#so uhh welcome back. frog time!

[funkyfrogoftheday]

today's funky frog of the day: the northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans)!!!!!! these charming amphibians have two subspecies. they live in the united states and mexico, and are diurnal, which means they're active during the day! the green on this fellow is so striking!

photo © Judy Gallagher

[marsmarbles]

If you have the time, could you maybe do a scene with bigb teaching grian how to bake his famous cookies? Or maybe something a bit more angsty, like one of them getting to the other only to find their leftover items? Or whatever you want honestly! Thx for the secret soulmates food! :p

I had an idea for this request but it would be too much to draw so I’m actually gonna try and do some writing instead. Sorry for those who don’t like reading. It’s kinda long.

Golden Light to Silver Shadows

Grian nervously stood before the Food Crew’s bakery entrance, clamping his sweaty hands on a present he had spent all day preparing for BigB. Turning the knob of the door and pushing it open activated an alarm system set up by Fwhip. A bell rang and a few note blocks could be heard. It was a charming little jingle to welcome customers. The bakery was cozy with cherry plank walls and coffee colored spruce floors. A few circle tables were sprinkled in the center of the room with booths lining the walls. Lanterns, succulents, and baskets of flowery bushes hung from the ceiling. BigB was sat behind the counter. He was examining the creases in the floorboards with his head resting on his hand. He had been daydreaming. BigB loved his bakery, but it was admittedly boring to wait for customers. The door jingle alerted him to Grian’s presence.

“Grian!” BigB lit up in excitement, his antennae wiggled with joy. The genuine excitement to see Grian was more than enough to make Grian’s face flush. “Hey, BigB. I uhhh… made something for you.”

Grian slid a bag of cookies across the counter with shaky hands. They were neatly wrapped in a shimmery clear bag, tightly fastened with a blue ribbon with gold accents. “This was my first time ever making cookies, so sorry if they’re bad. Maybe you can show me your secret recipe,” Grian laughed nervously.

BigB gleefully loosened the blue ribbon holding the bag shut, took a cookie, and ate it whole. It was crunchy and thin and….hollow(?)…they weren’t bad by any means. For Grian’s first time, BigB appreciated the love and effort he put in. He had waited all day for someone to show up to the bakery. And the fact that it was Grian made it even better. He didn’t want him to leave just yet.

“How about we make some cookies together! The cocoa beans should be ready in the greenhouse,” BigB suggested, gesturing to the entrance to the greenhouse just behind him.

“I’d love to!” Grian quickly replied. The word ‘together’ was enough.

After BigB stashed away the cookies for later in the top cabinet, he and Grian made their way to the back door to the greenhouse. Grian had to do an awkward shuffle around the counter to keep up. The greenhouse was gorgeous. Golden light shone through the semi transparent overhang and broke through the flowers and leaves. Parrots chirped and bees buzzed. Luscious plants swayed in the gentle breeze. Glow berry vines slung from the ceiling as axolotls and frogs popped out from the ponds, curious of the new visitor. Grian stared in awe. This was more of a massive nature preserve than any greenhouse he’s ever been in.

“Grian?” BigB broke Grian out of his trance. “The cocoa bean farm is over here.”

“Uh right,” Grian said, adjusting his glasses and wiping his mouth and chin with his coat sleeve (just to make sure he didn’t drool while distracted).

BigB led him to a cluster of jungle trees. They reached high, popping out the top of through the ceiling. Podzol and bamboo were dotted around in clumps. Just past the cocoa bean farm was the end of the greenhouse. Through the transparent walls could be a seen an expansive jungle forest, stretching well beyond the world borders. BigB pulled off a ready cocoa bean plant and inspected it for abnormalities. After checking that it was good, he held it out for Grian. “Why don’t you try to break this one open?”

“Uhh I dunno,” Grian held his hands up, unsure.

In that moment, Grian took a pause. Actually, the whole world felt in slow motion. Something unseen had disturbed the peace. His Watcher senses were tingling, so to speak. Something was about to happen….. Suddenly, as the world picked back up in speed, BigB’s calming smile was shot down with an excruciating pain all throughout his body; every muscle, every ligament, every organ, each and every follicle of hair. The cocoa bean plant dropped and exploded on impact with the earth. A jolt went up his spine and his legs went out on him. He tumbled to the ground. He had no process time to scream or cry out in pain. He just fell.

“BIGB!!!!” Grian shrieked, dropping to his knees to assist him just as fast as BigB fell. “B-BIGB WHAT HAPPENED ARE YOU OKAY??”

“I-I…I think I’m going…J-Jimmy…he-”BigB managed to get out with a weak shaky breath.

“BigB! BigB! Please I need you to stay with me BigB,” Grian frantically cradled BigB in his arms. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He checked chat…

…Jimmy had fallen to his death…

Oh, fucking of course, Grian thought. Grian hadn’t considered Jimmy being in control of BigB’s lives, but with that confirmation he’d might as well think of this as his final moments with his secret soulmate.

“Grian….” BigB mustered the strength to caress Grian’s cheek and wipe away a tear. “…it’s ok….i’ll be right back….it’s just one life….”

“BigB….” Grian quietly whined, taking BigB’s hand, keeping it held to his cheek. He felt it go cold and his arm become heavy. Grian saw the last of the light in BigB’s dark eyes fade as his body became limp. Grian pulled his lifeless corpse into one final hug. And as BigB dissipated into smoke and billowed away…..Grian was left alone.

All the light and magic that the greenhouse had greeted him with was gone. The birds went silent, the bees hid back into their hives. The trees and flowers went grey and the golden light became silver shadows. Silently, Grian collected BigB’s fallen items, keeping his head down to hide his tearful look. And as he slowly closed the chest he stored BigB’s items in, he heard voices in the distance. It was a collection of people, most notably Scott, Martyn, Fwhip, and Joel, with a tomato faced Jimmy stomping ahead of them.

“Jimmy!!! We’re sorry!! We didn’t think you’d miss the water!” Scott cackled as he tried to explain himself to Jimmy.

“It was bad maths!! Bad maths!!” Martyn pleaded with a giggle.

“We didn’t think you’d die!!” Scott added, trying to breathe through his laughter.

“IM NOT HAVING ANY OF IT!!!!” Jimmy snapped back at them. “PLAYING BUNGEE JUMP WITH FISHING RODS IS THE LAST THING WE SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!!! WHAT DO YOU THINK IMMA TELL BIGB, ‘THAT IT WAS JUST A PRANK’!!??”

Jimmy stormed into the bakery, and as he slammed the door, Fwhip’s voice was cut off; “but it was just a prank-“

Grian could here Jimmy stomp about in the bakery. He must’ve been looking for BigB. Jimmy ran out into the greenhouse and froze to find Grian and the aftermath of the incident. Grian stood there with a clenched fist and a chest by his feet. He gave Jimmy a stone cold glare with his dark eyes. Jimmy flinched at the sight of his expression.

“I put BigB’s stuff in this chest,” Grian said almost robotically, pointing to the box.

Jimmy desperately wanted to apologize, but Grian looked like he would accept nothing; not even a notch apple. Grian stiffly walked past him.

“I’m sorry….about BigB…” Jimmy made an attempt at an apology, hoping that Grian could find it in him somewhere to forgive him. Grian paused.

“It wasn’t your fault, Tim….” Grian said without turning back to him. “It was their’s….”

Grian continued walking, leaving Jimmy to wallow. He made his way to the bakery and took a seat at one of the circle tables. The room felt cold and desolate compared to before. Like it was a completely different place that the greenhouse had spat him back out into. He shuffled his chair forward and laid his head down, waiting for BigB’s return.

I actually had a lot of fun writing this, even though I wouldn’t consider myself a very skilled writer(and there’s most definitely a lot of mistakes I made lol). I felt like it was easier to depict a full scene compared to a comic(which would’ve probably taken me weeks). So I’ll do more writing like this in the future.

[am-i-sans]

dnd adventures 32

once more we discovered the power of the soundboard. raz is gonna be late so no undyne for now! INFERNO IS BACK lol. suzy tackles him covered in mud lol. cam just waves lol. mud fight!

annika looks up and waves too lol. 'who the fuck is this nerd?' suzy shoves mud in his face again. cam is avoiding the fight to stay clean lol. inferno's cat jumps on him and inferno shoves it into the mud what a prick. it just meows at him then walks away.

dans feeds the cat and now it loves him <3 cam says its infernos familiar probably. he grumbles he doesnt want it. 'get familiar'd idiot.' frog pets the cat and demands inferno for the name. suzy shoves him demanding a name. cam feeds the cat and it purrs at them too.

vani tries to befriend the cat! they bap each other gently awww. dans and cam are talking about frogs future. the cat gets tired and curls up in frogs lap and goes to sleep. vani lays his head by frogs feet. dans asks frog if they thought of a name. cam offers dess some of their food then went eeby deeby.

we finish dinner and go to sleep. dans makes breakfast! undyne had the map so...uhh were fucked. frog named the cat shadow-fang. dans informs everyone undyne had the map and he doesnt know where to go. tori says she has a spell that can let us know the area for 3 miles. frog speaks up and reminds tori she can talk to trees! 'your the lorax.' thanks inferno. 'i wrote the lorax.' thanks dans.

it says theres a cave system 20 miles that-away. thats a days walk. annika just starts walking lol. dans takes down the camp after calling her back lol. tori asks if there are any threats in the area. group of bullywugs that think their the rulers of these lands.

annika once more walks off lol. dans has to remind her that dans is like half in the mud he needs to catch up. inferno is being mean to his cat asshole. we hear loud croaking, but frog has been doing it but now its loud af. frog people appear!

frog jumps into tori's arms. tori uses comprehend languages. one of them points a spear at us and tells us were coming with them. tori stands her ground and tries to hide the kids. of course she readies flameblade.

dans casts frostbite and it hits. it drops dead instantly. all the other frogs start screaming. annika firebolts but misses. inferno also misses lol. dess casts snowballs but only hits 1 of them and it drops dead. the rest run tf away! weaklings lol. 'welp that happaned. everyone ok?' suzy says it was hilarious lol. annika looks shaken so dans pats her on the back and tells her to take a second.

annika tries to claim shes fine but dans tells her to take a second anyway. 'your not used to this are you?' thanks tori. she is not xD she just graduated give her a break. dans says her professors should take them out in the field but she says they didnt learn for combat only for learning. dans calls thats odd. she says she wanted to use the magic to study. tori asks what was gonna be practical with it. she says it was for study! inferno calls her a nerd.

annika asks if we just leave the bodies there. 'what you wanna eat them or something?' thanks dess xD off we go! tori tells annika we dont go out to start fights, inferno is just a bastard. annika asks how we got together and dans says we got cursed by a god to fix a problem. 'you ever heard of Moss.' frog has to tell inferno moss is who we work for xD he tries to leave again, even tho undyne isnt here, since moss is now dans patron the curse works on him too lol. welcome back inferno. annika is so surprised!

dans informs annika of his cousin spingledorf ripping a hole in the universe. the frog people show up! were following them this time for whatever reason. UNDYNE IS BACK FROM EEBY DEEBY! she lands in the middie of everyone and soupnik reappears. the frogs are screaming again. 'oh hey undyne welcome back!' undyne is readying for combat lol. dans tells undyne their pathetic weaklings he could even kick over and were just seeing whats happening. also telling undyne inferno is here lol. undyne punches inferno in the face when he threatens fireball. soupnik follows us in the air.

we remind undyne she had the map lol. tori says we should make extra maps lol. the frogs calm down when soupnik doesnt kill them and lead us away. undyne dragging inferno by his hair lol. dans sends a prayer to moss asking if they can kill inferno. undyne says its a maybe since moss doesnt answer xD

we arrive at a little town, not well built. welcome to florida. we come to the center its like a throne made from rotten wood. theres a bigger frog with a necklace on the throne. tori's spell still works. the queen frog greets us and wants our treasures and magical artifacts. yeah no. dans asks why they want that stuff and she says they need status symbols to outdo the other tribe. undyne asks if thats all they wanted. undyne calls for soupnik cause yeah were just gonna go. the frogs begin screaming again. the queen starts bitching so dans shoots the crown off the queen. dans tells the queen he couldve killed her as undyne flips her off. undyne tosses them some junk chainmail as we leave.

on our way to the cave! we discuss swamp shit and undyne realizes tori and frog dont wear shoes xD we made it yay! its a cave so undyne yeets inferno inside. suzy also runs in lol. the rest of us follow. dans gives tori a glowing rock in case they get seperated.

annika says to explore in groups. undyne grabs inferno lol. tori takes suzy. dans and dess go with undyne and annika is stuck with tori. undynes team is going left. we all have shit passive perception xD a spiderweb misses inferno from above! dans looks up and sees a giant spider. dans gets a quick eldrich blast on it. it falls off the ceiling so undyne swipes at it. dans keeps examining the ceiling looking for more spiders. inferno sees a tiny spider and steps on it.

team tori! just walking along to the right. annika looks excited to be here lol. they continue down the corridor. tori hears someone called lukas calling for someone named nella behind her. she whips around to look. she doesnt see anything and steps toward the noise goddamn. no one else heard anything.

team undyne gets to the end of the tunnel and theres more spiders! and eggs! dans says to smash the eggs. we force inferno to set them on fire lol. good job. we turn around to catch up with the other group.

cutting back to tori. suzy turns around and runs off! tori tries to follow suzy. annika keeps going oh no. we catch up to suzy! undyne grabs her as she tries to run past. she said she heard her pack :( undyne says they definitely arent here or would probably be alive. dans says we didnt hear any wolves at all. she looks sad oh no! undyne says were just gonna keep going all we found was spiders we burnt. dans says spiders dont get that big without eating people, then asks where annika went. gotta go find her lol.

undyne just keeps carrying inferno and suzy while she rushes a head. the rest of us keep walking ahead way behind undyne. dess sees the shadows around the cave get deeper and darker yet darker. inferno hears a girls voice calling for 'ellie' and asking him to come play! tori hears teya calling for her to come inside ;-; dans hears a very quiet 'dad?' wtf moss leave him alone.

inferno goes limp for a second then shakes it off. "nono fuck no." (undyne doesnt notice or care lol) the sound is coming ahead. hes fighting against undyne he does NOT wanna go there. 'fuck this we gotta go.' undyne says shes gonna kick him if he keeps fighting. he stops but he looks uncomfortable.

dans is frozen in place and biting his lip hard enough to bleed. (if he was sans here his eyes would be blacked)

dess looks at the growing shadows but doesnt react otherwise.

tori walks back calling out for teya "your back?"

frog also turned back but instead tries to get tori's attention. 'somethings happening.' no shit tori.

undyne sees a doppleganger! another undyne. our undyne stops and is like wtf. suzy and inferno dont see it. she puts down suzy and grabs her sword. suzy is like wtf cause she doesnt see anything. undyne is like 'you dont see me?' they tell her theres nothing there. she throws undyne at the copy and he just goes right through it lol.

other undyne speaks up 'why did you do it?' 'uh what?' 'whyd you kill all those people?' undynes just confused shes killed a lot of evil people. shes thinking hard. the doppleganger is so pissed lol. 'undyne who the fuck your talking to?' 'the weird illusion is asking why i kill people, weird.' the 3 are arguing now and ignoring the doppleganger lol. she fuckin leaves! 'oh cool she left. that was dumb.'

annika comes around the corner 'did you guys hear a cat?' undyne points out infernos cat. 'i thought i saw MY cat.' undyne says the cave is making illusions and shit. then she realizes the others are probably experiencing this shit too. undyne looks at her hands and sees blood oh no. welp she doesnt like this. shes not gonna look at it nope. heading back to the others. she forgets to drag inferno lol. suzy grabs inferno and says they should go lol.

tori tells frog to stay back as she heads toward the voice. dans manages to speak and says tori shouldnt go that way, she knows that teya is gone. she ignores him too dammit. off she goes. teya is still calling for tori. tori notices a little opening she didnt notice before and uses detect magic. nothing. teya is still calling. 'mum made pie!' welp. dans is going to try and find tori. frog and dess follow too.

meanwhile suzy and inferno are bullying undyne lol.

tori sees her old house. kids playing. older teya? tori finally clicks this is wrong. 'your not real.' 'w-what do you mean im not real?' 'you died a long time ago.' teya's ear falls off. tori tries to get out the opening. shes out yay! we see tori stumble but we cant see the opening she just got appeared. shes crying oh no! dans gently places a hand on her head. she tries to compose herself, shocked. undyne finally arrives!

she tries to tell us how fucked the cave is. 'were well aware.' frog hugs tori. undyne sees dans is bleeding. he says the pain keeps him grounded. undyne tries badly to comfort tori lol. frog shakes her head at undyne. dans asks where suzy is. 'aw fuck.' that snaps tori out of it. 'you left the 3 of them alone?!' 'i uh got turned around.' we gotta go get them lol. undyne reminds tori its not real. frog asks if undyne is ok and undynes like yeah. (shes not.)

see ya next time for the horrors!

[f1nalboys]

Hi, I have been reading your blogs and love it! It's so nice to find someone who loves slashers too haha. If it's not a bother, I'd like to make a request. With The Lost Boys where the reader ends up stopping in the TLB movie universe. She gets confused at first but quickly recognizes everything, especially the boys. That being the case, she tries to help them by warning about the frog brothers. How would they react? Sorry if it got confusing lol.

hi there!! so sorry for the long wait but i really enjoyed writing this request!! I hope you enjoy it :)

WARNINGS: none

WORD COUNT: Approx. 1460

You had never been more confused before in your life. One minute you were in bed, half asleep, scrolling for a video to watch on your phone and the next you’re laying on the beach. You were sitting in the sand now, looking around trying to figure out 1. Where the hell you were and 2. Why the hell you were here.

There was a boardwalk just behind you and it was absolutely bustling with people. Most were dressed… differently than you were used to, but that’s not what made you freak out. It was turning to your left and seeing the Santa Carla welcome sign. Santa Carla. There’s no way you were here, right? It had to be a dream.

The sound of yelling caught your attention and you nearly shit yourself at the sight in front of you: four men in familiar clothing arguing with a beefy motorcycle man. One had platinum blonde hair, bordering on white, and he was smoking a cigarette with a smug look on his sharp features. Directly to his right was a taller, long-haired man with no shirt but a leather jacket on.

Holy shit. You blink your eyes hard, pinching yourself hard on the arm until the skin began to throb. You weren’t waking up. This wasn’t a dream, or, at least, wasn’t one you were waking up from. You stand, extremely aware of how differently you were dressed compared to the people around you, and you make your way towards the men. They had finished arguing with the man and were now standing around talking to one another.

“Hey!” You call, instantly slapping yourself in your mind. ‘Hey?’ Why would you try and get their attention anyways? The four turn towards you and you watch as David, because the closer you get the more you realize this was real, cocks an eyebrow at you. Paul and Marko were whispering to each other, large grins plastered onto their faces, while Dwayne watched you walk towards them silently.

“Do we know you?” David asks, his voice having an edge to it. You gulp, your heartbeat picking up speed and David grins at you. He could hear it. He takes a step towards you, closing the gap, and the others follow suit. They walk circles around you like a lion waiting to pounce on the injured gazelle. “I don’t think we do. I’m D-”

“David, I know. You’re Marko, Paul, and Dwayne.” You say, your voice much more confident than you actually were. David's grin drops instantly, his eyebrows scrunching together. He takes another drag from his cigarette, dropping it and stamping it out with his foot as he glances you up and down.

“How the hell do you know that?” Marko asks though it seems he’s more curious than angry. You bite the inside of your cheek, trying to figure out the best way to tell them that wouldn’t make you sound crazy, but nothing came up.

David’s hand outstretches and grabs ahold of your chin, gripping it tightly and forcing you to look at him. His eyes darken. “He asked you a question.”

“It’s a long story and it won’t make sense to you, honestly. I’ll tell you if you let me go.” You bargain and thankfully David obliges. He drops his hand to his side and raises an eyebrow, waiting for you to talk. You take a look at the other three men who were all waiting with various levels of annoyance and intrigue. You sigh.

Almost three hours of talking and answering questions later, you were finally finished telling them what you knew. You were now at a random restaurant, sitting on one of the outdoor tables, picking at fries. They had oh so graciously bought them for you halfway through your story which seemed to be draining their energy.

“So, let me see if I’m understanding you correctly. You’re telling us that you’re not from here and are instead from a place where we are… in a movie? And that it talks about us being… ya’ know?” You nod. David was on his fifth cigarette now and looked genuinely confused. “None of this makes sense.”

“Yeah, but I’m just telling you what I know,” You say, popping a fry into your mouth. Marko was absolutely riveted by your story and he had continued to interject, asking questions or correcting small details of what you said. Paul looked confused but you came to learn that was just his resting face.

“So… what now?” Dwayne asks, leaning over and grabbing a fry from your tray. He had been quiet this entire time, only speaking to tell Marko and Paul to shut up so he could hear you. You shrug. It’s not an everyday thing for you to get transported into one of your favorite movies and have to talk to the four people you had a crush on since the first time you ever watched the film.

“Maybe you got put here to tell us something… maybe warn us? This is awesome! It’s like that ‘Back to the Future’ movie or something,” Paul says and Marko nods excitedly. Dwayne seems to consider this and shrugs. David is the only one who doesn’t seem fully convinced.

“Who’s the head vampire?”

“Max.”

“... You’re right,” David says, displeased. He takes a swig of his now-warm beer and grimaces slightly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He kept staring at you, trying to figure you out and it was really starting to get to you. Sure you had always day-dreamt about staring into those icy-blue and green eyes but it was a completely different story now that he was doing so in a not-so-friendly way.

Marko throws an arm over David's shoulder and shakes him a bit, trying to get him to smile. “Come on, Dave! This is cool!” He turns to you once again and leans in close. You catch a whiff of his scent which was practically intoxicating; sea salt, hair gel, and nail polish. “So, how does the movie end?”

“Uhh… not that great, at least for you guys.” You say, grimacing at their expressions. You did not think this through. “You guys and Max kinda get killed…”

“Killed? By who?” Dwayne asks, his eyes narrowing slightly. Even though he didn’t believe you fully, you knew far too much about them for him to completely blow you off.

“Michael. Well, Michael, his brother, the frog brothers, and Star.” Their faces contort at the names and you realize that you may have gotten here before any of them had met the others. “You don’t know who I’m talking about, do you?”

“Star, yeah, but we just met her yesterday. Haven’t gotten her back to our place. Who the hell are the frog brothers?” Paul asks and, right on time, two boys sprint past your table, comics in hand, cursing at whoever they were running after. One was in a camo shirt and a red bandana tied around his forehead while the other wore a grey sleeveless shirt.

“That’s the frog brothers.” The four men pause before erupting into laughter. Those two losers had a part in their deaths? Yeah, right. “Seriously; they know about vampires and they’re the reason you four get caught. Just… try and steer clear of those people, alright? And if you haven’t turned Laddie yet, don’t.”

You scrunch your eyes in pain as your head begins to throb. You can hear the four men in front of you talking but you can’t make any of it out. A buzzing sound fills your head and your hands find a place over your ears, trying to stop the pain that has erupted in your brain. Right as you think your head is about to explode the noise stops.

Your eyes opened and you’re no longer on the boardwalk. You were in bed, a random video playing on your phone. It was considerably darker outside now and if you really concentrated you could almost smell the cigarette smoke that had been wafting around you for the last few hours. Smiling, you turn your phone off and curl into bed. That was the most realistic dream you’ve had yet.

Back in Santa Carla, the boys were still seated at the boardwalk, gaping at your now empty chair. One second you were there and the next you were gone. David hadn’t taken his eyes off of you and yet you had vanished.

“Huh. I think we should go talk to Max,” Marko says, standing up. Paul and Dwayne nod, standing as well, but David stays sitting. His eyes were still on your chair. Dwayne places a hand on his friend's shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

[lunatens]

felix felicis (iii)

word count: 3.0k

part iii/iv

genre: fluff, harry potter au

pairing: hufflepuff!felix x ravenclaw!reader

a/n: it’s been uhhhhhhhhhhhhh over a year since i last update this whoOPS i am so sorry to keep you all waiting. thank you to everyone who patiently waited, and to everyone who’s new, i hope you like it!! there will be one more part to this series (that i will try my best to write in less than a year lol) (also for obvious reasons w**jin will no longer be a part of this fic)

the day of the gryffindor vs ravenclaw quidditch match has your stomach in knots, not about the game itself (you really couldn’t care less about the results) but about the boy you’re going to be spending the next couple hours with.

“okay y/n, first things first: that tiny ball is the golden snitch, and-” 

“felix, i’m not stupid,”

“right, yeah, sorry i’m just uhh..excited is all,’ he says shyly. you watch as the two teams whizz around the pitch, trying to keep track of all the different balls and players as felix rambles on about the rules to you. despite chan, changbin and jisung being your closest friends, you’ve never actually come out to watch them play before, always finding an excuse to stay indoors instead of sitting miserable and alone on an uncomfortable bench in typically  less-than-pleasant weather. 

“wow y/n, your friends are actually really, really good quidditch players.” felix comments with a look of mild surprise. “too bad they’re not hufflepuffs!”

“actually, at your last game they were telling me they wish you were in gryffindor, so i guess you’re not too bad yourself,” you comment with a small smile, and you have to stifle a laugh as felix’s face turns bright red. you hate to admit it, but felix is really, really cute--especially bundled up in his yellow hat and scarf, his hair sticking out and gently waving in the breeze whenever someone flies by on broomstick.

you watch the game in silence for a moment, still trying to find the appeal for the sport. the game’s been going for a while now, with neither team having found the snitch yet, although gryffindor’s leading in points. jisung zooms around the far end of the pitch, expertly evading the ravenclaw beaters’ attacks and catching the quaffle with a flourish. it doesn’t take long before he’s put the quaffle through one of the ravenclaw goalposts, and the gryffindor crowd roars in excitement. jisung does a lap of the pitch, posing ridiculously and waving to the crowd to get them even more riled up. you hear felix squeal in excitement beside you, and turn to look at him with curiosity.

“that’s just the best feeling ever, flying through the air and just having fun like that. it’s so freeing,” he says with a contented sigh. you furrow your brows and turn back to look at jisung, who’s now rejoined his team as the game continues.

“really? i mean, it doesn’t seem that great. it looks so cold and windy, and what if you fall? yeah, no thanks i’d rather stick to the ground,” you state. it’s not like you want to offend felix or anything, but you just really don’t get the hype about flying. 

“what?? you don’t like flying y/n?? but it’s so epic!” felix says in disbelief, and you shake your head in response.

“the only time i’ve ever ridden a broomstick is way back in first year, when we had to learn the basics, and i’ve got no interest in trying again.”

“i’ve never met someone so opposed to flying,”

“well, that’s what happens when you fall off and break your wrist and can’t take proper notes for weeks,” you say, wrinkling your nose at the memory. “see unlike you, i’m not gifted with good luck.”

felix looks at you blankly for a moment, thinking to himself, before a wide grin creeps onto his face.

“no.”

“i haven’t even said anything yet!!”

“ok but i know what you’re thinking and i am NOT riding a broomstick, felix!”

“oh come on y/n, live a little!! it’ll be so much fun! what, are you afraid of heights?” felix asks teasingly. you shoot him a glare in response.

“yes!! besides, i don’t even own a broomstick.”

“yeah i kinda figured, so we can just use mine! i’m sure we’ll both fit, it might be a bit squishy though…” felix trails off in his own thoughts, and you choke on your own spit. you turn to look at the pitch, trying to focus on the game rather than thoughts of being pressed up against felix and holding onto him for dear life, breathing in the scent of h-

“eh, i think it’ll work fine. so it’s settled, after the game i’m taking you for a ride.” felix says definitively, interrupting your thoughts (good timing too, your brain was entering dangerous territory). 

“i dunno, felix…. it really doesn’t sound safe, i mean two people on a broomstick? i don’t care how lucky you are, i’m not taking any chances.”

“y/n, i promise nothing bad will happen. we won’t even go that high, and we can take it slow. trust me, it’ll be okay,” felix says, tentatively placing a hand over yours and looking into your eyes. you’re silent for a moment; has felix ever been this sincere in his life? you let out a sigh of defeat.

