#she knows events repeat but the story always ends the same. happy ending but with people lost. kate saves eva at the end but annleigh | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lovelybeesthings · 10 months

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Loved you then love u now! 2

Coriolanus Snow x reader

Word count: 2.k

Context: Part 2 of “The One That Got Away” and ending

A/N: I Need this man biblically 😭

Chapter 1

As Coriolanus's eyes long from afar never one leaving the direction of Y/n the event moves on and people start to dance Y/n makes her way onto the dance floor in her elegant gown.

His eyes never leave her the way her dress moves with her as she spins after a couple of songs she changes partners now pared with the man he saw her with earlier.

His eyes catch on how her eyes look at him the exact same way she'd lean upon him once upon a time, oh how foolish he thought to himself to believe the girl from District 12 was his soulmate when a divine angle had followed him all along.

His jaw clenched seeing the lovely smile and the way her lashes fluttered for some knockoff version of him he knew Y/n had to hold some feelings left for Coriolanus and if he got rid of this replacement for her dream man, himself Coriolanus Snow.

He'd repeated in his mind that night in her bedroom where they had shared an inmate moment he swore it was just his feelings being redirected to someone he knew he could be with but when Y/n had shown she had cared for himself so much she’d give him up for him to be with Lucy.

He took a sip of his drink watching her twirl her cheerful smile as the song soon ended, this was his chance he took one final sip placed the glass on the table, and soon fixed his red coat and walked over to the dance floor smiling.

As the song had finished I grinned at Devesh so happy in the moment but soon noticed how his head moved I too turned my head and saw Coriolanus he looked absolutely amazing making my heartbeat go crazy but I still held my composure.

“Corio, what's going on?” I say with a genuine answer and a sweet smile “I wanted to dance with you Y/n I hope this gentleman that's accompanying you wouldn't mind right” he responds but when he talks about Devesh he looks at him giving a cold stare.

“Uh well only a couple of dances” I day trying to break the cold mode as Devesh gave Coriolanus a pissed-off look smiling, I grabbed Croyo's hand and moved to a different spot in the ballroom trying not to cause a bigger scene “What was that croyo!” I say as we begin to dance one of his hands on my waist and the other one with mine as we spin the music plays “I don’t understand what you're attempting to say Y/n?” He says making me huff as I pout.

“Don't try one of your mind games I know you!” I say as my dress twirls when he spins me others gather around watching us commenting on our dance or how lovely we look next to one another.

“I not doing anything I mean I was trying to dance with you and the gentleman you were with seemed agitated with my question,” he says in that tone as he knows better the time he'd always speak to me like I'm some kind of child.

“Deveshe is not like that he's just upset because he knows my past with you” I see his smug look but quickly goes to his poker face “So he knows about our kiss right?” he says “He knows about the kiss we had for a second before you ran off with your songbird”

With the mention to Lucy, his face turns cold “I was blinded to what I thought was love a mistake on my part Y/n” he says as we dance the waltz “I think I can understand that I used to think that with you” I say bluffing trying to seem bold and confident yearning he doesn't notice my falsehood.

“Really?” he says and then pulls me closer making me jump in surprise at his actions he soon smiles “You say that but your cheeks are rosy and the way your heart pounds is a different story to me” My face flushes with feeling “Well youre simply to close that's all now I think I'm done dancing” I say giving a curtsy and walk back to Devesh.

I can't her leave me “Y/n, please listen” I say as I hold her wrist before she can leave she turns her head giving an innocent confused look “What's the matter with you?” she says genuinely confused “I can't let you leave me from the time I spent in the distracts I believed I loved someone and they did to me but I was foolish all I love all I want is You”

I speak genuinely letting down my guard for her before making sure no one is watching her lift her hand to my face and caress it while the warmth of her skinny fragile hand spreads to me I lean to the touch “Why do you have to be selfish?” I look at her crying “It was hard moving on and once my life goes back on track you come back to me telling me how you realize you love me!”

Tears fall down her angled face “I know, but let me be selfish we can forget and start again no Lucy Gray no Devesh” I say trying to persuade the girl I love, her face looks unsure as she collects herself “Okay, but you can't walk out of my life at all not again” a smile creeps on my lips as I pull her in for a kiss she follows as we explore each other mouths.

We soon come back to my upgraded apartment “is your grandmama and Tigris here?” She questions in her long dress and my red coat over her “No they left for some small gathering for fashion designers” I say smirking as I lead her to my room and throw a log in the fireplace “Croyo can you help take off this gown I mean it's gorgeous but it's not keeping me warm!”

I chuckle at her words and walk over to her unzipping her dress I can't help to blush to see her bra and panties as she soon puts my shirt over her I quickly change into a more comfortable sleepwear and get under covers with her “Can we cuddle?” she says with an innocent look making me nod she shuffles closer and I wrap my hands around her.

“I love you, I promise when I build my empire you'll be my queen” I whisper into her ear and kiss her forehead as we both fall into slumber warm with each other body temperature.

IN THE END, THEY LIVED HAPPILY IN OLD AGE BUT LIKE YOU KNOW HOW THE STORY GOES?

#coriolanus snow x reader #reader #coriolanus snow #fanfic #tom blyth x resder #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games x reader #the hunger games #tom blyth

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holybibly · 10 months

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Divine Rosa ❢ot8xreader❣

❣ Pairing: yandere!otx8 x reader ❣ Genre: Dark Romance, vampire au, angst, horror, yandere au, smut ❣ Summary: The moth always pours itself into the flame; what a pity that in the end it burns out. After the tragic death of her sister, MС tries to find answers to the questions she left behind. This leads her to a gated cottage town known for its luxurious rose gardens. In addition, there are also these mysterious men who manage all the affairs in the city. Too sweet, too helpful, too intrusive, and too in love. ❣ WARNING: only!18+ Themes of death, suicide, severe depression, stalking, blood, yandere behavior. ❣ Disclaimer: I don't support yandere behavior, stalking, or religious imposition. Themes include violence, obsession, possessiveness, and emotional or psychological manipulation. This book is intended solely for entertainment purposes.

English is not my native language, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know.

Published on AO3 like FleurRi

❣ Prologue: Roses scarlet like blood ❣

Every story has a beginning: a magical, inexplicable moment—an elusive contact between reality and dreams. When thoughts emerge from the edge of consciousness, a stream of colorless letters appears on the parchment of our fate, eventually becoming an event. Life's intersections, fragments of various plots, are continuously repeated, lost, or deliberately forgotten. They are like unwritten melodies; the echo of their angelic voices follows us through life, like the bright tent of a wandering circus that incessantly makes noise. is full of tinsel, and raves with dreams.

There are millions of them. No. Billions, like the sleeping stars, sway peacefully on the sky-blue wire; their scattered light tells the wayward souls the way in the velvet folds of the night's darkness. These are our memories. Some are dazzlingly bright, as fresh as summer breezes, while others are barely flickering, covered in the marble ashes of time and a diamond crumb of emotion. And they all live so far away and at the same time prohibitively close together, there, in the labyrinth of the underground sky and on the endless roads of the blood rivers, where it is impossible to find them: in our memory.

Just as a pebble thrown into the ocean sinks into the murky depths, so does memory. Drowning into the viscous muddy depths without a bottom, in that rich and uncharted area that we call “oblivion,” it sinks in time. And few of us have been given the opportunity to preserve living images of memories of the feelings we have ever experienced: to drown in the bittersweet water of sorrow and joy; to fill our consciousness to the brim, like a vessel with golden honey, with the feelings of pain and keen passion, and to die. Die happy. The greatest privilege of all.

Seconds, minutes, days, and years—colorful fragments of time; sharp crumbs scattered under our feet. Unlike us, those who plunge into eternal sleep, our memories that have insidiously dissolved in ink in our blood will not disappear. They fear death, flee from it, and hide in the thick of the earth that blossoms with fluttering glass, forget-me-nots and drunken petunias that, in their intoxicating happiness, kiss the eyelashes of the blind God. You hear them whisper, “I’ll never forget you…”

My story begins with an innocent question that I’m sure you’ve heard more than once: “Do you like roses?”

Once upon a time, I would have answered, "Yes, I love roses." But, as it turns out, all our words are followed by consequences, and small rosy spikes can be much more dangerous than they seem at first glance, just like in the fairy tales that we were told in childhood. You know, there are things that we might call fatal: people who decide other people’s lives as long as they reach out to them like they're God. And then there are the flowers, which keep the mysteries tenebrous and ancient. I'm almost a hundred years old, maybe more. I should start my story right now; this is the perfect moment.

I will tell you about who I once was and who I am now. I will tell you about love, which is akin to obsession, and the death of her faithful friend. I will also tell you about the people, ghosts, or maybe illusions that were around me. They were with me once… Now, there are others, but they’ll be in my story later. They will come into my life with a chorus of angelic voices; the sound of a heavy autumn downpour, and the pretentious solemnity of death. Yeah, they’ll be there, though, if you think about it, they were always there, from my first breath to my last breath, by my side. But I’m forgetting what’s important. I have to tell you about the roses, and only about them.

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

Mina's long hair shimmered like luxurious silk under the early morning light. Bloody strands fell in curled doll curls onto her bare shoulders, as if in Baroque paintings. The lush blossoms of white roses woven together in her hair made her look like the ancient Greek goddess of spring. Her appearance has always been astonishing, blatantly perfect rather than real, but that was sometime in the past. Now she was like a pale ghost of herself, a blurry reflection on a black surface of water on a moonlit night. The only thing that reminded her of her former beauty was her hair, which remained perfectly groomed and scarlet, like blood. Oh yeah, there are still roses. These flowers… there was something unnatural about them, something otherworldly. Each petal was painfully perfect, as if made of satin. But the flowers were real; they were alive and breathing and too demanding. It seemed that just because they wanted this, Mina could wear them in her hair. It was their choice, not hers. “Do you like roses, Rosa?” · · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

This is the moment when my life changed forever. If I had known that this innocent question would be the beginning of my end, but can this be called the end? Would my answer have been different?

I’ve thought about it a thousand times. Over and over again, I played this scene like a broken record, crossed my answer out of the script, wrote a new one, and made comments and footnotes, but… But the answer was the same. I couldn’t change anything; it was destined. Much later, when I fall asleep in a warm bed, I will feel a gentle kiss on my closed eyelids and hear San’s angelic voice whisper in my ear that fate is never wrong. That they would find me or that I would come to them does not matter; in the end, we would still be together in life and in death. In eternity.

I’ll come back to that later, I promise. In the meantime, I’ll continue. · · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

“They’re beautiful, Mina, but I don’t like them anymore.” I sounded terribly rude from the outside, and I could see Mina’s eyes filled with tears, as if I had slapped her.

“But Rosa!” Mina reached out her pale arms to me. “Look how perfect they are; don’t you care about their beauty? Doesn’t your heart beat faster when you look at them? O Rosa, these flowers are special; they never wilt.” She shook her head, as if confirming her words. “Yeosang gave them to me before I left” Her long, thin fingers reaching for the white rosebuds in her hair. “I want to give you one.” Hooking the flower, Mina gently pulled it out of her curls and stretched it towards me. I didn't have the desire to accept her gift; something in her behavior and her voice caused me anxiety. And there was this name: Yeosang. It wasn’t the first time I heard it, but it was a long time ago, and I still remember that Mina mentioned others with that name: Hongjoong, San, and Mingi. They sounded familiar to me as a song once learned by heart. She pronounced them in a special way: with a gentle intonation and an exciting euphoria. As if it had been repeated countless times at the same completely new to her. All I could hear was the echo of that song, which came along with those names in the conversation. It was an ominous echo, like an impending, inevitable storm. Mina was still holding out a rose, and I looked at her hands. Arms with a faint web of blue veins that looked like dried stems of faint flowers. For some reason, I came up with the idea of sirens holding out their hands to pirates while their voices led them into the welcome embrace of death. Did they look like Mina’s hands now?

I remember these hands weaving long pearl threads into my hair during festivals. I remember the feeling of intertwined fingers as Mina led me down the dark corridors of my grandmother's old house. I remember them gently wiping my tears when I was rubbing my feet until I bled in ballet class.

I remember the touch of those hands… I know him. These cold fingers that so carefully hold the snow-white flower no longer belong to my sister. Their touch changed, becoming foreign and distant, as did the mysterious land where these perfect, never-fading roses grew.

Didn’t that sound like a fairy tale? Just in our history, there has been no magic mirror, no Queen-Witch whose crown shines like a star, and no apple full of poison, but there is a coffin of shimmering crystal, and a prince that sleeps in it. Of course, there are also roses—thousands of roses.

“Rosa” Mina turned to me again. “Please take them; you will surely love them. Just try to feel them…”

She put a flower in my hands. The drops of nectar froze on the wax petals, and the first rays of the dawn sun made them sparkle like diamonds. “This variety is special.” Her voice sounded soft. “It's called the Deva-Rosa. I want to show you where they grow. It’s so beautiful. I want you to come with me, Rosa. We’ll be there together, you and me.” Mina smiled dazzlingly, but something was wrong with that smile. The once-sensual kiss lips were painfully curved, the corners awfully lifted, like the forever-frozen smile of a Venetian mask, and the warm pink shade was gone.

I was always jealous of her lips. They were so tender, plump, and enticing. All her features attracted attention, but it was her lips that made Mina's beauty unique.

She shone like the sun, easily becoming the center of everyone's attention—a beautiful white swan. The main heroine of the story.

Then there was me, only a shadow of her perfection—gloomy and pale as the moon, the complete opposite of the burning heat and the sexuality of my sister. Unlike Mina's, my features were not sensual and breathtaking; no, they were old-fashioned, like those of a porcelain doll. I didn’t find myself ugly or unattractive; just ordinary. One of a hundred million. The classic tragic heroine of a Gothic novel, someone like me, doesn’t make it to the finale.

Now looking at Mina, I can no longer see her life; her fire has almost been extinguished, leaving embers smoldering. And only her hair, like a burning sunset, was the only bright spot in her appearance. They crimson her white dress like blood rivers in the snow.

“Rosa, come with me.” The touch of her hands was icy and gave me a nasty shiver. It wasn’t Mina anymore. “Let's go, please. We can admire roses together. We can be together, Rosa. Remember what we promised each other when we were kids? Forever.” Mina leaned towards me with her whole body, completely trespassing into my space, and with her intimacy came the suffocating, sugary smell of roses. It was a thick, enveloping aroma that instantly sat in the lungs. I thought that if I breathed it in deeper, these strange, unnatural flowers would sprout in my veins, intertwine with my bones, and create a new home for themselves in my body.

“No!” I exclaimed, pushing Mina away from me. “I don’t want that, Mina. I don’t want you or those freaking roses in my life.”

Suddenly on my feet, I took a few steps away from the pale Mina, who was staring at a rose that had fallen to the ground. Her posture was as vulnerable as that of a wounded animal, and her limp arms reached for the flower, which, surprisingly, began to darken and fade, touching the ground. In her eyes, once radiant with happiness and dreaming, stood tears, and her lips began to tremble. It was as if a child whose beloved toy had been mercilessly abused had fallen to her knees, picked up a dying bud, and, in despair, pinned it to her lips.

“How can you be so cruel, Rosa?” Mina whispered, her lips gently touching the petals. “You hurt them; it breaks their heart. Can’t you just accept their love? Accept the roses?” She continued to kiss the petals.

“What are you talking about, Mina? Whose love should I accept?” I asked cautiously. Her behavior began to frighten me.

“You must give yourself to them, Rosa; I must give you to them.” Mina ignored my question, methodically kissing a faded flower. His dead petals began to fall away, slowly, baring his heart. “O Rosa, the rose is a rose; the rose is a deva; the deva is a rose; is a rose.”

“Mina!” I called her by her name in an alarm. The entire situation had me in a state of primitive terror. Mina began slowly swaying from side to side in time to your words, all the while continuing to say, “Rose is a rose, the rose is a deva.” It was meaningless, like the ravings of a madman. The words were repeated in an endless circle, like a prayer or a ritual chant. Mina’s voice grew louder, higher, and higher until it broke, and abruptly she stopped all movement, standing there like a graceful statue.

