#the masterpost takes so long to update haha

[sasukimimochi]

oof been a while since I updated my masterpost, and with another chapter coming out soon it really needs to be updated...stand by! might take a bit for me to do it especially since I need to add all project updates, not just GOM. I'll let you guys know with reblogs once it has been updated!

also, good news: i'm not delaying GOM 27 again. 27 has been fully written and I'm fully expecting to upload it Sunday after I finish the chapter art!

[nhaaauyen]

⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨ The Ghost of You ୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆

"This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong // To love that well which thou must leave ere long." -William Shakespeare (Sonnet 73)

PART IV: TONIGHT, I WALK AWAY

zombie apocalypse sevika x reader au!: sevika was the super soldier; a killing machine driven solely by survival. you were nomadic, constantly searching for something in whatever was left of the world—till you met her.

series masterpost: part I // part II // part III // part V

wc: 7.8k cw: violence, angst, major character death author's note: Honestly I'm starting to get why TWD writers do what they do after writing this chapter... I also apologize for taking so long for this chapter, my classes are starting now so updates will be a bit a slower </3 **also some eastereggs but the sonnet 73 quote I have is mentioned in the scene where Grayson talks about love. It's pretty much the translated modern English definition of the quote! The make a wish dialogue is also from the movie Dangerously Yours (1937), that scene always gets me so I had to include it haha

You drift in and out of consciousness, the world around you a hazy blur of pain and disjointed voices. Through the fog, you catch glimpses of three figures engaged in intense discussion.

Sevika's there, her face etched with worry. Beside her stands a tall, bald gaunt man and a mask covering the lower half of his face. His eyes are sunken, giving him an almost skeletal appearance. The third figure is shorter, with slicked-back dark hair and a prominent scar running down one side of his face, his right eye a striking shade of green.

Their voices filter through your muddled thoughts:

"...low on medical supplies for a procedure like this," the masked man says, his voice muffled and clinical. "There's no sure chance she can make it."

"I'll go to the hospital."

"It’s too dangerous." The scarred man's voice is sharp and skeptical.

"We've been low on supplies for too long," Sevika argues. "It's time we do it now. We cannot lose any more people."

Their words fade as you slip back into darkness, only to resurface again as you're being moved. You have no idea how much time has passed, but you're on some kind of gurney, the ceiling passing by overhead. You try to move, but your limbs feel heavy and unresponsive. Glancing down, you see your wrists are handcuffed to the sides of the bed.

Panic surges through you as you realize you're being rolled into what looks like a makeshift operating room. The masked man and the scarred one are there, now wearing blood-stained surgical gowns. You try to fight, to call out, but your body won't cooperate.

The scarred man leans over you, his mismatched eyes boring into yours. "It will be over soon," he says, his voice oddly soothing despite the circumstances. Then he's lowering a gas mask over your face, and the world fades to black.

When you wake again, your mind is clearer, though your body feels like it's been run over by a truck. The scarred man is sitting in a chair beside your bed, watching you with an unreadable expression.

"Ah, you're awake," he says, leaning forward. "Good. I was beginning to wonder if we'd miscalculated."

You try to speak, but your throat is dry, raw. He holds up a hand, silencing you.  

"No need to strain yourself. I just wanted to... observe you.” He pauses. "It's been a long time since I've had to perform a procedure like that. It’s quite a reminder of what still lurks beyond these walls. How we’ve grown complacent."

Your eyes drift to his face, lingering on the scar that runs down the right side, bisecting his eye. The eye itself is a startling shade of green, almost luminescent against his pale skin. You must have been staring, because the man chuckles, a dry, humorless sound.

"Curious, aren’t you?" A sardonic smile twists his features. "It’s only natural - people always wonder. But few ever ask. It’s a souvenir from when Zaun was still crawling out of the muck. When men I called brothers tried to drag me back down for a piece of land." 

His finger traces the scar slowly, almost lovingly. "This... this was their parting gift." He trails off, then continues in a near-whisper. "Have you ever felt pain so exquisite it becomes transcendent? For days, I danced on the knife's edge between genius and madness."

His gaze refocuses on you, sharp and penetrating. "But pain, you see, can be transformative. It stripped away my naivety, my weakness. It forged me into something stronger, something capable of truly leading Zaun."

“I think I understand why Sevika is so fond of you." His lips curl into something that might be a smile but doesn't reach his eyes. "There's something in you, just like her. That part that's willing to sacrifice."

You furrow your brow, confusion, and wariness warring inside you.

"Some sacrifices are necessary to be made. But they're also weaknesses," He stands, smoothing down his shirt. "Something to consider."

With those cryptic words, he turns and leaves, the door clicking shut behind him. You're left alone, your mind racing with questions. Who were those men? What exactly happened to you? And how much time had gone by?

The weight of uncertainty presses down on you, and exhaustion soon follows. Despite your churning thoughts, your eyelids grow heavy, and you drift into an uneasy sleep.

When you wake again, its by the sound of shuffling feet and the creak of a door opening. The haze of sleep still clings to your mind as you slowly become aware of your surroundings.

Sevika enters, holding a plate of food. Her eyes meet yours, and for a moment, neither of you speaks.

"Hey," she says finally, her voice softer than you've ever heard it.

"Hey yourself," you reply, unable to keep a slight tremor from your voice.

Sevika sets the plate on your bedside table, then stands awkwardly, as if unsure what to do with her hands. "Thought you might be hungry," she mumbles.

You nod, a thousand questions bubbling up inside you. Where has she been? Why didn't she visit sooner? What happened after the surgery? But looking at her now, seeing the dark circles under her eyes and the way she holds herself - tense, guarded - you decide those questions can wait.

Instead, you pat the bed beside you. "Sit with me?"

Sevika hesitates for a moment, then complies. As she settles beside you, you feel the warmth of her presence, so familiar yet somehow changed.

"I missed you," you say simply.

Sevika's eyes widen slightly, a flicker of emotion crossing her face before she schools it back to neutrality. "I... I'm glad you're okay," she replies, her voice gruff but sincere.

As you and Sevika sit together, you try to maintain a casual conversation, but there's an undercurrent of tension you can't ignore. Sevika's responses are clipped, her gaze never quite meeting yours. It's like she's looking through you, not at you.

"Hey," you say softly, reaching out to touch her arm. "What's going on?"

She turns slowly, her eyes finally meeting yours. But there’s something different in them, something that makes your heart clench. It’s infuriating, this distance she’s putting between you, this wall she’s building brick by brick.

“Sevika,” you say, trying to break through that wall. “Talk to me.”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “Nothing can happen between us again,” she says, the words falling heavy between you like a death sentence.

You stare at her, disbelief mingling with hurt. “What?”

Her gaze flickers, something like pain flashing in her eyes before she steels herself again. “We can’t do this,” she says, her voice low and strained. “We can’t keep pretending this… whatever this is… can last.”

You feel the ground shift beneath you like the world is falling away, leaving you teetering on the edge of a precipice. “You’re really going to say that after everything?” Your voice cracks, the hurt seeping through despite your best efforts to keep it at bay. “How do you kiss someone, make them believe there’s something real, and then just—throw it away?”

Sevika’s jaw clenches, and she looks away, as if unable to bear the sight of your pain. “You can be mad at me, hate me if you want,” she says. “But it has to be this way.”

“I’m not mad,” you reply, your heart breaking with every word. “I’m hurt, Sevika. I’m hurt because I care about you, and you’re pushing me away like none of it matters.”

“I know,” she whispers, her voice so soft it’s almost lost in the hum of the machines. 

“Then why?” you demand, your voice wavering as you struggle to understand. “Why are you doing this?”

She finally looks at you, really looks at you, and the anguish in her eyes is like a punch to the gut. “Because if I let myself love you,” she says, her voice breaking on the word, “I know we’d never have enough time. ”

Her words hit you like a tidal wave, drowning you in the despair that’s been brewing in your chest. “But isn't some time better than none at all? I'd rather have a handful of precious moments with you than spend the rest of my life wondering 'what if.'” The tears you’ve been holding back now streaming down your face. 

“Even if it hurts, even if it's brief – at least it would be real.”

Sevika shakes her head, her expression a storm of anger and fear. Her words come out in a rush, like she can't hold them back any longer.

"You don't understand. I was okay before you. I was okay with the idea of dying, of existing day after day without purpose until my time ran out. But now?" Her voice hardens. "Now I'm terrified. I'm not okay with losing you. I'm not okay with the thought that you could walk out that door and never come back."

“I didn't need this. I didn't need you to come along and give me a reason to call this godforsaken place home. I didn't need you to make me want to survive instead of just exist.”  She’s practically pleading now.  “Don't you see what you've done to me? Needing you means I have something to lose."

The weight of her confession crushes you, the finality of it sinking in. She’s not just pushing you away—she’s tearing herself apart to do it, ripping out the very thing that might make her feel alive, all because she’s so afraid of the pain it could bring.

“I’d shatter every bone in my body again if it meant keeping you safe,” you say, your voice trembling. “I’d do anything for you, Sevika, and it hurts so bad that you won’t let me.”

She turns her head away. “You’re too stubborn,” she whispers, her voice resigned. “You won’t stop, and neither will I, and it’ll kill us both in the end.”

“You look at me like I’m already dead,” you say, your voice cracking with the weight of your grief. “Like I’m a ghost you’ve been carrying around, waiting for the right moment to bury me.”

She flinches, the words cutting deep. “Because that’s what it feels like,” she confesses. “I feel like I’ve already lost you, and it’s killing me. I’d rather lose you now when we still have a chance to walk away than lose you out there, where I can’t protect you.”

The following silence is deafening, the air thick with everything neither of you can bring yourselves to say. You reach out, your hand trembling as you gently caress her cheek, trying to offer comfort in the only way you know how. She leans into your touch for a moment, her eyes closing as if she’s trying to savor it, to hold onto it before it’s gone.

“Are you doing this to protect me, or are you protecting yourself?” you ask softly, the question hanging in the air like a lifeline, offering her one last chance to admit the truth.

She opens her eyes, and the pain you see there nearly undoes you. “Both,” she admits. “I’m protecting both of us. I’ll never survive the day I lose you. And I can’t—” Her voice breaks, and she swallows hard, her eyes pleading with you to understand. “I can’t live.”

Your heart shatters as the reality of her words sinks in. She’s already decided, already convinced herself that this is the only way to keep you both safe, even if it means tearing herself apart in the process.

“Can I be alone?” you ask, your voice small and broken, the words barely escaping your lips.

Sevika nods, her expression tightening as she takes a step back. “Yeah,” she says. “I’ll go.”

She turns to leave, but before she can take another step, you reach out. “Sevika, wait,” you say, your voice filled with desperation. “Can you hand me my bag?”

She hesitates, her gaze flickering to the bag and then back to you. After a moment, she nods and hands it to you, her fingers brushing yours for the briefest of moments, sending a jolt of longing through you. You rummage through the bag, your heart pounding as you pull out the familiar fabric of her shawl.

You hold it out to her. “This belongs to you.”

Sevika stares at the shawl, her eyes widening as she realizes what it means. For a moment, she just stands there, looking at it like it’s a lifeline she’s too afraid to grasp. Then, she takes it from you.

She looks at you, and in her eyes, you see all the things she wants to say, all the things she’s too scared to admit. And then, without another word, she turns and walks out of the room, the door closing quietly behind her, leaving you alone with nothing but the ghost of her touch and the scent of her shawl lingering in the air.

⁺˚⋆｡°✩

You didn’t accept any visitors for days, under the guise that you were too tired and needed the rest to recover. But as tempting as curling in bed and crying over a woman that you never even had a proper relationship with was, you knew you couldn’t hide away forever.

Blinking, you see a group of people piling into your room.

Vander's deep voice rumbles, "Easy now, let's not overwhelm her."

Caitlyn is standing over you. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

Before you can answer, Powder chimes in, "Bet you feel like you've been hit by a truck. Am I right?"

"Something like that," you croak.

Your attention is drawn to the doorway where Grayson stands, little Ren in her arms. The child is clutching Grayson's yellow armband tightly.

Grayson sets Ren down gently. "Go on, little one," she says softly.

Ren doesn't need to be told twice. She rushes to your bedside, her small hands gripping the edge of the mattress. "Miss, are you okay?" she asks, her voice shakes slightly. "Will you be like Sevika?"

The innocence in her question tugs at your heart. You reach out, ignoring the twinge of pain from the movement and the mention of Sevika, to pat her hand. "No, darling," you reply softly. "Sevika is unique. I'll be just fine."

Grayson moves closer, her stern expression softening slightly. "That was brave," she says. "But also very idiotic of you."

You frown at the comment, the words too similar to Sevika’s at the prison.  

Vander's voice pulls you from your thoughts. "You gave us quite a scare," he says. "But you're tough. You'll pull through."

Caitlyn nods in agreement. "We've managed to replenish some of our medical supplies thanks to the hospital mission." she informs you. 

Vi adds with a smirk, "And don't even think about trying to get up and be a hero again anytime soon."

“Yeah… I wouldn’t dream of it,” you respond hoarsely.  

Over the next week, your family comes and goes, their visits being the highlight of your monotonous days.  Grayson usually stopped by with Ren, the two were closer than you expected but Marcus had flitted in and out of Ren’s life so often that Grayson stepped up as a parental figure.  You offered to take care of the kid while you were still bed-bound, and Grayson only reluctantly agreed when you assured her it wouldn’t obstruct your healing process.

You find yourself sitting up in bed, Ren cross-legged beside you. Math worksheets are spread out between you.

"If an apple cost three dollars and you needed to buy five apples, how much would that cost?"

Ren's brow furrows in concentration. "Um... fifteen dollars?"

You beam at her. "That's right! You're getting good at this."

A knock at the door interrupts your math lesson and Vi pokes her head in, her red hair slightly disheveled.

"Hey, time to get moving," she says with a grin.

You turn to Ren, giving her a warm smile. "Let's do this again tomorrow, sweetie?"

Ren nods enthusiastically, gathering her papers. "Alright! Bye-bye, miss! I hope you feel better!"

As Ren scampers out, Vi approaches, offering her arm for support. You wince as you stand, your body still protesting the movement.

“Easy,” she murmurs, her tone softening as she watches your struggle. “Take it slow.”

You grit your teeth, focusing on her voice, on the feel of her arm supporting you. Slowly, you manage a few steps, each one a little less painful than the last. 

“How’s it feel?” Vi asks, keeping pace with you, her gaze never leaving your face.

“Like hell,” you admit with a shaky laugh, though there’s a small sense of victory in the simple act of standing on your own two feet again. “But better than yesterday.”

Vi nods, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Progress,” she says. “You’re getting stronger.”

As you slowly make your way down the hallway, Vi starts chatting about her day. "You wouldn't believe the shit from yesterday. We were chasing some survivors that tried to steal our shit through an alley, and then Sevika shows up out of nowhere and--" 

The moment the words are out, Vi winces, realizing her mistake too late.  You feel a sharp pang in your chest at the mention of Sevika's name. 

"Uh, anyway, we got the guy in the end.” she says.

“She… was?” you ask, trying to keep your voice steady.

Vi looks away, guilt flashing in her eyes. “Yeah,” she says softly. “Didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“It’s good,” you say, though the words feel like a lie even as they leave your lips. “It’s good that she caught them.”

Vi nods. “I’m sorry.” 

You shake your head, forcing a small smile. “It’s okay. It’s just… I miss her.  It’s stupid, we weren’t anything.”

