#these were things he actively chose to do even when he could have easily done something different

[b1rds3ye]

Can you make a fic / short headcanon of how the COD men reacts to reader riding those bull mechanical? Their usual bar/pub has installed a new attraction which is that bull mechanical. Either they dared reader or reader wanted to try to ride, depends on the character. You know how those bulls move makes the rider look like they’re grinding?? Yeah I wanna know how the guys reacts to that 👀

OHOHOHOHO GOT IT thank you for sending in the request!! This is the first one this blog has gotten 🥳🥳 I hope you enjoy~

Ride On

The local bar has installed a mechanical bull for an extra activity among the drunk and whimsical. One day off duty, you decide to give it a go and have some fun, and it seems the boys are enjoying it just as much as you.

Characters: Captain John Price, Simon “Ghost” Riley, Johnny “Soap” MacTavish, Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, König

GN!Reader w/ no physical descriptions (except you're shorter than König)

Word Count: 2.5k (~500 each)

Genre: Fluff, Spice, established relationship

Warning: Spicy (but no smut), 18+/MDNI,  awkward dialogue (it’s the cutest thing during flirty time fight me)

A/N: I don’t even write stuff that’s mildly spicy so I hope I did a decent job - also apparently mechanical bulls can do some real damage oh my god???

Captain John Price

On duty Price may be your direct superior but off duty you were more than free to do as you please even in his presence, he had always been clear about that. So he knew you were up to something when you sauntered up to him asking him for permission to go on the mechanical bull in the middle of the bar

He could only stare at your deceptively innocent smile for a moment before repeating the mantra that you could do what you want, his free hand automatically reaching into his pocket for a smoke as you strutted to the mechanical bull. You were going to be the death of him

He’s sure this is what emperors felt like in the days of old. Food, drinks, some very enticing entertainment and Price feels like he’s on cloud nine. Sitting by a table, he lounges back, thighs spread as he takes up the entire space of his seat and then some, feeling like a king as he watches you on the mechanical bull. He does not move, save for the occasional shift as his pants tighten

When you’re done riling him up, Price stays put as you approach him again. He can’t hide the incredible smugness he feels when the hungry eyes of strangers trail you, only to look at him in envy when they realise you’re already taken. He isn’t bothered by any of their stares, he can easily give any of them a piece of his mind

“You’ve got guts, love,” Price huffed out a puff of smoke. He remained seated by his table while you stood beside him, his face directly in line with your torso. His gaze travelled along every line and curve of your body that was so tantalisingly close, he could feel the body heat emanating from you. He stifled the urge to lick his drying lips.

“I did a good job though, right?” You beamed. He quirked an eyebrow at your sickeningly sweet voice. So you were going to keep up this charade, as if your face was only flushed from the physical exhaustion of remaining upright on the automaton and not from being so close but so painfully far away from him. Even in the darkness, he could see how your pupils swallowed your irises but he chose not to comment on it - he wasn’t faring any better.

“Passable. You’ve got two choices, sergeant.”

You swallowed, a shiver travelling down your spine as Price tilted his head down, idly extinguishing his cigar against the ashtray.

“Either you go back on the bull for some further training, give everyone here a sight for their sore, miserable eyes…”

Price regards you again, head up so that you could finally see his full face. Like a man lost for days in the desert, he gazed at you as if you were an oasis. Eyes lit up in awe, full of reverence, yet glazed over in carnal hunger.

“Or we leave this pub and you give me a private encore.”

Simon “Ghost” Riley

The instant he saw the new attraction he instinctively groaned under his breath. He already knew that you, Soap and Gaz will be provoking each other for some sort of competition. He’ll interfere if anyone seems uncomfortable but if it’s all smiles and laughs he’ll just quietly watch on with a mirth in his eyes reserved only for you and the task force (he will make a quip about you lot behaving like muppets though)

That being said, he already knows how suggestive a mechanical bull can look. When it’s decided that you’ll give it a go, Simon can only exhale slowly out of his mask, mentally preparing for an unexpected trial of restraint

He slinks back into the darkness of the bar, one with the shadows. His eyes shine like jewels as they reflect the treasure that is you. He drinks in the sight, committing it to memory. If from the bull you manage to see him in the gloom, his gaze is so intense it can single-handedly throw you off the automaton

Even off duty, he’s good at keeping his composure. When you return to him, you almost mistook him for being completely unfazed by your little stunt on the bull. But his voice is a little gruffer, the muscles in his throat straining with every syllable. He shows his neediness through his presence, you won’t be alone for the rest of the night as he accompanies you for even the smallest of errands

Rubbing your shoulder that was bruised from falling off of the bull, you beelined for the rest of the task force, only to get unexpectedly pulled towards the corners of the bar where the lights could not reach.

“Simon?” Your voice is barely above a whisper as you feel his hand splayed across your spine. He was never big on public displays of affection, he was possessive in that all of his love will be seen by you only. Daring a move like this has you turning to him in concern, but he didn’t seem uncomfortable in the slightest.

“We’ve got a problem.”

“And that is?”

Simon doesn’t reply, not verbally. He takes your hips in his hands, you can tell he’s trying his best to be gentle but his fingertips dig ever so slightly into your skin. Guiding you back to stand just in front of him, you grunted as you felt a hefty weight against your backside. Now that is a big problem indeed.

“Need you,” he rasps, voice so thick with air they were barely discernible words. You allowed him to pull you further against him, a guttural groan escaping him. “Fuck, didn’t know you could ride like that.”

“I’m a soldier of many talents,” you replied. He huffs against his face mask, digging his face into the crook of your neck. “I suppose I could go again. Just, not on the bull.”

Simon’s lips curved into a smile that warped the mask against your skin. His hands on your hips tighten, you won’t be escaping him anytime soon.

Johnny "Soap" MacTavish

When Johnny’s eyes settled on the mechanical bull, he then took a brief glance at you and his mind went places. This absolute menace is conjuring up a million and one ways to get you on that bull ASAP (with your wholehearted consent, of course)

He’ll do anything, making a dare, teasing you, trying to make a bet, just so he can see you mount that thing. He’s a dedicated man, once he has a goal he’s seeing it through, no matter how many playful slaps and lighthearted glares you give him. He’ll even set an example and go first - he’ll be flattered as hell if he can get you out of all people riled up

Johnny thinks he can handle it, but he’s always overestimating himself when it comes to you. He can’t play off how you’re bothering him as your hips slide forward and back against the saddle. He can only clear his throat uncomfortably and choke out a fake laugh when the rest of the 141 comment on how quiet he’s become

He bit off more than he can chew, he thought he was the smooth one for being blessed with such a sight but he’s finding himself more bewitched by you by the second. When you get off the bull he gives you a feeble punch on the shoulder, trying to act like he’s alright but really he’s completely at your mercy, hovering around you near begging you to give him attention

You didn’t even have time to greet him as Johnny pulled you away from the rest of the task force, down into a quiet corridor of the pub. His silence was unnerving, you asked him if something was wrong but his only response was his lips against yours. When you reciprocated, the Johnny you knew was back with you, smiling into the kiss with an exhale of eagerness into your mouth as he traps you against the wall with his body. His weight against you, it was already hard to get a breath in as he claimed your lips again and again and again. But what truly made you gasp was the hardness that brushed against your thigh. It was initially so brief, you could credit it as a phantom of your own lust, but as Johnny got bolder, it rested permanently against your upper leg.

Now that he made his predicament clear, he reluctantly pulled away from you, just enough for him to speak. His heaving breaths burned against your skin, no more than his azure eyes that bored into yours.

“I got another thing you can ride, aye?”

You burst into laughter as you gave him a playful shove on the chest. It did nothing push him off of you, his smile widening at your countenance.

“Johnny, that was awful.”

“I ain’t lyin’. My li'l MacTavish needs some help.”

“I swear to god I’m leaving you.”

“You know you love me. Now are you gonna help me or no?”

Kyle “Gaz” Garrick

Kyle has a playful streak, when he sees you eyeing the new attraction he’ll approach you with a mischievous glint in his eyes as he slides some cash to you. “This twenty says you won’t last five seconds on that.”

And with that, a light-hearted competition started. Kyle’s intentions were genuinely innocent, he just wanted to have some fun beyond drinking the night away. After you gave the bull a go he was wholly planning to try after you to show you how it’s done - and possibly impress you with superior balancing powers

It started off fun as you laughed at the odd movements of the bull under you and Kyle smiled with you. He’s willing to give up that twenty as you were clearly having fun

What he did not expect was how as the mechanical bull became more erratic, bucking indiscriminately in all directions that the sight seemed more… suggestive. A yelp of surprise from you has him situating himself behind a table, ensuring no one can see the growing issue below his hips

He dares a look at the rest of the task force who are taking in the sight innocently. Soap is shouting encouragements like a battle cry, Price pulls a face that’s a mix of amused and impressed, Ghost offers a single dip of the head in respect and now Kyle feels dirty, guilt mixing with arousal into a sinful concoction that drips down his tightening pants

As you returned back to the task force, Kyle immediately came up behind you. His arms wrapped around your waist, he sat his head on your shoulder, cheek against yours. With his entire body smothering yours, his whole being moved with every inhale and exhale of yours as you tried to recollect yourself after that exhausting ordeal of the mechanical bull.

“Getting touchy’s not going to make me forget about that twenty, Kyle,” you chided with a smile. You hear a little hmph as one of his hands dip into your pocket, resting over your hip bone. He slips the note in but his hand stays there, his thumb tracing over the wrinkles in your pants.

“You looked real nice up there, you know,” he mumbled into your ear before giving it a peck, arms tightening around you possessively.

“Feels like you enjoyed it,” you whispered, voice disappearing as you noticed something firm pressing against your ass. Your laugh came out far too weak. “Is that a pistol or are you happy to see me?”

He chuckled, husky and restrained, too distracted to reply. His hand in your pocket was becoming more animated, rubbing at your skin. Even through the fabric, you can feel how hot he is, only getting warmer as he gets more antsy, his free hand now tugging and teasing at your shirt.

Kyle spares a look at the rest of the task force, clearly distracted with their own drinking and antics.

“Do you think they’ll notice if we leave?”

“... No, let’s go.”

König

König will never ask you to go on the mechanical bull because he’d never go on it himself. Putting on a show for a whole lot of strangers in a pub? Potentially embarrassing himself in front of said strangers, his allies and you? The thought already fills him with dread and he is empathetic to never ask for such a thing from you. That being said, when it’s established you’re more than happy to give the bull a go, he’s not going to stop you

He knew how suggestive a mechanical bull can look but he figured he could handle it; he did not reach the rank of colonel by giving in to every temptation. But he should have known better when it came to you, your mere existence making him feel like he lost all composure and combat experience

Upon noticing the lustful stares of others, König doubles as a bodyguard. He slowly stalks around the bar, using his hulking figure to strategically block the view of you for others. He also takes note of anyone who seems a little too fixated on you, not hesitating to send a glare their way

Once you lose to the bull, he waits by the edge of the ring, taking your hand to escort you back to your friends. He does it both to be a caring partner for you, but also he’s preening as onlookers visibly deflate upon realising that if they want to get to you, they have to go through him

König’s hand was tight around yours, you could feel it occasionally twitch, aware of his own strength and trying to loosen his hold on you.

“Entschuldigung, mein Schatz,” he grumbled. “You wanted the night here, but I must leave.”

“Why?”

König turned his head away in embarrassment, but you noticed his eyes dipped lower for a split second. When you followed his gaze, you took a moment to pride yourself for getting your partner so riled up. It was only broken when he gently took your chin with his free hand, tilting it up - or just anywhere away from his growing predicament.

“It is embarrassing,” he muttered. “You were just having fun, but I am here… needing.”

“Not at all,” you smirked. “I wanted you to notice me.”

“I am always watching you, Schatz,” König whispered. He was getting bolder - or perhaps more desperate - with every word, the hand on your chin moving down to settle on one of your hips. You tilted your hips into his grip and the consequent breath he emitted was forceful and ragged. “I did not think such a machine could be so… crude.”

“But you liked the sight, right?” Your voice was smug as you pulled his face down to be in line with yours. You now had a perfect view of his eyes that were alight with lust, pupils blown so wide you could not distinguish if it was the gaze of a predator or prey.

“Zu viel.”

Call of Duty Masterlist

[domreader-headcannon-scenarios]

If you’re willing could you maybe write a little thing (idk the word for it sorry 😭) about replaced God MC getting annoyed with Gabriel and choosing to get energy from Michellel instead??

Yes! I love this, I was thinking of cucking em with lower demons but it would get their heads turning if you chose one of them!

(I really hope you like it I feel like I messed it up!)