Once I admired her every move; now I want to cover my eyes so I never have to see her again. What happened after became the most traumatic thing in my life. I can never forget it, no matter how much I want it. It seemed to be imprinted on my eyelids, and even after closing my eyes in my sleep, I couldn’t get rid of those memories.

Her movements were fleeting, like the wings of a butterfly. Here she is before me, tense and waiting, and then her throat crosses a ragged line, and blood rushes through her body like a waterfall.

Eyes shining from tears are wide open and so resemble smooth black pearls, and lips are opened as if waiting for a kiss. For a second, Mina's body stretched like a thin string and then softened, falling on the grass. I heard someone start screaming; the sound was so deafening and heartbreaking that I wanted to curl up in a ball and cover my ears with my hands, so I couldn’t hear.

I found myself screaming. I needed to call for help; I had to call an ambulance, and I had to try to help her. Put my arms around her neck and cover her gaping red velvet wound.

But I was yelling about something else instead. My name is not Rosa; you hear me, Mina! I am not her. · · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

I awoke in a frenzy, sweating profusely and with a wildly pounding heart from an endlessly recurring nightmare.

This dream has haunted me for months since Mina’s funeral. Night after night, I have lived this sunrise over and over again. I didn’t like morning anymore; I started avoiding sunlight and hiding in the velvet folds of the night, sharing my loneliness with the darkness. I made the moon my friend, and the stars my silent witnesses.

My memory is folded paper, folded a thousand times. Sometimes, I want to unwrap it, but not completely: open the brittle edges of the fragile sashes, smooth out the folds and creases with my fingers, spread out the time sequence. Unwrap it just a little, and then fold again, mixing letters and days, reality and dreams. I never want to open the pages where the memories of that morning are stored. Every time I get almost to the end, moments before the final, I run away to the safety of happy days.

I try to come up with a new ending to this story, a different ending, but the dream comes to me like a cat, gently calling me into its embrace, and I find myself again in a place I don’t want to be.

It’s early in the morning, and the sun is just rising above the horizon, shimmering like a limitless purple-pink ocean.

In Mina’s crimson hair are snow-white roses, and her dress looks like an intricately woven ruffle and lace. Her pale hands holding flowers, her puffy lips in a painful smile, and her bare feet—the ground must be cold since it was the middle of October. Her blood… and the roses. And if it were possible to personify hatred and death, then for me, it would be roses.

I hated and despised these flowers with all my heart. They brought only sorrow and gloominess into my life. The beautiful symbol of mourning solemnity. They started it. They ended it all.

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

I was sixteen when Mina first called me Rosa. One January afternoon, she came home with a basket of the most gorgeous flowers I’ve ever seen in my life. Scarlet like the blood of a rose, they were magnificent and perfect. From that day on, I became Rosa. Why did Mina start calling me that? She never spoke. But she completely forgot my real name. For the whole world, I was now Rosa. After this case, every day in our small apartment, the roses became more and more numerous, until every inch of free space was filled with scarlet buds. Their smell was suffocating, thick, and sticky like honey. It is absorbed into the skin, hair, and dissolved in the blood. It made me dizzy and nauseous, and I could taste it on my tongue with every breath. But it wasn’t just a smell. It was a color that screamed “red,” like blood itself. It poured over our house, coloring the entire apartment in a disturbing shade.

After that, every day in our house, the roses became more and more numerous until they filled all the surrounding space.

Soon, they became so numerous that our house looked like a tomb filled with scarlet petals hanging from the ceiling. We've been arranging here with all honors, breathing in a haze as imperceptible as rose-scented mist.

In all the time I lived there, not a single flower withered. It was frightening and exciting at the same time. Day followed night, and night gave way to day; but no petal lost its pristine beauty, and no bud bowed its heavy head in sorrow. There was not a single bouquet that would dilute this velvet sea with its mourning black.

And if that did happen, Mina cried long and hard over these flowers and blamed herself for not saving them. At night, I heard the sound of her apologies and her fanatical prayers.

Whether she prayed to God or to the Devil, I couldn't tell. I'll find out for whom these prayers were intended many years later.

Roses were always sent with a postcard and a box of expensive chocolates with some intricate filling. The box was necessarily in the form of a heart. The signature was also one; once the unchanged calligraphic handwriting deduced only one phrase, “For you,”

Mina never told me who gave her these magic flowers or why the roses didn’t wither.

I tried to ask her these questions several times, but she only brushed them off, throwing her long hair from one shoulder to the other and angrily declaring, “You must love them; you don't need to know more.”

Mina also dyed her hair scarlet, like roses.

I couldn’t take it anymore. Constantly surrounded by these flowers was unbearable, and one day I packed up all my things and moved in with a friend, leaving Mina alone in her regal rosary.

My first night away from home, away from the roses and Mina, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned anxiously in bed hour after hour; but the dream never came, and then the phone rang. Mina called. Crying, she begged to come home, and when I asked her why, she barely whispered, “The roses are wilted.”

I hung up, and Mina never called me again. Two years had passed. My life had changed, and I think my luck had smiled. I found wonderful friends who were eccentric and bright. I had a great and caring boyfriend, and the internship at ballet school was promising. Everything worked out perfectly, and there were no more roses.

Until my twentieth birthday, a huge bleeding bouquet of scarlet roses tied with topaz-embroidered ribbon appeared in my new apartment. The candy box was heart-shaped, and the caption read, “For You.”

I burned the bouquet, threw out the chocolate, and tore the note apart, and blew it to the wind.

No one was supposed to see or know. Even me. Exactly eight days after these flowers appeared, I got a call from former neighbors in the apartment complex Mina was still living in. I was urged to come and deal with the situation; the smell of rot and death was unbearable, and Mina didn't open the doors or answer the phone. I opened the door with my key. Opening it wide, I crossed the threshold and could not contain a short scream. All the once-luxurious roses had rotted, dripping thick, stinking jugs on the floor and accumulating in gleaming poisonous lakes. Every corner of the space was occupied by large vases with black velvet buds and tall candles. After my move, Mina got rid of all the furniture, leaving only the big bed, which was now covered with dried stems strewn with thorns.

This place was like a grave — cold and dark — where my sister was supposed to rest. Going deeper, I found no hint of Mina's presence. Absolutely nothing. Only putrid roses and an empty heart-shaped box.

Mina was gone. For a whole year, I tried to find her without success. Old friends, distant relatives, acquaintances, and any other connections she might have ever had—I checked everything, but there was nothing to help me find her. It’s like she never existed.

In the two years we’ve been apart, I didn’t know anything about her. Mina didn’t call, and when I tried to contact her, she would reply with a short message, always the same: "Roses have wilted; come back." just like the night I left her.

All Mina had ever thought about since that unfortunate January day were these sinister roses.

The police began an investigation. Two years after her disappearance, Mina became officially missing.

And a year after that, she showed up at my door in the twilight of the fall morning, barefoot, in a sophisticated lace dress with a rose crown on her head. From the Mina that I knew, all that remained was her hair—long, silky, and crimson like blood and roses.

She still kept calling me Rosa, calling me out, and promising that we’d be happy together. That it will be only us, forever. She promised to show me where these strange flowers bloom, which she called the Deva-Rose, although these were not her words, but those of someone distant and unfamiliar to me, Hongjoong.

And then...then Mina died. The dawn painted her body in pink shades, flooded the grass with sparkling gold, and dyed the white roses of her crown scarlet. She slit her throat. Ragged a sharp spike into it. As it turned out, even the tiniest rose spikes were deadly. It was a nightmarish and, at the same time, majestic end to her story. The image of Mina haunts me in dreams even now—this distant gaze in her pearly eyes and a complete absence of fear of death. No, Mina wasn't afraid. She welcomed death as an old friend, graciously opening her arms.

It was her exodus. I remember screaming loudly. Blood thundered in my ears, and tears flowed in an endless crystal stream. I screamed that my name wasn’t Rosa; that I wasn’t her, and never would be.

Her funeral was truly a royal one. Rain and thunder rattle in the sky, as if raising a toast in her honor. The flat haloes of the black umbrellas swayed peacefully as the guests made their sorrowful speeches.

Mina seemed to fall asleep, dressed in an old-fashioned wedding dress, lying there like a princess, drowning in thousands of roses. The flowers were brought at dawn. Their color was deep and dark, as if every petal was filled with the gloaming of the night. They mourned with me. But I knew better. It wasn’t the end; it was the beginning. Death follows life in an endless cycle of rebirth. When one flower fades, plant a new one. Back home that night, I found a black envelope at my door, sealed with a monogram wax seal.

It lacked an address and the sender's signature. The message was clear and concise. "I live for you, my Rosa."

· · • • • ✤ • • • · · I went to the window and opened the curtains with my newfound determination. It’s time to stop being afraid and run away. Whatever it is, I’ll find out what happened to Mina. Let her start it all, but I’ll be the one to finish the story. The last surviving girl.

· · • • • ✤ • • • · · How naive I was then, how stupid. The moth always flies to the flame, attracted by the warm fluttering light; he himself goes to his death.

I was that moth. Without realizing it, I came to my inevitable fate, which has been waiting for me for centuries, maybe longer. Their hands have stretched out since the darkest times, when the light didn't exist, and the Devil was as real as you and I. At that time, everyone knew his face, felt his hot breath on his skin. The story I’m going to tell you isn't going to be bright and sweet; we’re going to go down to hell and come back. I'll take you through the dark woods to the horrors of uncharted lands where barefoot priestesses rock their sharp teeth in alluring smiles. I will take you to the castle where the prince rests in a crystal coffin and make you drink wine that tastes like blood.

Now I have to ask you, "Are you afraid of the dark and what’s hidden in it?" But my question is, "Love, do you like roses?"

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the-bitter-ocean · 3 months

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oceaaaannn hiii! let's go with 3, 5, and 15 for the isat ask game c:

(MAJOR A6SE / 2HATS SPOILERS + FULL GAME SPOILERS AHOY) Thank you for the questions @dekupalace ! Since I’m going to be talking more in depth about the game for one of these questions I’m going to put my responses under a read more:

3- favorite soundtrack?

Oh god that’s such a hard question the whole game has certified bangers. The musicians at Studio Thumpy Puppy were not messing around or pulling any punches. The soundtrack of the game elevates literally every emotional beat. If I was forced to choose only one song out of the soundtrack my favorite track in the whole game has to be “How Can You Help Me, Stardust?” aka the theme that plays when you fight Loop at the Favor tree during act six. Hearing that for the first time while getting the full context of loop’s backstory made me go crazy. It was so fucking emotional and well done. That and it’s just objectively a super intense high energy song that makes me wanna dance around. If anyone deserves the coolest fight theme in the game, it’s Loop.

5- favorite optional event?

Ooh this is also a hard one! I adore a lot of the optional story events because each of them really shed light on Siffrin’s mental state /characterization, as well as gives depth to other aspects like the other character of the world building as a whole which strengthens the themes of the story. Aside from the obvious choice (2Hats Ending/ Act six loop encounter) I think my favorite optional event would have to be the “Who Was Phone” achievement (Change God event). There’s something so fascinating about learning about the Change God. Someone who clearly adores their certified little guy (Mirabelle) and is willing to offer words of kindness and assurance in her identity even if it knows she won’t remember in one instance..and then in the very same breath tell Siffrin that they enjoy watching Siffrin in the timeloop torment nexus because they’re curious to see how they change in a situation where everything is forced to stagnate. It was so genuinely fucked. I will think about it always forever.

15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game both in story and gameplay actually. I think Adrienne did a good job writing and expanding on the characters and story that was set up in the prologue. The quality of life in terms of gameplay got improved since the previous game as well ( those who played the prologue can attest to this) . The fact that it was a in universe story reason as to why makes it all the more satisfying (if you want to know what I mean by that please read my mutuals @felikatze analysis about it here.)

I just am happy that Siffrin got to be happy in the end and stay with their family, to be able to talk things out and escape the loops. I know some people didn’t like that or expected a more darker/sadder ending or wanted the gameplay to be more challenging … my response to that is Literally Just Play Start Again: A Prologue. To me it would be extremely reductive to have Siffrin just suffer with no reprieve or escape from the loops (because that’s just a repeat of what happened in its predecessor) or have the group just split off from each other immediately after everything happened. It would have been extremely unsatisfying and ultimately missing the point of the themes of the game as a whole gonna be real lol.

The only things I’d maybe change or add is like it would’ve been cute to see Euphrasie and Claude be together/ reunite on screen in act 6. They should kiss. Lol. (That and just I would’ve personally loved to see Euphrasie in canon expanded on a little more but that’s not necessarily needed she serves her purpose in the narrative. I just like analyzing her and giving her more depth and I like when others do too, but that’s what fanart/ fics and aus are for so I’m not fussed.)

I don’t mind that the game is sort of open ended and doesn’t answer all the questions. I think that gives artists, fanfic writers, Au makers and people who like to analyze the game more freedom to come up with their own interpretations for things that happened in pre canon and post canon which to me is more interesting. I know Loop disappearing at the end of the game in both endings is sad/ bittersweet but I wouldn’t necessarily change the way that was structured either. I like that their fate was ambiguous because it leads the viewer to come up with their own theories as to where they went. ( personally I love seeing stuff where loop gets to travel on their own and form a new life and identity outside of the loops and learn to heal, as well as post game getting to meet back up with the party and learn to navigate this new life/ change one step at a time. )

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saellefanwork · 7 months

Text

𝐄𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐬

Kamado Tanjiro x DemonSlayer!F!Reader x (Past) Rengoku Kyojuro

Reminder: This Demon Slayer fic is rated Explicit (adults only) for canon-typical violence and, disturbing and explicit sexual content

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Chapter 1: The Shadow of the Fiancé

After the devastating loss of your fiancé, Rengoku Kyojuro, your world shattered irreparably. In your darkest hours, it was your cherished and devoted friend, Tanjiro, who became your anchor, vowing to care for you just as he had promised his late master. His love for you burned bright, carrying the hope that someday you might return his affections.

However, as you embarked on an intimate relationship with Tanjiro, your depression intensified, and the shadow of your past fiancé continued to haunt you every night.

Author Note: This work draws inspiration from "Whoever You Want Me to Be" by myprettydarlings on AO3. I highly recommend giving it a look. However, right from the beginning, this fic will take a different direction. Also, if you haven't noticed, this is rated explicit, so please proceed carefully.

Rest assured, despite all the heavy themes, this story will ultimately have a happy ending.

Warning Tags: Post Mugen Arc, Grief, Sad, Angst, Depression, Mental Breakdown, Toxic relationship, Dubious consent, Oral sex, Vaginal sex, Bottom Kamado, Top Reader, Orgasm denial/delay (someone doesn't finish), did I say sad already?

How long had it been since the death of Rengoku Kyojuro, the Flame Pillar? Too long, considering everything that had transpired since that tragic event. Yet, Tanjiro remembered it as vividly as if it had occurred yesterday – the fateful night when blood and tears had flowed like a river. The abyssal despair he had felt that moment could be summoned with just a thought. A sorrow that had found its equal only in your wails and cries, as if you were the one agonizing... and not your fiancé.

"Watch over her for me, Kamado my boy. She loves you as much as she loves me. And I already know that you adore her as much as I do," his master had whispered from his bloodied lips, not long before taking his final breath. His ruby and gold embers were dimly glowing in the light of the last sunrise he would ever see.

Every time Tanjiro contemplated this last wish, still freshly etched in his memory despite the passage of time, tears welled up in his eyes. Oh, how much he missed his Aniki. How mistaken this kind, brave, and strong man had been when he uttered those final words...

"Kyojuro!" you called out in despair, clutching the burgundy-haired Slayer’s sleepshirt, trying to rouse a reaction from him. You had just experienced a nightmare – the same haunting dream that replayed every night. A dream where your beloved would die, killed by an Upper Moon near a train crash.

You sought reassurance, but the person lying next to you seemed lost in thought, deaf to your pleas.

"Kyojuro!" you insisted, shaking him so forcefully that his hanafuda earrings jingled against the mattress.

Tanjiro snapped back to reality and gazed at you with a sorrowful expression. He finally pulled you into his arms, his hands gripping your back tightly, almost to the point of discomfort. How many nights had this painful charade repeated itself? He needed to summon the courage to confront you about this matter, and he had to remain resolute despite your resistance and distress. This could no longer continue.

