#sappy robot bois

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

do you want to be needed, or do you want to be wanted?

*throws this betrothed au sappiness at you* i hope u enjoy this despite how low effort and smashed together it is pls forgive me srry *scuttles back under my littel moss covered rock*

[shadowbrightshine]

Ok I know now that this sort of this would be awful and we hate that these guys do this.

But look at Jibo! I'd have been more excited about Alexa if she was like him.

I know the ad is not what he'd be like. But that's one of the most comforting robot voices I've ever heard and it did its job. I want him, I trust this little guy even though I really shouldn't.

I wish tv would give more robots voices like this. He's like a little buddy! Remember when we were excited about robot assistants and talked about it making our lives better? He's from a more hopeful time.

He's so cute, and I love him. I want to hold him in my arms and show him the world.

I'm a sentimental gal. I'd fall for it hook line and sinker. I know he'd be a bad thing but look at him! At least it would be cute. I already have an Alexa in my room and kitchen. I already have record devices in my house. Might as well have something that pretends to be your friend.

He's so cute. It's like a portal core in your house. That's what his voice reminds me of. I want him.

He's so little.

[irafuwas]

some thoughts on how lilia views love

I’ve been watching through the Stitch event and there’s a bit of dialogue Lilia says that unfortunately made me Think, so I wanted to gather my babblings here.

This post contains spoilers for: Book 7, Tsumsted Wonderland 2, Lost in the Book with Stitch, Spectral Soiree/Endless Halloween, and Tamashina Mina

After spending the day fighting off Gantu’s robots, scavenging for food, and exploring the island, the boys rest for a bit in an old cottage they found. Lilia wants to take the opportunity to spruce up the cottage and make it more resort-like while they’re enjoying this “vacation”, and Riddle and Jack are both surprised and a bit peeved to hear him say this.

Riddle: Don’t you want to find a way off this island as soon as possible, Lilia Senpai? Malleus Senpai, Silver, and Sebek… Everyone at Diasomnia must be worried sick about you right now. I should think you’d want to assuage their concerns a tad bit faster!

Lilia: …Thing is, I trust them.

Riddle: You trust them?

Lilia: Mm-hmm. Knowing them, no doubt they understand I’m safe and sound and having a good time right now. Malleus and the others know I’m not the type of guy who’d get in a pickle over something as trivial as this. And that’s because they know me very, very well – just like family!

(snipped)

Lilia: It’s truly wonderful having people in your life who trust you and wish the best for you - and for whom you do the same in return - no matter how far apart you may be.

When you take this dialogue and look at in isolation of this event, then it’s a wonderful thing to hear Lilia say. He trusts his boys and they trust him - because they’re family, and that’s what families do. It’s always great to hear the characters themselves acknowledge their strong bonds with each other, and I thought it was really cute how Stitch got so happy to hear Lilia talking about his Ohana.

But when you take what he said and consider the broader story of Twisted Wonderland (vignettes and events, included), and you consider other things he’s said and done in the past… This dialogue just hurts.

There’s been small moments here and there that made me think Lilia has kind of an unhealthy(?) or warped(?) view of love. I’m not sure what the best word for it is, but I’ve noticed that he doesn’t like people worrying over him, he doesn’t like emotional farewells/sappiness, and he really doesn’t like letting others see him when he’s weak.  Additionally, he seems to value himself very little – he doesn’t think people would be worried about him if he were in danger, or that people would be happy getting pictures of him, or that his departure in Book 7 would hurt those around him so much. I’ll go ahead and put examples for each point so you all can understand better what I’m trying to say.

He doesn’t like people worrying about him

We can see this partly from the quote this whole post is based on, as well as from Book 7.

Based on his conversation with Riddle, Lilia’s way of thinking appears to be:

If someone trusts me -> that means they wouldn’t worry about me

As well as:

If someone worries about me -> that means they don’t trust me

But we do worry about the people we love and care about, don’t we? We worry about our spouses getting home safely from a business trip, and our kids making friends at school, and our friends acing the interview they’ve been practicing for because we love them, don’t we? And because we want the best for them. But it doesn’t seem like Lilia thinks the same way.

And to add onto this point, it’s very clear the boys do worry about Lilia a lot, contrary to what Lilia claims. Due to Lilia’s departure, Malleus brought a snowstorm to the island in his sadness, Silver considered dropping out of school and leaving with his father, only to end up breaking down and crying in front of their crown prince of all people, and Sebek used his one wish to make Lilia be healthy and have him stay with Silver forever. They were all worried terribly about him in their own ways, but it doesn’t seem like Lilia ever noticed (or maybe he did, and just didn’t want to bring it up for some reason. Who knows.)

At any rate, he also gets mad (well, more like tsundere lol) at Silver when the boy was on the verge of tears after Lilia took a nasty hit for him. (I know this exchange occurred with General Vanrouge, and he was quite the asshole back then, but he’s still retained that dislike for people worrying over him.)

Lilia: Oh, would you quit it with the sniveling. I drank the potion, didn’t I? I just to rest for a little bit, and then I’ll be good as new.

He doesn’t like emotional farewells/sappiness

He exhibits his distaste of sappiness in Book 7 and the Welcome to Tsumsted Wonderland 2 event. In the latter, when everyone is saying goodbye to their tsums, he mentions he doesn’t like the gloomy atmosphere. He wants goodbyes to be happy (and most likely, free of any emotional weight). The same can be said in Book 7, when he wholeheartedly agrees to the going away party the students wanted to put on for him, as well as when Silver mentions his father had wanted them all to send him off with a smile. I’m not sure if Lilia just doesn’t enjoy people getting serious with their emotions towards him, or if he doesn’t like seeing it in general. It gives me Macho Man (tm) vibes, kind of? Like, “don’t let people see you cry and feel sad because then you look weak” kind of thing but idk.

Lilia: Farewells are certainly sorrowful, but I hate leaving things on such a gloomy note. Let’s keep our chins up until the end. Tsum, your ability to surprise others was exceptional, and you made today so much fun. So long!

He really doesn’t like letting others see him when he’s weak

There’s still a lot of loose ends to be resolved in Book 7, one of them being the full extent of Lilia’s motives for wanting to leave so suddenly. It does seem to be he’s telling the truth that his magic ran out early, since he couldn’t muster up enough strength to fight back against Malleus when he was about to Overblot, but we don’t know if the real reason for that is just because he “went a little to wild” in his youth, like he claimed, or if something else caused his magic to deplete so prematurely. But we did hear him reveal a little bit of his motives when he was talking to Floyd at the party.

Floyd was dismayed he never got a chance to fight Lilia, and he wished he could’ve seen Lilia go all out at least once. When he asks Lilia why he’s dropping out, Lilia says under his breathe that he didn’t want “them” to see him so weak.

Lilia (whispering to himself): …It’s because I didn’t want them to see me so feeble.

Regardless of why his magic ran out and why he wants to go the Land of Red Dragons of all places, we know part of the reason for his departure is because he doesn’t want Malleus and the others to see how far he’d fallen from his former military glory. (sidebar: I have a feeling he thought he’d be a burden on Silver and co. with him losing his magic, and he was trying to leave so quickly to escape his shame towards his rapid loss of strength and independence (I imagine since he’s a magical being who comes from a country that runs on magic, him losing his powers must feel very isolating and limiting, like he’s lost a lot of the control he used to have over his own life).)

He doesn’t think people would be worried about him if he were in danger

In Endless Halloween/Spectral Soiree, Lilia was surprised by how much Silver and the others had been worrying about him and Malleus when they disappeared. Interestingly, even though Lilia is the one that Silver was the most relieved to see (it’s hard to tell with the live 2d models, but it looked like he went up to hug? Lilia and Lilia slapped his hand away), Lilia later says “I didn’t think you’d be so worried about us.” (referring to himself and the others involved with the party shenanigans).

(I am aware they changed this line to “I didn’t think you’d be so worried about me” In TWST EN, but I’m just focusing on the JP version).

I just found it weird that even though Silver was very clearly worried about Lilia the most, Lilia kind of redirected Silver’s concern over from “Lilia” to “Lilia and everyone else”. Did it make him uncomfortable to hear Silver was that worried about him? I’m not sure, but it just stood out to me as being a little strange how he responded, and how surprised he was that his own son would get worried about him suddenly disappearing.

He didn’t think people would be happy getting pictures of him

At the end of Lilia’s Tamashina Mina vignette, Yuu stops by Diasomnia to give him some photos he’d taken of Lilia on their trip, and Sebek, Silver, and Malleus are delighted to see them, since it’s not often they get to see photos of Lilia. Lilia is surprised at how happy they are to receive those pictures of himself. But why wouldn’t they be happy? They love him and treasure him dearly, of course they’d be overjoyed to have pictures of him to remember him by. It’s like he thought they wouldn’t care about him that much, which is really bizarre, considering the whole “even if we’re not related by blood we’re still family” thing he told Malleus before.

Lilia: To think, you’d all be so delighted just to see some pictures of me. I never would’ve imagined you’d all react like this.

He didn’t think his departure in Book 7 would hurt those around him so much

This relates back to what I mentioned in the first point, but there’s one scene that demonstrates this perfectly.

After Silver breaks down in front of Malleus, Malleus teleports both of them to Lilia’s going away party. All eyes should have been on Malleus with how strangely he was acting, but the first thing Lilia honed in on was that Silver had been crying. And not only that, but Lilia looked surprised that Silver had been crying. And why wouldn’t he cry? The one person who formed Silver’s entire world and sun and stars was about to leave him and go die all by himself on the other side of the planet. There is no reason Lilia should’ve been surprised at Silver’s tears, yet he was. And I gather that’s because he never thought the boy could ever possibly want to choose to stay by his side, to choose him over all the hopes and dreams he’d burdened on the poor child from the moment he could walk, to choose him over his real friends and his real family members.

I hope when Lilia “wakes up” from his dream, the first he does is ask Silver what he’d been crying about back at the party. And I pray to god they will actually talk things out and Lilia will finally apologize for how much of a complete idiot he’s been acting.

My headache’s coming back so to wrap this up quickly, my current understanding of Lilia Vanrouge is that he either doesn’t realize just how loved and cherished he is by his family members, or that he does realize it and just pretends not to. If it’s the latter, which is what I personally lean towards, I think he does this as a means to protect himself.

He’s already lost so many of his loved ones, and he very well may be putting up these walls around his heart and pushing away the people who love him just so he doesn’t have to get hurt again. We don’t know how he became an orphan, but his birth family either gave him up or passed away and left him behind. Even when Queen Maleficia took him in, he was always made the scapegoat for the princess’s schemes, and it sounded like he was brought up more as Levan and Mallenoa’s inferior than their equal. And then war struck their nation. And then his one best friend went missing and the other one probably gave up her life trying to protect the very child who'd go on to shatter the ice surrounding his wounded heart.

Perhaps with Malleus and Silver and Sebek now, he thought his best option would be to exit their lives before they had a chance to do the same to him, because he knew they would do the same to him. Everyone does.

As a final note, I still keep going to back to what he said in Cater’s Halloween vignette. I think this one line sums up his views of love better than I ever could:

“But the more precious a bond is, the more pain it can inflict.”

(source)

[coffeeghoulie]

threw caution to the wind (got a lousy arm)

so I've been in a lil bit of a funk lately, and my brain went "dewther angst" so here we are. Title and some plot details taken from G.I.N.A.S.F.S. by Fall Out Boy.

Aether/Dew, but some references to polyghouls

Contains suicidal ideation and hurt/comfort, please be careful, and if you don't feel comfortable reading that do not feel obligated to read this. your mental health comes first <3.

3k of me putting Dewther into situations and I'm sorry (kind of)

When he had been summoned, Dew's eyes were blue. Bright, baby blue, a clean water, glacier streams, clear sky kind of blue. They had been his favorite part of this strange new vessel, this fragile, slender human form that had been gifted to him by the humans who summoned him. Aether had sung their praises too, sappy like that, lips pressed close to his ear as he stood behind him.

The worst part of recovering from his elemental transition had been the first time he looked in a mirror. That familiar blue was gone, burnt away to a dark brown that glinted amber when the light hit them right.