Wrong Move (Gabriel)

Cw: technically c*cking?, pining, one sided relationship, angel energy exchange, slight edge play,

-

Gabriel knew you wouldn’t forgive him easily for…branding you…killing your best friend and charging a war against Hell, then kidnapping you…

Gabriel sighs as he watches you tremble as Michael Carrie’s you to your room for some…angel energy….he wished you’d give him a chance! He’s gotta be better! No angel has done…such activities until you came around so they all have the same experience level…

It hurt since it wasn’t just once…this is the with time…it irked him to know you chose the cry baby to him…he could hear his whimpers and moans…it made his heart ache…

He thought about the brand marking he left on you, it hurt to know…he scared your perfect vessel. But…you gave him no chance to make it up, he could heal it! But…you ordered him to deal with and live with the scars there…

He whimpers as he hears Michael moaning loudly, enjoying himself with you…Gabriel had gotten so upset he even tried peeking in in you two a few times.

Each time Michael just…was so obedient, only doing as you say…even letting you edge him.

“A-aah! M-my Lord…I’m close! Please have mercy!”

Gabriel paused, he’s never heard Michael sound like that, he’s never seen him look like that…

Gabriel’s own body heated up at the thought often of you doing this to him…he can feel his cock throbbing in its cage and as he glances towards the other angels groin, he notices…the lack of a chastity cage….

His eyes widen realizing you took off Michael’s cage.

He sobs in frustration quietly, leaving, trembling in a mix of embarrassment and frustration. He needs to make this up to you…

~

The next day you wake up to Gabriel having made you breakfast. He has your clothes laid out and is smiling to you. “My Lord, I’m sorry…I’ve been very…dare I say inappropriate.”

Gabriel sighs and looks away trying to think of what to say.

“Have I said before? That I love you, I deeply value you and will do all I can to protect my Lord…” Gabriel leans forwards and rest his forehead on yours. “Please, please Master…let me heal the wound I have you, I’m sorry…I regret it.”

You barely seem bothered, making him feel wounded, his smile falters but he gets his hopes up when you brush his hair to the side so you can look in his eyes.

“Gabriel. I knew you were watching.”

Gabriel freezes and lowers his gaze. “I-I’m sorr-“

You interrupt him. “Don’t be a brat, I’m not going to chose you next time because your pride wants it…”

You grab his halo and yank it so he flops on the bed, landing beside you. Gabriel looks to you in surprise but since you don’t key go of his halo he decides to behave and stay down. He looks up to you nervously.

“Maybe next time I’ll let you sit in the room, gagged and tied up so you can sit back and enjoy the sight without bothering us.” You coldly tease, leaning over you pluck a feather from Gabriel’s wings. “Get Michael. I need some more energy.”

Gabriel whimpered as you let go of his halo.

“M-Master please give me a chance! I will prove myself to you! I’ll do anything you want! My entire being is just for your pleasure!” He pleaded…you hated his desperate tantrums whenever you decline him something like this. “Once chance is all I’m asking for please…”

As you sit up on the bed he gets on the ground on your side of the bed and gets on his knees and bow, his head on the ground as he bows to you. You know it’s a sign of respect but you grin and place a foot on his head, pushing his face against the ground.

“What a whiny bitch you are…now get Michael and I’ll let you watch.”

Gabriel held back a whimper and hurried away, trying to hid the tears in his eyes from your rejection…he’s sure he can make it up later…just not now…

[lfghughes]

I need more dad Trevor with twin daughters 😭 can I please get something where he takes them out on separate daddy/daughter dates? He totally seems like the type of dad who would do whatever his babies asked of him

a/n: i had way too much fun planning this out. thank you so much for requesting it

One of the first promises that Trevor had done when he found out his girlfriend was pregnant with twins was that he would give all of them his individual attention. He wanted his daughters to know and feel that they were their own individual humans because he knew most of the people in their lives would treat them as one. He also vowed to his girlfriend that they would always find time for each other in the middle of all the chaos. This meant a lot of date nights with all three of his favorite girls.

His twins were definitely very different from each other. Since birth their personalities had been very different but as they grew up those personalities shown through more and more every day. This meant he had to get pretty creative on what to do on those solo dates with them because he wanted to pick the right activity.

Date #1 - Adeline

Adeline or Addybug as Trevor liked to call her had always been the calm sensitive baby. She thrived when it came to sitting down and reading a book or all the quieter activities. Out of the twins she was the one Trevor had to think more out of the box for because it was usually opposite of the activities he would do. But he always went above and beyond for things she liked to do. Right now both Trevor and Adeline had finished up getting their nails done at the nail salon, completely Addys idea but Trevor went along with every second of it.

Now it was his turn for her big surprise. “Remember when you told daddy you wanted to go to the butterfly garden?” Trevor asked and immediately her eyes got wide because she knew what this meant. “Are we really going?” She asked and Trevor nodded his head. As soon as she had mentioned it last week he made a mental note to see if there were any places around where she could go see butterflies up close. Eventually he had landed on this place and decided it would be fun for her.

Turns out he was right because the minute she stepped in she was amazed by everything in the garden and not just the butterflies although that was her favorite part. “I have one more surprise for you.” He told her as they walked out from the butterfly garden after she got to see everything. “Me and mommy ordered a little caterpillar kit for you and once they turn into butterflies we’ll let them out into the garden.” This was everything she wanted to hear and more. Date one was the success he had hoped for.

Date #2 - Charlotte aka Charlie

Charlotte was the fierce one of the two. It was her way or no way and even at a young age she had demanded that she get called Charlie and not Charlotte simply because she liked it better. For Trevor though she was always his Charlie Bear. Funny enough she was the easier of the pair to find an activity for because whatever meant getting her energy out was what she wanted. He could as easily take her to a trampoline place or go karting and she loved it regardless.

Typically she chose the place though because she was always very vocal about what she wanted to do and surprises were not her thing. Today she had made it clear she wanted to go horseback riding and Trevor wasn’t going to tell her no. Luckily for this one he didn’t have to research a whole lot because she had been on a horses kick lately and had already picked this activity a couple of times before. “Do you think one day I can get my own horse?” She asked once she was all done riding, her eyes looking up at her horse and he could tell by that look that this love for horses was here to stay.

“I think it’s something me and mommy will have to talk about but maybe one day.” That was a good enough answer for her, a smile immediately growing on her face. “Alright, well it’s pretty warm out so what do you say about getting some ice cream?” Trevor asked and she immediately nodded her head. “Can we call Uncle Jamie to go too?” That was going to be another yes and once again another successful daughter date.

Date #3 - The Wife

“Wow look at you.” Trevor whistled as his wife stepped out of the closet all dressed up for their dinner date. Her cheeks burning a bright pink because even after all this time Trevor managed to make her heart skip a beat with his compliments. She walked over, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “Both girls told me all about their daddy daughter dates this week. Addy has been watching those caterpillars since they got here.” His wife smiled as she talked about her girls. “And Charlie said you wanted to talk to me about getting a horse?”

Okay, not his exact words but his daughter did get him there. “I told her we would think about getting her a horse.” He shrugged sheepishly before holding his hand out. “But that’s a conversation for another night because right now I have a date with my favorite girl in the whole world.”

[thotsforvillainrights]

Shigaraki smut headcanons? Sorry if you've already done this, I just love crusty boi. (　＾ω＾)

(You're fine, Anon! It's one of those cases where it FEELS like it's been done but probably hasn't lol. I went and checked the new and old masterlist and couldn't find anything. Now's my chance to add it to the collection ^_^)

~Shigaraki Smut Headcanons~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up|drabble

-Really would like to say he's a freak in bed but I don't think he's all that wild...at least not at first. I feel like he has a lot of love to give when he opens himself up for it. There's not really much lust between the two of you at first (not on his end at least). His walls are up really high and for a while he starts to feel really guilty about developing feelings for you. He's not sure if he deserves to have love given to him, or to give love to others. All his life he's been focused on what he hates and not enough on what he could love. When you come along, he's filled with anger at the fact you were able to get to him so easily.

-He can't deny any longer that he has feelings for you. When you try to reciprocate these feelings then it becomes complex. He's not letting you in as easily. He prays at night that you give up on him, that you leave for your own good. At the same time he wants to open himself up to you but he just doesn't know how. When he finally decides to let himself go and feel for once in his life, it becomes likely the most beautiful and simultaneously terrifying experience he's had. When you say you love him, it's invigorating. When you touch him...touch his skin of all people, he feels special. He feels confused all at the same time. Why would you chose him?

-He's scared at first to talk about you, to feel pride out loud. he's scared he'll somehow jinx things and that he'll wind up hurting or even worse is that he'll wind up hurting you instead. It's not just the mental hurt he's worried about either. It's the pysical hurt and the crushing idea that he might slip up and you'll be gone forever. Even with gloves as a precaution, he's still not up to the idea of touching you. Why should he when he doesn't deserve to touch you anyway? A demon with an angel like you? What a cruel and disgusting joke. Don't you know if he were to mess up then you'd be nothing more than a pile of ash and memories? You don't care. You want his touch, his hugs and kisses. And just like always, he's weak to deny you. He gives up and cautiously inches into the next phase of your relationship.

-When the sex finally comes into play, he feels a bit overwhelmed. Understandably you should come to expect him not lasting very long for the first few times. Can you blame him? You're something akin to a sinful pool of gold and he's strong enough to hold back. He's focusing all his energy on making you feel good, keeping a handle on his quirk, and trying not to hurt you all at the same time. Your sex brings fireworks out. His vision gets spotty once before and leave him wondering if he might pass out. He's breathless, his skin damp with sweat and his legs weak...shaking from your activities together. He's quiet but you can still hear him making sound just for you. It's all for you.

-Because he won't focus on his own pleasure, you end up taking the reigns in that department. It takes some time for him to settle down and accept that you actually WANT to make him feel good instead. Of course you do, why wouldn't you want to return the favor? He can't grasp the concept at first. That's okay, he didn't need to think too hard. Just lay back and let you handle it yes?

-His drive doesn't seem to be that high, nor too low. If anything, he's a perfect in-between, matching your pace perfectly. He's moldable like clay for you. He'll fold and bend at your will but he also remains understanding of his own needs and preferences as well. I think maybe later on in the relationship you can see him getting a little rougher in bed. Of course at your request, he learns the ins and outs of it. Shigaraki after gaining a power-up shows a considerable difference in the ways he goes about things but that's a story for a different time.

[twisted-gremlin]

So I wanna say

I HC Vil absolutely analyzes people based on their clothing choice, how they stylize it, if they are wearing makeup, how often they use it, how much, etc.

The man is an actor, so I'm sure he would be sure to have authentic characterization based on clothing, makeup, and how one takes care of their complexion and how often they do it.

Im sure he profiled everyone that came in for auditions.

Chapter 5 and 6 spoilers:

Ruggie profile: I feel like he easily saw that Ruggie was only in it for the money, the way his body moved, the way he acted, the way he has dressed. He was dressed for an easy escape, the rolled up sleeves and pant legs with the open jacket to easily take off. The clothing hangs off of his body, so it may be a hand me down or second hand from a previous Savanaclaw student (maybe Rook?). His gym uniform is put together quite well for speed, so for running, to do something and flee easily.

Epel profile: he appears to be feminine (maybe even born female but identifies as a male), he wore his ceremonial robes improperly. He is clearly trying to act more stereotypically masculine, aiming to be a stereotypical masculine man, physically and mentally. He doesn't like anything about his own physical form. So Vil decides to show him what true strength is, knowing ones own weaknesses and strengths, and useing them both to your advantage

Ortho profile: Ortho would dsfonately be hard to read due to him being a robot and haveing yet to fully come into himself as a liveing being. He probably saw how all the movements were just copies, not authentic, not something he could be. (He would go on to do this work with Ortho in the Second Fairy Gala)

Lilia profile: Lilia was clearly excited to take this chance and do what he couldn't have done before. Like Ruggie, his uniform is more loose and made for more speed. Except he radiates more michift than malace, or neediness. He seems to want to stand out and be his own being while being apart of something he cares about. His dancing movements were quick, elegant, rigid, hesitant, and not what he asked of.

Ace profile: Ace seems to be dressed for a mix of offense and Defence and good durability, good for a basketball player. The coat around his waist could show that if needed, he can break the rules and is very adaptable too as well as being a casual thing/takeing the sport a little bit seriously. His dancing wasn't the best but it was clear that he trained with Jamil and Kalim to do better. So he knows where to go to get what he needs to improve on and will listen aswell. He seems enthusiastic about joining the group aswell.

Deuce profile: has a bit more bulk, but dosent have the sleeves on the arms of his gym uniform so probably more ready for a fight and long distance running. He is dressed well put together, looking like a good role model (like what ortho says in the White Rabbit Fest: Deuce is the kind to dress for the job that you want) when dancing he is probably the most rigid but also went to Kalim and Jamil for help with performing so also seems to be willing to get help when needed. Witch is good for his goals

Kalim profile: so first of note would be the tattos, we have only seen him and Leona have any (so far, who knows if Deuce or someone has a secret one) so it may be a sign of status here. He has rolled up pants as to not trip on the legs while doing something, very short sleeves and a sweater. He is clearly not as miscivious as Ace in this regard, so it's much more of a casual thing for him/takeing sports seriously. His band is less frilly and has nothing hanging off of it, so it's clear that his perferd activity is breakdanceing, perfect and well adaptable for Vils means

Jamil profile: Jamil, much like Kalim is dressed for break dancing, but the arm bands also suggest he plays basket ball. He is clearly much more disciplined than Kalim while performing witch would show why Vil chose Jamil over Kalim(witch would be a first and make Jamil very happy).