“I know,” she says. “But it’s not stupid.”

There’s a long silence, the kind that’s filled with all the words neither of you know how to say. “If you didn’t have Caitlyn, would you be okay with all of this? Would you be able to live with everything we do?”

She’s quiet for a moment as she considers your words. “Do I have a choice?” she finally says, her voice tinged with a sadness you’ve rarely heard from her. “I have Powder. I have you, Vander… my family. I’d feel incomplete, sure, but I don’t have a choice. I have to keep going.”

“We’ll keep going, together.” She adds.

“Thanks, Vi.” Despite your gratefulness, her words feel like they’re coming from a distance, muffled by the grief you’re still trying to process. 

Your family helps you through it all, they talk to you about everything and nothing, filling the silence with stories. The days pass, and slowly, you begin to reclaim small pieces of yourself. You walk more, the physical therapy sessions become less of a struggle and more of a routine.

And each night, when the room is quiet and you’re alone with your thoughts, you think of Sevika. It’s not easy. Some days, the weight of it all feels unbearable, like you’re drowning in a sea of what-ifs and lost chances. But you keep going, step by step, knowing that it’s all you can do.

One evening, after a particularly exhausting session, you lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling as your thoughts drift. You think about Sevika, about the last time you saw her, the pain in her eyes as she walked away. And you wonder if she feels the same weight, if she’s struggling just as much to move on.

You close your eyes, and for a moment, you imagine her here, standing by your side. And as you drift off to sleep, you could swear you hear her voice, soft and broken, whispering in the dark.

“I failed you.”

⁺˚⋆｡°✩

The pantry is filled with the scent of canned goods and the faint rustle of paper bags. You’re focused on stacking cans of beans when your grip falters, and one slips from your fingers.

Before it can hit the ground, a hand darts out and catches it. You look up to see a man with a cocky grin. He’s tall and lean, with slicked-back hair and piercing teal eyes.  You don’t know why, but he looked oddly familiar.

“Well, well,” he drawls. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing down here? Are we that understaffed that we’re making the injured work now?”

You snatch the can back from him. “Not that it’s any of your business,” you reply curtly, setting the can back on the shelf, “but I wanted to do this.”

He chuckles, leaning against the shelf with a casual arrogance. “Looks like supplies are running a bit thin,” he comments slyly, his eyes flicking to the half-empty shelves. “Maybe you should take it easy before you use up what little energy we have left.”

You narrow your eyes at him, your patience wearing thin. “I’m not interested in your opinion.”

Before he can retort, the door to the pantry swings open with a loud creak, and Sevika steps inside. The air changes instantly when her gaze zeroes in on the man. 

“Finn,” she growls. “What are you doing here?”

Finn straightens up and raises his hands in mock surrender. “Just making sure our friend here isn’t overworking herself,” he says innocently.

“Get lost,” Sevika snaps. “Now.”

With a lazy shrug, Finn backs off, giving you a final, lingering look before sauntering out of the pantry. The door closes behind him, leaving you alone with Sevika. 

Sevika turns to you. “I was told you’re working here again,” she says, her voice sharp with disapproval. “Are you stupid? You’re barely healed.”

You bristle at her tone. "I needed to do something."

"Yeah, like babysitting Ren," she snaps. “Not this.”

"Why does it matter what I do?" you challenge, your voice rising.

For a moment, Sevika doesn’t answer, but then her eyes widen.

“You’re bleeding.” 

You blink, confused. “What?”

You look down and see a trickle of blood seeping through the bandages on your side. The pain hits you a second later, sharp and burning, but you grit your teeth, refusing to show weakness in front of her.

“It’s nothing,” you say quickly, trying to downplay it. “I can bandage it myself.”

But Sevika is already moving toward you, her expression darkening with worry. “You’re not going back to your place like this,” she mutters. “Come on. My place is closer.”

Before you can protest, she’s already scooping you up into her arms. The world blurs around you as she carries you through the streets and you’re too shocked to resist.

When you reach her place, she sets you down on the edge of her bed, her touch lingering for just a moment longer than necessary before she pulls away.

“Just sit,” she instructs as she moves to grab a first aid kit from a nearby drawer.

“I can do it.” 

Sevika shakes her head, her expression set in a way that leaves no room for argument. “I have experience with this,” she says quietly. “Let me.”

You watch in silence as she works. Her hands, usually so strong and rough, are gentle as they press a fresh bandage against your skin. There’s a tenderness in the way she handles you, in the way she refuses to meet your gaze as she focuses on the wound, that makes your chest ache.

Finally, Sevika finishes. She stands, the distance between you growing once more as she busies herself with putting away the first aid kit, her movements stiff and mechanical.

“Thanks.” You want to leave, not to be any more inconvenient than you already were but Sevika replies before you can say anything.

“You should rest,” she says, her voice flat, devoid of the warmth that was there just moments ago. “Don’t push yourself like that again.”

You reluctantly agree to stay and the tension in Sevika's shoulders eases slightly. She mumbles something about bringing dinner later and leaves you to rest.

Left alone, you take in your surroundings. The room is sparse, almost impersonal. Unlike the chaos in the other rooms, this space feels hollow. There are no personal belongings, no knick-knacks, nothing to suggest that she even uses this bed. It's as if the room itself is holding its breath, existing in a state of perpetual temporariness.

Exhaustion soon overtakes you, and you drift off to sleep. But you soon wake again at the sound of muffled voices.  Through the haze of half-consciousness, you hear one of Sevika's people inviting her to a party, but she declines. 

"Nah, I'm staying in today," you hear her say.

The voices fade, and you slowly wake up, disoriented. You stumble to the doorway of the living room, blinking sleep from your eyes. Sevika is there, dressed in casual clothes – a grey tank top and worn jeans with her hair down, falling in messy waves around her face.  She's cleaning up, a pile of bottles in her arms when she notices you.

"You're awake," she says, startled. "Shit, did I wake you up?"

You shake your head, your voice still rough with sleep. "No, you're good... Do you need help with that?"

"No. Fuck, sit down. What are you doing walking around?"

Still groggy, you comply without argument, sinking into the couch. Sevika dumps the bottles in a bag and turns back to you.

"I'm making dinner," she says, washing her hands at the sink. "You're okay with instant noodles and spam?"

The domesticity of the moment catches you off guard. "Sounds delicious," you manage to say.

Sevika nods and turns to the small kitchenette. You watch her move around the space. It's surreal, seeing her like this – relaxed, casual, making dinner for you both. For a moment, you can almost pretend things are different between you.

Sevika settles on the far arm of the couch next to you, the small distance between you both feeling more like a chasm. 

"Chopsticks or fork?" she asks, holding out both options.

"Chopsticks," you reply, and a ghost of a smile flickers across her face.

"Good choice," she murmurs, handing them to you.

You eat in comfortable silence, stealing glances at her when you think she's not looking. When you finish, Sevika collects the empty bowls.

"Want dessert?"

"Sure," you nod, watching as she retrieves an apple from the kitchen.

She settles back on the arm of the couch, peeling the apple with a small knife. "How's the physical therapy going?" Sevika asks, breaking the silence.

You shrug. "It's... going. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless."

She nods, placing slices onto a plate. "That's good. Don't push yourself too hard."

"Says the woman who never knows when to quit," you tease gently.

A wry smile tugs at her lips. "Do as I say, not as I do."

As you reach for the last slice, Sevika’s hand brushes your cheek. You freeze, the touch unexpected, and you look up at her, your heart suddenly pounding in your chest.

“There’s an eyelash,” she says softly, her voice gentle as she carefully removes it from your face. She holds it up for you to see, the tiny, delicate lash resting on her fingertip. “Make a wish.”

You stare at the eyelash, your mind racing with all the things you could wish for, should wish for. But the words stick in your throat, and you find yourself frozen, unable to think of anything that could possibly fix what’s been broken.

“Did you wish?”

You shake your head slightly, the corners of your mouth turning up in a sad smile. “I... I didn't get the chance.”

She raises an eyebrow, her gaze piercing as she studies you. “And there’s something you wish for?”

“Yes,” You hesitate, the words coming slowly, painfully, like pulling them from some deep, hidden place inside you. “I was wishing… that we were two other people. Two people who didn’t have to say goodbye.”

The silence that follows is thick, charged with the tension of emotions neither of you can afford to express. Sevika’s expression tightens, her jaw clenching as she absorbs your words.

“You know, if you say it out loud, it doesn’t come true,” she says, her voice rough, like she’s fighting against the vulnerability of the moment.

“Do you believe that?” 

She looks down at the eyelash, still resting on her finger, before blowing it away into the air. Her gaze follows it for a moment before she looks back at you. “I don’t know what I believe anymore.”

The words hang in the air, heavy and unmovable, like a finality neither of you can escape. 

“We should sleep,” Sevika says finally. “It’s late.”

You nod, knowing she’s right. There’s nothing more to be said, nothing that can change the way things are. 

“Thank you,” you say softly.

Sevika looks at you for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she nods, just once, and steps back, letting you go. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” you echo, your heart heavy as you turn and walk away.

As you reach the end of the hallway, you glance back, just once. Sevika is still standing in the doorway, watching you, her figure framed by the dim light. There’s something in her posture, something in the way she’s holding herself that makes you think she might be wishing too—wishing for something that neither of you can have.

But then she steps back, closing the door behind her, and you’re left standing in the cold, empty hallway, the echoes of what could have been ringing in your ears.

⁺˚⋆｡°✩

The sun hangs low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the makeshift shooting range. You and Grayson stand side by side, both of you facing a row of targets at the far end of the field. You’ve been practicing your aim for a while now, but your focus has been off, your shots missing the mark more often than not.

“You haven’t said anything about my shit shot,” you mutter, glancing sideways at Grayson, expecting some form of criticism.

She shrugs, her eyes on the distant targets. "You're injured. Why would I?"

You snort. "Liar. Weeks ago, you'd have torn me apart. What's different now?"

Grayson doesn't answer, instead gesturing to a nearby bench overlooking the community below. You follow her, settling onto the worn wood with a sigh.The elevated view makes the world seem vast and small all at once.

Grayson passes you a canteen, and you take a long drink before speaking again. "You snitched to Sevika about me working."

Grayson raises an eyebrow. "Snitching? Are we ten?"

"She didn't need to know," you mutter, avoiding her gaze.

"You were going hurt yourself," Grayson says softly. "And you needed to see her. For closure, at least."

You fall silent, not wanting to delve into the complicated mess of emotions surrounding Sevika. Instead, you change the subject. "How's Ren?"

“Ren’s sleeping in today. She’s been up late these past few nights, working on that puzzle I gave her.”  Grayson’s face immediately brightens at the mention of Ren.

“She’s got that stubborn streak. Wonder where she gets it.” 

“Must be the company she keeps,” Grayson replies, her voice laced with affection. “Marcus is at the walls today, keeping an eye on things. It’s been quiet, for the most part.”

You nod, your gaze drifting back to the field. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” you muse. “Every day is the same. We do the same things, see the same faces… What makes it worth living?”

Grayson leans back on the bench, her eyes scanning the horizon as she considers her answer. “You make your own reasons,” she says finally, her tone thoughtful. “For me, it’s taking care of Ren. Making sure she has something to hold onto, something good in this world.”

There’s a pause, and you can tell Grayson is choosing her words carefully. “I never thought of myself as the maternal type,” she continues, sounding almost wistful. “But with Ren… It’s different. She’s taught me more about love than I ever knew.  In whatever time I got left here, I want to continue it with her, to see her grow up and prove there’s still something more for us here.”

You feel a pang in your chest, suddenly remembering Sevika and her belief that there would never be enough time for the two of you. But where Grayson found strength in loving deeply despite that, Sevika chose to close herself off, to protect herself from the inevitable pain.

Grayson looks at you, her eyes filled with a quiet understanding. “Sometimes, the hardest thing is to keep loving, even when you know it won’t last. But that’s what makes it worth it. Knowing that you made the most of the time you had, that you loved fully, even if it hurts in the end.”

Her words hit you like a punch to the gut, the truth of them resonating with a painful clarity. 

“It’s hard,” you admit, your voice barely audible. “When you know it’s not going to last.”

Grayson nods, her expression gentle. “It is. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it. You have to find your own reason to keep going, to keep loving, even when it seems like everything is falling apart.”

The conversation settles into a quiet lull, the words lingering between you as the sun dips lower in the sky. You take another sip from the flask, the burn of the alcohol doing little to numb the ache in your chest.

“You’re always looking out for us, making sure we’re okay.” you say after a moment, your voice tinged with admiration. 

“I’m satisfied  – knowing that I’ve done what I can to make this place a little better, to take care of the people who matter.”

“Thank you,” you say softly, the words carrying more weight than you intended. “For everything.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” she replies gently. “We’re all in this together. And besides,” she adds with a small, teasing smile, “someone has to keep you in line.”

You chuckle, the sound lightening the heavy atmosphere just a bit.

But the peaceful moment on the hill was brief, the tranquility shattered by the sound of rapid footsteps and panicked crying. You and Grayson turn to see Ren running towards you, her face streaked with tears and her small body shaking with sobs.

Grayson immediately drops to her knees, catching Ren in her arms. "What happened, sweetheart?" she asks, her voice calm but laced with urgency.

Ren tries to speak through her tears, her words coming out in broken gasps. "Daddy said... we were going on a trip... but the monsters... they blocked us and he couldn’t close the gate... now they're coming to get us!"

As if on cue, screams erupt from the direction of the community. You and Grayson exchange a quick glance, both reaching for your weapons without hesitation.

Ren clings to Grayson's yellow armband, her eyes wide with terror. "I want to go with you!" she cries.

Grayson cups Ren's face gently, her voice soft but firm. "Darling, listen to me. I will come back, I promise. But right now, you need to get to safety. Can you be brave for me?"

Ren nods, her lower lip trembling. You know without words what needs to be done - get everyone to safety.

You both sprint down the hill, Grayson carrying Ren. As you near the community, the chaos becomes more apparent. Gunshots ring out, mixing with screams of panic and pain. People are running in all directions, fear etched on their faces.

Vi appears beside you, her red hair wild and her eyes blazing. "We're seriously underarmed right now!" she shouts over the noise. "Sevika's crew is out!"

"We have to make do," you yell back, scanning the area. You spot Caitlyn and a few others on the walls, their snipers picking off threats in the distance.

You, Vi, and the handful of armed residents form a protective line, herding panicked civilians towards their homes. "Get inside! Lock your doors!" you shout, your voice hoarse from the effort.

Children cry for their parents, the elderly struggle to move quickly enough. You see a young mother stumble, her baby wailing in her arms. You rush to her side, helping her to her feet and guiding her to safety.

Everywhere you look, there's movement – people running, fighting, falling. 

The air is thick with the stench of death and the deafening cacophony of gunfire. You're shoulder to shoulder with VI, both of you firing relentlessly at the endless wave of walkers. Sweat stings your eyes as you shout, "Vi! On your left!"

She pivots, taking down three walkers in quick succession. But for every one you drop, two more seem to take its place. The situation is rapidly spiraling out of control, and a sinking feeling in your gut tells you you're fighting a losing battle.

But suddenly, powerful headlights cut through the darkness as a convoy of trucks roars onto the scene. Your heart leaps – you'd recognize that cavalry anywhere.

As if materializing from thin air, more trucks appear, effortlessly mowing down walkers and clearing streets. One screeches to a halt in front of you, and then there she is.