“i better not regret this.” you mumble, and felix squeals in excitement. your heart flutters a bit when he grabs onto your upper arm enthusiastically

“you won’t, y/n!! it’ll be so much fun, i can’t wait. it’s gonna change your life for the better,” felix says confidently, and although you roll your eyes at him, you can’t help but smile giddily to yourself. 

*** 

the game ends in an overwhelming victory for gryffindor, and you and felix dodge red and gold banners and streamers on your way out of the pitch past ecstatic gryffindors and gloomy ravenclaws. you finally make it out, your stomach filling with dread as you remember what’s happening now.

“i’ll be right back y/n, i’m just gonna go grab my broomstick from the locker room!” felix says excitedly, before rushing off into the depths of the pitch structure. you stand awkwardly by yourself, shoving your hands into your pockets for warmth. your breath escapes your lips in visibles plumes, the air growing colder as the sun begins to sink lower into the sky. one of your professors walks by, reminding you to return to the castle, and you nod, telling them you’re just waiting for a friend. it’s not a complete lie, right? you think to yourself. the adrenaline from not only your upcoming flight, but also breaking the rules again (and for felix, of all people) fills your body with jitters.

as you wait for felix for what seems like forever, your mind starts to wander. watching the game with him today was...surprisingly fun? and my goodness, the way his eyes sparkled or his voice got squeaky when someone made an awesome play was maybe the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. not to mention his freckled cheeks, rosy from the biting cold, or his tiny hands that flailed excitedly when talking about strategies. was chan right after all? do you have feelings for felix? no, that’s absurd. you’re just excited to have made a new friend is all...haha...right?

you don’t get the chance to think more about it before someone pounces on you from behind.

“Y/N!!! YOU CAME!!!!” jisung’s loud voice rings in your ear.

“ew get off me, you’re all sweaty,” you say with a grimace as you shove the excited boy off your shoulders. “but good job guys, you did great! who knew you were actually good at quidditch huh,” you tease, and chan gives you a playful nudge.

“i saw you with a certain hufflepuff boy in the stands,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows, and you slap him on the arm.

“ok he practically forced me to go, it was the only way to stop his stupid begging and whining,” you argue, and your three gryffindor friends nod their heads in clear disbelief. 

“sure y/n, keep telling yourself that.” chan says, giving you a pat on the head which you swat away. 

“sorry that took so long, i-” felix’s out-of-breath voice stops mid sentence when he spies you with the other boys. “oh uh, hi,” he says shyly, clearly not expecting their presence. your friends grin knowingly and changbin and jisung start to whisper to each other. chan puts on a friendly smile and greets felix back, reaching out to shake his hand.

“thanks for coming out even though your house wasn’t playing,” he says, and felix seems to warm up to chan a bit. 

“i’d never turn down a chance to watch a good quidditch match! you guys are amazing,” he babbles, and you giggle at his enthusiasm, glad to see him and chan connecting. 

“you’re not so bad yourself dude. too bad we’ll have to crush you in a few weeks,” chan teases, and all the boys laugh.

“i’m impressed you were able to drag this one out, we’ve been trying to get them to come to our games for years,” changbin groans, gesturing to you. felix shrugs in response.

“i mean it wasn’t too hard, just a small bribe of some chocolate frogs and here we are,” felix says, and you feel three pairs of eyes burning into your soul. you can practically feel the smirks on their faces, and you can already hear the teasing you’ll experience later. 

“well anyways, we’re gonna hit up the great hall for some snacks on our way back, you coming? you’re welcome to join us, felix,” jisung invites.

“um actually...felixistakingmeforarideonhisbroomstick,” you splutter out, and you hear jisung make a strange noise of disbelief at what he just heard.

“sorry, what?” chan asks, and the grin on his face tells you he knows exactly what you just said. you let out an annoyed huff and repeat yourself.

“felix is taking me for a ride on his broomstick, and we better get going before it gets too late.” you say in defeat and embarrassment, reaching to grab a confused felix’s hand so you can get away from your friends before they have the chance to say anything about it. jisung opens his mouth to make what you assume is a raunchy joke about riding broomsticks, but a death glare from you shuts him up.

“okay, have fun! but not too much fun,” chan says with a wink before quickly ushering a protesting jisung and changbin back towards the castle. you’re grateful for the falling darkness, because you can feel how bright your cheeks are burning right now. 

“i’m so sorry about them,” you apologize, and felix laughs it off.

“they seem fun,” he says, then tugs on your hand gently. “follow me, i know the best place to go where we won’t get caught. trust me, i sneak out all the time with hyunjin and minho and we’ve never seen a soul.” you nod nervously as you follow felix’s lead, praying that you won’t regret this.

after a bit of walking and some light conversation, you arrive at a small clearing near the edge of the lake. 

“this is SO against the rules,” you mutter to yourself as you step over some large roots. felix gets to a spot where the sky above is clear (and growing darker by the minute), and there’s lots of room around you. he straddles the broomstick and motions for you to join him. as you make your way behind him, you can’t help but wonder if you're more nervous about flying or about the prolonged close contact with felix. there are so many layers of clothing between us, you tell yourself, it’s fine. you place your arms loosely around felix’s waist, nervous to get any closer.

“we’re gonna start off just hovering, okay? we’ll take it slow, it’ll be alright. you can tell me if you want to stop, but i really think it’ll be fine, trust me,” he says to comfort you, and you nod. felix kicks off the ground, and you gasp as you feel your feet dangling in the air. instinctively, your arms squeeze tightly around felix, and you press yourself as close to him as possible.

“i can feel your heart racing, it’s okay just relax!” felix says with a laugh.

“easy for you to say, you practically live on a broomstick,” you grumble, and you feel felix’s body shake with giggles underneath you.

“i’m gonna take us a bit higher now,” felix says, and you press your face into his back as you feel yourselves rise higher, the air getting colder as you ascend. you feel a gentle breeze tangling your locks, and the broomstick begins to inch forward. you open one eye slightly and let out a small squeak as you see how far the ground is below you. you’re almost above the height of the trees now, and felix is doing slow laps of the clearing. 

“see, it’s not too bad, right?” he asks, and you force yourself to open your eyes again. if you don’t look straight down, you have to admit the view is really nice. trees and rolling hills pepper the landscape, and you can see the quidditch pitch and hogwarts a bit farther in the distance. the last rays of sun are reflecting off of the lake, and the twilight sky is beginning to sparkle with the night’s brightest stars. 

“yeah, i guess it is pretty nice,” you begrudgingly agree. your knuckles are white as you hold on to felix for dear life, but the more time you spend up here the more you realize how stable he’s keeping the broomstick, and how much he does seem to be taking caution to make sure you’re comfortable. you let out a shaky sigh as you try to relax and take in the scenery as you hover above the trees. 

“there’s one more thing we can do, if you’re okay with it,” he says, asking for your trust. you say nothing, simply nodding into his back; you’re afraid if you open your mouth you’ll regret it. as soon as he has your confirmation, the broomstick suddenly bursts forward and you can’t help but let out a piercing shriek.

“FELIX!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!” you manage to yell over the howling wind. your eyes are tearing up from the cold night air, and your throat feels dry, and you’re convinced your heart’s stopped beating. felix just lets out a joyful laugh in response, yelling back to you “SHOWING YOU THE BEST THING ABOUT FLYING!” before plunging the nose of the stick into a dive towards the ground. he pulls up, of course, and does a few more fancy tricks before slowing down to a more leisurely pace above the treetops. 

you sit there in shock for a moment, wide eyed and breathless, trying to take in the wild turn of events.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!! YOU IDIOT WE COULD’VE DIED OR SOMETHING,” you scream in between breaths, still trying to get your heart to stop racing. 

“but we didn’t, right? i told you you could trust me!! was that not fun??” he asks, giddy with adrenaline. you choose not to respond, because he’s right--as much as his sudden moves scared the living daylights out of you, you have to admit it felt pretty freeing. 

“this is my favourite view,” felix says to change the topic, and you lift your head up to look around. you’re coasting above the lake, the last rays of sun painting the landscape golden. more stars are out now, and the glow of the castle feels truly magical and welcoming. you steal a glance at felix, cheeks nose and ears bright red from the cold but an awestruck look on his face nonetheless. you don’t think you’ve ever seen him look so peaceful and content, and the feeling spreads to you as you finally relax your grip a little and rest your cheek on felix’s back. 

“thank you, felix,” you mumble, feeling surprisingly at ease now. 

“sorry, what was that?” he asks and you can hear the grin in his voice.

“i’m not saying it again,” you warn, and he remains silent. part of you wishes you could live in this moment forever, gliding over the mirror-like surface of the water with the warmth of felix to stave away the cold tendrils of night air.

“we should uh, head back. it’s getting pretty late,” he eventually says after a comfortable silence passes. you nod in agreement, and felix takes you back to the quidditch pitch, where he returns his broomstick quickly before coming back to walk with you to the castle. the walk back is mostly silent, with the two of you hiding from professors and prefects a couple times but making it back to the ravenclaw common room unseen. there seems to be some shift in the energy between you now, the silences feeling a bit more awkward than before, but neither of you wants to acknowledge it. 

“well, uh, thanks for trusting me. and sorry if i scared you,” felix says with a small laugh as you reach to door to the common room. 

“it’s okay, i uh...i actually had a really good time. you’re right, you know, it is a really wonderful feeling being up there.” you admit. you have to stop yourself from adding “with you” to the end of that sentence. “so thank you for everything, lix,” you say and you cringe at the nickname that accidentally escaped your lips. felix tries to hold back a smile but fails miserably, blushing at the nickname. 

“goodnight, y/n,” he says after clearing his throat.

“um..goodnight,” you say before going to answer the riddle to enter the common room. as you mutter the answer and begin to enter, you hear felix call after you.

“y/n?”

“yeah?”

there’s a long pause.

“uh, nevermind. goodnight!” he says, and before you know it he’s down the stairs and out of sight. confused, you creep up to your dormitory to get ready for bed. your dreams that night are filled with the wind rushing through your hair, beautiful landscapes whizzing past you, and most importantly of all, felix’s joyful laugh ringing in your ears.

[snapefiction]

Could I request a Snape x Reader where they are married but she works at a Herbology Shop/Florist and Severus visits (to primarily pick up an order of ingredients for his potions class) and gets a chance to flirt with her? Something super fluffy please ~ love your work!!

A/N: Thank you so much and sure!! Let me know what you think! :)

❤️ Please remember that English isn’t my native language and that my Writings will include Mistakes and maybe weird formed sentences. ❤️

Pairing: Severus Snape x Wife!Reader

Warnings: Kissing, Flirting

Word Count: 1163

Working at the little Florist Shop down the road close to the Leaky Cauldron was always your dream. It was so beautiful on every aspect. You were still so close to the wizarding world, could make your hobby your job and still got known to a lot of new People on a daily Basis. Could anything make it even better?

Putting on your apron you quickly slid out your wand to unlock the front door of the shop only to wait for your Co- Worker Josie and your Boss Henry to arrive just five Minutes later. Josie was a young Girl, she freshly graduated at Hogwarts and Henry was an old friendly Man who owned the Shop which he simply named after himself. Henry´s Flowers and Supplies- he got it straight on the point.

Walking behind the Checkout you went straight to the Herbology Section. This was only available for Wizards and Witches as Muggles wouldn’t want to buy dried Frog Legs anyways. Sorting all the new Ingredients you just got delivered you almost got lost of the Track of Time. Throwing away old Cardboxes, advise some Customers, taking care of the flowers growing in your small Greenhouse you could hear Henry talk to the Customers and how the Cashbox rang whenever it got opened and how Josie talked to him about the newest Gossip from her Clique.

Past Lunch as it was almost Time to restock the Flowers at the front of the Shop you still refilled the small Jars in the Herbology Section as you heard your new Co- Worker Josie run towards you.

,,Y/N, He's here. Oh, Merlin. He's here!!" Knowing exactly who she meant you instantly put the Jars down you just held.

,,No way? Which one is it?" You bowed up again and tried to spot the mysterious Quidditch Player she talked about since Months. She pointed to the Boy standing next to the Lilies. He wasn’t looking too bad, he matched her quite well.

,,Do I look okay?" She quickly asked and you couldn't help it but smile widely as you admired her beauty.

,,You look beautiful. Now go talk to him before he changes his mind!" Nodding she quickly took off her Glasses, slid them into her side pocket of her Apron and went up to the front. The brown haired Boy quickly took notice of her as he got suspiciously shy. She talked to him, showing him around the store. He asked her some Questions and they eventually got lost in Smalltalk.

,,She’s so in love with him.“ Henry sighed. ,,Oh, what I’d give to be young again and fall in love with a Quidditch Player.“ He joked as he winked and laughed only to sign me that he’d head home now. Taking over his Place at the Cashier you began to read in the book you borrowed Josie which she left here.

As another Customer came in you read the last sentence of the page only to wipe away some dirt of your cheek and welcome the new Customer with your usual Catchphrase.

,,Hey, welcome at Henry´s Flowers and Supplies. How can I-“ Looking up from the Counter where you quickly laid the Novel aside you spotted your Husband of five years standing in front of you. His black Hair was slightly wet from the rain outside and his Lips presented you a big smile. He still managed to take your Breath away.

,,Actually I just wanted to pick up an Order. But may I tell you that you look beautiful today, dear?“ Smirking he leaned against the Counter. Jokingly he decided to play games with you.

,,Well Thank you, Mr.- ? But I must warn you, don’t attempt to flirt with me.I am a married woman.“ He chuckled. ,,Plus my Husband can become very jealous.“

,,Snape, Severus Snape.“ Blushing you played along with it as he held out his hand to shake yours. ,,Your Husband must be very happy then?“

Shrugging your shoulders you pouted slightly. ,,I hope so. But whenever he’s at work I’m so lonely- I dearly miss him.“ He reached over the Table to lay his hand on your Cheek only to brush his thumb over it.

,,Hmm. I hope he buy you Flowers and treats you right?“ Chuckling you took the Novel you borrowed Josie from aside the Counter and placed it on top to show him the Title: ,All the Flowers in Paris.´

,,And every now and then he buys me my favourite Flowers: Peony´s. I´m Sorry Mr. Snape, but I’m already taken to the best Husband I could ask for.“ He removed his Hand from your face and nodded.

,,Again, what a Pity. But could you at least help me get this Order wrapped up?“ Nodding yourself now you waved him over to lead him to the Herbology Section. Grabbing everything he asked for you tried to play your role but as he finally grabbed your shoulders to turn you around your Lips finally collapsed against each other. Sighing on his Lips you laid your Arms around his neck and he held you close. How you missed him! You saw him every Weekend and could stop by at Hogwarts whenever you felt like it but it still wasn’t enough for you. Thats why the both of you leaned against one of the greenhouses walls and kissed for ages.

,,I missed you, Angel.“ He whispered. ,,Had to see you.“ Chuckling you looked him in the eyes.

,,I love you and I missed you too. You really caught me off guard.“ His Fingers brushed through your hair.

,,After I received your Owl this Morning I knew I had to see you.“ You kissed him again. ,,Also I really needed some Ingredients so it’s a Win-Win.“

He kissed your lips again. He was just like you touch starved. You felt like a Teenager again. Hiding between the Shelves, making out. You truly were a lucky Wife.

,,Y/N! Who was that Man flirting with- Oh my God!“ Josie walking right at you. You let go of Severus. ,,Oh- shit- I´m sorry.“ She swallowed a lump in her Throat and just looked at you with big eyes. Smiling you tried to hide your Blush.

,,Well, uhh- that’s Severus. My Husband.“ You introduced, trying to hold back your laughter as her eyes almost seem to leave her head out of Shock.

,,Professor Snape- Of course- um- hi?“ He just waved and you both watched her hurry away as she was excusing herself with left over work.

,,I bet she wasn’t expecting that.“ He joked and pulled you back closer to him.

,,Of course not. Who’d expect their former Potions Master to kiss their Co-Worker between the Shelves? Especially when she didn’t knew that we are married.“

,,I once spotted Hagrid and Madame Maxime kissing after the Yule Ball, that wasn’t fun either. She will surely survive it.“

,,It simply shocks your Students every time. Now shut up and kiss me.“ You demanded laughing.

Taglist: @deepperplexity , @monstreviolet , @wow-life-love4 , @lizlil

Let me know if you want to be added in my Taglist. :)

[canvas-the-florist]

Fist Fight the After Life (Sander Sides)

Ship(s): Brotherly Anxceit, Creativitwins, pining Logince

Warnings: frog mention, lots of talk of death, food mention, insomnia mention

Summary: Ghosts can become corporeal to prevent one event from occurring. Virgil and Janus become corporeal by accident by trying to stop Remus and Roman from going down a really steep hill in a shopping cart. Chaotic and heartfelt shenanigans ensue.

Word Count: 1.9K

-

“This is a really stupid idea,” Roman hummed, looking at the bicycle helmet his brother handed him and then looking at the shopping cart. Then, he shrugged and put it on. “Still, sounds kinda dope. Wouldn’t want you to claim all the glory for this stupidity.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“No, it’s not.” Janus booed. Remus didn’t flinch or move, because Janus wasn’t quite there. He was in the astral plane watching with mild disinterest. “I’m the spirit.”

“Shut up, snake.” Virgil shoved his brother half heartedly. “No one wants or can hear your dumb puns.”

The two continued bickering as Roman and Remus started setting up their fun stunt. They had found a steep hill at the bend of an abandoned road. Remus had tried to talk his friend, Logan into joining the two, but Logan actually had a brain cell and decided to pass. But he had agreed to watch at a bench in case they needed an ambulance. Roman forced Remus to wear his helmet before they climbed into the cart. Virgil face palmed across the planes.

“They’re really going to do this huh,” Virgil bit his lip. His hands have hidden in the sleeves of his hoodie and he grabbed the insides of it. Janus looked over to see that Virgil was even more anxious than usual. “If either of them die I’m going to kill them when they get here.”

“I’m sure they’re going to be fine, Virgil.” Janus reassured, not knowing himself if he was lying. He turned back to watch Logan walking up to the cart, ready to push it down the hill that seemed to grow taller the more he looked. Virgil’s worries were rubbing off on him. Janus considered for a moment before seeing that Logan was just about to push and-

“DON’T!” Janus and Virgil shouted, this time causing three people to flinch and the shopping cart fell on it’s side just as Logan moved forward. The three humans looked up, shocked and frozen as two… ghosts were staring down at them.

Janus and Virgil looked at each other and then at their environment, realizing what they have done. Virgil’s face fell into his hands while Janus cursed quietly. He saw Remus and Roman get up as if they’re about to run and (metaphorically) stepped in. “Hello, friends. My brother and I are just here to say that…” Roman and Remus looked back as Logan was still frozen. “We’re your guardian angels! Not yours though, Logan. We had the chance to save you two from doom if it was ever to get too dire. So you’re welcome!”

Virgil looked up, aghast at his brother. He mouthed, what?! Janus ignored him. “Any questions?”

Remus raised his hand and talked as he did so. “Are you gay?”

“Yes.” Virgil and Janus replied at the same time, without hesitation. Virgil continued, “But that’s not exactly relevant. Umm, sorry for interrupting your ‘sick stunt’, we’re going to go now. RIGHT, JAN?”

“Of course.”

-

They couldn’t leave. After about a minute, Logan offered his house to have a more private conversation. While walking back the three humans asked a list of endless questions, about guardian angels. Virgil let Janus take the lead as he was trying to calm down. Janus kept answering about what ghosts do but he was sure that Roman wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in the end. Well, until the actual end, he supposed quietly. Logan unlocked the door and the others walked or floated into the front room.

“So you guys were just watching us like a 3D movie?” Roman asked. “Why not watch someone cooler? Unless we’re more interesting than… Lin Manuel Miranda?”

Virgil shrugged, finally able to form a sentence without his voice cracking. “I’m pretty sure many people are watching Lin Manuel Miranda right now, on this plane or not. It’s more interesting to watch someone insignificant.” Virgil realized what he said and quickly continued before Roman had the chance to be offended. “Well, insignificant at first glance. You- y’all are more fun than any privileged asshole with too much money would be.”

“You get to decide who to spectate?” Logan asked, while getting a notepad and pen from a cupboard. “How do you decide? What do you do when a person you’re watching dies? How many times can you step in to help someone?”

“Well,” Janus started. “You can decide who to watch, and you kinda just float around the world and if you want to watch someone, you do. When that person dies and you’re around you’re supposed to help them adjust to the afterlife. And… You can only step in once. But it has to be before their action or you’re going to have to fix it yourself. Which is too much work.”

Logan continued writing this down. Remus blurted out “So what happens after you save their donkey asses? Do you explode into frogs?”

“Nope.” Virgil looked down, uncomfortably. He didn’t know how to respond to this question. It was a sort of touchy and ambiguous part of being a spirit. “I’m not exactly sure what happens. The person who introduced me to this afterlife,” He gave a side look at Janus who looked slightly guilty. “Never told me what that’s like.”

The three humans then looked at Janus with attention. Remus whispered to Roman “I’m still betting on the frog thing.” Roman snickered as Janus started. He was ringing his hands and toying with his gloves while he talked. “In the afterlife you can either choose to just stop all your consciousness or become a sort of spectator… thing. A lot of people choose to watch over the world to cope with their death. When people intervene with an event that’s occurring their existence becomes kind of limited. You can only save a person once and we,”

He looked at Virgil who was looking very nervous at what was happening. “We just so happened to use it. I’m not certain on what happens after this but I do know that people don’t return to the astral plane when 24 hours of being corporeal ends.”

“Well that fucking sucks.” Roman stated after a long pause. “You save someone from something bad and you get in an even worse position? Life in the afterlife doesn’t seem so… ideal.”

“I mean, it IS death.” Virgil shrugged.

“Whelp, thanks for stopping us for doing a sick unstable trick. Now you’re stuck with us for the rest of your existence!” Remus said giddily, like he was a mix of grateful and mad at them. Roman hit him on the head lightly. “What? That is what happened, right? They’re not going to explode into blood and guts, they’re just gonna poof!”

“Well, I wouldn’t cross that quite of the list yet. Neither of them seem to have any knowledge about what’s going to occur.” Logan pointed out and Remus gave a crooked smile. Logan then turned to the ghosts. “What are you going to do now? You have about… 21 hours and 46 minutes left until your undetermined future.”

Virgil and Janus looked at each other and shrugged.

“Do you guys want to prank anyone?” Virgil asked, causing Remus and Roman to grin.

-

After making a bad youtube video with it’s top comment being “The editing is so unrealistic”, doing the most impressive magic tricks to the five random strangers who wanted to participate, and generally scaring people, there was about 15 hours and it was now 12 AM. The group had kind of ran out of things to do so they were playing truth or dare on the carpet. Janus and Virgil were hovering in a position that kinda looked like they were sitting.

“Virgil!” Roman declared dramatically. “Truth or dare?”

Virgil raised his eyebrow. “Uhh,, dare? I wanna see what you can come up with.”

“Dammit I only had a truth prepared, give me a second.” He closed his eyes, as if he had to think really hard just to come up with a dare. Then Roman’s eyes popped open and a smile spread across his face. “Lemme swish my hand through you! I wanna know what it looks like.”

“Rude, that was going to be my dare for Janus!” Remus punched Roman, causing him to fall onto Logan. Logan had a brief blush while Roman obliviously sat back up. “So, do you take the dare Virge? Or are you chicken poop?!”

“I believe you just misused an idiom.” Logan pointed out before smiling a little bit. “Was I just the one to point that out? That was me understanding a metaphor? I did it!”

“Good job, Logan,” Janus remarked. “Accept the dare Virgil, I would LOVE to get ‘swished’ by the not at all greasy twin.”

Virgil shrugged. “Sure, I mean it’s not like I can feel it I guess.” He didn’t even finish his sentence when Roman leaned forward to run his hand through Virgil’s arm. Virgil flinched backwards at the sudden movement but then relaxed again while crossing his arms. “Got it out of your system, Princey?”

His arm was dispelling like smoke moving when air conditioning turns on. Roman did it about two more times before leaning back against the couch, not noticing how close he was to Logan. Logan noticed though. “Yeah, I’m done. Your turn now!”

The games continued like this for a while. There were about 11 hours left when the corporeal humans passed out. Except for Remus, who just seemed to get bored, take a Red Bull from the fridge and go upstairs to do whatever the hell he did in his spare time. There were about 8 hours left when Janus and Virgil floated outside to the front yard. Virgil flew up to the roof and lied down in the air to look at the polluted air in the sky. Janus joined him a little bit after.

“They seemed fun.” Janus started, pulled one of his knees to his chest.

“Do you think it was worth it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Us saving them. They might not have even been in danger. And we intervened.” Virgil looked at his older brother and he could see the fear in his eyes. “What if we broke some sort of ghost rule? I don’t know how any of this works and that’s not the vibe honestly.”

Janus took off his hat, ran a hand through his hair, and put it back on. He was looking forward, in the direction of the hill. “I don’t know. But we did that and now we’re getting consequences. Whether or not this is bad, I don’t know. But I do know that we’re going to be okay. I lied-”

“Of course…” Janus looked at Virgil, unenthused. Virgil held up his hands. “Sorry, what were you lying about?”

The older brother rolled his eyes. “We’re not going to stop existing yet. Because I don’t feel like it. How would you like to survive out of spite? We might not see any of these fools but we could haunt shit, which I know is not your whole vibe.”

Virgil laughed quietly before making eye contact, his eyes holding excitement and fear within them. “All I do is out of spite, idiot.”

Taglist: @did-he-just-hiss-at-me @logan-sanders-enthusiast @onceler-simp @bullet-tothefeels @sugaryenovis @bapbee @mysticalninjanut @fuckimasanderssidesblognow @meowthefluffy @eeredecimalsanderssided @mariita-2006 @mystic-theater-geek @bewaretheidesofmarchyall @callme-vee 

[milkybunbuns]

i. new beginnings → perfection masterlist → next

w/c: 3.3k

warnings: bnha spoilers ahead (season 1 episode 5 mainly)

a/n: this series will follow closely with the anime although I might be missing parts of it since it’s been a while since I watched BNHA. also i went overboard with this aishhh, though I don’t think future chapters will be so long oh and I couldn’t be original so I stole the quirk idea from one of my old fics on wattpad and added more abilities to it haha

“Aww comee onn you really can’t be sending me to UA, you know how much I like being at home with you!”, you whined at Keigo, grabbing tightly onto his arm and digging the soles of your feet into the carpet of the living room.

 The said man sighed, facepalming, “Look nuggie, I would never do anything to make you uncomfortable but you’re gonna have to interact with people if you’re going to become a popular pro hero in the future like me!!”

“But can’t you just keep home schooling and training me?”

“I would, but I have hero work to do as well at the agency and I wouldn’t have enough time to help you out”, you pouted and kept your ground in the living room. It had already been a fussy morning with Keigo chasing you everywhere to get you to put on your uniform. With a final rub of his temples he spoke up again, “I’ll let you buy anything at the grocery store tonight?”

You looked up at him and stuck a pinky out, “Pinky promise?”

“Yup!!” and before you could even respond he scooped you up, already flying out of the building and flying towards what you assumed was the direction of UA.

“Please warn me next time!”, you yelled over the wind as you held on tightly, you would use your quirk but you still didn’t have a licence and you were still learning how to fly through narrow spaces. Crashing into a building didn’t sound very appetising at the moment. It wasn’t too long before you spotted the easily recognisable glass building of UA, Keigo slowing down for a landing and allowing you to get off.

“Alright I’ll see you later nuggie!”, he waved cheerily, already getting ready to take off.

You just nervously responded with an “uh-huh”, while examining the surroundings, students bustling everywhere. Alright 1-A it was, I should probably ask someone, maybe someone who looks nice. Hmm, how about that purple-haired boy, yeah, he looks like a senior and doesn’t look too bad. You briskly walked up to the purple haired male with elf ears, “Err, hii-”

He looked up at you with shock and you could see bullets of sweat dripping off his forehead, “u-uh h-h-hi”, he meekly responded, looking like he was going to die any second. 

Just as you were about to ask for directions to 1-A, too cherry voices called out to the boy in front of you, “Woah, you’re socialising Tamaki! Great job!”, a blonde boy with blue eyes strolled up to his friend, grinning brightly and giving him two thumbs up.”

