#orphan plot bunny

[jayvikbrainrot]

I’m starting a series called Orphaned WIPS for all my jayvik WIPs I either have paused or abandoned for a myriad of reasons.

I will do my best to tag all TWs but this is not AO3 and should be read at your own risk.

Party Favors, 2.8k, Unfinished

Rating: Teen

TW: alcohol, kissing

Jayce finally spends time with Viktor at a fundraising party.

Notes: I shelved this one because I wrote it fairly early into my Arcane obsession, but unfortunately a lot of my current HC’s for characters don’t line up with the way this was originally written. Especially Viktor, there are some things I like but it’s really 50/50 with the way I head canon him now, so I don’t know if I’d ever continue this story in particular, but I still like the premise.

The night had been going as well as it could. Jayce had talked to seven investors so far, and as a reward he started up a conversation with someone who didn’t just see him as a walking piece of their financial portfolio.

Mrs. Kiramman was telling him more about her latest holiday, when he felt as though someone was staring at him. As if someone had introduced a magnet to the equation, Jayce’s vision was pulled from Mrs. Kiramman to the door. Viktor was here.

He stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking for someone. Probably someone he knew to stick to for the length of the party. He was wearing a gray suit Jayce was unfamiliar with and had done something to smooth down his hair, or at least a good amount of it. He looked great.

Counselor Kiramman followed his gaze. “Is that your infamous partner? I thought he didn’t do parties.” She asked.

“I’ll have to ask Mel what blackmail she had on him to make it happen.” He winked for good measure, at least so she thought it was a joke. He wouldn’t be surprised though if it ended up true. “If you’ll excuse me.”

The Counselor only nodded her head as he caught eyes with Viktor. Relief crossed his features before turning into a lopsided smile.

Before he could argue, Jayce walked up and caught him in a two armed hug. “Viktor! Good to see you! Never thought you would come!”

He pulled back to see Viktor a bit chagrined. “Yes…well, I can’t let you shoulder the burden all by yourself.” He looked around the room wary, as if he was already second guessing himself.

There were quite a few people looking back at them.

“Let’s get you some champagne, take the edge off yeah?” He slung an arm around his partner's shoulders as he led them away. Maybe he could pair Viktor off with Caitlyn, they had a good enough rapport. He still needed to finish his rounds with the rest of the investors before he could really spend time with the man.

“Oh there’s Caitlyn! Let’s say hi!” and off he steered the two of them.

---

“What is wrong with your partner?” Mel sidled up beside Jayce. Her fingers were a little too tight around the stem of her champagne glass.

“There’s nothing wrong with him.” Jayce countered. He looked over to the other man. Surrounded by patron Wilhelm and his secretaries. His face was a scowl and he was gesturing wildly. Viktor in his natural party habitat. “He hates parties.”

“He’s making a bit of a scene.” She looked sidelong at him. “I want you to do something about it.”

“Me?” Jayce let out a huff of a laugh at the idea, “I can’t control him. That’s why I told you not to insist he attend.”

He tipped a good portion of his champagne back. Viktor was really tearing into the man now, he wasn’t a huge investor but still who knows who would be in the war path next.

“Alright. I’ll never do it again, but please do something now.” She used her free hand to grip the back of his arm.

“Like what?” He looked down at her. He had worked with Viktor for years, relaxing was not a part of his vocabulary.

“Alcohol, hextech talk, you could even play seven minutes in heaven with him for all I care. Just take him down the hall and get him to calm down.” She gave him one last threatening squeeze and pushed him towards the other man.

He shot her one last look, but she was already turning away to shmooze someone else. He downed the last of his champagne hoping his flush would be attributed to the alcohol and not that last thing Mel had said. Sure he heard the rumors about the two of them. But they were just that, rumors, spread by school kids, not something Counselors should be hearing. As always he pushed the thought aside. Viktor was…

The thought dried up as he approached his partner and the now very uncomfortable Wilhelm. “Excuse me, I’m afraid I need to borrow Viktor for a moment.”

Viktor paused mid explanation, the endlessly mind numbing differences between water cooling and fan cooling for the hextech thermal vents, and simply nodded before stepping forward to join Jayce.

Wilhelm seemed relieved to say the least.

Jayce threw an arm around Viktors shoulder and took to steering him towards the hall Mel

pointed out. “You seem to be having a lively conversation…”

Viktor’s sneer picked up in full force, “His assistant suggested gel, gel as a coolant Jayce. I had to tell him how catastrophic that idea would be.” He paused before continuing, “Where are we heading anyway?”

The hallway they ducked into was infinitely quieter. Viktor’s cane tapped quietly against the marbled floors. “Mel…uh asked me to…” the word he didn’t want to say was ‘contain’, “help you relax a bit.”

“Oh did she?” The annoyance was clear in his voice, “well maybe I would be in a better mood if she had one chair set out in that big fancy room of hers…”

Viktor never liked to let on how much pain he was actually in, he was kind of like a cat in that way. But he did have a point, it was pretty inconsiderate to have no chairs in the main room. “Let’s find a place to sit.”

Jayce broke off and started testing door handles, the first two weren’t much of anything but the third. It was a quiet changing room with a daybed, privacy screen, and vanity complete with bench.

“Viktor, in here.” He waved over the other man. The room was dark but the light of the moon cut through the shadows well enough.

Viktor made a beeline for the bench and practically groaned with pleasure as he sat down. “Close that door, will you? I can feel the politics still creeping in.”

Jayce closed the door, and the far sounds of the party disappeared completely. They were alone.

Viktor didn’t seem to mind as he loosened his tie and began to rub at the back of his neck. “How can you stand to do this all the time?”

“Do what, make small talk? Be polite?”

Viktor shot him a look. He was absolutely miserable. He walked over to put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “If it’s any consolation I think I talked Mel into never making these parties an obligation for you going forward.”

“Mmm” Viktor gave a hum of approval as he leaned into Jayce’s touch. Jayce continued to rub a small circle with his thumb as Viktor slowly started to close his eyes.

Jayce could feel the tight cords of muscle and knobby collar bone. Viktor had always been thin, between the hugs and helping hands he was familiar with the odd and ends of Viktor’s body. More than once Jayce wondered if he could do more for him. But the problem was Viktor wasn’t very forthcoming, and he couldn’t do any work if he didn’t know what he was working with. He wondered if he could convince Viktor to let him help.

“Jayce?” Jayce snapped out of his revery. Viktor was looking at him through half lidded eyes.“Please move your hand.”

“Oh!”

Like a hot iron, he let go of Viktor’s shoulder. “Sorry.”

“No I-“ Viktor’s mouth twisted “I miss-said it.” He paused for a moment.

He once told Jayce sometimes his mind could bounce between his two languages in rapid fire but it could get stuck on certain words sometimes. Since then Jayce always tried to always give Viktor the time he needed, and would set the example in board meetings not letting people talk over Viktor. The amount of people who thought a pause was an opportunity to talk over him was appalling.

“I would like it if your hand had kept moving. As in, it felt nice, but sticking in one spot, was not nice.”he explained.

“O-oh? Well if your neck is still stiff, I could actually give you a massage.”

Viktor raised an eyebrow. “A massage?” A smirk gently appeared on his lips. His expression playful. “I bet you say this to all the girls…”

Jayce rolled his eyes, “ ‘All the girls’ I don’t know where these rumors come from, when all my time is spent with you.”

Viktor gave a half shrug and began to turn around on the bench, “Rumors spread from fear, jealousy... things they don’t understand.” Now fully turned around, Viktor looked back at him from the dusty mirror in front of him. “Men are afraid to lose their girlfriends to you so they say that you are…a hussy.”

Jayce felt laughter burst from his lips. He gently started to remove Viktor’s jacket acknowledging that Viktor wanted the massage without asking for one. “A hussy huh?”

“Em…that’s not right either. Champagne makes my head too fuzzy...” His expression shifted, thinking. “ A Playboy? Easy? Man whore?” Viktor said, pulling at his tie.

“I think I get it, V.” He took the tie from Viktor and put it aside. He gently reached under Viktor’s collar and placed his thumbs on the back of his neck. He pushed upwards into Viktor’s hairline, it was a little tacky from the sweat and whatever product Viktor had used. It smelled wonderful though. Like smokey wood and tobacco. He could bathe himself in the scent. He dug his thumbs a little harder earning a small grunt from Viktor.

“The point is, I know you’re not this way. Rumors are started by smaller people…people not worth your time.” Viktor said, his eyes fluttering closed, as Jayce continued.

“That’s…some good advice.”

“A lesson I learn everyday.” Viktor said softly. Jayce paused. He tried not to engage in gossip; it made him...heated. One particular piece nearly made him deck another man after he insinuated that Viktor was some sort of lackey or henchman to Jayce. Caitlyn was the only thing that stopped the textile vice president from having a broken jaw.

“Little hard Jayce.” he relaxed his hands. Not realizing he had intensified his grip.

“Sorry...” Jayce doubled his efforts to concentrate on the matters at hand. He spread his hands a little further working out from his spine. The cords were so tight and tense. Dipping the collar down he saw that there was another mole hidden on his upper back. He ran his thumb over it. How many moles did Viktor have?

Working with the man had shown him arms and neck, and once a foot. But surely he must have more peppering his chest, his back. In his mind's eye he could see Victor’s lithe chest with spots, decorating him like constellations. Viktor was skinny, he could probably see his ribs and collar bone everytime he breathed. Moving like a piston underneath his skin. Flush from...

Nope.

He shied away once again from the thought.

He’s your partner. Stop this. Jayve tried to calm himself down. He was lucky he didn’t blush as easily as some people, but his pants were telling a different story.

Jayce let out a sigh, that seemed to be coming more frequently nowadays.

“Something on your mind?” Viktor was looking at him with concern.

“That uh...same old thing...” The problem with working closely with someone you frequently daydreamed about was that they tended to pick up that something was on your mind.

“Jayce this problem of yours-” Without warning Viktor turned to face him. Unfortunately with their height difference he was face to face with the problem of course. His eyes flicked from Jayce’s pants to his face. No judgment, only curiosity. He opened his mouth only to let it hang. Jayce backed up instinctively, trying to put some space between them.

“Jayce...if you were thinking of Counselor Medarda I won't be offended.” He smiled kindly, “I’m a man these things-”

“No.” The word escaped before he could stop himself.

In the moonlight, the shift in expression was stark, good humor changing into curiosity, interest, intensity. A look he had seen on Viktor’s face a thousand times when he was in the lab. He had a distinct feeling this must be how their hextech feels.

“What do you mean...’No’?” The room was quiet enough that his voice carried quite easily despite being softly spoken. His golden eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

“I-” Jayce looked away, this was not how he wanted this to go, “I was thinking about you.”

The silence was thick, motes of dust floated through moonlight, the daybed had a scattering of pillows and a blanket draped artfully across the back. He chanced a glance at the other man.

His eyes were downcast, his lips were moving with no sound. He was thinking.

“Listen V, you don’t have to-”

Viktor held up a hand, still not looking at him.

Patience. Jayce repeated to himself, have patience.

With a snap Viktor announced he was finished. He sat hands on his knees, with a slight hunch, eyes trained on Jayce.

“You desire me.” Blunt to a T. Viktor was direct to the point as always, “This is why you cannot talk about your problem, and why you’ve been so mopey lately.”

He smiled. The same smile he wears when he solves something tough that they’ve been working on forever, the smile that makes Jayce want to squeeze his friend until he hugs back, the smile that stops him just short of planting a kiss on the side of his head.

But even the expression couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in his stomach. The deception was over, Viktor knew. “You got it V. You figured it out.” He opened up his hands in front of him, he could only surrender.

“Good.” Viktor said decisively, reaching around to grab his cane. “That makes things easier.”

Jayce was in no mood for games, his heart was battered at this point. “What are you talking about?”

Viktor was walking over. “You’re an attractive man Jayce. I would be a fool not to see it.” He stepped into Jayce’s personal space. A reversal from their normal routine. “Does this surprise you?”