A familiar figure vaults from the truck bed – Sevika, her red shawl billowing behind her. She swiftly unslings a shotgun from her back and starts blasting walkers left and right. Her face is composed, every feature carefully controlled, but when her eyes find yours, a fleeting shadow passes over them—a trace of fear and concern.

"You okay?" she shouts over the din, closing the distance between you.

You nod, breathless. "A lot are injured. I don't know, there's too many – I think they're coming from the west gate. Ren said something about Marcus not being able to close it."

Sevika's jaw tightens. She yanks out a radio, barking orders to dispatch teams to the west gate. In seconds, she's handing out weapons, her voice ringing with authority. "Split up! I want a team grabbing as many injured as possible. Anyone bitten, take them out."

As you move to join the fray, Sevika's hand clamps on your arm. "No," she growls. "What the hell are you doing? Get to safety with the others. You're still injured."

"Fine," you concede. "But I'm finding Grayson first."

Sevika gives a curt nod before sprinting back into action. You catch a glimpse of Vi, her red hair unmistakable as she leaps into a truck bed. 

You weave through the chaos, dodging walkers and searching for Grayson. Gunfire echoes off buildings, punctuated by the revving of engines and the sounds of walkers being dispatched. 

A scream to your left – you spin, firing instinctively. A walker drops, inches from a couple. You quickly wave to them to follow and you sprint to the safe house together. Your leg protests, but adrenaline keeps you moving.

Your heart pounds as you finally spot Grayson, but she's going the opposite direction. 

"Grayson!" you shout. "Sevika and her team are here. We need to get everyone to safety!"

She doesn't slow down. "There's someone stuck in a car!"

That's when you see it - a vehicle surrounded by a writhing mass of walkers, their decaying hands clawing at the windows. Inside, you catch a glimpse of a terrified face.

Without hesitation, you sprint after Grayson. The two of you work in tandem, picking off walkers. When you reach the car, Grayson covers you as you wrench the door open. A young boy, no older than seven, practically leaps into her arms.

"We've got to move!" Grayson shouts.

You guys run, the child clinging to her as you lead the way.  You’re clearing the path, and you’re halfway to the safehouse when you hear the dreaded click of an empty chamber.

"I'm out!" you yell.

Grayson turns, her eyes flashing with a decision you can see forming before she even speaks. "Take the kid. Go!"

"Wait, we can make it together!"

She shakes her head, placing the boy into your arms. "Sevika's crew is here, remember? I'll be okay. Get everyone to safety!"

Before you can protest, she's shoving you toward safety, using her body as a shield for the child. You run, every step feeling like a betrayal, but knowing you have to trust her.

You make it to a house, handing off the child to waiting arms. Your lungs burn as you gasp for air, eyes scanning the chaos for any sign of Grayson.

Suddenly, Sevika's there, her face smeared with grime and blood but her eyes alight with fierce triumph. "We closed the gate. Got them all."

Relief floods you for a moment, but then reality crashes back. "Wait, where's Grayson?"

Confusion flickers across Sevika's face, but before she can respond, a heart-wrenching wail cuts through the air. You both rush outside, joining a growing crowd.

The scene that greets you turns your blood to ice. Caitlyn is on the ground, her body wracked with sobs. Vi kneels beside her, arms wrapped around her shaking form. "I couldn't save her," Caitlyn chokes out between gasps. "I couldn't shoot them fast enough."

Her sniper lies discarded in the dirt, and that's when you see her. Grayson.

The world seems to tilt on its axis. You stumble forward, unable to process what you're seeing. Grayson, who was just beside you moments ago. Grayson, who sacrificed herself to save a child. Grayson, whose quiet strength held your community together.

She now lies on the ground, her body wracked with violent coughs, blood staining her lips. Her breaths had grown shallow, each one more of a struggle than the last, and when she reached for Sevika’s hand, you knew what she was asking for. Sevika’s fingers trembled as she grasped Grayson’s hand, and when Grayson whispered, “Do it,” you saw a flash of something break inside Sevika.

She obeyed.

The gunshot echoed in your ears, louder than the chaos around you, but it was the sight of Sevika gently closing Grayson’s eyes that broke you. Sevika had always been unbreakable, she seemed immune to the horrors of this world. But as she knelt beside Grayson, you saw the cracks forming.  She closed Grayson’s eyes, her hand trembling just for a second before she stood up, towering over the body like a stone sentinel. 

You could barely breathe, the grief suffocating you, making it impossible to think about anything other than how many bodies that needs burying tomorrow. How many families would be broken by the news? How many children would cry for family and friends who would never come home? 

“Grayson?” Ren’s voice was barely a whisper, filled with innocence and confusion. The kid was supposed to be inside the safe house but instead, she stood there, eyes wide and uncomprehending, staring at the lifeless form on the ground. “Why is Grayson sleeping? Tell her to wake up… We won, didn’t we?”

You wanted to tell her something—anything—but the words choked in your throat. Ren dropped to her knees beside Grayson, her tiny hands shaking as they touched the cold, lifeless body.

Sevika finally moved, her expression unreadable, her walls up higher than ever. Without a word, she reached into her pocket and pulled out Grayson’s yellow band. She knelt down, her massive frame suddenly so small beside Ren, and gently placed the band in the child’s trembling hands.

Ren looked up at Sevika, eyes full of questions. But before anything could be said, Silco emerged from the shadows, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous intensity. He was flanked by his men, their faces grim and cold, and at the center of it all was Marcus.

He was barely recognizable—his face a mangled mess of bruises and blood. He was dragged forward, forced to his knees in the dirt where Grayson had fallen. The sight of him brought Sevika to her feet, her fists clenched tight. You could see the battle raging inside her, the desire to end him right then and there, but she held back.

"Look at him," he began, his tone soft, almost conversational, as if he were discussing something trivial. "A man who betrayed the very community that kept him protected him fed and protected. Who left nothing but the ashes of his own cowardice."

He walked slowly around Marcus, like a predator circling its prey. "This is the price of betrayal, the cost of thinking you can stand in the way of what must be done. You all know him," Silco continued, addressing the crowd that had gathered, their eyes fixed on the broken man at his feet. "You know his face, his uniform, his lies. But you must also know this: in a world where there are no second chances, there are no second thoughts."

Silco’s voice grew harder, colder, as he leaned down close to Marcus’s ear. "Your cowardice, your betrayal, a mistake that cost how many lives today? And now, you will pay the price for that."

The words hung in the air, heavy and final, and Marcus’s body shuddered, knowing what was coming. Silco straightened, his eyes scanning the crowd. "Let this be a lesson to all who would think to cross us, to cross me. There is no forgiveness in this world, only retribution."

You don’t know what happened next, because you’re taking Ren into your arms and you’re moving – away from the crowd, away from the punishment that you know her father will face.

Ren clings to you, burying her face in your chest, and you hold her close, wishing you could shield her from all of this. "What’s happening to Daddy?" she asks, her voice muffled by your shirt. "And Grayson?"

You didn’t have an answer. The only thing you could do was hold her tighter, trying to block out the screams, the fire, the blood.

Time passes, the night dragging on in a blur of grief. Inside the house, the silence was deafening. You had scrubbed the blood from Ren’s skin, but it still lingered in the air, the scent of death refusing to leave. Grayson’s face kept flashing before your eyes, her last breath, her last words, the way her body crumpled in Sevika’s arms.

And now, as you stared out the window, you saw them—Silco’s men, forming a straight, omnious line as they marched out into the night. At the center of it all was a giant wooden cross, and tied to it was Marcus. His head hung low, his body limp, but he was still alive.

Your breath caught in your throat when Sevika looked up at the window. For a moment, your eyes locked, and you saw nothing in her gaze but a cold, empty challenge. The Sevika you knew wasn’t there, but replaced by someone who had buried whatever was left of her soul beneath layers of survival and duty. She turns away, breaking the gaze as she climbed into the backseat of a vehicle.  You watch as the trucks disappeared into the night until the only thing you could see was the small form of the cross.

The night presses in around you, heavy with loss, and you wonder if anything would ever feel whole again.

taglist:

@mirconreadzztuff22 @lils-1979 @veoomvroom @schmoni

@poxismind @kittykatz1227 @archangeldyke-all @abbyssgf @ivorydevil

@lez-zuha @iamastar @jellyfishrnice @anemoxlys @l0vel3tterl0ver

@lavendersgirl @h0pe-scotch @lia-winther @kittykatz1227 @dontknowwhenispawned

@sevikitty @sarahduke @raphaellearp @cewl-casper @crying-lighting443

@sodavrr @sweet-lover-girl @love-sevikalove @pinkyykisses @glass-apothecary

@mulan-but-gay @lesbnrock @hyuckiesoftie

[pkmn-redirect]

Chapter 2 - Page 24

First | Previous | Next | Latest Index (chapter 3 info under cut)

Chapter 2 has finally concluded! A whole 8 pages longer than the first!! Woo!! I have a feeling they may just get longer as we get more into the story haha. Oh well! Like last time, I'll be taking a break between chapters to rest a little, get the plot points for the next chapter more polished, and try to get a solid backlog of pages ready. Going to take about of month off- POSSIBLY a month and a half? Depends on how well prepping the chapter goes (I have doomed myself by setting it in ancient Ecruteak City and am not as familiar with classic Japanese architecture as I would like hahaha- time to find some refs and do a bunch of studies!). Either way- it will be back in mid-late November! That DOESN'T mean that the comic feed will be quiet though! Like last time, there's a between chapter Interlude page that will be going up on October 11th! And after that, I plan to post some behind the scenes development stuff on days that the comic would normally update- so if folks want to they can get a look at how I put this together. If folks are interested, I could also open up the ask box for a little while? Do a bit of Q&A for comic related things (I won't be answering anything too spoilery, but you're welcome to ask!). And since it has been asked for (and rightfully so, this thing is getting long and difficult to navigate) I've compiled a pinned masterpost to make navigation easier for folks on mobile. There's been an Index Page set up for the web version since the beginning- unfortunately it's hard to get to normally on mobile, so a lot of folks didn't have an easy way to thumb through pages, and that's no good! So- fixed! I'm also in the process of going back and putting "Prev", "Next", "Read from the Beginning", and "Latest" links on each page update. Which honestly I SHOULD have been doing from the start, but hey- live and learn I suppose? Also ALSO am going to see about getting the Neocities page for the comic that I started months ago more finished so it has its own home away from Social Media- but that's a bit lower priority at the moment haha.

But yeah! Honestly, thank you all so much for reading! The response to this silly little passion project has honestly blown me out of the water, I can't believe how many people are keeping up with it now. :'D I love love LOVE reading reactions and speculation in the comments and tags! Thank you all for sticking around so far, and I hope you continue to enjoy this self-indulgent little project as it goes!

~Ann

[gilbirda]

The king's dead (long live the king) - Masterpost

In this post I'll be updating everything I have on this AU. The tag will be "Eldritch Ghost King!Danny" if you want to search my blog!

It was a big project I wanted to challenge myself with, with crazy lore and worldbuilding, with a lot of exploration of eldritchness and angst. But I just got absorbed by DPxDC crossover, saw my niche in writing romance, got obsessed with Jason and Jazz and the rest is history.

I feel it's a crime none of this will probably see the light of day, so. Here. Chaotic mode it is. Fish my posts boy. I will post sporadically about this AU. You have been warned.

If someone wants to take anything from the lore or ideas, you are welcome to! Tag me so I can check it out!

Also I'm down for discussing AU with people 👀✨

What is this fic about?

This was supposed to be my magnum opus. It's the "main" fic in my AO3 series You and me and our best friends make three. So far the series has side stories or one shots located in different moments of the story. The main fic was supposed to tell the full story on how it happened, how we ended up here.

Back in 2021, when I went down the rabbit hole with Danny Phantom, I envisioned a neat AU where Danny was this eldritch ghost king... with a twist.

I love eldritch Danny (those who know me can confirm) but I wanted to explore something I haven't seen a lot even in the angst torture-vivisection saturated market of this 20 year old fandom:

What if the Ghost King is not power, but a sacrifice?

What if it is not known that the Ghost King is actually the host of a powerful entity (I called it The Whisper, because it talks in your mind in whispers) who is always hungry. Always. Hungry. And if it doesn't have a host will eat all the Infinite Realms then the Living World.

The Ghost King makes a pact with the Whisper. The King can tap into the ectoplasm, the energy, of every creature, object, city, etc. in the Realms and convert that energy into food for the Whisper.

But nobody knows this. Is a secret shared from King to King, and you only find out after accepting the crown.

Why would you refuse? Is the King, it's an honor, is power, is greatness. Who would deny the Whisper its food?

Only one managed to sever the connection.

His name was Pariah Dark.

He went insane.

What is The Whisper?

Basically this ⬆

Is a cosmic entity that was stranded on Earth a loooong time ago. It created the Infinite Realms with its flesh and blood (ectoplasm) and all ectoplasmic creatures come from it.

But its hungry.

-----

Posted chunks of story so far and their order in the timeline:

Act I:

Desired - Danny meets the Core for the first time

Ceremony - Danny is crowned King

Party like you are dead - the Ghost King invites all of Amity Park to his castle. Reveals all around.

Act II:

Never judge a book by its cover (dpxdc crossover)(my very first dpxdc work!) - Justice League summons the Ghost King to help deal with an eldritch creature. What they get may be a worse monster

Hidden identities? Never heard of them (dpxdc crossover) - direct sequel to the previous part. Batman and some of the colony go to Amity to investigate. They catch glimpses of horrors that they can't help but wonder

Remedy (+18!!!)(my very first DP fanfic!) - self indulgent Porn Without Plot in this universe. Placed in a distant future where everything is fine

Race ya! - funny haha thing set a bit after Remedy

[riddledeep]

FOP Sideblog Update - Sept. 2024

Hi! This lovely ol' sideblog's been tidied up in light of A New Wish! I have a new AU for New Wish works. Let's talk about it!

Main blog - @fountainpenguin

My FFN - My AO3

Sideblog masterpost

Housekeeping Updates

- New avatar - @zachbrightside and I updated our FOP sonas. Tossed the headcanon'd honorary pixie hat on mine! :) Shout-out to that one kid in "School of Crock" who wore this hat with no explanation. And squared my gal's wings! Experimented with pink and purple hair options, but I like the brown too much to change.

- Fixed all broken masterpost links - Checked 3 or 4 times, so let me know if you find something wrong.

- Added things to the masterpost that weren't there (Ex: Art section)

- Combed through every post and changed the bullet point system so they're easier to read, following format update from several years ago that condensed the spacing between bulleted items.

-> As part of this, I've used indents and dashes in place of bullets in many posts. I've also added periods on otherwise blank lines to force blank space, as the blank space is another thing we lost during that format update.

-> This is so posts will look better on the dashboard. The dots may seem odd when viewed directly on the blog, but it definitely makes it easier to not lose my place while editing long posts. Also, they should be more readable now than they would be if they're reblogged to others' dashboards without this change.

- I combed through the short bios and long profiles and divided paragraphs more. There were many bulky paragraphs that have now been divided in a way that should make posts - especially these big profiles - easier to read.

-> Cleaned the "Appearances" sections of the long profiles. They used to list each 'fic that character is in, but now they have a labeled AO3 link to works written by me that include that character. Sleek, clean, and automatically updates!

- Shout-out to me having Dale Dimmadome already down as one of H.P. and Sanderson's past godkids 5+ years ago. I knew that was my headcanon, but I did not remember that was on his profile and I'm glad it was, haha... oh no. I don't know what my plan is for that in light of New Wish, but I'll figure it out.

