard.

Oz points out something to desert glass because he feels terrible: their grand plan was sending an abused woman back alone to incite the man who abused her. This marks the point where vera stops sleeping, btw.

Bip has a horrifying encounter with sieger when he goes to fuck with him in jail where Siger snatches him out of the air twice and pulls him against the cold iron bars purpousley to hurt him.

Allahandra comes by the next day and poses the idea of Vera going to get her older brother Genya to testify and Ver’s like ‘yeah I should do that’ and the party goes up there. Vera is very, very not interested in talking to Genya and doesn’t look to him, and the party notes both of their very defensive posture. Vera stays behind in the wagon while the rest of the party goes intside, but with some force from the party Genya goes out to give Vera dinner and to offer her to come inside.

Vera finally lets loose on him, which is basically like “I lost Volya, Genny. I lost my brother”. And Genya asks her if she thinks the law will actually kill their dad, and she laughs and tells him that if it doesn’t she will. She comes int he house when he offers again, though her postiure is very defensive and she doesn’t really interact. She also doesn’t sleep that night.

The party heads back to Langly and as soon as they get back to the caravan, everyone but Vera (who at this point has a -6 to all her rolls from being exhausted) hear the news: Vera’s Grandmama was found dead that morning. Oz and havilah take her to her husband for him to break the news. Anya tells Genya, who’s basically like ‘good riddance, if they iill dad too this’ll be a great week’.

Vera does not take the news well. She walks off to the first room with a lock she can find and breaks down sobbing. Grandmama’s a terrible person, she’s a legitimate monster, but Vera still loved her.

Through some magical intervention she’s forced to sleep that night and wakes up and goes to church grumbinglyly, getting her prayers out ofr the first time in like three or four days so she’ll actually have magic and her bear. This is also the point where her 12th level that she put into Dragon Rider pops in, because she gets her dragon. He’s red. He’s pretty much instantly attacked by mercinaries. His name means Smart Ash. Vera loves him already.

More stuff happened, and Vera’s still in a horrible god awful mood, and as she’s gonnat ell the dragon she’s still 50-50 on if she just burns the rest of the Medvedevs down at the funeral because the only ones she cared about are daed. But we’ll see!

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Dragon Age: Origins, day 12.

Crashing while I’m trying to load up last night’s save? That’s new.

Anora, dear, Alix would really just love it if you’d stop this nonsense and vacate her boyfriend’s chair. No? Ah, well, she tried.

I could listen to Riordan all day. All. Day.

Alistair, sweetheart, of course Alix remembered. You’re not the only one who had Duncan (and his war gear) there at a big time in their life. Do you, ah, recognize the dagger strapped to her left shoulder at all?

So. Party for the Landsmeet. I have a decision to make. Alistair is obviously necessary, but I have two more slots after that. It looks like the only combat is going to be the one-on-one duel with Loghain, so Wynne isn’t a no-brainer like she is normally, though I don’t know, she might want to be there for her new son’s big day. Sten makes in-character sense for “scary bodyguard” reasons. So Sten and Wynne it is, I think.

Alix would really rather not fight Cauthrien again, not after how last time went, but if this damned woman keeps refusing to see sense...whew, she stood down. There’s a good ser, now stay well out of Alix’s way.

Ooh, rousing speech time! I love rousing speech time!

Loghain characterizing Alix as Alistair’s “puppeteer” is deeply uncharitable, but it’s hard to call him wrong. If you ask her, she’s merely sheltering him until he has time to grow into someone who can rule effectively on his own and doesn’t need her whispering in his ear every second, so that she can get on with her own work, of which there’s sure to be quite a lot—rebuilding the Ferelden branch of the Wardens on top of all the usual queen stuff like maintaining relations outside the palace, seeing to the royal household, and eventually either popping out a kid by some miracle or finding some other way to secure the succession.

I’d almost forgotten what game I was playing, but then Loghain yelled about rape and insulted Eamon for apparently being fat. Thanks for the reminder!

OK, duel time. Another decision to make: In-character, it makes sense to either have Alix fight herself or have Alistair do it. Or even Sten, who’s there specifically as muscle.

Alix took down Howe, it’s only fair to give Alistair a go at the man who played a similar role in his life.