Jayce could feel his face heating, his brain tripping over his own thoughts. “You...but-” He had never seen Viktor take an interest in anyone. Viktor put one hand on his chest tracing the lines of his lapels. He caught the hand and removed it. “Viktor you- feel the same?”

“Of course.” He said simply. He seemed extraordinarily calm, his gaze drifted to where Jayce was holding his hand. “What did you say the Counselor wanted us to do? Relax?”

Jayce didn’t know what to do. Here was the man who occupied his thoughts working and at home. Looking at him like he was all he ever wanted. In a dark room, alone. What was he doing?

“Can I...?” he was searching Viktor’s face for any sign of hesitancy, but the other man understood him just like always. Lifting his chin upwards and tilting his head just so to give him access.

With no more hesitancy Jayce leaned in, pressing their lips together. They were warm and dry, and fit his lips perfectly. He moved in closer, feeling his chest press against the other man. He let go of the hand he was holding, opting to cup the back of Viktor’s head. Finally able to twine his fingers through those brunette strands.

Viktor opened his mouth letting out the most heart stopping sigh. He could feel Viktor’s body relax against him. He pressed his nose into Viktor’s cheek, breathing deep. Wanting to fill himself with this scent. Etch this moment into his memory.

“I’ve thought about this for a while.” Jayce murmured into Viktor’s jaw. Nipping and kissing his way back to Viktor’s mouth. He took a chance at opening his mouth and elated to feel Viktor respond in kind.

He tasted like sour champagne. Warm and soft. His tongue was as clever at kissing as it was with languages. Pushing into his, invading his mouth. Viktor’s hands exploring his backside liberally.

“I want more of you.” Viktor breathed. “Now.”

Jayce could only nod. He gently and unwillingly untangled himself from Victor as he walked over to the daybed and began hurriedly tossing aside the pillows and blanket. He tossed his jacket to the side as he felt Viktor walk up behind him.

In a hundred daydreams he imagined Viktor sidling up beside him. Arm wrapping around his waist, planting a kiss on his cheek. But he never imagined this.

Viktor ran his hand from shoulder to shoulder, then across his pecks around the front. Predatory. Hungry.

“You’re beautiful, солнце.” Jayce had been complimented before but hearing it from Viktor sent a thrill straight to his groin.

“Sol-nitz?” Jayce tried to repeat the foreign word.

“Solntse,” he said slower as Jayce watched his mouth curve around the syllables, “It means Little Sun.”

Jayce’s heart clenched, Viktor had never called him anything like that before. He had to kiss this man now.

He recaptured Viktors lips, holding him felt wonderful. “How do you-” he swallowed thickly, as if he wasn’t getting enough air, “How do you want me?”

Viktor seemed to think this over. “Well...first, the door. We’ll need to lock it.”

[arrows-unofficial-ocs]

For the plot bunny ask game: Arrowverse + Hannah New or Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four) or Emily VanCamp (Captain America) or Tessa Thompson (Thor) + Nora West-Allen love interest, please??

@dancingsunflowers-ocs 💖

name: dearden [ redacted ] queen

age: same as nora, dearden was born in 2020

sexuality: pansexual

job: vigilante, former argus agent

love interests: johnny diggle (deceased), nora west-allen

brief summary: dearden queen was born on earth-15, four years before the destructive forces that killed that earth’s heroes… which included dearden’s parents. she was left adrift before being scooped up by the remnants of argus which somehow included the friendly face of lyla michaels and her young son, johnny. lyla and argus raised the two children, perhaps the only ones who had survived the purge. (as unbeknownst to any of them, sara lance and leonard snart had begged earth-1!sara lance and ava sharpe to save their infant son, quincy.) everything was going well until they were hunted much later. lyla was killed, leaving johnny and dearden alone. then, after opening a breach between worlds, johnny was killed just as dearden stepped through into another world. she wasn’t expecting to find that earth’s version of her father or that she would fall in love again with barry allen and iris west’s eldest daughter.

5 adjectives to describe them: stubborn, athletic, intelligent, cunning, pragmatic

faceclaim: emily vancamp

send me a fandom and i’ll create a plot bunny for it

[randomkposts]

So what I can gather from this is that Devil summoners did look into orphanages for children with potential and took them aside for potential future training. As far as a place to look for them goes, orphans make sense as a place to find potentials.

Japans orphanages are overcrowded and understaffed, and extra hands with the kids are welcome. Sending kids with potential to a diffrent institute would make it easier to train them in some things, even if they don't grow up and become summoners, control of potential is probably appreciated.

From what I can tell, Arrow training as a devil summoner after he aged out of the system was a choice he made (he admired Raven)

In contrast Kaburagi was scouted by the Phantom Society

And taken there for training.

Arrow wonders what would have happened if Kaburagi had awakened first, would he have been taken by Yatagarasu?

And I'm thinking, no, it wouldn't have been as easy.

There is a diffrance between Arrow and Kaburagi, and that is Kaburagi has parents. Arrow does not. Kaburagi admits in Arrows memory that his is in there because he has abusive parents.

To try to keep this short, Kaburagi is still on his family registry." In Japan, biological family still retains legal custody of the children even if they have abandoned them, and although the birth child may be placed in the care of the state, the bio family has the ultimate say over the childs future and usually choose to send the child to an orphanage or institution rather then let them be adoptable. "

Both of the kids were able to see ghosts at that time, but Arrow was easier to transfer, as he didn't have any relitives to go through/convince, otherwise he probably would have initally been placed with a relitive first. But he seems to not have any alternative guardians. He was easier to aquire.

In contrast Kaburagi's would have needed to be convinced, a process which may have alerted the Phantom Society, where they moved to make a more convincing offer, or otherwise deal with the parents in a way that made the other relitives back away.

On the flip side, they could have both ended up in the Phantom Society, though I don't think Arrow would have been a happier person for it. Food for AU thought I suppose

[merakiui]

I love your Octavinelle fics so much 🥹 I didn't think it was possible to love Jade and Floyd more, but the way you write them is so charming!! I really love how you take your time building up to smut, so the payoff hits much harder!! I freaking love Ebb & Flow, the brothers are so sleazy and Floyd in particular so shameless. Are you planning on more fics featuring the reader as a sibling or ones where Jade & Floyd both want the reader?

Looking forward to anything you write though honestly

( ∩´͈ ᐜ `͈∩) thank you, thank youuuu!!!! Maybe it's purely self-indulgent, but I love a story that has a build-up to smut. orz it makes the energy and the tension and every other emotion even more delicious! Of course I'm also not immune to getting into the smut right from the start. >:D loving both so that I can have the best of two worlds~

I reread Ebb & Flow because I forgot all about that story and your ask reminded me of it. ^^;;; omg I forgot how much I loved those versions of Octavinelle!!! Rebellious Jade transitioning into his punk phase, sleazy Floyd who is so in love with his stepsister, and awkward childhood friend Azul...... aaaa they are so beloved!!! I listened to a lot of bossa nova while writing that fic, so maybe it's just me but I love how smoothly it reads!!!

I definitely want to write more stepcest fics like that one! I have one planned that's more of a pseudo-incest, in which a bunny!reader adopts two orphaned puppies (Jade and Floyd) and raises them as her own. But it turns out they were wolves all along and they grow up to be much bigger and stronger than bunny mama was expecting. In short, it's a story where Jade and Floyd are hopelessly obsessed with their mama. :D just two good bois who often fight for your attention and affection... so spoiled, those two........ >_< there was also another fic where Azul is crushing on you, but your mean stepbrothers get to you before he can... ntr situation for poor tako. </3 I think that was the basic plot inspiration for Ebb & Flow.

I'm happy you're looking forward to my writings!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Plot Bunny; project sidekick. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“. . . ‘brothers’?” Black Canary repeats again, and this time she sounds much more wary about it. Superboy tries to ignore the curl of nausea that blooms in his gut at hearing that tone in her voice, especially over something like–over this. Especially after the careful, careful way that she’d said the same thing when he was in the room with them. 

“They need something of their own to claim, surely,” Wonder Woman murmurs back quietly. “And certainly it could be something worse than recognition of their individual values and an offer of brotherhood from a peer who knows far more of them than he does of their . . . origin points, shall we say. There have been times, without my sisters . . .” 

“I know, just–I know I said he should ask them, but I’m just not sure how well any of them are going to take that idea,” Black Canary admits. “Or–any of this. Just . . . they’re kids, Diana. Kids with names and lives and extremely close and extremely intense bonds that just aren’t theirs. Parents and families and mentors and whole lives that just–and it’s not even that they’re not real lives, just that they’re not real for them. This is like . . . it’s like . . .” 

“Being orphaned,” Batman says quietly, and Superboy startles mid-step. He’s gotten pretty far from them–far for his hearing, anyway–but he didn’t even hear Batman come into the room. 

“Yes,” Black Canary agrees, sounding pained. “At least Superboy . . . the kids encouraging him to become his own person has let him have relationships. Let him make his own choices out from under Cadmus’s thumb and experience the world as a real thing and for himself. With these three, though . . .” 

“It’s going to feel like rejection to them,” Batman says. Superboy would call his tone neutral, except . . . 

Batman’s voice sounds like it usually sounds, when it’s “neutral”. It sounds like it should be neutral. Like it’s supposed to be. 

But it’s just . . . not. 

Batman’s upset, Superboy realizes, and stops in his tracks. Looks down at the floor; his pants, his boots; the blood-red symbol on his chest that he’s never quite had the right to wear but has never quite been able to make himself let go of either, not in all these months since waking up for the first time. He remembers July 5th; remembers crawling up out of the rubble of Cadmus with the others–not knowing they weren’t the same “others” that they’d all thought they were at the time–and being so overwhelmed by how much everything outside his pod had been. He remembers their voices, and what they’d told him–before they were them, and after. 

And he remembers . . . he remembers his brothers fulfilling a promise to him that they hadn’t known they hadn’t even made. Hadn’t known wasn’t their responsibility to fulfill. 

But they’d done it, even though it wasn’t even their promise. 

He knows they hadn’t known that then, obviously, but . . . 

But it’s something he can’t help thinking matters, anyway. 

At least, it matters to him.

[scarletsky153]

continuation for that another plot bunny,,

Part 1

--

a more in-depth of sukuna's first life,,

keep thinking about SIkuna / hawkuna from my previous post, who thought he got isekaid to jjk world but when he wandered around tokyo while still inside yuuji alongside megumi, nobara, and gojo post-mission, he found his old clinic and promptly having another existential crisis.