For some fucked-up reason, that had been the breaking point. It wasn't that half of his pack and his Papa were dead and gone. Not that complete strangers had been summoned to take their places. Not that the clergy had decided it was cheaper and easier to conduct an experimental ritual on him and change his element than summon a new fire ghoul. Not that he had been torn apart, lit on fire and rewritten. It wasn't that he no longer had access to his water magick, the element he had been born to, summoned in. It wasn't his gills or fins or tail being gone. It was that his eyes were different.

And when he stared at himself in the mirror for the first time since before his Papa had been dragged off stage, it was the last straw on the camel's back. Everything hit all at once, nothing held back their punches. He broke, so completely and in such jagged, tiny pieces, there slumped over the bathroom counter, where Aether and Mountain found him several hours later, cried out and exhausted.

No one's going to find him this time. He's in his own hotel room, the door locked and deadbolted, and leaning heavily on the bathroom vanity, hours after the band had checked in after this last Ritual. Mountain's in Rain's room, Aether thousands of miles away back at the Abbey.

The clergy had made him retire, replaced him with a new, younger ghoul, just as they had done to Sunshine. Aether and Sunny had promised they'd call every day when the band left on tour, just as assurance that nothing had happened to them while the rest of the pack and Papa were away.

Aether hasn't called yet today. Dew stares at his dark eyes in the mirror, the skin under them thin and bruised with lack of sleep. His hair hangs limp and stringy, damp from a rushed shower, and he can't be damned to brush it out or put it up. He feels small in a way he hasn't in years. He knows, Lucifer below he knows how hard it is to keep track of timezones, but it's getting close to the twenty fourth hour of radio silence and it's starting to wear on his nerves.

Dew will never say it out loud, but he's afraid. He glances down at his phone, waiting for the screen to light up with an incoming call. The phone screen is dark, the silence only rattling him more. Dew swallows, unlocking his phone and pressing the call button next to Aether's contact, pressing the phone to his unglamoured ear. It rings, and rings, and rings, and-

"This call has been forwarded to an automatic voice-"

Dew growls, hanging up on the robotic voice and storming out of the bathroom. He has enough sense of mind to fling his phone into the mattress instead of at the ceramic tile of the shower wall. "Fuck!" he snarls, tail lashing behind him as he paces the hotel room. The phone still doesn't ring.

He reaches out through their bond, but it's stretched too thin, like a rubber band pulled taut. Dew tries and tries and tries anyways to reach out for Aether, but all he can glean is that Aether's alive, and really, that doesn't mean too much when he and Sunny are stuck, trapped with a clergy capable of rewriting and destroying ghouls on a whim.

He feels his knees start to tremble, feels his heart tighten the way it did when he found out it was just him and Aether and Mountain left of their pack. He squeezes his dark eyes shut, wills his breath even, and grabs his phone, pulling on one of the shirts in his bag.

It stings when the fabric falls down his thighs, billowing around his thin arms, realizing with a curse that it's one of the old band tshirts he stole from Aether. It still smells like him, a little bit, underneath the cinnamon-smoke that is Dew, that familiar ozone and fresh air baked into the weave of the fabric.

He grabs his room key off of the dresser, shoving it in his pocket as he storms out of the room, letting the door latch behind him. Dew barely remembers to put his glamour back on before he leaves. He can't really bring himself to care, but he does it anyways, grey skin melting to a more acceptable human tone, ears, horns and tail melting away. As shitty as he feels, a scolding from Papa sounds even worse.

Dew slips into the stairwell at the end of the hall, climbing up and up and up and up until he finds the door to the roof access. It takes him a minute to pick the lock, but then he takes in a breath of fresh air, eyes slipping shut as he steps out onto the roof.

He swears to himself he's not going to do anything stupid. The next Ritual is in a day and a half, and as much as he misses having his whole pack near, having his mate with him at his side, he genuinely loves what he does, put in too much work to give it up. He leans out on the ledge, the concrete digging into his bony hips, looking out over the city.

It's so far up, he can barely hear the traffic down below. Dew glances up at the night sky, hoping to find some solace in the stars, in the way they remind him of Aether's eyes. But he forgets, so used to the darkness surrounding the Abbey, that the light pollution blots them out. Dew lets out a pathetic sob, doubling over as he braces himself on the ledge of the roof.

Trembling hands unlock his phone, hitting the call button again. "Please pick up, Aeth," Dew whispers, the wind covering up his words. "Aether, please."

The phone rings. And rings. And rings. Dew can hear his heart pound in his throat. Holds his breath until the scars where his gills once were ache.

"Your call has been forwarded to an-"

Dew screams. The wind carries the noise far away. It takes every ounce of self-restraint in him to keep from slamming his phone down on the concrete ledge. He clutches at the taut band of his and Aether's bond, eyes squeezed shut against the wind. He knows if he were quintessence instead of fire, he'd be able to know more, glean a little more information from the thread connecting them, but all he can feel is Aether's heart continuing to beat, see the faint outline of his shadow on the other end burned into his eyelids.

He doesn't know how long he's out there on the roof. The wind whips through his damp hair, the late night chill biting through Aether's shirt. It's so cold, and his fire can only do so much to keep him warm. If he had been summoned fire, if it had been his to begin with, would it have done more?

Dew sinks to his knees, the rough concrete scraping his skin through his pants. He waits for the inevitable, clinging to their bond and waiting to feel it snap. He knows that when it goes, when Aether goes, that's it. It will be what breaks him completely, with no hope of recovery. He's never been afraid of heights, he thinks as he gets one last glance at the traffic ten stories below.

His phone rings.

Dew startles, dropping it as he scrambles to answer. To his dismay, he accidentally hangs up the call, the contact picture of him and Aether laughing at some unheard joke disappearing. "Fuck, shit, fuck," Dew curses, rambling as his cold, stiff fingers try to dial again. "Satan fucking dammit!"

Thankfully, the phone rings again, and Dew presses it to his ear, actually accepting the call this time. "Aether," he sobs, the weight lifted from his shoulders so quickly it makes him dizzy.

"Sorry, love, things got a little hectic in the infirmary, couldn't call on time, I promise I didn't forget," Aether says, and even though his voice is a little tinny through the phone speakers, Dew sobs at the sound of it. Real, legitimate proof that he's alright. "Dew, love, are you crying?"

Dew shoves his fist into his mouth at the genuine concern in his tone, can picture the furrow in his brow, imagines a warm hand on his shoulder. His tears freeze on his windburnt cheeks.

"Dew, talk to me, baby," Aether says. "Baby, I can feel it, you're not doing good, are you baby?"

"No," Dew sniffles. "Aeth, you weren't answering. I, I thought-" He trails off, unable to put his worst fear to words.

"I know, baby, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to worry you," Aether whispers, and Dew presses the phone closer to his head so hard it hurts. Needs Aether's voice right in his ear, any further and he feels like he's going to lose it more than he already has. "Who are you with right now, Dew?"

"S'just me," Dew whimpers. He unglamours his tail, wrapping it tightly around himself. He presses his back up against the concrete ledge, drawing his knees to his chest. "Got a room to myself tonight."

"Baby, I can't really hear you, all I can hear is wind," Aether says, and Dew curses to himself as Aether's voice grows more and more concerned. "Dewey, where are you?"

Dew squeezes his eyes shut so tight it hurts. "I'm on the roof," he admits. "Came up here when I was waiting. I got scared, Aeth."

Aether curses. "Dew, please tell me you weren't-"

Dew feels the faintest brush of quintessence down their bond, laughing wetly at the familiar sensation that only makes his heart hurt more. "Aether, I haven't done anything yet," he says, scrubbing under his eyes with the sleeves of Aether's shirt.

"Yet?" Aether says, unable to hide the panic in his voice. "Dewey, don't you dare."

"Aether," Dew says, voice cracking hard. "I thought the clergy had you. I thought I was about to feel it break. And if you went, I was going to follow you. Aether, if you go, I go."

"Oh, Dew," Aether says, and Dew hates the way he can hear Aether's voice tremble, hates that it's his fault. "Dewdrop, I need you to get down from the roof, okay?"

"I don't want to, Aeth," Dew whispers. There's a lump in his throat that won't go away no matter how many times he swallows. "Aeth, I was so scared, I'm still so scared. I went to look at the stars but I can't see them and I don't want to lose you."

There's silence for half a second, Aether's voice a little quieter, like he's moved the phone away from his mouth. "Sunny, call Mountain for me? Right now," Aether calls out. He sounds scaredin a way he hasn't heard since his transition, when things weren't looking too good for him, and Dew hates himself for making his mate feel like that again. "Tell him to get up to the roof as soon he can, Dew's up there alone and he's not doing real good right now."

"Dewey," Aether says, voice clear as he puts the phone back to his ear. "Can you keep talking to me, baby? I need you to keep talking. Need to hear your voice, baby boy. It scares me when you go quiet."

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Aeth," he says, shivering as the wind kicks up again. "I hate this so fucking much."

"I know, darling, I hate this too," Aether says, tone level and even, and Dew thanks the Father Below that at least one of them can stay rational in this moment. Dew tightens his grip on their bond, claws digging into the palm that's not holding the phone. The smell of copper hits the air, rushed away by the wind.

"Aeth, I miss you so much. It hurts so much, I'm spending every moment waiting to feel it break," Dew says, the tears starting up again as he imagines it, the snap and recoil of a bond stretched so tight it bursts, the searing, unimaginable pain of knowing what happened, of being unable to do anything about it.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, Dewey, I swear on my life," Aether promises, and Dew cries out.

"Don't. Not on your life," he sniffles, drawing his tail tighter around himself. "Promise on anything else, Aeth. I cannot fucking lose you. I won't survive it."

"I know, Dew," Aether tries to soothe him, wants to wrap his mate up in a tight embrace and never let him go, but what good is wanting when he's on the other side of the world? "I can't lose you either, Dew. It would break me if you were gone. I'm no good without you."

Dew stiffens, the spade of his tail smacking against his shins as it lashes back and forth.

"Dew?" Aether asks, sending more traces of quintessence down the bond, seeking out whatever contact he can. "Dew, baby, I need you to talk to me."

"M'still here," Dew says, whining into the receiver. "I'm sorry, Aether, really didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay, baby," Aether says, and Dew can almost feel a warm caress across his cheek, imagines Aether's thumb wiping away his tears. "Mountain's coming up to get you, darling. I really don't want you to be alone right now, okay? It's not that I don't trust you, love, but it will make me feel better knowing you're with the pack."

"I, I wanna be with you, Aeth," Dew sniffles, almost snorting as he clears the snot from his nose. "I wanna go home."

"I know, Dewdrop," Aether whispers, and Satan, he sounds so tired. Dew digs his claws into the meat of his palm, hates himself for making his mate worry. "Can I spoil a little surprise for you and the pack, darling?"

Dew straightens, trilling sadly. "What?"

"Me and Sunny are coming out for a Ritual, love," Aether says, and Dew's ears perk up, flicking against his skull. "The one a week from now?"

"Uh-huh?" Dew says, reaching up with the hand not holding the phone, grabbing a big handful of Aether's shirt, white knuckling the fabric until the neckline pulls uncomfortably at his throat. "Really?"

"Yeah, baby, you don't have to wait too much longer, okay?" Aether says.

Dew laughs, wiping away the last few remaining tears as the roof access door opens. Dew snaps his head over towards Mountain as he steps out onto the roof, wincing as the cold air hits him. He's in his pajamas and human glamour, and he looks around frantically until he sees Dew, a worried expression fading into pure relief.

"Hey, droplet," Mountain says, taking two long strides until he's crouching at Dew's side, cupping his cheek with a big hand. He winces as he feels how cold Dew's skin is. "You wanna come inside with me?"

Dew nods, leaning into Mountain's touch, rubbing his cheek against his calloused palm.

"Is that Mountain, baby?" Aether asks, and Dew nods, forgetting that Aether can't actually see him do it.

"I'm here, nova. I've got him," Mountain says, voice low and rumbling.

There's a sigh of relief through the phone loud enough for Mountain to hear. "Thank you, Mount. I can't thank you enough."

"I know, Aeth, thank you. Firefly, you wanna get up for me?"