"No, love...," he whispered to you gently but firmly. "It's not Kyojuro... it's Tanjiro. Rengoku-san is..."

Your eyes widened in shock, and you shook your head violently, pushing him away and covering your ears with your hands. "No! Don't say anything! Why are you doing this to me, Kyojuro? Reassure me like you usually do, please! I'm scared."

Seeing you in this state always shattered his heart. That's why he had been playing this role night after night. But recently, even during the day, you had started to mix his name with that of your deceased fiancé, despite you being the one who had asked him to go out with you after the funerals. Tanjiro had reached his limit. He felt that if he didn't stop now, a part of him would cease to exist for good.

"My love, please... I can't pretend to be him any longer... I can't take it anymore. I've done everything to replace him, but in the end, no matter what I do, I'm just Kamado Tanjiro."

He knew you could hear him, but you remained huddled within yourself, eyes closed, brows furrowed, and fists clenched above your ears. Despite his legendary patience, Tanjiro felt at his wit's end. He couldn't count how many times this scene had replayed itself. Desperation gnawed at him as he grasped your wrists firmly, attempting to coax you to face him.

"Please, just listen..."

"No!!"

"I don't want to hurt you either. I love you, and I wish to be with you, but I've tried everything, and your condition is only deteriorating. I don't know what else to do, so maybe we should sto–..."

To his awe, you broke free from his grip and forcefully pushed him down onto the futon, holding his hands above his head. Your raw strength took him aback. Despite the fact that you were a Slayer too, you had always appeared delicate, often relying on poison like your master, the Insect Pillar, did. Your eyes, locked with his, seemed haunted by an unspeakable fear.

The fear of him leaving you, just as Kyojuro had.

His heart skipped a beat when you pressed your mouth against his, in a kiss as passionate as it was desperate. This was unlike any kiss you'd shared before. While he knew he should have resisted, he couldn't deny the bittersweet, almost painful pleasure this deep and long-awaited kiss brought him. Instead of pulling away from your grasp, his fingers cautiously interlocked with yours.

You only briefly parted your lips from his, letting him catch his breath like a drowning man emerging for air in a turbulent sea.

"No, Tanjiro... There's one thing you haven't done yet," you whispered to him.

The Slayer's eyes widened, his heart pounding, thinking he might have misheard. You had just called him by his real name for the first time in nearly a week, and it was during the night, no less... although the circumstances were unsettling. Hearing his name on your glistening lips and seeing you look at him as if he were the center of your universe, he knew he was a goner. He loved you too much to leave you now.

Sensing that you could persuade him to stay, you resumed your urgent kisses that clouded his mind, while guiding one of his hands to your waist and the other to your chest. He gasped in surprise at your forwardness, his eyes wide open. He had never dared touching you like this before, and you had never invited him. At least, not while saying his name.

"Make me yours, Kyo – no, Tanjiro... don't hold back," you commanded him, a strange gleam in your eyes, as if you were oscillating between the realms of dreams and reality.

Tanjiro appeared hesitant, his voice murmuring your name with a bewildered expression. You seemed utterly desperate, mixing the name of the man you loved so dearly with his own, which he had longed to hear you whisper with the same affection... It was hard for him to deny you, considering he had desired you for as long as he had known you, though he'd always concealed his feelings.

As he stood there, frozen and indecisive, you took charge, deftly unbuttoning his nightshirt. His breath quickened, yet he offered no resistance. Soon, his muscular chest was bared in the soft moonlight. He was as well built as Kyojuro... although the man before you was shorter, and the scars adorned his frame in different places. Your hands roamed his torso, your current vision overlapping with memories of another body, one you could never touch again. To mask your confusion, you proceeded to undo your top. Still immobilized, Tanjiro's gaze followed your every move as you unbuttoned your shirt, revealing the binding encasing your breasts, which you hadn't removed before sleeping. He seemed to snap back to reality when you started to loosen them, his grip stopping your hands for a moment.

"Baby, I'm not sure if this is a good idea," he protested.

In response, you freed yourself from his hold and let the binding fall, uncovering your bust in one fluid motion. The coolness of the night air and the anticipation had already caused the pink tips of your bosom to harden. Jaws slightly agape, Tanjiro's gaze was immediately drawn to them, although he quickly forced himself to close his eyes to break the spell. He felt your lips on him once more, feverishly exploring his mouth and neck, as you guided both his hands onto your exposed skin. Instinctively, he gripped your breasts, pinching your prominent nipples between his fingers, and you moaned while sucking his tongue, sending shivers along his spine.

"Ha... K..."

You almost uttered "Kyojuro" again but stopped just in time. Tanjiro must have noticed because you sensed him tense under you. To divert his attention, you pressed your groin against the painfully hard bulge in his pajama bottoms. He groaned uncontrollably beneath you, and you felt the fever of desire taking over you even more intensely. He was more expressive than Kyojuro, which was a blessing. It helped to anchor your mind to reality and resist your delirium as best as you could.

Your hands descended to his abdomen, deftly untying the knot of his bottoms then your own. Tanjiro seemed to struggle to keep up with the pace of events. He wanted to slow it down, make sure you were fully aware of what was happening, while you did everything in your power to prevent him from stopping you, with the complicity of his desire-filled body. In a few swift movements, you rid both of you of your clothing. You were now fully naked, Tanjiro panting helplessly below you.

You once again pressed your groin against his, the warm and moist contact of your lower lips sliding sensually along his length, your core eagerly yearning to welcome him. Stars danced in his field of vision, and a dizzying sensation struck him, his blood flow entirely directed toward his rigid member, so stiff it bordered on painful.

While you reveled in his expression, almost tortured by pleasure, you decided you wanted more. You shifted from your seated position on him to settle between his legs, your torso descending along his body, your breasts briefly gliding around his manhood. The sight of his erection emerging from the soft curves of your chest nearly made him lose consciousness, yet nothing compared to what followed. You ran your tongue across his tip, gingerly lapping at the pre-cum oozing from it. He couldn't contain the powerful gasp that escaped him, swiftly replaced by a torrent of uncontrollable moans. The emotions and sensations he experienced were so overwhelming that tears started to well up in his eyes.

As he felt your warm lips enveloping him completely, your wet muscle tracing the veins of his member in a delicate exploration, a part of his mind wondered if you had ever done the same thing for Kyojuro. Did you ever position yourself between his likely longer and sturdier thighs to please him with your mouth after a gruelling mission? Despite his best efforts, a pang of futile jealousy squeezed his heart at the vision. He wanted to make you forget the taste of your former lover, be the last one you served in this way. He desired you to think of no one but him from now on.

His hand, without him realizing it, gripped your hair, pushing the tip of his manhood deeper into your throat. You clawed his legs in surprise, almost choking. Your inner walls clenched in need, growing wetter as your arousal peaked your juices trickling down your thighs. Kyojuro had never constrained you like this, yet you found yourself drawn to it, for the forced motions left no room for lingering thoughts. You allowed Tanjiro to use your mouth as he wanted, surrendering to the rhythm and depth of his thrusts. The tension in your shoulders relaxed as you surrendered completely to the sensation of his hard length pounding your throat, drunk on his pleasure-filled moans.

When you sensed that he was on the brink of climax, you broke free from his grip and shifted to a seated position above him. He let you settle on his lap, his eyes clouded with passionate longing and his cheeks flushed. Your gaze descended to his swollen testicles. You lightly caressed them, savoring Tanjiro's sharp intake of breath at the touch of your cold fingers. You craved for him to release his pent-up desire deep inside you, to feel the ecstasy of his peak as he spilled his essence within you.

With this idea in mind, you straddled him once more, capturing his lips fervently, and he surrendered without resistance. Aligning your two bodies, you slowly allowed yourself to glide along his shaft. As the sensation of your tight walls enveloping his manhood washed over him, Tanjiro moaned beneath your passionate kiss. Giving him no respite, you hungrily absorbed his sighs, sucking his tongue and biting his lips lightly. His strong hands gripped your waist almost painfully, following your descent until you were fully impaled upon him.

Locked in an intense gaze, both of you remained breathless from the novel and overwhelming pressure of your bodies merging. After a few moments of stillness, you tentatively began to move your hips. Tanjiro closed his eyes, releasing a guttural moan, his expression etched with exquisite torment. You felt the throbbing of his desire within you and instinctively clenched your muscles around him, eliciting shivers of pleasure from him. Gradually, you started rocking yourself rhythmically against him.

With each deep thrust, Tanjiro's hands roamed your back, tracing your curves and contours, as if committing every inch of your skin to memory. The room soon resonated with wanton sighs, sensual whines and soft gasps.

As the eagerness of your lovemaking continued to mount, Tanjiro's motions grew more urgent and fervent. He held onto your thighs with a tenacious grip, as though fearful of letting go, as if he dreaded that this moment might dissolve like a fleeting dream. Suddenly, he rose to his knees, altering your position slightly, drawing you closer as he took control of your movements. He lifted and pressed you onto his lap, intensifying the rhythm and depth of your union.

In this new arrangement, the soft tuft on his lower abdomen teased against your clit, and the friction immediately built an orgasm within you. Tanjiro whispered declarations of love into your ear as he fervently kissed your neck. His hair, which he had let grown at your request, cascaded in wild disarray, the tie that had restrained it almost completely undone. You tore the ribbon away entirely, allowing his crimson mane to flow freely over his shoulders, burying your face in their fragrant, woody essence. With each deep lunge, you felt yourself drawing closer to the precipice of ecstasy.

"Ah... Kyojuro!" you finally moaned, your muscles convulsing with pleasure, a shiver coursing you from head to toes. Although your voice was muffled, your partner heard you very well and let out a hurt gasp. He considerably slowed his movements, but you compensated by grinding against him even more, your instincts taking over as you milked your orgasm for all it was worth.

Coming to a stillness against him, you both remained wrapped in each other's embrace, chests heaving with each labored breath. Tanjiro didn't push you away, but his hold felt distant. Your nose was nestled in the hollow of his neck, preventing you from seeing his expression, yet you could perceive that something was amiss. Gradually regaining your senses, you loosened your grip on him, your gaze searching for his.

"Tanjiro…? Are you alright?"

Upon hearing his name, he turned his face toward you, a reflexive reassuring smile playing on his lips – an ingrained habit from his days as the eldest son of his family. However, the warmth that usually filled his gentle eyes was conspicuously absent.

"...Not really. Be careful, I'm going to withdraw," he cautioned softly.

With painstaking care, he helped you off his lap. You felt a peculiar hollowness without him inside you, but that wasn't your primary concern. Tanjiro's demeanor deeply troubled you. It was as though he wasn't even in the room anymore. Silently, the former charcoal burner draped a blanket over your shoulders. Instead of holding you close and savoring the tenderness that typically followed such intimacy, something you'd expect from someone as gentle as him, you watched in bewilderment as he began to put his Demon Slayer uniform back on. He even secured his sword to his belt.

You felt that if you didn't stop him right away, he would leave and vanish from your existence forever.

You seized his hand with all the strength you had.

"Don't go, please. You promised me, remember? You made that promise to him too, didn't you?"

"...I'm sorry," he whispered, gently yet firmly pulling his hand away. "I need some time alone. I told you, I tried to replace Aniki in your life already, to fill the void he left behind, but I can't be him... and tonight... you weren't with me."

Your complexion turned pallid, and you trembled. Witnessing you in such distress wrenched him; he was torn between abandoning you in this fragile state and acknowledging that he couldn't continue like this. He waited for several moments, hoping for a denial, an apology, any words from you, but you remained frozen. Because he was right; you hadn't been fully present with him.

Summoning heroic effort, even if it might have seemed pitiable or insignificant to an outsider's perspective, you compelled yourself to let him go. He was all you had left, but you knew you couldn't imprison him any longer.

Regret etched on his face, Tanjiro tenderly caressed your cheek and withdrew from the room without a word, gently closing the door behind him.

You were curled up in bed like a wounded animal, crying your heart out, when Shinobu came to find you a few minutes later…

I'm probably going to hell for torturing these characters so much lmao.

Don't forget to like / comment / repost, it always makes my day, and let me know if you want to be tagged in the next chapter's updates.

Next chapter: "The shadow of the mentor" (to be released in two days)

#tanjiro x reader #rengoku x reader #demon slayer fanfic #rengoku kyojuro x reader #kny x reader #demon slayer x reader #rengoku kyojuro #kamado tanjiro #yandere reader

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always-a-joyful-note · 11 months

Note

Hello! I don't know if op who submitted the asked to you about anzu lore & engirls is going to elaborate, but I want to drop my two cents too since I do like Anzu and find Engirls so interested. I'm sorry if I'm repeating anything you already know and I'm not an engirls expert either so i could be wrong about some of these.

Since you mentioned Engirls Protag and the war, here's the timeline that I believe under the common assumption that EG takes place alongside ES!! (given that Suzu and the bunch, who graduates in the end of EG was Anzu's old classmates and friends)

Anzu is a year older than her little step-brother (protag of Engirls who most fans seems to call Tenn(kousei-kun)). Basically in Anzu's 1st year of high school, she attended Kimisaki Academy, and Tenn was in his last year of middle school. Anzu and the Troublemakers' failed revolution occurred then (supported by the fact that Azusa was a second year in middle school during Paradise), and she suffers from bullying until she decides to transfer to Yumenosaki during her second year. By then, Tenn is in his first year, attending Yumenosaki as well.

In ! Era Anzu has told one of the characters (I forgot who) that her brother doesn't want to be associated with her when they are on campus and to pretend that they don't know each other (but he's at least nice enough to help her promote Trickstar to his fellow general course peers for her during DDD). Generally they have a somewhat strained relationship, which was surmised by various ES and EG characters as teen angst + his inferiority complex with his sister.

By !! Era, Anzu is in her third year, and Kimisaki Academy have decided to go co-ed, leading Tenn to transfer there (don't remember if there are actual reasons stated in-game or if he's just dropped there with no explanation). Due to that, Tenn was able to help the students of Kimisaki, mend their relationships, help Anzu reconnect with her old friends, and talk more with his sister. Anzu actually gets mentioned quite often in EnGirls, like how she makes his bento lunch, Seira sneaking into Yumenosaki to see her, drives her friend Natsumi to school, and etc.

Unlike Anzu who is an only-girl in Yumenosaki's idol course because she's a last minute decided test subject for the producer course (either her or her family most likely agreed out of desperation to be able to transfer), Tenn seems like he's the only-boy in Kimisaki just because he's the only one who enrolled?

There's lot of parts that are implied but still lies in the realm of headcanon/speculation. Like how EnGirls makes it clear that the reason Anzu transferred was due to the bullying she received as the target for the actions of the Troublemakers, since she was always a slacker who the teachers already disliked, but in the EnStars novels she says it's because of family circumstance. Although in the same novel, she (and Chizuru in the novel extra Crosstalk) does give a nod to the events of Paradise, regretting leaving her friends behind and running away; meaning that for Anzu transferring was not because of the bullying, but her own cowardice (although the bullying was pretty bad it was school-wide). For Tenn, the step-siblings have always been described as close growing up, but they have seem to have grown distant lately. Apparently, Tenn had even lived away from their family for a while. One could speculate that maybe he transferred out of Yumenosaki and into Kimisaki (both schools are in the same neighborhood) to get away from his sister, who at that point have probably gained notoriety as a the sole producer of the academy. Given that some stories make it a theme to validate Tenn, and tell him that he's a different person to his sister who is also great and deserves his own happiness, supports this in my opinion.

I'm sorry if this is so long, I hope it isn't rude or anything, it's just that many people have made me aware of how interesting Anzu's character, backstory and current arcs are and I wanted to share that to anyone else that might be interested too. She's pretty complex and well-written if you cherry pick all the stuff about her specifically from the stories, which is why I can understand why many fans consider her as her own character and more than a self-insert.

NO THIS ISN'T RUDE AT ALL, ANON!!! I am literally shaking your hand, thanking you. I'm a little curious as WHAT the Kimisaki revolution was right now....and what part Anzu played.

But STARS I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. You don't understand how much I love this....Anzu predates the Enstars games, firstly (cause I heard engirls was released first). The thing about her being a legacy of engirls, haunting its narrative (at least it seems that her shadow is cast over the engirls era pretty widely), and then switching to a viewer and casting her shadow on the Enstars boys??