SIkuna, who believed his first life is on a different world altogether, suddenly shocked the others around him (and yuuji) when he popped both his eyes and a mouth on yuuji while yelling for them to stop in front of a small and innocuous clinic. it was located on a rough part of town, closer to the red district. yuuji got shocked into stop walking while others got tense, thinking some curses gonna pop around them (even tho gojo is around and his six eyes can see them from afar).

yuuji : "the fuck??"

sikuna : "brat let me take over."

nobara : "hell no?? are you crazy?!"

gojo who got curious : "eh, let him out, yuuji-kun, i got it."

so yuuji let sukuna takes over, who then promptly got inside of the small clinic. sukuna was shocked bcs he found the clinic unchanged, but there's a photo of him from his first life on the wall near the receptionist desk. there's his old (first?) name, ueno keigo, his status as the clinic's founder, and his birth then death date. when he look closer, the face and coloring is nearly identical to takami keigo's which very much unnerved sukuna.

sukuna then promptly asked the receptionist about ueno keigo, claimed to be one of his old patient from small town ueno keigo used to visit, which the receptionist happily told sukuna and the others about ueno keigo. how he was one of japan's youngest surgeon, a brilliant doctor, gruff and famous for his temper and bad bedside manner but got the job done very well. he used to visit small towns and performed nearly free surgery to those who can't afford them, build the current clinic they're on and only ask for minimum repayment from patients who didn't have money while doubled to tripled the cost from rich patients. ueno keigo died in a car crash in 2003, a couple of hours before itadori yuuji was born; the last part sukuna understand the implication of.

he thanked the receptionist, asked where he can donate, and flee from the clinic fast. the others, shocked but still suspicious, followed him a couple of block and into a small abandoned house with 'ueno' sign on the front. gojo could feel that no one was inside the house for a long time, and sukuna knew this too because he leisurely opened the front gate and unlocked the door with a spare key from inside the pot which heightened gojo's suspicious about ueno keigo being sukuna' first life, which was wild because how the fuck an ordinary surgeon became the king of curses?

nobara : "i knew you are a curse but what the fuck are you doing, barging in on empty house?"

sukuna : "brat, this is my house."

yuuji inside sukuna : "WHAT THE FUCK HOW"

sukuna : "you do remember that my life as the king of curses was not my first, right?"

gojo : "ah! of course! but how did an ordinary surgeon became the king of cruses? did you eat people too when you're a doctor?"

sukuna : "like hell! i adhere to the Hippocratic Oath, Six Eyes, and i did no harm. why and how i became the king of curses is a long story currently not important. can you buy this house and its contents from the government?"

gojo : "what's in it for me?"

sukuna : "you can do whatever you want with the house, i only want the books and the trinkets."

gojo : "deal as long as you answer a few questions from us!"

sukuna knew he can't really escape the six eyes and the students, busying himself with cleaning the living room while answering their questions, even tho his answers are full of sass and snark. he told them his motivation to be a surgeon (mostly spite bcs at that time, a lot of small town folks demean him for his coloring and his orphaned status and told him he can't be anything worthy esp a doctor, so he did it out of spite), about why he visited small towns and basically did surgery for free (payback to those who help him along the way but wasnt there anymore so he paid it forward), whether he had curse energy or not (probably small? like the managers and windows, enough to feel them and occasionally saw them but not enough to understand what the fuck was that. the world is weird, i just accept it was shits i don't know yet), how he died (the receptionist already told you its from car crash, right?!), and his life as sukuna-the-sorcerer (i didn't remember being ueno, fushiguro. at least i'm good at field medic during emergency. had to do a lot of crazy shits to survive during the heian era, including becoming the strongest sorcerer at that time. got trapped and betrayed, got so angry that when i got killed i became a special grade curse immediately).

in the end, gojo did buy the house and had people pack the books and trinkets and bring them to jujutsu high to a room besides yuuji's. he also quietly donated money to the small clinic, thinking the king of curses definitely has more depth than people thought, and maybe there's hope for sukuna after yuuji ate nearly all of the fingers.

(probably it's ok for gojo to simp and have a crush on the king of curses, especially when sukuna remember being a human more than being a curse).

meanwhile, yuuji also want to donate his money to the clinic, which sukuna forbid bcs there's no need for that, the clinic survived his death for more than a decade, it could survive more, but megumi and nobara also wanted to and sukuna can't really do anything to it so he only watch in despair. he also talked to shoko about medical things, which improved his standing on the jujutsu high and gojo is more determined to help sukuna survive and acquire his own body.

afterwards, if one of the first (and somehow second) year student got hurt, they went to sukuna first instead of shoko bcs they knew shoko is overworked. sukuna is regretting everything.

(gojo made a lot of copy from sukuna-as-ueno keigo's photos esp during his youth because damn, he's handsome af and if they gonna make sukuna his own body they need some visual samples)

(sukuna still confused bcs he remembered jjk plot but he also remember his life as ueno keigo started early and when the anime exist are only the old ones. when he died for the fourth time, he found out one of the deity responsible for reincarnation accidentally botched his cycle when he reborn as sukuna so as an apology they put jjk timeline/spoilers/foresight to his memory after he reborn as takami keigo/hawks so when he came back as sukuna-inside-yuuji he can change the world)

--

(feel free to use this long-ass post as inspiration or something!! i... probs gonna write them on ao3, like, maybe??? probably???? yeah,,)

--

Part 3

[shannon-foraker]

Let's see who'd do well for that in the Honorverse...

1, 3, 5, 9

1. if you could hit any character without repercussions, who would it be?

Hamish Alexander from Honorverse, not because he’s the character most deserving of a smackdown, but because he doesn’t get what I feel is his comeuppance in-universe.

3. characters you would marry in an instant?

There is an entire itimized list of these, but to name three at random: Laura Brand, Zari from Carmen Sandiego, and Susan Ivanova.

5. what is your favorite overused trope?

Age Regression/De-Aging (as in the “character gets handwavily turned into a child (for purposes of revealing their Secret Traumatic Past and hurt/comfort)”).

9. do you like prequels?

Not frequently; they often do a poor job of setting up the events/characters/world of the original canon (in the same way many sequels do a poor job of continuing the conflicts and character arcs of the original canon) or meaningfully explaining any questions about the past.

One exception to this is the Star Kingdom spinoff for Honorverse, which happens far enough back that the events of one don’t really affect the other except for like one massive timeline snarl; then again, I read the prequels first, so who’s to say if I wouldn’t feel differently if I hadn’t? The various 39 Clues side stories are also pretty good.

thanks for asking!

[cloud-navi]

Can I just say that say,

I hate the fnaf and its impact.

Like I don’t hate the first like 3-4 games. It wasn’t complicated, it was simple, entertaining, and scary. I like that Sister Location had more to do even if it was less like the classics. But past that and it’s just awful.

I understand it’s mostly “If it’s still making money then keep making more for the people.” But like, we didn’t need anything past game 3. Game 4 was pushing it tbh. Anything after that and it’s basically ruining any other game franchise that wants to be a mascot horror.

“Oh they FNAF did that first, this game is a copy” —Or it had a similar idea and/or was inspired. After a while of rehashing and trying to add on to a franchise it’s just gonna try a lot of shit, retcon, and overall have so many inconsistencies and plot holes that it doesn’t line up. Thats like trying to put ALL of transformers into one continuity.

Mainly I hate when people compare newer games to FNAF. Like, you’re kidding right? BATIM was dealing with the supernatural and based around children cartoons. Copying? No, obviously. But my biggest gripe is Poppy Playtime.

Poppy Playtime is based around toys, not diner animatronics or cartoons. “But we learned they were using kids for experiments, that’s copying William Afton!” William lured random kids from a diner. Elliot Ludwig posed as a philanthropist caring for orphans. They are not the same.

How about to bag on FNAF SB DLC or SOTM for having theme park rides areas (Montey’s story ride / Foxy’s water ride, or the roller carts in Mimic? BATIM had it first, at least in the ‘big’ indie mascot horror scene. At these stick with your values if something is copied.

“The first game was a cash grab!” Okay, sure, maybe it was. But it had potential. Did you honestly get scared playing the BATIM first demo? Probably not. They changed the price on the first one. You need money to actually create and upload a game. Demos aren’t long, the first game wasn’t more than a prologue.

Sometimes when you write a story you throw shit at a wall and hope something sticks, then expand on that.

“Huggy looks like Bendy!” Have you ever seen a sock monkey toy? Or any plush with none-human body proportions? Be fr the only commonality is being tall, thin, and have slightly pointed “horn” like things. Bendy is, for describing purposes, anorexic. Not joking, if you look at his model before the final boss fight he is genuinely that thin. He’s slimy, a completely different texture and fits the tone of his game. Bro walks like an injured crack head and you wanna pick fights with the plushie? Similar build does not make them the same.

“Huggy Wuggy is a stupid name. Mommy long legs is weird.” Based on the in-game world context, only the KIDS sincerely refer to the toys as TOY NAMES. They aren’t great names but it fits the character and what they do. Every adult in game refers to them by their project code. Kids are fucking stupid, I pretended to make up a language when I was like 6. Small orphan children definitely called them Huggy and mommy based on their traits around them, it makes sense, you’re just uncomfortable with that. You’re gonna tell me that “Ennard” “Lolbit” and “Yendo” are just understandable names for any of those three? Almost every other character in FNAF has alliteration in their name (Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, etc), is a variation of the original, or a joke name (DJ Music man).

I just can’t stand that everyone almost always praises almost anything that’s “official” FNAF while criticizing other games. Like we can tell the difference between cash grabs and something with potential. Garten of BanBan hardly holds up to Poppy Playtime, but at least both kept with it and actually developed some story to them. Poppy playtime isn’t as bad as people say it is.

“Poppy Playtime isn’t scary, it’s sanitizing horror!” The first game had multiple blood spatters and dead toys around, on top of a chase sequence. It’s a goddamn lobby. Sure after Hour of Joy the lobby should’ve been more bloody, but if they spent years after without any food do you think they wouldn’t stoop low enough to licking what they could while hunting each other? Huggy is the only one up there. Whats he supposed to eat?

If I’m being honest, everytime I see a new game that’s being praised and there’s a chase sequence in it I don’t believe any of the praise.

I just watched someone play FNAF secret of the mimic and there’s at least three chase scenes. Guess what? Poppy playtimes chase scenes get better and had stuff for you to interact with more than just a maze. You straight up have to hide in a flaming furnace to get away from Mommy the first time. You drop a large create on Huggy over a pit. FNAFSOTM you don’t get to see ticket booth music man’s death, it’s a black fade. Nurse dolly gets put in a vat of lava and slammed in the ceiling. Mommy long legs got caught in a shredder and begged the player to turn it off.

Overall I just hate they keep adding shit to franchise that needs to end. Nothing new or truly interesting is being added that works with everything else established and it makes it hard for anything new to come out without being a ‘ripoff’ for having similar elements.

I also hate FNAFSOTM. I feel like Sister location was already pushing it, but after that none of the styles felt like actual FNAF. This new game looks and feels closer to Hello Puppets than FNAF.

I just hate a person that can’t admit they have favoritism. Smh.



[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

forever ago you mentioned in an ask post that you have a story in your head about college-aged Matt saving Frank’s kids and in return the Castle family forcibly enfolds him into their tribe. There is literal kidnapping involved, and every word in your little summary was fucking hilarious. I want you to know that that scenario has lived in my head rent free ever since—I am astounded by your brain and that concept makes me want to eat dirt (in the best way)(that is a compliment of the highest degree)

anyways! Please don’t think this is me asking “when will you write that” bc i get it, some plot bunnies are just bunnies, and time/real world is a bitch, BUT—if you ever have any little ramblings about it, I’d love to hear them :) the Castle family is Insane and I love them dearly and I am forever entranced by your characterizations of Matt and Frank

Have a good one!!

Christmas with the Castles my beloved. I love this one so much that I typed out an outline of the fic entirely. It is long. Please, take my ramblings if you want them:

It's Christmas at Columbia, hohoho, peace and goodwill to all mankind. The dorms are closed over winter break to replace the pipes and Matt's out on his ass for the holidays, so get fucked, blind little orphan with no surviving family, and God bless us everyone.

Normally the Nelson clan would have taken him in but Foggy's bitch of a Great Aunt Bertha insists on holding the entire family hostage for the holidays with the will as collateral, and she sucks in many respects but even more in the sense that she doesn't want any blind orphans schlepping around her holiday table. But the Nelson clan will risk it all for Matt, who they think is neat. They'll put the whole fucking will on the line, buddy.

Matt assures them that he's got it all under control and has a place to stay. Yes, with a person. Yes, a real one. An old friend of his dad's. No, he's not going to be homeless. Stop asking questions.

This is a lie.

His plan is to simply be homeless. Peace and goodwill to all mankind.

Except Foggy knows when Matt's on his bullshit and insists on speaking to the guy he's staying with, which means he needs to get Fogwell to lie for him. Except Fogwell knows when Matt's on his bullshit and won't let him off the fucking hook until he knows Matt won't be homeless for the holidays.

Matt unequivocally refuses to come home with him. Stop asking. He'll find someone else to do the phone call.

They compromise with Matt staying in the fucking boiler room of the gym. Peace and goodwill to all mankind.

