#they hated gluttony because she told them the truth

[crazyboredasians]

y sin caer a crearse más personajes por hype y olvidar a los otros. | ¿y por eso se castiga a quienes sí pueden llevarlo? Quiero decir que para eso hay unos requisitos previos, más o menos duros dependiendo del staff. Al final son los admin los que deciden, en eso estoy de acuerdo, están en todo su derecho. Pero hay formas de controlar eso exigiendo una actividad mínima. De todos modos, a quien no le guste, que se vaya a otro foro, es un hecho. Solo valoro que quizás sea pérdida para el foro

Perdón, ni el anon ni yo queríamos vulnerar tu derecho constitucional a tener quince cuentas 😔...

Yo, si fuera admin, que no lo soy, pero si lo fuera, preferiría que mis users tuvieran una, dos o tres cuentas que pudieran llevar bien, con calma, con ganas y con muchas tramas, a que tuvieran quince con todo desperdigado y muchas simplemente carreteando por un hype que ya no sienten y actividad mínima. Eso sí que me parece más perdida para el foro, porque no me parece actividad real.

PERO (!) si no te lo prohíben y cumples lo que tienes que cumplir eres libre de hacer lo que quieras, como bien has dicho. Da igual lo que diga un anon o lo que diga yo, al final del día ninguno de los dos tenemos peso alguno en tus cosas.

✰ gluttony

[fullscoreshenanigans]

About your idea of Norman keeping for months at Lambda to the memory of Isabella's last hug. I have better:

Little AU where everything is the same except that, while Isabella hugs Norman to say him goodbye…

For a second, just three little seconds, she let her mask fell and said, in a whisper, a "I'm Sorry" in his ear. Because Norman was her little boy, she has raised him for 11 years. And she knows that this Peter will send him to a slow and painful death, rather than a quick one like all her other kids. She didn't want that to happen to him. She knews he'll suffer, so much, because she heard about Lambda. Maybe norman's shippment to Lambda was planned for months (for his 12th birthday, maybe) and has just be advanced.

For a moment, just a little moment, she feels her heart cracks. So she wisphers "i'm sorry" in his ear. Peter didn't hear her, he was letting her saying goodbye, he thought she was saying "goodbye".

Then he took Norman.

For 15 months, both the hug and the words stay in his mind.

"I'm sorry"

She was really sorry?

"I"m sorry"

She had no reason to tell him that, considering that he was sent to a slow death and that she would never seen him again. She told him she was happy and then….she said she was sorry.

It makes him cry. He hates being emotional about it. Does this hug and those words were geniune? Did she was really sorry? Did it mean that she wasn't happy?

At a point, after the evasion, he asks Vincent.

"Do you think she was really sorry?"

Vincent has no answers. He didn't have someone like Isabella. He wasn't betrayed until the very last moment. He was not as close of her than Norman was of Isabella before learning the truth.

"If she wasn't sorry, why would she tell you that?"

It's all Vincent can say.

A little part of Norman is sure that she wasn't lying, that she was really sorry, thisq litrle part of him hopes so much her love was real and that she was truly sorry, but his ressentment is stronger at this point.

It's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly when Legravalima made the push for Norman to be sent off to Lambda instead of the demon god.

(Chapter 152)

The way I interpret this sequence is that she'd been eyeing him up for years, her gluttony and avarice festering, knowing that he was supposed to be served at the 2046 Tifari after he reached full Grace Field maturity.

(Chapter 7)

And then this could just be early series weirdness because Shirai wasn't 100% sure what reasoning he wanted to provide at this point, but to make up for the extremely lackluster harvest of the other Grace Field farms, in October 2045 Norman's shipment was bumped up to just a few days before the 2045 Tifari in November. Yverk says "that will certainly please The One" in response to Isabella saying the trio's shipments can occur as planned, or "whenever [the demons] like."

He could be lying to pacify the rest of the noble court at Legravalima hoarding the highest grade meat for herself, but it doesn't sound like he's aware of there being another plan to send Norman off to Lambda at this point, and it doesn't seem like Isabella is aware of any other alternative path for Norman and Ray either until she's given the letter and suitcase on the first of November.

(Chapter 20)

There could have been other Grace Field children sent to Lambda, but with how we don't see them among any of the rescued children in the paradise hideout, Adam focusing specifically on Norman's identification number, and how the narrative wants to highlight Norman is special and isolated during this time partially because of how he interprets and internalizes that perception of himself, it seems like a safe bet he was the first Grace Field child to go to Lambda in its less than fifteen years of existence.

(Chapter 72 | Chapter 73)

I have a difficult time seeing Isabella say sorry to him in this moment given how pointed her saying she's happy just a few minutes earlier is with how it's just as much a lie to herself as it is to Norman. If it isn't true, then all the cognitive dissonance she's maintained up until now was for naught, and she had to fight so, so hard to kill the hope she had at opposing the system as a little girl.

(TPN Light Novel 2: Moms’ Song of Remembrance - “The Starry Sky and Leslie’s List” Chapter 9)

Her commitment to maintaining that facade in such a tense moment at the expense of providing the son she's raised for ten years a concession of any sort of sentiment that what he's experiencing is wrong is more interesting to me in how it adds to the emotional climax of the arc.

Vincent and Norman interactions, though, my beloved,,,

It throws a wrench into the carefully cultivated persona of an ice-cold emperor he maintains (like mother, like son), but I do very much enjoy the thought of Vincent being able to provide Norman support outside of his competency in all matters related to the technical side of their plans with how similar they are and Norman losing all the older siblings he had at Grace Field.

[lancermylove]

Teenager MC 6: Revisit (HC)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: Demon Bros x gn!Reader, platonic. 

Warning: Angst.

Requested by: @dexpairs-blog

Prompt: Hello!(◍•ᴗ•◍)❤ Ok so i had this idea(for like DAYS lol) for the teenage mc, this is gonna be pretty angsty and prob long so if you want you can ignore it! After the incident ™ and the whole Lilith thing (you know that the brothers basically saw them as a replacement for Lilith) MC decided that they wanted nothing to do with them anymore so they pretended to get along with them only to ignore the brothers and pretend this whole year never happened at the end of the exchange program. And like,, this leaves them confused asf and then Dia tells them that they told him that after what happened they straight up decided to lie to the brothers for the rest of the year and that they wanted nothing to do with them and that they don't want them to be in their life anymore. BUT NOW THE GOOD PART COMES IN, After YEARS the MC who's now a fully grown adult (like around 24/25) comes back to the Devildom with Solomon to visit the undateables since they kept in touch over the years and they're still bitter about it, how would they react to it? Would they try to earn MC's forgiveness or would they hold a grudge against them?I'm Sorry to request this but✨angst✨HSKSHSKSH I'M SORRY THIS IS SO LONG😭 YOU CAN IGNORE IT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO WRITE IT!! Also i know you write for like four characters but i also saw you write for everyone so idk gsjsghs you can choose if you want only a few characters or all the brothers.😔 Have a nice day/night and stay safe!!💕💕 Love your blog 🥺

A/N: HI! I would never ignore such a good request~. :3 LOL, I think most of us have a hidden (or open) love for angst. Oh, I changed the 4 characters thing last year to no limit! I put 4 character at the beginning because I wanted to settle into writing, and now I’m comfortable to do all characters with getting overwhelmed. BSTS has 26 character, and I wrote for all of them in one HC. XD Aww thank you!! ❤️😘

———————————————

Lucifer

Lucifer was at a loss for words after hearing Diavolo's explanation. Being the Avatar of Pride, he knew treating you like someone else would injure your pride, but he was hurt regardless. 

He and his brothers treated you like family, watched over you, wished for your happiness and well-being, and this is how you repay them? If you had any issue with anything, why didn’t you just tell him? Why did you pretend and hurt all of them? 

Your pretense and sudden change of attitude directly wounded his pride. 

When he heard you returned after all these years, Lucifer frowned and asked Barbatos, "Why inform me? I'm certain they will not want to meet me. Now, excuse me." 

You wanted nothing to do with him and his brothers, and he wanted nothing to do with you.

Lucifer mumbled to himself as he walked away, “You are right; you are not Lilith. She was kind and would never have put on an act of pretense.” 

Mammon

Mammon shattered when you ignored him. He trusted you and even thought of you as his family, so why did you choose to hurt him?

Even when he learned the reason, Mammon’s pain didn’t lessen. Was it wrong to compare you to someone they cared deeply about? Didn’t you trust him enough to talk to him about this? He would’ve explained and even would've heard your side. He would have done anything to make you happy. All you had to do was tell him. 

Asmo informed Mammon about your return to Devildom, and the Avatar of Greed couldn't stop himself from visiting you. He hurried to the castle and threw his arm around you. “You’re back!” 

When he felt your muscles stiffen, Mammon released you from his embrace and looked into your eyes. "All those times ya smiled at me...was it all pretend? When you said ya like me, was it all a lie? When you said ya cared about me...you were acting?” 

Tears filled his eyes as he gripped your shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me the truth? We loved Lilith with all our heart, and we loved ya too. So...why did ya have to hurt us? We trusted you...”

Diavolo, Barbatos, and Solomon remained silent and watched the two of you. 

“We knew you weren’t Lilith. We watched her die in front of our eyes...we couldn’t save her...but,” Mammon lowered his head and closed his eyes, “ya meant everything to us. We knew you weren’t Lilith, but having ya around made us feel like Lilith was with us.” 

Mammon frantically wiped his face with his jacket sleeve and averted his eyes. “You hurt us...you hurt me...and I w-won’t forgive ya for t-that.” 

He reluctantly walked out of there, holding the urge to turn around and look at you. 

Levi

Levi felt his heart slowly breaking into pieces. You never liked him? You only pretended to be nice to him? All those things you said, all your words of encouragement were a lie? His chest ached, and he couldn’t breathe properly.

You were just like everyone else. He should’ve known better.

He was right to stay shut in his room. People only knew how to hurt him, and you weren’t any different.

When Levi heard you returned, he slumped back into his gaming chair. He increased the volume of his game to drown out any unwanted thoughts.

He forced himself to focus on his raid, but his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Levi was having a hard time breathing and felt lightheaded.

The Avatar of Envy shook his head and told himself to focus, but tears clouded his vision, making it hard for him to navigate his in-game character.

Wasn’t hurting him once enough? Why did you have to return and bring all the pain back? He didn’t want anything to do with you, so why didn’t you just leave him alone?

Satan

Satan was upset when he finally learned the reason for your sudden change of behavior towards them.

Being a logical demon, he couldn’t fathom why you had to pretend. Why didn’t you just tell them the truth? Was it that difficult to say, “I am not Lilith, so stop thinking of me as her replacement!” Sure, your statement would have pained them, but they would have understood.

Would it not have been easier to come clear than put up an act? So, why?

The swirl of emotions building up inside him forced Satan to unleash his wrath. In his blind-rage state, he nearly injured some of his brothers, but Lucifer and Diavolo managed to get him under control before he did something he regretted.

When Satan heard you returned, he simply replied, “I see.”

He didn’t want anything to do with you. The last thing Satan wanted was for his wrath to get out of hand again. He didn’t want to hurt any of his brothers, especially not because of you.

Granted, he never met Lilith, but he knew how much his brothers cared for her. He had heard stories and shared Lucifer’s visions, and Satan knew for sure that you weren’t Lilith, and you would never be like her.

Asmo

Asmo couldn’t believe his ears and could only stare at Diavolo with wide eyes. It never dawned on him that he and his brothers were treating you as a replacement for Lilith.

Though your pretense hurt him, he could understand your point of view. If someone treated him as a replacement, he would be upset with them as well.

When Asmo heard you returned to Devildom, he wasn't sure how to feel. He wanted to meet you but knew you didn't want to see him. The Avatar of Lust decided to visit you, considering he wanted to apologize to you.

Asmo slowly walked up behind you and spoke softly. "Hi, sweetie. I'm glad to see you're doing well. You may not want to see me, but please listen to what I have to say."

He stepped in front of you and took your hands in his. "Sweetie, I am so sorry for hurting your feelings. I don't blame you for what you did, but dear, why didn't you tell us? You didn’t have to pretend. If you had spoken up back then, we would have mend our ways. All of us missed our beloved sister, so..."

Seeing your expressionless face, Asmo changed subjects. "Anyway, I simply wanted to apologize to you. Please take care of yourself, and sweetie, you look beautiful."

Asmo forced a smile before releasing your hands and walking away.

Beel

When Diavolo told everyone what you said to him, Beel broke.

He knew you weren’t Lilith but having you around lessened his guilt for not being able to save his sister. Learning that you didn't like being Lilith's replacement, Beel was in turmoil.

The demon truly cared about you and thought you cared for him as well. He even shared his food with you, so why did you hate him? Was seeing you as Lilith bad?

When you returned to Devildom as an adult, Beel got so excited that he forgot what happened in the past and came to meet you. But when he saw your bitter expression, he froze.

Beel approached you and tugged on your sleeve. "I missed...you. Are you doing okay?"

You chose to ignore him, but Solomon couldn't brush aside Beel's disheartened expression. "Beel, it seems like (Y/N) is still upset. Could you leave them alone?"

"But...why are you upset? I am sorry if I hurt you." The Avatar of Gluttony replied.

"Are you truly sorry? Do you know the reason why you hurt them?" Solomon asked, but Beel shook his head, "I know you miss Lilith, but treating (Y/N) as a replacement was unfair to them."

The demon remained silent for a few seconds before mumbling, "Treating her as Lilith?"

He began to recall everything he and his brother had done. Beel felt guilty; he knew you weren't Lilith, and now, he realizes treating you as a substitute was wrong.

"I am s-sorry," he whispered, lowering his head, "I was happy to see you. I couldn't save Lilith, so meeting you...it felt like she came back. I am sorry...I promise I won't bother you again."

Beel dropped a bag of your favorite Devildom sweets in your hand. "These are for you."

Saying those words, he turned and dragged his feet towards the exit.

Belphie

Belphie was angry after hearing Diavolo’s words. Every inch of his body, mind, and heart filled with anger. He hated humans but meeting you changed his mind, and this infuriated him. He was right to think that humans are vile beings. He was enraged at himself for allowing you to influence this thought. 

How did Lilith fall for a human? How did such a caring, loving, and kind angel fall for such a creature? How he wished he had learned of this and stopped Lilith, then none of this would have happened. 

Belphie’s resentment towards humans returned tenfold. He wished he had never met you. 

When the Avatar of Sloth heard you had returned, he was ready to manifest in front of you in his demon form and attack you. But Beel stopped him, “Belphie, don’t.” 

“What do you mean, Beel? (Y/N) hurt all of us. The entire time they were only acting...we were wrong to think of them as our family. We...trusted them.”

“Belphie, Lilith wouldn’t want you to hurt (Y/N).” 

Hearing Beel’s words doused Belphie’s wrath. He decided to let you live, solely for Lilith’s sake. For the time being, he was going to take a nap and calm his mind. 

———————————————

➣ Obey Me Masterlist ➣ Buy me a Ko-fi or Commission?

[amor-immortalem]

Everything Undesired chapter 11

Warning: victim blaming, emotinal abuse (Arella recounts her traumatic childhood/she should probably see a therapist to deal with her mommy issues.)

chapter 10

“It... It was my mother....”

The demon stares down at her with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape in shock at the revelation. What kind of mother says that to her own child? He laid his head down on the bed as she carried on because where would he even begin to start with all this?

“It started when my father died in a car crash when I was four... She said it was my fault because I had wanted to go out to the park and he took me. That I should feel guilty for asking for something so selfish, for seeking out his attention on one of his rare days off.... and then it just became common place to blame me for anything thing that she considered even remotely selfish or attention-seeking. Every bad thing that happened to our family was my fault and then... when I told her about what happened to me, she called me a whore. Told me I was probably just lying to get out of trouble and if I wasn’t, what did I expect from hanging around with a man seven years older than I was. That I deserved it and I only had myself to blame. She called me a disgrace to our family and tried to kick me out but when one of my friends’ parents threatened to call the authorities for child abandonment, she let me come back. All I had wanted was someone to tell me i-it wasn’t fault. All I wanted was to earn back her love.”

She let out a sob as she rattled on and Mammon lets her continue. The flood gates had been opened and even though she wanted to stop letting it out, Arella couldn’t.

“When she took her own life after my brother took his, her note for me was only filled with insults. How she wished I hadn’t been born. That I was ungreatful for the life she allowed me to have. That she always hated me and wished she hadn’t kept me. That she blamed me for my brother's death because I was too wrapped up in myself to keep him from doing it and how I would never find anyone who truly loved me because I didn’t deserve it. I thought about taking my life too because she was right. I was a horrible daughter- a horrible person. I loved her so much and that note left me shattered because I knew it was the truth.”

“No, it's not,” his voice is soft.

“Yes, it is! Please agree with me. You don’t have to spare my feelings. Look what I do with you. Whenever I see you talking to one of our female classmates, I always get selfish and interfere regardless of what you two were actually talking about.”

“And? It’s not like I’ve never done it with you. Arella, it is okay to be selfish sometimes and it don't make you a horrible person. You don’t have to bottle your sins all the time like you’ve been doin’. You live with representations of the seven sins, Babe. None of us are gonna care if ya indulge in greed or lust or envy or pride or any of the others for that matter every once in a while, because we do the same thing on a regular basis.”

Arella went to say something in rebuttal but stopped once the baby monitor went off. She tried to squirm out from under Mammon but he stopped her.

“Nu-uh, you’re not gettin' him. Let me take care of him tonight. You’re not gettin' out of this bed, got it?”

“B-But you were out all day with Asmo, aren’t you-”

“Take a break, Treasure.” he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I can handle him and if he’s really fussin’ for ya, I’ll bring him back here but I want you to be the selfish one for once in this relationship and take some time for yourself.” The demon rolls off her and heads see what his son needs.

------------------------------------------------------

As he managed to get close to the baby’s room, the crying suddenly stopped. The Avatar of Greed wonders if maybe Cyrus had just woken up from a bad dream and managed to comfort himself back to sleep. He still decided checking up on the kid was best and carried on- infants were so delicate and anything could go wrong at any time. It wasn’t until he heard Lucifer giving instruction to someone else that Mammon realized what was going on. He remembered back to his conversation with the Avatar of Pride this morning. He was teaching one of their younger brothers how to care for a baby- a valuable skill for the future if one of them decided they wanted kids of their own.

He approached the door; the sight was almost enough to make him laugh. The twins were trying their best to follow Lucifer’s instructions. Belphie was attempting to change Cyrus’ diaper and trying to figure out which way the clean one went on while Beel was trying to figure out how exactly to work the bottle warmer.

“Lucifer, which way does this damn thing go on?”

“Flip it around, Belphegor, you almost put it on backwards.”

“How hot should a bottle be before he can have it?”

“Turn it to 37 degrees- a normal human body temperature. Any hotter may can burn his mouth. The warmer will let you know when it’s ready.”

“Hey, quit squirming, you little snot. I’m trying to get your diaper on.”

Mammon cleared his throat. “I can take him now. Y’all look like you’re havin’ trouble...”

“I’ll guide them through it, Mammon. They had an interest in learning. Go on and go back to your room.” The eldest replied. “We can handle it.”

“Are ya sure?”

“We’re sure,” the twins responded as they tried to focus on their tasks.

And there was the guilt again, brought about from seeing his brothers helping when they didn’t need to. He told Arella he would take care of their son tonight and now it felt like he was just shirking the responsibility onto them.

“Are... are ya sure?”

“Yes,” The three of them responded.

“It’ll be good practice for our kids if we decide to have any,” the Avatar of Gluttony said.

“Yeah, our mates can’t be the ones doing all the work and I would rather not look like a fool with my first kid in front of them.” The seventh-born nods. “So, go on. We got this.”

“Alright then,” The white-haired demon turned to leave before a panicked cry erupted from Cyrus and he turned back around immediately, his parental instincts going wild, “hey, hey, whatcha cryin for kiddo? I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

Cyrus only continued to cry, attempting to reach his little hands up for his father. Mammon only grasped the infant’s hands in his.

“I know, I know, these ain’t the people who usually take care of ya.”

The little one only let out little whines, gradually calming down as Belphegor fastened the diaper around his waist.

“There, see, that wasn’t so bad, was it? You’re okay,” Mammon went to go pull away so he could sit him up, but Cyrus took it as a sign that his father was going to leave again and let out a shriek as he kicked his legs. Everyone covered their ears at the sound. “Cyrus, stop! I can’t hold ya when you’re screamin’ like that.” Since when had he gotten so clingy. Mammon forgot just how clingy newborns got to be.

“I think... maybe its best we leave.” Lucifer sighed as he mulled over why Cyrus might be acting this way. It wasn’t normal clinginess for an infant of his age and then it dawned on him. It was a fear response. Both he and Beel were there the night his biological mother and her sisters were dealt with and Cyrus heard all of that and was just now seeming to remember that night. “Beel, we need to leave right now. Belphegor can stay, but the two of us cannot be here right now.”

