#this is some hot au aesthetic tho

[itsmarsss]

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before AU: Chapter 1 - Out [Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz x fem!Reader] (Cobra Kai)

You have been writing these love letters since seventh grade, but what happens when they somehow get sent out?

Warnings: high school (lol i wrote this one when i was in high school but im rewriting it now that im like three years out of it so it feels weird and i feel like it warrants a warning, definitely senior year tho.), hardcore crushing on miguel, mentions of a crush on moon so if ya don’t like women too then idk, uhh mention of smoking weed.

Word Count: 4,060

Your letters were your most prized possessions: yours, and yours only.

You wrote one when you had a crush so intense you felt like you needed to snap out of it or otherwise you’d collapse.

So, you wrote letters to try to find closure. Intricately detailed letters that contained every single unfiltered thought and embarrassing feeling you could find in yourself. Everything you noticed about them, everything you wished you had with them, everything you wanted to say but couldn’t.

It started a long while ago.

You never sent them, of course. That idea was completely off the table. They remained stored inside the little blue box with the white ribbon buried deep in the back of your closet, from where you would occasionally take them just to read them again and reminisce on the thoughts a younger version of you once had about all those different people.

They were all properly sealed, stamped and addressed in pretty cursive letters, but never, ever posted.

They were six in total, addressed to five different people.

The first one ever written had been for Eli, from seventh grade. Adorable little Eli, who was one of the biggest nerds you’d ever seen, always too shy to talk around others, but who would go on excitedly about a tv show or a comic book series he liked for hours around you after getting paired for a project got him to warm up to you.

Adorable little Eli, who trembled like crazy before kissing you in a dumb game of spin the bottle, right before running home crying because some girl thought it would be hilarious to comment on how she wouldn't have let him kiss her with "that mouth" if she were you. You, in turn, couldn't feel more different from that bullshit comment of hers after that messy seventh grade first kiss that lasted barely a couple seconds but fed your crush on him for months on end after.

That letter was followed by a new one, addressed also to him, but the new him this time around, many years later, in your sophomore year- to Hawk, not Eli. However that worked.

To Hawk, who had decided to “flip the script”, as he called it, by changing his entire aesthetic and his whole demeanor, showing up to school on a random day with a blue dyed mohawk and a brand new attitude. You liked it.

Confident Eli seemed happier even though he sometimes acted like a bit of an asshole and, as much as you didn’t want to admit it, he looked really, really hot. He was still Eli, but this Eli wasn’t afraid to flirt with you, which evoked brand new feelings in you.

Therefore, a new letter.

The second letter you ever wrote was addressed to Demetri, from eight grade, who you met around the same time as Eli.

Demetri, who would talk to you about superheroes and binary language and would be so excited about it that you didn’t care to tell him you couldn’t understand a word of what he said.

Demetri, who was so kind as to go to your house to help you with your part on the biology project you were partnered with him in because he knew it was stressing you out, who would offer to tutor you when you told him you were having a hard time with a subject he was good at at school, and who you got closer to when randomly put in many classes together.

The third letter you ever wrote was addressed to Robby Keene, who you became closer to after ditching the homecoming dance in your freshman year to hang out by yourself at the bleachers, despite Sam and Aisha’s protests, only to find out it apparently was Robby Keene’s favorite smoking spot.

Apparently high school dances could be pretty lame, no matter what all high school movies from the 80's had been telling you all your life. You had asked if you were interrupting something when you noticed his presence and he told you it depended on whether you'd be snitching on him or not, and suddenly freshman homecoming didn't suck all that much anymore, because you managed to make friends with the most unlikely acquaintance you could ever have.

Robby, who at fourteen years old got detention for threatening to beat up the kids who made you cry because they kept making fun of you during a presentation, which was about substance abuse, ironically.

The fourth one had been written to Moon, who you used to despise because she used to hang out with Yasmine- who, for the longest time, had loved to pick on you and your friends- especially Eli and Demetri.

But Moon, who turned out to be so sweet after she started doing and saying things for herself as opposed to whatever her friends wanted her to and started hanging out with your friend group.

Moon, who would excitedly invite you to sleep overs and braid your hair as you gossiped about people you barely knew from school, who would do your makeup for you and take you shopping and call you pet names platonically, making you blush furiously and putting you in the verge of short-circuiting by being so casually affectionate now that you’d become friends.

And, lastly, the most recent one had been written to Miguel Diaz, of course.

Miguel, who was your best friend in the whole entire world, ever since he moved to Reseda and you first befriended him at school.

Miguel, who was currently dating Sam, who you’d drifted apart from, but couldn’t for the life of you hold a grudge against.

Yeah, Miguel.

But before he became Sam’s boyfriend, he was your boyfriend. Well… boy-friend. A boy who was a friend. And things were good as they were.

But then things started changing.

Things started changing when Miguel asked Sam out and you realized you didn’t like that. When the first thing he did when he got home was to tell you all about it, and you felt a pit in your stomach as he went on about how well things had gone.

Until you couldn’t lie to yourself anymore and had to face the reality that the reason it all made you feel so awful was that you were jealous.

It was even worse to figure out why: as much as you could try to lie to yourself and pretend you were just jealous that she was spending time with your best friend, you knew you had to face it: it all came down to the simple fact that you were in love with him.

You didn’t know when it happened, or what was the turning point for that, but you were. Utterly and irredeemably.

And, in hindsight, it seemed obvious.

But then they started dating, and they didn’t want you to feel left out, so they would you and Aisha everywhere, which made things so much worse.

And then they broke up, and things got, somehow, even weirder. Now it was all you and Miguel again, and, even after all of that, you still had those stupid feelings for him. But you weren’t a complete bitch, or insensitive. You’d never make a move, you’d just have to live with it.

Which didn’t mean there was nothing you could do about it: you decided to try to put an end to it, your own way.

Hence, how letter number six came to be. Signed, addressed, stamped, sealed and stored in the blue box under all the others.

Maybe after this you’d be able to move on. Maybe after this things would go back to normal. How you craved for things to go back to how they used to be.

It seemed reasonable enough to just wait on your feelings to die out.

But a certain day came when then Eli- well, Eli, who was Hawk now, marched up to you in the middle of your gym class.

“Y/n?” He called your name, and you stopped running your laps, turning around to face him, eyebrows knit together in confusion. What was Hawk doing in your gym class?

You let him approach you. “What’s wrong?”

“Look, I appreciate it but it’s… not gonna happen. Like, you know we’re friends, and you know I'm still like… hung up on Moon, or whatever. Right? I know the power of the Hawk’s pretty irresistible,” he smirked, quickly going back to his stern expression, “but you should cut it out.”

You really had no idea what the hell he could be possibly talking about. “Dude… what?”

“C’mon you don’t have to play dumb, it’s cool that you think my scar makes me look cute or whatever but like. I uh. Don’t have any feelings for you now.” Wait, what did he say about the scar? He kept on. “And like it’s- it’s pretty cool that you liked me before and now too but this would just- this would be weird. You know that, right?”

You just weren't getting it.

And then you saw it: in his hand, signed, addressed and stamped, were two open envelopes with two different names written on them in your best cursive handwriting. Fuck.

“Hey- woah are you alright? You look like you're gonna pass out.”

You felt like you were going to pass out. You couldn’t even form a sentence in the midst of your shock.

And then, Miguel came into your line of sight. Because of course things had to get worse.

“There’s no fucking way,” you muttered, incredulous. He was walking up to you, a red envelope in hand.

The letters got out the letters got out the letters got out.

He looked confused. He obviously, and much understandably, wanted answers. Answers you’d much rather get hot by a bus than giving him.

This could not be your fucking life.

“No, no, no, no, no, oh, my god,” you looked around frantically as he got closer, trying to figure out what to do. Hawk surely thought you were crazy now.

And then Miguel made eye contact with you and he had that fucking look of pity on his face and you panicked. And so you did the first thing that came to your short-circuiting mind, which was possibly the dumbest thing you could have thought to do: apparently all you managed to think of was jumping Hawk, tackling him to the ground and kissing him in the middle of gym for Miguel to see.

How maturer and over him you were! Incredible!

The kiss was over as soon as it happened, and you pulled away as Hawk stared at you with two wide eyes and shock all over his face.

You could sympathize with the guy- getting this as a reaction to your rejection was probably really confusing.

More important things going on, though. You got a glance of Miguel stopping in his tracks at your little theatrics, making you realize it definitely didn’t do anything other than make things more awkward for you.

“Uh. Thanks. Sorry or… whatever. I’ll see you in bio!” You told Hawk, patting his chest before standing up and booking away from him, running past Miguel way too quickly for him to be able to approach you and ignoring his call of your name, and locking yourself in one of the stalls of the closest bathroom you were able to find, trying every single breathing exercise you’ve ever come across to calm yourself down.

This was it. Miguel hated you, surely.

No, worse: he pitied you. Because obviously he didn't feel the same and obviously receiving a love letter so embarrassingly honest from his closest friend was weird. Now your friendship was going to be weird, and it was all you fau-

“Y/n? Are you in there?”

No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening, there was no way.

“Y/n? Are you okay?”

Goddamn Robby Keene.

“Oh my god,” you muttered to yourself. Maybe willing him away in your mind would alter reality so he wasn’t there in the bathroom with you.

If only it were that easy.

Resting your head in your hands as you tried to convince yourself this was some sort of nightmare, you heard a noise come from really close to you and opened your eyesto the pink envelope being slid under the stall to you.

“I thought you’d want it back. Seemed pretty personal.”

“Robby, holy shit, I’m so sorry. You do know I wrote this like years ago, right?” He had to have figured that out, didn’t he? You weren’t even close anymore.

“Yeah! Like freshman year right? When we smoked together while everyone was at the dance.” He didn't seem to be mocking you, didn't seem to be angry. Just pointing it out. You sighed and opened the stall door, deciding facing Robby wouldn't be as bad as facing Miguel. You walked out.

“Yeah it was- it was pretty cool. Better than whatever was going down in the dance.”

“Yeah, I taught you how to smoke that day!” He smiled. “Thinking back on it makes me think you shouldn’t have been hanging out with me back then, actually,” he points out.

You could only let out a small laugh. “I guess not.”

“Look, I don’t know why you decided to send this but uh. I feel like I should tell you that Sam and I are like. Together.”

They were? “Oh. Right! Duh. Obviously. I knew that.” You most definitely did not know that. “I don’t know how this got out, really. I never meant for you to actually see this.”

“Look, we can still be friends. You’re pretty cool. Even with… you know…” he motioned vaguely, “the whole Cobra Kai thing”

“Okay! Yeah, definitely.” He was only being polite, because that’s how he is. But this was much better than having him think you were trying to get with him. You let out a nervous laugh. “I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.”

Jesus fuck.

[. . .]

You looked everywhere. Everywhere. The stupid fucking blue box just wasn't anywhere. You tried asking your mom about it, but her answer was short and simple: It probably went with the Goodwill box you’d made last week.

How, you couldn’t figure out, but it seemed to be the only slightly plausible possibility.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. That meant there were five people out there total, five people you still saw every single day, who you were friends with, who had received a fucking love letter with your name signed all pretty on it.

This was hell, it had to be.

You were sure of it when you heard a knock on your front door, accompanied by Miguel’s voice calling your name.

Shit, shit, shit, you were not ready to have this conversation. Why did he have to be your next door neighbor on top of everything? It had always been convenient to live so close to each other, but right now it seemed everything but.

So you did what any sane, responsible person would do: you got out by the kitchen window. Naturally.

Miguel would think you just weren't home.

Again, very mature and totally normal and over it of you.

You decided someone would probably be at the dojo and the last thing you wanted right now was to accidentally encounter someone else who had a letter by surprise. You figured it was too early for someone to be at the diner nearby, so there you went.

You ordered yourself a milkshake and tried to reason with yourself. You couldn't avoid Miguel forever. He’s obviously find a way to talk to you at some point. And then what would you do? Admit you were in love with him even though to him you were just best friends? Let him tell Sam you were in love with her (well, at-the-time) boyfriend? Get politely rejected by him and go around pretending being pitied by him for not being corresponded wasn’t pathetic? It all seemed to come down to terrible endings.

You were so lost in thought you didn't notice him sit beside you at the counter until he spoke up, ordering some fries.