Except Matt sort of makes Fogwell think that he only needs to crash for a few days, and Foggy's family is going to take him in for the rest. This is also a lie. He is fucking off to be homeless for the rest of the holiday season.

Peace and goodwill to all mankind.

He's swallowing his misgivings and putting up with staying in the boiler room of the gym for a few days so Fogwell won't freak out. Which he now regrets. Because it puts him right in the earshot of an active hostage situation. Are those kids? Those are fucking kids.

Anyway he tries to call the police anonymously like ten times but this just tips off the hostage takers, who apparently have a mole in the police, surprising no one. Now they're going to kill the fucking kids.

Matt can't listen to this.

Peace and fucking goodwill to all mankind.

Okay. Fuck. He's doing this now.

Fuck.

THE CASTLE'S HOLIDAY SEASON, THUS FAR:

The kids got kidnapped.

like

fuck.

that happened.

The thing is that some random NSA guy got into contact with Frank and in this AU he actually blew the whistle on the the CIA's bullshit. His family was in protective custody, until his best friend and pseudo brother stabbed him in the fucking back and sold them out. Now they have his kids.

He then kills a lot of people.

Like a lot.

But he can't find his kids. They have his kids.

They're going to kill his kids.

MATT'S NIGHT, THUS FAR:

He's an asshole in sweatpants with a t-shirt wrapped around the top part of his face and no fucking plan, and there are so many assholes with guns in there. Like. So many.

But fuck it. He's doing this now.

fuck.

He fights a lot of guys. He gets super shot. Some guy tries to shoot him with arrows. Like, what the fuck even is this, Robin Hood? Honestly, fuck this night.

Anyway, he saves the kids. Wheee.

It's sort of nice? They bond, when the crying stops. The kids like him a lot. He calls their parents. Sets up a place for them to get picked up. The boy gives him the sweatshirt he's wearing under his jacket, which is kind of him, because it's fuck-off cold and Matt's about ten minutes from going into shock. Anyway, he drops them off at the spot and fucks off into the night before their oddly bloodstained dad can stop him like the world's shittiest off-brand batman.

He then goes to exercise the right of any God-fearing American citizen, which is to bleed out in the basement of his childhood church.

Fogwell's never gonna be okay again if he finds Matt's blood-soaked body in the gym. Matt figures he can just break into that basement no one uses, steal a med kit, make a solid confession about breaking into and stealing from a church if he lives long enough, and hopefully no one will even notice he was there.

This does not pan out.

A really angry nun finds him and narcs him out to Father Lanthom and they bitch him out for "dying" and "not seeking life-saving medical attention" and drag his ass to to the hospital.

NOW THE CASTLE FAMILY, REUNITED AT LAST:

The kids' will be in therapy forever but the danger is gone, because frank killed them all very dead.

He then received a presidential pardon for All The Murder.

Peace and goodwill to all mankind.

Anyway he's testified about the CIA corruption, the government is occupying itself with the coverup to end all coverups, and his only remaining concerns is (1) taking care of his family and (2) making sure the bleeding dipshit who saved his kids lives doesn't die in the streets. He's gotta find that dumb asshole.

Then he gets a phone call from a very concerned nurse at Metro General about the bleeding dipshit that got brought in with his kid's sweatshirt. They're calling because he keeps trying to goddamn leave while very fucking shot and he had a jacket with Frankie's information written on it in magic marker. Do they know him? Can they please come pick him up? They think he's going to die in the streets if someone does not pick him up.

And Yeah. Yeah, Frank Can Do That.

Matt.

Yeah.

The magic marker, he didn't.

Didn't

Didn't see that part.

Fuck.

Anyway, Matt's On His Way Out To Be Homeless For The Holiday Season, Peace And Goodwill To All Mankind, As Soon As The Goddamn Nurses Stop Hiding The Leave Against Medical Advice Forms. He lied and said he got jumped by a lot of guys, no, he didn't see who did it, because, you know. Blind. Just a regular ol' blind guy here. Poor fucking blind orphan alone and shot for the holiday season. Just give him the goddamn form.

And then that fucking guy shows up in his hospital room. The suspiciously bloody father of the kids he just got shot over. He's here, he's insisting that Matt's one of his family's closest friends and they're paying all of Matt's medical bills, and he's not commenting on the blind bit, but Matt can literally smell his curiosity. Matt's insisting that some random guy gave him the jacket, no, he didn't see his face, because, you know. Blind. He's not the guy Frank thinks he is. Nope. Please fuck off now.

They do not fuck off. Maria Castle blows through the hospital room like a hurricane, hugs him very genuinely, cries a little, and tells him that the Castle family pays their debts, and they've never had a greater one. Then the kids show up, and they fucking recognize him. Fuck.

Matt: imindanger.exe

Matt keeps feigning ignorance. Then, he waits until they leave the room and he fucking books it.

Anyway the Castle family minivan catches up to him when he's legging it a block away. They keep pace with him, and ask to just take him where he's going, and they swear they're not going to hurt him. They just want to help him out. He saved their kids.

And he can hear that they're telling the truth.

And it's so goddamn cold.

And he can hear his own internal bleeding.

And he's so, so tired.

So he tells them that no one would ever believe them. And he gets in the car. and he gives them Fogwell's address. And he tells himself he'll crash there for a day or two and fuck off to be homeless in the streets, peace and good-fucking-will to all mankind.

WHAT THE CASTLE FAMILY DID NOT SCHEDULE FOR THE DAY:

A kidnapping.

WHAT THE CASTLE FAMILY DOES:

It's. It's a kidnapping. They do a kidnapping.

Look. Look. they pay their debts. They pay their fucking debts. It's what they do. And they get to Fogwell's boiler room and rapidly fucking realize that the guy who they owe their everything to is a terminally stupid 20-something and living in the rundown boiler room of an empty gym. And they simply cannot have that.

Frank? Frank, show Matthew back to the car, will he? Maria's going to pack up his things for him.

Matt: what.exe

WHAT MATT DID NOT SCHEDULE FOR THE DAY:

it's.

It's the kidnapping.

it's that.

This fic is fundamentally founded in my premise that the entire Castle family is simply fucking insane. They're just all like that. Frank is not an outlier.

For the Castles, they're being perfectly reasonable. It's obvious that no one's taking care of this lovely young man who saved their kids, so no one will mind if they do it instead. He definitely needs it. So they sit their kids down and explain that sometimes Stockholm Syndrome is for someone's own good, which sounds perfectly reasonable to them. They then proceed to treat this like when you somewhat impulsively get a sick puppy from a Home Depot parking lot, and, well, he's a bit poorly behaved, and he keeps trying to run away, but the kids had wanted it so badly and eventually he's going to settle into his new home and then maybe you can stick felt reindeer antlers on him for the Christmas card, so you keep shoving his meds in peanut butter and forcing them down his throat and keeping the door blocked so the puppy can't slip out into the freezing new york night.

Matt treats this for what it is, which is a fucking kidnapping.

He is now fucking handcuffed to these crazy assholes' guest bed in their suburban home. It's by definition a kidnapping. they're acting like he's the unreasonable one for pointing this out. Except every time he wriggles out of his handcuffs, Frank just lugs his ass back to bed and chains him back up while they scold him. As if he's the unreasonable one for trying to escape his own kidnapping. They make him take his meds and eat three meals a day and the kids watch fucking Christmas movies with him while narrating the screen, as if this wasn't a kidnapping. This is insane. They're all insane.

Which is what he eventually tells them, out loud and to their faces.

And then Maria cries.

Stop.

Stop that.

That thing she's doing with her face. Stop that thing.

And Maria's like. Maybe they were over enthusiastic. But, being a mother, she just wants to take care of the nice young man who saved her little angels. And if that makes her a criminal, then she guesses she's a criminal. Because she cares.

Matt: shoving me into a van and handcuffing me to a bed against my will makes you by definition a criminal

maria: *cries harder*

Matt: stop

And Matt's like. Fine. Fine. He'll give into their crazy fucking kidnapping. Saves him the trouble of being homeless. Just. It's only until Christmas, and then he's gone.

maria, tearfully: and new years too?

Matt: don't push your luck

So fuck it. He's doing this now. But he's not going to like it. And he gets to come and go when he wants.

Frank: no.

matt: seriously fuck you

Except Matt's got shit they didn't pack at Fogwells. Shit they didn't realize belonged to him. His dad's shit. And he's absolutely desperate to get his dad's shit before some well-meaning janitor tosses it. So he very reluctantly agrees to let Frank go in his stead. Just. Just don't talk to people. And don't tell anyone he kidnapped matt. matt does not want to deal with that fucking court case.

Fogwell, immediately catching Frank gathering Matt's stuff for him, when he finds out that Matt sent him: are you a Nelson?

Frank, not a Nelson: Guilty.

And Fogs is just. Thrilled. So fucking thrilled that Matt has the Nelsons. Matt needs people like that, you know? People that'll welcome him home.

He's a good kid. And he hasn't had a home in a good long time. And Fogs--he's so fucking sorry that he couldn't give Matt that. And he. He.

Just tell him Merry Christmas from him? He understands why Matt didn't want to spend it with him.

Just tell him ol' Fogs was thinking of him. Tell him he really, really cares and hopes his holidays are good.

Fuck. Tell him he loves him. Just. Just tell him that. Fogs should have done it a long time ago.

What follows from there is a lot of wholesome, family-friendly Christmas activities, like:

making gingerbread houses

ice-skating

having a total mental breakdown when you get the message passed along from your pseudo-grandfather that he wishes he could have given him a home.

drinking cocoa

getting shit-faced drunk out on the town with the somewhat insane mother of those kids you saved, only to both be lugged home by a very exasperated Frank Castle.

watching Christmas movies

Visiting the grave of your dead father whose loss you've never recovered from

drinking eggnog

Confessing about your superpowers to the crazy fuckers who may or may not have given you stockholm syndrome, as well as your lasting trauma around the fact that you were child-soldierified and your soul-crushing terror that it will happen again

Making paper snowflakes

(Matt may not have meant to do all those things.)

I really like having backstories in communication with each other across my fics taking place in the same fandom? And Fogs is a great example of that. He tends to show up in all of my Daredevil fics, and he usually does something that brings Matt in from the cold in his backstory.

But in this world, that Fogs didn't do it.

In this one, he had the chance, and he failed.

Matt came to him. He ran away from the foster care system when he was a teen, and he went to Fogs as a desperate, last ditch effort. He begged Fogs to still love him the way he did when he was a kid. He begged Fogs to take him in the way he once took in Jack Murdock. He'd help Fogs around the gym. He'd do anything Fogs asked. He just wants to go home.

All he's wanted for years was to just go home.

And Fogs hugged him. He held him. He let him sleep on the couch.

And he called the police.

He wanted to do it the right away around, this time. He didn't want Matt to be hiding from the system for the rest of his youth the way his daddy once did. He wanted him to still get to go to school. He wanted him to be a kid. He wanted to adopt him proper, and didn't think of the fact that no one was gonna let him do it.

And he didn't account for how Matt would never trust him again.

He didn't account for Matt ending up on the streets, and he didn't account for matt refusing to come for him for help again, and he didn't account for Matt refusing to have anything to do with him until he hit law school and barely tolerated hanging around the gym at night again, and he didn't account for Matt not being able to stand the idea of spending the holidays with him.

There's a lot Fogs won't ever forgive himself for.

Anyway, Matt's stockholm syndrome was a great success. They fucking did it. They now have a crazy motherfucker with superpowers who's occupying this space as a the kid's new pseudo uncle. Unmitigated success. God, what an addition to the family. He's just as crazy as them.

Except Matt gets a call. From a very upset Foggy Nelson. Who says that they decided to burn the defunct bridge that was their relationship with their torrid bitch of a great aunt after she said something homophobic to Foggy's sister, and they went to go surprise Matt for the holidays, only to find out that he was already supposed to be with them. Matthew.

