#there isn't a single spot of nature around me right now

[bunji-enthusiast]

Pssttt, I heard you were looking for some ideas for the insomniac cat. I got a idea that's been cooking fresh off the stove for you. Catnap has been taking care of a child he found still alive after hour of joy. Simply because unlike most of the kids he would always see in playcare, they weren't scared of him when they first saw him. Following this for background information. The day of the hour of joy was their first day in playcare, so they first saw him all covered in blood after the events of the hour of joy, and yet the reader just ran up to him cutely calling him a kitty as they cling to one his fluffy long legs. Giving catnap a soft spot for them, leading him to start taking care of the child. In present day catnap starts to notice how they haven't slept in days, the cat starts getting slightly concerned so he decides to use the red smoke on the reader so they would sleep. Though for the sake of the idea he isn't aware of the nightmares that the red smoke gives children, so when they start kicking and crying in their sleep the cat starts to panic slightly in his own way while trying to wake them up. Using any means he can to, once they wake up catnap just curls up around them like a fluffy protector vowing to himself in his head he won't use the red smoke on them again. I'm sorry this is long just had this idea cooking in my head for awhile, I hope your having a great day!

Trying To Dream

Note || oh this punched me in the GUT.

WC || 1,086

Sypnosis || In trying times, a cat does the best he can.

It was quite strange, since he had first found you. By no means was CatNap a stranger of caring for children, but you were uniquely different. You were just that, a child with no actual perception of the reality you had been faced with. At that, he felt a pang of guilt for suddenly plunging you into this place without any adult caretakers first and foremost. But he felt they had greatly deserved their place, to rest in the Hour Of Joy. 

When it had all taken place, he himself had rampaged alongside the other toys on his level. Even abolishing the Heretics that went against the Prototype’s rule, he simply was very thorough, cats are naturally akin to being able to notice and spot things. Not a single human soul had escaped his sight.

Yet it seemed he was practically proven wrong when you appeared in front of his very eyes, despite being covered in blood – you were enamored by CatNap.

CatNap’s tail swished and flicked about, prowling right behind his trail as he stopped suddenly in his designated tracks, hearing something out of his vision. “Kitty!” He looked down to see you running up to him, clinging to one of his elongated legs. He was confused for a moment, yet you appeared to be so adorable in his eyes.

Completely oblivious to what had occurred it seemed, you only saw CatNap. A very large kitty, but someone familiar to you. You wanted to cling to that warmth, the familiarity as you were a little nervous and scared before.

CatNap sets everything right for you, to your tiny little mind. Just a small child full of emotions, he felt so strongly in return. A tiny corner in the room of his hardened heart had grown soft, he grew soft at the sight of you. An instinctive familial urge in him to actually want to take care of you.

His head drew closer to the ground, hoping to get your attention. You giggle and smile, keeping onto his fur, instantaneously reminding him of all the children that he saw that came and went in Playcare. He wanted to protect that laughter, that absolute perfect smile of yours. 

You laugh, shuffling over to where CatNap’s head had hung, patting the area around his mouth and eyes. He wiggled and shuffled his head just a bit, hoping to at least draw some sort of reaction out of you (just so he can realize he wasn’t dreaming), “Oh, you look funny Kitty!” You grin, hands clamoring to his neck now. CatNap knew he was sure of it now, you didn’t seem to be panicking or in distress. Nothing of the sort he could indicate, you really were just happy to see him, simply it may be because of the fact he is a cat. By the way you react to him, you really liked cats, so this was an advantage on his part.

You weren’t scared of CatNap at all, that he was grateful for internally. Cause good grief, some memories of the children he had put to sleep before had left them with a bad impression of CatNap.

He didn’t want that happening with you.

CatNap’s tail stretched and stretched, wriggling its way over to you. You giggle at the funny sight, sitting down on the ground as you try to catch it, though it seems to have caught you instead. The tail wrapped around your waist, lifting you up with easing and laying you on the large purple kitty’s back.

“Ahaha! Maybe I should call you…” You pause for a moment, leaving CatNap to be silently concerned due to the length. “Stretchy kitty!” CatNap internally shrugs, leaving no room to be made as he began walking with you on his back, he was painfully aware of you as he didn’t want you falling off on accident.

CatNap in earnest has lost track of how long he had been taking care of you since you two had first met, you really had taken a liking to him.

Yet he took notice very quickly of the lack of sleep you didn’t have for the past few days, not getting the proper sleep and care a human needs can affect one detrimentally. He knows this too, remembering this from experience.

CatNap slinked through the entrance to his room, seeing that you were still at his bed doing your own things. Right now, you were drawing with crayons on a piece of parchment paper that he could find that wasn’t completely ruined. You were quite happy, content.

Your eyes seemed to be so sunken, your energy was low however. CatNap figured it was one of those days where you had a sudden burst of energy to do things. He figured he can help, CatNap knows his gas can put people to sleep.

So that is what he had absolved for, releasing the gas right around the room in your general vicinity. You had gotten so used to the feel of his presence you never looked up at him, just continuing to draw until you had felt very sleepy. Eyes closing and limbs go limp as you fell sideways, CatNap caught you with a swift movement of his tail, laying you gently on his bed.

He quickly went to find a blanket to cover you with, gently draping it over your small form. For a moment, you were silent, finally peaceful to actually get some sleep for the first time in days. Only then did CatNap have the morbid realization of what the side-effects of his Poppy Gas does.

All was peaceful for a good thirty minutes, until a cry broke him out of his nap. He looked around, then noticed your little legs and arms flailing about, not violently but noticeable enough to begin drawing concern from CatNap. He felt a pang of guilt bubble in his chest, nudging you almost roughly enough to get you to awaken. 

Your cries was something he didn’t want to hear again, his own gas caused you nightmares at the risk of just wanting you to actually get some sleep. 

“Ah, kitty!” You sniffle, rubbing your eyes as you cuddle up to CatNap. He in turn returns the sentiment, ears somehow pinned back just possibly enough to understand the emotion. CatNap folds in on both his front and hind legs, laying down completely.

From then on, there wasn’t a chance he was going to use the gas on you again. 

Not if it meant nightmares.

[thatacotargirl]

Shadows and Surprises (7)

Part 7 of Azriel x Reader fanfic! Sorry for the delay!

Summary: Azriel meets y/n at Rita's and spends a single night of passion with you before heading your separate ways. Only, the Mother had different ideas.

Warnings: none.

Tag list - @nickishadow139 @dee-writes-smut @minnieoo @st4r-girl-official

@courtofjurdan @mirandasidefics @lilah-asteria @nyxbranwenn @impossibelle

@mybestfriendmademe @hauntedstudentobservationus @julesofvolterra @acourtofbatboydreams @rogersbarnesxx

@skylarkalchemist @sidthedollface2 @aehllitas-blog @fullmoon-94 @acourtofbatboydreams

@aehllitas-blog @fullmoon-94 @5onedirection5 @mindofthescattered @rcarbo1

@dumblani

Y/N's POV

"And hook the right arm a little, no, I mean like thi-, no wait that's not, y/n, hold your, yes ok now we're getting somewhere".

Absolutely nothing that Cassian just said to you made sense. But, he said you're getting somewhere, and he's the expert after all.

You throw your arm around in a right hook, attempting to catch Cassian in the jaw, but he blocks you and brings his clenched fist up to your throat. He, naturally, stops short and doesn't actually touch you, only showing you where your weak spots are when you throw the first punch in a fight, but it was enough to feel Azriel's wrath seeping across the training ring.

"That's enough, Cassian", he calls out, standing to approach you both in the centre of the ring.

"What?! I'm fine Az, I'm not even tired" you protest, attempting to throw another hook at Cassian whilst he is distracted, which he again blocks - only without even looking at you. How does he do that?

"Az, brother, you need to relax. If y/n needs to stop, she will tell me - she did the other day and we stopped straight away. I promise", Cassian reassures Azriel, but you see his eyes darken.

"Why did you need to stop the other day? You didn't tell me that? Were you hurt?".

You let out a frustrated gruff and start to walk away towards the stairs that lead back down to the house. You are almost 7 months into your pregnancy now, and Azriel is only getting more protective and overbearing by the day. Just this morning he wouldn't even let you put your own socks on so you didn't bend down and 'squash the baby'. As you descend the stairs, you see a tuft of golden hair fly past and run into a nearby room, slamming a door. Peering in the direction the tuft of hair came from, you see Rhysand staring ahead blankly.

"Should I ask?".

Rhys just shakes his head to you and wanders off in the other direction. Looking at the door that had just slammed, you walk over and knock quietly.

"Fey?", you call out, resting your ear against the door. No answer.

"Feyre?", you try again. No answer.

"I'm coming in, Fey", you say as you push open the door to one of the many spare bedrooms. When you poke your head in, you see Feyre curled in a ball on the bed, sobs racking her body. You walk over and perch on the edge, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What happened?", you ask quietly, rubbing soothing circles along her shoulder and back. She stayed quiet, sobbing into the pillow, so you stay silent too, keeping up the gentle circles until you feel her body still underneath you. Thinking she's asleep, you go to stand, but you hear a soft sniff and Feyre looks up at you.

"I kissed him".

"Kissed who? Rhys?"

Feyre just nods, hiding her face back in the pillow, but at least this time it isn't accompanied by tears.

"What's the problem with that, Fey?"

"I'm in love with Tamlin!"

Who the fuck is Tamlin?

"He's the High Lord of Spring", Feyre whispers.

Ah shit, I said that out loud.

"Yes, you did".

SHIT. It must be the pregnancy brain.

Silence follows.

Right ok, I didn't say that out loud then.

"No, you didn't".

Cauldron boil me now.

"I am with Tamlin, I am to marry Tamlin, look", Feyre holds up her hand showing a huge emerald rock on her finger. There is no mistaking that she is a soon-to-be bride.

"Was it a mistake?"

"Yes", she says quickly. Then pauses. "Maybe?"

"Maybe?"

"Well I wanted to kiss him in that moment. But maybe it's some kind of survivor's guilt thing, Rhys saved me under the mountain and so I owed him a thank you?"

"Maybe Fey, but you don't need to beat yourself up over it. If it was a mistake, it was a mistake. Rhysand will not hold that against you, he's a good male".

"I know", she whispers. After a short pause, she adds "but if it was a mistake, why do I want to do it again?".

You have no answer, so you simply go back to rubbing her back, hoping it is offering her at least some comfort. Your situation was a difficult one, but at least you and Azriel were on the same page. Although, thinking about that, were you? You hadn't discussed the future nor the circumstances of your relationship. Would Azriel see other people? Would you move out when the baby was born and co-parent? You hadn't admitted your feelings to Azriel, certain that he didn't return them, but you hadn't stopped to think about how difficult it would be to watch him start a life with another female one day. A knot forms in your chest as you realise how uncertain your own circumstances are, and you have absolutely no advice to offer Feyre because, if you did, perhaps you'd take that for your own.

You look down and see that Feyre had, in fact, cried herself to sleep. Standing gentle, making sure not to rock the bed too much, you retreat from the room and pull the door closed, wandering off to the library in search of Azriel.

-

You find the trio in the library, sat spread out across the various sofas and chairs in the room. Cassian gives you a wave, sloshing his glass of whiskey and causing half of it to land on the carpet. Rhys only shakes his head and waves a hand, the mess disappearing instantly. Azriel sits himself up from lounging and pats the space next to him on the sofa, a glass of sparkling water appearing on the small table next to the seat. You smile and join him on the sofa, appreciating the water more than you probably should, but you hadn't had a chance to hydrate after your training session since you had found yourself in Feyre's room. Rhys looked at you, a question in his eyes, but you could only shrug a response. You had no update for him.

"How are you feeling", Azriel asks, sipping on his whiskey.

"I'm ok, starting to get a bit sore and achy now, but nothing I can't manage".