Dew stumbles to his feet, still clutching the phone to his ear as Mountain slings an arm around Dew's waist, pulling him close to him. "Me and Rain have the bed all nice and warm, you want to spend the night with us, firefly?"

"That sounds nice, junie," Dew whispers, letting Mountain lead him down the stairs.

"I'm gonna stay on the line with you, okay, darling?" Aether says, voice crackling a little with the shitty signal in the stairwell. "Not going anywhere. You've got me."

Dew takes a deep breath as Mountain leads him to his room, where Rain and a warm bed are waiting. "I've got you," he whispers. "I love you so much, Aether."

Aether laughs a little, and despite everything, Dew smiles. "I love you too, Dew."

They stand in front of Mountain's room, the earth ghoul rummaging through the pocket of his pajama pants for the card. He swipes them in and leads Dew to the nest he and Rain have managed to make of the beds, two queens that they've pushed together, piling the bedding and pillows and arranging them comfortably. Rain's dozing, starfished out over the mattresses, snoring softly, their gills rippling with each breath.

Dew rubs his cheek against Mountain's arm as Aether keeps whispering comforts into his ear. He sets his phone down on the pillows before crawling in next to Rain, who, even unconscious, latches on to him. Mountain drapes a long arm over the both of them, sandwiching Dew in between their warmth. He snuggles into the blankets, reaching for his phone.

"Good night, Aether," he whispers. "I love you so much."

He can almost hear Aether's smile. "Love you too, Dewdrop. I'll see you soon."

Dew's eyelids grow heavy, and he smiles. "See you real soon."

[midnightanxietytm]

I have a silly idea :3

imagine Mabel recounting the “accident with the leaf blower” to the reader, who then proceeds to make sure Ford isn’t around and tells her about the “kissing practice robot” incident from high school (which they witnessed) if you don’t know what I mean watch the land before swine commentary video

meanwhile Ford is down in the basement and suddenly stops what he’s doing and is like “I feel a disturbance in the force.”

A/N: Oh my god the kissing bot is so iconic, Ford is such a dork for that one lol. Hope I met your expectations with this one , its been a while since I've written something more lighthearted. Thanks for the request!

Contents: Mabel and Reader spilling tea, talks about kissing and romance and other sappy things. Ford x Reader more implied than anything. Short and fun.

Word count: 500

You know something is wrong because Mabel isn't smiling, Mabel is always smiling. She walks through the gift shop door and goes straight to sit on the counter next to you with a big sigh.

“Alright, spill it, sunshine.” You say with a small smile, putting down the book you'd been reading in order to give her your full attention.

She looks up at you with big round eyes. “I dunno… The date went well, he even kissed me!” You gasp in pretend shock and that gets a small giggle out of her. “I know right?! But like… It felt weird! It wasn’t bad! Just weird… maybe I need more practice…”

That makes you laugh as you prop yourself near the checkout; “Mabel, darling, kissing isn't really some equation you can figure out, maybe he just wasn't the right person.”

She lets out another big sigh, but you can tell is more resigned and hopefull this time. “Yeah, I guess… Besides, I really don't want another leaf blower accident.”

You laugh again, Mabel has that charm. “The what accident now?”

“Oh my gosh, I never told you?! It's so embarrassing; I was obsessed with that boy, who turned out to be a bunch of gnomes by the way, and I wanted our first kiss to be perfect, so I stuck a photo of him on a leaf blower on suction made and used it to practice.” When she said that, both of you started to laugh so hard tears formed in your eyes. “I-t left like this huge bruise on my face!”

You lean your head on the table, trying to stop laughing, but the mental image of Mabel with a leaf blower stuck to her face is too much.

“Oh gosh you're just like your grunkle!” You say in-between wheezing.

“Wait which one?” Mabel asked, rubbing the tears off her eyes.

“Okay so…” You began, looking around just to check Ford wasn’t near. “Your Grunkle Ford, back in high school he built this robot…” You look around again, holding back laughter and bringing down your voice. “It was this mannequin head with a rubix cube for a mouth and it had an alarm that wouldn’t stop playing until he…” And you did quotation marks with your hands. “...kissed it right.”

And you both started laughing all over again. “That's so dorky oh my gosh!”.

“Right!? He's such a nerd.” You say, and there's a softness to it that eases Mabel's worries about romance all together. “It fell from his locker once and it started blasting the darn alarm! He couldn’t go anywhere for a week after that without people mimicking kissing noises. It was gross.” You chuckle and sigh, sitting back down on your stool. “Compared to that, a leaf blower is no big deal!”

“Compared to what?” Says a third voice.

You and Mabel snap your heads, seeing Ford standing on the doorway behind the vending machine.

Crap.

[star-going-supernova]

I have a security breach story idea for you if you don’t mind?

I think you should do a cute hurt/comfort moment where Freddy has his version of a nightmare. Maybe a complication of all the moments he almost lost Gregory keeps playing and he gets more and more worried as he can’t stop it.

Anyways it leads to a cute sappy moment where Freddy is holding Gregory and is so relieved as he just cuddles him while Gregory is confused but is enjoying the affection.

This is tumblr generated prompt number 27! With a sprinkling of prompt number 58, which wasn’t actually one of the submitted numbers, but I thought they went well together, so it’s a freebie. 

Nightmares vs Friendship Bracelets

The worst part was not reliving the memories. It was not the nightmarish recordings played one after another—Gregory’s yell of pain, the vivid red of Gregory’s blood, the sight of Gregory running from his friends, their fangs bared and their claws outstretched. The wretched knowledge that there was another threat stalking the pizzaplex’s halls, armed with an already blood-stained blade, that Freddy could not see. 

It was not seeing it all again, feeling trapped in his own head from start to finish. 

No. The worst part was waking up and believing, with chilling certainty, that he had remembered the ending wrong. 

Caught up in the dread from That Night, Freddy’s system’s short-circuited. Warnings flashed in his HUD. Had he possessed lungs, they would have been nonfunctional. His endoskeleton spasmed, nearly cutting off power to his legs. 

It was a long few minutes before his mind finally shook off the digital cobwebs and brought up the memory of dawn. The barricades lifting from over the doors, weak rays of sunlight playing over the floor where he and Gregory had stood. Banged up and bloody, dented and bruised, yes. 

But also alive. Alive and well. 

Freddy slumped, barely catching himself on the wall before he could collapse. He blinked, adjusting his eyes to better see in the darkened hallway behind his dressing room. The open recharge station hummed behind him. 

He internally checked the time. It was not yet 11:00 p.m.; Gregory would not be arriving for the night until 11:30, when the building was guaranteed to be empty of its human staff. 

Pushing himself upright, Freddy left the hallway. He did not think he would be able to “sleep” any more that night. Not without seeing Gregory for himself. 

• • •

Other than a surprised gasp, Gregory offered no protest when Freddy scooped him up the moment he’d set foot in the building. He hugged back, matching Freddy in enthusiasm if not desperation. 

Reassured at the strong heartbeat in the boy’s chest, Freddy loosened his grip so he was holding Gregory more comfortably. 

“My apologies for ambushing you,” Freddy said sheepishly. “I…” 

Gregory shrugged, unbothered. “Sometimes you just need a hug to feel better.” 

“And it was reassuring,” Freddy agreed, and then explained, “I may not be human, superstar, but even my mind can play cruel tricks on me while I recharge.” 

Understanding crossed Gregory’s face. “Been there, done that,” he said. “I get it.” 

Freddy knew he did, for Gregory had come to him more than once, whispering of nightmares about Freddy being torn apart or decommissioned, or worse, not remembering who Gregory was. 

“Do you think my post-nightmare, uh, protocol would work for you too?” Gregory continued. “Or do you want to try something different?” 

Thinking about their standard routine after one of Gregory’s bad dreams, Freddy set off for the kitchen. “I think it is worth trying out for myself.” 

To be truthful, he had no doubt it would prove effective. There was lots of hugging and cuddling involved, and never mind that he was a robot and an “adult.” There was something about physical affection that transcended species, age, and the materials one’s body was made of. 

They stopped in the kitchen for hot chocolate—mostly for Gregory, though the band had all been designed to be capable of eating, even if it did not do much for them. And the sharing of a comfort drink was half the fun. Mugs in hand, they tracked down the best beanbags in the pizzaplex to make a nest that was large even to someone Freddy’s size. 

He flopped down—it was not as fluid as Gregory’s flopping, but Gregory always gave him points for effort—and Gregory immediately curled up against him and half on top of him. 

Usually, Gregory chose whether he wanted to watch a movie or have Freddy read a book or provide some other form of distraction. Since it was Freddy’s nightmare, he figured it was his turn to decide, and Gregory’s expectant silence proved him right. He tapped into the near endless library of music that Chica had downloaded onto their server and started up one of the playlists she’d put together. It was called Relaxing Vibes, and it was mostly full of instrumental music and songs that had a calm, slow tune to them. It played from his internal speakers so Gregory could listen as well. 

“Nice,” Gregory said. He took a sip of his hot chocolate, gaining a mustache, and chewed on the marshmallows he’d managed to catch. He was a warm, reassuring weight against Freddy’s side. 

Very nice indeed, Freddy thought. The last lingering threads of worry and panic dissolved under the incontrovertible proof that Gregory had not died during That Night. 

• • •

His mind did not seem to get the memo, however. Over the next two weeks, Freddy prematurely jolted out of recharge no less than six times, and in each instance, he was utterly unable to make sense of the separation between reality and his nightmares. He could not reliably remember that Gregory was fine. 

Gregory, naturally, was aware of this because of the post-nightmare protocol alone. No doubt Freddy’s increasingly frazzled state of existence was not doing himself any favors, and he had long since stopped claiming he was fine when it was visibly obvious that he was not. 

Just as Freddy was ready to resign himself to being checked over by his technicians, which he truly wished to avoid if possible, Gregory came up with a simple but effective solution. 

“A friendship bracelet,” Freddy repeated, carefully accepting it from Gregory. The bracelet was made of braided cords, in electric blue, black, and red. A chunky plastic buckle held it together, and he was touched to note that it was made with consideration to his size. Not only was in long enough, but it was wider than would look natural on a human’s wrist. 

“The only oranges they had weren’t quite right, so the red seemed like a safer bet,” Gregory explained, rocking up on his toes, then back on his heels. He lifted his arm, showing off a smaller version on his own wrist. “See? We match!” 

“This will help with my nightmares?” Freddy asked curiously. 

“I don’t know about the actual nightmares,” Gregory admitted. “But when you wake up and you can’t remember if I’m alive or not, you can just look down at your wrist. When you see the bracelet, you’ll know that I survived That Night because I could only have given it to you after.” 

It was exactly the sort of logic that Freddy found comforting. 

Gregory put it on him. The bracelet fit rather perfectly into the shallow hollow of his casing at his wrist, out of the way of the joint but where no one could see it by accident. Even then, at a glance, it would only appear to be wiring. 

“Thank you, superstar,” Freddy said, feeling uncommonly emotional about such a simple item. “Even if it does not help, I will treasure this forever.” 

“I bet you say that to all the kids who give you friendship bracelets,” Gregory teased. 

“I do not,” Freddy said earnestly. “I have never been given a friendship bracelet before by anyone.” 

Gregory’s eyebrows shot up, but he was quick to exchange his surprise for a grin. “I guess that means you’ve never even made friendship bracelets before.” 

“You made this?” Freddy said, touched by the thoughtfulness of the gift all over again. 

Rubbing the back of his neck, Gregory nodded. “I mean, yeah, that’s usually how friendship bracelets work.” 

Freddy admired his new accessory again. “You are very talented, superstar.” 

“There are kits and stuff,” Gregory told him, as if that would change Freddy’s mind. “I’ll bring some over, and we can make a bunch of friendship bracelets together. If—if you want.” 

“I would love to,” Freddy said. “It would be my honor to gift you a friendship bracelet that I had made myself.” He did not have much in the way of material possessions, and especially not possessions that would work as a meaningful present. The prospect of that changing was exciting. 

Gregory laughed. “You don’t have to make it such a big deal,” he said this without any real conviction, and Freddy was satisfied with knowing that Gregory did not truly believe it, “but yeah. It’ll be fun. And I’ll be happy to wear whatever you make.” 