The thing is, foggy knows who Matt is as a person. He knows who Matt is as a person. There is such a very real chance that his blind best friend has been living under an overpass in subzero weather for the past few weeks and not telling him. He's having a heart attack and needs to come pick him up immediately before Matt starts selling his body or something.

And like, good news is that Matt was kidnapped by a lovely suburban family who have been keeping him warm and fed and dry, and they're going to be baking gingerbread today. The bad news is that Matt will literally have a heart attack if he has to explain to foggy how he got here so he just. Panics.

And hangs up the phone.

And matts panicking about how he hung up the phone, because foggy will absolutely call the police and report him as a missing person, holy shit will he call the police on him, Matt was literally kidnapped but he likes his kidnappers now and doesn't want them to be arrested, they're making gingerbread you see and that would be inconvenient to the gingerbread making. So Maria and Frank and the kids are watching this weird feral law student they forcibly adopted go through every single stage of grief in a two minute span, wonder how he made it through life so far on his own, and Maria wrangles the phone from him and calls Foggy back and politely tells him that this is Maria Castle, matts basically a part of their family and has been staying with them through the holidays, they've heard so much about foggy, won't he come visit? How about tomorrow at two? They're making gingerbread today.

Matt: MARIA

Matt is panicking. Foggy knows he doesn't have a family. Foggy is his family. Foggy has unlocked his tragic backstory. Foggy is going to wonder how he acquired a family in like a two and a half week span.

Foggy is panicking. He knows Matt doesn't have a family. He has unlocked matts tragic backstory. Matt was in their fucking Christmas cards because he has no family's Christmas cards to be in.

Maria is not panicking. They're taking a step back and making gingerbread now. Take deep breaths, Matthew.

FOGGY NELSON'S THEORIES ABOUT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH HIS BEST FRIEND (ABRIDGED):

Matt has started a polycule with a suburban couple and is raising their children with them now.

Matt was switched at birth and that's his newly discovered real family and he just never told Foggy.

Matt has been kidnapped by a family in the suburbs and they've enslaved him to make gingerbread with their children.

Which is true, weirdly enough.

Matt is having a spiraling panic attack because while he's like, not on deaths door anymore, he's still healing and clearly beat to shit and foggys going to think the castles did it and freak out and he doesn't have a lie for this prepped. And the castles are like "okay okay but, quick point, you've even prattling on about this kid for like, a minimum of four hours per day, you are more likely than not in love with him, have you considered the truth"

And Matt doesn't know what to do with that, is the thing.

Foggy comes by. He is four hours early. He arrived immediately after he got the address. Maria is lovely and kind and welcoming. Frank pumps his arm firmly and is built like a brickshit house and sort of intimidating.

Matt is absolutely beat to shit.

Matt is absolutely beat to shit.

Foggy: AHAHAHA HEY BUDDY IMMA GIVE YOU A HUG BECAUSE I MISSED YOU AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH IN THIS THE SEASON OF GOODWILL AMONG MEN. did they do this to you cough twice for yes

Matt: oh for the love of god.

And the problem is. For a family that commits felonies. They're weirdly open about that fact.

Foggy: how did Matt end up staying with you

Lisa: oh we gave him Stockholm syndrome after kidnapping him

matt: ahahaha kids say the darndest things

Frankie: no really dad kept having to drag him off the windowsill when he tried to climb out and we had to be extra welcoming to him so he'd stop trying to escape

Matt: AHAHAHA KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

Foggy told his cop friend Brett to be on standby before he came here and now he's rapidly wondering if he needs to actualize that.

There's a good deal bit more after that, but this is getting long. There's emotional honesty. There's homosexuality. There's confessions about superpowers that Matt may or may not have. There's discussing trauma.

There's the fucking shadow government showing up to recruit Matt.

The thing is that Frank Castle is one of the best military operatives, like. Ever. And SHIELD was interested in recruiting that. And they thought, hey, saving his kids may do that. And they sent Hawkeye to infiltrate the mercenaries that had taken them.

Except they were fuck-off guns there and while he could take them all out if it was just him, he'd have to be 90% crazier of motherfucker than he actually is to try that shit with two kids in the line of fire.

And then an absolutely crazy motherfucker showed up and did exactly that. Caught his arrow mid-backflip. Kicked his ass too. It was sort of sick as hell. He hasn't met anyone so good at hand to hand since black widow.

They couldn't not recruit that guy.

And like. They found him. They found him really easily. The castle family kidnapped him. It was kind of obvious.

So Clint and Coulson roll up with the recruitment pitch and Clints like "hey, haha, I'm Clint, you stabbed me, wow you're like, completely insane, I mean that literally and in a figurative impressiveness sense, want to be best friends" and matts a fucking centimeter from launching himself out the window and starting a new life in Mexico.

And coulson's good at what he does. He can tell that matts not at all buying what he's selling, is more than a little freaked out at the idea of being identified as enhanced, and is almost definitely a former child soldier if their background was accurate about who took him from his orphanage for a few months. He also knows that Matt's abilities are too unique and too useful to just walk away from them. Nothing can be hidden from him. And if a fucking nuke is missing and they need someone to sniff it out, they need to be able to set Matt loose on a city for it. So he makes the pitch of "what if I keep you out of all databases, tell no one your name, and have you as a strictly as needed member of the roster," to which Matt replies with something along the line of "you can go and get fucked with you fascist shadow agency bullshit, you fucking totalitarian nightmare freaks, you try and drag me off to your freak show org to be a fucking dog on a leash for your illegal agency and I'll bite your goddamn face off, the world would have to end for me to come within a hundred godforsaken feet of you," which is… a coarse but technically affirmative answer that Coulson takes to mean as "Yes, if the world is ending, I will come to your agency." He honestly tells him that he'll keep matts secret and leaves. And Matt is still considering the Mexico plan but decides that he has a family to keep him here now in foggy and the castles and decides to risk staying. And that's that.

Which leads into my semi-crack fic of Matt being in the original Avengers, which I won't subject you to here. but some highlights:

Matt misses the first day of world-saving because he took off the second the SHIELD guy came by to pick him up. He managed to hide for 27 consecutive hours before they dragged his ass to the helicarrier.

He wasn't briefed at all because they ask him if he read the files they gave him and he just tosses them on the table and asks "does this look like fucking Braille to you." He repeatedly threatens to sue them for a lack of ada compliance.

He keeps getting stuck in rooms because this nightmare space ship only uses screens for everything, including door handles.

The hulk: *is the hulk*

Matt, has a stick: WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THAT

Tony: in a few minutes I'll know every secret SHIELD has ever had

Matt, has listened to at least eight top secret HYDRA meetings since being locked into this fucking hell ship: MHMM

They save the day, he's in a mask, the press asks them all whats next for the avengers and he's like "well I have a day job, I'm going home" and just. Walks away.

Three weeks later he starts fighting crime of his own volition and whenever anyone mentions hey is it maybe that avenger fellow he replies to the official inquiries with "oh no you see I have a day job" which should not work but does

Of course, Matt learning about HYDRA leads into my other semi-crack fic involving Matt simply immediately telling Captain America about the fucking Nazi's, and Cap rediscovering his life's passion, which is punching some fucking Nazi's. Except, he really needs Matt to spy on HYDRA for this to work, and Matt's identity is still almost entirely secret even within SHIELD and he doesn't want to endanger that. So they embark on introducing everyone to Matt Murdock, his totally normal, blind attorney boyfriend who is not at all a superpowered ultimate spy who happens to be secretly a very reluctant Avenger. It is now a fake dating AU.

[sanotymanjiro]

𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝙨𝙖𝙙

🐬-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

𝙨𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 ⭑.ᐟ

⁀➴ ♡ violet evergarden

⤿ coming of age, fantasy, romance, slice of life, drama

synopsis: the story follows violet evergarden, a young ex-soldier who becomes an auto memory doll tasked with writing letters that can connect people

my rating: 4.9/5

♡ beautiful animation - similar to frieren in my opinion

♡ mixes slice of life with adventure/action/romance really well

♡ set in early 1900s sort of aesthetic

♡ perfect for if you want to cry (im dead serious)

♡ amazing plot

♡ lots of nature

⁀➴ ♡ takt op destiny

⤿ music, magic, action, fantasy, kind of sci-fi ish, romance

synopsis: the story follows takt, a conductor, and his musicart, destiny (formerly named cosette), as they journey to new york city, battling d2s (mythical creatures) and searching for a way to restore music to the world

my rating: 3.9/5

♡ amazing plot once again (not just bc takt's a hottie ofc ofc)

♡ beautiful animation - it's MAPPA's hidden gem for sure

♡ music type similar to your lie in april + nana

♡ set in dystopian world without music

♡ mixes the action in quite well

♡ will probably make you cry

⁀➴ ♡ your lie in april

⤿ music, high school, romance, friendship, slice of life, coming of age

synopsis: an anime series about a piano prodigy, kousei arima, who loses his ability to hear the piano after his mother's death. he meets a free-spirited violinist, kaori miyazono, who helps him rediscover his love for music and brings color back into his monochrome world

my rating: 4.3/5

♡ the animation is really cute and has a unique style especially eyes

♡ beautiful story mixed in with some light hearted scenes

♡ music type similar to nana (if you've seen that)

♡ will teach you lots about music - chopin etc

♡ set in normal modern day world

♡ will definately make you cry

🐬-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

𝙨𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙮 ⭑.ᐟ

⁀➴ ♡ lycoris recoil

⤿ cute girls with guns, action, friendship, coming of age, secret, slice of life

synopsis: lycoris recoil is an anime series about a secret organization, direct attack (da), that uses an all-girl task force called "lycoris" to maintain peace in Japan

my rating: 4.8/5

♡ really touching story involving familial love + friendships

♡ perfectly mixes action with slice of life and comedy

♡ dark themes and a bit deep but also somehow light

♡ the animation is really really good, lots of colour

♡ set in a 'perfect' modern world

♡ will probably make you cry too

⁀➴ ♡ rascal does not dream of bunny girl senpai

⤿ also romance, mystery, supernatural, coming of age, mental health, school life

synopsis: centers around sakuta azusagawa, who encounters the mysterious "puberty syndrome" affecting various girls, including his senior, actress mai sakurajima, who is invisible to everyone but him

my rating: 3.6/5

♡ mixes slice of life and elements of comedy into the seriousness (the dub makes it funnier)

♡ might make you cry but even if it doesn't it's still sad

♡ set in modern world but elements of supernatural

♡ the animation is cute in its own way so its nice

♡ includes familial love and teenage romance

♡ includes themes like depression and such

⁀➴ ♡ the promised neverland

⤿ mystery, supernatural, dark fantasy, orphanage life, childhood, friendship

synopsis: the series follows a group of orphaned children in their plan to escape from their orphanage, after learning the dark truth behind their existence

my rating: 4.5/5

♡ has some action, lots of brainstorming type scenes where they figure out how to do this and that so in that way you could say its similar to animes like frieren too

♡ recommended if you want something cute but at the same time dark and sad

♡ the animation for this one is really cute and bright

♡ this one has so much sibling type love to it

♡ set in a supernatural world and orphanage

♡ it will probably make you cry

🐬-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

𝙨𝙖𝙙 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙮 ⭑.ᐟ

⁀➴ ♡ to your eternity

⤿ immortality, supernatural, fantasy, slice of life, relationships, action

synopsis: tells the story of Fushi, an immortal being sent to Earth with the ability to take the form of those who have died and possess strong emotions. Initially, Fushi is a rock, then a wolf, and finally a boy, embarking on a journey of self-discovery and learning about humanity.

my rating: 5/5

♡ has some good action, good slightly comedic but cute scenes, even has some romance too and is just such a good anime i promise

♡ THIS IS THE BOMB OF TODAY BECAUSE IT WILL HAVE YOU IN TEARS

♡ it upsets me how little people know of this undiscovered gem

♡ animation is amazing and very similar to frieren's

♡ recommended if you want your heart to ache

♡ set in a supernatural/oldern world (14-1600s)

♡ the plot is top tier

i hope you guys enjoy and u can trust me, i'd only recommend good ones!