Oh, shit.

Hawk.

“What are you doing here?” You asked him, annoyed.

“Went by your place. Miguel said you weren't there. Things felt preetty awkward I’ll be honest with you. But you weren't at the dojo either so I thought I’d find you here.”

“Okay. And why did you wanna find me, exactly?”

“Look I just wanna make it double clear that nothing’s gonna happen between us. Nada.”

“Eli Moskowitz I am not trying to date you.”

He seemed to cringe at his own given name, but didn’t complain out loud about it. “Then why would you write me a love letter?”

“It was in 7th grade!”

“No, you talk about me as Hawk though.”

“Last year! Right when you did… that,” you motioned vaguely to his mohawk.

“Okay I hear you but like. Your mouth is saying one thing… but then your mouth said… something… else. To my mouth. Directly.”

“What? Ew!”

“You jumped me!”

“I was panicking! And I’m like, actually sorry.”

“Then why’d you do it?”

You let out a sigh, defeated. “Miguel was walking over.”

“And?”

“And he also got one of those,” you motioned with your head at the letter in Hawk’s hand, “and I cannot deal with that right now.”

His expression shifted. “Wait, I’m not the only one who got a letter?”

“No.”

“Huh. You really think you’re special.”

“Are you not, like, surprised about Miguel?”

“Oh, no, it was pretty obvious. But damn you get a love letter and think you’re the man but then you find out she wrote to another guy too?”

“Oh there’s six of them, so don’t go feeling too special.”

“Six of them?”

You then realize you’d spoken too much. He doesn’t need to know all of this. “Nevermind.”

“Damn y/n, fuck yeah, you're a player! Who were they for?”

“No one! It’s none of your business.”

“Come on, I deserve to know! You did kinda jump me in front of a bunch of people.”

“It doesn’t matter!”

“I mean I wouldn't- I wouldn't want people to find out you think my scar looks hot. Or that when you look at me you think about ‘kissing the annoying smirk off my lips’- I mean who knows what guarantees you don’t have a tattoo of my face on your ass-”

That was embarrassing enough. “Okay shut up! Shut up. Fine, if you wanna know so bad. So two for you. Then uh. Demetri, in-”

“You had a crush on Demetri?”

You kept on. “Then Robby Keene, on freshman year.”

“What, do you have a thing for LaRusso’s boyfriends or…?”

“How did you know they were together? I didn’t know!”

He just shrugged, and you continued. “And then there was uh-” you glanced at him and back to your milkshake. “Moon, after she uh. Started dating you, and hanging out with us.”

He let out a snort. “Right.”

“Sorry. I uh- I know she broke up with you-”

“What, are you gonna make a move on her? Is this what you have a thing for, crushing on your friends’ partners?”

“No. And you asked me about it!”

He looked sorry. He didn’t say it. He sighed. “Fine. Is that everyone?”

“With Miguel, yeah, that’s everyone.”

“Okay. I was the only one to get two letters though.”

You rolled your eyes at the comment. Of course he’d make this be about feeding his ego. The two of you finished your food in an awkward silence before he spoke up again. “Did you walk here?”

“Yeah.”

“You want a ride?”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s fine.”

“Okay.” After paying, you walked outside, getting on his motorbike. He surrendered his only helmet to you.

Holding onto his waist the whole time after all this was definitely weird but you didn’t let yourself think about it too much, instead thinking about a bigger issue: you really, really hoped Miguel wouldn’t be there when you got home. You got to the parking lot, getting off the bike, taking off the blue helmet and handing it back to him. “How do you even put this on with your hair?” You questioned.

He laughed. “I just like. Push it back.”

“But how does it not ruin it?”

He shrugged. “Power of the Hawk.” He smirked, full of himself.

“Oh, come on. I bet you walk around with a little bottle of hair gel so you can fix it when you take it off.”

“Magician never reveals his secrets-” he looked off at something behind you that caught his attention. You furrowed your eyebrows together in confusion, turning around to see what it was.

Miguel. He hadn't noticed your presence yet, but there was no way he wasn’t going to.

What do you do now? You felt paralyzed.

Hawk seemed to think of something before you could. He placed his helmet on the handle of the bike, very obviously making sure to make noise with it to attract attention, and leaned in, pulling you into a kiss. A… rather passionate one.

He pulled away, wordlessly leading you in the direction of your front door. You got the hint, walking to your place without turning around, and unlocking the door. He pushed you in and closed the door behind him with his foot, loudly. You stayed like that, with him leaning on the door and your bodies flushed together, in silence, trying to listen if Miguel was walking towards your door or not. After a couple seconds, you figured he was not, and you pulled away from him.

“Sorry,” he looked at the floor, sheepish. An usual sight for the new him. “First thing that came to mind.”

“Why is jumping each other the first thing that we think of when we panic?” You laughed.

Hawk laughed along, more at ease knowing you weren’t mad at him. “You did it first.”

You sat down on your couch, but he stayed standing. “Sorry to pull you into this. And thank you for helping out just now. Think I’ll just pity myself ‘till I sleep and then die of embarrassment tomorrow when I see him or something. You can go if you want.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll- yeah.” He started walking to the door, but stopped midway, turning around to face you again. “Hey what if-” he tried to find the words to explain his idea- “um- he probably thinks we’re dating right? Or at least hooking up, or something. I mean, after all the kissing… and stuff.”

“Shit. Yeah. I’ll clear things up, sorry-”

“No! What if- what if we let him?”

“What… do you mean?”

“What if we let him think we’re dating? And not just him. Everyone else too.”

“Why would we do that?”

“So he won’t think you're in love with him!”

“I’ll rephrase it then. Why would you do that?”

“I mean you know- you know I’m still really into Moon. Maybe we could make her… want what she can’t get?”

“You think that would work? On Moon?”

He just shrugged. “Maybe.”

“So you’re suggesting we fake-date.”

“I guess.”

“Have you never seen a movie with a fake dating trope? Doesn't end well.”

“What, you think you’ll catch feelings?” He opened his signature grin, and you sighed, annoyed.

“I’m just saying it’s probably gonna blow up on our face eventually.”

“Why? We can just pretend to date for like a couple weeks. And then we break up or whatever.”

“I’m not-” This could not be a good idea. Could it? “Look I’ll- I’ll think about it. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

[. . .]

Miguel, Miguel, Miguel. Miguel seemed to be what occupied your thoughts the most. No matter how absurd the amount of drama you were going through was, your thoughts always came back to him.

But the night after the letters got out… it wasn't like that. Eli Moskowitz- well, Hawk, hadn’t been in your head all that much ever since you got over the last crush you had on him a couple years ago. But now Miguel wasn't the only thing in your head anymore, weird of a way as everything else had come into your thoughts.

So you decided.

A/N: in all honesty im only rewriting this because im in a bit of a slum and i almost deleted this off of my ao3 bc of how terribly written the original chapters are lol so idk here’s something someone might like i guess. I won’t be in any rush to post the chapters of this whatsoever, scandalous is 100% my priority this is just for some piece of mind bc I know I’m better than the shitty writing in the original version of this lol

[f1shart]

the amount of times i've drawn clowns on this blog is absurd. yes it was twice but that's twice too much

ANYWAY personality swap verona au anyone? its more of a personality inversion since i didn't swap their personalities with one another (og idea by @quejicadelapulpa)... more info ⬇️

idk why when i invert their personalities they become depressed, evil, or both but 😭 i'll go in depth on each of them

Tybalt: he was always a clown but swapbalt is quite literally a clown (he prefers jester). his personality is basically mercutio: playful, friendly, but still prim since i don't see why that would change about him i mean he's still absolutely loaded 🤑 also he loves annoying mercutio, especially since it's not like he'll get his ass whooped if he starts to throw hands (since, yk, tybalt is JACKED)

Mercutio: what i meant when i said they turn depressed when i invert their personalities 💀 swapcutio is a man of few words. he probably speaks very quietly too, only ever getting loud when he's pissed at tybalt. speaking of, he's not as hot-headed as og tybalt mostly cuz i didn't want to just swap their personas and call it a day. nah this is much funnier. i feel bad for him though i mean he's got this fucking clown constantly bothering him and there's nothing he can do about it

Romeo: he's giving pascal and i'm so sorry ab that. anyway this is where i delve more into personal hcs about personality since some of these sims weren't given much originally. i see romeo as a pretty smart kid so i didn't change that about him. i also see him as a bit immature but his wit makes up for that and that's how he's able to charm people. while swapmeo is mature, he is unfortunately quite uncharismatic so who tf knows how he pulled juliette. he's still a romance sim tho so he has his ways...

Juliette: not too much about her. i originally saw her as a little hot-headed similar to tybalt, so i decided to commit to that and make her a very mellow and chill individual. no more raging at online shooter games for her ! swapiette also wears very comfy clothes unlike juliette and dont u worry i kept her uggs. they're simply too iconic 😩

Miranda: she's basically more like her mother. this is where i was conflicted like do i swap the adults' personalities as well?? regardless, swapiranda (i need to stop) is a good christian girl 😌 as you can see she did not dye her hair in this universe and same with hermia but we'll get there. i also removed her beautiful shades SORRY but they're still there in spirit with the blue of her nails. i think swapiranda has that sweet exterior but a snakeish interior in terms of personality

Hermia: i exchanged the goth aesthetic for something more pastel and trendy for the time. you could say swapmia is a bit like og juliette in terms of personality. ooh maybe she doesn't dislike her brother in this universe! though i can see her and juliette getting tired of his smileyness. also yess swapmia's hair is her natural blonde it fits her vibe more.

Puck: last and certainly not least, evil puck 😍 the poor residents of swap veronaville cuz this kid... to me, og puck is kind, shy, dedicated to their tasks but dreadfully incompetent. you'd think he's the media's idea of a fairy- playful and mischievous, but he is surprisingly the opposite. THEN THERE'S SWAP PUCK. absolutely devious. despicable. he plays pranks and they are fucking mean pranks (not as far as battery acid in pop tho 💀 that's one of their cruel jokes. pls tybalt is not actually drinking battery acid) who KNOWS what swapmia sees in them. maybe she's evil too lmfao

anyway that's what i got. tell me why typing this drained 54% of my battery. apple is wild. maybe i'll do st but that's a hell of a lot of work

[zaebeecee]

To Sever a Loveless Bond

••RadioDust Soulmate AU••

Part 19/?

First chapter | Previous chapter | Next chapter

Read on AO3

•••

CW: more explicit references to the last chapter (but just references)

Sorry updates are coming slower, y’all, real life work that pays money and stuff has been picking up lately and I need to buy hot pockets

Also featured in this chapter: more examples of soul marks sucking for people. I’m glad y’all seem to like my take on Arackniss tho.

•••

In 1932, Anthony disappeared.

That was, Arackniss supposed, not exactly the right way to put it. ‘He ran away from home’ might have been more accurate, but he was an adult at the time, and the phrase was so… juvenile. But, while none of the family knew where Anthony had gone, Arackniss himself had one leg up on the others: he was the one who saw Anthony off, gave him some money for the trip, and hoped (for his brother’s sake) that he never ended up in New York City again.

In 1933, Anthony returned, and their father threw him in a sanitarium for being queer. That was, after all, what people did in their day. Hell, it was the reason Anthony had run off in the first place, trying to save himself from their father’s old-world homophobic, Sicilian rage. And after Anthony got out, everyone talked about how much he had changed. How different he was. How much colder he had gotten.

Arackniss, however, knew different. Whatever turned Anthony icy and cruel didn’t just happen in the institution. It started wherever it was he had gone, when he tried to leave the family behind forever. Something he saw out there broke him, and Arackniss never learned what it was; they didn’t get the chance to talk before he was institutionalized, and when he tried asking Anthony about it after his release, his little brother didn’t remember.

It was the lobotomy, probably.

Arackniss figured that was the start of his protectiveness over Anthony, an aspect of brotherhood that had never existed between them before. Something had wounded his brother, something Anthony might never remember and Arackniss—Bernardino, in those days—would likely never understand, and he thought that since he couldn’t protect Anthony from the pain, he could at least shelter him better from new wounds. It wasn’t easy, since they still didn’t like each other, but Arackniss was able to do most of it behind Anthony’s back, particularly once their father kicked it and Arackniss inherited the family business. Besides, it made Maria happy, and both of them would have done anything for their sister, in their own ways.