“Hey Mirio! Wait up!!”, you turned around, immediately spotting a light blue haired girl rushing towards her friends waving happily. She must’ve noticed you standing there awkwardly and quickly came to your rescue, “Hi!! I’m Nejire and that’s Tamaki and Mirio! You must be a first year here!”, she smiled at you gently, pointing to the respective people as she introduced you to them.

“Nice to meet you Nejire-senpai, I’m L/n Y/n. Also do you know where 1-A is, I’m kinda lost”, you had enrolled as L/n Y/n instead of Takami Y/n as to not reveal the last name of Hawks since it was meant to be kept secret for some reason he didn’t tell you about.

“Speak no more, we’ll guide you there since we’re the big 3 after all!”

“Huh, what’s the big 3?”

“Oh, it’s basically 3 students in their third years who are talented and I guess you could say that’s us. Come on Mirio and Tamaki, let’s help bring this student to her class.”

Mirio took your right side, while Nejire led on in front, pointing out different buildings and Tamaki in the back.

“I’m Mirio! Great to meet you!”, he reached a hand to shake with you which you quickly did, “Same here Mirio-senpai, I’m L/n Y/n.”

“You’ll be seeing us around the school plenty, so if you ever have any questions, feel free to ask us or any of the teaching staff, they’re always happy to help! Well, I guess I can’t really say the same about Mr. Aizawa..”

“Oh, isn’t Mr. Aizawa, Eraserhead?”

“Yeah, he is and as a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be your teacher this year.”

“That’s uhh wonderful, he sounds like a great guy!”, you replied awkwardly trying to sound cheery.

“Don’t worry too much, you’ll do fine”, he patted you on the back reassuringly and at the same moment, Nejire announced that you had arrived at 1A.

“Thank you Nejire, Mirio and Tamaki-senpai”, you bowed to them, before they sought you off, heading for their own classes. Pushing the door open, the room was already bustling with students and you scanned your eyes over the room finding a seat between a spiky red hair boy and a green haired girl who looked a bit like a frog. Honestly, the random desk at the back seemed wonderful at first, but you remembered how Keigo had encouraged you to sit around more social people and they seemed social enough. It was probably the least you could do after he went through all the convincing with Nezu and some other things to get you to UA without having to take any tests.

You were really relieved when neither of them didn’t bother to talk to you, or notice you maybe, and continued on chatting to their friends. It seemed like you were just on time, the bell ringing and yet not any sight of any teacher. Frowning slightly, you were about to get up and go to the staff room which Nejire had pointed out earlier to search for Aizawa-sensei.

 Luckily, he arrived in some sort of yellow sleeping bag which slightly resembled a cocoon, announcing in a sorta lazy and flat tone, “Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends. This is the hero course.”

The room quickly quieted down and became silent as everyone averted their attention to Aizawa, “It took 8 seconds before you quieted down. You kids aren’t rational enough. I’m your homeroom teacher Shota Aizawa. Nice to meet you. This is sudden, but put this on”, he presented a UA PE uniform out of thin air, or maybe he had it hidden inside his sleeping bag that whole time? “And meet me at the field after.”

Without any hesitation, everyone got up and grabbed their PE uniform from the desk which had their names on the packaging, likely to have been pre-ordered and filed out of the classroom towards the lockers. You grabbed yours, grimacing as a blond spiky haired boy shoved past you, resisting the temptation to yell at him and give him a piece of your mind. Like what, how can someone be so rude!

Upon arrival at the locker rooms, you didn’t really try to socialise with anyone, nor did they, I mean, your locker was in the back corner so they probably wouldn’t notice you anyways which was fine to you. To draw the least attention towards yourself, you waited until all the other girls had headed out happily chatting among themselves, then followed closely behind them and out onto the field where pretty much everyone was already assembled. 

“We’ll be having a quirk assessment test”, well there came the flat recognisable tone of Aizawa, he would definitely be an interesting teacher, that’s all you could say for him. Everyone either goraned or shrieked in horrification at this announcement, quirk assessment on the first day? Well damn, okay, thought first day would be a bit more chill. Kinda ironic for someone who seems like he can’t be bothered to do much himself.

“But what about the entrance ceremony or orientation?”, some girl piped up, yup definitely a bubbly one, she should be pretty easy to make friends with.

Okay at this point Aizawa was just getting a bit too blunt, “If you’re going to become a hero you don’t have time for such leisurely events. UA’s selling points is that it’s ways aren’t traditional, which is the same as how the teachers teach.” You watched him carefully as he skimmed over the class, landing on the rude blond spiky kid from earlier, “Bakugo, you finished top of the practical test, didn’t you? What was your furthest throw in middle school?” So Bakugo is his name, I’ll just stay away from him.

The said boy looked up cockily, a shit eating grin on his face, “67 meters.”

“Okay, then try throw this ball, but you can use your quirk.”

“Sure”, he grabbed the ball, leaning back on one foot in the circle and yelling “DIE!” as the ball flew off. It wasn’t took long before a beep came from a device that Aizawa was holding, showing 705.2 meters.

“Know your maximum first, that’s the most rational way to forming the foundations of a hero”, he seriously seemed to have something with things being done rationally...

A chorus of woah’s were heard throughout the class, well that sure did blow up that Bakugo’s ego. His ego must’ve been too big for his own good.

“This is going to be fun!”, an alien looking girl exclaimed punching her fist in the air.

Followed by a black haired boy excitedly looking on, “So we get to use our quirks as much as we want!”

And yet again, the mood came crashing down as Aizawa spoke up again, “It looks fun, huh? You have three years to become a hero, you think it’ll be all fun and games? Sure, then whoever comes last in the 8 tests will be expelled. Welcome to UA’s hero course!”, earning another screech form the class including yourself. Alright Y/n, you are NOT wasting this change Keigo gave you and you better do well in this!

“Let’s begin shall we? Starting with the 50m dash.”

The first two up were blue haired boy and the frog looking girl who sat next to you in class and before you could even blink, the blue haired boy was already off, speeding past the finish line. His quirk must’ve something to do with speed, so don’t panic Y/n, there’s only so much you can do with speed, you encouraged yourself determinedly looking on. And maybe you were a bit tooo busy encouraging yourself when you noticed the same bubbly brown haired girl patted you on the back.

“Hey, it’s your turn. Also, I’m Ochaco Uraraka, nice to meet you!”

“Thanks Ochaco-san, I’m L/n Y/n. We can continue to chat after these tests, sorry”, you apologetically looked at her before rushing towards the starting line. Beside you, was a white and red haired male with a red scar over his left eye. Okay that’s edgy, time to focus! You activated your quirk allowing wings to grow on your back through the use of light energy which was absorbed through two horns on your head.

Ready

Set

Go!

You flapped your wings as fast as you could making it in 4 seconds which wasn’t too much faster than the guy behind you gliding along with ice. Your brain quickly put together what his quirk was, white represents ice and red must represent fire. Wonder why he didn’t use his fire like the explosions of that Bakugo boy, it would’ve been much faster than skating.

Then came the grip test which you absolutely flunked, only coming in at 43kg which was pretty much the lowest in the class. Well what can some damn light energy do to help increase your grip? All it’ll do is burn your hands off.

After came the standing long jump with you passed with breeze, just flying to clear the sandbox and with the repeated side steps you simply used pure speed to get through it. And at last, came the ball throw the one which you were most excited for since you had a great plan to get a good score. When it came up to your turn you grabbed the ball tightly throwing it up in the air gently right above you, then activating your quirk and encasing it in a bright bubble made of light energy, then sent it off, controlling the bubble to keep going forwards without leaving the circle at all. You concentrated hard, thinking about the ball in your mind and it got more difficult to control until you couldn’t visualise it’s location anymore and let it drop. A beep was heard as Aizawa presented you with his device, showing 1638 meters.

Satisfied with your work, you smiled a bit and got back to your place.

“Midoriya, your turn”, the green haired boy nervously walked forwards, grabbing onto the ball and throwing it. You almost scoffed, if you didn’t feel the teeniest bad for the poor boy who had seemed so confused. Something was surely off about him, how did someone who can barely even use or control their quirk get into UA... He was given another chance, getting almost the same as Bakugo, except his hand turned a weird purple colour. That must be one powerful quirk for one weak body, you grimaced at his injury.

“Ow, that’s gotta hurt, Aizawa-sensei sure is harsh”, Ochaco frowned at the scene in front.

“I mean yeah he is, but not gonna lie, if I was in Aizawa’s spot I’d seriously be wondering how he got in, though he does have some potential with a quirk as powerful as his.”

“I’m sure he’ll get better, hopefully he’s not last, I’m really hoping that Mineta kid gets expelled, I already don’t really like him just by the looks of him.”

“Either it’s a crush or just you dislike Mineta, but then again, you shouldn’t be judging a book by its cover.”

“Eh what make sure you think that!”, she panicked cheeks flushed, “Its just that Mineta guy really seems like a perv.”

“Well, in that case, I guess it’s kinda his own fault, first impressions are key.”

“That’s true I guess.”

The two of you were snapped out of your conversation when Aizawa’s voice rang through the field, pulling up a projection, or was it a hologram? Anyways, you quickly skimmed through the board, searching for your name and you were glad to see you had landed a decent spot, coming in 3rd, just behind the Todoroki kid. And in last came Midoriya, ow, that’s seriously gotta be a huge blow to his self esteem.

“No ones actually gonna get expelled, it was just a rational deception to get you all to go beyond.”

“It was clear it was a rational deception”, Momo who you had seen on the top of the board piped up unhelpfully.

“Ughhh well that’s just greaaat”, you groaned into your hands “and now we appear to have a smartie genius know it all in our class as well”, you muttered annoyed as Ochaco sweat dropped patting your back slowly.

“L/n, you should not be so disrespectful to your classmates!”, Iida reprimanded, chopping his arms up and down.

“Okay thank you thank you.”

Finally school had been dismissed and you stood outside the gates of UA, impatiently tapping your feet as you waited for Keigo to come pick you up as other students made their own way home. It had been 10 minutes already and the bird brain still hadn’t picked you up! Welll, he didn’t really ever specify that he would come pick you up, you just kinda assumed? Frowning, you activated your quirk, not give one hec about the no quirk in public rule since walking home would take forever and you didn’t have that kind of time smh. Flapping your wings and stretching your arms, you prepared to take off and far into the sky where the police wouldn’t be able to see you flying around.

“What are you doing using your quirk in public without a licence?”, a loud voice boomed, stopping you in your tracks.

“Oh hi Endeavour-san!”, you smiled a bit, continuing to ignore his words and continue what you were going to do. You were really great at being annoying and ignoring people, just a trait you picked up from Hawks I guess.

Endeavour deadpanned, “You’re not allowed to be using your quirk and I know you don’t have a licence, so you need to go and take public transport or walk like everyone else.” He was completely ignored as you started floating a bit, “Well, I’ll be off then! Have a wonderful evening Endeavour-san and Todoroki-san.”

You flew off, but before you could get anywhere, Endeavour was already pulling you down by your foot, I mean, considering how strong he is, it succeeded. “Okay then Mr.Smartie, how am I meant to get home now without my quirk huh? I have no clue how public transport works”, you sneered at him, huffing and crossing your arms unimpressed.

“Go walk home.”

“But it takes a long time.”

“Then go figure out the public transport time schedules.”

At this point, you were sick and tired of him and Todoroki looked pretty annoyed as well, so you decided to do everyone a favour. You grabbed Todoroki by the wrist running off and dragging him while waving back at Endeavour, “I promise I’ll return him in one piece! You don’t need to worry!!”

Endeavour was about to chase after you, but you were already gone and out of sight, whatever, he had to return to his patrol anyways. It could also be good training for Shoto to deal with the annoying villains, not saying you were a villain, but you sure did fit that annoying standard.

“Your welcome”, you yawned lazily, staring up at the sky while walking. Todoroki was still confused but if being with you let him get away from being with his father he was more than glad too. Plus, he could use this chance to find any weaknesses about you, you seemed quite strong and could be someone to look out for in the UA sports festival.

“How did you talk to my father like that? Most people would’ve never had the guts to do it.”

“Wellll, for one, I’m not most people and I know him pretty well, I’ve talked to him a lot of times on his patrols. There’s almost nothing scary about him, he’s just a big fire guy walking around with an angry voice, but it’s not like he can harm any of us, he’s a hero.”

Todoroki felt his blood boil at what you had said, Endeavour was no hero, driving his mother to the end of her wits, training him harshly from a young age, some hero. But the rational part of his brain won over the emotional part, explaining that you were an outsider and had no clue as to their personal lives. Todoroki was intrigued with your quirk, he wanted to learn more about what it could do, all he knew so far was that you had the ability to create wings, bubbles made of light energy and not very much else. Considering you were the sister of Hawks (Endeavour had told him, I guess that’s something that Endeavour is useful for), he honestly expected more, but you could be holding back. He considered asking you more about your quirk but that would probably make you put walls up around yourself and see him as a threat. It was probably just best to wait and see your full potential.

You noticed it had become silent and nobody had anything to say, enveloping both of you in an awkward silence. Well, you were pretty sure you were the only one feeling awkward. You made up some lame excuse and sent Todoorki off on his way, glad to be out off the awkward silence. UA wasn’t that bad, you supposed.

next

[vincentspork]

ETOILE DRAMA CD SUMMARY HERE WE GOOO

Set five years after Rhapsody, Etoile RosenQueen is now 21 and regularly traverses the world in search of new adventures. She receives a letter from a doctor in a small, rural village, begging for her help; she sets off on a 2-day trip with her bodyguards, Momi and Hammer, and meets with the doctor - a man named Chorizo - who explains that young people in the village have been getting picked off recently.

At Chorizo's house, Etoile is shown the body of the most recent victim, who appears to be an elderly woman, but is actually a 16-year-old girl. Etoile and Chorizo come to the conclusion that the culprit is a vampire, due to the rapid aging of the corpse and the two, telltale bite wounds on the neck of the body. Chorizo lets it slip that a priest moved into town about a year prior, coinciding with the start of the attacks, and is never seen during the day; Etoile deduces that he may be the perpetrator of the murders.

Once night falls, Etoile and Chorizo set off towards the church. Hammer and Momi start to follow, but they notice that the sheet that concealed the corpse appears to have "flattened". They're then attacked by a vampire inside the house, the corpse of the 16-year-old who had been bitten. They manage to stave it off, but the noise of the battle attracts Etoile and Chorizo back to the house, and they return, as Chorizo is concerned about the safety of his daughter, Crea, whom he left behind at the house, asleep.

The vampire makes it way up to the second floor of the house, where Crea is sleeping. Etoile looks for Crea, and eventually finds her and sweeps her up into her arms, but the vampire sneaks up and bites Etoile; Etoile then throws the vampire off of herself and kills it while protecting the child.

After this, they decide that they can't stall any longer, and they prepare to attack the church the following night. They tell all of the villagers to stay inside after dark. Etoile only drinks coffee to keep herself alert, and Crea follows her around (;;_;;), giving her a special flower known to repel insects.

Etoile and co. arrive at the church at midnight, and once they arrive, the priest welcomes them, and has a very entrancing voice, leading Etoile to wonder if this is how the victims were seduced. She confesses that one time she made a stew for Cornet out of frogs (😨) and had Cornet eat it unknowingly. The priest tells her off and makes Etoile mad hdsgssgdhddj

The priest then begins hypnotizing her and finally exposes himself as a vampire (side note, the text says something along the lines of "a normal person would have fallen totally under the influence of such powers but Etoile RosenQueen is not a normal individual." Ok ilu) She gives Hammer and Momi the okay to open fire, and all three of them shoot at it, though Etoile lets it escape, as she's deduced by the amount of bodies that there's more than one culprit, and that the priest vampire is effectively the "worker bee" just collecting victims for the true mastermind.

The trio work their way deeper into the church and find a portrait of an older woman in a back room. Etoile insults the woman's lipstick, saying that her shade of lipstick is too flashy for an older woman (dhsgstssgd) and she traces the woman's lips with fresh blood that the vampire priest tracked into the room. This opens a secret door into a cave.

Etoile and her bodyguards head in, and Etoile decides to rely on her hearing to navigate the cave; she uses her headband as a blindfold and shoots her way through the darkness (!!) and she also dodges attacks from the vampires who are were lying in wait. Hammer and Momi are caught in the vampire's crossfire, so Etoile uses the flower that Crea had given her earlier to make a quick medicine and lets them rest. They carry on and eventually make their way to the vampire queen's nest - sidenote, remember the bug allusions that were made earlier? Vampires are like spiders in this story now, uhh the vampire queen has like, a web and stuff? Anyway Hammer and Momi shoot at it with their bazookas and Etoile throws a molotov cocktail at it.

They make their way out of the cave, and they're flagged down by Dr. Chorizo and his wife Iris, who had gone looking for Etoile and her guards (the sun is starting to rise, so they had been looking for and shooting at vampires for about 12 hours). As Etoile moves in to hug them, the vampire queen attacks again, this time piercing its poisonous needles through Chorizo and Iris. Etoile shoots at the queen, and even severs one of its eight legs with a sword, but the vampire queen still counterattacks and breaks Etoile's left arm. Etoile uses her right arm to shoot at the ceiling above the queen, who gets caught in an exposed ray of light through the ceiling, and burns to death.

Chorizo, in his dying breaths, asks about his wife, who's already dead, and then asks Etoile to look after Crea. Etoile vows to protect Crea and raise her as her own daughter, and then cries over bodies of the doctor and his wife.

In the epilogue, Etoile makes her way back to Mothergreen with Momi, Hammer, and Crea, wondering if she's qualified to be a mother, but steels her resolve and promises to look after Crea from here on out.

[newbie-weeb26]

Weekend (Chapter 4)

.To anyone who has any requests, you can send them to me through my ask box, but I’m only limited to 2 animes so far... I’m starting to get into Haikyu and I’m going to try and watch HunterxHunter. Also I made the reader’s favorite hero, Hawks, soooooo... yeah

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Its the first weekend with you in your dorm. You had a good sleep and you want it to be a relaxing day. Once you started to wake up, you hear a knock on the door. “Y/N~ are you awake?” You hear Mina outside the door, sounding energetic. You stretch and open the door, slightly. “Mina, why are you knocking so early?” Mina smiles and opens the door all the way. “Well, it’s time for breakfast. I just didn’t want you to miss it.” You groan and you were a mess since you just woke up. “I’ll be right there. Let me just grab a sweatshirt and slippers.” You grab a pullover sweatshirt and put on your slippers, then you meet Mina outside your door. “Hey girl! Let’s go, I’m starving.” She grabs your wrist and starts to pull you towards the cafe.

Once the both of you made it, you just grab a bottle of water. You don’t really eat breakfast, because of the feat of throwing up. Water is mostly your breakfast. You aren’t really in the right mindset, especially since you zone out when you are tired. You take a swig of water and go on your phone. The first zone out episode begins. “Hey Y/N.” You snap out of it and look around. “Oh, hey Deku.” You smile and rub your eyes. “Why didn’t you get anything to eat?” Oh great, one of those questions. “I have a fear of throwing up in the morning. I’m not that hungry.” In reality, you were starving. “Oh, alright. Let me know if you need anything.” He walks away. When you look back on your phone, someone walked past and gave you a package of crackers. “At least put something in your stomach, dumbass.” You look up and see Bakugo. “Thanks, I guess.” You open the package and take tiny bites. He walks away to go sit with Kirishima and Denki. “It seems like Bakugo does have a soft spot after all.”

All of the girls go to the bathroom and get ready for the day. You decide to go ask Mr. Aizawa to go to the school pool to swim. You just want to swim a few laps. “Y/N, where are you going?” Tsu asked. “I’m gonna ask Mr. Aizawa if I can go swimming at the pool. Wanna come with?” You didn’t want to be alone at the pool, since you will most likely be the only one there. “Yeah sure! That sounds like fun.” The both of you go to Mr. Aizawa. “Hey Mr. Aizawa.” He looks at you with his normal red eyes. “What?” It sounds like he just woke up. “Can Asui and I go to the pool to swim a few laps?” Aizawa sighs. “Sure, but only for 2 and a half hours.” The both of you bow down and say ‘thank you.’

After the both of you put on the suits the school gave you, the both of you head to the pool with your towels. It was a pretty warm day, so going to the pool with your towels. It was a pretty warm day, so going to the pool was perfect. The pool was shining in the sunlight. “It looks so refreshing, doesn’t it?” Tsuyu asked. “It sure does. Time to swim!” You run to the edge and jump in. When you reach the surface, you smooth your hair back and take a deep breath in. “That feels amazing! Tsu get in here!” You laugh out loud. “Ribbit.” She hops on over and jumps in. When she comes up, a huge smile is on her face. “Ribbit.” You both go into separate lanes and swim back and forth a couple times. After a couple rounds, you stop and sit at the edge of the pool, spending some quality time together. “So, Y/N, who is your favorite pro hero?” Tsu asked. “That is a good question. If I do have to pick a favorite, it will probably pick Hawks. It’s so cool how he can control his feathers. Also his personality is great.” Tsu nods in amazement. “Yeah he is pretty cool. I guess my favorite is Selkie, since he is a captain and he is also around water. I had my internship with him and it was pretty neat.” You widen your eyes. “That is so cool! I wonder what I would do if I met a pro hero.” You look up at the sky and smile at the thought of meeting your favorite hero. “Hey, do you want to go to the city and maybe grab a bite?” Tsu nods and you both go back to freshen up.

“Where do you want to eat?” You ask. “Hmmm, well I’ve heard of this noodle shop that is pretty good. We should go there.” Now you were craving noodles. “You know, it’s really nice to know more about you.” You give her a bright smile. “I am too. It looks like this is the spot.” You look at the sign and walk in. “Hello welcome. You can sit wherever you want.” The both of you bow and say thank you to the waiter. You sit down and Tsuyu sits across from you. You get your food and talk about school. While you were eating, you hear a very familiar voice. “I’ll take some chicken to go. Oh, and add some noodles in there too.” You look up and see Hawks. You freak out, but try not to show it. “Tsu, look over there.” She looks over to where you are pointing. “Oh my gosh.” You start staring at him. Hawks looks down at you and smirks. “Hey, kid.” You look away and blush. “Wait, I saw you two at the sports fest. I gotta say, you have some quirk on you.” You don’t know what to say. The number 2 hero just complimented  your quirk. “Thanks.” You just want to hide. “Hey, your the frog girl. Your quirk is really cool too. This sports fest was pretty eventful.” Your hair turns pink. “Aww, come one, kid. You don’t have to be shy around me.” You don’t say anything. Tsuyu looks at him. “Well we were talking about our favorite pros and she said that you’re her favorite.” He raises his eyebrows. “Well that’s nice to hear. By the way, do you know my bird bro, Tokoyami?” He asks. “Yeah, he’s in our class.” You say. “Nice.” A person comes out with his food and gives it to him.

“The number 2 hero has to eat now. I hope to see you some other time.” He starts to walk off, but you stop him. “Wait a minute Hawks.” You say, causing him to turn around. “Yeah?” You get shy again. “Sorry to be a bother, but can we take a pic?” He smiles and walks back to you. “Sure why not?” You pick up your phone and hold it out. “Say cheese.” He said. All three of you smile, well Hawks smirks. You take the picture and bring the phone down. “Thank you.” The two of you say in unison. “No problem. Well I gotta eat this chicken. See you two later maybe.” You wave good bye and show Tsu the picture. “That was so cool. I can’t wait to show the others.” You bring your phone down and ask Tsu a question. “Hey, how does Hawks know about Tokoyami?” You go back to eating your noodles. “Some of us had work studies with pros. Tokoyami had his with Hawks.” You widen your eyes. “That is so cool!” After a while, you pay for the food and head back to the dorms.

“That was a good meal. Thank you for coming Tsu.” You open the door. “No problem. I hope we can do that another time. Maybe we can invite the other girls too.” You nod at the idea. The two of you soon head over to the living quarters. You sit on the couch and you are just looking at the picture with Hawks and Tsu. “Hey Y/N.” You jump out of your seat, only to see Iida. “Iida, stop scaring me like that.” He bows down and apologizes. “I’m sorry. That is not very class rep of me. I just came to ask where you and Tsu have been.” You look at Tsu, then back at Iida. “We were just in the city. We wanted to grab a bite at this noodle joint.” Iida bows down again. “Thank you. We wanted to make sure that you two were safe. Good day to you.” He marches away. “Class reps, am I right?” You giggle and sit back down.

For the rest of the day, it was a chill evening. You were basically still in awe over the fact that you met the number 2 hero. Other than that, you were talking with some of your friends. “Hey, Tokoyami, I didn’t know you were working with Hawks.” He looks at you and nods his head. “Yeah, it was for my work study. I gotta say, it was a very interesting experience. Why do you want to know about it?” You pull up the picture and show him. “Well, I saw him with Tsu and he asked about you.” You put your phone down. “Yeah, well, he does have a bit of a cocky side to him. That’s why I said it was an interesting experience.” Tokoyami keeps on talking about his work study with Hawks, and you keep asking questions. Surprisingly, he didn’t have a problem with answering questions. Soon enough, it was time for dinner. All of you head to the cafe and get your meals. You go sit at your usual seat with Iida, Uraraka, Deku, Todoroki, and Tsu. You really didn’t eat a lot because you weren’t that hungry. Those noodles really filled you up. Tsu also didn’t eat a lot. She was pretty full too. “So, how was your day today?” Uraraka asks. “It was pretty eventful. Tsu and I went to the pool to swim a few laps.” You smile and Tsu continues the story. “We then went to the city to a noodle joint. While we were there, Hawks came in.” They all gasp, except for Todoroki, because he was too busy eating his Soba noodles. “Yeah, and let’s just say that I sort of... got shy. So shy in fact, that my hair turned pink.”  They all look at you in amazement. It got quiet, so you look at Todoroki. “So, Todoroki, how are those noodles?” He looks at you with his mouth full. He swallows. “They’re pretty good. Uhh, would you like some?” You smile and shake your head, saying no.

After dinner, everyone either goes to their rooms, or they hang out in the lounge area. You decided to go to the lounge area to hang out with some of the girls. Kirishima, Denki, and Mineta was also there. Everyone was just talking about the weekend and what they did. You didn’t know what to say, so you just stood there on your phone. Before you knew it, you started to dose off on the couch and fell asleep with your arms, supporting your head. Kirishima sees you passed out on the couch. “Hey, Y/n, wake up.” He shakes you a little, causing you to wake up. You hum in response and rub your eyes. “It seems like you had an eventful day today. You should go to your dorm and sleep.” You nod your head at him and stand up. “I guess I should go to sleep. I do feel pretty tired.” You stretch your arms and head to your dorm, after saying goodbye to all of your friends. You open the door, snuggle up under the covers, and fall asleep. ‘What a great day.’ 

[zanidragon]

11 Questions

@empresstress13 tagged me thank you for allowing me to continue procrastinating on Everything.

1. What is your preferred sort of gift to receive? Do you enjoy getting gifts and/or letters?  

I’m Bad at receiving gifts, I like them but I’m bad at receiving them. I don’t know if I have Specific types of gifts I like to receive so much as I like having a useful gift/receiving something I can/will use.

2. Do you enjoy books, movies, and video games? Do you consistently enjoy similar genres between mediums or does it change? What are your favorite genres?

Yes, all three. I do enjoy similar genres Most Of The Time with the exception of horror movies and books, I love those, and I like seeing horror games played but I Cannot Play Them Ever.

Favorite genres: Fantasy/Sci-fi, and horror but I’m Picky about my horror.

3. What is your favorite type of weather? Does the weather affect your mood?

Warm sunshine and thunderstorms, I like rain but mostly to observe and enjoy the sound. That being said overly cloudy skies, excessive rain, snow all tend to make me feel Not Great, my leg bones don’t like cold.

4. What is your favorite color? Is your favorite color to wear and favorite color aesthetically the same?

Big ole fan of red over here and uhh yes, yes it is. Red’s great, excellent color for me.

5. Generally, are you more drawn to characters that you relate to or characters that are very different from you? Or ones that are close to what you aspire to be?

Oh boy a difficult question uhh... Both maybe? Yes? The characters I’m typically drawn to are ones that I relate to according to very specific circumstances but they always have to be hopeful, if not in personality then narratively it has to have a certain amount of hope in their personal story or it’s not worth it to me.