I was so wrong in my post about her except also not because her self-insert-ness still feels somewhat significant. Except she's like...a very strange bridge between the player and the characters, existing in both worlds (her and her brother, it seems).

Anyway, Anzu lore is SO cool and I'll have to reread this again to fully appreciate it because man, I love this!

#to look back on #fandom spamdom #ensemble stars #enstars #engirls #ensemble girls #stuff i say #seriously anon THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS IS SO NICE OF YOU #taking the time to write all this out! thats seriously so sweet!#again i am fully welcoming of any and all lore. spoilers or otherwis #man i really want an anzu and tenn card now...or just official art or something #or like when the story ends we get to see them sing on stage together....#also i kind of do love everything that anzu is...she's like the ultimate Subtly Breaks Tropes character. really subtly #its so fascinating to me

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repairgirl · 1 year

Text

19. i love you in a song pt. 1

word count: 2.0k

t/w: stalling. the biggest buildup to the main event ever

You rested your head against the window of Piper’s cherry red Jeep (Beatrice, if you so please), reminiscing on the last time you all were squished like this— the ride to the summer kickoff party, back in June. The realization hit you like a ton of bricks.

You thought about how much had changed since then: your growing friendship with the girls, now stronger than ever, the big brother role Percy had taken on, your sense of worth, and most significantly, your relationship with Leo. The vibes in the Jeep were good, the sunroof was open and beams of light shone on you and the others, almost as if Apollo was saying one last goodbye before summer ended and he shone a little less. The breeze made you feel okay, and a sense of satisfaction washed over you. All things considered, the summer was a fun and notable one, and you were grateful for your friends who made it that way. You smiled to yourself, not thinking anyone would see.

Naturally, Leo elbowed you in the side, a stupid smirk on his face.

“Ow,” you groaned. “What the hell was that for?”

“You were smiling too much. Had to switch it up a little,” he replied, seemingly proud of his genius idea.

“Charming as always, Valdez,” you clapped back. “If you had asked, you’d know I actually was smiling because I was just thinking about this summer, how it’s coming to an end, and how grateful I am for all of you.”

“Aww, you really do love and care for us,” Percy chided in a mocking tone.

“Of course she does. Don’t get a big head about it, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth added on, before looking to you and smiling warmly. “And we’re just as grateful for you, Y/N.”

Nico made a gagging noise from the backseats where he was cramped next to Will. “I might projectile vomit before we have a chance to even make it there due to all this love in the air.”

Will put his hands up in defense. “If you do, get it as far away from me as possible. I’m off duty until August 27th, 2023.”

“Move-in day,” Nico groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“Married couple, shut up,” Piper said, pulling into a driveway. “We’re here.”

She parked the Jeep in the parking lot of a beautiful two-story oceanfront vacation home, complete with mermaid and ocean decorations on the sides. In the backyard was a pool, and just through the fence surrounding it was the sand that led to the ocean. To say you were in awe would be an understatement.

“Wow, Pipes, how’d we snag this?” Leo asked.

Piper turned to him, her eyes sparkling. “I have my ways.”

“I do not condone theft, I do not condone theft,” Frank repeated to himself, covering his eyes.

“Unless it’s Piper,” Hazel chimed in, giggling.

Frank sighed in defeat, and everyone burst into laughter.

You, among the others, grabbed your suitcase from the trunk and lugged them inside. Leo trailed behind you like a dog, seemingly as happy as you were that you two were on good enough terms to share a room. Upon unlocking the door, everyone plopped their bags in the entryway and found the nearest couch or chair to slump on from being cramped during the two-hour car ride.

“Before we get comfortable,” Annabeth chided. “Who’s rooms are who’s? So we can start unpacking our stuff.”

Percy tugged her sleeve. “Just sit down for a minute and turn off your brain, Beth. I’m gonna…” he started, followed by loud snoring.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Aaand, there he goes. I’ll get his bags.”

“Perfect, because you two are on the ground floor,” Piper stated. “Down the hallway on the left, along with Leo and YN, whose bedroom is sandwiched between yours and Percy’s and mine and Jason's,” she finished hesitantly. “Nico and Will and Frank and Hazel, you two have the upstairs rooms. They’re exactly the same, so choose for yourself.”

Everyone got up and shuffled to their respective rooms, except for Percy, who was dead asleep on the couch, acting like he hadn’t had a shred of rest in years. Which, in some sense, was true.

Leo grabbed your suitcase and bags, in addition to his, and started heading to your shared room.

“Trying to win be back so soon, Valdez?” you chided. You pretended to be annoyed by this, but secretly you loved it.

He winked at you, and your heart melted, but you ignored it. “You know it, boba girl.”

You were too busy daydreaming to realize that Leo had stopped dead in his tracks in the doorframe of your room, barely daring to make a move.

“Um, Y/N, you might want to see this…”

Where there should have been a bunk bed was a singular king bed, soaking up the room in all its glory.

You facepalmed, a million thoughts rushing through your head. “You have GOT to be kidding me.”

Piper giggled behind you, causing you to see her, Jason, and Annabeth, who had witnessed the entire thing.

“Piper McLean, I swear on the gods if you planned this—” you started, but she cut you off.

“I didn’t, I promise!” she replied, frantically scrolling through her phone. “The host says the house was recently updated for each room to include a full king bed.” She smiled sheepishly. “Oops.”

Jason then led Piper to their room, presumably to discuss their own sleeping arrangements. “We’ll give you two some time to talk. Knock if you need anything.”

Annabeth reassuringly put her hand on your back, offering some words of encouragement herself. “I’m gonna go unpack, but I’m here if you need anything, okay? You’ve always got Percy and me.”

You nodded weakly. “Okay, Beth. Love you.”

Soon enough, it was just you and Leo, who looked about as embarrassed as you felt. He started to ramble about whatever thoughts came to mind.

“Listen Y/N, I know this is super weird, I mean, It’s not weird to me but it’s probably weird to you, I mean, if it’s weird for US that’s what I mean, and I can sleep on the couch, or the floor, or—”

“Leo.”

“Hm?”

“I think I need some space.”

You shut the door in front of you, alone in the cold, empty room, feeling like you were the only person in the world.

You slumped down the door, putting your head in your hands, not sure what emotion to begin to process first. And little did you know, on the other side of the wall, Leo was doing the same exact thing.

++++

As you unpacked, not realizing just how many hours had gone by, a million thoughts plagued your mind, each seeming to be sorted into opposite categories. Part of you was excited at the prospect of sharing a bed with Leo, as your feelings were admittedly still there, and like all the wise people say, feelings for your first love never really do go away. But the other part was terrified and felt embarrassed, and kept reminding you that he didn’t like you back, or so he claimed that night at the party. You were just a friend in his eyes, and you felt like that’s all that you would ever be. This part of you felt so small, as small as you did when you confessed in the pool house. It made you want to cry.

Just then, you heard a knock on your door and a familiar friendly voice.

“Hey, Y/N?” Hazel asked. “You in there?”

“Yeah, come in,” you called from the bed, where you were now slumped, sulking and staring at the wall.

She walked over and sat next to you, putting her arm around you and making you feel a warmth you hadn’t felt since you got there. You fell into her embrace.

“How are you doing, love?”

“I’m okay. Could be better. Just thinking about—” you gestured vaguely, “—you know.”

She nodded. “What’s going through your mind?”

You sighed, getting ready to lay it down on her. “Everything. A part of me is excited, like maybe this could be the opportunity we’ve always needed, and that part of me is hoping that just one night together would fix everything and open his eyes for me, like we’re in some kind of reader insert fanfiction,” you chuckled dryly. “But the other part of me is so terrified. Terrified that I am and only ever will be a friend to him, and this whole thing makes him wildly uncomfortable. That he wants nothing to do with me, and all the little comments, flirtatious remarks, ways he looks at me when he thinks I can’t see, that all of it means nothing.

And that part of me is so scared, and makes me feel so small, just like I felt at Piper’s, at her summer party, and then at his birthday party, and how I’ve felt time and time again. I just want some confirmation, some closure. That this isn’t all in my head. Or maybe, that it is. Either way, I’d just like to know. So I can feel content, and maybe even at peace before we all go to college, and start fresh, if need be.”

You laughed to yourself. “And the last part of my brain is mocking me, because I’m probably just overthinking and he’ll end up sleeping on the couch anyway, and everything will be fine. And I did all of this worrying for absolutely no reason other than to make things harder for myself.”

Hazel’s warm, golden eyes locked with yours, and you got the sense she truly understood.

“That’s a lot for one woman to carry,” she admitted. “And you’re definitely putting more stress on yourself than you need to. I think what you need to do is follow your heart, and trust your gut.”

“What do you mean?”

“Follow your heart. What has your heart wanted all along? If none of this happened, where would you be? And now that is has happened, do you feel the same or different than before?” she asked. “And to trust your gut, you must do what is right for you. Not for anyone else, not acting in a way that you think everyone expects you to. Make the decisions you make for no one but yourself, and if you feel something is right, go for it. You do only live once, after all.”

You smiled, her words sinking into your skin and mending a few cracks on your heart. You buried her in a hug.

“Thank you, Hazel. I needed that.”

“Of course, babes. That’s what friends are for.” She started to gather herself, sensing that you already were doing much better. “You good if I go?”

“Absolutely,” you replied, feeling sure of yourself for the first time in a while.

“Oh, and hey,” Hazel continued, “The girls and I are going to go for a walk on the boardwalk in about half an hour and do some exploring. care to join us?”

“Tempting, but I think I’m going to do some journaling and sort out all of these new emotions,” you replied. “I’ll definitely join everyone for dinner later, though.”

She smiled, closing the door behind her. “You better. I’ll leave you to it.”

Hazel’s words had left you feeling like a new woman, and so you put on your favorite feel-good playlist and danced around the room before doing some light journaling. You wrote about everything, from the crush you’d had on Leo before Calypso entered his life to still having it even after she exited to the feelings you were sorting out now, and what exactly they meant. You filled six pages with words, doodles, and scribbles, letting anything that came into your head flow out naturally onto the paper. An hour later, you felt better than you ever had before. Every emotion you had been ignoring or neglecting or shutting down had now found a place on your journal paper, and you felt free to express your emotions without judgement of anyone else.

Meanwhile, in Percy’s room, the guys were up to much different activities.

yours truly || leo valdez x fem!reader smau

a/n: sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger <3 and you know i had to do the classic there was only one bed but anyway!! part one of the long-awaited finale is here! part 2 coming at 12PM EST tomorrow!!

masterlist < previous > next

leo taglist: @slytherindaughterofposeidon0 @persephil @mmmelanie-blog1 @blue-violin @goldengoddess @dee-zbignuts @animes-trash @nottherealslimshady @vermillioneyes @cellias

yours truly taglist: @itsnottilly @katrin-okay @officialfictionalwreck @sunshineandshadowss @goldengoddess @dee-zbignuts @animes-trash @dont-get-upset @cellias @breadbrobin @haox @broadwayismydrug @burrito-fight @the-swageyama-tobiyolo @lilredpanda29 @marshmallow12435

#Leo Valdez #leo valdez x reader #leo valdez smut #leo valdez angst #leo valdez x you #leo valdez icons #Heroes of Olympus #heroes of olympus smau #the heroes of olympus #hoo #hoo smau #hoo pjo #hoo pjo toa #pjo #pjo smau #pjo hoo toa #pjo social media au #pjoverse #riordanverse

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viilpstick · 5 months

Note

Anyways!!! Here's the very very beginning of the event, it's not the event itself it's more of a prologue, and like I said I'll formally post it later once I have stuff figured out (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ enjoy!

Tagging @justm3di0cr3 too!!

•••

“Uhm… I'm sorry if I'm overstepping, Isabelle but…” Poppy began, using her spoon to mix the sugar in her tea, staring at it nervously. “You seem a bit… off today.”

“Off?” Isabelle repeated, lifting her eyebrow.

“I must agree.” Adeline explained. “You’ve been sighing and frowning more than usual. Don't tell me…” the blonde gave her a knowing look and Isabelle rolled her eyes.

“No, it doesn't involve Leona. Different from what you believe, Delih, my world doesn't revolve around him.” Adeline pouted and Poppy let out a small giggle. Isabelle sighed. “I must return to my kingdom this friday and start preparations for the ball.”

“Ball?”

“Ah, you must be referring to the Rose Ball.” The blonde said, a happy smile on her face as Isabelle nodded, but Poppy just continued confused. Adeline chuckled. “In Roseneuve, that is, our housewarden’s kingdom, there's a ball held once every 10 years to celebrate the end of the curse of The Cursed Beast and the bravery of The Fearless Princess for breaking said curse.”

“Wait, our Fearless Princess?”

“Indeed. My kingdom is where the story of the wonderful princess our dorm is based on originates from.” Isabelle continued and Poppy grinned, a little 'oh!' escaping her lips, making the older one smile from such reaction. Still, Poppy tilted her head in confusion.

“Wait… but why are you upset, Isabelle? Isn't it an honor to prepare for this event? I’d be over the moon!”

“Well… it should be but… let's just say my considerate older sisters decided to throw all the responsibility onto me this year.” Isabelle clicked her tongue in annoyance. “They're exactly 7 and 10 years older than me, yet they fail to have basic decency… I'm the youngest one yet I'm expected to take care of such an important date…!” Isabelle breathed in and out, trying to calm her nerves and sipped her tea. “Well, it's not like complaining will change anything, so nevermind all that.”

“That's a shame… I wish I could help you in any way.”

“Me too, but unfortunately said ball is destined only to royals and nobility.” Adeline said, sipping in her own tea and Isabelle groaned, hand on her forehead.

“Do not remind me… to think I have to deal with such people…” she complained, but then lifted her eyes to Adeline, her eyes shining in delight as an idea popped in her head. “Wait– that's it! Adeline, Poppy you two are geniuses!”

The two girls looked at each other and then to their housewarden, tilting their heads almost at the same time, creating a comic image. “We are?”

“Papa always insists that in every ball if I want to bring friends over, I can! Exceptions can always be made for the Desrosiers’ acquaintances!” Isabelle clapped her hands in excitement. They didn't need to know that her father only said this to encourage Isabelle to make more friends, and they definitely didn't need to know that it failed hundreds of times. “I must call papa immediately– oh, that is, if you two want to come with.”

“I’d be delighted!” Poppy cheered and Adeline seemed to think it through, an anxious expression on her face.

“Delih? What is it, would you not like to come?”

“No, no– well, it's just…” she looked between the girls and sighed, letting cautious out the window. She could always use her Unique Magic to flee if someone happened to figure out her real status. “I suppose it would be fun.”

“That's wonderful! Oh, girls you two are the best.” Isabelle quickly got up and kissed both of her friends’ faces, running away to her room and letting most of her tea untouched. Poppy sighed dreamily.

“A ball, a royal ball at that! I wonder what Epel’s gonna say once I tell him!”

“Yes, I wonder…” Adeline mumbled, half of her hoping Malleus wasn't invited this year, and another one hoping he did.

ADELINE USING HER UM TO RUN AWAY IS SO REAL LIKE- "Oh, aren't you the princess of-" WOOSH!

she was there than she is no longer there

mah istg i am SO EXITED to see what you are up too LKJAKAJKLJ

giggling as i will anxiously wait for the rest frfr

#𐙚 moots ♡#inbox 𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ✧#♡ ! mah #♡ ! mah's writing

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lostbutterflyutau · 3 months

Text

Morning Conversations

Note: I'm not great with crossovers, so I decided to dust off another piece and not use the prompt. I'm also always wary of being the first poster for an event, but here we go.

Plot explanation here is simple. This takes place in my post OG canon divergent timeline (does that make sense?) the long story short version for this fic is that Akito ended up breaking things off with Shigure and ultimately married someone else (who was formerly part of her staff (hired post canon)) and they have a daughter who's the same age as Kyo and Tohru's younger son.

Thanks to AO3 author OnigriCat4Ever for letting me use their names for Kyo and Tohru's younger children!

And if you can spare a word, comments are much appreciated! They seriously fuel me!