Wherever she is now.

It’s funny. She could be worse than either of us on her bad days, but I’ve never found her here.

Anthony died before either of them, a gruesome and painful death that could as easily have been an accident as suicide, though the cops called it the latter. Arackniss had heard the name Angel Dust several times after arriving in Hell before he ever realized that was referring to his brother, and their reunion had been brief and awkward. Even though they never spoke, he knew how often Anthony came to that one restaurant he managed. And, even though Anthony pissed him off… they were family. They were brothers.

Arackniss wasn’t going to let anybody use his little brother as a pawn in their political game, no matter how firmly he had promised to stay out of things where the Vees were concerned.

VoxTek tower was huge and gaudy, in Arackniss’s opinion; it was too tall, it was too sleek, and it was too ostentatious to be anything but a status symbol three overlords were holding over the citizens of Pentagram City. There had been a time that it hadn’t existed, and after that, a time the tower had seemed so out of place. But the Vees were powerful, moreso than any coalition of overlords should have been, and soon the aesthetic of Pentagram City’s center had fallen in line with Vox’s penchant for sharp lines and curves and unholy marriage of Brutalist and Googie architecture.

Arackniss had wielded power in life, sure—after he’d taken over the family, he’d run it from the forties all the way into the sixties before he got shot nine fucking times—but he’d never been a bragging asshole about it. People who wore their wealth like a badge of honor were just asking to get shot.

The security system was thorough, but with the paths Arackniss planned to take, they were nothing he hadn’t seen before. The loading dock was open, sinners and Hellborn busy moving something off the back of a truck and into the bay, and with Arackniss’s size and coloring nobody even glanced his way as he skirted around a couple of security guards and into the shadows of the back warehouse. He jumped from the floor up into the rafters, running along the metal until he reached the wall, where he hopped down to land on an air duct. He made short work of the screws on the vent, then dipped in, pulling the vent into place behind him.

Usually, air vents weren’t actually something you could navigate buildings in like they did in movies, but sinners tended to plan things as though their own size was normal, and most sinners were an average of four feet taller than Arackniss was himself. Plus… well, he was a fucking spider, he could crawl almost better than he could run.

After that came the most tedious part of any infiltration. He knew the rough layout of the building, but keeping everything in mind while scaling up ventilation shafts was a bitch, and he had to find air vents near enough the floor directories for him to make out what the fuck floor he was even on.

Of course, the Vees kept their personal shit near the top of the building, probably in part because of people like him. The further up he got, the fewer people he heard in the hallways, until the building seemed as cold and deserted as it looked. It was eerie in a way very much unlike the environment he liked to foster; while both were detached and impersonal, this place was worse, because it was so… fake.

The sounds of voices drew his attention, and Arackniss slowed so he made no noise as he finished his approach. He stopped out of line of sight of the vent, not wanting to risk anyone glancing up his way, and stilled himself to listen.

“—what with his little fanclub fucking converging on our lobby and still no official statement from your boytoy, the parasocialites are going to start being a real pain in the arse quite quickly.”

Velvette.

“What do you expect me to do about it?” Vox. “He’s happy enough now that he’s got the little whore functionally incapacitated. He’s never been smart enough to consider long-term consequences.” Arackniss heard them shifting around, but he couldn’t tell what they were doing.

“…you think he’s gonna end up dead, don’t you?”

“…I’ve considered the possibility.” Vox’s voice was neutral in a way that Arackniss could only call ‘politic’, concealing everything under a layer of pragmatism. “When Alastor kills Angel, Val will lose his shit, and he doesn’t stand a chance against the Radio Demon.”

“So why are you doing this?” There was a pause, and when Velvette didn’t get an answer, she continued, “You have to see how fucking insane this is. There’s no way you don’t. It’s unnecessary. If the mark is such a big deal, cut him from his contract. VoxTek made him and we can make someone else just as easily.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Vox hesitated, and it sounded like he reconsidered whatever he was going to say. “It’s a little late to change tack now.”

“You boys and your fucking dick measuring contests.”

Arackniss smirked a little, but only a little. Vox seemed so positive that Alastor was going to destroy his little brother, but after that evening…

When he found Valentino’s office, it was empty. Carefully, he let himself out, refastening the vent covering and soundlessly dropping to the ground. It smelled terrible, probably residue of the smoke from those cigarettes Valentino was never seen without, but otherwise it seemed like the office of any other sleazelord. Arackniss knew where he would keep copies of soul contracts (if he had any), but from what he had gathered, the porn overlord was a fucking moron.

The desk, then.

It wasn’t even locked, but the interior of the drawers were so disorganized it was almost a built-in security measure all its own. He found a disturbing number of pictures of his brother, as well as several other performers over a spectrum of different gender presentations, loose receipts that probably meant his books were a disaster, pens that probably didn’t work, toys that he did not touch, and a wide variety of odds and ends, most of which didn’t belong in an office desk.

The top middle drawer, usually reserved for writing implements, was full of loose papers… and a false bottom. Arackniss shifted the papers back and slipped his fingers under the latch, carefully lifting it and retrieving two objects: a photograph, and a contract.

The photograph was much different from all of the others he had found. This one was old, gritty and washed out the way photography had been in the late 70s, and the only two people in it were a far less garishly dressed Valentino and Vox back when his head was a far bulkier shape. Neither of them looked particularly well-off, and the photograph was a selfie that Valentino had clearly taken with his longer arms. It must have been before they were overlords, Arackniss thought, because he didn’t actually hear Vox’s name as anything but a sinner pushing television in Hell until the early 80s.

They both looked happy.

Arackniss slipped the photograph back in place and unfolded the contract, fairly certain he knew what it would be, and he was… half right. It was actually two contracts folded up together, both copies of different transactions.

One, his mission target, was signed by Anthony and authorized to Valentino.

The other was signed by Valentino and authorized to the name ‘Vincent’.

Arackniss frowned, staring at it—did someone actually own Valentino’s soul? And was Vincent…?—but this wasn’t his problem right now, and he fucking hoped it never would be. He folded the second contract back up and slipped it into place, just as the door clicked.

“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath, immediately ducking underneath the desk and slipping the drawer closed from below. The door swung open with a violent bang, and Arackniss heard a storm of manic muttering that sounded like it might have been Spanish as black velvet boots stomped over to the desk.

Valentino rounded the desk and stood in front of it, cursing quietly as he opened his desk drawers and began rooting through them in a way that sounded aimless. Arackniss held his breath, listening for any words he could recognize, but Spanish wasn’t as close to Italian as people who spoke neither one believed, and so he was only able to parse enough to determine that Valentino wasn’t feeling angry. Not exactly, anyway. Bitter? Or… maybe petty would be a better word.

“Perfecto,” Valentino muttered as he found whatever he was looking for. “Let’s see the Radio Demon ignore this.”

He sounded triumphant in his pettiness. That was not good. Arackniss didn’t know what kind of man Alastor was, but he didn’t have to in order to recognize that Alastor had a very short leash that had been frayed over what was likely a lifetime of building insanity and neuroses and was currently even more volatile than his past reputation would suggest. The moment Valentino left the office again, Arackniss slipped the contract into his jacket and jumped back up to the vent, opening it and slipping back in.

He just hoped that, if Valentino was intending to antagonize Alastor somehow, he could get to the hotel first.

•••

“Look, you really don’t need to do this, we’ll be fine.”

“It’s okay, really. Please, just stay here for now, until all of this blows over.”

Blitzø sighed, rubbing his forehead, before he looked back at Millie, Moxxie, and Loona. “What do you think?” he asked them, trying very hard to ignore the pleading look Charlie was giving to all of them.

“I actually think it might be a good idea, sir,” Moxxie said. “If the Vees are actually determined to get rid of us, we shouldn’t make it easy for them to find us.”

“It’ll only be for a bit, right?” Millie added. “Me an’ Moxxie’ll take you up on it at least, Princess.”

Loona shifted. “…I don’t want to go back through Pentagram City right now,” she muttered.

Blitzø held up his hand. “Okay. Okay, fine.” He turned back to Charlie. “Guess we’ll be hanging out for a while. Don’t worry, we’ll do our best not to break anything.”

Charlie shook her head. “I’m not worried about that. Besides, uh, you might have noticed… we aren’t exactly bursting at the seams with guests!” Her voice was bright, but Blitzø knew an emotional coverup when he heard one.

“Well, we’re irredeemable, but we’ll do our best to look like a crowd.”

Charlie took them up to the floor where, apparently, everyone had their rooms. She showed Millie and Moxxie to one (“You’ll be right across the hall from Husk, but I’m not positive he ever spends much time in there, so don’t worry about bothering him.”), Loona to a second (“Niffty is right next to you if you need anything, and just ignore— yeah, that noise right there, it’s apparently nothing to worry about!”), and finally, Blitzø to a third. It was nice enough for a fairly standard room, and Blitzø couldn’t help thinking that even unmodified it was almost as big as his and Loona’s apartment. He took a couple of steps in, looking around as he did so.

He could feel Charlie watching him with eager apprehension. “Well?” she asked finally.

Blitzø turned his head, raising an eyebrow at her. “Well?” he repeated back at her.

“What do you think?”

Tilting his head, Blitzø turned to face her, his hand on his cocked hip. “Why do you care so much what we think?”

Charlie looked like she was at a loss for a moment. “…because… I… why wouldn’t I?”

“Because we’re not your target demographic,” Blitzø said, frowning. “Because you’re letting us crash for free. Because we don’t write for some fucking travel magazine or something. Take your pick.”

“Oh.” Charlie shifted uncomfortably. “…well… to tell you the truth, you’re the first people from any other Ring who’s seen the hotel,” she said. “I know news circulated about it, and I know it was…”

She seemed to be struggling with phrasing, so Blitzø supplied, “A laughingstock?”

“…yeah,” Charlie said on a sigh. “And you— I mean, you know, you own a business, and you’re…”

“…the lowest form of Hell society?” Blitzø asked with a sarcastic smile.

Charlie frowned at him. “I didn’t say that, stop finishing my sentences in the rudest way possible.”

Blitzø shrugged at her. “No, you’re right. An imp owning a business of any kind is… weird, I guess. But I figured, fuck it, if my old man could run a circus, I could run a tiny assassination agency.”

She nodded. “Did people tell you it was… a dumb idea?”

“Among other things.” Blitzø tilted his head at her, just a little. “I’m not sure what, exactly, it is you wanna hear out of me.”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said, sounding exasperated with the universe as a whole. “That it… that it’s a nice hotel, I guess. That it’s not a waste of time. That it’s not… stupid.”

Blitzø smirked. “But it is,” he said. Charlie blinked, clearly surprised that he would say that to her face, so he took advantage of her silence to continue. “Of course it’s stupid. You looked at a long-standing murder ritual that the angels clearly fucking love, and decided that the answer was to build a voluntary rehab center for the worst parts of humanity to do the work on their souls that they couldn’t be bothered to do while alive on the off chance that maybe, somehow, that would get them into Heaven.”

Charlie’s shoulders sagged slightly. “It sounds awful when you put it that way.”

“But that’s what it is,” Blitzø countered. “And you knew it was stupid when you first started. I know you did, you’re not an idiot. But you did it anyway. Why?”

“Because…” Charlie threw her hands out. “I don’t know, because it was important to me?”

“Right.” Blitzø smiled at her, just a little, and Charlie lowered her hands to look at him again. “Everybody does stupid shit because the reasons are important to them. You just happened to have the drive to do something huge and stupid for a cause that you don’t even have any proof works. And y’know, good for you, most people would look at this plan of yours, laugh at it, and give it up. But you didn’t, and because you didn’t, you stopped an extermination, which has never happened before.”

Charlie’s expression had been softening as he spoke, and at that, she smiled. “…yeah. Yeah, we did, didn’t we?”

He snorted under his breath, smirking. “So, there you go. So what if it’s stupid. So what if the rest of Hell thinks you’re… I dunno, naive or childish or out of touch for doing it. Why should you give a fuck what they think? Even if redemption isn’t a thing, at least part of your hotel works. You wanted to bring people together, and you did. You wanted to protect people from the extermination, and you did. What the fuck have your naysayers done except bitch about other people’s ideas? Mammon’s never had a single idea that wasn’t utter fucking trash, and he’s had success with almost every single one of them.”