6. Do you like chocolate? Do you like chocolate with things mixed in (like fruits or nuts)?

YES. I like chocolate, specifically dark chocolate more than anything else. I like chocolate paired with espresso beans, fruits, nuts.

7. What’s your favorite animal? Why?

There are So Many Good Animals. Pangolins are good animals! Their tongues are attached to their ribcages! They have SCALES and they curl into Little Scaly Balls.

Owls! Especially barn owls! Feathery ghosts that shriek with the voices of millions of damned souls! Horrifying!

Gila monsters! FAT. Spooky colors! Venomous! Did I mention FAT?

HUMMINGBIRDS! Praying mantises! Ant Lions! Moths! LEOPARD SEALS??

The world is Full of wonderful and amazing creatures I haven’t even gotten into the immense and wild variety of my favorite CATS.

8. What is a book that you would recommend to me?

Mistborn Trilogy if you haven’t already read it, the Night Angel Trilogy is fun but only if you don’t mind a horrifically graphic story with some not fantastically written female characters.

Dragonriders of Pern is a fun series that I haven’t read all of there’s a gazillion of those.

The Incarnations Series is Very Fun.

9. Tell me about an original character you made! Or if you don’t want to do that feel free to tell me about the type of character you’d like to make!

This’d be an easier question if I didn’t constantly spit out character after character after character. Uuhh.

Oh! Malthag! My good good boy! He’s a D&D npc I intend on using for a future long campaign, he’s a former battlefield medic who’s become deeply concerned for his homeland’s now centuries-old policy of uhh worrying about everything except actual infrastructural problems they have. As a very young child he caught a disease which robbed him of his voice and hearing, shortly after this he also discovered that he was a sorcerer. He studied as a doctor and specifically tried setting up a clinic in poorer districts in order to aid those who might not be able to afford the services of other healers. Then he got roped into the army and uhh there’s more to this story but it’s spoilery.

He’s a good boy! I love him!

10. What is your favorite weird fact about history? (OR science or animals or any weird fact?)

I’m bad at history for the most part humans are Not Interesting to my Horrible and Terribly Fickle Brain.

Animals are WEIRD. Frog eyeballs can be seen from the roofs of their mouths when they swallow and sometimes when they blink! Dragonfly larvae jaws are less like jaws and more like an extendable spear to grab and eat things! There’s a parrot in Australia, the Kia, that breaks into cars out of boredom! There’s a spider, the portia spider, a type of jumping spider that evolved specifically to hunt and eat other, LARGER spiders! Chipmunks rarely stray more than 100ft from their home burrows, barred owls rotate nesting grounds throughout a period of several years to allow prey populations to bounce back!

11. Tell me about a location that you’ve been to that you would recommend other people visit!

The blue mosque, it’s just, absolutely stunning, pamukkale, which is a calcium-covered mountain and hot springs in Turkey. The California Redwoods, it makes you feel small in a good way. The trees are as aware of you as you are of them.

I... Am not making 11 more questions anyone who wants to is welcome to answer these

[thdorkmagnet]

Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 21: Angela and Rafael Diaz

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: Marco visits Buff Frog and learns the tragic history and legacy of his now passed parents.

Check out my other stuff on Fanfiction! 

Index

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

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 The small clearing was filled with noisy chatter and happy laughter as the portal opened up to the spot, Marco, Star, Jackie, Janna, Beard Deer, Bearicorn, and Lobster Claws hearing it even before they stepped out of the swirling portal. Once they had, though, the four teens all took a long look around, while the deer Monster closed the rip in dimensions back up again. The other Monsters were all hard at work, hauling heavy boards to and fro, so distracted in their tasks they hadn't noticed them yet. Marco's gaze quickly switched to the source of their hard work and couldn't help but smile.

The newly made cottage was coming along nicely, the foundation already filled in and finished, as well as quite a bit of the construction of the walls, the place already looking homey and welcoming, even in its half-finished state. He honestly wasn't sure how they had gotten so much done in such a short time, considering how busy they were with other, more important things, but as he saw many new, unfamiliar faces and the largely increased number of Monsters present there, he realized Buff Frog had asked for extra help in the Monster community. After all it was a big job, rebuilding the burned country home his parents had once lived in, knowing they had had to of completely clear out the reduced rubble that had remained before they could even begin construction, but he was thankful and glad they had put the work in, feeling like, in this way, there was still something left of his parents.

The boy jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to see Beard Deer smiling down at him, asking, “So Marco, what do you think?” Marco looked back at the half-finished home, he didn't remember what the original had looked like, having been a baby at the time, but he had no doubts that this was defiantly a close comparison, though it seemed they had made it quite a bit larger than the last one, which made sense considering how many Monsters would be going in and out of the place.

Marco smiled again, giving an approving nod, before telling the Monster, “It looks great! Buff Frog's going to love it!” He had been overjoyed the second he had been told that they would be rebuilding the home to make a place for their new Monster leader to live, no Monster wanting to return to the dark and dreary castle, all of them shuddering at the very thought of it, the memories within still too fresh and painful. So it was decided that instead they would make a new base for their leader, Buff Frog choosing the once cozy country cottage instantly. It was the perfect spot, lying (almost intentionally) on the very outskirts of the Monster's territory but still within close distance of the Butterfly's land. Its location made it quite useful for helping to continue the ever-strengthening peace within the two kingdom's new alliance. And, of course, it would allow Buff Frog to be near his son and still be able to continue running the new Monster society he was creating.

Beard Deer ruffled a claw through Marco's hair, interrupting his thoughts once again, as the Monster gave him a soft look, saying, “Glad you like it.”

“Buff Frog is even working on making your own room, so you can come over anytime you like,” Bearicorn said.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Lobster Claws added with a goofily large grin on his hard face.

Marco nodded his head vigorously. “Yeah, it is! I can't wait to see it when it's done!” Marco exclaimed. He quickly turned to the blond beside him. “Doesn't it look great, Star?!”

“Yeah, it's looking pretty good,” Star replied enthusiastically. “I'm impressed you guys have gotten so much done, so fast!”

“Well we called in a ton of extra Monsters to help with the building and that's really made things a lot easier on all of us,” Beard Deer explained, but Marco was no longer listening, now searching for the Monster that had called them there in the first place, finally seeing him standing over with a group of Monsters. His face was scrunched up with seriousness, looking down at the large blueprint in his claws, before saying something to the others around him and pointing in a direction, seemingly giving them orders, though Marco was too far away to hear what it was.

Marco didn't even hesitate as he began running toward his father, yelling, “Buff Frog!” Buff Frog looked up from his work with a wide, loving smile as he saw his adopted child racing over and handed the blueprint over to a Monster beside him. All the other Monsters turned hearing the shout,  some even stopping in the middle of their tasks, watching as the young boy as he ran to his dad's open arms, happily trapping himself in Buff Frog's warmth and strength. “Marco!” Buff Frog cried as he lifted his son off the ground, holding him close, chuckling softly. “It good to see you, son!”

“It's good to see you, too, dad!” Marco replied, equally enthusiastically, as he squeezed his father as hard as he could, the week the two had spent apart causing Marco to hunger for his father's love and attention and he wanted to soak up as much as he could right then.  

The other Monsters watched the exchange, before some went back to what they were doing prior, none of them really caring all that much about the display of emotion, only there to finish their job and go home. Buff Frog's main group of Monsters, however, quickly dropped what they were doing as they went over to greet their young charge, happy to see him as always.

Finally, Buff Frog set the boy back down to his feet, as he turned to look at the three Monsters he had asked to bring his son there, saying in a slightly accusing tone, “Though I do admit, I expected you here a bit sooner.”

“Yeah sorry boss,” Beard Deer said rather sheepishly. “We got...” He paused, rubbing at his still aching cheek with a grimace, thinking of the young redhead's beating. “Uhh, held up.”

“Yeah, we got beat up this teenager, who was apparently a knight or something,” Lobster Claws instantly added and Beard Deer shot him a glare.

“And also a girl,” Janna felt the need to point out, earning her a dirty look from the deer Monster.

“Thanks for that,” he growled at the crustacean, upset at his friend for practically giving his young rival a chance to humiliate him. Lobster Claws shrugged, raising his claws in the air and giving his friend a sheepish grin, showing his innocence for the slip up in hopes Beard Deer would forgive him.  

“Well whatever reason, I just glad you here,” Buff Frog said, as he put a muscular arm on his young son's shoulder, the boy grinning up at him in response.

But the smile dropped as he tried to nonchalantly ask his frog father the question that was burning at his insides. “Soooo, dad... are you gonna tell me about my parents now?” He couldn't keep the excitement or impatience out of his voice, as he eagerly awaited the response, his hands folded in an almost begging manner in front of him.

Buff Frog smiled as his son's eagerness, before saying reassuringly, “Very soon, Marco. We about to be done for day. Just give me few minutes to wrap things up.”

“Oh, okay,” Marco said hesitantly, giving his dad the smallest of nods. Even though his head was swimming with questions and his heart was racing so quickly that he felt like it might explode, he knew his dad had duties to attend to first, so he tried to be understanding and patient in the matter.

Buff Frog seemed to see his son's true feelings because he gave his shoulder a quick squeeze, saying in a reassuring voice, “I won't be long, I promise.”

With that, the frog reluctantly walked away, going back to directing the Monsters under his command to wrapping up the construction for the day, overseeing everything as he shouted orders and gave them the last few commands for the afternoon.

Once he was gone though, Marco was overwhelmed by a massive group hug from the other Monsters, all hungry to give out affection for the boy and ignoring the work still needing to be done in favor of showing this. Star, Jackie, and Janna, just watched the scene unfold with slight chuckles, smiling at the sight of Marco gushing over the attention from his family, laughing in surprise and joy as his face beamed with pride.

Finally, the Monsters peeled themselves off of him, all except for one, a red two headed Monster. “Marco, I missed you!” one of the heads said in a very high pitched voice, as he clung onto the boy's back.

“Well I missed you more,” the other head said in a lower, more gruff tone and Marco felt the hug tighten.

“Uhh, I've been missing him this whole time,” the first head shot back, his tone becoming harsh.

“Well, I was missing him even before he was gone!” the second snapped, with a look of anger on his face. Meanwhile, with every exchange Marco felt the Monster's grip tighten more and more, to the point the hooded boy felt like his back was being crushed and his limbs were breaking apart.

“Can't. breathe!” he managed to gasp out, his face contorted into a frown and the two finally released their hold as Marco gasped for breath.

“Oh sorry, Marco,” first head apologized with a look of remorse.

“Yeah you should be sorry, you nearly killed him,” the second said, giving him an angry scowl.

“Me? You were hugging him, too!”

Before Marco could quell the argument, the boy felt himself being lifted off the ground and he gave a surprised squeak, only to find himself being hugged firmly, but gently by Spikeballs, who hadn't been able to join in on the group hug. “Hey Spikeballs!” Marco greeted cheerfully, as he allowed the large Monster to hold him suspended in mid-air.

“Hey Marco,” the large Monster replied. “You've gotten bigger,” he added.  

Marco blushed at the compliment, before responding shyly, “Aw, you're just saying that.”

After a moment, Spikeballs set the boy back down on the ground and Boo Fly instantly landed on his shoulder, Marco turning his head to look at the little Monster.

The fly's thousands of eyes lay on him, as he asking in a questioning buzz, “Zzo, Marco, how wazz the dance with Zztar?”

“It was good,” Marco replied lightly.

Big Chicken clucked something to him and Marco shook his head. “Nope, no problems, everything went really well, actually,” Marco lied, still not wanting to tell any of the Monsters about what had happened. “Didn't it, Star?” he said, turning to his girlfriend for conformation.

“Yep,” Star said with a nod, a smile gracing her lips. “It was... magical,” she added with a sigh, as she looked over at her bestie. She easily caught his eye and instantly got a dazed, love-struck look on her face, Marco doing the same. For a moment, she just stared into his soft, chocolate brown eyes, which were alive and shining with joy, and Star knew they were thinking the same thing, as they fantasized the moment the two had been captured in the red moon's glow. Star felt an extra thump in her chest, almost like she had been transported back in time to that moment, but after a second it was gone.

“Well, go on, tell us everything!” came Lobster Claws excited command, pulling the two out of their moment and back to reality, as they looked back at the Monsters, who were all nodding, waiting fervently to be told the whole story.

“And don't leave anything out,” the little fly currently weighing down Marco's shoulder added.

Marco tried not to let his look of nervousness show, as he looked to Star for help, knowing that there were several things about that night they couldn't talk about. And none of his friends looked okay with the idea of the hooded boy telling the Monsters what had happened, as they all silently slapped themselves for not coming up with a good cover story before now, knowing how bad the brunette could be at lying. “Uhhh, well-” Marco started but luckily was saved from having to stumble his way around another lie as Buff Frog called to the other Monsters. “Hey, we still need more help over here! You can talk to Marco and friends later!”

The Monsters all sighed and groaned in disappointment, but didn't argue with their leader as they all left to help with the country home's construction, several shuffling their feet as they went. Marco and the three girls all let out relieved sighs as they were left alone once again, Janna even commenting, “Well that was a close one.” To which the others all nodded and mumbled their agreements.

…

A few minutes later, things had settled down, the last of the work was finished for the day and all the stranger Monsters had left, the clearing now silent and peaceful once again. leaving just Buff Frog, his main group of Monsters, and the four teens. Marco once again approached his father, who was rolling up the blueprint to tuck away somewhere safe, trying to ask his frog father in a patient tone, “So, are you ready now?”

“Da, now I ready,” Buff Frog responded, smiling at his son's excitement, as he set the folded paper down.

“Yes!” the boy cheered, pumping an excited fist into the air.

Buff Frog sat down, thankful he was under the shade of a tree. “Come,” Buff Frog said, motioning the boy over to him and Marco instantly obeyed, plopping himself down next to the Monster. He looked up at his dad, expectantly, as he waited for his father to begin. The others just stood there awkwardly, not sure if they should intrude on the moment, but were also overwhelmed by curiosity.

Finally, Star asked hesitantly, “Uhh, so should we go and let you guys talk or...” She pointed behind her, looking between father and son.

“We don't want you to feel like we are intruding on you or anything,” Bearicorn sheepishly added and Buff Frog instantly waved the comment off.

“You are not intruding. You are welcome to stay, if Marco fine with it,” the Russian frog said. He looked down at his son, waiting to hear his response.

“No it's fine, guys, you can stay,” Marco replied, giving them a reassuring grin and Buff Frog smiled. He had been sure that's how his child would respond.

“Are you sure?” Jackie asked, a bit skeptically.

“Of course,” Marco said, nodding his head. “You guys are my family, too. You all deserve to be here.”

The others all smiled at the comment, before all taking seats in the shade, gathering around the two. Once everyone was settled they all turned to the frog, waiting silently to hear the story. But Buff Frog's gaze was once again on Marco, as he asked him softly, “So what do you want to know, Marco?”

“Everything!” Marco responded instantly, his voice an excited shout. “Tell me everything you can about them!”

Buff Frog laughed at his son's eagerness, before repeating, “Everything? That might take a while.”

“I don't care, I want to know everything I can about them,” Marco replied.

“Well in that case...” Buff Frog said softly, as he paused for a moment, lost deep in thought, trying to think of where to even begin, every moment agony to Marco as he waited with held breath. Finally, after a moment, the lead Monster opened his mouth and began, Marco hanging on every word, as the story of his family unfolded before him.

“Many years ago, there lived young Mewman woman and human man...”

…

Rafael Diaz was 25 years old the day he first met Angela. It was his first time on Mewni, first time on any dimension other than Earth actually and he didn't know what to expect going there. His work had brought him, he was a builder, helping to make beautiful homes for the people on Earth. But when he had been hired for a job on the closely allied dimension, he had been skeptical, not sure what he would be getting himself into.

But, upon arrival to the rustic and enchanted dimension, he quickly fell in love with Mewni's unique beauty. He could see why the dimension was so frequently talked about back on Earth, it was quite a sight to see. The landscape was draped in beautiful colors that were not even known on Earth with lush and mysterious flora of which Rafael could only guess the nature or purpose of, the small towns and villages looked like something out of a fairytale and the sky above was the most glorious shade of pink he had ever seen.

To say Rafael was in awe of the world was an understatement, it was enough to make him wish he hadn't given up on his career as a painter in favor of a more stable job. He wandered through the village of the Butterfly Kingdom with a look of wonderment, his jaw dropped open as he gawked at every sight the world had to offer.

But it was the sight that came next that changed his world forever, that caused his heart to stop beating and his mind to come to a screeching and shattering halt, leaving him frozen in his tracks as he stared at the beautiful sight before him. Because it was at that very moment he saw 'her' for the first time. She was sitting in a small garden that surrounded a large building in the town, her hands were digging underneath the fragile ground, as she seemed to be struggling to remove a small red flower from its roots. Her face was contorted as she focused on the miniscule task and her face was smeared with dirt and mud, but to the man she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in all his days.

She had gorgeous auburn hair that flowed down her back, the puffy and curly hair contained only by a pink ponytail. Her skin was fair, causing her strikingly green eyes to be more prominent. She wore an orange-long sleeved shirt and an olive green skirt hanging modestly low. At the moment she was wearing a cream colored apron, which was caked with mud, but it helped to compliment her features nicely, causing the man to flush all the more. She wore, oddly enough, brown sandals, quite  a strange choice for what she was doing, but Rafael felt it gave her a quirky charm. She was biting her lip in the cutest way, her lips an unbelievably bright shade of red.

But, most breathtaking of all were the symbols on her cheeks. They were a pair of light pink flowers, which glowed brightly in the sunlight. He didn't recognize what flower they were, but they looked quite cute gracing her cheeks. He had seen his fair share of the unique looking marks that were common of Mewmans, but he had never seen any as charming as the one on this beautiful woman's face.

Finally, she seemed to win her battle against the plant as she pulled it free from the soft ground, setting to gently down in a small pot. She sighed, wiping some sweat off her brow with her arm, but suddenly seemed to realize she wasn't alone, as she turned in Rafael's direction.

Her green eyes widened as she looked to the man who had been staring at her for the last several minutes, her heart skipping a beat and her cheeks flushing some in embarrassment, causing her cheek marks to light up pink, well a brighter shade of pink. But once she overcame her shock, she found herself studying the man, looking him over and finding herself strangely attracted to him.

He had short brown hair and tanned skin. His cheeks lacked any markings so Angela knew he had to be human. He stood tall, with broad shoulders that looked so strong and manly that it made Angela feel faint. He had a light yellow shirt with dark yellow and white patterns running down the middle, the top partially opened, exposing the large muscles that no doubt lay beneath, which caused Angela's blush to worsen even more. She found her eyes pausing on that spot a bit too long, before forcing herself to study him further. He wore dark gray pants and yellow shoes. Overall, he gave off an air of masculinity that could not be ignored. Though, his brown eyes showed a passionate and caring heart that lay beneath all his toned muscles.

Finally, after several more minutes of awkward gawking, Rafael cleared his throat, saying in the strongest voice he could, really not wanting it to crack in front of the pretty woman. “Hello there,” he said, raising his hand in greeting and giving her a wide (but hopefully not creepy) smile.

Angela gave him a soft smile back, waving at him with one of her dirt-stained hands, her cheeks continuing to flush, as she greeted shyly, “Hi.”

They both paused, not sure what to say now, but surprisingly Angela recovered first, as she moved a stray hair behind her ear, asking him softly, “Did you come to buy a flower?”

“Oh, uhh,” Rafael said, before looking up at the building again, realizing now that it was a flower shop. “Yes!” he blurted out far too fast, before clearing his throat and saying much slower, “Y-Yes, I would love a flower.”

The woman nodded, giving him a business-like smile, gesturing to the front door. “Well then, why don't you come in and look around,” she said, her tone warm and inviting.

Rafael obeyed, following her inside, the woman quickly setting down the flower pot on one of the shelves within. Rafael did a quick survey of the inside of the shop, the whole place filled with flowers and plants of all shapes and colors, some Rafael had never even seen before. A sweet smell drifted to his nose and he couldn't help but breath it in, the aroma intoxicating. He wondered which flower it was from or if it was a combination of all of them being in the same, small space for long periods of time that was creating the delectable scent.  

While Rafeal was busy with that, Angela quickly washed her hands free of the caked on dirt and then wiping them on her apron as she approached her customer again. “So,” she said, gaining his attention back to her, as she shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It seemed her hair fell into her face a lot. “Do you know what kind of flower you want?” Angela asked, trying not to get distracted by how mind-numbingly handsome the man in front of her was or the fact that his caramel colored eyes were focused on her and only her.

“Uh, no, I'm not really sure,” he said, uncertainly.

“Well that's no problem,” the young woman replied, sweetly and Rafael felt like he was melting from her stunning smile. “There are lots of flowers to choose from. How about I show you some of our best sellers?”

Rafael nodded numbly, suddenly lacking the capability of speaking, as he followed the woman over to a cream colored flower, its petals looking like pearls. “This one called the Moontide Tip, it's one of our rarest flowers, because the conditions to grow them have to be very precise.”

“Oh, it's beautiful!” he said in admiration. “Was this grown on Mewni?”

“Of course. All of our flowers are grown here,” the woman said proudly. “This particular one is found along the coastlines of Mewni's lakes and beaches and only glows in moonlight. At night, it glows a pale pink. It's quite exquisite, isn't it?”

Rafael nodded again, but he froze as he noticed the price tag on the pretty flowers pot. “And expensive. Do you have anything else?”

“Yes, of course,” Angela said, moving over to a different flower, Rafael following her. She stopped by what looked like an ordinary bouquet of roses, all of them just a regular blood red color, nothing magical or different about these.

“Roses?” Rafael observed, studying them closely.

“Oh, you know them,” Angela said in surprise.

“Of course, they are very common on Earth,” Rafael explained, feeling a swell of pride in his chest, the woman looking quite impressed with his knowledge of the flower.

“Oh, so you are from Earth,” Angela said, excitedly. “I guessed as much,” she added, hoping it didn't make her sound creepy or stalkery.

“Yes,” Rafael said, not seeming to notice. “This is my first time here, actually. To any other dimension, really.”

“Oh, well what brings you here?” she asked.

“Business, mostly,” Rafael explained.

“Are you planning on staying long?” she asked, surprising herself as the question just popped out. She was also startled by how excited the question was, even as it left her lips.

“Only for a few weeks, I'm afraid. Just until my job is done,” Rafael responded, also surprised by how sad his voice sounded just then.

“Oh,” Angela said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She forced herself to sound cheerful as she added, “I've always wanted to go to Earth, myself, actually. I hear it's a beautiful, lovely place!”

“Well, to be honest, I don't think anything back on Earth could even begin to compare to what this dimension has to offer,” Rafael admitted, with an awkward chuckle, rubbing at his neck. “Everything here is...” Rafael couldn't stop himself, as his gaze landed on Angela, lingering on her pretty face as he breathed the last words. “..quite beautiful.”

Angela felt her cheeks flush, but quickly cleared her throat, turning back to the flower in front of her. “So anyways,” she said, trying to regain her business-like tone, but unable to quite keep the squeak out of her voice. “These aren't ordinary Earth roses. These are called 'burning roses'.”

“Why do they call them that?” Rafael asked, but no sooner had the question left his throat, then he got his answer, as the vase full of flowers all lit themselves on fire, small flames flowing around the crimson roses. He screamed in shock, taking an instinctual step away from the roses and stumbling over a pile of discarded flower pots nearly falling onto another plant, which looked like a giant version of a venus flytrap, its vegetated jaws opened wide as it awaited its prey. Angela reached out a hand and grabbed the man's arm, ignoring the thick muscles she felt, before pulling him away from the deadly flower, the man panting breathlessly for a moment.

“Are you okay?” Angela asked, keeping a firm hold of his arm.

“Yes, I'm fine,” Rafael said, once he caught his breath again, though he could still feel his heart in his throat. Once she was sure the man was okay, she released her grasp, trying to not be disappointed in having to do so.

“I am so sorry!” Angela apologized, her green eyes wide with fear and guilt, kicking herself for nearly killing one of her customers and losing a possible sell. “I'm sure you probably want to leave now, I'm sorry for wasting your time-”

“No it's fine,” Rafael said, giving her the most comforting smile he could despite the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. Angela just froze, looking at him in shock. “I still would like a flower...” Rafael hesitated before adding a bit timidly, “...preferably one from you.”

Angela was silent for a moment, unsure what to say. To be honest, she hadn't expected him to continue trying to buy a flower from her. In fact, she had been expecting him to run out of her shop in an attempt to get as far away from her as possible.

“That is, if you still want me to,” Rafael continued, his caramel colored eyes cutting deep into her soul and doing strange and wonderful things to her heart, as it seemed to be refusing to beat in its proper rhythm. Finally, after a long moment of staring, Angela smiled at him and Rafael couldn't help but feel his world had just become a bit brighter from the act.

“Yes, of course,” Angela said, the relief  in her voice unmistakable and Rafael felt great knowing he had cheered her up. “So which flower would you like to see now?” Angela asked, quickly looking around for the best and brightest (and least dangerous) flower she had, in hopes it could appease her customer, combing through the shelves in search of the perfect one.“We have so many kinds, after all. And not all of them are so... um, intense as the last ones.” Rafael held back a chuckle as the woman began rambling to herself, as she searched. “Let's see I think we have a Sparkling Snapdragon in here somewhere. Oh, but I do think those have a tendency to actually snap at people. Umm, what else? Well, we just ran out of the Unicorn's Breath and we won't be getting another supply from the Cloud Kingdom until next week. Uhhh, how about-”

“Which do you like best?” Angela looked up from her work, turning to her handsome customer with surprise and confusion in her wide green eyes.

“Huh?” she asked.

“Uh, the flowers,” Rafael repeated himself. “Which one is your favorite?”

“My favorite?” she asked, checking to see if she had heard him right, putting a hand to her chest as one of her eyebrows raising up in the cutest way...

Rafael felt his heart skip a beat at the adorable look and had to suck in a breath before he was able to speak properly again.“Yes, you do seem to know a lot about flowers and I can tell you truly love them,” Rafael explained.

“Oh, well I, uh...” Angela began, rising to her feet again, not sure how to respond to that. No one had ever asked her that before and she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell this random stranger something so personal. But she froze, as she eyed the man in front of her for a moment, his relaxed, curious smile making her feel at ease and even trusting of the man in a way she had never felt before toward anyone. And there was something about the way he stared at her, watching her intently with those beautiful caramel colored eyes as if he was staring at the most interesting sight in the world. She felt like he understood her, despite the fact she hadn't even told him her name yet and so without even realizing it, she found herself saying, “Crimson Lilies. My favorite are Crimson Lilies.”

“Crimson Lilies?” Rafael repeated, breathing the word out in wonderment.

“Yes, I mean, they aren't the most flashy or fancy of any of the flowers for sure, but I like them,” Angela said, rather nervously, as she bent to down to retreive the pot that was hidden under the counter. “They don't actually sell that well, though, because they're so plain looking. Most people want something more fancy and beautiful.” Finally, she hesitantly brought the pot into view and Rafael could instantly see what made her love the flowers so much. It was a fairly small flower, its six petals spread outwards in a beautiful manner, much like other lilies, but this one was a bright red color with yellow tips on each of the petals. It did look quite plain on first glance, but it's vibrant color was attractive to the eye and could easily hold its own on any other plant in the small shop. Plus, there was something nice about how simple the flower was, not trying to be anything impressive or fancy but just a nice, modest flower with an ordinary, but pleasant look.

The whole time, Angela watched him with waited breath, for some reason quite nervous about his reaction to her favorite flower, wanting him so badly to like it, almost needing him to. Why? What did it matter what he thought? He was just another customer, right? So why should it matter if he liked the Crimson Lilies or not. And yet, she still ached to know his answer.

“They are lovely,” he finally said, his gaze finally matching her own and Angela felt herself breath a sigh of relief.

“You really love them?” the Mewman woman asked, almost fearfully.

“Yes,” Rafael said with a nod. “In fact, I would like to buy one.”