• • •

It was the very next evening that Freddy lurched out of his recharge cycle with a feeling comparable to a human’s racing heart. His mind, yet again, failed to come up with convincing evidence that all was well with Gregory. 

Until he looked down at the foreign—though not obtrusive—feeling on his wrist. His eyes zeroed in on a braided cord of blue, black, and red. The friendship bracelet. From Gregory. 

The memory of Gregory carefully buckling it around his wrist flooded into his thoughts, chasing out the hazy what-ifs of Gregory going still and quiet and cold. His systems stabilized in record time as he delicately touched the bracelet with one fingertip. 

Gregory was fine. He was alive, and happy, and safe. And he was going to arrive in only a little over an hour. 

Freddy returned without fear to his recharge station. He wanted to be fully rested and refreshed for his lesson on making friendship bracelets. 

[medic-simp]

Dad!Silco Headcannons 🥰

How would Silco feel about a child of his own? Let's find out together!

Content Warnings: pregnancy, allusions to sex, Silco fumbling in the delivery room

Author's Note: By "Dad!Silco" I mean Silco with a biological child

• The first step for being a Dad is becoming a Dad, and Silco has no idea how to do that.

• Yes, yes, he has Jinx; but how does one have a child of their own?

• Of course the birds and the bees, he knows that much, but how does he suppose to ask his partner about such a heavy commitment?

• How will they respond; is it too much to ask for; will they leave him for this; is he so selfish to ask for a child?

• All of these questions and more weigh heavy on his mind, and for the first time in a long time, Silco feels completely, and considerably lost and awkward.

• If he decides to sit you down and talk about it, prepare for it to be extremely awkward.

• His speech will absolutely sound robotic; it's because he had flashcards that he practiced in the mirror beforehand.

• When the talk concludes positively, that you'll carry his child, things turn to utter sappy romance.

• Kissing and holding until you're just a pile of limbs on the bed and he's pressed deep inside of you.

• Tenderness is a solid 50/50; he could love you slow and unhurried until climax, whispering beautiful things to you all the while.

• Orrrrrr... he could take you like an animal, growling out his ownership of you, how he plans to mark you as his and the pride he'll take in your body swelling with his child.

• Fast forward a little bit, the good news arrives but you have to break it to Jinx, and naturally, it's very difficult to tell what her reaction will be.

• She's surprisingly mild about it, not seeing too much threat in it, but warning that she will not be sharing any of her bombs and gadgets with anyone or anything.

• Baby included.

• Fast forward nine months, Silco is in the delivery room with you and feeling a lot of different things.

• Heartbreak, joy, anxiety, pride, stress.

• This man has been stressed over many things in his life, he's quite familiar with stress, but this particular stress he has no idea how to handle.

• Seeing his partner in pain, putting their entirety into the life they've made together, and he can't do anything except be there for them.

• Really, he feels a little bit pathetic.

• I imagine he was legitimately twiddling his thumbs for a short little while.

• The baby is too quickly in the hands of doctors once it leaves you, and Silco is ready to break a man's nose if he doesn't get to see his child soon.

• The knowing look you give him from your bed is enough to keep him from making a scene.

• But once the baby--his baby--your baby--is back, all of that is gone and instead replaced by a featherlight soar in his chest that has him feeling a little faint.

• No words are spoken between the two of you as you hold your pride and joy, only loving glances and exhausted, tender kisses.

• If it's a boy, you can expect Jinx to have a new playmate.

• Silco would see much of his younger self in his son; sensitive, bright-eyed, ambitious, positive, and quite clever--though, Silco certainly never lost that characteristic.

• This little boy will bring out a very youthful and social part of Jinx that she hadn't been able to express before, just stuck in a world of adults.

• Though she swore not a soul would mess with her bombs, she would make an unexpected exception for her brother.

• If you're gifted another daughter, Silco will be steeling himself to live in a woman-owned household.

• Not only with Sevika who, although isn't quite part of the family, certainly is a major part of his life, but also his daughter who turns out to be a little bossy herself.

• She's tender with Jinx though--or, Jinx is tender with her.

• Being able to connect with a younger soul that understands any and all silly, girlish thoughts and ideas means a lot to her.

• Jinx will teach her sister how to paint nails, braid hair, and even be a little more cautious with gunpowder around the youngster.

• Boy or girl, Jinx is delighted to have a playmate and someone to care for in a sense.

• Jinx having someone else to spend time and bond with is a great deal of pressure of you and Silco both, not having to tend to her as much.

• Of course there is supervision, bombs and gadgets and whatnot; but Jinx and your child are entirely content in each other's company.

• Silco will always look at his family with pride, especially you who--at this point--have given him so much to be proud of.

• At the end of each day, he is comforted by the knowledge that he can settle into bed with you and hold you, kiss you, spoil you, love you, eternally grateful for everything under his damned roof.

[animemensblog]

Meeting you

Pt.2 - Pt.3 (final part)

Kurapika x GN reader

Summary: after gaining your hunter's license, you immediately start looking for work. You find an agency looking for bodyguards, it's limited to Nen users only, however you know it well. You held yourself to high standards while on duty, but a fellow new-hire has you distracted.

Warnings: suggestive smut?? Just got unintentionally really sappy haha-- more fluff than anything

Ft. Kurapika, Melody

Merely days after getting your hunter's license, you found a place hiring bodyguards for the 'Nostrade' family. You were excited, kinda nervous, and embarrassed for the outfit you chose for that day. You thought it'd be a good idea to dress all cute like its the first day of school, except you can't wear tight, black business pants and white button up while protecting someone. Though your shoulder-length hair looked good, the pants and shirt were hugging your curves in all the right places.

It's uncomfortable and makes you feel vulnerable, but feeling sexy outweighed that.

You arrived at the door being escorted by a man you assumed was in charge. You were admiring the building and recognizing any exit when you saw a shorter figure in the corner of your eye. Your eyes had made contact with that someone-- he had blonde hair that looked so soft, and his eyes were mesmerizing. Neither of you could look away as you passed by, he stayed standing against the wall outside of a door but head turned to follow you.

After what felt like forever, you looked forward and continued into the office. The boss and you talked for over 30 minutes about your tasks and responsibilities, informing that you'd be paired with 'Melody' due to your well-known temper and spontaneous decisions.

"Melody? What a pretty name" you mumbled to yourself as you shut the door, accidentally shutting it too hard. It caused a loud and long echo down the hall, grabbing the blonde boys attention once again. He sprinted around the corner and froze as eye contact was made again. This time you weren't planning to only stare

"HI!' You awkwardly said loudly, "haha, um, I-I'm Y/N"

He clears his throat and took a second to stand up straight "I see, do you need something?" He said it so flatly it made you think he was irritated. "Actually yeah, do you know a Melody? They said I'd be paired with them for my first few shifts." His hand came up to his neck to rub it, the chains softly clinking, hugging his knuckles. For a second you stopped breathing with no clue to why, you gently shook your head to look away.

His face tilted to meet yours , "You okay?"

You had no words, no explanation, all that was in your head was thoughts about those chains.. but why?

"All good!!" You said with a big smile, trying to stop the red on your cheeks forming. You shuffled away before getting your answer, leaving you wandering the hall. After a few minutes Melody found you, "you must be Y/N". Their voice was soft, very inviting. They were such a calm presence you couldn't help but feel so. "Yes, are you Melody?"

"I am." She hummed before turning away leading you down the hall you just came from, "if you don't mind, we must grab someone else to go out with the boss. She feels like going to a park today"

"Who is the boss? A man walked me in and talked with me, but you all keep referring to them as 'she'."

"Why yes, she's the daughter of Light Nostrade. We keep an eye on her when he's away." Melody said before pointing, "there he is. Kurapika!" You looked over to see the blonde boy again, you were anxious despite barely saying a sentence to him.

"Kurapika?" You ask Melody. "Yes, he's pretty new too. Also has a fast heartbeat around, um, certain people." You were confused but before asking another question, you were face to face with Kurapika.

"Hi, again" he says, still speaking like a robot.

"Hi" you say with no excitement, attempting to mimic him.

All of you sat there, each explaining what you're capable of to fill in any blanks. Melody explained sensing heartbeats and being able to calm others. Kurapika explained his chains and their abilities, "and you?" He asks.

"Well I'm a hunter and nen user", both looking at you expecting more "yeah thats all I got" you let out a small laugh. Kurapika couldn't help but smile and blush at that laugh. Melody noticed the rise in both of your heartbeats. They felt happy Kurapika wasn't so serious, he's always too invested. They let you smile and laugh at each other for a second before setting off with 'the boss'.

You got in the back seat inbetween Melody and Kurapika. Awkwardness and anxiety had fled, and you were ready to work. The ride was silent for the most part, so you occasionally switched window to window looking at the views. Your pants had ridden up enough to start hurting. You shifted in your seat accidentally bumping his thigh, "oh shoot, sorry" you whispered hoping only he'd hear you.

Melody could feel his heartbeat going faster and faster, you hadn't even touched hands. Yet your thighs were rubbing? And that whisper, so quiet only he could hear you. It almost sent his head into a spiral. It made him so nervous he couldn't respond, giving you a blank stare with his lips barely parted- you took it as you're really irritating him now. The rest of the drive, he found himself looking at you. Your head switching between windows; smirking when you saw something cute or cool. A few times he was tempted to ask about your reactions. He was interested in what you were interested in, he really didn't think towns or streets could keep you entertained like it did.

As you arrived at the park, the sun seemed to get brighter and warmer. The wind wasn't too strong but it was somewhat chilly. You waited for Melody to step out of the car while Kurapika left on his side, turning to assist , your back was already facing him. He was glad it was because he got a view of your pants hugging your ass, torso twisted causing your shirt to be tight against your skin.

He closed the door trying to forget being close to you, and how you looked just then.

After wandering for 3-ish hours, you made your way back to the car. The wind had picked up and sun disappeared, leaving you with goosebumps and occasional shakes. You piled into the car, same seats and everything. Being so sleep deprived plus walking around for hours, you were tired. The music playing wasn't helping either, it was soothing. You started to doze off along with Kurapika. He started to tip over, his hand left his thigh hitting yours. Then his head gently tapped your shoulder.

The impact woke him up, jolting back in his seat. His hand twitched against your leg- he sat there staring at where you were connected.

"Kurapika?" Melody whispered past your face. He moved his hand and looked out the window. He never answered them, keeping the drive silent.

The car pulled up to the hotel, with you still asleep. Kurapika tried to wake you but Melody stops him

"Let Y/N rest, I haven't heard their heartbeat be this steady yet. It's consistently been uneasy today." Kurapika nods in response and goes to pick you up. He takes you to the room all of you are sharing for the night. Melody and someone else has the first shift, meaning Kurapika and you were alone. He sits down on the couch next to your sleeping body, he turns on a random show and soon enough he's dozing off again. Instead it was your turn to tip over and bump into him, he was too tired to do anything about it.

You slept with your head in his lap for several hours, him occasionally petting your shoulder or hair when you tossed a little. He felt guilty for touching you without permission especially after just meeting today but he'd also feel guilty for one, messing up your rest. And two, stopping the opportunity to be close to you again. As long as you'd stay, he'd let you be like this.

Regardless of barely knowing each other, both of you found comfort in one another's presence. You only wish it could stay like that, but you know one day you and him won't be an option. That one day you will lose all control.

[spotlightstudios]

Wow, look at this neat abandoned building. Robot? Idk what ur talking about.

Outside Upgrades Lore beyond the Cut! (A lot of writing, feel free to skip.)

Hi guys!!! This is a doodle for my new and improved Outside Upgrades! Ruin edition!

The characters (ocs) pictured are N (left) and Light (right)!

N is an urban explorer by trade, making and posting videos of her explorations online. (She has no self-preservation skills, which is why she's so popular.) Meanwhile, Light was a FazCo. employee back in the day, and currently they're unemployed.

The whole point of this AU when I first made it was that Light was there the night the Plex collapsed (and would've escaped with the help of Moon). They lost their leg in that injury, and FazCo basically paid Light off to not spill the secrets of the company, and they got to keep Sun/Moon. Eventually they'd discover Eclipse mode, which was their caretaking protocol.