"Should we speak with Madja?", Rhys asks, but you shake your head.

"No need, it's all normal pregnancy stuff, nothing to be concerned about". It didn't make Azriel's face look any less concerned.

"I'll stay in tonight", he says, setting down his glass.

"Tonight?".

"Yeah, I'll stay in". You see Cassian glare at him from across the room and raise your eyebrows in question.

"I only went out of my way and wingmanned him a hot date, and he's going to bail only a few hours before. Way to make me look bad Az", he guilts, pulling a pout. But you stopped listening after you hear 'hot date'. Your ears start ringing and your eyes prick with tears which you quickly blink away. Not quickly enough to avoid Azriel's attention, though.

"Are you ok? Does something hurt?".

"I'm fine", you snap a bit harsher than you meant to. Standing from the sofa, you throw a look his way and add a soft "don't worry". You start to walk away, but he calls you back.

"I'm actually quite tired, Az. I'm going to head to bed and get an early night. Have fun on your date and I'll see you tomorrow, ok?'. You leave the room before giving him a chance to respond.

-

Azriel's POV

"You look great, Az!", Cassian says, straightening my bow tie. He doesn't seem to realise that Azriel will be tearing it off the moment before he takes the sky.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks Cass", he offers, looking at the wall.

"What?! I'd definitely do you", Cassian replies, still fiddling with the bow tie. Azriel only look at him with a glare, to which Cassian chuckles.

"Right, you're all ready, off you go", he says, patting Azriel's shoulder and steering him towards the balcony. "Go get her", he winks, before walking back into the House of Wind.

Azriel sighs, rips off the bow tie, and jumps from the ledge, heading into the centre of Velaris.

-

He arrives at the restaurant and finds his date standing outside waiting, even though Azriel himself is 10 minutes early. She is pretty, there is no denying that, but Azriel can't clear his mind of the beautiful female back at the House currently carrying his child.

"Hi!", his date calls, walking over to him.

"Hi Tori", he smiles, offering her a quick hug. The pair of them walk into the restaurant and are seated at a private table on the roof, as arranged by Cassian and Rhysand. The pair of them seem to think that a date will help Azriel's 'brooding', as they call it. But Azriel's mind is in one place and on one thing, and it isn't the female sat opposite him at this table.

The date is nice. The food is good, the drinks are flowing, and the live entertainment is a dream. But Azriel can't stop thinking about y/n.

"You seem distracted?", Tori asks, slurring her words slightly after they finished their 3rd bottle of wine and gestured the waiter for a 4th.

It's like she opened a floodgate. With the question lingering and the sheer volume of alcohol he had consumed to try and distract himself, Azriel suddenly word vomits everything that is in his brain, telling his date every single detail about you and his unborn child.

"A word of advice, Azriel, if I may?".

He nods.

"You clearly care for this female and your baby more than anything on the planet. So why, on the sun and the moon and the stars and the damned cauldron itself, are you on a date with me instead of telling this female that you very clearly love her?".

He sits in silence, stewing over Tori's words, before it feels like a bucket of cold water has been thrown over his entire body. He does. He loves you. He loves you more than he has loved anything or anyone in this world. And tonight, he let you sit at home, uncomfortable and sore, carrying his child, whilst he went on a date. He had fucked up.

Standing abruptly, Azriel reaches into his wallet and throws a heaping handful of notes on the table, covering the bill and then some.

"I'm so sorry", he says to Tori, who merely shakes her head and smiles.

"Go get your girl, Az".

-

Crash landing on the balcony and stumbling through the House, Azriel finds your door and knocks hard.

"Y/n?", he whisper shouts, knocking again.

You must be asleep. But this can't wait.

Azriel pushes the door open, but your bed is empty. He checks the bathroom. Empty.

Perhaps you had a midnight craving? He stumbles down to the kitchen. Empty.

Confused, disorientated, and slightly nauseous, Azriel makes his way to his own bedroom. He walks in and see a small piece of paper folded on his pillow. His eyes struggle to focus but he manages to successfully unfold the paper, only for his heart to fall to his stomach at its contents.

Azriel,

I am so sorry.

Y/n.

It was too late. You'd gone.

[echantedtoon]

SEDUCTION: UPPER/LOWER MOONS

You try to seduce your demon husband/wife as a means to get outside or distract him enough to get what you want.. However it does the exact opposite of what you aim for.

Warnings for Douma/Karaku/Enmu being their own warnings, possibly some innuendos.

Daki and Zohakutan are mentioned but only PLATONICALLY!!

I'm having a lot of fun writing these scenarios.

You were tired of this now

A you wanted was to go outside for a few hours enjoy the sun or the beautiful night sky full of stars for a little while. But every single time you asked it was always variations of the same answer.

"No. It's too dangerous during these times. You're much safer with me." or "What if a slayer finds out your husband/wife happens to be a demon?! You think they'd spare your life?! They'd kill you on the spot without hesitation!" or "Alright but I'm going with you. It's not up for debate."

This you were never truly able to get a moment to yoursel. Don't get you wrong. You loved your husband/wife to death and would do anything for them! You knew what you signed up for when marrying a demon and right now was a tense time for their kind. But you just wanted FIVE MINUTES ALONE WITHOUT HIM/HER HOVERING OVER YOUR SHOULDER OR CHECKING ON YOU EVERY FIVE MINUTES!!

Although maybe you'd have a solution-

"Try seducing him/her!"

You choked on the green tea and coughed a few times staring at your cousin like she was crazy. Currently you sat in your family home wanting to visit them. Of course your husband/wife insisted on coming too and thus dawned a human disguise to visit his/her in-laws. Right now he/she was having a pleasant conversation with your father discussing the more efficient ways to hunt between a bow and Arrow and a new invention called a gun. They seemed actually interested in the conversation so they didn't notice the talk you had with your cousin venting to her about your husband's/wife's overprotective nature. However you weren't planning on those words to come tumbling outta her mouth with a cheeky smirk.

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me. How do you think I got a rich husband who spoils me?"

"My husband/wife isn't that shallow. A-And that'll never work!"

"Look. You tried everything from bargaining to fighting right? Why not give it a shot? Flattery will sometimes get you somewhere despite what they say."

...Well she did have a point. Nothing you had tried so far had worked, maybe a little bit of flirtation and flattery would work. And your cousin's right. There really wasn't anything to lose since at most he/she would just be amused or annoyed at your actions and spouses flirted with each other all the time. So next time your husband/wife left for 'work' you decided to kick it into over drive.

When your husband/wife returned later two days at night. The home was unusually quiet and dark but he/she detecting no one else around and senses that you were still moving around inside so they assumed you were probably in the middle of going to sleep. They just let themselves in as always sliding the door open but paused eyes widening. The house was completely spotless, not that it was dirty in the first place, but it seemed as if Even the ceiling was polished. A trail of red and pink petals leading away from the door and towards the kitchen where he/she already found a table of fresh raw steak waiting for them lit by candlights.

Needless to say his/her brow rose. Ok. You definitely wanted something because it wasn't your anniversary or any special occasion.

"Y/n, I'm home!", he/she called from the kitchen doorway.

They await hearing your footsteps but are surprised when you turn the corner and are dressed up to the nines. A beautiful patterned flowing Kimono and make up to match as you stand there nervously before attempting to look sultry at them..but it just makes you look nervous.

"O-Oh. I didn't hear y-you come in." They hear the stutter in your nervous look as you attempt to strut, tripping over the kimonos folds and falling on your front, only to quickly scramble back up onto your feet and place a hand on the wall next to him/her with a seductive(hilarious looking and nervous-) grin. "But I-Im glad y-y -you're back! Do you like the surprise? I w-worked solo ha-hard on it just for YOU."

Eyes slowly blink at your already sweating face looking you up and down. Slowly blinking and then your finally get their answer-

KOKUSHIBO:

Six eyes slowly blink one after another at you looking you up and down ... before he sighs briefly closing his eyes and shaking his head. Your smile disappears as he just continues shaking his head no at you.

"This ..will not work on me. You should know better than that..However."

You let out an adorable squeak as a finger and his thumb tilts your head up towards his leaning form.

"I can not complain about the gesture. Go change into something you won't trip over and we'll have dinner together."

DOUMA:

He waits until your smile disappears completely after you get nothing but one of his famous Big eyed stares from him. It's only then that he giggles and a second later you're snatched up into his arms with a squeal.

"Oh my. Is this for me?~ How generous of my little wife to surprise me with such a beautiful display. You wouldn't mind if I just jump straight to desert would you?~"

You gulp when he leans in to affectionately rub his forehead into yours with a growl sounding an awful lot like a purr.

You had a feeling this backfired-

AKAZA:

"...PFFT- HAHAHA!"

You're taken off guard when Akaza just doubles over in loud laughter ringing off the walls and filling the house. He can't help it. When you fell over your dress and then got back up to try and seduce him was the funniest thing he's ever seen! Your cute pout was also not very convincing to him.

"I-Im sorry! Hehehehe! It's just when you tried acting like an oiran-..HAHAHA! I swear I love this Bu-But you looked so cute trying to se-seduce me! *snort*"

"Well then you can clean up all the petals yourself and sleep in the basement!"

He wheezed as you cutely stomp away as he holds up a hand.

"N-No! Wait! You are adorable I promise!"

HANTENGU+CLONES:

You're surrounded by your husbands all giving you mixed reactions to your display..it was not what you expected. The first one to speak out was Urami who immediately pointed towards your bedroom.

"Go change into something decent, Woman! What are you thinking dressing up like that?!"

Sekido and Aizetsu are speechless. Staring at you wide eyed and red faced because you looked so pretty but Sekido eventually yanked you away from Karaku. Urogi just sat on the floor laughing loudly when you fell and Hantengu sneakily went into the kitchen to eat all the food before anyone noticed. Only Karaku really reacted by growling out and pulling you into a hug as Zohakutan mentally gags in disgust inside Sekido.

"Why waste such a once in a life time opportunity such as this?~ And after she went through all the trouble.~"

You proceeded to get yanked away by Sekido who lectured you with Urami on proper wear.

GYOKKO:

He doesn't respond to you at first only continuing to stare at you from his pot before his entire face scrunched up scrutinizing your outfit.

"What are you WEARING?!" He asked in such a way that made it like he stepped in goop.

"Um...A oiran's attire?"

"Well first of all that is definitely not your color! Secondly it's too large for you! An oiran's beautiful gown is supposed to flow behind them on the breeze of their footsteps. NOT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A TODDLER PLAYING DRESS UP WITH HER MOTHER'S ROBES!! And that hairstyle is totally wrong-...You know what? Cancel dinner! I'm going to teach you the proper art of dressing like the beautious women."

Turns out he's more offended by the fact that your wardrobe is a mess than you actually trying to reduce him and it got you a six hour half lecture half dress up session from the demon.

NAKIME:

Her eyebrow raises looking you up and down for a moment before glancing back at how much effort you put into everything before sighing.

"You could just ask me instead of going through all the trouble."

"You don't like it?"

"I do but just dinner would have been fine. Seeing you make a mess of our flower garden is just irritating."

Her hand motions to the flower petals on the floor and you feel embarrassed how she knew you practically destroyed your garden.

GYUTARO(+PLATONIC DAKI MENTIONED):

Gyutaro.exe has stopped working. His eyes go wide open, jaw slacked, and his entire face turns the deepest red. Meanwhile Daki is giving you a thumbs up from around the corner. Nothing like bribing your sister-in-law to help you dress up to impress her brother.

"What D-Do you think? Pretty huh?.....Gyutaro?"

"P-Pretty."

"Thank you. N-Now about dinner-"

"Pretty."

"Yes. I-"

"Pretty."

"Hun-"

"Pretty-"

Turns out you completely broke his brain seeing his already pretty wife dress up so attractively.