“Huh? Why?” The Avatar of Gluttony looked confused but a stern look from his oldest brother made him realize what exactly was happening and followed Lucifer out without any more questions.

As soon as the pair of demons were gone the screaming started to die down.

“Yeesh, what’s up with that, kid.” Mammon asked as he picked his son up, like he could answer his father. “Hey, Belphie the bottle should be ready. Hand it to me, will ya?”

“Yeah... I think Cyrus might be scared of Lucifer and Beel. He only screams like that when he sees Satan...”

Blue to gold gradient widened as he looked down at the infant whose eyes were glued to the doorway and his stomach dropped. “Oh...Oh no... He remembers...”

———————————————————————-

Next

Find more on my masterlist

[jokertrap-ran]

(时空中的绘旅人—For All Time—) Clarence Route Translations (Chapter 16-2 阿萝拉: Aurora)

*For All Time Master-list / Clarence’s Personal Master-list *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Maintaining Si Lan’s name as Clarence *Route Tag is #Chapter of Legacy

I carried the napping Aurora back to the Mage Tower.

Seeing how her body was becoming horribly cold, I held her with my own body as she slept.

It was a while later that she turned, looping her arms around my neck.

Aurora: I'm a little cold… Uncle told me that I should sing loudly whenever I'm cold...

Saying so, she started singing in a gossamer-like voice by my ear.

Aurora: Stars are sleeping, snow gently falling. Where has the butterfly gone; for my hand still holds the fragrance of flowers…

She sang in short bursts. Maybe it was because she was still unfamiliar with it, or perhaps it was because she was distracted by something else.

Aurora: That Uncle sings it so well. Sadly, Aurora hasn't completely learnt it…

She hugged me tighter to her because of how cold she felt. Her other hand reached over to press itself against her stomach. I knew her stomach was still hurting.

Clarence said that these were all drawbacks of being a Mage.

But for a child so young? On what grounds, does she have to be bearing this immense burden for the sake of the world?

I didn't know what to do. All I could do was to hold her small body tightly within my arms…

A night passed.

It was very quiet when I awoke.

No, something's wrong. Aurora should be beside me, and she's gone! Did… Did Clarence deal away with her already, since she was on the verge of losing control?

I hurriedly got up and recalled what Sun Zhuoyi had told me yesterday. I felt a gut-dropping sense of unease. I MUST find her!

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

I quickly smoothed out my clothes and went hunting for her up and down the Mage Tower.

The carriage was already ready and waiting outside the Mage Tower. Clarence was giving Aurora the instructions to her assignment in front of it.

I got a little closer to them and listened in on their conversation.

Sounds like Aurora’s mission this time is to clear out the Rebel Mages who worked under the Silver Knight.

The Silver Knight had managed to rope some Rebel Mages into his plans and allowed them to attack the Palace, as well as the residences of Nobles. I’ve also vaguely seen the aftermath of the chaos caused by the Rebel Mages before, in my previous journeys.

To my knowledge of the matter, they’d managed to successfully scare the Aristocrats, but they were all quickly dealt away with by Clarence himself, so nothing particularly serious happened.

But this time, upon overhearing Clarence as he explained Aurora’s task to her, I knew; This wasn’t the slightest bit simple at all.

The Silver Knight has been pulling out all stops and laying out the groundwork every step of the way in his plans to attack the Capital. Not only did he have Ordinary Mages under his control, but also a team of Mages that were already out of control.

The Silver Knight utilized potions to forcefully alter the Mages into a half-butterfly metamorphosis― He coerced the Mages to consume the potion of their own accord, making them willingly fall into a state of nearly losing control, before maintaining this state through the use of another potion.

A Mage in this state had icy wings in place of arms and their entire body covered in ice crystals. Their sanity will be on the brink of madness, yet they still hold a sliver of consciousness.

Of course, when under excruciating pain, the only thing they can process is to kill, destroy, and freeze everything. And Clarence’s method of dealing with this impending “destruction”, was to “engulf” it all.

He’d decided to send out Aurora, one of the “Nine Seats'' to deal with the matter. He told her that she didn’t need to care about who, or what was on the other end, merely to treat them as Ice Butterflies and devour them all.

Aurora: Wow. Aurora can eat till she’s full if there are that many monsters this time. Right?

Clarence: That’s right. You’ll be able to eat to your heart’s content this time. And then after you’re done… Do make sure to get a good night’s sleep. You will not feel cold anymore, and neither will your stomach hurt ever again after you fall asleep this time.

I felt my eyes dampening.

Aurora… She really doesn’t know, does she…?

This was a death sentence in the farce of a mission. However, Clarence was as calm and unwavering as ever as he delivered Aurora the details of her mission. While Aurora, on the other hand, was only worried about whether she could “eat till she was full”.

The fate of all Mages was to be born in the throes of desire, pain, and suffering; and also, to fall into the spiral of madness and depravity.

It was then that Clarence breathed a light sigh.

Clarence: Do you hate me, Aurora?

Clarence actually asked another about their thoughts on him? I’d long since thought that he’d forgo how others saw him, given his personality...

Aurora wore a blank look of utter confusion. She looked up at Clarence, unable to come up with an answer even after thinking for a good long while.

Clarence: I am the Master of the Mage Tower. I should be the one guiding and protecting all of you Mages.

Clarence: However, you are all nought but tools to me. I use you, I sacrifice you… I watch you all die, one-by-one… Yet, I do not bat an eye.

Clarence: It would only make sense if you were to hate me for what I did.

With how he was bemoaning with lament at this point, rather than talking to Aurora about it, it might as well just be him, criticizing himself with his own monologue.

He was blaming himself for being as icy and closed-off as he was.

— Does this mean that somewhere deep down in that heart of his… Clarence has a heart that feels for all the Mages under him?

Aurora: Hate…? You mean, not liking you? Aurora doesn't dislike you, Master Clarence~

Aurora: Aurora doesn't like being hungry. Aurora has always been hungry before meeting you.

Aurora: Aurora cried back home and kicked up a fuss, asking dad for food. Dad took Aurora and dumped Aurora by the river, picking up many hard pieces of bread to eat.

Aurora: Aurora doesn’t like hard bread, but Aurora was just so hungry… So, Aurora ate them all down anyway.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

… I could guess what the “hard bread” she was talking about really was. I’d heard of a distant legend about the olden times, where the poor would feed their offspring stones in place of food during times of famine...

The children who ate stones will die, but at least that would save some food for the rest of the family.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Aurora: Aurora always got a tummy ache whenever Aurora eats the hard bread, but Master Clarence gave Aurora medicine to drink. It was bitter, but Aurora’s stomach no longer hurt after drinking it.

Clarence: I’m not doing a good deed. Your strong desire for food, “gluttony”, was what drew me in. I merely thought that you had the potential to become a Mage.

Clarence: I took you under my wing, taking you to the Mage Tower. I offered you all the delicacies that Yemsaiel has to offer. Yet, at the same time, I required you to devour Ice Butterflies. Your stomach still hurts all the same.

Aurora tilted her head in thought. She patted the sides of her head, seemingly trying to make sense of what Clarence was trying to say...

After a while, Aurora started sucking on her thumb in thought, apparently none the wiser.

Aurora: Err… I still have stomach aches, but I can’t blame you for that, Master Clarence. You’re a Mage… not someone who treats bad tummies...

Aurora: I heard that you’d get a stomach ache from eating too much, and I can’t stop myself from eating… So, I think it’s pretty normal for me to be getting tummy aches...

Aurora: So be it then! I like to eat! And I’m super happy when I’m eating! You let me eat all I want, Master Clarence! Of course, I like you!!

Clarence: ……

Clarence stays silent for a while before sighing gently.

As pure and innocent as Aurora was, there was nothing Clarence could say to make her understand the truth.

It was probably only because of her naive earnestness as a young girl that allowed her to concentrate as much as she did on her Magic, hence the reason why she was able to attain the rank of one of the “Nine Seats” at such a young age.

Suddenly, Aurora jumped in front of Clarence and patted his face.

Aurora: Stop pulling such a long face, Master Clarence...

Aurora: The Mage Tower is very noisy. There are always people yelling and crying, but everyone also has times where they smile. Only you, Master Clarence. You've never smiled.

Aurora: Aurora smiles when Aurora's full, and the others smile when their wish is fulfilled.

Aurora: Aurora is thinking that Master Clarence's wish hasn't been fulfilled yet. Aurora hopes that it'll be fulfilled soon~

Aurora: Although, even if Aurora might already be asleep by then… Aurora will still be happy! Just like when Aurora has a full stomach!

Hearing Aurora's words, the realization finally dawned on me that she never truly understood anything. She was as clueless as they came.

Clarence paused for a moment before reaching out, caressing her hair and touching her face.

Clarence: How cold… The skin of all Mages is always cold to the touch. I apologise for making you turn out like this.

Clarence: I create all of you, let all of you grow and indulge in all of your desires. And in part, I've also made all of you the very thing feared and hated by the world.

Clarence: But at the same time, I'm also aware that all of you are the true victims, the true sacrifices, of this world.

Clarence: I am incapable of saving you all. But not letting your sacrifices be in vain is the least I can do.

After that, Clarence's lips parted slightly into a faint chuckle.

Clarence, he… he's really laughing…

Aurora was elated, skipping in front of Clarence and jumping up to pull his cheeks upwards.

Aurora: He’s laughing… This is the first time I’ve seen Master Clarence laugh!

Actually squishing Clarence’s face like that… Only Aurora would ever dare to do such a thing…

Clarence wasn’t mad, only maintaining his smile.

Clarence: Aurora. I treat all the Mages here in this Mage Tower as my pawns, with no emotional attachment whatsoever. But that is only because I do not want anyone to influence my emotions, and the decisions I make.

Clarence: — But that doesn’t mean that all the time I’ve spent with all of you is meaningless to me. I do not regret the time I spent with any of you.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥Chapter of Legacy✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

Previous Part: (Chapter 16-1) | Next Part: (Chapter 16-3)

[a-smol-chub]

He can’t be THAT good...

(Hinakamuegi stuffing)

Na.egi Ma.koto frowns as he lets out a sigh. His pudgy stomach surges forward, pushing the zipper of his pants down. He had tried everything, sucking in, laying down, he simply couldn’t get his work pants to button. “...Kamu.kura..?” He calls out hesitantly.

Izu.ru Kamu.kura steps into the doorway almost immediately. His face remains calm and composed, even though Na.egi is flushed red, and looking down in shame. “Uh… can- can you get me some new work clothes…? Mine aren’t fitting anymore…”

Kamu.kura nods and steps into the room, opening a drawer and pulling out a pair of black work pants. “These should fit better,” he states before leaving. Na.egi swallows thickly and peels off the offending pants before pulling the other pair on. They were a little small, but at least they would button. He quickly slips a white work shirt on before grabbing his suit jacket on his way out of the apartment. “Love you!” he shouts before heading out. As soon as the door closes, Kamu.kura ties his hair up and slips an apron on. It was time to start cooking dinner.

Na.egi sighs and plops down in his office chair. He knew he had been gaining weight recently, but Kamu.kura either didn’t notice, or just hadn’t pointed it out yet. He absentmindedly runs a hand over his stomach as he hears a knock at the door. He blushes slightly. “Come in!”

A young intern walks in, holding a stack of files. “Um… Kiri.giri-san asked me to bring these to you, Na.egi-san.” 

“Oh, thanks Hin.ata-kun!” Na.egi beams up at the intern. Coincidentally, Na.egi had met his current boyfriend through this coworker, Ha.jime Hin.ata. Hinata had introduced them at a party celebrating Kamu.kura’s big promotion a few months ago. 

“Oh… she also wanted me to give you this,” Hin.ata adds, holding out a single sheet of paper. Na.egi frowns, taking it. “It’s a form for a new uniform. She said yours isn’t fitting that well anymore…”

Na.egi flushes and looks down. “It- it’s not my fault…” he mutters weakly. “It’s Kamu.kura, he’s way too good at cooking.” Hin.ata lets out a snort and rolls his eyes.

“Look, that bastard is way too good at most things, but it’s hard to believe he’d actually put that much effort into cooking for anyone. He hates cooking.”

Na.egi pouts and crosses his arms. “Then why don’t you come over some day? So you can see just how much he cooks lately.”

“He must have changed a lot for you to be telling the truth. Oh, I guess I’m mildly interested. When are you guys free?” he asks.

Na.egi pulls out a small pocket calendar from a desk drawer and flips through the pages. “Hmm… looks like we’re both good this Tuesday and Wednesday. Which works better for you?”

“Ah, I have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday. Let’s do Wednesday,” he says. Na.egi nods excitedly and puts the pocket book back. He couldn’t wait for Hin.ata to find out just how wrong he was.

The rest of the work day is dull, Na.egi flipping through hours of mindless paperwork, signing things, and passing them up to management. He stands up from his desk and blushes as his stomach brushes past the edge of his desk. There had been free donuts and cupcakes in the employee lounge, and he had had way more than he originally thought. He swears internally and hopes that Kamu.kura didn’t have another large dinner planned for him.

----

He was wrong, of course.

After multiple large courses of mouth-watering lasagna, bowls upon bowls of creamy alfredo, and heaping plates of Italian meatballs, Na.egi lets out a quiet whimper and his arms flop to his side. “Kamu.kura… th- these dinners…. I’ve been putting on a lot of weight lately…” he whines.

Kamu.kura frowns and kneels down next to him, rubbing circles on his overfed belly. “Is it upsetting you?” he asks. As always, his face conveys no emotions, no hint of what he was thinking.

Na.egi blushes and sputters, trying to respond, but his mind feels fuzzy. Kamu.kura’s hands kneading his painfully stuffed belly made him feel weak, as he squirmed slightly. He lets out a quiet belch into his fist and looks away. “Everyone in the office just thinks… the- they think I’m doing this myself…”

“You are, are you not? I only provide food for you, but you are the one who stuffs yourself to this capacity.”

Kamu.kura’s words do not help the situation. Na.egi can’t necessarily deny that, even though he sure tries. He can’t justify it even to himself, because Kamu.kura was right and he knew it. He sighs. “Hin.ata-kun doesn’t believe that your cooking is this good… so I told him he could come over for dinner on Wednesday to prove him wrong.”

Kamu.kura pouts, pressing a finger roughly into Na.egi’s stomach. The noise Na.egi lets out makes him stutter and cover his mouth with embarrassment. “Wh- what was that for?”

“I did not give you permission to invite Hin.ata over.”

Na.egi huffs and tries to rub at his own stomach to soothe it. “He- he started talking about the weight I’d gained, and he said I needed a new uniform and I tried to explain that this only happened because of your cooking! But… he didn’t believe me…”

Kamu.kura lets out a quiet chuckle and plants a gentle kiss on Naegi’s neck. “We have been over this. This is not my doing, but yours. You need to start taking responsibility for your own gluttony,” he states monotonously. Na.egi blushes again, looking down. “I… can cancel with him if you want me to… I’m sorry, I should have asked you first.”

“He may come over, but I will need time to prepare dinner for the both of you.”

Na.egi perks up, leaning forward to kiss Kamu.kura in excitement. But his tummy weighs him down, and he flops back into the chair with a small huff. 

Kamu.kura gently wraps his arm around Na.egi’s waist and pulls him up, helping him walk down the hallway and into the bedroom. He pulls Na.egi’s work clothes off his grossly overstuffed form, tossing the basically worthless scraps on the floor. He crawls in bed next to his soft lover and pulls a blanket over them both, turning light out.

-----

The days leading up to Hin.ata’s visit were fairly uneventful. Na.egi would wake up, struggle to get dressed, go to work, snack all day, and come home to Kamu.kura’s unfairly good cooking. This continued until Tuesday evening, after work, when Hin.ata walked into Na.egi’s office at the end of his shift. “Hey Na.egi-san. You ready to head out?”

Na.egi presses the power button on his monitor and nods, standing up with a quiet ‘oof’. Damn… he had overdone it today, too. He feels his center of balance shift as he stands, and he rests a hand on his stomach. “Yeah, just let me grab my jacket.”

Hin.ata watches him, silently judging the shorter boy for eating so much at work. He had seen Na.egi sneak into the break room multiple times to bring food to eat mindlessly at his desk. He had seen Na.egi make trips to the vending machine, buying multiple sugary drinks and fattening snacks to stock pile in a drawer. He knew Na.egi was blaming his weight gain on his new partner, Kamu.kura, but seeing how Naegi acts at work, Hin.ata sincerely doubts that. 

The two brunettes make their way downstairs to the street to hail a cab together. They both climb in the back of the taxi, and Na.egi leans forward to give the address to the driver. The ride only takes around 10 minutes. Hin.ata passes a couple of dollars to his coworker, who adds his own half, and gives it to the driver. They both thank the driver and step out onto the sidewalk.

Na.egi climbs up the stairs to the apartment and unlocks the door. Hin.ata stands behind him, and is taken aback when the strong aromas of Kamu.kura’s cooking hit him square in the face. Na.egi giggles as he sees Hin.ata stumble forward, not even bothering to take his work jacket off, and sit down at the dining table. Having been subject to this before, Na.egi has enough self control to take his shoes and jacket off before sitting down and filling his plate. 

----

He had doubted every word, up until that damn door was opened.

Hin.ata had known Kamu.kura since they were both kids, and they had grown up together. Kamu.kura was apathetic, cold, and didn’t have any motivation to do anything. To hear that his old acquaintance (Hinata wasn’t sure he could call him a friend, exactly) had changed so much as to start cooking this much for Na.egi, for Na.egi to have gained this much weight…

It didn’t make any sense.

He had sincerely doubted it.

He knew he was wrong the second the door opened. 

His mouth starts drooling before he even sits down. He sits down at the dining table, grabbing a plate and piling it high with everything in reach. He vaguely registers Na.egi sitting down next to him, grabbing his own plate and filling it with whatever he can. 

Hin.ata’s mind is a complete blur. All he can process is the continual flow of food being stuffed down his throat. Tender roast that melts in his mouth, creamy potatoes that slide down his throat, freshly buttered rolls with a perfectly crispy crust. He continues shoveling everything in reach into his gullet, without regard for how quickly he’s filling up. His stomach balloons forward, pushing against the buttons on his shirt. His fork hits the bottom of his plate, and his mind clears for a moment. He lets out a quiet groan and presses a hand against his stomach, trying to comfort it. 

“K-Kamu.kura…” he whines, squirming in his seat. Na.egi continues shoving food into his mouth, not hearing Hin.ata. He was already on his third plate. Kamu.kura steps forward, a ghost of a smirk present on his face. “Is there a problem, Hin.ata?”

“It- it hurts… it’s too much…” he moans. Kamu.kura kneels down beside his chair and presses a warm hand against his flesh. Hin.ata’s face flushes and he turns away.

“Then stop,” Kamu.kura says simply. “That’s all you have to do. Don’t fill your plate again, and don’t keep going.”

Even with direct instruction not to, Hin.ata finds himself sitting forward and piling more food onto his plate. Kamu.kura watches with a smirk, continuing to rub circles on his belly. Hin.ata feels and hears his belly gurgle in protest, but he can’t stop his hands from moving. 

Na.egi slumps back, groaning, and looks over at Hin.ata and Kamu.kura with bleary eyes. “Is… he alright..?” Na.egi asks between heavy pants. Kamu.kura nods, continuing to rub Hin.ata’s bloated tummy. Hin.ata moans around a particularly large bite of pasta, and he hears a loud ping. He looks down and blushes deeply as he stomach surges forward. He had actually eaten so much that a button had popped off of his shirt.

“Do.. you see what I mean..?” Na.egi asks quietly.

Hin.ata doesn’t have the strength to give a snappy response.

[clareisa]

Monsta X As: Sons Of 7 Princes Of Hell [their curse]

- Although they are sons of the most powerful demons in the hell, they have pure souls given by their human mothers. But their fathers all left in theirs sons the sin they are representing which is making their lives complicated. These young men learned about their demonic powers and gifts. As they grew up they learned how to tame down their sins but sometimes it was much more powerful than them.

- Will there ever be someone who will show them the other side of their demonic self? Maybe it will be you... maybe thanks to you they'll deserve their place in heaven despite their origin...