When Vil has the SDC crew stay with Yuu and Grim, it's to help make them understand a poor liveing condition that could easily happen to anyone, to help engage that bit of kindness towards others who may need it. Like Yuu and Grim at that time.

I'm sure it served as a bit of a wakeup call to everyone there, including himself, and helped drive them to win in a way.

After their loss they still decided to donate to Ramshakle and repair the building.

[blazinghotfoggynights]

This fandom is turning into a madhouse!

Why? 😢

What is all the arguing about? Why are fans taking sides in multiple standoffs. How are these wars starting?

What I have to say may not be well-received by some sides in the numerous boxing matches active in this fandom right now, but I'm going to say my piece. 🤷‍♀️ I am not responsible for white-hot rage, tears, or epiphanies that you don't want. So, proceed at your own risk. Or whatever.

Buddie vs BuckTommy

BuckTommy fans, Buddie fans were not seeing things. Those characters were written as being pulled into each other's orbits and it was more than platonic. It wasn't blatant, and it has been hinted it couldn't be due to the network. Even now, with Eddie and Buck being in relationships, and Eddie somehow being in multiple, they are still using Buddie to promote the show. If they are not going to happen, then why the use that to get ratings? That is the definition of baiting.

Buddie fans, BuckTommy is canon. They may not last or they may be endgame. We won't know until it happens. Why lose your mind over fictional characters that one man controls? It's simple. If you feel they played the Buddie card only to put Eddie in a mess of epic proportions and make Buck become Evan Buckley-Kinard, tune out and keep fanfic alive. Do you know how many fandoms have followed that process? If Tommy was brought back just as a plot device, then it's not much better than baiting.

You know what would be hilarious? Buck meets a third person, falls in love, and marries them.

It would shut both sides down if it was a woman. (I may have a petty streak and if I were in charge, I could see making it Taylor or Abby.)😈🤣(Maybe then the warring factions could call a truce over tears and beers.)

Tommy Kinard was not a good guy. That's not delusion. That's canon.

BuckTommy fans, the character of Tommy Kinard has done multiple problematic things, and the writers are not addressing any of it. Telling people to get over it is not cool. Being closeted or confused is no excuse for calling Chimney the delivery guy and Hen the b-word. He was actively and willingly participating is some of the worst forms of bullying someone can experience. He wasn't a teenager who was just trying to fit in. He was a grown man. No excuses for his behavior are acceptable and, in the real world, you would be hard-pressed to find his victims forgiving him. They would not be his friends.

I can see why women, especially black women and LGBTQ women, and non-white men, especially Asian men, would say they don't like how his past transgressions are being ignored. He was openly racist and misogynist. That is canon. Nothing was misunderstood or misinterpreted. Tommy was a d*ck.

If you watch how Lou is portraying Tommy, there are indications that what we saw in season 2 is a part of his personality. The lack of discussion about his past could be intentional because it may come up in the future.

How has no one noticed how he speaks to Buck sometimes? Maybe I am just older than most in the fandom and have experienced a lot more, but there are things about Tommy Kinard's behavior that don't seem very...nice. The way he speaks to Buck sometimes is like he is dismissing what he thinks or feels. Sometimes he seems to be speaking to Buck as if he is a child. I was offended on Buck's behalf.

The biggest CAUTION sign so far was when he admitted he is jealous of the 118. What? That doesn't even make sense! Think about it. Tommy went out of his way to make the 118 hostile toward anyone who wasn't a het white male. When Bobby took over and changed the culture, he brought respect and openness which cultivated the friendship, and eventual love, that created the family the 118 is now. Tommy could have easily come out to the team under Bobby, apologized, and began building the bridges he burned. But he did not.

Tommy chose his side but now he is jealous of the work Bobby put in to clean up Gerrard's mess? Could it be something else giving his jealousy life? Could Tommy be resentful that the exclusive, prejudice environment he happily embraced, and helped keep in place, under Gerrard disappeared and because an inclusive tight-knit family created from the outcasts?

That is a very real possibility and if that is the case, it says a lot about Tommy Kinard and could lead to an interesting arc in the remainder of season 7 and season 8.

Eddie Diaz is not a bad guy.

I think Eddie has been teetering on the edge for many seasons. TBH, I am surprised he has been as stable as he has for this long. That man is walking meatsuit full of trauma.

People who are mentally stable and have healthy coping skills do not join underground fighting rings, smash their bedrooms, or ask relative strangers to watch his child and move in. There have been many indications for multiple seasons that Eddie is not in a good place but keeping it together for the sake of his son.

I do not think Eddie is trying to hurt anyone at all. I think he is trying to claw his way out of some hell his mind has had him in for a long time.

That man needs to be taken to the nearest inpatient facility and admitted. (If you are thinking of making a negative comment stigmatizing mental health awareness or treatment, reconsider, choose not to, and move along. Mental health is just as important as physical.)

Eddie Diaz is in no condition to be in a relationship with anyone except a therapist right now.

Whether you want Buddie, Eddie/Marisol, or Eddie/Wife's Ghost, if you want to see anyone with this guy right now, I have to ask you if you are feeling okay.

Remember how Eddie's parents didn't want him dragging Christopher down with him? Right now, it looks like Eddie's carefully, barely held together existence is going to go boom. Anyone in the blast radius is in danger. The only dates Edmundo Diaz should be having is at least three times weekly and begin with a mental health professional asking him if he has something he wants to talk about.

Evan "Buck" Buckley is a grown ass man. Stop infantalizing him! They even do it on the show.

I can't be the only one who sometimes forgets that thick mountain of a man is not a young twenty-something just wandering out into the world.

He's in his thirties. He's been in therapy. He's grown. He has to do what all of us adults do: Make decisions, wait to find out what happens, and deal with the consequences.

Say it with me: Buck is not a baby.

No one who has any real knowledge is going to tell fandom what the future holds for the show.

Who doesn't get that?

There are unhinged fans on every side of every current fight.

If you are attacking actors, writers, producers, networks, or anyone else, I have to wonder if you should be in a room next to Eddie after someone who loves him takes him where he should go.

That type of behavior used to get you a room with soft walls and a free jacket that left you in a permahug.

You can make anything you want happen with the characters.

It's call fanfiction and AO3 is wonderful. If there is a great story that hasn't been told, get on Word, Docs, Libre, or whatever you have and start making it a reality!

Authors have major support and respect from the fans.

If writing isn't your thing, but you are great at prompts and don't mind authors taking your prompts and creating stories, find a way to share them!

There are positive ways to channel your eyerolls, frustration, anger, or whatever. Draw fanart. Write fic. Write ideas and throw them at those who draw fanart and write fanfic.

To the whole fandom: CHILL! PLEASE!

I don't want to watch another fandom I enjoy implode. I don't want to see other fandoms assume everyone in this fandom is in need of the soft room and permahug fashion I mentioned earlier.

Been there, done that.

At the end of the day, everyone needs to remember:

It's not real.

[omgpurplefattie]

Hellooo! For the 20 Sentences of Support and Sympathy writing prompts - 13 or 18 with difang, whichever you feel like giving a go :)

Tiles had fallen off the roofs, and the last of the dead bodies had been reduced to a few scattered bones, eaten by scavengers and dried by the dry, icy mountain air. Wooden doors hung off their hinges, and all the plants, unwatered, had died.

“I’m here with you; you can rely on me.”

Di Feisheng turned and looked at him as if astonished by his presence; while they had been standing and surveying the devastation of Di Fortress, the man had apparently retreated very far into his head, very far into his own past.

“We will find the ledger that the merchant spoke of,” Fang Duobing went on, gently reminding both of them why they were facing Di Feisheng’s deepest nightmares and oldest trauma again.

He didn’t offer to go looking on his own; Di Feisheng had decided that finding the list of murders that Master Di had sent his unwilling disciples to die for was worth the confrontation with his past and all the pain.

“If there is a paper trail,” Di Feisheng said, “it will change everything. We can put things to the right.”

That would mean revenge; neither of them dared hope that there would be a list of the children acquired in the secret archives the merchant had sworn existed in Di Fortress. And even if there was -- would any family want them back?

Li Lianhua would groan when he came back from his ridiculous fishing trip with Yun Biqiu and Zhan Yunfei; did A-Fei really have to find something new to obsess over <i>again</i>?

But Fang Duobing understood that justice was more important than peace of mind, and sometimes, you had to do something simply because you could not un-know about it.

Li Lianhua was good at ignoring things in the name of non-attachment; but Fang Duobing was attached to the world and the people in it, desperately, passionately so. He encouraged it when Di Feisheng chose to share his attitude.

Now, however, Di Feisheng was quivering quietly as he yet again looked at the place of his torment. Fang Duobing had been here before, but with Li Lianhua, not A-Fei himself.

They had stepped over the rotting wood of the high threshold and now stood in the wide courtyard, once training ground and arena both.

“I’m here with you,” Fang Duobing said again, “you can rely on me.”

Di Feisheng turned again and looked at him.

“I know,” he said, softly, acknowledging that he would need and appreciate the support.

They both didn’t say it: much as they loved and adored Li Lianhua, he wasn’t always reliable in practical or emotional matters. He had sudden ideas, he would shrug off serious issues with a joke, or he would tell a blatant lie if he wanted them to drop a subject.

Li Lianhua was the center of both their hearts, but the two of them were the bedrock all three of them were firmly rooted in.

Practical matters. Right.

“Where did the old man receive his guests, do you remember?” he asked. If they were to do this, Di Feisheng would have to rummage through his past and parts that deserved forgetting.

“Clients,” Di Feisheng said. “They were always just clients. He’d receive them in the hall, and then he might call some of us in to demonstrate. But that was mostly the older kids, ready to be sent out on their mission.”

“It would be only one?”

“If the client paid enough, the disciple would be told to die after their assignment,” Di Feisheng said.

“Couldn’t they just get lost in the jianghu, once their job was done?” Fang Duobing said, trying to muster hope against the bleakness in A-Fei’s voice.

“No,” Di Feisheng said. “They were under a compulsion from those creatures Master Di planted into our bodies. If we fought the compulsion, the creature would explode and take us with it. I only managed to escape and live because I had no active compulsion on me when I ran.”

He shuddered. Fang Duobing took his hand.

“I’m here,” he said again. “We can do this!”

He strode forward, Di Feisheng following easily, but still holding on to his hand; he strode up the stairs, already towing Fang Duobing along, fully in charge again.

He pushed at the doors. One side came off its hinges and crumbled underneath their boots.

Inside, the hall was dark and dank, fabric rotted and wood eaten by worms; it had been years since the place was freed.

“I hope the mechanisms, whatever they are, still work,” Fang Duobing said. He was the expert here; finding the mechanism to open a compartment that would hide the secrets of a fortress was his job.

It was laughable; it only took him a quarter of an hour before he held the ledger in his hands.

He didn’t dare open it, though; he handed it to Di Feisheng.

Die Feisheng opened the ledger; it was columns, numbers, itemized lists, as you would expect.

Di Feisheng shoved it back into Fang Duobing’s hands. There was only that one ledger in the secret compartment, and a box.

When Fang Duobing picked it up, metal clanged.

“We are taking this,” he said, “and distributing the money to the kids you freed; my aunt and Zhan Yunfei will probably know how to find them again.”

“They are keeping in touch,” Di Feisheng said. “Ask one Di orphan, and they will know ways to find other Di orphans. We just ask the ones Tianji Hall took in as apprentices.”

“How come you know that?” Fang Duobing asked.

“I am a Di orphan,” Di Feisheng said, with a shrug that was meant to look careless but still seemed as painful as lifting a boatful of stones.

“A-Fei,” Fang Duobing said.

“Yes, that’s me.”

Fang Duobing pulled him into his arms, right here in this place of death and suffering, this root of nightmares.

“I am here with you,” he said again, crushing the taller man against his own shoulders. “I’ve got you. We got this.”

“Let’s get off this mountain.”

They went, and when they had stepped over the threshold, Di Feisheng took his hand again, and they jumped into the air, Fang Duobing easily following the trail that Di Feisheng forged with his qinggong.

This wasn’t the first time they flew together. Di Feisheng would always be the best at flying, but they had cultivated their inner power together for so long, they now easily found their strides together.

In the inn, at night, after a bath and a meal, they went to their room to look at the ledger again.

And no, old Master Di had not noted where the children had come from. He just noted the date, how much he had paid for each of them, and what name he gave them.

Di Feisheng -- boy, five years, 50 taels.

He had come with a delivery of three others on the same day. That was all there was in the ledger.

Di Feisheng stared at his name, going green around the gills, as if in horror of his identity starting on this mildewed page.

“Di Aman came on the same day,” he said, quietly.

Fang Duobing took him in his arms.

“Who was that?”

“The first one he made me kill,” Di Feisheng said.

Fang Duobing held him tight and said nothing.

Finally he picked up the ledger again. There were so many names, so many assignments.