KAIGAKU:

His mind honestly blue screens for a long moment looking you over and over...A pink hue covers his face as his pointed ears pin back to his head. He has to forcibly turn his head away and pretend interest in the food to avoid you seeing the fluster on his face. His voice sputters and he quickly covers it by shoving the raw steak into his maw...but the pink tips of his ears aren't fooling you. Although maybe you did go too far because he doesn't communicate with you until you change back because he won't allow you to see his face.

HAIROU:

He doesn't say anything about it for a long time only looking at you up and down as you nervously still smile awkwardly up at him... Before he clears his throat and calmly takes off his cape before plopping it over your shoulders.

"The surprise is-...I-I-Its nice bu-bu-but you shouldn't have."

He really likes it however and the blush on his face is not helping him to hide how he really feels.

KYOGAI:

He asks you if you're ok from falling over and once you confirm that you are ok he just silently staring at you for a long while before he slowly turns inhumanly slowly towards the candlelight dinner before back to the rose petals on the floor. Before his bottom lip wobbled and honest tears start falling from his eyes as a sob escaped his throat.

"I-I lov-v-ve you so much!"

He's overwhelmed by the fact you'd do something so romantic just for him and he's crying out of happiness. Give him a second. He'll kiss you after but first he needs a second to blabber about how much he loves you.

ENMU:

You don't get time to react before he was upon you. Giggling like a mad man before wrapping his arms around you and pulling your squeaking form against his chest and leaning so close that you can feel the warmth of his breath on your face.

"Oh darling.~ You could've just told me you felt lonely.~ Going through all this trouble..But I admit, I find you rather ravishing.~"

Maybe you should've just stuck to dinner-

[illubean]

Can u write for Illumi who during the hunter exam gets a crush on reader who looks very delicate and feminine, but later he finds out he's a man?

(Insert clever title here)

Characters: Illumi Zoldyck Type: Oneshot, Male!reader

he dig also i couldn't think of a title for this one LMAO

Warnings: canon typical violence? also for the purpose of being "feminine" reader has long hair and wears a skirt i imagine reader being in eglfashion but you don't have to it was just the first thing that came to mind

Illumi wasn't too sure what it was but there was something about a certain contestant in the hunter exams that happened to catch his eye. Perhaps it was the way they looked so out of place, seemingly to dainty and delicate for an exam such as this.

You looked as though you should be home in your father's castle, reading in a garden or something. Maybe your elegance is what drew Illumi to you. Your long flowing hair and the cute skirt you chose to wear was something Illumi could appreciate, as he too liked to dress his best.

During the fourth phase of the exam, Illumi awoke from his slumber earlier than he had anticipated. Having nothing better to do, he decides to seek you out, curious as to how you've managed to hold up this long. To quell his own curiosity he decided to watch you.

From afar of course.

He sat high up in a tree and spotted you sitting by the river, watching the fish and how the water flowed downstream. This was a gorgeous scene to the assassin, though he could not explain why. Yes nature is beautiful and yes there was no doubt that you were easy on the eyes but there's no way that Illumi could be attracted to you, right? It's not a feeling a good assassin should have. So, ignoring the way his heart tells him to approach you and wanting to get to know you he continues to watch from above, boiling these feelings down to simple curiosity.

Through his observations, Illumi noticed something different about you. He had realized he's never once heard you speak and you were awfully flat chested for a woman. After some time he brushed these thoughts off, he hadn't spent any time close enough to you to hear you speak and your cup size was simply just none of his business. The faintest sound of rustling leaves coming from the bushes below caught both your and Illumi's attention.

You snapped your head in the direction of the sound just in time to see some rando jump out at you. You swiftly dodge their attack, hitting them on the back of the neck and watching them fall to the ground, paralyzed. You could only assume that they drew your number at the beginning of the phase. You had already collected all the points you needed, but decided to take any badges off of the person before you.

"I don't really need these, but you tried attacking me and I don't like that very much. And it was a lousy attempt at that," you scoff, standing up and holding the two badges you just pulled out of their vest.

Illumi both heard and watched the scene unfold, now knowing what your voice sounds like. Again, it was quite odd for a woman.

"Oh and you can stop watching me now," you speak up again, looking up towards Illumi's spot in the tree.

He was impressed to say the least. Managing to notice the eldest of the Zoldyck children was a feat of its own but you had somehow known since the beginning. Maybe if he was attracted to you, which by the way he totally isn't, it wouldn't be so bad. You could be a fine addition to the family.

Having been caught, he jumped down from his spot in the tree and stood to face you.

"Nice work. You took out your opponent with a single blow and managed to notice me despite my concealed presence," he complimented.

"I know my way around the human body. And as for you," you say, looking him up and down. "I just happen to be very vigilant."

Now that he had gotten a chance to speak to you and has seen the smallest glimpse of what you're capable of, Illumi decides to cut to the chase. Despite you being a complete stranger, he had deemed you worthy enough to bring you to Kukuroo mountain and watch your attempt at the testing gates. His mother would be happy to find out that he had found a potential suitor. If anything were to go wrong Illumi was confident that you wouldn't be able to take him on, let alone the entire family.

"Why don't you come back home with me after this is all over. Assuming you survive, of course."

Your eyes widen slightly at his straightforwardness before you let out a laugh and offer your answer.

"Sure thing pretty boy but there's one thing you should know first. I'm a man."

Illumi's brain flat lines at those 3 simple words and all he can let out is a confused "Oh."

Those weird things he noticed about you now made sense. This wasn't the worst thing ever considering he was already technically married to Hisoka(a man) for business. And from what Illumi can tell you're strong and have a good sense of fashion, meaning his mother would like you. The only possible issue in pursuing you was that the two of you probably wouldn't be able to have biological children.

While Illumi was having an inner battle, you caress his shoulder as you walked away.

"I'll leave you to think about that for a while."

A shock traveled down his spine as he stood, finally coming to a decision.

Fuck it, I'll make it work.

[pomplalamoose]

Ooohhh how about different eras of luke (ROTJ is my fav if doing one is easier) and maybe some modern dilf!luke 👀 reacting to you laying your head on his shoulder when you’re tired or have a headache pre-relationship?

Anonnn, you don't understand, I'm obsessed with this ask. I just HAD to do every single Luke era plus the Dilf AU as the cherry on top because it's been so long since I last wrote something wholesome😩

also it reminds me of the posts I used to do when I first started writing and ngl I'm feeling a little nostalgic

• sweet ANH Luke with his open smile and honest eyes is so easy to approach and befriend, resting your head on his shoulder comes almost naturally

• though unbeknownst to you he'd immediately be on the brink to loose his mind

• already he tends to be a little jittery with nerves whenever you randomly appear in the same room he is in

• even more so now that he's finally admitted his major crush on you to himself

• so just imagine his excitement the moment you decide to sit next to him

• as soon as your head touches his shoulder he goes bright red and doesn't dare to move in fear of accidentally shooing you away, his heart beating wildly in his chest

• for a slight moment he forgets how to breathe, though it's not like he minds

• this is the best day of his life

• not only does he finally get to feel the warmth of having you so close by his side, but also your soft hair aginst his cheek if he dares to tilt his head just a little bit

• when eventually he manages to somewhat normalize his breathing, his thoughts will start to wander

• he's SO proud you're clearly comfortable and feeling safe with him

• but should he strike up a conversation? Ask how you're doing? If everything's okay?

• maybe he could make you laugh

• your hands look so soft; what if he were to reach out and just take them in his?

• would you mind?

• he's not sure, his aren't as pretty and smooth as yours

• you smell very nice

• wouldn't your current position make you look like a couple to an outsider passing by?

• what if, and he feels very bold just considering, but, what if you...like him?

• quickly enough he has a very hard time remaining calm

• and how could he? He needs to tell someone about this RIGHT NOW

• good luck trying to catch ESB Luke sitting still for even once

• though should you be as lucky to catch him during a moment of rest and manage to lean on him, he'll feel similarly as ANH Luke; excited, a little nervous even, though not as much as his younger self would have been

• still he has to fight off the blush rising into his cheeks and will absolutely deny ever changing colors should someone (especially Leia, Han or even R2) point it out

• at the same time he wishes for as many as possible to witness this very monumental moment, hoping everyone will see that you're leaning on HIS shoulder

• HIS!

• yeah that's right! In your face, (add in name of random rebellion member that also takes an interest in you)!!!

• if he's feeling extra bold, he may use the chance to put an arm around your shoulder

• but very carefully so; he's afraid to overstep any of your boundaries

• after all he's not sure if you'd even like to be held

• there's only one problem: how is he supposed to do anything now?

• he has places to be, things to do, an Empire to fight!

• he's getting kind of warm too

• more than that actually

• Force, are you hiding a heater under all of your layers of clothing?

• also he just remembered; isn't there a meeting he has to attend?

• shouldn't he be working to improve his x-wing?

• he'll check on you out of the corner of his eye, trying to get a feeling for how long you plan to stay like this

• he needs to come up with a way to notify the others of his delay

• because there's no way he's moving even a single muscle

• he's not leaving you behind

• he simply can't!

• not when he was just chosen as your designated spot to rest your pretty but, admittedly, very heavy head

• but not to worry, of course he can handle it!

• he'll be here as long as you need him to be

• RotJ and post RotJ Luke is hard to keep tabs on and thus hard to find

• all you can hope for is to encounter him by pure chance, as he seems to simply have evaporated whenever you wander around searching for him

• though despite his withdrawn ways he's always welcoming and inviting should you happen upon him

• he, above anyone else, understands the importance of rest during a busy day

• he smiles mildly to himself as soon as you settle down and scoot close enough for your arms to touch

• the emotions you are unconsciously emitting, may it be nervousness, excitement or shyness, amuse him a great deal and he's keen to see whether you'll overcome them this time or not

• I don't think he'd tell you outright that he enjoys your presence, that it tends to calm him down and to ease his mind, until much later

• but despite what he is or isn't saying he can't help but feel a little warm inside whenever you come across him during the day

• despite that he can never not worry at least a little bit about your well-being and immediately feels the need to check in on you either with words or a gentle probe with the Force to make sure you're okay

• if he has the time to stay with you for a while he asks if you'd like to lay down

• see, he can shuffle to the side a little and then you could rest your head on his thigh instead of on his shoulder

• wouldn't that be more comfortable?

• he doesn't have a blanket in case you're cold, but maybe you could use his cloak?

• it's not the best, maybe a little rough and still a little dirty from his last trip as he didn't have the time to wash it yet, but it does a good job of keeping a person warm

• he doesn't show how happy he is should you follow his invite and agree to rest beside him, though maybe Leia would notice

• and possibly so would you by how he'd start to absentmindedly stroke your head and play with your hair whenever others are around to keep him properly distracted

• I think Dilf!Luke's reaction would really depend on the current situation/ on how far your relationship has already developed at that point

• here it's important to note though that he'd never tell you off or send you away for initiating contact, not even after just recently getting to know you

• yes he's standoffish and withdrawn, cold in demeanor, seemingly displeased with your presence in his house

• but when it comes down to it he is kind, always has been, even if he hides it away to protect himself

• his behavior towards you is nothing personal; the emotions you call forth are his to deal with

• he may try to at first but ultimately knows deep down that he can't hold you accountable for how his past still troubles him

• he's a father, deeply caring in nature

• no matter what, he could never bring himself to deny anyone his child's age comfort

• though he might be a little confused about why you chose him, of all people, to rest your head on

• after all it's not like he's been going out of his way to be peculiarly inviting or nice - quite the contrary actually

• he'll remain very still for the duration of your vicinity, involuntarily stiffening not only out of surprise but because it's been so long that anyone outside of his immediate family initiated intimacy

• he's so touch starved, so used to rarely feeling a person's warmth, that your simple act catches him off guard

• suddenly he has no idea what to do, how to continue on after

• for your own good and his child's sake he wants to keep you at an arm's length and yet...