Shownu:

Son of Beelzebub, prince of Gluttony

Hyunwoo always loved to eat since he was young child but as he was growing his hunger was becoming bigger and bigger

He was always saying that it was because he was very active so he needed lot of food

But he secretly knew why his hunger was endless and he always cursing his father, the one he never met

Along with gluttony came greed as well, most of the time he was unable to share anything and mainly food

That's why he liked to be alone, he could have more for himself and the he wasn't so ashamed if there wasn't any people around

Hyunwoo wanted to share deep down but he couldn't bring himself to do it

His sin made him turn into lonely human being with only one happiness in the world, food

But one day he started to change. It was the day he met you

You were the new cook in his favourite restaurant

You were the most perfect woman he ever saw and something inside told him that he must get you

He asked you out and it worked. You said yes and he found happiness in your answer and in your company

He was strictly saying no to dinner or lunch dates because he was "on diet"

The truth was that he didn't wanted his sin to take over him while you are watching. He thought you would be disgusted and left him like everyone else

But one day you finally convinced him because u were really hungry. He was sitting next to you behind the table nervous and sweating because he knew he wouldn't able to stop himself

But when the food arrived and you asked "Can I try from yours?" you asked sweetly

Old sinful Hyunwoo would react in mean way but suddenly something clicked and he surprised himself by nodding

When he feed you a spoon and saw your smile after saying thank you he felt his endless hunger going away

Hyunwoo found new happiness that is stronger than the sin his father gave him

And it was you

Seeing you smile made him finally feel happiness from other things than just food

You were his guardian angel... He must said that angel that could cook like a God

Wonho:

Son of Satan, prince of Wrath

Hoseok was the most pure and peaceful baby boy you could imagine

But as he was growing the anger in him was growing as well

He knew that it's his father's fault that he was getting angry over simple things and wanted to fight everyone who disagree with him

As he felt his wrath was getting out of control he started working out, boxing, martial arts... just anything where he could release his sin

But even this didn't help with everything

He was still fighting people on street when be just simply didn't like their face

Most of the time he almost killed the people

Hoseok wasn't satisfied until his knuckles wasn't red and the other human wasn't bleeding and coughing out blood

Hurting people and being angry was so addicting to him

He just couldn't stop himself even is he wanted to

Anger replaced almost all his emotions he used to have

That changed on night when he was walking home and heard scream

He found you trying to get out of the grip of the man who were obviously drunk and wanted to take advantage of you

His anger raised and he threw him off of you

He always regretted when be was beating up someone at least a little but not in that moment

When he almost killed the guy you screamed and touched his biceps to stop him

To his surprise he did stop

When he looked at you with tears in your eyes and wounded lip all his anger disappeared and was replaced with fear

Fear of you being hurt

He took you to his arms and ran with you to the hospital

He was waiting there for whole night and when they let you go home you thanked him and invited him out as a thank you

Hoseok agreed and since then everytime he was with you he never felt angry

His thoughts wasn't hateful anymore because he was thinking about you

And when your face appeared in his mind only thing be could think was how fragile, beautiful angel you are and that he want to treat you gently how you deserve

You were his angel... angel that always woke tenderness and gentleness in him

Minhyuk:

Son of Mammon, prince of Greed

Minhyuk's sin started showing up already in his early childhood

He never wanted to share toys with other kids and was getting angry when someone touched something that was his

As he was growing up it was getting worse

His attitude made him lonely, no one wanted to hang out with him

But he didn't care, he was happy all alone just with his precious property

Yes, he was very successful in his work and he for sure didn't struggle because of money

But people hated him and wished just the worst for him

At one of nights when he was enjoying himself in club he saw you with your friends

Minhyuk immediately wanted to have you, he wanted you to be only his

He was very charming and you agreed to go out with him but you really quickly realised his greedines

He was so jealous, no one could talk to you when you were with him because he wanted you just for himself

As you were walking throught park a homeless woman came to you and asked for a food

Minhyuk was ready to yell at her but he froze when you gave her your corndog and even a bottle of water you took from your bag

"Why did you do That?" he was stunnned

You smiled and kissed his cheek "It was right. You should try it sometimes too." you smiled at him

Since then Minhyuk was thinking about it a lot

You looked happy that you helped her and he wanted to make you happy

Minhyuk asked you why you are with him since he is like that and you just said that you love him

You saying that broke something in his greed heart

He started with little things like allowing you wearing his clothes

And with your help he even started donating money to charities

And to his surprise it felt amazing

He loved helping other people and your praise was the best prize for it

You were his guardian angel that showed him how amazing it is to interact with the world and how amazing it feel to help

Kihyun:

Son of Lucifer, prince of Pride

Kihyun always thought he is special

He grew into prideful man

He knew he was good looking and he could have anyone but he didn't want to simply because no one would be enough for such a perfect man as him

He was always praising himself and his ego was growing

His sin made him shameless around people and because he was so sure he is better than everyone he ended up alone as well

It wasn't such a problem for him since he loved himslef so much

Why be shouldn't? He was extremely handsome, intelligent, talented and just perfect right?

For the first time he felt shame was the day he met you as his new co-worker

You were perfect match for him and he was so sure he can get you easily

That's why Kihyun was so shocked when you said no to his cocky question

He was speechless and he was ashamed like never before, he felt so small. So imperfect. So unimportant

For the first time in his life

Since you were his new co-worker you were seeing him every day and everyone saw how Yoo Kihyun became quiet when you walked to the room

He didn't want to even look into your eyes from embarrassment

When others told you this you were shocked but pleased a little as well

But when Kihyun didn't even look at you, you wanted to change it

"I'm sorry for being so mean." you told him in the morning

Kihyun didn't what to say but he stuttered a small "you don't need to be"

In the end you told him that you would love to go out with him but he can't be as cocky as he was when you first met

Kihyun suddenly felt like the happiest person on earth and in humble tone he said yes

He couldn't believe how shy he was around you and how much he was admiring you and everything you were doing

You were his angel that kept him humble and the one he always admired no matter what

Hyungwon:

Son of Belphegor, prince of Sloth

Hyungwon was never active which made all people around him worried

He was too lazy to study so his student life wasn't good

He was too lazy to go out with friends which was leading to losing them

Lastly he was lazy to even eat that's why he was so skinny, not healthily skinny like he used to be but almost deadly skinny and pale

His relationship was never good with people because he was too lazy to help them, meet them or even talk to them

The only thing that was keeping him alive was his cat

The only living being that he always take care about

His cat was his best buddy

She didn't talk but cuddled with him all the time and was helping him to fall asleep

So when his cat ran away he was crashed

That's why when he heard her meowing by the door he ran the fastest in his life

When he opened the door he saw the most perfect woman holding his cat lovingly in her arms while petting her

He was so thankful

Your hands touched when you gave him his cat back and Hyungwon never felt so much energy going throught his body

Smiling, he asked if he can't ask you for dinner as a thank you for his cat. You said yes

Since that day Hyungwon was almost shining

He became a whole sunshine

He was with you every day and when you said yes to his love confession his laziness disappeared

He was so full of energy when he was thinking about you

Everytime you touched him it was like you were recharging him with life

He was never happier, thanks to you he started enjoying life to the fullest

He sometimes heard the voice of the sin of his father but with you by his side he always successfully ignored it

Jooheon:

Son of Leviathan, prince of Envy

The monster with green eyes was inseparable part of Jooheon's life

Since he was small he was envious

He was jealous of everyone and everything

That resulted in hatred towards people

He knew he shouldn't be but his father's sin was stronger than him

He was always asking himself "Why they have this? Why not me?" Or "they don't deserve it but I do! Why i can't do that or have That?"

He felt like whole world is against him

He felt like people don't deserve what they have

His mean gaze always scared people

And if he found some friends they quickly ran away after realising his true colour

He couldn't have relationship because he was always jealous

Because his girl should have be just his. She shouldn't have talk with her mom, right?

He saw you for the first time at bus stop at early spring

You had your new green beanie and Jooheon being his usual self he was envious even about your beauty

You were looking at him and when you smiled he felt even bigger rage

How dare you to be so beautiful?

But he froze when you took off your beanie and put it gently on his head

"You look much better than me. I look funny in them." you smiled brightly at him

His heart in a second warmed up and the frown from his face disappeared

And he did something he never thought he would do

He took the beanie and gave it back to you with smile "you looked really cute with it. Please, wear it." He said

"Here you must be cold." He said and gave you his hot packs

As you took it, said thank you and smiled at him, Jooheon couldn't stop the warm feeling

You went to nice coffee and after that jooheon didn't know how to live without you

You were angel that took him away from his curse

Changkyun:

Son of Asmodeus, prince of Lust

When he was small he was the most innocent human you could imagine

But when his teenage years began Changkyun started to be uncontrollable

He couldn't live one day without sex

Sex was his drug and he could last for many rounds

It was the reason why girls left him

Yes, they liked the perfect sex he was giving but he was obsessed

He wanted to have it all day everyday and be hurt many girls in process

And he became bored of them easily as well

Thanks to his demon origine he never caught some sickness from all the girls he was with

But when he met you... His life changed

You were so pure, so innocent but at the same time you weren't stupid

He was charming and he knew how to ask you out

But when it came to your date, he didn't even think about sex

You were gorgoues but for some reason the only thing he could think about was him holding your hand, dancing with you, cuddling with you or just kissing your forehead

You fell for his charms of course and started dating

Changkyun changed and your first time was after months, almost after year and he made it perfect

Gentle, slow and full of love and not lust

You showed him that life is much more than physical pleasure

[foxrp]

faith into violence

FAITH INTO VIOLENCE

( TW CRIME, VIOLENCE, SEX WORK, FULL CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES )

the world is on fire. there’s no easy way to say that - to simplify the political ruins that encircles them all. every which way a new party erupts, a new route, more indecision and less decisiveness. in times like these, for some, it’s an opportunity. in the shadows, dark desires grip at your throat and pull your nearer, begging the question of what you would do if no one was watching, if not one would know. the world, in it’s derision of those with lives in the shadows who had yet to step into any of the many lights now before them, wasn’t watching. the ministry was overworked. everyone was worried about this group and that group and what they would be doing.

it started simple, at first. a speakeasy, tucked into a corner of knockturn alley. the spiny serpent, a place where you could only enter if you were permitted, a place for your wildest fantasies to come true. it was simple then, in the beginning, when it was small illegalities and minor crimes. but it was apparent, even then, that it was a breeding ground for greed and gluttony, for lust and envy, for all of the things they shouldn’t have been playing with. pandora’s box was opened without a second thought, so easy to dip your toes into the darkness after tasting its sweet side. the darkness almost didn’t seem so bad, at first.

if you had been stuck in the political battleground that they had been, you would have done it too. that was what they told themselves at first. you, in your arrogance and your greed and your need for more, more, more, would do exactly what they had done… wouldn’t you? wouldn’t you start what would become the underworld? it was something between mafia esteem and mob mentality, meeting a need for dark desires to be satiated even by those playing the part of goodness. as the needs and requests grew, they would find ways to satisfy all the vices of their clientele so long as the galleons kept coming. and knowing the consequences of what you were doing, of what it could become… wouldn’t you do anything to keep it secret? because that was the game they needed to play, and every new round it all got harder.

even now, a couple years since it all began, the underworld is a secret. those who know about it keep it covered and do not risk it being discovered because of what it could mean for them all. too many political games played at once, and too many with dirty secrets they had catered to by its creator and his crew.

in fact, in the time since the underworld was started, many have taken up leadership roles and stood to his side to keep the secrets, to enforce that one rule they all knew and didn’t have to say - what happens in the underworld stays there… or you do. the rumors are rampant, but even those high and mighty have dark needs in their blood, a secret they don’t want uncovered, a reason to keep those rumors squashed for their own safety, knowing the value of mystery with the ether out for blood. what happens in the shadows must stay there, for everyone’s sake… and, besides, weren’t there many so used to living in the dark?

notes

those who partake in the underworld can be of any group, any species, so long as they know that it is forever a secret. anything and everything that is done in the underworld can be used against its participants, and everyone who has entered knows this well. still, what started as petty crimes only, has extended to illegal activities of all types for all types of beings, so long as you know who to ask.

below is a listing of those in a leadership role in the underground, as well as a small section of information on each. for now, these are the only positions that will be marked as true participants in this subplot, though many may have those involved under them in one form or another. for those characters, we ask that each member who takes a participant listed here make their own ad and link us, so that we can add it as a way of entering the subplot should that be wished. additionally, if you plan to genderbend, make anyone nonbinary, shift things around, or even have an idea of adding a “sin” or “virtue” to the underworld, please pm staff so that we can approve this, as we would be willing to discuss all of these things. as a note, almost all dealings for the underworld take place in the spiny serpent, located in knockturn alley, due to how secure it is as a centralized location and how protected it is against outside eyes and spies. please keep this in mind. thank you!

PRIDE

MUST BE 30+, OPEN FACE 

the leader of this whole organization, the one who started it all - or did he? he may be the ruler in the underworld, but we all serve someone, we all answer to someone. here, pride holds all the power, or so he thinks. even the creator of the underworld has his secrets, and how long will it be before they catch up to him? how long can he keep the light at bay? for now, down where no one can identify him, he’s a king in his small corner, desperately keeping his shadows cast so he can reign.

HUMILITY

MUST BE 35+, OPEN FACE 

before the underworld began, humility was there. he was in the background, running something similar to the underworld in his home country. he was optimistic when it all came to be, tried to get involved with the political game in a way he truly believed in… and then tragedy struck, trauma left in its wake, and optimism fell away to a cynicism unlike any other. he lost it all, fell from grace, and went into hiding lest he lose his freedom as well. in a new country and under a different name, he is the advisor to pride, the one with experience and knowledge of what works and what could make it all go up in flames. he will not let them make his past mistakes. he will protect the underworld he has now, in a way he failed to with his own previously. he knows what it’s like to lose, and he will never risk it again.

ENVY

MUST BE 30+, OPEN FACE 

keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. this is a mentality that pride knows well, and envy entered under that opinion. truth be told, everyone thought the two hated each other. a long history, fickle at its best, but there was no one in the world who knew pride better, either. envy was the one person who could really bring it down, and pride instead made them an ally. envy, ruler over their own sect in the underworld, puts on the show. they sort through what they need, what they don’t, what’s working, what isn’t, and works as pride’s mouth - the boss said, so get it done. they took to the power like moth to flame, but how long will it be until they want more? is risking something so advantageous worth the potential that they could cost it for them all?

KINDNESS

MUST BE 25+, OPEN FACE 

kindness is the one who comes before wrath has to, to offer a choice. she is the hunter, and many have been her prey, but wrath is her shot. she does not dirty her hands, because she doesn’t have to. she comes with a smile, and an unspoken threat on her lips, something dark behind her eyes as they watch you, as they follow you, as they tell you everything she doesn’t need to spell out in words. kindness is the redemption, for those who dare to stray, that you will wish you accepted should you not heed her meaning.

WRATH (reserved for robin)

MUST BE 20+, OPEN FACE 

war is all he knows, war and commanding respect. his life was war. his afterlife was war. he was gifted in destruction, in chaos, in enforcing the rules - and that was exactly what earned him his space in the underworld. where other were afraid he would go too far and refused him the authority he thought he deserved, pride fed into his arrogance, into his fury. keep it secret, don’t go too far, but put them in their place if they threaten us - wrath was the only man for the job, and his ego knew it.

PATIENCE

MUST BE 25+, OPEN FACE 

where wrath only knew war in body, patience only knew it in mind. she is all brains, the epitome of ‘work smart, not hard’. she is the watchful eye, the one who lets pride know of any who may become a problem, the one who sees every move. too brilliant for the main political arena, the underworld offers her something the surface couldn’t - secrets, shadows, and the power that comes from that. her little spies, bringing her all the information she might need. to the world, her exterior has never cracked, but to the shadows… well, just like her, the shadows see all.

SLOTH

MUST BE 25+, OPEN FACE 

while one brings sex, one brings objects, and another brings met desire, sloth brings nostrums for them all. drugs, off-limits potions, or anything else you could want outside of their realms? sloth can and will get it. he was once one of wizarding london’s best dealers, before a small jail stint took him out of the game. but pride remembered him. he had names of all walks of life underneath him, running deals of all sorts, and getting into the underworld meant expanding his business and his network, regaining footing after his world left him to rot. sure, he has a boss, but didn’t everyone? and at least this way he stayed boss of his underlings and a king in his own right - something the outside was threatening to take away before he joined, watchful eyes that pride could take care of. and sloth? he’s not the type to lose what he controls, volatile, greedy, moody, and king only to himself.

DILIGENCE

MUST BE 25+, OPEN FACE 

secrets travel fast, but diligence travels faster. a master of gossip, and leader of the art of a well told rumor. how better to squash suspicions than to run the rumor mill yourself? he is in charge of keeping secrets, and he is a master of the art of persuasion and blackmail above all others. and who would expect the one never taken seriously? petty gossip, no place in the real political arena, he was told - but pride saw something in him, and the devotion earned there isn’t something you can buy with fear or intimidation.

GREED

MUST BE 25+, OPEN FACE 

where chastity is the poster girl to keep attention off of them with her media darling friendly celebrity act, greed is the poster girl who gets attention and finds clientele. she is the girl who looks too good to talk to, the one who has never done a single interview - because she didn’t have to. a dark reputation even among those with lives of shadow, those who follow her always find themselves in back alleys all alone - before her whispers find their ears, asks them what their darkest desire is, and if they’re ready to have it fulfilled. she’s never had to do any of the real work, finding ways to fulfill needs, or working to seek anyone out. for her, they find her, and she delivers them to the underworld under the pretense of guidance. a pretense she is well aware is nothing more than a delusion.

CHARITY

MUST BE 30+, OPEN FACE 

when it all came to be, the first thing they needed was a place - and a basement. that was where pride brought in charity. to the surface, he’s a unique business owner, the spiny serpent with its gimmick entrance and beautiful windows, a place that has been around for ages and financed his lifestyle for longer than any really know. but to the underworld… he had built a hidden arena long before, soundproofed it, and kept the questions away under lies about renovating rooms and adding an expanded dance hall and big plans that never seemed to finish. the place itself is upstairs, on the second and third floors, but the ground floor has only one entrance and exit, heavily guarded and kept away from what he says is for their own safety, renovations and danger beware. a well designed cover up and a well kept secret, with a fortune at risk. and charity? he never even broke a sweat. after all… he had been building it long before pride even asked.

GLUTTONY

MUST BE 30+, OPEN FACE 

some supplies come at dark costs. there are some things even the shadows cannot give you, but gluttony? she is the one responsible for their harvest, and pride keeps her one of the closest to his chest. where chastity is his right-hand woman, gluttony is his heart itself. she is trusted to make calls when he is away, trusted to keep their secrets, trusted to run the game as she needs to in order to get what they need without too many questions. she knows the value of discretion, and she knows her worth in the underworld. anything you need, from vampires wanting fresh, willing blood sources to werewolf cage matches unlike any other to curses beyond your wildest dreams, she can find it, she can feed your needs. and she’s damned good at what she does.

TEMPERANCE (reserved for vanessa)

MUST BE 25+, OPEN FACE 

somewhere along the lines, the underworld expanded and new requests came. art, literature, artifacts, magical equipment, dark secrets lost to time - people wanted more and that was where temperance stepped in. on the outside, she’s the perfect woman, all smiles and pleasantries and perfection. but under all of that? she’s traded in dark and lost artifacts for years, has a collection unlike any other, and she knows how to tell a fake from a mile away after so much experience. she has mastered the art of the mask, and she stays close to the money matters of the underworld as well because of her expertise. after all, pay roll is complicated, but she’s been doing it since before any of them knew to include it, and she’s the master of a good bargain and a better sell.

LUST

MUST BE 30+, OPEN FACE 

as the underworld expanded, lust came to become a necessity. some vices are not quenched by objects, and different needs came to the surface. lust is the one who brought forth those willing and wanting - consent, of course, the most important thing for lust with their disciples, always willing to enforce strict punishment on any who even attempts to infringe upon it - to satisfy those carnal desires. they are the one who protects them, who finds them, who brings them to this new home. they pay them, clothe them, acts as friend, confidant, and family. and, as pride has always agreed, they have wrath on speed dial to ensure no one hurts their family.

CHASTITY (reserved for athena)

MUST BE 20+, OPEN FACE 

the celebrity poster girl who keeps the light that casts the shadows. dirty dealings going down in one building? she’ll show up next door, call all the attention, dance a little, smile a lot, maybe even do an interview - anything to keep the deal next door a secret. right-hand woman of pride himself, a secret few share to keep. even those of high rank don’t know her place in all of this, smiling like a good little girl and living her life in the light, to keep eyes on her and to keep other where where pride wants them: beneath him.

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 11

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Domestic moments, part 1

A/N: This chapter is the beginning of a few chapters long 'arc' where Leo and Calypso mainly just do domestic things such as cooking while they learn to know each other better. I know, why several chapters about cooking? Because I can, and because I wanted some fluff before some angst ensues (yes, some of that is coming soon too).

I hope you guys enjoy, and remember that I love hearing what you think!!

Characters in this ch: Calypso, Leo

Words: 2277

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

Calypso often ate at the university cafeteria instead of her flat whenever Annabeth, Piper or some acquaintances from her history lectures joined her, but today everyone had been busy and she decided to make something herself. She quite enjoyed cooking but it was different to cook just for yourself compared to a bigger group of people. The packages grocery stores sold were often huge and eating the same leftovers several days in a row wasn’t something Calypso wanted to do constantly. This time, though, she considered asking Leo to join her. There was one ‘but’, though.