This is going to be fiddly—I’m used to letting the AI deal with him unless he’s in immediate danger, so I’m less familiar with the use of his abilities than I might be. Lots of pausing, lots of poultices. Come on, kid, we can get through this.

Welp, that’s that taken care of. Alistair, kid, I’m sorry, I could really have gotten you here in a better way, but rest assured that Alix loves you and takes her responsibility to you as (literally) the poor bastard she dragged along on her revenge coup very seriously. You’ll have all the help she can give you in adjusting to being king.

Yes, this is the sound of me desperately headcanoning my fuckups to be less bad and swearing to redo this route one day, because I absolutely owe Alistair some nice things after all this.

And now, we level ‘em up, kit ‘em out, and pray.

...oh, this is that bug where Leliana thinks you were dating and gets hurt and shocked by your engagement to Alistair, isn’t it. Come on, Leliana, I don’t appreciate having to get sharp with you for no reason.

Ah. Here we go. Morrigan is making her offer of the dark ritual. Now, look, considering who perpetrated this bit of writing, I do wonder if the idea was to translate the emotional impact of compulsory heterosexuality for a presumed straight audience. If it is, I am 100% not the person to critique it on that level; as far as the outside world is concerned, I’m a cishet woman slinging strange words around to seem special, and this is very much not my lane. But the particulars launch it into the realm of simple misogyny and rapeyness, and those are things I can speak on. So. I don’t like it. Maker spare me from white dude writers who find the violation of others’ boundaries and bodily and mental integrity absolutely fascinating. Someone please tell sir that this isn’t edgy and cool, it’s creepy.

You know, I’ve said the same thing about Av*ll*ne more than once during Pillars or KotOR playthroughs. But at least he’s subtle about it and tucks the rapey stuff away in backstories or behind metaphors! Never thought I’d be pining for that guy, I swear to God.

The “It must be him, and it must be tonight!” bit—OK, we’re clearly playing a fun game of How Much Creepy Can We Load Into One Conversation. Yaaaaaay.

So. We’ve got the dodgy consent thing, we’ve got the “women are scary witches after men’s precious bodily fluids” thing that’s been going on the entire time with Morrigan, glad to see it all in the fucking open. So to speak. *sigh*

Anyway. In-character: Alix has asked a whole hell of a lot of her fiancé over the last few days. Maybe not been too considerate at times. Now there’s one more thing. It’s a big one. He’d be within his rights to hate her for it. Please let him not hate me, she thinks. I only want him to live. I only want us to live.

And yes, she was absolutely mortified to explain the whole thing to him. Pretty much ready to have a panic attack the whole time.

...does Morrigan think the issue here is jealousy? Oh, honey, no. Alix had her whole life to get used to the idea of her future husband potentially having a mistress, a one-off sexual encounter with someone he has no desire to go back to is nothing. No, her worries are a. that this is hurting him and b. that you could wreak all sorts of havoc with a child housing an Old God even if he never presses his claim to the throne. In that order.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I did not need that cutscene in my life.

Headcanon: Alix and her various boyfriends have had a thing for bathing each other since she was a teenager. It’s a way to fuss over each other and have physical contact that’s only as sexual as you want it to be. So while there wasn’t time for a proper bath, you bet your ass that before she sent Alistair off with Morrigan, she told him she’d be ready with a basin and a rag if he could still stand the sight of her afterwards.

Aw, Alistair’s rousing speech before the battle is rather sweet.

Final party: Alistair and Wynne, my usual undroppables, obviously. I think I need another combat wombat, but does that mean someone tanky, or does it mean a second rogue? Hm, I think I could do with Shale, she picked up some pretty sweet skills at her last level-up.

Aww, mama Wynne is proud of her new daughter.

Really, all of the goodbye speeches are sweet.

And with that, it might behoove me to go get some sleep and finish up tomorrow.

[thiccymama-blog]

Jeff the Killers backstory but I'm rewriting it to make it correct

Alright before I get a bunch of triggered people, understand that I saw this was a big complaint of the Creepypasta community. I just wanted to rewrite it. Please just enjoy it.