“You would spend your life hunting all these former clients,” he said, running his thumb over the soft, yellowed pages.

“I have to,” Di Feisheng said. “All these people owe blood. And I won’t involve any of the younger Di orphans, even though many of them would be ready to go.”

“Of course not,” Fang Duobing said. “That would be terrible. We want them to live their lives free of any more murder. But Li Lianhua would hate that kind of revenge quest, even though he will see the point. He might not follow us on it. It is not what his life is even remotely about. And I am sure you want to stay with him as much as I do.”

“Yes,” Di Feisheng says, “but now I know, how can I let any of them go?”

“Do you remember who I am, apart from ‘one of your cultivation partners’?” Fang Duobing asked, taking Di Feisheng’s hand.

“The young master of Tianji Hall?” Di Feisheng said, with a little eye-roll at Fang Duobing’s self-importance.

“Not wrong, but also not relevant.”

“One of the strongest fighters of the jianghu? Practitioner of yangzhouman?”

“That, too, but it doesn’t help here.”

Beat.

“I am an investigator of Baichuan Court,” Fang Duobing said, proudly.

“Yes, and?”

“This is exactly their jurisdiction -- crimes of the jianghu, at the intersection with the mundane world. We hand these records over to them, and they sort them by importance and danger -- some of these, even a fledgling detective can bring down.”

“That means,” Di Feisheng said, “I would have to explain what these mean, and what Di Fortress used to be.”

“A nest of assassins?” Fang Duobing said. “Of children raised to kill and forced to comply? Of course they know about this. An operation like this can’t exist without people hearing about it, or there would be no clients. Baichuan Court knows, without doubt.”

“I can’t…”

“We are here for you,” Fang Duobing said. “You can rely on us, HuaHua and me, both. He refuses to hold opinions these days, and he will probably let me do the talking through this, but he will be there with you and support you. And so will I.”

Di Feisheng looked at him. “I keep the worst twelve.”

“What?”

“I keep the worst twelve,” Di Feisheng said again. “The twelve clients who spent the most money, who had the most of us die in their assignments. There were contracts in which two or even more assassins were sent off and never came back. I want the twelve worst of those, and come for them myself. It doesn’t all have to happen within the next year, though.”

“I think,” Fang Duobing said, “that is feasible. HuaHua will probably argue that he doesn’t want anything to do with it, but we can take it slow. Let us count them down; start with the twelfth, and then work our way up to the worst. After three or four of them, the others will guess what is happening. They will know a survivor of Di Fortress is coming after them. They will know that Baichuan Court is coming after them, sending fighters and investigators. Some will probably surrender to Baichuan Court in the hopes of surviving in the 188 prisons, rather than being struck down by you. None of them will rest easy in their beds ever again, once word spreads.”

Di Feisheng stared at him, then gave a rough, surprised laugh. “You are the son of the woman who invented the qi torturing cage,” he said. “You are the one among us who hesitates the least when there are henchmen to kill in the path of our objective. I like your way of thinking. For that to happen, I can face the Baichuan court and tell them the truth.”

“I am sure,” Fang Duobing said, putting the ledger away, “that for the sake of you not facing all of these by yourself, HuaHua will deign to have an opinion again, for once, and pull rank on them. For the sake of handing most of these over, he is likely to concede to us hunting these last twelve.”

“Why do you always say we, though?” Di Feisheng said.

“Because I am with you in this,” Fang Duobing said. “You can rely on me. Don’t you remember who I am?”

“An investigator of Baichuan Court?”

Fang Duobing laughed. “Your cultivation partner, dummy!”

He leaned in to kiss A-Fei, as if to prove his point.

[random-autie-fangirl]

Kris and Noelle/Chara and Asriel parallels

It's like a creepy human and a soft hearted monster right?

(Yes, as a matter of fact. We do have time to talk about Kris and Noelle/Chara and Asriel parallels. This is kind of an "adaptation" (or whatever) of a tag ramble so mind the grammar)

who are both the same age ("It's a twin sized bed"), one is “good” and one is “evil”....and yet they're best friends! siblings even! (I say Kris and Noelle are siblings because of Asgorudy, basically) the monster is easily scared by the human...but they like scary things as long as they're not really dangerous. (of course, Chara did actually turn dangerous later but how was Asriel supposed to know that? Chara had always been kind before). So the monster responds to their sibling's morbid pranks and creepy faces with screaming one minute and laughing the next “AAAAHHH hee hee hee” or chewing them out with a smile. Kris and Chara Dreemurr are “unpredictable” but in the same way a rollercoaster or scary movie is...they're “the good kind of scary."

Noelle and Asriel are wealthy by birth with a big house and parents with great social status. Chara and Kris are children from nowhere implied to be greatly harmed by humanity. Their time with the Dreemurrs is the first time they have ever felt safety or peace. They have known Noelle and Asriel for just as long. Both Noelle and Asriel feel like they're weak, they feel that they should be stronger and they feel like their fear or crying are a fault of character. Both of them feel trapped where they are. He wants to climb mt. ebbot "when this is all over". (I will talk about this later but remember the echo flower conversation) Noelle wants to see a city with shining lights. She wanted to see the stars back in Undertale.

...And then in both situations...“Kris” (actually Red) and Chara tell Az and Noelle to kill for them and manipulate them heavily into agreeing, pushing them around expecting complete obedience, shaming them for their emotional responses, and using Noelle and Asriel's insecurities over said emotions. Promising “strength” as a reward for doing what they're told and comitting murder on the behalf of someone too cowardly to do so themselves. Asriel gets to see the surface. Noelle gets to see her city. But both only at the cost of destroying everything living there.

And we know the difference between these situations don't we? Kris was possessed but Chara was always in control. But Noelle doesn't exactly...so it seems that in both situations that the human betrays the monster. Destroys the spirit of the person who trusted them the most. Uses the monster for their physical strength, takes advantage of their emotional “weakness”. Treats Noelle and Asriel like a weapon rather than a person. Who was warm is now cold hearted. Whose presence signified safety was the biggest danger of all. what was once a joke is now deadly serious. They were the bad kind of scary. (Please note I know it's not actually Kris this is just what might be going through Noelle's head at first, you know, before she rationalizes it as a dream).

And yes, I also know that Chara was probably doing this for monsterkind's freedom but I don't care exactly? he's still a child, ... not a chess piece, not a weapon he didn't deserve to be used even for the sake of monsterkind's freedom. Asgore doesn't force Toriel to help him? Undyne doesn't force Papyrus to help her? done for “good reasons” doesn't make them a good person!

Just like it won't make Red suddenly a good person if the weird route somehow helps lead to a happy ending. Though I like to think that Red resets or leaves the weird route before it ever reaches its conclusion. In contrast I believe Chara went back to before they died and actively chose to do the buttercup plan again when it had already failed once. Also yes in the end Asriel was able to say no when Noelle never could but he paid for that disobedience with his LIFE. Deliberately! Chara had a save file. they could have saved themselves and Asriel but they chose not to. And maybe the reason was partially punishment!

And Yeah! That's all the parallels between Chara and Asriel and Kris/Red and Noelle! Thanks for listening! =)

[dyrewrites]

Bloodhound -- flower

“House to ourselves, flower,” Deluca cooed to the less wriggly infant in his arms, “you don’t like him here, do you?” He asked, wondering if she could smell Leandro’s intent as easily as he could see it—if it blurred too often.

Searching the office for anything he might need to clean up or hide from her, and eyeing the phone but unwilling to check his voicemail, he nodded. With the silver put away—the memory of the wolf’s efforts burning through the taste yet throbbing in his veins—there were few worries for one hardly two feet tall if she tried to stand.

So he moved on to show her more of the house.

After showing her some paintings, “Oriana, meet Lucient, your papa.”

She cooed and burbled, earning his giggles.

As well as a response to projected words—for she was not speaking so much as trying mouth sounds,“Yes, he is close to the werewolf here earlier, isn’t he, but it’s important to me that you to see the differences.” Adding, for himself alone, as I should try to more often.

While pointing out more memories of Lucient, Deluca ended up wandering through the office, around the corner from his desk and out into the garden.

Bad place to be.

Even with the glass long swept up, flowers replanted, and every pot of soil where it belonged...there was a hole. More than the one in the ceiling telling of his agony and shame, the greenhouse itself—cradled by high stone walls crawling with flowering vines—was empty of life. Oh, the flowers were growing, would have been beautiful if not for so many missing petals from his last dive into them.

But his love wasn’t there, wasn’t tending to them in his delightful hat and gloves. Wasn’t singing to them as he so often did, or giggling so sweetly rich when he was interrupted by warm arms and warmer lips.

So it was a bad place to be.

With the lie of him still in his veins, on his lips, on his skin, and a promise in his arms he worried he’d never get to meet...it became a worse place. Emptier, darker, bleak despite the bright colors of marigolds, chrysanthemums, lilies, roses—and far more important but less emotionally relevant flowers—spread among long planters, tall pots and flatbeds.

All were kept alive by sigils he’d had carved in the walls to preserve what he couldn’t—ever active. Sigils which pulsed, every so often, to make them appear more sweetly vibrant than reality.

“This,” he tried, really he did, to tell his own flower of all the ones her papa grew there, all those he worked so hard to keep alive for him. Those he failed to do so for his heat ruining the delicate temperature of the greenhouse—facilitating the sigils.

But he couldn’t get the words out.

Oriana didn’t mind if the big warm thing that took her from all the choking blood and screams could tell her about the pretty things, only if she could touch them. Which she did her best to do just then, worming out of his arms and landing perfectly on feet that shouldn’t have been so steady yet. Dropping to all fours, she ignored the sniffling heat she escaped—one ignoring her as well, lost to his sorrow—and crawled for the closest pretty thing she could reach.

Golden as her eyes it was, though she’d not seen her eyes, and she held it high to catch morning light through the great big hole above her. Burbling loud and almost saying a word, which came out more as, “fow-ah.”

But it was close enough to get attention, to notice.

Deluca noticed too the color of her eyes so close to that flower and why, perhaps, he chose to call her his.

Kneeling beside her to point at it, he spoke clear and slow to tell her what it was, “mar-i-gold, it’s your papa’s favorite flower…just as you are mine,” he added, snatching her up and earning a slew of giggles for it. The flower she kept, close and tight in her arms as Deluca sniffed more tears and nodded at the mess, “non più broncio, fiore mio. Babbo is done with all this sulking,” aware he was lying, he tried again, “or I will try to be done. We’ll fix up the garden and...and maybe a certain flower would like to learn to care for others.”

[andithewhumper]

Hannah (2)

Wow, finally an update! I've been sitting on this for a while and even though I'm still not happy with it, here it is. I am excited to be able to introduce all of my ocs.

Masterlist - Prev

Content: Vampire thralls, vampire carewhumper, past referenced abuse, human whumpee, nonbinary whumpee

The sound of the clock was loud in Quinn’s ears. The waiting was destroying them and they had to fight not to fidget with more than their hands. Their new Master was sitting with her back away from them, writing something with a fountain pen. The room was much like the rest of the house, scarily fancy. Quinn hoped that they wouldn’t need to touch anything. It all looked so expensive. Their old Master was fancy, sure, but Quinn never saw much more than his basement where they were kept. 

It had been quite a shock to come to this huge house, bustling with activity. Quinn had already seen six vampires, including the ones that brought them here, and several more humans walking around, all seeming too busy to spare them a second glance. Thankfully, out of all the vampires they had seen, Master’s friend had not been one of them. Everytime Quinn was around him, they were tied up. In fact, they were restrained for a lot of the time with their old Master; not that it was needed. They were always weak from lack of blood, it was weird now that they didn’t have that same lightheaded feeling. Quinn knew they would have to savor the strength for as long as they could. When their new Master chose to feed from them the feeling would come back and they would be as weak as ever again. 

They stared at the ground, finally getting the shaking under control. They forced themself into a posture they thought would be proper for a family this fancy. Their old Master never cared how they presented themself as long as their neck was easily accessible, but Quinn suspected now would be different and they didn’t want their Master thinking they were as useless as they really were. 

When they heard Master turn around they froze their fidgeting and tried not to move too much. They knew the vampire could hear their heartbeat so they tried to calm their breathing, not quite sure it was working. 

“So you were Joshua’s thrall, huh?” the vampire asked. Quinn swallowed hard and nodded, then remembered they had been told to respond verbally.

“Y-yes, Master.”

“You should be grateful, he was going to give you to Edward. That bastard goes through thralls like they are testing mice.” Their Master’s voice was filled with irritation. 

“I-I am grateful, Master. Th-thank you for taking me. I’m sorry for any trouble I’ve caused you.” Quinn kept their eyes on the ground. Their voice was quiet and respectful, but it still shook to their dismay. Their new Master must be so disappointed that she had to take such a useless thrall. 

“Look at me when you speak, thrall,” their Master ordered. Quinn’s eyes shot up immediately. They were ashamed that they had done yet another thing wrong. 

“I’m sorry, Master,” they forced out. Their Master didn’t look disappointed, though. In fact, she nodded in approval. 