- Changed posts that called my canon Riddleverse Classic to say Cloudlands AU, since that's the new name for my series. Left the name Riddleverse for posts that encompass multiple AUs.

-> Updated my Icebreaker post with this and other new info

- Deleted any posts tagged as "Delete later"

- I have a lot of long profiles and other posts saved to my drafts from years ago. Once Tumblr shifted to the new format (including with the queue), it became so distressing and ever-changing that I struggled a lot to find my footing.

Ex: They took away line dividers, which I thought was frustrating since I used those on my long posts and found them helpful. I was holding out hope they'd return. - Some posts (like my wing refs and the giant 20k-word class overviews) kept getting flagged if I edited them, and I was worried I'd lose my stuff or have the account deleted - Back then, the queue would only tell me which day of the week something was posting, not which month or day. It was just overwhelming to create a schedule or keep track of my stuff, so I took a break from Tumblr in general.

These days, I'm much more comfortable with the editor and my queue is now more specific about deadlines. I look forward to posting here again!

I won't be on a schedule, and the big character profiles do take a lot out of me, but my plan back in the day was to release one a month. Might be able to get to there! If not, maybe the short bios.

Future of this FOP Sideblog

- More worldbuilding posts! I let this blog sit a long time because I felt like I'd said all my worldbuilding and the only thing to do now was profiles and bios (which I was reluctant to prioritize when I felt "behind" in my 'fics).

However, I found some things I'd never moved to this blog, such as my notes on aging. I'd like to post that and others I found.

- No longer hesitant about sharing stuff for "weird" characters or OCs. I had a post about celebrity kids (Poof's age and younger) that I never posted because I didn't think anyone would care about my headcanons for Simon Sparklefield (who only appears in one obscure episode I don't count as fully canon anyway) or Billy Crystal Ball (also obscure) but... Hey, that's why you're here, isn't it? So let's talk celebrities!

In other words, I'd like to bring this blog back as the unapologetic place to share my FOP things. We have references to canon characters and talk of OCs (like Hadley, Emery, Whistle, Soren, China, Anti-Saffron, Kalysta, Iris, Idona... List goes on.)

- This blog will have more polished fanart than the doodles from my main blog

- Polished 'fic cover images will be reblogged here. By this, I mean the posts I do on my main blog that outline what to expect from a 'fic. I won't reblog my general chapter announcements; I don't want to flood this blog with those.

- 130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash's cover will be reblogged, but the posts for individual trains won't be. - Existing cover images will get new, polished posts for their 'fics before I reblog them here.

- I went through the blog and added the tag "Cloudlands AU" to many posts, apart from a few I'm still hesitant to edit (or where it didn't seem worth noting). Cloudlands AU refers to my lore for the 11 seasons of the main series (i.e. including the "Oh Yeah!" shorts), and this is what my sideblog was meant for.

- The reason for this new tag is to separate it from City Lights AU: my new AO3 series for works about New Wish. These works are not compliant with Cloudlands AU, which was designed years ago.

Ex: Peri and Irep will get a short bio on this blogged tagged as City Lights AU to explain what we're setting up for their characters over there, distinct from the existing short bio for Poof and Foop in Cloudlands AU (who are very well established in their arcs). In other words, I'm not rewriting Cloudlands AU canon to fit with A New Wish, but I still want to write works for New Wish. Expect bios and art for Hazel and Dev here someday (and others).

The next thing I post will be Hadley's full character profile (now with updates that are compliant with A New Wish).

After that, I'll reblog my Cloudlands AU and City Lights AU guides to this blog so they'll be under their tags and on the masterlist.

When that's all done, I'd like to knock out full character profiles for Dale, Dev, and Hazel when I can (in addition to finishing my drafts for Cosmo, Wanda, Poof, and Foop). Long, slow process, but it would be cool to have those things done by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

Feeling decent about my idea for Hazel's birthdate. I have nice options for Dev, but no commitment until Zach and I nail down where "Operation: Birthday Takeback" goes in our New Wish timeline. Enjoying the process so far! -> Dev's b-day is QUITE the toss-up between options like "National Day of Unplugging," "Plant a Lemon Tree Day," and the absolutely golden combo of "Pizza Party & Virtual Assistants Day." And perhaps others we've not investigated!

I think that's everything! Hopefully, this is the last "blog news" announcement we have for a while, and the blog can return to being a landing spot for fanart and story meta.

As always, the sideblog's Asks are closed as I want to maintain a consistent feel for this blog. You can reach out to my main blog (Askbox here) if you want to ask a worldbuilding question.

Additionally, I'm interested in following other people's worldbuilding / AUs so I can engage more with the community, especially those passionate about FOP worldbuilding. -> I'm open to self-advertisement if you want to shoot me an Ask on my main blog telling me where I can find your work! -> I'd prefer to follow a blog that is primarily for FOP worldbuilding / art / 'fics (or subscribe to an AO3 series for FOP works), but I'm open to consideration if your blog is multi-fandom! My preference: Thoughtful takes on characters and world that dig deeper than just ship art / ship 'fics- Nothing against shipping, but I'm more interested in character analyses and worldbuilding. Bonus points for a focus on miserable children, Dale lemonade trauma, Pixies, or Timmy growing up to lose his memories and live an average human life. If you don't fit this, you can still recommend your AU and I'll check it out, but that's my wishlist :) Also, if there's anyone who makes Timmy/Molly content, you are my hero and should totally link me your work.

It's such an honor to see so many followers of this sideblog despite its long absence! To those of you interested in staying with me as we enter this next phase, thank you very much - it means a lot to me - and I hope you enjoy browsing!

And to anyone who's lost interest, thank you for spending time while you were here <3

One last note - My goal has always been to reblog others' fanart for my 'fics here, but most of them are still sitting in my drafts, unreblogged. I'll queue those up. I'm always delighted to receive gift art! Feel free to tag @riddledeep and I'll reblog it here! Same goes for gift 'fics, so don't hesitate to share!

[inciting-chaos-series]

The Night Shift: Chapter Three

If you'd like to be tagged when new chapters are posted let me know! -Ghostiewvlf

✦✦Update: Edited slightly :) -Ghostiewvlf

✦ The Night Shift Masterpost ✦

➢ Tag List: @valleys

➢Author: Ghostiewvlf & JTheGhost ➢ Rating: Mature ➢ Pairings: Corpse X reader | Corpse X y/n ➢ Themes: Slow Burn | Coworkers To Lovers | Angst | Holiday | Mutual Pining | Fluff | Smut? | Hurt/Comfort | Soulmates | Fake Relationships | Miscommunication | Forced Proximity | Found Family | ➢ Warnings: Crude Humor | Suicidal Jokes/Ideation | Drinking | Smoking |

➢Summary:

You work the night shift at a local dog kennel for boarding and daycare. You love the peace and quiet of the shift, but just when you get comfortable- a few break-ins happen around town, and upper management decides to place your quiet, brooding, shift lead on the schedule with you.

☽✧ Chapter Three: Musically In Tune ✧☾

-Y/N POV-

Your second class wasn't supposed to start for another fifteen minutes, but you really didn't have the energy to get out of bed. You hated that you only had one day off work, sure your job was alright, but using your other day off as the day to schedule all your classes was really not the move, because now you didn't want to attend the lectures. The text that popped up on your phone didn't help focusing much either. Why was he texting you? Did he want you to come in on your day off?

Logan 🐺:

Hows school nerd?

“Weird” You said aloud, laughing to yourself as the small adrenaline rush of having to come in dissipated.

You:

Not exactly better than work, but not worse 

Logan 🐺:

I can always call you in for an ‘emergency’ haha

You:

No thanks! Lol

Next thing you knew your phone was flooding with sad cat memes about school. Your face quickly started to ache from laughing so much. 

Logan 🐺:

Don’t tell the boss im memeing on company time

You:

You are my boss stupid 

Logan 🐺:

Oh, yeah… guess I am ;) 

It was so bizarre seeing this side of him. In just a week he had gone from this “quiet shift lead that no one really wants to talk to” to “coworker that you look forward to working with everyday” to now, acquaintances? Friends? You didn't really know. It was hard for you to draw lines between stages of friendship at work. Maybe he was just being nice to make you feel more comfortable around him? 

Logan 🐺:

So… what class are you in right now?

You:

Just about to start music theory 

Logan 🐺:

RIP haha

Need any help studying? I’m pretty good with music 

You:

I might take you up on that actually lol 

I never have time for this class so now im nearly failing

Logan 🐺:

Bring your stuff next shift and we’ll work on it :)

You:

Thank youuuu :’)

You turned the screen off on your phone and tried your best to pay attention during your lecture, but you couldn't shake the nervous energy you had built up thinking about the next shift working with him. 

It didn't take long for the next workday to arrive. You had barely slept at all, staying up studying and trying to catch up in your other courses was beginning to take a toll on you. You arrived barely on time for your shift, quickly getting the usual updates from departing day staff before clocking in. You headed into the break room and set your things down before collapsing into the seat and catching your breath. You’d just barely remembered to grab your music theory notes and homework, collecting them in a rush and making you run just enough behind that you’d be late if you picked up food for the shift. At least you would be able to get some help from Logan tonight though and hopefully your next exam would go over better than the last. 

The day shift quickly finished up and clocked out. Logan seemed to be running a bit late, so once everyone else had clocked out and left you began the duties of the night. You were on your second rotation of letting dogs out when you heard his car pull up, so you didn't turn to look when you heard the backdoor open and a few more dogs run out. You continued playing with one of the more shy dogs that was boarding for the night and watched to make sure everyone was getting along.

“Hey there.” You felt a warm hand on your back, a sharp contrast with the bite in the cold fall air. You tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach acting up. 

“Oh hey!” a slightly-too-loud laugh falling from your lips. 

“I stopped at Starbucks and got us some coffee.” An uneven smile painted his face, making him look almost comical with his cold bitten nose and pale skin, along with those signature dark circles under his eyes. 

“Oh wow, thank you! I was running late and wasn't able to stop for anything today.” You smiled and accepted the warm cup and took an eager sip, grateful to have some caffeine for the night. 

“Oh huh, perfect timing I guess? You're welcome.” He chuckled and offered a smile just as warm as the cup in your hands. “I can order some food or snacks later too.” He took a sip of his own cup and huffed, his breath forming a small cloud in front of him due to the freezing temperature. As much as you despised the cold and how it made your already poor circulation in your hands feel like pins and needles, you did really love the aesthetics of it: the clouds of breath, the way it made faces redden, the smell that was draped across everything the night before a big thunderstorm or heavy snowfall, the oversized hoodies and layered outfits that everyone seemed buried in, big boots with chunky socks- it was all very comforting in a way, it seemed to round out the edges in a very sharp world.

The night went by much the same as it began. There was a very comforting feeling about the weather and the mood that you were both in, even the dogs seemed very subdued. Time seemed to go by a bit slower, which you happily welcomed after weeks of vigorous study. 

Though time seemed to be lulling along peacefully, you got your nightly duties done in record time. You blamed the unusually well behaved dogs. It wasn't long before you were both sitting at the front desk again, joking around and playing some light music. He hesitantly showed you a few of his favorite bands. You assumed his apprehension was from fear of judgment. Lucky for him, you both enjoyed darker, more melancholy music. 

You both listened to his Spotify playlist while he helped you on your coursework. You bopped along to several songs you recognized as he read through your work. BONES, Xavier Wulf, and several other artists played softly through the speakers. 

“Mm, yeah not this one…” You sheepishly laughed as you clicked skip on Cholesterol, not needing to feel too melancholic tonight. He merely chuckled and nodded with firm agreement. You were surprised by his knowledge about music, he helped you get through the entirety of your homework, as well as explained a bunch of the questions you’d missed on the last exam you brought with you. 

“How do you know all this? I feel like you know more than my professor honestly…” You laughed as you finished up the last question and shut your notebook. He’d managed to explain everything all in a way that was actually making sense to you. He’d even related back to songs that played out softly on the speakers and used them as examples to the concepts. 

“I sincerely fucking doubt that…” He chuckled tiredly. “I just- know music I guess… I spend a lot of time with and around it, I uh-  I’ve even made a couple songs myself…” You smiled as you caught the red tint on his heated cheeks.

“Wait really?” You gave him a surprised look. 

“Yeah, I don’t know if they're any good, but I like making them.” He shrugged and passed you the keyboard  and mouse to play music. 

“Can I hear one?” You pried, making him slump into his chair further and groan softly.  

“Ahh I don’t know, y/n…” He huffed and rolled his eyes playfully. “I haven't really shown anyone, but I guess if you promise to not make fun of me…” he turned slightly and narrowed his eyes at you, “...or tell anyone here-  maybe I’ll bring my computer next time or something…” 

“Hmm, we’ll see…” You squinted back, jokingly challenging him before laughing.

“I’ll write you up I swear to god y/n…” He joked back, laughing along with you. 

“OoOkay boss man…”

➢ Links:

✦ Fics Masterlist ✦ The Night Shift Masterpost ✦ ✦ AO3 ✦ Wattpad ✦ Art ✦ ✦ Requests Masterpost & Guidelines ✦ Request Trope List ✦ 。:゜:.*∵✧∵ ☽ Submit A Request ☾∵✧∵*:.゜: 。

[alwaysonthemend]

A tiny ramble about where I've been...

hi guys! im sorry i've been MIA recently. i've been dealing with some shitty personal life things along with being stuck in a writers rut.

i'm at a point where i want to write but feel like my stories just aren't what they used to be right now. and i want desperately to delete a good portion of my older fics because i feel like they're poorly written.

with that said, i really want to try and get over this writing slump and right now the only bit of (miniscule) inspiration i have in me is for mirror of the damned.

i know it's been forever since i updated that story but im wanting to try and take advantage of the little inspiration i have and go ahead and start posting for it again. i know it's been long enough that many of you probably don't care anymore haha but it's a story that i really love and want to finish.

so all this to say, hopefully a new chapter coming this week. if you (for some reason) want to catch up/refresh on old chapters you can find the masterpost here

if you read this far, thank you and i hope you're having a good day

[emberwood-if]

Emberwood Update #1 (9/30/2022)

I guess I'm doing these now? but anyway, hi! I wanted to post a general update because my presence here has started becoming sporadic.

As of right now, I’m officially around 85% done with the Halloween special! I just have to write the platonic route (which is the group date route). When I’m done with that, I’ll do a quick round of editing and will be adding some meat to the solo routes since some scenes left me a bit unsatisfied. I wasn't planning on making the specials a particularly long or complicated affair but ofc...my ambitions always leave me with so much more coding and writing lol but I prefer it that way. I'd rather have to do more and finish with a better piece of work than publish something I'm not proud of.

I'm hoping to release in early October, mostly because I'm traveling later in the month and won't be online. Worst case scenario, it'll release either mid October or right before Halloween.

Just to repeat: this specific special will be free! I do get a few asks about that.

If everything goes well, this will be the first and last piece of bonus content before Chapter 2 releases. HOPEFULLY. I really want to release Chapter 2 before the year ends, but my full time job makes that pretty difficult (I work nine hours—I’m usually tired by the time I’m done haha).

My brain is already running with ideas for a New Years Special and a birthday extra story (since one of the ROs bday is in December)) but Chapter 2 will take priority.

Chapter 2 is looking to be hefty already, but I might trim it down for pacing purposes.

I really really really want to release chapter 2 as soon as possible but it really depends on my free time.