After the ‘therapy session’ and meeting Jo and Georgina, Calypso had felt a bit weird near Leo, but she didn’t understand - or want to acknowledge -  why. She definitely didn’t hate him anymore, having realized there was much more under that snarky and carefree cover than what she had first thought. But she found herself wanting to avoid talking to him, a change that hadn’t been left unnoticed by Leo, who had tried to start a conversation with her several times in the past few days and only gotten short answers before she had come up with some excuse to leave.

What Calypso didn’t want to admit to herself was that the butterflies that she felt in her stomach when near this boy were all too familiar to her. Back when she had done online dating, because there was no way her dad would have let her go on actual dates on her own, she found herself crushing quite easily on the guys she chatted with, only to get disappointed each and every time. The last time had probably been the hardest. The guy, Percy, had genuinely seemed nice, respectful, and caring. They had even managed to organize a short meeting behind Calypso’s dad’s back, only for Percy to tell her that he was sorry but he had started realizing that he had feelings for a long time friend. Calypso did appreciate the honesty but she wished that Percy would have realized that a bit earlier instead of giving her false hope. After that experience she had quit online dating and decided that she would not let herself get hurt again. Especially not by her new flatmate. Things would get really awkward if they… no, she didn’t want to let herself even consider that option.

However, she didn’t think her avoidance tactic was working so the second best option was to simply try to get used to being as neutral as possible in Leo’s company. That’s why she finally decided to brace herself and ask Leo to join her for her cooking session. Knocking on his door, she shouted: “Valdez!” and soon it opened, revealing Leo in his work attire (oily overalls and grease on his cheek. See, Calypso, not attractive at all, she tried to tell herself). He gave her his annoying (cute) trademark lopsided grin and for one -  just one - second Calypso forgot what she was supposed to ask him. When he continued looking at her questioningly, she finally blurted: “wannacomecookwithme?”

Leo’s eyebrows disappeared under his curly fringe.“What? Sorry, Sunshine, I have many talents but gibberish isn’t one of them.”

“Uh, would you want to come and cook with me? Also, why do you call me Sunshine?” she managed to ask a bit slower, blushing of embarrassment.

“Oh, I thought you usually eat at the university. But since you asked… I have to finish this one part before I can have a break,” Leo gestured at the stereos he was fixing. “But if you help me, I’ll get it done faster and then we can cook. And about that nickname,” he added cheekily, “clearly it’s because your presence warms me up like the sun.”

Calypso wasn’t sure if she should feel honored or offended. “Don’t try to mess with me, Valdez. That won’t work. But fine, I can help you as long as you don’t say things like that again.”

“Not sure I can promise that.” Leo waggled his eyebrows, causing Calypso to roll her eyes. “But I can try.”

“So…” Calypso said, starting to inspect Leo’s room. She hadn’t seen it that closely before, and she had to admit she was kind of curious. As she had expected, Leo wasn’t the cleanest of people. Sure, he had made his bed, and there wasn’t dirty laundry on the floor like she had half expected, but his but the area surrounding his workbench was a mess. The waste bin was overflowing with abandoned blueprints (some of them on the floor), there were bolts, nuts and nails everywhere Calypso turned her eyes to, and an oil stain on the floor that Leo had tried to rub clean but failed. “What can I do?”

“Uh,” Leo rubbed the back of his head. “My floor could probably use some cleaning. Can’t have Festus eat any of those.” He pointed at the fallen parts.

“When is he coming here again?” Calypso asked as she started picking up the nails.

“Not quite sure yet but Jo and Emmie are planning to visit a friend in another state soon so he needs someone to look after him while they’re gone.” Leo shrugged.

“Good to know. You know, I’d like to learn to know him better.”

“Oh? You would?” Leo asked, surprised.

“I’ve never had a lot of animals around me but I think I’d learn to like them if I spent some time with them,” Calypso confessed.

“In that case, it’s a date!” Leo said happily, not noticing that Calypso’s face went red because he was busy with his work.

“It’s a… what?”

Leo must have realized he had said something weird because his ears also started burning. “I… I meant with you and Festus, of course! You’re allowed to hang out with him as much as you want.”

“Right. Of course.” Calypso nodded, trying to look as calm as possible. Why was this so hard, she cursed to herself. They were only talking about Leo’s dog and even that seemed to make her act weird.

“Can I ask you something?” she broke the silence after a while. “What kind of food do you like?”

The question seemed to amuse Leo. “To be honest, all kinds. But I eat a lot of Mexican food that my mum used to make us. You know, the basics. Tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, nachos… I love it all.

“Then you’re in luck because I was thinking of making tacos,” Calypso said, not taking her eyes off of the items she was picking.

“I like the sound of that!” Leo nodded approvingly. “I’m a taco sauce pro, just sayin’.” 

“Is that so?” Calypso asked. “You’d better be good because I don’t eat just any taco sauce.”

“Picky one, are you? Well, don’t worry because Leo Valdez’ sauce supreme has been approved even by the principal of our university,” Leo said smugly.

“The what?” Calypso wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly.

“The principal,” Leo repeated. “He happens to be my friend Jason’s father. Jason and he don’t really communicate that much but the only time he visited us here in this flat I happened to be making tacos and of course he wanted to get to taste them, because who wouldn’t… and he didn’t hate them so it was definitely a win.”

“Oh. I see,” Calypso replied, unsure if she should be amused or not.

“But hey, in the name of solidarity, since we’re making Mexican food you could add something Greek into the mix so you won't be completely overshadowed by my awesome-sauce,” Leo said.

“Such confidence. You must be incredible,” Calypso said sarcastically and half expected Leo to say something like ‘heck yeah I am’ in return, but instead she noticed his smile had started fading a bit. Maybe, a thought occurred to her, he really wasn’t as confident as he made himself sound. Maybe the humor was his way to hide something. But what, she didn’t know yet.

“That’s what they say,” he finally answered but Calypso thought that if you paid attention to his tone he really didn’t sound as enthusiastic as a moment before.

“Truth to be told, I’m not that amazing at cooking Greek food,” Calypso admitted. “My mum and dad got separated around the time we moved to the USA and dad mostly ordered takeaway to our home, but I do know the basics. A Greek salad would be fine, right?”

Leo still seemed a bit distracted. “Uh. Oh. Right.”

“Okay, it’s a deal then.” Trying to think of something that would get Leo back to the usual cheerful self, she asked then: “Hey, do you think we could invite Piper and Jason over? I may have bought too many ingredients again so some extra eating help wouldn’t hurt. And I’d like to meet this Jason who used to live in my room.”

Leo seemed relieved by the change of topic. “Sure! Although you might regret it because Jason is quite a gluttony. He’s a decathlete so he spends his days practicing and he’s hungry a lot…”

“I think we can handle that,” Calypso laughed.

Leo claimed that the reason why the stereos he was trying to fix were not working was because someone had poured a drink on them at a party. Apparently he was very tempted to make them play ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley nonstop instead of the songs the owner wanted to hear (“You can do that?” Calypso asked with surprise). Luckily, she managed to talk him out of it. 

Calypso didn’t understand that much about the inner mechanics of the stereos so she was mainly giving Leo the tools he wanted while he worked, but she did find it pretty fascinating to watch. Leo was so different when he was working on his projects. He was more focused. Calmer (yet still fast and effective). He knew exactly what he needed to do and where everything went, and it all seemed so effortless, even though Calypso knew it was actually way more complicated than it seemed. In a way his determination to finish his project reminded her of herself when she decided to finish a piece of clothing or a carpet or whatever she wanted to make to forget…

Yet again Calypso started wondering what exactly Leo was hiding from her. She hoped that one day they’d trust each other enough that he’d be able to open up… and maybe she’d be able to open up too.

“Okay! Done!” Leo exclaimed, snapping Calypso out of her thoughts. He seemed happy about the result despite saying: “I still think these would be better with some Rick Astley, though.”

“I have to make a mental note to never break any of my machines if that’s how you want to treat them,” Calypso said.

“Trust me, the owner of these guys would deserve it. He’s an ass, I dunno how he made it to the university when his main goal is to throw parties every night.”

“And have you ever been to any of those parties?” Calypso asked, remembering Jo’s vague hints about Leo’s earlier bad habits.

“Once. It was not worth it. The chicks were pretty,” he noticed Calypso’s expression so he decided to change his approach, “uh, but it isn’t fun to be the only sober one there.”

“So, you don’t drink?” Calypso asked, not wanting to sound like she knew more than she should. “Not that it’s any of my business…”

“No, not anymore,” Leo admitted. “I… had it kinda rough before I moved to Jo and Emmie’s and I promised them I wouldn’t… And it’s a promise I am planning to keep. Besides, my ADHD and alcohol don’t mix well.”

Calypso realized it was the first time he mentioned his ADHD, which confirmed what she had already suspected. “Yeah. I understand. I don’t really care about that stuff myself.”

“Then I guess there’ll be two sober ones in case we ever go to a party together.” Leo smiled at her, but it wasn’t the usual mischievous grin, instead a much softer one. Calypso felt something weird in her stomach and a sudden urge to get any kind of physical contact with him, take his hand, touch his shoulder, that smudge on his face…

She had to shake his head to get rid of those thoughts, and that seemed to burst the weird bubble that had developed between them. Leo noticed it too, so he quickly said: “Um, I think we should test that this works. Don’t want Mr. Douche… I mean Dion to complain that I did a bad job.”

“Right,” Calypso said. “Anyway, I should probably go and get things prepared for the dinner. Will you contact Piper and Jason?”

“Will do. Any background music wishes?” Leo asked when Calypso was already out of the room.

“Anything as long as it’s not Never Gonna Give You Up,” Calypso joked, suddenly realizing that she had certainly started doing that more since moving in this flat.

“As you wish, Sunshine,” she heard the answer from Leo’s room. Soon a song she recognized from her childhood started playing. It was ‘Mermaid’ by a band called Train. She had loved all things sea related back then so it wasn’t a surprise that she was weirdly fond of that song too. Glad that Leo wasn’t seeing, she started jamming and humming the song quietly in the kitchen as she searched for the ingredients they’d be needing.

Thinking about the lyrics of the song, maybe her life really had started becoming more like a holiday lately. For various reasons, one of them possibly the curly haired mechanic next door.

[crazyboredasians]

Estoy adivinando que quienes se oponen al límite de personajes por usuario nunca han estado en la posición de admin o no han sido admins de un foro con multi cuentas que creen poder llevar 15 personajes activos, además de manejar una vida adulta, y sin caer a crearse más personajes por hype y olvidar a los otros.

yo me opongo ‼️ pienso que lo mejor para llevar personajes en condiciones es tener poquitos y centrarte en ellos, porque una vez divides tu atención entre, cogiendo el ejemplo de este anon, quince cuentas no vas a poder darles a todos los personajes el mismo protagonismo, la misma cantidad de tramas y a veces ni si quiera la misma profundidad, vas a encontrarte limitaciones y tendrás que cumplir con la actividad x15 y... sinceramente, es necesario tener quince cuentas en un mismo foro?

✰ gluttony

[fallstreakfeathers]

OM! Mc sheet

(update 7/18/20- information has been updated)

(form by @/luciferasmr   )

Name: Kita (she never gives a surname, but it’s legally Bertrand)

Nickname (if any): n/a 

Age: 23

Height: 5’5’’

Weight: 175Ib

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Birthdate: June 27

Star Sign: Cancer

Hair color: Medium Brown

Eye color: dark blue/green

Skin tone: light

Which sin are they like?

wrath

gluttony

greed

envy

pride

sloth

lust

(rest is under the cut because it gets super long) 

Personality Traits: Let’s start with the negative, because it’s what’s seen the most in the first parts of Don’t Look Down: Kita has a very difficult time expressing most of her emotions correctly, partially because of her social anxiety and general nervousness. She’s afraid of social rejection, so she tends to isolate herself. She fears and doesn’t understand her own emotions, and is often even disgusted by them (particularly lust). Because of this, she’s prone to episodes of self-loathing and degrading herself. It isn’t exaggerating to say that fear rules much of Kita’s life. A lot of this behavior is due to her previous home situations and the way she grew up. Kita is easily spooked by rage and tends to automatically think that if someone’s angry it’s because of something she did. She has a hard time trusting others and when her trust is gained she can easily fall back into distrust weeks/months/years after the fact, even if she has no solid reason to. She does want to be able to express who she really is, but she often cannot get past her fears and probably won’t without help. Her disappointment in herself manifests itself as anger and causes her to snap at others or become snarky. She tends to treat others exactly how they treat her, regardless of the consequences. She believes that respect must be earned, and that simply demanding it is the quickest way to not get it. Kita is touch-starved, a result entirely of her own behavior, but frequently rejects any show of physical affection because of the way she sees herself and because she isn't used to it and doesn't understand the emotions it gives her or how to process them. It’s easier for her to pretend that she doesn’t deserve love and affection and to try to make herself as dislikeable and shut off as she can than attempt to take a risk and end up hurt. This is something she struggles with throughout Don’t Look Down.  It isn’t a stretch to say that she’s constantly at war with herself and her own mind. This makes her susceptible to demons/etc that can manipulate the mind and her perception of the world around her.

Kita tends to hold very strong grudges if she feels she was wronged. Fortunately, it’s also (usually) fairly easy to get her forgiveness. On the flip side: She is incredibly loyal and protective of anyone who has managed to gain even a bit of her trust. When she loves someone, she loves very deeply and wholly. Due to her sensitivity to certain emotions, she is able to read moods fairly well and act accordingly. She finds it fairly easy to tell when someone is lying to her, although she rarely does anything about it but keep it in mind. Kita dislikes liars and is not a confrontational person unless angered. She’d rather know the truth, no matter how hard it is, than to catch someone being dishonest. She does not trust the Exchange Program, or Diavolo. Kita is extremely energetic and fun-loving within the safety of her mind, where she doesn’t have to fear others reactions. She likes to joke and snark with others. Kita currently shows her affection in small ways ( giving Beel treats from his favorite shop after a game, listening to Levi rant about TSL, etc) but will start showing physical affection as she becomes more comfortable. She has a strong urge to please others, and is usually pretty dependable. She doesn’t mind getting caught up in plot and schemes so long as it doesn’t pose a threat to her. She enjoys helping, even if the help is as small as retrieving a tool for someone. She actually really likes to wrestle and roughhouse with friends, and has a strong curiosity for the supernatural and for most new things. Despite being human, there isn’t much she wouldn’t be willing to do or lengths she wouldn’t go for those she cared for- even in a place as dangerous as the Devildom.

Background: Kita hates talking about her history, and actively brushes off questions about it with sarcastic remarks. (CW: mentions of abuse, alcohol, depression, anxiety. Kita has a shitty history with people and her family. ) Ages 1-11: Kita didn’t grow up in a supportive environment. Both her parents were alcoholics, and while she was never abused physically, the mental stress took a toll on her growing up and her ability to cope with things and express herself in a healthy way. Her father was a manipulative narcissist who frequently brought others down to bring himself up. As such, Kita grew up with a father who wanted nothing to do with her aside from her to stay out of his way and take care of the house. He often lied about his family to others to paint himself a victim. He frequently became drunk, only to shout and argue, sometimes for hours into the night. She always hid to avoid his rage. She has a very vivid memory of being woken up one night to this fighting and hearing him tell her mother that he did not love Kita and her twin. She has never forgotten. Kita, at 23, cannot be around drunk people without having dizzying anxiety. Her mother was better, but overly emotional and focused on her own feelings rather than her children's. All her mother's stressors were blamed on everyone else instead of her own behavior. She always had it worse than Kita and her twin, always ‘knew better’ than them, etc. While Kita was much closer to her mother than her father, she felt she could not trust her with talking about her own problems because of the way her feelings were often brushed off or marked as her being dramatic or over sensitive. She learned to bottle her emotions up in her childhood and to push them down until she would finally break, and then the process would repeat. Kita was 12 when she started telling herself she wasn’t worth anyone's time, and with nobody who would correct her, these thoughts only got worse and more destructive with time. She tended to fill the void she felt in herself with an excess of food and physical items. The food became habit and she struggles with her weight and physical image, although to a smaller extent than her mentality. Kita grew up witnessing her father's mental and verbal abuse towards her mother, and grew wary of ever entering a relationship with another person. Instead, she substituted that want with entertaining ideas of fictional characters that she knew could never hurt her. She became deeply enthralled with fantasy novels, and read them both out of interest and because they took her to another place- even for a short period of time.  She doesn’t believe she’s ever been told by another person that they genuinely love her, and while part of that is her own fault- she also tends to believe that anyone who genuinely tells her that is lying-  it’s done a number on her self esteem. To her, it proves herself right in the negative things she tells herself. She lacked friends in most of her school years because she closed herself off and intentionally made herself unlikeable. There was a period of time where she was bullied for her interests, and she received no help from adult figures. This would be around this time, at 16, that she really lost her trust in other people. Her anxiety spiked, and her depression worsened and she rarely spoke during her 17th year. Her twin moved out at 18 and she heard less and less from him until Kita herself moved out at 20 and cut ties with most people she’d known. She remained reclusive and although her depression waned, she continued nurturing bad mental habits. She left home only to work until her arrival in the Devildom.

Why were they chosen for Devildom? Kita asks herself this almost daily. [Will be revealed in DLD]

Hobbies: - Enjoys drawing although it frequently frustrates her. She uses art as a way to get rid of emotions she otherwise couldn’t handle. - She likes finding places to hide. It comforts her to know that she has places she can disappear should things get nasty, and the House of Lamentation is certainly full of hiding places.

Likes: - Storms. A good thunderstorm and a cup of tea tend to calm her better than anything, though she certainly wasn’t prepared for the strength of the thunder in the Devildom. - Snark/sarcasm. She greatly enjoys passing sarcastic remarks back and forth in good-natured banter. - She listens to music to sort her moods and emotions, even if she won’t act on them. It’s become a very important kind of therapy for her to remain in control of herself. - Stones. She doesn’t like precious stones for their monetary value, but for the emotional comfort they bring her. Malachite holds a special place in her heart and she often used it to ground herself when her anxiety got too strong. She’s had a hard time without a piece of it she could mess with.

Dislikes: - Kita despises being lied to. - She can’t stand people who smoke and doesn't like being around alcohol. - Being useless or a third wheel.  - Diamonds/Rubies/other popular precious stones. She thinks they’re overrated and she feels hollow looking at them. She has a particular hatred for diamonds.

Casual Clothing

Top: Any neutral colored t-shirt.  Agaros also lends her an outfit similar to his for when they go out on their motorbikes. 

Bottoms: Grey sweats

Shoes: (dirty/stained) white tennis shoes

Accessories (if any): came to the Devildom with none. She acquires a few things, through Agaros: - A ring that monitors her heartbeat (she’s not aware of this. Agaros wanted to be able to know how she was doing when she was gone, but didn’t feel the need to draw attention to it or how much he actually enjoyed her company. The ring was very subtle and it connects to his own ring where he can feel her pulse. This does get addressed later). - An arm cuff with an enchanted moonstone that allows her to walk through areas of intense heat by forming a shield of cool air around her.

Glasses? nope.

Any alterations to their uniform? Kita’s uniform has an extra long sash that, instead of connecting to her shoulder, is long enough to dangle over it and down to her hips. She often clings to it when nervous or agitated.

Family

Mother: deceased

Father: alive

Siblings (if any): A twin, although she’s unaware if he is alive or not. Hasn’t had contact with him for years. 

Pets? None, her apartment didn’t allow it.

How many friends does your Mc have? Kita distanced herself from all friends and relatives after moving out. Agaros is the first person she has considered a ‘friend’ in at least 4 years. He’s also the first in a very long time to really begin to see who she really is behind her thorns. It’s a big part of what attracted him to her in the first place, and like his obsession with machines, he wants to continue tinkering with and figuring out how this human works.

Has your MC had a relationship before? No.

Have they been in love? Not as far as she’s aware, but she’d definitely had a few crushes...Usually on fictional characters, but occasionally a real person worms their way into her sights.

How easy do they gain crushes? Fairly easily, but she doesn’t realize it because she tends to push the emotion down.

Do they believe in love? Kita doesn’t believe in ‘love at first sight’ and openly scoffs at the idea. She believes something like that is impossible, and she won’t be swayed on that. She does believe in love itself and its ‘types’. 

What’s their type? She really couldn’t tell you. If she likes someone, she likes them. If she doesn't, she doesn't. She could be around 2 people with similar personality and morals and she could still dislike one of them and like the other. She’s not fond of flirting unless she already knows the person.

Sexuality: She never bothered trying to label herself but whatever she is, she leans towards men.

Which one of the 7 brothers does your MC like the most? Currently: Beelzebub (much) Later: Belphegor

Why ? Although originally intimidated by his size, Beel’s rather quiet disposition and his bluntness made him easy to be around because Kita didn’t need to dissect any hidden meaning in his words. He also didn’t make her feel like she had to speak or explain herself or her actions. To put it simply: she didn’t feel like he really judged her for anything she did, and that was important to her. She didn’t feel like she needed a ‘reason’ to talk to him, even if she rarely did when she first arrived, and she didn’t feel like he lied to her often. Eventually as Kita got to know him better, she became very fond of his kindness and how much he cares for his family. What traits do they look for in a partner? She has to be able to sit in a comfortable silence with whoever her potential partner is. They also need to be able to make her laugh, and she needs to be able to feel like she can be herself with them. She does not, and will never, do ‘one night stands’. She finds them wrong and dangerous.