“Good. Now what is your name, thrall.” 

“It’s Quinn, Master.” They wondered why their new Master cared about their name. Their old Master just referred to them as ‘human’ or ‘thrall’ and so had the vampire in the office. 

“Good, Quinn. Like I am sure you heard when I was speaking to my father, I do not need you for blood, but I will drink from you. I also will make use of you in my lab from time to time. Do you have education, Quinn?”

They expected it, but hearing that they would be used in the lab was terrifying. Quinn’s eyes flicked around the room before landing back on their Master. 

“I-I went to school until I was taken by my past master four years ago, Master.” 

The vampire nodded. “Then you will learn. I’ll start you out with something simple, but once you learn how to use the machines I’ll get you to do something more complicated. My father, annoyingly, is correct that I could use some help in the lab, though I have little use for a human test subject.” Quinn listened to Master’s musing with relief. They were more than willing to do whatever task was asked of them, especially if that meant they wouldn’t have to be a subject. 

Quinn wondered what Master was testing. They thought it was rare for women to be scientists, but they supposed, maybe Europeans did it differently. Master had a strange drag to her voice that Quinn couldn’t place, but they were sure it wasn’t American. 

Master stood and stepped closer to Quinn. 

“Now if I am going to deal with you, I will put you to good use. Stand up.” Her voice was smooth with authority and Quinn stood immediately. They felt strange, standing so close to their Master and they had to resist the instinct to kneel. Their old master would have struck them down if they ever dared to stand in his presence. 

“Now follow me quietly,” she ordered before turning away and walking out the door. 

---

Kairos was surprised by the thrall. They seemed to be very well behaved, though scared. She knew she shouldn’t be too surprised by that, of course. She knew that Joshua was severe to his thralls. Such cruelty quickly stamped out any resistance from humans. Their posture was atrocious for a thrall of the Orfeo household, but that could be remedied. Kairos couldn’t help feeling annoyed that she would have to be the one to teach them. Kairos learned very early in her death that it was in her best interest to stray as far away from the thralls as possible. They were all snitches and functioned only as extra eyes for her father. This thrall would be no such thing and Kairos found herself smirking at the thought that her father would not be able to squeeze any information out of the thrall that he gifted her himself. 

Quinn followed dutifully behind her. They trailed back a few steps and kept their eyes on the floor. Kairos strode quickly through the hallways, not caring if the thrall struggled to keep up with her. She held her head high and other thralls bowed and stepped aside when she passed. She was almost to her lab when she ran into her younger sister, Hannah.

“Oh, Kairos. I apologize. I didn’t see you.” Hannah’s voice was calm, but strong. Out of all three of her sisters, Kairos liked Hannah the most. It was in part because she knew Hannah the least. Hannah was turned only a decade before Kairos moved away from her father’s household. She was a dark skinned Romani woman with striking golden eyes, though whether they looked like that before she had died, Kairos was unsure. She was kind and while her two other sisters would poke Kairos with sharp, barbed words, Hannah was more gentle. Kairos wasn’t sure if it was because she genuinely liked her or that she was just too polite to act otherwise. 

“No worries, I’m just showing my new thrall to my lab.” Hannah’s eyes twinkled a bit at her sister’s words and she peered behind her to look at the thrall that had retreaded behind Kairos in a way that made her feel a bit possessive. She was glad that the thrall sought her for safety, however unconscious the action was. 

“Well they look gorgeous, Kairos. What made you take a thrall?” Hannah turned her attention back to her sister and Kairos could feel the human relax infinitesimally behind her. 

“Father didn’t want to reward Edward by giving him a thrall. This one came from that friend of his, Joshua.” 

Hannah made a face of disgust before nodding. 

“Well I agree with his judgment. Edward certainly needs no more encouragement to surround himself with those sorts of people.” Hannah smiled with a nod before slipping past her. Kairos glanced back at her thrall who looked nervous but not too overwhelmed. 

“Come now, we have things to do.” 

Next

Taglist: @cupcakes-and-pain @whumpycries @a-formless-entity

Lmk if you want to be added. :)

[sunnyville36]

Pairing: Bang Chan x fem reader

Series themes: mafia au, arranged marriage, strangers to enemies to lovers, slow burn, featuring members of multiple groups including Stray Kids, BTS, Ateez, Itzy, BTOB

Series warnings: violence, misogyny, heavy swearing, illegal activity, major character injuries, eventual explicit content, *allusions to harmful and abusive family dynamics 18+ minors dni

Word count: 2.5k

A/N: y'all it has been a minute 😅 but I'm excited to be back with the next part and hopefully be writing/posting this more consistently in the near future! as always, let me know what you think! 💕

need to catch up? {series masterlist}

*** Part 4 ***

How hard could it be?

Turns out… pretty fucking hard.

First, there was the sheer amount of watchful eyes on your husband-turned-target.  Tensions were high in the compound after Chan’s capture and the apparent nonchalance of his former top advisors in assuring his safe release, so heavy security was placed on the gang leader around the clock.  Then there was the fact that you’d revealed some of the cards you’d been holding close to your chest before the incident. You were essentially an operative across enemy lines, and, while people hardly paid any attention to you beforehand, after the little stunt you pulled with the old traditions, you felt like there was someone intent on exposing you lurking around every corner.

And finally, there was the small matter of you not actually wanting him dead.  Chan was never supposed to suffer in this.  Sure, he would have had to submit to the Kims once you had him under your control, but he would have been perfectly welcome to go on living his puppet-like life under your direction, something you were relying on the pretense of your marriage to facilitate.  

It wasn’t even that you were particularly fond of the man causing all this trouble.  He seemed fine, certainly far better than your father and older brothers, and honestly almost any other man you could recall meeting in this business. Still, you’d barely had any kind of real relationship.  Your “engagement,” if you could even call it that, was fast and clearly business-driven for both of you (even more than he was aware of for obvious reasons). You didn’t usually exchange more than a few pleasantries, and the fact that you shared the same bed seemed to do very little in the way of igniting intimacy between the two of you, a brief kiss on the cheek or hand on the waist covered the extent to which you’d touched one another. It was a bit sobering that his newfound interest in you after his rescue was the most you'd ever interacted.

You’d been willing to sacrifice your romantic freedom to get you into this strategic position; power was more important than that anyway.  At least, that had been your plan, but now it was your fault he was going to die.  All because you chose the one mafia boss who didn’t have an iron grip on his underlings. 

In fact, you were kind of pissed off about that if you were being honest. You thought that by trusting you with spearheading this mission, your father was finally willing to hand over the reins for one of his major areas of influence to you. But you’d clearly fucked it up, if the way things went the other day was anything to go off of. If only Chan had done what you’d wanted him to do, you could have had the position you’d been fighting your whole life for. 

But maybe your father was right. How could you expect to gain any respect when you couldn’t even pick a proper mark? 

***

You didn’t really put your heart into the first attempt, just paying off a couple of hired guns to run his car off the road on the way to a benefit you knew he was attending. His security dealt with it easily enough, which you knew they would, and it was more of an attempt to buy you some time with your family more than anything. Your father was sure to move up his timetable if he figured out you were having second thoughts. 

On the second attempt, you really did try, insisting on visiting his office with a pair of drinks and going so far as to slip the ricin into his mug yourself on the way to him. But your conscience got the better of you at the last minute, and you switched your tea with his when he wasn’t looking and chucked the tainted liquid into the bushes when you left. 

The following morning, with only 2 days to go until your deadline, you flop dejectedly onto your friend’s bed before screaming into her pillow.

“Fuck!”

“Well, good morning to you too, I guess,” Yeji laughs, walking out of her adjoining bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. You roll over onto your back, an arm covering your eyes while the other reaches for her hand. 

“Why can’t I do it, Yeji?” you ask, eyes peeking out at her from your elbow-blindfold when you feel her hand squeeze yours. Your friend’s normally sharp eyes soften in sympathy as she sits down next to you, letting you rest your head in her lap as you continue. “It’s literally what I’ve been trained to do my entire life, and the first chance I have to prove myself, I chicken out like a little bitch.”

“You don’t mean that,” Yeji replies softly. “I know you don’t mean that and you know you don’t mean that.”

“That’s the problem though,” you insist, pushing yourself up gruffly and shaking your head. “I wish I did mean it. If I don’t do this we’re as good as ruined, and I can’t even get over myself to to-”

Yeji pulls you into a hug as the tears welling up in your eyes threaten to fall, smoothing her hand over your hair. “You always told me you didn’t want to be like them, remember?” You nod, sniffling slightly as she pulls away, grabbing you by the shoulders and looking directly into your eyes, her gaze impressing upon you the seriousness of what she’s about to say. “This is you proving that you aren’t. We said we would figure out how to get out of this life one day. Maybe today is the day we start.”

You raise an eyebrow at her, feeling a smile creep onto your lips. “We’ve only got two days.”

“We’ve done more in less.”

“You think Hyunjin is up for it?”

“I know Hyunjin is up for it.”

Right as she says it, the door slams open and a frazzled looking Hyunjin bursts into the room.

“Speak of the devil.”

“Hyun, we were just-”

The man cuts his sister off, eyes in a panic. “We need to go. Now.”

“Why?” you ask cautiously, both you and Yeji staring at her brother in concern. 

“Just come on,” he says, pulling his sister up and yanking the towel off her hair, “I don’t have time to explain, we just need to get out of here.”

“Wait, stop, Hyunjin calm down, Y/n and I were just talking about how we need to make a total extraction plan and then you come barging in here like-”

“Shhh!” you hiss, raising your hand to quiet Yeji. You hear shouts coming from downstairs and, as you walk closer to the window, you make out what sounds like gunfire in the garden outside. 

You turn back to Hyunjin. “It’s them, isn’t it?” He nods, lips pressed into a grave, straight line. “How did you,” you start to ask, but then you realize. “Seungmin. Seungmin told you?” It’s phrased as a question, but you already know the answer, and Hyunjin’s lowered gaze tells you you’re right. “When?”

“Like five minutes ago. Told me it was an 'early surprise.' I threw some essentials in a bag and came to find you both. We need to move, like, yesterday.”

A single shiver of paralyzing fear runs down your spine, but you shake yourself out of it. You’d made up your mind a long time ago about what you would do in this situation, even if you didn’t want to admit it.

“Yeji, I need you to get Jeongin and head to the garage. I’ll get Chan and meet you there. Hyunjin, you’re with me.”

“But we-”

“No arguing,” Yeji admonishes her brother, already finished tying her hair up and unlocking her safe. She throws you both a pistol and tucks her own into the back of her jeans. “We’ll have a car running when you get there.”

You place a hand on her shoulder. “Be safe.” She nods, and takes off down the north stairway while you and Hyunjin head inwards towards Chan’s office where he’s supposed to be meeting with a new client.

“You didn’t tell us you were still in contact with him,” you say pointedly as you check around the bend for any coming intruders.

“I wouldn’t exactly say I was ‘in contact’ with him,” Hyunjin responds, defensiveness clear in his tone. “He contacted me, usually when he was drunk so he could mock me by telling me about all the strippers he let give him head at the club.” 

You wince, knowing that was just the kind of thing Seungmin would do to get at your friend. “Still, you should have said something, Hyun. We could have gotten him to stop.”

“Kind of a good thing we didn’t though.”

You make it to Chan’s office without running into trouble, but the sound of conflict is slowly encroaching on your position. You put your hand holding the gun behind your back, morphing your face into a sweet smile as you open the door. “Chris, I need to talk to you,” you say, entering the office with Hyunjin at your back. 

Your husband looks like he’s about to protest, but with the door now open both he and the other men inside hear the gunfire and glimpse a couple of Chan’s men running towards the sounds. “I believe we’ll have to resume this discussion another time, gentlemen,” Chan says, and the others immediately agree. Hyunjin watches from the doorway as their own security detail escorts them down the hall while you pull Chan aside. 

“What the hell’s going on? Is the compound under attack? Why didn’t anyone call me?”

You wave off his questions. “Don’t have time to explain. Listen, if you had to leave here right now, who would you need with you?”

Chan looks annoyed, but answers quickly. “Jeongin.”

“Just him? No one else?”

“Just him.”

“Good. Get anything you need from in here. We won’t be coming back.” Despite his confusion, Chan seems to be taking you seriously. He grabs his laptop, a hard drive, and a set of keys and meets you at the door. You take his hand and head back in the direction you came from, trying to remember the quickest way to the garage. 

“Okay, is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” 

You put your arm out, blocking Chan and Hyunjin from walking past you. “Remember that car you told me about the other day? It was a hit put out on you by the Kims. Looks like they got tired of outsourcing and are here to take you out themselves.”

“How do you know that?”

“Doesn’t matter. We just need to keep moving.”

“Wait, what about Jeongin?” Chan asks worriedly. 

“Yeji’s getting him. She’ll meet us in the garage,” you answer, pulling him around another corner. 

“If we’re going to the garage we need to go this-” You put your hand up, silencing your partner, and hear Hyunjin, who’s still out of sight behind the wall, suck in a breath. 

You both would know the sound of those shoes anywhere.  