That goes to my third point, with the way chapter 2 is progressing and how many components I'm adding to it, I feel like it won't be feasible for me to publish chapters without getting more eyes on it. There's so much branching, scene changes, choices, variables that publishing with little errors is def not likely hahaha.

When Chapter 2 is close to finishing, I guess I’ll look for beta testers/early readers

It depends on interest, I kind of want a beta reader/tester for each route (+the platonic route).

I created a form just to see if there is interest in being a beta tester.

(I hope the form works I never actually made one before lmao)

This is NOT an application (???) I just want to make sure there is some general interest.

Also, the visual masterpost is still coming haha It has slipped my mind but I will be posting that still!

Anyway, that’s all :) you’ll probably have a guess of how close I am to finishing chapter two once the (possible) beta forms come out (if people are interested), because that’s when I’ll have enough content to justify needing more eyes.

That’s all! As always, my inbox is always open <3

[teamoon7]

Masterpost

Hello!!! You can call me Teamoon or just Tea / Moon!! I'm a Brazilian artist that draws mostly for fun :) Most of my posts will be translated to both portuguese and English, except for asks. I tag the asks in Portuguese with 🇧🇷 and the ones in English with 🇺🇸!

Always feel free to drop any ask you want! Can be about my fandoms, about my AU, etc :)

Also, my art requests are open, so feel free to request stuff from any of my fandoms (although I won't promise I'll do them hahah)

Miraculous AU

Right now the main project I'm working on is a full rewrite AU of miraculous! It'll take VERY long for me to finish it though, but you can find my posts and arts about it in the "#MLB Unnamed AU" Tag (placeholder name lol) :) Eventually I'll make a masterpost only for it.

Fandom List

I'll definitely not remember ALL of the fandoms I'm in, so always feel free to ask if I know a specific fandom. The ones in orange are the ones I'm the most into at the moment. I'll be constantly updating this list!

|•| Ace Attorney |•| Adventure Time |•| All Saints Street |•| Amphibia |•| Banana Fish |•| Danganronpa |•| Death Note |•| Detroit: Become Human |•| Doki Doki literature club |•| Dungeon Meshi |•| ENA |•| Encanto |•| Equestria Girls |•| FNAF |•| FNF |•| Good Omens |•| Gravity Falls |•| Hamilton |•| Hazbin Hotel |•| High Card |•| Into the Spiderverse |•| Kaiju no. 8 |•| Miraculous Ladybug |•| Mo Dao Zu Shi |•| My Little Pony |•| Nimona |•| Ninjago |•| Ordem Paranormal |•| Over the Garden Wall |•| Puss in Boots |•| Saiki Kusuo |•| Sk8 the Infinity |•| Sousou no Frieren |•| Spy x Family |•| Steven Universe |•| The Amazing Digital Circus |•| TAWG (Gumball) |•| The Apothecary Diaries |•| The Bad Guys |•| The Owl House |•| Undertale |•| Villainous |•| Vanitas no Carte |•| Vocaloid |•| Your turn to Die |•| Yuri!!! On ice |•|

_________________________________________

Olá!!! Pode me chamar de Teamoon ou só de Tea/Moon!! Sou uma artista br que desenha majoritariamente por diversão :) a maioria dos meus posts vão ser traduzidos pra ambos português e inglês, tirando as asks. Eu coloco a tag 🇧🇷 pras asks em português e 🇺🇸 pras em inglês!

Sempre sinta-se à vontade pra mandar qualquer ask que quiser! Pode ser sobre minhas fandoms, minha AU, pedidos de arte (apesar de que não prometo que vou fazer kkkk) etc :)

AU de Miraculous

O projeto principal que eu tô fazendo atualmente é uma reescrita completa de miraculous!

Se tudo der certo, eu queria muito fazer uma comic da AU- Mas já que é um projeto grande, vai demorar muito tempo pra eu finalizar tudo. De qualquer forma, mesmo que eu desista da comic, eu com certeza vou ilustrar alguns pontos principais da histórias e conflitos.

Você consegue achar meus posts sobre isso- tanto asks quanto artes- na tag "MLB Unnamed AU" (É só um nome substituto haha ainda não tem nome), apesar de que por agora eu provavelmente vou só postar alguns redesigns. Provavelmente vou fazer um masterpost só pra isso eventualmente.

Lista de Fandoms

Eu definitivamente não vou lembrar TODAS as fandoms que eu tô, então sempre sinta-se livre pra pesquisar se eu conheço alguma fandom em específico! As em laranja são as que eu estou mais interessada no momento. Vou sempre atualizar essa lista!

|•| Ace Attorney |•| All Saints Street |•| Amphibia |•| Aranhaverso |•| Banana Fish |•| Danganronpa |•| Death Note |•| Detroit: Become Human |•| Doki Doki literature club |•| Dungeon Meshi |•| ENA |•| Encanto |•| Equestria Girls |•| FNAF |•| FNF |•| Gato de Botas |•| Good Omens |•| Gravity Falls |•| Hamilton |•| Hazbin Hotel |•| Hora de Aventura |•| Kaiju no. 8 |•| Miraculous Ladybug |•| Mo Dao Zu Shi |•| My Little Pony |•| Nimona |•| Ninjago |•| O Incrível Mundo de Gumball |•| Ordem Paranormal |•| Over the Garden Wall |•| Saiki Kusuo |•| Sk8 the Infinity |•| Sousou no Frieren |•| Spy x Family |•| Steven Universe |•| The Amazing Digital Circus |•| The Apothecary Diaries |•| The Bad Guys |•| The Owl House |•| Undertale |•| Villainous |•| Vocaloid |•| Your turn to Die |•| Yuri!!! On ice |•|

[sertimusthechao]

Back, Sort Of?

Howdy all! Most of you probably weren't expecting me to update this blog again but I wanted to make a new post that expresses my future intents for this blog. To put it shortly, I'm back. With some caveats.

First off, I'm ditching the former username for my sona's likeness. As much as I'm attached to 'gameaddict30' as an alias it's also had some awkward and rough history around these parts, not to mention I feel more at home with a username that pretty much has me like *"Hey, that's me!" I've changed quite a bit since then too, so I feel like starting again on a cleaner slate.

Secondly, this isn't a guarantee that I'll be posting here often. I've come back here mostly after some realization about how a good handful of peeps I know are migrating to this site and how I... Well, pretty much want to stay in touch with everyone I know here, haha. With Tumblr possibly having ActivityPub on their roadmap, things could change in the future but I'll just have to play it by ear for now.

Furthermore, I'm going to comb through my Following list so it's tidier. Dead blogs and waning interests, mostly. Don't worry though, it's not like I've gotten tired of Sonic or the Dreamcast, heh. And please don't take it personally if I unfollow you out of the blue, just trying to have a less cluttered timeline.

Anyways, a lot of you following this blog probably remember when I posted the story about my DreamPi setup long ago! Some things have changed since then, as I've gotten not only a new computer desk + chair but a new media cabinet! More importantly, though, I've upgraded the USB modem to one that has a built-in Line Voltage Inducer. I thank pcwzrd13 of Dreamcast Live for providing this modded USB modem! No more having to swap out 9-volt batteries every now and then, heh.

Finally, my presence outside of Tumblr. On the offchance that I stop updating this blog unannounced, I'll create a masterpost where I'll list all of my active socials and websites. I'll get around to that very shortly, but you should probably follow me on these sites aside from Tumblr! I'm a lot more active on some of them; lately Twitter, Mastodon and Cohost. Though some weird stuff has been going on with the former, so you may see me flock to the latter two a little more often.

Oh, and I nearly forgot! I'm retiring the CNAME records for this blog and my art blog, so now you will see the subdomain for both blogs with Tumblr's root domain, effective immediately. I currently do not have any future plans to reuse blog.sertimus.xyz and/or art.blog.sertimus.xyz.

That said, I hope you all are having a wonderful night tonight! Nice to see you all again. :>

[cheers-mdears]

WIP Big Bang Bragging Rights

A thousand thank yous to the mods of @wipbigbang ! I really super incredibly appreciate that y'all let us post chapters at different times as long as it's all up by our due date!!!!! Anyway--

Title: How to Live Laugh Love when you fucking hate that phrase Fandom: Our Flag Means Death Links: AO3, tumblr masterpost Summary: Ed is dying for a change of pace when Blackbeard’s Bar and Grill and Other Delicacies and Delights gets a new neighbor: someone batshit crazy enough to open a fancy clothes store in a rundown neighborhood.

Turns out there’s “a change of pace,” and then there’s whatever the fuck Stede Bonnet is, in the best possible way.

(I put canon in a shredder and used it to paper mache a modern au with like twice the unintentional seduction and a fraction of the angst.) Characters/Pairing: Stede Bonnet/Edward Teach Rating: Mature When I Started: Uh, 5 months ago lmao How I Lost My Shit: Didn’t lose it precisely since I entered with barely the minimum word count in the form of a few snippets of dialogue and scenes. I just knew that without a hard deadline I tend to take so long updating WIPs that I peter out before reaching the end. How I Finished My Shit: Very stressed haha This is the second-longest fic I’ve ever written and in only 5 months!!! I had a loooot of fun thinking of ways to incorporate canon and Ed’s hEDS/Jewish practice :3 The footnotes, though, were muuuurder—a murder of absolute adoration and love, but they took me at least like two hours for each chapter. So much coding and going back and forth—sigh. But! I got it done and I’m very happy with it and I love these two sweet peas in a dumb, romantic pod so, SO much 💖

[shijiujun]

山河令 | Word of Honor - Mega Masterpost

Hey guys, here’s a FULL masterpost of the following for all Shan He Ling | Word of Honor items, basically a where-to-find-what:

General - Where to Find What

Episodes - Where to Watch What

Merchandise - Stores to Look Out For

GJ & ZZH - Variety Shows, Magazines & Endorsements

♣ Updates as of 19 May 2021, updates for the GJ/ZZH sections will stop hahaha this is THE END ;-; of SHL-related promotions for em. Will only add on if more SHL merch or BTS footage comes up! ♣

(1) Novel ➩ JJWXC | Translations (Full) | No New Edition Print (For Now) - Because the first edition was printed a few years ago, the novel is 11 years old haha

(2) Drama Rec ➩ Here (I did this on the first day it aired so it’s based on the first four eps so yeah some info like where to watch is not updated but ignore that) (3) Audio Drama ➩ Here (Seasons 1 & 2, with 2 recently released)

(4) 山河令 Manhua ➩ Here (Up for two weeks and then taken down for some reason)

(5) Official Accounts to Follow ➩ 山河令 Weibo | Youku Official Twitter

(6) Wrap-Up for SHL Filming ➩ Here 

(1) Official Episodes (36 + 1 Special Ep)

➩ 山河令 on Youku (Original Simplified Chinese) - *How to Pay on Youku

➩ Word of Honor on Youku (Subtitles) - *How to Pay on Youku

➩ Word of Honor on Youku YouTube (Subtitles)

➩ 山河令 on Line TV TW (Traditional Chinese)

➩ Word of Honor on Viki (Subtitles)

➩ Word of Honor on Amazon Prime 

➩ Word of Honor on Netflix 

(2) Behind the Scenes ➩ 山河令江湖番外篇 on Youku - Partially (70%~) behind a paywall, each episode costs about 1 yuan (or if you’re in Singapore $1.50 SGD which is fucking expensive, in Indonesia it’s apparently $0.30 and in Malaysia $0.20 LMAO) - But you get about 4-8 minute long BTS cuts with original scenes released with original voices + green screens

➩ Word of Honor on Youku YouTube (Subtitles) - Definitely not full release of BTS and even if they did release everything, it’d take a while, but there are already some subbed ones on the channel, just have to do a search

(3) Noteworthy Extras

➩ Special Ep (Youku): 7 minutes long with the first 4 minutes an FMV and the actual alternate or extended ending (depending on how you see it) in the last 3 minutes - You have to pay for it on Youku (both on the CN and EN/multi-language versions), we’ll have to check this week if YouTube will have it available for free. 

In any case it’s a happy ending I suppose, do all of you know it’s a happy ending? I’m seeing people reblogging my posts with so much angst in the tags about how the ending is devastating (which I suppose it is by my interpretation anyway for Ep 36 but Ep 37′s healing properties have been spread far and wide)

➩ Ep 6 (YouTube)

➩ Ep 7 (Youku, BTS)

➩ Ep 12 (YouTube - BTS in Youku, Original Voices in Youku)

➩ Ep 17 (LINE TV TW & YouTube)

➩ Ep 20-21 (YouTube)

➩ Ep 27 (Youku) - Part 1 | Part 2

➩ Ep 35 (Youku)

➩ Official Interview with Cast

(4) 山河令 Concert - May 3 & 4 2021

➩ Livestream on Youku - *How to Pay on Youku

➩ Livestream on Youku YouTube - For international fans, think this is a cheaper option overall hahahaha

➩ Concert Trailer - Highlight 1 | Highlight 2 (I AM LOSING MY MIND)

➩➩➩ Footage now available subbed on Youku YouTube and unsubbed on Youku

➩ SHL Concert Merch - RWB Hair Accessories

(5) 山河令 Official OST

➩ Spotify

➩ YouTube Playlist

Official Stores for SHL Merch

➩ 歪瓜出品 - First store to come up with SHL merch, has shikishi boards, standees, keychains, cushions, fan, badges, puzzles and ZZS’ hairtie most recently. Also officially bought the rights to two popular WenZhou fanarts for merch, the other stores don’t have the same design. Ran by Boss Hu, a young dude who’s hilarious af on Weibo and has been trying to get permission to produce more merch and also struggling real hard to get us WKX outfit-inspired sweaters!

➩ Rua哇吧 - First to come up with WenZhou dolls. Currently they have a 10cm version and also a 20cm version. 

➩ Omodoki [Via Rua哇吧] - Hairpin, cushions, glazed armour keychain, enamel pins and other cute things like bookmarks too

➩ 阿里鱼 [Via 咕噜文化] - SHL OST. Enough said. PO is over so there is no link but once they produce it the listing might go up again.

➩ 娱影文创 - SHL-themed jewellery based on ZZS’ alcohol gourd and sword Bai Yi, or WKX’s fan, also has tote bags and the glazed armour

➩ 一直娱 - Another app, items cannot be bought directly from Taobao. They’ve got mugs, hair ties, scrunchies, mouse pads, coasters and a lot of cute other things that the other stores don’t have, including customizable phone covers etc. and best part is they sell WenZhou posters from scenes from the book. They’ve also got an official photobook, but IMO the one from 吾流文化 is more worth it.

➩ 啦啦酱JK - Wen Kexing outfit-inspired kimono outerwear, and also WenZhou inspired ties and ribbons

➩ 吾流文化 - SHL Photobook (the full version with costume, set and character designs etc.) and also matches another box set of items that include a fan and standee and some other things 

➩ 月心引力 MOONLY - Perfumes in liquid and solid form. They’ve also bought the rights to a set of WenZhou fanarts, and they’re making white-haired WKX for standees and freebies etc.

➩ 优酷模玩 x TOFU - CUTEST WENZHOU FIGURINES

➩ 地澈天清 - HANFU AND DRESSES!!!! Inspired by WenZhou I WEEEEEP they look real good and are also in the affordable range - A summary of what you’ll see

➩ CanCan x Youku - Cutest WenZhou fam items!!!! With WKX white-hair

➩ Prismland - New accessories!