Charlie actually giggled, folding her arms. “I didn’t know you were a motivational speaker.”

“What? Oh, fuck that,” Blitzø said with a laugh. “I’m the absolute picture of demotivation. But you’re pretty okay, comparatively, and I’d rather watch them fume at your success than contribute to your failure because the first one is funnier.”

He didn’t like the way her lip quirked into an amused smirk. “Uh-huh. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you were being nice to me.”

“Stop that,” Blitzø said, pointing at her. “Or I will start being rude to you again.”

She shrugged, clasping her hands behind her back. “I live in a building with the Radio Demon, I’m not worried about you.”

He narrowed his eyes, dropping his hand to hang at his side. “…if I wasn’t pretty sure your girlfriend is faster than me, I’d call you a bitch.” Her laugh was startled and maybe a little scandalized, but it was a laugh. He sighed. “Well, at least you’re getting into the ‘I don’t give a fuck’ groove easily enough.”

“Oi! Blitzø!” a voice called from somewhere else in the hotel. That Cherri Bomb chick, if he wasn’t mistaken. “Get your ass down here!”

Blitzø groaned, letting his head fall backwards “I should ask Millie if this is what being married feels like,” he muttered before waving his hand at Charlie a little as he passed her. “It’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve seen in Hell, and I grew up in Greed. Do with that what you will.”

Charlie didn’t follow immediately, and Blitzø didn’t wait for her, heading back down the hallway and vaulting over the balcony railing down to the ground floor. “You bellowed?” he asked as he approached Cherri Bomb, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, bitch, I got something for you,” she answered with a sharp grin. It was only then that he realized she wasn’t alone; there was a very small sinner with her, a guy who seemed to be some kinda gray spider-like… something. He was crouching on the arm of the couch, which barely put him at Blitzø’s eye level, and he was giving him a look that was obviously daring him to be sarcastic.

Blitzø immediately had six comments he could make. Five of them were funny and one of them wouldn’t end with him getting shot, so he went with that one, because it was the middle of the night and his reflexes weren’t quite up to ‘avoiding death at the hands of an unknown sinner’ at the moment. “Your contact?” he asked Cherri Bomb.

“Arackniss,” she said. “And this is Blitzø.”

“Here,” the sinner said in lieu of any greeting, offering a folded contract out to Blitzø. “Don’t fuckin’ lose it, just get him outta this and do it fast.”

His accent sounds a lot like— “Ohhh,” Blitzø said as he took the contract, his eyes wide with understanding. “Yeah, I got you.”

Arackniss didn’t ask what his revelation was, and it really looked like he didn’t care. “Is Alastor here?”

Blitzø and Cherri Bomb exchanged looks. “…uh, maybe?” Blitzø asked.

“Don’t look at me,” Cherri Bomb said immediately, holding her hands up. “Bitch made me walk back on my own, I don’t have a clue where he went.”

“Keep an eye on him, as much as you can,” Arackniss said. “That Valentino bastard’s apparently planning something. He ain’t smart, but you don’t gotta be smart to be effective.”

Cherri Bomb sighed. “I’ll tell Niffty—”

“Tell me what?”

The explosive sinner jumped a little. “Shit, Niffty, where did you come from?!”

“Japan,” Niffty said with a wide grin, staring up at Cherri Bomb. “You’ll tell me what?”

“Arackniss here says someone needs to keep an eye on Alastor,” Cherri Bomb said.

Niffty tilted her head, then looked up at where Arackniss was still crouched on the arm of the couch. Her eye went incredibly wide, and Blitzø could have sworn it started glittering. “Ohhhh, you’re a bad boy…!”

Arackniss frowned at her, leaning back just a little. “…the fuck…?”

“Noooo,” Cherri Bomb said, reaching down to take Niffty by the shoulders and start ushering her out of the room. “No bad boys for you tonight. You go keep an eye on Radiohead and make sure he stays put, okay?”

“Okay~” Niffty said in a somewhat dreamy voice, still looking back at Arackniss as she was pushed several feet. She then giggled, scampering off to go find Alastor.

“Right,” Blitzø said. “Before this gets weirder, I’m gonna get going with this. He… might still be awake,” he said to himself, before shrugging. “Welp, he’s about to be.”

He was halfway to the door when he heard a voice. “Blitzø. Hold on.” He stopped and turned just as Vaggie approached him. “I’m coming with you.”

Blitzø frowned at her. “What— why? I can handle this, I’ve been there like a thousand times at this point.”

“You’re still a target for the Vees,” Vaggie said, crossing her arms as she stared down at him. “And, besides, I want to make sure you get there with the contract and get back with the info.”

Blitzø smirked. “What, you don’t trust me?”

“I’d say not as far as I can throw you, but you’re small.” As Blitzø’s expression turned into a frown, it was Vaggie’s turn to smirk. “You don’t get a choice, pendejo. Sorry ‘bout it.”

“Oh, no you are not.” Blitzø glared at her before huffing. “Fine. But I’m doing the talking when we get there.”

“Fine with me. So, you said you’re going to talk to Prince Stolas?”

“Yep,” Blitzø said, turning towards the doors. “This is gonna be awkward. So just remember that you decided to tag along,” he added, heading outside before she could respond.

•••

Normally, Alastor was excruciatingly patient. He almost never slept, he enjoyed watching plans unfold slowly over a long period of time, many of his pastimes were things that couldn’t be done quickly… even in life, Alastor had never really been one to be impatient.

That, he had decided, was one of the effects of having Angel Dust so present in his life now: he had only been back in the hotel for a few hours, and he was already getting agitated at the lack of news from Arackniss. He had fixed his desk and picked up its scattered contents—he certainly was throwing things quite a bit recently! How uncharacteristic of him!—in a matter of half an hour, which had left him with nothing else to do but wait. Normally, he would read, or listen to music, or even go out and eviscerate some unfortunate who decided to aggravate him in one way or another, but all he was doing was just… sitting.

Upon deep reflection of the past few days, Alastor supposed he felt responsible for what had happened. It wasn’t that he believed the Vees were holding Angel hostage now because he had neglected to break the bond; no, he was certain Vox had something else up his precisely starched and pressed little sleeve, and so too was he certain that Angel would be in a similar predicament to his current situation regardless of Alastor’s own actions. But perhaps, had he not left Rosie’s so rashly…

Alastor sighed and rubbed his forehead, his smile straining at the corners. There was little point in dwelling, and he knew that, but he couldn’t help the alien feeling that was broiling up in his gut and gnawing at him with a hot ferocity so unlike the hunger that perpetually clawed at his insides.

Am I feeling guilty?

But that was ludicrous. Alastor had felt regret in his time, certainly, but guilt? No. Guilt implied shame. Guilt implied his actions had been such grievous mistakes that he felt it necessary to assume fault for someone else’s misfortune. Alastor didn’t feel guilt, so why would this be different?

“Do you love him?”

The memory of the question made him twitch. In truth—and this was something he hadn’t wanted to divulge to anyone, let alone Arackniss—he wasn’t at all certain what he felt about Angel Dust. Over the past month, he hadn’t allowed himself to dwell on anything except the fact that they needed to bond, and the fact that he had been granted the opportunity to satisfy a number of intellectual curiosities that, it turned out, hadn’t been wholly unpleasant.

Don’t talk yourself in circles. You liked it.

The thought of touching anyone else still stirred even less than disinterest in him, but Angel’s presence was oddly soothing, in many ways. It was surprising, because Angel himself was so fucking grating when he wanted to be, and while he hadn’t had any interest in repeating their intercourse as yet, he found it pleasant when Angel touched his hand or leaned on his arm.

So what did he feel, when it came to Angel Dust? He liked him, certainly, which had come as quite the surprise. Upon their first meeting, Alastor had written Angel off; a porn star (boring) who worked for VoxTek (irritating) and kept propositioning him (absolutely not) was definitely not his sort of person, he thought, and he had resolved to be cordial and little else. He couldn’t even put his finger on when it was that he started liking the little spider, mostly because he couldn’t remember a time he had ever actually found his attitude that off-putting. Familiar, perhaps, but… well, he couldn’t begin to imagine why.

He found Angel Dust to be more than just likeable, of course. For example, he was infinitely aggravating: while he did understand a firm ‘no’ when he heard one, anything less than that seemed to be more of a challenge than an instruction or a warning to be heeded. He was also supremely confounding, and Alastor still couldn’t understand why Angel did half of the things that he did. He didn’t think Angel understood why he did them.

Alastor wasn’t a stranger to impulse, of course, and he had been known to act rashly at times. Angel, however, seemed predisposed to simply follow whatever whim made its way into his fluffy little head, which made him unpredictable and entirely illogical. He had never met anyone who answered the question ‘why are you doing that’ with ‘I dunno’ with such frequency, and never seemed bothered that he rarely knew why he did the things he did. Even Niffty tended to give a reason, even if that reason was out of left field.

But all of that just made Alastor wonder why he had even bothered. Normally, someone frustrating and confounding would be someone he would strive to avoid whenever possible, but Angel… Alastor laughed under his breath, putting his face in one hand. His first thought had been the mark again, but that didn’t explain why he had been speaking to Angel with increased frequency for several weeks before the damn kitchen incident. The mark, completely dormant at the time, had no hand in that, and Alastor wouldn’t allow fate to be the reason for his change of perspective.

No. That had been his own doing… and, in all likelihood, Angel Dust’s. What the spider had done, Alastor couldn’t begin to guess, but he did know that it wasn’t intentional. If it was, it never would have worked.

A soft tap against the glass of his only window startled him, and Alastor got to his feet, crossing to it and unlocking it. He wasn’t sure if he expected Arackniss or not, but when he opened it, there was no one there, simply a cassette lying on his windowsill. Raising an eyebrow, Alastor delicately lifted it between two claws, turning it back and forth curiously; it was unlabeled, but it didn’t appear to be… cursed, or anything of the sort. Just an audio cassette.

Shutting his window again, Alastor went to his desk and conjured up a cassette player, which landed on the wood with a hollow plastic clatter. Magnetic tape wasn’t the worst evolution in audio technology, he supposed, and it was absolutely easier to record on than wax cylinders, so it certainly had its place in the oeuvre of music as a whole.

Alastor slipped the cassette into the player and snapped it shut. It was already rewound, so he hit play, thumbing the volume control as it started up.

“Alright, baby, now come show me how much you missed me.”

Instantly, Alastor’s lip curled in distaste. Valentino? Why the fuck did he have a cassette recording of Valentino? He had half a mind to stop it immediately, but the next voice stilled him.

“Anythin’ for you, Daddy.”

“Angel,” Alastor muttered, his eyes now locked on the player in his hand. He could hear sounds that he wasn’t able to parse, shifting fabric and soft thumps, but it was followed by a sound he was growing to know alarmingly well: the wet, soft noise that two pairs of lips made when they met and then separated.

“You’ve been a very bad boy, Angel,” Valentino purred.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I wanna be a good boy. I’ll do anythin’ to make it up to you.”

“Anything?”

“Anythin’ at all.”

Alastor clenched his fist around the player as he heard sounds that he knew from the films of Angel’s he had seen, wet smacking and open-mouthed exhaling and the occasional choked gag, all underscored by Valentino’s satisfied, low groaning. Alastor hesitated, then pressed fast forward. When he hit play again, he heard the repetitive smack of skin colliding with skin, the occasional shift of furniture against a tile floor, and Angel’s voice, panting and crying out in that horrifically fake performance voice that sounded nothing, nothing, like Angel did when he was actually enjoying himself.

“Oh, fuck, yeah, Val, come on, Daddy, do it, harder, please Val, god, please, fuck m—!”

The cassette player cut off with a high screech as Alastor crushed it in his fist, and the tape along with it. The plastic and metal mechanisms fell to the floor, where they began smoldering, then burst into flickering green flame.

Perhaps he was overdue for a little bout of rash behavior.

•••

“Make me a drink.”

“You’re pleasant today.”