Again, no beta. Apologies for mistakes that will be caught with later re-reads.

****

Prompt: N/A

Timeline: Post-OG Canon.

**** Tohru hummed to herself as she carefully ran a comb over and pulled back the black hair of the little girl sitting between her legs.

“You have very pretty hair, Rina,” She complimented, frowning when a section fell out of her hand as she attempted to comb it over to the side.

Rina didn’t respond, only flipped a page in her picture book.

“Rina?” Tohru asked, tried to see if she could make out her expression from over her shoulder.

“No talking,” Rina muttered, flipped another page.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’ll mess it up.”

Tohru blinked, but continued on, wondering as she did so exactly what Rina was talking about. She ran over the words in her head again. It wasn’t surprising that at just four years old, she could speak so directly. Her mother was the same. When Akito didn’t like something or needed tasks done, she was never afraid to say it. Her own feelings, however, were another matter.

With a chuckle at the thought, she reached for the hair tie next to her, paused again as she wrapped her fingers around the blue baubles and the thought morphed into the realisation that Rina was likely repeating something Akito had told her while attempting to style her hair.

Even with a group of women to help, she still struggled with the task, something that was understandable given how she’d been raised for the first twenty years of her life and her choice to keep her own hair short. Knowing that, it made sense that trying to talk and work with her hands in her daughter’s hair at the same time could be distracting.

“You don’t have to worry about that with me,” Tohru reassured. “I’m an expert!”

“What’s that mean?”

Tohru smiled, pulled Rina’s hair through the tie. “It means that I practiced a lot and now I’m very good at hair.”

“Mama’s not.” Rina closed her book.

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“She doesn’t have as much hair as you do. That’s all,” Tohru said, secretly hoping that, unlike her youngest son, she didn’t continue to ask questions.

“So…” Rina said, shifted her bare feet as she thought. “She needs me to practice?”

Tohru laughed as she finished securing the side ponytail, gave it a gentle pull to silently let Rina know she was done as she continued. “She needs you for more than that.”

Rina stood and turned in her spot, her dark eyes full of an innocent curiosity that was completely contradictory to the way some of the older maids described them. At least that’s what she’d heard after a bit of pressing. It was something that Akito and Tedachi had been reluctant to talk about, especially given the other accusations that came with the comments.

“Like what?” Rina said, her voice and touch as she played with a piece of Tohru’s hair pulling her out of her thoughts.

Her face softening, Tohru gently took Rina’s hands. “Everything, really.”

Rina tilted her head.

“You make her so happy. She smiles every day just because you’re here with her. Your Daddy too,” Tohru said earnestly.

“Mama says that too!”

“Because it’s true! Your Mama and Daddy love you so much. We all do.”

Tohru knew well how complicated Akito’s life had been up to a certain point and how hard things still were at times despite everything she had done to turn things around. Not to mention how difficult the entire process of having this child had been for her. From even trying to conceive right up until her daughter was born, the complications that followed and the period of depression she battled after it was all over, nothing had been easy.

She still vividly remembered how, during her first visit to meet Rina, Akito lamented to her and Shima that the baby hated her. That all Rina did when she was around was cry. And even after Tedachi came in with the sleeping baby in her carrier and said that their daughter cried for him and her paediatrician at that day’s appointment just as much, Tohru still saw hesitation in her eyes. One that only started to fade when, the following day at lunch, Mayuko gave her the same wisdom she had once given Tohru. That ‘babies who cry grow.’ That her crying meant she was healthy and would grow up strong and also that, in accordance with an old belief, it may have been a way of protecting her parents and chasing off their anxious thoughts.

Seeing how they all were now, it was interesting to look back on those early days. Now Rina rarely cried. Like any child, she had her moods and moments and could be picky about certain things, but a cry-baby she was not and even if they didn’t often say it, Tohru knew that her parents were glad those days were behind them. And though some were still hard, most days now were filled with love and laughter and learning new things.

“Auntie?” Rina asked, the question bringing Tohru’s focus back to her. She then continued once she was sure she was paying attention, “If they love me so much, why’d they leave this morning?”

Unable to help herself, once Tohru processed the question and realised exactly what Rina was talking about, she laughed, quickly figured that her parents had forgotten to mention their outing.

Tohru gently pulled at the girl’s long, lose fringe piece. “They went on a date, Silly!”

Rina frowned at the explanation. It just didn’t make sense. Her Mama and Daddy never went out in the morning, only at night. When they did, usually Uncle Hatori or Auntie Shima came over. Sometimes they didn’t come back until morning. Those times she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, but she didn’t remember them ever leaving early except for work.

“In the morning?”

Tohru laughed again. “It’s a breakfast date!”

Not understanding what was funny, Rina crossed her arms. “That doesn’t make sense. Dates are dinner.”

“Of course it does,” Tohru said, this time holding in her laugh. She could see from the look on her face that Rina didn’t quite understand the teasing. She really was just like her mother.

“Dates can be whenever. They don’t have to be only at dinner.”

Rina opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could get a word out, Katsuro called her name. At first, he sped past the room, but quickly came running back moments later with a ball in hand.

“There you are!” He said. “You’re on my team!”

“What team?” Rina asked, all thoughts about what counted as a date and what didn’t forgotten as she ran over to join him.

“Be careful!” Tohru called after them, remembering how her son had tripped over a rock during a game the previous day and came back with a scraped knee and bruised ego.

“We will!” Katsuro called back over his shoulder before disappearing through the door frame with his cousin.

Tohru smiled, let out a sigh as she leaned back on her hands, happy to have a small, quiet moment to herself, at least until her husband came in with Sachiko in her carrier.

“How was your trip?” She asked, sitting straight again.

“It was nice. She likes the supermarket,” Kyo said, gently setting the carrier down as he sat, not wanting to disturb the sleeping baby.

“Of course she does! There’s so much to look at!”

Kyo laughed. “Where are the boys? I didn’t see them when I came in.”

“I think they went to play with the neighbour kids. Katsuro said he needed Rina for his team,” Tohru said and then giggled as her and Rina’s conversation came back. “But before he did, she said the funniest thing.”

“Did she?”

Tohru nodded. “When I told her that her parents were on a date, she said that people can only have dates at dinnertime. And she had this serious look on her face. You know, that same one Akito gets sometimes?”

“I swear, between the two of them, Tedachi must have his hands full.”

“I don’t think he minds,” She said, remembering both just how happy the family looked when they arrived for their visit and how cheerful the couple had been that morning just before heading out, but still serious enough to give Tohru a few basic instructions regarding their daughter’s morning routine and which comb worked best for her hair.

The thought both widened her smile and got the metaphorical gears turning in her head.

“And you know, Rina did give me an idea.”

Kyo didn’t answer, only looked over to her in a silent cue to continue.

“We’re overdue for a breakfast date of our own, don’t you think?”

“Just let me know when,” He said, smiling as he slid his arm around her waist and then softly kissing her head when she leaned against him.

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basedkikuenjoyer · 9 months

Text

A Marvelously Wonderful Life

1102 was a very tough chapter to write about. I usually have a draft ready from the Raws, but here there were a few angles I had to look at it from. So y'all are getting a Christmas bonus. On the surface this is just a cool, cool chapter. We split between Kuma and Bonney's stories, showing the former's side of known events. It's so moving in it's own right, do remember part of why I choose to focus on the meta narrative aspects is because it's hitting very close to home. And y'all this one's a doozy. Bookends. So this flashback begins with Ginny saving the day at God Valley the way she did and now ends with Kuma setting a precedent for the exact narrative trope we're looking for? Showing hidden sides of known events.

That's it, that's like...the entire foundational building block of all this weird shit I've said. Kiku was perfectly set up to do this with all of Wano, but it'd really start looking like a new recruit narrative fast. It's not just saying that the same way anyone could do that, we've pointed out several specific places where you could guess something happened based on context clues. Miss Unassuming is kinda the #1 archetype to pair with a twist told that way. In essence, this flashback starts and ends by setting a precedent. That's one way you could look at it, given I can tie both to Victoria Cindry is blowing my mind.

You cheeky lil shit. Don't worry, I'm not getting ahead of myself. This could just be a last note of the flashback and next chapter we're back to fighting Saturn. Kuma pops in to save the day with a last ounce of humanity, the miracle we didn't see with Cindry. Tomorrow we'll talk big picture, why I still wonder if this is a red herring walking the same line as Yamato. But first we have to ask the basic question, where does 1103 go from here? Because it can do that...but did we see it? A repeat of how we came back from the big cutaway. When we skipped the night in the lab. Is this the start of us coming back to that? Don't forget that was a double-bluff too.

That is an intriguing possibility. Always cool when you see the concept you expected but in a different way that's instantly so much better. Yeah, that is the way to play with the flow of this narrative. Skip the night, get to the high drama, fill in the night, finish the fight. To me, if that's what we're doing then this is almost assuredly heading towards the "Double Rashomon" idea. There'll be one more segment away. Maybe it's the alternate take on Wano. Maybe that's through Sword and Drake's report. Maybe it's the two Stussys as a pretext to let Marco do it. Maybe it's something completely different with or without alt-Wano as the fourth, real one. Neat right?

Crackle. Oh man, story's picking up another frequency again. There's something I'm left with here. Kuma's a total patron saint of teddy bears and genuinely good dudes everywhere. He's so cuddly and sweet and I know some of y'all are gonna hate me for this but he's also kind of a trusting idiot. So it's interesting you have that "Bakura" split personality element seep in.

We've broached this subject before, it's where Okiku was an evolution of Himura Kenshin. Which is really just the difference between a man making big, grandiose axioms about nonviolence vs. a sensible, pragmatic woman who will bear the burden of doing what's necessary as a last resort. Remember how much Kuma's sacrifices troubled Ginny. A little more grit and realism from the very spiritual Kuma probably would have been better for everyone involved, but at least people end up remembering you as a figure like Oden.

Makes this little crackle very interesting. It theoretically works as a Chekov's Gun; a way for Kuma to have a happy ending if Vegapunk snuck it in anyways. Or it works as a roadmap for where Kuma, saintly as he may be, fell short and is part of something bigger. Recall, we do make a point of showing something similar out of Vivi losing her cool in a tense conversation with Cipher Pol. (Psst, and Stussy setting up still struggling with personal identity issues that are silly to worry too much about.)

#one piece #post wano musings #chapter 1102 #bartholomew kuma #jewelry heckin bonney

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foxgirl95 · 6 months

Text

Back Into The Fray CH.4: A Night on Nowhere

Chapter Description: !!Time skip!! Post-Season One-Pre-Season Two

Reuniting on Port Nowhere, Mando needs a friend and a well deserved nap.

AO3 Link

<< Previous Chapter - Next Chapter>>

First Chapter

After the events of Nevarro, The Mandalorian was tired, very tired. For the first time in over a cycle, he wasn't running from anyone. Not from his past, not the other bounty hunters, and not those damned imps. He needed a break but as that was true so was the fact he had a kid to take care of. As much as he came to care for the little guy he cursed the magic or whatever it was that gave him boundless energy. Searching for the Jedi was not going well either, it seemed that just like him very few people knew what they even were in the first place. So frustration was another emotion he had to add to his current state. He knew what he needed, to find other Mandalorians. If his Armorer knew the stories and songs of the time when the two races had been at odds that meant someone else had to have heard them as well. He’d hit a wall there too, it seemed his people were even rarer than he thought. However, there was one place that crossed his mind but that was a den of rather unsavory individuals. Then again that's what some people have said about him too. Normally he wouldn't hesitate in this kind of decision but now he had to consider his foundling’s safety. He wrestled with the idea but in the end, it was the only lead he had. So as he brought the Razor Crest out of hyperspace slowly approached his next destination, Port Nowhere. The spaceport had been around for as long as anyone alive could remember drifting aimlessly through space and it had always been where the outside galaxy had no hold. He pulled his ship into one of the decks and disembarked onto the artificial streets, the floating pram of his founding following behind.

Already knowing where to start as he walked up to the first bar in his path. The Mandalorian could hear a crowd inside shout excitedly and he walked in to find all the patrons surrounding what he presumed to be a table from how tightly they were gathered. They all cheered until the crowd parted and a drunk Rodian fell back from their chair onto the floor. “The woman wins!!!” One man shouted as the crowd went wild with a mix of cheers and groans. A particular few were genuinely angered at their loss. The winner stood up on her chair above them and Mando had to do a double take. He almost didn’t believe it but that bright pink hair and those emerald green eyes confirmed it “Alright everyone, credits in the bag! C’mon, let’s go!” The woman shouted holding her drawstring purse open to the crowd as they dumped a collection of currency into it. He could hear the beeping of her droid at her feet before a reluctant patron was shocked into giving up his money. As the crowd started to clear he noted the stack of shot glasses on the table wondering just exactly how drunk she may be. Finally finding his voice, the Mandalorian called out to her “Anai…?” Immediately her head snapped in his direction and the look of confusion on her face was soon replaced with a bright smile “Mando?!” Delighted to see the man she nimbly jumped down, showing no change from her usual demeanor, holding her arm out to him repeating the same gesture from the last time they parted “What are you doing on Nowhere?” She asked to which Mando shrugged “I could ask you the same question.” Anai smirked as she put her hands on her hips, “Touché.” Her droid, Racket if Mando remembered right, was surprisingly just as excited to see them as she was. He circled the group happily letting out a series of happy beeps and whistles as the child poked his head out of the pram. Anai reached out to the little one bringing him close to her chest in a soft hug “Oh and I missed you so much cutie!” She nuzzled him lightly.

Turning back to Mando she nodded her head towards a booth along the wall where he saw her backpack resting on one of the seats “Come sit with me?” He gestured for her to lead the way as they both took a seat across from one another “I heard about something interesting that went down on Navarro.” Anai stated as she placed the child on the table between them “About some leftover imps and a Mandalorian?” She leaned forward, her arms crossed on the tabletop. “That wouldn’t have anything to do with you, would it?” Mando shrugged tipping his head to the side as if to say “I’m not gonna confirm or deny”

“Maker Mando…” Anai took his reaction as a yes, cursing under her breath “Well Dank Farrik, why wasn’t I invited? Taking on imps? I would’ve been all over that!” Her stained lips formed a pout now upset she had missed out. He again shrugged, “Actually you were. I went back to Ukio, but you were already gone.” Her pink-dyed eyebrows raised “Oh…so I guess you saw the mess I left behind then?” She sighed, pulling her hands up to rub her temples. “He deserved it, karillja…” Mando noted the way her tone changed from its usual playfulness to genuine anger “What happened?” He asked, feeling his fists tighten against his leg in anticipation. “Kriffing creep made a move on me, I said no and he didn’t like that. So we tussled, I may have let that boy on Tatooine get the jump on me but I wasn’t about to let that happen again.” She paused leaning back in her seat “I got him good, took what Racket and I were owed, jumped the next ship out of orbit, and then we got dumped here.” She gestured to their surroundings as she spoke, the droid parked next to her grunting in anger. The woman smiled and reached out to pat Racket’s head lightly, instantly calming him “Don’t go blowing your circuits over that guy, he’s not worth it.”

“I should’ve killed him.” The modulated voice of Mando suddenly interjected. Anai raised an eyebrow “What?” There was a long pause, Mando didn’t even seem to realize he had said that out loud “I…uh…” he spoke awkwardly wanting to disappear into his seat in embarrassment. The child between them swiveled his head back and forth cooing curiously at what was going to happen. “Mando?” Anai’s voice snapped his view back to her “Did you do something to him?” He started bouncing his leg under the table debating on telling her the truth. The Mandalorian watched as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him, her tone now serious “Better tell me now before it comes back to bite me in the ass.” She had a point there, who knew what his actions would lead to? “I shot him.” He suddenly blurted out to which Anai slammed her hands against the table causing the little one to fall on his rump “YOU SHO-“ she stopped herself as the heads of the other patrons turned towards their table. She sat back in her seat and took a deep breath before calmly continuing “You shot him?” She asked, Mando nodding to confirm. Anai was at a loss as she asked him “Why? He wasn’t even worth an imps ammunition let alone yours. What possessed you to do that?”

“He tried to buy me, knew about me being with the guild, and was willing to pay me to bring you back to him.” The green-eyed woman sat there stunned with a look of disgust slowly clouding her features “Oh? Well yeah, now I’m glad you shot him. Should’ve led with that.”