• if he wasn't enamored with you before, he is so now

• he thinks back to those moments of doubt and insecurity frequently

• but where they once haunted him, they now serve as a reminder for how far he's come and what he was able to finally leave behind

• he's proud of himself too, yes, but most of all to call you his

• every little touch of yours, and may it be one as innocent as laying your head on his shoulder, fills him with joy

• never, in a thousand years, would he once have believed to be in a position to reciprocate your gentle displays of trust and affection

• but now that he can, now that everything feels a little less like a dream, it's all he wants to do

• (and he does)

• (forehead kisses are his favorite way to, he can't help it)

• (not when you placed yourself so conveniently)

[sserajeans]

let's get this straight!

danielle marsh x fem! reader

synopsis: danielle is affectionate. y/n? even more. after months of confusion, danielle finally confronts her.

others + genre: 6th member reader, 05 liner reader, daerin bffs, y/n is literally over-affectionate to danielle ONLY, daniy/n being the same age plays in their dynamics (they banter more freely basically) + fluff!!

notes: requested, I TRIED TO MAKE IT AS LONG AS POSSIBLE BUT IDK WHY THE BRAIN ISN'T SLAYING.... I RLY HOPE U ENJOY.. idk why i never proofread....

danielle has always been known to be affectionate. the human depiction of sunshine in every single way possible. she just loves to love! and that goes especially for her members.

but you were a different case. if one would rate danielle’s affection a 10/10, you broke the scale. and much to your members’ dismay (just hanni and hyein’s), this scale-breaking affection was only directed to little ms sunshine herself.

and it’s not that danielle hated it, she could just never get used to it. someone being more affectionate and loving than her? why were you that doting with her anyways?

it drove her crazy thinking about it. she was always clingy with her members, never missing out a single opportunity to show her love for them, but when it’s you everything became a struggle.

haerin would know all about the toll your affection has taken on dani. she was her go-to whenever her head was full of you, and the younger always had one consistent response.

“she likes you, you like her. do me a favor and date.”

example 1:

whoever had the idea of watching a horror movie (hyein) was dead to you.

no one knew why watching a horror movie half of the group didn’t enjoy was a way to celebrate the release of attention’s music video, but no one could resist hyein. what hyein wants, hyein gets.

because now you were tucking your legs under your oversized hoodie, blanket covering most of your face, and all of it when a jumpscare came on screen.

and of course, because the star align in your favor, one final jumpscare had you jumping 1cm from the couch, and just your luck.

danielle was right beside you.

your arms wrapped around her frame almost immediately, and usually she’d shift a bit due to the sudden movement, but the moment she heard your mild shaking she felt so bad.

your head rested on between her neck and shoulder, eyes shut as you could still hear from the dialogue that the murder scene was definitely still playing.

she hated how you could read her so well, because the moment you realized her face was warming up since you were clinging onto her, a smug look on your face grew rapidly. suddenly the horror movie was forgotten.

“ohh… did i just make the danielle marsh blush?” you whispered carefully in english, making sure none of the other girls heard you.

you swore a smile flashed on her face before she replaced it with a very forced poker face.

“you wanna watch this movie alone?” she looked to her right, realizing hanni and hyein dozed off, haerin was on her phone, and minji left for “toilet issues”.

you playfully rolled your eyes before keeping your mouth shut, pulling yourself closer to danielle as the movie continued playing.

haerin had it all on video.

example 2:

the girls were in the salon getting their hair dyed and cut. it was a mixture of nervousness and excitement that filled the room, but more the former for danielle.

“unnie, there’s seriously nothing to worry about. you look nice with the new cut.” haerin stated as she stood up to replace danielle’s spot on the salon chair.

“it’s good! i’m just a bit worried… our fans always talk about our longer natural hair so i just hope they like this just as much…” the older muttered as she took haerin’s place on the couch behind the 3 salon chairs.

and right on cue, you walked in, hair wrapped in a towel as your hair stylist had just finished the final rinse before unveiling a blue color that complemented hanni’s purple very well.

you looked up from your phone, overhearing the previous conversation, and hanni (who had just finished her dye and cut) swore she saw your eyes double in size the moment they landed on danielle.

“hey… does your butt hurt? ‘cuz like that fall from heaven looked pr-”

“Y/N!”

“YOU LOOK SO GOOD?”

“...thank you.” her cheeks went up a shade of red, something you never fail to witness. she looked away, conveniently engrossed in a tiktok, before muttering once more. “kinda needed that…”

“i literally can’t breathe right now oh my god.” haerin laughed at the scene in front of her, waving her right hand in front of you to act as a fan blowing air. she’s always been the #1 daniy/n supporter.

“ohh y/n-unnie made dani-unnie so red!” hyein covered her mouth in the most dramatic way possible, to which danielle responded with a shove to her side. hyein made sure to never make her daniy/n comments when she was that close to the aussie ever again.

back to present day, danielle was having another freak out session with her free therapist, haerin.

“because WHY did she do that?!” she was rolling side to side on haerin’s bed, voice muffled by the pillow she covered her face with.

haerin chuckled at the sight of her best friend in distress.

for context, you were today’s ending fairy for OMG, and as the camera zoomed out, you dragged danielle (who was right beside you anyways), and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which left her extremely, super, very, red.

“oh! look at this! #TomatoDani trending #1 on twitter!” haerin pulled out her phone to scroll through the tag, and true enough, the timeline was full of your ending fairy clip, and no one failed to coo at dani’s reaction.

“you’re not helping!” danielle attempted to throw the pillow at haerin, only to fail completely, causing haerin to laugh even more.

“seriously just talk to her. if you actually don’t like it then tell her. she knows boundaries.”

“yes i know! i know that…”

“you kinda like it don’t you.”

“...”

“man i love being right.”

“it’s just so… frustrating!” danielle finally sat up to face haerin eye-to-eye. the cat-eyed girl was pre-occupied with her phone, but the older knew she was listening.

“expand?” haerin was really playing the therapist well right now.

“i just don’t understand, okay? i like how she makes me feel special and everything a-”

“okay so you like her.”

“let me finish…”

“right, sorry!

“and at this point yeah, i can say i like her. but i don’t wanna be the one falling for overly-affectionate straight girl.”

“who said unnie was straight?”

“she worships that harry styles poster like it’s jesus.”

“so does hanni-unnie?”

“that’s not my point!” danielle ruffled her hair with both her hands. who would’ve thought this little crush on you was so taxing.

“listen, you lose nothing if you talk about it with her.”

“what if i’ve been reading things wrong and it gets really embarrassing?” and just like that, danielle was back to crashing her face on another pillow.

“first of all, this is y/n-unnie we’re talking about. secondly, i’m like 99.9% sure she’s at least not straight.” haerin sighed, she just wanted her bed back.

“what if i’m that 0.1%-”

“TALK TO HER!”

haerin wasn’t angry, but danielle knew she was making a point when the younger raised her voice a bit. she begrudgingly left haerin’s room while the owner giving her a thumbs up for encouragement.

hesitantly, she knocked on the door of your shared bedroom with hanni.

“dani? come in!” you knew it was her. no one else knocked on doors that were already open halfway.

she walked in and sat on the foot of your bed, back facing you as you sat up from your previous position. “i don’t know how i’m supposed to talk to you like this you know.”

danielle turned halfway, not wanting to face you completely. something about doing so would make her feel 10x more nervous about the whole situation.

“anyways, what do you need me for?”

“y/ni’venoticedyou’reextraaffectionatetomeandireallylikeyousoiwaswonderingifyoudidtooorifthatwasjustyoubeinginasillygoofym-”

“WOAH! slow down please!” you stood up in surprise and moved to sit beside her.

she took a deep breath, gathering the courage to first, face you. “sorry about that…”

“no worries… could you repeat that?”

“okay! right, sure. so uhm, i know you’re quite affectionate with me. IDON’TMINDIT… by the way. in case you were worried about that.”

you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, you were relieved she was fine with it (after months of acting like she wasn’t), but also because now you had no idea as to where the conversation was headed.

“so uhm… yeah! i like you and i was wondering if you felt the same or if you were straight and joking around this whole time because it’s been messing with me, really, and haerin has been bugging me to talk to you about it just to get things cleared up.”

the moment she looked up from her rambling, she was greeted by a warm smile she grew to be comforted by, rather than flustered. you scratched your head briefly and looked away before chuckling a bit.

this tied a dozen knots in danielle’s stomach, because why weren’t you saying anything? but god that smile was so distracting...

“well, to get things straight, i’m not. and i honestly thought i made it clear…”

“what do you mean?”

“i mean that i like you. i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t give a cheek kiss for someone i didn’t think of that way.” you looked up, pretending to be deep in thought. “i wouldn’t give up my umbrella on a heavy downpour either, or cut myself peeling crab.”

“right." never has danielle blushed this hard in her life. the heat made her feel dizzy at this point. "so whatever this is…?”

“it’s a mutual thing if that’s what you needed to know.” you leaned over slowly with a smile evident on your face. you fixed her hair carefully because some of her layers had gone out of place from her little vent session with haerin. and honestly, your gentle touch only drove her crazier.

“right, where do we go from here?”

“dating sounds really nice, no?”

“yeah, it does.” you both smiled, resting your forehead against hers with both of your eyes shut. it was an exhausting day.

you later found out the next morning that hanni (under hyein’s orders) left her phone to voice record for blackmail. why your roommate even listened to the maknae was beyond you.

[glitterguts13]

An Alien Isolation AU:

Male Rover (Yin) is trapped on an abandoned ship after discovering that it was a trap laid by the alien hybrid experiment, Scar or rather known in the files as SC-4R

Rover is now all alone, trying to escape and not trying to become Scar’s little breeding ground (depending on if you want to do a good ending or bad ending or the neutral ending where he escapes not knowing that he was knocked up)

(The outfit for Rover to wear is similar to Rei Ayanami’s plug suit from Neon Genesis Evangelion)

The correct answer is always, the bad ending.

TW: Implied rape/non-con, forced breeding, eggpreg

Nothing about this mission went right. The crew was dead, the ship was stuck in limbo, and not a single call for help was being answered. A quick supply run, drop off the goods at the station, and be back home before the end of the month!

With the door to the command center sealed off, Rover thumbs through the files the now-dead captain had been keeping hidden. His throat tightens as he reads over the pages, blood going cold at the large chunks of redacted information.

The crew itself had been the supply drop...the target this...creature that was created by the company. Alien? Human? A bastard mixture of the two, hungry for flesh and only being kept at bay with bi-yearly "offerings."

SC-4R showed intelligence far beyond an ordinary human, speed comparable to a cheetah, and a bite force unheard of by any earthly animal.

Beware the knife-like tail, dagger-like claws and canine teeth the size of a grown man's pinky finger. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if it just killed you on the spot, but no, this thing played.

One by one the crew had gone missing, but Rover doubts they could have stopped SC-4R if they had known.

Something pricks the back of Rover's neck, and he slaps the spot reflexively.

He blinks.

Nothing was supposed to be able to penetrate the suit he was wearing, how could he have felt anything at all?

Stomach twisting, he turns, slowly.

The air vent was hanging open, the form of something hovering behind him. Long tail twisting lazily, pointed tip glistening with some liquid in the dim light.

Before the scream can leave his throat, Rover is pinned over the captain's desk.

"Finally..." the creature purred, long tongue running a strip across Rover's cheek, "A proper broodmare."

"I'm not your mate," he tried to reason, "I'm a man."

SC-4R laughs, rough and a shallow imitation of the sound.

"Eggs go in...eggs come out. Just need to be safe and warm..." a large hand palms at Rover's flat belly, his legs trembling.

"Don't be scared," the creature's voice drips like water, echoing like a broken radio, sounding human but too rehearsed to be natural, "I'll keep you safe..."

The knife-like tail slices the backside of Rover's suit open, leaving him prone.