Seungmin walks casually into view at the other end of the hallway, his favorite rifle resting on his shoulder. “Hey Sis… miss me?” You glare back at him, wishing you could wipe the ugly sneer off his face. “I can see whose side you’ve chosen on this one.”

“Hey, you know me, just the problematic child always getting in your way, right?”

Two more men join your brother, guns pointed at you and Chan. “Please, it gives me no pleasure to do this to you,” he says, shrugging while playing up his fake puppy-dog eyes, “but you’ve forced my hand.”

You brace yourself for the impact of the bullets, but before either gunman can get off a shot, Hyunjin jumps in front of you and Chan from behind the wall. “Stop!”

Seungmin’s face loses its veneer of disgust, eyes widening. “No wait!” he yells as you hear a trigger get pulled, pushing the arm of his gunman and ricocheting the bullet above their heads. All three men duck and you take the distraction for all it’s worth, bolting the other direction with your two companions close behind you.  

Chan’s face is incredulous as you drag him down the corridor, Hyunjin covering you from the rear. “Wait, wasn't that Kim Seungmin? Wha- what… why the hell was he calling you ‘sis?’”

“Doesn’t matter,” you answer again, finally turning the corner that leads to the garage. Hyunjin runs ahead but Chan stops in his tracks. 

“It fucking does matter.”

“I’ll explain everything later; I promise,” you say, eyes pleading with him as the sound of running approaches. “We just need to get out of here.” Chan’s head whips back and forth between you and the hallway you just came from, eyeing you with suspicion. “Please, trust me,” you beg. Finally, he gives in, grabbing your hand and running the rest of the way.

You reach the garage and see Jeongin in the driver’s seat of a large service van. Scanning the passenger side, you don’t see any sign of Yeji until a desperate wail comes from the open sliding door, a distraught Hyunjin ripping the sleeves of his shirt to wrap around his sister’s waist where a pool of blood is forming. A dreadful pit forms in your stomach as your husband now pulls your shocked form forward and jumps you both into the back of the waiting vehicle. “Drive!” Chan yells, just as a barrage of bullets hit the side of the van. You sit up just enough to see through the window, glimpsing a disappointed Seokjin slowly walking to stand beside your maniacal looking other brother, who’s already barking orders for the men to follow you. But you can’t worry about them now; you have a bigger problem on your hands. 

Hyunjin is screaming at Jeongin as the van peels out of the driveway, demanding to know how Yeji got shot. You’re trying to block out the noise, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. “You’re gonna be okay, yeah? We’re gonna take you to a hospital.”

“No!” she and Chan yell in unison, the latter’s hand coming to your shoulder to brace his kneeling form. “We can’t take her there; we’ll be too exposed.” You snap your head towards him, about to throw him from the car for suggesting you shouldn’t help your friend, but he continues. “I know a place we can go. We’ll be safe, and there’s a medic there who can patch her up.”

He looks at you expectantly, and you turn to Yeji, letting her nod in agreement for the both of you.

Chan nods back, turning towards the driver's seat. “Jeongin, take us to the Lee’s.”

{check out the fourth character reveal}

{series masterlist}

[smpsys]

Do you ever think about how Lilith was let into the vault? How the vault hunter's had to fight all the eridians but Lilith was able to walk past them?

We were once into the Gotham fandom, specifically the twins, so the concept of being "born bad" comes to mind. But that combined with how I just see Jack as having npd, uh, ow.

Cause think of what Jack had done at this point. His wife had died, his daughter was a siren and was being hunted down by bandits. There was no concept of sirens powering vault keys at this point, so for all we know, Angel was locked away with access to Echo and nothing else. You could even say this was for the safety of Angel, (atleast partially, Jack obviously still didn't do the best thing here) she had previously been nearly taken and that event had cost Jack his wife.

So the Eridians teamed up with rouge military forces and decided to destroy an entire moon over... what? A grief striken, and yes, minimum emotionally neglectful man, with a mental predisposition to lacking empathy?

They were willing to kill hundreds of innocent people, men, women, children, over a guy who had zero guidance or knowledge on how to handle having a siren daughter and, at this point, made a singular but major shitty decision because of it. But who was actively trying to express empathy where he lacked it, was doing his best to be a good person the way it was expected of him.

The only other action you can judge him for at this point is what happened with Timothy. Even then, looking at the cut dialog, Jack expresses concern for Timothy and whether or not he knows everything is permanent and then is told it's fine and that Timothy is enjoying being him. You honestly could argue that all the Jack knew was, someone signed up, kinda weird that he doesn't know, but he's having fun so whats the harm? All of the shittiest parts are done by the doctor with no signs of Jack knowing! And Timothy harps on about "why would an engineer need this type of protection?" But consider again that Jack is the father of a siren and he already lost his wife to that fact. You could argue that Timothy and all the other doppelgangers were because of that fact.

Also, on the argument of why didn't Jack push harder to confirm Timothy's wellbeing, the doctor phrased Timothy enjoying himself in a very off putting way to the point that Jack openly says how he doesn't want to hear about it. Which with the guy's trackrecord, I wouldn't be surprised if it was on purpose, this guy is clearly well versed in medical malpractice. So untreated and masking npd leading to often times being overly agreeable to what others establish as the morality statis quo plus a purposeful deterrent?

"But Eridans could see the future!" Why couldn't they predict the that Jack would eventually be defeated? Or predict the actions of the vaulthunters and truly stop them? Or that Lilith would let Jack live after making him worse than he ever was?

And even when you think that maybe the Eridian's aren't all knowing (DESPITE BEING TREATED AS SUCH) they still have abilities far beyond an engineer and and some vault hunters. They built a planet! They could've easily prevented these events, could've found some alternative to killing innocents, yet didn't.

If they're all knowing, they either knew they'd lose and hurt innocents anyway or they chose to hold back and let everything happen.

If not all knowing, they're still far more powerful than what they were attempting to stop and yet went with one of the worst options in their wheelhouse of abilities, attemlting to destroy the lives of a planets worth of people.

So, best case scenario, the Eridians only had glimpses of what was to come, they grouped up abandoned militia forces, and then took to slaughtering a facility of workers (dont forget that Helios had ZERO MILITARY), comendeering it's weapons, and then decideding it was best to kill an entire planet. BEST CASE HERE.

At worse, they are a group of aliens who are no better than humans that have been raised to this statis of godship that they're selfishly abusing based on their own unchecked system of moral beliefs.

The middle ground here is that they are a civilization of highly advanced, godlike beings who are some kind of enforcers of fate.

This is good because it means they don't have personal stake in their actions, they are just doing what's best for the universe or something.

This is horrible because that means that Jack was doomed from the start, like Jesus being born a sacrifice, Jack was never going to be able to stop or escape what he'd become. That the Eridians purposely acted as his antagonist to lead him to act they way he did. That they armed these forces, threatened these people, killed innocents, cause they knew that Jack, a man who desperately wanted to be a hero and do the right thing without any guidance of how to do so, would fall for it and play into it. That they facilitated and orchestrated every horrible betrayal that lead to his spiral. They let Lilith into the vault knowing that she would, freshly after being shown the warrior and it's abilities, punch the artifact into his face. That he would then lose one of his last threads of humanity, be permanently scarred to the point of needing a prosthetic, and would become the Hyperion tyrant that would go on to terrorise Pandora.

Even if you can't feel bad for Jack due to his later actions, the ultimate take away here is that Eridians are still morally screwed up and shouldn't be on the pedestal that the people of the borderlands have put them on. That they are either negligent or abusive with their abilities and shouldn't be allowed to get away with their actions with just a hand wave of "future sight" or something.

[hibernationsuit-remade]

💪👃💌💐 for toby and klara! :)

piping hot oc asks

💪 : What is your OC’s most physically attractive attribute? 

For Toby I'd say his eyes (or face honestly? poor little meow meow vibes w/ friendly smile). Definitely something people pay attention to first whenever they see him :)

For Klara I'd say her hair definitely, looks like a flame when sun shines on it, and all her hairstyles are always eye-catching and pretty. She also has pretty hands hehehe <3 She says her secret is using hand cream a lot 👍

👃 : Does your OC smell good? Do they have a signature scent?

Tobias: Funny thing is that he himself doesn't really pay that much attention to smells :') On Earth he smells like his shower gel most of the time when he's home bc taking a shower is the first thing he does after coming home from work. He tries to choose the ones that don't have that much scents but since it's hard to find any fragrance free things he usually chooses something sweet, like vanilla :) Though if you are better at noticing scents (or get really close) you can scent the typical laboratory scent that somehow stays for a long time. Great thing what he's working with is mostly scentless and mostly stays on clothes. In Halcyon he was like, really struggling with it bc there really are no good shampoos and/or shower gels available sdjfjxjffjkflddl BUT. that said. while he got the mockapple basket for Parvati, he also bought the rose one for hinself so he ended up smelling like roses most of the time sndkdkjffjfjfk He did buy some normal products in Byzantium though. Toby also smells like coffee v often in both places bc he drinks 5 cups a day at least teehee

Klara: fun fact she's allergic to perfumes btw Back on Earth she used to always buy the same kind of coconut shower gel & shampoo pack bc it has a very mild smell yet still feels nice <3 She also smells of lemon bc of her hand cream (her hands get dry v easily so she carries it around everywhere and puts it on every two hours etc). On Halcyon I think she just opted for fragrance free things bc everything else smells too strong. Her hands also tend to smell like lots of spices because she uses them a lot whenever she's cooking or baking. Sometimes cinnamon, sometimes whatever the salad sauce requires hehe <3

💌 : How would they plan a romantic evening for a significant other?

They mostly plan them out together ehehe <3 BUT that said they also like to surprise each other every now and then, something small like booking a table in a restaurant they wanted to go to for a long time (Toby's go-to plan) or planning a small day trip to their favorite places, like picnics (Klara's go-to plan).

But if we talk abt the time when they were dating? I think they took turns for fun and usually tried to pay attention to the each other's interests to make the date feel nice, or chose an activity they both enjoyed. Two person book club? Board game night? Stargazing from the balcony? They've done that many times.

On specific dates they'd do something more fancier than usually, like go to a restaurant or book a hotel room (from the same city they lived in. staycation fans etc etc) and stuff like that :3

💐 : What is their courting style? How would they woo someone?

Toby's an acts of service guy, and his skill to notice details and his love for talking is a great way for him to get to know what people may want. So concentrating on listening what his partner wants or thinks about definitely helps on figuring out gifts or actions that could help :) Also, finding some time to hang out with the person and just talk abt things or spend time together.

Klara loves talking with people and finds it a good way to get to know people real close. Talking about things a partner likes or helping them figure out their problems and offering help and empathy is definitely her way of trying to show that she likes, or even loves, someone :3 And also spending time doing things together <3

[briamichellewrites]

20

briajo: I’m posting this because I need to make sense of what happened.

Bria made a lengthy post about Stephanie falling off the bed, her experience at the emergency room, and her interaction with the doctor and CPS. It sounded like she was being investigated because she was young and didn’t have a lot of money, not because they thought she was abusing her daughter. Her social worker was cooperating with the investigation, as was the manager of the apartment complex where they lived. Mike and Brad were also involved.

Yes, they had a job to do but it didn’t make it any more fair. Stephanie’s teachers were interviewed. They did not suspect child abuse. It was the opposite. Bria was a great mother and Stephanie was a very happy child. She was dressed appropriately for the weather, always spoke highly of her mother, and was compassionate towards the other children.

“Mommy got in trouble.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. How is your arm”, her teacher asked.

“It hurts like a big owie.”

“Be careful when you’re playing, okay? We don’t want it to hurt more than it already does. Maybe you could play with the dolls. That will be good for your arm. Or, you could color.”

She wanted to color, so she went over to that station. There were other children and another teacher over there. Coloring helped her arm rest. Because her arm hurt, she couldn’t be as active as she usually was. She liked coloring, even though she had to share and wait her turn for the crayons she wanted. Sharing and taking turns were things they were learning.

They were also learning how to say please and thank you. Can I have that crayon, please? Thank you! The teacher complimented them on how nice they were being to their friends. Stephanie was more tired than usual, so she fell asleep easily during nap time. The children were able to choose what they wanted to sleep with. She chose a stuffed bear. After getting under the covers of her blanket, she held the bear tightly and closed her eyes.

They each had a cot, a pillow, and a blanket. The cot wasn’t as comfortable as her bed at home but it was better than sleeping on the floor. While the children slept, the teachers got ready for the next activity. Snack time.

Bria was a little distracted but it didn’t interfere with her work. Brad and Mike could tell she was trying. She could have called in for a day off. Instead, she had come to work. Mike had to leave his phone on Do Not Disturb because he was distracted. After hooking up with Brad, he asked him out for a proper date. He accepted immediately, though he didn’t want to seem desperate or too eager.

He was just ecstatic that a guy was taking an interest in him! Brad would understand if he didn’t respond to him right away. They were sending flirty messages to each other and he felt happier than he had in a long time. Brad mentioned how his wife, Elisa wanted to invite Bria and Stephanie over sometime during the weekend for dinner. They had three children: Jonah, fifteen; Noah, thirteen; and Evan, eleven. Evan was their only daughter and she was a daddy’s girl.