(1) About ZZH/GJ

➩ ZZH Weibo | ZZH Studio Weibo | ZZH Instagram

➩ GJ Weibo | GJ Studio Weibo | GJ Instagram | Wuhu-Famous

➩ Ship Name: Lang Lang Ding (LLD) or JunZhe - Although there’s no really strong RPS to be honest, most people I know use JunZhe and LLD as a mix of platonic friends + the WenZhou drama ship, or use JunZhe just to shorten their names because they appear at a lot of shows/shoots/interviews together, faster to type as well. The word Lang Lang Ding comes from 浪 (lang) which means to wander, and then 钉 (ding) as in nails, the nails that ZZS inflicted on himself.

(2) Noteworthy Interviews

➩ Goodbyes to SHL - ZZH | GJ

➩ About their Characters (Youku)

➩ Interview with ELLE TW

(3) Fansites (Check out their Photobooks - Mostly for WenZhou and also individual events and they will add on the upcoming concert footage and shots as well)

➩ 越界 (Both)

➩ 起意 (Both)

➩ 怦然心动 (ZZH) *Special mention they’ve been around for the longest so far, about 3 years, way before SHL and they’re REALLY generous

➩ 春秋荒梦 (Both)

➩ 同谋 (Both)

➩ Percent511 (ZZH)

➩ 105度 (ZZH)

➩ Plenilune (GJ)

➩ From May (ZZH)

➩ 月下思凡 (ZZH)

➩ 初霁 (ZZH)

➩ 未央 (Both)

(4) Variety Shows (Since SHL aired - Mar 21 to Apr 21)

➩ Happy Camp (Youku or YouTube) - 3 April 2020 | 24 April 2020 (GJ only)

➩ Ace vs. Ace (Youku or YouTube)

➩ Ace Actress (Youku or YouTube) - Ep 1 | Ep 2

➩ CHUANG 2021 (WeTV) - Part 1 | Part 2

(5) Magazine Shoots (Since SHL aired - Mar 21 to Apr 21)

➩ 精彩!OK (Both)

➩ Madame Figaro 

➩ ELLE/ELLEMEN - ZZH/GJ

➩ SE 南都娱乐 - GJ

➩ CHIC - ZZH

➩ Wonderland - For ZZH’s Birthday

➩ Glitz - GJ

➩ VOGUE/VOGUEME - GJ (Not cover)/ZZH (cover)

(6) Endorsements (Since SHL aired - Feb 21 to Apr 21)

➩ Both

Tom Ford - 03 Lark and other shades

Armani Giorgio - Foundation

Wahaha Yogurt

➩ ZZH

Pandora - Jewellery

NIVEA - Sunscreen

Oneleaf - Skincare

Elizabeth Arden - Skincare

Sensodyne - Toothpaste

OPPO - Phone

Joyoung - Blender

Maybelline - Superstay Foundation, Loose Powder

Ariel - Laundry detergent XD

Baidu Maps - Don’t ask this is damn weird

Clinique - SKincare

Costa Coffee - Coffee mugs

Longines - Luxury watch 

水星家纺 - Bedsheets (He’s clearing the entire household)

Ahava - Hand cream

JBL - Earphones + Speakers

Killian - Perfume

Glico - Pretz

梦幻新诛仙 - Game

➩ GJ

KFC

Bearkoko - Dietary sweets

Wolong Nuts !!!

Sisley - Skincare

Vita - Drinks brand

Centrum - Supplements

Fresh - Skincare

Tangle Teezer China - Haircare

Loreal - Sunscreen

TT语音 - Some gaming social network thing

Revelation - E-gaming

Beast - Candles, aromatherapy

Ya-Man - Men’s skincare

ROEWE - Car brand

Braun - Shavers

Plant Selected - Oat Milk

YSL - Rose perfume

Tiffany & Co.

Louis Vuitton

Nescafe

[nunchiimagines]

Choco Bun: 4

Choco Tart

— Summary: When you moved to Korea after finishing college to continue pursuing latte art and baking, the last thing you were expecting was to open up your very own coffee shop under BTS Corp, Korea’s biggest entertainment service company for idols, models, singers, and more. Thanks to your hard work, creativity, and approachable personality you managed to become friendly with some pretty big named individuals as well as up and coming talent. As exciting and fun as it was for you, you slowly began to realize how much your 7 bosses weren’t particularly fond of this, acts of jealousy, pettiness, and aggression poking through in the most unsuspecting of ways. But what could 7 big named dragons want with a little foreign bunny?

HYBRID TYPES: Reader-Bunny Namjoon-Earth Dragon Jin-Water Dragon Yoongi-Moon (Dark) Dragon Hoseok-Sun (Light) Dragon Jimin-Wind Dragon Taehyung-Ice Dragon Jungkook-Fire Dragon

— Pairing: ceo!mythical hybrid!bts x poc!curvy!hybrid!coffee shop owner!reader

— Genre: fluff / poly!au / ceo!au / hybrid!au / mafia!au (if you squint)

— Status: Completed

— Warnings: fluff, verbal insulting (bullying), hurt & comfort, alcohol consumption, intrusive thoughts, self degradation

— Word Count: 6.8k

~MASTERPOST~

CHAPTERS: Prev _ Next

**AUTHORS NOTE**

Here’s chapter 4! Dear god it’s been a minute and I’m sorry for the late update. I suddenly had a burst of inspiration and somehow managed to finish the rest of chapter 4! That being said, all chapters after that are going to be really short and more like various progressive scenarios in their life. I’d like to do that with all stories moving forward but we’ll see how that goes. Haha, please enjoy!  

______________________________________________________________

It had been 6 months since the night of the gala and you had blossomed a very unexpectedly close friendship with the 7 CEO’s of BTS Corp. The men would often visit you during odd hours throughout the work day and sometimes more than once if they had the free time. It was even becoming natural that, depending on their work, they would spend their entire time in your small cafe. You liked days like that. It made you feel special that one, maybe even a few, of them would resort themselves to indulging in your presence. Of all the places they could’ve easily gravitated towards, it was always you in the end.

You didn’t want to think too much into it though, pleased with the current standing of your relationship with them. You were already considered lucky and you didn’t want to seem selfish or greedy by asking for more. But a girl could dream right? She could imagine that they really did want to be there to be closer to her. To adore her from afar, watching her every move as she worked. To believe they would look up and smile at her soothing voice or the way her hair had framed her face that day. You marveled at the mere thought of the idea, relishing in the possibility that they really could view you the same way as you did to them. How unfortunate  you never once realized how true those scenarios were.

But such concepts would slowly start to burn under the intrusive thoughts that were becoming more and more frequent as of late. It was no hidden fact that the guys had shown a form of favoritism for you and they made no need to hold back during your interactions. They never did anything unprofessional or inappropriate openly but it was clear to many that you guys had exceeded past mere employers and employee. It didn’t take long for rumors to spread, more so than they had already, and you unfortunately had the luxury of hearing many of them when it was assumed you couldn’t. Few were innocent but many weren’t the most positive.

“Not the most ideal partner for someone like them.”

“I know dragon hybrids are a bit inclusive with their partners but doesn’t that kinda still make her a slut for like, I don’t know, flirting with all of them?”

“She’s probably putting herself out to get some type of extra benefit?”

“People like that are easy to read. First you reel them in, get pregnant by them when the time comes, and keep them locked in for their money. Foreigners are all the same.”

“She’s not ugly but...she’s not that pretty.”

“She’s a bit...bigger than I was envisioning. Can you imagine her having sex with them? She’d crush poor Jimin under her weight.”

“I mean, she could try to lose a few pounds to at least look nicer.”

“Only a few? What the hell are they thinking? So what, she’s exotic looking. Doesn’t mean anything. I’ve seen prettier and guys like that could do better. Seriously, even I outdo her!”

When you would make eye contact with some of the people who you’ve overheard say these things, they would often freeze and scurry off. Sometimes you wondered if they even remembered you were a hybrid and had far better hearing than most humans. You also started to believe they forgot you spoke Korean. You knew most of what was said stemmed from jealousy and maybe even insecurity. In fact, it was always the same group of people who said the negative things about you. Most of the other staff who even witnessed your interactions with them either didn’t care or smiled at the cute engagement. Some would tell you how lucky you were and asked about their personalities. But it never went further than that.

As much as you knew that their views about your relationship did not define it, sometimes their words cut deeper than you’d care to admit. You often felt inferior to them in more ways than one. You were fairly self-conscious about your physical looks and felt you weren’t good enough to be more than friends with them, even if you wished for it from time to time. They had always been so kind and welcoming to countless individuals regardless of their gender, ethnicity, body shape, and hybrid type. But deep down you felt you weren’t exactly on equal footing with them even when you so badly wanted to be. They were so close yet so far and that hurt more than anything. So when you heard these hurtful statements, you couldn’t help but find some form of truth behind them based on past experiences and toxic beliefs.

What made it even harder for you was the fact they made it so easy to fall for them. There was something about all 7 of them that made it almost impossible to not be charmed by. In your case, it became much deeper than surface level circumstances as you were fortunate enough to see sides of them not many others had before. Namjoon was much clumsier and unaware of things than people realized, even with his curious mind and high IQ. Yoongi was far more sensitive and emotional towards people, especially those he cares the most about. Seokjin was very self-conscious about his role as the oldest, fearing he wasn’t good enough despite being so confident. Hoseok wasn’t as bright or as happy as people liked to assume that he was, often being very mellow and laid back. Jimin was far too hard on himself about almost everything even though he had the whole world at his fingertips. Taehyung was far more creative and insightful than people gave him credit for, his popularity usually stemming from his looks alone. And Jungkook had days when carrying the burden of being the “golden maknae” was just too much for him, even when he did a phenomenal job at hiding it and proving himself.

These circumstances put many things into perspective and honestly, you were grateful for them sometimes. As much as you felt inferior to them, instances like this made it a little easier to view yourself otherwise. It wasn’t the best feeling to admit but it never disregarded the indescribable pain and deepening hurt felt when you would hear and see the guys view themselves in not the best of light. Of course it was natural to feel inadequate and to have bad days, but there was just something about seeing them in that way that almost transferred to you. Almost as if you guys shared the feeling. But it wasn’t just with the negative feelings, it was with the positive ones too.

When they were happy, you were ecstatic. When they felt proud, you felt honored. When they were giddy, you were slaphappy. It was almost as if the feelings shared between you all were amplified to an incomprehensible level for you. You weren’t entirely sure if they felt the same intense emotion but you knew that it was becoming more prevalent the more you spent time together. When you noticed things really got out of hand, you decided to take it upon yourself to do some research. At first, you didn’t really receive anything helpful, some websites and blogs going on tangents about medical issues that you’d never heard of before. But after a while you discovered something that surprised you. Something that you’re not sure if you should truly believe in.

They claimed it was the first stages of mating, something specifically pertaining to mythical hybrids. When a mythical hybrid finds strong interest in a potential mate, they court them subtly. This courting process is actually something that happens between the mythical animal and the partner of choices' inner animal (if hybrid) or inner instinct (if human). If the partner of choice reciprocates the courtship then the mating bond goes up to the next level. And that level includes intuitive feelings and shared emotions. Between two hybrids, the instinctual connection of mates is far better felt than between a human and human or a human and hybrid. Regardless, when the recipient starts to have a heightened sense of shared emotions, it is a clear indicator that the mates are ready to move on to the next stage: fulfilling the bond.

Your face set ablaze at the next part, the talks of intimate sex that would last for hours maybe even days depedning on the mates in question. The mere thought of being heavily intimate with 7 sought after individuals made you feel all sorts of confusing things and you’d rather not dapple into that at the moment. You didn’t, no, couldn’t completely rid yourself of the possibility of you being their mate, not when too many things lined up. But you also had a really hard time believing you’d ever be so lucky. You knew dragon hybrids had multiple mates or even mated within a group. It honestly varied depending on the den the dragon’s were associated with. When you really thought about it, you weren’t exactly sure what kind of dynamic the guys had. You also never asked. You weren’t sure if it was appropriate to be honest. Of course you wanted to but you spent more time in your head thinking about it than actually confronting them.

“She okay?” Jimin questioned, never taking his eyes off of you.

“She seems a bit dazed out.” Hoseok added on in agreement.

“She’s beautiful…” Jungkook mumbled out, staring at you.

Jimin and Hosek shot Jungkook a look before snickering at him. He realized what he had said and quickly averted his gaze to his hands. He didn’t mean to say that out loud.

“Yes she is, but our little bunbun still seems a bit out of it.” Jimin pouted, a heavy sigh following suit.

You were completely oblivious to their staring, per usual, as you were dealing with the last of your customers for the lunch period. When you had finished up you glanced over at the trio who looked more than pleased to finally have your attention. You couldn’t help but smile and shake your head in their direction. Jimin was the first to get up and rush towards you, excited for this evening's promised venture. Hoseok and Jungkook were quick to follow. You had told them you’d help them practice making latte art. They were so excited and so happy that it became infectious. In fact, you were grateful because it served as a nice distraction from your hectic thoughts.

“Uhm...mine looks like a blob.” Hoseok stated disappointed.

Jimin fell back in laughter, cackling and running into the cabinet behind him. Hoseok looked over at Jimin’s cup and scoffed, pointing at it with a smirk.

“If you think mine’s so funny, what’s that supposed to be?” Hoseok questioned.

“It’s a heart.” he stated proudly.

“It looks like poop.”

“I know! A poop heart.”

The two bursted into laughter, reminiscent of immature school boys who even thought the word “peepee” was funny. To be fair, though, you couldn’t help but chuckle along with them, the fact Jimin openly admitted he made a poop heart being kinda funny to you. But it was the lack of response from the youngest one that ceased your chuckling. When you looked over at Jungkook, you were pleasantly surprised to see him so invested in his design still. You didn’t want to make him nervous or bother his concentration but you decided to take a quick peak anyway. So did the others when they realized your attention fell somewhere else.

“Is that a peacock?!” Jimin called out.

“How’d you do that?” Hoseok asked.

Jungkook blushed a little, refusing to look up and make eye contact with anyone.

Kookie! That’s amazing! Have you been practicing? Seriously, you all are doing so well. Some people pour the milk straight down and nothing shows at the top on their first try.” you said with astonishment, proud of all the boys for managing to have the foam concentrated on the surface.

The three froze at your words, eyes wide with shock at what you said. You were too busy admiring the insanely well done design, despite it being a relatively new concept for him, to even realize the three faces concentrated on you. When you finally did look up at them, you were a bit confused by their jarred expressions.

“What’s wrong?” you asked with rising concern.

“Kookie...you called him...Kookie.” Jimin stated.

“I’ve never heard you call him that before.” Hoseok said, somewhat surprised.

“She’s never called any of us cute nicknames before!” Jimin retorted with hints of jealousy.

You started to feel self conscious the more they kept pointing it out. You honestly didn’t mean to call him that, a nickname many fans would often give Jungkook. You got so excited that it kinda slipped out of your mouth without thinking. Yes, you considered them friends, but you weren’t sure if you were granted the ability to start calling them affectionately like that. You stiffened a little, the worry evident in your features as you bowed slightly in Jungkook’s direction.

“I...I’m so sorry Jungkook. I was being way too informal with you. I apologize.” you said with sincerity.

It was relatively rare when instances like this occurred but it was the first time in a long time Jungkook shot both Hoseok and Jimin something deeper than irritated looks. It was quick and it didn’t go unnoticed by the older males but nothing was said as a result. You, of course, never witnessed it yourself, instead you were met with Jungkook standing directly in front of you holding your hands in his larger ones.