"You'll be...a good...mother."

~~~

Nestled in a bed of soiled sheets and pillows, Rover howls in agony. The one sleek plug suit barely clinging to his arms and legs, the belly torn open allowing his swollen womb space to grow.

SC-4R is close by, smiling widely and purring.

"Good...good Rover." his name sounds like a mockery coming from those thin lips, and the way the alien's ice-cold hands rub circles over his aching belly cause a sob to slip from his throat.

"Kill me...please, kill me!"

The monster moves closer, looking all too pleased.

"Good work...eggs are ready." he nuzzles into Rover's neck, nipping at the red, bitten skin. In only a week Rover's flat belly had grown into a heavy swell, quivering with life as the eggs inside tumbled about while his muscles continually strained around them.

"No...no, please...Scar...I don't want to..." it's pointless to beg, but Rover isn't sure what else to do. His body had changed, morphed into something he couldn't recognize. Doing things it had no business doing, harboring life the universe wasn't prepared for.

With another chuckle, Scar's tail flicks into the air. The pointed tip jabbed into Rover's bulging navel. It burns, hot and bright, his back arching off the floor, eyes going wide as a silence scream falls from his lips.

All at once, something thick and sticky bursts from his hole, and his womb begins to contract.

"Good Rover," SC-4R chips, "Will have lots of babies...never...be alone...again..."

[shinakazami1]

TapeMan theory (TSP ramble)

Quick ramble before sleep

In the original Tape Ending, the discussion of the nature of the Narrator is brought in. He says that it's ridiculous we would find him to be just a recording but then...Why is he still in the game post-epilogue?

In my opinion, where TSP shines most is ambiguity. The main source of the information we get is from a man who constantly shows that the game doesn't quite care about.

But - this is supposed to be about the TapeMan, right? Why am I talking about this? You will see in a sec.

One of the important details is that the tape recorder is hidden behind a vent. And you know what else is hidden behind it?

That's right - The Memory Zone. Narrator's safe spot from everybody else but also, his subconsciousness. A storage of good memories.

The Tape too, is in a hidden part of a warehouse, nicely paralleling the Memory Zone. For a moment, let's go to the Bucket - a symbol of confidence, progress and comfort. But also, of madness and obsession. It changes people's psyche - or, more likely, enhances some parts.

TapeMan character shows something we see often in the game:

1) Loss of time concept - on one hand, he says what day it is and we even get the tape number but when we look more into his dialogue, it's visible the time passage is becoming a foreign thing.

2) The need to keep having it with him but also to monetize it - just like the people at the New Content presentation, or Narry with the 3rd swimming pool. But it's THE Bucket - even if there is a replacement one, this single one holds all the power. Interesting.

3) He knows who Gambhorra'ta is. They got only mentioned in the Out Of Bounds, this ending and the Bucket Museum but I will try to not retour too much here - WHY and how would Tape know about a supposed evil wizard from a war a long time ago?

My main headcanon is that - TapeMan is a character, just like the Wife that Narrator is playing.

Think about it - 295 days is less than a year. But in the Parable universe, time is weird and the only real passage we get is Countdown and... the Skip Button. I have my own headcanons as to what happened during the latter but for now, I will spare those details.

However - a detail I will discuss is the name of the tape.

Evidence #252.

TapeMan says it's "tape number", not evidence. And while it's a small nitpick - I think it's an important one. Because between the days and tape numbers, we are missing around 40 days. It's plausible that he first found the Bucket and only later realised that something was up. But also - it is possible that someone else named this tape.

You have to remember that the tape recorder is the same and it still says Narrator on it. For me - the day, while showing that the maddening process took time - it's supposed to also be like "Hey wait a minute, there is time in here???".

Sure - the Narrator himself knows when the first game got released but the passage of time is very wonky in the place. So - for it to be the first thing, to mimic a typical recording...huh. Isn't that something the Narrator already did in a normal version of the ending?

Tapeman to the Narrator is a commentary on how something so cherished gets taken and how greed consumes people. The Bucket here can symbolise many things but here, it might be his game. And that sickening madness, waiting for the Player to come back is what TapeMan might be.

Or maybe it's just another recording. Or it's a man losing his mind over an everyday object that somebody poured their whole heart and being into.

But who am I to judge.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Epic Novel with Historical Context

Anonymous asked: I'm working on a novel with one of its major themes being historical and transgenerational trauma. I have three main characters in the present day, who are suddenly faced with war. Their fates, natures, and reactions parallel those of their ancestors who lived under WWII, whilst the experiences of their WWII ancestors often mirror the personal, smaller scale backstories and traumas of my main characters. Now, my issue is, I could write this tale in two drastically differing manners. I could cut out the backstories and prolific details of the ancestors, but keep the parallels as the stories of unnamed/unrelated historical figures, making it a shorter, more symbolical tale. Or, I could go the "Victor Hugo direction" and keep everything, including the elaborate family tree of brilliant, vibrant characters that feel too real, and the arcs that go with it. The bigger issue is I don't want to make this into a series or spin-off. I could technically write a whole new book about them, but it would cut them off from their contexts. And I'm afraid if I just mention the characters and give them one or two characteristic scenes, the readers would wonder about the significance of these characters to the main story, which is close to none. Is there a compromise?

[Ask edited for length]

First, thanks for putting the highlights in bold. It did help me comprehend everything. ♥

As for which route you take, it really depends on your situation and intentions with this story. If you're just writing it for yourself and maybe to share with friends, I think you can definitely go the Victor Hugo route and have fun exploring the whole epic story.

If you plan to pursue traditional publishing, you'll have a difficult time finding an agent and/or publisher who are interested in an epic from a debut author. Bigger books are a bigger financial investment, which makes them a bigger risk, and readers are trending toward shorter books anyway. That said, the longer your book, the harder it will be to find a publisher. Right now, the sweet spot for debut authors is around 90k words. Yes, you can certainly go higher than that--and many do--but again, every 10k above that you go, the more you decrease your odds of finding a publisher. No matter what, you would want to try to stay under 150k words or so. Fantasy novels have been known to debut at 200k, but it's really rare and always a case where every single word is absolutely needed.

If you plan to self-publish, you have a little more leeway, but the higher your word count, the higher your base price will need to be. There are also limits on length through various POD publishers. E-books have size limits, but you'd be unlikely to come up against those even with a super epic length book. So... ultimately, if you're okay with self-publishing this book as an e-book only, the sky is the limit in terms of length. That doesn't mean people will buy it, though.

Ultimately, I do think finding a compromise is your best bet, and one way you could do that is by zeroing in on one or a few of the ancestors for the parallel rather than a whole family tree worth of people. If your three characters are closely related--a mom and two children; a grandmother, mother, and child; or three siblings--you could easily focus on just one ancestor belonging to all three of them. If the characters are less closely related or not related at all, you could probably do one ancestor for each of them. And if you want to delve more into the ancestor's stories to explore more of those family trees, you can do a companion novel which isn't a brand new book or a sequel/series, but something in the middle... almost like a spin-off TV show where it takes side characters from one show and gives them their own show.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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[bloodpen-to-paper]

not to get all BD x Sxf buuuuuuuut

Miri and Anya both having parents who kill. Anya being a telepath in the middle of a cold war, making it hard for her to have connections, friends. Miri having two absolute messes of men as a family unit who she is at least vaguely aware of do dangerous stuff for their job, which has singled her out in the past, made it hard to fit in. Anya's complicated. Miri's life is messy. Them becoming friends and not judging each other, understanding the other more than you could ever know. Them making the other feel just as much of a kid as they should be. Them being kids.

Yor and Kazuki swapping meal recipes, making food together. Gushing about their kids and promising to arrange more playdates between the two. Pointedly avoiding that topic, that they're both killers for hire, not normal. Because right now they get to be normal, they get to share a domestic moment that all the other parents naturally have, but they have to struggle to be in. Opening up a bit more about that part each time they have a get together, because keeping secrets makes you lonely, because as much as Yor wants to be in with the housewives she sees around her, as much as Kazuki wanted so desperately to be a father, neither of them got that chance. But they have Anya now, they have Miri, and as fate would have it, they now have each other.

Rei gaming while Loid cleans his guns on the couch next him, basking in awkward, untrusting silence. Until the next time it happens, because Yor and Kazuki won't stop dragging them along to the kids' playdates (its definitely for the kids, totally not for Yor and Kazuki). Then it happens again, and again, until the silence isn't so suffocatingly thick, its calmer now, easier. Kinda nice actually. They have their spots on the couch now, each keeping a watchful eye over their respective child, until watching over my child becomes watching over the children. Cause if I'm overseeing my kid, might as well keep an eye on the other one right? She seems nice, makes mine happy. And I respect the other guy too, I guess. And it becomes a thing now, the two of them casually swapping kill counts and talking about life on the job, the differences between being a hitman and a government agent... being fathers. Partners. And knowing how deep that love runs without having to say anything to the other cause hey, he gets it. He gets me.

[nuoyipeach]

My Alpha

Kang Seulgi X Lee Taeyong

warnings: none really

tags: @seulyongggi @gerardeveryway @gomseulgiii @innssanityyy

so this is actually one of my first oneshots from like 2018 lol, I was going thru my wattpad & figured it deserves a revised version (different pairing as well hahah), hope you guys enjoy it♡

Just as I woke up, memories of yesterday flashed by my eyes, and I remembered. I am no longer the young Luna Seulgi. I am no longer the only daughter of the Alpha from Kang Pack. And, I am no longer single.

I slowly opened my eyes, and saw silk, heaving up and down, and knew instantly who's chest this was. I thought about doing something to see how he feels about this marriage.

Yes, this was an arranged marriage, between me, the young Luna of Kang Pack, and him, the Alpha of the Lee Pack, the strongest there is. But it isn't entirely arranged. Mine was under risk of threat from their Pack, and so I suggested to my parents to marry me to him, to keep my family safe. Of course my parents were reluctant about it, but here I am, the morning after my wedding to the strongest Alpha there was, Lee Taeyong. He accepted obviously, but I was still curious as to how he really feels.

I stared as his chest heaved up and down, and thought about what to do. Slowly, I snaked my hand around him, and snuggled into his chest. He is my husband now, so why not? Suddenly, I felt his arm go around me, hugging me tight to his body. The corner of my lips twitched, but then, his next move caught me off guard.

His head is suddenly in the crook of my neck, and I freeze feeling his teeth on my skin. He was still pulling me closer, cuddling I assume, but I was confused what he's trying to do. A few moments in, he's now on top of me, and I now can tell what he's doing.

Taeyong laid on top of her, biting into her neck in different spots. She squirmed under his weight, but being the patient young lady she was, did not think to push him away.

He's my husband now, so I shouldn't mind.

She felt a sudden pierce in her neck, and groaned in pain, grabbing his arms tight. Finally he looked up at her.

He stared at me with such frightful eyes, so I kept still. "Taeyong..." I tried to call him softly.

"You have no right to call me that." he growled. "To you, I must be called Your Majesty. Understood?"

I of course nodded. I've heard stories of this Alpha, and he was not one to be unpleased. I've heard how many have died, or how many were tortured. So all I have to do is comply with him.

"And remember, no matter what I do, I will never love you."

My heart broke into pieces? No. I knew this would come. But I couldn't care less. I did this to keep my family safe, and that has happened.