Angela smiled, her eyes shimmering with joy and her cheek marks glowing softly, Rafael in awe at the sight, having never seen anything remotely like that before. He had seen a few Mewmans in his life so he was used to the cheek marks, but he had no idea that they could glow like that. “Great! Oh that's fantastic!” she cheered, quickly running to get her sheers so she could remove the flower without damaging it. Rafael just smiled, finding her bright enthusiasm impossible to resist, she had such a nice zest for life and he really appreciated that in a person.

Once Angela returned, she quickly clipped one of the flowers free from its brothers, wrapping the stem in a soft and easy to carry cloth, before handing it to the man. Rafael reached into his pocket to pull out his money and handed it to her. “Thank you for your business,” she said, pleasantly. “Miiissster...” she inquired, Rafael just then realizing that he had yet to tell her his name or asked for hers.

“Oh yes, I'm so sorry. Where are my manners?” he quickly stumbled his way around an apology, before rapidly stating, “It's Diaz. Rafael Diaz.”

“Angela,” the Mewman woman stated, reaching out a hand for him to shake and he happily obliged, as he repeated the name over and over again in his head, finding it perfect for the beautiful woman in front of him. “It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Diaz.”

“Just Rafael, please,” he said, giving her a brain-numbing smile, pulling out of the handshake.

“Well, Rafael, I'm sure whoever that flower is for will love it. She seems like a very lucky woman. ” Despite how much Angela knew it was bad idea, she couldn't quite help herself, as she found herself shamelessly flirting with the man in front of her, her gaze teasing and her lips forming the slightest crease of a smile. She even batted her eyelids a bit needlessly, as her allowed her hand to brush his for just an instant, leaving a tingling sensation in the tips of her fingers.

Rafael picked up on her change in tone and felt his face grow hot, the woman in front of him acting just a little bit more than friendly all of a sudden. And as he felt her fingers brush his own, a shudder rushing up his spine, he knew what the woman was trying to do. He looked down at the flower in his hands for a second, building up the courage for what he was about to do.

“Yes, she certainty is,” Rafael said his tone a bit flirty as well, as he held the flower out to her, offering it back to the woman.

Angela froze, eying the flower in surprise, before her bright green gaze switched to Rafael, his caramel brown eyes holding steady on her face, a deep and powerful emotion hidden behind them, as he just patiently awaited the young woman to take the lily flower. “What are you doing?” she asked, needlessly, her voice just a bit breathless.

“Giving you a flower,” he replied. “It is your favorite, after all.”

“Oh no, I can't accept this,” Angela politely declined, giving his hand a gentle push away from her.

But Rafael was persistent as he grabbed her hand and gently set the bright red flower onto her open palm. “Of course you can,” he said, sounding quite adamant about her taking it. “It's my flower, now, so it's mine to give to whoever I want.”

“But we've only just met,” Angela continued to argue. “I mean, I'm just a stranger to you. Why would you give me anything?”

Rafael shrugged. “I wanted to. Besides, I do feel a bit guilty for wasting your time. The truth is I didn't actually come in here to buy a flower.”

Angela froze at his confession, though she had already guessed as much, it was still quite strange to hear him admit to it. “Then why did you?” she asked, really hoping it was the answer she was thinking.

“So I could meet you,” he said and Angela felt her heart swell, as she was proven correct. A large grin spread across her face and her gaze became soft and loving as she looked at him. She gently squeezed the flower in her grip, as she shyly admitted, “Well, I'm glad you did. Thank you for the flower, Rafael.”

“Your welcome, Angela” he said, before he turned away to leave and Angela felt a wave of panic overwhelm her.

“Wait!” she shouted and the man quickly turned back around to face the beautiful young woman named Angela. She hesitated for a moment, feeling slightly embarrassment for the shout, but she finally asked, “Will you... be coming by again?” She gulped unable to believe she was really asking this. He was still just a stranger, after all. A stranger who had given her a flower, sure, but still a stranger. He was not obligated to return to the tiny shop for any reason and that is exactly what frightened her so much. She really wanted to see him again.

And after Rafael studied her face for a moment, he smiled and said, “Yes, I think I will come by again tomorrow. If you don't mind me wasting more of your time, that is.”

Angela shook her head vigorously. “No, not at all.” She paused before saying, in a sweet, borderline flirting tone, “I'll look forward to your visit, Rafael.”

“Then I will see you then, Angela,” he said back and the young woman felt a shiver run up her spine as he said her name, his voice so gentle and soft when he spoke the word. He treated it like it was the greatest compliment or flirt ever, instead of something as simple as her own name, but it felt so right and genuine hearing it come from him, that it got the exact same effect if he had said the sweetest remark possible.

And just like that, Rafael left, leaving both of the young adults breathless and longing for more, silently awaiting the moment when they would meet again.

…

“So that's how my parents first met?” Marco asked, his voice never losing an ounce of excitement, as his adopted father paused the story.

Buff Frog nodded his heard. “That's how I was told, at least,” he replied.

“Aww, how romantic,” Star gushed from the sidelines, many of the monsters doing the same.

Next to her Janna fake gagged and Jackie smacked her arm. “Oh stop it, you know you found it sweet, too,” Jackie scolded, seeing through her friends charade in a second.

Janna huffed, before crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Okay, maybe it was a little touching,” Janna admitted with a shrug.

“It was like something out of a fairytale,” Marco said, a smile gracing his lips. “Meeting and falling instantly in love.”

“Kinda like someone else we know,” Janna smirked, eying the blond next to her knowingly. Both Star and Marco blushed at that, but said nothing.

Marco coughed to clear his suddenly tight throat as he said, “Well don't stop now, Buff Frog. Keep going.” Though his words were demanding, his tone was quite the opposite, sounding warm and filled with delight, his brown eyes twinkling with anticipation.

Buff Frog just smiled, before obliging his son, continuing where he had left off, once again.

...

Rafael kept true to his word, as the next day he came to visit Angela, as well as the day after that and the day after that. In fact, every day for the next few weeks Rafael followed the exact same routine, he would stop by the small flower shop, talk to Angela for a short while, before buying another Crimson Lily and then immediately giving it to her. And every day, Angela would be overjoyed to see him every time he came in. The two became very close as the days went by, easily and happily opening up to one another, freely talking all about their lives and experiences, as they got to know each other personally. And soon, it seemed as though the two had never been apart, acting like they had been friends all their life, instead of growing up in completely different dimensions with no knowledge of the other's existence.

Both Rafael and Angela couldn't even remember what life had been like before they had met, they both went so perfectly together, fitting so fluidly and easily into their life that it seemed like they were supposed to be a part of it and quite honestly they liked it so much better that way.

So when the day did come for Rafael to return home, his work there complete as he went in for what could be his last visit with Angela, he couldn't bring himself to say goodbye to the beautiful Mewman. In fact, he instead impulsively stated that he was moving to Mewni, permanently. Angela was so overjoyed to hear that the man she was falling for wanted to remain on Mewni with her that, without thinking about it, she pulled him in for a kiss.

Rafael was surprised by the sudden act, but was so overjoyed and lost in her lips that he didn't push her away and instead allowed it to happen. When the two finally did separate, Angela quickly apologizing for acting so irrationally, Rafael surprised her with another gentle kiss, confessing that he had been waiting for that to happen since the moment they met and Angela quickly admitted to wanting the same, before they went it for another breathless kiss.  

The two started dating after that and as time went on, their bond became even stronger and their love continued to grow. Eventually, the two got married, moving into a cozy little cottage on the edge of the Butterfly Kingdom's territory and just bordering on the monster's land. The home had been a wedding gift for Angela from her husband, knowing how much she enjoyed being out in nature and hated the hustle and bustle of city life. Life for the young couple was peaceful, as they lived out the early days of their marriage in love and harmony.

But soon, trouble arose as the monsters caught wind of the young couple who were staying on their land and became outraged by it. The monsters, already so low on rights and oppressed by the Mewmans, found it completely disrespectful that the Diazs would dare to try and claim their land for themselves, taking away the only right granted to them by the unfair Mewmans. They began to threaten the Diazs, claiming they would do mean and terrible things to them if they didn't leave and keeping a group of tough looking monsters almost constantly just in view of the cottage as a constant reminder and warning, trying to scare them into moving away.

But Rafael and Angela didn't budge, as they begged the monsters for the right to live there, explaining to them that they wanted nothing but to live their lives in peace and meant no harm to the monsters. But the monsters were too full of hate, not listening to the young couple's plea. Eventually, the current leader of the monsters caught wind of  the trouble and showed up at their cottage one day, flanked by a large group of intimidating monsters. But before Rafael and Angela could even explain their plight, the leader gave them a chilling ultimatum: if they weren't gone from the monster's territory by early Spring that next year, then the monsters would have no choice but to take matter into their own hands. And then, as quickly and suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone taking his entourage of monsters with him.

Rafaela and Angela were of course frightened by the harsh threat, but felt at a loss of what to do next. They didn't want to leave their home, but the threat from the monsters hung thick in their minds. It was Rafael who came to the decision that they had no choice but to move, not wanting any harm to come to his wife. He proposed that they pack up and return to the Butterfly Kingdom where they would be safe from the monsters until they found a different place to stay. Angela reluctantly agreed.

But unfortunately, they never got the chance.

Winter came and it brought with it a harsh and uncaring cold that swept through the land. It was one of the worst winters Mewni had ever seen, rivaling only that of the very first winter the Mewmans experienced upon arriving to the new world. In fact, it was so cold that even the Underworld Kingdom was said to be freezing over. The world was covered in a blanket of ice and snow, snowdrifts piling higher than some houses, while the landscape was assaulted by a furious and unforgiving blizzard the likes of which no creature on Mewni had experienced in their lifetime. Many believed it to be a curse brought on by the Stump, who had grown furious with peoples lack of belief and decided to punish them for their skepticism. But most simply blamed it on snow dwarfs.

For days on end, the blizzard terrorized the landscape with its harsh, wintery breath, seeming to never slow or end. And as the days stretched on, many began to wonder if the winter storm would ever cease, as every day it only seemed to grow more and more intense.

All this boded very badly for Rafael and Angela Diaz, who found themselves now cut off from the Butterfly Kingdom, leaving them trapped in a cold and barren landscape, with the monster's ultimatum hanging ever thick in their minds. And yet, all they could do was wait and hope the storm ended soon.

A week passed and the blizzard showed no sign of stopping, so Rafael decided to bravely face the storm and try to make his way to the Butterfly Kingdom to get help. After bundling up as much as he could, he began his long and dangerous trek, as blinding snow stung his face and the violent wind tried everything in its power to knock the well-built man down. Still, Rafael pushed forward, reminding himself of what was at stake, keeping his thoughts on his lovely wife to help keep him going. Rafael had no idea how far he had traveled, nor if he was still even heading in the right direction and his resolved weakened. He took a moment to try and decide if he should push on and hope he was going the right way or try and backtrack and see if he needed to go a different direction.

Rafeal was just about to force his freezing muscles forward until suddenly he heard a small voice crying out in the distance, nearly drowned out by the harsh and unforgiving wind. Fearing the worst, Rafeal followed the weak sound, until he found a sad sight, almost hidden in a pile of snow. It was a young monster child laying huddled in the snow, his whole body shaking and shivering as he curled up on himself trying to find any form of warmth in the bitter coldness around him. Rafael felt his heart ache for the child and, forgetting his mission, carefully carried the child back to the house, making sure to hold him as close to his body as he could to help give him warmth. Once he returned home both he and Angela worked to nurse the monster back to health, caring for him to the best of their abilities. They wrapped him in warm blankets (even sacrificing a few of their own to do so), laying him down close to the fire as they spoon fed the shivering little thing spoons of warm and delicious soup, the child too weak to do it himself, as he felt his body slowly warming back up. At first, the child was weary of his saviors, his short few years having taught him of the cruelness of Mewmans, but he quickly overcame his fear as the Diazs love and compassion slowly helped him come around and see Rafael and Angela for the good people they were.

Meanwhile, the storm outside continued to rage, as cold and bitter snow and ice was flung hazardously to the ground, beating against the country home, but the residents within remained safe and warm as they waited out the winter storm. For the monsters, however, things were far from peaceful, they were in constant fear the moment they realized one of their own was missing. Not knowing he was in the safe and capable hands of the Diazs, they worried that the young one's life had been claimed by the blizzard and many had given up hope that one so young could have survived such and ordeal.

And finally, after what felt to Mewni like a lifetime, the storm finally passed, the snow drifts left behind melting as the bright sun returned to shine over the enchanted kingdom once more. As soon as they were able, the monsters went in search of the missing child, led by the monster leader himself as they desperately looked for the young one. They eventually came across the cottage, only to find the boy in the care of the Diazs, much to their shock and outrage. The monsters once again blinded by their hate, believed that they had stolen the young monster to use as a bargaining chip, using the storm to cover up their crime. The leader of the monsters had been ready to sentence them both to death for their supposed treachery, as the truth finally came out who exactly had been staying under the Diazs roof and care all this time. The young monster boy was none other than the leader's only son an future ruler of monster kind. To say Rafael and Angela were in shock upon hearing this was an understatement, but they now feared the worst for themselves, knowing the monsters wouldn't listen to their pleas. But before, the leader could condemn the Diazs the child spoke up for them, telling the monsters how they had saved him from the storm and nursed him back to health.

Of course, the monsters were surprised to hear this, none moreso than their leader, unable to believe Mewmans capable of such kindness. He told them that he owed them a debt of gratitude for saving his son and that they would be spared, much to their gratitude and relief. But the leader wasn't finished yet, as he further declared that from that day forth Rafael and Angela, as well as any who carried the Diaz name, would be forever considered an ally and friend to the monsters and would be protected from harm. And of course, the young couple was allowed to live there for as long as they saw fit.

Rafael and Angela were obviously overjoyed to hear they could stay, but were also slightly humbled to know that they were now thought of so highly in the monster community. And the monsters adhered to the rule, treating the two Mewmans with as much respect as they would their own, their name almost holding a regality amongst their numbers.

But the Diazs didn't let the weight of this new position go to waste. In the years to come they cared for many, many monsters, their home becoming a place of sanctuary that any monster was allowed to visit at any time, to the point that sometimes their small, two-story house would be overflowing with guests of all shapes and sizes, but they didn't mind, enjoying having company and lively energy in their home.

But they didn't stop there. They would also vocally protect the monsters from the Mewmans, jumping to their side on the rare occasion there was an incident between the two races, and even petitioned Butterfly Castle, calling for them to change their laws and give the monsters more rights and freedom, trying desperately to rally any and all Mewmans to their side to no avail. In fact, they were vastly ignored by the majority of Mewmans, though some showed clear distaste for their strange love of monsters. Eventually, it came as no shock, when they were shunned from Mewman society, none daring to associate with them and the Diazs resided themselves to living amongst nature and the monsters. Not that they minded this too much. They had a purpose in life and they intended to give everything they had to fulfilling it, no matter the cost.

…

“Wow, my parents were incredible!” Marco said, as Buff Frog's finished up his tale, absorbing the information. “Saving a monster kid from a blizzard, opening up their home, and fighting for Monster rights even though all the Mewmans thought they were crazy. They really did do a lot to help the monsters out.”

“Da,” Buff Frog agreed. “Your parents were good people.”

“Must be where you get it from, Marco,” Star said, causing Marco to turn to her with a shy grin.

“And to think none of that would have happened if they hadn't saved that kid. Otherwise the Monsters might have just killed them,” Jackie pointed out.

“This is also true,” Buff Frog said. “Is strange how things work out. Bad situation turning into a good one. Your parents made most of what they had.”

Marco nodded his head in agreement for a few seconds, looking deep in thought. “But what happened to that Monster, the one they saved, y'know afterwards?” Marco asked, looking up at his frog father with curiosity in his eyes.

Buff Frog got a soft look on his face, before he said quietly, “He became very close to parents. They were nearest and dearest friends. Over years, he grew to love them as if they were part of family. And they treated him as if he was, too.”

The frog Monster drifted off into silence, not saying a word, his eyes distant and Marco became concerned why his father seemed so sad all of a sudden, sharing a look with his three friends. “Buff Frog?” he questioned, hoping his dad would respond. But after several seconds of silence, he asked, “Did... Did you know him?”

Buff Frog chuckled a bit at that. “Actually, Marco, little monster baby... was me.”

The four teens, as well as Lobster Claws, all gasped at that, blown away by this revelation. The Monsters all turned to Lobster Claws with questioning looks, Beard Deer, asking, “Why are you surprised? We already knew that?”

“Oh yeah, I kinda forgot,” Lobster Claws said, a bit sheepishly, and the Monsters all either face-palmed or shook their heads in disbelief at their fellow Monster's stupidity.

“So wait,” Marco said, drawing everyone's attention back to the situation at hand. “Your dad was the leader of the Monsters back then?”

“Da, my father, Volkoz Bulgolyubov, was ruler of Monster kind, as was his father before him and his father before him. The Bulgolyubov's had been ruling the Monsters for countless generations. I was set to take his place, until...” Buff Frog's voice drifted off and Marco felt his heart clench, knowing what came next.

“Toffee,” Marco mumbled under his breath, the very name sending a chill down his spine.

“Da,” Buff Frog said sadly. He took a deep breath, before continuing much stronger, “He was right hand Monster to my father after old one retired. He came recommended, but he and my father didn't get along. He insisted we fight Mewmans and take land back, but my father didn't agree. I very suspicious of Toffee, but not much I could do to stop him. I suspected that he and another Monster, Ludo, were plotting something bad, but I had no proof of such things.”

Buff Frog paused for a moment, seeming to find the strength to continue, Marco able to tell that this was hard for his father to talk about. “Dad, it's okay,” Marco said, putting a comforting hand on his adopted father's beefed up arm. “You don't have to-”

“No, no, Marco,” Buff Frog insisted, shaking his head, as if to free himself from the sadness and grief that consumed him. “You need to know full story.” Though Marco could tell Buff Frog was still choked up with it, Marco nodded, pulling closer to his dad and leaning his head against his muscular chest. Buff Frog smiled at the comforting action, running a claw softly though his son's hair, as he continued his story. “One night, my worst fear was confirmed. I was away on mission when I got word that my father was found dead in bedchambers. I rushed home, only to find that he had passed away in sleep.”

“What happened?” Star asked.

Buff Frog looked up at her for a moment, with a startling depressed gaze. “Nobody knew. Most believed it to be caused by heart attack.” Buff Frog stopped stroking his son's head as his claw clenched into a tight fist. “But I never believed it, my father was healthy and very cautious. He took great care in protecting himself and me. Always told me to be careful, even built secret passages into castle, in case of emergency.”

“Well that explains how you knew about them when we went to rescue Marco,” Janna pointed out.

“Da, though I didn't expect Toffee to know of one,” Buff Frog said.

“So then, if your dad died, wouldn't that make you the new leader, not Toffee?” Jackie asked, confused.

“That is what supposed to happen,” Buff Frog answered. “But to my surprise, Toffee was claiming himself new leader. He told Monsters that he could help bring new peace and free them from Mewman rule. Sadly, my kind bought into his lies.”

The other Monsters hung their heads in shame, feeling guilty for believing Toffee's lies for as long as they did, knowing they had been a part of the problem.

“Why didn't you just challenge him?” Star asked. “The position was rightfully yours after all, wouldn't the Monsters have followed you if you had?”

Now it was Buff Frog's turn to look guilty. “I suppose it would have helped, but Toffee was very clever and cunning. Any attempt I made to take position back, he would easily counter. But now I see I just didn't try hard enough. You must understand, friends, I was very young at time and still grieving death of father. I was new to ruling and didn't think I had what it took to beat Toffee and in way wasn't sure if I would make good leader.” He said it more like an apology than a statement.

“Still it was hard to watch in silence as Toffee took my father's place,” Buff Frog continued. “He gave me position as right hand Monster, though I know it more out of show of power than anything else. As time went on, I began to see hatred Toffee was stirring up in Monsters and knew it wouldn't be long before war began. That is when I began to fear for your parents.”

Marco's eyes glazed over with pain, as they slowly dropped to the floor, every word now feeling like a stab to the gut. “Though father's decree to protect them still stood and must be honored, I knew Toffee hated them deeply. They were symbol of peace to Monsters and if they died, Toffee could spread words of hate much easier. It would be risk on his part, but if he could find way around it, I knew lizard wouldn't pass up on opportunity.

“So I urged parents to flee from Mewni, back to Earth, where they would be safe, but they wouldn't go.”

“Why didn't they?!” Marco asked in nearly a shout, his voice tight with emotion. “Then they would have been safe!”

“Because that is when they found out your mother was pregnant with you,” Buff Frog explained. Marco felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes as his father continued. “Traveling through dimensions with unborn child could cause complications and they didn't dare risk harming you.” Marco felt his throat close up, a lump permanently implanted there. “They were not welcomed by Mewmans, so I had no choice but to keep your existence secret, until you born and old enough to travel through portal.”

Marco looked up for a second, his eyes locking with Star, as he noticed her worried gaze lingering on him. He knew from the look in her stunning pupils that she could tell how deeply this was hurting him, wondering for a moment, if she could feel what he was feeling like they had at the ball.

“ I did everything in power to keep lizard and rest of Monsters from discovering truth about you. I feared worst if Toffee discovered your parents had heir and worked tirelessly to keep old friend's safe.”

Marco couldn't take anymore, as he suddenly burst out, “So it's my fault!” Marco sobbed, allowing the tears to flow free, as he buried his head in his hands, his voice quivering with every word. “I-I'm the reason my parents are-are-”

“No!” Buff Frog interrupted, his voice firm but with a comforting undertone, as he pulled the boy onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. “No, do not think for one second that you are cause. Your parents loved you so much that they would protect you with life.”

Buff Frog just held the boy close for a minute, softly shushing him, until the boy's gasped breaths and sobs died down and he gained control over himself again. He looked over to see Star now beside them, gently running a hand through the boy's hair, sympathy and unshed tears shining in her eyes, hating to see her boyfriend so upset.

“You parents wanted you so badly, Marco,” Buff Frog continued. “All they had ever wanted was child and the day you came into world, was happiest I had ever seen them.”

Marco sniffed, saying softly, “You were there?”

Buff Frog smiled down at his adopted child, “Yes, yes Marco, I was there that day. And it is memory I carry with me always.” He rubbed his son back, lovingly, as the memory poured over him, recalling the memory aloud, recounting it as if he were there once again, that fateful day.

…

Buff Frog was anxious, not sure why he was there anymore. He was no help to anyone, just standing numbly and confusedly in the corner as Rafael and the two Mewman nurse maids ran around in a panicked blur, caring to the pregnant woman's every need, trying to quickly and efficiently help the delivery go smoothly. He had been honored when his old friends had asked him to be present for the birth, at first, but now he found himself in way over his head and in the most awkward position he could ever find himself in. In fact, he was starting to wish he had declined their offer, as he had been listening to his dear friend Angela's screams for the past 37 hours now. He honestly didn't know how she had a voice left after loudly shouting at the top of her lungs for so long.

But he knew the real reason he had agreed. He needed to be there, to make sure the two of them (soon to be three of them) were kept safe. Ever since Toffee had come into power and had been making threats against the Mewmans, Buff Frog had feared for his two closest friends. It was all talk for now, no Mewman luckily harmed yet by the lizard's dark promises, but he knew that could change very soon. The other monsters were starting to rally behind their new leader, though still a bit unsure of his methods, and his poisonous words were beginning to seep their way into their minds, wrapping around their brains and giving them a new fire and purpose. They were all so tired of oppression that Buff Frog was sure many of them wouldn't hesitate to do whatever the lizard asked if it meant freeing themselves from their miserable lives.

Which is why, Buff Frog still didn't understand why his old friends hadn't headed his warning when he had told them that they would be a target of Toffee. They knew Toffee was dangerous, the few times they had tried to vocalize in the Mewman's defense in his presence since his reign began, Toffee's normally calm exterior had cracked, reveling a far more malicious creature within as his sinister glare had frozen on them, the look sending chills deep into their very core as they felt his dark intentions from even a distance away. But, they had refused to leave, wanting to stay and wait till their child was old enough and strong enough for travel, much to Buff Frog's exasperation.

He knew having a child was important to them, but if they were killed before that happened then what good would that do them. Weren't their lives worth the risk? Wasn't their child's safety more guaranteed back on Rafael's homeworld? At the moment, he couldn't think of a dimension more dangerous for the Diaz's now than this world and that included a dimension that regularly rained toxic acid from the sky.

Plus, he knew Rafael and Angie. His old friends were immensely stubborn. He had no doubt that a part of them didn't want to run from all they had worked toward. They had spent years fighting for peace in Mewni and he knew it had to be hard for them to give up on that dream just because of one monster. He knew how hard it had been for him to accept defeat, but this was the world they lived in now. All that mattered was that his friends were safe. And Rafael and Angela were the only things resembling family he really had left.

A high-pitched cry pulled Buff Frog from his thoughts. It seemed that while he was lost in his daydreams, the birth had concluded, as the nursemaids wrapped a screaming thing in blankets, Angela laying against her pillows with exhaustion etched into her features, sweat glistening from her forehead. “There now, Angie,” one of the nursemaids said softly, as she looked down at the tired mother. “You have yourself one beautiful, healthy boy.”

“Oh my, honey, did you hear that?” Rafael said, from beside his wife. He lifted her hand and placed a tender kiss upon it. “A boy, just like we wanted.”

“A boy,” Angela whispered wistfully, though her voice was still strained with exhaustion. Her eyes were half-lidded as if she were fighting sleep, her every breath panted.

Then all at once, Angela's fatigue was forgotten, as the smiling nursemaid handed the bundle to his eager mom, Angela looking into the face of her child for the first time. It was love at first sight, as the child's crying slowly ceased as he looked up into the green loving gaze of his mother. There were tears laced in Angela's eyes as she smiled down at her baby, Buff Frog practically able to feel the love and joy coming off of the new mom, as she gently rocked her son in her arms. “Hello, baby,” she said down to him, her tone soothing and soft.

Rafael, moved so that he was able to see his son, as well, putting a loving and comforting arm around his wife. The new father stared at his son for about five seconds, before tears rose to his own eyes, not ever caring as they flowed freely down his face. “He's beautiful,” the man said, to no one in particular, his voice so strained with emotion that it sounded like it almost hurt him to be this overwhelmingly happy.

“He has your eyes,” Angie said, never taking her eyes off of the child for a single second, gently reaching into the swaddling cloth to presumably run a hand on his smooth cheek.  

“And he had your smile,” Rafael added, leaning his head against his wife's.

“What shall we call him?” Angela asked.

Rafael thought for a moment, before answering. “Marco,” he finally said, as his eyes took in every feature of his new baby's face.

“Marco Diaz,” Angela repeated, trying out the name. She hummed thoughtfully for a second before saying, “Yes, I think that's perfect.”

Buff Frog sniffed, wiping a tear out of his eye, finding the moment touching and sweet. He turned to leave wanting to give the new parents their privacy, but was stopped as a voice called out to him. “Buff Frog?” Angela said, the frog turning back to his old friend. She gave him a soft smile, looking away from her child for the first time, as she asked kindly, “Would you like to hold him?”

Buff Frog was taken aback by the offer, visibly freezing up in front of his friends, who just continued to cast smiles his way. “I-I, uh,” he stuttered, unsure how to answer. He was just there to make sure things went smoothly, he hadn't actually expected to take part in any of it. “No, no, don't want to intrude on moment,” he finally said, declining their offer in the most humble way he could.

“Nonsense,” Rafael said, waving the frog's hesitancy away. “You aren't intruding, you're part of this family, too. And Marco's godfather.”

“Wait, I am,” Buff Frog said in shock. This was the first he was hearing of this.

“Well, of course you are, Buff Frog,” Angie said sweetly. “That is, if you want to be.”

Buff Frog pounded a fist against his chest. “Would be great honor,” he said, proudly.

Angela and Rafael shared a look. “Then come over here and hold your godchild,” Angela pushed. Buff Frog approached hesitantly, almost fearfully, as he creeped closer to the new mom. She held out the baby in waiting, as the frog gingerly took the child from her, moving slowly and carefully, afraid if he didn't the child might break in his muscular arms.

Angela noticed this and told him reassuringly, “Oh, Buff Frog you don't have to be so tense, you aren't hurting him.”

This didn't ease Buff Frog's worries any, as he still held the newborn awkwardly in his arms, giving a pleading look to the couple. Rafael thankfully jumped to his rescue, stepping around the bed and showing Buff Frog how to properly hold the child, the amphibian looking far more relaxed once he had.