This update? Light was close to the entrance when it collapsed and was eventually found by a rescue crew (they were searching for Vanessa) with their leg pinned under sone rubble. They've been in recovery for a few years by the time they return with N to the Plex. The pair arrive shortly before Cassie, but they shimmy under that gate where it looks like Monty shoved through and go a different direction before she can keep up.

Eventually, they find their way to Gator Grub where Maskbot is and N snags a mask, but a lot of obstacles they can brute force through better than Cassie could. And by the time they get to the daycare, Cassie's already been through. Eclipse is there.

Seeing Light kinda, snaps him out of that "clean up" mode, and after some sappy moments, Eclipse decides to join the two explorers in their adventure and eventual return to the real world.

I like to think that they *do* catch up with Cassie, whether that be after the elevator crashes or before she goes to the basement to confront the mimic, they find her by complete chance. And of course, this is a whole child? Who put her down here??

Eclipse feels terrible that he sent her on her way earlier, Light is dumbfounded as to how she got so deep, and N (who's piecing together what Helpi has been talking about this whole time) is ready to confidently just undo the hinges on the door Cassie needs through so that Roxy doesn't get deactivated. And it *works*.

They all face the mimic, and whether they scoop it, or Eclipse and Roxy are enough to overpower it, or they just get to the elevator safely, it doesn't matter. They get out.

And then soft AU that it originally was ensues, with Eclipse getting repairs done and sticking with Light as a Healthcare assistant robot.

(N also slowly but surely recovers the other animatronics, with Light's help, and gets them repaired and puts about 30 firewalls on their programming. Roxy's the first, with Freddy being the last to be recovered fully.)

And of course, Cassie is implied to at least have a dad, so I imagine she'd find her father, and since he was *also* implied to be a Faz-Technician, he'd fix up Roxy best he could, and when Cassie introduced N finally (Light was busy) her dad offered to repair anything else she brought him, so she brought the band.

I'm not sure how much I'll write/draw for this, but originally I abandoned the idea because it had a y/n. I wasn't sure how I'd write about chronic pain or the loss of a limb or ptsd for a wide enough audience, and it eventually drove me to not write it at all. (Why you see me post AEB the mermay au more than the original-)

I'm glad that I made the choice to drag this one into oc land. Outside Upgrades was always self-indulgent (I made Eclipse a soft-boy and actually put together and decidedly not a whore, and it was pure luck that Canon Eclipse matches up so well) and it will remain self-indulgent.

Of course, if anyone wants to use the design or drop their own character in rather than Light, not like I'll complain! Tho I'd like ppl to @ me if they do use this concept or design cuz I'd just love to see it! :D

Bonus: EYE STRAIN WARNING

The original ver is this obnoxious Bright Red. I was staring at this for like 3-4 hours straight tonight smh.

[ironstrangle]

Kissing Sam Wilson #20 - Bird Boy

@samsseptember prompt - Bird Telepathy || Redwing

“I had an awful dream,” Bucky said, turning in towards Sam. “I dreamt Redwing was an actual bird.”

Sam laughed. He couldn’t help himself - a genuine laugh burst forth. Bucky’s dreams were usually awful things, vivid looks into a horrifying past. The fact that he had an awful dream that wasn’t the source of great disturbance changed Sam’s outlook on things. What a dream to have, too. 

He dreamed Redwing was an actual bird. Sam tried to wrap his head around that one. 

Sam leaned over and kissed Bucky lightly. They both had morning breath, but who cared? They were one of those sappy couples sometimes, who couldn’t go a few minutes without a good morning kiss 

“Tell me about this dream.” He settled against his pillow, eager to hear more. It sounded like something out of a fantasy, but he was amused.

Bucky laughed.

“The world was kind of weird.”

“Yeah, I imagine that if you were talking to a bird.” 

“Oh no, I wasn’t talking to it,” Bucky laughed. “You were. It was this big old meadow, with wildflowers and stuff. Then, I saw this bird that had the weirdest feathers. They were too red. There was some white and blue too, like it was trying to imitate the flag or something. It hit me out of nowhere that it was Redwing.  It was definitely the damned robot, but it was a real bird.”

“And you loved it as much as you love the robot I’m sure,” Sam teased. Bucky’s constant jabs at Redwing were actually adorable at this point. 

Bucky rolled his eyes.

“You showed up while I was in the middle of wondering how the hell it could be real. Then you started talking to the bird.”

“Talking. Was he talking back?”

“I couldn’t hear his side of the story, but it seemed like you both were having some nice conversation.”

“It would be really cool if I could talk to birds,” Sam said honestly, looking wistfully across the room. It reminded him of one of those fantasies you might have at like nine years old. What would you do if you could talk to animals? What would you say to them? “I bet they got a lot to say.”

“You want to know the worst part?”

Sam choked on laughter.

“What?”

“I think you and the bird were talking shit about me.”

Sam snorted, unable to contain himself.

“Oh yeah, we totally were,” he said. “If I got something nasty to say to you, I’m gonna tell a bird.”

[lowkeyclueless5137]

Rarepair Halloween Story Pt.2

Pair: Malleus x Idia x Azul

Prompt: Tarot

Disclaimer: Chapter 6 small spoilers...

When Idia came back to NRC, it was the same old sight. Students coming and reuniting with their dorm buddies. Some were picking a fight early on and others were on the completely other side of the spectrum in that regard. Ortho was happily flying by Idia's side, holding one of the luggage cases. Idia didn't have a big luggage per see, but since he wanted his little brother to feel like he's a student that came from traveling too, the fire head did split his belongings into 2 small luggages. One was carried by ortho, while the other was dragged by Idia.

"Idia! Over here!" and of course, Idia sure wasn't spared from the reunion trope. Azul and Malleus were happily greeting him, as the 3 exchanged a small round of pecks on the cheek. "We missed you, dear..." Malleus pouted. "Well... What are you gonna do when I go for internship? Hmm?" Idia sassed back. "Hey... There's still enough time to teach Malleus about the video chat and calling..." Azul reassured with a smile. "indeed. Let us all celebrate this joyous reunion for now." The Fae declared.

"How about a little bit of food at the cafeteria... The ghost chefs made a welcome feast for everyone." Azul suggested. Idia merely nodded. He was tired. He stood up until in the dead of night to pack and split everything evenly. He was thankful Ortho cleaned the lab while he packed, because sure Idia wasn't ready to get nagged by his parents about making a mess in the lab.

Nonetheless, first was leaving the luggage to the dorm room, task which Malleus decided to just use magic and skip over. Sometimes Idia wished he had magic just as powerful as Malleus, but then again, he was from the cursed Shroud bloodline. Their magic was weaker than the average by default.

Nonetheless, Idia decided to shake his thoughts off as he was going to the cafeteria along Ortho and his 2 boyfriends. The robot boy immediately darted to his own reunion with the other first years group, while Idia, Azul and Malleus choose an empty table, not far from the said chatty group. Malleus needed to be in close proximity to Sebek in order to avoid a screaming circus and Idia sometimes had the tick watch over where Ortho was, so Azul made a compromise to get a table closer to the first years's table. It wasn't like sometimes some good jokes came out of there. Or even better, opportunities to find out some juicy secrets.

"Look what I got!" Ace proudly puffed as he showed a deck of cards to the group. "Playing cards?" Deuce tilted his head. "Negative. There aren't 52 or 53 cards in there." Ortho shook his head. "Then what are these cards?" Sebek inquired. "Maybe a new card game?" Jack suggested. "Nah!" Ace puffed. "Tell us, then, you idiot!" Epel declared.

"Jeez... Way to kill the mood..." Ace exhaled as he started to shuffle the cards. "anyway... They are tarot cards..." "Tarot? As in that future telling cards?" Deuce tilted his head. "What a sham..." Epel puffed. "Hey... How about you get to be the first to test out the sham... What do you wanna guess? Life, Money or love?" Ace mused. Epel thought for a bit. "money..." The lavender boy mused.

Ace laughed and made a fan out of the cards, their backs up. "Choose 3." "this... That and... This..." Epel grabbed the 3 cards and flipped them over. The other 5 looked with interest at them as Ace checked the cards guide. "Let's see..." The ginger mused. "You will find riches... And get funky... But you also need to watch your spending or something like that." Ace mused. "Man... But that sounds boring!" Epel whined.

"Do me next!" Sebek boomed. "OK... So love life..." Ace mused, the group laughing as the ginger made a joking sappy 'prediction'. The said predictions continued round and round, becoming more outlandish with the next one.

Idia only rolled his eyes as he listened to the hype the 6 created. "this is just a silly card game... At This Point they are making shit up..." He grumbled. "I believe the tarot cards could hold a bit of truth in their predictions." Malleus mused.

Azul didn't really believe in the future telling by just picking some random cards, nonetheless, he did indulge in the hype from some funny predictions they would hear. Even for tarot, it couldn't predict if Deuce would fall in a ditch on a summer evening at a party. There was a bit of Ace's brattiness sprinkled on the translations. But, Azul also found it funny when Ortho came to tell his brother about the hype with the cards. Feeling in a silly mood, Azul nudged Idia.

"Maybe we should try this too." He suggested with a smug smirk. Idia wanted to protest, but already Malleus seemed hyped about some future guessing, so Idia found himself at the first years table. Sebek was praising his wakasama as Ace was rolling his eyes and shuffling the deck. "alright... What ya want to be read? Life, love or money?" the ginger laid the said cards on the table.

"Money!" Azul was the first one who picked. Of course, Ace didn't hesitate to twist the translation, just so he could mess with him. "You'll loose 15 thousand madols on flying pigs." "Now why would I invest in flying pigs?" Azul hid with a hand his laugh. "I wish for a reading on my love future..." Malleus inquired.

This time, Ace shuffled the deck silently, the other first years silent as well. Laying down the cards, Malleus carefully picked 3. This time, Ace had to think a bit about a coherent translation. He couldn't just mess up with Malleus Draconia of all people. "Uhh... It says... You already are settled in... And you shouldn't search for more... Also that you should do some self research and come into peace with oneself..." The ginger mused, looking with big scared eyes at Malleus, who was contemplating.

"Do the cards perhaps tell me to secure my marriage and future heir?" Malleus wondered aloud. "Let's... Not go that far..." Ace tried to save his own butt. "indeed..." Malleus made a small pause, but Idia already shushed him before Sebek would have a breakdown about it.

"Idia, darling, why don't you try?" Azul diverted the subject. Exhaling, Idia grumbled. "Well... If you choose money, Mal choose love... Then I'll get life." The fire head said quietly as Ace shuffled again the deck and spread the cards across the table. Idia wanted to get it over with, so he picked at random 3 cards, which Ace flipped over.

The first one was the tower, then death, both unreversed. But the 3rd card was different, depicting a path where dead bodies were laying, blood smeared across the dark green grass. The path was leading into a dark forest, the trees clearly intact. Ace looked confused at the 3rd card. "What the-" He grumbled, before immediately getting the first 2 cards back in the deck, the new one turning it upside down and passing it to Deuce. "Nah... It has to be a mistake..." "Mistake?" Idia shyly spoke. Ace tho, swatted it off and again spread the cards over. "For life you said..." He grumbled and again, Idia picked, although more hesitantly.

And again. And again. And again. The disturbing card kept appearing, no matter what other cards would Idia pull.

The last time, the same card showed up, but this time it was accompanied by the upside down wheel of fortune and the upside down moon. "What the-..." looking at Deuce, the bluenette never once lifted his hand from over the card, but already it was gone. "What does it mean?" Malleus inquired.

"I don't know... But these 2..." Ace pointed to the other 2 cards. "Don't mean good. Just... Dunno what to say... Sort your life together or something, because things will get worse..." Ace mused. Idia only grumbled. "I told you it was a sham..." The fire head raised from his seat, hands in his pockets. Everyone simply watched as Idia made his way out of the hall. Ortho did excuse himself as well and leaved after his brother.

Later that day, Ace was grumbling as he was looking through the cards. Deuce peered over. "What are you doing?" "Counting the cards." "why?" exhaling, Ace pointed at his tarot cards. "You know that wierd card that Shroud kept pulling?" "Yeah... What's up with it." Ace only laid out every card in the deck, face up. "Notice something?" Deuce frowned as he looked around. "Where is the wierd card?" Ace nodded.