“Fuck you,” Cherri said, turning away on the bar stool and looking out over the lobby. She could practically hear Husk roll his eyes behind her, but the clatter of bottles and ice followed as he obliged her demand anyway. Cherri bit down on the side of her tongue, resisting the urge to turn around.

“How long d’you think it’ll take?” Husk asked.

Cherri couldn’t tell if he was actually interested. “Blitzø?” she asked. “Who fuckin’ knows. I don’t know anything about the Goetia or how long they take to do anything.”

“Can’t believe we’re dragging Hellborn nobility into this.”

“Hmn.” Husk set a glass down at her elbow, and Cherri turned just enough to see that he had his hand over it, preventing her from taking it. She narrowed her eye and turned further, glaring at him. “What?”

“Everyone is already on edge,” Husk said. “You don’t have to make things worse.”

“Oh, fuck off, Husk,” Cherri snapped, turning around fully and slamming one fist on the bar top. He didn’t even flinch. “You were the one who called me six fucking times in a half hour to get dirt on Angie months after basically telling me you never wanted to see me again.”

Husk’s expression shifted, just a little. “That wasn’t what I said.”

“It was clearly what you meant.”

He narrowed his own eyes at her. “Don’t tell me what my own goddamn words meant, Cherri. You’re not a mind reader. And you were the one who decided to leave the hotel.”

“You expected me to stay after that?” Cherri asked, incredulous. “After we— after it was— you were the one who said to act like it didn’t happen!”

Husk actually rolled his eyes. “Not this shit again,” he muttered.

Cherri tapped the countertop. “You brought it up, buddy,” she said. “You said that you wanted to just ignore it. You said you didn’t want it. You said you had absolutely zero interest in me and you never would.”

“Do you have to be so fucking unreasonable about everything?” Husk asked. “You were the one who was furious when it happened. And then you were furious when it didn’t lead to anything. Is there anything in this goddamn miserable existence that doesn’t make you mad?”

“You didn’t!” Cherri said, gesturing at him. “At least, not until you became such an asshole about… it! I can handle rejection and I don’t give a shit about soul marks or what the fuck ever, but there’s a big difference between you not being interested and you acting like I’m beneath you!”

Husk blinked. “…what?”

“I get it, I’m not good enough for you,” Cherri snapped. “You made that very clear. But you don’t get to dictate how I react.”

“…the fuck are you talking about?” Husk asked, his eyes narrowing again. “You didn’t want to be, what was the phrase, stuck with a drunken, washed-up, failed children’s entertainer?”

“You called me a bitch!”

“You are a bitch!”

“You’re a bitch!”

“Um…”

Cherri realized that she was on her feet, and both she and Husk were leaning forward on the bar top as they shouted at each other (or as close to shouting as Husk ever got). They both snapped their heads to the side and saw Niffty looking up at them, blinking her single wide and curious eye.

Cherri threw herself back onto her stool with a huff while Husk turned away. “What is it, Niff?” he asked, his voice infuriatingly controlled again.

“It, um. Cherri told me to look after Alastor.”

Cherri frowned at her. “Yeah. So why are you here?”

Niffty gestured helplessly. “Well… I can’t,” she said. “Alastor’s gone.”

•••

[novelcain]

Please read 🙏

So. I mentioned in the tags of one of my first posts back that I had to announce a few things that'd probably lose me some followers, but like I don't blame anyone if you do skedaddle because I know most of you are here for the monkie (totally understandable tho)

That being said I am no longer hyperfixated on jttw/Sun Wukong and that likely won't happen again for a while cause main the thing that caused me to clock out for so long kinda left a bad taste in my brain. However I will eventually come back to it. I can guarantee that. It just won't be for a hot minute (maybe who knows I can't control my brain lol)

As for the 10 billion asks I have in my inbox rn I'll be taking screen shots of the ones that have to do with monkie and such and putting them in a folder so that when I DO get back into jttw I'll just immediately start with those. So yeah if you sent me a really long ask FEAR NOT!😃 for I refuse to get rid of any of them 🥰

With that information tho, I never really intended for this to be just a monkie blog that's just what my hyperfixation had been on since I started. But I also tried to force that hyperfixation to stay way longer than I should have so that I could keep making content that my followers would like which is a part of the reason why I needed a break for so long. I wore myself out, and I needed to convince myself that it was okay for me to make content that makes me happy too. 😌

Tho unfortunately that does mean all my current projects will be on hold and I'll be updating the titles on ao3 soon to On Hiatus. 😔

I ofc will still gladly interact with/absorb any art or writings inspired by or dedicated to my works even if they aren't something I'm currently fixated on because effort deserves recognition and I love seeing ya'lls stuff more than anything. 🥰 Same goes for any submissions with art or edits/videos.

Also I did finish my Triad AU Sun Wukong character sheet like... forever go and just forgot to post it. 😬 (I KNOW I'M SORRY! 😭) SO I'll be posting that soon once I'm done moving everything around and making things more manageable and ✨️aesthetic✨️ on the blog.

Tho that kinda brings me to the next announcement I'll be merging my art blog and my spam blog onto this blog (so many blogs😫) cause honestly 4 blogs is just too much and I just wanna vibe 😅🤚 lol

The last announcement is that once I'm done rearranging everything I'll be going through all my mentions that I've missed and checking out what you guys made while I was gone cause I heard from a few people that there's quite a bit 😊 *much excitement* (on god I need an emoji that looks like it's vibrating because I need visual representation of how I feel like imma explode sometimes)

[salvy-deldroid]

Hi there! I am pretty new to this site so I dunno if I'm doing this currently or not. I've read some of your works on Wattpad and am a bit familiar with your writing. Can you write me a few fix headcannons for an ABO creepypasta idea? Alpha Jeff the killer and his Fem omega darling in the classic mansion AU? Darling isnt much of a combat and kill person, however due to being a product of two omega parents, shee does have a mutation in her genes leading to extra powerful pheromones on will. The pheromones can help assert her will on anyone, much like midnight's quirk in MHA. Person feels sleepy and couldn't process shit apart from what they're being told, and then end up complying to it. Slenderman uses it to it's full extent, sending the darling out in recruiting missions and using her to make sealed lips speak. I would love headcannons on how they met and how Jeff sees her! You can make it a bit of dark yandere! I don't have much preferences on clothing but I'll like it if darling's dressed in a beautiful dress with a half faced kitsune mask, it adds to her innocently mysterious aesthetic! It's okay if you can't tho, lots of love <333

Hi there Hon!! That's one specific request XD but it makes things easier imo. I really love the described environment (and the ABO is just the cherry topping the cake!) and am excited to see how this is gonna turn out to be!!! 

So let's start! I'll make it in headcanon format! 

Being a child born of an affair between two omegas didn't make your life any easier. However, it did make it a hell lot of interesting and adventurous. A teeny tiny Lil mutation in your DNA had granted you with something akin to a quirk, and you're grateful for it. The mutation causes you to secrete a special type of pheromone (that too on will, talk about winning the jackpot), which makes it easier for you to control and brainwash someone. Once inhaled, their brain fogs up and the person is temporarily moved to a little space kind of mindset, the only thing they're able to fully register being you and your demands. And hence, you could ask them or command them to do anything and they'll happily oblige. The effect of the pheromones stay as long as they're inhaling it, and a few differences in dosage can make large differences.

When it comes to recruiting, your pheromones are just used as a tranquiliser. You tell the now fogged up creep about the mansion, the advantages and the reasons why they should come with you. And in most cases, they agree and follow you like a lost puppy. In a rare few cases where they refuse, you have to command them to yield, because if you come back empty handed Slender would personally make sure you're punished accordingly.

And that's how you and the asshole of the household first met, on yet another one of your recruition missions. The fairly new creepypasta had been going on a bloody rampage each week, his kill streak enough to catch Slenderman's attention. And off you were dispatched, just 3 weeks after his debut, to find and recruit him.

Oh, it was bloody hell finding that crusty sewer rat. It took you a total of 4 days just tracking his position down. However, you finally found him lurking near the woods the mansion was in, a pretty convenient place. Following your usual set of actions, you start secreting the pheromones before approaching.

For Jeffrey however, the first time seeing you was something akin to witnessing an angel on earth. The previous week's had been rough, the police hot on his trail, laying low during the day and murdering in the night, along with the scarcity of food and water due to his current homelessness. In this subsistence crisis of a life, that beautiful aroma coming from the woods surely caught him off guard. His brain fogged up, all the reasonable thoughts and warning bells muffled as his only concern became to try and find the source of such heavenly smell. 

And as you waltzed out of the woods, wearing that beautifully crafted dress and the intricate kitsune mask hiding the upper half of your face, he was awestruck. He should've ran away, he should've attack and kill you, He should've demanded to know how you found him and what you wanted. But he didn't- he couldn't. At that moment, the only thing that existent to him was you, your offer about joining this mansion family shit where he would be kept safe and provided for and whatever, the beautiful scent, and this dark urge to own you. Something so fucking beautiful needed protection from all the horrors of the world. Something so soft needed someone to hold her close and keep her safe and secure. Something so mystical needed to be looked away and provided for.

You needed him and his protection, and he would gladly give it to you. 

He had absolutely no qualms about the mansion at all, ready to follow you to the depths of hell if it meant being in your mystic presence. He melted at the sight of you, making things times easier. He followed you back to the mansion, up the stairs and to Slenderman's office without any objections, not caring about neither the fact that there were other people looking at him with either curiosity or distaste, nor the giant faceless person in front of him going on and on about having to stamp some pact to join them and becoming a part of the pack completely. All he cared about the soft gaze on your face and the supportive, understanding smile on your soft lips. 

Finally, after being taken to his assigned room, did the fog clear after you closed the door and left. The reality crashed in on him, as he slid down into the floor questioning what, how and why.

This was only the start of the long spiral down the obsession lane for him. Those secret glances at you at the dining table would soon become hard glares at the other Alpha's you'd interact with. Before long he'd start tailing you during your missions, observing each and every interaction of yours. Soon small articles started going missing, nothing too much at first. Just a misplaced bracelet, lost earrings and forgotten scrunchies. Soon however, those little accesories turned into missing panties, lost bras and what not.

While this was going on behind the scenes, on the front stage Jeffrey had already started to get himself acquainted with you. Something out of your reach? Lemme geddit for ya shortie. Why so lonely? You can always play video games with me. He was everywhere, keeping an eye on you or straight up being the one hogging your attention. Oh, he just loved how your oblivious little self would squirm around, the queasiness of being watched. Those frightened little glaces you'd give while walking down the woods alone, your subconscious nagging at you about the presence of a viable alpha. Your jumpiness just added fuel to the fire, firming his belief that you needed someone to take care of you. You need him to take care of you.

A year or two passed by, the alpha within him getting more impatient as you went over to recruit more and more creeps. The thought that everyone here had smelt that sweet aroma of yours atleast once made his blood boil. He would need to act out soon, now that you had a fair amount of viable mates around you.

Soon, the time came. You had started to nest, getting ready for your bi monthly heats. Pillows, shirts and blankets thrown down into your little safe corner and molded into your fortress of fluff, your beautiful nest. This, coupled with your heat suppressants, would be enough for yet another heat without any trouble.

And as on que, our beloved yandere alpha started to put his plans to action. The minty suppressants in the bottle were replaced with mint candies, nothing too much for your oblivious self to notice. Sweet little omegas like you shouldn't use suppressants in that much amount, it would be bad for you. Soon little break in and sneaks into your room started to occur, all your stuff apart from your nest being lightly scented. Not enough for you to notice but prevalent enough for your hindbrain to go crazy. Most of the work had been done, now it's just about time….

Finally, the fateful day of your heart striked. Cramps times worse than what you've experienced in the last couple of years, your foggy brain not being coherent enough. The burning sensation throughout your entire body, you felt like crying. You had forgotten how painful heats can be. This was just one of the worse ones right? 

However, your world came crashing down as you opened your door, entering your room. The jar open door forgotten, all your attention got hogged by what has happened to your little den. 