Finally, the frog looked down at the child of his oldest friend's and his body froze up once more. “Buff Frog, is something wrong?” Angela asked, worriedly, seeing her monster companion tensing up. But Buff Frog's throat was too tight to respond, as he swallowed back the lump that was slowly building. Time seemed to come to a stand still as he took in the small face staring back at him. Two perfectly beautiful brown eyes, so full of life and innocence stared at him, curiously examining the monster holding him with no fear. Small strands of soft looking brown hair framed a tanned face, a small little mole dotted just below his left eye making him look too cute for words. A soft smile lit up Marco's face and he giggled at seemingly nothing, the very sound melting Buff Frog's heart. And last but not least, were the two stunning suns glowing bright red on his cheeks, which only burned with more intensity when he laughed.

“Buff Frog?” Angela tried again, wanting to make sure her friend was okay, but Buff Frog barely heard her, still dazzled by the small, little thing currently held in his arms. Buff Frog had never seen anything more beautiful and pure in all his life and he couldn't help himself as he found his eyes welling up with tears. “No,” Buff Frog finally replied to Angela, once he got his voice back again, though it was soft and low. “Everything is fine.”

Angela gave him a soft smile, as she watched her friend, holding the baby close to him, as if trying to show his love and protectiveness toward the child already. Buff Frog just couldn't believe how incredible this was, here he stood, holding a brand new life, a miracle in every meaning of the word. Marco was just so tiny and delicate, looking so helpless in Buff Frog's beefed up arms, and at that very moment the frog swore that he would protect this baby, that no harm would ever befall the child on his watch.

Just like Marco's parents, Buff Frog had fallen in love with this child, instantly. And he knew his life would never be the same again. And he welcomed the future with open arms.

After another moment, Buff Frog handed the baby back to his parents, allowing them to admire and fuss over their infant, as they continued to soak in the new life they had helped create. They both held the baby close to them, staring down at his soft, little face with unparalleled love.

Despite the darkness that was beginning to slowly spread across the dimension of Mewni, for one family at least, the sun seemed to shine a little brighter that day, for that was the day that Marco Ubaldo Diaz, son of Rafael and Angela Diaz, half-human, half-Mewman child, was brought into this world.

…

“So you see Marco, parents loved you moment they laid eyes on you, as did I,” Buff Frog finished, giving his son a reassuring squeeze. Marco was wiped his eyes free of the tears that had started flowing half-way through the story. Only this time his tears weren't of regret or guilt, but instead of joy. His parents had loved him, they had really, truly loved him. Enough to risk their lives for his own sake.

But there was another emotion he felt, hidden behind all the others, one that caused a lump to implant itself deep in his throat and his heart to ache. Loss. He had felt this emotion before, most notably when Toffee had first told him of his parent's true fate, but this time it felt even stronger if that was possible. Because now he knew just how much his parents had cared for him and now he would never truly experience it. He would never feel the warmth of their hugs or know their smiles, he would never hear their voices as they told him how much they loved him. No, he would never know what any of that felt like, because it was stolen away from him by Toffee, the cruel lizard killing any chance he had of a life with his birth family.

“And then-then Toffee killed them, right?” Marco said, once he had gained enough of his voice to speak, though the lump that continued to choke him. His body shuddered as he said the name, trying not to imagine his families last moments as they died to the cruel hands of the heartless Monster.

Buff Frog gave his son a sad look. “Da,” was all he could make himself say.

“And you know what happened? That night...” Marco asked after a moment.

“Da, but...” Buff Frog said hesitantly, looking deep into the hurt in his son's brown orbs.

Star put a hand on Marco's shoulder. “Marco, you don't have to push yourself,” she said with concern. “There's no shame in wanting to wait. It's okay if you aren't ready.”

Marco considered her words. He took in a shaky breath trying to steal his nerve. He had to know, no matter how painful it would be, he had to see this story all the way through. He had to know what had happened that dreaded night.

Finally, Marco shook his head, saying as firmly as he could, “No, I want to know the rest.” His voice faltered a little, but everyone could hear the resolve in his shaky tone.

Buff Frog sighed. “Very well.”

…

Buff Frog slammed the door to the Diaz's house open, not even bothering to knock, thus startling the residents within. “Buff Frog?” Rafael said in surprise, rising from his seat on his comfy sofa. But he instantly grew concerned when he saw the fear in his old friend's eyes, the monster panting heavily in front of him, looking on the verge of collapsing. “What's wrong?” he asked, as the gasping Buff Frog shuffled into the house, closing the door behind him and locking it firmly.

“Toffee is coming!” Buff Frog said, as he turned back around, his voice still slightly breathless, but the seriousness in his winded accent sent chills down Rafael's spine.

“Really, are you sure?” Rafael asked, as Buff Frog moved to look out the curtains, which raised even greater concern in Rafael, which wasn't stilled any as Buff Frog breathed a breath of relief, letting him know they were safe for the moment. He was acting as if he expected the lizard to already be there, how much time did they have?

“Da, positive. Though it seems I beat him here,” Buff Frog said, his tone grave.

Well at least that answers that, Rafael thought, though now he could see just how perilous a situation they were in. The two heard creaking above them and they turned to see Angela coming down the stairs, a look of confusion on her face.

She had just been putting Marco to bed, when she had heard the door slam. She had been fearful it would wake Marco, but to her relief the boy slept on, his face peaceful as he was lost to a world of innocent dreams. She had quickly left the room to go see what had caused the disturbance only to spot her husband and Buff Frog. Though it seemed it wasn't a pleasant visit, as the two hovered close to the door, whispering worriedly to each other, the look of fear on their faces setting off red flags in Angie's mind.

When they turned to her, she looked between the two for a moment before asking, “What's going on?”

“Toffee is on way,” Buff Frog quickly explained and Angela felt her heart stop, putting a hand to her mouth as her eyes widened in fear.

“No,” she murmured in disbelief.

“How do you know this?” Rafael asked, as he put a comforting arm around his wife, trying vainly to still her fears.

“Saw him sneaking out of castle,” Buff Frog explained. “I caught a glimpse of his eyes and saw murder in them.”

“But you don't know that that means he will come here,” Rafael weakly argued, trying to cling to some kind of hope that they would be spared Toffee's wrath.

Buff Frog shook his head, before saying darkly, “He will come. You are biggest threat to his plans.”

“But I thought you said Toffee wouldn't attack us without risking the monsters turning against him,” Angela pointed out.

“Toffee is crafty. He will find way to cover tracks, I have no doubt,” Buff Frog replied. Rafael and Angela looked at each other helplessly. They had known that this day would come, hoping to stall long enough till they could leave, but it seemed their time had finally run out. “You must hurry and leave, could be here at any moment,” Buff Frog told them, urgency in his tone.

“Oh, Rafael, what do we do about Marco?” Angela asked, clutching her husband's hands tightly, fear for her son causing her to almost break down in panic. “He's still too young to go through dimensional portals.”

“We will just have to move him somewhere safe on Mewni, for now,” Rafael said, giving his wife's hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I have safe place for you all. It will hide you from Toffee for a while,” Buff Frog reassured them. And it was true, he had spent months trying to find such a location in just such an emergency, though he had hoped he wouldn't have to use it. It was in the middle of a filthy swamp, one that was almost deserted, even the locals staying clear of the area. There was apparently some kind of rumor going around about some kind of beast living within the bog and that was enough to scare off any trespassers from going there. It would be safe, the amphibian knew it was the last place Toffee would think to look, but he had hesitated taking them there. As safe as the bog was, it was hardly a place for an infant, especially one as young as Marco.

But now it seemed they had no choice, the monster hardening his resolve as he made his decision. He would protect the Diazs with his life if he had to. He turned back to the window, drawing the curtains partially back, as he said to his friends, “I will stand guard while you make preparations, then I take you to safe place-”

“No.” Buff Frog froze at the firm voice he heard from the normally sweet Angela, turning around to face the young woman in confusion. Her green eyes held a level of fire in them which he had never seen before. “You take Marco to safety, we'll stay here and hold off  Toffee as long as we can.”

Buff Frog felt his heart stop at the crazy idea, as he loudly argued, “What, no?! I get you all out of here!”

“There isn't time,” Rafael said, a finality to his tone that caused Buff Frog to shiver. “You must get Marco away, before Toffee arrives. He cannot know about him.”

“But you will die!” Buff Frog shouted, fear clenching tightly to his chest. But he saw the stubbornness in his old friend's eyes, they had already made up their mind and nothing was going to change it. Still, Buff Frog had to try. “I will not allow you to throw lives away like this! Think of Marco, do you want him to never know of parents?!” Rafael and Angela flinched at that, but stood firm, much to Buff Frog's dismay.

“We are thinking of Marco,” Rafael argued. “And as much as we don't want to leave him, we will if it means keeping him safe.”

The amphibian was almost in tears at this point. Rafael and Angie were like family to him, he wasn't sure if he could bear losing anyone else to Toffee's dark ambition.

“Please, Buff Frog,” Angie begged, the desperation in her voice shaking the monster's resolve. “You must protect Marco. His life is all that matters.”

For a moment, Buff Frog just stared at the two parents, their eyes filled with love and an unshattering will and his filled with tears and hurt. But he couldn't fight it, he couldn't deny their last request to him. “Very well,” Buff Frog said softly, his voice sounding so weak and vulnerable even to him, like it was on the verge of breaking. The words felt like acid on his tongue, knowing he had just sentenced them to death.

“Thank you,” Angela whispered, sounding so relieved, but that only hurt Buff Frog more. He knew it was there wish but he felt as if he had betrayed them, making him feel as if he had killed them himself.

But there was no time for grief or guilt, as the parents quickly headed upstairs to their son's bedroom, Buff Frog following numbly behind. As the Diazs opened the door, Buff Frog could hear the gentle chime of the boy's mobile, as well as the almost inaudible snores of the child, as he slowly breathed in and out. Rafael and Angela gathered around the boy's crib, looking down at their son with sad eyes, trying so hard not to break down into tears, as they stared at their son's lovely face for what would be the last time.

Seeing him nearly broke both of their resolve, as their thoughts betrayed them, reminded of the future they would never see for their son. They would miss him growing up, never see his first steps or hear him say his first words. They would never see him fall in love or get married. They would never see their grandkids. So many experiences that so many other parents got to see and for a moment they were jealous of all the parents in the world for the things they got to see.

If there was any way for Rafael and Angela to take it back, they would have in a heartbeat. But they couldn't. If Toffee found out about Marco, their son would never be safe, the lizard would never stop hunting him. They had to protect him. They just had to.

Angela gently lifted Marco from his crib holding him close in her arms. Rafael wrapped himself around his wife, holding both her and their child in a tight, protective hug, as he tried  in some way to console his heartbroken wife. The boy didn't wake, cuddling into his parents' warm embrace, not aware that this would be his final moments with the both of them. His warmth was so soothing and soft that it made Angela ache, but she blinked back tears as she whispered into Marco's ear, “Marco. I know you are too young to understand this, but we have to say goodbye now.” Marco, unknowingly shifted in his sleep, his small head burying itself into his mother's neck. “We're going to go away, but we want you to know that everything we did, we did out of love.” Angela's voice cracked and Rafael took over, as his wife struggled to find her voice again.

“And we know you are going to grow up into something so great and wonderful. You are going to change the world my son and we will be proud of whoever you become.” Rafael gently ran a hand through Marco's soft brown hair, tears blinding his vision.

“And just know that we love you, Marco,” Angela continued, her voice barely audible, moving the child so she could place her forehead against his. “And nothing will ever change that. And though it may seem like we are gone, a part of us will be with you. Always.” As Angela whispered this promise, both her and Marco's cheek marks glowed, showing the love and connection of mother and son.

Buff Frog didn't dare to interrupt the moment, just watching the parents sadly, as they held their son for the last time. He felt his heart break as silent tears ran down both of their faces, as they just clung to their child, trying to fill him with a lifetime of love and affection.

Finally, the two pulled out of the hug, Rafael wiping tears from his eyes, as Angela wrapped the baby in a soft, red blanket before approached Buff Frog, the amphibian trying to ignore the broken look in her eyes as she handed him her son. “Take good care of him, Buff Frog,” she said in a strained voice.

“I will,” he said earnestly, trying to reassure the mother that her son was in safe hands. She leaned down and gave her baby a tender kiss on the head, Marco smiling in his sleep. Rafael approached the monster and baby and did the same as his wife, giving him a final parting kiss, running a hand a final time through his hair.

But the moment was interrupted as they heard a crash come from downstairs. “Hurry Buff Frog!” Angela shouted in alarm, pushing the monster deeper into the nursery.

“How will I get out?!” Buff Frog asked, sounding slightly panicked.

“Use the window,” Rafael said, throwing the window to the room open, a rush of cold air sweeping into the room. But the three adults were too distracted by the danger below to care about the sudden drop in temperature, as Angela quickly shouted, “We'll stall Toffee, just get Marco to safety!”

Buff Frog didn't argue as he put one webbed foot onto the tiny windowsill, it was a tight fit, but Buff Frog could just barely make it through, so long as he sucked in his breath. The frog pulled Marco in close to him, before taking one last look back at the Diazs, who clung to each other with sad looks in the their eyes. Buff Frog felt a single tear trail down his cheek, as he mumbled, “Goodbye, my friends.”

With that Buff Frog launched himself out the window and landing safely on the ground below. He pulled Marco away from himself long enough to make sure he was okay, but to his relief the boy slept on. Then, without hesitation, he ran into the woods, getting himself out of view from the house, fearing the lizard might look outside and see him.

Meanwhile, within the once peaceful country home, stood Toffee, looking around the small living room with a disapproving look. The door behind him was ripped off its hinges, showing how he had entered and his arms were crossed behind his back. He stood tall and firm, his jaw set in a tight line. He looked more like he was about to conduct a business meeting rather than assassinate an innocent family.  And somehow this unnerved the Diazs all the more.

Toffee either suddenly sensed their presence or heard a creak from the stairs, as he suddenly whipped his head around to stare at them, his face switching to one of disgust. The two tried not to show fear as they descended the final steps, now only a few feet from the terrifying lizard. “Toffee, what brings you here this late?” Rafael asked, suspicion in his tone.

Toffee smirked, before hiding it behind his emotionless mask once more. “I'm not in the mood for games tonight, Mr. Diaz, so don't even bother to pretend. You know why I'm here,” Toffee said in an almost bored tone.

Angela tensed up at the directness of the monster leader, but kept a brave face as she said, “We mean you no harm. Please just leave us in peace.”

Toffee shook his head. “I'm afraid I can't do that. You two inspire too much resistance in my monsters,” he said simply. Though his tone darkened some as he added, “Besides, I already gave you plenty of opportunities to stay out of my way and yet you refused at every turn.”

This seemed to anger Rafael as he snapped, “That's because you were trying to start a war with our people! To turn the monsters against us! How could we stand by and do nothing!”

Toffee seemed amused by this. “Your people? What a hypocritical thing to say, coming from a lowly Earthling!” Toffee exaggerated the word 'Earthling' as if it were some kind of insult, which only preceded to infuriate his wife.

“Do not insult my husband's upbringing!” Angela yelled at the vile creature, trying to think of the most vulgar insult to shoot back at him. “You- You monster!”

Toffee's eyes seemed to narrow at this, anger on his face for the first time since arriving. “So now you show your true selves don't you?” Toffee hissed. He stalked closer to the woman but she refused to back down, until she was face to face with the lizard. “Tell me, dear Angela, do you know who first came up with that certain term for our species?”

Angela remained silent, as she just continued to glare down the lizard, Rafael watching the uneasy exchange with clear discomfort, fearing his wife's safety. He looked into the fire that was burning behind her stunning green orbs. He couldn't think of a time when she was ever this angry.

“It was the Mewmans,” Toffee continued, when Angela failed to answer. “When they arrived here, stealing our land and attacking us, they called us 'monsters'. Saw us as nothing more than vile, evil creatures. Even our names are an insult and every time that word is spoken it is just further proof of the cruelness of Mewmans.”

Angela's gaze seemed to soften for just a moment. “But that's why we want to change the laws, to give monsters an equal standing with us,” the Mewman woman said, pouring her heart into the speech, some small part of her clinging to the hope that she could convince Toffee to change. “Isn't that what you want?”

Toffee stared at her for a long time, before saying, “No.” He leaned in closer to the woman, a sick, twisted grin spreading across his face. “I want the Mewmans to perish, only then will my race thrive.”

There was terror in Angela's face as she backed away from the monster, Rafael jumping in front of her. “You will not get away with this, Toffee!” Rafael screamed. “If we die then the other monsters will find out and know what you did!”

Toffee looked over to the coffee table, where a lone candle lay, flickering and blinking in its vain attempt to light the dark room. Rafael followed the gaze and felt his heart stop, instantly understanding what the lizard was planning.

“No, I don't think they will,” Toffee said, as he knocked the candle over, the flame catching on the coffee table, lighting the wood up in flames, and quickly spreading across the smooth surface and quickly jumping down the leg, as small patches of flames hissed to the ground.

Rafaela and Angela gasped, as they watched the fire beginning to consume their beautiful home, Toffee turning back to them with another sinister grin, flames flickering in his serpent eyes. “Now then, where were we?”

…

Buff Frog smelt the smoke before he saw the fire. He was heading away from the country house as quickly as he could, trying not to jolt around the sleeping child too much, afraid to wake him, when he caught a whiff of smoke in the air. He turned back in the direction of the country home he had just left and felt his heart stop as he saw the smoke rising into the air. He didn't even hesitate as he turned back around, his feet moving without his consent. The next thing Buff Frog knew he was back at the house, watching as flames filled every inch of the once beautiful home and he felt his heart thumping in his chest. He did a quick survey and saw that Toffee was nowhere in sight. The lizard must have already left, fleeing the scene of the crime, before anyone arrived to help.

Buff Frog stashed Marco into a nearby bush, making sure he was well hidden, before running over to try and help his old friends. His mind was screaming at him to leave, trying to remind him of the promise he had made, but he ignored it, as he desperately searched for any sign of the Diazs, praying that they were somehow still alive. He continued his vain attempts to enter the home, trying to push fallen boards covered in flames out of his way, loudly calling their names, as his body become covered in soot and ash, his breathing heavy and labored. Tears would have covered his cheeks had he not been so close to the fire, the heat drying up any tears the monster shed.

Finally, after several minutes of searching, Buff Frog gave up the search. It was no use. They were gone. They were really gone. And he hadn't been able to save them.  

Suddenly, Buff Frog was pulled from his sad thoughts as he heard a cry off to the side. He walked back over to the bush, his body sagging in defeat and as he parted the bush, he saw a pair of brown eyes staring up at him, filled with bright curiosity. Marco's cries were halted for only a few seconds before they started back up again, the baby screaming his lungs out as he tried to communicate his distress.

Buff Frog shushed the boy, as he lifted him back up into his strong arms. “There, there, Marco. Everything okay. Go back to sleep,” Buff Frog comforted, keeping his voice soft. He began walking away from the house without another thought, rocking the boy in his arms as he tried to sooth the boy back into his dreams.

With some convincing from the monster, the boy's cries died down, as his eyes closed again, and a few moments was sound asleep once again. Buff Frog did his best not to think of what had just occurred, keeping his mind focused only on getting Marco away and to somewhere safe, unaware that a pair of sharp serpent eyes had observed the whole thing and a dark presence was now slowly and silently following along behind him.

…

“And well, you know the rest, Toffee caught up to us before I able to get you to safe place. He forced me to make deal in order to keep you alive, but that meant that we now lived under Toffee's claw,” Buff Frog finished, his voice sounding broken and strained, though there was anger in his tone as he spoke of the deal, his hatred of the lizard far from over, even after his death. Though there was a bit more to it than that.

For a few moments, the entire clearing was dead silent, no one knowing what to say after hearing of the tragic event, all eyes focused on the young hooded boy. Marco's eyes were downcast, his face unreadable, a deep internal contemplation seeming to be going on within. He kept an empty gaze on the half-finished house that was now a reminder of the tragedy that had once taken place there. Beside him, Star was giving him the most comforting look she could, trying to silently reassure the boy that all was okay. If he wasn't still sitting in his father's lap, she would be holding him close to her, trying to shield him from all his troubling thoughts and protect him from the cruel truth he had been told. Instead, all she could do was watch as her boyfriend's adopted father tried to console the boy.

Jackie, taking control of the situation, turned to the others and said, “Let's give them there space, guys. Marco's got a lot to work out.”

Most of the Monsters nodded their heads in agreement, rising from the ground and heading off somewhere to think over what they had been told. Lobster Claws on the other hand, continued to sit and watch until Beard Deer grabbed him by the arm and forcefully dragged him away from the spot, growling, “That means you too.” Janna also rose, watching the three silently, her normally cryptic face filled with sympathy, but for once she didn't argue as she just followed after Jackie and the Monsters leaving the three alone.

Buff Frog watched as the clearing emptied, before returning his attention to Marco, studying him closely as he gently rubbed a hand on his back in a soothing motion, waiting for the boy to make some kind of response. But it seemed Marco had shut down completely, the hooded boy stiff in his arms and his face covered in shadows. It hurt Buff Frog to no end to see him in so much pain, but seeing the life that had drained from the boy's normally vibrant eyes was the worst of it all, Buff Frog feeling his heart shatter at the look, as his regrets consumed him. Finally, it became too much for him to bare as Buff Frog said in guilt-ridden voice, “I'm so sorry, Marco.”

Marco finally looked up at his dad, taking in the almost pleading look in the amphibian's eyes. “I part of blame for what happened.” Marco felt Buff Frog's grip around him tighten as he struggled to contain his emotions. “If I had stood up to Toffee, I could have saved parents, instead I allowed him to take position away and it cost you greatly. I often wonder how thing would have been if had just faced lizard. And then instead of saving parents, I ran away and left them to fate. I should have stayed and fought Toffee off, maybe then, I-”

Buff Frog paused, trying to gain his voice again. “Instead, I made stupid deal with him, I betrayed parents' wishes and you. It is greatest regret.”

Buff Frog didn't dare look at his son as he finished confessing his crimes, fearing the boy would hate him for all he had done. There was a long pause that was heart wrenching to Buff Frog as he awaited the child's reply, feeling torn between impatiently wanting to just get it over with and dreading when it came.

“That wasn't your fault,” Marco finally said, his voice soft. That was not the answer Buff Frog had been expecting, as he looked down at his child and was surprised to find sympathy beneath the boy's sad eyes. “Toffee's to blame for all this, not you. Toffee was crafty and manipulative and whatever he wanted he always got. Besides in the end, you did stop him and you saved me, so isn't that all that matters?”

Buff Frog felt his eyes soften, as Marco smiled up at him. Buff Frog slowly nodded his head, his voice too chocked up for words, before he pulled the boy into a tight hug, Marco finally returning the gesture. “I don't deserve good boy like you,” Buff Frog whispered, his voice cracking.

As the two pulled away, Marco finally rose off of Buff Frog's lap and Star was able to give the boy a comforting hug as well, which Marco gladly accepted. “You okay?” Star asked, unable to hide her concern.

“I will be,” Marco replied, his voice tight as he squeezed the girl tightly, a tear running down his cheek. Star felt something wet hit her shoulder and her heart clenched in sadness, but said nothing.  As she pulled away from him, she studied his grief stricken face, taking in every ounce of sadness that was radiating off of him.

“If you ever need to talk about what happened, you know I'm always here for you,” she reassured and Marco gave her a halfhearted smile.

“Yeah, I know,” he said.

He turned back to his adopted father, giving him a far more cheerful smile, as the sadness began to creep away from his features. “Thanks, Buff Frog, for telling me about my parents. It was... nice to get to here about them,” Marco said, his tone far away as he became consumed by recently resurfaced memories and emotions.

“You are welcome... Marco,” Buff Frog responded, his voice stumbling as he tried to cover the word that had almost slipped. He had been about to call Marco “son” but he didn't feel the word was right to use just now, not after the boy had just discovered the truth of all that had happened to his original parents. Plus, Buff Frog still didn't feel he deserved the title, not when Rafael and Angela would have done a far better job raising their child.

“I just wish... that there was still something left of them, y'know. Something more than a house, which I am glad you're rebuilding and all, but... after all that they did for Mewni and me, it just isn't fair for there to be nothing to show for it,” Marco said, looking almost angry at the idea of his family being robbed of a legacy.

Buff Frog studied the hooded boy for a moment, seeing so much of Rafael and Angela in him that it hurt, his reaction was so reminiscent to them that Buff Frog could almost picture Angela stubbornly crossing her arms as at idea of a Monster being treated unfairly, Rafael giving them one of his shameful stares that could shatter the resolve of just about anyone. Buff Frog saw them in Marco everywhere, the shimmer in his eyes when he was happy an exact replica to Rafael's, his smile too innocent and pure to be anything but Angela's, his uncontainable curiosity, his lust for life, the way he expressed himself so honestly and openly, they were all constant reminders of his old friends. The Monster missed them both greatly, but every time he looked at his child it was like a part of them was still there.

Buff Frog smiled, before saying, “But they are not all gone.”

Marco gave him a confused, but hopeful look. “What do you mean?” he asked.

Buff Frog stood, walking over to the boy, looking down at him as he explained, “But Marco, do you really not realize, you are legacy they left behind. They live on, in you.” He pointed at the boy's heart. “As long as you live life to fullest, then nothing they did was in vain.”

Marco put a hand to his heart as he thought over what Buff Frog had said. He was all that was left of them, the only thing they had left in this world to remind anyone that they had ever existed. He was their legacy, which meant from now on it would be his duty to carry on what they had started. They had wanted peace in Mewni, but they had never gotten to see it. So at that moment, Marco silently vowed to bring equality to Mewni, a new fire driving him forward. This wasn't just about returning the kindness the Monsters had shown him, it was about preserving his families wishes and dreams. He wouldn't allow the Monsters and Mewmans to fight ever again. After all, he was a Diaz, he stood for something more than petty violence. And that gave him a new feeling of pride, knowing that his name meant something.

Marco smiled brightly, holding himself a little higher as he nodded his head, saying, “You're right. Thanks.”

Buff Frog returned the smile as he said, “You are welcome, Marco. You should be proud to be Rafael and Angela's son.”

“I am,” Marco said. Then, out of nowhere, he threw his arms around the frog in another tight hug, as he added sweetly, “And I'm proud to be your son too, dad.”

Buff Frog felt his heart skip a beat, surprised by the boy's kind words. Tears flooded his vision as he returned the hug, holding Rafael's and Angela's beloved gift and his precious child close to him, loving him enough it felt for all three of them.

Star just watched father and son hug quietly, not daring to break up the tender moment, her heart melting at the sweet display. For a split second, Marco's cheek marks changed, switching from glowing red suns into bright pink flowers before changing immediately back, but the three were so chocked up on their own emotions that not a single one of them had even noticed.

[welcometothepenumbra]

SECOND CITADEL – THE MOONLIT HERMIT (PART TWO)

SOUND: RAIN. TRAIN ARRIVES, CREAKS TO A STOP. DOOR CLANKS OPEN.

CONDUCTOR: Ah, good evening, Traveler. And welcome… to The Penumbra.

SOUND: DOOR CLANKS SHUT.

Take your seat, please, take your seat.

MUSIC: STARTS.

The junction lies ahead, so if you’ll allow me just a moment.

SOUND: TRAIN WHISTLE.

We are now passing through the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms.

SOUND: TRAIN MOVING.

Our next stop?

SOUND: TRAIN BRAKES.

The Moonlit Hermit.

SOUND: DOOR CLANKS OPEN, RAIN.

ALL SOUNDS: FADE OUT.

***

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGE. SWAMP AMBIANCE.

RILLA: (WHISPERING) It’s nearby. I’m not sure it even knows where I am, but I heard—

SOUND: SAWING.

It’s up there.

(PANTING)

SOUND: RUNNING FOOTSTEPS. CREAKING WOOD, CRASH.

Too close. Gotta throw it off track, gotta—

(GRUNTS)

SOUND: SWISH, THUD. THUMPS DEPARTING.

MUSIC: STARTS.

(PANTING) Okay. Better get started. Not much time left.

(CLEARS THROAT) Research log. Final entry.