"It's gone!"

~~

Previous part

Next part

[ultravioletwrites]

thinking about steddie celebrating their first valentine’s day together and steve’s just a mess right? he wants to make it perfect but he doesn’t know how. does eddie want gifts? some big elaborate date? eddie’s this intricate mix of loud and timid, soft and brash, cynical and sweet—a large contributor to why steve loves him so much. he’s never met someone like eddie, someone he’d gladly spend forever trying to know from the inside out.

steve thinks back to christmas. they’d spent the morning with wayne, made their rounds to all the kids’ houses, and looped back to the trailer. sure they opened presents, but from what he could gather, gifts weren’t a focal point in the munson household. not like steve’s parents, who thought a big enough box or a hefty price tag could equate to love. it was about spending time together. then again, the couple of things they did buy for each other were thoughtful. eddie splurged on new work boots for wayne because his old ones were nearly falling apart, making his feet sore as all hell after each shift. steve sat back, not uncomfortable but unaccustomed to the amount of tenderness and gratitude wayne exhibited.

besides, steve and eddie hung out all the time. what could he do to make one day stand out above the rest? eddie was also a far better wordsmith. steve gave up pretty quickly on the whole sappy love poem idea. didn’t even want to think about writing or performing a song for his musician boyfriend.

steve spends the weeks leading up to valentine’s day wracking his brain for something. some divine intervention would be nice. he tried asking robin but they ended up sharing a pack of twizzlers, getting lost in whether there was a difference between wooing guys and girls when you’re queer. should there be? did it even matter? steve wouldn’t be caught dead going to the kids for love advice, plus dustin was literally making some kind of literal love robot for suzie. so, back to the drawing board.

he settles (which drives him crazy, he shouldn’t be settling on anything when it comes to eddie) on a new fantasy novel the bookstore employee recommended and found a quaint restaurant in the phone book a couple towns over. thinks getting out of hawkins might do them both some good.

it all comes to a head the day before. steve’s restocking the back shelves when the bell above the front door of family video jingles.

“steve, can you help me with something up here?” robin hollers.

“gimme a sec!”

he makes it to the register and eddie’s there, hands behind his back with a chesire cat grin on his face.

“this customer is looking for something specific but i don’t know if we have it,” robin sighs. “tell me again what you’re looking for?”

“rob, eds—“

eddie clears his throat. “i’m looking for a pretty boy to be my valentine tomorrow. preferable one with lots of freckles,” he steps closer to the counter. “gorgeous eyes.” another step. “a big heart.” closer. “and a free schedule. do you know where i might be able to find one of those, sir?”

eddie’s leaning across the counter at this point, batting his eyelashes while steve’s asking himself if you can get a sunburn from blushing too hard. robin’s hands fly over their ancient keyboard before she points at the computer. “we do have one of those! his name’s steve harrington and there’s only one in stock!”

“i never should have let you two become friends.”

when his scheming shitheads friends finally stop giggling, eddie fishes one of steve’s hands from where his arms are crossed over his chest and kisses his knuckles.

“c’mon sweetheart, i’m trying to court you properly. i’ll pick you up at six tomorrow, yeah? also, oscar worthy performance buckley, thank you for the assist.”

robin winks. that little traitor.

steve’s floundering. he had a plan. one that involved taking his boyfriend on a nice date because he wanted to, because eddie deserved one. “but i already—“

“steve harrington.” it’s just the two of them at the counter now, robin ducking out to give them some privacy. “if you think for one minute, i’m passing up an opportunity to do something special for my self-sacrificing, flings himself into literal battle, overworked boyfriend, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“eddie—“

“i’ll scream.”

steve’s waiting on the porch at 5:55pm the next day when eddie pulls into the driveway. he’s clutching a bundle of wildflowers and tucks one behind steve’s ear before escorting him to the van. he’s cleaned out the backseat, set down blankets and pillows. it still smells like marlboro reds but also lemon and eddie’s cleared out all his empty slushy cups from the cab. he pops in a mix with trembling hands, blubbering about how he recorded it the other night and if steve doesn’t like it, really they can turn something else on, it’s fine. steve surges forward to kiss him, tells him it’s perfect, to let it play. it’s a tape with little interludes between each track where eddie inserts a tidbit here and there about how each song reminds him of steve. he wants to cry but he won’t, just holds eddie’s hand the whole drive and sneaks kisses at red lights. eddie takes him two towns over to an old baseball field and parks.

eddie props open the back doors and they eat dinner eddie packed, tucked under a thick quilt against the late winter chill. it’s a place, eddie explains, he’d hang out with wayne as a kid before he’d officially moved in. somewhere good. somewhere not the podunk town his parents raised him in, and not hawkins, but a better third thing. somewhere quiet, good, only filled with nice memories. where no one cares they’re two boys and no other dimension looms in the dark. the dinner he made is beef stew his mama swore would make a man fall in love. too late, steve thinks.

“i got you something,” steve murmurs after a while. they’re tangled together, watching the stars, bellies full and drunk on each other.

he pulls out the wrapped book from his jacket pocket. “read it to me?”

eddie does. he uses silly voices and paints another world for the two of them within the little one they’ve created for themselves. after a couple chapters, they toss it aside, kissing and savoring exposed skin. if steve sheds a couple tears between chanting thank you, thank you honey, eddie doesn’t falter. tucks him into his side and cries a little too, grumbles something about how the world owes them this much, thanks his lucky stars a reformed jock took a chance on a fugitive (a cute fugitive, steve protests) even if saving the world together was a bit overkill on the foreplay.

“same time next year, eds?”

“i’ll mark my calendar, stevie.”

[crossovershipstournament]

yeah i'll give in to my lack of impulse control to infodump/spread propaganda. megapit aka megaman/pit. super smash bros is only correctly enjoyed when you think of silly dynamics with the characters after all. and then go mad when you make it deep (i did this)

both child soldiers, both have some identity problems. a robot who was meant to just be a kid who had no choice but to be transformed and fight against others of his kind, an angel who is the only one of his kind with desperation to prove himself as a hero despite his inability to fly on his own

they're besties u have to believe me. pit is like nintendo's special little fourth-wall breaking boy. seemingly aware of other games- anyways he's a big fan of megaman. and with a history of being in the infamous cartoon captain n, they are often depicted as being friendz (morally correct. best friends to lovers. you know how it is)

the fluffier aspect has megaman being kind of terrible with romantic gestures in the sense that, being a robot, can sometimes not understand social norms. he embarrasses pit with shameless acts of very sappy cliche acts of romance. and pit is SO impulsive and kind of stupid but he makes megaman smile all the same. he brings a lot of joy!!!!

a ship with a robot comes free with angst. rock (which is megaman's name lol) has your classic robot in love predicaments. he was not built to feel at that level but does it anyway. which can cause glitches and spazzes and malfunctions and it scares him!!!!! woagh. and he thinks pit is just so wonderful and deserves a REAL person to be with. sigh

an angel- pure divine life- falling in love with a synthetic mimicry doing the impossible. do you Understand. Do You See

size difference too btw. megaman is tinie

Okay so not only is this great propaganda, but as a fellow enjoyer of my own robot kid character who just wanted to be a definitely real boy and was forced to fight/be a weapon (and who also has a best friends to lovers ship with him and his own best friend), I am slowly being won over myself 👀

Also heck yeah about the Smash Bros thing; it's part of why I'm such a big fan of CPU Kerfuffle myself. There's so much fun to be had with the dynamics of that game (whether it's with the canon characters or if you're just using them as avatars for your own OCs)

Anyway, great propaganda, great art 👍

[queentheweeb]

Izuku X Female Reader X Ochako

A/N: Izuku and Ochako are together and you guys are in your third year

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

You scribbled furiously into your notebook racing Iida to see who can write 500 words the fastest. It didn't have to be anything specific but it did have to be school related. That was the only way you could get the stoic and robotic boy to engage in such an activity with you. 

"Y/N stop daydreaming or it won't be a fair win on my part!" You stuck your tongue at the boy writing with more fervor. He already beat you in everything else when it came to speed you weren't going to let him have this win. In 3 minutes you had written 500 words officially beating Iida for the first time in 3 years in something speed-related. "I demand to see your paper!" He snatched it out of your hand and scanned over it while you and your audience watch on in amusement

"I think Y/N-chan won this time Tenya-kun, ribbit." You beamed at Asui turning back to Iida when he admitted defeat

"I FINALLY DEFEATED YOU IN SOMETHING SPEEDY! FUCK YEAH!" You started dancing in a circle very proud of yourself 

"Language!" You blew a raspberry at him flipping your hair finding enjoyment when he made an indignant face. He was so fun to bother 

"You enjoy yourself too much at Tenya-Kun's expense." You turned to Ochako who was laying on Deku with a grin ignoring the pang of jealousy. 

"I take joy at anyone's expense, not my fault he makes it easy." You blew a kiss at Tenya giggling at his flustered expression his hands making chopping gestures. You were aware of your friends giggling at his expense and you turned to see Ochako looking a little constipated and Izuku soothingly rubbing her back while he looked a bit flustered. Huh? That was weird. Was something the matter? It wasn't a relationship issue or else they wouldn't be near each other but, something was making them tense.

"Is something the matter L/N-kun?" You turned to Shoto and honestly, you were surprised with how easily this guy was able to pick up on your emotions and just about all of your emotions. If you were told three years ago that you would be in a close-knit group called the dekusquad and would literally die for any of them you would have laughed. Now though? You couldn't imagine life without them, especially Ochako and Deku. It was hopeless really, everyone was in a relationship except you even freaking Iida and Shoto were together and Tsuyu had a triad going on with Shoji and Tokoyami but here you were having to deal with all the love in the air pining after a couple that looked happy and perfect with each other. It made you jealous and green with envy

"Nothing is wrong. I'm just glad to have you guys you know." You felt your face flush as you averted your eyes looking everywhere but at them.

"Awww is Y/N getting sappy." You sputtered glancing over at Ochako who had a mischievous glint in her eyes and a shit-eating grin. You love her.

"Oh hush it you." She giggled falling back into Deku who hugged her closely and you had to turn before your eyes gave away your emotions. Damn it. You glanced at Iida and saw he was paying attention to Shoto who was now in his personal space. That's when you looked around and saw that everyone was lounging around. Right. It was the weekend and everyone was letting loose in the common room not giving two shits since in two months we all are graduating and officially starting our hero careers. Here you were still fucking lonely even the angry Pomeranian is with Kirishima and Sero, how they made it work you don't know and don't care. You just want in. 

"Move it fuck face." Your head looked up in time to see Bakugo scowling angrily in your face and holy shit when did you move? You didn't even remember moving!

"The words excuse me unless you haven't read enough books to understand that." You didn't smile just gave him a straight apathetic look. Normally you would snark and grin at him but your current thoughts dampened your mood.

"I've read more books than you ever heard of. That's why I'm at the top and you're at the bottom just like in everything else." Your eye didn't even twitch you were just irritated with the conversation already and were used to his insults but they were grating on your nerves.

"Please do enlighten me as to what else I'm at the bottom of." You had a feeling as to what he was going to say but wanted to see if he was going to say anything else.

"You're the only one whose quirk hasn't improved, you can't cook, you're grades are average at best, and then you're not even desirable or pretty enough since you're the only one who's painfully single out of all the third years." You couldn't hold it in, your face cringed and you felt angry and embarrassed tears prick at your eyes. You weren't even registering a disappointed-looking Kirishima grabbing Bakugo nor Bakugo's eyes widening once it registered what he actually said. It was too late though he always got to rub salt in the wound. 