2025 @sanotymanjiro

[mithrilhearts]

Fanfiction Author Interview Game

Thank you for the tag, @pomgore!! It's been so long since I've done a proper tag game, it feels like lol

How many works do you have on AO3?

32 currently, though I'm tempted to trim some of that down with some works I'm not really fond of anymore (orphaning I guess? I'm not sure yet lol)

What's your total AO3 word count?

784,858, with a good handful of words written down unfinished and unposted

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

May Your Forge Burn Bright

(Take Me Back To) The Night We Met

Dragonhearted

Forget-Me-Not

An Ink-Stained Vow

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to anyway!! I may not get to them in a "timely" manner, but I try. Even if it's simply reacting with an emoji - I like to let people know I see and appreciate their kind commentary!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I am a happy ending type person, so I don't have any angsty endings, I don't think?

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

See above lol they all end happily, and I want to keep it that way!

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't written any, and as of now, I have no intention to. Not my vibe

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I have a few times now, yes. Honestly, it just goes back to my philosophy of "don't like, don't read", but hey, not all of us can be reasonable and not leave hate when we don't like something. The back button exists for a reason!

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do yep, as for what kind...soft? I don't know how to describe it 🤣 it's not exactly a strength of mine.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

As far as actually WRITING it together, yes! @sunnyrosewritesstuff and I did a collab last year for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Collaboration!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Bagginshield, I would say. I have some other OTPs, or ships that I enjoy, but they're the one that have their claws deep in my skin at this point

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

This is such a hard question. I genuinely don't want to leave a started (as in, I started posting it on ao3) fic unfinished, but I have no idea where life is going to take me. I have an assortment of fics started, and plot bunnies fleshed out, but no idea where I'll get with them.

What are your writing strengths?

These questions are so hard to answer! I think maybe dialogue, sometimes? And maybe descriptions of emotions.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Run-ons are a huge issue for me during the actual process, but I also struggle very much with battle sequences. I would also throw smut under this as well lol

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it depends! I throw in Khuzdul for dwarves, but offer in translations, but never really go beyond that. I think there are cases where it works, and others where it becomes too much.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon age! I have stuff drabbled out a little bit for the latter, but haven't posted anything yet. I'm ready to expand my horizons!

What's your favorite fic you've written?

Asking me to pick my favorite child, I see. It can change from day to day, and for TODAY, I'm going to say Kurdu 'abadaz - it gave me an opportunity to do my own take on a "fix it fic", but also held something unique and unseen before which is amazing in a 10+ year fandom lol it was such a huge accomplishment that meant a lot to me.

Tagging @elvain @chaoticangel666 @fantasyinallforms @sunnyrosewritesstuff @imakemywings and any other writers who want to participate!

[strawberryshortcake1495]

So I was rereading my sister’s old James and the Giant Peach book and I was struck with an idea.

Introducing…the Amazing Digital Peach!!!

If you read the JATGP book or watched the 1996 movie, you already know pretty much the whole plot.

Pomni is a 7-year old human girl who’s orphaned and has to live with her two relaxed but extremely neglectful uncles. They’re too lazy to do anything other than sit around and compliment themselves so they make Pomni do all the work around the house. They let her roam around freely but they’ll lock her in her room if she tries to go down to the shore to play with the other children.

One day, she’s doing work and comes across an old computer. She turns it on and on the screen it shows Caine, obviously. He tells her about these cool crocodile tongues that are inside a jar buried underneath where she found the computer. He instructs her on how to cook it properly and wished her good luck. Curious, little Pomni digs the jar out with her bare hands (because the dirt is really soft) and she decides to hide it from her uncles. If they find it, they’ll probably eat it and something bad might happen. She runs inside the house and to her room. It doesn’t have a lot of things in it, except for a rag doll, a gummy alligator, a king chess piece, a tragedy mask and some red ribbon, a purple bunny plushie, and a box full of random toy parts. Pomni trips on a broken floorboard and drops the jar of crocodile tongues. It breaks open and most of it spills onto her stuff. She tries to grab them (the crocodile tongues) but they’re already out of sight. She even saw a few actually crawl out of her window and towards the old ancient peach tree that was in the garden. With a bleeding foot and tears on her face, Pomni climbs onto her bed and decides to clock in for the day.

The next day, Pomni wakes up to find all her stuff gone! But she doesn’t have time to look for them, because her uncles are making a commotion outside. The ancient peach tree which hasn’t been able to grow a single peach in its entire lifetime, has started growing a peach that kept getting bigger and bigger and BIGGER. At first, Pomni’s uncles planned on eating it but then they decided to show it off to everyone else. Pomni was forbidden from going outside during the open house though, and was locked in her room. At night, her uncles send her out to clean up the mess (but they gave her an eaten chocolate bar to give her some energy). While cleaning, she noticed a hole inside the giant peach and went inside it. She climbed through the long passageway before she got to the seed, where a door was carved into it. She opened it and you can all guess what happened next. If you can’t, I’ll tell you anyway. Pomni saw all of her stuff inside the seed room, but they were much bigger and taller than her, and they seemed…ALIVE. Zooble notices her and welcomes her in the crew. Then Jax asks her to go through his endless wardrobe and get him his black leather jacket, and Pomni was way too scared to protest. He explains that he had gained sentience only 13 hours ago and the others chime in. Pomni tells everyone about the crocodile tongues and everyone’s weirdly calm with that. Once Pomni finds Jax’s black leather jacket, she gives it to him, and some rough banter between him and Kinger ensue. Gummigoo then noticed Pomni’s wounded foot and offers to patch that up for her. He takes out the tiny splinters, cleans the wound, and then bandages it with some gauze. Pomni is very grateful for his kindness and decides that she likes Gummigoo, as well as Jax because his snarky personality was entertaining. Then everyone goes to sleep, with Zooble making the beds by knitting string.

The next day, Pomni wakes up with the group cheering and hyping Jax up. Ragatha explains that Jax has razor-sharp teeth and he’s currently gnawing away at the stem that kept the giant peach from rolling off the hill. Pomni didn’t want to leave her uncles behind, since she didn’t really hate them, but decided to stay inside the room instead of leaving. Ragatha offers to carry her so she wouldn’t fall when the peach starts rolling, and Pomni agrees. She liked being held by her new friend, it reminded her of her late mother. Though the holding thing didn’t work, because when Jax finally broke the stem, the peach started rolling down the hill and the first thing Pomni did was fall out of Ragatha’s arms. Meanwhile, her uncles didn’t even seem to notice that she hadn’t returned last night and were just counting their money. When the peach started rolling, they were instantly crushed (R.I.P).

And the rest is pretty much what happens in the original book! I’m not good at drawing, so I’ll give you key design details if you ever want to make fanart of this AU.

Pomni has cute little pigtails, like this ⬇️

She also wears a dirty white gown with short sleeves!

Jax has a little tuff of hair at the top of his head and he wears a simple black leather jacket over his overalls (you can give him sharp teeth too if you wanna stick to the razor-sharp teeth thing)

Ragatha, Gummigoo, and Gangle look pretty much the same lol

Zooble has a bit of a darker color scheme, with more purples, blues, and blacks. It doesn’t have to be specific, she does canonically mix and match.

Here’s a little fun fact: Pomni’s uncles are based off Chad and Max, Gummigoo’s friends (and apparently brothers according to the wiki). They’re not maliciously evil so I made them chill but they are kinda supposed to be problematic so I made them extremely neglectful.

Anyways, hope you guys like this! I think I’m seriously cooking here.

[yinyuedijun]

Miss Mao i am starving with these crumbs of brainrot MC lore, I must confess I am more hyped abt her than literally any of the canon cast, I fear.. so I must ask, do you have anything planned (to write) for the other relationships that are kinda sorta teased in the Shin fics? Like Gaku and Sei 👉👈 I would just love to see her interacting w/ them because the dynamics are SO interesting to me !!

Like maybe AU's where the main focus is a different pairing (RIP Shin, you were too good for all of us, but move over for gege Gaku) or where things went differently and lead MC to end up with someone else? I love seeing the discussions and expansion on them in your asks 😩 (especially the Gaku ones) but have any plot bunnies reached the serious consideration/WIP stage ? 😶

And I truly don't mean to sound ungrateful for all your current writing!! It's always a phenomenal read, the writing style, the characterisation, the insanely endearing MC's who genuinely, truly always carve out their own special places in my heart because holy shit I have NEVER seen another author so good with creating such utterly unique leading characters ESPECIALLY ones that are typically meant to be a self-insert and thus can be extremely hard to characterise without compromising immersion given the audience they generally cater to. You've created such a captivating niche on your blog because of your characterisations specifically, the way you convey their sentiments through the narration and the dialogues. It's SO special to me, and I would really like you to know that, because I see all the time and effort and genuine passion you put into your writing!! Thank you for making your blog somewhere I can always find enjoyment and catharsis. I loved discovering you, and I'll love discovering whatever you do next! ❤️‍🔥💖

💫

HI ANONNN wow thank you so much for saying such kind words 😭😭😭 I think my approach of writing heavily developed MCs is not the most popular LOL so it makes me very happy to hear that you actually enjoy that about my fics! 🥺💓 all my MCs are my babygirls so it makes me super giddy when people want to know more about their lore!

for this specific mc, I don't think I could write about her time with sei because it would give me insane psychic damage DGLSHKFSJD. but I do have a WIP about her childhood at the orphanage. I've been struggling with the voice and plot though - I can't think of a way to make it romantic, and I'm not sure that anyone would want to read a fic about the psychological landscape of orphaned children being raised to become weapons 😭😭😭 but it was basically going to give context on why gaku behaves like a guard dog for the mc, why the mc trusts him so much, why she feels a very painful attachment to kei that she finds difficult to disregard, etc.

I also am ashamed to admit that if I DO ever end up dropping anything for gaku/tumblrina... in all honesty it would most likely be porn about them getting together post-shin. because that's easiest to write and I have no brain cells SFKSHLDJSSJ. I think it would be somewhat comedic (tumblrina freaking out at the sudden pseudocest but then shrugging it off when she feels the size of gaku's dick), but it would also be kind of sad (she cannot bring herself to kiss gaku for the longest time and he doesn't understand why that makes his chest physically ache) and it would also be super horny (she is not surviving that dick I am being so serious). I cannot promise anything but I can always answer questions if u have any 😭

thank you so much for the feedback & questions!!!! MWAH MWAH

[robininthelabyrinth]

Ah, this is invisible_cities from ao3 - dropping off a plot bunny I mentioned in a comment on 'No Complaints' as requested, since you considered it intriguing and didn't want to lose the idea. It went: I keep being haunted by this kernel of an idea, an AU in which LQR&JC -Done Uncles(TM) - have a (political) reason to Swear Brotherhood. Especially if it meant seeing the reactions of LQR's nephews AND LXC's sworn brothers. I think Nie Minjue might actually approve, as you write him.

Convenient Brotherhood - ao3

“You would make a good teacher.”

Jiang Cheng froze, abruptly overcome with a wave of hideous embarrassment, then a moment later with a wave of self-disgust for having felt that embarrassment. It wasn’t as if he were doing anything shameful, after all.

He’d only been showing the newest set of Jiang disciples the basic forms that they would need to know in order to build their foundation in the Jiang sect’s sword style. It was one of the most basic duties of a sect. Although it was normally done by an instructor, rather than the sect leader directly, even Jiang Cheng’s father had occasionally stepped in to show the children how it was done. There was nothing embarrassing about doing what he was doing at all.

It was only – being perceived, he supposed.

He turned and tried to salute, saying, “Teacher Lan –”

Lan Qiren stopped him, catching his arm and pulling him upwards, his hand seeming to Jiang Cheng’s perception to be blazing hot where it touched his skin. “I have already told you to stop with that,” he chided, though quite gently, and that hot feeling spread over the rest of Jiang Cheng’s skin, right up to his neck. “It has already become tiresome, and you can’t keep it up forever, now that I am staying here.”