Favorite food: most sweet food, but she’s rarely picky

Least favorite: sour pastas and anything pickled (except actual pickles)

Favorite topic in school: fond of classes where she learns about the flora and fauna of the world and about its other inhabitants. She has a particular interest in dragon and demon physiology and learning about various demons abilities. 

Least favorite topic: math, dislikes anything having to do with dissection.

Favorite color: Grey. Grey is soft and safe and reminds her of storm clouds.

Least favorite color: yellow. Too bright and in-your-face.

Do they like to be sociable or are they more of a recluse? Recluse.

Favorite movie genre? Comedy. Fantasy

Do they read a lot or no? Read a lot of fantasy before entering the Devildom. Generally reads nonfiction science/etc now that she doesn’t feel like she has the need to use fantasy novels to escape her boring reality. Reality has become a strange kind of fantasy to her.

Favorite animal: Dragons, although she previously didn’t believe they were real. Loves dogs.

Favorite genre of music: Trailer/epic orchestral tracks. 

Least favorite genre: Refuses to listen to heavy metal or opera. Also generally despises rap.

Do they like sweets?  yEAH

Do they like spicy food? Not a fan

Do they like school? She enjoys certain topics but isn’t fond of being stuck in a room with 35 other people she doesn’t know. Also isn't fond of being graded.

Pet peeves: Kita can’t stand others trying to take food off her plate. She doesn’t mind sharing, just don’t take it from her without permission. She’s smacked Beel’s hand plenty of times, and will even go so far as to grab her plate and turn her chair away from the table to eat. She also hates her arm being poked. Doesn’t like most nicknames unless she’s especially close with the person.

[gimmeyoon]

You’ve Become My Favorite Sin [7]

 Ratings/Warnings: M for Mature.Pairing: Angel!Jimin x femdemon!reader | demon!Jungkook x femdemon!reader

Word Count: 2.7 k

Song: From Eden by Hozier

Summary: When Jimin started questioning his place in the world as an angel, you took it upon yourself to show him the darker side of life. Suddenly, falling from grace doesn’t seem so bad.

Previous | Next

     Business. That’s what she had told Jimin. Only two days after they found out that Dragas had a heavenly blade, Jimin now found himself seated at a new demon’s table.

    Gaki. The demon of gluttony. Jungkook had warned Jimin that this was not a safe dominion, which was just about all the angel could think about as he sat across from a rather grotesque demon. He had no eyes, yet it seemed like he was constantly staring at him. The worst part of it all was that this was entirely Jimin’s fault. The demon he had sold his feathers to was a gluttony demon, and now he and Jungkook were tasked with finding him while _____ talked business.

    Perhaps needless to say, Jungkook was angry. Firstly, he had definitely not bought the lie _____ had come up with to explain why they knew exactly which demon currently had enough angel power to bring a heavenly blade to life. Secondly, Jungkook made it very clear that he was tired of babysitting _____’s new favorite pet, a term that was growing on Jimin but clearly annoyed the demon. Thirdly, Jungkook was increasingly more suspicious as to why Jimin was even allowed on these missions when he clearly had little to no demonic ability.

    All of this meant that Jimin was content on keeping his mouth shut so that he didn’t give Jungkook anymore reason to believe he was anything other than a demon. A bad demon, sure, and not the right kind of bad, but a demon none-the-less.

    After an obligatory dinner, which was far more civilized than an angel would believe, Gaki invited _____ on a walk through his dominion. Gaki offered his arm to _____, which she accepted, perhaps even welcomed, but the very action repulsed Jimin to his core. Where _____ was refined and, dare he say, beautiful, Gaki was vile and looked as if he hadn’t bathed since his conception. Something the consistency of honey dripped from his body at all times, and Jungkook had warned Jimin not to stare several times over at this point. Not that Jimin understood why it mattered; he had no eyes. Despite his aversion, Jimin and Jungkook followed behind just as they had planned and looked for the demon Jimin had sold his feathers too. Despite his hopes, the rest of the dominion was not any easier to stomach. Much like his vice, Gaki’s dominion knew not of moderation, and every vile thing seemed to multiple before his eyes.

    Taehyung. Jimin knew there was no reason to believe that Dragas knew about the feathers and that there was no reason for Taehyung to know about the heavenly blade. However, Jungkook had made it very clear that Gaki was on Dragas side, and, while starring daggers at Jimin, he wouldn’t hesitate to stand behind Dragas as the blade pierced through her heart.

      _____ had told him to stop being so dramatic, but there was something else in her eyes as she said that. Something that understood the truth and the gravity in Jungkook’s words. Something that vanished as soon as Jungkook turned to face her.

     Jimin liked that he saw the moments that Jungkook often missed, the moments where she seemed vulnerable. She was the only person Jimin felt he could truly be himself with and in those moments and seemed that she might feel the same way about him.

     But then there were other moments. Moments where it was clear that she was hiding something from Jimin, what he wasn’t sure, but he was sure that Jungkook knew whatever it was. Recently it seemed he even knew that Jimin was clueless on the matter. But perhaps that was just Jimin’s imagination. He hadn’t really cared about _____ and Jungkook’s relationship until recently, but ever since that night in the alley, he had been obsessed with it.

      Sure, she flirted with Jimin, but, the closer he looked, she also flirted with the demon. If you asked Jimin, he would say that it didn’t bother him. In fact, he wished that she wouldn’t tease him so much. But that was a lie. It did bother him, because he didn’t flirt with anyone else. Not that he was exactly sure that he was flirting. The things _____ said were far too vulgar for him to even think about let alone say aloud, but he had been trying his best to at least return her rapport. She hadn’t seemed to notice, but he liked to think that had more to do with the impending erasure from existence and not his horrible attempts at flirting.

     It was probably both.

     “Your dominion is always so beautiful,” _____ said, and Jimin was forced to hold back the laugh at the tip of his tongue.

     Sure, it was a sin, but he had to admit that she was a fantastic liar. If he didn’t have eyes, he too just might believe her.

     “You should expect nothing less,” Gaki responded, stopping at the edge of a lake of what Jimin best surmised was molasses. “A demon of your beauty deserves beautiful things, no?”

     “Gaki,” she practically hummed, causing Jimin to roll his eyes. “you tempt me, but you forget Lucifer didn’t see that my vice was gluttony.”

    “This is true, but lust is just another form of gluttony, wouldn’t you say? We both want.”

    “We would make quite the team,” _____ responded.

    There was a beat of silence before he responded.

    “You know I cannot promise you that,” Gaki turned towards her. He reached for her arm, and she allowed him to take it, however Jimin took a step forward, unsure of the action. Not that there was much he could do. He wasn’t a powers angel and Gaki was strong. Not to mention the demons of his dominion that had been watching them since they had arrived. He was helpless because any wrong move would ensure his death and potentially Jungkook and _____’s as well.

     “So, you whisper sweet nothings to me?” _____ chuckled. “Do you think I’m a human that you can trick?”

      “No,” he smiled, making Jimin’s blood run cold. He paused for a moment, playing with the hem of her sleeve. “I hate this thing,” Gaki continued, reaching to take _____’s jacket off.

     She froze, and Jimin took a few more steps forward, only for Jungkook to grab hold of the angel’s arm. He could see it in her eyes, the fear, the vulnerability, and Jimin knew that Jungkook saw it too. He knew that if he said something, Jungkook would mutter business at him, but he didn’t care about that. He wanted to stop that horrible slime of a creature from touching _____. He wanted that horrified look on her face to go away, but Jungkook only tightened his grip on him.

     “Do you know when I decided I didn’t trust you, _____?” Gaki chuckled, slowly removing the jacket from her shoulders. “It was when you started wearing this everywhere, hiding the thing that makes you truly special.”

    Jimin could only watch as the leather jacket fell to the floor. It seemed to descend in slow motion, and as the white painted angel wings crumpled on the ground, Jimin looked back up at the creature who dared do this with hate in his eyes.

    But it was short lived, as his eyes met _____. She looked so panicked, and Jimin tried to pull free from Jungkook in order to help her, but to no avail. The demon was too strong for him to break free. He wanted to run to her, to hold her in his arms and tell her that he wouldn’t let Gaki touch her like that again. A part of Jimin knew this was stupid, she was stronger than he was, she could defend herself. Yet she didn’t. He couldn’t understand why. Why did she let him touch her if she so clearly did not want him to?

     “Did you think we would forget who you truly are?” Gaki’s hand caressed her shoulder, causing Jimin’s eyes to follow him. “Did you, Rosiel?”

     Jimin watched as Gaki’s hands dripped their residue on one of the two black scars that adorned _____’s back. Oblong in shape, evil seemed to permeate the air around them. Black lines led down her back and seemed to pulse in time with her heart. Every inch of her back expressed her fall, yet, when Jimin looked at it, he didn’t see sin. He saw sadness, he saw pain, and he saw loss. As he processed the truth in front of his own eyes, Jimin’s own back ached where her’s must have once. Where he wondered if it still did.

     Jimin knew that she was hiding something from him, but he had never imagined that the truth was beneath the painted angel wings. He had never considered what they meant, always seeing the wings as a jest, as a way to make fun of Jimin and his kind. But she was his kind – or was.

     He felt her staring at him, but he couldn’t take his eyes away from the scars. Words replayed in his mind: Seokjin calling _____ an angel, Fallen day, and how she had known exactly what type of angel he was.

    “Rosiel,” Jimin barely muttered, but the way she quickly moved away from Gaki, let him know that she had heard him.

    It was a casualty of being Rosiel that forced you to endure the treatment that you did from the other demons of dominion. You weren’t like them, you were better, yet Lucifier had given you the same authority as them. They both resented and felt justified at that. Rosiel the demon of lust. So, you covered your scars and you changed you name, and yes Gaki was right, you had hoped that they would forget.

    They didn’t. You knew that was why Dragas wanted to kill you with a heavenly blade. He would have your power. With the power of a born demon and a Nephilim he would be practically unstoppable. He could take all the dominions if he wanted or he could be a prince of hell.

    They knew you were more powerful than them, but they still underestimated you. They thought you stupid, pliable, things you had allowed them to believe.

    Things you were willing to believe about yourself in this moment. You had been stupid to think that you would gain anything by allowing Gaki to remove your jacket. You had been stupid to think that your submission would place you in any sort of favor. He would still side with Dragas tomorrow and the next day. That would be stupid of him, but regardless, he had played the game better than you in this moment.

   Jimin hadn’t looked away from your scars since they had been revealed, and as your true name left his lips, you couldn’t help but turn away from him. You felt so exposed, so naked before him, and not in the way you had been dreaming.

    A dream that would never happen now that he knew who you were. Hell, you would have done anything at this point to win him over, and Gaki had thrown all of her work away in a moment. If Jimin hadn’t considered his fall previously, it would now be all he thought about when he saw you: one of the fallen.

     The interaction had only lasted a minute or so, but as Gaki played with your jacket it had felt like hours of back and forth trying to decide which was worse: offending a demon in his own dominion and likely causing a fight to break out or having your identity revealed to Jimin. You never did decide, Gaki made the choice for you. You guessed that in allowing him to do so, you did make your choice. Either way you lost.

    “Gaki,” you nervously chuckle. “I really didn’t mean to make you mistrust me. If I must be honest, I’m just ashamed of my past.” You hated lying but it was necessary to try and shift the tide back in your favor.

    “Oh, but darling, what is there to be ashamed of? You chose the right path in the end.”

    You saw movement in the corner of your eye and wondered if Jimin had finally had the sense to run away. To go back home and to never come to Hell again. To return to Earth and spend his days peacefully watching his charge, never to question the order of Heaven and Hell again.

    “Boss,” Jimin said, proving you wrong. “We have another meeting soon, so we should get going.”

     Your eyes hesitated to meet Jimin’s, but you hoped that once they did, he saw the apology in your eyes. His gaze was set and firm and you took it to mean that your worst fears were realized. Any kindness he had for you was gone in the blink of an eye. Yet he was trying to get you away from Gaki. Maybe he pitied you. 

    “I had heard that you were intimate with you demons, but I can’t imagine you let them behave so rudely.”

    You turned towards Gaki and offered him a curt smile. “Dog or not, he is correct, I have somewhere to be, and it is not in my interest to make anymore enemies. I wish that you and I could work together, but you seem insistent to stand opposed to me.”

    “Don’t take it personally, love. It’s in my nature to want more, and I just don’t see that coming from you.”

     “So, the demon of greed will share with you?”

     “Perhaps not, but I imagine he won’t annihilate me as he would if I stood with you.”

     “Perhaps,” Jimin began, his eyes focused on you. “but if I was a betting man I would always go for the Nephilim.”

     “Historically,” Gaki chuckled, “they are perhaps the biggest losers.”

    Jimin nodded his head at this, but he offered you a smile. Perhaps you had been wrong, maybe he did still see you as his friend.

    “Losers?” Jimin questioned. “You said yourself that she had chosen the right path.”

     It was silent when Jimin and the demons returned back to _____’s dominion. Jimin and Jungkook stared at _____, who in turn was looking everywhere else. It was Jungkook who made the first move, stepping towards her and reaching for her arm, but seemed to think better, and dropping his hand back to his side.

    “Boss?” Jungkook started. “Should I send some dogs out to keep looking for Taehyung?”

    She nodded her head in response, looking up to meet Jungkook’s eyes, her gaze firmer than before. The principality demon was merely smoke in the next minute, having followed her orders and dematerialized.

    Jimin wasn’t sure for how much longer the silence lasted before she finally looked at him, her eyes soft.

    “You weren’t supposed to find out this way.”

    “But I was supposed to find out?” He asked.

    She shrugged at this. “I told you that if you really knew me you would think badly of me. Can’t say I was looking forward to telling you.”

    “I don’t think badly of you.”

    Her head tilted to the side slightly at this, as if she was trying to see Jimin from a different angle, a different point-of-view. He smiled at this look, the thought that she, a feared demon, looked quite innocent in this moment. He wondered if this was how he always looked to her.

    “Do they talk about me,” she pointed towards the ceiling, “up there?”

    “I guess generally, but not by name. Since I was created, I’ve been hearing stories about the angels that rebelled with Lucifer, but he’s the only one they name.”

    “I didn’t rebel with Lucifer,” she replied, slightly under her breath as if the words would break Jimin.

    “I don’t understand… Your wings-”

    “I fell after the rebellion, not far after, but after. It was just me and Azazel then.” She looked down after saying this, her eyes watering slightly.

    Acknowledging her pain, Jimin closed the distance between the two of them and pulled her into his arms. He held her the way that he had wanted to when Gaki violated her space, and for a moment he wondered if he was doing the very same now, but his fears were allayed as her arms snaked around his middle, pulling them closer together.

    “I’m sorry that happened to you,” Jimin whispered as he rubbed her back slightly, staying well above her scars.

   She was silent for a moment before responding. “I’m not.”

© gimmeyoon — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, or translation onto other sites even with proper credit given is not permitted.

[sterling-ward]

[ DYLAN SPRAYBERRY, HE/HIM, CISMALE ] look out, there’s STERLING WARD. you know, the 21 years old PRESIDENT at SIGMA TAU EPISILON. you know, i overheard someone say that they were INCONSIDERATE, RANCOROUS, ELOQUENT and CHARISMATIC. but i wanna make my own mind up on them. [ LIPE, 24, HE/HIM, UTC-3 ]

BIO & STATS

Nathaniel Sterling Ward is the son of author Evelynn Ward, known for her famous series of children’s books Winter Sun & Summer Snow. She often claims that he is the reason for her success, because having him inspired her to write the first novel, and the subsequent ones were fictionalized and amplified accounts of his childhood antics, transformed into epic adventures by her writing under a different character.

Most people would think it’s awesome to have a book written after you, but Sterling’s fictional twin was near perfect and adored by millions of readers. How could he compete with that? If he failed at a kid’s puzzle, his literary counterpart excelled at it. If he tried to ride a bike and fell, his paper-bound better half would successfully do it under much harsher conditions.

The type of comparison he was under all the time, and the expectations set upon him made the boy accept nothing less than perfection, otherwise what’s the point? His mother prided herself on being a single mother by choice and able to give him the best possible education. That made him feel at the same time unsatisfiable and unsatisfying. He was Captain of the Lacrosse team, Student Body President, involved with the Martial Arts club, did some stunts for the school’s newspaper and found time to be helpful and popular, but not threateningly so. So perfect it was boring, though it made some great PR!

Sterling was the poster child that answered the ‘can a teenager in real life have it all? Popularity, Good Grades, Decent Mental Health?’ question no one asked with a big fucking 'YES, I SURE CAN’. Until the day he couldn’t anymore. Nothing majorly traumatic happened, no big, dramatic twist like the ones his fictional self would surely overcome. That made his freaking out even more pathetic in the eyes of his mother, he thought. He can barely remember what was it that set him off, but it prompted him to hijacking homecoming, giving the entire school a scathing, rage inducing and extremely offensive “The many reasons why you suck and I hate all of you” speech before being dragged off stage.

Through great effort, Mrs. Ward managed to shut the school up about the incident and as a form of punishment and precaution about the upcoming of her latest book, enrolled him at a prestigious but secluded private school for the rest of his basic education. A boarding school for unwanted, inconvenient children, he thought. That only made him even angrier, and in the new school, this new Foucaultian prison, he decided he was done pleasing people and trying to catch up with a goddamn book for kids. In the new school, he reinvented himself. Sterling chose to be the plague of the neighborhood, and it for once felt good.

This new improved attitude arrived with him to college as well, where at first he had all it took to be a Beta, but his personality clashed with the rest of the Betas, so he thought it was best if he had his own frat where he could be doing whatever the fuck he wanted. That’s when he joined Sigma Tau Episilon and found the respect that has eluded him for so long. Truth be told, he doesn’t really give a damn about the Sigma nerds, but they’re handy and they enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Well, commensalistic, actually. But who’s keeping track of that, right?

PERSONAL

FULL NAME: Nathaniel Sterling Ward MORALITY: LAWFUL / neutral / chaotic / good / grey / EVIL MBTI: ENTJ-T HOGWARTS HOUSE: Slytherin RELIGIOUS BELIEF: Atheist. SINS: lust / greed / gluttony / sloth / PRIDE / envy / WRATH SECRETS: Sterling’s mother making a fictional near-perfect character based on his childhood set a bar the real Sterling could never reach and forced him to a life of being compared to his fictional self. He doesn’t talk at all about his family so people can’t easily figure out he’s that author’s kid. QUIRKS: Most of the time he acts like certain stereotypes instead of naturally, because he’s afraid of looking vulnerable. SAVVIES: He is fairly skilled at a lot of activities that at first glimpse may seem odd for him because he was in charge of several clubs and extracurricular activities in high school. BUILD: slender / average / bony / FIT / ATHLETIC / curvy / herculean / baby fat / pudgy / obese / heavyset / pear-shaped / beer belly / other.

FAVORITES

FOOD:  Mexican. DRINK: Tea MUSIC GENRE: Metal, Hard-Rock and Stoner-Rock. BOOK GENRE: History books MOVIE GENRE: Thriller and Noir CURSE WORD: Fuck.

FUN STUFF

BOTTOM OR TOP: Dom & Vers (and Bisexual) LOUD BURPER OR SOFT BURPER: Disgustingly loud SINGS IN THE SHOWER: Yes LIKES BAD PUNS: Always, but won’t admit it around others

[keyofjetwolf]

The Chosen: All the notes and answers to shit you wondered about for years

Hey. Hi there. How are you? I’m good, thanks for asking.

So, you remember when, at the beginning of the year, I said I was officially retiring my Buffy the Vampire Slayer continuation, The Chosen? If this is the first you’re hearing of it, a) SORRY TO DROP THAT ON YOU, and b) you may want to read this post first.

All caught up? Awesome.

I told you guys I’d share my stuff. This right here is that. I’ve searched through countless backups, terabytes of data, the remnants of three computers, AND MY SOUL (not really my soul; it doesn’t have a convenient find option), and I think this is everything. If there’s anything left of The Chosen that isn’t contained here, then it’s almost certainly lost to time and I wave it a fond farewell.

But don’t worry. There’s a lot here.

What I have for you are all the notes, plans, and ideas that I had written during the time when The Chosen was pretty much my entire world. From late 2003 to mid 2005, I was on my Buffy creative shit, and OH THE PLACES I WANTED TO GO. I’m not sure I’ll ever not be sad that, in the end, I couldn’t do it the way I wanted. Still, I’m glad to finally be showing you where we were heading.

I’ll try to give this as much order as I can, but my notes were strewn across a mass of files, and in some cases, I straight up can’t remember what the fuck I even meant any more. Feel free to ask if you have questions! Just be prepared that the answer may have to be an apologetic shrug.