"You always got to start something for no reason and be a piece of fucking shit huh? Decent isn't even in your vocabulary." You turned on your heel and ignored everyone making a bee-line to your dorm room. You slammed the door making it shudder and dove into your sheets curling into a ball. You were already in pajamas so no need to change and you cried. You cried out all of your anger, frustrations, embarrassment, jealousy, sadness, and whatever else you were feeling. It wasn't your fault that your quirk wasn't the best but it did improve, you could cook just not like him and your grades weren't A's but they were B+'s and you gave it your all. The one that stung the most was that you were single and it was difficult always being 3rd or 4th wheel since every fucking body was dating someone. Shit, you had a better chance dating the fucking league than someone here. You were sniffling unaware of the tentative knock and your door cracking. You looked and saw a tentative Kirishima looking at you with sad eyes "Please Ejirou if you came here to apologize to him then don't. Fuck him. He needs to learn to think and not speak and to take responsibility for his actions. I'm tired of everyone vouching for him because he's too much of an ass to admit when he's fucking wrong. Now kindly fuck off Ejirou I don't want to see you." You laid back down listening to the audible click and of him walking away. You allowed your thoughts to wander allowing yourself to wallow in pity for a few minutes because dammit you deserved it. You weren't even aware of your door being opened and two pairs of feet walking in until you heard your door close with the sound of the lock clicking. You sat up quickly red-tear streaked face on full display. To your chagrin, it was Ochako and Izuku the last two people you wanted to see in this state

"Y/N-kun I-" You put a hand up to stop any ramblings.

"If you came to vouch for Katsuki don't. I don't fucking want it. The dick needs to learn to take responsibility and stop being childish and man the fuck up." They both looked down before looking back up at you with determination. You paled because you did not like those looks on their faces. It never spelled anything good. In a flash, the covers were ripped violently from you making you spin and yelp. You went to protest but you got an armful of pink and green and somehow all three of you ended up tangled in the bed sheets and you had no forms of escaping. Great. You were in bed, in pajamas tangled with the two people who hold your heart. Fuck you universe.

"You didn't deserve that." You huffed but let out a whine when you were squeezed from the back and front. Izuku had his legs tangled with yours and a hand on your hip while Ochako was in front of you with her legs thrown over yours and an arm around your waist. Essentially you were trapped.

"There's a lot of things I don't deserve but here we are." You were grumpy and tired and still had tear streaks on your face. You were vulnerable and here were your two crushes here trying to comfort you and it gave you weird butterflies and a flush that went through your whole system. You didn't like it.

"Katsuki was an ass for saying those things and he will come around eventually." You huffed doubting it but soon melted into the comfort they both offered. Fuck it you were embarrassed enough today and if they were offering themselves to you, you were going to enjoy it to the fullest.

"I'm sorry. You guys shouldn't be here worried about me when you have each other." You gasped at the sudden pull at your head. You looked down into pink cheeks and angry brown eyes. God, she was beautiful.

"You're worth it. Don't you ever apologize for that." She held your gaze before taking a deep breath and pulling you close planting a chaste kiss on the corner of your mouth. Your jaw dropped as you were floored and tried to sputter out something just shocked. "Oh don't worry. It was Izuku's idea and I agreed to it because I think you're cute and perfect." Izuku did what to the who, huh??

"Don't be so surprised, we saw your looks, you've been pining after us for a long time. We were waiting not wanting to scare you but, I think we waited long enough." Your brain had long turned to mush and you were simply running on instincts. Your face exploded in red when you felt lips on the back of your neck. Yep mush brain, brain cells are gone. 

"Don't worry we can go slow, there's no rush." You could do nothing. You were hopeless, hopeless but maybe this is something you can get used to.

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

I'm making a part two

[silkiemae]

The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole

The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole My rating: 1 of 5 stars I've done it. I finally finished this book. It only took me like a month and a half but I finally battled my way through and boy do I have a lot to say. Strap in folks. This review will be filled with spoilers. Well, we start strong with the name of one of Amber’s islands being misspelt in the book blurb. It’s Erioa, but in the book, it’s Eoria. So that right there should tell you all you need to know about the overall quality of this book. The editing is like that through all 841 pages. It took me, so long to finish this tome of a novel. I stopped it several times but my compulsion to finish things kept gripping me by the back of the neck and forcing me back. I am always wary when debut authors release an 800-page tome for their first novel. I know this book was traditionally published by Rose and Star but it reads like a first draft. It’s very watt-pad tier writing. It’s marketed like a self-published novel and reads like someone who couldn’t be bothered to take the time to edit or proofread. The first 50% of this book could have been removed, and you probably would not have missed a thing. Every flashback could have been scrapped. The first 15 chapters could’ve been condensed and combined. The whole sleepover saga with Gabby could’ve been cut. Nobody cares about the weird face masks they’re wearing or the sappy romance movies they’re watching. No one CARES. I understand she’s trying to build a relationship with the sister to show us how much she means to Dianna, but she tells us about 85 times in the span of three chapters that she never gets to see Gabby, and this is such a rare occurrence. Like, okay, I GET IT. THANK YOU. Shut up about it, for the love of god. There’s a scene where they go to a nightclub to meet up with Gabby’s current fling, and this is after Dianna has been going on and on about how she never gets to see her sister and she’s so glad to see her and blah blah blah. Some guy comes up to hit on her, and she says, and I quote, “But I was here with Gabby, the sister I rarely got to see.” I swear to god, if you tell me one more time, I’m going to lose it. So she rejects the guy because she never gets to see her sister….and then immediately leaves the bar without her sister?????? WHAT? Honestly, a majority of the book felt like filler material. Nothing actually happened that was important. Dianna and Liam banter a lot, but none of it is relevant. Most of the things we learn are in flashbacks or weird robotic conversations. I didn’t buy their relationship. Everything about it felt juvenile as well as the majority of this book. There is so much telling in this story, and I’m so tired. The writing itself is C-Grade mediocre, but I see the potential. I won’t shit on Amber entirely and say that she can’t write at all because there are some good lines, but unfortunately, all the bad ones overshadow it. Not to mention the editing issues. Some paragraphs repeat within pages of each other, word for word like she just copied and pasted them. An editor is credited, but uh…what work did they even do? Because I can’t find it. All the world-building reads like info dumpage. A review says here that all the world-building is given with ‘no info dumping at all!’ And I’m here to tell you that that’s a lie. Every bit of narration has the POV ranting and raving about their feelings, but they repeat it over and over again to the point where I could not care less. Whenever I think something is well done, it gets overdone. An editor could’ve helped with that if an editor had actually gone over this book. It reads like she was trying to fill space, but you didn’t need to write an 800-page book, Amber. You could’ve told the same story and probably a better story in 400 pages. Let’s talk about the dialogue. Everyone speaks the same, like a robot. Every conversation reads like Siri responding to you. The contractions are super awkwardly placed and never at the right moment. It would make sense for Liam to talk stiffly and for the language to be strange since he’s been living away from humanity for however long and had to learn English when he returned. But literally, EVERYONE talks like this. Here, enjoy these treats I’ve gathered. * - with obvious male interest * - his ablaze blade ( it sounds so stupid, I can’t breathe) * The hair on my legs and vagina had gotten a little out of control. — This should have been 10000% scrapped. What the hell was she thinking? * - satisfaction and male hunger flaring in his eyes * - as the aggressive male power in the room increased * I glanced at him and nearly stumbled, the male beauty of him taking my breath away. * In the logical thinking part of my consciousness, I knew it came from a place of caring, but there was so much he did not know. (AMBER JUST SAY LOGICALLY, WTF??) Amber created her own pantheon and her own world, I guess. I’m not sure what she based her pantheon on, but I can say that Unir is basically Odin. With his prophetic visions and golden spear, aka Gungnir. The whole ending part of the book reminded me of the first Thor movie where Thor goes off and kills off a bunch of frost giants, and his dad and all the gods are furious with him. Well, Liam does the same thing with the Ig’Morutthens, thinking he’s fixing a problem and doing what a king would do, but everyone is mad at him. We’re told they speak these weird old languages, but Liam randomly calls his mother ‘madre’? Ma’am, that is Spanish…you had me believing they were saying these unheard-of languages, but no…it’s Spanish. Most of the gods’ and island names read like keyboard smash to me. Ig’Morruthen, are you joking? What is that? We’re constantly told that the fall of the celestials(or gods, can’t remember for sure) destroyed the fabric of the mortal’s world, right…but we are never actually shown how it was changed. We’re never shown any dystopian world where people live in rags because the celestials destroyed everything. No, we see people going to carnivals and The Modern Grill, watching TV, talking on cellphones, and going to the International Airport. So basically, it’s our world? Nothing is different about it save for the inclusion of these creatures. That’s it. Like a plague happened but we don’t get to see any of those results aside from Dianna and Gabby being monsters or whatever now. So Dianna and her sister died or were dying in a desert at some point, and Kaden showed up to save the day. In return for saving Dianna's sister, he turned her into an Ig'Morruthen; now, she's immortal and a super-powered badass. She can wield fireballs, lick people's blood and see into their memories, change her form into whatever she wants, and have super strength! It seems like Dianna was given all her power but never earned any of it. And by that, I mean her rank at Kaden's side. Sure, he sends her to complete all these tasks for him, which she does marvelously, but as the reader knows, she was automatically given the second rank right after she was made. As a human, did Dianna ever do anything notable to prove she deserved such a position? Also, we’re told that Dianna (assumes she) cannot die unless her heart is removed and destroyed, and Amber starts the book out, trying to make her seem invulnerable. But there are several instances when she is poisoned and is supposedly close to death, so Liam has to feed her his blood?? She can eat human food to sustain herself but has to eat humans to maintain her powers? How often does she have to eat humans? Will she die if she doesn’t eat humans? Or will she just be powerless? Could she revert to a human without eating people? Why doesn’t she just….stop eating people? So if she stops eating people, she stops regenerating or something? But also, like she rips her own heart out, Liam just…puts it back in her chest. Lmfao. So Dianna just can’t die. I appreciate the apparent inner conflict regarding Dianna and Kaden's relationship. Like clearly, it's very toxic. Kaden made Dianna into an Iggy monster(I cannot be bothered to spell that out anymore, sorry) to save her sister’s life, and now she has to, like…bone him or something. I’m not sure if that was part of their deal or if that was like a thing that naturally occurred and was somehow mutual(but it would still be coerced if Dianna felt she needed to do it to keep her sister alive) or if Kaden raped Dianna. It just became a regular thing, or what? But it’s still clear that she has conflicting emotions for him. They’re decently explained so you can empathize with why she continues to humor and sleep with him, etc. But then it gets to a point where it’s overkill (sensing a theme here). It’s unnecessary to tell us what Dianna thinks and feels about every little thing. The creatures of the Otherworld are, for the most part, well done. The dream eaters sound scary as fuck. But please, for the love of god, explain to me how they can speak. Samkiel/Liam’s PTSD is well done, but it becomes overkill. Like I’ve said about a dozen times, this book is too long. We’re told information repeatedly in the same chapter; things are over-explained to the point where it becomes redundant, and it’s all for what? Filler space? You could have created a much better novel if this was 400 pages. Honestly, with the number of things that don’t happen, it would’ve been better as a 300-page book. This book was advertised as two villains who fall in love or something like that; I can't remember exactly, but I know Dianna was announced as a villain, but she's not. She's not a villain. She's doing 'evil' things as a means to an end, and that means is to protect her sister. That doesn't make her a villain. Drake and Ethan even say that she’s not evil. Amber tricks us into thinking that Dianna stooped to killing one of her only friends on Kaden’s orders; the guy even turns to ash, and Kaden catches it all on camera, yet SOMEHOW this guy didn’t die. It was all a ruse. In some convenient ass magical loophole, Dianna only killed the ‘image’ of Drake. So right there, she just erased the only ‘evil’ thing Dianna has done in this book. Threatening people without meaning the threat isn’t evil either. The romance is so poorly done. The first 400 pages involve Liam and Dianna glaring at each other every single paragraph(literally, the word glare/glared/glaring are mentioned like 72 times.) while talking like robots and Dianna making a joke that’s not funny at all and giggling. It’s so juvenile, especially for these people who are supposed to be hundreds of years old. Then one night, Liam has a nightmare, and Dianna decides to talk to him about it and comfort him, and things flip around immediately after. Suddenly, they’re flirty and have all these intense longings toward one another. And then Drake and Ethan make a gross comment about Liam sleeping with Dianna, and it just goes right back to being awkward and uncomfy. I felt like I was just reading awkward conversations between these two the whole book while having info dumps on every aspect of this world thrown at me. Also, the minute Liam insinuated Dianna was dressed like a slut and magically changed her dress for her made me mad as hell. I HATE when men won’t ‘let’ their girlfriend wear something because he deems it too revealing. First of all, Liam isn’t even her boyfriend. Second, IT’S HER BODY. Third, instead of getting mad that Liam essentially called her a slut, Dianna starts swooning over the special dress he made just for her. Kill me. I’m sick of reading about their annoying af miscommunication bullshit. Dianna is all butthurt because Liam stopped sleeping in her bed. After all, Drake and Ethan( you have no idea how hard it is not to write Drake and Josh) made a lewd joke insinuating they’re boning. Liam apologized a bunch, but Dianna continued to choose to be mad. He explained to her over and over again that she does not repulse him, and he’s mentioned he finds her attractive, yet she keeps whining about how repulsive he finds her. Like, shut up, Dianna. You are so pathetic at this point. This book was advertised as spicy, right? Like, I’m positive it was advertised as spicy and yet I am nearly 600 pages into this book and Liam and Dianna still haven’t boned. All the sex scenes have been in dreams and have been vaguely worded with gross phrases like ‘my cock was buried deep inside her’ because that’s like….the only thing these ‘spicy’ authors can think to say. Liam’s jealousy over Drake is so juvenile, as is Dianna’s jealousy over Camilla. Why shouldn’t she realize Camilla is hitting on Liam to get back at Dianna? The thing that had me ripping my hair out in frustration was that this book is about finding the Book of Azrael(aka, the cat from the Smurfs), right? Nine hundred pages of filler space, all to find a book that Liam continues to insist does not exist. Well, this witch Dianna used to bone claims to have the book; all she wants in exchange is a kiss. This is the laziest way to create tension between Dianna and Liam I have ever read in my life. First, Dianna immediately assumes Camilla meant she wanted Dianna to kiss Liam, which is the most self-centered thing ever. Like why would you just assume that? Nowhere did she say I want you, Dianna, to kiss Liam. It was obvious as hell that the kiss would have to be between Camilla and Liam since it was THEIR DEAL. And then Dianna is all possessive suddenly and like NO, YOU CANNOT KISS HIM. Like…you’ve spent all these months looking for this book, and you know Kaden plans to use it to destroy the world…and a kiss is where you draw the line? Because you’re jealous? What happened to being in an open relationship with Kaden? Wouldn’t she be used to things like that? And then Liam kisses Camilla, and they have a full-on make-out session. Like I’ve said a million times before, I’ll say it again, JUVENILE. In this make-out session, Camilla gives Liam all the answers they need magically somehow, and there’s some betrayal stuff, Dianna gets shot in the head, and then they end up shouting in the forest at each other like a bunch of high schoolers because Dianna was jealous. Then we get cockblocked by some gargoyles, excuse me, Irvikuven. I’m nearly 80% of the way through now, and still, there is no spice—oh, just kidding, right at 80% is where the magic finally happens. And the magic was only some foreplay that reminded me of the scene in ACOMAF when Rhysand and Feyre share a bed, he finger bangs her, and then they go to sleep. If you were reading this book hoping for spice, I’m here to tell you there are two chapters of ‘spice’: some finger banging and a really uncomfy blow job. And that’s it. I was just begging for the book to end at this point. I was entirely unsurprised by every single person betraying Dianna. It became repetitive after the third betrayal, like how shocking, yet another person betrayed them! Wow, I am so surprised! Dianna crying and constantly whining about being a repulsive monster was so exhausting. I was so sick of listening to her and Liam whine over one another and everything else. I wish this book was cut in half, ripped to shreds, and put back together several more times before it was released. Because, as I’ve said before, I see potential in bits and pieces, but it’s just so poorly written that I cannot give it more than one star. There’s an actual part where she says this as a sentence ‘Logan having the same deposition toward him as I.’ First of all, that’s not even a complete sentence. Second of all, DEPOSITION? Do you mean DISPOSITION? There are about a thousand more things I could say at this point, but I’m running out of space, and I want to touch on the plot twist ending that everyone was so surprised by. Please explain to me how. The whole Dianna/Gabby relationship was so heavy-handed. It was so thrown in your face how much Dianna loves her, and honestly, my thought process was, okay, this book has been advertised that Dianna is a villain. Still, she’s not, so I bet Gabby, her only reason for doing all this will get killed, which will be the catalyst for Dianna becoming an actual villain. And lo and behold, I was right! Predictable. Like good god, that was a month and a half of my life I will never get back. View all my reviews