And besides, I have seen my parents. Their's was a completely arranged marriage, to the point where they only saw each other's faces on the day of their wedding for the first time. Yet after few months, and until now, they cherish each other whole heartedly. My mother always told me how they even slept in different rooms at first, and now they can never think of having different beds.

So I nodded, and could see the slight shock in his eyes.

>>> 

Seulgi walked around the Palace garden, observing the nature around her. She was not sad, at all. She enjoyed her life as it was. Her maiden had told her in secret that after she came along, the Pack became much calmer than before, and she was happy to have made a change for them.

"Would you like me to take some flowers for your room Your Highness?" my maiden asked as I touched a rose. I smiled back and shook my head.

"They are beautiful as they are. There is no need to do so. If I want to see them, I'll come outside."

She looked at me with an unreadable expression, but I didn't bother. We returned to the Palace, met by the running around of the other servants. The Palace was always busy, but never this chaotic, so I stopped a man to asked what was happening.

"Your Highness, the Alpha is angered. His mistress was seen with another man, and it has been known that they are marrying today. The Alpha is furious, close to destroying the Kingdom."

Was I surprised? No. I knew about his mistress, since before our marriage. Did I care? Not really. Until a certain point, I didn't bother. But right now, I need to find him. I ran up to our personal floor, and watched as servants flew out of the study room. I went closer, avoiding all the flying forms of wolves and human, until I found him, and a destroyed study.

Taeyong faced the back of the room, breathing heavily as he slowly switched forms again, back to human.

"Your Majesty."

"Leave Seulgi." he spat out. "Leave now before I kill you!"

I continued to get closer. "How can I? You may not like it, but you still are my husband. It is my duty to care for you." I held his shoulders from behind, and slowly enveloped him, resting my head on his shoulder. "Please calm down. We can resolve this somehow. Don't worry."

I could hear him huff. "Are you not hurt? I have a mistress, and you're going to help me resolve this?"

I nod my head, because that was the only truth.

"Leave Seulgi. Now!"

"Yes, your Majesty."

>>> 

"Your Highness, his Majesty had the mistress executed, and the man exiled." the servant told me while serving me tea.

But I honestly couldn't care less.

"Oh. Alright."

"Are you not perhaps happy?" he asked me.

"Happy? About what?" there was nothing for me to be happy or sad about. I did not know her, I did not care for her.

"Never mind. His Majesty would like you to come up to your bedroom." he said finally before taking the tray away.

I nodded and signaled him to leave. I closed my book and left the now fixed study and arrived at our room. As I entered I noticed how dark it was, unusual since it was noon. The curtains had all been left closed, and no candles were lit except two or three.

"Your Majesty," I called once seeing Taeyong on the bed, facing the other way, "you called."

"Get over here Seulgi, right now."

I stood in front of him, and he looked up at me, eyes as if full of fire. Suddenly, he grabbed my arms, and pulled me down on top of him, sat on his lap.

"I have killed her. Are you happy?"

"If you feel relieved, then I am."

"Are you happy I got rid of her? Speak for yourself!" he growled, his hold on my arms tightening.

"But, I have nothing to do with her, your Majesty. I have never seen her, and know nothing about her. What is she to me whether dead or alive?"

>>> 

I love to dance. Whenever I am bored, I find amusement in dancing. And since I have come here, I made sure the garden is completely mine, no one else, except Taeyong, is allowed to enter without me present. He granted me this wish easily, so now I can dance whenever I want.

I wore my favourite black dress, and danced away to my own music box. It was not a way of stress relief, I don't get stressed. It's just a hobby.

As she danced away, a figure appeared not too far from her, and approached the flowers. With anger built up in him, he starts ripping at the flowers, pulling and scratching off the petals and leaves. He growled and groaned, causing the young lady to turn to his direction.

It was Taeyong. And he was killing the flowers, and that was something I was against. But seeing him behave that way, I know I have to step in. So I did.

"Your Majesty?"

He stopped, heaving deep breaths. "Seulgi... Why did it have to come to this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Why did I not realise before, this was all a terrible mistake?"

He is drunk. I can tell.

"Your Majesty, let's retire for tonight. Come with me." I gently held his arm, careful of his reaction.

He didn't react, instead turning to me. His eyes were sorrowful, something I had never seen in an Alpha before. "Seulgi, if you were given the choice, would you love me, or hate me?"

"I would love you."

"Why? Why can you not just hate me?"

"Because I have no reason to. Why should I hate you?" he pulled his arm away from my hold.

"I have never shown you any affection. I kept my mistress even after marriage. I took you away from your family and Pack. Why would you still love me?"

"Because I still married you knowing all this. I knew you would not like me, I knew about your mistress, and I knew I would leave my Pack behind. And yet, here I am, as your wife." I smiled a little. His expression changed, and he grabbed my arms, pulling me closer to him. I held his as well, trying to keep balance. He suddenly hugged me, and I could feel my shoulder getting wet.

He's crying. Why, I don't understand. I simply hugged him back and stroked his hair, trying my best to soothe him. "Why are you crying, Your Majesty?"

"Don't call me that anymore Seulgi."

"Yes..." then, what do I call him?

"Yours. Call me yours. When someone asks who I am, I want to be known as yours. I want everyone to know that I belong to you. I am only your Alpha."

Am I happy? Of course. He's finally confessed, and I'm more than happy. I hugged him tighter, and left a soft kiss on his cheek, to which, I could feel, he froze.

"Taeyong, let's go back inside." I whispered to him.

"Can we sleep together?"

"Of course. We're married. We're supposed to sleep together."

"No Seulgi."

He pushed me out, holding my shoulders tight.

"Can we sleep, together?"

He was emphasising, and I finally understood what he meant.

Taeyong pushed her down to the bed, their kisses getting more rough and passionate. He tugged on the hem of her dress, hands sneaking up her bare skin and squeezing her body wherever he could, to which she moaned.

"Taeyong." he let go of her lips to look at her. "If you were to choose, would you love me, or hate me?"

"There is only one answer to that." he responded, the softest she had ever heard him speak. "I hate that I love you, because I love you so much it makes me weak... I wondered what type of Alpha that made me, my ego wouldn't let me accept it." he lowered his face again, their noses touching as he pressed his against hers. "But now I know, loving my mate makes me stronger."

He kissed her again, not leaving any space between their bodies, their clothes peeled off one at a time, pulling her closer until they became one.

>>> 

My maiden told me today that the Pack has never been so peaceful and happy before. I have achieved my life goal, to make the people around me happy, by doing anything possible. And I did. I married their Alpha, my Alpha, and made him happy, even myself.

Seulgi finished writing, when the pen was suddenly taken away from her. She looked behind her and smiled at the man, who had been watching her. He smiled back, and suddenly wrote at the bottom of the page, and she read as he wrote each word.

"Now, we will be happier than before, because I am carrying my Alpha's child."

Taeyong closed the diary, and pulled her out of her chair, one hand holding her waist, while the other carassed her big tummy. She threw her hands around his neck, and they smiled at each other.

"What am I Seulgi?"

"You are the leader of the Lee Pack." I teased, smiling as he scoffed.

"And..."

I love him so much, my smile meant so much more than fun, and I knew his did too.

"You are my Alpha."

>>> 

[doveshovel]

Starter Horse/JWB model update thoughts :)

Honestly, I like a lot about the current JWB. The face is very very cute, fits the game's style, and the expressions are great :) The coat variations are very fun. The idle animations are all lovely. etc.

If possible, it would be nice to take the same model and just. squish it around so the proportions are slightly less... noodle-y?

The back legs especially look like they bend forward too much when standing still, the angle of the fetlock looks too straight, and the pastern (if that's the right term for that spot between the fetlock and hoof??) seems too short to me? That could be a personal thing though since I have a habit of drawing those bones too long. I tried to match proportions more closely to a couple other warmblood breeds in the version on the left ⬇️

Head and neck are bigger (and angled down slightly. but again, that's probably more a personal preference. I think it looks more natural that way), legs slightly shorter with the hock's angle adjusted. Fetlocks marginally longer and pulled forward.

I'm not an expert on horse anatomy or anything-- just some guy who likes looking at them and knows some bones, but those are some changes I'd make. :) WizardEgg's usually drawn more like a thoroughbred than a warmblood anyways so. maybe im biased or something :/

Have the mane and tail more like other G3 horses. Some little mane animations instead of a single clump glued to their neck would be nice.

The walk, trot, canter and gallop animations all look ok to me? Not the absolute best, but given that the JWB isn't a real breed that their team can go reference, I think they're pretty good.

The fast/faster gallops have got to go though. They throw me off every time. The weird thing is that I can't even pinpoint what exactly is wrong with them?? Seeing it in motion makes my brain go "something is very very wrong here. why is the horse made of rubber" but then it looks more-or-less fine in screenshots???? Have I just been using Disco (mustang) too much, and now any non-mustang gallop animations look weird??

The neck's definitely very stiff but besides that, it's just an uncanny gallop valley to me :// Close to being right but just far enough away to look very very wrong.

Also, how come starshine's the only starbreed (that i know of) who gets to be blue? Is that ever explained in-game? Would be fun if they let us dye our starter's mane and tail crazy colors :)

[starry-blue-echoes]

Legally Stars: I just. Had. The craziest idea. Based on the release date of a certain game.

So it's 2002, a good amount of time after the mess in Italy. Jotaro wants to help the kids take a breather, but he isn't sure how. Then he sees an ad for a video game and he pauses.

Right there near the bottom of the poster is, of all characters, Donald Duck. He looks at it more closely and... yep, that's the Disney logo, along with some company called Squaresoft.

He isn't the biggest fan of video games, but Joseph did get the kids a PS2 last Christmas, and Ungalo is a huge fan of Disney. Jolyne less so, but she still likes the company and their movies.

He buys the game, but he's still doubtful. How good can this 'Kingdom Hearts' be?

(9 years later, Pucci is beaten into unconsciousness by a Bohemian Rhapsody-summoned, spiky-haired kid wielding a giant key.)

I'll admit I don't know a whole lot about Kingdom Hearts but the fucking snort I let out reading this holy shit-

I regret nothing about making Ungalo a Disney fan because it opens up avenues of sheer insane bullshit like this and makes everything extrodinarily funnier, and it also just hit me that growing up........ Ungalo and the other kids are probably going to use their Stands a TON, especially given the fact they're in an environment where they can freely do so and explore things, and now I rotating ideas of how that would affect them

Ungalo would of course occasionally use Bohemian Rahpsody on his favorites, but after that gets a TON of attention, he also probably begins to get an appreciation for more niche, unknown media. He learns to control his Stand on a much smaller scale but spends time wondering what would happen if he fully cut loose

Rikiel likes to practice with finer controls and while his Stand can't be played with as safely as his siblings, that doesn't stop them from trying to come up with games so he won't feel left out. One of their favorites is a sort of sight based hide and seek where Rikiel Stands in a single spot and has to try and spot their hiding places and direct the rods to them

and Donatello LOVES walking around places and seeing what the ground can tell him. He knows a ridiculous amount of random, untimately meaningless gossip and loves to regale his siblings with stories of what he's heard. He usually doesn't do anything more recent than the last few years to save himself the awkwardness of knowing the people Under World shows him, but it's still very entertaining nontheless

Naturally when Jolyne obtains her Stand, they IMMEDIATELY jump as the oppurtinity. They'd of course always done their best to include her before, but now that she can actually see their Stands and has one of her own the possibilities are endless

I like to imagine the brothers all make sure to be very calm and un-serious about Stone Free. They little sister had to go through enough stress and fear getting her Stand in the first place, she doesn't need to be treated like she was something dangerous just because she had a powerful Stand. In there eyes, she's still their Jolyne, only now she can turn into string