“Please don’t apologize Y/n. I like when you call me that. It feels like we’re closer to one another and that makes me really happy.”

Before a blush even had a chance to make its way to your face, Jimin pushed Jungkook out of the way. Jealousy was too soft of a word to describe the feeling coursing through the smallest male.

“What about me? I want a cute nickname too! I thought we were closer Y/n!” Jimin claimed.

“Seems like you’re playing favorites little one. That’s not very nice.” Hoseok added with a fake pout.

You raised your hands in defense, a slight dread falling over you.

“N-No! I don’t have a favorite! I love you guys all equally.” you blurted out.

The room fell silent for a moment, your nerves blocking out the realities of what you just admitted aloud. Oh but they heard it and they soaked up every last drop of what was spoken. That indescribable color clouded their dark irises again, something you hadn’t seen since the gala a few months back. When you studied all the boys, glancing at each of them for a moment, it finally hit you.

“W-Wai-”

“You love us, bunbun?” Hoseok asked first with an underlying tone of seriousness.

“Do you mean it?” Jimin asked, almost hopeful.

Jungkook stayed silent but his eyes were filled with the same desperate urgency for an answer. Your immediate response was to say yes, as you truly loved them in a sense that friends love and care for each other. But deep down, you wanted to admit that it was a little bit more than what a friendship could ever define. However, you were scared. Really scared. In an attempt to hide that vulnerability, you smiled while standing up straight. Eyes locked with Hoseok as your features softened.

“Of course I love you guys. We’re friends aren’t we? You all mean the world to me and I care about you! Unless...am I overstepping...again?” you asked almost hesitantly.

It was the word “friend” that made Jimin’s smile falter and eyes cast to the floor in disappointment. Jungkook also looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with you, his heart aching as a result. But it was Hoseok who kept up an unwavering appearance. The younger two made it hard not to notice the unexpected reaction but Hoseok stepped in to keep your attention trained solely on him.

“Of course we are little one! Just making sure Jungkook wasn’t getting all the love. Which, on that note, we have to head out.” Hoseok announced.

“A-Already? So soon?” you asked, a little desperate.

Something seemed off. Really off. Their scent changed and even though Hoseok was doing a really good job at hiding it, his smell was different too. Your eyes looked over all of them absolutely knowing something was wrong and for some reason, you wanted to cry. What have you done? What did you do wrong? Was it something you said? Something you did? Your mind went into overdrive and before you could even process it, the tears had started to fall. They froze, the rapid change in your scent putting them on high alert.

“Y/n? Y/n, what’s wrong?” Jungkook called out worried.

Jimin was quick to come to your aid, cupping your cheeks in his palms to wipe the tears with his thumbs. He was the first to immediately realize what was going on. Your emotions were becoming more aligned with theirs and they were heightened far more than they had realized. That instantly sent Jimin into regret, foolishly acting without thinking. It was no brainer that you were their mate. They realized it far quicker than you ever had and they knew how dragon hybrids affect their mate, especially when they’re not the same hybrid at all and there’s 7 of them.

Jimin had almost instantly eased your anxiety, humming soothingly while he rocked you back and forth. He held your gaze lovingly and smiled such a sweet and charming smile. The tears had ceased and you caved under his touch. You were scenting his hands without even realizing it and that made his little heart jump in joy. Jungkook and Hoseok watched in awe, witnessing the powers of a wind dragon firsthand. However, it’s what he did next that caught you all off guard.

Your eyes widened, almost as if the trance was broken as soon as his lips touched your forehead. First laced with shock, it was instantly replaced with annoyance and jealousy as Hoseok and Jungkook continued watching. Your cheeks heated and you shied away as soon as he lifted himself away from you. Upon first glance he looked so innocent but his devious eyes told another story.

“Don’t cry my love. We’ll be back together soon. No need to worry your pretty little head.” Jimin assured.

All you could do was nod your head as you were too nervous to say anything in return. Jimin was pleased with your response and waved you goodbye before being the first to head out. You all watched him saunter out before you felt someone grab your hand gently. It was Jungkook.

“Y-Y/n...I promise you I’ll visit you as soon as I can, okay?” Jungkook added, a genuine smile present on his handsome features.

“Okay…” you mumble softly, a small smile appearing as well.

When Jungkook exited it was just Hoseok and you. When you locked eyes he took his hand and placed a loose strand of hair behind your ear. He smiled with so much love and admiration that it made your heart go crazy.

“Here little bun.” he said, handing you an envelope.

“What’s this?” you asked curiously.

“It’s a personal invite to have you join us this weekend. We’re hosting a monthly fundraiser to help lower income neighborhoods across Korea. We would like to have you there. Things have been so busy setting up that we hadn’t formally asked you yet. Sorry if it’s last minute.” he explained.

“Oh! That’s amazing! I’d love to help out. Is there anything specifically I should make? Or a location I should set up in? Oh where’s it being held? Should I dress up??”

“Y/n.” Hoseok sternly said, gripping your cheeks gently.

“We’re not asking you to come as a worker. We’re asking to come as our personal guest.” he corrected.

“O-Oh! Really?” you asked once more.

“Yeah, love. But we can talk about it later. Don’t get too hung up on the details right now.” he encouraged.

“Okay Hobi...I’ll see you later.” you said, waving sweetly as he exited.

Hoseok smirked at the sudden name, pleased with it falling from your lips. You assumed it was just a natural response from his normal demeanor as he winked and fully disappeared from your sight.

_______________________________________

Feeling a little out of your element was an understatement, especially from the point of view of a guest instead of a worker. Last time you were at their mansion, It was easy to be preoccupied when serving the guests, you were almost guaranteed a conversation about a topic you understood, but here in the midst of all the fancy, well dressed, high class individuals; that was a bit harder.

Instead of worrying too much about it, you decided to make your way around, briefly looking at all the well designed boards and professional banners on display for guests to donate money. It was admirable the amount of charities partnered with BTS Corp and their reputation only encouraged the prospects here to follow suit in providing funds. With what little you had, you tried to offer up something to each booth you came across. To them, a little bit of money was better than none, and they were very grateful for your donation.

Something about helping people always made you feel good. Rather it be serving them, providing comfort, or even donating a little bit of money; there was always this lighthearted feeling of accomplishment. As an additional reward, you opted to eat a Chocolate tart, one of few dishes available to the guests. But, unfortunately for you, that happy feeling, the delicious tart, all paled rather quickly at the sudden giggle coming from your right. When you looked up, your heart almost stopped in its tracks, your blood ran cold, and your ears stiffened.

She was a pretty little thing. Dressed in a sparkly, form-fitting, cocktail dress, her long hair was pinned to the side revealing her unblemished slender shoulders. From where you were standing you couldn’t tell if she was Korean or not, but from her words, she spoke the language like a true native. Short in stature, natural make-up, outgoing, preppy, pretty; she managed to catch the attention of a few of the male guests loitering around. But it was the two males she was currently occupying that made you react the way you did. Jimin and Seokjin. It was clear that they were smitten with her. I mean, you couldn’t blame them. The way they crowded around her. Looked at her. The light touches shared between them came off as flirtatious. You hated it. Deep down inside, you wanted to rip that human's throat out.

But as soon as the thought came to your mind you averted your entire being away from the group. You felt disgusted, ashamed, vile. You hated this sudden rise in jealousy. Your animal instincts, when feeling threatened, was to leave away from the danger. So that’s what you decided to do after you discarded the treat. But tonight wasn’t going to be so kind to you. You didn’t even take several steps before you were met with the next heart wrenching sight.

Namjoon, Yoongi, and Jungkook were speaking to an elderly pegasus hybrid. Her long wings sparkled beautifully against her pale dress. Her hair was braided and adorned with small flowers. Accompanying her were two younger female pegasus hybrids who were as equally, if not more so, beautiful as her. One was roughly your age while the other was slightly older. You figured they were sisters and by lingering around a bit, you managed to catch a glimpse of the conversation.

“I’m surprised to see such fine, young, and successful bachelors without a mate yet. You boys should consider settling down soon!” the elderly woman proclaimed.

Yoongi just chuckled dismissively while Jungkook stayed quiet with a slight smile.

“That would be something ideal for the future, but right now our sights are preoccupied.” Namjoon responded vaguely, a respectful smile adorning his features.

The elderly woman chuckled and waved him off, far from letting this topic go.

“Nonsense Mr. Kim! The sooner the better! Here, let me introduce you all to some very important people.”

The woman gestured to the two younger girls to come to her side. They did as she told, the youngest one shyly averting her gaze while the oldest tried to maintain confidence.

“These are my granddaughters. They’re both around your age you know. Seona here is a natural born singer. And the little one, Mora, has an eye for design. They are my most prized possessions. Beautiful, talented, charming, and smart.”

The conversation carried on as you’d expect. When you looked at the two girls, it was undeniable they were beautiful. From the looks of it, they all felt the same way. It didn’t take long for them to warm up and start conversing, the two girls becoming more bold with their touchy actions. But what irked you was they were all doing it back almost as if on purpose. You knew if a rabbit and a pegasus would ever physically fight one another, the rabbit would fall immediately. But that didn’t stop the thought of still trying. At this point, you were getting more irritated.

Quickly dismissing yourself, you attempted to make your way to the balcony. However, you were blessed with one last push over the edge before calming your nerves. Tonight's festivities were made to be a bit more fun and they sectioned off part of the room for a dance. Whoever could dance the themed routine perfectly would donate the prize money to whatever charity of their choice. Little games like this were stationed all throughout the mansion and made the atmosphere a bit livelier. You didn’t much care that a dance was taking place but something still made you look over there. And as soon as you did, you froze.

There they were, Hoseok and Taehyung dancing with two women doing the Rumba, one of the most romantic ballroom dances known. The one with Taehyung was much older than him but no less pretty. She was the true definition of a cougar, which was fitting given the fact that she was a cougar hybrid. They didn’t know the dance all that well but did a hell of a job trying. The one with Hoseok was younger than you but seemed to be a bit more mature for her age. Sharp features, smokey eyes, tall, and thin. She was fit to dance with someone like Hoseok, as they shined perfectly on the floor.

It wasn’t so much as the dancing that bothered you, but the way the both held the women and looked at them. It almost made your anger deflate, you sighing in defeat as this night progressively deteriorated. Your ears flattened and you promptly removed yourself as soon as the dance was over. Finding the balcony, you noticed a staircase leading down to the garden below. Without so much as a second thought you took the stairs until you were met with ground level.

Surprisingly, some of the staff were also here and they were filling up champagne glasses to take upstairs. You, uncaringly, decided to nab a bottle of what you thought was champagne and take it with you as you made your way further out into the garden. The flowers were beautiful under the moonlight, freshly watered with little dew drops kissing their petals. You felt so much more calm when around nature and right now all you wanted to do was submerge yourself in it. As well as that bottle of...champagne.

The party had reached its limit and guests were leaving in groups at this point. Over 1 billion won was made tonight across all the charities and the guys felt drained. But most of all they felt...off. Uncomfortable. Sad. Angry. Hurt. So many things at once and it was becoming taxing. Once all the guests left the vicinity, they grouped up.

“Have you seen Y/n at all?” Jungkook asked, almost frantic.

“Only in passing but I hadn’t had a chance to really talk to her tonight.” Yoongi sighed, grueling over the previous conversation with the persistent elderly woman.

“Something feels wrong you guys.” Jimin said, his voice low and almost fragile.

Namjoon and Hoseok approached the group shortly after.

“We didn’t see her leave with any of the guests.” Namjoon stated.

“The guards hadn’t seen her leave either.” Hoseok added.

“Oh!” Taehyung chimed in.

All attention was on him immediately, waiting impatiently for his response.

“Just after the dance had ended, I saw her go to the balcony. But…” he trailed off.

“But what?” Seokjin pressured.

“She seemed sad. She smelt sad. I felt sad.” Taehyung finally said.

“The balcony?” Jungkook questioned, making an immediate dart there.

The others followed close behind until they were all standing outside. Searching around, Seokjin eventually spotted a figure sitting in the midst of the flower garden.

“There. Next to the daffodils.” he pointed out.

The group rushed down the stairs and towards the middle of the field. Before they reached you they found the bottle of half empty vodka and heard sniffling coming from you.

“Y/n?” Namjoon called out to you.

“I….I...knew...that stwoopid bottle wasn’t...uhm...wasn’t...champion.” you slurred with tears running down your puffy cheeks.

“Love, you drank half the bottle. What made you do that?” Hoseok asked out of concern.

“I...was...hurting...wright here.” you said childishly pointing to your heart.

“God she’s drunk.” Yoongi said, slipping off his jacket and draping it over your shoulders.

“I’m not drunk! I...I’m sad…” you said whiny.

Jimin was the first to sit next to you, gripping your shivering hands in his. He gave you a long stern look, witnessing the tear stains littering your cheeks.

“What happened Y/n? Did someone hurt you?” he asked hesitantly.

You just chuckled, falling limp in his hands.

“That’s…*hic*...an understatement.” you said solemnly.

“What do you mean?” Jungkook asked.

It went quiet, your mind not fully registering who you were talking to. But it was the first time you felt the urge to spill out everything you had been harboring for the past 6 months. Your eyes began to sting from the welling tears. You bit your lip and clenched your fists as hard as you could given your current state as they waited patiently for you to admit your concerns.

“Have you ever loved someone you knew would never love you back? That’s the story of my life actually. Every guy I’ve ever liked has never wanted to be with someone like me. In a way, I don’t think I could completely blame them. I’m not that pretty, I’m not thin, I'm socially awkward, and very shy. Hell, I’ve even had people say how my skin color is undesirable. I try to not let these things bother me, believing that one day my prince charming will come along and prove to me why I had to experience so much rejection. But it really seems like the universe hates me. Here I am catching feelings for not only one man, but seven. Ha, to make matters worse, they’re my bosses and individuals who I’ve looked up to for a very long time. How cliche is that? But they’re so charming. So genuine, and kind, and warm, and sweet...and…” the tears started to fall and you began sobbing.

“I’ll never be good enough for them and it hurts so badly! Those girls in there are so damn pretty. They’re smart, and talented, and...they’re everything I’ll never be. There’s no way any of them, let alone all seven of them, would ever fall in love with me. I should just be happy I even managed to meet them let alone become friends. I’m so stupid!” you said breaking down, crying loudly in Jimin’s lap.

All they could do was stand there silently, their hearts shattering at your sudden confession. Have you really thought so little of yourself? Did you truly believe you were undesirable, someone undeserving of love? Something deep inside them was filled with a distastable mix of rage and pain. Individuals like Jimin felt the pain and individuals like Hoseok felt the rage. In that moment, all they could think about was comforting you the best they could and if they were given the opportunity, they’d track down every guy who’s ever once said something cruel to you and kill them.

_______________________________________

When you finally woke up, you were in a room that was oddly familiar. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it but the more you attempted to sort this out the harder your head pounded. you barely remembered what happened last night and your eyes felt puffy. However, you realized you were out of your dress and your face was clean from the makeup you put on. Sitting up was a bit of a challenge but you somehow managed. Looking around the room was easier now and it took a couple of minutes to realize that you were inside the mansion still.

“What happened last night?” you called out loudly.

Suddenly, at the drop of a hat, bits and pieces of yesterday flooded your mind. You remember the pang of jealousy each time you saw the guys with another girl. You remember feeling angry with them and then that anger turned on to you. You remember the self deprecating thoughts that entered your mind. You remember feeling overwhelmed and venturing off to the garden. You remember drinking out of spite for your own health. And then...you remembered the one thing you wish you hadn't. Your overly honest confession...to...Jimin? Or was it Yoongi?