[contraspectacle]

UNKNOWN PLEASURES 01.25.2024

》 DJ: REED KAVANAH

This is gonna be long but fuck it: people of Chattanooga, you're so goddamn lovely. I'm genuinely grateful that I get to look forward to Unknown Pleasures every month now, it's worth every minute of the drive from Nashville - I'm on my laptop so I can't use emojis, but imagine all the sappy ones right here, because you're all gorgeous.

The list specifies what the performers danced to. It's all their own picks, besides a couple fill-ins - they got skills and amazing taste to boot (I'm lucky to have heard some synth music Phoenix is working on and it slaps heavily).

Also, here's a SoundCloud mix excerpted from the middle of the live mix! Let me know if you want more of these.

I'll be joined by DJ THEOCULTT for our extra-cyberpunk event next month, and I'm stoked to finally be in town for their set (I've seen them go hard when I've played some of my own personal top-tier favs - this always warms my heart). Also, Ariel is coming back with an experimental piece combining her live performance with a music-video-style VHS piece my friend Julia and I shot with her (sounds complicated but I promise it's fun)... AND we've got CRT from Atlanta playing a sick live industrial/body set. Be sure to check out CRT's label, DKA Records - they're based in Atlanta, but they put out great electronic music from all over the world, and you'll almost certainly find something interesting (like FUEDAL, whose track "Movin" you heard on Thursday).

One last thing: R.I.P. Luis Vasquez, Juan Mendez, and Simone Ling. They were massive losses to music, gone for tragic reasons. Do your thing, but please be safe and carry naloxone. DIY music is in dire straits, and we can't afford to lose any more of the beautiful, sensitive people who keep it going - there's work to do and shows to see.

Can't wait to see y'all again.

xoxo,

-R.K.

P.S: There's a requests board by the booth now - I can't play 'em all but I like to know what you like, so hit me! Apologies to whoever requested Boy Harsher's "Motion," cuz I accidentally played "Electric" instead lol - I have a BH setlist hanging on the wall behind me as we speak... I've committed a sin against Jae and Gus... but I shall atone next month, bet.

》 09:00PM: R.K.

Death in Vegas - Witchdance Dub

Lesson Seven, scott crow - Blind (Mark Pistel Remix)

The Grid - One Giant Step

Wire Spine - Hellraiser

Kissing the Pink - Certain Things are Likely

Mansfield.TYA - BB

Robotiko Rejekto - Rejekto (Pefekto Mix)

Silent Servant - Cut Unconscious

Eleven Pond - Sex Robot

Portion Control - The Great Divide (Razormaid Mix)

Marie Davidson & L'Oeil Nu - Renegade Breakdown (incl. Jessy Lanza Remix)

》 10:00PM: GODDESS PHOENIX (POLE)

Nuxx Vomica - FTEV (incl. Confines Remix)

Black Devil Disco Club - "H" Friend

Echoberyl - Taking the Space

Paradox Obscur - Dark Fortress

Liste Noir - Time is Your Crime

Moon 17 - Jellyfish

》 10:20PM: R.K.

Spike Hellis - Mouth

Blu Anxxiety - Macabre

Andi, Machino - Softly, Softly

Patriarchy - Hell Was Full (ADULT. Remix)

Working Men's Club - Valleys (Graham Massey Remix)

The Force Dimension - Algorythm (Manipulating Mix)

Cabaret Voltaire - Hypnotised

》 10:40PM: ARIEL PEAKE (FIRE)

Eartheater - Chop Suey (System of a Down cover)

》 10:45PM: R.K.

Axodry - You (Beauty and the Beat Mix)

Boy Harsher - LA

Cruel Blue - Vantablack

Marie Davidson - Work It

Annika Wolfe - Bust

Special Interest - LA Blues (Marie Davidson Remix)

PVA - Untethered

Fluid Ghost - Memory Extraction

Stacian - Grey Fate (Black Light Smoke Rework)

Moon 17 - Mirror Side

Depeche Mode - People Are People (Razormaid Mix)

Book of Love - Tubular Bells (Lullaby Version)

Buzz Kull - Into the Void

Male Tears - I Expire

The Soft Moon - Become the Lies

Nuovo Testamento - Heartbeat (Curses Remix)

Korine - Mt. Airy (Nuovo Testamento Remix)

Randolph & Mortimer - Dream Hack

Electronic - Dark Angel

Sextile - Contortion (RQ)

Nuxx Vomica - Easy Go (incl. Semantix Remix)

Celebrate the Nun - She's a Secretary

Catherine Moan - Fools

Madeline Goldstein - Edges of the Lines

》 12:00AM: GODDESS PHOENIX (BIRDLESQUE)

Eartheater - Solid Liquid Gas

Donzii - Pattern 26

Joyfriend - Trouble

Patriarchy - It Goes Fast (Sacred Skin Remix)

》 12:15AM: R.K.

Zanias - Simulation (Alen Skanner Remix)

》 12:20AM: ARIEL PEAKE (WHIP)

The Soft Moon - Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath cover)

》 12:30AM: R.K.

MVTANT - Damaged Goods (Gang of Four cover)

Jeff in Leather - In Leather

Kumo 99 - Gomi

Potochkine - Possédée (Maman Kusters Remix)

》 12:45AM: GODDESS PHOENIX + ARIEL PEAKE (DUO)

Scimitar - Flame War

Kontravoid - For What It Is

》 12:50AM: R.K.

Leaether Strip - Lullaby (The Cure cover)

》 01:00AM: ARIEL PEAKE (FIRE ENCORE)

Wachita China - CRAZY ABOUT M3GAN

》 01:05AM: R.K.

DJ これからの緊急災害 - Fuck the Pa1n Away (Peaches cover)

Panther Modern - Full Capacity

Fuedal - Movin

Modern Man - I'm So Tired (Fugazi cover)

M!R!M, Nuovo Testamento - Desert Love

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (Ewan Pearson Extended Mix)

Identified Patient, Sophie du Palais - Crush On You

Clay Pedrini - New Dream (I-Robots Reconstruction)

Tulioxi - Another Gang of Desperates (Roe Deers Remix)

Comfort Cure - They Told You Wrong

The Psychic Force - World In My Eyes (Depeche Mode cover)

MCL, Couleur Trois - Tekno Side Part Two

Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Zuckr's Breaks Chop Up)

Madonna - Dress You Up (mixed into Windowlicker)

Parade Ground - Moans (cut short, my bad!)

Arnaud Rebotini - To (Wo)Men on the Assembly Line

Geneva Jacuzzi - Casket

Blu Anxxiety - Send Me an Angel (Real Life cover) (RQ)

Jeff in Leather - CRUSH

Sextile - LA DJ

New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction)

Dark Chisme - Lucretia My Reflection (The Sisters of Mercy cover)

Louisahhh - Hammer

Xibling - Bulletproof

Boy Harsher - Electric (meant to play Motion RQ - whoopsie)

Velvet Velour - Hydrophobia (Alen Skanner Remix)

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax (Club 69 Future Anthem)

Dark Chisme - Vete de Aqui

SDH - Hectic

Debby Friday - I Got It

Nuxx Vomica - No Money

Underworld - Born Slippy (Nuxx)

Ex-Heir - No Pain No Brain

Kumo 99 - Adjacent Casualty

L.O.T.I.O.N. Multinational Corporation - Cybernetic Super Lover (feat. Lulu)

Nuovo Testamento - Vanity (Nuovo Testamento Disco Mix)

The Immortal(s) - Techno Syndrome (Theme from Mortal Kombat, 12" Mix)

Kate Bush - The Hounds of Love

Outro: Carrellee - Stay (Patriarchy Remix)

...this was five hours thanks to transitions, but the Spotify playlist is over SEVEN HOURS, so you sweet bb's got some listenin' to do :)