Yes.

There was – that.

Jiang Cheng didn’t want to think about that. On why Lan Qiren was now residing in the Lotus Pier, the length of his stay indeterminate, lasting until…

Until nothing. Jiang Cheng wasn’t thinking about it.

“How is Jin Ling doing?” he asked instead, because it was easier. Jin Ling was still a baby, in need of tremendous care, and in all honesty Lan Qiren’s presence had been a godsend in that regard – the Jiang sect needed care, too, as needy as an infant going through growing pains as Jiang Cheng tried to help it settle into its rightful position as a Great Sect, and there were only so many hours in a day. He was already being torn to pieces by his obligations. He couldn’t even imagine the damage it might do to him if he were trying to take care of both Jin Ling and his sect, all on his own, unsupported by anyone, least of all –  

Wait, no, he wasn’t thinking about that.

“Quite well. He’s just realized he can wave around his toys on his own,” Lan Qiren said, accepting the change of subject gracefully, just as he always did. “He was quite proud of his great accomplishment.”

Just like his peacock of a father, Jiang Cheng wanted to say, but his throat closed up. It had only been a few months, no more than half a year, since – since Jiang Yanli – since she had…since Jin Ling was orphaned.

By all rights, Jin Ling ought to be right now in Lanling City, being cared for by his paternal relatives, but Jin Zixuan’s death had overturned a hornet’s nest there, and even Madame Jin, for whom Jin Ling was now her sole purpose in life, didn’t think it was a good idea to risk keeping him there. Accordingly to Lanling Jin custom, the child was typically raised by the mother for the first few years of life, then handed over to the father to be educated. So, with Jin Ling lacking both mother and father, Madame Jin had proposed that Jin Ling be temporarily handed over to Jiang Cheng…

She must have been in a very tough position to have asked for such a thing. Jiang Cheng tried not to think about it, because it meant that he got to keep Jin Ling by his side, got not to be alone. Just him and Jin Ling…and Lan Qiren, now.

It had really only been when Lan Qiren had walked in and plucked a sobbing Jin Ling out of Jiang Cheng’s arms, ordering the frantic and under-slept Jiang Cheng to go get some rest, that Jiang Cheng had remembered all those rumors that made out that it was Lan Qiren that had raised his nephews, even since infancy. From the capable fashion in which he tended to Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng was inclined to think the rumors were true.

And since there could be no questioning Lan Qiren’s integrity, he didn’t have to worry about entrusting Jin Ling to him. There could be no fear that Lan Qiren was a secret assassin, or bribed by the Jin sect, or – or whatever Jiang Cheng’s paranoid mind had come up with. Admittedly, it was probably a little offensive to use a respected elder like Lan Qiren as a babysitter, but Lan Qiren had never complained.

“You should consider what I said.”

Jiang Cheng shook himself out of his reverie. “What? What you said when?”

“That you would make a good teacher,” Lan Qiren said. He shook out his sleeves and started heading back inside – had he come all the way out to the training yards just to say that? But no, it was getting to be dinner time. He had come to call Jiang Cheng, another thing that no one had asked him to do but which he did, as meticulous and inexorable as the Lan sect rules in all the things he did.

Having someone who remembered that he needed to be called in, that he forgot things like eating and drinking if he was too distracted…Jiang Cheng really shouldn’t enjoy it as much as he did.

It shouldn’t make him as happy as it did.

Jiang Cheng caught up with Lan Qiren, falling into step by his side. “Is this some sort of hint that you changed your mind and would like to start teaching again?” he asked. “I’m sure we could set something up here for you, if you like.”

It wouldn’t be the same as the Cloud Recesses, though. Nothing was ever the same as home.

Jiang Cheng knew that better than most.

“I meant nothing more than what I said,” Lan Qiren said mildly. “I have not varied from my decision not to teach this year. Perhaps when Jin Ling is older, we can reconsider.”

Because Lan Qiren would probably still be here then, Jiang Cheng’s traitorous mind noted. Jin Ling would grow up, and grow older, and eventually return to Lanling Jin to inherit his patrimony, but Lan Qiren would still be here in the Lotus Pier, far away from home, rotting away in a place he didn’t belong –

Lan Qiren cleared his throat pointedly.

“You are letting his thoughts get away from you again, I think,” he said. He sounded amused, of all things. “Shall I recite the rules regarding the importance of mealtimes once again…?”

“Please don’t,” Jiang Cheng said hastily. He’d made the mistake, in the first few days of Lan Qiren’s tenure when Jiang Cheng had been incredibly bitter about how everything had all gone down, of retorting to one of Lan Qiren’s invocations by reminding him that the Lotus Pier was not the Cloud Recesses and so the Lan sect rules did not apply here. It had been unwontedly cruel of him – reminding a man of the home that he’d lost through the actions of others, actions for which Jiang Cheng was in no small part responsible, whether directly or indirectly through others of his sect for whom he bore responsibility – and he’d been deeply ashamed of himself at once.

Lan Qiren, in contrast, had taken it in stride: he had only mildly responded that the Lan sect rules applied not only to the Cloud Recesses but to any person belonging to the Lan sect, no matter where they were, and furthermore that in any place where humanity gathered there were always rules, even when they were unwritten. He had thereafter devoted much of his free time, insofar as such a thing existed, into compiling a set of rules for the Lotus Pier.

Jiang Cheng had thought the project ridiculous at first, but Lan Qiren was meticulous, in this as with all things, and the first small booklet he had presented to Jiang Cheng had been…

Jiang Cheng hadn’t had any words for how it made him feel, only that he’d urgently needed to excuse himself to hide in his room and cry for a while, but in a good sort of way. The booklet contained not only the first few rules that Lan Qiren proposed, all of which were perfectly in keeping with the Lotus Pier’s tradition and full of good sense besides, but also the basis behind them: the logical arguments both in favor and against, the potential consequences, and most of all the history behind them, gleaned from the dozens of interviews Lan Qiren had conducted among both the few survivors of the Lotus Pier’s massacre and the common people outside their door.

Jiang Cheng treasured each survivor more than gold, but he’d never really known how exactly to ask them, or even what, and he’d never thought about asking the common people at all. To unexpectedly find that they, too, knew the stories of his family, his ancestors, to see the casual anecdotes his father had once, in a rare sharing mood, recited for them over dinner and which Jiang Cheng had nearly forgotten, all written down neatly in a book, something that could be copied and duplicated and remembered into the future…

There were stories in there that even he hadn’t known. Ones his father hadn’t mentioned, or hadn’t had a chance to, stories that his distant cousins, the older ones, recognized with a start that suggested they’d forgotten them, too – even stories about his mother, ones that she’d long ago discarded as embarrassing. Stories that made her appear in his memory, vivid and beautiful and headstrong, simultaneously just as he’d known her and yet also somehow like learning about her for the first time.

There were stories about Jiang Yanli, too. Things Jiang Cheng had never known about her, how she went out among the common people to help them small things within her power, dealing with the little pests and pestilences that accompanied daily life but which would win no one any fame and which most cultivators disdained as a result – even her likes and dislikes, recorded from the mouths of the merchants that had always saved a portion of their wares for her.

Even stories about him –

…anyway, the rules were good. The Jiang sect’s motto might be attempt the impossible, but there was no harm in having some structure. All his new disciples still needed their foundation, after all. 

“Do you really think I’d be a good teacher?” Jiang Cheng asked, settling down beside the table. The Lan sect rules generally prohibited speaking during mealtimes, but they hadn’t started yet – Jin Ling still needed to be brought over by his wet nurse, since Lan Qiren insisted that all meals be taken together and Jiang Cheng, who would have Jin Ling in his sight at all times if he could, didn’t disagree. “I think most of my disciples are afraid of me.”

“If being cantankerous were a disqualifier, no one would ever come to me,” Lan Qiren said, and Jiang Cheng had to suppress a snort – the other man’s sense of humor was another thing that had come as a surprise. Lan Qiren was in fact quite strict with his students; it was only now that Jiang Cheng had graduated to being one of his peers that Lan Qiren had allowed him to see the more personable aspects of his character. “Your disciples fear your temper, yes, but they respect and adore you. You will be an excellent teacher.”

“The Jiang sect sword style –”

“Not just that.”

“No?”

“Don’t look down on yourself. You have more to give to the world than just your blood and sweat.”

Jiang Cheng’s hand stole, without his permission, to rest on his stomach, on the stolen golden core that glowed inside of him, inescapable reminder of Wei Wuxian’s sacrifice of which he had been completely ignorant until – until it was very nearly too late. So very nearly. “I don’t know about that.”

It wasn’t a denial, though.

It was…hope, Jiang Cheng supposed. Hope that there might be something he could offer the world that wasn’t his bloodline or his endless years of effort, all of which seemed to turn to dust at once upon the revelation that it had been Wei Wuxian’s talent and sacrifice that had made it all possible. Being a teacher didn’t rely on or even require a golden core, especially if he taught the way Lan Qiren meant – not just swordsmanship, but cultivation, whether of one’s power or one’s mind.

It might be nice to have students, rather than soldiers.

“It’s settled, then,” Lan Qiren said. “We’ll plan out a curriculum for next year.”

As if it were that simple…though now that Jiang Cheng thought about it, why couldn’t it be? He was the sect leader here, with no elders to stand on his shoulders and force him to stop, and he had Lan Qiren, whose fame as a teacher was personal to him rather than generalized to his sect. If they let out that he would be teaching again, people from all over the cultivation world would send their children to learn, even if Jiang Cheng were teaching as well.

Maybe, after a while…

It wasn’t like Lan Qiren was going anywhere. He couldn’t.

Or, well, he could, technically. There was nothing wrong with Lan Qiren’s legs or his ability to fly a sword, he could walk out any time. But he wouldn’t – not when his presence in the Lotus Pier was one of the pillars that held together the cultivation world. Not when…

“Didi should stop thinking so much,” Lan Qiren said, and Jiang Cheng winced the way he always did when Lan Qiren acknowledged the forced sworn brother relationship between them. “It’s not doing you any good.”

Jiang Cheng snorted. That was true enough. “This is when most people say I ought to get a wife.”

“What would be the point? If you wanted one, you’d have one.”

“The matchmakers –”

“Cannot do anything if the person asking them for help is also purposefully sabotaging their attempts. It’s really no surprise that they’ve banned you for wasting their time.”

Jiang Cheng grumbled a bit at that, but didn’t argue – mostly because the wetnurse had finally come, holding Jin Ling (who was, in fact, beaming at the toy clutched in his hand), and the fact that Lotus Pier didn’t have a rule against speaking at mealtimes meant absolutely nothing if the only two options were the silent Lan Qiren and the unintelligible Jin Ling.  

After, Jiang Cheng collected Jin Ling and went with Lan Qiren for a walk through some of the pavilions. They stayed silent for a long while, Lan Qiren picking paths at random – whether he liked after-meal walks for the purposes of digestion or if it was simply another Lan sect habit, Jiang Cheng didn’t know – but then they ended up in front of the empty courtyard that Jiang Cheng had once had built with Wei Wuxian in mind, naively dreaming about the day his right hand would stop with his nonsense and need a place of his own to live, not too far away, so that their children would one day be able to play with each other…

Jiang Cheng turned his face away, his mouth compressing into a hard line as he tried to control himself.

Lan Qiren slowed to a stop as well.

“He’s taken to including notes on the back of Wangji’s letters to me,” he finally said, looking out across the water to avoid eye contact – thoughtful of Jiang Cheng’s dignity, gracious as always. “Since you’re not accepting the ones he writes.”

Jiang Cheng laughed, though the sound of it hurt his throat. “I accept them. I just don’t read them, or reply…what’s the point? Everything that could be said has already been said.”

Lan Qiren frowned, clearly on the verge of disagreeing, but Jiang Cheng got ahead of him for once.