They thought Stephanie would have fun playing with her. The boys? Not so much. That was fine. Mike thought she would be delighted with the invitation! It didn’t seem like she knew a lot of people or had very many, if any friends. He got up to go ask her. While he was doing that, he also got up and went out to get a refill of coffee. He suddenly had a flashback to Chester and the band.

“Chester, where are you going”, Phoenix asked.

“To get more coffee.”

“You don’t need more coffee!”

“Chester, we are not peeling you from the ceiling”, Brad joked.

“Dude, shut up.”

He laughed. Chester loved coffee just as much as he loved women. Just as much as he loved the people around him. As he was pouring himself a cup, Joe came in with Rob, Phoenix, and Joe. They noticed they had a new assistant, so they waited until she was done talking to introduce themselves to her. She was young and beautiful with long brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail.

Brad introduced her to them. They said hello and shook her hand. It was nice to meet them. They were then pulled into a meeting. After closing the door to the conference room, Rob asked who she was. Brad laughed. Joe commented on how beautiful she was. He was married and not looking to have an affair, he just had to say it. They agreed with him. Mike told them she was hired after they posted a job opening for an assistant. She was a perfect addition to their team.

After catching up, they talked about the reason for the meeting. Phoenix was going grey, as well as Rob. They were not twenty-something guys anymore but full-grown men with families. It was amazing how time had passed.

No matter what, they would always be brothers who would always be there for each other. Rob was having a difficult time with his anxiety and he didn’t participate in all of their anniversary celebrations. His girlfriend was great at listening to him talk about the thoughts in his head beating him up. She comforted him by reminding him that the thoughts were not real.

He was on medication and was going to therapy. It was only because she pushed him. They had only been together for six months but he wanted to marry her. He was getting older, at forty-four years old and he didn’t want to be too old to get married. His family was telling him to wait to get engaged because they didn’t want him to be impulsive. He was still young and had plenty of time. Having a new girlfriend was exciting and he was in the honeymoon phase.

Things could change and they didn’t want him to get hurt. Divorce was expensive and they were worried it would hurt him mentally. After discussing what they needed to discuss, they continued hanging out and chatting. There was a knock on the door, so Joe opened it. A woman wearing a name tag asked for either Mike or Brad. Mike got up and walked outside with her.

Bria was crying and talking to a CPS agent. He asked what happened. They were taking Stephanie while they conducted their investigation. He did his best to make them see they were making a mistake, but it didn’t work. They were just doing their job. Bria asked if she could tell them important allergy concerns about her daughter. Yes, she could. She told them about her allergy to onions. In her book bag, she had an Epi-pen, just in case she had anaphylaxis. She also had Celiac disease.

If she accidentally ate gluten, she would get very sick and would throw up. She needed to go to the emergency room right away. Was there anything else? No. They thanked her for that information before leaving. She sat down distraught. Mike asked if they could do anything for her. She had to hire a lawyer but couldn’t afford one. They would help her pay for one. Thank you. She was welcome.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon @fiickle-nia @boricuacherry-blog

[kiba-the-lucky]

Disco Elysium (SPOILERS)

I played through Disco Elysium a while ago. I recommend it if you haven't tried it yet... Don't buy it though, money doesn't go to the original devs anymore, and the people it does go to are shady af.

So, I had tried to play through the game before, but was never really able to actually get through much of the game. Very un-motivated at the time.

But a while ago I actually started a playthrough I'd be able to finish, and I gotta say, I love the game, best game ever made to be honest. Genuinely beats out any other game I've ever played, and that I'd ever play. So I'm making this post to share my experience, and the paths I took to complete it.

Day 1

Sobriety

I easily remembered the whole of the intro, the first day is all I've played at this point, and anything outside of the intro in the Whirling in Rags I did not remember.

I chose one of the template builds, the Thinker, and immediately started thinking of what kind of character I wanted this sad sad man to be. I ultimately decided in making him an ace detective, and horrible socialite, and also swearing him off of alcohol. Pretty much the opposite I imagined he was like before the INCIDENT.

He woke up, he grabbed his things, took a look in the mirror, and saw the beautiful man I would be playing for the rest of the game.

Behold!

He went outside to grab his other shoe, and then conversed with his neighbor for a bit, her being confused at his lack of understanding of who, what, where, why, and how he is. He goes downstairs and meets Kim Katsuragi, his new partner. When asked his name, he came up with "Raphael Ambrosius Costeau." This obviously wasn't his name, as faint bits of memory would later return in the form of "Harrier".

He would then go on to talk to the few people inside the Whirling in Rags at the time, learning about his new debt, and his job as a police officer. Learning about the world as he investigates. Once arriving at the crime scene he immediately throws up. Putting off investigating the body until later. He would investigate everyone around the crime scene, and those at the traffic blockade nearby. Getting a bit of a picture, multiple men carrying a man from a mercenary group to hang him on a tree, the main questions being: Why? Who? Was the man alive at the time, or already killed? He came back to the body, somehow resisting the urge to hurl his internal contents out into the now pre-stained ground. he was able to investigate some while the body hung, but he had an idea, a better idea. Asking for Kim's gun, he was somehow able to convince Kim that he would be able to shoot the body down. And he did it, after all, even if he doesn't remember, he took more off days at shooting ranges than anyone else in his precinct. He was a skilled shooter, and he knew it.

He tried his best to inspect the body, and did a decent job at it, but felt like he wasn't done, and took the body to a fridge to keep it cold to investigate tomorrow. He then went to go talk to the one person available he had not contacted yet.

God, he's ugly.

Managing to avoid sitting in THE CHAIR, he was able to get some information out of Evrart, namely the location of his gun, a rather important thing to have, and a bad thing to lose. Who knows what sort of malicious individual could have found it, and be actively using it for CRIME??

He took the money from Evrart, not because he was agreeing to help him, but because he needed to pay his debt.

He passed by the shipping container, and after yelling at the doors once, he pulled out his crowbar and tried to pry the doors open. In absolute disbelief, he managed to

WHAT THE FUCK

Quickly forgetting about what just happened, and whether or not he thinks capitalism is even an okay practice, he absconds with even more money than he came in with. And investment he said, somehow finagling a cool hundred into his pocket.

At this point, there wasn't much left to do, he had people to interrogate still, but they were elsewhere at the time. So he went back to his room, paid off his debt, and slept the day away.

...But not before tricking Kim into sleeping, and stealing the boots off the dead body, vowing to find the rest of the armor.

Day 2

The Hardie Boys

He went through a whole day without drinking, this is good, this is healing. He knew what he needed to do this day, and first went to investigate the body, as it was early in the day, and the Hardie Boys weren't at their spot yet.

He looked over spots he had already looked at before, but noticed something new.

A bullet hole, in the back of the neck of the body.

This is it, this is new, this implies that the hanging was not the true cause of death, or at least puts it into question.

He was hung post-mortem.

He went to the Hardie Boys for their interrogation at this point. They proved to be very... Strange. It's like they wanted to make themselves seem guilty, practically admitting outright that they hung the body, that they killed them. With the evidence of the bullet hole, this seemed off.

There was nothing else to do at this point.

He went to talk to someone who was near the tree where the body hung, and got directions to a piece of armor.

Harrier told Kim to bring the body back to the police while he went to sleep after a hard day's work.

Day 3

Communism

At this point, Harrier is getting a semblance of personality, a crucial part of any personality being, of course, politics. Harrier became a communist, partially due to the debt really cementing in his mind the idea of the cost of living being bullshit, but mostly just reflecting the beliefs of the player controlling him, who is also a communist.

Before his time, his prime time, Harrier's prime time, there was a war that broke out on this island, a fight between a group of revolutionary communists, and the government, a fight which, ultimately ended with the government winning. Of course, by the time of Harrier, this war was a distant memory of the older people of the island, specifically two people, two possibly gay men who both fought on different sides of the war.

A thought in Harrier's head as he investigated more of the surrounding areas of the body, was that, what if he, himself was the reincarnation of the founder of communism, Kras Mazov?

This was a stupid thought. He kept this thought for the rest of his life.

I'm starting to forget many small details at this point, so I'm going to skim through things.

At this point, Harrier was going into the fishing village, and there... He found his lost badge. In a car. Crashed into the ground. After it had been driven over the bridge connecting the village to the city. Which broke the bridge.

Harrier also joined a group of communists, although it wasn't what he expected, he had a good time with them, whether or not they are fit to lead a new-era revolution. They were fun.

During this time, Harrier also got really into the idea of cryptozoology. Becoming friends with a patron at the Whirling in Rags, and being asked to find her husband, a cryptozoologist. He was found at the fishing village, and he started helping him catch a cryptid, a sort of large bug of sorts, setting traps and lures to try and catch it.

At this point, he also talked to a friend of said cryptozoologist, noticing something strange about him, he got this friend to reveal that he had been keeping, and wearing, a piece of armor belonging to the hanged man.

He had acquired all of the pieces of armor he could at this point.

Day 4

Pew Pew

Today was the day. The day the gun would be found. Harrier's pistol.

It had originally been sold to a pawn shop, then bought by someone, and until today, the identity of that person was a mystery.

That person is "The Pigs", a policiphiliac, a wannabe cop. Possibly insane. Taking multiple things belonging to police, she pretended to be one. In front of the police. Harrier managed to talk her down, and was able to acquire his pistol, before telling her off and continuing the investigation.

It was at this point Harrier had found his style. He was a communist, unfortunately trapped within a reality of ultra-captialism. And at this point he didn't care who knew, which was perfect as he had found a had, a winter hat, worn by those during the war who had sided with the commune.

And thus. Harrier, ultra-communist, was finished.

And he looked damn good.

He also became very good friends with Kim yesterday, and was able to show off his sick pinball skills to him, managing to actually win a game. I only just remembered that.

His investigation was going well, as he was talking to his neighbor again. Klaasje. With her, investigating reports of sexual assault by the victim, reported by the Hardie Boys, although unintentionally. Harrier almost had a mental breakdown, losing touch with his multiple thought-personalities in the process of interrogating her. She revealed to him what actually happened with the victim...

Ellis Kortenaer, an Oranjese mercenary, and Klaasje's lover. During a party involving the Hardie Boys, she and Ellis had went up to her room, and FUCKED had private involvements within. This caught the attention of a so-called corporate assassin, who then shot Ellis in the back of the neck, while he was on top of her. Using his high perception, Harrier took into account the angles, the bullet hole in the window of the balcony, and where Ellis would have been when he was shot.

He deducted that there would only be three places where a possible killer could have be posted.

Klaasje, afterwards fearing that the bullet that hit Ellis was meant for her, and thinking if she covered it up as a group hanging it would not be noticed by who was after her, she gathered the Hardie Boys and another accomplice, deeply involved with the drug issues in Revachol, to fake a hanging.

Kim suggested they arrest her, but another option was to give her a note that makes her obligated to turn herself in.

Harrier took this option, at the behest of his easily-manipulated psyche, his inner thoughts, his personality. Although his volition was against it, his gut feeling, it told him to get Kim to arrest her here and now, but Harrier was too easily convinced by his other, compromised thought-patterns.

Within the day, he investigated two of the earlier mentioned killer's locations, noting that one has had no human life within it for weeks, if not months, the other, he was unable to rule out, being very secluded.

He then investigated a lead from an earlier delve into a drug trafficking ring. Below, where he found his revolutionary hat, in a secret tunnel network. He was assaulted by the accomplice of the fake hanging, Ruby, although not a willing accomplice. Using a device to disorient the two detectives, but after they destroy the device, she threatens to shoot herself. Harrier manages to de-escalate the situation, promising not to arrest her if she puts the gun down, and telling her they just want to talk to her. She does drop the gun, but runs afterwards, back towards central Revachol. Following her, the detectives stumble upon a most troubling scene...

The Mercenary Tribunal

The time has come, a promise from the mercenaries fulfilled. On this day, they have come to exact their revenge. Confronting the Hardie Boys. The detectives intervene, guns drawn, they try to talk down the mercenaries, trying to convince them that they know who did it, that the killer is going to be found soon, but nothing works. They say they already know who did it.

Bullets fly. Time slows to a halt. Harrier has just shot the leader of the mercenaries. He tries to yell for his comrades to shoot him, but he collapses before words could leave his hole-abundant mouth. The mercenary full clad in armor raises his rifle, but Harrier manages to dodge it, while Kim aims a shot at the man. Harrier notices the mercenary standing next to the leader raise her gun, towards Kim. Before he could call out, two shots ring out. Kim is unscathed, and the fully clad shooter is killed instantly... A member of the Hardie Boys has been shot. The leader, in his dying breath, his final moments of living, shoots Harrier.

Harrier blinks, collapsed on the floor, in pain too immense to describe. A lot of good the armor did him, he thought, as he bled out on the ground, seeing in his fading vision a figure, walking up to Kim who is trying to make sure Harrier is still alive. Harrier yells out to Kim.