Jolyne takes a shine to cats cradles and embroidery, but she is also unfairley hard to catch in her brother's opinion. She becomes crazily flexible and anytime when they wrestle or play tag, she'll simply slip out of any holds she's put in and wrap around her opponent so they're the one caught instead

but shifting gears a bit, this ALSO got me thinking of everything Post-Golden Wind and also just Jotaro being a Cool Dad/Uncle. After Jotaro very violently curbstomps Diavolo, I'd imagine there's a moment of hesitancy from the Bucci Gang because yeah this man came out of nowhere and just beat the shit out of the BOSS who's been giving us a lot of trouble like it was nothing, but all their worries abate when all four of the kids tackle him with a hug

it's only later they realize No, Mr.Jotaro Is That Scary, He's Just Got A Soft Spot For The Kids And Maybe Giorno

[hells-wells]

Don't blame The Movies 10

The Killers pattern isn't making sense to you, what's the missing piece of the puzzle?

Pairings////////// Billy X Reader, Billy X Stu X Reader///////////----------///// Warnings---------//////////// Gaslighting, teen smoking, Ghostface shenanigans

Skipping class wasn’t the biggest worry you had right now, sneaking out to the back of the school, you needed a breather, Standing in the shade, lighting a cigarette you were lost in thought and didn’t hear the footsteps quickly approaching.

“Y/n? It’s Y/n, right?” You recognized her voice from Top Story, you never missed an episode “Kenny, roll, NOW!”

You let out an annoyed sigh and turned to see Gale Weathers.

“Gale Weathers here, and I Have Y/n Y/l/n, the first survivor from these gruesome attacks. Y/n, would you like to share your experience with us?” Clicking her fingers to draw the man’s attention.

You let out a small groan.

If she wasn't such a pain I would almost admire her.

Exhaling “Not really.” turning to leave Gale follows you.

“You know, it could help put a stop to this!” 

“Ah-huh, just like your coverage on Maureen’s murder helped Sid?” You replied dryly, turning to meet her gaze. 

Catching Gale off guard, her tone betrayed her smile “It’s my job to report the news, especially when there’s an innocent man in prison.” 

Raising an eyebrow “You’re so sure about that?”

“I am, he’s never changed his story, not a single word.” She confidently counted.

“Maybe he’s a natural liar, you reported on similar cases a few months ago.”

“You watch my show?” Her smile grew as she eyed you.

“For the antichrist of Journalism, your show is surprisingly good… At times.” 

“You people make me sick!” Himbry’s angry voice yelled out, you both looked taken aback to see him speed walking towards you, you quickly dropped the cigarette and stepped on it “You know damn well you’re not supposed to be here.”

Gale gritted her teeth, obviously struggling to suppress her anger “I wasn’t aware that included the parking lot.” 

He stood next to you, dropping a hand on your shoulder “Are you alright Y/n?” You nodded, watching them closely. 

Gale cut in “We were just leaving, Y/n, here.” Gale handed you her card “In case you change your mind, my cell is on the back.” You watched as she and her poor cameraman practically ran out of the parking lot.

I have a feeling that poor bastard doesn’t get paid nearly enough.

“Y/n, come with me,” Himbry complained the entire way back to his office about reporters, seeing more classmates running around, he included your generation in that rant. You spotted Stu and Tatum at her locker, locking eyes he mouthed “Are you ok?” You shrugged. It wasn’t a lie, for all you knew you were about to be suspended. 

“Please, sit.” Doing as you were told, you sat there silently “With everything going on, you’re not in trouble.” Himbry gently stroked your chin, instantly making you feel uncombable “But if I catch you smoking on school grounds again.” He gently warned.

You nodded “I won’t do it again.”

He nodded “Ok, the reason you’re here is that-”

The office door opened and you turned to see Miss Nancy, she made her way over to you both.

“Were you waiting long?” Her eyes darted between you and Mr Himbry.

“No.”

“Y/n, how are you feeling?” Her kind gaze fell on you.

“Why do I feel like I’m in an intervention?” You watched them both.

Miss Nancy smiled warmly, “Funny, no, we wanted to check in with you.” She took a seat facing you, Himbry followed her and pulled out a chair, sitting next to her. “We know your home life is… Isn’t the best, is your mother home?” Miss Nancy asked gently, leaning forward she placed a hand on top of yours.

“She’s back.” All this contact made you slightly uncomfortable as you weren’t used to it. 

“That’s good, I was worried about you being alone”

“I’m used to it.”

She nodded “Mmm but you shouldn’t have to be. I was curious if she hadn’t come home, what would you have done?”

You thought for a moment “Probably stay with Billy or Stu, I didn’t give it much thought.”

Miss Nancy looked at Mr Himbry before turning back, facing you “You’ve known them for a while?” Mr Himbry suddenly asked.

You were growing annoyed “Yeah since we were about five.”

“An-and you’ve had sleepovers before?” Himbry seemed embarrassed to ask, his face grew flustered.

“Yeah… I’m pretty close to both families.”

“I’m going to cut to the chase Y/n, we don’t think you should spend so much time with him, I get it, he’s a friend but”

You cut her off. “He didn’t do it.”

She looked at you with sad eyes “Yes, but we as adults see things that you might not. We just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“I appreciate everyone’s concern but I trust him with my life.” Shaking her grip, you quickly made your way to the door and left.

Opening your locker lost in thought, your cell phone made you jump “Hello?”

“Y/n.” That same sinister voice answered with a small chuckle. 

You shakily looked around you, hoping to see your friends, someone but the hallways were empty “What do you want?”

His voice purred “We never did finish our game.”

Instinctively grabbing your still tender throat “Fuck off.”

“I’ll see you soon Y/n, I’m counting down the hours.” Before he could continue you hung up, slammed the locker door shut and ran. Speed Walking down the hallway you ran into a flustered Sidney “Sorry” her breathing was erratic “Are you ok?!”

Her eyes darted behind her before grabbing your hand and continuing to run outside “He’s here, I swear he’s here!”

Dread started to overwhelm you “Wait, what?!”

“The killer, he attacked me in the girl's bathroom!”

Fear started to sink in.

She led you out the front of the school, and you spotted Dewey, tugging on her hand, Sid followed your gaze “Dewey’s over there!” 

Both of you ran towards his friendly smile “Shouldn’t you girls be in class?”

Sidney frantically replied, “The killer’s here!”

Dewey looked between you both “Are you sure?”

“He attacked me in the girl’s bathroom!” She was growing more upset, turning to look at you for help “I-i ran and found Y/n”

“It’s true, he called me before I ran into Sid.” Their shocked faces turned to you.

Dewey called for backup, and led you both to Himbry’s office, after telling you both to stay here he went to check with backup, Himbry was outside his office door talking to Burke.

Sidney turned to you “Why didn’t you mention the call?” her voice was filled with doubt.

“And when would I have? He could have chased us down.”

She nodded, taking it in “What did he say?” her voice was barely above a whisper. 

You leaned in closer “Just being a dick. Something about finishing our game, I hung up on him before it went on longer.”

“Why is the killer targeting us?’

The question hung in the air, why? It had to be something… First, Casey and Steve, you were attacked and then Sid, it wasn’t adding up. 

Himbry and Burke decided due to the attack on Sid and your phone call it was best to place a curfew and suspend school for a few days. You weren’t convinced that her attack wasn’t one of the many arseholes dressed up, a prank went wrong but with no one coming forward, you couldn’t decide. Himbry let the teachers inform each class, Miss Nancy came with you to have a cigarette. Given what happened she allowed you to go out the back by the field. The side of the bleachers stood next to the bushes, using them to keep hidden.

“You know those things'll kill ya?” She mocked.

You couldn’t help but laugh “More or less than there being a killer on the loose?”

“Touche” She sat down with you on the cold steel “While we’re here, I’m sorry if we upset you before.”

Looking over at her “It’s fine, but why the sudden worry?.” taking a long drag you avoided eye contact.

“Look, it’s not just because of what I saw the other day.” she took a deep breath “Both of them have always been very attached to you and very protective of you… If I’m being honest I see them around with girlfriends and as far as I can tell you’ve always been just friends?”

“We… Have.”

“If they were really your friends they wouldn’t put you in that bad situation. That’s all I wanted to say earlier.” 

There was silence for a moment while you took everything in. 

“Y/n, I know this isn’t my place but I don’t think you have someone at home that see’s what’s wrong… You need to be careful with everything that’s happening.” You nodded “And be careful of who you trust.”

A cracking sound broke the silence, and you noticed a dark shadow moving quickly further into the bushes, Miss Nancy suddenly jumped up, her eyes glued to the bushes “Di-did you see that?!” Her eyes were glued to where the dark shadow was.

NEXT CHAPTER

[dutchdread]

Rebirth update 5

Just got done with costa del sol and have to say, slightly annoyed at the moment. Just got a date quests which forces you to go with Aerith. Now that by itself isn't a problem, the game loves forcing you to go on dates you don't want to go on, and Aerith also goes on a date with Tifa. Clearly anything is a date in this game. The problem is that I'm trying to keep Aeriths affection rating low so I don't want to finish the quest, but after talking to the NPCs initiating the quest I no longer had any option to refuse to do it. This also wouldn't be too big of a problem....if it weren't for the fact that now Aerith is following me around Costa Del Sol wherever the hell I go. Also, I've noticed that with Aerith our "relationship" is always forced from the outside. Either it's Aerith forcing Cloud on a date in Remake, the Wall market people or other NPC's just asserting they're love birds, Aerith forcing Cloud up a clocktower or grabbing his arms when he's clearly uncomfortable. It never comes from Cloud himself, it's never natural. It actually kinda reminds me of Cleriths trying to force Cloud into something he clearly doesn't want. It's honestly really uncomfortable to see. Anyway, the sidequests here were fun but not the easiest to get through. Getting a perfect score on the piano took me at least 5 tries and required me to reset the entire game when I made a mistake since it didn't allow a simple "try again". Got very lucky with RedXVIIs football game, took me about 3 resets I think, and managed to get through barrets pirate minigame after some trial and error as well. Biggest issue was finding the yellow hand in spot for the segways, I accidentally finished the entire "cactuar photo" sidequest while just riding around looking for the yellow hand in.

My beachwear style matched Tifas naturally, so that was nice, and I like it when the game is more obvious about what the right choices are, like choosing to go help Tifa and Red during the beach assault. Wasn't sure what the good and bad options were during the beach conversation though so I looked it up and discovered I actually didn't select the best option for Tifa in Junon, which is unfortunate but still. Also found out that every option is "good". Fighting with Tifa in a bikini adds at least one star to this game, and in general I am always happy though when running into Andrea Rodea or Madam M so all in all good times. And Johnny is just always good fun. Something I realized I am not too big a fan of are the summonings in general. In FFVII unfortunately summoning has never been a massive part of the story like in FFIX or FFX. They could have potentially addressed this by tying them in with "WEAPON" more explicitly, but since that didn't happen they're mainly reduced to just being a mechanic that's there because all FF games need Summonings. But the way to remedy that would be to make the summons an integral part of the world, to tie them into the sense of adventure through exploration, by making them a part of the natural landscape in some way. And the groundwork for that is there, the summoning shrines, those are great. But why is the culmination of these quests done in a soulless vr simulation? These should honestly be like regional bossfights that are unlocked by completing a set of regional intel stuff. I feel like this is a really big missed opportunity. Next up is another round of region intel, I wonder what the speedrun time of this game will be, I'd like to see a speedrun which incorporates doing every single minigame 100%

[camaro-and-smokes]

Pretty (wo)man

Chapter 6: Sundeck

Tags for this chapter: flirting, causing general mayhem. See rating, warnings and tags for the whole fic on AO3. General warning: This work as a whole includes themes related to and mentions of prostitution, sex work, and sexual abuse. I will add tags with every new chapter and notes when anything particularly nasty is being depicted, but if this kind of content isn't your cup of tea to begin with, please move on. Now, consider yourself warned. Please, proceed.

Moodboard by the wonderful @a-redharlequin

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Summary: Of course, the only free spot was in the bow, in front of every single deck chair the ship probably had. Billy knew that after last night - his and Steve’s play hadn’t definitely gone unnoticed but from the blind and deaf - all attention would be on him and what he would do.

:::::::::

Steve woke up to someone snuggling to his side and wrapping their arm around him. Their hair tickled his nose annoyingly, and his first thought was that it was some hookup who'd overstayed their welcome. He was almost telling them to fuck off, when he opened his eyes.