One of the earliest memories they shared together was playing with the cat. Liu and Jeff had a cat growing up. It was a grey tabby that didnt live to long, Lui doesnt know what happened, but the cat was dead in the backyard one morning.

Its throat was slit and blood coated its soft fur. Its eyes were gone, later to be found in the cereal box.

This continued to happen after that. Cats in the neighborhood would disappear and then reappear dead in the Woods backyard. Jeff seemed nonchalant about it, saying it was probably a raccoon or something.

His parents were mortified and tried to find out who did it. They kept insisting that there was a dog or some animal going around killing the cats.

Lui didnt think so, but he didnt say anything.

The reputation they had in their small town blew up. No one wanted them there and they saw no reason they should stay, Jeffery and Lui's dad got a new job and they needed to move anyways.

The two brothers had very different reactions to moving, Lui wanted a fresh start but didnt want to leave all his friends behind. Jeff however didnt mind. In fact, he never seemed to care unless it was directly affecting him.

They moved to a larger town on the outskirts of a forest. Their mom and dad seemed to have rekindled their loveless marriage once they began to move un. Talks of dates and nights out on the town were all they talked about. Lui was happy about this, his parents have always had such a rocky relationship and seeing them like this made his heart explode with happiness.

One thing that made the boys equally nervous was the prospect of going to a new school. The reality of it seemed to finally catch up with Jeff, due to him being snappy and immediately going to his room once he was done packing to break stuff.

The morning of their first day was the start.

Their mom cooked them breakfast, smiling and wishing them luck on the way out. Lui replied enthusiastically, but Jeff grumbled and started ahead.

Lui looked nervously at his brother as they started the walk to school, he cleared his throat, "So, how are you liking the new house?"

"Its a house. What do you want me to say about it?" Jeff replies staring straight ahead.

Lui wanted to talk more, but the aura that was coming off of his brother made him shut up.

During the day, Lui was quick to make friends. He was a fairly attractive kid with a good GPA so it made sense. Jeff on the other hand was blatantly ignoring everyone who tried to talk to him other than the teachers who he charmed fairly easily.

Lui began to finally feel relief when lunch time rolled around. He had people to sit with and that was all he wanted. Lui sat next to a pretty blonde girl and had a polite conversation.

Jeff on the other hand... well, he wasnt liking all the attempts people were taking to get him to talk.

"Do you think you're some kind of hot shot? Going around and being nice to the new kids? Do you want a fucking medal?" Jeff demanded the SBO who sat there and looked down at her hands. "No one likes you, nor the idea of being your friend. I don't want you to talk to me, look at me or even associate yourself with me ever again, you hear me cunt? You could cut yourself for all I care." He hissed at her.

She moved her brown hair back and scanned him. "I was trying to be nice, I thought you would appreciate it... you didnt have to be so rude."

Jeff moved his black hair back in frustration, "Obviously I dont, there's nothing for me to appreciate, my family just moved into a hillbillies dumpster and now some freckle faced fuck with muffin top is trying to talk to me. What the fuck is there to appreciate?"

He was satisfied as tears welled in her eyes. She didnt reply and walked away, leaving Jeff alone with his sandwich.

After school, Lui was in a chipper mood, walking with a spring in his step while Jeff stalked behind him.

"How was your first day?" Lui finally asked him.

Jeff shrugged and continued walking behind him.

A short while later they came across two kids walking down the street. Lui greeted them, but they seemed hostile after walking past Jeff.

"Did you take something from my pockey?" One of the kids demanded, grabbing Jeff by the front of his shirt.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jeff lied easily. "I just brushed against-"

"Put my brother down!" Lui yelled.

"Or what?" The one holding Jeff asked.

Lui started towards him, "Just please put him d-"

A scream rang out as the kid holding Jeff let go and instead clutched his stomach. Lui could faintly see the glow of metal in the sunlight.

Jeff immediately began to run towards their house, leaving Lui. The other boy feverishly dialed the police.

Lui sat with the bleeding boy until the cops showed up. He had a big choice to make, sell out his brother or take the blame. He didnt want to go to jail, but the idea of Jeff in jail made him upset so he took the blame.

"I'm sorry officer, he just has my brother by the scruff of the neck and I was afraid for his life so I... i stabbed him."