Day 5

Harrier Du Bois

In the Whirling in Rags, Harrier wakes up, Kim standing next to his bed, explaining the situation, and aftermath. Two Hardie Boys have been killed. All of the mercenaries are dead. Harrier is in too much pain to move properly, unable to run too much, lest the pain take him. He decides to continue the investigation anyways, just one last place to look before it's all over, an island, an abandoned base back during the war.

Harrier, trying to feel better, brings a radio on the ride to the island. It feels badass. He feels badass.

Arriving, he makes his way up to the spot he had seen from the balcony of the Whirling in Rags. On the way, he spots a man, a very old man carrying a gun used by the communist revolutionaries.

After some time of questioning, Harrier discovers this man is a deserter of the army that fought for the commune in the war. The deserter explains some things, finally tired of the life he had been living all these years.

He had been spying on Klaasje from the island, and through a peephole inside the Whirling in Rags back rooms, watching her every move, watching her sleep every night, wake up every morning, watching her stand on her balcony in fear and contentment. He developed feelings for her, through these times watching her, leaving her flowers on her balcony that bloom mainly on the island he lived on.

Something is wrong with him, clearly, but something else is there. Another presence, which shouldn't be there, shouldn't exist.

Cryptid

The creature the cryptozoologist had been chasing the whole time. It was real. It was controlling the deserter through pheromones, controlling his brain processes, making him ignore its presence, but also making him go slowly insane the whole time he had been on the island, and live longer than he had any right to. Once it appears, the link is severed, and the deserter falls limp, catatonic.

Harrier touches it, linking his own fractured psyche with the creature. The conversation is long, a talk about the pale, a mysterious force akin to radiation, that appeared along with humans to the world, although Harrier, for a moment, thinks its talking about him when it mentions the pale coming into existence with "you". It talks about the bad relations between flora and fauna, and humans, with the creatures of the world believing humans will bring the destruction of everything, eventually. It talks about its own history, about how it, as a species, has gone unnoticed for over 4,000 years.

Harrier urges Kim to take a photograph. As soon as he does, Harrier moves away, sensing hostility building up in the creature.

The creature leaves, and leaves behind its nest. In the middle of which lies a helmet, the last piece to the set of Fairweather T-500 ceramic armor.

The detectives agree to leave and, when they get back, they find police officers gathered, finally catching up to Harrier, wanting to take him off the case, thinking he'd do irreparable damage to the stability of the investigation, not knowing that he had already completed his investigation.

The police have no idea of Harrier's recovery over the past week, Kim, having become very close friends with him very quickly, backs up Harrier saying that he has completely stopped drinking, and become a very good cop as well, at the same time also becoming extremely communist, though Harrier insists it won't interfere in his work.

They reluctantly accept this, and the evidence of a cryptid with the photo that Kim took, and in the end, Harrier is back to work, along with Kim who agrees to be his partner for good.

That was my completed playthrough of Disco Elysium. And I will never play it again. I feel like if I even make one, tiny, small choice that differs from my original playthrough, I'll be betraying my original experience of the game.

I recommend, even after reading through basically the entire main plot of the game, and spoilers on the ending, that you still play through the game. This was just my one perspective, and you could get a WILDLY different experience from this. You could become a fascist if you want, or a hyper-capitalist. Or a liberal. You can become a superstar cop, or a cop who is sorry all the time.

For me, I played through the boring cop communism, while accidentally dabbling into capitalism by constantly asking for money from people.

Please don't buy the game. Play it though.

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One: Domestic Battles

Chapter 45: The Snow Queen's Secret

He knew Ingrid's plan now. He'd hoped that after visiting her this morning, he'd spend the day figuring out what she intended, but he'd have never guessed that he would have learned it in the way that he had. The issues with Belle were still an open wound, but considering how he'd been burned by partners in the past, it felt like no more than an irritating paper cut, something that hurt so badly he wanted to swear when it was made but now had been reduced to a dull sting. It was something that he could easily put a bandage on, something that he needed to bandage given the fact that if he chose to prioritize that papercut, there could be a much bigger gash coming his way.

The Spell of Shattered Sight. And to think the Blue Fairy thought that the Dark Curse was an abomination when something like that existed in the world. The Spell of Shattered Sight was monstrous. Capable of destroying lives, entire Kingdoms had fallen prey to it in the Dark Ones' time. Now it seemed that Storybrooke was in its sight, and simply put, that was terrifying.

He'd felt the power in that mirror. It was primed and ready to go, at any time, really. Although...he supposed he had lied to Belle about one thing. Shattering the mirror wouldn't break the spell, that was true. But it wouldn't release it either. It would take Dark Magic to meticulously undo what had been done to that particular creation. But it would also take a hell of a lot of magic to release that Dark Magic into the world properly.

Ingrid was powerful, but not that powerful. She couldn't do it, not by herself. With Emma and Elsa, maybe, but there wasn't any scenario where he saw Emma and Elsa using their power to shatter that mirror and unleash terror. At least, not willingly…

His legs pulled him out to the shop where he uncovered the ribbons he'd once collected from Ingrid and her sisters, the ribbons that were infused with a magic all their own that he knew Ingrid would come to him for. If the ribbons were tied around the wrists of all three girls, the magic would connect not only them but their magic as well. Ingrid wouldn't need willingness to use their magic, she'd be able to take it.

So why wasn't she? The mirror was ready to go; all she needed to do was make a deal for the ribbons…so why were they all still here?

He tapped his finger against the glass case as he stared down at the ribbons and replayed the conversation he'd had with Ingrid in his head, then the previous one, then the previous one, and then-

He had it. Or maybe one of the other Dark Ones had whispered it in his ear first. He didn't care. He knew. He understood. The Spell of Shattered Sight hadn't been activated yet because Ingrid was still hoping she wouldn't have to use it.

Emma and Elsa, the potential of having two sisters just like her; that was her motivation. She was desperate but not evil, not in the same way Zelena was. Ingrid was hoping that Elsa and Emma would gravitate to her naturally. That's what she'd been hoping with all of this, that the girls would come to her on their own, and their relationship would flourish. But if it didn't…that was what the Spell was for.

If Emma and Elsa didn't come to her on their own, it would be because of the ties they already felt to their true family: Elsa to Anna, Emma to her parents, and Henry, even Hook. To sever the girl's ties to their loved ones would take a cataclysmic event, one that left them both feeling alone and isolated, wanting the company of someone like Ingrid, who was also alone and isolated because of her magic. It would take an event like the Spell of Shattered Sight being set free.

He'd seen the result of it on Belle hours ago, the way it had taken and distorted every impure thought, true or false, and brought it out in her. It had easily made one of the most passive individuals he knew violent in seconds!

He couldn't speak to what it would be like with Elsa and Anna, although the fact that Elsa had ended up in the urn after Ingrid's last attempt at this certainly spoke volumes. However, he knew that the Charmings loved Emma. He also knew that no matter how much parents loved their children, that love was always going to be imperfect. There would be judgment. Hell, he wouldn't have wanted to be in the same room as Bae or Belle if this spell was cast and he wasn't immune to it. He'd hurt both Bae and Belle all on his own with his words, he didn't want to know what he could do under the influence of a spell that would leave him completely uninhibited.

That was Ingrid's plan, at least as far as he could figure. If the girls didn't come to her naturally, she'd force it. She'd use the ribbons, she'd borrow their power, and make them see how the people who said they loved them really saw them. Likely, because Emma, at least, was a caring person, she would urge Ingrid and Elsa to use their power to stop the spell, but by then, the damage would be done. Ingrid would have her sisters or…

The town would be destroyed.

That was an interesting thought. Of course, now that he knew the plan and it hadn't been enacted yet, total human destruction could be avoided. That magic would only be good within the bounds of Storybrooke. He could melt the ice that Ingrid had set around town with a thought, test the boundary, and see if the memories part of the curse still held. The town could evacuate before the curse happened. He could save them all.

Or he could get what he wanted.

Abandoning the town wouldn't mean that the magic died; it would still be here. And his curse was already bound to him, he'd done that years ago in the castle after Belle, to protect from True Love's Kiss. His dagger would be useless beyond the town line, but that didn't mean he couldn't get sucked back into a magical place where it would be active again. But if the Spell of Shattered Sight was coming and he was immune to it…that would certainly make for a nice way for the fairies to simply disappear. If he could rend himself from the dagger and then get Belle and Henry out of the town in the chaos, the three of them could make a lovely life together.

His magic in use beyond the borders would take some practice, but it was plausible; he'd seen Emma do it in the airport, and his talisman had worked beyond the borders of the town line. Between his fortune and his magic, neither Henry nor Belle would want for anything outside of Storybrooke. The curse would be the reason they fled. He wouldn't even need a memory charm once he had them out of his bounds. Belle knew his devotion to his family; she'd never think twice if he said that all he had time for was her and Henry and that they couldn't return. She wouldn't be happy about it, but she wouldn't doubt it either.

True, Henry wasn't exactly the kind of child that Belle would have expected they'd raise, but…she had a big heart. And Henry was old enough that they'd just need to look after him for a while, it wouldn't be like parenting, he'd merely be saving Bae's son, as he promised. With Henry's desire to be a hero the hardest part of it would be keeping Henry away from Storybrooke after the collapse.

He liked this plan. He liked it very much. It wasn't fully formed just yet, but with every second he thought about it, every second he fantasized over it, the more he could see the end result of it so easily in his head. Freedom from the dagger, magic at his fingertips, with a little practice, of course, Belle by his side, and Henry safe from harm. It wasn't a bad portrait he was painting for himself.

He had a lot to think about. And lot to plan if his thinking concluded the way that he thought it would. But if he wanted to continue to think and plan he needed to address the ticking time bomb sitting in Ingrid's lair. He was immune to it and so if she set it off today, he could make it work for his own plans, but that didn't mean that he necessarily wanted to do that.

Ingrid thought she had leverage on him, but little did she know she didn't. She was, however, very familiar with the Sorcerer's Hat. He hadn't wanted to share with her the knowledge that it was in his possession just yet, but now things had changed. Now, he could most certainly see the benefit of knowing exactly what each of them knew and where they stood. And a warning to leave his family out of her schemes…that would be a welcome threat.

He took himself back to the Snow Queen's lair with only a thought. The sun was down by now. He didn't know how the rest of the day had gone for the others seeking her out, but he didn't care. All that mattered to him was that she was there, lounging on that chaise he'd caught a glimpse of earlier, looking relatively unbothered by the hunting party that had tried to come for her earlier in the day.

"I'm afraid we have a problem, Dearie," he commented menacingly. She didn't even flinch. "I caught a glimpse of your mirror today."

"It's rather impressive, isn't it?" she questioned, rising to her feet. "I had no idea your bride would be so easy to turn."

"Watch it!" he snapped uncharacteristically. She'd caught him off guard. He didn't know how she knew that Belle had been here or been affected by the mirror, but he didn't like it, and he couldn't show it. Love was weakness. He couldn't let his weakness show when he needed to be strong.

"Now I don't know when exactly you intend to use this mirror," he stated, walking over to it and catching a glimpse of that devilish version of himself he refused to give into because he would certainly never be one to "turn" as she'd put it. With that in mind, he focused his eyes not on what he saw in himself but on the beast behind him, the Snow Queen, who was keeping her gaze carefully on him. "But know this…I won't allow you to hurt those I care about."

"And I won't allow you to derail my plans because you've suddenly gotten sentimental."

"You only get one warning."

"Which is more than you get…I can't make any promises over who may or may not survive."

Right…of course she couldn't, at least in her mind. Because he would venture to know that he knew far more about the Curse she was planning to use than she did. He smirked and turned back to face her. "You know, you were wrong before."

"That you needed leverage to get what you want?"

"No, that I didn't have it." That dropped the coy little smile off her face awfully fast. "I do!"

With a summoning charm, he brought the hat to him and held it by the brim in front of her so that she could see the stars, which were so close to aligning to the sky that he could taste his victory. And she…she looked it over timidly, startled for a second, then gathered up her skirts behind her and recoiled, trying to make it seem like it was nothing. As if he couldn't hear her heart.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh, that's irrelevant." As if she should be so shocked after she'd practically handed the thing to him on a silver platter. Even if it had been where she thought it was, she really hadn't thought he'd succeed? "But now that I know what you are up to, we can have a real talk. You might want to reconsider your position because I doubt you'd enjoy becoming just another embroidery on this hat."

There was that heart skip again. The one he lived for.

"Looks like you've just lost your leverage, dearie. So, here's how it's going to go…" he smiled, circling her with a cunning smile playing at his lips. "You want to make a deal with me, very well, but remember that all magic comes with a price, and the price for your deal will be no different than anyone else's. And until you are ready…you will leave my wife and my grandson out of whatever plan you have for this town. Emma, Elsa, the Charmings…take the rest. But Belle and Henry…" He came to a stop just in front of her and looked up into her eyes. "Not a hair on their head will you harm. Is that clear?"

His growl echoed through the icy cavern. And though Ingrid didn't so much as flinch, her heartbeat betrayed her nerves as she responded simply. "As ice…"