I’m not sure what to wish for you all in the reading here. Closure, of some kind, I suppose is what we’re really all after. So closure it is! Happy closing, friends.

Thank you so much for allowing me to have captured your interest and attention, and for accompanying me and these characters I loved on the journey toward the ending I hoped for them.

** Any comments from present-me will be marked in this format. Otherwise, everything is untouched from how I wrote it whenever-the-fuck ago. Section headers are either as I named them at the time, or taken from the file name.

S8 Ideas

General Ideas

Rogue Slayer girl ' 'Full Circle'; Faith-centric.

Possessing demons ' personification of control ' W&K breakup episode.

Xander gets powers, but in exchange for his humanity. Comes to realize that his humanity is what his friends need, and he gives up the power.

Dawn's key powers are reawakened ' ability to unlock and enter doorways to parallel dimensions/realities and back again. Episode where this happens and she visits a parallel world (where she is the Slayer?). Possibly triggered by Doc, seeking to reawaken Glory?

Monster that eats body parts to rejuvenate them.

Emotion sucker.

Incubus that tries to seduce Buffy in her dreams.

Siren/rock group ' playing in club.

Faith/Buffy/other Slayers hunted for sport.

Super Slayer, enhanced by the DC. Big Bad? Guinea pig.

Legion of Super Slayers, created from life force of girls who reject the offer to join the DC.

Things to Name and Figure Out

The name of the new town.

New town is in center of three-Hellmouth triangle, consisting of Cleveland, Ohio, Syracuse, NY, and Washington DC. The gang is settled in a fictitious town in Pennsylvania, not far from Williamsport.

Name derived from three? Trinity, Trillium, etc.

The name of the Bronze replacement. (The Vortex?)

The name (and personality) of Kennedy's new Watcher.

The name (and personality) of the turncoat (the girl Giles talks to in Ep #1)

The name (and personality) of the girl Faith recruits (future cannon fodder)

Better name for the Dark Council.

Better name for the Dark Coven.

Assorted Ideas and Quotes

Scene: Someone shopping at a local bulk warehouse place. How much to Slayers eat? A LOT.

Possible use for the drug from "Helpless" that neutralizes Slayer powers?

Scene: Junior Slayers fighting monster. One says "You ARE the weakest link... Goodbye!" The others make fun of her for using such an outdated pop culture reference. She pouts that they should add a class about banter to the Slayer curriculum.

QUOTE: "D'you ever think sometime we should, you know, run AWAY from the blood curdling screams?"

QUOTE: Buffy doubts Tara's return. Willow: "What, you hold exclusive resurrection rights?"

QUOTE: Tara and Dark Coven guy. Tara: "She'll kill me. After I do this...Buffy will kill me." DC: "After you do this, will you care?"

QUOTE: "Excessive? I think you and excessive have already met in a head-on collision and exchanged insurance information."

QUOTE: Tara talking about doing stuff with Dawn: "You know, shopping, getting our hair done ... girl things." Willow: "I like your girl things."

QUOTE: Someone's sick, but denying it. They cough, get an accusing glance. "I just have something stuck in my throat." "Yeah, it's called ILLNESS."

QUOTE: Faith to somebody, possibly a young Slayer, who goes on at length about what they're going to do to a bad guy or deal with some serious challenge or something similar. "You're full of crap, you've got no idea what you're talking about. (beat) But you mean what you say, so that's gotta count for something."

Notes

1st ep

fate of SS's

Dawn's powers

X taking Watcher's courses

G distancing

W going to grad school

B/T going back to school

prophecy bits

G gets ring

Buffy bit - blood

Ante released

Season 9 Ideas

based on 7 samurai - group of people want to come in and hire the seven to clean something out

something happens where buffy or dawn disappears and the other goes to find them

core four have notoriety as evil forces (four horsemen) with some other community

sdhs reunion episode

"Demon that draws strength from guilt, hate, love, etc. Especially bad if it gets hold of Faith..."

---

I had a really cool thought about Buffy and relationships while I was in there though, which I think I'll have to work into The Chosen.

A common thread in each of her big relationships (Angel, Riley, Spike) is that when she tells them she loves them, they don't believe her.

Well Angel does, but he doesn't think she loves him enough. When he leaves, it's despite her telling him over and over that she loves him enough that him being a vampire and them not being able to do "normal" things doesn't matter. He doesn't believe her, and so leaves.

Riley tells Buffy during their big pre-him-leaving fight, that when she says she loves him, he "doesn't feel it". His disbelief in her and her words causes him to leave.

Then there's Spike. Final episode, Buffy finally tells him that she loves him. "No you don't. But thanks for saying it." And then he dies.

At this point in Buffy's life, there are a lot of reasons why Buffy wouldn't want a relationship in my opinion. But not the least of which is the fact that she MUST be able to answer the question of why none of these guys she loves ever believe her? (Even if you don't think she did love Spike, to Buffy I doubt that would matter -- HE didn't believe her EITHER [and how dare he not believe me, by the way!]).

It's a concept I just managed to sort out (in the shower, of course), and I don't think it's an "obvious" connection, but I do think it's an extremely valid one. I think before I'm done, I'll have to work this into the story somehow. And not resolve it, because I don't think it's easily resolved, and I think it's an issue outside the scope of what I'm trying to do, but I think the issue should be raised.

Season 9 Episode Ideas

Episode where everybody speaks in rhymes. Possible reintroduction for Faerie character?

De-aging episode, Giles' 50th birthday. Courtesy of Ethan Rayne. ("Many Happy Returns"?) Zaps Giles, Willow, Buffy and Xander back to four or five or so, leaving Tara, Faith and Dawn to look after them.

Episode dealing with the murderers in the group: Faith, Willow and Giles. Finch's son/daughter hunts down Faith to (confront? get revenge?) for his death. Sub-plots for Willow/Warren and Giles/Ben. Interesting to note that Faith is the only one who has ever shown any regret for her murder.

Herculean labors parallel. Xander? ("Labor Day"?)

Seven deadly sins with each main character embodying one of the sins? The one least like themselves?

Buffy: Greed

Willow: Sloth

Xander: Pride

Giles: Envy

Tara: Wrath

Dawn: Lust

Faith: Gluttony

Some other Slayer in the past, fighting an enemy that arises today. The gang have to read through the old Watcher's diaries to learn about him and how she defeated it. Shows this old Slayer and her Watcher via flashback. Maybe our Big Bads?

The characters get sent into Faerie Tales where they're forced to sort of act out the tales they're in.

Inanimate creation of some sort (puppet like) who makes other inanimate objects come to life. Specifically mannequins, by switching them out for real people. Some Scoobies, of course, fall victim to this.

Xander getting set up on blind dates. Amusing segment where Xander explains to date after date about what happened to his eye, each reason becoming more and more outlandish. Finally he just gives up and tells the truth - "It was gouged out by a crazy preacher man." The date laughs: "You're so funny!" Could end with Xander getting fixed up with the girl we introduced in S8 and possibly have seen a few times since then - Xander's love interest.

Revisit ideas: nameless, faceless army for the good guys, what are we doing with our army?

Tara dealing with family issues. Why am I back? Madrigan as new father.

Banan the collector

Alt world where Core4 seen like 4 horsemen (Title: "The Four"?)

Conversation where some characters are guessing who would've been the next successor to the Slayer line.

"Other side" episode with dead characters

Buffy/Dawn ep about Buffy's role in Dawn's life. Seeing the others intreract with her, wondering what her place is in Dawn's life. Parallel with flashbacks about VS and her sister. Starts with Buffy finding Grip and Dawn making out, leads to Buffy giving Dawn "the talk" and failing miserably. ("Sometimes, after you and a guy ...... they CHANGE.") Dawn learns nothing, goes to Tara from there, who knows nothing about having sex with a guy, but is supportive and encouraging. Buffy overhears and then begins to try to find how she fits into Dawn's life. We learn at the end that although B/D are vastly different from the VS and her sis, the bond is still just as strong.

Willow (and Tara) meeting up with Willow's parents again.

Big Bads

Vampires, return to the simpler times a bit. Not apocalyptic, but personal. Female vamp with a real mad-on for Buffy. Pissed because Buffy failed to save her? Also possibly some sort of vampire army. Fem is a modern-day Sun Tzu, right hand to this guy in charge of everything.

Addition (3Jul04): After some discussion, we're leaning toward making the femvamp a Slayer who was turned waaaay the heck back when. Possibly held or captured by some other vampire later on in life, and she was released by the head of the army, thus earning her allegiance. Maybe she's Japanese and thus very honourable? If we take her from 1600 or 1700's Japan, that might work out well. Might also give added weight to why her soul has no bearing on halting her quest for vengeance - honor demands that her sister's death be avenged. Possible imagery: maybe she was tortured by whoever held her? The mental image of big ol' cross scar over her eye is intriguing.

Season 9 Episode Chart

Notes

Need to work out (soon!) everybody's hell stuff so it can be incorporated into earlier episodes.

Willow versus hacker vamp idea. Why? What's at stake? Possible fill for humour ep at 9x16?

Corollary: Replot Willow's arc through S9 and possibly into S10.

Get new prophecy for Giles.

Work in at least one other prophecy stanza this season. Important to figure out soon. Who, when, how?

** This was a chart which doesn’t translate well to Tumblr, so I’ll break the cells apart and show column separation with ||

Updated - 22 June 2005

Ep # || Monster/Conflict || Plot Developments || Focus

9x01 || Vamps || Buffy kills Hitakno || Group

9x02 || Dante || Faith comes home || Faith

9x03 || Slone || Sunnydale HS reunion in LA || Group

9x04 || Vamps/Demons || Yuugana arrives in Trillium, Xander quits the Council || Xander

9x05 || Belastung || Tara goes home. || Tara

9x06 || Ethan || Giles birthday, Scoobies regressed  || Giles

----------------- NOT YET AIRED -----------------

9x07 || Slayer || Demon girl on run from Slayer. Buffy and Slayer at moral odds. Dawn key powers awaken fully. || Buffy/Dawn

9x08 || Amy || Amy cashes in on Willow's debt. (Fake) Buffy accompanies. || Willow

9x09 || D'Hoffryn || Xander makes a wish that Anya hadn't died. || Xander

9x10 || The Furies || The Furies drive Finch's child to revenge. While they're here, they decide to spread the love. || Faith/Giles

9x11 || ??? || Funny episode - Camping trip? || Group(??)

9x12 || Yuugana || Faith visits Hazel's parents (Xander accompanies). Upon return to Trillium, is attacked and nearly killed by Yuugana. || Faith/Xander

9x13 || Yuugana/General || Sister's parallel. Buffy and Dawn, Yuugana and Hitanko. Yuu's backstory. General arrives, drains Willow and Dawn. || Yuugana/Buffy

9x14 || Yuugana/General || Buffy insists that the gang re-ensoul Yuugana. They do so; it makes no difference. Buffy attacked, put in coma. || Buffy/Group

9x15 || Antediluvian || In an effort to save Buffy, Tara, Xander, Dawn and Kennedy go in search of Ruth, and the Antediluvian. || Tara/Group

9x16 || ??? || Funny episode - ??? || Willow(??)

9x17 || The General || The General's plans come to fruition. || Group

9x18 || Giles' Demon || A demon Giles thought defeated years ago comes back to continue their arrangement. || Giles

9x19 || 7 Sins || The Seven Sins are unleashed on the Scoobies. || Group

9x20 || The General/Yuugana || The General releases Yuugana and they formulate a new plan involving Dawn. Yuugana kills the General and takes Dawn as bait. || Group(?)

9x21 || Yuugana || Part 1. Yuugana takes Dawn into the Private Hell place where she was recently kept. The Scoobies must follow. || Group

9x22 || Yuugana || Part 2. The Scoobies fight their way through their personal hell. Buffy vs Yuugana. || Group

Original Chart

** “VS” stands for “vampiric slayer”, so Yuugana before she had a name.

Ep # || Monster/Conflict || Plot Developments || Focus

9x01 || Vamps || Buffy kills the VS's sister || Group

9x02 || Serial killer || Faith comes home??

9x03 || ?? || Sunnydale HS reunion in LA || ??/Group(?)

9x04 || ?? (vamps?) || VS arrives in Trillium || ??/Group(?)

9x05 || ?? || Tara goes home. VS denied immediate revenge. || Tara

9x06 || Amy || Amy collects on debt. Wants Will to help her get a book. ||  Willow/Buffy

9x07 || Ethan Rayne || Giles birthday/regression || Giles

9x08 || Doc || Dawn & Doc - Key powers fully awoken || Dawn

9x09 || Finch's child (furies?) || Murderers haunted by past || Faith (lesser: W, G)

9x10 || D'Hoffryn || Xander's wish (Anya) || Xander

9x11 || VS/?? || Sister's parallel episode || Buffy/Dawn

9x12 || Monster in woods || Camping trip (Tara and blade of grass) || Group

9x13 || VS || Buffy vs. VS -- VS ensouled, Buffy drained || Buffy

9x14 || VS minions(?) || Buffy injured. Group goes after Antediluvian || Tara/Group

9x15 || ?? || "Labor Day" (Kenn still around) || Xander

9x16 || artifact || 7 Deadly Sins || Group

9x17 || Computer Program || Willow and the computer program || Willow

9x18 || ?? || Faith visits Hazel's parents || Faith/Xander

9x19 || Demon || Demon that's possessed Giles. Comes every 10(?) years. || Giles

9x20 || General || Fight with General - General loses || Group

9x21 || Demon Dimension || Four Horsemen ("Four"?) [Abortive attempt by VS to separate Buffy from her strongest allies?] || B/W/X/G

9x22 || VS || Big battle -- Buffy vs. VS || Buffy/Group

Yuugana

need: how does Buffy come to believe what she does about Yuu? Conversation beforehand? Difficult. Why doesn't Yuu just kill her? Could make threat, but then Buffy is gambling with everyone, and makes no sense why Yuu nearly kills Buffy later. (Especially as threat will come when Buffy falls unconscious.)

Buffy must be able to draw conclusions ahead of time. Paint picture of Yuu that Buffy will be privvy to. Draw parallels b/w Buffy's life and Yuugana's life. Buffy will internalize.

NEED: When/How will gang find out that she is Yuugana? When will this name be dropped? How? May be good if we can draw General as being very, very powerful. They're afraid of him. Getting Yuu on their side would be huge in fighting him.

Idea: General nearly kills Dawn, draining key powers. Yuu saves her. Buffy thinks it is because Yuu knows what it's like to lose a sister. In truth, Yuu isn't ready for Dawn to die yet - that will be the most painful blow of all.

buffy believes -- utterly believes -- that Yuugana will be good if given her soul. Spike was good, Angel was good ... maybe all vampires can do good if given the chance? Who is she to be judge, jury and executioner?

Internalized: this could be me. What would I do if someone killed Dawn?

** I found two sets of Season 9 character arc notes. The first set are what I think what I was mainly working from, but I’m not 100%.

Character Emotional/Plot Arcs – Season 9

Season Theme: Consequences

Buffy

Will be target of the Big Bad’s wrath as a consequence of killing the BB’s sister early in the season. Buffy’s primary emotional arc will be in the realization that every action, even the most seemingly natural or inconsequential, has far-reaching repercussions, that affect not just Buffy but those she loves.

Willow

Willow’s emotional arc returns to one that was never resolved or given enough attention (or mangled thanks to magic=crack) – control issues. Throughout Willow’s history on BtVS, she’s exhibited time and again a deep NEED to control the things around her. Her need for this never changed, save for her becoming so paranoid she was afraid to breath for fear of killing everyone in S7. Her catalyst for these deep-seeded emotional problems re-emerging stem from a few basic changes. 1) Tara’s back, and Willow doesn’t think she can take losing her again. 2) The Big Bad has made things very, very personal. And Willow remembers only too well what happened last time a Big Bad vampire took things personal. 3) This Big Bad is smart. Really smart. In some ways, even smarter than Willow. And for all the enemies they’ve faced, Will’s never had to go against someone who’s been able to out think her before. And she freaks.

We’re going to have to be careful with this one, though, because we don’t want a return to “Willow Uses Way Too Much Magick” again. We’re therefore going to have to find others ways in which Willow exercises that control trigger finger. Her computer skills could certainly help out to a degree, as well as her smarts, but we’re going to have to be careful. We definitely don’t want a rehash of S6’s problems. Willow is – or very much should be – wiser than that now. And while Will has sort of always had a bad case of “the ends justify the means”, we don’t want a rehash. So care is needed.

We could help to show this by maybe having Willow do something like casting a really powerful protection spell that somehow backfires. What will be vitally important here is taking care to make it very clear that Willow isn’t relying on magick for every little thing (no spells for decoration or closing curtains) … the magick is simply her most powerful tool for keeping everyone safe. This should NOT be about black magick, but about a need for control.

NOTE (4Jul04): After discussions, will probably meld Will's character arc with the fact that Buffy and others (Tara and Giles probably excepted) don't fully appreciate or realize the pressures they put on Willow to come up with the answers and be the big gun, while simultaneously not wanting her to go too far. Magick is bad, except when they need it. They don't accept their own consequences for the actions they push her toward. This still feeds into Willow's character flaws above - her need to protect everyone, to be the best, to keep the nasty stuff at bay.

Xander

Xander, being the human element, will have the root of his emotional arc derive from one of the most basic of human desires: to live forever. Not in the biologically immortal sense, but by wanting to live on long after he’s died. Xander realizes that of all his friends, he is the one that history is least likely to remember. The odds on him being studied in school centuries from now are next to nothing. Buffy will be recalled as the world’s most successful Slayer. Willow as the witch whose spell changed the world. Giles as the founder of the new Watcher’s Council (and new world order?) Any history mentioning Willow is almost guaranteed to include Tara as well. Dawn and her Key potential is fascinating and going to be mentioned … but Xander? There’s nothing so remarkable about Xander, he feels, and thus begins his quest to somehow ensure his own immortality to history.

This might somehow be triggered by the emergence of a new sort of threat. With Slayers all over the world, there’s absolutely no way that NOBODY is going to notice them. Even if people in the Buffyverse have shown time and again that they’ll simply ignore what they either can’t or are unwilling to understand (gang related, PCP), not everybody is so willing to pull down the veil. Thus begins the emergence of a conspiracy theorist, someone who somehow has managed to trace his story to Slayer Central. In doing so, he somehow manages to put a level of importance on each of the Scoobies … except Xander. Which stings.

Xander would eventually come to realize that while history may not remember him, those he loves certainly will, and when all’s said and done, that’s enough for him.

Giles

Giles’ arc will come out of an inevitability – his age. One of the earliest episodes will be reflecting on the fact that Giles is now 50. He’s done such a good job with the Council that much of the bureaucracy continues without his direct involvement. He’s not really keen on that side of things anyway, so he’s not sorry to see it go. But what he does want to do instead is get into the thick of things physically. But, unfortunately, he simply can’t anymore, and it’s a lesson he very much doesn’t want to learn. Giles will ultimately come to realize, however, that while he can’t swing a sword to match the Slayer, what he DOES have is his incredible mind, which will certainly be put to great use in the confrontations with the Sun Tzu-like Big Bad. The fight could not be won without Giles’ intellectual input.

Tara

Tara will spend much of her arc wondering about her place. When she was alive, she had some difficulty in fitting in. And it wasn’t until just before her death that she really started to come into her own. A year and a half has passed now, however, and things and people have changed. Tara aspires to be more than just an extension of Willow, and as voiced in “Family”, she wants very much to feel useful to the Scoobies.

But Tara’s need to find where she fits extends beyond simply within the Scoobs. Tara has a very definite sense of nature and balance, and her being brought back from the dead is something of an abhorrence to her. She can’t quite shake the feeling that in order for her to have been brought back, something had to go out in her place to keep the balance. What that may have been disturbs her beyond words.

How exactly these issues become resolved is currently unclear. Tara should certainly remain the moral and emotional center of the Scoobies. She has more power now, but power was always Willow’s contribution, not Tara’s. On the death thing, perhaps something mystical helps her? Maybe the big Wicca chick we bring in at the end of S8 can help somehow? Show that Tara’s coming back was, in its own way, as natural as her passing was UNnatural. Her return is, in and of itself, a righting of the scales.

Dawn

This is a big year for Dawn. She’s a senior in high school. She’s turning 18. She’s becoming an adult. Oh, yeah, and she’ll finally figure out that she’s got all those Key powers still. Dawn’s story will be about transitions. From childhood to adulthood, from being just a normal (as normal as she could be) girl to having all those powers as the Key and whatever that implies for her. We will also need to decide this year where Dawn’s going to college (her awakening Key powers could be a good excuse to keep her local).