He other kid provided no reliable information as he was on his phone facing the opposite direction talking to his girlfriend.

Their parents were informed later that Lui was going to jail. Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. He wasnt going to jail. Not yet.

Jeff's parents were devastated and couldnt believe it.

The woman in the area organized a party for the Woods, a sort of pity party where they would all eat and support each other. It was a kind gester for Jeff's mom, seeing as she was the kind if person who needed to vent her problems rather than hold them in.

The weekend came fast, Jeff doing the minimum in school and going home to plan on which cats in the neighborhood he could get first.

Of course he'd be more careful this time, keep them in the woods rather than his backyard.

But his plans were cut short by his mother proclaiming that he'd be joining her at the mourning session. He saw no point. Lui wasnt dead and his dad didnt have to go, so why did he have to go?

"There's a cute girl who lives there... she's really nice, a 4.0 student and she's on the track team. You should meet her." His mom tried to bargain.

"Like I want to go meet some girl," Jeffery scoffed, "you should really just go by yourself."

She shook her head, "You're coming. You never get out of the house, Jeff. I'm honestly a little worried about you."

The arguement ended an hour later with Jeff letting out a heated "fine" and stalked off to his room to go get dressed.

To spite his mother he wore a white sweater and black pants. She wanted him to wear something nice, she had said so as he stomped up the stairs. But he pretended not to hear her.

The group started at three o'clock, his mom yelled for him around 2:55.

When he arrived he was pleasantly shocked to see the SBO who had tried to befriend him open the door. She also looked shocked but let them in nonetheless. There were plenty of parents in the living room, all giving his their condolences.

God, how Jeff hated Mormons. They find a reason to celebrate everything.

"Kaylee, why dont you go outside with Jeff and the kids?" A mom suggested the girl with freckles.

"I uh, I would love too."

So she lead him outside. He had his shoulders slouched and a cold look on his face.

"So how was your week?" She tentatively asked him.

"Shitty."

She recoiled at the word. He found himself enjoying taunting her.

There were a couple other kids their age there. Jeff decided to take a stab at making friends and flying under the radar, so he made small talk and charmed the lot of them.

Freckle faced seemed weirded out.

After finishing a particularly funny story about him and his brother, Jeff decided to leave the group and search for a bathroom. An idea crossed him mind. An awful idea.

"Say, Kaylee, you wouldn't mind showing me where the bathroom is, would you?"

She looked up to him shakily, "I would love to."

She took him back inside where he went into to the bathroom and grabbed a small scoop of the liquid kind unfortunately, he would have much rather preferred the dry version as it's easier to mix with drinks.

He left shortly after, the living room lively with people who had no idea what he was about to do.

Normally he didnt like being this compulsive but the idea of people writhing in pain delighted him.

He sneaked into the kitchen. No one. He slowly lifted the lid off of the drink dispenser and went to pour it in.

"What are you doing?" Kaylee demanded from the hallway.

He turned around quickly and split the bleach on himself.

"Nothing, I'm doing nothing!" He said hastily.

Kaylee ran into the kitchen and out the lid back on the drinks, one of the boys from outside following close behind her.

"What's going on?" He asked.

(Gore warning)

"He was trying to put something in the drinks, but he spilts it on himself."

Jeff began to panic, backing up close to the lit oven. "I did nothing of the sort!" He yelled in retaliation.

The adults had yet to realize what was going on. Brandon began to close in on him and Jeff backed up more onto the oven and suddenly it was very hot.

Too hot.

The front of his sweater was on fire.

The first thing the three teens did was scream. Kaylee tried to put it out with the liquid dispenser but it fell and spilt all over the kitchen floor.

Soon flames began to spread as Jeff flailed around.

The room was slit with flames and Kaylle was shouting "Stop, Drop and roll!" Repeatedly but Jeff paid her no mind.

He couldn't breath and he couldnt take off the sweater. He watched in a sick sort of panic infested fascination as it spread to his skin, making it red.

He looked up and saw adults rushing over with water to out it out, but it was too late, Jeff was gone.

He was gone for a couple of weeks. Coming in and out if existence. He finally woke to bandages all over his arms and his legs.

Doctors and family were in the room, including Lui who looked like he was worried sick.