The entire place just reeked of an alpha, from your bedding to your dresser and wardrobe. Taking low, dreadful steps into your defiled safe space, you should've felt bile rise up your throat. But your heart addled brain just added fuel to the fire, your subconscious screaming at you to go into your nest and wait for alpha instead of investigating. Taking slow, dreadful steps towards your nest, you held your breath in hoping for it all to be a dream 

But it wasn't. The scent of the foreign alpha was the most dense over your best, soon you found out why. Shirts, blankets and articles from your loved ones had been thrown out and replaced, as white hoodies, jackets, black shirts and unknown pillows and comforters lay in their place. All your stuffed toys now were aggressively scented and accompanied by larger toys you didn't recognise. Your nest, the safest place for an omega, had been thoroughly scented and 'perfected' by someone.

Your nest- your den had been marked by an Alpha. And as the realization dawned, you were broken out of your reverie by the sound of your door closing and locking. Snapping around, your eyes met with the figure of him, putting all the pieces together. You started backing away as he turned to meet you, the sickening smile on his face.

He'll make sure it would be a night you'll never forget. 

—------------------------------

Hope this is what you wanted! Sorry if I made any mistakes 😅

[magnolia-miraculous]

A. Agreste (aka Chat Noir) Headcanons <3

Kind of a lot tbh—just headcanons that I like to apply in my AUs when they don’t clash with their particular premises. It’s just a hot mess under the cut yeah? Cool.

He was actually in ballet classes as a kid—the same ones as Chloé.

What’s funny is that Marinette was there too. However, boys and girls were kept separate and so he only really knew Chloé.

He only found out when he was going through his closet and found a shoe box with his old shoes and a bunch of class photos; he noticed Marinette in the corner of one.

He’s still really flexible though.

He actually used to go to see a live rendition of The Nutcracker each Christmas.

He wanted to play the Rat King rlly badly.

He’s got a killer steady hand that makes for rlly good cursive.

He has the neatest handwriting in the class, and takes rlly good notes too—particularly in physics.

He’s also got terrible sense in fashion. He knows good stuff when he sees it, but doesn’t know bad stuff is bad at all.

He really likes milk; in some horrible twist of fate, he’s also lactose intolerant.

He’s totally touch starved and rlly touchy feely w/ certain people.

He refuses to kill bugs. He once screamed and lifted Alya up off her feet for trying to squash a spider in the middle of science class.

He put it in a cup before disappearing for a good five minutes so he could walk all the way over to the park to release it where it would be safe.

He’s English and French.

He really likes gelato—specifically passionfruit; peach is a close second tho.

He knows how to run in heels; has a subtly burning hatred for them.

He really likes light up sneakers though and always wanted a pair.

He knows Morse code.

Rlly ticklish.

Sneezes super loudly.

Really crappy immune system thanks to never being allowed outside his castle walls; he got sick like three times within the first two months of school.

He really likes Piano Man by Billy Joel and can sing and play the whole thing.

Honestly his music taste consists of five types of music: Heavy/classic rock, classical/classical-style music (In The Hall of The Mountain King slaps ok), Billy Joel, chill-somber-sad-theatric-feels-y, and whatever the heck that migraine-inducing bs he’s got stashed in the back is.

His Spotify is a hot mess tbch; lots of spontaneous playlists depending on how he felt at the moment. The titles are usually smth along the lines of “ifykyk”, “vibe”, or “yeah”; either that or just the playlist #.

He has like five that are nice enough to send ppl, and those are the only ones he’s listened to more than twice. They’re called “Classical Vibes”, “Cheese Demon”, “Billy Joel Aesthetic”, “sad”, and “Spontaneous 2am Dance Party OST”.

He’ll literally save recommended playlists and never listen to them.

He never bothers to clean it up though, and has 600+ playlists sitting around.

Also he used to drink a ton of pediasures as a kid and his father doesn’t let him drink them anymore bc he’s not a little kid anymore obviously but he would kill for a muscle milk.

He’ll throw up if he ever tries to eat kale again; it’s a trauma response ok.

Emotion smart but social dumb.

Honestly kinda yandere ngl.

I mean have you seen this man?? Cheez-its man, chill.

He resists when in civilian form but once he’s transformed it’s Full Gremlin Mode activated.

He’s not good at drawing but he does try; he does a lot of blob style digital and is slowly getting better.

He overcomes his feelings of being stuck and not knowing what to do in life as seen in wish maker when he spends time with the Dupain-Chengs and realizes that that is what he wants. He then dreams of working in the bakery one day.

Cannot for the life of him resist eating the batter, ok. He needs it. He’s gonna get heckin’ salmonella one of these days and it’s going to have been worth it.

He gets really good at frosting “flower” cupcakes. He switches to succulents pretty easily after learning how to airbrush. They’re adorable.

Also really good at modeling lil fondant animals and things.

He’s developed separation anxiety surrounding both ladybug and Marinette—he rlly just wants to have both of them in one place at once and he’s rlly sad that it somehow never seems to happen; he’s rlly happy post-reveal.

He rlly loves babysitting; like honestly he loves kids, so so so much; if he weren’t thinking of taking over the bakery (and/or tied down as Chat Noir), he’d probably become a pediatric nurse or a daycare attendant or smth bc 💞💞💞

He’ll leave the press to Ladybug so he can talk w/ the akuma victims and make sure they’re okay.

He’ll escape out his window and climb to high places when stressed to pace.

Once lost a Chat Noir look alike contest.

Has referred to his civilian self as, and I quote, a “dipshit boytoy” whilst en costume.

He became a total night owl thanks to his miraculous but he’s just rlly good at pretending to not be tired.

He’s more cat than he’d like to admit:

He’ll react to catnip when transformed;

He’ll also chase laser pointers;

He subconsciously stares at birds;

Once a bird got stuck in the classroom and everyone was freaking out trying to catch it in a wire trash bin and stuff but it kept evading them so Adrien looked up and pulled out his music, watched it for a second, and then caught it by the feet mid-flight;

He brought it closer to himself and calmed it down as best he could, petting it as he walked over to the window to let it out;

Everyone was flabbergasted but no one said anything as he went back to working and by the time anyone could speak it was kinda late for questions;

He gets the zoomies at the most inconvenient times;

He’s made incredibly uneasy by dogs despite actually being more of a dog person.

Also more destruction powers seeping in alongside the cat attributes:

When he’s is in a funk, there’s crappy cell service, lights flicker, machines go haywire and burn out;

If he’s REALLY upset, drinking glasses and crystal can spontaneously combust;

His powers trickle over into when he’s a civilian;

He just keeps getting more and more frustrated with his computer as it begins to function less and less and keeps giving increasingly worse error codes;

He’s in a funk for the first half the day at school and for some reason the wifi is down;

His mood is lifted after a good lunch break and all of a sudden the computers are working super fast;

Though it frustrates him at first, Adrien learns to hone his powers and either repress or, if needed, direct them.

That’s all I have for now! Feel free to adopt/modify any of these as you please :)

[skeletinmoss]

Raven poetry au

The most famous Raven's voices

Reader, Murderer and Villain

Virgil is famous on YouTube for his voice acting. He reads conspiracy theories and horror stories with voices representing the characters. After moving in with Roman he decided to let his fans choose their next stories, that's how he started to also voice fanfictions

Villain is his deepest public voice (not the deepest he can go tho). People react really strongly to it. Some hate it at first but overall think it's hot. Can leave you tongue-tied

Murderer is not quite as deep and smooth as the Villain a little more hoarsely, inspired by old school vampires but not as comedically over the top. Fans pick up on it, so it can ruin story plot if he's not careful

Reader is not that different from Virgil's normal voice. A little bit lower, a little bit smoother. Sounds a lot like radio host. Someone says it's mysterious and really gives that aesthetic to all the stories

[screwhope]

@freezegirl : a question for the lovely writer behind this blog: what's your favorite emma swan look and why? <3

omg. loaded question. i can't just pick one. the costume design for the whole show is crazy good. there are so many. this is gonna involve a lot of pictures.

so , fundamentally , i always picture emma in her red leather jacket. i think it's fundamental and sentimental to her. i'm glad they gave it an origin story. i personally didn't like them giving her like 20 different leather jackets in season 1 specifically but i understand wanting her to look different. but then again she's supposed to be living out of like 2 boxes. it would make sense for her to have 1 or 2 jackets.

i'm a sucker for the pilot 'bait' dress. i think it really shows off like ... her using her assets for her job and being confident in that. she never wears dresses like the rest of the show (aside from like ballgowns and that time she had to dress up in fairytale clothes) and i understand she's not like comfortable in them nor does she like dressing up, but i do think it really flatters her and she found a niche that really worked for her. luring people in to dates and booting their cars? a+

speaking of dresses tho. the camelot arc is so aesthetically pleasing. i dont remember a whole lot of the plotline, but ?? pretty.

personally , i'm a real big fan of when emma's arms are out. i think it's such a good reminder that she is a tough bitch who has had to take care of herself her whole life. she's not the dainty princess. she actively works out and can do 50 pullups. mostly it just shows how low effort she is. like she's not going all out. she's comfy. it's also just ,,, so gay.

speaking of 'emma looks like a badass' looks , i very much loved her enchanted forest pants look. some people hate it but she looks like a ... hot knight rogue u know. like hide your princesses. she's dressed like flynn rider and thats hot.

speaking of hot EF emma -- this photoshoot was purely promotional and im not sure it was used anywhere but in magazines. but warrior emma ??? MMMM

basically her whole wardrobe from 3.12. you can tell regina made these in her little 'au where emma is inexplicably rich enough to afford a nice apartment in manhattan with henry and doesnt wear jeans and a tank all the time.' like these outfits scream regina. love that. bitch has style and knows what would suit her.

i also think her ballgowns were always really nice !! like !! ouat never slept on elegance.

her winter outfits were also really cute and cozy.

and then finally , the bar wench outfit. i just ,,, muah.

honorable mentions !

SIDE TANGENT -- OUTFITS I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE !!

[lanatusnebula]

Megaman Ships

Don't read this if you're expecting me to mention Classic or Starforce at all.

My ships... I have art stashed but it's really weird. The environment of the internet has shifted drastically over the years, and I think some people take things too seriously. But... I ship things. I'm not trying to make a big deal about it, just want to gush about the stuff I like. :) (and don't like)

The X series

I really love the X series to bits! I actually don't ship any of the characters here. I think they're all precious in their own way, though. X and Zero, as a kid, I never really shipped.

But I guess things change over time.

Some people make some wondrous content showing how close the two could actually be. It's endearing...

I don't like Iris's writing or how some people insist she's The One To Ship With Zero. Even if it's suggested like... in minute ways, I just... dunno. It feels like the devs wanted people to ship X and Zero but it was too GAY so they made a female X and said "have at it." Which... is so weird? Everything Zero could've liked about Iris, we see X exhibit those exact traits, AND MORE. It could be the "Zero just might be a heterosexual so he isn't into X", but I mean, if Dmmd taught me anything, it's that seeking out female versions of the guy you're totally not into doesn't work out.

Alia is a cool character! Reducing her to simply X's flat and 2D love interest was... depressing. I loved how she had a kill streak in x6! It made her super interesting. Idk what happened in... was it x8? Like, get that game away from me.

Axl is a cutie pie but he's more husbando material than he is shipping material for me. He just wants to sit at the cool kid's table and managed to nab a seat...

I dunno.

Layer is hot tho ha

aha

haha

-

The Zero series

I lost my fucking mind with this series. I went from "I don't ship robots in this cool game" to just mix and matching everyone in every which-way.

Some weirdo freaks got me into shipping Omega Zero with Copy X. Do not ask how that is logical or what could possibly be their dynamic. I just like the aesthetic. It makes no sense. They didn't coexist in the same room. Ever.

Ciel x Fefnir is like my guilty ship. Most of my AUs seem to naturally form some sort of organic bond between them subconsciously. Fefnir, though a hot head, seems like the kind of guy who's a good sport. I like the idea of little ol' Ciel crushing on the football player lookin guy, and he thinks that she's adorable in her own right. You know - X's whole inherent love of humans or whatever I probably made up. That's my justification.

I obviously ship Harpuia and Zero.

Where some people find cyberelf X and Zero to be top shelf, I raise the offer "yes but he can actually touch Harpuia without absorbing him like every other cyberelf". (I will admit I love shipping Cyberelf X with Zero in that very strange maternal-esque "I will embrace your corpse so that you may rest forever" edgelord shit. I snort it daily don't worry.)