Faith

Faith’s story is going to be about guilt. Hazel’s death at the end of the previous season happened right before we ended the whole thing, so at that point we will have gotten to see precious little carryover. This is the time to dwell on that. Faith would feel tremendous guilt over Hazel’s death – Faith is the one who recruited Hazel, who brought her there. She was Hazel’s mentor, and Hazel sacrificed herself for Faith. We don’t want to retread over the “do I belong here?” line, since we’re dealing with that in S8, but Faith should certainly be questioning whether or not she should be leading little girls into dangerous battles. It’s one thing for Faith to risk her life night after night, but another entirely to be responsible for the lives and deaths of others. Unsure how this will resolve, but it seems the logical arc for Faith given the closing of the previous season.

Big Bad

NOTE: We’re going to have to come up with a really good reason why Willow just doesn’t ensoul the vamp chick … or she does and it makes no difference at all. Could be an interesting commentary about vampires and souls. Hm.

The more we’re discussing this, the more we’re liking this idea. The notion of souls in the Buffyverse has always been sort of hazy at best. Loosely, they seemed to be of the opinion that getting a soul somehow made you good … but there are countless number of humans in the world (and the Buffyverse – look at Warren) who are human and, one therefore assumes, have a soul. Yet they are still capable of great evil. Even more so than some demons that they encounter. So despite however neat and pat Buffy likes to make it sometimes, a soul does NOT automatically mean that someone is going to be good. And maybe that throws her for a hell of a loop. Willow ensouls the BB, but it doesn’t make one bit of difference. Vengeance is, after all, as much a human emotion as anything else, and the BB still wants Buffy to suffer horribly for what she’s done. At most, the BB may feel some measure of guilt for the people that she’s had to kill over the past 300 or 400 years (however long she’s been vamped), but as it turns out, she doesn’t. She looks at it with the detached, cold impracticality possessed by Slayers – she did what she had to in order to survive. Maybe she wasn’t a fan of torture (we’re painting her very logical and such, so this should work okay), and simply did what she needed to. The Slayer in and of itself is very predatorial and most definitely a survivor – there’s not necessarily much difference between them, and this will further demonstrate that fact.

This could also further add to Willow’s continued feeling of being out of control. This SHOULD have worked and didn’t.

Season 9 Character Arcs

Buffy:

Buffy's arc will deal with a continuing gray area between what is good and what is evil. What is a soul really? Does having a soul make you good by default? The vampiric Slayer will prove that's not necessarily the case. Additionally, Buffy will be trying to sort out a few things about her life. What does she ultimately want to do? She could very well be the first Slayer in history to die of old age. Does she want to be involved with that all her life, or does she want more? Would Buffy maybe like to return to school? (Might be fun to have her and Tara going back to school together.) Around midway point, Buffy is nearly drained to death by vamp Slayer, she must rely on others to take care of her - doesn't always have to be the strong one.

Willow:

Willow will come to the realization that her magick is of no use against the Big Bad this year. What is Willow without her magick? What else can she contribute? Progressively, other things may fail as well, so that Willow is systematically deconstructed and having to find her true purpose and how she can contribute outside of her raw power.

Xander:

Xander will explore his roles this season. He's said that he won't be forgotten or shoved aside, so then the question becomes, how will he contribute? It's up to Xander to answer this question. He tries his hand at a variety of roles - maybe a Watcher, maybe a husband (though he's already "failed" at that one). Come the end, he realizes that his role is support, and it's the role he's always fallen into naturally.

Giles:

Giles is pulling away from the others. He's beginning to see the Slayers as nameless, faceless people. He realizes that he'll have to sacrifice them - and some part of himself - again at some point in the future, so he's subconsciously distancing himself from the pain. He's slowly becoming the Old Council. Comes to realize that while he may have to distance himself from the body as a whole, it doesn't mean he shouldn't have any attachments at all. And that he can be those two people - the one that can love them, but still sacrifice them for the greater good if necessary (which will work, as Giles will ultimately sacrifice himself, NOT for the greater good but because he doesn't want them to die).  ** Which may be a good time to point out that I was going to kill Giles next season, kisses.

Tara:

Tara's quest this year will be for her place. She's died and come back, but this isn't "right". There is a balance in things, and she feels she's upset that balance. She'll explore her past and her family to find out why, in a grander sense, she's back and how she fits in now.

Tara and Willow:

Tara discovers that Willow has somewhat enshrined her as a result of her death and return. Willow caves to Tara almost constantly, and it's beginning to affect them both, but Willow can't bring herself to fight with Tara as a result of what happens every time they fight. She doesn't want Tara to go away again. They must fight, they have to learn that it's okay. Tara pushes it with Willow and makes it happen. Maybe when Tara goes to visit her family, that's the catalyst.

Dawn:

Dawn becomes victim of the time-old adage, "be careful what you wish for". She's always wanted to be a Scooby, but now that's beginning to conflict with her other desire to be a regular teenaged girl and her other big desire: to be an adult. All these worlds are colliding and Dawn's not sure which is more important. Blows off Scooby things for friend-things sometimes. Blows off friend-things for Scooby-things.

Re Grip: They're getting closer, but she keeps having to put off things with him due to Scooby situations. Grip notices and (kindly) confronts her, wondering if she really just doesn't want to see him anymore but doesn't know how to tell him. When he finds out about the baddies, he'll back away, needing time to process. Poor Dawnie.

Faith:

Faith will spend the season getting back onto the redemptive path she's been on for years. She doesn't feel bad that she killed Judith and is wondering what the means (somewhat like when her mother died). She'll learn that just because she's stumbled doesn't mean she's fallen. She begins in England, hiding out from Trillium. Thinking she should go solo, it was easier when she didn't have anyone else to worry about. Doesn't want to go back, but Kennedy pushes her. Once back, Faith avoids everyone. Should Giles maybe get Faith into therapy?

Buffy agitated that Faith isn't really being punished. Faith points out that a lot of people around Buffy are killers and they've never been punished either. Buffy needs things black and white, Faith is another shade of grey and it's getting harder and harder for her to do her job.

Xander gets to the heart of things too much, and Faith doesn't want to deal with that. Finally it's Willow who lets Faith know that there's someone who DOES understand. It's the first step in getting Faith back into things, but she still doesn't want to teach.

Maybe at some point in the season, Faith takes off? If so, Xander should probably pursue. (Might tie in nicely to Xander's "what's my role?" arc. Perhaps he has a job interview or something that he can't miss out on that will further define him, but he misses it because he has to help Faith, and that's the choice he makes) Could be where Hazel's death gets resolved. Goes to Hazel's house and parents for that?

Faith's murder issue will probably come to a head when she's face-to-face with Finch's child. Kid wants revenge, and Faith understands that. States how it won't make anything better, but gives up and says that if s/he wants it so bad, just take it. S/he doesn't, of course, which would probably disappoint Faith to a degree.

Maybe show Faith just starting to teach again at the end of the season, rather than some big culmination. Maybe she's forced into it when the VS keeps the other Slayers occupied? Buffy would be elsewhere at the time.

  The Big Bad

** These are some of my earliest notes, as reflected in how I’m using my placeholder names like “Dark Coven”. A lot of it deals with what happened in S8, but it outlines the larger arc, which would have come to a head in S10.

What the Bad Guys Want

The Dark Coven is seeking to reawaken The Old Ones. As per Giles in “Welcome to the Hellmouth", the Old Ones were driven out when the lost their "purchase" on this reality. The last vestiges of the Old Ones fed on a human, mixed their blood, and created the first vampire. This proves that humans were around during the time of the Old Ones. He also states that vamps, demons and some magicks are leftovers from the time of the Old Ones.

The Dark Coven is a group that has been around since the time of the Old Ones. They are in allegiance with them, and are currently seeking to free them. In their current incarnation, they are very, very close (comparatively speaking). The Old Ones are sealed away somewhere by a series of extremely intricate locks, well nigh impenetrable. But they actually are already well on their way to opening them.

More than anything else, the DC is a master of manipulation with OODLES of patience. They've been working on freeing the Old Ones since their imprisonment. As is eventually revealed, they have been twisting events with the Scoobies for years, bringing them to the point where the Old Ones are ready to be freed.

When the Old Ones Roamed

They were, quite simply, lords of their domain. They are few in number, but unfathomably powerful. As with many nigh-omnipotent beings, however, they became bored and complacent. They began to tinker with things and began creating demons, unleashing them on the world. The demons, however, were little more than slaves, and no matter how evil, nothing much likes being enslaved. The demons, together with humans (quite possibly including the Shadow Men from "Get it Done") were able to ensnare the Old Ones -- you can't kill them, but they were imprisoned. Once the Old Ones were gone, their power slowly vanished, diminishing their partners/lackies/etc. (like the DC), and leaving the created demons and humans to fight over the rest of the land.

Season 6 Manipulation

The DC, although powerful, are themselves, collectively, unable to open the remaining locks (if they could ever open any at all). However they soon discovered one girl, Willow Rosenberg, who had the innate ability to channel the energies necessary to set things into motion. She just needed the right motivation to get the power.

Exactly how far their manipulation into these events goes, we don't know. What is for certain is that they fixed it so that Tara would be shot and killed by Warren's stray bullet. (The reasoning for this idea: there's absolutely no way the bullet could have possibly killed Tara in the way it did. Warren was in the backyard, running away and shooting upwards. Tara was standing by the bedroom window on the second story. The bullet shot through the glass, and through her, at no angle at all. Obviously in-show this was done for dramatic purposes, but they left a door open for outside creative interpretation and I’m going through it.)

As they knew it would, this prompts Willow to become hell-bent on revenge and absorb enough power to destroy the world. She goes to Kingman's Bluff, raises the effigy of Proserpexa, and begins to funnel her energies into it. Had she done this enough, she would have raised one of the Old Ones herself (or Proserpexa could have take the next step in unlocking one of the doors), however Xander interceded and saved Willow before this could happen.

NOTE: Perhaps Xander's interception is what was actually needed here? I always found it interesting that he completely blocked and seemingly absorbed all that power Willow was throwing at the effigy without even blinking. Was this maybe super-charging him for something? Could this maybe be key to what they will need to save him from later on? (S10 stuff.)

The Proserpexa angle maybe have been removed, but the DC didn't mind -- Willow had now unlocked enough of the power within herself to open another lock.

Season 7 Manipulation

This stems from a whole lot of S7 never really standing up to much scrutiny. Take, for example, the scythe. Caleb and the First spend SO much time and energy in uncovering the scythe, claiming to know how very important it was to NOT allow Buffy & Co. to get it -- when if they hadn't even been trying to get it, Buffy wouldn't have ever known it was there. This in and of itself seems to make ZERO sense, particularly since it never seemed to be that the First could use the scythe himself -- it was all about keeping it from the Slayer. So, very stupid to not only sit on the darned thing, but to ACTIVELY BRING YOUR ENEMIES TO IT (the "trap" in "Dirty Girls" leads Buffy and the Slayers to the vineyard, They never would have bothered going there otherwise).

My reasoning: The First is also an Old One. And he set his plan up specifically to fail. He himself is immortal, he cannot die. And he doesn't really give a crap about ubervamps and Bringers. Their plan all along was to make the Scoobies unleash the scythe to awaken all the Slayers.

Why? As mentioned in "Get it Done", there is a well of Slayer power. That well is usually filled nearly to capacity. It was, after all, only being used by Buffy, and then Faith. The fact that the emergence of a second Slayer did nothing to diminish either's power indicates that it's not shared on that kind of level. In addition, the awakening of all the Slayers at the end of "Chosen" didn't seem to cause any sort of power drain. Instead, we theorize that the well is deep, but has a finite capacity. When Willow did the spell, she in essence pulled the stopper on the well and drained it dry. This well, however, happens to be one of the keys to freeing the Old Ones, and once it drops to a certain level, the "door" that it locks is open.

Moving on -- The Chosen

When Slayers die now, one is not called in their place. There is a finite number of Slayers in the world now. When they die, their Slayerness returns to the well. Only once it reaches a certain level (presumably it's "default" state, pre-spell) will the "natural" process resume. The DC obviously don't want this to happen, as once it "refills" to a certain point, the door will close again. Hence their working with the Assemblage of Merodoch (previously, "Dark Council"); by harnessing and funneling the Slayerness into an already existing Slayer, it does not return to the well, hence no refill.

But that isn't the only reason the DC are working with the Assemblage. The AoM also has another key: an angel that they're keeping chained up in the deepest sublevel of their headquarters. This angel has, perhaps, been around as long as the Old Ones themselves. Perhaps he even aided in imprisoning them. He was captured shortly thereafter, however, and has remained that way ever since (we're talking pretty close to pre-recorded history here, as long as the Slayer line has been in existence, possibly longer).

Idea: The angel can only be freed by a descendant of one who imprisoned him in the first place. Maybe a Giles?

He is a key -- maybe something he says? His true name, perhaps? The DC want him, but the AoM have him and won't give him up. They have said, however, that once Order is restored to the world, they will provide the DC with the means to do whatever they need to do with him. The DC is okay with this -- they're currently getting something from the Council (someone to alert them to the need to funnel Slayer energy and someone to keep all that tiresome business together while they focus on the really important stuff).

Like good ol' Willow Rosenberg.

They call Willow "The Sangerand" ("the bloody"), and they should absolutely not be done with her yet. Willow's independent further role, we don't yet know, but she commands their greatest amount of attention. Her, and Tara. ("The Curat", or "the pure"?)

When they resurrect Tara, it is ostensibly under the guise of killing Willow. However the true reason is to fulfill Tara's part of this prophecy (which includes her death, resurrection and making the choice to not kill Willow), possibly including the sharing of power that Willow will need to do to save them.

Thinking on it, it would be cool to have each Scooby play an important role somehow in all of this. Sort of like their being together in this way was a fated thing. "The Chosen" indeed.

**ADDENDUM** I really like this idea of each Scooby playing a particular role. This could still lead up to the eventual death of Giles, which in and of itself will provide the beginnings of the Coven's downfall. They do whatever they're doing to Xander, which will kill him - but that won't matter because his role in unlocking the door will be done. Will is going to be doing the spell to save him, which will kill her in turn, but that's okay too because her part is also played in releasing the Old Ones. Giles, however, has NOT yet done his part, and he completely surprises everyone when he takes Willow's place, thereby saving both Will and Xander. This totally throws the Coven for a loop, though obviously they must still be able to do what they need to without Giles, else their plans are over with right then and there. It's crucial that his sacrifice NOT be part of the DC's plans, else it takes away from its poignancy.

Will need some sort of prophecy-type thing detailing what is needed to be done to release the Old Ones. Should be nice and vague, but with meaning once you figure it out.

Scooby Designations

Willow: The Sangerand ("the bloody")

Tara: The Curat ("the pure")

Xander: The Vedere ("the sight"), The Asar ("all-seeing eye") -- "The Baani" ("The Architect" - Urdu)

Buffy: The Kusari ("the chain"), The Revenire ("the returned"), The Gula or The Bau ("Lady Who the Dead Bring Back to Life")

Giles: The Verhaal ("the history"), The Shoukin/The Infria, ("redemption"), The Shin'ar ("Land of the Watchers")

Faith: ("the dark"), ("the restrained"), ("the wild")

Dawn: ("the cherished"), ("the gateway"), ("the portal"), ("the key")

The Prophecy

Opening Quatrain

Buffy :: The Trimarga :: Three Path A heartbeat thrice begun A death mark thrice given All roads lead to the town of three When her spilled blood shall spill again

Willow :: The Sangerand :: The Bloody Blood flowing, blood taken Forces awoken, decline and ascent Blood given, life exchanged Freely, she will fall

Xander :: The Baani :: The Builder Grief and rage, life's destruction Mind and body, life's cohesion Heart and spirit, life's devotion Melding, merging; essence anew

Giles :: The Tezan :: The Way Forger of paths, the first and his kin The demon wields the plague of black Summoner, banisher Pierce the barrier, paths renewed

Tara :: The Curat :: The Pure Birth and rebirth, the cycle complete Connected to evil, untainted Power innate and power borrowed Through the light she will free the ancient one

Dawn :: The Amelatu :: The Gatekeeper Living energy made flesh and form Younger in life, older than death Truth altered, life shed And the walls will fall

The Slayer Well Solitary hunter, night's enemy She alone will stand When the well is drained and strength is shared One becomes Many

Closing Quatrain And so it is written Seven locks hold fast The masters expelled, the world cleansed Until the Chosen play their part

Seven keys for seven locks From the first to fall, five score and one If all locks turn, the door lay open And the Old Ones shall reclaim the Earth

Buffy: The Trimarga ("three path" :: the triple path of Knowledge [jnanayoga], Devotion [bhaktiyoga] and Action [karmayoga]). Three times her heart has started beating, three times she's been marked by a vampire (Angel, Dracula and the Vamp Slayer [yet to happen) and in town of threes(??). Something to do with blood - some of it needed to open the lock. Blood of a Slayer is already potent, and Buffy's was obviously enough to close the portal in place of Dawn.

Willow: The Sangerand ("the bloody"). Willow will cast a blood-sacrifice spell, that will enable her to willingly exchange her life for another. It has to be this spell based upon how Mads and the others are killing Xander. Very, very powerful, only she can do it. The flow of the energies will open the lock.

Xander: The Baani ('the builder"). Xander is the "incuabator" for two very powerful magicks. They don't impact him directly, but it is his nature - his very self - that will enable them to merge within him to create something new. The first blast came from Willow on Kingman's Bluff. The second, from the orb destroyed in "Win, Lose or Draw". Madrigan will take Xander around the mid-point of S10 to extract the magicks from him. It will kill him in the process, but that's of little concern.

Giles: The Tezan ("the way"). Giles' role is to obtain a ring that has been in his family for generations upon generations. Unknown to those recently, the jewel of the ring actually contains a demon - a demon that was the original cause of the Black Plague in the 1330's. Giles' ancestor, a powerful warlock for the Council, was the first human to pierce the barrier between this dimension and a demon dimension where he summoned a demon and bound it to his service. The demon was sent to China, where it was supposed to take out a group of other demonic creatures trying to open a Hellmouth there. It did indeed do that, but not before starting the plague. The Council, rather than destroy the ring and banish the creature, said "We'll control it better next time." The ring's purpose was eventually lost,. Giles is supposed to release and then banish the demon, again piercing the dimensional barrier and opening that lock. ** He dies instead, sacrificing himself to save both Willow and Xander. Oops.

Tara: The Curat ("the pure"). Tara's lock will open upon her freeing the Antediluvian. The Antediluvian is an angelic creature that was captured by Robespierre's ancestors. Its imprisonment means the lock is sealed - its freedom opens it. Tara is able to free it due to her lineage as a witch, her purity of spirit, her completed cycle of birth and rebirth, and (by binding with Willow) her immense white magick power creating the necessary conditions. Ruth, Tara's grandmother or great-grandmother, was also thought at one time to have been the Curat, but was not. However she does recognize the qualities within Tara. (Perhaps the Antediluvian, despite its imprisonment being a good thing, can do great good if it's released?)  ** Later in S9, Tara and Co. would have freed the Antediluvian to save Buffy after Yuugana’s attack.

Dawn: The Amelatu ("the gatekeeper"). Dawn herself is able to open the lock. Not a lot of detail here. We'll need to sort out somehow or another that Dawn will do this ... or perhaps she already has? There seems to be little better time for Dawn to have opened the necessary lock than when all the dimensional walls were coming down.

Additional Lock: The well of Slayer power being drained. This was done by Willow in S7, but is not Willow's specific key.

Additional Info: Once any lock falls, there is a "timer" of 100 years for the rest to fall, or they all lock again.

** It may not escape notice that Faith is not part of this prophecy. That became by design, not oversight. I loved how this idea of “The Chosen” worked into the larger series theme, but I also hate the ideas of fate and destiny being controlling factors. Faith was going to be my argument against all that. When all the prophecy pieces were revealed, Faith would (rather defeatedly in her Faith way) note that she had no part to play. But she is the embodiment of being Chosen, as the characters choose to have Faith by their side and fuck prophecy anyway. Their unreserved acceptance of Faith, and Faith’s acceptance of THAT, would have been the culmination of her character arc in S10 (and my series).

S10 Ideas

Something to do with tarot cards, with each member maybe being a particular card?

Several characters get thrown back in time to an earlier season. Dawn especially should go, as she wasn't around then.

stained glass idea. couples. Buffy left free. Valentine's day ep.

"The Impossible Dream" - Man of La Mancha lyrics

Faith having conversation with Kendra -- result of illness, injury, or prophetic dream

** An episode I was definitely going to do, but frustratingly can’t find any notes for (making me feel there must be SOMETHING else out there somewhere but fuck me if I know where) had Willow and Tara going to Los Angels and visiting Lorne’s bar, Caritas.

S10 Ending

Everyone ends on a thematic note, their actions in the final battle bringing together 10 years of development:

Giles's sacrifice makes victory possible - by finally following his heart rather than his duty he saves the world.

Xander, by virtue (and surprise) of simply being Xander, strikes the final blow.

Willow succeeds only by keeping herself in check, refusing to break and believing that she can win.

Buffy's victories come from not only sharing herself (mentally to Willow and physically to Faith and Kennedy) but truly, finally, accepting that she's not in this alone.