Her attention was grabbed by the child on the table who pouted in her direction, probably a little peeved about being knocked to his rump a moment ago. The woman’s features instantly softened “Aw! I’m so sorry little one!” She reached over pulling the child into her side like a mock hug “Did I make you fall? I’m sorry.” The way her voice sounded so sickeningly sweet as she spoke to his foundling irked Mando a bit. It reminded him of how those snooty people in the inner rim spoke to their pets. “You like children.” He spoke again as the two across from him settled into their new position. Anai shot an indiscernible glance his way before nodding “Yeah I guess, I spent a good chunk of my early life raising a few.” Mando wasn’t expecting that. “You’ve had your own?” The woman scoffed into a laugh as she shook her head “Oh Maker no.” She huffed “No where I come from it’s customary to help raise the children in your village.” The man nodded in understanding “The planet of Noneya?” He teased earning him a smirk from across the table “The very same.” After a quiet moment, Mando watched Anai as she lightly stroked one of the child’s ears. She was so touchy with his foundling that it made his mind wonder what it would be like to be in that position, to be held or have his hair lightly stroked and soothed by another. “You never answered my question Mando”, Her voice brought him back to reality, those bright green eyes of hers watching him curiously “What are you doing in Nowhere? It’s not a job is it?” He shook his head “Not a job, I’ve been tasked with returning the foundling to his people.” Anai nodded as she started putting the pieces together “Okay, and Nowhere can be a good place to get that information. Well for the right price in most cases.” Mando knew that all too well with all his prior underworld dealings “My people have stories of others like him, I’m hoping to start with finding other Mandalorians.” The woman let out a sympathetic sigh, “Well, I haven’t seen any besides you since I got here.” He’d figured that too “Is there anyone you know here that just might have? Or at least have access to that information?” She looked down at the table as she drummed her fingers against it in thought “Actually…Yeah,” Anai and her droid locked gazes for a moment before facing him again “There is a guy.” The Mandalorian noted a slight hesitancy in her voice “Do you consider him reliable?” That question earned him a scoff “Are you kidding? Hell no, but he’s all I’ve got for you and he owes me.” She reached over pulling her backpack up onto her shoulder “C’mon, I’ll show you the way.”

They both stood, Anai placing the child back in his pram before heading onto the streets once again. Walking behind his guide the beskar-clad man was able to give her a once over noting a new belt and a small blaster adorning her waist. He mused the thought that the woman was slowly replacing what little of an arsenal she might’ve once owned. She led their little troop through the winding pathways, the area becoming more and more devoid of people. Mando was starting to feel that familiar tug at the back of his mind as they approached a building surrounded by an abundance of droid parts “Who is this contact of yours, again?” The woman turned back to him with a smirk “Getting nervous Mando?” She laughed lightly “Don’t worry, this guy’s a nut for droids but they’re just trophies, none of them function anymore.” She lifted a tarp covering the doorway and a blaster shot suddenly hit the wall next to it. Racket screamed out in surprise as the Mandalorian grabbed Anai’s arm dragging her behind him and pulling out his weapon “And a lousy shot too.” She quipped from behind the shield of beskar. “I’d step right back out of my home if I were you!” A male voice called out from the darkness “Naj Koresh!” The woman called back “It’s Anai! So stop shooting and get your Abyssin butt out here!” *Koresh..?* Mando was certain he had heard that name before but he couldn’t quite place it. He didn’t have much time to think about it either as a portly cyclops emerged from the shadows, the arm of a droid modified into a blaster in his hands “Oh! It’s you girl…and a Mandalorian…” He tossed his blaster on a nearby counter and put his hands on his hips. “You’ll have to forgive me, after our last encounter I've been a little on edge.” Anai ducked under Mando’s raised arm stepping in front of him “I came to collect Naj.” She crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke “We need information.”

The shorter of the two crossed his arms as well “I don’t know if you’ve noticed girl.” He spoke with a spiteful tone “But I am in the business of droids, not information.” His eye traveled past the woman to Racket coming into the entranceway. “My offer still stands, I’d be more than happy to-'' Anai raised a hand quickly cutting him off “Forget it, my astromech is not for sale and never will be.” She grabbed the front of his shirt roughly pulling him up toward her level. “And don’t forget what I said would happen, if you ever tried to steal him from me again.” Mando watched the interaction silently, figuring it wasn’t any of his business. Anai shoved the Abyssin back as she let him go “Now, I know you have connections all over the outer rim and I know you hear things.” Naj huffed while fixing the front of his shirt “And just what exactly is this information you think I’ve heard?”

“Mandalorians.” Mando spoke bluntly as he took a step closer “We are trying to locate more of my kind.” The portly alien huffed “More Mando’s? You don’t seem to be aware but you’re a dying breed young man.”

“Either you know something or you don’t,” The green-eyed woman interjected “Which is it?” Naj gave her a look before nervously scratching his rounded belly “Well, I have not seen or heard of anyone head to toe in beskar. But my cousin has recently mentioned the sighting of one.” Anai cocked her head to the side “Cousin? Is he on Nowhere too?” Naj shook his head “No girl, he’s a planetside type. Got a whole big operation and everything, he’s so busy most of the time it’s a miracle to hear from him in the first place.” Mando exchanged a look with his female companion stating “So I’m guessing a quick call is out of the question.” Of course, it was, why would it not be? “I can give you coordinates and put in a good word for you, but if I’m honest…” The balding alien gestured to the pram floating beside the Mandalorian “It’s not really a place you wanna bring a kid.”

“The child is in my care,” Mando spoke bluntly with a roughness lacing his tone “He does not leave my side.”

His words of warning worked to great effect as he towered over the cyclops who shifted nervously in his shadow. He finally stepped back towards the entrance catching sight of Anai out of the corner of his eyes, having to stop himself from stumbling over his feet as he saw her lips creep up into a soft smile. What was she doing to him? Mando had been questioning such things since the last time they parted. He even questioned the possibility of her being Jedi too. Maybe it was some weird thing they could do, to fill people with thoughts and emotions they normally wouldn’t have. It was like the kid all over again as if something was slowly creeping its way through his body slipping past what he thought was an impenetrable wall of beskar that surrounded him. *No.* He couldn’t let it happen again, his foundling as one thing he was a defenseless kid, Anai was an adult and very capable of helping herself. Besides, he had learned his lesson the last time he decided to play that game. The Mandalorian was suddenly brought back from the frantic thoughts as he felt a tug at his sleeve. His visor snapped in that direction to meet with the curious green of Anai who was currently pinching the fabric of his sleeve to get his attention. “You alright there Mando?” She cocked her head to the side curiously as her eyes searched his being for any signs of distress “Racket’s got your heading, let’s get out of here. This place is starting to give me the creeps.” He watched as she walked past him and stood his ground for a moment. The Mandalorian was about to go against his better judgment and he hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be a mistake.

On their way back towards civilization, the two adults remained utterly silent much to the disappointment of the little one who floated in the parm between them. Mando had continued to internally contemplate what he should do about Anai when he felt the unmistakable sense of danger creeping up his back. All of his senses were now on full alert, and that was when he heard it, the sound of boots behind them. The Mandalorian used his peripheral vision to check the woman beside him whose features held no indication if she had felt it as well she looked utterly calm. As they continued along he also happened to notice shadows on the opposite ends of the alleyways they passed by. They were approaching a blind corner, someone would be waiting, he was sure of it. As predicted when they got close enough the towering figure of a Chargrian male walked into their path holding a blaster toward them. Mando recognized him as one of the unlucky patrons from the bar, the very one who Racket had shocked into giving up his credits “Remember me?” He stared down Anai and her droid as he spoke almost completely ignoring the Mandalorian. The man stepped forward as the group who had been following them began to close in “I don’t know how you did it girl, but you cheated me and my friends out of our credits.” Two men started approaching closer from behind Racket whimpered and shuddered as he rolled closer to his master. “Now then, we’ll be taking back the money you stole and maybe we’ll let you and your friends live.” As they got closer Mando’s hand went to his holster, loudly clicking the safety off causing the ones closest to him to stop in their tracks. His other hand pulled his foundling's pram closer as his helmet smoothly swiveled to each of them. His lips parted to speak but he was quickly cut off by the sound of…laughter?

The laughter was of a wicked nature; it caused an air of spite and ridicule to encircle all those in its vicinity. It was cold enough to send a shock through one’s system and for the Mandalorian, it ran through him twice when he realized it was coming from beside him. He looked over to his companion to confirm and sure enough, Anai was holding her stomach with one hand while the other hovered over her mouth. “The kriff are you laughing about?” The horned man bellowed, shoving the muzzle of his blaster towards her “You think this is funny? Are you making fun of me?” After taking a moment to finally compose herself the pink-haired woman looked up at the taller alien “Yeah, I am.” She stated coolly even the usual brightness of her eyes was gone now shadowed by, Mando could feel that creeping feeling from before icily climbing up his spine. This was wrong, this was not the Anai he had come to know. His thoughts were brought to a halt as the woman spoke again “Look at you, you showed up with your little army and everything. Did you feel so intimidated by me and my friend here that you needed backup?” She sighed and shrugged her backpack off her shoulders, “Alright if you want it so badly you can have the money.” Anai dug into the pack producing her purse as the contents inside jingled around “Geez there’s a lot in here. How are you guys gonna split all this?” The assailants looked at each other in questioning before turning to their leader as she continued “I mean you could all get your credits back but what about the rest? Someone here is bound to walk away with more than everyone else…Then again…” Her attention went straight to the man in front of her “Maybe that’ll be your fee for being head of the whole operation?” *Oh. So that’s what she was up to*, he watched as the others in the enemy party started to turn to each other. He could practically hear the cogs in their heads turning as their thoughts turned to greed. Luckily the towering male in front of them paid them no mind.

Anai held her purse out to the leader “Here, hope it was worth all the trouble.” As the Chargrain lifted his hand when one of his lackeys came up and snatched the bag making a run for it “Hey! Come back here traitor!” The leader barked as he turned on his heel and ran after the lackey, the others joining in the chase. Mando watched with some amusement before once again feeling a tug on his sleeve, “Quick!” Anai commanded as she pulled him towards the alleyway “Before they realize there are only bolts in that bag.” She was already pushing the giggling foundling’s pram in that direction and Racket had taken off leading them down a new route. The Mandalorian couldn’t help but chuckle as he quickly followed after them through the maze of alleys and back roads avoiding the main route back to the hangar. It may have taken longer but they arrived safely to where The Razorcrest was parked, Mando taking a moment to make sure they truly weren’t followed. His gaze then went to the woman standing next to him “They’re going to come back for you.” He stated to which she only smirked “You think I don’t know that?” Once again she didn’t seem all that worried about having to face them. He was worried though, he didn’t want to leave her here to face them on her own, and he didn’t want to leave her to die in this place. “Come with us. Help me complete my quest.” The Mandalorian spoke in an almost pleading tone, surprising Anai as she stared up at him before her features melted into a sympathetic smile “I’m a package deal remember?” She gestured to Racket “We can’t ask that of you.” The astromech sighed sympathetically in agreement. “I…I’ve been re-evaluating.” He admitted, “There was a droid who changed my perspective and I’m starting to see that there’s a lot more to them than I initially believed.” He heard a huff of laughter from Anai as the next sentence flowed from her tongue “We had a saying in the rebellion,…never underestimate a droid.” That familiar brightness of her eyes returned as she spoke, much to the armored man’s relief. He reached a hand to usher her towards the ship when suddenly a bolt of blaster fire ricocheted off his pauldron making them both jump in surprise. The lackeys from before were running up to them blasters drawn and shooting “GO! Get to the ship!” Mando ordered Anai pushing her and the child’s pram towards The Crest luckily she complied as he drew his blaster returning fire. He managed to take down two of them before they took cover behind some crates, he too ducking behind some machinery close to the ramp.

Anai along with the child and Racket had managed to scramble to the hull, Mando felt some relief at least in there they were covered. That was until he heard the sound of a struggle, the woman was fighting someone and he heard the telltale cry of distress from his kid. Panic set into his chest, he needed to get in there, he had to save them! He didn’t get much time to think about how to get in there because the next thing he knew she was thrown from the ship landing at the bottom of the ramp with an audible thud. As she groaned in pain the Chargrain leader sauntered down, a prideful smile brimming across his face. Anai pulled her blaster as he came near but the horned alien used one of his strong arms to knock it from her grasp as well as backhanding her cheek in the same motion. Now on her back, the larger man pinned her to the ground with the weight of his heavy boot on her chest “You think you can make a fool out of me?” He questioned her angrily as he leaned forward adding more weight and making her gasp for air. The Mandalorian leveled his blaster at the other man’s horned head “Let her go.” His voice was calm and commanding “Or else.” The leader just chuckled though before raising his blaster towards the ship “Shoot at me Mando and my men open fire on your brat.” Anai’s head snapped to Mando the wide-eyed expression on her face. There was so little he could do, and he cursed himself for it. “Merichetara-“ The gasping words of the woman finally reached his ears, “Forget me,” She begged “The kid…more important.” Mando tightened his grip on his blaster, she was right he couldn’t risk it. “Shut up!” The other man shouted as he shoved his foot under her chin “What’s it gonna be Mando?!” He turned to the beskar-clad man as Anai desperately tried to grab her blaster that was just out of reach, her fingers just barely grazing the grip.

Then suddenly she felt the weight lift from her body. The woman turned her gaze back to her attacker only to find that he was floating right over her. Panic and confusion set as she looked around to confirm everyone else was seeing this too. Her eyes now landed on the small green being at the top of the ship's ramp. There stood the child, his arm outstretched and his features wrinkled in focus. She stared for a moment before she was drawn back to herself hearing her name echo against the walls “Anai, move!” The Mandalorian called out, and in a split second she rolled out from under the man grabbing her blaster, turning to see him unceremoniously drop to the ground. This was it she took the shot, twice for good measure. Then in a flurry, she was grabbed up by the back of her leather jacket and hauled to her feet as she was pushed towards the ship “Go! Now!” Mando shouted his voice pushing her forward as she ran up the ramp scooping the now sleeping child into her arm and scrambled up the ladder. She didn’t even hear the gunfight behind her, she was way too panicked to answer any of the questions Racket asked as she ran to the passenger seat quickly strapping herself in. Her mind was running on autopilot barely registering the Mandalorian as he passed her, starting up the ship and getting them the hell out of there. It wasn’t until they were safely in hyperspace that her eyes finally tore themselves from her feet to stare into the T-visored helmet of Mando that the one question her lips dared to form came.

“What the hell was that?!”

All graphics by: @saradika-graphics

#star wars #fanfiction #din djarin #the mandalorian #fan fic #original character #din and grogu #din djarin fanfic #din djarin x ofc #din djarin x oc #razor crest #groguthechild #mandalorian and grogu

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oohnoniall · 2 years

Text

Strawberry Milkshake || Steve Harrington x OC

After the events of Rocky Road, Emily takes matters into her own hands.

A love story told in smut one shots.

WARNINGS: SMUT MINORS DNI. Dirty talk, pet names, fingering.

The phone stared at her. Telling her to pick it up. Pick it up and stop being a little bitch about it.

This never happened. Her words repeated in her mind. How could she have said it? How could she have acted like she could pretend that Steve hadn’t taken her to another fucking planet in the back of Scoops Ahoy.

It had been three days. Three days and no matter what she did, she could not cum. She had tried everything. Vibrators, dildos, even Gareth eating her out for half an hour hadn’t done anything. The truth of the matter was that she needed Steve. Needed his fingers, his tongue, his monster of a cock that she swore was going to split her in half.

Her pride had been the only thing that kept her from crawling to him that very night. She had been determined to hold out for as long as physically possible. However, that didn’t seem to be going well for her.

Emily was restless. Restless and nearly in pain from just how badly she needed a release. She’d never been so worked up before. No guy had ever made her want to come back for more. Hell, Gareth didn’t ever make her want to come back. He was just always available and always made her feel comfortable.

But he wasn’t Steve.