The world in front of him was made of golden curls, accompanied by warm, steady breaths on his skin. He listened to other sounds around him, and while there were none, there was a very slight tremor on the bed. He looked up into the ceiling, and when he saw the sunlight glittering in it, he remembered where he was.

On a ship - with Sweetie. William. William Harcove.

Steve wondered briefly if it was William's actual name. He had been adamant in telling nothing of his real identity, but for some reason it felt to Steve that the surname had come out too fast to be something entirely made up on the spot. And something in how William had said it with confidence and familiarity, felt like it came out not practiced but something that was so true that it didn't require thinking. The thought of knowing something real, a fact that was essentially a part of who William was, made Steve feel that he was an inch closer to him than what he was right now. Reaching beneath the skin and into the essence of someone. To something he so desperately wanted to know.

But he also knew that stupid daydreams like that, thinking that Sweetie would just like that use his own real name with him, were naive. Maybe he just used it whenever he needed a name and had said it enough many times that it had become a second nature.

It didn't matter. Because William was here, snuggling to his side in his sleep. Steve wanted to never let go of this moment. He smiled to himself and a warm feeling spread from his chest throughout his body.

William was laying on Steve’s arm, so he pulled it out and wrapped it around his shoulder instead, pulling him closer to a hug. William let out a small annoyed noise, but then he settled his head onto the dip between Steve's pec and shoulder, and let out a sigh.

Steve moved the loose curls away from William's face to see it better. He examined it as well as he could from his angle. William's lashes were the longest Steve had ever seen on anyone. There were a lot of them, just like there were freckles on his nose. The long curls were a tangled mess that defied Steve's tries to keep them away from William's face. Steve touched the curls, keeping his hand far from William's skin to not to disturb his sleep, wrapping a soft strand loosely around his finger.

This had to be heaven for there was an angel in his bed.

He'd been listening to William breathing for who knows how long, when his own stomach reminded him by rumbling that he hadn't yet had breakfast.

When it kept growling, William finally took a deep breath and rubbed his stubbled cheek on Steve's chest. “Hungry?” he asked with a deep morning voice. Steve let out a chuckle. “Yeah. Someone fell asleep on me like a cat and I didn't have the heart to disturb them. I’ve been starving here for who knows how long.” “Oh, well, sorry,” William said with lilt and yawned. “You don't sound sorry.” “You make a comfy pillow. Steady breathing, laying on your back the whole night." William turned his head to look at Steve with a wide smile that trapped his tongue between his teeth. "A full-body pillow to wrap myself around." "I would be honored to sleep you wrapped around me the whole night." "Well, I did. You just were sleeping most of the time." "I always miss all the fun stuff," Steve said mock-offended, making William snort.

They got up and went to the main lounge where the breakfast was served. "Oh god, this is so good," Billy said when he took a bite of the warm croissant on his plate. He closed his eyes to immerse himself in the buttery heaven. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Steve looking at him amused, so he smiled. "Hey, this is a treat. I mean," he started, curling a strand of his hair around his finger, fluttering his lashes like a bimbo. "I don't usually eat this many carbs first thing in the morning." Steve let out a bright laugh. Billy joined the laughter. Making a client laugh and then pretending to like the joke was far from this. He actually liked to make Steve laugh and wanted to do it as much as possible. Dangerous. "Listen," Steve said and placed his hand on Billy's, brushing it with his thumb gently. "I have some business related things I need to go through with Charles. But you can use all the amenities on the ship while I'm busy. "Okay. Maybe I'll dig out the trunks you hoped so much I brought with me." "No naked sunbathing, alright?" Steve said pointing a finger at Billy. "I promise," Billy replied smiling.

When Billy had changed in the bathroom, he took one of the bathrobes and left Steve in the cabin, starting towards the staircase that would take him to the sundeck. He bumped into Charles Hamlin as he turned into the stairs. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t see you there.” “No, no, my bad. I was just coming to see if Steve was ready.” Billy frowned. “You weren’t going to have the meeting in your cabin?” “Yes, we were. But he’s already late, so...” “Oh, right. Our breakfast must’ve gone overtime, I didn’t know. Well, he’s in the cabin,” Billy smiled, and started to walk up the stairs. “I really liked your outfit last night,” Charles said. Billy stopped and slowly turned to look at him, stunned. It wasn’t like men didn’t compliment his looks all the time, but this man... He quickly transformed his surprise into a smile. “Thank you.” “I know what you two did at the table last night was to piss Amanda off. Don’t piss me off, though.” Billy frowned and his smile died. "Okay..." he said slowly. "I won't." He pointed up with his index finger. "I'm going to...go and leave you two to it." He didn't spend any further time wondering but turned around and got up the stairs towards the sundeck.

When he got up to the next deck he glanced down the stairs. The older man was gone, but his last words repeated in his ears. Yes, what they did was rude and getting scolded for it was deserved. But it felt as if the threat was directed at him and not at him and Steve together. He took a deep breath. “Okay, stop, you're imagining things,” he said to himself.

Once he got onto the sundeck, he had mostly forgotten the incident. Of course, the only free spot was in the bow, in front of every single deck chair the ship probably had. He knew that after last night - his and Steve’s play hadn’t definitely gone unnoticed but from the blind and deaf - all attention would be on him and what he would do. But in all honesty, he just had done what Steve asked for: made a number. So, he took off his robe and sat down to apply the sunscreen.

A woman walked to him. “What’s up, cutie?” she asked. Billy looked up and saw Heather, another one of Amanda’s friends, standing before him, looking at him over her sunglasses with a lopsided grin. He smiled and offered the sunscreen bottle to her. “Wanna help with the sunscreen?” “Oh, yes. I’d very much like to do that,” she replied and took the bottle. She opened it and when Billy turned she squeezed a generous amount of the lotion on her hand and started to rub it on his back. “I loved your dress last night. Very conservative.” “Well, I like conservative.” “I bet it was Steve’s choice, wasn’t it? You don’t really strike as someone I’d call conservative.” “And that’s a problem?” Heather laughed. “Far from it. It’s just so out of character for Steve. Well, at least the Steve I used to know. The fact that you’re a man for starters. Let alone one who wears dresses and looks damn good in one.” Billy let out a laugh. “I’m glad that someone approves.” Heather leaned closer to Billy. “Oh yeah, last night was scandalous to say the least,” she whispered amused, “I’ve never seen Amanda so worked up. She wouldn’t shut up about it,” she laughed. Billy smirked. “I can’t wait to tell Steve.”

She was quiet for a moment. “How is Steve?” “He’s fine.” “Really? Amanda breaking up with him was a tough one. I hadn’t seen Steve so broken in years. And then her getting married so quickly after that... It must’ve hurt.” Billy looked down at his hands and pursed his lips. This was exactly the kind of conversation he would’ve wanted to avoid. “I really couldn’t say anything about that. We haven’t really gone out that long and he hasn’t talked about it much.” “He invited you to come here with him. That’s long enough in my opinion.” “I guess,” Billy said and glanced over his shoulder, flashing a smile.

After a while Heather patted Billy’s back. “You’re done,” she said and gave the bottle back to Billy. When he turned around, she looked at him in the eyes. “I don’t care how you and Steve met or when. I always got along with him well and while I haven’t had the chance to really talk with him since the breakup, I consider him as a friend. He looks really happy with you, and in my opinion, far happier than what he ever was with Amanda. That’s all I care about.” Billy smiled, genuinely this time, and nodded. “Thanks. For your words,” he said and pointed his thumb behind his back, “and for the back.” “You’re welcome,” she replied. “You’re a snack,” she continued, winking, and left. Billy smiled to himself, put the bottle away and laid down on the mattress on his stomach, hands under his head.

He’d laid there for quite a while when someone walked up to him. “You have the nerve,” she spat out. Billy opened his eyes and turned his head to glance up. It was Amanda. “You come here, flaunting your all, and then you have the nerve to spoil my dinner. How dare you!” she continued. Billy leaned up to his elbows. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” “Pfft. Sorry my ass. You’re going to keep this shit up the whole week, aren’t you?” Billy couldn’t hide his smile. “Umm, maybe you should have this conversation with Steve? Isn’t he the one you broke up with? As in told him to fuck off and then a few months later he’s invited to your wedding?” “My father invited him! I didn’t want him here in the first place. He wasn’t even supposed to know.” Billy sat up. “Do tell me, how wasn’t he supposed to know when he still does business with your dad? The guy was about to become his father-in-law. I don’t think you thought it through.” Amanda seethed. “All I want is you two to not attend any of the lunches or dinners or the wedding reception. In fact, I don’t want to see you, anywhere.” Billy let out a laugh. “Do ask if your father agrees with that sentiment. Until then,” he said, and vaguely circled his hand at himself, “feel free to enjoy all of this that I am.” “You...you...” she stuttered, flabbergasted. “It’s called bye,” Billy said, and laid back down on the mattress.

Steve witnessed the discussion between Amanda and William from the door of the sundeck. He’d wanted to get at least a glance of William in his trunks, and when Charles had gotten a phone call he couldn’t leave unanswered, Steve had wandered to the deck.

He leaned his shoulder to the doorway and when Amanda saw him and glared at him with murder in her eyes, he bit his lips together to keep a smile forcing its way on his face. Amanda stomped over to him. “Keep your pet on a leash,” she hissed. Steve looked at her, amused. “Oh, he’s untamed. It would be cruel to do that.” Amanda crossed her arms on her chest. “What happened to you?” she asked. “You were decent when we went out.” The smile vanished from Steve’s face and he looked at her menacingly. “You weren’t decent when you left. Why should I then be, hmm? Just take it all in, play the part I did when we went out? You have all the resources you could ever have, and yet, you’re a gold digger. That’s far from decent.” “I bet he’s one too. I can’t imagine someone looking like that going after someone like you without a motive,” she sneered, and walked away.

Steve looked at his feet for a moment. Her words were hitting a bit too close to home, and it stung. He raised his gaze, and saw William looking at him.

He got up and started walking towards Steve - and the time slowed down in his eyes.

William was walking with his shoulders back in a proud straight posture, head up high, steps loose and confident, knowing exactly how good he looked like, pulling his pilot glasses down his nose and smiling a wicked smile, his tongue licking the corner of his mouth, ready to do all the sins mentioned in the good ol’ book and then some. Steve couldn’t help glancing at his crotch and at the tiny speedo holding his semi-hard dick in just barely. He could feel blood gather to his own crotch, and he glanced at the other people on the deck. He couldn’t keep a smile forming on his face as he saw every single pair of eyes locked on William.

But William had eyes only for him.

When Billy reached Steve, he leaned his forearm on the doorway and took his sunglasses off, letting them hang on his finger. He scanned Steve from head to his crotch that was bulging promisingly. “Need a...hand?” he asked and licked his lower lip. Steve blushed. “Jesus Christ, William. I told you not to sunbathe naked." Billy looked down at himself and then back up at Steve with a smirk. "I'm not technically naked." Steve's eyes widened. "Those barely cover anything. Especially with...that. And literally everyone is looking at you,” he said under his breath. Billy glanced over his shoulder. He looked back at Steve and leaned closer to him. “Let’s give them something else to look at then.” He placed his hand on the back of Steve’s neck pulling him into a kiss, not saving on the tongue.

Steve moaned. It had been barely a few hours since they’d kissed last time and yet he was in for more. He could keep kissing William for the rest of his life and it wouldn’t be enough.

When they heard a slap and a man yelping behind them, they broke this kiss and turned to look. One of the women Steve had said he didn’t know, had gotten up from her chair and was storming towards them. When she passed them on her way inside, she glared at them both, her mouth a tight, disapproving line. Soon the man, apparently her husband, passed them, his face beet-red, calling her name and trying to apologize for just looking.

Billy couldn’t keep himself from laughing while Steve’s redness deepened. “Oh, you’re evil,” Steve scolded him chuckling, and grabbed his hand, clearing his throat. “I think we need to continue this in private.”