Dawn makes the sacrifice she was destined to make from the moment she was created.

Tara is the touchstone, giving the strength and support to everyone else and the lifeline that ultimately saves Dawn.

Faith has no greater role handed to her by fate -- but she's here and kicking ass so screw you, fate.

(work on Kennedy, she ends up fighting w/ Buff and Faith, but does she start there? maybe she and Faith start with Tara and Dawn?)

IDEAS

Seneca final battle. He's winning. Standing over Buffy, gloating smile. Then he finally speaks. Something like, "I've waited a long time to--" Then he gets skewered (Faith or Kennedy, maybe both.) He can't say anything else, just gurgle.  He dies, and the Slayers stand over him.

Buffy: "Blah blah blah. You know, just once I'd like to meet a bad guy who knows how to keep his mouth shut."

Kennedy: "No lie. Still, I wonder what he was going to say?"

Faith: "Who the hell cares?"

Buffy HAS to be part of final Madrigan fight. She goes initially with Xander and Willow. Xander gets struck down by Mads, seemingly dead. Buffy gets nailed too. Willow needs Buffy to get through this though, and Buff gives Will her strength (flashback to "Same Time Same Place" as well as early Chosen w/ Willow and Buffy being so attuned -- see, not a throw-away plot point! Planned all along!) Leads to good "final" conversation/bonding with them as they search for Madrigan in the mental plane.

Earlier in the season, Madrigan extracting the magick from Xander. Very painful for Xander. Madrigan talking to him though, very chatty, very casual. Xander trying to dig for info, Madrigan clearly seeing through it. He likes the cliche though (exposition while acknowledging how clunky and stupid it is to have exposition here). Mads being real bastard (passively though) to Xander this whole time, noting how Xander isn't even really important in and of himself, it's only what others do with him that counts (maybe include little side wink-nudge point, it's what's inside Xander that matters). Mads ends the conversation by apologizing. "Sorry dude, this has gotta suck for you. Hey, you know what I like to do when I'm down? TV! You like 'Murphy Brown'? I've been Netflixing it." He and Seneca proceed to sit down and watch while Xander is essentially tortured behind them. Mads just turns up the volume.

Season 10 Final Fight

Buffy, Kennedy and Faith will go after Seneca.

Willow and Tara will be walking along in the facility when they're attacked. Tara is thrown away from Willow, who is then going to be caught behind an impenetrable shield with Madrigan. He wants to face her alone on an astral plane of sorts. Tara can't join her. Willow is depowered somewhat as a result of the spell she was casting to save Xander. Madrigan wants to fight her, however. Will surprises him - she thought like him and figured he would do this. As a result, Xander is piggy-backing with her, and she's not alone. Madrigan says that he knows Xander, and Xander won't kill him. He's wrong. X: "He don't know me very well, do he?"

Meanwhile, the door to release the Old Ones is opening and they can't stop it. Or they think they can't. Dawn realizes that she, being the Key, can. She begins to do so, but it's taking so much power, it's essentially killing her. Dawn is reverting to pure energy form. Buffy screams at her, tells her not to, but Dawn says she's spent the past five years wondering - feeling, even - that she should've died on that tower. Now she knows that she wasn't supposed to die, she was supposed to live to do this. "This is the job that I have to do." Buffy can't stop her. Tara fights though, won't let Dawn go. Tara eventually passes out and Dawn disappears. The energy is gone and so is Dawn, but the door is closed and locked again.

Not long after, Buffy goes home. Willow and Xander are with Tara at the hospital (she’s drained but okay). Buffy seems to be alone. She's completely dispirited - Dawn is dead. She enters her room, only to find Dawn there. B: "What are you doing here?" Shades of Dawn's first appearance. Turns out (as we'll learn in the final episode) that Dawn has given up all of her Key powers - for real this time. She is now, completely and utterly, a very real, very normal girl.

** And finally, I give you all with this. It’s a rough sketch of the scene after Giles has died, so would have come about 2/3rd of the way through Season 10. I wrote this in 2004, about a week after the death of my grandfather. I like to think that, if I’d gotten that far, this would have been one of those moments that would have stuck with you. I certainly would’ve tried.

Giles Death Reactions

These are a sequence of silent scenes.

We first see Faith in a darkened training room. She's punching a punching bag.

We're in Giles loft, the lights all dark. The door opens, and Hannah's standing there, on the threshold. She doesn’t enter.

We're in a hospital, private room. There are two beds. The one on the far left contains Xander. He looks gaunt, pale, near death. But breathing. His heart monitor gives a steady readout. Dawn sits next to him, inbetween the two beds. Tears are streaming down her cheeks – simply falling, she's not sobbing. She watches Xander with a fearful, worried expression, then turns to the next bed. There's Willow, also pale and drawn. She doesn't look well either, though not quite as bad as Xander. Tara sits on the other side of the bed, as close to it as she can possibly get. One of Willow's hands is held up in both of hers, Willow's fingers resting on Tara's lips. Tara's eyes are red – she's obviously been crying too. She meets Dawn's gaze. Neither smile.

We're in Giles' office. Buffy is standing in the doorway. Her face is blank.

We're back in the loft, Hannah's position mirroring Buffy's. She walks inside and finds herself drawn toward Giles' stereo system. She runs her hands over the CD collection, full of albums and songs from their past.

Faith's punching of the bag increases. She's venting, her jabs more vicious, more focused. Over her shoulder, we see Kennedy watching.

The hospital. Dawn runs a hand through her hair and wipes her eyes after watching Xander intently. She turns to Willow and watches as Willow opens her eyes and blinks. Dawn watches in surprise, and Willow seems to sense the scrutiny. She turns to Dawn and smiles – just a small smile, a pained one, but it's something. Dawn's face breaks into an expression of pure joy and relief, and she says something. Tara has either been locked in thought or asleep, Willow's hand clutched to her forehead, but her head jerks up at Dawn's words. She focuses on Dawn for the briefest of moments before her eyes go back to Willow. Willow is already looking at her, and she smiles again, a bit stronger this time. Willow says something too, and it causes Tara to laugh. The laugh turns into a sob of relief though, and Tara kisses Willow's hand several times then leans over and kisses her forehead. Will is weak, but is able to give Tara a one-armed hug, kissing her on the cheek, then turning to Dawn and extending her other arm. Dawn is there in a heartbeat, also crying in relief.

Giles' office. Almost trancelike, Buffy moves further into the darkened office, which is lit only by the lamp on the desk. As she walks, her eyes are drawn to things. The rows and rows of books that Giles surrounded himself with. The bookcases that Xander built, not only filled with books but also decorated with knickknacks – various small statues and effigies and an Owl plushie. She looks to the opposite wall, where hangs a variety of pictures, but dominating them all, easily the biggest and with the proudest placement, is a picture of Giles, snapped at a moment none of them were expecting. He was obviously the victim of a random group hug attack – Buffy, Willow, Xander, Tara and Dawn, all hugging him fiercely. Giles has that look on his face where he's trying hard to be annoyed with them, but is secretly loving every moment. Buffy's movement into the office hasn't halted, hasn't slowed from its already snail's pace. She's at the desk now. Bathed in the warm glow of the lamp, she sees a cup of tea, only half-drunk, as though Giles will be returning any moment to finish it. Most prominent, however, are the sealed envelopes on the desk, several of them, each bearing a name. We see Buffy's name on the top one, and can see hints of other's beneath: Willow, Xander, etc. Giles' glasses rest nearby.

Faith is almost in a frenzy of kicks and punches now. Her teeth are clenched and she looks like she wants nothing more than to have the bag turn into the Grim Reaper himself so she can pound the crap out of him. A hand rests on her shoulder, and Faith whirls around to see Kennedy there. Faith looks like she might just start beating the shit out of Kennedy as well, but then Kennedy takes Faith's hand and puts a stake in it. Faith looks down at it questioningly, then looks to Kennedy. Kennedy holds up her own stake. Faith's eyes narrow and she nods, just slightly.

Hannah's by the window in Giles' loft, simply looking out, looking at nothing in particular. She hugs herself and her head drops as she starts to softly cry.

In the hospital room, Willow casts an anxious look at Xander still motionless in his bed. She looks first to Dawn, then Tara, who says something that causes Willow to relax considerably. She smiles, but soon realizes her smiles aren't being returned. She again looks questioningly from one to the other, but neither speak. She's getting really worked up now, scared, and Dawn starts to say something. She doesn't get far, though, before she can't speak any more. Willow turns immediately to Tara, who picks up where Dawn left off. Willow watches, still afraid. Then the fear turns to disbelief. She's starting to cry now and she shakes her head in denial. She looks to Dawn, looking for someone to tell her that what she's heard isn't true, but Dawn can only cry. Willow looks back to Tara again and says something, begging for it not to be true. Tara can only look at her with sympathy and matching pain as Willow dissolves into tears.

Giles office. Buffy is sitting in the corner, her back against the wall, curled in on herself. We can't see her face, but her shaking shoulders tell us all we need to know. She's hugging the Owl plushie for dear life. 

CUT TO BLACK

** And that, my friends, is that.

[mittensmorgul]

really quickly... 3.01 The Magnificent Seven, and 3.02 The Kids Are Alright (Since I'm kinda squeezing them in late at night when I should be doing other things, but I hate not mentioning them because TNT loop completeness...)

A lot of s3 seems to be about regret, the cost of revenge never being worth it, and what could've been. Tamara and Isaac let their own past cloud their judgment and it leads them into a situation they never could've suspected and were utterly unprepared to deal with. But Sam, Dean, and Bobby are also dealing with the cost of Dean's deal. Despite finally getting their revenge on Azazel, there's a much bigger cost coming due in one short year, and nothing Dean can do will get him out of it.

He reverts to indulging in every whim, since he's gonna die anyway, right? Might as well squeeze as much as he can out of the time he has left. But it's all so heavily tinged with regret. There's nothing cheerful about his indulgences and it's not hard to see through the veneer to the fact it's coming across more like gallows humor than joie de vivre here.

Which brings us to Lisa and Ben. Caught up in a case where children are being replaced by monsters who kill their parents, Dean is forced to face the reality that he's not really leaving a legacy behind in the world. More than just the picket fence suburban life that this woman from his past has carved out for herself, he's facing now never having a family of his own-- you know that dream John had always wanted for Dean specifically. It takes him a really long time to realize that's all it ever was-- a dream that even he didn't really want in the end.

It's really telling that Dean remembered Lisa from almost nine years earlier for nothing more than the fact she was "bendy." He never told her the truth about what he did, like he did with Cassie, who from the timeline it's likely he met AFTER his bendy weekend with Lisa, while Sam was at Stanford. Lisa was "safer" because she wasn't someone he'd tried to have a relationship with. She wasn't someone he thought going back to visit that even nine years later she would've settled down into a relationship of her own, either. He expected to show up on her doorstep, have another bendy weekend and relive that piece of his past, and then adios again. Maybe if she hadn't had a child along the way she would've been just that, but even she says in the episode that having Ben changed her life. And seeing those changes, Dean begins to wonder if he could've done anything to change his own life that way, too.

But in Dean's life, the monsters have always been real. And it might take a few seasons for him to begin to really understand it, but he can't walk away from his life, either. Not even for the seductive lure of peace and quiet in the suburbs. It's weird, but Dean's relationship with Lisa has always felt like a changeling situation, you know? Except he feels like the monster fitting himself into their lives, pretending to be just a normal guy, while his presence in their lives does nothing but hurt them.

Regret. What could've been.

(oh, and curiously, Lisa full-names Ben at one point. “Benjamin Isaac Braeden.” which is interesting considering Tamara’s husband, killed by demons in 3.01 after being forced by Gluttony to drink drain cleaner, was named Isaac. Probably an unintentional coincidence, but interesting just the same)

[greennightspider]

Fated Instinct Chapter 15: Gluttony is a Sin... and so is Greed

Author’s Note: The above picture M’Baku’s family ain’t prissy, but they are royalty in Jabari land, plus they wanted to make a good impression for their future addition ;) The picture above that one? Well... it is HALLOWEEEEEN!!! The first half is inspired juuuust a bit by @laketaj24 fic Bet.

Summary: Sequel to Cabin in the Snow. Akari finds herself in a predicament after an accidental overnight stay in a cabin grants her the title of fiance to the chieftain-to-be M’Baku himself.

SMUT WARNING! 

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14,  Chapter 16,  Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19,  Chapter 19(2),  Chapter 20,  Chapter 20(2),  Chapter 21,  Chapter 22, Chapter 23,  Chapter 24

Bonus Chapter 21.5

M’Baku x Akari (OC)

“Bet what hmm?” Runi raised her eyebrows, challenging her captor. No matter what the situation, Runi was always acted like she was in control, even when she didn’t have the upper hand. But even she was starting to have second thoughts about provoking the beast. Zahkele’s salacious gaze told her as much, who was eyeing her up like prey.

“Bet those black panties. And that bra.” He relished in watching her mouth turn in utter shock at his boldness.

But Runi was quickly shaken out of her daze, trying to wriggle out of his grip but to no avail. “Gyagh, so what’s the bet?”

All of a sudden they were snapped out of their negotiations as they heard the muffled sound of the front door slamming. The pitter patter of footsteps grew closer and closer, and Zahkele quickly twirled Runi around so her back was to his stomach, tightening his hold with one hand on her mouth and one around her waist. He liked the way Runi’s body moulded with his own, taking in the distinct scent of boysenberries that wafted from her skin. As they waited for the footsteps to identify themselves, Zahkele brought himself to Runi’s ear.

“Bet I can make you moan.”

“Kele!”

“What do you want Kaia?!” He roared, and beyond the door Kaia made a face at Zahkele’s unwarranted outburst. Little did she know his frustration of being interrupted, trying to keep a squirming Runi on lock in his arms. “Hold still!” He hissed into her ear.

“Did Runi come over?”

“Yeah, but she said she had some stuff to do so she went home.” This comment earning an angry muffle from Runi who then started thrashing. But before she could break free Zahkele, suddenly eyed up a soft spot on Runi’s neck, licking his lips before going in for the kill.

Runi let out a muffled squeal when she felt Zahkele’s mouth suckle on the nape of her neck. Zahkele raised his eyebrows, realising he must’ve found her sweet spot. He continued to nip and suck on the soft skin until he was sure it was going to leave a mark.

“Okay. Kari just wanted me to let the fam know she’d be going to the palace for dinner.”

The squirming stopped as both Zahkele and Runi unknowingly made the same expression of intrigue. And Zahkele would have normally pressed further, if he didn’t already have business to attend to. “Okay, sounds good, I’ll let dad know when he gets home.”

“Sweet.” Zahkele didn’t even wait for the pitter patter of feet walking away before continuing his brazen attack on Runi’s neck, weakening her with every lick. Every bite. . Zahkele let his hand roam her waist, feeling the slight curve of her hips that dipped in the tight black training pants she was wearing.

Zahkele had always seen the girl in his arms as exactly that- a girl. The loud-mouthed friend of his sister, but also friend of the family. It was until that fateful night Ever since that night Zahkele had started to notice Runi was actually grown. Fully grown. And night after night he had prayed for Hanuman to help him, considering he couldn’t help himself.

Runi let out a small muffled moan.

He really couldn’t.

Zahkele finished off his second hickey with peppered kisses along her shoulder until he reached her singlet strap. Satisfied with his victory, he released Runi, stepping back and watching her almost stumble as her very knees were weak. Zahkele causally made his way back onto the bed, lying down in the exact same position Runi found him in. They both heard the front door slam again, signifying the fact that both of them were now again alone.

“I guess I win.”

“Oh shut up.” Runi took one look at her former captor, lying there with a smugly wolfish grin, and for a moment paused to take in the image of his half-naked form. Before relieving herself of her singlet. She then jumped on the bed and immediately straddled Zahkele’s hips, grinding on his hard member through the fabric of his pants, rewarding her with a hiss from Zahkele before his hands found her hips once again. Runi brought her lips to his in a heated kiss, while Zahkele ground his hips upward. Neither one was willing to let up.

Even when Zahkele all but ripped Runi’s pants off while Runi furiously undid his own. When Runi settled herself on his lap, taking him inch by inch not by necessity, only to tease. Even when Zahkele gripped her hips as she winded on top of him, raking her hands up and down Zahkele’s chiseled torso.

Neither one was willing to admit defeat. 

Even when Zahkele’s grunts signalled his release at the beckon of Runi’s gasps, now towering over her as she raked her nails down his back and came with a loud cry. And as they both lay there in the afterglow, tangled in each other’s arms,

Neither one decided to let go.

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Laughter echoed throughout the hall as the Lord and his family unfurled themselves on the many pillows and furs around the lavish banquet before them. Nocawe had already started piling on her second plate. It’s okay Kari, you can do this. You’ve already met half the family, and your pretty sure none of them hate you which is good. Akari counted the facts that were in her favour, letting them bolster her confidence.

Akari in her silence mentally ticked off the names of M’Baku’s brother, all of whom were in attendance. Uuka, clad in a light blue sleeveless top with white furs on his shoulders, nearest to his mother and the chief at the head of the table. Next to him sat Akhona, dressed partly in armour like he had come straight from the battlefield. Akari couldn’t help but wish she was seated across from anyone but him, as his ambivalent gaze felt more cold than neutral.

On Akari’s side of the table she was sat next to M’Baku on her right and the youngest twins, Fundiswa and Gcobisa on her left. They both settled for talking amongst themselves, but gave her curious side-eyes whenever their conversation lulled, which was usually about fighting for food.

Akari knew that most times her quiet or aloof nature around strangers was interpreted as standoffish, or just plain snobby. But in reality, Akari was just confident in herself that she didn’t feel the need to make small talk with every person in the room. She was comfortable in her silence. Well, usually.

“M’Baku my boy, you’re fiancé has barely said a word! It must be because she’s ashamed at your manners.” The chief chided his son, who was halfway through his second helping of rice before casting a concerned ‘you okay?’ glance towards Akari.

Akari gave a sort of ‘help me’ look towards Nocawe as the chief threw back is head in laughter, while Nocawe (with a mouth half full of papaya) mouthed to her the word ‘breathe’. Akari had gone to Nocawe for advice as soon as M’Baku invited her, for which Nocawe was only more than happy to help.

The most important thing you can do, is be honest child. Even if it is not the most ‘proper’ answer. The chief values honesty, and as long as you are truthful, it will be fine.

“Well to be honest, my Lord, I am very anxious.” Akari chuckled nervously, and M’Baku put his bowl down at the boldly open answer his fiancé gave. “I am not only in the presence of our chieftain, but my future in laws, and in truth I don’t know which I am more nervous about. I care for M’Baku, and he cares for his family, therefore I hope to make a good impression.” She finished with a shy smile. The chieftain smiled and nodded at her words, and Nocawe sneakily gave her a wink and a thumbs up.

“Do we scare you?” The chieftain prompted.

“Oh Hanuman no!” Akari laughed loudly for the first time that night, earning raised eyebrows all around. “My father made sure to beat fear out of us when we were young.” Akari skulled back a cup of cordial, before her expression went dark. “We have no fear.”

The brothers all made nervous eyes at Akari’s sudden change of tone and the sliiiiight hint of bloodlust in her eyes, making them wonder what kind of training she had endured before their father burst into laughter yet again. “That is exactly what I would expect from Eshile’s offspring, nothing less!”

The brothers relaxed while the chief continued on. “I have fond memories of your father. We did not call him the ‘fang of the Jabari’ for nothing.” Nocawe nodded in agreement. “Only my wife here was bold enough to face him in training, and that was because your father would bribe her with the promise of exotic foods if she won.”

“What can I say, the food was good!” Nocawe shouted in her defence with her mouth half full of sweet potato, and Akari couldn’t help but burst into laughter, as did the table.

 The night continued on with many a tall and entertaining tale, including several childhood memories that the brother’s had wished had never resurfaced. Nocawe and Daluxolo however seemed content to embarrass their children, especially M’Baku, who by the end of it had earned a worn out Akari on his shoulder who had almost been brought to tears at not only the stories, but the story-tellers themselves, who she was guessing were mostly excited by the fact they had a fresh audience.

M’Baku walked Akari through the large hallways and watched her wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. “I’m glad you had fun.”

Akari burst into a small chuckle. “Well I’m glad I came M’Baku, I hope I made a good impression.”

“Are you kidding? My father was practically beaming with pride when he saw you fall off the cushion almost scream-laughing.” M’Baku smiled, before looking to the side with hopeful eyes. “I hope that you will come again?”

“Of course Baku, I’d be honoured.” Akari flashed him a genuine smile, and M’Baku thought his heart would stop. Something warmed him inside at the sight of his fiancé’s happiness, something that made him feel pride. Grandmama Nobomi watched from her little corner as she weaved in the moonlight, waving to the happy couple as soon as they passed by. But as soon as they were gone from sight Grandmama Nobomi shifted her gaze to the shadows.

“Are you done spying?”

Nobomi watched as the figure emerged from the darkness, her eyes softening slightly when the familiar face stepped into the moonlight.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

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