“Aren’t you angry?” The words burst out of his mouth. “Aren’t you – it’s his fault you’re here, instead of at home. At home, with your nephews, with your family…”

“I maintain an extensive correspondence with those members of my family I actually like, and for the first time in my life, I am able to ignore those I do not,” Lan Qiren said, and Jiang Cheng choked on the sheer incongruity of the statement. “I will not deny that it is strange to be here, or to think that I will be here for a long while yet. But my family can visit me, and I them, and things will not remain this way forever.”

“Forever, no. But – still –”

“I do not see it as a burden to be here with you.”

Jiang Cheng’s mouth dropped open. Lan Qiren had hit the heart of the matter like a dagger to the chest.

“I have always liked you,” Lan Qiren continued, straightforward and serious and patient, as if it was the first time he was saying those words instead of it being the thousandth repetition – though Jiang Cheng would hear it a thousand times more if he could. “You were a pleasure to teach, and you have not only attempted but achieved the impossible by resurrecting your sect after such devastation. You accomplished that, not Wei Wuxian, and not Wei Wuxian’s golden core; if strength in cultivation were all that were required to lead a Great Sect, we would not be so few in number. Even though the circumstances were not what any of us might have wished, I am pleased to call you my sworn brother.”

He paused – that was where he usually ended this particular recitation – but this time he seemed as though he had more to say. After a moment, he continued.

“I am only regretful that I am not the one you would have wished I be.”

Jiang Cheng had to turn away again, his eyes and nose hot with viciously suppressed tears that had sprung up out of nowhere. It was true, painfully true: it wasn’t supposed to be Lan Qiren that was living here in the Lotus Pier, it wasn’t Lan Qiren that was meant to be Jiang Cheng’s sworn brother.

It should have been Wei Wuxian.

But after Jin Zixuan died and Jiang Yanli died, it hadn’t been Jiang Cheng who had come to Wei Wuxian’s defense against the cultivation world. He’d led the forces that aimed at the Burial Mounds himself, insensate with grief and convinced that Wei Wuxian must have died or lost his soul long ago to have done such terrible things. He’d had some hazy thoughts of being the one to capture him, somehow knock some sense into him, but if he were being honest with himself he knew that it probably wouldn’t have worked out well for either of them if he and the Jin sect had been the first ones to reach the Burial Mounds.

Only – he hadn’t been.

It’d been Lan Wangji that got there first, Lan Wangji that knocked Wei Wuxian out and stole him away along with the rest of the Wen remnants, hiding them all away where the cultivation world wouldn’t ever think to find them. He’d been the one to declare that he and Wei Wuxian had sworn brotherhood with each other, and that that made Wei Wuxian a member of the Lan sect, all but marrying him in as if he were a woman.

(The way his father had, when it had been his bride who was accused…not that anyone outside the Lan sect, and very select others like Jiang Cheng, knew about that.)

Even that stratagem might not have worked, regardless of the Lan sect’s (reluctant) willingness to stand behind Lan Wangji – the cultivation world had pulled back in its confusion and out of respect for the Lan sect’s standing as a Great Sect, but it wouldn’t have lasted very long, not with how angry they were at Wei Wuxian. Only then Wei Wuxian had somehow used the extra few days that Lan Wangji had bought him to figure out that Wen Ning and Wen Qing were not actually dead the way the Jin sect had said he was, only hidden away, and that the supposed attack in Lanling had in fact been of the Jin sect’s own creation, that they’d intentionally incited Wen Ning in order to have a reason to steal Wei Wuxian’s creation and raid the Burial Mounds for his notes, seeking the source of his powers.

Decrying demonic cultivation with one side of their mouth, pursuing it eagerly with the other: the Jin sect had behaved like hypocrites of the first order, and worse, there were rumors that certain small sects that had recently disappeared had not in fact merely scattered or been absorbed into other sects, but turned into experiment fodder for the Jin sect’s vile experiments.

Jin Guangshan, caught with his pants down, had splutteringly tried to exculpate his sect, and when that didn’t work, he cast all the blame on the newly named Jin Guangyao, the bastard child. He’d even blamed him for inciting Jin Zixun to go lay an ambush at the Qiongqi Path, setting up the initial confrontation with Wei Wuxian, and then sending Jin Zixuan out without proper backing, hoping to use Wei Wuxian as a weapon to eliminate the heir that stood in front of him on his way to Jin sect leadership.

He’d offered to have him executed to appease the cultivation world’s anger.  

No one had entirely bought the idea of it all being Jin Guangyao’s fault, not really, but it wasn’t as though most of them were in any position to object, not with the Jin sect being one of the few that was still strong after the Sunshot Campaign. Jin Guangshan might have been able to get away with it, if it hadn’t been for Nie Mingjue stepping forward and claiming Jin Guangyao as a member of his sect through their sworn brotherhood, based on the very same precedent that Lan Wangji had just established. It had saved Jin Guangyao’s life and freed him to testify against his father, confirming all those deeply unfortunate rumors and even more…

Really, it was no surprise that Madame Jin didn’t want Jin Ling to be in Lanling City right now.

As for Lan Qiren, the situation had been quite simple. With the Jin sect in turmoil and the Nie sect temporarily disgraced for having willingly taken in a potential fratricide, and moreover Wei Wuxian, the founder of demonic cultivation, now firmly in the hands of the Lan sect, the entire order of the cultivation world had been turned on its head, with the Lan sect standing ascendant above them all.

Only the Jiang sect was out in the dark alone.

Lan Xichen was Nie Mingjue’s younger sworn brother as well, providing the Nie sect with security, and the Jin sect was in no position to demand anything for themselves; only Jiang Cheng and his sect were the losers, now lacking both Wei Wuxian and adding in the additional burden of Jin Ling, and it had been Jiang Cheng’s own foolish decisions that had led him to that point. In order to maintain balance, to keep the cultivation world from fearing another war like the last one, it seemed obvious to everyone that the Lan sect needed to turn over a hostage to the Jiang in order to maintain peace.

Jiang Cheng hadn’t liked that as the answer, but…it was his sect.

It was something he had to do.

He would always do what his sect needed him to do.

But the question arose of who the hostage could be. It had to be someone of the main line, someone important and valuable enough that the sect would be deeply invested in getting them back, and obviously it couldn’t be Lan Xichen, the sect leader. And yet it seemed cruel for it to be Lan Wangji, who had done so much for Wei Wuxian, who loved him so desperately and who, rumors said, was loved in return…

Even Jiang Cheng, who resented Lan Wangji to no end simply because of how soul-scaldlingly jealous he was of him, didn’t have the heart to split them up.

They had been trapped in a seemingly impassible dilemma, and it had been only solved when Lan Qiren had volunteered himself for the task, pointing out that his nephews would be committed to his well-being in just the way that was required; he’d then ignored their protests and swore brotherhood with Jiang Cheng, agreeing to go live in the Lotus Pier for as long as it took the cultivation world to grow steady and peaceful once more, which would probably only happen when Jin Ling reached adulthood and took on his father’s sect as his own. Sworn brotherhood was what it was called, but it was only a mockery of the more genuine connections that had come before – Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, who were lovers, and Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao, who were…something, anyway. In reality, though, out of all of them, Lan Qiren was the only one who really was nothing more than a hostage.

Lan Qiren had taken it more philosophically than Jiang Cheng had.

“It’s not that,” Jiang Cheng finally forced out through numb lips. “It’s not – I like having you here.”

The confession was true, but that sometimes felt like the worst of it, the worst betrayal he had yet done. Wei Wuxian had given Jiang Cheng everything, even his golden core, a revelation that only came after everything had all been agreed, Wen Qing furiously angry from her near-death experience and lashing out recklessly with the truth as her only weapon, no matter how much she regretted it later. Wei Wuxian had given it all to him, and here was Jiang Cheng, living happily, letting another person fill Wei Wuxian’s shoes, take his place, forcing the role on a person who didn’t even belong here, and being traitorously happy about it all.

After all, Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have known what to do with Jin Ling, not the way Lan Qiren did, experienced and confident. Wei Wuxian wouldn’t know all the things Jiang Cheng had never learned about sect leadership, wouldn’t be available as a teacher, as a guide, as a mentor. Wei Wuxian…

Wei Wuxian would never have said I do not see it as a burden to be here with you.

“I am glad,” Lan Qiren said simply.

He even meant it, too.

“I – I can’t –”

“Do not strain yourself. A journey takes a step at a time, you don’t need to rush ahead to the end.”

Jiang Cheng nodded, and looked down at Jin Ling, who’d since fallen asleep, sucking his thumb.

“A teacher,” he finally said, once he’d gotten enough control of himself. He let himself imagine it – not just the actual act of teaching, but the joys behind it: grading papers with Lan Qiren, discussing topics, exchanging anecdotes, rolling their eyes at their juvenile tricks. Even the thought of Jin Ling having more children to play with as he grew up, and a reason to come back every year even after he went back to Lanling… “I could get used to that idea.”

Maybe, one day, he could even bring himself to look at Wei Wuxian’s letters.

Maybe, one day, he could write back.

My family can visit me, and I them, and things will not remain this way forever – that was what Lan Qiren had said. If it was true for him, then why not, maybe, for Jiang Cheng as well?

One day.

Not yet –

But one day.

[arrows-unofficial-ocs]

For the plot bunny ask game: The Hunger Games + Mason Thames (How To Train Your Dragon), please??

@dancingsunflowers-ocs 💖

name: eli deere

age: alive as of the 75th hunger games

job: victor of district 9

5 personality traits: intelligent, stubborn, reserved, angry, athletic

love interest: tbd

faceclaim: mason thames

— won the 64th games at age 15

— orphaned before the games due to a sickness that spread through his community

— didn’t want to win the games but somehow did

— definitely gets involved in the rebellion at some point

— his name is from eli whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, and John Deere, inventor of a plow

[holly-fixation]

I have a plot bunny to share. What if Sephiroth had a sibling on mom’s side? A twin, a sibling born or conceived before the experiment that created Sephiroth was ready, a younger sibling created from Lucretia attempting follow up research in a last desperate attempt to convince/blackmail Hojo to let her see Sephiroth.

Older sibling: Hojo most likely checked to make sure Lucrecia was pregnant before beginning the experiment. Assuming it was too early to catch, and Sephiroth is conceived while the first child is still in the oven, you'd get something similar to Genesis or Angeal from second hand Jenova cells.

It would be an incredibly difficult pregnancy. The non-S child would have to be removed for the project's and Lucrecia's safety. A miscarriage Lucrecia would never forget and a sibling her son wouldn't know.

Twins: More specimens for Hojo. Now he can afford to push one too far without consequences. Another child Lucrecia would never hold. But to Sephiroth, the sibling would be the only living person he cares about. The only person he knows will protect him as he will in turn. Despite usually being separated, Hojo's desire to prove the Reunion theory will allow the siblings to bond. Regulated, yes, but bond none the same.

The sibling could be either another super SOLDIER or be pushed towards sciences instead. Just like Sephiroth, they'd detach themselves from their work and just get the job done.

They never find out what really happened in Nibelhiem.

Younger: Lucrecia might not know of Reunion or Hojo's theory, but she knows she needs her son. Even if it costs another pregnancy.

She will attempt to recreate the project to get Hojo's attention. However, she does not apply the J-cells at the proper phase. She's too desperate to have both children in her arms.

When the child is born, their hair is deathly white and their skin is pale. Unlike Sephiroth, whose cries alone were strong, the child bearly breathed.

After a few years, she realizes Hojo will never come. No negotiation will be made to see her son, and the child she has is nearly a ghost already. Dreams and visions push her into leaving the child to "experience a painless death" while she hibernates in the crystal cave.

The child is then struggling to survive as an orphan in Nibelhiem, a town so small everyone knows everyone's business. The child grows up distant, and Cloud is the only one they tolerate since he does not question their strange appearance.

Sephiroth is the first to truly interact with the sibling. Unfortunately, the mission still ends in flames.