My name is Amaryllis of Exile, and that thing you just heard slashing and stomping around… I made it with the monster’s tools, and it’s going to kill me.

I can’t stop it. Neither the magician-lord of this swamp nor his living castle could even put a dent in it, and now… it’s just out here, raising hell and… that’s just what I made by accident. I don’t even want to imagine—

Please. Warn the Citadel. Please. And maybe this story will give them something to go off of.

After the night I tried to escape from Lord Arum’s Keep, the night I made that thing, Arum and I had a conversation which I did not record. All you need to know about it was that he wasn’t happy, and neither was I – but even then, for all his threats, he didn’t hurt me. He just took the Moonlit Hermit with him, told the Keep to grow me a proper room to sleep in, and left. So I didn’t get any more answers until the lizard showed his face the next morning, and we came to… an agreement.

SOUND: MUSIC CUTS OUT, RECORDER TRACK CHANGES. KNOCKING.

ARUM: (THROUGH THE DOOR) Amaryllis.

Amaryllis!

RILLA: You grew this room. Don’t see why you need permission to enter it.

ARUM: (THROUGH THE DOOR) I… don’t need your permission, of course. It’s my Keep. And it’s because of your whining that I— (SIGHS) I’ll come speak with you another time, then. Enjoy your rest, tktktktktktktktk.

SOUND: RUSTLING.

RILLA: No, come on. Wait.

SOUND: DOOR CREAKS OPEN. JUNGLE AMBIANCE.

Sorry. I… might not have slept. At all.

ARUM: You should be sorry. I didn’t sleep either.

And. Well. I suppose I also… apologize.

That… thing.

RILLA: What thing?

ARUM: Your… recording device. It’s on.

RILLA: It is, yeah.

ARUM: I thought I told you to—

RILLA: Yeah, well, I’m not just going to roll over and do everything you say, okay? I want the recorder, and if you want to talk to me, it stays on. You don’t get to care why.

ARUM: …Alright.

So. Did you think at all about my offer?

RILLA: I did.

ARUM: And?

RILLA: I don’t know yet. It isn’t a very good one right now.

ARUM: Then come up with one you prefer. I’m too tired and in too much of a hurry to haggle. Go on.

RILLA: I’m going to want some things in return.

ARUM: Beyond my tutelage? I’m offering you the impossible mysteries of the universe, you—

RILLA: Okay, all this stuff about you teaching me, me working for you? That’s exactly why we couldn’t have this conversation yesterday—

ARUM: Oh, spare me—

RILLA: If you want my help fixing your Keep, I’m not going to be your assistant.

ARUM: Well, I certainly won’t be yours!

RILLA: I never asked for that. We’re going to work together. Share methods together, theorize together, experiment together. But I’m done working for you.

And any questions I have… you have to answer them all. I can’t help you if you don’t let me do my job.

ARUM: That is… logical.

Agreed. With one restriction. There are certain lines of questioning that I cannot, under any circumstances, answer.

RILLA: But—

ARUM: The work I do, and the beings I do it for, are dangerous. Giving up information they’ve protected would ensure my Keep’s death, and I cannot endanger my Keep. That you must understand.

RILLA: …Alright.

ARUM: Well, then. Shall we—

RILLA: One last thing.

ARUM: My, this deal just gets fairer by the second, doesn’t it?

RILLA: If I cure your Keep, you have to let me go home. Seriously this time.

ARUM: I’ve already told you, I can’t—

RILLA: Well, you’re gonna have to, Arum. You’re bargaining with me, and you’re not getting any sleep, and for all the times you’ve threatened to kill me, that’s never really been an option for you. And all that means: you’re desperate. You need me. And that means: I get to name my price.

Well? I want some kind of guarantee—

ARUM: (GROWLS) Keep!

KEEP: (SINGING)

ARUM: For the remainder of her stay within these walls, you are to listen to any requests the human Amaryllis makes. Is that understood?

KEEP: (AFFIRMATIVE SINGING)

RILLA: How am I supposed to know that worked?

ARUM: You’re the researcher. Test it, tktktktktktktktk.

RILLA: Uhhh… okay?

(CLEARS THROAT) Keep! I want to see the way back home! …Uhh, please!

KEEP: (SINGING)

SOUND: STRETCHING, CREAKING.

RILLA: Saints, is that…?

DOOR CREAKS OPEN. SWAMP AMBIANCE.

ARUM: A portal to the swamp’s edge. Now you understand how we came here this quickly. Satisfied?

RILLA: But… could it make a portal to—

ARUM: Only the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms, Amaryllis. (SNORTS) Humans… you show them the impossible and within seconds they already want more.

RILLA: No, it’s just… that’s a lot of power to give me, Arum.

ARUM: (GROWLS) Close the portal, Keep. And put this room away; we won’t be needing it any longer.

KEEP: (SINGING)

SOUND: DOOR CREAKS SHUT. JUNGLE AMBIANCE.

ARUM: When I first told you my Keep was the font from which every Titan’s Bloom springs, I was not telling the full scope of the truth. It is true that all the flowers here are born from the Keep; but so is all life in this swamp. The Keep had a hand in creating every living thing here, and it is the source that keeps them living. If it dies—

RILLA: Then everything in the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms dies, too.

ARUM: Precisely. I cannot expect you to understand the bond I share with such a creature; the depth of emotion and devotion I feel for that which gave me life, and that which it is my birth-duty to protect—

RILLA: So it’s your mom.

ARUM: No it is not! Our– our relationship is far more complicated than that! The Keep has but one familiar at a time, a symbiotic soldier who both harnesses its infinite power and lives only to protect—

RILLA: Right, right, but besides that, it’s basically just your mom. Gave you life, sings you lullabies, gets a lot of attitude. Mom stuff.

ARUM: It is not.

KEEP: (SINGING)

ARUM: You stay out of this, tktktktktktktktk!

RILLA: (LAUGHS)

ARUM: There! Your deal is accepted. You have your answers, you have your freedom, you have my pride. It is ample pay. Now earn it. What do we do?

RILLA: (LAUGHING) Okay, okay, okay.

So. If we’re going to do this right, we’re going to need to perform an exam. Where did the petrification start?

ARUM: How should I know? It’s a massive tower. By the time I noticed it—

RILLA: Then where did you first notice it?

ARUM: In my workshop. When I’m not babysitting troublesome primates that is usually where I am.

RILLA: Then that’s where we go. Keep, could you show me the way to the workshop, please?

KEEP: (AFFIRMATIVE SINGING)

SOUND: DOOR CREAKS OPEN.

RILLA: I think I could get used to this.

ARUM: Ugh.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): Arum’s workshop was the first room in the Keep I’d seen with a window… and Saints. Who knew a swamp could look like that? Flowers as wide as temples. Life of every color. Frogs that spread wine-colored splotches everywhere they touched, herons robed in golden moss, fish that bowed before the swaying trees and then flew, flew, up to the branches to roost. It was so, so…

It was the first time I felt that feeling Damien talks about. When he thinks he sees Saint Damien in the reflection on the water. Hears him in the sound of the rain. Which is impossible, of course, but…

For now, I’ll just say more evidence is needed. So… get on that, I guess.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA: Why are you standing by the door? Come on. A look won’t kill you.

ARUM: It won’t kill me, no. I’m waiting for the clouds to pass; to find a safe spot for this.

SOUND: CHIMES JINGLING.

RILLA: The Moonlit Hermit?

ARUM: Its cage was demolished. And I don’t just leave my most powerful tool lying around.

There. This spot should be safe… and dark.

RILLA: So… that part of the story’s really true, too? This flower that’s powerful enough to bring things to life… just dies in the sunlight?

ARUM: I do wish you’d stop saying that. The Hermit itself doesn’t do anything. It just wants.

(SIGHS) The Hermit lacks almost every basic structure flora require to survive.

MUSIC: STARTS.

So it only lives for one reason: because it wants to, so badly, that physical laws must suspend in its presence. Its will to live is so strong that it lives on that alone.

RILLA: So your theory is that, its will is so strong, it’s contagious, too?

ARUM: Indeed. It speaks to the small amount of life present in every object, whether inanimate, deceased, or… currently alive. Like the abdomen of a Macrachnid, tired of being a thoughtless slave to the head.

RILLA: Yeah, okay, I get it, thanks.

ARUM: Sunlight is the only thing the Hermit wants more than life. So if it gets it… it becomes distracted.

RILLA: And it forgets to live?

ARUM: I wouldn’t put it so crudely. Really it…

Yes, it forgets to live. It finds something that matters more to it. Are you happy, tktktktktktktktk?

MUSIC: ENDS.

RILLA: Huh.

ARUM: That face. What does that face mean?

RILLA: It means I’m thinking.

ARUM: You admit that my methods are superior.

RILLA: Not really. Honestly, you don’t seem to know what you’re talking about.

ARUM: What?!

RILLA: But plenty of scientific breakthroughs have started with fairy tales, so I am interested. Show me what you were working on when you first saw the petrification happen.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): We passed experiment after experiment, and I couldn’t see any use for any of them. In one cage of nettles sat a rodent that belched periodically, inflated until punctured by a thorn, then deflated and started over again. In another stood a small creature with many faces, busily whispering insults to itself. In a third grew a flower that changed its color every time I blinked, its roots twined around a scrap of silk.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

ARUM: Prototypes, mostly. I keep intending to get rid of them, but disposal is such a lengthy process.

RILLA: Couldn’t you just… let them go?

ARUM: Let them go. (BIG LAUGH) Nearly half of my work is ensuring these creations don’t get free, Amaryllis. New species can be fatal to an ecosystem – as you saw with these.

SOUND: JAR OPENS. INSECT BUZZING, HEARTBEAT.

RILLA: The grubs… from beneath the Numbcap! Saints… there are so many of them!

ARUM: Yes. It took many weeks of tireless testing to get through all of these. And in the end not a single one did as I needed.

SOUND: JAR SHUTS.

RILLA: Hey, I was looking—

ARUM: And now you aren’t.

I still don’t know how they got out and I can’t risk another breach.

RILLA: But… what are they for?

ARUM: A contract. Other monsters hired me to make… something. They are one failed attempt.

RILLA: But what—?

ARUM: I warned you when we began this that there would be some questions I could not answer. This is one of them.

RILLA: Arum!

ARUM: I can only assure you, that after their escape, the Keep and I spent many sleepless nights studying them, and studying them, and I do not think they could be the cause of the Keep’s illness.

Here. You may look into their case, if you wish. It’s Vanishwood – just pass your hand over the side. I’ll gather supplies that may prove useful, tktktktktktktktk.

SOUND: SLITHERING.

RILLA: Research log, entry four-three-zero-one. Observing what appears to be a colony of those grubs I found beneath the Numbcap… Lord Arum’s creations. Interesting. My original sample didn’t exhibit any unusual behavior, but, when you put them in a group they cluster and move as one unit. I think I see something behind them, but they keep getting in the way. Come on, come on!

Uch, seriously? No matter where I look, they—

…keep moving in my way. They cluster where I look before I look there… like they know where that’s going to be.

Agh, I can just catch glimpses of what they’re blocking. It looks like… a rolled-up cloth of some kind? A scarf?

ARUM: Have you found anything interesting?

RILLA: (GASPS) Don’t sneak up on me like that.

ARUM: I will not alter my walking just because you have primitive ears, Amaryllis. Are you satisfied?

RILLA: Nope, but it sounds like I just have to get used to that. (SIGHS) Whatever tools you used to make these grubs… can you bring them back to the greenhouse with us? I want to run some checks on them.

ARUM: Keep. Bring the tools Amaryllis has requested to the greenhouse – and open the way for us, as well.

KEEP: (TIRED SINGING)

SOUND: STRETCHING, CREAKING.

(SINGING)

SOUND: METAL CLATTERING.

ARUM: Be careful! Those tools took months to grow, you oaf!

RILLA: Arum… the door! It’s—

ARUM: Petrifying. (HISSES)

SOUND: CRACKING, CRUMBLING.

(STRAINING) Open this door! I told you to open… it!

SOUND: CLANK.

Yah!

RILLA: Arum!

ARUM: It’s alright. I’m alright.

No thanks to my Keep!

KEEP: (TIRED, SAD SINGING)

RILLA: Arum… it’s sick.

ARUM: Oh, is it sick? Is it tired? Because I’m certainly tired, too, but I’m at least holding up my end of the bargain, aren’t I? We’re supposed to protect each other, you ungrateful plant! Are you even trying?!

RILLA: Arum… come on. Of course it’s trying. It’s just—

ARUM: It’s fought off illness before! And curses, and sieges, and…! If it wanted to live, it would. It’s chosen to give up!

Haven’t you? Haven’t you!

KEEP: (TIRED, SAD SINGING)

RILLA: Stop. I know you’re upset, but this isn’t helping. If the problem was just that the Keep didn’t want to get better… it would already be dead. When people really give up… it’s over pretty quickly.

ARUM: Then the only thing those people are missing is… the will to live.

Get out of my way.

SOUND: SLITHERING.

RILLA: What? Where are you going?

ARUM: Your compulsion to gather facts and put them all in a row might be effective for your simple concerns, but when you grapple with a near-infinite being you must employ near-infinite power.

RILLA: What are you doing with the Hermit?

ARUM: What do you think? Move.

SOUND: SLITHERING.

RILLA: Arum, we don’t know what that’s going to do. At this stage, we have to be careful!

ARUM: We should never have gotten to this stage in the first place. I’m getting us out of it.

SOUND: BOTTLE UNCORKS. LIQUID POURING. CHIMES JINGLING.

There, little Hermit… teach this Keep the value of a life, that it may fight this stone away, tktktktktktktktk.

SOUND: TWO DROPLETS.

KEEP: (CURIOUS SINGING)

ARUM: There. You see, Amaryllis, how the color returns to this stone?

RILLA: I do.

KEEP: (STRAINED WORKING SONG)

SOUND: STRETCHING, CREAKING.

ARUM: The doors. This is the effort I’ve been looking for. Learn from the Moonlit Hermit, my Keep. With enough will, enough desire, even death itself holds no power—

KEEP: (HIGH, PAINED NOTE)

SOUND: POP.

ARUM: (HISSES)

RILLA: Whoa!

SOUND: CRACKING, CRUMBLING.

ARUM: Push it back, Keep! Try, tktktktktktktktk!

KEEP: (EXHAUSTED SINGING)

ARUM: No excuses!

Try it again.

SOUND: CHIMES JINGLING.

RILLA: Uh-uh! No way! Gimme that!

ARUM: Amaryllis… this was effective. It fixed things, for a moment.

RILLA: Do you think your Keep could take another shock like that? Do you? Because your workshop is starting to look like a quarry.

ARUM: That is just how magic operates. When you reach for the cosmos, there are no guarantees. What didn’t work then may work now. We will not know unless we try.

RILLA: So magic is inconsistent.

ARUM: Exactly.

RILLA: And so: useless. Huh. That’s good to know.

ARUM: What?

RILLA: You can reach for the cosmos, Arum, and that’s great. But sometimes you just want what’s right in front of you. That’s when you gather evidence.

ARUM: Hah!

RILLA: The reason we want results to be consistent is because some things are too valuable to risk on a maybe. Like your Keep, for example. So: we have to figure out the problem, and in order to that, we need data. Do you have a microscope?

ARUM: A what?

RILLA: It lets you see things that are really, really small. If I could get a closer look at the Keep’s cell structure, I might be able to—

ARUM: Why should you care what things so small look like? Perhaps they don’t want to be seen.

RILLA: (SIGHS) I need to take a sample, at least. Do you have a chisel, or something? I want to see if there’s any living tissue underneath this stone.

ARUM: (GRUMBLES)

SOUND: SCRAPING.

Here. The Keep dropped it, so let’s hope it isn’t broken, tktktktktktktktk.

RILLA: It’s a pick, Arum, I don’t think dropping… whatever.

SOUND: SHOVELING DIRT.

This spot should do.

SOUND: SHARP TAPS.

ARUM: What are you even hoping to find?

RILLA: Well, I hope I find the cause of the Keep’s illness, but I don’t expect—

ARUM: Hah! Typical human overconfidence. Be careful of what you unearth with that blade, little Amaryllis – for your own sake. The secrets this Keep holds tie into the very fabric of the universe. To think you will be able to contain them within your small human mind is pride itself—

RILLA: Found it.

ARUM: What.

RILLA: Yeah, look at this.

SOUND: SLITHERING.

See that white fuzz on the greenery packed in there? Mildew. Pretty common plant infection.

ARUM: And it typically causes flora to turn into stone?

RILLA: Just eats them, usually. But, if their host has this much magic rolling around inside it… I, I don’t know. If I had my lab I could do some tests on it, but…

ARUM: But?

RILLA: Your tools are very, very, very, very bad.

ARUM: Ungrateful—!

RILLA: But hey, the study of medicine’s way older than proper measurements. It was less accurate then, but still followed the same rules: test, take notes, test some more, and once you’ve found a pattern, use it. So get some paper ready, Arum: I’m sending you and the Keep out shopping.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): I had a plan in mind, but it was going to require a lot of supplies. I gave Arum my list, and he translated it into terms the Keep could understand.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA: I need a ruler – something that will help me measure length.

ARUM: Keep, a stick with notches at regular intervals.

RILLA: And some pure water with a few drops of oil. A few gallons of that would be great.

ARUM: That’s two gourds of Spring-Dew with Bloatnut runoff, Keep.

RILLA: Some kind of device for spraying… and for holding it all together.

ARUM: A Spitting Lily and a ball of Macrachnid web.

RILLA: And some baking soda. That’s the white powder stuff you find under—

ARUM: And some baking soda.

Don’t make that face. Monsters have made this land’s finest cakes for thousands of years, tktktktk—

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): And then, we put it all together: a solution comprised of the water, oil, and baking soda, poured into bags tied and fastened to the Spitting Lillies. An antifungal spray not unlike the kind I used at home.

The first tests were promising.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA: Here we go…

SOUND: SPRAY. SIZZLE.

Alright. I think we’re onto something.

ARUM: So… that’s it, then?

Then why is there still stone everywhere, tktktktktktktktk?

RILLA: Because that was just the first test. Help me make another bottle for you. We have a lot of stone to cover.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): It took most of the day to finish that room. And in that time Arum and I didn’t have much to do, besides talk.

Getting to know him reminded me of meeting Damien, in some ways. He was still a knight-in-training back then, a hypochondriac who’d made himself a thorn in the heel of every doctor he went to… and when he took a blow from his first real monster, nobody in the Citadel would treat him. So, he had to come to me. (CHUCKLES) Scorpion Queen venom, I remember. He was such an awful patient. Always trying to make grand gestures of strength or heroism, always making himself sicker.

But, in his quiet moments, when he’d tell me his stories, we’d get lost in them. They were beautiful, and so funny. And we could talk for hours, he was so curious about my work, and—

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

DAMIEN: And so the great doctor took the warrior’s mighty belt and ventured on into the plague-stricken night. Oh, Rilla, it was a bright twilight then, the sky shimmering as black silk before a raging flame, and—

Wha– what is that?

RILLA: Don’t stop.

DAMIEN: Is that– that’s your recording device, isn’t it?

RILLA: Yes, and? I just wanted to have this story for later, too.

DAMIEN: (COUGHS) Yes, but, well– I wasn’t– p-perhaps it wasn’t meant for any time but this, a-as only, i-i-if I knew it would be recorded I would have, perhaps, written it down, revised it, or— (COUGHING)

RILLA: Stop, stop, stop. If you don’t calm down that venom’s never going to get out of your system.

DAMIEN: (PANTING) Y-yes… doctor…

RILLA: (GIGGLES)

DAMIEN: What? What is it? My face, i-it’s gone a color, hasn’t it? Rose Fever! Oh, Saint Damien, I knew I would die this way, pink-cheeked and babbling—

RILLA: No, no, you’re fine. You’re just…

It’s cute, when you get all riled up. When you call me doctor. Annoying, but… cute.

DAMIEN: Annoyed? Oh, Saints, I’ve annoyed you! A thousand lashes on my person, a thousand thousand—

RILLA: (LAUGHS)

DAMIEN: What? What did I…?

(CHUCKLES) Oh. Well… that is rather funny. (LAUGH-COUGHING)

RILLA: Now, go on. Tell me more about this doctor. How beautiful was she?

DAMIEN: Beautiful, of course, beautiful. But her beauty was nothing compared to her mind, sharp as the blade and patient as its whetstone. Why, it’s said she once outwitted a tower full of Sphinxes, an Academy, no less—

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): And… those stories… that time with him? That was worth the world. Worth every late night panic. Worth everything.

Arum doesn’t tell stories. Or ask questions, really. But… he does have his moments.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

ARUM: My, this is an interesting patch… I’ll have to keep you for further study, tktktktktktk—

SOUND: SPRAY.

(HISSES) My cape! You’ve gotten serum all over my cape!

RILLA: Had to get your attention somehow. Now get down here and—

SOUND: SPRAY.

(YELPS) My hair!

ARUM: There. Now we’re even—

SOUND: SPRAY.

(HISSES)

RILLA: You can take your cloak off! I can’t take off my hair!

ARUM: You… can’t?

SOUND: SPRAY.

Agh, stop that, tktktktktktktktk!

SOUND: SPRAY.

RILLA: (GIGGLING) Missed me!

ARUM: Stand… still…

SOUND: SPRAY.

(HISSES)

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): I don’t know why I’m saying this. I know that the Citadel has to protect itself from monsterkind. But…

I’ve seen so many knights kill so many monsters, like I killed Arum’s weeds, without a second thought. And even if Arum is a threat, and even if he does have to be dealt with…

He isn’t all bad. I guess that’s all I’m really saying. He’s—

SOUND: THUMP.

(GASPS)

The antifungal spray we made got rid of the mildew… but, it didn’t cure the Keep.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

ARUM: A bit of green’s returned to this stone… and if I’m not mistaken it’s grown a bit softer.

So we’re really to take it that all this trouble was caused by some common fungus?

RILLA: Not necessarily all. It could have caused a strange immune response in the Keep – the stone as a way to protect itself. Or, this one infection could have weakened the Keep and made way for another, or—

ARUM: Then which one is it?

RILLA: It could take years to figure all that out, Arum. I said science was consistent. I never said it was fast.

ARUM: But in the meantime, my Keep is saved. (CHUCKLES) We’ve done it.

RILLA: We did.

ARUM: Tell me, Amaryllis: did you ever fear we might not get out of here alive?

RILLA: Only for the first eleven hours.

ARUM: But we’ve only been in here for elev—

Oh. (CHUCKLES) Oh, that’s quite good, isn’t it? (LAUGHS)

RILLA: (LAUGHS)

And Keep, how do you feel?

KEEP: (TIRED HAPPY SINGING)

ARUM: (LAUGHS) It’s saved! My Keep is saved! We’ve done it, tktktktktktktktk!

RILLA: Oh! Uh… haha… ah, uh, Arum?

ARUM: Yes, Amaryllis?

RILLA: Maybe you should… put me down, now.

ARUM: …Oh. Yes, yes, that seems… right.

RILLA: …Thanks.

ARUM: (CLEARS THROAT) That’s… hm… sleep exhaustion. Natural biological response. I blame you entirely.

RILLA: It’s really okay, Arum – but, maybe we should just, uh—

ARUM: Go. Yes, agreed.

SOUND: SLITHERING. CREAK.

(GRUNTS)

Hm. But the door, it seems, is still… (GRUNTS)

SOUND: CREAK.

Petrified.

RILLA: Right, no, that makes sense. We only got this room. You’ll have to do this for the whole Keep if you want to really drive the illness back.

ARUM: And if we’re sealed in here… you plan to have the Keep apply its own cure. Interesting.

RILLA: Exactly. Keep!

KEEP: (TIRED SINGING)

RILLA: That process we just did? I want you to use your vines to do that everywhere you can. Think you’ve got it?

Uh… Keep?

KEEP: (TIRED WORKING SONG)

SOUND: STRETCHING, CREAKING.

KEEP: (SINGING FADES OUT)

RILLA: That… doesn’t sound good.

ARUM: It certainly does not.

Keep. You will do as Amaryllis says. Apply the medicine. Now.

SOUND: STRETCHING, CREAKING.

KEEP: (SAD, TIRED SINGING)

SOUND: CRACKING, CRUMBLING.

RILLA: The petrification is spreading again!

ARUM: Keep! Stop that this instant! Your lord and creation commands you!

KEEP: (HIGH PAINED NOTE)

ARUM: Keep! You will open this door!

SOUND: POUNDING ON DOOR.

Open it at once! Keep!

RILLA: (AFTER A PAUSE) Arum… I’m sorry.

ARUM: (PANTING) I hope you’re happy with yourself.

RILLA: Me? You think this is my fault?

ARUM: Of course it is. You gave it the command that turned it to stone, tktktktktktktktk!

RILLA: The Hermit hurt it much worse than that! And whatever was causing this started before I got here! You know that!

ARUM: (GROWLS) We lived perfectly well on our own.

RILLA: Yeah, until you kidnapped me.

ARUM: Oh, this again.

RILLA: Yeah, this again! This forever, actually!

ARUM: Then I suppose you’ve had your revenge, haven’t you? Congratulations.

RILLA: I didn’t do this. This wasn’t revenge.

ARUM: Call it whatever you like, it’s a purely human concept. Revenge, fairness, this sense that everything must balance out. It’s the ugliest part of thinking everything should make sense. Because when you believe the scales should be even and someone adds a slight to your side, you add a slight to theirs, and all you’ve done is created a crueler world than you started with.

RILLA: You don’t get off that easily. I had a family. Friends. You shouldn’t have kidnapped me.

ARUM: Oh, should. It’s always should, isn’t it? Should I have kidnapped you? No. But I’ve also never asked you for forgiveness, have I? Well, have I? (SNORTS) You humans. You get so caught up in what should be true that you never think about what is. Everything in its little box, hmm? I should not have done what I did, so do whatever you like to me. Never mind the fact that I should never have met you, should never have had to step into that cesspit Citadel in the first place!

It’s evil, this need to categorize, to call things good and bad. Justification for crushing those who have already been crushed. Evil.

RILLA: Yeah, okay, so, you’re really not in a good place to talk right now.

ARUM: Oh, yes! Casting judgment is so easy, isn’t it?

Where are you going? We’re trapped in here!

RILLA: Commanding the Keep isn’t working right now, and you’re in a mood, so I’m just killing time until one of those things changes. Could you hand me that Macrachnid silk?

ARUM: (GRUNTS) I don’t see how that helps.

RILLA: Maybe it doesn’t.

ARUM: What happened to your reproducible results? Your “it has to work every time”?

RILLA: It’s been a big day. Maybe I learned something.

SOUND: GUITAR NOTE.

This’ll work.

ARUM: …What are you doing?

SOUND: STRETCHING.

RILLA: Measuring the silk. Cut here, please.

ARUM: Ridiculous.

SOUND: SNIP.

RILLA: And here…

SOUND: SNIP.

and here…

SOUND: SNIP.

and here.

ARUM: (GROWLS)

SOUND: TAPPING. STRETCHING.

RILLA: Mmm, now, I’ll just fasten these to half of one of the gourds, and… aha!

SOUND: GUITAR STRUM.

ARUM: What’s that grinning? What are you doing?

RILLA: Proving a point.

SOUND: GUITAR NOTES.

ARUM: Of course. It’s always an argument with you, isn’t it?

Don’t look so smug, tktktktktktktktk! I’ll show you.

SOUND: SAWING, HAMMERING, STRETCHING.

There. See? No measurements required.

RILLA: Alright. Play it.

ARUM: Gladly.

SOUND: DISCORDANT-BAD CHORD.

What? I must be holding it wrong.

SOUND: DISCORDANT NOTES.

(HISSES)

SOUND: MORE DISCORDANT NOTES. GRUNT, ONE LAST DISCORDANT NOTE.

A waste of time, tktktktktktktktk.

RILLA: Huh. So, do you want to know why yours didn’t work?

SOUND: GUITAR NOTES.

ARUM: Because sometimes magic just doesn’t, as our current situation demonstrates. And music, obviously, is a form of magic.

RILLA: (LAUGHS)

ARUM: What? What’s so funny?

RILLA: Music’s not magic, Arum. Come on – music is math.