You vaguely remember who was there, your low tolerance for alcohol fogging your memory. You weren’t even sure if it actually happened, hoping deep down inside it was merely a dream. But you knew it wasn’t and your heart dropped at the massive blunder you made. Pulling your knees to your chest, you sighed heavily. You felt like a bratty child who didn’t get what they wanted. You felt ashamed for being so jealous. It’s not like you owned them. You weren’t dating. They have every right to be smitten with other women. You are far from the only one pinning after them and to go and dump all of that onto them like you did was not only unfair but it was unprofessional.

As much as you hated to admit it, you knew you needed to own up to your actions and formally apologize to them. The thought of seeing them scared you though and deep down inside you wanted to selfishly stay hidden in this room. So after a few quick breathing exercises, some meditation, and freshening yourself up; you made your way out of the room. Luckily for you, Mrs. Choi was just passing by. You two spoke briefly before asking the dreaded question on your mind.

“May I ask you something?” you hesitated.

“Of course my dear.”

“Do you know...uhm...do you know where the guys are at?”

She smiled softly at you as if she knew exactly where this was going. You got a weird feeling that she anticipated your question and the intent behind your reasoning. You had no proof, just an intuitive feeling that she knew.

“Of course. They’re in Mr. Kim’s office. All of them, actually. They requested that you were to be looked after until you were feeling better. I’m sure they’re waiting for you.” she said.

She provided directions to get there and hugged you. No words were shared between you two when you departed but her eyes spoke to you. Saying as if everything was going to be okay and not to worry. You took your time reaching there, using the journey to conjure up what you should say, how you should apologize but your anxiety was making that hard. Before you knew it, you had already reached the doors and knocked.

“Here goes nothing.” you mumbled, hoping to rip the bandaid off asap.

“Come in.” Namjoon spoke from the other side.

You could hear shuffling and slight movement. Putting your hand on the handle, you took a deep breath before entering. As soon as they spotted you, they all froze in their spots, eyeing your every move. They seemed just as thrown off as you. Unfortunately, your nerves were resurfacing rather quickly at all the staring and silence. So you took your chance to be as honest as possible before backing down.

“Mr. Kim….no...everyone. I am so sorry about last night. What I did was way out of line. Not only was I unprofessional but I acted like an immature whiny brat. I dumped my personal feelings on to you all after I had taken a bottle of your alcohol, which I promise I will pay you back for. I completely understand if you would like to reprimand me for my actions. I will not argue or fight back against whatever punishment you all decide. And...I’m sorry for what I said. It’s probably best that I take my leave very soon.” you explained in full as you bowed apologetically.

The silence was deafening. You were too afraid to look them in their eye but you jumped when you heard someone get up from their seat. It was Namjoon, you knew it. He approached you, getting directly in front of you.

“Look at me Y/n.” he demanded, but in a soft tone.

You did as he told, fear evident in your eyes. But in his, it was nothing but sadness. That confused you. Why did he look so sad?

“Are you saying that you didn’t mean what you said? That you don’t have feelings for us Ms. Y/n?” he asked with stern authority.

“I-I…”

“You meant it, right?” Jungkook impatiently asked.

“The feelings...because I...we…” Jimin chimed in nervously.

“We feel the same way about you.” Hoseok admitted with a sheepish smile.

“But we need to know for an absolute fact you feel the same way. That you truly meant everything you said last night.” Yoongi added looking you directly in your eyes.

“But this...this doesn’t make sense. How could...why would any of you...want-”

“Why would any of us want you? Fall for you? Be with you? My love, I could go on forever as to why we would want to be with you.” Seokjin chuckled before smiling softly at you.

“And I can promise that we’d spend our days proving to you those reasons. I swear it.” Taehyung promised.

The sudden and unbelievable confession brought tears to your eyes. Your heart wrenched at their words. It was a dream that you’ve played over and over again in your head. It wasn’t quite like this but it was presented before you nonetheless. But you couldn’t bring yourself to truly believe such an amazing dream so all you could do was cry.

“Why...I’m not...I can’t! You all deserve someone who’s, someone who…”

Your words were fumbling. Your brain went blank. You were nervous and scared, this vulnerability being new for you. Namjoon noticed this and took the opportunity to embrace you in his arms, holding you tenderly against his chest. It was warm and safe and it felt so unreal. Is that what hugging a man you love feels like?

“Yes, I meant everything I said! You all mean so much to me. I’d do anything for you. But I...I never thought you’d...any of you would ever like me like that. I so badly wanted to be something more for you but I...I’ve never had anyone...like me back and I don’t know what it’s like and...I’m so scared that this opportunity is too good to be true because my heart can’t handle being this vulnerable and then instantly rejected.”

Namjoon just rubbed up and down your back as you cried in his arms. The others looked desperate to be in Namjoon’s position, hints of jealousy evident in some of their eyes. But for the most part they just wanted you to be okay. When you began to calm down a bit, Namjoon cupped your cheeks. He looked so lovingly into your eyes, using his thumbs to brush away falling tears before speaking the words that sealed your connection.

“Let us love you in a way that you’ve always deserved. Let us prove to you that everything we claim comes only from our heart. A genuine, loving, yearning desire to be with you. And my love, let us walk through this journey together, side-by-side into something more beautiful.”

“Do you mean it? All of you?” you asked for clarification.

“We’d stake our whole lives on it.”

“Then….I’d very much like that.” you said with a sweet smile.

______________________________________________________________

[chooseyouovereveryone]

do you have brittana fic recs? i'd love to find some new ones to read!

I do, this is my rec list. It's been the same for years with a couple of additions. I'm mostly into canon compliant, or ones that fill in a gap or expand on them as adults later in life. A couple of these are AU though.

Taking the Long Way & the sequel Me and You and Daisies by Lingering Lillies

Finding the Way Back & the sequel Beautiful Life by LeighKelly. There's also a part 3 that is still being written.

Influence by Sappho's Ghost

Must Be Felt by FrogsRCool

The Only True Paradises and its counterpart Pas de Deux by la rose carnation

Rhythms by thefooliam and basically anything written by this author. They have so many amazing fill in the gap fics.

Mediterranean Dreams by Scarlett's Tara

Vignettes by orangeyouglad8

Lost in the Lights by wheresmynaya

Clockwork by Gorshenin

Room 47 by Little-Normandy

2859 by halfrobotchicken

Most of these are a classics and you've probably heard of them already, but yeah they're my favs haha. I always go back to them because they feel nostalgic because most of them were written when the show was on air. If you want a full catalogue you can always go here and find a fic to suit your mood, though I'm not sure how often it's updated. I know the masterpost was created in 2020 so it's still pretty recent. It's not my blog/post but it's a great go to in terms of categorising everything.

[adoribullpavus]

finding james nightingale: masterpost

oh dear, what have i started?

so i’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while now. i’ve always loved over-analysing scenes and delving deep into the secrets and hidden details. i’ve been planning this with james for a long time, but originally wanted to focus on his sad scenes.

however, i struggled with where to start, which led me to the stupid decision of starting from his very first episode and going from there

seriously, this is going to take me years to finish.

but oh well, i’m committed!

this is entirely self indulgent, given that i have like three hollyoaks fans following me. but again, i’m committed.

now, i have to give credit where credit is due; this project was inspired by the amazing @spaceorphan18​ who, i hope, doesn’t hate me for stealing it (haha oops...) but she wrote a similar project based around kurt hummel from glee. i really enjoyed reading her thoughts, so you should definitely check it out.

just a reminder: these are my own opinions and i’d appreciate anyone who disagrees to keep any hate to themselves.

kay, so, i’ll add to this if i think of anything else that needs to be said. for now, all you need to know is that i’ll be updating this post with the links to each episode analysis as i go. i’ll be using the tag #findingJN to organise the posts in my feed, if you wanna follow along with that.

-

finding james nightingale

2016:

12th january - james arrives in the village, steals from a minor and gets involved in other people’s business.

14th january - james spits in a drink and meets two of his future boyfriends.

28th january - james talks to cindy and frowns.

29th january - james hangs out with cindy and makes a phone call. he doesn’t go to the coffee shop. this is a big step and we are all impressed.

1st february - james finally reveals his master plan and ruins his father’s life. we meet his mother.

2nd february - james follows his mother around and tells cindy he’s gay.

16th february - james continues to follow his mother around. he makes his first joke. this is the making of a very funny man.

17th february - james goes on a date with scott. he does not enjoy it.

[rawbin69]

*Slowly walks up to you, cradling this*

*Gently sets it down in fromt of you*

*SPRIN TS THE FUCK AEWAY IN PANIC*

Okay anyways hi I’m back after like, months lol, sorry about that (but I’m not actually back because I’m busy trying not to die because of school-work and trying to work on some MAP parts. I literally said five days ago on my yt channel “Hi I’m back now!! :-D” and school just said “no <3″ which, um, rude. So yeah I might come on and occasionally come post something but I’m really not gonna be coming on here to be active

OKAY OKAY but I need to explain these sketches because they will be suuuper confusing without context, I am very aware, yes, so there’s an explanation (+ some extra art and a non-shaded version of the stuff above) under the cut :-)

BASICALLY, @lulzyrobot​ made this AU of Pokémon Sword and Shield and now I have brain rot because of it. Also this AU will indeed be confusing to those who have no knowledge about sword and shield so here’s a skippable paragraph about the game:

(OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS BELOW)

Basically, SwSh is just a Pokémon game (no surprise there) and its gimmick or whatever is Dynamax, which turns Pokémon like. Really fucking large. (Some of them can also Gigantamax which changes their appearance as well as size, but we don’t care about that here bc it really isn’t relevant). In all gyms (except one, Spikemouth) there are power spots, which are needed for a Pokémon to Dynamax. If they’re not close to a power spot, they can’t do it. There are also power spots in the Wild Area (which is, you guessed it, an area in the game). At one point in the game, the villain -- Chairman Rose -- starts up something called “the Darkest Day”, which happened before in the Galarian region (which is where everything takes place), in hopes of getting infinite energy for them or something like that (really makes no sense but like ok pop off ig). To do this, he basically uses these things called Wishing Stars -- which are what allows Pokémon to Dynamax -- to summon a Pokémon called Eternatus. In-game, you basically just summon two other legendaries (Zacian and Zamazenta -- they’re on the cover of the games) and fight Eternatus and then catch the fucker. That’s all context you need for this AU so let’s move on to that now:

The AU is basically that Eternatus sends out a powerful blast which fuses trainers with Pokémon, to varying degrees. The closer to a power spot you are, the more likely you are to get it bad. If you’re far enough from one you won’t be affected at all. A person can merge with multiple Pokémon, but the more of them, the harder it is to not go wild. If you merge with a wild Pokémon, you’ll become a Wild Trainer (and those basically act like, well, wild Pokémon).

If you want more info (which you do want, trust me on this), here’s a post made by the creator themself!! https://lulzyrobot.tumblr.com/post/610890677032747008/pokemon-dynamorph-au-masterpost

OKAY ANYWAY, back onto this specific sketch (wow I really went on a rampage there lol)

I decided to Dynamorph my trainersona(??????) (btw, both the Dynamorph version AND the “human” version are WIPs, I’m not completely happy with either of them) and this was the resuulltttt

- Their name is Robin (because I’m a bastard that does self-insert ships with no shame)

- They merged with their Arcanine (and I’m considering also adding a wild Lycanroc, both so I can give them Epic Claws™ and so that their whole extremely volatile nature makes any sense)

- They have some REAL trouble keeping themself in check. Like. They’re constantly on the edge between becoming a Wild Trainer and being “normal”

- Because I am, like I said, a bastard who does self-ships without any shame they are together with Piers. yes I am a simp for him. 

- Robin has their select group of friends (made up of all gym leaders minus Opal because they have no idea what the fuck is up with her, as well as Marnie, Hop and Leon. No they don’t give a shit about Bede) which they are super protective of. They have to be reminded that they can all handle themselves, because they might otherwise become a bit possessive.

- While they are a raging storm you do NOT want to get involved with in any way to anybody outside their friend group, they are really nice to be around when they really care about you. They may be pretty stubborn, but they always do what they think is best for their loved ones. On multiple occasions, they’ve gone out to collect any sorts of gifts they can find that they think their friends will enjoy. They are super gentle and kind with Hop and Marnie (which, by the way, they’d literally die for either of them) and they’re overall a good friend/partner. Their main flaw here is their temperament and somewhat possessive nature.

- If anybody did something to even moderately hurt any of their friends... hoo boy, you do NOT want to do that. They’ve nearly killed people for leaving so much as a scratch on their loved ones, and have to be physically dragged away so they won’t really kill somebody. 

- However. Despite really, truly believing they'd never, under ANY circumstances, hurt ANY of their friends... they’re wrong about that. The only ones they could truly never purposely cause harm to would be Piers, Marnie and Hop. Yes, it would take A LOT for them to hurt any of the others (like, they’d only hurt the others if they tried to, idk, kill them or something. Or if they tried or actually did kill somebody else in their close circle) but it could hypothetically happen.

- If they ever were to see Rose, he’d probably be torn to shreds on sight. Literally nothing would be able to stop them. 

- While it’s near impossible for anybody they don’t care about to calm them down, it’s pretty easy for especially Hop, Marnie, Piers, Raihan, Leon and Milo (and the others, but less so for them lol). 

- They were right by a power spot, like they were about to step into a den, when the blast happened so they were. Really fucking affected by it. They stayed in the Wild Area for a while after that, searching for their Arcanine who had “mysteriously vanished”, before they transformed. They were basically a Wild Trainer for at least a month before Piers found them and managed to get them to remember who they actually were over the course of two days. It was,, really concerning when they’d at first been texting him pretty much non-stop to update him on what was going on with them just to then go radio silent for a few days, especially since people had begun transforming at that point. Haha angst go brrr

- You must ignore how their clothes still kind of fit despite them growing to be both more ~muscular~ and tall and how it’s not dirty for the sake of my convenience ok

Ok I think that’s all? woah that was a long post lmao

Anyways, here’s the promised extra art (first one is the same sketch without any shading and that stuff (buT I MISSED ONE, I DIDN’T REMOVE THE SHADING FROM ONE I AM SORRY LOL), second is Robin as just a regular trainer)

Oh also some context for some of the sketches:

Bottom one where they’re screaming “yOU mOthErFuCKeR” is what their reaction would be to one of their loved ones being killed

The one with Milo is Robin just. Being near him. After probably having some sort of panic or anxiety attack because they’re worried about everyone. Because Milo is a really calming person to be around.

Top one in the middle is Robin just patting the red eye-lens-things Raihan got from his Flygon because they find it to be Very Entertaining to just pat them for no reason at all.

The ones where they’re hugging Marnie would take place right after they come back to Spikemouth after their month(s) as a Wild Trainer. They still weren’t used to being around people (and much less BEHAVING like a PERSON) so they were pretty awkward about Marnie hugging them.

The one where they’re surrounded by darkness to the right and kneeling forward is them in the middle of their “transformation” after the blast happened.

Fiery ones at the top right are just Robin being pissed as fuck lol

(Still haven’t decided if this will be the “official” team of Pokemon I have, but it’s cool for now. Also yes, I added an extra Pokemon to my “team” who isn't actually a battle-Pokémon or whatever. I NEED APPLETUNS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT OKAY)