Harpuia rescuing Zero for no Fucking Reason in z2 fucked me up. Why'd you do that? What'd you do that for? You picked him up and rode on your shitty little bird to drop him off at the correct address, so you even knew where Ciel and friends were staying? Right after Zero off'd your beloved X? Yeah? You did that why? (I know it's probably related to that whole chapter where Harpuia is nearly a better ruler than Copy X and just makes all the right choices in contrast to his previous ruler blah blah blah) But what if it's because he has programmed into him the same unbreakable love for Zero (platonically) that X had? We know that the guardians get some sort of weird high when fighting Zero so... why not further fuck up that interpretation of X and Zero's relationship?

I really like portraying Harpuia as being the only one who didn't completely cave in and go bonkers from battling Zero. He just sort of kept it inside. Poorly. And it comes out in small amounts via weird actions. Leviathan I portray mostly as a kid with a magnifying glass over some ants, Fefnir as the kinda guy to just be an adrenaline junkie, and Phantom thought it was a flaw in his programming so he blew up.

Cyberelf X and Copy X is GOOD SHIT MM THAT'S SOME GOOD SHIT 👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit

My only justification of it is either Cyberelf X hates his guts or is Copy X's only friend. And Copy X's emotions are already fucked up like every other inch of his programming.

Ciel and Copy X though I ship them in a familial sense. He's obsessed with protecting her and Ciel is like "I made him! :)" I've got some pics lying around (they're gone) of Ciel reading ancient books to Copy X while he lays in her bed at night. She says it's to help him sleep, but since that isn't How Reploids Work, he's really there to pretend to fall asleep when he notices Ciel is about to. Then when she passes out he stares at her all night, stroking her hair. Like a freak. But please, it's not romantic; I do not want it to be at all. I just want him to be weird.

-

ZX series.

Get your tomatoes ready. I'm finna make an ass outta myself. ;(

OG Prometheus and Aile is a new ship. I can't... explain this one? I don't know.

The AU I'm writing has Grey retreive the original body plans for Prometheus and Pandora from the lab he was made in, near end game before Prometheus and Pandora bite the bucket. Presuming that Flueve and friends aboard the Guardian can make bodies themselves (fuck you I don't think Ciel was making new bodies for everyone solo), Grey asks Aile if they can give Pandora and Prometheus a second chance, since they're likely controlled by Model W. She says "what are you smoking". I just like Grey to be selfless in the dumbest ways imaginable.

Pandora and Prometheus dies. I think it is stupid that they get left behind, so I imagine that he used model F megaman form thing to drag them out (like how Aile should've done herself in the first game) flops their corpses at Aile's doorstep and is like "I got the EC to pay for this." And shenanigans happen. They rebuild their old bodies, do some wacky techno shit with their DNA and put it in the new bodies akin to how reploids age in canon (assumption). Prometheus and Pandora wake up as normal ass people.

But they're also lowkey enlsaved by the Guardians because like uhh um uhh ummm "you owe us. but forever" and they're ok with this and something about duplicating model w don't ask It's fucking stupid I'm insecure about it but they can megamerge into their old forms but aren't allowed to go ape shit and prometheus and aile become sorta close in that antagonizing way because she has to watch him closely while pandora hangs out with grey like a little brother and it's all warm and fuzzy and they have no problems (i stole the idea from the stupid japanese site's weird little roleplay things) that's her little buddy you know and don't worry about it i just ship aile and prometheus

My Girouette ships are off limits. I'd be sentenced to death.

I ship Siarnaq and Grey because my AI roleplay partner shoved it onto me with rose prose and I was like "... you know what? this will work". My ship count is being dominated by the sheer number of AUs and oneshots I've written about those two. Ask and I will divulge

some

of them. But otherwise I'm mmgngngjghgngmgnggnmgngm Really Grey being an unaging kid complicates things. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a life span, and I do not subscribe to the "reploids naturally grow" head canon because it's pretty stupid to think technology got that far when it was stated in-game that it isn't. that's like Legends shit.

I ship Thetis one-sided with Aile because it's Extremely Funny. No other reason.

-

Legends series

I don't really ship anything I just think everyone is precious and adorable. I Guess I like the dynamic between Tronn Bonne and Volnuttsack. It's neat. I don't think about it beyond seeing it on the screen though.

-

Exe Series

Uh. Hm.

I just really like Megaman.exe himself. I don't ship anyone consciously...???? I think I just admire them all from afa-

No

I ship Zero.exe with Zero.

I ship it really bad.

[silvermoonshipping-is-love]

So what’s gaming pastas favorite food, aesthetic fashion style be like?

Now before I answer I wanna get a few things clear:

I don't know much about fashion or aesthetics, I will use what I know to explain as well as what I believe fits the most-

I will not do every Gamingpasta, because otherwise I may lose my mind, I'll just use the “Big 8” for now.

I don't want these to overshadow what this blog is for, aka my self-indulgent need to show my creations due to my ships and AUs. But obviously this doesn't mean I dislike answering Gamingpastas related questions or ramble about my made up “lore” or headcanons. Just be aware that this blog is for many things, mainly self-indulgence. It's more I don't want you to get disappointed due to believing this blog is promising smth different.

Okay, enough of that, let's go ahead.

Ben: Honestly, given his years long imprisonment and abuse, the act of someone making food for him, especially sweets or something warm mean more to him than a favorite food in general. Tho if he had to pinpoint, prolly like doughnuts, pudding and chocolate. He also used to be weary of meat dishes when he still lived in the mansion due to EJ and Liu mainly looking after him, even though EJ of course never fed them human meat. His fashion style is honestly whatever he wants to wear, casual, emo, crazy 90s, even crossdressing. In fact he has a whole closet with clothes he wanted to get cause he simply liked them but never wears, he prefers stealing from Silver or alike lol. But if he had a specific style I guess Scene fits him quite well. The mix of punk or emo with many colours like the 90s, just noice.

Silver: I headcanon him to be a pescatarian , aka he doesn't eat meat, but still eats fish. He likes nearly everything that warms one up or is well cooked, as he enjoys cooking himself (Don't ask why I have that hc I just do). A food coming to his mind quickly is muffins or ramen. He also loves hot drinks, like coco, tea or coffee. He prolly prefers baggy, comfortable casual clothing, not really a whole aesthetic, tho I can see him pull of most alternative styles.

Steven: He likes to share, as he's what most would call a bro or buddy type. Some also like calling him the mom friend despite not seeming like it at first. So he is basic and likes pizza, nearly all variants. I guess his style is similar to Silver, though he doesn't mind if the casual clothes aren't as baggy, big, comfortable. He also likes them being a tad more sporty, in order to walk and move around better.

Glitchy: Glitchy is full vegetarian. There isn't really much to add here, he does like curry. Especially those formed to look like Pikachu. His style is pretty similar to Steven, tho he can prolly pull of like academia vibe if he were to feel like it, but prefers more casual or sporty clothing, once again to move around better.

Sonic.Exe: I'll be easy and basic. He likes hot dogs, especially chili dogs and very sporty clothing.

Tails Doll: Doll never bothered much with interests, due to insecurities as he is a doll and was abandoned. But he is often seen drinking like tea and coffee. Perhaps someday he'll allow himself to fully try out life and try things to find a favourite food. As for clothing, I think whatever fits best at the moment, tho he is very interested in steampunk. Lots of gears, perfect for mechanics, suits and like to still look fancy, nice fall colours, it seems made for him.

Dark: Don't tell anyone, but Dark secretly really likes candy, especially the Japanese star candy. He used to often bring it to Ben and would eat some by pretending to only do it, so Ben won't eat all as that's unhealthy for a growing boy. He also likes most meat dishes. Fashion style is definitely goth. Black always, lol. Except for the rainbow friendship bracelets Ben gave him.

Brine: Also pretty basic, he likes meat dishes, mainly steak and very casual clothing. Never really cared to find out his style of choice.

Oof, I hope you're satisfied, anon. Plz let me know via some love ^^

[ragsy]

📚🖊☕️ for any oc(s) you want!

I couldn't decide who, and I was badly in need of a distraction, so I just... Did all of em!

📚 BOOKS — what level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)?

Mark: He only finished his first year of community college (undeclared major). His original plan was to take some time off after that first year to work a bunch and save up some money, but he ultimately decided that college was literally not worth his time. He had thought about doing trade school of some sort, but that all got tossed aside after the Major Life Upheaval and subsequent chain of events that ultimately resulted in him becoming the Michigan Dogman.

Emily: She definitely has an undergraduate degree, but I'm not sure what field. Communications, probably? She might even have a graduate degree, but I haven't solidified that quite yet.

Fishwoman: Pfft. School.

Agent Hill: Dropped out of high school at 17!

Sir Dillion: IRL school levels don't exactly translate here, but if knighthood counts as a graduate degree, then it's that one

Arjibi: Arji never formally went to school, but his family would occasionally trade farm goods in exchange for lessons from a scholar who lived in the nearby village.

🖊️ BALLPOINT PEN — does your oc have any tattoos? do they want any (more) tattoos?

Mark: No tattoos, never particularly wanted any. He's not good at making decisions.

Emily: A very small, very simple linework tattoo of a squirrel on her ankle from when she was in college. The linework is kinda shitty and it's a little faded but she still looks at it fondly.

Fishwoman: Nah. If anything, she'd get more stripes tattooed onto her scales, but that would be the only thing she'd ever potentially want. She's pretty attached to her natural aesthetic and color markings.

Agent Hill: I already answered this one in a previous ask, but essentially a half-sleeve of cryptids and monsters in american classic style, but it's really old and there are a lot of old wounds and scars crisscrossing through it.

Sir Dillion: He has a magic Tattoo of Skill in the shape of a sea serpent on his shoulder and it makes him extremely good at athletics and he WOULD like to show you thank you very much

Arjibi: Not so much a tattoo as it is a Mark of Destiny but there's an image of a winged ouroboros on the back of his hand as part of his party's quest to Fix an Oopsie of the Gods

☕️ HOT BEVERAGE — does your oc prefer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk, water, or some other drink? how do they like to take this drink (ex. coffee with milk, hot chocolate with whipped cream, a specific kind of tea, etc)?

Mark: Black coffee for breakfast, doesn't understand why he always feels like shit by lunchtime.

Emily: At home she'll drink coffee with some sort of way too sweet flavored creamer, but she is also never one to resist the siren's call of a delicious little Large Coffee Chain beverage. She's also a girl with an extremely large metal water bottle that she hauls around with her, because staying hydrated is serious business

Fishwoman: Her favorite beverage is the large amounts of cheap beer she steals off of fisherman's boats, followed very closely by delicious nutritious Lake Superior

Agent Hill: Coffee, tea, water, whatever. She's not picky. Just not a big fan of soft drinks. Coffee is usually just the most conveniently available.