ARUM: We invented mathematics before you. But we moved on to something better.

RILLA: You found something bigger, maybe. But there’s something beautiful about things that work every time, isn’t there? Something comfortable. The same notes always make a chord; it’s all about counting the same chunks of time. It can even have psychological effects, slowing heart rate, and preventing rushing thoughts and—

ARUM: You said can. Not must. So much for reliable, hm?

RILLA: I guess that’s a fair point.

MUSIC: STARTS.

Meet me by the river / Where the elderberries—

ARUM: What?

MUSIC: STOPS.

What– what are you doing?

RILLA: Uh… singing?

ARUM: Why!

RILLA: I thought it might be fun? And, like… what else are we going to do?

ARUM: (GROWLS) …You may continue.

RILLA: Oooookay.

MUSIC: STARTS.

Meet me by the river / Where the elderberries grow / When stars are silver / No one has to know…

MUSIC: ENDS.

KEEP: No one has to know…

RILLA: Saints above, what the—

ARUM: Shhhh! Keep going!

MUSIC: STARTS.

RILLA: Meet me by the river / By driftwood and stone / I’ll float down with her / No one has to know…

KEEP: (HARMONIZING)

RILLA: And if the old man caught me stealin’ / Wouldn’t bother to lie / Momma let her baby grow through the ceiling / But do we wonder why? / She seems so bitter / Bitten by the cold / I’ll watch her shiver / And leave her alone…

MUSIC: ENDS.

KEEP: Meet me by the river / Where the elderberries grow / When stars are silver / No one has to know…

(SNORING)

RILLA: More… petrification?

ARUM: No. It’s… asleep.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Keep sleep before.

RILLA: Must be tired.

ARUM: That’s ridicu—

That’s…

RILLA & ARUM: (IN UNISON) That’s it.

RILLA: Sleep deprivation causes a weakened immune system…

ARUM: And its mood has been poor…

RILLA: Depression, skin problems, poor self-care…

ARUM: All that work I made it do… all those sleepless nights.

RILLA: Why don’t… we try the door?

ARUM: That sounds… like an excellent idea, Amaryllis.

SOUND: SLITHERING. GRUNTS, DOOR CREAKS OPEN.

RILLA: So I guess we’re free.

ARUM: We are. And now I owe you your payment.

(CLEARS THROAT) Follow me. I will show you your way out, now.

RILLA: But… don’t you want to make sure—

ARUM: No, no, I think it should be now. And bring the Hermit, would you? After the trouble it’s caused, I… don’t know what I am going to do with it, but I’d rather it not stay here.

SOUND: SLITHERING. GRASS RUSTLING, CHIMES JINGLING. RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): Because the Keep was asleep, it wouldn’t respond to our commands, so instead of Arum’s magic door we had to use the real front door, far, far below us. Carrying the Moonlit Hermit all that way was… like a dream. I could feel that glow within it, and I could feel my old hopes stirring again, and I could feel my fear, too – of the things it had made. Of what it had made the Keep do to itself. I didn’t know what we were going to do with it. None of the options made me feel any better.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES. CHIMES JINGLING GENTLY.

ARUM: This must be strange to you. A patient who would get better if it rested, but who insists on writhing.

RILLA: That’s pretty typical, actually.

So… how do you think the Keep learned that song? It’s an old folk tune, way back from the First Citadel, I think. How’s a monster plant learn that?

ARUM: I don’t know. A traveling human, maybe. Or perhaps a traveling human learned the song from it. I’m not sure how we’d ever learn the difference.

RILLA: You sang it beautifully.

ARUM: O– oh. Thank you.

(CLEARS THROAT) But, you see, this proves my point exactly.

RILLA: What point?

ARUM: Music. It’s magical in nature.

RILLA: Oh, come on, really—

ARUM: I’ve never lost in debate before and I won’t lose now. It’s magical. The lullaby that the Keep sung me as a whelp – it didn’t work every time, did it? Unpredictable. You can do everything right and it doesn’t always have the desired effect. Sleep, or the aesthetic beauty of the notes, or what-have-you.

RILLA: Huh. Yeah, I guess you’re right.

ARUM: And besides, according to the great sorcerer and former Keep-Lord Purple-Plumed Vaxellius, music is firmly– what was that?

RILLA: Kind of right, anyway. I mean… why can’t it be both?

ARUM: Nonsense.

RILLA: No, I mean… maybe, that’s what makes music special. It uses these predictable scales and measures, and combines them with some unpredictable something—

ARUM: Magic. And what comes out isn’t really either. It’s… more.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): I looked at him, and… his eyes. His violet eyes.

Subject: Amaryllis of Exile. Input: interaction with the monster Arum, Lord of the Swamp. Observations: Accelerated heart rate. Sweating palms. A rushing feeling, like… riding a horse, like falling, like… reaching the top of a mountain and seeing just how small you really are. Racing thoughts. A tingling in the lips.

I looked at him, and I felt… what I guess, is a kind of magic.

And I think he did, too.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

ARUM: (CLEARS THROAT) Nonsense, of course. But… a nice theory, anyway.

RILLA: Right. Nonsense. Right.

ARUM: And… how did you know the singing would work? You finished your instrument with such purpose.

RILLA: Right, right. The singing.

Uh, honestly? It wasn’t for the Keep to start. It was for… you?

Because you sounded worried, I mean. Anxious.

ARUM: Doctor, scientist, musician… how many hats do you wear, Amaryllis?

RILLA: Whichever one I think is interesting today. There are just so many things to know about, you know? And so many interesting people who know all about them. Doctors and scientists and poets and…

ARUM: Knights.

RILLA: And knights.

ARUM: I imagine you must be excited to rejoin them, then.

RILLA: I am. I miss them.

ARUM: Well.

SOUND: SLITHERING.

You to your home. And me to mine.

RILLA: Yeah.

Um… Arum?

ARUM: Yes, Amaryllis?

RILLA: You said… that those grubs… they’re for a contract with some other monsters. Right?

ARUM: (SNORTS)

RILLA: Arum… what are you making for them?

ARUM: I cannot tell you that.

RILLA: If you’re making weapons for the monsters to use against the Citadel… Arum, that’s my home.

ARUM: Of course.

RILLA: There are people that I love there, Arum, just like you love this Keep. If there’s any way I can protect them—

ARUM: Foolish… should have known better.

RILLA: You aren’t listening to me.

ARUM: Oh, but I understand you, Amaryllis. I may have had a lapse in judgment, but I understood you perfectly well the moment we met. Whether you round up or down, you always need things to come out neatly – true or false, honesty or lies. Any creature that cannot tolerate the grayness in between cannot be trusted.

SOUND: DOOR OPENS.

So go. Leave.

RILLA: I’m just trying to protect my friends. My family!

ARUM: And I mine. We are at war.

SOUND: SWAMP AMBIANCE.

It was foolish of us to forget that. Even for a moment.

Farewell, Amaryllis. I am… glad to have met you. And so I hope the universe wills us peace such that we never see each other again.

RILLA: Arum—

ARUM: I said farewell!

RILLA: Ah!

SOUND: SPLASH, DOOR SLAMS SHUT. WET FOOTSTEPS.

You don’t just get to hide away! Your actions—

SOUND: POUNDING ON DOOR.

—have consequences, you… you coward! (PANTING)

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES.

RILLA (NARRATOR): And now… here we are. Just me, and thatthing out there, and—

SOUND: CHIMES JINGLING.

…the Moonlit Hermit. I don’t know why I still have it. Before I broke my ankle, I kept meaning to throw it out, but… then I’d think about what I could make with it. What humanity could make with it. Because, if the monsters have been planning something, making weapons? Then we’re going to need all the help we can get. Right?

And so… in the name of survival, we take the weapon too terrible for a monster, and – what? Keep struggling for life like nothing else matters? Make abominations and trade away our souls just because we’re so afraid to die?

SOUND: GEARS SPINNING, RECORDER PLAYS.

ARUM (FROM RECORDER): Yes, it forgets to live. It finds something that matters more to it. Are you happy, tktktktk?

SOUND: RECORDER STOPS, QUIET. THEN THUMPS APPROACHING.

RILLA: That’s maybe… the most important question I’ve ever asked. And… I’m not going to live to see how it works out, am I?

And so… I guess I leave it to you, whoever you are. I can’t make you do anything, but… please. Just think. And do the right thing.

And tell Damien that I love him. Tell him that I lived for him like he lived for me. Please.

End of log.

SOUND: RECORDER TRACK CHANGES. LONG SILENCE. RECORDER TRACK CHANGES. THUMPS.

RILLA: (DEEP BREATH) Alright, Rilla… be brave, be brave…

SOUND: MACRACHNID CLICKS. SAWING.

If you’re going to do it, just do it!

SOUND: MACRACHNID SQUEAL. BLADE SLASH. GRUNT, WET STAB, CRUNCH, MACRACHNID PAINED SCREAM. GRUNTS, MACRACHNID SCREAM FADES OUT.

SIR CAROLINE: Hmph. I was told that the Swamp of Titan’s Blooms held the most terrible monsters of this region. How disappointing.

RILLA: (PANTING) You… you killed it. I thought it couldn’t… I thought it was…

CAROLINE: Invincible? (LAUGHS) Perhaps for a lesser warrior. One distracted by women or poetry.

RILLA: Poetry?

CAROLINE: You’re right. On second thought, the women are fine. Now, let’s get you up. (GRUNTS)

RILLA: (PAINED GASPS)

CAROLINE: There you are…

You. I recognize you. Why do I recognize you?

RILLA: You’re the lady knight. Sir… Caroline? Right?

CAROLINE: (SIGHS) And you’re the missing herbalist whose name I’ve blocked out completely.

RILLA: It’s Rilla.

CAROLINE: Don’t say it again. Your fiancé has been shouting at me for weeks.

RILLA: Damien? You’ve been with Damien? Where is he?

CAROLINE: On the other side of the lake, where he belongs.

You’re… certain you want to marry him? Really? I’m not even sure I want him alive, to be honest.

RILLA: Wait, wait, slow down. Are you all out here to save me?

CAROLINE: Ugh. No. I am the Queen’s Investigator-General. Saving little lost girls is well below my pay grade.

There have been monsters with powers of manipulation running rampant across these lands for months, now – and according to your Damien, one such monster had its claws upon you. A lizard of some sort, I’ve been told. Repeatedly. At high volumes.

RILLA: A… lizard?

CAROLINE: Indeed. …What’s happened to you, exactly? Injured during your escape, were you?

RILLA: It wasn’t an escape, really, i—

CAROLINE: You were captured. What else would it be?

RILLA: He… let me go.

CAROLINE: Oh, did he? Sent you on your way home with a packed lunch and a pat on the head, hmm?

RILLA: No, it wasn’t that, it was—

CAROLINE: Treason, then?

RILLA: Wh… what?

CAROLINE: Well, if you didn’t escape and he didn’t let you go, that’s the only conclusion left that I can think of. You came to an agreement with a monster. And that is, by definition, treason. And a Knight of the Crown may deliver punishment for treason wherever and whenever she pleases.

RILLA: That isn’t true. Damien says that a trial—

CAROLINE: That may not be true, but I see no one here to say otherwise.

RILLA: You’re a knight. Aren’t you supposed to help people?

CAROLINE: I am supposed to protect the Citadel at all costs, and that is precisely what I am doing.

RILLA: The Citadel… we have to go, now! The monsters, they’re planning an assault, and if we don’t get back and tell the Queen—

CAROLINE: Hm, it sounds like we’re running out of time, then.

RILLA: We are.

CAROLINE: A fact which concerns you greatly.

RILLA: It does!

CAROLINE: Then in that case I think you ought to get on with it and tell me: where is the lizard I must slay?

RILLA: Please, he’s—

CAROLINE: He’s what?

RILLA: He’s… that way.

CAROLINE: I thought you might come to reason.

SOUND: BLADE SHEATHING.

Well. Lead the way.

RILLA: My ankle’s twisted. Broken, probably. I need something to make a splint.

CAROLINE: Then find it. Quickly.

MUSIC: STARTS. RILLA: See those sticks over there? In that patch of sunlight? Bring me to them and I’ll make the splint myself.

CAROLINE: Hmph!

SOUND: GRUNTS, PANTING.

RILLA: Thank you.

SOUND: CHIMES JINGLING.

CAROLINE: What was that?

RILLA: What was what?

CAROLINE: You dropped something just now. I saw—

RILLA: Well, where is it, then?

CAROLINE: Very well.

You have two minutes to build your splint.

RILLA: I need at least fifteen—

CAROLINE: You have two. Minutes.

And then… we have a lizard to hunt.

ALL SOUNDS: FADE OUT.

***

SOUND: TRAIN MOVING, MUSIC.

CONDUCTOR: If you’ve enjoyed this tale, please consider donating to The Penumbra on Patreon. Our artists work tirelessly to bring you these stories, and if you have the means, we hope you will support our efforts. Every dollar helps. You can find that page at patreon.com/thepenumbrapodcast. If you support us on Patreon at the $10 level or higher, you’ll receive access to commentary tracks like this one, from co-creators Sophie Kaner and Kevin Vibert, and composer Ryan Vibert:

SOUND: TRAIN STOPS, DOOR SLIDES OPEN, RAIN.

RYAN: …person, both of them.

SOPHIE: Well, they have a lot in common. But, like, y’know, he kidnapped her.

KEVIN: Yeah and I think one of the, the things that made this so much harder, than the Damien and Arum relationship, is that, like, the Damien and Arum relationship goes a long way just based on wantin’ some smooches. It, like, that is—

SOPHIE: Smooches, yeah.

KEVIN: —smoo– yup.

SOPHIE: (GIGGLES)

KEVIN: Ah. This is a PG program, folks.

RYAN: Big– they’re big smooch, smooch fellas, yeah.

KEVIN: Big—!

SOPHIE: (LAUGHS)

KEVIN & SOPHIE: (IN UNISON) Smooch! Fellas!

SOUND: DOOR SLIDES SHUT.

CONDUCTOR: You can also support The Penumbra by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter @thepenumbrapod, following us on Tumblr @thepenumbrapodcast, telling your friends about us, telling your friends to tell their friends about us, and especially by rating and reviewing our podcast on iTunes. Every rating, comment, and kind word spreads our stories further and inspires us to keep creating more and better tales to come.

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Did you know that The Penumbra has merchandise for sale? It’s true! The Penumbra has partnered with DFTBA to bring you the posters, shirts, and pins your heart desires. Just go to dftba.com and search for The Penumbra Podcast.

This tale, the Moonlit Hermit, was told by the following people: Melissa Ennulat as Rilla, Noah Simes as Lord Arum, Kate Jones and Kat Buckingham as the Keep, Matthew Zahnzinger as Sir Damien, and Leslie Drescher as Sir Caroline, with musical direction by Melissa Ennulat, and assistance by Kat Buckingham.

The Penumbra is created and produced by Sophie Kaner and Kevin Vibert. If you wish to know more about our ever-expanding, infinitely-creative team of artists, musicians, editors, designers, and managers, you can read about them in the show notes of this episode.

I’m afraid this is the end of the line for today, dear Traveler. We hope you will ride with The Penumbra again soon.

ALL SOUNDS: FADE OUT.

[retroreaderr]

Order For A Kiss? (Ed Nygma x Reader)

Request: ❤❤❤ The Coffee Shop AU number 4 with Ed? Wow, i've requested him a lot, sorry! Maybe he's using the different names as a riddle? I'm excited to see how you two can work this one out! :)

Word Count: 1026

Warnings: gender not specified reader, dorky flirting, kiss, uhh crappy attempt at fluff

The Little Spoon. Quaint enough café, large windows, store front, little antique looking chairs and round tables scattered about the faint blue tiles, quiet swing music playing from the updated speakers in the ceiling. It was certainly niché to say the least, but it paid the bills so you enjoyed it enough.

Wiping off the counter after a particularly scalding spill not too long ago, you ran a clean hand through your hair with a sigh. “Welcome to the Little Spoon,” you habitually greeted, hearing the bell overhead ring.

Wiping your hands on your apron, you smiled at the new customer in the usual customer service way. He was a handsome fella, tall and kinda on the lanky side. He held his hands in front of him, looking at the menu with curiosity. “May I interest you in a Sensational Spoonful Delight? Or maybe a Saucy Saucer Slice?” You offered, seeing he looked almost overwhelmed by the awfully pun-filled menu.

“What exactly is in a Saucy Saucer Slice?” He ventured, tilting his head a bit with a quirk of a smile.

“It’s really just a chocolate cake with a slather of chocolate sauce on top- we serve it in a cute saucer, so,” you shrugged, “I'm not the one who comes up with the names.”

“They're clever,” he commented, eyes still scanning the menu board. You saw them light up a bit, but as soon as he opened his mouth to order, he recoiled a bit. “I make the strong meek, and the stoic blush. I’m given away with a color, but denied with cruelty. What am I?”

Knitting your brows, you huffed a chuckle and nibbled your lip in thought. “Embarrassment?”

“Yes, correct,” he timidly replied, wringing his hands. ”My order its, well for a grown man it's a bit embarrassing.”

“Hm, well what is it?”

“A hot chocolate- with whipped cream, please.”

“That’s not too bad,” you assure, punching it in. “I'll need your name, hon.”

“It’s Ed, but could you call out a different name?”

“No problemo, do it all the time.” You smiled, taking the receipt sticker and placing it on a cup. Pulling out your pen, you looked at him expectantly. “What’ll be your caller today?”

“A riddle,” Ed smiled excitedly, “The answer to one, actually. At night they come without being fetched, and by day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?”

You stuck your tongue out in thought. “Lemme think on it while I whip this up for you. Take a seat for me, it’ll only be a minute.”

He did so, sitting up straight as he waited patiently for his order, admiring the way you zipped around behind the counter. He liked your hair, thought it was cute when it bounced.

You filled up the cup, casting a glance over to the handsome stranger and squinting playfully when you caught him looking at you. Whipped cream on top, you pulled out the hot fudge and drizzled a cute winky face over the cream. Hoping you had the right answer to the riddle, you scribbled the answer down and called out “Order for A Star?”

Ed nearly hopped in his seat, beaming excitedly as he walked up to get his order. “Correct,” he tentatively took a sip from the cocoa. “And delicious.”

“Thanks, I uh, I kinda made it myself,” you joked, pretending to brush the compliment off in a total dude-bro way. “No be D.”

Ed took another generous sip and smiled, hastily wiping the whipped cream off his upper lip. “It’s absolutely delicious, thank you.”

“No problem, Ed was it?” He nodded. “Well, Ed, I’m glad you enjoyed, maybe I’ll see you around here again sometime?”

“Maybe.”

And you did, he came back everyday for almost two weeks like clockwork. He’d stroll in at the same time, give or take a few minutes, order a hot chocolate and give you a riddle for the name. So far, he’s been Knowledge, Magic, Tea, War, Laughter, A Dog, The Color Yellow, Frogs in a Blender, and a Ring. You’d begun anticipating his arrival, heating up the milk a couple minutes before he was expected.

“Mornin’ Eddie, what’ll it be today?” You teased as he walked in, shaking some snow out of his hair. “Can I interest you in, perhaps, a coffee?”

“No thank you, (Name),” he chuckled, taking off his gloves and blowing some hot air into his hands.

“The usual then?”

He nodded, taking his usual seat beside the counter. Before he had the opportunity to give you his “name”, you held up a finger. “I thought today we’d mix it up.” You look over your shoulder at him, whipping up his usual order with ease.

Eddie raised a brow inquisitively and smiled in anticipation.

“I’ve got a riddle for you.” He rested his head on his hands and looked at you expectantly. “Of no use to one, yet absolute bliss to two. A timid child asks for me, a lover begs for me. When shared I speak with burning fire or gentle whispers. What am I?”

He needn’t even think, opening his mouth to answer when you placed his order down in front of him. “Order for A Kiss?”

The wink you cheekily gave him brought a stutter and blush to Ed, causing him to look down with an embarrassed smile. “I knew that,” he managed between breathy chuckles and stutters.

“So?” You asked, smiling at his reaction. Leaning over the counter on your elbows, you explained. “May I have one?”

Looking up at you, Eddie smiled, leaning over to press his lips to yours. It was sweet, brief, and tasted faintly of mint. As he pulled away, you chuckled. “On the house.”

“Oh,” he muttered, “I need to pay you back somehow, I- I can’t just.”

You placed a kiss on his nose. “How’s about dinner then?”

“That- That sounds fantastic,” he breathed, unable to stop the smile on his face that mirrored your own amused one. “Tonight? At my place?”

“I get off at 6, call me.” You winked, nudging the hot cocoa cup. Looking down, Ed saw a number written in sharpie.

[mew-mew-mothertrucker]

Fresh avoc a do - patriciaaaa

Fresh avoc a do : what is your favorite take-out?

uhhhh There’s a mexican place that I love down the street form me (but I freaking love mexican food so)

Merry crisis : what do you like the most during Christmas ?

Not being at school tbh 

I never went to oovoo javer : uber, taxi, car, bus, train, walk, skate?

Car or walk

Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell : which school subject do you like the most?

english

Hi welcome to chilli’s : How do you relax?

Watching T, writing, playing music, listening to music, reading fanfiction

Adam.. : Do you have a best-friend(s)? If yes what’s your favorite thing abt them?

Uh

Nope

I don’t know how 2 read : What’s your favorite book?

ooooo Either Beautiful Music for Ugly People or Night Angels

Wow : Do you have a crush right now?

nope

And they were roommates : Who did you call the most?

My mom

Barbecue sauce on my titties : Last time your laughed hard?

Uhhhhhhhh i dont remeber

I can’t swim : When is your birthday?

In a week (June 5th)

Country boy i love you : Biggest shame?

the fanfiction on my old compouter which hasnt been booted up in like 4 years

It’s gonna be me : Which song do you blast full volume lately?

Caraphernelia by PTV

I spilt lipstick in your valentino bag : Biggest prank to your mom?

I’ve never done once my grandma gave her mom a box of frogs for mother’s day and

Hurricane doritella : Favorite junk food?

Sea Salt and Vinegar chips

I’m joHN CENA : Can you play any instruments or can you sing?

I can place several instruments and apparently i cna sing but i think i sound like a pig

Look at all those chickens : Do you have any pets? What’s their names?

1 mouse - Poppy

1 snake - Monty

3 cats - Tinky, Rain, and Mookitty

1 dog - Oscar

Chris is that a weed ? : Did you ever smoked?

Yeah

That’s my opinion : When was your latest fight? And what was the reason?

uhh 

This morning I had a fight with my mom on if I let the dog in or not but then he came up when we squeaked his ball so i won

Who want lasagna : what’s your favorite food?

Tacos

I won’t hesitate bitch : Do you hate someone?

Nope

Can i get a waffle : What’s your favorite desserts?

Cheesecake or Tres Leches Cake (3 milk cake)

Where’s the lizard : What’s your favorite myth?

Uhh i forgot the name but there’s like a greek myth that a girl and a boy lived next to eachother and were in love but ther familys said no so they ended up talking through a hole in the wall that seperated their houses and they said to meet by a tree and then the girl got ther first, ran away from a lion that was all bloody and the lion got the girls scarf so the boy thought she was dead and killed himself then she came back, kissed him and then killed herself

so

romeo and juliet before romeo and juliet but also less death of side charecters

B i c t h : What color do you really want to dye your hair?

it’s a dark red right now and i like it like that

Don’t tell mom : Are you planning on getting tattoos/ piercings? which ones?

uhhh I wanna get a few tattoos and another lip peircing

Is that allowed : Tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid, what was its name? What does it look like?

Uhhh it was a small black and white striped cat with a red ribbon on it’s neck named LG

Marie is that the police : Do you drink alcohol?

Sometimes

Okay : what’s something that made you smile today ?

anon AJ! 

What the fuck is up kyle : Which social media do you use more?

Tumblr

Woeva threw dat paper ur moms a hoe : Are you close to your parents?

Kinda

I’m washing me and my clothes : How would you describe your style?

Punk Nerd

Kumbaya my lord : What’s your opinion about socks ? do you like wearing weird socks ? Do you sleep with it?

I dont have an opinion? I like weird socks and i dont sleep with them on 

Bitch i hope tf you do : Are you the wine mom or vodka aunt?

Vodka Uncle

Stop i could’ve dropped my croissant : Are you easy to scare? If yes, when was the scariest moment?

Kinda

I don’t get to sleep cause of y’all : Do you sleep on your back side or stomach?

Side

I love you bitch : When do you feel the most confident?

never

i’m a girafe : If you could be a mythical creature, which would you be?

Chimera

Zac stop : Are/ were you good in school?

I was at first

Now

nope

Try me bitch : Tell us something we don’t know about you

My frist boyfriend was in the 5th grade and his nick name was ET

It’s pikachu : Latest awkward moment?

my entire life

That was legitness : What’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

“SAVE THE CAKE!” 

When life gives you lemon : What do you study? /What is your job?

neither of these apply to me

Caterpillar rave : Do you like to party?

nope

Hahaha i do that : How do you take your coffee/ tea?

I take tea plain and  idont drink a lot of coffee

Boi has his free tacos : Have you ever stole something?

Uh

Gum from someone

Shawty i don’t mind : What’s your favorite song?

there’s too many

Patriciaaaa : Myer briggs type, zodiac sign and Hogwarts house ?I

INTP, Gemini, Slytherin

[funnynewsheadlines]

Woman Photographs Her Toad Doing Things In Her Dollhouse And People Love It (New Pics)

If you don’t have a large enough menagerie of cute animals to follow on Instagram, may we recommend a toad? Wait, hear us out. He’s very talented and he helps control the bug population.

Toby got his big break in the Facebook group Frogspotting (some might quibble about the name, but Southern Toads like Toby are very welcome there) when Florida resident Savannah Mikell noticed she had a visitor camping out on her front porch every night. She was so charmed by him that she brought out an old dollhouse and let him explore, taking pictures to share with the group. Since our last check-in with Savannah and Toby, the toad has upgraded to his own Instagram page with over 80,000 followers who are just as tickled by his miniature adventures and silly captions.

Scroll down to see ya boi Toby the toad’s antics.

More info: Instagram

#1 Werkin On Howoleen Costume

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#2 Fine Toons While I Write Back To Ur Mail

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#3 Hoppy Monday

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#4 La Da Dee La Da Doo La Da Dum

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#5 Nok Nok

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#6 Great News - I Am Chonky

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#7 I Canna Rech My Bug

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#8 Who Wan Delish Stek

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#9 Happy Octoby Time To Carve Pormpkins

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#10 I Am Smort, I Read Books Frens

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#11 W O R S H

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#12 Hello Yes Dis Toby

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#13 I Am Not Superstishus But I Am A Little Stishus

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#14 Santy Pls Hurry

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#15 Tho It Hav Been Say, Many Time, Many Way, Merry Crimusss To U

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#16 U Guys Wan Come Play?

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#17 Trosh Day Pls Resycle Frens

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#18 Today I Show U How To Beka Cek

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#19 Do U Guys Rememember That One Time Wen I Was Takin A Nap

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#20 Canna Reech Me Undies

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#21 Yall Wan Sum Chees?

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#22 I Got A New Frege And Is Chock Fulla Goodies!

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#23 Ba Dum Tssss

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#24 ~S I G H~

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#25 O Bröther Not Again

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#26 Too Mush Cloth To Chose

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#27 But Am I... Blufufol

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#28 S O U P T I M E

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#29 Uhh

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#30 I Am Relac

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#31 Dont Hav Mush Money But Boy If I Did, Id Buy A Big House Where We Bof Culd Live

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#32 I Live Bak In The Woods U See, My Woman N My Kids N The Frogs N Me

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#33 Blub Blub

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#34 Me N Me Mums Matchie Shosthankie

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#35 Bbbbbbbbad

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#36 I Hate Worshin Dishs

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#37 Nice Brez

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#38 Redy For Satrday

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#39 Arnin My Cloth

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#40 Yeeeehhhhh Shredddd Itttt Heh Heh

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#41 Is Not Easy Bein Greasy

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#42 Fresh Tost?

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#43 Preppin For Thankgivins

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#44 Heh Heh Heh

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#45 Pics From Las Nite Ahh Hah

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#46 Resolushuns

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

#47 Bout To Look Sick

Image credits: yaboi_toby_toad

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