“Fuck this,” Emily groaned as she picked up her phone. She glanced once at her bedroom door as she dialed the number that she shouldn’t have memorized. It was locked, her parents were gone, and her brother wasn’t supposed to come home for another two weeks. She was safe and she knew it.

“Harrington residence,” his voice sounded gravelly and low, as though he had just woken up. “Steve speaking.”

“Hey Stevie,” Emily purred out, trying to act like she normally did.

“Emily?” A loud crash sounded from the other end of the phone. Had he dropped something? Had her voice made him lose whatever control he had? “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me again.”

“I missed you. Didn’t you miss me?”

“I… I feel like that’s a trick question.” At least he was learning. Emily had wondered if he’d ever figure out what she was like.

“You’re right,” she sat up just slightly on her bed, trying like hell to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. “I know you’ve missed me. Robin told me that you haven’t stopped asking about me. She’s starting to think that you like me.”

“Maybe I do.”

“No you don’t.” The thought of Steve liking her was enough to break Emily’s brain. They were supposed to hate each other. They weren’t supposed to think of each other the way Emily had been thinking about him. “You like that I submitted to you the other day. You liked fucking me. I liked fucking you, too, Stevie.”

“Why are you calling me, Em?” His voice took on that stern tone that made her shiver.

“You never let me cum, Daddy,” her voice was a purr. “It was the only thing disappointing about our time together. I need it, Daddy.”

“Are you … Are you begging to cum? On the phone? Is this some sort of prank?”

“No, Stevie. I promise … I just … Fuck, don’t make me say it.”

“Say it, Emily. I wanna hear my pumpkin.” God that name was going to be the death of her. And yet … Something about it just felt so right.

“I haven’t been able to cum. Nothing’s the same as you, Steve. There, happy?”

“No.” Steve sounded more exasperated than she had anticipated.

“What?”

“I’m not there fucking you into your mattress. I can’t be there, I’ve got a babysitting gig in half an hour.”

Emily’s heart sank into her stomach. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been hoping to see him again. Hadn’t realized how badly she needed his body pressed against hers. But not getting it seemed to drive the point home.

“This is what we’re going to do,” Steve sounded so in control that it made her head spin. “We’re gonna play on the phone. Alright, Pumpkin?”

“But it’s not the same,” Emily hated that she was whining. Hated that he brought her to that point.

“I know, doll, but it’s the best we can do. How about I take you out tomorrow night and we actually fuck to your hearts content? This can just hold you over until then.”

A date. With Steve Harrington?

“Like a date?”

“I meant it when I said I liked you, Em. Just one date. If you still hate me at the end of it, we never have to even see each other again. And I’ll let you cum, as long as you’re not a little fucking brat.”

“You’ve got a deal, Harrington.” It would be a horrible idea but she would at least get some sort of pleasure at the end of the night. “Now, can we pretty please play, Daddy? I’m about to die here.”

“Calm down, baby, you’re not dying. Safe word?”

“Vampire.”

“That’s my girl.” Emily had to bite her tongue to keep from retorting. “No snappy little retort? Is my baby learning how to behave?”

“Nope. I just really want to cum by the end of this.”

Steve’s laugh made her feel breathless. Made her feel as though she was going to soar. God, she had it bad for the boy that she had always hated. She didn’t know when she had fallen for Steve. It seemed to have happened slowly, snowballing until he was the only thing that she thought about.

“That’s my girl,” he teased her. “Why don’t you start playing with that pretty little clit for me? Small circles, Em. I want you to tease yourself.”

“Yes, sir,” she mumbled, her hand traveling down her body. She did as he instructed, a soft whimper escaping her. Normally, she wouldn’t have made a noise. But being on the phone with Steve made it feel as though she had to perform. As though she had to put on the show of a lifetime to get his approval.

God she hated herself for it.

“That’s it baby,” Steve’s voice had taken on a gruff tone. “What are you thinking about, huh? What do you think about when you touch yourself?”

“You,” she hadn’t anticipated the truth falling out of her mouth. “Fuck, it’s always you. I just want you buried between my thighs, want to feel you everywhere.”

“Fuck, Em,” she could picture his hand wrapped around his thick cock. Pumping himself as he listened to her. “Why don’t you get yourself ready for me, huh? I want you to finger yourself. Got that, Princess?”

“Don’t call me princess,” she shuddered as she slid a finger into herself.

“I’ll call you a princess if I want. You want to act like a little brat and then get spoiled as hell? That’s a princess. You’re my little fucking princess and I’m gonna make damn sure you know who you belong to.”

“Fuck,” Emily whined as she added a second finger.

“You belong to me, don’t you baby? You know that you can’t feel this way with anyone else. Why fight it? You’re my little slut. You’ll always be my little slut.”

“Your little slut,” she found herself agreeing, his words finding their way into her very soul. “Fuck, just want to be your slut.”

“That’s it, good girl,” he cooed through the line. A soft groan escaped him. At least she knew this was affecting him just as much.

But why?

They’d spent years hating each other. Years acting as though they wouldn’t care if the other just up and disappeared. What was changing? Was it just graduating and realizing that high school wasn’t the whole world? Or was it something else? Did that stupid sailor uniform cast some spell over her?

God, he must have an excellent charisma stat.

Emily shook off her thoughts. Now was not the time for thinking about DND. Not when she was fucking herself with her fingers, using a come hither motion that normally worked rather well.

Tonight, however, it didn’t seem to be doing shit.

A frustrated groan left her mouth. “Daddy, this isn’t the same.”

“Add another finger,” Steve huffed out.

“Won’t fit.”

“Oh, yes it will,” he sounded more confident than she felt. “Pumpkin, if I can fit two of mine, you can fit three of yours. Your hands are smaller than mine. Remember? Your thighs were trembling for me. God, I can’t wait to have them wrapped around my neck tomorrow. You gonna let me eat you out, Em?”

“Yes,” she nearly squeaked, wincing as she slipped a third finger inside of herself. “Let you do whatever you want if you let me cum.”

“You’re still mad at me for that?” She could hear the smirk in his voice. She didn’t know if she wanted to kiss him or deck him for it.

“Yes!” Emily groaned out, back arching as her index finger brushed against her gspot. “Shoulda let me cum.”

“You never would’ve learned your lesson if I had. Besides, I think you like it. Think you like knowing someone isn’t afraid to punish you. Does Damien talk to you like this?”

Now that wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Her relationship with Damien was as well known as her relationship with Steve. Feral, toxic, and always unpredictable. Damien stifled her. But he also knew how to worm his way back into her heart.

Steve hated him. Eddie hated him. Everyone hated him.

Everyone except Emily.

“No,” she hated to admit it. “D-Damien doesn’t do anything fun,” she stumbled over her words as the heel of her hand dug into her clit.

Steve was quick to notice.

“Guess that why you had to call begging for me, huh, Pumpkin? I’m the one who knows how to play with you. You love it when I play with you, don’t you?”

“Yes, God, yes,” she whined out, thoughts beginning to leave her.

“You close, Em?”

“Yes.”

“That’s my girl. Want to hear you cry out my name when you cum for me, alright? Want to hear you begging for me to fuck you into your mattress. Hell, I want to hear you say you hate me. Got it?”

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.” The words were a prayer as she grew closer and closer to her climax.

“No, you don’t, baby. You wouldn’t want me so bad if you did.”

“Stevie, please.”

“Now, Pumpkin. Want you to pretend it’s my hand your cumming on. Give me a show, yeah?”

Emily’s voice grew mangled as she called out his name. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, out of relief more than anything. Finally, after days, she was cumming.

A cursed mumble of her own name told her Steve wasn’t far behind her.

“Emily?” His voice came through the line after a minute.

“Harrington?” Her own voice was shot, filled with a post-orgasm breathlessness.

“I’ll pick you up at eight tomorrow night.”

#steve harrington x oc #steve harrington #steve harrington smut #dom steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington is a simp #steve harrington x emily munson #steve harrington x plus sized oc

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surely-galena · 1 year

Note

Hey Galena!

Much much much much thoughts on your status quo post so imma drop this all in an ask and not discord because.... well, no reason.

//cn spoilers

You are so right something is shifting right now bc in current main story the nxx is drifting apart and the boys are pushing Rosa away and frankly, all around sussiness (i haven't read it, i've only read my friend freaking out about it)

For main 5 traitor route, disregarding Vyn's status as sussy, I actually see Marius and Artem as traitor more because they have more at stake here. It's just 1) so interesting to see them!! Traitors!! and 2) I want to see what would happen that Marius can't manipulate out of a situation and turn traitor for some reason or even better, what would happen to cause Artem to become a traitor.

What's more interesting than Kiki though: If Darius has some important information we don't know about.

YES. JEROME. 5TH LI ROUTE. JEROMEEEEEEE (thank you for the shoutout). Jerome 5th LI makes so much sense, man's got a whole illustration dedicated to him, a whole new outfit, lore, hotness, and he's the black hair LI we need in ToT and the only reason Marius enemies to lovers route isn't real is because they had to save it for Jerome (coping)

If Zangr was right all along though, it could be interesting for Hoyo to put a bit of horror into it. What if this point gets explored in the "mls figured out Rosa was being controlled by some unknown entity... ". For instance... Us. The player. The manipulator. The puppeteer dragging Rosa around on the string.

I once had an idea with Rosa time looping except she was consciously aware of it and sets out to change her fate. (Context: she died episode 6 with the air tank thing) I never completed it :'D but the idea is she finds herself time looping over and over again whenever she dies and slowly unites NXX and tries to prevent repeating prior mistakes

OH MY I DIDN'T READ YOUR POINT 6 WHEN I WROTE POINT 1 BUT YES YES YES YOU ARE SO RIGHT

Alternatively, what if we're not hearing all of her thoughts? We think we know Rosa pretty well because of what we read about her, but what if that's just a small peek into her psyche, enough for us to think we know her, when in reality we know nothing about her?

I love outsider POV stories. It's always so interesting to see something major - for instance, a time travel story - but everyone else's POV is shown except the time traveler's. Also I think Baldr is a joke because well, Rosa POV and we always beat her. But it'd be so interesting to see everything from a Baldr POV and show that they aren't the losers we see them as. Maybe we get a Baldr POV story and we find out they have deep ties with Heirson, NXX, and holds a lot more power than we thought. Then we head back to NXX POV and we're freaked out about what we've learned... that the team doesn't know. (I am playing a game rn where we go through the story from our team's POV, then after the chapter is completed, we unlock a shorter Hidden Story for that chapter, where we get backstory & depyh on the events of the chapter we just played, all from an outsider POV. Devs have used this to break my heart with antagonist lore several times hfjksahjkfs - did we literally just beat up the antagonist only to get smacked in the face with her backstory and find out that the place we fought her at is her home and she's never going to be able to return again? Yes. - and while I love Anomaly THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING. For instance, we get a look into Pedro's psyche and guilt as he sabotages Grandpa Vern, someone he once thought of - and possibly still thinks of! - as a grandparent or his acceptance of his fate after, with a "I deserve this" mindset.)

I don't know if the story will have a happy ending - it really depends on if the prologue is also the actual ending with Luke, Artem, and Marius gone and Vyn being the only one remaining. Which would make me cry so hard but at the same time... what happened?

Oh gosh Rose I'm sorry answering this took so long!

1. Is that so about the main story? That's an interesting turn because they were never that close in the first place, it was only because of MC + Nosta + other team events that they started to grow closer. So for them to grow apart again might be an interesting development. It is, however, mildly funny for them to push MC away because although it's most likely for her safety, it also sounds like they want her out of the picture because she does the team building, she brings them together -- and they don't have to function as a cooperative group if she's not around!!

2. I agree that Artem would be an interesting option because of how connected his character is to the law. To have him resort to perhaps more underhanded tactics, perhaps for Neil, would be an interesting twist.

3. Yeah, that's fair about Darius! The NXX would barely be able to make the important arrests without him, so to have Darius not entirely on their side would definitely change things up.

4. Jerome has a lot of potential for an enemies-to-lovers route, so if canon doesn't do it, I'm sure fanon will eventually come up with something XD

5. Ahh, referencing / talking to the player! That one is fun, too, although the developers would have to be careful because you don't want to attack the player or make it so abrupt that you rip the player from their immersion.

8. Exactly! It would be such a twist if we weren't hearing all of MC's thoughts. It would be the unreliable narrator all over again and it would dramatically change the way we saw MC.

9. That's a really great concept, actually. I like the Anomaly levels, too, but having Outsider POV or side stories would really flesh out the world of Stellis so that it feels more like an actual place where people live and struggle and work. I think it's great that the NPCs aren't entirely discarded (e.g. MC running into them in certain events), but it would also be very cool to hear from their perspective.

10. I like to think there would at least be a hopeful ending, because that seems to be a recurring theme in the game. I hear hyv does have a pattern for tragic stories, however, so while everything might not be completely okay in the end, I think the main cast will have to be in a relatively stable place. This sort of links back to the otome aspect -- because there aren't multiple endings, that means there's only one true ending per love interest, and as such, they would all need to be okay so they can live happily with MC in their respective routes. The prologue being the ending would be very interesting for the circular effect, though!

Thanks for discussing this with me! Again, I apologize that this took me so long to get to!

#asks #roshie-writes

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adoracora-elizabeth · 10 days

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Music made me love you, Chapter 18

Hopeful Cora looked at her mother’s butler, who came in with the mail. But he had one letter with him and that was for her mother. It was already two weeks since she had sent her letter to Robert. She should have arranged a new sim card already, but she was not sure what provider to get. Her mother had been far from helpful, and Harold had not been around. At the same time, she did not want to arrange a new sim card, it meant she was staying here. When Martha told her that she would have to come with her to New York, she had hoped to be back in London a couple of days later. But it had now been two weeks and there was no sign she would be able to go back anytime soon.

"Oh Cora, this is amazing news." Martha exclaimed while holding the letter up. "They want to do an interview with you for Loose Woman. I knew it would work."

Cora could only sigh, her mother was using her as a trophy.

"Mama, when will I have some time off?"

"What do you mean time off? We need to get you out everywhere we can."

"Why?" Cora was tired of this conversation, every time the outcome was the same.

"Oh, come on, Cora. Do I need to repeat myself again? There is nothing better than being famous. Oh, darling girl, after this you will be a well-known writer, who can earn a lot of money with writing."

"You do realise that I have not written anything for the second book?"

"Why did you not write more?" Martha said a bit angry.

Cora raised her eyebrows. "Are you serious? When do you think I should write? You drag all over the city and even country, from dusk to dawn. When should I do that writing?"

"You need to find that time. That is up to you. I will make sure the world knows about you, but you yourself need to be sure a new book will be there. And preferable not too late. I talked with your publisher, and they say that bringing out the next book within a year will be best."

"I will need to be able to write Mama."

The phone that started ringing made an end to the conversation.

+++

"Harold, thank you for your invitation. It is good to be away."

"Away from Mama?" Harold asked while kissing Cora's cheek.

Cora's cheeks coloured and she looked at the floor. "Yes." She said quietly.

"Why do you think that I do not live at home anymore? Mama can be a bit too much very easily."

"That is quite the understatement." Cora realised that she could be honest with Harold. "Mama wants me to get famous. But I do not want that. I want to write my books, and I love doing meet & greet days. But not in the size Mama would like to see me do. The first evening I had in London was magical. It was a cosy bookstore, where there was time to talk with the people who showed up. With the events Mama has arranged, I hardly have time to sign the book, before they are pushed away so the next person can fly buy. I want to talk with my readers, I want to hear their opinions."

"And you do not want to be here in New York, am I right?"

She nodded. "There is something in London that helps me with my writing."

"A piano player I believe."

Cora chuckled. "That pianist does help indeed, but it is not only that. The vibes are different, and I get inspired by the old streets that I walk through. The buildings tell a story, even the threes do. I have friends in London, friends I never had here in New York."

"You are happy there; I can see it in your eyes. Why do you not tell Mama that you are going back?"

"How? Please do tell me how. You remember how hard it was the first time. She cut me off from everything. Except the allowance Papa made sure we would always get. But Mama have not sent me anything to help. I did everything on my own, I worked a lot of hours in a restaurant. And now I am stuck here again." She felt tears stinging.

Harold got up and wrapped his arms around her. "You are not stuck here in New York. Not if I have anything to say in it." He kissed her temple. "Now let us do something fun and forget about being stuck here at London."