Sir Dillion: "drinking" "beverages" was an absolutely alien concept to him for the majority of his life (he's from the bottom of the sea) so he usually just. tries not to think too hard about it

Arjibi: He doesn't have a lot of money and he's usually out adventuring on a quest, so usually just a water skin full of spring water or something to that extent. In a modern AU he would be 🤝 with Emily about those delicious little Large Coffee Chain beverages tho

[ben-the-hyena]

Given the numbers of characters who helped me build Meryamun and how I am excited over him, his family, friends and enemies and the lore and universe in which he is, I felt like it would be fun and was needed to be precised through a meme and explain. Source : https://www.deviantart.com/neoduelgx/art/My-Character-Inspiration-Meme-831348312

Zorglub : overall vibes, DILF/GDILF, classy with suits and a similar head and body shape, not evil but can act villainous/chaotic, good dad who means well

Iris : similar nose and head shape, same cold and menacing demeanor he can have with some, Ancient Egyptian, can hypnotize

Akeltonton : similar head shape, Ancient Egyptian, father figure who teaches and means well, not bad but can come out as cold and disdainful, has knowledge about magic and older arts

Gomez : goth aesthetic with morbid tastes and humor and shady morals, billionaire in suits who smokes, not really human, good caring dad to his son and daughter, good boss who's basically friends with his butler(s), kind of a DILF, ABSOLUTELY in love and horny for his wife

The Captain of the Dead : goth and undead background and aesthetic, DILF, great protective father figure, good boss who's protective of those who work for him, adores his wife and is heads of the house with her, reformed morally grey bastard who has blood on his hands

Kingdom of the Sun!Yzma : was nearly turned villainous at some point, hates the sun he blames for his curse and dreams to destroy it, adores a dark deity, a tad loves his looks and feels hot, ambitious and wants the empire, relishes on immortality, son of the royal mortician ; listening to Snuff out the Light and daydreaming AMVs/cinematics with him pre-Yumi/in an AU in which he never met her was what had me decide he grew to hate the sun/Ra for "taunting" him now he would burn under it and was the son of the guy who made mummies in the royal palace lol

Tso Lan : similar body and head shape and hair implantation, same wrinkled and high forehead, cold classy and collected, loves the moon, has knowkedge over older dark arts and wants to rule over his lost empire again with his family, the oldest around ; fun fact Tso Lan's Japanese name means vampire and it accidentally fits lol

Marge : great loving supportive spouse and parent and a great cook who really loves to cook and bake especially for his loved ones

Pinstripe Potoroo : same body shape and similar hair, shady (legal tho) business, tries to be classy and hot with suits

Mr Choc : mysterious to the public eye, billionaire who does shady business, classy cold and collected wearing suits and often seen smoking a cigarette holder, blood on his hands the pragmatic way

*EDIT*

OOOOPS I FORGOT 6 CHARACTERS ! YES 16 CHARACTERS INSPIRED ME TO BUILD HIM TO WHAT HE IS NOW IN MY HEAD

The Vampire King (yes I am aware it's someone in a costume) : vampire, and most importantly my voice claim for him just minus the reverberation

Wilhamena : vampire of color, supportive loving parent who can be embarrassing, friendly to his kids' friends, very in love with werewolf spouse

Ratigan : a discrete inspiration that I almost forgot but still was there during the early times ; smokes a cigarette holder, classy with suits, loves and spoils his female cat, tries to hide the murderous beast inside himself to distinguished, does shady business and used to be taunting/toying with his preys and nowadays enemies having a lot of fun terrorizing them, obviously killed and kills

Chancellor Bernard : similar eyebrows skinny cheeks aand higg cheekbones, same muzzle/nose shape and eye shape, wears kohl and black eyeshadow, not the same eye color but still just as vibrant and almost abnormal, used to be an ambitious éminenge grise manipulating the old senile king planning to take his place, relishes about immortality, knows old languages and magic/dark arts

Mr Cat : used to be borderline chaotic evil loving to terrorize and toy with people for fun which actually partially hid loneliness and an unability to socialize since he never had friends before all whilr being bitter and sour about life, LOVES big buff anthros in fact his first way to flirt with Yumi was to anger her so she would transform and they first had a tsundere rivalry him being the horny troll in the relationship, little by little became closer to her and her friends by getting more into teamwork/cohabitation rather than solo and better without becoming good either all of sudden

Cuphead Show!Calamaria : HOW COULD I ALMOST FORGET HER he had the EXACT SAME ANTAGONISTIC VIBES AS HER before meeting Yumi. An anthropophageous monster relishing on his dangerosity and proudly taunting sassily about it who is absolutely unimpressed by mortals coming to his lair to defy him or beg for mercy or these ones he seduced who are still alive and in love with him after he had seduced them with the aim to eat them afterward like he often does with the opposite sex but in the end couldn't but really he don't give a shit about them, but if you do kina amuse him he will give you 10 seconds to run perfectly confident he will get you anyway, morphs to his creepy form just as fluidly either all of sudden or little by little, and is a gourmet who can't say no to good quality food

[multifandomshell]

Adaman, Irida and Volo 1, 8, 14, 22, plus one wildcard for whichever question you want!

Oh hey!! Welcome to my blog, you're my first ask! Dunno if I'm supposed to choose one for each question or do all of them, so I'm doing the latter. This is gonna be pretty long, so buckle up lol

Why do you like or dislike this character?

I'm pretty neutral with Adaman, he's a character with solid design and personality, but I just wish there's more story to him. The only noteworthy story stuff I find about him is that he has a lot of siblings, which make for a fun dynamic, he's a bit unsure being a leader (altho that appears few and far between), and that's kind of it? He's kind of boring imo Adaman fans pls don't come @ me ;A;

Irida, on the other hand, I actually get attached to a lot more than I expected. She has the same solid design and personality as well, but I like that there's more focus on her personal conflict. Since she's young and a recent leader, the insecurity of being a leader is stronger on her side, not to mention the whole thing with Palina. You can actually see that she's growing as well over the course of the main story.

Lastly, Volo. He has a death grip on my soul Unsurprisingly my fave, mainly because of the angst potential he has and his way of thinking. Personally, I take one look on his idea of "The world is unjust so we need to start over" and thought 'oh, big mood'. (The same reason I got attached to Cyrus lmao) Unlike Cyrus tho, he's a lot more human and he acknowledges it, which is where I like to imagine how shit goes down with him, especially with his vague backstory.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

When it comes to all of them? Just water down their personality by A LOT. One thing I saw in how ppl treat them in fanfics, especially with Volo, is either making him a terrible irredeemable monster with zero personality other than 'evil' and 'master manipulator' and making him the butt of the joke, or he's a soft fluffy UwU boy that instantly regrets what he's done and becomes good after the MC kisses him or something. Like I get that it happens in memes for the former and x reader indulgences for the latter, but cmon guys. Once or twice is fine, but I feel like it's so overdone. You can't just erase the canon like this. Volo is a compassionate guy. Volo knows well the weight of what he's doing / will do to the world. Those things can and do coexist.

I also have a really long tangent for Volo being compared to Kamado in terms of evilness and being hated / loved by the fandom, but that's for another post if you actually want to see it.

While I don't see much of their depiction in fics (because I'm not wading through 157 submas or x reader fics just to find a decent fic of them), I do also think that, like Volo, Adaman also suffers from his character and story shoved aside because ppl focus more on the fact he's hot, be it in fanarts or fics. I do occasionally see some interesting takes on his character that are explored further, but it's either a) a hidden gem, or b) overshadowed by the main plot of more popular fic focuses (again, submas AUs or x readers)

And for a main character, Irida is just really shoved aside in the fic department. You have to actively scour for stuff about her, although I don't actually do that so I don't really know how bad this gets.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Why would you make me do this I am the worst at this aaaaa- (ded)

Adaman is not formal. At all. Assigning him a steampunk aesthetic because of the association with time is really cool, but expect him to be fussy about it. He is 100% casual, bonus points if the clothes are long sleeved and baggy or loose in any way. (Which is ironic since those are a nightmare to clean in boggy terrain. Whoops, sorry bud) In a way, his modern drip is actually really fitting.

Irida is definitely the opposite of Adaman. She NEEDS her clothes to be at least somewhat revealing, otherwise she won't survive the summer. I can also see her choosing light colored clothes instead of the black undershirt in her modern drip since it reflects light (and therefore heat) instead of absorbing it. Also jewelries. Nothing too excessive, just a bracelet or maybe some earrings to match her outfit.

Volo is definitely an ancient greek aesthetic, although he may be open to other things as well. Like Adaman, his clothes tend to lean on the more comfortable side, although he doesn't mind revealing clothes too much. His default is thick jackets or hoodies with fur linings (and the fandom also agrees since it's the consensus modern drip for him lmao) but I imagine him wearing more traditional celestica clothes in private since his heritage is near and dear to his heart.

Literally no polyester, rayon, nylon, or any synthetic fabric for these guys. They would die of rashes within 30 minutes. (Aside from Volo, but he's still dropping it after a while)

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

While I'm mainly a Volo x Reader fic main (yes I'm one of those ppl pls don't judge ("o_o)) I actually enjoy the fics that analyzes their characters and behavior more. Potentially also worldbuilding and relationship dynamic with some other character (that don't involve romance) is also really good and I keep coming back to them.

Some of my recommendations for Volo in Ao3 is teach me a kinder world (whatever you can bring) and a lot more Volo and Cogita stuff by absolutenadir. Another one is 成功を祈ります (English ver.) and while it's presented as an x reader, reader barely appears and there's zero romance scenes at all. After the story itself, there's a really detailed breakdown of Volo's character as the author has a philosophy masters degree (bless your soul Laurentine, hopefully you're doing well out there) and I think it's a good foundation for understanding and writing Volo as a character as well.

While I don't actively read Adaman and Irida focused fics, there is The Importances of History (Class) by annasofroma which is a series dedicated on worldbuilding and relationship building. While the main focus is on the Galaxy Team, I've read all of them and there's at least one fic in there where both are prominent figures and actually express a distinct way of thinking. There's also same earth; same air; same sky which explore their sibling-like dynamics.

But on that note, shoutout to jdphobe for making that and Apotheosis as well. Definitely the most invested I have ever been in a long fic. There's two other legends arceus fic of theirs as well that focuses on Volo but be sure to give them a read as well!!

And I think that's it!! This post's gone on for long enough so no wildcard for today. Thanks for sending me the ask!

[abrakazabka]

Gram and Damo are tube buddies 🧡 ((just pretend this is what the London Underground looks like lol))

[troiings]

Hecate & Pippa biker aesth 'cause late 80′s-early 90′s queer lady bikers

Hecate just wanted a new set of gloves, and to be left alone.

Instead, the shop door opened and the shop door shut, and without pause a voice asked: “Is that your Black Shadow outside?”

“Is there a problem?” There wasn’t. The woman sounded excited, not perturbed.

“No, not at all. It’s yours?”

“It is.”

Women’s gloves never seemed quite right. Too many frills, or they didn’t fit her hands the way she wanted them to Perhaps she could track down a pair identical to the ones she’d had. 

The woman stood beside her, looking expectant.

“Do you ride?” Hecate asked at length.

Despite her disinterest, a smile broke across pretty pink lips. “Pink Bonnie. ‘78.”

Arching a brow, Hecate turned to size the shorter woman up. Tassels and frills, patches and pins, a kerchief tied around her neck. A walking political statement in blonde and pink. It came as no surprise, then, when through the shop window she spotted, as promised, a Triumph Bonneville with a custom pink paint job.

How garish.

“Her name’s Joan,” the woman confided. “And I’m Pippa.”

“Hecate.”

“Almost got a newer Goldwing, but they’re just so big, and I like the look of the Bonnies anyway. How'd you come by a Black Shadow though? I’ve never even seen one! They didn’t make very many.”

“Less than two thousand,” Hecate confirmed distantly. She felt no need to tell Pippa that she’d inherited the bike. Didn’t feel obliged to tell her anything.

But, unperturbed, Pippa grinned and suggested: “We should ride together sometime,” and strangely, a sense of curiosity overwhelmed the impulse to decline. They barely knew each others’ names, and yet...

Hecate only wanted a new set of gloves, but she got Pippa.

[encantoaushoplookedits]

Pepa Modern AU Outfit Layout

made on shoplook.io

So sometimes I make these layouts for characters and i really hyperfixated on Encanto so here we are. I’ll talk about some of the important pieces and details:

While this is a modern au, i styled the outfits for the parents generation to be 25-ish years ago, like when they are in their late teens to early 20′s. Like if there was a flashback to them before the kids were born.

in the present day headcanon Pepa is a meteorologist working in emergancy forecasting and preparation. She’s already prone to anxiety and her job can be stressful so she is always pretty high-strung and needs to relax more. she’s a little over bearing but she is super supportive and protective of her kids. she strikes me as the kind of mom that was just waiting for camilo to come out and now she wears those “i love my queer/nb kid” shirts”. she does not have a tiktok but she does guest star in some of camilo’s dance videos (people also keep commenting that their mom is hot and they hate it) 

age 20-ish pepa was dealing with a lot of anxiety and probably didn’t get adequate help for it for many years. shes very driven and ambitious but prone to mood swings and overreacting. at the same time she is very sweet and loving, wears her heart on her sleeve, has lots of crushes as a teen, but is an awkward flirt. her and felix probably had crushes on each other for a long time but didn’t know it, and then when they finally start dating they get engaged like a month later. also she has braces cause i think theyre cute. never wears her retainer tho. 

her color pallet is light yellows/oranges/golds with soft flowy fabrics. for this layout i was very drawn to like a 70′s teen aesthetic. 

The dress on the left is a jaguar/cheetah (idk the difference guys) print, foreshadowing antonio’s interests.