After explaining that he passed put after the burns and such, he was then told that some of his skin was beyond repair. He asked them what they meant.

They carefully took off his bandages and his skin was patched baby pink, white and his normal skin tone.

"Oh." Was all he said at first. "Its oddly beautiful."

The doctor and his family looked relieved to hear him say that.

He went home a few weeks later. The details on what happened that night were blotchy seeing as Brandon passed out and hit his head and Kaylee was vague on details.

(Gore warning)

"He he he! I'm so beautiful..." Jeff's mom heard, waking up form her slumber.

She saw a light in the hall and got up to investigate on why Jeff was up so late and whispering. She opened the bathroom door and looked horrified.

He had slit his cheeks wide open in a grotesque smile.

He snapped his head towards her as she walked in, "I'm beautiful." Was all he said.

His mom didnt say anything, only started in shock. He walked over to her and placed his hand gently on her cheek.

"Do you want to be beautiful?"

That was when she screamed. Her husband and Lui rushing to her aid, but the knife through her stomach killed her.

They saw Jeff in the bathroom, covered in his own blood and his mothers.

His father wasn't quick to react, but Jeff was and soon his father's blood decorated his body as well.

Lui took off down the hall to his room, but was stopped by Jeff tackling him.

"You'll be beautiful too, maybe prettier than me. We can only hope though!"

Kind of sucked, but I spent forever writing it. I realized I spelt liu's name wrong but i honestly dont want to go back and correct it.

[shy-magpie]

RQG 61

Never give the GM ideas; that joke about crashing into Eiffel's folly made me nearly as worried for the characters safety as Kew Gardens Sasha gets to pilot! Finally someone who doesn't show their belly as soon as they see someone with ties to the meritocracy Zolf sounds so resigned to being the adult in the room when he says they won't kill Wilde Sky pirates! Sincere Wilde is troubling aw Sasha is worse than me about monologuing to show affection That's my Hamid. Everyone spends their limited time to say goodbye. He casts message to speak unobserved. Just because he is free with his emotions doesn't mean he isn't clever. Correction, Sky Rebels! I love this ship. "we respect his craft" is a joke about Alex but his worldbuilding is great and he doesn't shy from giving the audience what they want. Poor Zolf, he hates flying almost as much as he hates being vulnerable in front of everyone World building logistics! Hamid has priorities, Bryn just wants his blasted spells  back Sasha and I are falling for the captain Zolf is so how I feel on boats. Most people play up the nausea when acting but in reality it's mortifying so you pretend everything is fine even as you can't do anything but cling to the ship. Poor sweet Sasha,  I get what the captain thought she was doing but that barrel roll was mean Bertie is the opposite of "they grow on you", terribly charming before you realize that he is horrible. I thought the captain was a bit too willing to trust them once Wilde was off the ship. I can't blame her for holding Sasha hostage for answers Using Bertie's history with Wilde was a good idea.  A half truth usually more effective than a full lie. Plus no chance of the captain finding the picture and calling them out like could have happened if they stuck to "we met in Paris,  we're just retreating from the city together" Zolf, bless him,  going for intimidation: on her ship,  while out numbered,  out gunned,  and air sick All hands on deck we have Zolf backstory! Tech Sasha! I don't care if the first thing they do is showing its flaws,  I *want* that table/magnetic dinner kit Oh wow, after getting hints and glimpses of backstory, getting this much on Zolf at once feels indulgent especially since he plays things close to his chest. Last time we learned about him, he only spoke up because he was under arrest. Now he is learning about this stuff in front of the whole team. Nice tying in Sasha's backstory. Zolf's voice gets so low when he feels vulnerable, great acting but hard to hear on my phone speaker. Sasha is so sweet and awkward reassuring Zolf they all have family stuff. Poor Sasha: so eager to impress the captain, then having to pass off her surprise at her old benefactor being mentioned as choking on water. Thanks Zolf! Spelling out her connection to  Fines is one way to repay Sasha for trying to comfort you! Gnomish Amelia Earhart? Bryn with the Wilde quote references again. Nickle says he and/or Hamid are youngest children. As a youngest child,  trying to earn the spot light with humor is familiar.