"Anything you had in mind?" Cora was happy that her brother was on her side, it was at least something and if she needed his help, he would be there for her."

+++

"What a beautiful spot this is Harold?"

"You always say how romantic London can be, but we have those places here too."

Cora leaned against his shoulder; she had hooked her arm in his. She enjoyed spending time with her brother. "I know that I maybe over romanticize London, but you have to admit, that it is harder to find places like this here in New York.

From inside the small café, music came flowing out. It was a classical sound, and it surprised Cora that a café would have that kind of music. Although it did fit the vibe. It was very cosy, with books everywhere and filled with comfy chairs and plants. "Who is the artist that we hear?" Cora asked when the waiter brought them their second set of drinks.

"I can never remember the name of any artist; you could walk with me and look for yourself. We have a system where you can see the current artist that is played." The waiter said.

Cora was surprised, what did she mean walk with me? Could she not just look at the screen herself? She decided not to argue, she was enjoying this calm afternoon with Harold too much and she did not want anything to ruin this feeling.

"I will use the bathroom in the meantime." Harold got up and walked to the back of the café.

Cora noticed that the café was empty, besides them two. That was weird, she never had been anywhere in this city, where no people were eating or drinking in a café. The closer they came towards the back of the café the louder the music got. Another thing that was weird, because why would it get louder?

#cora crawley #downton abbey #robert crawley #downton #fanfiction #cobert

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nightguide · 6 months

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Okay. I have more than one explanation to the expansions of my own art but to be an artist, then i would portray reason than dimensions of being side-lined by people who think they know my heart and gives it to me, ‘i would rather hide’ narrative doesn’t even exist, i am fluent in light in me singing poetry than singing one sided relationships about a heart going to hell than to repeat the same mistake again.

Heres my introduction to my album ‘Spectrum’

‘Spectrum’ is about my autism at highest regard, it’s about chasing an identity when struggle hits you at the hardest when a heart doesn’t notice your own world in their eyes, it’s how a father would be gifted at what he does to provide a heart in healthy ways of being, it’s about that father absent to leave his daughter when life takes a crucial limit to his weight in hers. A father never leaves but her heart wasn’t found to her either, it’s how she didn’t know she was erotically charged to another man whom she didn’t know was her heart in heaven, it’s how torment took her over in the form of gatekeeping and gaslighting in a paradox she’s yet to discover cuz why would you take a heart to limits when the same heart would never recover from the ways of the old coming back to her in a haunted light of mankind falling to pieces over a woman crying out her worth and being ignored for it.

Spectrum is once upon a time, a woman like i was finding the meaning of life through means of heartbreak and realisations in a loop to know the world in beauty, cuz she knew, she knew enough to live the day like it was her last, she knew the day enough to treat everybody the way she treated her own mind and she knew she wasn’t perfect, it’s how time took her to know pain desperately when religion agonised her heart by existing that it felt like hell for her to know happiness except by only dying a minute longer to sustain pride, but God knew if she was truly happy, she would have been afraid of her own life being taken from her cuz her own promise to love was compromised by a shortcoming and it always was a reason to terrify the world for the best, only made the worse stronger by resisting heart to the world by laws of arrogance

How Spectrum began was that my heart was in a constant state of anxiety due to religious trauma and how it came to me was that i was terrified of religion all my life due to child abuse by my parents but they know now how to get it resolved to quality due to the state of my heart being raised wasn’t in heartfelt function, they were doing what was best for me cuz my mind was only functioning to a heartfelt point cuz that abuse was what saved my life only to take it too seriously in my own honour to live a greater life for what i knew I deserved; any woman in that stage would complain about why the system wasn’t made for them and how recklessly mankind was abusing their power to the point where it felt like childhood politics gone too far, that i lacked heart enough to live hence why i ‘died’ due to the way i felt nobody would actually see my heart after my Dad actually died in July 9th 2016, events happening onwards is of course to my heart in open spirit and curiosity in being where my heart always wanted to be at, hence why i had no secure heart to actually acknowledge my voice for me to become as i am and not to be what they thought was best for me, my life completely fell apart from 2012 onwards to the point where i am today telling you the world ended to no advance given. ‘Spectrum’ tells the story of my heart in hell, and what it was like being a disabled heart in agony because i know what love is like by course of feeling and the mental stigma against heart is what ripped humanity apart and i felt desperate and alone to know a heart that felt the same due to my life not actually being separated by chance but by love become because the agony i truly had was only factual that i had been married under heartbreak that my actual husband is forgotten to me but heart will tell my future albums onwards about the story of how i came to be.

‘Spectrum’ is my love for colours and heart depth to the point where i will begin losing myself in pure happiness, the album name itself is named after my autism spectrum disorder.

Cover art explained: Art physics exist. In Islam, Allah forbids creating art with a picture of a face of a person, reason? Because the art itself would portray humanity with a mind like i, meaning, the face of man and woman (Neville Goddard explains the birth of man being God) you mortalise a man inside a heart, where this is going to is that i did one line drawing blind of Anson and when doing it blind, you re-animate a heart as if you were in heaven (where the concept of ‘Maghrib’ exists) and to Anson, it may seem like his heart has no way of going out thru hus current state of being, an to him that is how he was made to feel and think at society’s given role at cost of a human heart over hardship (later that would reform to a beautified image) but to me, it’s how my heart was like to everybody else hence my autism spectrum is understood by heart. Anson’s face is the re-animation of my heart but to him that’s my heart in hell in the concept of a pissed off father; it would also explain the concept of my father’s rage towards his abusers if he saw his heart get brutally beaten to a pulp where nobody understood her but only a mimicry towards her own life in comparison to his heart in hell being what he made for her. Anson Seabra is the world’s worst example of a heart given to him for that his own mind doesn’t staple him of a neurotypical behaviour like the latter of his heart that followed him here to where he should have established a heart to gain than a heart to lose, Anson’s life projected to him wasn’t agreeable by nature from the conformity of his relationship he had to his mother to the way he sings about her from album’s one and two (‘Songs I Wrote In My Bedroom’: 2020. ‘Feeling For My Life’: 2021), Anson’s life was about to expand in his career til he was absolved of it completely leading him to actually committing a grave mistake he tried to follow through somewhere in 2021 and 2022, almost succeeding in 2023 (energies died between the amalgamation of Babylon and true humanity) and Anson being personally intended to rescue a heart would mean that he has to sacrifice one under the condition of the soul itself not gaining a reputation under admirable circumstance. The soul itself must be of whole to the heart but un-whole to the world itself become, that’s how they claim a soul to be taken to death in Hollywood per the ritual of gaining a noble spirit in Hell, if he actually succeeded then my heart in hell would be his heart in heaven cuz the way i was treated in hell was that i was not good enough for anybody and i was sexualised to the core of my heart as a dutiful Muslim woman, but to Anson, that would be exposure of the heart in heaven. And in my father’s expanses, he wasn’t treated fairly according to his father but his mother loved him enough to keep him be as it is, his father would later recognise the latter of the condition of him being and him been the same towards a nothing, cuz the father’s heart equivalent to his highest degree would be gaining a daughter, but in my own hell is me fighting for my rights to exist in my father’s shoes. Anson deliberately intending death on me is spitting in front of my father’s face in his heart if he ever swore he saw his abusive father in the form of a man from Hollywood become his daughter’s life. You can see the animation of my being was declared on how much he loved himself.

*stapling a conditioning of the ‘ex-boyfriend’ is the way the heart would channel towards each other in heartfelt comparison; hearts that align to values. Anson’s conditioning in 2024 is separating his heart from my own to attach hisself onto accountability for his own action than to keep using my heart away from my own happiness than to see his heart blind to his time in heaven not compensated for a reason but to deliver to his heart in hell.

I will be explaining the tracks on there soon. Don’t wait.

#new music #autism spectrum disorder #islamic knowledge #astrology #love poetry #anson seabra #my truth #exposed and outed #river song

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averlym · 3 years

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ASHJDSAHLKGJ WAIT I NEVER THOUGHT ABT LUMINE THAT WAY

but yes omg lumine paimon found family much beloved. (i actually can't ever bring myself to use the emergency food dialogues because paimon is just. too precious.)

also. yes i have a pair of jeans and ever since i read that pun i have been making the same pun NONSTOP my friends are sick of me now but that was pure comedic genius omg.

aiyaaa no don't say that about your writing >:(( self-deprecation is banned in this household tumblr i am sure it is amazing!!! and either way beauty is in the eye of the beholder. in this scenario i am the beholder and everything you make is amazing. tis facts.

ganqing though.... beloveds.... i am such a multishipper it is a serious problem but BELOVEDS... i have too many fic ideas and no time :c

WATT HADESTOWN AU??? IM INTERESTED ??? that would be SO cool like honestlyyyyy

that reminds me i was toying with the idea of a jeanlisa/beiguang hadestown au once upon a time but extracurriculars got in the way sob

I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! *more hugs 'cause they make the world go 'round*

-the one and only teanon <3 (i'm on an old pc that is extremely scuffed and has no emojis sob)

as per usual, most rambles are in the tags,,, but also here are some doodles from the watt hadestown au it all fits in my head somehow so idk how clear these are

more info on the general story under the cut: but also, read the existing tags for this post first!

sign on the line 'cause you're running out of time

a/n: a scene from watt/hadestown (but i go off on too many tangents in brackets)

riley steps forward. 'she can't go. she signed a contract. she belongs to the team.'

kate stares between eva and riley, and back to eva. "is it true?"

they speak in unison.

"she does." "i do."

(kate thinks, sometimes, about eva and 'i do's and their wedding song. this is not the 'i do' she wanted. this 'i do' she dreamed of only in her nightmares, on the track to here, this hell.)

"i can't leave the team," says eva, "i signed. 90k, my scholarship, for me to be on the team. climatology, kate! any way the wind blows," she sings bitterly.

"you can't leave- please not you- not you too-" comes kate's response, words spilling, falling from her lips, the same ones she said to chess before she left and never came back and now eva is going too- there isn't even a promise to skype, to keep in touch, to let her follow- "come home with me," she begs, "we can fix it-"

(she knows they can't. riley is the richest girl in the area. the school can't afford to lose her. 90k scholarship, fancy gym- giles corey would bend over backwards for this girl.)

eva laughs sadly. "you don't know what it's like to be hungry."

(i have worked so hard for so much less, eva thinks, remembers being unable to study for college because she was always working, how the stress got to her. thinks about how annleigh said kate would make her feel alive- but she can't quite remember how it felt. being a tiger has dulled her inside. riley is rich, and she knows how to use the money and power she has- a world where all the wrong kids keep getting all the nice things, she thinks wildy for a moment, watching kate stare at her brokenly, and she loves kate but sometimes she doesn't get it, lost in her music, lost in her grief.)

from the side, cairo watches.

(the memory of seeing eva flashes through her head. up on top for spring, above and away from this basement, pouring drinks for everyone in the sunshine. kate had cried, "she will always fill our cups," a praise, a challenge, a reassurance to the girl next to her, staring at this bringer of life with skepticism. cairo had noticed, and looked directly at this girl, hungry and tired, and chimed in with "i will," watching her face grow hopeful. kate grinned, strummed her song and toasted, "and we will always raise them up!")

(growing up, despite appearances, kate never hated cairo. "i'll play my song and you and riley can kiss and make up," she told cairo as a child. cairo looked at this mortal girl, fingers red from holding guitar chords, and scoffed a disbelieving "sure.") there was a frenemy sort of passive-aggressiveness between kate and cairo, and out of all the gods, cairo was one of the rare few she trusted to help. like now.

(she thinks to annleigh turning to her, looking haunted, saying that cairo and riley were behind chess's death, and her immediate reaction being to defend cairo- "cairo never hated chess!")

kate turns her head to the side, and cairo, lost in the tumultuous thoughts of an immortal who has lost so many (her mind, right now, is thinking of farrah) looks up. "cai," kate pleads, and cairo steps forward, into the dull glow of riley's basement, so different from sunlight above. riley's voice hums, a calming technique cairo taught her long ago, and cairo can nearly hear the words with the tune. "please forgive me for doing what's best for you," echoes riley's voice in her head, sad and desperate.

"riley," she starts, and her friend looks to her. riley's hands are shaking, something cairo remembers from fourth grade. "make this easier" riley sings softly, voice trembling, and looks at her.

"eva means nothing to me!" says riley, defensive, mind whirling with 'cairo must think i have a crush on eva or something and now she hates me just like i got mad at farrah when cairo started spending so much time with her but farrah was bad for her they kept getting drunk and please forgive me for doing what's best for you i love you i love you i love you please she means nothing to me it's always been you-'

and maybe the two of them know each other too well, maybe they're too in sync, because cairo looks at riley and sees how much riley cares for her, and also thinks of farrah, and the suspicions she has, and her heart breaks because she knows how to fix this and she doesn't want to do it.

"i know," cairo says (reassuring, i care for you too, do this to please me) and then, "but she means everything to her."

riley is beset with phantoms that take cairo's voice and face and rip them off, because suddenly, even though she is looking at her best friend, all she can see are ghosts.

chess floats near her face, and riley can almost feel her nonexistent breath beside her cheek. "damned if you don't", she sings, hauntingly persuasive. let them go. the guilt claws at riley's chest. she can't breathe.

chess then glares at farrah as her double braids flop onto riley's head. with fake cheer, she somersaults through the air and grins at riley upside down. "damned if you do!" mocking, taunting. you can't win.

clark appears, broods by her side. choruses with the other two before they fade- "whole damn nation's watching you."

even as the apparitions subside, drifting in front of her instead, their song continues around riley- "what you gonna do when the chips are down, now that the chips are down?"

"here's a little tip," farrah hums, sing-song, and a bottle of belladonna wine appears in her hand.

"word to the wise," sighs chess, and suddenly her hair is filled with poppy red, flowers blooming and covering the blood from an inconspicuous stab hidden beneath her jacket.

clark, instead, seems to be spiralling, twisting the ring around his finger until it warps into a bloody knife. "here's a little snippet of advice," he sings.

three fates, always singing in the back of her mind, in front of her vision. here, they mock her. clark places the knife he is twisting before riley, and it hovers there as the spirits disappear. "men are fools, men are frail, give them the rope and they'll hang themselves."

#hehe thank you for the pun usage! paimon supremacy!!!! so so beloved #ngl i saw the 'aiyaaa' and immediately loved you a little bit more idk why it's so comforting to have reminders of culture but it Is #too many ideas and no time and focus for them what a mood! jiayou bestie #ganqing ganqing ganqing i love them so so very much #when you take the romanisation of the pinyin of ganqing it also is the same as the pinyin of 感情 even though intonations are different and #iTS LITERALLY FEELS hhHHHHh #hugs!!! *sends you hugs back* hugs hugs hugs ily #i was going to explain the watt hadestown au but it's complicated so for now: it's a mix of hadestown and watt storylines #cairo= persephone riley=hades annleigh= hermes and knows events are repeating but can't change the whole thing #chess clark and farrah = the fates after they got killed and haunt about the living #kate= orpheus and eva= eurydice #cheer squad= hadestown; mattie and reese are part of the squad #tried to get a definite timeline and also details and i would write more about the relationships for each character except i can't structure #cairo riley and annleigh are old souls bc parallel of gods and they've got history #cairo and riley are best friends and in mutual pining but along the way cairo also disagrees more and more with what riley is doing #riley however believes she's doing this for the good of the team and thinks it's the way to get cairo to love her (spoiler: no)#riley is a wallflower parallels the chant between hades and persephone after they go to hadestown #annleigh is hermes: messenger and narrator. childhood friends with kate and a bit of an older sister to her.#she knows events repeat but the story always ends the same. happy ending but with people lost. kate saves eva at the end but annleigh #annleigh never manages to save clark and farrah and as fates they haunt her. (which has layers). some shows she denies this knowledge.#and the rest is in the post because #i ran out of tags like four times bsbsjskajdj #this content is very chaotic and reads like a letter with three lift the flaps and pasted papers all over #but if you read everything good job ily and i'm sorry sksjsk #... did you know there was a ten image limit i have found that out for the first time jshdjsks #long post #watt hadestown au #we are the tigers

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